Southern Africa: The Liberation Struggle Continues

Fifty years on from the beginnings of liberation in Africa, John Saul finds there is still much work to be done, especially in southern Africa where the final triumph over colonial and racial domination occurred. In each of the the five sites of the overt struggle against domination – Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa – there are clear signs of recolonization. This time by capital. What we have seen is the virtual recolonization of southern Africa by capital. This is something new. It is not easy to disaggregate this "capital" into national capitals and see it as being the instrument of various nationally-based imperialisms and their several colonialisms. Now, it is an "Empire of Capital" that is currently recolonizing Africa. Of course, this has been complicated by the still independent role that national states play in the imperial equation. Moreover, it is the case that such a "recolonization" has been accomplished with the overt connivance of indigenous leaders/elites – those who have inherited power with the demise of "white rule" but who, in doing so, have manifested much greater commitment to the interests of their own privileged class-in-creation, as opposed to those of the mass of their own people. In short, it is not a happy world for the vast mass of ordinary southern African citizens – despite the freedom that they had seemed once to have won. Some facts for South Africa may provide an indication of such a reality, one that has also scarred each of the five countries of the region that once became key sites of overt liberation struggle: Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. Indeed, the several country case-studies that comprise the body of this edition of AfricaFiles' Ezine will, cumulatively, give a very clear sense of this reality. In Zimbabwe, in the brutal thrall of Mugabe and ZANU-PF has witnessed an even greater deterioration of national circumstances. ZANU-PF stewardship of the economy has been an unmitigated disaster, while its politics, through years of overt and enormously costly dictatorial practices, have produced a situation that is proving enormously difficult both to displace and to move beyond. In South Africa, the economic gap between black and white has indeed narrowed statistically – framed by the fact that some blacks have indeed got very much richer (from their own upward mobility as junior partners to recolonization and from the fresh spoils of victory that this has offered them). Yet the gap between rich and poor is actually wider than ever it was – and it is growing. A long-time and firmly loyal ANC cadre (Ben Turok) has himself published a book entitled The Evolution of ANC Economic Policy. In the book, Turok acknowledges both the contribution of ANC policies to growing inequality in South Africa, while reaching "the irresistible conclusion that the ANC government has lost a great deal of its earlier focus on the fundamental transformation of the inherited social system". Source: AfricaFiles

Gaza flotilla attack sparks outcry

On Monday 31 May 2010, Israel attacked a flotilla of ships trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. The botched raid, which killed nine activists, sparked a diplomatic crisis and set off protests around the world.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Amnesty International Human Rights Report on South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Head of state and government: Jacob G. Zuma (replaced
Kgalema Motlanthe in May)
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
Population: 50.1 million
Life expectancy: 51.5 years
Under-5 mortality (m/f): 79/64 per 1,000
Adult literacy: 88 per cent

Increased incidents of torture and extrajudicial executions by police were reported. Refugees and migrants continued to suffer discrimination and displacement in large-scale incidents of violence. Advocates of housing rights were threatened and attacked with impunity. High levels of violence against women and girls were reported, along with failures by the authorities to provide adequate support to survivors of such abuse. An estimated 5.7 million people were living with HIV, with women continuing to be disproportionately affected.

Background
Elections in April resulted in a new government under the African National Congress (ANC) President, Jacob Zuma. The ANC secured 65.9 per cent of the vote and control over eight of the nine provinces. An Independent Electoral Commission official in KwaZulu-Natal province was prosecuted for forgery and violating the electoral code, the first such case since 1994.

Persistent poverty, rising levels of unemployment and violent crime, together with the crisis in the public health sector, posed significant challenges for the new government. Political tensions emerged within the ANC, the trade union congress and Communist Party alliance over economic policy, with frequent trade union-led workers’ strikes. Corruption and nepotism impeded community access to housing and services, and led to the collapse of some municipal governments and to widespread protests among affected communities. The volatile situation contributed to increased incidents of violence against foreign nationals, who were perceived as competing for scarce economic resources.

Political developments continued to affect the independence and integrity of the administration of justice. In April, the Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Mokotedi Mpshe, withdrew corruption charges against Jacob Zuma on grounds of improper interference in the case. In August, the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), without a formal hearing, ruled that the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, John Hlophe, was not guilty of gross misconduct after an apparent attempt to influence two judges preparing a judgement affecting the case against Jacob Zuma. A minority of JSC members disagreed with the ruling.

In November, President Zuma appointed Menzi Simelane as NDPP. He had previously been under disciplinary investigation by the Public Service Commission (PSC) after the Ginwala commission of inquiry found his testimony untruthful and without basis in law. The PSC findings had not been made public by the end of the year.

Torture and other ill-treatment
Incidents of torture and other ill-treatment by police of detained crime suspects were reported. Corroborated cases included the use of suffocation and electric shock torture. Incidents of torture rose, according to the police oversight body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). From April 2008 to March 2009 they investigated 828 incidents of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, some of which amounted to torture. Suspects in several cases were interrogated and assaulted while held without any record of their arrest. Despite continuing efforts by the South African Human Rights Commission and civil society organizations, South Africa did not ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.

The Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons received over 2,000 complaints of assaults against prisoners by prison warders between April 2008 and March 2009. In October, a provision in the new Correctional Services Amendment Act, which compels prison officials to report any use of force to the Inspecting Judge immediately, became operational. Overcrowding remained a serious problem, with 19 prisons “critically overcrowded”.

Sidwel Mkwambi died in February while in the custody of the Bellville South Organized Crime Unit (OCU). Police claimed he had jumped out of a moving police vehicle, but his injuries were not consistent with their claims. In May, the provincial minister for police ordered them to co-operate with the ICD-led investigation. The ICD referred the case to the prosecuting authorities for a decision on charges against 14 members of the OCU.

Extrajudicial executions
In September, the Minister of Police and the National Commissioner of Police announced legislative and other measures to respond with maximum force against armed criminals and perpetrators of attacks against police officers. In June, the ICD reported a 15 per cent increase in deaths in custody and “as a result of police action” over the past two reporting years. KwaZulu-Natal province showed the highest increase, 47 per cent, from 175 to 258 deaths.

Bongani Mkhize, chairperson of the Maphumulo Taxi Association, was shot dead by members of the National Intervention Unit on 3 February, allegedly after he opened fire on them. His death, which appeared to be linked to investigations into the murder of a police commissioner, occurred despite a ruling three months earlier by the Durban High Court restraining police from “unlawfully killing” him. The court heard evidence that his name was on a list of suspects, all of whom by October that year had been shot dead, several after being arrested and interrogated by the police.

An unidentified man was shot dead on 29 October in Durban while apparently fleeing the police after a suspected vehicle theft. Witnesses heard gunshots and saw his body hanging on a security fence near an apartment building. The police attempted to mislead independent investigators and also told the media that he had electrocuted himself on the fence. However, medical evidence indicated he died from a high velocity gunshot injury to his spine. There was no evidence of electrical injury.

