Piet Bothma, the suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court in connection with the Fidentia saga. It was Bothma's second court appearance. He was recently arrested as a third suspect in the affair.
Bothma was in the dock with Fidentia chief executive J Arthur Brown, and the company's former financial director, Graham Maddock, both of whom were arrested in March. Bothma was arrested on August 6, after he had flown to Cape Town with his attorney, Marco Martini, to surrender himself to the Scorpions.
The three appeared before magistrate Jesthree Steyn who, at the request of Scorpions senior counsel Bruce Morrison, postponed the case to February 12 next year. Morrison told the court the long postponement was needed to finalise the investigation, and to prepare the charge sheet. Attorney William Booth, who represents Brown, told the court he had no objection to the postponement, despite having at the previous hearing in May reserved the right to object to any further postponements for further investigation. Booth told the court: "Last time, I noted that I would object to any further postponement, requested by the State, for the purpose of finalising the investigation.
"I also said I would object if the defence had not at the present proceedings been furnished with the charge sheet. "I agree to the postponement to next year, but reserve the defence's rights to object if at the next hearing the defence has not yet been furnished with the charge sheet and other documents." Maddock was represented by attorney Cesare Baartman, who said he too would object if a further postponement was requested in February.
Technically, if the State again requests a postponement in February for further investigation, the defence will have the right to demand that the case be removed from the roll. If the case is then removed from the roll, it will amount to the withdrawal of charges, and the three will step out of the dock free men. The magistrate extended their bail: R1m in respect of Brown and Maddock, and R200 000 in respect of Bothma.
Source: News 24
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
SADC: Take Action to End Zimbabwe Rights Crisis
Government leaders gathered this week at a summit in Lusaka, Zambia should urgently press Zimbabwe’s government to end its broadscale attack on human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released today. Human Rights Watch called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to deploy human rights monitors to Zimbabwe to assess the situation.
The summit, which takes place on August 16 and 17, 2007 is expected to address the ongoing political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. At an extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in March 2007, SADC asked South African president Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mbeki is expected to report back on the progress of the talks in Lusaka.
“SADC members must take strong and effective action to deal with one of the region’s most grave crises – Zimbabwe,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “SADC’s credibility as a real force for change on human rights is on the line here and its leaders should insist on tangible improvements in Zimbabwe.”
Human Rights Watch urged SADC to more explicitly incorporate human rights concerns in the mediation talks and set clear benchmarks for progress within a clear time-frame. The summit should make a public acknowledgement of ongoing human rights problems, Human Rights Watch said, and deploy SADC human rights monitors as an essential first step in protecting Zimbabweans from state brutality.
In the past, SADC has failed to extract concrete commitments on human rights from the government of Zimbabwe. Although serious human rights problems have plagued Zimbabwe for the past seven years, the conclusions issued after SADC’s past summits have failed to adequately reflect these problems. For example, the final communique of the extraordinary summit in Tanzania failed to mention the arrests and beatings of opposition and civil society leaders or the broader human rights situation in Zimbabwe.
The 13-page briefing paper, “A Call to Action: The Crisis in Zimbabwe – SADC’s Human Rights Credibility on the Line,” highlights priority areas of concern on human rights and proposes a number of actions to help tackle the crisis. The government of Zimbabwe has used methods against critics that range from intimidation, threats and harassment to physical attacks and torture. Hundreds of civil society activists – including human rights defenders, independent journalists and members of the political opposition – have been arbitrarily arrested and beaten by police and other security agents.
Police often use unnecessary and lethal force to violently disrupt peaceful protests. Recent examples highlighted in the memorandum include: the arrest and assault in police custody of more than 200 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) when they attempted to demonstrate against the Constitutional Amendment Bill in Harare on July 25, and the arrest and assault of up to 20 women from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) during peaceful protests in Bulawayo on June 6.
Human Rights Watch called upon SADC to send a clear, visible and unambiguous message from this week’s summit, repudiating the Zimbabwean government’s policy of political repression through laws and the unaccountability of Zimbabwe’s police, army and security forces.
“The political and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, which threatens to destabilize the whole region, is crying out for urgent and effective leadership,” said Takirambudde.
