Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Another Zuma prosecutor demoted

Another Gauteng High Court prosecutor tasked with the prosecution of President Jacob Zuma on charges of corruption has been demoted. Advocate George Baloyi became the second senior prosecutor on a Zuma case to receive notice of his removal as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. On Tuesday, The Star reported that Advocate Mutuwa Nengovhela, also a member of the team that prosecuted Zuma in the Johannesburg High Court, had been given the responsibilities of a clerk at the Family Court.

Two colleagues at the Pretoria High Court, Advocate Retha Meintjies SC and Advocate Connie Erasmus, have also been demoted and told to take up their new positions as prosecutors at magistrate courts around Pretoria on April 5. The orders have come from Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane.

Meintjies is going to the Mamelodi Magistrate's Court where she will work only on sexual offence cases, domestic violence and maintenance issues. Baloyi is to prosecute similar cases in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court. Erasmus, who worked at the now disbanded Scorpions, will become a prosecutor at the Soshanguve Regional Court.

According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Bulelwa Makeke, the reason for the deployment was that most of the serious crimes that plagued the country were being heard in lower courts, mostly staffed by young and inexperienced prosecutors. "The organisation has a wealth of experienced prosecutors, many of whom are in managerial positions at head office and in the DPP offices, mainly concerned with administration. How is this imbalance of resources benefiting the criminal justice system, especially our courts? "The ever increasing case backlogs and less than satisfactory conviction rates are a clear sign that the manner in which our courts are resourced with prosecutors is not yielding the positive results that Government and the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster are aiming to achieve," she said.

In Soweto, the removal of Nthabiseng Motsau, the head of sexual offences cases at the Protea Magistrate's Court, could result in delay in the prosecution of a Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital doctor facing 13 cases of sexual assault. None of the prosecutors would talk to the media.

Source: IoL

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

ACDP: Statement by Steve Swart, African Christian Democratic Party spokesperson, on the NPA’s decision to demote prosecutors

"It is shocking that these top prosecutors, with many years of experience, have been effectively demoted at a time when the courts are struggling to deal with heavy case-loads and complex trials. Prosecutors are at the forefront of the fight against crime, with many cases being lost due to inexperienced prosecutors.

According to media reports, Mutuwa Nengovhela, who was part of the prosecution team in the rape trial of President Zuma and who was a deputy director at the Johannesburg High Court, has been demoted to the Family Court. This decision smacks of revenge and requires an explanation.

Another chief prosecutor, Andre Lamprecht, who has 33 years of experience, allegedly refused to follow an instruction from the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Menzi Simelane, not to oppose bail for hip-hop musician Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye. According to media reports, Jub Jub, who faces four counts of murder, campaigned for the ANC during the 2009 elections. Lamprecht has been demoted to an ordinary prosecutor.

Three other prosecutors, Deon Vlok, Nthabasieng Motsau and Raymond Mathenjwa were also effectively demoted to junior posts.

Nengovhela and Vlok are key to the prosecution of high-profile and serious cases in the High Courts. It is disgraceful that these experienced prosecutors are to be transferred to the Family Court to deal with less serious sexual offences, domestic violence and maintenance cases. The NPA is still reeling from the impact of the disbanding of the Scorpions, which had a serious impact on the investigation and prosecution of organised crime cases, as well as on the morale of prosecutors. These decisions will have a similar impact.

The ACDP will require Simelane to explain these irrational decisions which seem to be motivated by revenge (particularly in the case of Nengovhelo and Lamprecht) when he appears before the Justice Committee next term. We also trust that the prosecutors affected will approach the courts for a review of these decisions. We cannot afford not to maximise the skills of our experienced prosecutors in the fight against crime, particularly in the highest courts of the land.

The ACDP will also hold Simelane to account by questioning him on his decision not to support the Assert Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in its attempts to seize millions of rands - allegedly the proceeds of bribes from arms multinational BAE Systems - held offshore by arms deal kingpin Fana Hlongwane. This after the AFU had already obtained a provisional court order against Hlongwane."

Source: Polity

'Demoted' prosecutor to fight back

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) defended its plans to send senior prosecutors to lower courts, saying on Tuesday this was part of a plan to boost struggling lower courts. "The fact of the matter is that the changes to prosecutor allocation and redeployment of senior prosecutors to courts, especially in the lower courts, is in support of the strategy to address the dearth of skills in the organisation, and redistributing resources where they are needed most," said a statement from the authority.

At least one of the 14 prosecutors, chief state prosecutor Andre Lambrecht, intends challenging his move from a managerial position to a lower court, feeling that it coincided with his refusal not to oppose bail in musician Jub Jub's drunk driving case. He is also aggrieved that the move was very sudden and plans to ask for his old job back. However, the NPA insists that the reshuffle is part of its "Strategic Plan for 2010 - 2015", which is being finalised for submission to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and to Parliament. The document will outline challenges like the resourcing of the lower courts, regarded as a "real threat" to service delivery in the courts.

The NPA feels that senior prosecutors' skills would be better used in the lower courts, where most crimes are heard, and cases are led by mainly inexperienced prosecutors, instead of them doing administrative work.

The National Director of Public Prosecutions has asked directors of public prosecutions to identify courts that need such a boost, as well as experienced prosecutors, including directors, who can be redeployed. "These are prosecutors - their duty and obligation to the country is to institute criminal proceedings in court, and to handle any other work incidental thereto."

The authority denied that these were demotions, and said people who felt that way believed they could better serve the prosecutions service "sitting in their offices dealing with administrative matters". "However, that cannot work for the organisation - the skills of prosecutors are best utilised and serve the country the most, in court." The plan will also take into account transformation issues like racial demographics, to address past imbalances.

But the African Christian Democratic Party said NDPP Menzi Simelane must explain himself, suggesting that some of the redeployments could be for revenge. They pointed out that Mutuwa Nengovhela, was part of the prosecution team in the rape trial of President Jacob Zuma. He was a deputy director at the High Court in Johannesburg and was moved the Family Court. "This decision smacks of revenge and requires an explanation," said ACDP MP Steve Swart. Zuma was acquitted in that case.

A report in The Star suggested that the bid not to oppose bail for Jub Jub could be linked to his campaigning for the ruling ANC during last year's election. It also felt that the move would be a blow for prosecutors, already reeling from the disbanding of the Scorpions last year, which had their own unit of investigating prosecutors. The disbanding of the Scorpions was regarded by some observers as a response to their pursuit of Zuma on corruption charges. That case was abandoned shortly before Zuma became president.

Source: IoL

Land minister's Zim references criticised

A warning by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti that commercial farmers must cooperate to avoid a situation in South Africa "worse than Zimbabwe" drew sharp reaction from agricultural union TAU-SA and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Tuesday. Nkwinti's remarks, reportedly made during an interview with eNews on Monday, were "irresponsible", the union's president, Ben Marais, said in a statement. "We see Minister Nkwinti's remarks as an ill-camouflaged threat to farmers that their land can be occupied the Zimbabwe way if they are not prepared to give their land away. TAU-SA regards this as a subtle given command to militants to occupy land to intimidate farmers," he said.

Marais questioned why the government wanted more land. "They had to admit several times that most of the land-reform projects have failed totally... grabbing land in the Zimbabwe way will also lead to farms going unproductive and food security [being] threatened." Marais said that given the "loaded situation" in the country, statements such as Nkwinti's should not be permissible. He called on Nkwinti to apologise, or for his remark to be repudiated by President Jacob Zuma.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, the FF+ also labelled Nkwinti's reference to Zimbabwe irresponsible. "The farmers have been cooperating for a long time already, but it is the government and its incompetent officials who do not cooperate. "The fact that Nkwinti shares the views of black South Africans -- that land has to be nationalised -- is in contrast with what he said last week in Parliament. Nkwinti therefore speaks with a forked tongue," FF+ land-reform spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said.

The minister's remark created the impression that he "subconsciously encourages" Zimbabwean-type land reforms. This, he cautioned, was "not in the interest of anybody in South Africa".

Later on Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance called on the government to clarify what it called "conflicting statements" on the land issue. In a statement, DA land-reform spokesperson Mpowele Swathe said that Nkwinti, in the interview on Monday, had "actively endorsed plans to nationalise farmland". But last week, his deputy, Joe Phaahla, had said all the department wanted to do was come up with a model for land reform, and it had no intention to nationalise land. "Is a plan to nationalise farmland on the cards or not? This isn't a game. It goes to the heart of our economy and its best financial management. "Being inconsistent or unclear on such a fundamental issue is like the Treasury vaguely suggesting pegging the currency against the Zimbabwean dollar," he said.