Right to adequate housing – forced evictions
In September, leaders and supporters of the community-based economic and social rights movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (Abahlali), fled their homes in the Kennedy Road informal settlement near Durban, following an attack by armed men. Their houses were destroyed and they were threatened with further violence. The attackers identified their targets by name and in ethnic terms,
as amaMpondo (Xhosa-speakers). Subsequently 13 Abahlali supporters, all Xhosa-speakers, were arrested and charged in connection with the deaths on 27 September of two men during the night of the attack. However, no charges were brought against anyone for the attacks on Abahlali supporters. By the end of the year, one of the 13 arrested Abahlali supporters had charges against him withdrawn, and 12 still faced charges, with seven of them released on bail.

In October, the Constitutional Court declared section 16 of the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 6 (2007) to be inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid. The case against the Act had been brought in the courts by Abahlali in 2008. The October ruling affected thousands of people living in informal housing and with insecure land tenure. Despite the impact of their successful litigation, Abahlali’s community-based work remained severely disrupted by the violent events of September.

Refugees and migrants
Violations of the rights to life and physical integrity of refugees and migrants, and attacks on their property, occurred throughout the year. Incidents of violence led to large-scale displacements of non-national communities in De Doorns, Siyathemba/Balfour and Polokwane, along with other serious incidents elsewhere. Somali and Zimbabwean nationals were particularly targeted. The police response to incidents varied from complicity or negligence to, in some cases, a visible effort to prevent violence from escalating. Towards the end of the year the work of civil society and humanitarian organizations was beginning to achieve an improved police emergency response.

President Zuma publicly condemned xenophobia and the destruction of property of foreign nationals. Progress was made in drafting a National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Durable solutions remained difficult to achieve for some displaced refugees, particularly from conflict countries. Incidents of forcible returns continued to occur.

The political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe fuelled the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers into South Africa. In April, the government introduced a 90-day visa-free entry for Zimbabweans and announced plans for immigration permits for Zimbabweans already in the country. The permits had not been implemented by the end of the year. An informal shelter for Zimbabweans in the border town of Musina was abruptly closed in March, with many occupants seeking shelter in Johannesburg, particularly at the Central Methodist Mission (CMC). By the end of the year, several thousand Zimbabweans were still sheltering at the CMC with the authorities failing to meet their humanitarian needs.

In July, the police arrested hundreds of mainly Zimbabwean nationals for “loitering” near the CMC. Medical evidence indicated that in some cases the detainees had been beaten, kicked, pepper sprayed and shocked with electric stun guns. Some were verbally abused as makwerekwere (foreigners) by police. All 350 detainees were released uncharged three days later. In October, the CMC and Lawyers for Human Rights sought an order in the High Court declaring the arrests unlawful and prohibiting the further use of the anti-loitering municipal by-law. The case was ongoing at the end of the year.

Violence against women and girls
A new ministry for Women, Youth, Children and People with Disability was announced. High levels of violence against women and girls continued to be reported, although comparisons with previous years were difficult due to the changed legal framework for recording these crimes. Police figures for the year ending March 2009 indicated a 10.1 per cent increase in sexual offences, including rape, against adults and children, with over 30,000 against women 18 years or older.

In June, the South African Medical Research Council published results of a survey showing that more than two fifths of the men interviewed had been physically violent to an intimate partner. The ICD reported to Parliament in February that its inspection of 430 police stations showed many were failing to comply with their obligations under the Domestic Violence Act (DVA). There were also a number of substantiated complaints brought against the police, including failing to arrest the perpetrator for non-compliance with a Protection Order, to advise complainants of their options under the DVA and for “chasing away” complainants.

NGOs and support organizations reported that the police had not received adequate or in some cases any training on their obligations under the sexual offences and domestic violence laws. By the end of the year, the authorities had established 17 out of
the targeted 50 planned one-stop centres for the provision of treatment, support and access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence. In July, the Minister of Police announced he would review the decision to close the specialized family violence and sexual offences units. Research confirmed that the decision in 2006 to close the units led to a deterioration in services and a reduced rate of arrests and convictions.

In November, the Equality Court reserved judgement in a complaint of hate speech brought by the NGO Sonke Gender Justice. The complaint was brought against the ANC Youth League president, for public comments which appeared to denigrate women who reported being raped.

Right to health – people living with HIV/AIDS
An estimated 5.7 million people were living with HIV, according to UNAIDS. By July the number of AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) had increased to an estimated 870, 000, about half of those who needed it. Poor government planning and staffing shortages left some hospitals with shortages of ART drugs and unable to start treatment for new patients. In October, the budget allocation for HIV drugs was increased.

Women continued to be disproportionately affected and infected by HIV and AIDS. In June the South African Human Sciences Research Council’s national HIV prevalence survey showed that 15- to 19-year-old females had a prevalence rate of over six per cent, more than twice the rate for males of the same age group, and rising to over 32 per cent among 25- to 29-year-old women. African women aged 20 to 34 years were identified as the population group most at risk in the country.

On 1 December, World AIDS Day, the government announced a new drive to scale up voluntary HIV testing, among other new measures to combat the epidemic.

International justice
Following civil society protests, the government confirmed in August that it would act on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the President of Sudan if he travelled to South Africa, despite the position taken at the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit in Sirte, Libya in July.

In December, human rights organizations sought an order in the Pretoria High Court declaring unlawful the South African authorities’ decision not to initiate an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Zimbabwe by individuals known to travel to South Africa.

Source: Constitutionally Speaking: Amnistry International
The full report can be found here.

Amnesty International Releases 2010 Human Rights Report

There is still no scarcity of poverty and human degradation around the world. But Amnesty International says in its latest annual human rights report that people are being held accountable for some of the worst violations.

"We're very encouraged by the trend for example in Latin America where we had three former heads of states brought to justice from Peru, Uruguay and Argentina," said interim Secretary-General Claudio Cordone.

But Cordone says many countries are limiting progress in international justice by acting only when it is politically advantageous.

"We still see governments who hold themselves above the law, for example by not accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court," he said.  "Among those are seven of the G20 countries.  And also, we see governments shielding their political allies from international scrutiny."

Source: VO News

Libya - Amnesty International Report 2010

Head of state: Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi

Head of government: al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi

Death penalty: retentionist

Population: 6.4 million

Life expectancy: 73.8 years

Under-5 mortality (m/f): 20/19 per 1,000

Adult literacy: 86.8 per cent

Freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be severely curtailed and the authorities showed little tolerance of dissent. Critics of the government’s human rights record were punished. Former detainees at Guantánamo Bay returned to Libya by US authorities continued to be detained; one died in custody, apparently as a result of suicide. Foreign nationals suspected of being in the country irregularly, including refugees and asylum-seekers, were detained and ill-treated. An official investigation began into the killing of prisoners at Abu Salim Prison in 1996 but no details were disclosed and some of the victims’ relatives who had campaigned for the truth were arrested. Hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance and other serious human rights violations committed in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s remained unresolved, and the Internal Security Agency (ISA), implicated in those violations, continued to operate with impunity.

