I'll never be arrested - Selebi

National police chief and Interpol head Jackie Selebi has said he will never be arrested because a warrant does not exist, the early edition of the Sunday Times reported on Saturday. "I will never be arrested... If there is a warrant for me I will stand on the 10th floor of the Sandton Towers so that the Scorpions can arrest me," he told the newspaper.

Selebi was responding to numerous media reports citing reliable sources that the National Prosecuting Authority had obtained a warrant for his arrest last week. A search and seizure document was allegedly also obtained from the Pretoria High Court. "I am not bothered at all. For what must I be arrested? There is no such thing as a warrant. It does not exist. I will not comment on charges as there is no warrant," he said. The question of Selebi's possible arrest follows in the wake of the suspension of National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli by President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki suspended Pikoli on Monday, citing an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between Pikoli and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla. On Saturday night, Government Communication and Information System spokesperson Themba Maseko said Mbeki had appointed Frene Ginwala to conduct the inquiry into Pikoli's fitness to hold office. Maseko said the former National Assembly Speaker had been appointed in terms of section 12(6) of the National Prosecuting Act 32 of 1998. "It's (the inquiry) going to be under way soon. I need to meet with the doctor (Ginwala) first and will avail more details on Monday," he said. Maseko said he would address a press conference on Monday outlining the details and format of the enquiry.

Source: Polity

Has a Warrant been issued for Selebi ?

A warrant of arrest has been issued for national police chief Jackie Selebi, the SABC reported on Thursday.

The SABC is reporting the arrest was secured by suspended NPA head Vusi Pikoli last Thursday. President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli from his job at the weekend, citing a "breakdown in relationship" with the Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla. The state broadcaster said it had "reliably learnt" that the National Prosecuting Authority had obtained the warrant. The SABC also reported the NPA secured a "search and seizure document" with the arrest.

NPS spokesperson Tlali Tlali would not comment on the report late on Thursday afternoon. "That is the SABC's story. We can't comment," he told Sapa. National police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said: "I have been with him (Selebi) all day. He has certainly not been arrested. I just spoke to him and he knows nothing about it."

News 24.com

Mbeki to act against Selebi?

President Thabo Mbeki is about to act against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday.

It was believed Mbeki was about to order an inquiry into allegations that Selebi, also the head of interpol, had links with crime syndicates, the paper said.

Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga is accompanying the President to the current UN General Assembly in New York, and declined to comment, referring enquiries to government communications head Themba Maseko.

However, Maseko was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Citing independent sources, the Argus said the inquiry into the claims against Selebi would be Mbeki's second major step following the suspension on Monday of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Vusi Pikoli.

Apparently, the third step would be a probe into private companies owned by apartheid-era security operators contracted by the police and Scorpions to do investigations.

A source told the Argus Mbeki was keen to clear the air about Selebi, whom he had been seen to be protecting since the allegations arose.

Selebi had denied having links to shadowy individuals who, in turn, had been linked to murdered businessman Brett Kebble.

The Argus said it understood that a file, compiled by a private security company on behalf of the Scorpions, was to be handed over to acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe - who took over from Pikoli.

Mpshe would then take a decision whether there was a prima facie case against Selebi, and, if there was, a full independent investigation would be ordered.

The probe would be headed by a judge, because both the police and Scorpions would be unacceptable - given that Selebi headed the police and the Scorpions' credibility was in question following Pikoli's suspension.

According to the sources, Mbeki acted against Pikoli because of his failure to control the Scorpions, the Argus said.

Source: News 24.com

Mbeki suspends NPA boss

President Thabo Mbeki has suspended the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli, the GCIS said on Monday. "This decision was taken on the basis of an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and the NDPP," said Government Communications and Information System's spokesperson Themba Maseko. He said the suspension was in terms of Section 12 (6) (a) of the National Prosecution Act 32 of 1998.

Maseko said Mbeki considered the relationship between Minister Mabandla and the NDPP central to the effective administration of justice and the "smooth functioning" of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). "The relationship breakdown had adverse implications for the NPA and the functioning of the criminal justice system," he said. He said an enquiry would be instituted to investigate the functioning and role of the NDPP. Recommendations would then be made to the President.