“Only by addressing the human rights violations in Zimbabwe can SADC hope to nurture a political and economic revival in the country.”
Source: Human Rights Watch
The summit, which takes place on August 16 and 17, 2007 is expected to address the ongoing political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. At an extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in March 2007, SADC asked South African president Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mbeki is expected to report back on the progress of the talks in Lusaka.
“SADC members must take strong and effective action to deal with one of the region’s most grave crises – Zimbabwe,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “SADC’s credibility as a real force for change on human rights is on the line here and its leaders should insist on tangible improvements in Zimbabwe.”
Human Rights Watch urged SADC to more explicitly incorporate human rights concerns in the mediation talks and set clear benchmarks for progress within a clear time-frame. The summit should make a public acknowledgement of ongoing human rights problems, Human Rights Watch said, and deploy SADC human rights monitors as an essential first step in protecting Zimbabweans from state brutality.
In the past, SADC has failed to extract concrete commitments on human rights from the government of Zimbabwe. Although serious human rights problems have plagued Zimbabwe for the past seven years, the conclusions issued after SADC’s past summits have failed to adequately reflect these problems. For example, the final communique of the extraordinary summit in Tanzania failed to mention the arrests and beatings of opposition and civil society leaders or the broader human rights situation in Zimbabwe.
The 13-page briefing paper, “A Call to Action: The Crisis in Zimbabwe – SADC’s Human Rights Credibility on the Line,” highlights priority areas of concern on human rights and proposes a number of actions to help tackle the crisis. The government of Zimbabwe has used methods against critics that range from intimidation, threats and harassment to physical attacks and torture. Hundreds of civil society activists – including human rights defenders, independent journalists and members of the political opposition – have been arbitrarily arrested and beaten by police and other security agents.
Police often use unnecessary and lethal force to violently disrupt peaceful protests. Recent examples highlighted in the memorandum include: the arrest and assault in police custody of more than 200 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) when they attempted to demonstrate against the Constitutional Amendment Bill in Harare on July 25, and the arrest and assault of up to 20 women from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) during peaceful protests in Bulawayo on June 6.
Human Rights Watch called upon SADC to send a clear, visible and unambiguous message from this week’s summit, repudiating the Zimbabwean government’s policy of political repression through laws and the unaccountability of Zimbabwe’s police, army and security forces.
“The political and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, which threatens to destabilize the whole region, is crying out for urgent and effective leadership,” said Takirambudde.
“Only by addressing the human rights violations in Zimbabwe can SADC hope to nurture a political and economic revival in the country.”
Source: Human Rights Watch
Monday, August 13, 2007
Darfur force 'to be all-African'
Africa will provide all of the 26,000 peacekeepers to be sent to Sudan's Darfur region, the head of the African Union (AU) has said. AU chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said enough African troops had been promised for no outside help to be needed but he did not give details.
The UN had expected to call on Asian troops. Critics say Africa lacks enough trained troops for an effective force. Sudan's government has long opposed the involvement of non-African soldiers. It only agreed to a joint United Nations-AU force after months of negotiations. The UN Security Council resolution setting up the force said the troops would be mostly African but they would be under UN command.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that while there may be enough AU troops for the force, it was important to get the right mix of abilities on the ground. "It's not simply a question of raw numbers of troops - we're trying to find a good mix of skills," he told the BBC News website. "We're looking to make sure this force is robust, it's mobile, it's well-armed and equipped, so that it can carry out the full mandate that it needs to perform."
Speaking after talks in Khartoum with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Mr Konare said: "I can confirm today that we have received sufficient commitments from African countries that we will not have to resort to non-African forces." He added that the "ball is now in the court of the UN" to provide funding for the force.
Mr Bashir, who has long argued that a UN-backed force would be a violation of Sudan's sovereignty and could worsen the situation there, backed Mr Konare's plan. "[We] support the AU force, which consolidates the efforts of the Sudanese government to ensure security, peace and stability in Darfur," he said after their meeting. Mr Konare did not give a breakdown of the countries offering to supply more personnel, leading correspondents to question the viability of an all-African force.
BBC Africa analyst David Bamford said it was unclear where so many African troops would come from. Senegal and Malawi have promised to send peacekeepers to Darfur, while the AU has said that Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria have also promised to contribute.