Placing control of this entire economic sector in the hands of the state could have the effect of destroying it, Swathe warned.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Monday, March 29, 2010

Russia: Nothing Can Justify Moscow Metro Bombings

The attacks on the Moscow metro this morning represent an assault on the fundamental principle of respect for civilian life, and those responsible for this crime need to be found and held accountable, Human Rights Watch said today.

Two separate explosions hit one of the city's busiest metro lines during the morning rush hour. According to early reports, the explosions killed 37 people and wounded as many as 100. The first was at approximately 7:50 a.m. in a car of a train that had stopped at the Lubyanka station in the city center. The second, about 30 minutes later, was in the car of a train at the Park Kultury station.

"Terrorism is a repudiation of human rights," said Allison Gill, Moscow director at Human Rights Watch. "These abhorrent bombings attack the most fundamental right - the right to life."

Human Rights Watch urged the authorities to ensure that all law-enforcement operations aimed at bringing to justice those responsible for these attacks are conducted in full accordance with international human rights standards.

Human Rights Watch extends its deepest condolences to the victims, their families, and the city of Moscow.

Source: Human Rights Watch

An Unfair Attack on Gay Troops

The massacre at Srebrenica was a tragedy, but the Dutch army's policy allowing gays in the military had nothing to do with it.

Gen. John Sheehan, the former NATO commander, told a Senate committee this month that part of the blame for one of the last half-century's most famous atrocities -- the massacre at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war -- rested on gays in the Dutch military.

Homosexuals in the Dutch military had depleted the forces' morale, he argued to the senators, and made them "ill-equipped to go to war." And that was in part why they failed to prevent Bosnian Serbs from massacring more than 8,000 civilians in the former haven of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) seemed incredulous at the testimony. "Did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?" he asked.

"Yes," Sheehan said. "They included that as part of the problem." He even claimed that the former Dutch commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force had told him this was true.

As a former member of the Dutch parliament and a spokesman for the parliamentary investigation into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, I know the history that the retired U.S. Marine Corps general tried to rewrite, and I was astonished by his homophobic concoctions.

During two weeks of public hearings on the massacre, Dutch parliamentarians heard many expert witnesses. Not one hinted at sexual orientation as a relevant factor. Srebrenica was no moment of pride for the Dutch military. But soldiers' sexuality had nothing to do with the failure to protect.

The Dutch parliamentary investigation placed blame squarely on Ratko Mladic for the mass killings of Muslim men and boys. Mladic was the Bosnian Serb military commander during the war in Bosnia. A fugitive, he has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the massacre after Srebrenica fell. It was arguably the worst atrocity on European soil since the Holocaust.

But Sheehan uttered no word about Mladic and expressed no outrage that he is still at large while thousands of men and boys have been consigned to mass graves. Instead, he put the blame on the sexuality of Dutch troops.

After the general's statement, the Dutch prime minister and the ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs issued statements of disbelief and shock. Former Dutch Defense chief of staff Gen. Henk Van den Breemen, who was supposedly Sheehan's source, dismissed his testimony as utter nonsense.

Sheehan's remarks insult not only the Dutch military but lesbians and gays around the world -- men and women perfectly capable of defending themselves, their comrades and their countries.

Since 1974, the Dutch military has recruited soldiers based on their physical and mental capability, irrespective of race, sexual orientation or religious belief. The Dutch army was the first in the world to open its military formally to gays and lesbians. Now it holds this policy in common with many countries, including Britain, Canada, Israel, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Australia.

As a member of the Dutch parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, I visited Dutch troops in Afghanistan in 2004. In Kabul, the Dutch worked closely with American forces. Not one American commander had a word of criticism for their Dutch comrades because some were gay or lesbian. They were jointly fulfilling a U.N. mandate to combat the Taliban. On the ground, as everyone knows, only performance counts.

Since 2006, the Dutch have been the lead nation in the NATO strategy for the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and more than 20 Dutch soldiers have died in Afghanistan. Disagreement over a plan to pull out of Afghanistan at the end of this year led to the collapse of the Dutch government.

The Dutch army is no less competent because it respects nondiscrimination and equality, principles dear to the American public.

Sheehan seems to think Congress will be distracted from the need to end "don't ask, don't tell" by hearing outrageous lies about Dutch soldiers and one of the worst war crimes in recent history. Let's hope he is wrong.

His surreal testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee showed that the die-hard defenders of the discredited policy have run out of ammunition. It is past time for a policy founded on fantasy and fear to go.

Leonard Matlovich, whose Air Force service in Vietnam earned him a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, was later discharged for his homosexuality. After his death in 1988, he was buried in Washington's Congressional Cemetery, where his gravestone reads: "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."

Sheehan's false testimony shows the hypocrisy of such a policy. The U.S. military should focus on its real challenges. Let "don't ask, don't tell" die.

This article is by Boris Dittrich: an advocacy director in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Public Protector to probe Malema tenders

The Public Protector is to probe tenders awarded to the company SGL Engineering Projects, on whose board ANC Youth League president Julius Malema apparently serves as a director. The tenders include a R2,1-million sewerage upgrade, R39,3-million sewerage reticulation project, and a R27,9-million street paving and
drainage contract, Kgalalelo Masibi, a spokesperson for the Office of the Public Protector, said on Friday . Also under investigation were a R28-million tender for several municipal infrastructure projects and a R2-billion roads tender, she said.

The investigation followed complaints by AfriForum Youth and the Congress of the People. "The Public Protector can only investigate the conduct of public authorities," said Masibi. "The investigation will focus on whether any conduct in the award or management of the contracts in question was improper," she said.

Public Protector advocate Thuli Madonsela earlier said her office had received a number of complaints about alleged tender irregularities in various municipalities across Limpopo. "I have assembled a team to undertake this task. I have also initiated talks with the Auditor General with a view to conduct a joint investigation," she said.

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Malema was asked if he thought it was fair to ask how he had accumulated his wealth at such a young age. Malema replied: "It's very fair. But write facts. What the media did [showed] it was never interested in the facts. I am not rich. I do not have millions as reported." He said that all his houses had bonds and were financed by banks. "I've never got any lucrative tender from anybody, including the company called SGL. "I live on handouts most of the time. If I don't have food to eat, I can call Cassel Mathale [premier of Limpopo] and say: "Chief, can you help me? I've got nothing here." I can call Thaba Mufamadi, I can call Pule Mabe [ANCYL treasurer general] or Mbalula. They all do the same with me. That's how we have come to relate to each other."

Source: Mail & Guardian

ANC to challenge 'shoot the boer' ban

A high-court ban on the words "shoot the boer" was met with mixed reaction on Friday. While the African National Congress was shocked at the ruling and vowed to challenge it in the Constitutional Court, the Afrikanerbond and Freedom Front Plus welcomed it.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday that the Johannesburg High Court had ruled the use of the words "dubul' ibhunu [shoot the boer]" was unconstitutional and unlawful. Delmas businessman Willem Harmse had applied for an urgent interdict to prevent his colleague Mahomed Vawda from using the words on banners and singing them during a planned march against crime. While Harmse argued that the words perpetuated hate speech and incited hatred, Vawda contended that they referred to the symbolic killing of apartheid.

The ANC, which reportedly intends appealing against the judgement, expressed astonishment at the court's failure to approach it for input on the history and purpose of the struggle song Ayesaba Amagwala [The Cowards are Scared]. The song's lyrics include the words: "aw dubul' ibhunu [shoot the boer] 'a magwala [the cowards are scared] dubula dubula [shoot shoot]". The ANC believed that, had its input been sought, the court would have reached a different conclusion. Earlier this month, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe cautioned against "systematically erasing history", and said the interpretation of the song had been "vulgarised". "It's an old struggle song. Anybody who relegates it into hate speech today ... I will regard that as a serious attempt to erase our history. If you try to erase the history through courts, that would be unfortunate to the country."

Complaints have recently been laid against ANC Youth League president Julius Malema with the Equality Court and the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over his repeated singing of the song in public. The Freedom Front Plus viewed the ANC's contention that the words be seen in the struggle context as "totally unacceptable". "Mr Malema was nine-years-old when [former president Nelson] Mandela was freed. He was never really part of the 'struggle'. If he sang the song today, it has to be judged in the context of 2010 and the fact that farmers are being killed weekly," the party said in a statement.

The Afrikanerbond now wants the SAHRC to decide whether the song constitutes incitement to violence and hate speech. Its chief secretary Jan Bosman said it hoped the ruling was "a first step in forcing politicians to think about pronouncements that create the potential for conflict".

Source: Mail & Guardian

Malema gagged

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has been muzzled - on the same day that another youth movement threatened to kill him. If Malema is caught singing Dubula ibhunu (Kill the boer), he could be arrested and charged with inciting murder.

