As South Africa prepares for its fourth national and provincial elections in 2009 it is vital that leaders embrace the ‘politics of principle’ that underpin South Africa’s constitutional democracy. Without clear commitments by the new ANC leadership towards ethical conduct in public office, levels of trust in politicians are likely to decrease, further alienating voters.
Source: Institute for Security Studies
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Families out in the cold after farm eviction
Barely two metres from the busy R512 road leading to Lanseria Airport and Hartbeespoort dam, eight families have braved the inclement weather after they were evicted from the farm on which some had lived for more than 60 years.
The group ranges from the elderly to small children.
On Sunday night when the Pretoria News visited the evictees,65-year-old Priscilla Masilo and Jeremiah Mokoena, 73, sat on plastic chairs with the others, huddled around a fire to keep warm.
Scattered around them were their only belongings - blankets, mattresses and a few pots and pans. They remembered the many years they worked on the nearby Botesdal from early morning until late. Masilo was born on the farm in 1943. Her father worked there until he died in 1954 and Masilo and her grand-daughter had lived in a house their father built shortly before he died. Mokoena, who was born in 1935 took over from Masilo's father and took care of the pigs on the farm.
The group includes 63-year-old Louisa Sibeko, who is now confined to a wheelchair and who worked on the farm as a tomato picker. She had to stop work 10 years ago following a stroke. The families were evicted from the farm about a week ago and the City of Johannesburg wanted to relocate them to Adelaide Tambo Emergency settlement next to sewerage works.
But Masilo and her group refused to be relocated to a place where the stench is so pungent that they can barely eat their meals. "We will stay here until they say we can go back to the farm. That is our home and we worked on the farm for most of our lives,"Masilo said. An eviction order was sought against Masilo and the group as thefarm is earmarked for further development. The issue went to court in 2007 and the lawyer representing the group agreed to the eviction order without their consent .
Masilo said nobody would listen to their objections and their lawyer at the time merely told them to keep quiet. Masilo said they were told afterwards that they had to vacate the farm, but were able to remain there until when they were evicted with the help of Jumbo Security. Lawyers for Human Rights turned to the Land Claims Court in Randburg on Monday where they sought an urgent order to allow the people to return to the farm until the matter was resolved. The matter was however postponed for a week.
Louise du Plessis, the lawyer acting on their behalf, said these people have been living on the farm for years - some even for decades - and qualified as long-term occupiers under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act. The act gives occupiers a number of rights, including that if a tenant is older than 60 years and had been living on the particular property for longer than 10 years, he or she cannot be evicted, or in the alternative, must be suitably compensated. Du Plessis said the situation whereby the people were now living next to the road,was a disaster waiting to happen.
Source: Pretoria News
Scattered around them were their only belongings - blankets, mattresses and a few pots and pans. They remembered the many years they worked on the nearby Botesdal from early morning until late. Masilo was born on the farm in 1943. Her father worked there until he died in 1954 and Masilo and her grand-daughter had lived in a house their father built shortly before he died. Mokoena, who was born in 1935 took over from Masilo's father and took care of the pigs on the farm.
The group includes 63-year-old Louisa Sibeko, who is now confined to a wheelchair and who worked on the farm as a tomato picker. She had to stop work 10 years ago following a stroke. The families were evicted from the farm about a week ago and the City of Johannesburg wanted to relocate them to Adelaide Tambo Emergency settlement next to sewerage works.
But Masilo and her group refused to be relocated to a place where the stench is so pungent that they can barely eat their meals. "We will stay here until they say we can go back to the farm. That is our home and we worked on the farm for most of our lives,"Masilo said. An eviction order was sought against Masilo and the group as thefarm is earmarked for further development. The issue went to court in 2007 and the lawyer representing the group agreed to the eviction order without their consent .
Masilo said nobody would listen to their objections and their lawyer at the time merely told them to keep quiet. Masilo said they were told afterwards that they had to vacate the farm, but were able to remain there until when they were evicted with the help of Jumbo Security. Lawyers for Human Rights turned to the Land Claims Court in Randburg on Monday where they sought an urgent order to allow the people to return to the farm until the matter was resolved. The matter was however postponed for a week.
Louise du Plessis, the lawyer acting on their behalf, said these people have been living on the farm for years - some even for decades - and qualified as long-term occupiers under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act. The act gives occupiers a number of rights, including that if a tenant is older than 60 years and had been living on the particular property for longer than 10 years, he or she cannot be evicted, or in the alternative, must be suitably compensated. Du Plessis said the situation whereby the people were now living next to the road,was a disaster waiting to happen.
Source: Pretoria News
Monday, July 28, 2008
Al-Qaeda chemical expert 'killed'
Reports from Pakistan say a leading al-Qaeda chemical weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, has been killed in a missile strike. Taleban officials in the tribal area of South Waziristan confirmed to the BBC that he was killed in a missile strike that left at least six people dead. The US, which has a reward of $5m on his head, said it had no information. He was wrongly reported to have been killed in 2006 in a strike aimed at al-Qaeda deputy head Ayman al-Zawahiri. The pre-dawn strike targeted a house near a mosque in the village of Azam Warsak, 20km (12 miles) west of the main town in South Waziristan, Wana. It was suspected to be a strike by US forces, with residents saying they had heard US drones, but this has not been confirmed. Pakistani military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the AFP news agency it was still awaiting "authentic information" from the area.
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an Egyptian national. The US government's Rewards for Justice website says he is "an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda". It says he trained hundreds of militants in chemical and explosives operations at a camp at Derunta in Afghanistan.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. The US is reported to have carried out a number of drone missile attacks in the tribal regions. Pakistan has complained the attacks could damage bilateral relations. The latest strike came shortly before Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due to meet US President George W Bush in Washington.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had no information about the incident. In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan's new government tackle militancy in border tribal areas.
Source: BBC
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an Egyptian national. The US government's Rewards for Justice website says he is "an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda". It says he trained hundreds of militants in chemical and explosives operations at a camp at Derunta in Afghanistan.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. The US is reported to have carried out a number of drone missile attacks in the tribal regions. Pakistan has complained the attacks could damage bilateral relations. The latest strike came shortly before Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due to meet US President George W Bush in Washington.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had no information about the incident. In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan's new government tackle militancy in border tribal areas.