Hafiz Mohamed from lobby group Justice Africa said Sudan would be able to manipulate AU troops - as he said they had been doing with the 7,000 AU troops already in Darfur. "This will affect the whole credibility of the new resolution," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Mr Konare's announcement came just days after the UN published a list of Asian countries it said had already committed troops and police officers to a Darfur force. UN officials said the joint AU-UN force would be "predominantly African", but confirmed that countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh had pledged personnel.
According to a UN resolution, the composition of the force must be decided by 30 August. At least 200,000 people are believed to have died and more than two million have been left homeless in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003. Sudan's Arab dominated government, and the pro-government Janjaweed militias, are accused of war crimes against the region's black African population - although the UN has stopped short of calling it genocide. Sudan has always denied backing the Janjaweed militias and argued that the problems in Darfur were being exaggerated for political reasons.
Source: BBC
The UN had expected to call on Asian troops. Critics say Africa lacks enough trained troops for an effective force. Sudan's government has long opposed the involvement of non-African soldiers. It only agreed to a joint United Nations-AU force after months of negotiations. The UN Security Council resolution setting up the force said the troops would be mostly African but they would be under UN command.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that while there may be enough AU troops for the force, it was important to get the right mix of abilities on the ground. "It's not simply a question of raw numbers of troops - we're trying to find a good mix of skills," he told the BBC News website. "We're looking to make sure this force is robust, it's mobile, it's well-armed and equipped, so that it can carry out the full mandate that it needs to perform."
Speaking after talks in Khartoum with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Mr Konare said: "I can confirm today that we have received sufficient commitments from African countries that we will not have to resort to non-African forces." He added that the "ball is now in the court of the UN" to provide funding for the force.
Mr Bashir, who has long argued that a UN-backed force would be a violation of Sudan's sovereignty and could worsen the situation there, backed Mr Konare's plan. "[We] support the AU force, which consolidates the efforts of the Sudanese government to ensure security, peace and stability in Darfur," he said after their meeting. Mr Konare did not give a breakdown of the countries offering to supply more personnel, leading correspondents to question the viability of an all-African force.
BBC Africa analyst David Bamford said it was unclear where so many African troops would come from. Senegal and Malawi have promised to send peacekeepers to Darfur, while the AU has said that Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria have also promised to contribute.
Hafiz Mohamed from lobby group Justice Africa said Sudan would be able to manipulate AU troops - as he said they had been doing with the 7,000 AU troops already in Darfur. "This will affect the whole credibility of the new resolution," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Mr Konare's announcement came just days after the UN published a list of Asian countries it said had already committed troops and police officers to a Darfur force. UN officials said the joint AU-UN force would be "predominantly African", but confirmed that countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh had pledged personnel.
According to a UN resolution, the composition of the force must be decided by 30 August. At least 200,000 people are believed to have died and more than two million have been left homeless in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003. Sudan's Arab dominated government, and the pro-government Janjaweed militias, are accused of war crimes against the region's black African population - although the UN has stopped short of calling it genocide. Sudan has always denied backing the Janjaweed militias and argued that the problems in Darfur were being exaggerated for political reasons.
Source: BBC
Friday, August 10, 2007
Mauritania made slavery illegal
In August 2007, Mauritania’s parliament voted to make slavery illegal. It is a sad comment on the longevity and resilience of slavery that this occurred on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. This is not the first time that slavery has been outlawed in Mauritania. It was first declared illegal in 1905 and as recently as 1981.
Although numbers are difficult to establish, the Mauritanian advocacy group, SOS Slavery, estimates that as many as 600,000 people - about 20 per cent of the population - in the arid West Africa country could be enslaved. In the past, the Mauritanian government adopted an ambiguous stance. At times, it denied that slavery existed. Activists were unlikely to receive cooperation, and the use of the word ‘slave’ was discouraged.