Background

In February, Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi became Chairperson of the African Union and in September addressed the UN General Assembly (of which Libya held the presidency) for the first time. Also in September Libya marked 40 years under Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s rule. Negotiations between the EU and Libya on a framework agreement continued.

On 20 August, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in the UK, was released by the Scottish authorities and returned to Libya after he was confirmed to have terminal cancer.
In October, the authorities agreed to a visit by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, but they neither specified a date nor did they invite the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, despite a pending request.

In November, Switzerland suspended the normalization of relations with Libya, following the Libyan authorities’ incommunicado detention of two Swiss businessmen, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, from 18 September to 9 November. In November, the men were convicted of immigration offences and sentenced to 16-month prison terms and fines of LYD2,000 (approximately 1,000 euros). The men, who remained in the Swiss embassy at the end of the year, also faced commercial and tax charges.

Repression of dissent

The authorities released at least two prisoners of conscience but rearrested one of them and continued to detain others. Activities that amount to the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression and association remained criminalized in the Penal Code and Law 71 of 1972.

• Jamal el-Haji and Faraj Saleh Hmeed, detained since February 2007 for attempting to organize a peaceful demonstration, were released on 10 March. Jamal el-Haji was arrested on 9 December and charged with insulting the judiciary after he complained about his treatment in detention.
• Fathi el-Jahmi, a renowned critic of the political system detained as a prisoner of conscience almost continuously since March 2002, during which he had access to only sporadic and inadequate medical care, was flown from Libya to Jordan for urgent medical treatment on 5 May. He died on 21 May. No independent investigation was known to have been opened by the Libyan authorities into the circumstances leading to the deterioration of his health and the cause and circumstances of his death.
• Abdelnasser al-Rabbasi, arrested in January 2003 and serving a 15-year prison sentence for “undermining the prestige of the Leader of the revolution” for writing an email critical of Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi to the Arab Times newspaper, remained in Abu Salim Prison.
• ‘Adnan el-‘Urfi, a lawyer, was arrested on 9 June following his call to the radio programme Good Evening Benghazi in May, in which he recounted human rights violations endured by one of his clients and criticized Libya’s judicial system. He was cleared of all charges by a court in Benghazi in September. The prosecution appealed; he remained at liberty pending the outcome of the appeal.

Counter-terror and security

The imprisoned leadership of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) was reported to have renounced violence following continued negotiations with the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GDF), headed by Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi. In March, the GDF announced that 136 members had been released over the previous two years. Forty-five more members were released in October, along with 43 others alleged to be members of “jihadist” groups. The GDF published a list of those released in October, calling on the Secretary of the General People’s Committee to assist their social reintegration.

• In June, Muhammad Hassan Abou Sadra, a victim of arbitrary detention according to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, was released after more than 20 years.
• Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda and Abdesalam Safrani, who were returned from detention at Guantánamo Bay by the US authorities in September 2007 and December 2006 respectively, continued to be detained at Abu Salim Prison. The Libyan authorities refused to disclose their legal status. Three other Libyan nationals held at Guantánamo Bay were cleared for release by US authorities in September but had not been returned to Libya by the end of the year.
• Abdelaziz Al-Fakheri, also known as Ibn Al Sheikh Al Libi, was reported to have committed suicide in Abu Salim Prison on 9 May. He had been returned to Libya in late 2005 or early 2006 after detention by US forces as a terror suspect and had been continuously detained since his return. The authorities said they had opened an investigation and said later that he had committed suicide but provided no details.
• Mahmoud Mohamed Aboushima, suspected of belonging to the LIFG, who was arrested in July 2005 shortly after returning from the UK, remained in Abu Salim Prison at the end of 2009 despite a High Court ruling of July 2007 confirming a lower court order that he be released.

Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers

The authorities continued to detain suspected irregular migrants, some of whom were reported to have been ill-treated, and thousands of whom were subsequently deported. The authorities also failed to afford the protection required by international law to refugees and asylum-seekers. In May, the Italian authorities began to send irregular migrants intercepted at sea to Libya, where they were detained. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said that by September it had granted refugee status to 206 of the 890 people sent back from Italy to Libya whose cases it had examined. In November, UNHCR’s Libyan partner organization announced plans to open health clinics in four detention centres.

• On 10 August, security forces reportedly used excessive force, including live ammunition, knives and sticks, against up to 200 foreign nationals seeking to escape from the Ganfouda Detention Centre near Benghazi, reportedly causing deaths and serious injuries. Most of the escapees were recaptured and returned to Ganfouda. Some inmates were reported to have been assaulted by security officials following the escape attempt.

Impunity

Throughout 2009, relatives of the hundreds of prisoners believed to have been killed at Abu Salim Prison in 1996 held peaceful protests in Benghazi, Ajdebia and other cities to demand the truth, justice and reparation. The authorities informed some families that prisoners had been killed, and in some cases issued death certificates, but many families rejected the offer of financial compensation as it was conditional on their not seeking judicial redress. In September, the authorities appointed a judge to head an investigation into the incident, but neither his mandate nor other details of the investigation were disclosed. In October, the authorities announced plans to demolish Abu Salim Prison, prompting an outcry by some families of victims who feared the destruction of evidence.

The security forces, particularly the ISA, continued to operate with impunity, and detained and interrogated individuals suspected of dissent or terrorism-related activities, while holding them incommunicado and denying them access to lawyers.

• On 26 March, three members of the Organizing Committee of Families of Victims of Abu Salim in Benghazi were arrested. Fouad Ben Oumran, Hassan El-Madani and Fathi Tourbil were at the forefront of the demonstrations by families of victims. They and two others arrested on 28 March were released days later without being formally charged.

On 28 October, the General People’s Committee for Justice invited people to contact it if they had been detained by “security bodies” without trial or after acquittal or completion of sentences to the Committee in the framework of “national reconciliation”. The Secretary of the Committee reportedly said that victims would receive financial compensation for every month spent in prison, and that the “door remained open” for judicial redress. However, the authorities did not publicly apologize for the human rights violations committed, nor were perpetrators brought to justice.

Discrimination against women

Women continued to face discrimination in both law and practice. Some were prosecuted and convicted for zina (having sexual relations outside of wedlock); at least one woman was sentenced to flogging.