Deputy National Director Mokotedi Mpshe has been appointed as acting director. "Government would like to reassure all South Africans that the functioning of the justice system will not be compromised, especially within the context of the collective challenge to fight crime," he said.

Source: News 24.com

Majali named in audit of E Cape's missing R100m

he controversial Sandi Majali -- known for his role in the Oilgate scandal -- has been named in a forensic audit into the disappearance of more than R100-million meant for starving children in the Eastern Cape, the Sunday Times reported.

As the head of oil company Imvume Management, Majali was a central figure in the Oilgate debacle surrounding R11-million of taxpayers' money paid to the African National Congress as election funds ahead of the 2004 elections. He was also named in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. The audit found that companies under Majali's control had been involved in the collapse of the R230-million school feeding scheme, and the Scorpions are now probing irregularities uncovered during the audit. The feeding scheme collapsed barely six months after being launched in June last year when it emerged that food was not getting to children at about 5 000 Eastern Cape schools, the Sunday Times reported.

Majali was in charge of four of six community cooperatives that were awarded tenders to distribute supplies to smaller cooperatives that would prepare and distribute the meals. The 51-page audit report, commissioned by Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela, found that Majali's cooperatives were irregularly awarded tenders, irregularly paid at least R6-million over four months and overpaid by R9-million.

By the time the scheme crashed, the Sunday Times said, the government had paid out R100-million -- and it is unclear where the rest of the R100-million went.

Source: Mail & Guardian

FirstRand tax scheme was 'suspect'

Judge Jeanette Traverso, hearing FirstRand's urgent application for an interdict against the satirical magazine NoseWeek in the Cape High Court, said on Wednesday that there seemed to be little doubt that the tax-avoidance scheme at the heart of the case "is suspect".

Counsel for the applicant, Nick Maritz, denied that the scheme was illegal, and said the matter has never been decided by a court. He accused the publisher of NoseWeek, Martin Welz, of setting himself up as both judge and jury, and deciding on his own that it was illegal. Counsel for publishers Caxton Press, Theoniel Potgieter, said that nowhere has the bank ever claimed that the scheme is legal. "All they have ever said is that it was not proved to be illegal," he said. "That is not the same thing."

Judge Traverso also wondered in court how it was that FirstRand, against whom allegations in connection with the scheme have already been made by NoseWeek in the past, could claim to act on behalf of its clients. She told Maritz that it did not seem to her that the clause in the law relating to class actions covers FirstRand's actions. "What do these people have in common?" she asked. "They have in common that they are about to be defamed by NoseWeek," Maritz replied.

The bank is trying to prevent the magazine from publishing a list of prominent clients of the banks who were involved in a complicated tax-avoidance scheme drawn up by its former private banking arm, Ansbacher, The respondents, Welz and Caxton, argue that they would defend a defamation case by showing that what they say is true and in the public interest to publish.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Joburg hosts magistrates' summit

Speaking at the opening of a two-day Magistrates' Conference in Johannesburg deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke said that, "The biggest threat to the judiciary's independence could come from within the judiciary itself by those who failed to uphold ethics". At the conference, Moseneke, as well as Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs, called on those within the judiciary to uphold ethics. The conference, which was the the first of its kind, looked at issues pertaining to magistrates, ranging from their appointments, to accountability, training requirements, ethics, institutional governance and enhancing the efficiency of the lower courts.

Moseneke said that judges should always, and not only in the discharge of official duties, act honourably and in a manner befitting judicial office. "That implies that all activities of a judge must be compatible with the status of a judicial office...a judge must comply with the law of the land," he said. While not pointing out any specific members of the judiciary, Moseneke said that "with deep sadness we are constrained to admit that a few judicial officers may have attracted the impression that complying with the law is dispensable. It is, however, not right to imagine that one or perhaps two swallows make a summer. The overwhelming majority of judicial officers meticulously honour their oath to office."