The new government of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdellahi (installed in April) has tried to change this. Mauritania’s new arrangements make provision for prison terms of 10 years for slaveholders. Promoting or defending slavery carries a two-year term. Slavery is, in theory at least, illegal and punishable. Slavery is now near-universally acknowledged as an appalling violation of human rights - indeed, denial of the right to live free is arguably the greatest human rights violation of all. It is also one depressingly common to cultures throughout history. But changing laws alone is not enough. If Mauritania is to deal with it effectively, some lessons can be learned from history. Acknowledgement that slavery exists represents a notable advance. One study notes: "The most important lesson of all past interventions is that you can’t fight slavery if you don’t name it ‘slavery’."
For Mauritania’s ban on slavery to succeed, it must ensure that laws against slavery are enforced. The trans-Atlantic trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807. The British Navy - then the world’s most powerful - attempted to intercept slave-carrying vessels, and enslavers faced arrest and punishment. Mauritania, one of the world’s poorer countries, will need to find the personnel and legal capacity - police, prosecutors and government inspectors - to enforce the law. It must also back change in law with change in culture and values. The British abolitionists fought a long campaign to convince people of the immorality of slavery. This was ultimately successful: The common view slowly changed, leading a slavery supporter to comment glumly that "the stream of popularity runs against us". Abolitionists pursued this through petitions and boycotts, and appeals to religious convictions the population. Periodic slave rebellions testified to their case.
According to Mauritanian activists and ex-slaves, the institution is so deeply woven into culture that slaves need little coercion: In the words of Mr Boubakar Messaoud of SOS Slavery: "We have achieved what the American plantation owners dreamed of - the breeding of perfectly submissive slaves." One slave told an interviewer: "God created me to be a slave, just as He created the camel to be a camel." These views must change. Unless freed slaves are helped to become self-sufficient, their future will be abject poverty. Opportunities in Mauritania are limited, and slaves have little education.
Former slaves face a stark choice upon emancipation: To go to the streets with no money or stay with their owners on whatever terms. Most choose to stay. In the US, slaves became “sharecroppers” who worked small plots on landowners’ estates, were paid a pittance - if at all - and kept in perpetual debt through charges for food, clothes and supplies. Previous emancipation in Mauritania failed largely because steps were not taken. This one will be nothing more than a re-branding exercise unless laws and enforcement change the slave-master relationship. The government should provide literacy and skills training to give freed slaves a chance to make use of their freedom.
Source: South African Institute of International Affairs
Although numbers are difficult to establish, the Mauritanian advocacy group, SOS Slavery, estimates that as many as 600,000 people - about 20 per cent of the population - in the arid West Africa country could be enslaved. In the past, the Mauritanian government adopted an ambiguous stance. At times, it denied that slavery existed. Activists were unlikely to receive cooperation, and the use of the word ‘slave’ was discouraged.
The new government of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdellahi (installed in April) has tried to change this. Mauritania’s new arrangements make provision for prison terms of 10 years for slaveholders. Promoting or defending slavery carries a two-year term. Slavery is, in theory at least, illegal and punishable. Slavery is now near-universally acknowledged as an appalling violation of human rights - indeed, denial of the right to live free is arguably the greatest human rights violation of all. It is also one depressingly common to cultures throughout history. But changing laws alone is not enough. If Mauritania is to deal with it effectively, some lessons can be learned from history. Acknowledgement that slavery exists represents a notable advance. One study notes: "The most important lesson of all past interventions is that you can’t fight slavery if you don’t name it ‘slavery’."
For Mauritania’s ban on slavery to succeed, it must ensure that laws against slavery are enforced. The trans-Atlantic trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807. The British Navy - then the world’s most powerful - attempted to intercept slave-carrying vessels, and enslavers faced arrest and punishment. Mauritania, one of the world’s poorer countries, will need to find the personnel and legal capacity - police, prosecutors and government inspectors - to enforce the law. It must also back change in law with change in culture and values. The British abolitionists fought a long campaign to convince people of the immorality of slavery. This was ultimately successful: The common view slowly changed, leading a slavery supporter to comment glumly that "the stream of popularity runs against us". Abolitionists pursued this through petitions and boycotts, and appeals to religious convictions the population. Periodic slave rebellions testified to their case.