• On 21 October, a group of women from a state-run care centre in Benghazi demonstrated against alleged sexual harassment by officials at the centre. Following the demonstration, officials reportedly put pressure on the women to retract their allegations. On 26 October, defamation charges were initiated against Mohamed Al-Sarit, the journalist who reported on the protest, apparently on the basis of complaints made by some of the women. Investigations were reported to have been initiated into the women’s allegations of sexual harassment but no suspected perpetrators were tried.

Death penalty

The death penalty was retained for a large number of offences, including for the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association. At least four men were reported to have been executed – one Nigerian and three Egyptian nationals – but the real number may have been higher as the authorities did not disclose details of executions. An amnesty marking the 40th anniversary of the Fateh Revolution in September commuted to life imprisonment all death sentences of those convicted in criminal cases before 1 September. Eight other people under sentence of death were pardoned and 11 had their sentences commuted to various prison terms.

Amnesty International visit/report

• Amnesty International delegates were permitted to visit Libya for the first time in over five years in May.
• Libya: Amnesty International completes first fact-finding visit in over five years  

Source: Amnesty International

Criminal Force: Torture, Abuse, and Extrajudicial Killings by the Nigeria Police Force

Police in Nigeria commit extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and extortion with relative impunity. Nigeria Police Force personnel routinely carry out summary executions of persons accused or suspected of crime; rely on torture as a principal means of investigation; commit rape of both sexes, with a particular focus on sex workers; and engage in extortion at nearly every opportunity.

The Nigerian government has acknowledged these problems and promised to address them in the past, but to date, abuses have continued with no real accountability. Nigeria's leadership must pay serious attention to police reform if it hopes to succeed in restoring public safety.

This report's findings are based on independent field monitoring and investigation at over 400 police stations and posts in 14 states and territories in Nigeria from February 2007 to January 2009. Research was augmented by a review of relevant legislation, case law, and official reports, as well as secondary materials, including newspaper articles and NGO reports.

Source: Open Society Justice Initiative / Network on Police Reform in Nigeria

SOUTH AFRICA: New university clusters emerge

New clusters of universities have emerged in South Africa in the past decade, with fewer truly research-focused institutions following mergers, according to a study by the Centre for Higher Education Transformation, CHET. Three clusters revealed by an analysis of universities using nine input and output variables look very different to the formal categories used to differentiate the tertiary sector - with potentially major implications for policy.

"We need evidence-based rather than ideologically-driven policy-making," CHET director Professor Nico Cloete told the Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education held in Cape Town last month, sparking heated debate in the commission on institutional differentiation. An empiracle set of data had painted a picture of the higher education system as it actually was.

Historically there have been different forms of differentiation in South Africa. Apartheid differentiated institutions by race and there was a binary divide between universities and technikons (polytechnics).

Post-apartheid, differentiation was driven by the funding formula and then by restructuring and mergers from 2000 that slashed the number of institutions from 36 to 23 including 11 research universities, six universities of technology and six 'comprehensive' universities that combine formative and vocational higher education.

But a very different picture emerged from Cloete's 'empirical clustering' analysis of differentiation, which used information from government's Higher Education Management Information System, research publication data and university financial statements for 2008.

The CHET study combined six input and three output variables* and clustered institutions in relation to how they showed up against the variables. The distance University of South Africa was excluded because its huge student numbers and low success rates messed up the statistics, said Cloete.

The object of the study was to investigate universities by purpose, not to rank them. The three clusters of universities that emerged performed vastly different purposes in terms of student intake and success, staff qualifications, research outputs and income, among other things.

In the 'red' cluster were five research-intensive universities - Cape Town, Pretoria, Rhodes, Stellenbosch and the Witwatersrand. They produced the bulk of postgraduates and future academics and had high student success and graduation rates, high proportions of academic staff with PhDs, high research outputs, high income and low staff-student ratios.

In the 'green' cluster were nine universities - Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North-West, Fort Hare, Limpopo, Western Cape, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan and Zululand.

This group scored in the middle on the variables and included former research-intensive institutions whose performance in terms of research, success rates, postgraduates and staff qualifications declined following mergers with historically disadvantaged institutions, as well as a three formerly disadvantaged universities and three 'comprehensive' universities.

In the 'blue' cluster were eight institutions including two rural historically disadvantaged universities and six universities of technology. They had relatively lower postgraduate enrolments, success and graduation rates, qualified staff, research outputs and income but high enrolments in science, engineering and technology and high staff-student ratios.

The clusters fulfilled very different but equally important functions, Cloete stressed.

Interestingly, there was a sharper class than race attachment to the three constellations. For example, the five universities in the red cluster - all formerly 'white' - produced 45% of black African and mixed-race PhDs. "If we want to raise the number of black postgraduates and academics, we need to understand which part of the sector is producing them."

Surprising findings were a low negative correlation between staff-student ratios and student success, a low positive correlation between the percentage of academics with doctorates and student success - and a high correlation between lecturer qualifications and masters and doctoral enrolments, and research outputs.

A major implication, said Cloete, was that it was time to move away from a 'one policy fits all' approach to differentiated policy with differentiated funding.

"For example, there is an efficiency question for the blue group because their student success rates are low. The efficiency factor would be to improve student success. For universities with high success rates, the efficiency factor would be to produce more PhDs and more black graduates."

The green group was interesting because with certain policy interventions these universities could move into either the red or the blue group. "But it would be very difficult, unless there was collapse of the whole system, to move from the red to the blue group or visa versa."

South Africa, Cloete concluded, had a three-cluster system different to the current formal classifications and it was important to look at how this fitted into the state's development policy. "The problem is that there is no government policy on regional development."

A shortcoming of the data was the absence of direct quality and development indicators. The government did not have the capacity to collect the full range of information, said Cloete, and he called for a specialised agency to be created to do this work.

Reporting back on the commission Professor Derrick Swartz, Vice-chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said policy ambiguity meant the higher education funding system only partially supported differentiation.

South Africa, he said, had 'strategic' differentiation in which institutions were evolving within and across formal categories in complex and dynamic ways - 'self-differentiation'. "What is missing is a coherent policy framework within which this evolution takes place."

It was important to make progress on differentiation in the interests of institutional self-confidence and stability of planning, and because scarce resources made it necessary to strategically concentrate investment to enhance optimal growth paths for all institutions.

Also, with a new Department of Higher Education and Training and with human resource development planning and reforms underway, there was an opportunity for universities to position themselves within a wider post-school system.

The commission, Swartz said, felt the CHET framework revealed an 'as is' picture but did not explain the legacy of inequality that created the differentiated outcomes. Any prospective differentiated 'model' should transcend rather than reinforce unacceptable institutional and social inequalities. "There was a very passionate argument over this," he said.

The commission felt a differentiation framework should provide some steering but also be sufficiently flexible to allow individual institutional trajectories to be negotiated in a realistic and responsive way, taking into account local and regional dynamics.