Source: BBC
Editors decide to fight moves to muzzle media
Any attempt by the government to control the media would be opposed, the SA National Editors' Forum has said. In a statement on Sunday, Sanef reiterated its firm opposition to any attempt by the government to control the media, such as the statutory media tribunal proposed by the ANC. The decision was taken at Sanef's annual general meeting in Joburg. "The industry's editorial self-regulatory system, the Press Council with its Press Ombudsman and Appeals Panel, dealt effectively with public complaints in the way similar institutions acted in 60 democracies throughout the world," Sanef said.
Any control would restrict media freedom and contravene the freedom of expression rights in the constitution. The forum also expressed concerns about unsubstantiated complaints by senior ANC members about the Press Council, as well as attempts to discredit the judiciary.
It deplored the increasing attempts by the government to exercise control over the media through legislation such as the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, the Protection of Information Bill and the National Key Points Act.
Source: IoL
Any control would restrict media freedom and contravene the freedom of expression rights in the constitution. The forum also expressed concerns about unsubstantiated complaints by senior ANC members about the Press Council, as well as attempts to discredit the judiciary.
It deplored the increasing attempts by the government to exercise control over the media through legislation such as the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, the Protection of Information Bill and the National Key Points Act.
Source: IoL
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Fear the wrath of the poor -- Cosatu
Cosatu leaders who spearheaded protest marches against rising food, fuel and electricity prices have sent a clear message to the new ANC leadership that they will not be spared the workers' wrath if they do not implement "pro-poor" policies.
"ANC must be on the forefront when the masses are rising. We expect the ANC to sit down and talk to us. We expect the leadership we have campaigned for in Polokwane to sit down with us.
"This is why Cosatu worked so hard to ensure [that] the leadership of the ANC is strongly biased towards the workers."
Source: Mail & Guardian
"ANC must be on the forefront when the masses are rising. We expect the ANC to sit down and talk to us. We expect the leadership we have campaigned for in Polokwane to sit down with us.
"This is why Cosatu worked so hard to ensure [that] the leadership of the ANC is strongly biased towards the workers."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, July 25, 2008
How climate change threatens Africa's food security
Climate change has a profound and unavoidable effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent.
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town on July 21 and ended on Thursday. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.
The relationship between climate change and food security is complex. Many factors influence food security, which means that often "the link is not even made between failed crops and changing weather patterns", Dr Gina Ziervogel, senior researcher at the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, told the conference.
Source: Mail & Guardian
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town on July 21 and ended on Thursday. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.
The relationship between climate change and food security is complex. Many factors influence food security, which means that often "the link is not even made between failed crops and changing weather patterns", Dr Gina Ziervogel, senior researcher at the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, told the conference.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Mbeki withdraws from Scorpions case
President Thabo Mbeki has withdrawn his opposition against a Constitutional Court bid to stop the disbanding of the Scorpions, Business Day reported on Friday.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Source: Mail & Guardian
Cops 'sabotaged Kebble probe'
The police deliberately tried to sabotage their investigation into the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble, former judge Willem Heath was quoted as saying in Friday's Mail and Guardian.
Heath, who was hired by Kebble's father to investigate his death, drafted the previously unpublished report in December 2006, more than a year after Kebble was gunned down.
In the report, Heath points out a number of examples of inadequate police work, including their failure to secure the crime site, only interviewing witnesses a year after the murder and failing to do a thorough forensic investigation of the car in which Kebble was shot.
"If the Saps [South African Police Service] behaviour during the investigation... is examined, it is our contention that the Saps either deliberately or negligently failed to secure, destroyed or attempted to destroy evidence...
"Considering the links between [suspended police chief Jackie] Selebi and [convicted drug trafficker Glenn] Agliotti, and the alleged financial links between Selebi and [security consultant Clinton] Nassif, it is highly plausible that the Saps deliberately stalled and attempted to sabotage the murder investigation," quoted the Mail and Guardian from Heath's report.
Kebble was shot in his car in Johannesburg in 2005. Agliotti had been charged with the murder and was out on bail.
South African authorities were also seeking John Stratton's extradition from Australia to stand trial alongside Agliotti. Stratton was a co-director with Brett Kebble of mining company JCI.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Heath, who was hired by Kebble's father to investigate his death, drafted the previously unpublished report in December 2006, more than a year after Kebble was gunned down.
In the report, Heath points out a number of examples of inadequate police work, including their failure to secure the crime site, only interviewing witnesses a year after the murder and failing to do a thorough forensic investigation of the car in which Kebble was shot.
"If the Saps [South African Police Service] behaviour during the investigation... is examined, it is our contention that the Saps either deliberately or negligently failed to secure, destroyed or attempted to destroy evidence...
"Considering the links between [suspended police chief Jackie] Selebi and [convicted drug trafficker Glenn] Agliotti, and the alleged financial links between Selebi and [security consultant Clinton] Nassif, it is highly plausible that the Saps deliberately stalled and attempted to sabotage the murder investigation," quoted the Mail and Guardian from Heath's report.
Kebble was shot in his car in Johannesburg in 2005. Agliotti had been charged with the murder and was out on bail.
South African authorities were also seeking John Stratton's extradition from Australia to stand trial alongside Agliotti. Stratton was a co-director with Brett Kebble of mining company JCI.
Source: Mail & Guardian
ANC: No link between Zuma and arms-deal processes
There is "no link" between African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma and the arms-deal processes, an ANC task team has found.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Source: Mail & Guardian
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Perjury charge laid against Vodacom executive
The Competition Commission has laid charges with the police against a Vodacom executive for committing an offence in terms of section 73 of the Competition Act. "Section 73 provides that it is an offence to knowingly provide false information to the commission," the commission said in a statement on Thursday. The charges were laid on Wednesday at the Sunnyside police station in Pretoria.
The commission believes that the executive committed a criminal offence by intentionally provided false information to mislead the commission, in contravention of the Competition Act. "The penalty for these offences is a maximum prison sentence of six months or a fine of R2 000 or both," it said.