According to Mauritanian activists and ex-slaves, the institution is so deeply woven into culture that slaves need little coercion: In the words of Mr Boubakar Messaoud of SOS Slavery: "We have achieved what the American plantation owners dreamed of - the breeding of perfectly submissive slaves." One slave told an interviewer: "God created me to be a slave, just as He created the camel to be a camel." These views must change. Unless freed slaves are helped to become self-sufficient, their future will be abject poverty. Opportunities in Mauritania are limited, and slaves have little education.
Former slaves face a stark choice upon emancipation: To go to the streets with no money or stay with their owners on whatever terms. Most choose to stay. In the US, slaves became “sharecroppers” who worked small plots on landowners’ estates, were paid a pittance - if at all - and kept in perpetual debt through charges for food, clothes and supplies. Previous emancipation in Mauritania failed largely because steps were not taken. This one will be nothing more than a re-branding exercise unless laws and enforcement change the slave-master relationship. The government should provide literacy and skills training to give freed slaves a chance to make use of their freedom.
Source: South African Institute of International Affairs
Monday, August 6, 2007
Keen demand fuels global trade in body parts
Paul Lee got his liver from an executed Chinese prisoner; Karam in Egypt bought a kidney for his sister for $5Â 300; in Istanbul, Hakan is holding out for $30Â 700 for one of his kidneys.
They are not so unusual: a dire shortage of donated organs in rich countries is sending foreigners with end-stage illnesses to poorer places like China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Colombia and the Philippines to buy a new lease of life.
Source: Mail & Guardian
They are not so unusual: a dire shortage of donated organs in rich countries is sending foreigners with end-stage illnesses to poorer places like China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Colombia and the Philippines to buy a new lease of life.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Suspended Teta boss arrested
The suspended chief executive of the Transport Education Training Authority (Teta), Piet Bothma, has become the third person to be arrested in connection with the Fidentia affair. He appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday where he was released on R200 000 bail. Bothma has been charged with fraud and theft, and with corruption involving alleged kickbacks of just under R5m. He had earlier in the day flown down from Johannesburg with his attorney to report to the Scorpions' office in the city centre, where he was formally arrested.
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock were arrested in March, and are out on bail of R1m each.
Bothma was suspended from his Teta post in June. The State claims under the theft and fraud charges that he was part of a conspiracy with Brown, Maddock "and/or others" with regard to R200m that Teta invested with Fidentia Asset Management, now under curatorship. The corruption relates to an allegation that he got just under R5 million in unlawful kickbacks in the process. His attorney, Marco Martini, said neither he nor Bothma had any comment at this stage. "At this stage we're waiting to see a formal charge sheet," he said. Bothma will be in the dock alongside Brown and Maddock at their next court appearance on August 31.
Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrisson told the court the State did not object to bail, and that the amount had been agreed on by the State and defence. He said Bothma had co-operated with the Scorpions over his arrest, and had at the time of his arrest not given any false information. As part of his bail conditions, Bothma has been ordered to surrender all travel documents, and to seek Scorpions permission if he wants to leave South Africa. He has also been barred from communicating with any Teta board members, officials or employees. It is understood that the Scorpions are hoping to make further arrests in the case.
Source: News 24
Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown and financial director Graham Maddock were arrested in March, and are out on bail of R1m each.
Bothma was suspended from his Teta post in June. The State claims under the theft and fraud charges that he was part of a conspiracy with Brown, Maddock "and/or others" with regard to R200m that Teta invested with Fidentia Asset Management, now under curatorship. The corruption relates to an allegation that he got just under R5 million in unlawful kickbacks in the process. His attorney, Marco Martini, said neither he nor Bothma had any comment at this stage. "At this stage we're waiting to see a formal charge sheet," he said. Bothma will be in the dock alongside Brown and Maddock at their next court appearance on August 31.
Scorpions prosecutor Bruce Morrisson told the court the State did not object to bail, and that the amount had been agreed on by the State and defence. He said Bothma had co-operated with the Scorpions over his arrest, and had at the time of his arrest not given any false information. As part of his bail conditions, Bothma has been ordered to surrender all travel documents, and to seek Scorpions permission if he wants to leave South Africa. He has also been barred from communicating with any Teta board members, officials or employees. It is understood that the Scorpions are hoping to make further arrests in the case.
Source: News 24
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