Arms corruption scandal erupts in South Africa

A series of major corruption scandals have rocked the South African government in the past few months. High-ranking members of the ANC government are accused of taking "kick-backs" and of funnelling lucrative contracts to companies in which they or their families have a personal interest.

The allegations centre on a massive arms deal, announced in 1998, to re-equip the South African military forces. The first phase of the deal involved the purchase of patrol corvettes, light helicopters, submarines, Hawk jet trainers and light fighter aircraft, from manufacturers in France, Britain, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Within one year, the cost of the deal had skyrocketed from R29.9bn to R43bn (US5.5bn)— an increase of more than 42 percent.

The corruption allegations were first raised by PAC MP Patricia de Lille, using documents provided anonymously by ANC MPs. These alleged that bribes were paid to senior ANC members and contracts were awarded to their relatives.

Mbeki and the government, however, are completely opposed to any scrutiny of the arms deal. Behind the scenes, ANC officials made desperate attempts to stymie any investigation.

Source: World Socialist Web

Seized assets' money to go back to victims

Over 60 percent of the R210-million in assets seized by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions' Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) is to be paid back to those who lost the money through criminal activities. "Our major aim is to deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gains ... and associated with that is a strong view that, where there is a victim, that victim should be compensated," AFU chief Willie Hofmeyr said in an interview with Sapa on Sunday.

Because the AFU seizes assets belonging to, among others, drug dealers and people involved in other "victimless" crimes, money which does not have an identifiable recipient goes into a special fund - the Criminal Assets Recovery Account. Money from the fund has, by law, to be used to combat crime or for "victim empowerment", such as the establishment of drug rehabilitation centres. Hofmeyr said the AFU had already returned over R1.1 million to victims in two of its finalised cases. The unit does not claim its own costs from regained funds, but does pay external costs before returning the money.

Source: News 24

Destruction of Giant Buddhas Confirmed

The international community acknowledged Monday that it has failed to stop the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan from destroying the ancient Buddha statues at Bamiyan, with UNESCO branding their demolition "a crime against culture." It was the first time that the destruction of the statues had been independently confirmed, despite a concerted effort by Arab, Islamic and international players to spare them. "I was distressed to learn from my special envoy, Pierre Lafrance, that the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas has been confirmed," the UN cultural body's chief Koichiro Matsura said in a statement. "It is abominable to witness the cold and calculated destruction of cultural properties which were the heritage of the Afghan people, and, indeed, of the whole of humanity," the statement said.

The Taliban had said the huge figures, carved into sandstone cliffs in Bamiyan city more than 1,500 years ago when Afghanistan was a seat of Buddhism, are "false idols" and must be destroyed in line with Islamic laws. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India, which has a large Buddhist population, on Monday branded the destruction "an act of barbarism" but stressed that his government had been helpless to intervene. "What is happening there has been condemned by the entire world. It is an act of barbarism, but there is a limit and the world cannot stop the destruction," said Vajpayee. Yet there were no shortage of efforts to try reversing the Taliban's edict, including from many Muslim countries and Pakistan, the closest ally of the Taliban and one of only three countries which recognizes its puritanical regime. After talks over the weekend between Pakistan Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider and Taliban officials failed, Haider played for time "suggesting that since this edict has repercussions for the entire Muslim world, it should be discussed with the ulema (Islamic religious leaders) from outside Afghanistan." But the high-level delegation of Islamic clerics that later visited Afghanistan returned empty-handed Monday.

The Taliban said the clerics had "failed to convince us that destroying the statues was un-Islamic." They were part of a delegation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) led by Qatar's foreign minister and included Egypt's top religious leader and two leading Sunni clerics, the same faith as the Taliban. "From a religious point of view it is clear, these statues are part of humanity's heritage and do no affect Islam at all," said the Egyptian cleric, speaking on his return to Cairo. A similar diplomatic mission from Japan also failed to overturn Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's decree, which he said was based on orders of God and the Koran, Islam's holy book, and was "irreversible."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan tried his hand at convincing the Taliban not to carry out their "lamentable decision," meeting Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel while on a tour of South Asia. Annan stressed that many Islamic countries opposed the move, adding that destroying cultural masterpieces was not the way to mobilise the donor community to help Afghanistan overcome its humanitarian crisis. Jordan, another Muslim country, was quick to react to the news Monday that the statues were finished, saying it was disappointed at the "failure of Arab, Islamic and international efforts to stop the destruction." "Heritage that dates back to before Islam belongs to the entire world," the country's culture minister said.

With the Taliban set to move even further into isolation now, Matsuria concluded that "the loss is irreversible" but that "everything possible must be done to stop further destruction" of Afghanistan's pre-Islamic heritage. He also said he hoped that the destruction "will not provide fanatics elsewhere with an excuse for acts of destruction targeting Muslim cultural properties."

Source: Agence France-Presse

PROMOTION OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT 2 OF 2000

The purpose of the Promotion of Access to Information Act is to give effect to the constitutional right of access to any information held by the State and any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

RECOGNISING THAT –
* the system of government in South Africa before 27 April 1994, amongst others, resulted in a secretive and unresponsive culture in public and private bodies which often led to an abuse of power and human rights violations;
* section 8 of the Constitution provides for the horizontal application of the rights in the Bill of Rights to juristic persons to the extent required by the nature of the rights and the nature of those juristic persons;
* section 32 (1) (a) of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right of access to any information held by the State;
* section 32 (1) (b) of the Constitution provides for the horizontal application of the right of access to information held by another person to everyone when that information is required for the exercise or protection of any rights;
* and national legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right in section 32 of the Constitution;

AND BEARING IN MIND THAT –
* the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfil, at least, all the rights in the Bill of Rights which is the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa;
* the right of access to any information held by a public or private body may be limited to the extent that the limitations are reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom as contemplated in section 36 of the Constitution;
* reasonable legislative measures may, in terms of section 32 (2) of the Constitution, be provided to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the State in giving effect to its obligation to promote and fulfil the right of access to information;

AND IN ORDER TO –
* foster a culture of transparency and accountability in public and private bodies by giving effect to the right of access to information;
* actively promote a society in which the people of South Africa have effective access to information to enable them to more fully exercise and protect all of their rights.

Source: SABINET