Minister for Justice Brigitte Mabandla said that the conference needed to explore whether the magistracy in substance and form was truly transformed from what it was during apartheid. "We need to ask whether there has been a change of mindset within society and the magistracy itself. We need to ask whether in reality the values enshrined in our constitution guide magistrates in their daily work," she noted. "Judicial decisions have a profound impact on society. Decisions that are seen as unfair by citizens have a cumulative impact on making society loathe, fear, distrust the bench as it was the case in the past," Mabandla said.

"In the new South Africa people look to the bench to give meaning to the Constitution. The judiciary, broadly speaking, and the magistracy in particular because it is the coalface of the delivery of justice, have the opportunity to entrench progressive values of good citizenship," commented the Minister.

Source: Polity

State of Anarchy

Since mid-2005, hundreds of civilians have been killed, more than 10 thousand houses burned, and approximately 212,000 persons have fled their homes in terror to live in desperate conditions deep in the bush in northern Central African Republic (CAR). Bordering eastern Chad and war-ravaged Darfur in Sudan, this area has been destabilized by at least two major rebellions against the government of President Franois Boziz.

The vast majority of summary executions and unlawful killings, and almost all village burnings, have been carried out by government forces, often in reprisal for rebel attacks. While both main rebel groups have been responsible for widespread looting and the forced taxation of the civilian population in areas they control -and rebels in the northeast have committed killings, beatings, and rape -their abuses pale in comparison to those of the Central African Armed Forces (Forces armes Centrafricaines,FACA) and the elite Presidential Guard (Garde prsidentielle, GP). As the International Criminal Court (ICC) begins investigations into atrocities committed during the 2002-2003 rebellion against former President Patass, it should also investigate possible war crimes under its jurisdiction committed in the current round of fighting.

This report documents the human rights abuses and breaches of international humanitarian law being committed in northern CAR and describes the make-up, origins, and aims of the most significant rebel groups. The Popular Army for the Restoration of the Republic and Democracy (Arme populaire pour la restauration de la Rpublique et la dmocratie, APRD) is active in the northwestern provinces of Ouham, Ouham-Pend, and Nana-Grbizi. The Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (Union des forces dmocratiques pour la rassemblement,UFDR) is most active in remote northeastern provinces of Bamingui-Bangoran and Vakaga.

In February and March 2007 Human Rights Watch researchers visited the majority of towns and villages affected, documenting summary executions, unlawful killings, beatings, house burnings, extortion and unlawful taxation, the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, and many other human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed over 100 persons, including many victims and witnesses, local and regional government officials, military commanders, rebel officials, religious leaders, and representatives of local and international humanitarian organizations active in northern CAR.

Until quite recently there was little international awareness of the situation in northern CAR. However, in 2006, human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law began to receive some attention. The killings, village burnings, displacement, and humanitarian suffering are now occasionally reported in the international press and are the subject of increasing diplomatic notice, usually being seen as "spill-over" from the continuing crisis in Darfur.

Little attention, however, has been paid to the actual dynamics of conflict, which are largely home grown. The main rebel protagonists are Central Africans with local grievances. Human Rights Watch's research suggests that the degree of linkage with the situation in Darfur has been exaggerated. The APRD in the northwest is so poorly equipped that it is difficult to imagine it has foreign sponsorship. Human Rights Watch has found no other evidence of such support. Although there have been contacts between the UFDR and Sudan-sponsored Chadian rebels opposed to the Chadian President Dby based in the northeast of CAR in early 2006, foreign support does not appear to be a driving force behind this rebellion.

Neither has attention been paid to the issue of responsibility for human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law, nor to action to ensure accountability. The sorry fact is that the perpetrators of violence and abuse, the majority of them government soldiers, have so far enjoyed total impunity for acts that include war crimes.
The APRD Rebellion

The APRD rebellion in the northwest was launched almost immediately after controversial 2005 elections led to the election of General Boziz as President. These had excluded the candidacy of ex-President Patass, who had been overthrown by General Boziz in March 2003. The leadership of the APRD rebellion consists mostly of former Presidential Guards of Patass, himself from the region. The APRD has about 1,000 poorly equipped members, including 200 rebels armed with automatic weapons, and another 600 with home-made hunting weapons. They claim their aim is to engage in "dialogue" to address the political exclusion of Patass and his supporters and to improve the security situation in the northwest, rather than to overthrow the government.