Yesterday, in a landmark ruling slated by the ANC, Acting Johannesburg High Court Judge Leon Halgryn declared the singing and publication of the song "unconstitutional and unlawful" and said any person found in violation of the court order could face charges of incitement to murder. And, after Malema claimed Sharpeville had been hijacked by the Pan Africanist Congress on the 50th anniversary of the massacre, the PAC Youth Congress told Malema to apologise or end up "in a hospital or a mortuary".

Yesterday's urgent application had been brought by Willem Harmse, who insinuated that Malema's singing of the song in public had increased farm murders. The Freedom Front Plus also laid a charge of incitement in the Equality Court. Harmse's application was opposed by fellow Mpumalanga businessman Muhammed Vawda, who, in his replying affidavits, argued that the song was not an assault on white people, but on apartheid. He said the song means "kill apartheid".

Judge Halgryn ordered "that the utterance and/publication of the words 'Dubula Ibhunu' is unconstitutional and unlawful. Dubula Ibhunu translated means 'shoot the boer/ white man'. The publication and chanting of the words 'dubula ibhunu' prima facie satisfies the crime of incitement". Harmse and Vawda, both members of the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution, embraced outside court after the ruling and vowed to continue with their campaign. Harmse hailed the verdict, asking: "How would Malema feel if I sing the song 'kill the black man'?"

Freedom Front Plus Leader Pieter Mulder welcomed the decision, saying it would strengthen their case against Malema in the Equality Court.

The ANC has briefed its lawyers to fight the ruling at the Constitutional Court. Party spokesman Jackson Mthembu accused the Johannesburg High Court of failing to call the ANC as an expert witness and therefore coming to the wrong conclusion. "We believe this song, like many others that were sung during the struggle days, is part of our history and heritage. It will be very unfortunate if through our courts our history and heritage were outlawed."

Source: IoL

Friday, March 26, 2010

Mayor refuses to leave quietly

Mbombela local municipality mayor Lassy Chiwayo has accused ANC members of orchestrating his removal for refusing to hire their relatives and drop charges against former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, who was dismissed late last year. Chiwayo was speaking to journalists during a press conference yesterday after the Ehlanzeni regional executive council announced its recommendation to recall him as mayor on Wednesday. "There are senior ANC members who sit in the provincial executive committee (PEC) who warned me that I will be removed if I don't follow their instructions. Similar threats also came from the regional executive council (REC), who wanted me to appoint certain individuals," said Chiwayo.

He said the REC's secretary, Pat Ngomane, deputy chairman Peter Nyoni and regional working committee member Bheki Zulu were behind the calls to remove him. "These three comrades told me that I should restructure my entire mayoral committee, remove the deputy mayor (Nackie Ndlovu) and replace her with Nyoni's wife (Jester Sidel)," he said.

Chiwayo said he was also instructed at PEC level to sweep the Dladla matter under the carpet. He repeated that slain Mbombela Speaker Jimmy Mohlala was "executed" days before testifying in the disciplinary hearings against Dladla, who had a string of charges laid against him, and said it was clear that Dladla had been placed at Mbombela to become a "channel for looting". Chiwayo specifically mentioned that he had received "strict instructions" to suspend all disciplinary actions against Dladla. "I was warned that I will be removed as mayor if I don't suspended the disciplinary action. I refused and when he was found guilty and dismissed I was given instruction to either reinstate him or give him a golden handshake," he said.

Chiwayo said Mpumalanga's status as a 2010 World Cup host province had "erupted into chaos" and become "a curse to its own people". "The opportunity to host the 2010 World Cup is an international gift that was aimed at unifying our people, but now it has become a curse because of greed and power-mongering," said Chiwayo. "We have people dying on Mbombela soil because of tenders. It's as if there's an evil force that is thirsty for blood, a devil that has become a challenge for us to fight. These people decide who gets employed, where a tender should go and, if you defy them, you become a target." Chiwayo revealed that he had written a detailed report to the ANC, the national government and the National Intelligence Agency about the "power madness" in Mpumalanga.

Provincial secretary Lucky Ndinisa said the REC's recommendation had not yet been tabled. "That recommendation does not stand as a decision of the PEC. It will come to the PEC and we will look at it. As far as we are concerned, comrade Chiwayo remains Nelspruit's mayor," said Ndinisa.

Source: The Star

ANC at war over premier

The political future of Mpumalanga Premier David "DD" Mabuza is in the balance, with some senior ANC leaders pushing for his early exit from the province's hot seat. ANC sources said this week that members of the party's national executive committee (NEC) had been wanting him removed because of the spate of service delivery protests and allegations relating to the murder of government officials and ANC politicians in Mpumalanga.

President Jacob Zuma, who personally intervened in the protests, has complained that government officials at other levels have not followed up on his work. Provincial sources have repeatedly accused party treasurer Mathews Phosa of being opposed to Mabuza, though Phosa denies this. They have also accused ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu of allowing uncertainty about Mabuza's position to continue.

However, Mabuza has powerful backers in the NEC -- they include Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. Several Mpumalanga and national ANC leaders have told the M&G that investigations by the police's crime intelligence unit have looked closely at Mabuza's alleged involvement in the scandals surrounding the Mbombela stadium. His spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said this week that he was aware of the rumours to this effect but no one had officially notified the premier. "We all hear the rumours. The police are better placed to answer that as they are the ones who are investigating," Sithole said. The M&G was unable to obtain police confirmation.

Mthembu said he would not comment on the rumours, though he defended his earlier decision to release a statement saying the ANC took the matter seriously and all allegations against provincial ANC leaders, including Mabuza, were being probed. His remarks angered Mabuza's supporters, who accused Mthembu of using his position to take on political rivals in Mpumalanga. "What we said was that a team is investigating the allegations raised," Mthembu said. "I don't know where this thing that I'm biased comes from. We read about the [existence] of the hit list in the media and we just can't dismiss it." Those backing Mabuza's removal say, bearing in mind next year's municipal elections, it would spare the ANC embarrassment if he left before more evidence against him emerged.

Since becoming premier Mabuza has been locked in political battles with his colleagues in the provincial ANC who feel they were marginalised when he appointed his cabinet. But his supporters believe he is being targeted by individuals out to control provincial resources. Mabuza's detractors are pushing for his rival, Mbombela mayor Lucky Chiwayo, to succeed him. But Chiwayo, who lost the position of provincial ANC chair to Mabuza, is under pressure from Mabuza's supporters to quit as mayor. This week the ANC's Ehlanzeni regional general council passed a resolution recommending that Chiwayo be recalled. The resolution is apparently in retaliation for his refusal to reinstate former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, a Mabuza ally. Chiwayo dismissed him because of allegations that he irregularly authorised the payment of R43-million to Lekia, the company of Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung.

Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have arrested former ANC provincial secretary James Nkambule on charges of defeating the ends of justice, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Nkambule recently handed an affidavit to police which he claimed was written by a Mozambican hitman known as Josh, who said he was paid to assassinate politicians in the province.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Cosatu welcomes Public Protector finding on Moosa

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday expressed concern after the Public Protector found that former Eskom chairperson Valli Moosa acted improperly when the utility awarded a contract for the Medupi power station to the Hitachi consortium.

Former Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana found that Moosa failed to manage a conflict of interest arising from the 25% stake of African National Congress (ANC) investment company Chancellor House in Hitachi Power Africa. This stake means that the ruling party stands to make up to R5,8-billion out of the contract. "Cosatu welcomes the report and congratulates Comrade Lawrence Mushwana for exposing the fact that the ANC stood to benefit by up to R5,8-billion," it said.

Mushwana found that Moosa, a member of the ANC's national executive committee, failed to declare the conflict of interest and failed to recuse himself from the board's deliberations. These failings could have resulted "in the reasonable perception that Mr Moosa was biased in respect of the ... award", Mushwana said in his report tabled in Parliament on Thursday. He recommended that Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan consider introducing legislation to regulate the way business is conducted between government entities and political parties.

Cosatu backed his call and said his finding was so disturbing that Eskom's 25% tariff increases over the next three years should be reviewed. "There is now a serious question mark against whether there were vested interests involved in supporting the increases." Mushwana said Moosa's improper conduct did not affect the validity of the deal, which has been criticised by the political opposition.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

‘Speak ZA’ – Bloggers for a Free Press

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President.

We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

If you don’t have this freedom of the press, then all these little fellows are weaseling around and doing their monkey business and they never get caught.
~ Harold R. Medina

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Zim police crack-down on photo exhibition

Zimbabwe police on Tuesday seized all the photographs from an exhibition depicting repression under President Robert Mugabe, and arrested the chief of the human rights body that organised the show, officials confirmed. The incident is another instance of the harassment of human rights groups by Mugabe's police, which has continued despite the formation of a power-sharing government between the 86-year-old autocrat and his former opponent, pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is now prime minister.