Differentiation should not be focused on rankings but on purposes, enabling the system to pursue multiple purposes more effectively and coherently.

Any model of differentiation should enable the sector to enhance student access and success, should be linked to the wider post-secondary system and to human resource development planning, and should not stunt research-intensive institutions while also strengthening under-developed institutions and supporting others to find optimal growth paths.

The commission suggested empirical clustering could offer a basis for comparing institutions within the system and enable deep questions to be asked about underlying correlations and intra-systemic shifts. It offered a heuristic tool to describe the system and to isolate the most fundamental axes of differentiation - but it must be further nuanced to take into account other variables and to identify and define key drives of transition within and across the clusters.

While the empirical clustering model should not be seen as a classification or a planning tool, with further development it could offer starting points to work towards an appropriate framework for higher education differentiation that allowed evolutionary transition across categories and should be linked to adequate funding - especially for under-capitalised institutions - as well to regional and local economic networks.

"Whatever we do, the system must allow portability of students, academics and knowledge across the sector. An academic must be able to have currency," said Swartz. It should also support key transformation goals such as equity of access and success.

"After a stormy start, we made more progress than in the last five years," said Theuns Eloff, Vice-chancellor of North-West University.

"We agreed on the need to fund differentiation. We agreed that differentiation needs to be developmental in character, that probably purpose is the best indicator, that we can't compromise efficiency and quality, and on self-differentiation within a funding framework."

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande concluded that differentiation should "be driven by a transformation imperative premised by leveling of the playing field" - institutionally by tackling the challenges of formerly black universities, and also by transforming the sociology of higher education spaces, which implied creating inclusive, caring universities.

* The input variables were: percentage of headcount enrolment in science, engineering and technology; masters and doctoral enrolments; student to staff ratios; permanent staff with doctoral degrees; private and government income; and student fee income. The output variables were student success rates, graduation rates and weighted research output units per permanent staff member.

There were many factors in favour of differentiation, he continued. Important for South Africa was that "high student participation and high differentiation go together, and that supports development," said Cloete. "In a high participation system, there should be a large number of different institutions catering for many kinds of students.

Source: University World News

Student injured in Mpumalanga school violence

A Mayibuye Secondary School pupil was injured on Tuesday morning when police fired rubber bullets at "violent" pupils in an attempt to disperse them, Mpumalanga police said. The pupils had met with teachers at the Daantjie school, near Nelspruit, at 8am "to resolve some problems", said Captain Leonard Hlathi. "They accused the school principal of witchcraft after he failed to attend a pupil's memorial service some time ago. "The meeting did not yield any good results and the learners started throwing stones at the school buildings," said Hlathi.

Police were called in and removed the principal and teachers from the school. The library, laboratory and all windows at the school were damaged by the stones. Two police vehicles were also damaged. The injured pupil was taken to a local clinic for treatment. "The school is a government property and police will not tolerate any unruly behaviour that leads to violence and damage of state property," said Hlathi.

Police are investigating a case of public violence and malicious damage to property. No arrests have yet been made.

Source: IoL

Cape Town's R67m World Cup tender fraud

Alleged fraud linked to 2010 World Cup tenders amounting to tens of millions of rands is behind the arrest on Friday of municipal officials in Stellenbosch, a senior official revealed on Sunday. And more officials are to be arrested soon as the investigation by the elite Hawks unit is widened to include more Boland municipalities.

The five former officials, who include an ex-mayor and an ex-deputy mayor, are to make their first court appearance in Stellenbosch on Monday. The Cape Times has also learnt that one of the accused has turned state witness and will provide the state with vital information. The group was held by the Hawks in Khayamnandi on Friday, after a seven-month investigation. Stellenbosch mayor Cyril Jooste said the arrests were linked to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation into a number of municipalities across the province. The men, aged between 36 and 58, previously held positions in the Stellenbosch Municipality. "There is an SIU investigation that is still ongoing. The arrests are linked to that investigation. I can also confirm that a previous executive mayor and ex-deputy as well as three other officials were arrested by the Hawks," said Jooste.

It is understood that the arrests are linked to nine sites that are being erected as viewing parks. "We do expect more arrests. It (the tender) is about R67 million. We are busy working very hard with the SIU and the police. We even gave them a room in the municipality building to work from," said Jooste.

Local Government MEC Anton Bredell welcomed the arrests, saying it was sad that community leaders had been arrested for fraud. On Sunday Bredell told the Cape Times that more people would be brought to book at the other municipalities under investigation. These included Theewaterskloof, Witzenberg, Bitou, Stellenbosch and Oudtshoorn. Bredell said his department was committed to bringing back discipline to councils throughout the province and to stamping out corruption. He said his office had initially asked the Hawks to investigate the municipality.

Police spokesman Colonel Billy Jones said the Hawks launched the investigation in October when the allegations were initially reported to the police. "Details of the alleged modus operandi and the investigation will only be revealed when presented as evidence in court," he said.

The embattled municipality is also busy dealing with nine ANC councillors who were hauled before a full council two weeks ago to face expulsion because they had allegedly breached the code of conduct for councillors. The councillors failed to attend three consecutive council meetings. The councillors' absence from meetings had delayed the passing of the municipality's budget.The council recommended that the nine councillors be expelled. "That's a totally different issue," said Bredell. "All I can say is I will treat them fairly. I will be getting independent legal opinion on the matter."

The ANC has 17 of 37 seats while the DA and other smaller parties make up the rest in a council which has had three mayors in as many years. Alleged corruption in World Cup related tenders is not confined to Stellenbosch. In Nelspruit, Mbombela Municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala Mohlala was shot dead outside his home in KaNyamazane last year, a week before he was due to testify in the disciplinary hearing of former municipal manager Jacob Dladla, who had been accused of financial mismanagement of the World Cup stadium project.

Source: IoL

Hawks in new torture scandals

(ICD) is investigating the widespread use of torture on suspects by members of the elite police unit, the Hawks. It appears to be prevalent among some members of the former organised crime unit, which now falls under the Hawks, according to the ICD. The Hawks replaced the Scorpions after the latter were disbanded in January last year.

The Mail & Guardian can reveal that:

* Eleven Hawks, which the ICD claims are former organised crime unit members, in Gauteng are being investigated for assaulting and torturing suspects in a cash-in-transit heist in December 2006.

* In Klerksdorp, Hawks are being investigated for allegedly torturing the girlfriend of a suspect in a criminal case. She claims she was given electric shocks and had a black bag pulled over her head.