One of the main grievances of the population of the northwest is lack of security. Armed bandits, known as zaraguinas or coupeurs de route, regularly attack villagers and have taken advantage of insufficient security provided by the state to increase attacks. The zaraguinas commonly kidnap children for ransom and regularly kill civilians during raids. Many cattle-herders from the Peulh ethnic groupin the northwest, particularly targeted because of their valuable livestock, have fled to the safety of larger towns and refugee camps in Chad. Along with the political grievances of former Patass supporters, the failure of the CAR security forces to protect local communities from banditry is an important element in the development of the APRD, and many local armed self-defense groups have merged into the rebel group.
The UFDR Rebellion

From October to December 2006, the UFDR rebel movement gained international attention by seizing military control of the major towns in the remote Vakaga and Bamingui-Bangoran provinces of northeastern CAR, right on the border of Sudan's Darfur region. The UFDR's bold military offensive led to French military intervention on behalf of the CAR government in December 2006, allowing the security forces to regain control of urban centers.

The UFDR rebellion has its roots in the deep marginalization of northeastern CAR, which is virtually cut off from the rest of the country and is almost completely undeveloped. Elements from the Gula ethnic group, many of them trained militarily as anti-poaching units, are at the core of the rebellion, citing grievances such as discrimination against their community and the alleged embezzlement by the CAR authorities of compensation funds received from the Sudanese government following clashes perpetrated by Sudanese nomads in 2002. As the rebellion has grown, a backlash of anti-Gula sentiment among government officials, the military, and the general population has developed. As a result, most of the Gula population has fled government-controlled areas in fear of retaliation.

A second element making up the UFDR is Boziz's own former colleagues, so-called ex-librateurs, who participated in his overthrow of former President Patass in 2003. They accuse Boziz of betraying his promises and failing to compensate them for their support.
Abuses by FACA and GP Forces

Since the beginning of the conflict in mid 2005 with rebel forces in northern CAR, the CAR security forces have committed serious and widespread abuses against the civilian population, including multiple summary executions and unlawful killings, widespread burning of civilian homes, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, which have instilled terror in the civilian population. In most instances, these village burnings and killings were in direct response to recent rebel activity in the area and amount to unlawful reprisals against the civilian population. It is the FACA and GP that have been responsible for the vast majority of the most serious human rights abuses in the conflict, and they have carried out these atrocities in full confidence of impunity from accountability for their crimes.

During the course of its research, Human Rights Watch documented 119 summary executions and unlawful killings committed by government security forces in both the northwest and northeast (the vast majority in the northwest), including at least 51 committed since late 2005 by a single military unit, the Bossangoa-based GP unit, commanded at the time by Lieutenant Eugne Ngakoss.

Human Rights Watch believes that the killings it has documented are only a fraction of the total number of those committed by government security forces. Since the beginning of the conflict these are estimated to amount to many hundreds. Killings committed by security forces have often involved dozens of civilian deaths in a single day and have often included unspeakable brutality. For example, on February 11, 2006, a single GP unit killed at least 30 civilians in more than a dozen separate villages located along the Nana-Barya to Bmal road. On March 22, this same GP unit beheaded a teacher in Bmal, cutting off his head with a knife while he was still alive. Other civilians have simply "disappeared" in military custody, arrested and not seen alive again.

Since December 2005, government forces, particularly the GP, have also been almost solely responsible for the burning down of more than 10,000 civilian homes in northwestern CAR. Hundreds of villages across vast swathes of northern CAR have been destroyed. Troops arrive in villages and indiscriminately fire into the civilian population, forcing them to flee before burning down their homes, sometimes looting them first. In December 2005, GP forces burned down 500 to 900 houses in the Markounda area. A Human Rights Watch count in the Batangafo-Kabo-Ouandago-Kaga Bandoro area found a total of 2,923 burned homes, including more than 1,000 homes in the large market town of Ouandago alone. In some places every single home in every single village was burned. Similarly massive destruction can be found all around the town of Paoua, all the way east to Nana Baryahundreds of kilometers of villages destroyed by government security forces.