The commission was informed in December last year of the merger between Vodacom Service Provider Company (VSPC), a subsidiary of Vodacom, and Global Telematics SA and Glocell Service Provider Company. In terms of the structure of the transaction, VSPC was to acquire the business of Glocell. As part of the merger filing, the executive signed a certificate of accuracy on behalf of Vodacom, declaring that the information submitted to the commission in respect of the merger was "true and correct".
During its investigation of the transaction Vodacom had failed to provide the commission with board minutes -- despite requests for it to do so. The commission was led to believe that these documents did not exist. It then referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal for unconditional approval. The tribunal ordered Vodacom to provide the board minutes on March 6 -- and they were submitted on March 10. The merger was subsequently approved by the tribunal, but the tribunal expressed "misgivings about Vodacom's truthfulness during the investigation of the transaction". The tribunal said it believed that information was deliberately withheld from the commission. "In particular, the tribunal noted that the strategic rationale as contained in the board minutes of Vodacom differed substantially with the rationale submitted to the commission."
The commission subsequently investigated the matter and found that the rationale for the transaction was to eliminate Glocell because it was "providing discounts to customers in competition with Vodacom and other Vodacom service providers". Contrary to this, the rationale submitted by Vodacom to the commission "was primarily driven by the declining growth of the service provider market and the desire by Vodacom to consolidate its service delivery chains" in line with worldwide trends to have management over the delivery of a more uniform consistent service to its customers.
Comment from Vodacom could not immediately be obtained.
Source" Mail & Guardian -- Sapa
The commission believes that the executive committed a criminal offence by intentionally provided false information to mislead the commission, in contravention of the Competition Act. "The penalty for these offences is a maximum prison sentence of six months or a fine of R2 000 or both," it said.
The commission was informed in December last year of the merger between Vodacom Service Provider Company (VSPC), a subsidiary of Vodacom, and Global Telematics SA and Glocell Service Provider Company. In terms of the structure of the transaction, VSPC was to acquire the business of Glocell. As part of the merger filing, the executive signed a certificate of accuracy on behalf of Vodacom, declaring that the information submitted to the commission in respect of the merger was "true and correct".
During its investigation of the transaction Vodacom had failed to provide the commission with board minutes -- despite requests for it to do so. The commission was led to believe that these documents did not exist. It then referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal for unconditional approval. The tribunal ordered Vodacom to provide the board minutes on March 6 -- and they were submitted on March 10. The merger was subsequently approved by the tribunal, but the tribunal expressed "misgivings about Vodacom's truthfulness during the investigation of the transaction". The tribunal said it believed that information was deliberately withheld from the commission. "In particular, the tribunal noted that the strategic rationale as contained in the board minutes of Vodacom differed substantially with the rationale submitted to the commission."
The commission subsequently investigated the matter and found that the rationale for the transaction was to eliminate Glocell because it was "providing discounts to customers in competition with Vodacom and other Vodacom service providers". Contrary to this, the rationale submitted by Vodacom to the commission "was primarily driven by the declining growth of the service provider market and the desire by Vodacom to consolidate its service delivery chains" in line with worldwide trends to have management over the delivery of a more uniform consistent service to its customers.
Comment from Vodacom could not immediately be obtained.
Source" Mail & Guardian -- Sapa
Saturday, July 19, 2008
THE LEGAL SERVICES CHARTER: BLACK SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND PROCUREMENT
What is there to say about the Legal Services Charter apart from – well – that it’s a Charter? I think the world has seen more than its fair share of Charters. A motley of United Nations Charters is gathering dust in libraries around the round, only to be dusted off once in a while when a poor sod somewhere in what is euphemistically termed the developing world becomes too smart for his own good.
Our own Freedom Charter promised the world and delivered – well – nothing for the vast majority of South Africans. All you need do is go and live in the township (for those of you who have not had the privilege) for a week and look around you.
My thesis is simple. Charters do not deliver anything. People do. People who are committed to the good cause. People who have a clear vision as regards what that cause is. People who have the integrity and resolve to see things through.
In unpacking my thesis, I shall do so in a tradition resembling that of an Anglican church sermon. The scripture comes from two books (Book 2 and Book 3) of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s seminal work, The Social Contract (Maurice Cranston’s translation). Book 2 chapter 8 deals with the nature of human beings from which I believe we can learn in our quest for developing black skills in the midst of misplaced and misinformed resistance. The short excerpt to which I want to draw your attention is this:
“Nations, like men, are teachable only in their youth; with age they become incorrigible. Once customs are established and prejudices rooted, reform is a dangerous and fruitless enterprise; a people cannot bear to see its evils touched, even if only to be eradicated; it is like a stupid, pusillanimous invalid who trembles at the sight of a physician.”
It is in the nature of human beings to resist measures designed to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number if such measures are perceived by the minority that has for generations been enjoying the greatest good to the exclusion of the greatest number, to disturb generations of comfortable oligopoly. That, in truth, is why the Bar keeps talking about transformation without anything being done. It is time for decisive action, not for putting measures in place. The Bar has reached an inflection point where its evils must be eradicated so that, at last, black will progressively become synonymous with enterprise and less so with unfounded perceptions of incompetence.
Established customs and prejudices wrought by apartheid (such as the belief that black lawyers are by reason only of their blackness less capable than their white counter-parts), will forever stand in the way of transformation until black skills are developed, put to work and suitably rewarded. The Bar and government must lead by example in this regard.
Black skills in the legal services sector are not altogether absent. I know of many black advocates who are exceedingly capable. What is needed is the cultivation of more black skills and putting those that are already there to work. I can think of no plausible reason why the largest consumer of legal services (namely, government in all its manifestations) should continue to avoid putting to work in large matters the skills lying dormant in black commercial firms across the country, resulting in those firms closing shop or being gormandised by larger white firms. Many senior practitioners in these black firms honed their skills in large white firms where they were put to use and generated enormous fees. Why then should those same skills now be found wanting when offered from Gugulethu, Zola or Soshanguve?