* Also in Klerksdorp, six Hawks detectives have been arrested for allegedly torturing bank robbery suspects. The Hawks appeared in the Klerksdorp Magistrate's Court last week and police sources claim senior Hawks officers went to court in a show of support. One of the accused, Captain Tsietsi Mano, is the investigating officer in the Eugene Terre'Blanche murder case. All of those arrested are from the former organised crime unit. Musa Zondi, the Hawks spokesperson, said none of those arrested had been suspended. "Why should they be suspended?" he asked. "They haven't been found guilty of anything. Let the courts decide and we'll take if from there." Other Hawks members in Klerksdorp who came from the organised crime unit are being investigated in 16 other cases, according to Moses Dlamini, the ICD spokesperson.

* The ICD is investigating a case involving Hawks members accused of using torture in KwaZulu-Natal, but no other information was available.

As previously reported, 14 Hawks in the Western Cape were implicated last year in 18 cases involving murder and torture. In particular they were accused of involvement in the brutal murder of Sidwell Mkwambi, a 24-year-old New Crossroads resident.

Although the ICD recommended the suspension of the officers, Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros has not acted on the matter. Although the ICD investigation of the cases was finalised by September last year, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has not yet decided whether to prosecute them. Those implicated were all organised crime unit members. "The DPP came back to us with queries in January [this year] and we responded by March," said Dlamini. "We're still awaiting its decision."

Methods of torture investigated by the ICD in the Western Cape include handcuffing suspects' hands behind their backs before pulling plastic bags over their heads, threatening them with suffocation, pulling inner tubes over their faces and hitting, kicking and slapping them.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Chumane Maxwele, the Cape Town jogger who was arrested by President Jacob Zuma's VIP protection unit after allegedly showing his middle finger to the president's motorcade, has claimed damages from Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa. Neil O'Brien, Maxwele's lawyer, would not detail the amount of damages being sought, but the M&G understands it is less than R2-million. A letter of demand also points out that the police have not apologised. The 25-year-old claims he was the victim of an unlawful arrest and detention and defamation. According to Maxwele, three men leapt out of a black BMW X5 with AK-47s and arrested him while he was jogging along De Waal Drive in February this year. In an interview shortly after his arrest, Maxwele said he had been shoved into the vehicle and his hands tied with a cable behind his back. "Then they got a big black bag and they pulled it over my face so I couldn't see anything," he said. "It was horrifying and I was paralysed. I felt unable to breathe."

Source: Mail & Guardian

Legal matchmaker joining resources and genuine need

IT SEEMS entirely apposite that ProBono.Org has the street address of Women's Jail, Constitution Hill; free legal work in SA may have had its roots in the criminal domain, but for services in matters of civil and public interest today, all roads lead to ProBono.

Odette Geldenhuys, founding director and board member of ProBono, says there were a lot of lawyers doing "good legal work, struggle work" pro bono in the 1980s and 1990s, all aimed at ending apartheid, but it was all funded by overseas donors. "As a result, the concept of lawyers doing free legal work outside of the political arena wasn't really developed, but even in the 1980s there was a need for services around labour laws and human rights issues, pass laws and land rights, many of which were handled by the Legal Resources Centre."

Geldenhuys was working as a lawyer during that time and allows they were "really spoilt and cocooned to an extent" as they were busy and externally funded, so didn't think outside of the box too much.

The Legal Aid Board (now Legal Aid SA) was established back in the 1960s as a state- funded institution - which it still is, although the pallor of the poor it helps has changed - but its focus soon became almost entirely criminal defence work.

"Part of the change agenda after 1994 was about increasing access to justice. We could build more courts, have lawyers do community service (which may become a reality soon) and we were throwing around ideas about pro bono work as done overseas," says Geldenhuys. "They were all positive things, but just as we were looking at increasing access to justice, the overseas donors were decreasing or withdrawing their funding."

In about 2001, Lawyers for Human Rights decided to have a conference about the concept of pro bono work, specifically addressing the civil side in terms of family law, land issues, healthcare, constitutional rights and the environment.

"About 50 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) rocked up - and about thee lawyers," says Geldenhuys. "So we knew we were on to something!"

Lawyers for Human Rights and the Law Society started a website at which lawyers could sign up, but with nobody driving it, it died a quick death. ProBono's website is the rather odd, but accurate, www.probono-org.org.

The next impetus was Webber Wentzel, which in 2003 decided it was time to have a public interest department, started by Moray Hawthorn, one of ProBono's founding members.

"This wasn't as a 'nice to have' but a serious business department with a director, offering appropriate work for free," says Geldenhuys.

The move led to other firms discussing the same thing en masse - lawyers who were often opponents were now obliged to sit at the same table and play nice. They quickly realised the pro bono field was one where they couldn't afford to be competitive.

Meanwhile, Atlantic Philanthropies, that great donor to so many great initiatives in SA, undertook a feasibility study in 2002 to look at the need for something akin to the "pro bono clearing houses" they have in Australia and the US. The study showed it was needed as long as it could be properly managed.

In that same year, Geldenhuys left the legal world to make films, as one does, but in 2005 she decided she should "put one foot back in it". Hawthorn, a friend and former colleague, suggested she join one of the meetings - the same meetings of like-minded lawyers being held for years by then.

It was at this meeting, several years after their study, that Gerald Kraak of Atlantic Philanthropies said they were prepared to fund a pilot project if the firms at the meeting were prepared to support it. The answer was an unequivocal yes.

"I started and ran the project for a year," says Geldenhuys. "It was just me and a computer from Atlantic Philanthropies' offices. Due to my contacts with nongovernmental organisations and my Legal Resources Centre days, cases started coming in. A year later Atlantic Philanthropies agreed to four-year funding."

Today, ProBono's funders comprise an impressive list which includes some of the country's top legal organisations: Andrew Roberts Memorial Fund, Anglo American Chairman's Fund, Bell Dewar, Bowman Gilfillan, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr , Deneys Reitz, Dewey and LeBoeuf, the Johannesburg Bar Council, Johannesburg Legal Centre, LegalWise, Eversheds, The Atlantic Philanthropies, the United Nations Refugee Agency, Webber Wentzel, Werksmans, Claude Leon Foundation, The Wartenweiler Trust, L Wilson Trust and the Open Society Foundation.

ProBono has the capacity to send requests to more than 50 law firms in Jo burg and about 800 advocates at the Jo burg Bar. It also co-ordinates ProBono Law, a show on hosted Radio Today by Patrick Bracher of Deneys Reitz, which focuses on public understanding of the Constitution and bill of rights.

Geldenhuys calls ProBono a matchmaker: "Essentially, we match genuine legal need with the appropriate legal resources."

And a genuine case needs to be more than just a fight between neighbours, there needs to be some public interest or something that feeds into civil society.

The initial consultation with ProBono can be up to five meetings as colleagues, who are all lawyers, and sometimes external lawyers are consulted before determining whether or not a case has merit.

A means test of up to R5000 a month income is undertaken, but if a case is of a serious nature or has sufficient public interest, ProBono will facilitate free legal services without it. Such a case is the recent Sonke Gender Justice Network versus Mr Julius Malema in the Johannesburg Equality Court.