The reprisal and counterinsurgency tactics of the CAR security forces have affected the lives of over 1 million people and have forced an estimated 212,000 civilians to abandon their road-side homes and live deep inside the bush, too fearful to return to their burned villages in case of repeat attack. Another 78,000 have sought refuge in neighboring Chad and Cameroon. The level of civilian fear in northern CAR is palpable. People are simply not to be seen in many areas, hiding far away. At the sound of approaching cars, everyone flees, dropping their possessions, sometimes even abandoning babies in their haste.

Living conditions for the displaced are life-threatening. They have no access to clean water, are often desperately short of food supplies, and their widely dispersed shelters are beyond the reach of the humanitarian community. Educational facilities have been closed, and aside from mobile clinics run by international organizations in some areas, health care is non-existent.
Rebel Abuses

APRD rebels in the northwest have engaged in widespread extortion, forced taxation, kidnappings for ransom, and beatings of civilians, particularly in the Batangafo-Kabo-Ouandago area of Ouham province. In that area, particularly on the Batangafo-Ouandago road, almost all villages have been systematically looted of all livestock, and village leaders have been regularly kidnapped for ransom. APRD rebels also have large numbers of child soldiers in their ranks, some as young as 12. APRD commanders expressed willingness to Human Rights Watch to demobilize the child soldiers if the post-demobilization security of the children could be guaranteed.

During its investigation in the field, Human Rights Watch documented one summary execution by the APRD (the killing of Mohammed Haroon in June 2006, in Gbazera) and did not identify any cases of home-burning by the group. Human Rights Watch has not received any credible additional reports of summary killings or village burnings by APRD rebels from local or international human rights organizations or journalists. On June 11, 2007, APRD rebels fired upon a vehicle of the international humanitarian organization Doctors without Borders (Mdecins Sans Frontires, MSF), killing Elsa Serfass, an MSF nurse. While the APRD immediately apologized for the incident, saying it had been a "mistake," the persons responsible should be held to account.

Human Rights Watch's research found that UFDR rebels in the northeast have carried out widespread abuses against the civilian population. During attacks on villages and towns they have often indiscriminately fired at fleeing civilians, leading to unlawful killings. Meanwhile, UFDR rebels have been responsible for summary executions of captured civilians. From October to December 2006, the rebels carried out massive looting of the belongings and livestock of the civilian population in areas they controlled. There have been allegations of rape by UFDR rebels, although Human Rights Watch has only been able to corroborate one case-a woman raped by five UFDR rebels during their brief capture of Birao in March 2007. The UFDR also has child soldiers in its ranks, and Human Rights Watch found that some of them had been forcibly recruited.
The Need for Protection

Establishing credible mechanisms to protect the civilian population from abuses is fundamental to addressing the human rights crisis in northern CAR. The responsibility for civilian protection lies first and foremost with the CAR authorities: they must take immediate steps to end military abuses and to re-establish a functioning police force and court system that serve to protect the rights of the civilian population.

However, the international community can also do more. A stronger international protection presence in the north is urgently needed. There already is a substantial UN human rights presence in CAR, in the form of a 19-person human rights unit in the office of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in the Central African Republic (Bureau d'appui des Nations Unies pour la consolidation de la paix en Rpublique centrafricaine, BONUCA), a long-standing UN peace support mission established in 2000. However, the human rights unit has been largely passive to date and does not effectively monitor or report on human rights abuses in the north. The UN should take the necessary measures, including changes to the mandate of the human rights section, to ensure that the BONUCA human rights unit effectively monitors and reports on human rights abuses in the north, in the same way that the human rights units of UN peacekeeping missions operate in neighboring Sudan and DRC.