Tsvangirai was due to open the exhibition Wednesday at the capital's well-known, private Delta Gallery of 62 framed photographs, which showed Mugabe's brutal crackdown on Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). A spokesperson for Tsvangirai's office said the prime minister was "adamant that the exhibition will go ahead", and that he would be opening it as scheduled. "What these people [Mugabe's Zanu-PF party] don't understand is that by showing these photographs you are not reopening wounds, you are trying to heal wounds," Tsvangirai said.

The images showed victims of violence, Tsvangirai with head injuries from an assault, police breaking up peace demonstrations, as well as Mugabe praying, and ended with pictures of members of the coalition government, said Cynthia Manjoro, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Human Rights Organization (Zimrights) that was holding the exhibition. "The aim was to make people look at where we have been, and to try to make sure we don't go there again," she said. "It is about national healing, and that we are begging for a truth and reconciliation commission."

Manjoro said police first arrived and took photographs of all the pictures. Later about 20 officers, including riot police, removed the pictures from the walls and dumped them in a police pick-up truck. Zimrights director Okay Machisa tried to intervene and was arrested. Lawyers later said Machisa had been released, but it was not clear what, if any, charges had been pressed against him. Manjoro said police gave no reason for removing the pictures.

In the last 10 years of harassment since Tsvangirai's MDC emerged as the first real threat to Mugabe's nearly 30 years in power, police have regularly closed down theatres featuring critical and satirical drama, arresting actors, producers and audiences, and shut down music concerts with a political theme. Observers say it is the first time they have interfered with an art exhibition. The show coincided with a swell of demands for acknowledgement, particularly by Mugabe's side of the coalition government, of a decade of violent intimidation, with murders, rapes, torture, assault, arson, looting and destruction of homes on a vast scale, which human rights organizations claim have been committed almost entirely by Mugabe's security forces and party vigilantes.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Ladysmith Land

At the beginning of last year a multi-million rand property transaction was finalised in Ladysmith. The land that was sold stretches from KwaZulu-Natal to the Free State and the owner lived in this farmhouse. Eight farms were included in the deal. They were bought as a going concern, which included the cattle and the farm implements, as well as this lavish mansion and all its household content.

The mahogany staircase, the Persian carpets, professionally decorated bedrooms and luxurious kitchen fit the lifestyle of the very rich. There's even a home theatre for those rainy days in the countryside. About three kilometres away, two families live in abject poverty. They are meant to be the owners of the mansion and the 4000 hectares that surround it. Instead, Nalid Mabaso shares this dwelling [on screen] with his extended family. There's no running water or electricity, and even if there was, nobody living here has the money to pay for it. 63-year-old Nalid hasn't worked since November last year and they survive on R1 000 a month, provided by his sons.

Nalid Mabaso: 'They have stopped the transport to work and it's too far to walk there.'

On the other side of the fence lives Agrippa Mtshali with his wife and their children. Apart from these chickens, some goats and a few head of cattle, they own very little. The old farmhouse they live in was once well equipped but, without running water and electricity, it has long lost its charm. Agrippa's wife says the only benefit of living here is that it's near the school bus stop.

The KwaZulu-Natal Rural Development and Land Affairs Department facilitated the sale in terms of the Land Reform Act 3 of 1996. To finance the deal, the department used the rights of so-called 'labour tenants', like the Mabasos and Mtshalis, as motivation to obtain government grants - not only for them, but for a total of 42 people who claimed to have ties with these farms.

Chantal Rutter (Carte Blanche presenter): 'To put it simply, it means that there needs to be enough people to qualify as shareholders in order to pay for the farm. And in this case it came to a whopping R36-million.'

But it seems someone forgot to tell the two families about their newly acquired wealth and property.

Nalid: 'Honestly, I don't know anything about it.'

Details of the deal are contained in this document [on screen], which names Agrippa and Nalid, as well as a third person, Philemon Mtshali, as the original applicants in the Labour Tenant claim. But the Mabasos and Mtshalis recognised very few of the other names, even though the beneficiaries were supposed to be family members and co-workers. What they do know is that two years ago, about eight people, who then lived and worked on the farms, were called to Ladysmith for a meeting with the local Department of Land Affairs. A senior official in the Ladysmith office, Sbu Chapi, addressed the meeting.

Chantal: 'He said the department is going to buy them a farm and all they had to do was bring in their IDs and the IDs of all their relatives.'

The Mabasos and Mtshalis refused to do this, yet curiously dozens of names, complete with ID numbers, somehow made the list. So what was the plan?

Chantal: 'Specific reference is made in the documents that the beneficiaries would get a strategic partner who would help with the commercial operation of the farm. Surprisingly this partner is not a farmer but a well-known family that runs a string of businesses and has properties in the town of Ladysmith.'

They are the Sewparsads, Father Ammachand, sometimes known as Billy Green, his daughter-in-law Naresha, and her husband Roshen.

[On screen]: 'Broker Sentenced' (Ladysmith Gazette)

Roshen is a convicted fraudster and gold smuggler who has avoided time in prison by doing a thousand hours of community service and paying fines amounting to R200 000. The Sewparsads refused to be interviewed on camera, but Roshen spoke to us on the phone.

[On phone] Roshen Sewparsad: 'If you have it in writing, give it to me. I'm saying to you I'm not willing to participate.'

Alf Lees has been investigating the deal for the past year. He's a member of parliament who lives in Ladysmith and is involved in the farming community.

Chantal: 'In terms of the Land Reform Act, how would you define the beneficiaries who are land tenants?'

Alf Lees (Member of Parliament - DA): 'Obviously if you are going to be a labour tenant you have got to be a resident on the land, and then you have to establish a labour tenant relationship with the owner. So you have to, at some stage, give employment in return for the land.'

Chantal: 'Now, in terms of that, how would you define a strategic partner?'

Alf: 'Strategic partner is a concept that is coming out of the need to ensure that land is sustainable once it's been handed over to the claimants. And so there is nothing sinister about a strategic partner. It is the relationship between that strategic partner and the beneficiaries which can be problematic.'

Alf has established that the department paid R22-million for the eight farms and that another R14-million was earmarked for moveable assets and further development. To his astonishment, he also found that a company called ABRINA 6822 LTD held the title deeds for the eight farms and that Roshen and Naresha Sewparsad were the only directors. No mention of the Mabasos and Mtshalis... nor of any [of the] other beneficiaries.

Alf: 'It would appear that the beneficiaries are not in fact aware that they are beneficiaries, and they are now becoming aware of it, and they are asking questions.'

... and so did we.

Interestingly, Roshen then suddenly resigned as a director of the company. We were also interested to hear what the Department of Land Affairs in Ladysmith had to say. The official currently in charge of the project is Patrick Masoka, but he referred us to office manager, Promise Makhanya.

She in turn referred us to Sbu Chapi, who had originally coordinated the deal.

[Hidden camera] Chantal: 'How did you source the strategic partner?'

[Hidden camera] Sbu Chapi: 'That is what I am saying... I was not involved in the actual project.'

[Hidden camera] Chantal: 'The document shows that you were actually involved in presenting those strategic partners.'

[Hidden camera] Sbu: 'No, not the strategic partners. I presented it because it was a labour tenant claim, but after that...'

[Hidden camera] Chantal: 'So you did present it?'

[Hidden camera] Sbu: 'I did present it - initially it was without the strategic partners.'

When pressed for answers about the ghost beneficiaries, Sbu showed us the door.

[Hidden camera] Sbu: 'No, you are not getting me. I am saying I have nothing to say now. Put it in writing.'

[Hidden camera] Chantal: 'So you are not going to make any comments at all about this?'

[Hidden camera] Sbu: 'No, I am not.'

And off he went in his fancy car with personalised number plates.And the Sewparsads, who own this Auto Zone branch in Ladysmith, eventually answered our questions through their lawyer.And that's when the case became really confusing. They deny that the deal was a Labour Tenant claim, despite official departmental documents indicating that it was.

[Lawyer's letter] 'There was no involvement with any claim by Labour Tenants. The properties were for sale and ABRINA 6822 LTD approached the sellers to acquire it and secured funding from the Department of Land Affairs.'

[Lawyer's letter] 'In return the purchaser undertook to uplift the skills of the residents on the farms.'

[Lawyer's letter] 'There was no mention made of any strategic partner. That was never a term or condition of the sale or requirement for the provision of funding.'

In another puzzling revelation, the Sewparsads state that their Family Trust is the only shareholder of ABRINA 6822 LTD and that the company is indeed the legal owner of the eight farms, now called Billy Green Ranches. But not according to Mdu Shabane, Deputy Director General of Land Reform.