Sonke approached ProBono about Malema's statement that started with "when a woman didn't enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning", and ended with "you don't ask for taxi money from somebody who raped you".

Chris Todd of Bowman Gilfillan litigated the case, facilitated through ProBono, on behalf of Sonke, and won.

The Equality Court decided the statement "amounted to hate speech and/or harassment in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act".

Malema was ordered to pay R50000 to People Opposed to Women Abuse and to apologise.

He hasn't done either and - take this as you will - is appealing.

"Sonke bravely initiated the case before going to ProBono. At the first hearing they didn't have lawyers and Malema arrived with representation. They got a postponement and went to ProBono, who came to us," says Todd, who confirms that Bowman Gilfillan is fully committed to representing Sonke as far as the appeals process goes. Like all cases taken on through ProBono, the commitment is unequivocal, as is the quality of services.

"When you take a pro bono case you can't give second-rate services because there's no fee-paying client," says Todd. "There is no compromising in any matter."

ProBono also runs three legal clinics at its offices every week around refugee law, HIV/AIDS and family law with the appropriate legal firms, as well as working off-site with three branches of Hospice in the greater Soweto area with Eversheds and Deneys Reitz, usually around issues of wills.

The demand for ProBono's services will see its Hospice work expand and they are opening a Durban branch next month. Geldenhuys is moving there to open and run the office and learn to surf.

"The number of law firms we can access will increase, and I expect the type of case we take on will differ. KwaZulu-Natal is far more rural and HIV far more prevalent, so I'm sure our matchmaking role will be a different and busy one.

"For instance, I've been told stories of companies employing specialist organisations with sniffer dogs to sniff out stowaways on ships. Apparently they're sometimes found - then never heard of again, which obviously falls under our work with refugee law."

No surfing medals are expected soon.

Source: BD Live

Durban's R1,5m artwork

Will the controversial Durban elephants be freed, or will they be caged indefinitely? After a decision at the city's executive committee yesterday, at least one of the three elephants is to be saved to stand prominently at the new Warwick Junction interchange. But the fate of the other two remains uncertain.

Three months ago, work was abruptly stopped on the sculpture by South African artist Andries Botha of the three elephants, allegedly by an ANC bigwig, and a report was ordered to establish who had commissioned the R1,5-million artwork. ANC officials were unhappy with the choice of animal, which appears in the logo of the opposition IFP.

Now the municipality is expected to investigate the feasibility of introducing the four other animals in the famous Big Five at the same spot. Acknowledging the "embarrassing" debacle over the continent's most famous animal and its links to the IFP, the city's executive committee finally decided to resolve the controversy.

Deputy mayor Logie Naidoo was backed in his recommendation to "support the project and enable the work to continue, but only with one of each of the Big Five, not just the elephants".

Botha said yesterday that he had been asked by city manager Dr Michael Sutcliffe not to comment on the issue. He said he would see the city manager today. Botha said earlier that the city had paid about a quarter of the R1,5m and, until he had been paid in full, he jointly owned the elephants with the municipality.

There were protocols that needed to be followed when artworks were purchased, he said. Intellectual property rights were involved and the artwork could not be bought and then destroyed At a council meeting, it was revealed that the elephants were part of a larger landscaping initiative at the Warwick market and that other animals would be created. While the decision was supported, opposition parties were concerned about:

# How much extra cost may be incurred.

# Who was expected to pay for it.

# What would happen to the two other elephants.

# Was space and money available to put in the other four animals.

"Seventy-eight days have already passed; what charges will there be and who will pay?" asked the MF's Patrick Pillay.

The DA's Tex Collins said that regardless of who had initiated the project, city officials had gone "across their boundaries" to stop work that was being paid for by the national Department of Transport.

Sutcliffe will discuss the recommendation with the artist. Details of the costs and the inclusion of the other animals will be discussed and a second report will be presented to the city's top officials for a decision. "I took the decision to stop the elephants because neither I nor the mayor knew of the project," said Sutcliffe. He added that he was certain that the city officials who had undertake the decision for the landscaping had "had good intentions". "At that stage individuals and the media had politicised the issue," he said.

The IFP's Thembi Nzuza hit back at the elephant fracas, and said the IFP was "embarrassed"" "We were just dragged into this, yet we didn't even commission it. It's just a case of somebody who deep down in their heart who hates the IFP." Nzuza said she did not like the way the situation had been handled, and in fact, the IFP could do with an apology.

Source: IoL

Mystery rumours, SMS bedevil Mabuza

The rumour mill sprang into full operation this week as speculation abounded about whether Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza's farm near Barberton had been raided by police, and whether he had been taken in for questioning.

The raid was alleged to have been linked to the police investigation of alleged political assassinations in the province. A self-confessed hitman, known only as "Josh", had claimed that an influential ANC leader in the province had offered him R100 000 and a government job if he poisoned government officials blocking access to tenders linked to the World Cup. According to reports, the assassin said he had pulled out of the job after a disagreement with his client over the payment of an advance fee.

In the past two years eight officials have either died under suspicious circumstances or been murdered. Their names had apparently appeared on a hitlist. "Josh" had reportedly admitted in an affidavit before a judge that he was "responsible for the 2009 murder of Mbombela council speaker Jimmy Mohlala". The ANC had also allegedly earlier admitted knowing about the hitlist, saying it had sent officials to the province to investigate. It has been alleged that ANC officials Themba Monareng, Mthandazo Ngobeni, Vusi Sibiya, Lucas Shongwe and ANC member Michael Sifunda were poisoned.

This week Cosatu charged that the murder on Wednesday of Bomber Ntshangase, who had served on the SACP in Mpumalanga's provincial executive committee, was linked to the hitlist. "It seems that he is yet another victim of the 'tenderpreneurs' in the province who have been assassinating anyone who stands in the way of their greed to accumulate wealth. This makes us all the more determined to wage war on corruption and save our movement from this alien culture," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said.

Former ANC Youth League leader and now a senior Cope member, James Nkambule, was arrested in March in connection with the statement made by "Josh", and later released on R8 000 bail by the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court. He is facing a charge of defeating the ends of justice.

Nkambule, who had made headlines several years ago when he alleged that there was a plot by former Mpumalanga premier and current ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, current Housing Minister Tokyo Sexwale and former ANC secretary-general Cyril Ramaphosa to oust former president Thabo Mbeki, also claimed earlier this year that Mabuza had contributed R400 000 to President Jacob Zuma's wedding to his second wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli. He had earlier said he knew who was behind at least one of the killings, that some of the murders were planned at a farm owned by an ANC politician outside Nelspruit and that he had given information to crime intelligence officials. He was taken in for questioning soon after.