Many black advocates have left practice for salaried employment where none of their litigation skills are put to use, while a handful of white advocates are belching from government and state-owned enterprise briefs. The Bar is hugely to blame for this. Recently, I had occasion to ask a chairman of the Bar Council about the achievements of his Council and Bar on the transformation front, from which we here in JHB can learn. He told me about “measures” they have put in place. The measures to which he pointed were there in 1998 when I was serving on that Council. Yet we act surprised that black lawyers do not come to the Bar in droves.
The reasons for this are not hard to find. We have a bizarre rule that requires members to wait 90 days for payment of their fee in JHB. In Cape Town the peremptory waiting period is 60 days. This is absolutely inexplicable and the black Bar bears the brunt of this wretched rule. Yes, the black Bar! Why would the profession impose such financial strictures on its members? I have heard the arguments advanced for this and, quite frankly, it’s all rubbish. How can you claim to be protecting the junior Bar by forbidding juniors’ entitlement to their fee until 90 days have lapsed? Bertelsmann v Per does not justify this madness.
In commerce, 30 days is the norm, whereafter interest accrues. Members of the Bar cannot even charge interest. Now even the defaulters rule has been cynically emasculated to allow members who are not owed any fee by the defaulting attorney to accept briefs from that attorney. This is utter madness! No Charter can cure that. The 90-day rule must go. The mischief it was intended to address, if it ever did address it at some point, clearly still persists.
Albert Eistein is said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Bar is not insane, surely. Otherwise, God help us all! So why do we persist with a rule that is clearly not addressing the mischief it was intended to meet?
By comparison, the Rules of the Bar for England and Wales do not impose any time period before the expiry of which members are not entitled to fees for services rendered. So why is it necessary for the Bar in South Africa to prescribe how long members should wait for their fee?
There is also no reason why the Bar cannot influence briefing patterns to accelerate black skills development. Silks could pair themselves with black juniors who would do the research and the first draft. Silks would then have to sit down with the junior and discuss his work, pointing out areas in need of improvement and imparting skills. This achieves two things at once: the junior has work from which to learn, and he earns a fee. No Charter will ever achieve that. Commitment by senior members of the Bar to transforming the Bar will. I am sure Silks can persuade their attorneys to see the value of this exercise.
The English Bar allows barristers to obtain briefs from “Licensed Access Clients” without the intervention of an attorney. These are typically professional clients like accountants, engineering firms, regulatory authorities, auditing firms et cetera. These professional clients obtain a license from the Bar to brief counsel directly. The arrangement is then governed by a set of rules and regulations. This has the effect of lowering the cost of access to justice in a regulated form.
It appears the GCB was trying to follow this route with the introduction in 2002 of Rule 5.12.3. It, however, stopped short of the required standard in its excoriation of some of the desirable aspects of the English rules. The result is a half-baked croissant that is neither palatable nor objectively workable. The GCB rule leaves the conduct of relationships between counsel and “licensed access clients” to considerations of “public interest” in the opinion of the GCB on a case by case basis. That leaves room for subjectivity. For example, why is it in the public interest for counsel to obtain a brief directly from a Patent Agent without the intervention of an attorney, but not so to obtain a brief directly from the Competition Commission, or SARS, or the Asset Forfeiture Unit, or the Financial Services Board, or the FAIS Ombud, or the Banking Ombudsman, or a legal adviser at a government department?
The Legal Services Charter is a futile exercise – an act in circumnavigation that will do nothing but generate litigation. What is required, not only to develop black skills but also to put them to use, is decisive and definitive action from the top. The charter serves not only to delay the process of black skills development and use; it is also a distraction from what needs to be done.
Now we fight about whether Chinese people are Black, and whether white women were truly disadvantaged. The profession knows what needs to be done. Government knows what needs to be done. We all know who is black and do not need a court to tell us that.
That serves as a segue for the learning that Rousseau offers in Book 3 chapter 1 of The Social Contract. In a short treatise on the nature of government and how it can work best, Rousseau offers the following learning:
“Every free action has two causes which concur to produce it, one moral – the will which determines the act, the other physical – the strength which executes it. When I walk towards an object, it is necessary first that I should resolve to go that way and secondly that my feet should carry me. When a paralytic resolves to run and when a fit man resolves not to move, both stay where they are. The body politic has the same two motive powers – and we can make the same distinction between will and strength, the former is legislative power and the latter executive power. Nothing can be, or should be, done in the body politic without the concurrence of both.”
In simple terms, the executive has the duty and strength to do what the legislature wills. The Bar has a duty, strength and ability to ensure that what parliament wills is done. Armed with that information, let us consider what has happened in the past 12 or so years.
In October 1996, the Constitutional Assembly adopted a constitution that decreed black skills development and preferential procurement thereof. The Constitutional Assembly comprised not only representatives of black South Africans who have for generations been denied skills; it also comprised representatives of white thought, fears and insecurities. Both sides saw the necessity and wisdom of decreeing black skills development and procurement. In February 1997, the will of the Constitutional Assembly (broadly constituted) was certified by the constitutional court and later given effect to by Parliament in the form of various legislation including the Employment Equity Act by which Parliament expressed its categorical intention that black skills must not only be developed but also put to use commensurate therewith. Section 217 of the Constitution was given life by the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, 2000. So, why are we still lamenting black skills at the Bar some 12 years later?
I’ll tell you why. The Bar is intent on doing nothing decisive about it. Since the Bar is not a “paralytic” the only explanation is that it has resolved not to move an inch on transforming itself. And the finger is pointed firmly at Silks – particularly white Silks – and people in leadership positions at the Bar. When we all consider this dispassionately and with due regard to the facts, then it becomes clear that the GCB and its constituent Bars have failed black members miserably.
The fight about whether Chinese is Black or not, and about whether the applicable targets are those of the DTI’s Generic Codes or the sector Charter should never have occurred. We know what needs to be done. The Bar knows what needs to be done. So does government. So does industry. Charters are a feel-good factor – a conscience-soother – nothing more, nothing less. History has shown us that. Why should we expect any different from the Legal Services Charter?
