On May 8, Jacob Zuma, former deputy president of South Africa, was acquitted of the charge of rape in the Johannesburg High Court. The accusation against him was made last December, causing him to step down from the office of vice president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) until a verdict was reached.
Source: World Socialist Web
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Former Political Enemies Join in Exile to Push for Change in Syrian Leadership
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 22 — One was the right-hand man to Syria's dictators, the other counted himself among the country's most wanted. The elder successfully maneuvered within the secular Syrian Baath Party; the younger worked with the Muslim Brotherhood for decades to change the government and its party.
They were about as far apart as possible on the Syrian political spectrum.
But now, as exiles, Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria's former vice president, and Ali Sadreddin al-Bayanouni, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, are partners in a long-term plan to bring change to Syria. "Oppression has united us," said Mr. Bayanouni, a lanky man with understated charisma. "We are all sons of the same land, and it turns out we have all been suffering from the same condition."
After a slow, careful exchange of contacts, the men tied their fates together in March, forming the National Salvation Front, an unlikely political alliance with the dual goals of unifying Syria's fractious opposition and reassuring insiders fearful of change.
That each claims a following and influence in different parts of Syrian society gives the alliance a unique potential that Syria's opposition has never had, many experts agree.
Mr. Khaddam, 74, and Mr. Bayanouni, 67, both say they hesitated before making such a leap, meeting in Belgium for two days to discuss their regrets and hopes, until they were certain they saw eye to eye on Syria's future and had a basis of mutual trust.
"At the end, I felt like I knew him for many years," Mr. Khaddam said of Mr. Bayanouni, who concurred.
Mr. Khaddam spoke on condition that his present whereabouts not be disclosed because of security concerns and growing sensitivity by some European governments over his political work.
For years the Syrian opposition was made up of a ragtag band of leftists, Arab nationalists and Islamists with competing interests and divergent strategies. With the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in February 2005, opposition figures came into the spotlight as fingers pointed at the Syrian government and international pressure grew. (A preliminary report by United Nations investigators found a state role in the killing, but President Bashar al-Assad has strongly denied the allegations.)
Mr. Bayanouni and Mr. Khaddam are cagey about exactly what their alliance is doing other than lobbying, largely because they are concerned over security. They have planned a general meeting in early June to gather opposition figures and outline their charter.
They spend much of their time on the telephone, seeking to lure others, even as Syria has begun a crackdown on opposition figures, especially those who have been suspected of meeting with either of the two men. Some critics say Mr. Khaddam became allied with Mr. Bayanouni more for his own future than for Syria's.
"It is a marriage of convenience," said Ammar Qurabi, a spokesman for Syria's National Organization for Human Rights. "Khaddam needs a party to have credit inside Syria and get himself back into political life. The Muslim brothers are also in need of a strong person with important files inside the regime."
But in any case, Mr. Khaddam promises to bring the opposition a new degree of clout. With a war in Iraq, and fear of Islamists growing throughout the region, Syria's neighbors and other nations have been loath to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
By joining politically with the Brotherhood, Mr. Khaddam ostensibly sends a reassuring message that other members of the government would not face retribution if it fell, and that a stable government would be built soon after.
"What happened in Iraq will never happen in Syria," he insisted. "We will protect the army and maintain the institutions of government."
Such comments are a measure of how far each man has come.
After the current president's father, Hafez al-Assad, took control in a coup in 1970, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the Islamist group founded in Egypt — became one of several parties pushed underground.
The group and numerous splinter elements violently resisted the rule of Mr. Assad and the Baath Party in the mid-1970's.
When the Brotherhood rose up in the town of Hama in 1982, Mr. Assad sought to crush it for good, sending in the army and virtually razing the city, killing thousands of the group's members and jailing many others.
For many Syrians, the Brotherhood became synonymous with Muslim extremism; for the group's members, Hama is a permanent reminder of the brutality of the Assad era.
Mr. Bayanouni, who says he had no role in any violence during the turbulent 70's and 80's, fled to exile in Jordan. In 2000, the Jordanian government asked him to leave under Syrian pressure, he said. He was granted asylum by Britain, and has continued to lead the Syrian branch of the Brotherhood from London.