If the UN Security Council moves ahead with the deployment of a UN protection mission to CAR and Chad, that mission should focus on the real protection needs of the civilian population of both countries, and not focus solely on neutralizing the "spill-over effect" of the Darfur crisis.
The Need for Accountability

The crimes being committed in northern CAR by government security forces are no secret inside the country. Local newspapers and radio frequently report them, opposition parliamentarians have prepared public reports documenting the atrocities, and diplomatic envoys regularly raise their concerns with President Boziz. Despite this, the government has not investigated, prosecuted, or punished a single military officer, or even publicly reprimanded them for any of the abuses. Even in the capital, Bangui, security forces carry out summary killings of suspected bandits and rebels with impunity. During Human Rights Watch's visit, two handcuffed Chadian rebel suspects were executed on the outskirts of Bangui by security forces. The commander of the most notorious of the units, Lieutenant Eugne Ngakoss of the Bossangoa-based GP unit that has killed dozens of civilians and is directly implicated in most of the village burnings in the north, remains a free man and an active duty military officer to date.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office is already involved in the CAR, having announced in May 2007 that they would investigate crimes committed in CAR during the 2002-2003 fighting, and that they would continue to monitor possible crimes committed during the current conflict. The investigations of the ICC in CAR should not, however, detract from the primary obligation of the CAR authorities to end impunity and bring about accountability for crimes committed by its armed forces and others. Ultimately, the crisis in northern CAR will only be resolved when law and order is restored, and the institutions of justice have the capacity to punish those who commit crimes against the civilian population, including members of the army and the elite GP.

The international community-particularly France, without whose direct military support the government of President Boziz would not survive-have an obligation to speak out about the abuses in northern CAR and to demand accountability for the crimes committed in northern CAR.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Lekota: revolutionary songs ANC policy

ANC national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota has defended his negative remarks about people singing freedom songs such as Umshini Wami, saying the issue was not about ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma, but about policy. Speaking to journalists at a media briefing on Wednesday, the defence minister said although he was talking to a specific audience when the remarks were made, the essence of what he said was relevant to everybody. "These liberation and freedom songs are not pop songs, which we sing for personal entertainment here and there. "These are instruments of revolution, cultivated since the inception of our movement," he said. They had been sung with a purpose, and been used to advance the ANC's policies, to announce them, and popularise them.

The songs had changed as policy positions had changed as the ANC went through its phases of struggle. This was why the ANC national executive committee (NEC) - following the conclusion of the negotiations at Codesa - had stepped in when Peter Mokaba continued using slogans such as "kill the boer, kill the farmer", which clearly flew in the face of policy.

The ANC had to look at what it was it wanted to say to the people, Lekota said. "We have a responsibility to unite the people of this country. We carry the responsibility to unite these people and to reconcile them, and to focus their attention on the task of national upliftment and a better life for the people. "Leaders of the ANC, therefore, cannot behave like anybody else on the street. I want to see the ANC work in the interests of the people of South.

Source: IoL

Eskom looks to nuclear plants

South Africa's largely coal-driven power utility Eskom has hit the limits of its capacity and aims to double output by 2025, with nuclear plants supplying more than a quarter of future energy compared with 6% now. Eskom's chief executive Jacob Maroga told a coal conference on Tuesday the state-owned firm would cut back on polluting coal-fired plants that have made South Africa the world's lowest cost electricity producer. "The issues we're faced with are costs and lead time, but the debate around global warming is key, because coal is a big contributor to carbon dioxide emissions," Maroga told the Coaltrans conference. "We can now finally say we have run out of surplus capacity."

Maroga said plans to boost output to 80 000 megawatts (MW) by 2025 would include adding 20 000 MW of nuclear-supplied energy as well as extra renewable capacity. The proportion of output from coal would fall below 70% by 2025 from 86% currently. "All over the world nuclear is coming back," he said. "Going forward the electricity prices we have will not be sustainable."

The two reactors at South Africa's Koeberg, Africa's only nuclear-fired facility, generate some 6% of the country's electricity, mainly used around Cape Town. Maroga said South Africa, one of the biggest producers of uranium, was building a multi-billion dollar new technology pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), and has mooted building more conventional plants to add to Koeberg.Eskom was currently planning to expand yearly by 4%, to keep up with a projected 6% growth in the gross domestic product of Africa's biggest economy.

The company has already outlined a R150-billion spending programme from 2007 to 2011, with more to follow.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Zuma 'not right in the head'

The supporters of African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma were fuming on Monday after the party's national chairperson, Mosioua Lekota, took off the gloves in the ANC succession race by suggesting that Zuma was "not right in his head" by persisting in singing the "Umshini Wami" (Bring me my machine gun) song after the armed struggle had been abandoned.