Mdu Shabane (Deputy Director General Land Reform - Dept of Rural Development & Land Affairs): 'Legally land reform beneficiaries, for whom the amount of money was approved, should be the beneficiaries. But unfortunately we have discovered, since your investigation, that the land was not transferred to them, but rather to another company with a similar name. From our point of view the transaction is fraudulent. The current owners in whose name the land is now registered should not be the owners because they were never the beneficiaries of the project.'

The Sewparsads, who apparently use the luxury farmhouse as a weekend retreat, say the household contents were not part of the sale. But we have a list of furniture that was included in the deal.

Mdu: 'As far as we are concerned, all those things are illegal, because the person who lives in that house has got no business to be on that farm.' And allegations are mounting. We obtained this invoice showing that income made from grass harvested on the farm was deposited into the Sewparsad's Auto Zone business account and not into the farm's account.

Mdu: 'Just last week, the person who lives in the house was trying to remove livestock from the farm. And our office had to send the police to stop him.'

The department has since asked the Provincial Commissioner of Police in KwaZulu-Natal for help and he has assigned the Hawks to the case.

Mdu: 'Once they have got the information and the evidence is clear, then the Hawks will work together with the asset forfeiture unit.'

One of the many documents the department's head office has since obtained was signed with a cross, allegedly by Nalid Mabaso.

Mdu: 'I doubt that he was capable of negotiating such a transaction. As a matter of fact, they don't even know that they own the land. So, my view is that they were duped by somebody colluding with others. I suspect that there is a whole range of people in the whole value chain that had a hand in making sure that this transaction ends up in the manner that it has.'

Patrick Masoka, Promise Makhanya and Sbu Chapi, the three Land Affairs officials at the Ladysmith office, have been suspended as a result of this Carte Blanche investigation.

Source: Carte Blanche

'Greed and cronyism erode our rights'

South Africans should honour the victims of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre by protecting everyone's human rights, deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Sunday. Motlanthe was speaking at the 50th commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre during which about 300 demonstrators marching against pass laws were shot at by apartheid police in the township. The shooting resulted in 69 of the demonstrators being killed, while at least 180 other people were wounded during the march.

Motlanthe said South Africans had a responsibility to protect the Constitution and to honour those who gave their lives in the fight for freedom. "In effect, this means as public representatives, at local, provincial and national levels, we should always remember the dead because we are their living delegates as they have relinquished their rights to participate in this freedom we enjoy," he said.

He said this alluded to the government's obligations and responsibilities to improve the socio-economic conditions of South Africans in honour of the departed who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. "To adequately commemorate the victims and survivors of the Sharpeville massacre and other bloodbaths, we must ensure the progressive realisation of the socio-economic rights as envisaged in the Bill of Rights. This means as government working with our social partners, we must strive to improve the quality of life of all our people by providing shelter, basic amenities, education, and security," he said. He also called on citizens to remain patient in the face of slow service delivery. "The freedom we enjoy today in South Africa means we must exercise our responsibilities diligently so that even those who are aggrieved by [the] slow pace of service delivery will not resort to burning public facilities, such as libraries and schools," Motlanthe said. "I believe freedom also obliges communities themselves to take ownership of protecting everyone's human rights and protecting the vulnerable members of our society," he said.

However, opposition parties and civil organisations said the ruling African National Congress was the main threat to human rights in the country. "Our constitutional rights are threatened by greed, cronyism, corruption and power abuse," said Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille. "Our right to live free from fear is threatened by hate speech that incites violence and the government's hired thugs who think they are above the law," she said.

Zille said these threats were not from outside forces and they had nothing to do with the legacy of the past. "They are recent threats to our human rights. And they come from the ruling party itself," she said.

The civil rights group Afrikanerbond said the government treated the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) with contempt by not complying to its regulations. Its chief secretary, Jan Bosman, pointed out that South Africa's report on racism and discrimination was submitted five years late and its second report, which was due on January 9, has still not been submitted. "In our celebration of Human Rights Day, we are extremely concerned about the South African government's own commitment to human rights," he said. "It is becoming more and more a government that blindly approve or condone abuses against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by not acting against any abuse or breach," Bosman said.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader, Bantu Holomisa, said a radical economic transformation was needed to avert a "social explosion" that South Africa managed to avert with the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) in the 1990's. "The creation of our economic egalitarian society cannot be left to the vagaries of the market forces only that are inherent in current economic policy," he said. "It is only then that we will be in a position to talk of the realisation of human rights in South Africa... when everyone reaps the fruits of the economy," Holomisa said.

Source: IoL

Court papers allege 'payments to Hlongwane'

Court papers have apparently emerged which reignite claims against Fana Hlongwane for possibly receiving incentives linked to the arms-deal scandal, the Sunday Times reported.

On Friday, the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) said in a statement received by the South African Press Association that it had abandoned a preservation order against assets seized from Hlongwane, who was under investigation for possibly receiving incentives from international arms company BAE Systems. In the statement, the NDPP's Menzi Simelane said there was insufficient evidence to support the retention of the preservation order. "Whilst there was and still is room to argue for the retention of the preservation order, the evidence available does not support this approach," said Simelane.

On Sunday, the newspaper reported that it had documents in its possession that "show he [Hlongwane] was indirectly paid more that R200-million by British defence company BAE".

In Friday's statement, the NDPP said it had authorised the application for the preservation order earlier this month, after considering and receiving reports from Willie Hofmeyr, the deputy national director of the NDPP assigned for asset forfeiture processes. However, the NDPP then said the matter could not progress because the investigation had yielded no evidence of criminal conduct, and it could not continue simply on a suspicion. The newspaper however said it had examined hundreds of pages of court documentation "kept under lock and key in the office of the court registrar" which contained a variety of claims against Hlongwane.

The newspaper reported on an affidavit it had seen -- written apparently by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Billy Downer -- which allegedly detailed payments of millions of pounds Hlongwane received from a company, Arstow, apparently linked to BAE. "There are reasonable grounds to believe that [Hlongwane] has committed the offences of corruption, fraud, money laundering and/or racketeering in the context of the arms deal," the newspaper quoted an extract of Downer's affidavit as saying. It also reported that Downer said in his affidavit that Hlongwane had "derived financial reward" from the arms deal. Hlongwane's lawyer Christo Stockenstrom was quoted as telling the Sunday Times: "I'm not going to comment on anything".

Source: Mail & Guardian

Saturday, March 20, 2010

ANC fears for Malema's life

The ANC said on Friday it believes the Freedom Front Plus's campaign against its youth league leader Julius Malema could lead to his assassination. "As the ANC, we draw the conclusion that it (the campaign) is meant to incite, instigate and mobilise some people to harm and even lead to the execution of the ANCYL president," said ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi in a statement. "The campaign is meant to incite the South African populace, particularly the Afrikaner community, against the president of the youth league."

The ANC said the FF Plus was putting Malema's "personal safety and security" in danger, especially considering that "right-wing elements" had been responsible for killing SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani in the early 1990s. "The ANC would not like a repeat of what happened to Chris Hani to happen to Julius Malema," said another ANC spokesman, Jackson Mthembu.

Meanwhile, Ernst Roets, national chairman of AfriForum Youth, a human rights organisation, said members of the ANCYL yesterday scattered a list of names of more than 1 600 victims of farm murders, handed to them by AfriForum Youth, in the street in front of their offices in Luthuli House, central Joburg, trampled on them and tore them up. AfriForum has drawn up a list of farm murders to show that Malema's recent singing of "shoot the boer" could have consequences. Malema sang it at his birthday celebration in Polokwane and at a student gathering in Joburg earlier this month. Roets said Malema had also threatened AfriForum Youth with death, saying they would be the next "Shell House massacre" - referring to the killing of 19 members of the IFP on March 28, 1994, who were shot while protesting outside the ANC's former Joburg offices.

Roets said he met Malema yesterday afternoon to finalise the logistical details of a protest action outside Luthuli House. During the discussion, Malema had said he would shoot at AfriForum Youth if the march went ahead. Instead, Roets said, a small number of representatives, comprising himself, Kallie Kriel, Steve Hofmeyr, Gerrie Pretorius and Sean Else, went to Luthuli House with the memorandum. "It is extremely perturbing that they actually trod on the names of the murder victims. It might just as well have been Robert Mugabe meeting us today..." Roets added.

Meanwhile, the FF Plus launched a Prosecute Malema campaign on Thursday, according to its parliamentary spokesman Anton Alberts. The campaign consists of the gathering of signatures via e-mail and through a website, where a protest letter can be signed. These will be presented to President Jacob Zuma. FF Plus chief whip Corne Mulder said it was ironic that the ANC had laid a charge against the party's campaign because they were worried about Malema's safety. "It shows no real understanding for the thousands of farmers who have been murdered."