Mr. Khaddam, on the other hand, was a rising star in Syrian politics in the 1960's, ever at the side of Hafez al-Assad, serving in various government positions before becoming foreign minister, and later vice president.
But when the elder Mr. Assad died in 2000, and his son succeeded him, Mr. Khaddam was gradually forced out of his areas of influence.
Mr. Khaddam says he began reaching out to the opposition years ago — even as vice president — initially to include opposition members and help strengthen the government, later to bring it down.
In late 2003, he secretly sent an emissary to London to meet Mr. Bayanouni and tell him of his intention to break with Mr. Assad.
"The messenger told me that Khaddam would be going against the regime, but that it is going to take some time," Mr. Bayanouni said. "I sent word back that it should happen soon."
Last summer Mr. Khaddam resigned in a speech before a conference of the Baath Party, warning his comrades of the threat to the state caused by growing corruption, he said. He quickly left for exile in Paris, where he has lived in an opulent house.
In late December he gave a hint of his ambitions by accusing Mr. Assad and other Syrian officials of having a hand in Mr. Hariri's assassination, setting off an international firestorm in the process. The stern vice president became the most senior member of the Syrian inner circle to publicly break ranks with Mr. Assad.
Months later Mr. Khaddam sent another messenger to Mr. Bayanouni in London, suggesting that they combine forces, setting off a deep debate among the upper ranks of the Brotherhood leadership.
It proved to be an excruciating moment for the Muslim Brotherhood, but also a chance to heal old wounds and enter a world that it never could before.
"It was a difficult decision to make," Mr. Bayanouni said. "We knew he was a partner to everything that has happened in Syria."
But Mr. Bayanouni and other Brotherhood leaders agreed that Mr. Khaddam had little role in the internal politics of the country, and had no actual blood on his hands, Mr. Bayanouni said.
So they arrived at a compromise: Mr. Khaddam had to apologize.
"Today his stance is one of regret, and he is very serious about democracy in Syria," Mr. Bayanouni said. "There is a death sentence against him. He is being chased now like they chased us. He does have some responsibility for what has happened in the past, but it is clear he has changed."
Syria recently asked Interpol, the international police organization, to arrest Mr. Khaddam and turn him over to Syria.
He faces charges of sedition and has been expelled from the Baath Party. Many of his children's assets have been seized.
The government has also begun a wave of arrests of major opposition figures in Syria.
Still, Mr. Bayanouni emphasizes that not all is forgotten. When a new government is in place, he said, a court will be able to decide whether Mr. Khaddam was guilty of anything. But in the meantime, he said, Mr. Khaddam will be a critical piece of the opposition.
Source: New York Times
They were about as far apart as possible on the Syrian political spectrum.
But now, as exiles, Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria's former vice president, and Ali Sadreddin al-Bayanouni, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, are partners in a long-term plan to bring change to Syria. "Oppression has united us," said Mr. Bayanouni, a lanky man with understated charisma. "We are all sons of the same land, and it turns out we have all been suffering from the same condition."
After a slow, careful exchange of contacts, the men tied their fates together in March, forming the National Salvation Front, an unlikely political alliance with the dual goals of unifying Syria's fractious opposition and reassuring insiders fearful of change.
That each claims a following and influence in different parts of Syrian society gives the alliance a unique potential that Syria's opposition has never had, many experts agree.
Mr. Khaddam, 74, and Mr. Bayanouni, 67, both say they hesitated before making such a leap, meeting in Belgium for two days to discuss their regrets and hopes, until they were certain they saw eye to eye on Syria's future and had a basis of mutual trust.
"At the end, I felt like I knew him for many years," Mr. Khaddam said of Mr. Bayanouni, who concurred.
Mr. Khaddam spoke on condition that his present whereabouts not be disclosed because of security concerns and growing sensitivity by some European governments over his political work.
For years the Syrian opposition was made up of a ragtag band of leftists, Arab nationalists and Islamists with competing interests and divergent strategies. With the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in February 2005, opposition figures came into the spotlight as fingers pointed at the Syrian government and international pressure grew. (A preliminary report by United Nations investigators found a state role in the killing, but President Bashar al-Assad has strongly denied the allegations.)