Lekota, who is also minister of defence, was quoted on SABC TV News on Sunday as saying the ANC had suspended the armed struggle during negotiations with the apartheid government and thereafter it was totally abandoned. He was addressing a function in Gauteng to commemorate the Delmas treason trial, where he and other anti-apartheid activists were tried. Lekota did not refer to Zuma by name but many of his backers saw his statement as an attack on Zuma as "Umshini Wami" was his popular song. 'We expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. He did not understand why a person "obhadlile ekhanda lakhe" (who is right in his head) could keep on saying "bring on my machine gun" when the armed struggle had long been abandoned.

Political analysts saw Lekota's statement as indicating "gloves-off" ahead of the important ANC conference in Limpopo in December. There were angry reactions from Zuma backers who described it as "unfortunate and uncalled for". ANC Youth League spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said Lekota had "stooped so low". "As the national chairperson of the ANC we expect Lekota to rise above petty squabbles. But we are not surprised because this is indicative of personal frustration on his side because as we discuss the future of the ANC and its leadership, his name does not feature anywhere.

'This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile' "He thinks people have abandoned him and it confirms our assessment of him is correct in that he should not be included in any key leadership position," said Kodwa.

He warned that revolutionary songs should not be interpreted literally. We did not expect such a thing from the national chairman of the ANC. "This song was sung by our cadres during difficult times in exile. "When we sing it, we do so to remember those times and to ponder the future," he said.

Don Mkhwanazi, the chairman of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, a body charged with raising defence funds for Zuma, urged that there was a need to understand the song in its correct context. The song, he said, was being used figuratively to reflect on the challenges still ahead for the country. "Because of what has happened in South Africa, the national democratic revolution is not complete yet. "We have arrived at a political destination but we have not really arrived at the promised land, where political and economic equity will be realised. The song actually means that we must be vigilant and vigorous in defending the gains that we have made because there are certain things that are beginning to fester, like perceived selective justice which is going to undermine the rule of law. No one wants to shoot anyone; we have passed the stage of shooting but we cannot stop to defend our gains," said Mkhwanazi.

Zuma's aide, Renjeni Munusamy, said she could not comment as Zuma was out of the country. Political analyst Nhlanhla Mtaka said with the ANC conference on the horizon, the country was entering an interesting time where people, formations and cabals would be tempted to attack their opponents at every opportunity. "Particularly with provinces announcing their nominations, some leaders might be tempted to fight for their names to be there. "The unfortunate part in this exercise is that it will be the image of the ANC that will be tarnished as senior ANC members enter the street fight ahead of Limpopo. "However, it will not be those who are vocal that will win the day but those who present themselves as statesmen in the midst of this raging political storm," said Mtaka.

The spokesperson for Lekota, Sam Mkhwanazi, could not be contacted for comment.

Source: IoL

Over 9 000 SA youths to be trained as social workers

More than 9 000 unemployed youths will be trained as auxiliary social workers by 2010, the Department of Social Development said on Monday. Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said the implementation of the training programme is part of an agreement of cooperation with Cuba's Minister of Labour and Social Security, Alfredo Morales Cartaya. "The youth will be trained and on completion be deployed in their communities to help us deal with the various social challenges such as assisting orphans and vulnerable children, alleviating the HIV and Aids [pandemic], vulnerable youth support and others," he said.

Cuba has developed a two-pronged work-training programme comprising a formal university-level programme and a rapid 12-month social work-training programme. As part of the implementation of the agreement, the Cuban programme will be replicated in South Africa to alleviate the shortage of social workers and create much-needed jobs as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme. "A rapid auxiliary social-worker training programme will surely help us deal with the critical shortages of social workers," said Skweyiya. He said the department will "train and absorb" 9360 auxiliary social workers by 2010.

Skweyiya was in Cuba to strengthen ties and formalise cooperation on social security, services to women, youth and children, community development, poverty alleviation and training of social service professionals. Departmental spokesperson Lakela Kaunda said youth from rural and poor communities will be favoured in the national recruitment programme.

The cooperation with Cuba will also include study tours and exchanges of technical expertise on policy development.

Source: Mail & Guardian