SA Human Rights Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana told the Saturday Star this week that the commission had not yet taken a decision regarding the complaints. He said he was compelled to await the outcome of the Equality Court case against Malema, brought last week by the Afrikanerbond. But constitutional expert Pierre de Vos, from the University of Cape Town, said the commission could continue with its own investigation and could even make pronouncements based on past precedents, like its pronouncement as hate speech three years ago against former ANCYL leader Peter Mokaba's chant "kill the farmer, kill the boer".

Source: IoL

Also see:
'Kill the Boer' slogan led to murders
Parties unite against Mokaba 'hate speech'
Mbeki speaks out against 'kill boer' slogan
Farmers hail Mbeki's 'kill the boer' stance

Friday, March 19, 2010

DA queries second tender for Nyanda firm

FOR the second time this week, a company associated with Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has been named as benefiting from state tenders without an open process. GNS Risk Advisory Services, a company 50% owned by Nyanda, was awarded a contract in 2007 by Gauteng’s transport department.

The cost of the work was originally estimated at R12m by Impophoma Infrastructure Support, a business entity of the department set up to improve service delivery. But yesterday, a written reply from roads and transport MEC Bheki Nkosi in response to a Democratic Alliance (DA) question in the Gauteng legislature revealed that R67,87m had been spent on the contract so far, and that the costs had not been determined and fixed in advance. The disclosure came a day after Transnet announced it had sacked two senior managers for manipulating an R18,9m security tender in favour of GNS.

Discrepancies in the Transnet security tender had also led to the suspension of — and disciplinary action against — Transnet Freight Rail CEO Siyabonga Gama. Nkosi confirmed that a tender process had not been followed in awarding the Gauteng contract. “The accounting officer appointed GNS Risk Advisory Services through a deviation as provided for in terms of treasury regulation 16A6.4,” he said. A deviation allows for the procurement of goods or services by means other than competitive bids, only if a bid is impractical.

DA spokesman Jack Bloom said the problem was that the contract was open-ended. “ So far nearly R68m has been paid to GNS and more payments could still be made, unless the contract is urgently reviewed,” he said. Bloom said he had referred the matter to the auditor-general.

Nyanda’s spokesman, Tiyani Rikhotso, said there was no conflict of interest as the contract in question was awarded 18 months before Nyanda joined the Cabinet.

Source: Business Day

Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States

On March 13, China’s Information Office of the State Council published a report titled, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009.” This document was clearly intended as a rebuttal to the annual US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009, released two days earlier.

The Chinese report quite legitimately notes that the US government “releases Country Reports on Human Rights Practices year after year to accuse other countries, and takes human rights as a political instrument to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, defame other nations’ image and seek its own strategic interests. This fully exposes its double standards on the human rights issue…”

Delivering the US government a well-deserved dose of its own medicine does not, of course, absolve the Chinese regime of its own gross violations of human rights. It rules autocratically over 1.3 billion people, most of them desperately poor peasants and super-exploited workers.

That being said, the Chinese report is an eye-opening document—factual, sober, even understated, drawn entirely from public government and media sources in the United States, with each item carefully documented. It presents a picture of 21st century America as much of the world sees it, one which is in sharp contrast to the official mythology and American media propaganda.

Not surprisingly, the report went unmentioned in the US mass media.

The 14-page report is divided into six major sections: Life, Property and Personal Security; Civil and Political Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Racial Discrimination; Rights of Women and Children; US Violations of Human Rights Against Other Nations. The cumulative picture is one of a society in deep and worsening social crisis.

A few of the facts and figures cited on violence and police repression in the United States:

• Each year, 30,000 people die in gun-related incidents.
• There were 14,180 murders last year.
• In the first ten months of 2009, 45 people were killed by police use of tasers, bringing the total for the decade to 389.
• Last year, 315 police officers in New York City were subject to internal supervision due to “unrestrained use of violence.”
• 7.3 million Americans were under the authority of the correctional system, more than in any other country.
• An estimated 60,000 prisoners were raped while in custody last year.

On democratic rights, the report notes the pervasive government spying on citizens, authorized under the 2001 Patriot Act, extensive surveillance of the Internet by the National Security Agency, and police harassment of anti-globalization demonstrators in Pittsburgh during last year’s G-20 summit. Pointing to the hypocrisy of US government “human rights” rhetoric, the authors observe, “the same conduct in other countries would be called human rights violations, whereas in the United States it was called necessary crime control.”

The report only skims the surface on the socioeconomic crisis in the United States, noting record levels of unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness, as well as 46.3 million people without health insurance. It does offer a few facts rarely discussed in the US media:

• 712 bodies were cremated at public expense in the city of Los Angeles last year, because the families were too poor to pay for a burial.
• There were 5,657 workplace deaths recorded in 2007, the last year for which a tally is available, a rate of 17 deaths per day (not a single employer was criminally charged for any of these deaths).
• Some 2,266 veterans died as a consequence of lack of health insurance in 2008, 14 times the military death toll in Afghanistan that year.

The report presents evidence of pervasive racial discrimination against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, the most oppressed sections of the US working class, including a record number of racial discrimination claims over hiring practices, more than 32,000. It also notes the rising number of incidents of discrimination or violence against Muslims, and the detention of 300,000 “illegal” immigrants each year, with more than 30,000 immigrants in US detention facilities every day of the year.

It notes that the state of California imposed life sentences on 18 times more black defendants than white, and that in 2008, when New York City police fired their weapons, 75 percent of the targets were black, 22 percent Hispanic and only 3 percent white.

The report refers to the well-known reality of unequal pay for women, with median female income only 77 percent that of male income in 2008, down from 78 percent in 2007. According to the report, 70 percent of working-age women have no health insurance, or inadequate coverage, high medical bills or high health-related debt.

Children bear a disproportionate burden of economic hardship, with 16.7 million children not having enough food at some time during 2008, and 3.5 million children under five facing hunger or malnutrition, 17 percent of the total. Child hunger is combined with the malignant phenomenon of rampant child labor in agriculture: some 400,000 child farm workers pick America’s crops. The US also leads the world in imprisoning children and juveniles, and is the only country that does not offer parole to juvenile offenders.

US foreign policy comes in for justifiable criticism as well. A country with so many poor and hungry people accounts for 42 percent of the world’s total military spending, a colossal $607 billion, as well as the world’s largest foreign arms sales, $37.8 billion in 2008, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year.

The Chinese report notes the documented torture of prisoners in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the worldwide US network of military bases, the US blockade of Cuba (opposed by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 187 to 3), and the systematic US spying around the world, utilizing the NSA’s “ECHELON” interception system, as well as the US monopoly control over Internet route servers.

The report also points out the deliberate US flouting of international human rights covenants. Washington has either signed but not ratified or refused to sign four major UN covenants: on economic, social and cultural rights; on the rights of women; on the rights of people with disabilities; and on the rights of indigenous peoples.

The report does not discuss the source of the malignant social conditions in the United States—nor should that be expected, since that would require an explanation of the causal connection between poverty, repression and discrimination and the operations of the capitalist profit system, something that Beijing is hardly likely to undertake.

Source: World Socialist Web Site

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Nyanda under fire

Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is again in the spotlight after two senior Transnet staff members were axed for awarding his company a multimillion-rand deal. Nyanda's company, General Nyanda Security Risk Advisory Services (GNS), was irregularly awarded a contract to provide specialised security services.

However, the limit on such tenders was R10 million, and Transnet has now fired two senior managers for awarding a deal worth more than that. The minister owns half of GNS, which had been paid R55 million between December 2007 and late last year, Barbara Hogan, minister of public enterprises, said in reply to questions in Parliament. The initial value of the deal was R18.9 million and was awarded by suspended Transnet Freight Rail chief executive Siyabonga Gama. Gama was suspended last September for his role in awarding contracts, including the security deal, without following the proper procedures.

Transnet spokesman John Dludlu this morning told ITWeb that the security contract with GNS has since been terminated. The state-owned enterprise has dismissed two senior managers in charge of security at Transnet Freight Rail, after wrapping up an internal disciplinary process. The managers were found guilty of dishonesty and misconduct by an independent investigation. The unnamed managers had awarded the GNS contract without opening a tender process, and without following the required governance processes. Their dismissal follows their suspension late last year, after the irregularities came to light. Tiyani Rikhotso, Nyanda's spokesman, was not available this morning to comment on the matter. The minister has, however, previously denied being involved in the day-to-day running of the security company.

The Parliamentary register of interests lists Nyanda as a 50% shareholder in GNS, but there is no value attached to his stake. His only listed benefit from GNS is a driver for general household tasks, the register indicates.

Nyanda previously come under fire from opposition party Congress of the People over the contracts between GNS and Transnet Freight Rail, as well as other government departments. He has also been called to task over his lavish spending at Cape Town hotels, instead of staying in his official residence, and for splashing out on luxury cars.