Mr. Bayanouni and Mr. Khaddam are cagey about exactly what their alliance is doing other than lobbying, largely because they are concerned over security. They have planned a general meeting in early June to gather opposition figures and outline their charter.
They spend much of their time on the telephone, seeking to lure others, even as Syria has begun a crackdown on opposition figures, especially those who have been suspected of meeting with either of the two men. Some critics say Mr. Khaddam became allied with Mr. Bayanouni more for his own future than for Syria's.
"It is a marriage of convenience," said Ammar Qurabi, a spokesman for Syria's National Organization for Human Rights. "Khaddam needs a party to have credit inside Syria and get himself back into political life. The Muslim brothers are also in need of a strong person with important files inside the regime."
But in any case, Mr. Khaddam promises to bring the opposition a new degree of clout. With a war in Iraq, and fear of Islamists growing throughout the region, Syria's neighbors and other nations have been loath to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
By joining politically with the Brotherhood, Mr. Khaddam ostensibly sends a reassuring message that other members of the government would not face retribution if it fell, and that a stable government would be built soon after.
"What happened in Iraq will never happen in Syria," he insisted. "We will protect the army and maintain the institutions of government."
Such comments are a measure of how far each man has come.
After the current president's father, Hafez al-Assad, took control in a coup in 1970, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the Islamist group founded in Egypt — became one of several parties pushed underground.
The group and numerous splinter elements violently resisted the rule of Mr. Assad and the Baath Party in the mid-1970's.
When the Brotherhood rose up in the town of Hama in 1982, Mr. Assad sought to crush it for good, sending in the army and virtually razing the city, killing thousands of the group's members and jailing many others.
For many Syrians, the Brotherhood became synonymous with Muslim extremism; for the group's members, Hama is a permanent reminder of the brutality of the Assad era.
Mr. Bayanouni, who says he had no role in any violence during the turbulent 70's and 80's, fled to exile in Jordan. In 2000, the Jordanian government asked him to leave under Syrian pressure, he said. He was granted asylum by Britain, and has continued to lead the Syrian branch of the Brotherhood from London.
Mr. Khaddam, on the other hand, was a rising star in Syrian politics in the 1960's, ever at the side of Hafez al-Assad, serving in various government positions before becoming foreign minister, and later vice president.
But when the elder Mr. Assad died in 2000, and his son succeeded him, Mr. Khaddam was gradually forced out of his areas of influence.
Mr. Khaddam says he began reaching out to the opposition years ago — even as vice president — initially to include opposition members and help strengthen the government, later to bring it down.
In late 2003, he secretly sent an emissary to London to meet Mr. Bayanouni and tell him of his intention to break with Mr. Assad.
"The messenger told me that Khaddam would be going against the regime, but that it is going to take some time," Mr. Bayanouni said. "I sent word back that it should happen soon."
Last summer Mr. Khaddam resigned in a speech before a conference of the Baath Party, warning his comrades of the threat to the state caused by growing corruption, he said. He quickly left for exile in Paris, where he has lived in an opulent house.
In late December he gave a hint of his ambitions by accusing Mr. Assad and other Syrian officials of having a hand in Mr. Hariri's assassination, setting off an international firestorm in the process. The stern vice president became the most senior member of the Syrian inner circle to publicly break ranks with Mr. Assad.
Months later Mr. Khaddam sent another messenger to Mr. Bayanouni in London, suggesting that they combine forces, setting off a deep debate among the upper ranks of the Brotherhood leadership.
It proved to be an excruciating moment for the Muslim Brotherhood, but also a chance to heal old wounds and enter a world that it never could before.
"It was a difficult decision to make," Mr. Bayanouni said. "We knew he was a partner to everything that has happened in Syria."
But Mr. Bayanouni and other Brotherhood leaders agreed that Mr. Khaddam had little role in the internal politics of the country, and had no actual blood on his hands, Mr. Bayanouni said.
So they arrived at a compromise: Mr. Khaddam had to apologize.
"Today his stance is one of regret, and he is very serious about democracy in Syria," Mr. Bayanouni said. "There is a death sentence against him. He is being chased now like they chased us. He does have some responsibility for what has happened in the past, but it is clear he has changed."
Syria recently asked Interpol, the international police organization, to arrest Mr. Khaddam and turn him over to Syria.