V Ngalwana
Address to the Fifth Young Leaders Symposium
Kievitskroon Country Estate
Pretoria
19 July 2008
Source: Duma Nokwe Group
Our own Freedom Charter promised the world and delivered – well – nothing for the vast majority of South Africans. All you need do is go and live in the township (for those of you who have not had the privilege) for a week and look around you.
My thesis is simple. Charters do not deliver anything. People do. People who are committed to the good cause. People who have a clear vision as regards what that cause is. People who have the integrity and resolve to see things through.
In unpacking my thesis, I shall do so in a tradition resembling that of an Anglican church sermon. The scripture comes from two books (Book 2 and Book 3) of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s seminal work, The Social Contract (Maurice Cranston’s translation). Book 2 chapter 8 deals with the nature of human beings from which I believe we can learn in our quest for developing black skills in the midst of misplaced and misinformed resistance. The short excerpt to which I want to draw your attention is this:
“Nations, like men, are teachable only in their youth; with age they become incorrigible. Once customs are established and prejudices rooted, reform is a dangerous and fruitless enterprise; a people cannot bear to see its evils touched, even if only to be eradicated; it is like a stupid, pusillanimous invalid who trembles at the sight of a physician.”
It is in the nature of human beings to resist measures designed to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number if such measures are perceived by the minority that has for generations been enjoying the greatest good to the exclusion of the greatest number, to disturb generations of comfortable oligopoly. That, in truth, is why the Bar keeps talking about transformation without anything being done. It is time for decisive action, not for putting measures in place. The Bar has reached an inflection point where its evils must be eradicated so that, at last, black will progressively become synonymous with enterprise and less so with unfounded perceptions of incompetence.
Established customs and prejudices wrought by apartheid (such as the belief that black lawyers are by reason only of their blackness less capable than their white counter-parts), will forever stand in the way of transformation until black skills are developed, put to work and suitably rewarded. The Bar and government must lead by example in this regard.
Black skills in the legal services sector are not altogether absent. I know of many black advocates who are exceedingly capable. What is needed is the cultivation of more black skills and putting those that are already there to work. I can think of no plausible reason why the largest consumer of legal services (namely, government in all its manifestations) should continue to avoid putting to work in large matters the skills lying dormant in black commercial firms across the country, resulting in those firms closing shop or being gormandised by larger white firms. Many senior practitioners in these black firms honed their skills in large white firms where they were put to use and generated enormous fees. Why then should those same skills now be found wanting when offered from Gugulethu, Zola or Soshanguve?
Many black advocates have left practice for salaried employment where none of their litigation skills are put to use, while a handful of white advocates are belching from government and state-owned enterprise briefs. The Bar is hugely to blame for this. Recently, I had occasion to ask a chairman of the Bar Council about the achievements of his Council and Bar on the transformation front, from which we here in JHB can learn. He told me about “measures” they have put in place. The measures to which he pointed were there in 1998 when I was serving on that Council. Yet we act surprised that black lawyers do not come to the Bar in droves.
The reasons for this are not hard to find. We have a bizarre rule that requires members to wait 90 days for payment of their fee in JHB. In Cape Town the peremptory waiting period is 60 days. This is absolutely inexplicable and the black Bar bears the brunt of this wretched rule. Yes, the black Bar! Why would the profession impose such financial strictures on its members? I have heard the arguments advanced for this and, quite frankly, it’s all rubbish. How can you claim to be protecting the junior Bar by forbidding juniors’ entitlement to their fee until 90 days have lapsed? Bertelsmann v Per does not justify this madness.
In commerce, 30 days is the norm, whereafter interest accrues. Members of the Bar cannot even charge interest. Now even the defaulters rule has been cynically emasculated to allow members who are not owed any fee by the defaulting attorney to accept briefs from that attorney. This is utter madness! No Charter can cure that. The 90-day rule must go. The mischief it was intended to address, if it ever did address it at some point, clearly still persists.
Albert Eistein is said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Bar is not insane, surely. Otherwise, God help us all! So why do we persist with a rule that is clearly not addressing the mischief it was intended to meet?
By comparison, the Rules of the Bar for England and Wales do not impose any time period before the expiry of which members are not entitled to fees for services rendered. So why is it necessary for the Bar in South Africa to prescribe how long members should wait for their fee?
There is also no reason why the Bar cannot influence briefing patterns to accelerate black skills development. Silks could pair themselves with black juniors who would do the research and the first draft. Silks would then have to sit down with the junior and discuss his work, pointing out areas in need of improvement and imparting skills. This achieves two things at once: the junior has work from which to learn, and he earns a fee. No Charter will ever achieve that. Commitment by senior members of the Bar to transforming the Bar will. I am sure Silks can persuade their attorneys to see the value of this exercise.
The English Bar allows barristers to obtain briefs from “Licensed Access Clients” without the intervention of an attorney. These are typically professional clients like accountants, engineering firms, regulatory authorities, auditing firms et cetera. These professional clients obtain a license from the Bar to brief counsel directly. The arrangement is then governed by a set of rules and regulations. This has the effect of lowering the cost of access to justice in a regulated form.
It appears the GCB was trying to follow this route with the introduction in 2002 of Rule 5.12.3. It, however, stopped short of the required standard in its excoriation of some of the desirable aspects of the English rules. The result is a half-baked croissant that is neither palatable nor objectively workable. The GCB rule leaves the conduct of relationships between counsel and “licensed access clients” to considerations of “public interest” in the opinion of the GCB on a case by case basis. That leaves room for subjectivity. For example, why is it in the public interest for counsel to obtain a brief directly from a Patent Agent without the intervention of an attorney, but not so to obtain a brief directly from the Competition Commission, or SARS, or the Asset Forfeiture Unit, or the Financial Services Board, or the FAIS Ombud, or the Banking Ombudsman, or a legal adviser at a government department?
The Legal Services Charter is a futile exercise – an act in circumnavigation that will do nothing but generate litigation. What is required, not only to develop black skills but also to put them to use, is decisive and definitive action from the top. The charter serves not only to delay the process of black skills development and use; it is also a distraction from what needs to be done.