Source: IT Web

Zuma requests report on 'bullying bodyguards'

President Jacob Zuma has requested a report from the South African Police Service on an incident between his protection unit and an Eyewitness News reporter, his office said on Wednesday.

Earlier, it was reported that 702 Eyewitness News reporter Tshepo Lesole was grabbed by bodyguards and forced to delete pictures he had taken while Zuma was visiting the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. "The Presidency recognises the need for the media to be able to freely and effectively cover the president's activities. "They should be able to exercise their constitutional rights unhindered," Zuma's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said in a statement. "The Presidency also recognises that the PPU [presidential protection unit] has a responsibility to guarantee the president's safety at all times, and to take all reasonable and necessary measures to ensure his security is not compromised."

Magwenya said Zuma's protection was the responsibility of the SAPS, and the Presidency played "no direct role in this function". He said the Presidency was discussing a proposal for a workshop between the presidential protection unit and the media with the SAPS.

The Professional Journalists' Association (PJA) on Wednesday said the actions of Zuma's bodyguards, in forcing a journalist to delete pictures of the presidential cavalcade, harked back to apartheid-era "thuggery and censorship". "As a member of the press, Lesole is fully entitled to take pictures of the presidential cavalcade [as is any member of the public]. That he was detained for doing so, and forced to delete the images, harks back to apartheid-era thuggery and censorship," said the newly formed PJA. It called on the police, whether they were VIP units or not, to respect the rights of working journalists, and wanted the bodyguards to be held accountable.

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) said it was saddened that the incident came several weeks after meetings with the minister, deputy minister and national commissioner of police to discuss police harassment of journalists. Sanef had received strong commitments that police would not hamper journalists in doing their work, with police National Commissioner Bheki Cele saying: "We must allow both parties [media and the police] to do their work without any problems."

In another incident, Mail & Guardian journalists were briefly detained outside Zuma's house on Wednesday. "If the detention of M&G journalists outside President Zuma's house was an isolated incident, we might be prepared to chalk it up to an inexperienced police officer simply being overzealous," said M&G editor Nic Dawes, "but unfortunately this kind of conduct is now becoming common, and it is clearly designed to intimidate journalists who are simply working to do their constitutionally mandated duty". "The message appears to be coming from senior officials that so-called security concerns justify riding roughshod over basic rights. We will be raising this issue vigorously through Sanef, as well as with the Presidency, and the police."

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, meanwhile, has asked President Jacob Zuma for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue of so-called "blue-light bullies". She called on Zuma to "rein in his bullies". Last month, when University of Cape Town student Chumani Maxwele was arrested at gunpoint and detained for gesturing at Zuma's convoy, the Presidency said the incident had nothing to with it. It said it was a matter to be taken up with the VIP protection services. "President Zuma cannot hide behind this excuse again. He, and no one else, is accountable for the behaviour of his bodyguards," Zille said. He should acknowledge what had happened, take responsibility for it and do something about it. Zille said she has written to Zuma requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the matter.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Hanging himself in public?

Julius Malema's recent "struggle song" has led to another charge of hate speech against him -- in the same week that the Equality Court found him guilty of the same charge deriving from his comments on Jacob Zuma's rape accuser.

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president sang the song at his 29th birthday celebrations in Limpopo this month, and again last week while addressing students at a rally at the University of Johannesburg.

The song lyrics include "dubul' ibhunu" (shoot the Boer), and "ziyareypa lezinja" (these dogs are raping). [Full lyrics below].

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe defended the song last weekend, saying: "Anyone who relegates this song to hate speech is part of those who are trying to erase our history. That would be unfortunate, as it is a struggle song that was used when we were still fighting for liberation. This song will not be erased from our history because of people who are sensitive."

The song echoes the slogan "Kill the Boer, kill the farmer", associated especially with late ANCYL president Peter Mokaba. On Monday this week, civil rights group AfriForum Youth laid a charge of hate speech against Malema at the Equality Court.

This was the same day on which the Equality Court found Malema guilty of hate speech for comments he made about Zuma's rape accuser. Addressing students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in January 2009, Malema said, "When a woman didn't enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning that lady requested breakfast and taxi money"

The Mail & Guardian asked five high-profile experts on freedom of speech, constitutional law and both Afrikaner and black nationalism what they thought of Malema's recent bursts into song.

* Hermann Giliomee, historian and author of Afrikaners: Biography of a People, said the song was "dangerous and likely to incite some people".


* Pierre de Vos, constitutional law lecturer at the University of Cape Town, said songs like these were sung at a specific time "when an apartheid government needed to be overthrown. Because we are in a democracy, there is no need for those songs. If you follow human rights, Mr Mantashe's defence will not hold -- apartheid is no more."

Because of Malema's history and the insecurity of minority groups in the country, "some people are reacting to the person saying it", instead of what is being said, De Vos said.


* Melissa Moore, acting director of the Freedom of Expression Institute, said, "It is extremely worrying that the leaders of our country view this kind of speech as acceptable. This indicates a blatant disregard and disrespect for fundamental human rights and the well-being of South African society.

"Malema's statement amounts to hate speech, which is a form of speech that is not protected by the Constitution. Section 16(2) (c) of the Constitution prohibits the advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and that constitutes incitement to cause harm. The statement clearly incites harm to a specific group of people based on their race and ethnicity. Such speech should not be condoned and should not go unpunished."


* Zandi Radebe, spokesperson for Blackwash, a Black Consciousness youth social movement based in Soweto, said, "Malema's behaviour is predictable." Blackwash condemns any hate speech, regardless of who it comes from. "For me the issue is: Why do we continuously applaud the behaviour of people like Julius Malema? He makes the same noise and we give him the same reaction, I'm really tired of this."


* Jane Duncan, professor of journalism at Rhodes University, said, "Struggle songs help people to remember the spirit of resistance that led to South Africa's transition to democracy. For as long as South Africa remains untransformed on many levels of the social formation -- for instance, racism or economic inequalities remain -- these songs will continue to be sung, as people take courage from the spirit of resistance from the past to overcome the injustices of the present."

"The song as sung by Mokaba could not be considered hate speech, even when people sung it at Mokaba's funeral, and the Human Rights Commission [HRC] erred in making this judgement at the time. In order for speech to constitute incitement to cause harm, specific targets of that harm need to be identified. The song cannot be said to be directed at specific individuals, and in fact, the song is strongly metaphorical in that it refers to the system of apartheid being killed, so the specificity of speech that is necessary for something to constitute incitement to cause harm was absent.

"In addition, the HRC extended the definition of harm too far, to include psychological harm to 'minorities or vulnerable groups': forms of harm that are virtually impossible to prove as they are too subjective. If the song was not hate speech then, then it is doubtful that Malema's rendition of the song constituted hate speech either.

"The point is that these struggle songs will not go away, and banning them out of existence will merely reinforce their mystique, leading to greater determination to chant them.

"The tide is turning against Malema; every time he opens his mouth, it becomes clearer that he is not leadership material. He should be allowed the space to hang himself in public. The tendency of many social actors to cry 'hate speech' every time Malema says something outrageous may backfire against those with genuine grievances in the long run.

"The Equality Court's recent ruling against Malema's 'hate speech' underlines the problem. His statements were stupid and misogynistic, but the court's ruling has broadened the definition of hate speech so much that speech that is merely considered to be harmful can now be proscribed. This means that huge swathes of speech on political matters can now be punished. Society as a whole is set back by such rulings, and it is important for us to see this bigger picture and not be blinded by our disdain for Malema. Future judgements proscribing socially necessary speech will be based on this precedent."

Lyrics of the song sung by Malema during his birthday speech (transcribed and translated from the Times's online audio of Malema's birthday speech):

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ayeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot )
ayasab 'a magwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
awu yoh
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyeah (oh mother)
awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)

aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot )
ayeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ayasab 'a magwala (the cowards are scared)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
iii yoh
dubula dubala (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)
awe mama ndiyekele (mother leave me be)
awe mama iyo (oh mother)

aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ziyarapa lezinja (these dogs are raping)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ay iyeah
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ziyarapa lezinja (these dogs are raping)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
ay iiiyo
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Aw dubul'ibhunu (shoot the Boer)
dubula dubula (shoot shoot)

Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ay iyeah
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ayasab' amagwala (the cowards are scared)
Dubula dubula (shoot shoot)
Ay iyeah

Source: Mail & Guardian

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Infant killed after being set alight

A five-month-old baby has died and his mother was hospitalised after a mysterious attack at their Soweto home last night.