He faces charges of sedition and has been expelled from the Baath Party. Many of his children's assets have been seized.
The government has also begun a wave of arrests of major opposition figures in Syria.
Still, Mr. Bayanouni emphasizes that not all is forgotten. When a new government is in place, he said, a court will be able to decide whether Mr. Khaddam was guilty of anything. But in the meantime, he said, Mr. Khaddam will be a critical piece of the opposition.
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
HRH Princess Stella Margaret Nomzano Sigcau
HRH Princess Stella Margaret Nomzano Sigcau, born 14th January 1937 at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, educated at Lovedale Institute (Teachers Diploma, 1954), and University of Fort Hare (BA degree, 1959), worked as a teacher at a number of schools in Natal 1960/1968, entered politics during the 1968 elections in Transkei, winning Lusikisiki seat.
HRH has held the portfolios of Public Works and Education, Interior (which included Trade and Tourism) and Posts and Telecommunications prior to the granting of independence to Transkei, Transkei’s Minister of Interior Affairs (retaining responsibility for Posts and Telecommunications) with Transkeian independence, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Transkei 1981, Leader of the Transkei National Independence Party 1987, third Prime Minister of the Transkei in 1987, Minister of Public Enterprises in the South African Government 1994/1999, Minister of Public Works in the South African Government 17th June 1999 to 7th May 2006, Executive member of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa), currently serving as head of its Projects Division, Member of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), Natal Executive Council Chairperson of the ANCWL, Transkei;
HRH married 1962 Ronald Shabalala and had issue.
HRH died 7th May 2006 at St Augustine hospital, Durban and was buried at Kwa-Nandi, Qaukeni Farm, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape on 16th May 2006.
Source:
HRH has held the portfolios of Public Works and Education, Interior (which included Trade and Tourism) and Posts and Telecommunications prior to the granting of independence to Transkei, Transkei’s Minister of Interior Affairs (retaining responsibility for Posts and Telecommunications) with Transkeian independence, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Transkei 1981, Leader of the Transkei National Independence Party 1987, third Prime Minister of the Transkei in 1987, Minister of Public Enterprises in the South African Government 1994/1999, Minister of Public Works in the South African Government 17th June 1999 to 7th May 2006, Executive member of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa), currently serving as head of its Projects Division, Member of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), Natal Executive Council Chairperson of the ANCWL, Transkei;
HRH married 1962 Ronald Shabalala and had issue.
HRH died 7th May 2006 at St Augustine hospital, Durban and was buried at Kwa-Nandi, Qaukeni Farm, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape on 16th May 2006.
Source:
Monday, May 8, 2006
Stella Sigcau dies
Public Works minister Stella Sigcau has died at Durban's St Augustine Hospital, ministerial spokesperson Lucky Mochalibane said on Monday. He said Sigcau, 69, who was appointed public enterprises minister in the first post-apartheid government in 1994, died of a recurring heart problem on Sunday. Sigcau was appointed Minister of Public Works on June 17, 1999. It was unclear when Sigcau was admitted at the hospital, Mochalibane said.
Sigcau the third prime minister of the former Transkei for three months in the late 1980s before Major General Bantu Holomisa ousted her. She was born at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on January 4, 1937 and was a widow when she died. In 1954, she obtained a teachers diploma from the Lovedale Institute and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1959. She was a teacher at several schools in the erstwhile Natal administration, entered politics during Transkei's 1968 election and won a seat for Lusikisiki.
Sigcau became Transkei's interior affairs minister after that homeland's independence. She led the Transkei National Independence Party for 13 years until 1990, when she disbanded the party.
Source: IoL
Sigcau the third prime minister of the former Transkei for three months in the late 1980s before Major General Bantu Holomisa ousted her. She was born at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on January 4, 1937 and was a widow when she died. In 1954, she obtained a teachers diploma from the Lovedale Institute and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1959. She was a teacher at several schools in the erstwhile Natal administration, entered politics during Transkei's 1968 election and won a seat for Lusikisiki.
Sigcau became Transkei's interior affairs minister after that homeland's independence. She led the Transkei National Independence Party for 13 years until 1990, when she disbanded the party.
Source: IoL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)