Now we fight about whether Chinese people are Black, and whether white women were truly disadvantaged. The profession knows what needs to be done. Government knows what needs to be done. We all know who is black and do not need a court to tell us that.
That serves as a segue for the learning that Rousseau offers in Book 3 chapter 1 of The Social Contract. In a short treatise on the nature of government and how it can work best, Rousseau offers the following learning:
“Every free action has two causes which concur to produce it, one moral – the will which determines the act, the other physical – the strength which executes it. When I walk towards an object, it is necessary first that I should resolve to go that way and secondly that my feet should carry me. When a paralytic resolves to run and when a fit man resolves not to move, both stay where they are. The body politic has the same two motive powers – and we can make the same distinction between will and strength, the former is legislative power and the latter executive power. Nothing can be, or should be, done in the body politic without the concurrence of both.”
In simple terms, the executive has the duty and strength to do what the legislature wills. The Bar has a duty, strength and ability to ensure that what parliament wills is done. Armed with that information, let us consider what has happened in the past 12 or so years.
In October 1996, the Constitutional Assembly adopted a constitution that decreed black skills development and preferential procurement thereof. The Constitutional Assembly comprised not only representatives of black South Africans who have for generations been denied skills; it also comprised representatives of white thought, fears and insecurities. Both sides saw the necessity and wisdom of decreeing black skills development and procurement. In February 1997, the will of the Constitutional Assembly (broadly constituted) was certified by the constitutional court and later given effect to by Parliament in the form of various legislation including the Employment Equity Act by which Parliament expressed its categorical intention that black skills must not only be developed but also put to use commensurate therewith. Section 217 of the Constitution was given life by the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, 2000. So, why are we still lamenting black skills at the Bar some 12 years later?
I’ll tell you why. The Bar is intent on doing nothing decisive about it. Since the Bar is not a “paralytic” the only explanation is that it has resolved not to move an inch on transforming itself. And the finger is pointed firmly at Silks – particularly white Silks – and people in leadership positions at the Bar. When we all consider this dispassionately and with due regard to the facts, then it becomes clear that the GCB and its constituent Bars have failed black members miserably.
The fight about whether Chinese is Black or not, and about whether the applicable targets are those of the DTI’s Generic Codes or the sector Charter should never have occurred. We know what needs to be done. The Bar knows what needs to be done. So does government. So does industry. Charters are a feel-good factor – a conscience-soother – nothing more, nothing less. History has shown us that. Why should we expect any different from the Legal Services Charter?
V Ngalwana
Address to the Fifth Young Leaders Symposium
Kievitskroon Country Estate
Pretoria
19 July 2008
Source: Duma Nokwe Group
Thursday, July 17, 2008
COSATU on arrest of David Masondo
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has learned with anger of the bloody assault by officers from Sandringham Police Station on David Masondo, National Chairperson of the Young Communist League of South Africa, and a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party, both organisations which are among COSATU's working-class allies within the tripartite alliance.
Cde Masondo was stopped at a roadblock while jogging in his tracksuit in the suburb where he lives. When addressed by two police officers he answered in his first language, Shangaan (a language spoken both in South Africa and in Mozambique), whereupon the officers called him a "(swearword) foreigner". While the first two officers were harassing him in this way, a third more senior one intervened to say that they should calm down and search Cde David.
As one was searching him, and while Cde David consequently had his hands up in the air, the other one suddenly and without any provocation punched him in the face, starting a fracas during which several other officers assaulted him. They then took him to the police station, trumped up a charge against him, and continued to mistreat him until eventually, later, and with the assistance of his fellow SACP Central Committee members, Solly Mapaila and YCL National Secretary Buti Manamela, he was released from custody. In the process, Cdes Mapaila and Manamela were also threatened with arrest.
David Masondo is a distinguished and respected South African national leader who is also a renowned university lecturer, who will shortly be going to work at New York University for a year with the internationally famous academic David Harvey and others. He was prominent among those who spoke on public platforms condemning the xenophobic pogroms that began on 11 May 2008 in Alexandra Township, not more than two kilometres from where he lives, and where he has now himself been beaten up in a xenophobic attack - by the police!
COSATU is particularly shocked that this should have happened to a gentle person whom we know and love, and who is a valued part of the national leadership of the movement. We are determined to defend our leaders. The federation has consistently denounced xenophobia and are well aware that it most often affects the most vulnerable people in our country, including members of our affiliated unions and others who have few friends at all to defend them.
COSATU therefore backs the YCL's demand that the xenophobic officers who assaulted Cde David Masondo should be subjected to an exemplary, rigorous, and speedy disciplinary process to demonstrate to the country that the South African Police Service intends to mend its ways and purge xenophobia from its own ranks, not just in Sandringham and Alexandra, but everywhere in South Africa.
It is intolerable to COSATU that the very force that is supposed to protect everyone in the country, of whatever origin, should be continuing to prove in incidents like this, of which we believe there are many every single day, that it is itself riddled with xenophobia.
Source: Politicsweb
Cde Masondo was stopped at a roadblock while jogging in his tracksuit in the suburb where he lives. When addressed by two police officers he answered in his first language, Shangaan (a language spoken both in South Africa and in Mozambique), whereupon the officers called him a "(swearword) foreigner". While the first two officers were harassing him in this way, a third more senior one intervened to say that they should calm down and search Cde David.
As one was searching him, and while Cde David consequently had his hands up in the air, the other one suddenly and without any provocation punched him in the face, starting a fracas during which several other officers assaulted him. They then took him to the police station, trumped up a charge against him, and continued to mistreat him until eventually, later, and with the assistance of his fellow SACP Central Committee members, Solly Mapaila and YCL National Secretary Buti Manamela, he was released from custody. In the process, Cdes Mapaila and Manamela were also threatened with arrest.
David Masondo is a distinguished and respected South African national leader who is also a renowned university lecturer, who will shortly be going to work at New York University for a year with the internationally famous academic David Harvey and others. He was prominent among those who spoke on public platforms condemning the xenophobic pogroms that began on 11 May 2008 in Alexandra Township, not more than two kilometres from where he lives, and where he has now himself been beaten up in a xenophobic attack - by the police!