According to one of the survivors, 19-year-old Lerato Sekoati, a gang broke into the small house in Mapetla at about 8.40pm. The three intruders were apparently accompanied by a woman who had covered her face to avoid being recognised. Using firearms to hold the Sekoati family hostage, the gang took Lerato's mother, Grace, and her five month old child into a bedroom. Then they allegedly poured petrol over them and set the house on fire.

The motive for this attack remains unknown.

Source: IoL

Zuma guards slammed for 'thuggery'

The actions of President Jacob Zuma's bodyguards, who forced a journalist to delete pictures of the presidential cavalcade, harked back to apartheid-era "thuggery and censorship", the Professional Journalists' Association (PJA) said on Wednesday.

It was responding to 702 Eyewitness News reporter Tshepo Lesole being grabbed by bodyguards and forced to delete pictures he had taken while Zuma was visiting the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Tuesday. "As a member of the press, Lesole is fully entitled to take pictures of the presidential cavalcade [as is any member of the public]. That he was detained for doing so, and forced to delete the images, harks back to apartheid-era thuggery and censorship," said the newly formed PJA. It called on the police, whether they were VIP units or not, to respect the rights of working journalists, and wanted the bodyguards to be held accountable.

Lesole was not immediately available for comment, but colleague Stephen Grootes said they were covering the visit when they spotted the cavalcade of at least 10 BMWs and thought it would make a good picture. "Suddenly ... he was surrounded by about four or five guys, they were shouting, screaming, holding him back, holding him by the wrist, and really shouting at him," said Grootes. "I kept shouting, 'come on, talk about this', and they just refused to listen." Lesole was then dragged around the corner and his pictures were deleted. On the radio station's website, Lesole was quoted as saying that stories of the arrest and allegations of torture of a student in Cape Town came to mind during the incident.

In February, Chumani Maxwele was arrested for gesturing at Zuma's motorcade and detained overnight. The station was deciding whether to press charges against the bodyguards but, said Grootes, as far as they knew, there was no law banning taking pictures of a presidential cavalcade.

Zuma's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, speaking from Harare where Zuma is meeting President Robert Mugabe, said he did not immediately know where the law stood on the matter.

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) said it was saddened that the incident came several weeks after meetings with the minister, deputy minister and national commissioner of police to discuss police harassment of journalists. Sanef had received strong commitments that police would not hamper journalists in doing their work, with police National Commissioner Bheki Cele saying: "We must allow both parties [media and the police] to do their work without any problems." The latest incident would be raised with a special committee of Sanef and the police.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Acting Leader of Nigeria Dissolves His Cabinet

The acting president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, dissolved his cabinet on Wednesday in the strongest assertion yet of his authority over a country where his rule has been challenged. The ministers were all inherited from Umaru Yar’Adua, the gravely ill president whose place Mr. Jonathan took in February. Analysts and presidential advisers suggested that they had become an impediment to Mr. Jonathan’s attempts to put his stamp on the office. Information about Mr. Yar’Adua’s condition has been sparse. Three weeks ago, he returned home after a long hospital stay in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Jonathan has had to deal with sectarian and ethnic violence in one region, a flare-up in the rebellion over oil in another and strife in the cabinet. “There are pro- and anti-Jonathan ministers in the cabinet, and pro- and anti-Yar’Adua ministers, and they were polarized as to whether the acting president should act or not act,” said Hassan Tukur, a retired diplomat who is close to Mr. Jonathan. In a foretaste of Wednesday’s dismissals, Mr. Jonathan dismissed Mr. Yar’Adua’s national security adviser last week after mass killings near the city of Jos. “It’s the prerogative of the president to change the cabinet whenever he feels the need to inject new blood, reinvigorate the cabinet and give it a new focus, and that’s what we’ve done here,” said Ima Niboro, Mr. Jonathan’s spokesman.

Others said that Mr. Jonathan’s agenda was not helped by the infighting. “There was a lack of cohesiveness in the cabinet, and the cabinet had become polarized, in a way that was harming effective governance on the core issues,” said a person close to the president who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Source: New York Times

Leaders’ Lavishness Gives Rise to ‘Lifestyle Audits’

Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has 20 children, three wives and a fiancée. Recently, the matter of how he supports this large and widely dispersed family has been vigorously questioned. Indeed, the finances of everyone in government are suddenly viewed with a skepticism that often drifts into contempt. Zwelinzima Vavi, a labor leader and longtime ally of Mr. Zuma’s, is calling for “lifestyle audits” of all senior officials to surmise who is on the take and just how much they are taking.

For years, people have noticed a mismatch between the income and the outgo of many within the governing African National Congress. The A.N.C. is the party of Nelson Mandela, the organization that liberated the country from apartheid, the home of many heroes now struggling to get rich. In his novel “Black Diamond,” Zakes Mda, one of the nation’s leading writers, wryly observed, “In this brave new world, accumulation of personal wealth is dressed up in militarism, as if capitalism is the continuation of the guerrilla warfare that was fought during apartheid.”

The catalyst for the current demand for accounting is not Mr. Zuma but rather the second most quoted member of the A.N.C., the leader of its youth league, Julius Malema. A virtual unknown two years ago, Mr. Malema, 29, is a young man seemingly unwise beyond his years. His A.N.C. comrades could perhaps tolerate his abuse of political opponents, enjoying how he denounced them as Satanists or demeaned the women as too ugly to marry. He recently insulted the country’s Afrikaner minority by leading students in the old struggle chant, “Kill the farmer, kill the Boer.” In a nation where the police say 861 white farmers have been killed since 2001, some deemed this sing-along insensitive to say the least. But Mr. Malema has also turned his tongue on veteran A.N.C. stalwarts, particularly leaders of the party’s alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, calling them reactionaries. He said the Communists presented themselves as champions of the working class while “they spend most of their time drinking red wine.”

Mr. Malema is popular in the townships, where most young people delight in the entertainment value of his scalding wit. But he is increasingly despised within his own party’s hierarchy and now claims that several A.N.C. leaders are out to “smear” him. This hardly seems implausible. For a long time, people have wondered how a young man with an impoverished past has collected enough cash to own a fine home in the Johannesburg suburbs. Mr. Malema serves Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky and Moët & Chandon Champagne at his parties. He wears Gucci suits and a Breitling watch. He walks through poor communities in designer jeans.

In a single weekend last month, three major newspapers published exposés about Mr. Malema, asserting that he has amassed a fortune through government contracts steered to businesses in which he owns an interest. According to The City Press, one company, SGL Engineering Projects, which listed Mr. Malema as a director, won $20 million in contracts from municipalities in Mr. Malema’s home province. The company’s earnings have multiplied in just the past two years, even though its work has often been found shoddy, news reports said. These simultaneous revelations may have been a case of coincidental sleuthing — or perhaps closely timed leaks from well-informed enemies. Under pressure to respond, Mr. Malema, speaking through his attorney, said that in 2008 he resigned his directorships in all companies. He insisted that he was unaware that he currently held a position in SGL.

Mr. Zuma has routinely supported his pugnacious acolyte, and this time was no different. “I’m not sure Malema has no right to business, on what basis I don’t know,” the president said. But blood was in the water, and soon the call for lifestyle audits stretched into the presidency itself. Mr. Zuma said such invasive accounting was unnecessary, arguing that by law government officials already were obligated to disclose their business interests, gifts and assets. The president was correct about that. In fact, by law he was supposed to report the details of his finances within 60 days of assuming office. He was inaugurated 10 months ago but had yet to comply with the ethics code.

Last Wednesday, a week after the news media finally awakened to Mr. Zuma’s non-compliance — and after even some political allies had joined political adversaries in their disapproval — the president submitted an accounting of his holdings, though the extent of that disclosure has yet to become public. As to how he supports all those dependents, part of the answer emerged Tuesday when Collins Chabane, a minister within the presidency, said the government provided more than $2 million a year for “spousal” support. The examples he gave were for expenses relating to the duties of Mr. Zuma’s wives in their capacities as first ladies, such as secretaries, air travel, cellphones and computers. No details were given regarding government support for the president’s children. The payment of Mr. Zuma’s bills has been an issue before. In 2005, a close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of bribing Mr. Zuma in return for help in various business deals. The moneybags were open for items big and small: vacations, medical bills, even the allowance for Mr. Zuma’s children. The trial judge said the two had a “mutually beneficial symbiosis.”

Mr. Zuma was later charged with 16 counts of fraud, corruption and racketeering. He avoided a trial when prosecutors dismissed the case because of misconduct within their ranks, just weeks before he was sworn in as president.

Mr. Shaik, sentenced to 15 years, spent only 28 months in jail before being freed on medical parole in March 2009. At the time, he was said to be near death, though he has since been observed driving around Durban in his BMW X6. That is not the automobile Mr. Malema prefers. He sits behind the wheel of a black C63 Mercedes-Benz AMG.

Source: New York Times