COSATU is particularly shocked that this should have happened to a gentle person whom we know and love, and who is a valued part of the national leadership of the movement. We are determined to defend our leaders. The federation has consistently denounced xenophobia and are well aware that it most often affects the most vulnerable people in our country, including members of our affiliated unions and others who have few friends at all to defend them.
COSATU therefore backs the YCL's demand that the xenophobic officers who assaulted Cde David Masondo should be subjected to an exemplary, rigorous, and speedy disciplinary process to demonstrate to the country that the South African Police Service intends to mend its ways and purge xenophobia from its own ranks, not just in Sandringham and Alexandra, but everywhere in South Africa.
It is intolerable to COSATU that the very force that is supposed to protect everyone in the country, of whatever origin, should be continuing to prove in incidents like this, of which we believe there are many every single day, that it is itself riddled with xenophobia.
Source: Politicsweb
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Arms watchdog turns on its owner
South African citizens can be proud of the legislation that is supposed to govern the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). It has flaws in that, for example, it fails to outlaw arms transfers to undemocratic countries.
But it also outlaws the sale of arms to countries that systematically abuse human rights and the need for reduced military expenditure in the interests of development and human security must be heeded.
Furthermore, the legislation demands transparency and lays down strict reporting requirements. While the functions of the NCACC may be delegated, applications for arms-sales permits must be considered case by case.
When it comes to the implementation of this legislation, South African citizens must hang their heads in shame.
It transpires that, in contravention of the case-by-case requirement, the NCACC has given carte blanche to defence secretary January Masilela to grant permits for arms sales and conveyance of arms, to Zimbabwe. The argument by Masilela that there was no problem in selling or conveying arms to Zimbabwe because there is no arms embargo against that country is either disingenuous or a display of absolute ignorance of the requirements of the legislation.
In general the impression created by the NCACC is that it will sell arms to virtually any regime, regardless of the legislation. The only criteria that it appears to take seriously are arms embargoes to which South Africa is party and the interests of the South African military.
The NCACC also failed to present to Parliament and release to the public its annual reports for the years 2005 to 2007. This should have been done within three months after the end of those years.
It also failed to make quarterly reports to Parliament.
Slurce: Mail & Guardian
But it also outlaws the sale of arms to countries that systematically abuse human rights and the need for reduced military expenditure in the interests of development and human security must be heeded.
Furthermore, the legislation demands transparency and lays down strict reporting requirements. While the functions of the NCACC may be delegated, applications for arms-sales permits must be considered case by case.
When it comes to the implementation of this legislation, South African citizens must hang their heads in shame.
It transpires that, in contravention of the case-by-case requirement, the NCACC has given carte blanche to defence secretary January Masilela to grant permits for arms sales and conveyance of arms, to Zimbabwe. The argument by Masilela that there was no problem in selling or conveying arms to Zimbabwe because there is no arms embargo against that country is either disingenuous or a display of absolute ignorance of the requirements of the legislation.
In general the impression created by the NCACC is that it will sell arms to virtually any regime, regardless of the legislation. The only criteria that it appears to take seriously are arms embargoes to which South Africa is party and the interests of the South African military.
The NCACC also failed to present to Parliament and release to the public its annual reports for the years 2005 to 2007. This should have been done within three months after the end of those years.
It also failed to make quarterly reports to Parliament.
Slurce: Mail & Guardian
Friday, July 11, 2008
Pieter Uys announced as new CEO of Vodacom
Pieter Uys has been announced as the new CEO of mobile services provider Vodacom. Uys, a 15-year veteran of the group and the current chief operating officer, will take over from Alan Knott-Craig on October 1 2008.
Uys joined the company in 1993 and was a founder member of Vodacom's engineering management team. Uys played a major role in the first phase of the planning and roll-out of Vodacom's GSM network, which at the time was the fastest roll-out in the world. Uys was then responsible for the successful launch of the Vodacom internet company, which quickly became a leading service provider. Uys has also held the post of the general manager responsible for the company's South African operations.
Source: Mail & Guardian - I-Net Bridge
Uys joined the company in 1993 and was a founder member of Vodacom's engineering management team. Uys played a major role in the first phase of the planning and roll-out of Vodacom's GSM network, which at the time was the fastest roll-out in the world. Uys was then responsible for the successful launch of the Vodacom internet company, which quickly became a leading service provider. Uys has also held the post of the general manager responsible for the company's South African operations.
Source: Mail & Guardian - I-Net Bridge
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Marxist Festival London
With every day that passes the capitalist system sinks deeper and deeper into crisis. The politicians, bankers and bosses want us to pay for this mess - by slashing jobs, pensions and wages while poverty and war stalk the globe.
But millions are beginning to question the logic of a capitalist system that puts profits before people.
The annual Marxism festival will take place from 2-6 July in central London. Thousands of people from around the world will gather to debate these issues and talk about the way forward.
http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/
But millions are beginning to question the logic of a capitalist system that puts profits before people.
The annual Marxism festival will take place from 2-6 July in central London. Thousands of people from around the world will gather to debate these issues and talk about the way forward.
http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Will Browse Mole nail Pikoli?
Ten years after an intelligence report cost the defence force chief Georg Meiring his job government is pushing hard for suspended prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli to be sacked in a similar way.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Source: Mail & Guardian
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
XXIII Congress of the Socialist International, Athens
Global Solidarity: The courage to make a difference
The Socialist International held its XXIII Congress in Athens, Greece from 30 June to 2 July with close to 700 participants from 150 parties and organisations from 120 countries attending. (List of participants)
With the theme Global Solidarity: The courage to make a difference, the Congress, the highest decision-making body of the organisation, adopted statements on each of the four key issues under discussion: climate change, peace and the resolution of conflicts, the world economy, including the current food crisis and the question of migration.
The morning session continued with discussions on the first main theme ACTING NOW ON CLIMATE CHANGE: To achieve a sustainable world society introduced by Co-Chairs of the Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society, Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile and a Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on climate change and Goran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden. They were followed by wide-ranging contributions from members of the Commission, leaders and party representatives from different regions of the world, including the Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer. (Speakers on climate change)
The climate change debate also included two panel discussions, the first How to arrive successfully at a post-2012 regime? and the second How do we strengthen the multilateral architecture for a sustainable future? featuring speakers from the Spain, India, the United States, Russia and China.
Continuing its efforts to provide a platform to advance peace, the International brought together key actors from the Middle East, Lebanon, Asia and the Balkans for the discussions on the second day of the Congress - WORKING FOR A WORLD IN PEACE: To resolve conflicts and overcome instability.
SETTING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY ON A NEW PATH: To bring growth and development with opportunities for all, was the third theme of the Congress with keynote speeches from the Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcszany, and leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party, MSzP; the Chair of the SI Committee on the Economy, Social Cohesion and the Environment, Christoph Zopel, Social Democratic Party, SPD, Germany; Chantal Kambiwa of the Social Democratic Front of Cameroon; the President of the DS, Italy, Massimo D’Alema; the leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, CSSD, Jiri Paroubek; the President of the Labour Party, Ireland, Michael Higgins; and, the President of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, PRD, Dominican Republic, Ramon Alburquerque.(Speakers on the global economy)
A debate followed on the issue of food shortages and hike in prices, under the title Dealing with the food crisis: the long-term view, with panellists from Haiti, India, Australia and Senegal.
Lastly, the Congress tackled the impact of migration globally, with the theme GIVING MIGRATION A HUMAN FACE: To build a new migration agenda placing people first, introduced by the Chair of the SI Committee on Migrations, Amalia Garcia, Governor of the State of Zacatecas, Party of Democratic Revolution, PRD, Mexico, on the Committee’s work dealing with the issues arising due to this phenomenon in all regions around the world. Also taking part in this debate were Nouzha Chekrouni, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco, former Minister for Moroccans Abroad, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, former minister of Justice, PSOE, Spain; and Sigfrido Reyes, Member of Parliament, FMLN, El Salvador, amongst others.
Source: Socialist International
The Socialist International held its XXIII Congress in Athens, Greece from 30 June to 2 July with close to 700 participants from 150 parties and organisations from 120 countries attending. (List of participants)
With the theme Global Solidarity: The courage to make a difference, the Congress, the highest decision-making body of the organisation, adopted statements on each of the four key issues under discussion: climate change, peace and the resolution of conflicts, the world economy, including the current food crisis and the question of migration.
The morning session continued with discussions on the first main theme ACTING NOW ON CLIMATE CHANGE: To achieve a sustainable world society introduced by Co-Chairs of the Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society, Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile and a Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on climate change and Goran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden. They were followed by wide-ranging contributions from members of the Commission, leaders and party representatives from different regions of the world, including the Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer. (Speakers on climate change)
The climate change debate also included two panel discussions, the first How to arrive successfully at a post-2012 regime? and the second How do we strengthen the multilateral architecture for a sustainable future? featuring speakers from the Spain, India, the United States, Russia and China.
Continuing its efforts to provide a platform to advance peace, the International brought together key actors from the Middle East, Lebanon, Asia and the Balkans for the discussions on the second day of the Congress - WORKING FOR A WORLD IN PEACE: To resolve conflicts and overcome instability.
SETTING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY ON A NEW PATH: To bring growth and development with opportunities for all, was the third theme of the Congress with keynote speeches from the Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcszany, and leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party, MSzP; the Chair of the SI Committee on the Economy, Social Cohesion and the Environment, Christoph Zopel, Social Democratic Party, SPD, Germany; Chantal Kambiwa of the Social Democratic Front of Cameroon; the President of the DS, Italy, Massimo D’Alema; the leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, CSSD, Jiri Paroubek; the President of the Labour Party, Ireland, Michael Higgins; and, the President of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, PRD, Dominican Republic, Ramon Alburquerque.
A debate followed on the issue of food shortages and hike in prices, under the title Dealing with the food crisis: the long-term view, with panellists from Haiti, India, Australia and Senegal.
Lastly, the Congress tackled the impact of migration globally, with the theme GIVING MIGRATION A HUMAN FACE: To build a new migration agenda placing people first, introduced by the Chair of the SI Committee on Migrations, Amalia Garcia, Governor of the State of Zacatecas, Party of Democratic Revolution, PRD, Mexico, on the Committee’s work dealing with the issues arising due to this phenomenon in all regions around the world. Also taking part in this debate were Nouzha Chekrouni, Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP, Morocco, former Minister for Moroccans Abroad, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, former minister of Justice, PSOE, Spain; and Sigfrido Reyes, Member of Parliament, FMLN, El Salvador, amongst others.
Source: Socialist International
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Mandela taken off US terror list
US President George W Bush has signed a bill removing Nelson Mandela and South African leaders from the US terror watch list, officials say. Mr Mandela and ANC party members will now be able to visit the US without a waiver from the secretary of state.
The African National Congress (ANC) was designated as a terrorist organisation by South Africa's old apartheid regime. A US senator said the new legislation was a step towards removing the "shame of dishonouring this great leader".
'Rather embarrassing'
Under the legislation, members of the ANC could travel to the United Nations headquarters in New York but not to Washington DC or other parts of the United States. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had called the restrictions a "rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela."
South Africa's apartheid government banned the ANC in 1960, imprisoning or forcing into exile its leaders. Mr Mandela, who turns 90 this month, was released in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison. He then became the country's first post-apartheid-era president, before retiring after serving one term in office.
Source: BBC News
The African National Congress (ANC) was designated as a terrorist organisation by South Africa's old apartheid regime. A US senator said the new legislation was a step towards removing the "shame of dishonouring this great leader".
'Rather embarrassing'
Under the legislation, members of the ANC could travel to the United Nations headquarters in New York but not to Washington DC or other parts of the United States. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had called the restrictions a "rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela."
South Africa's apartheid government banned the ANC in 1960, imprisoning or forcing into exile its leaders. Mr Mandela, who turns 90 this month, was released in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison. He then became the country's first post-apartheid-era president, before retiring after serving one term in office.
Source: BBC News
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