This week police, the Hawks and government officials vehemently denied that Mabuza had been arrested, and that weapons, cash and computers had been confiscated during a raid on his farm on Monday morning. Claims that Mabuza had been contacted by National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele and asked to step down as potentially damning information that would harm the ANC had surfaced against him were also strongly denied by Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole. "As far as I know there was never any interaction between the premier and General Cele," he said.

According to an SMS circulated this week, police had confiscated R45-million in cash, eight state-issued R5 rifles and ammunition, two AK-47 assault rifles, four unlicensed pistols, passports, IDs and other documents, as well as a laptop containing details about all projects in Mpumalanga, including instructions to heads of department about who may be awarded tenders.

Claims that could not be officially confirmed included that a warrant of arrest was issued for Mabuza by a Nelspruit magistrate last week; that police had arrived at the provincial legislature on April 30 to arrest Mabuza, but had left without doing so; that the premier was taken in for questioning that lasted more than two hours, after Monday's raid; and that he was to be arrested in coming days.

The rumours have seen Mpumalanga police commissioner Lieutenant General Thulani Ntobela issue a statement on Thursday to "set the record straight". Ntobela responded to the claims, saying: "We did not raid the premier's house as it is alleged. We did not take the premier in for questioning." The police did not have any knowledge of the allegations contained in the SMS "bearing serious damning allegations" against Mabuza, he added. "The person who is behind all this (is) hereby warned not (to) use the police for his or her unknown benefit. We are sending a strong warning to such a person to stop accusing the premier and using the name of the police to further his/her interests. This is uncalled for and it should stop with immediate effect," said Ntobela.

Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi said the raid "did not take place" and Mabuza was "never called in" for questioning. "It simply did not happen," he said. The "confession" by "Josh" was being followed up by the Hawks, said Zondi. ANC officials in Mpumalanga laughed when approached for comment, saying the claims of a raid and the arrest of the premier were "ridiculous".

DA leader in Mpumalanga Anthony Benade said he had also heard several rumours, but could confirm nothing as it was "difficult to get information".

He added that if there was any evidence that the premier was involved in wrongdoing he would surely have been formally arrested and taken to court. "I certainly hope there is not some kind of cover-up that is preventing anyone from taking action against the premier, if he has a case to answer to, because the police or other investigators believe he is too powerful," he said.

Sithole described the rumours as ludicrous, saying there was "never any raid whatsoever". "Common sense tells me that if there was a raid and you arrest a person you have to request a warrant. There was no such thing. The police would not deny a raid if they did raid a person," he said. "We don't know where all this comes from, but it is from someone who is hell-bent on defaming the premier, the province and its people. It is very sad."

Sithole, referring to previous claims that R14m had been stolen from the premier's farm and the latest claim that R45m in cash was confiscated from the property during this week's alleged raid, stated that the premier would never keep that amount of money in his home. He also questioned what Mabuza would want to do with an AK-47, emphasising that a police raid was something that could not be hidden from the public.

The person or persons who had started rumours appeared to have a political motive, he said. "It is so unfortunate. We are hoping that the police will investigate where these rumours come from," he added. Asked how the premier was handling reports of his arrest and the raid, he said Mabuza had initially brushed them off. But he had taken the matter more seriously when they persisted. This had necessitated him going on local radio to dispel the rumours. Referring to allegations of Mabuza's involvement in the alleged assassinations, Sithole said once the truth emerged, "the people... will be surprised one day when they find out who is behind this thing".

Source: IoL

Jackson's underworld links surface

Police had not ruled out the possibility that the person who killed Lolly Jackson might have left the country, as their investigations continued on Friday. "We are considering all possibilities," said spokesperson Colonel Eugene Opperman.

The Jeep Cherokee that Jackson arrived in at the Kempton Park house on Monday, and which subsequently disappeared, had been found, he said. Police received a call on Monday night from a man saying Jackson had been shot and that he wanted to hand himself in. But, when they arrived at the rendezvous point, the man was not there. Opperman confirmed they want to speak to George Smith - a former police informer believed to be a Cypriot - about the murder. "Somebody somewhere must be hiding him," he said.

A photograph of Smith was splashed across newspapers on Thursday as police released titbits of information on the case to the media. His name was not on the Interpol wanted list by Friday morning.

Jackson, who owned a chain of strip clubs, was murdered in Kempton Park on Monday night. Theories on the motive for the murder read like plots in a crime novel, with money laundering, a debt dispute and a glitch during the purchase of a performance car put forward by observers. Google searches on some of the people quoted on Jackson's death in the various articles brought up stories of protection racketeers, "security specialists", drug gangs and other underworld activities.

Earlier this week police interviewed Czech Republic citizen Radovan Krejcir for over an hour. His lawyer Ian Small-Smith said the investigators were trying to "unravel the matter" with the help of Krejcir, who is on the run from Czech authorities for tax fraud after being sentenced in absentia to six years in prison. He was on the Interpol wanted list when he was arrested entering South Africa, and is in the process of challenging an extradition attempt by the Czech Republic. Small-Smith said once someone was caught for Jackson's murder, Krejcir would co-operate fully with a trial and denied a report that this may be in exchange for a deal that the extradition matter be dropped.

The web of intrigue even included a cross reference to the Brett Kebble murder, with an allegation by the partner of a former stripper that a Ducati motorbike Jackson owned was found at the crime scene. Small-Smith had represented Clinton Nassif, who has made a deal with the State in the case of the murder of Kebble in 2005. The accused, Glenn Agliotti, was convicted of drug trafficking and was now the main witness in the corruption trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Small-Smith had also represented State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, when he was briefly detained by police at one stage on the Selebi investigation. Nel, who is currently prosecutor in Selebi's trial, was never charged and was released. He has now been removed from the Kebble case.

Missing German businessman Uwe Gemballa's name also popped up in reports, with Krejcir saying he was supposed to have put up the money for a Porsche conversion franchise that Gemballa wanted to set up in South Africa. Gemballa disappeared after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport in February, and his company was put into provisional liquidation days after.

The Star on Friday quoted a man called Cyril Beeka as saying he had seen Smith on the night Jackson was murdered. A Google search of Beeka brings up stories on the Cape Town "escort agency" scene, his stint as an informer for the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe and a brouhaha over him accompanying intelligence boss Mo Shaik to the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane as a minder.

Beeka had at one time briefly employed Ukrainian Yuri Ulianitski in his security business, but Ulianitski then left to start his own business. Ulianitski was murdered along with his small daughter in 2007 as he faced charges of conspiring to kidnap and for possession of illegal firearms and drugs. Jackson was to have attended court this week in connection with extortion allegations relating to a dispute over a former stripper who fell in love and left his company but then her boyfriend allegedly had to pay Jackson money. But, the spokesperson for a bank that, according to one "this is the true story" whisper, may have fired a manager in connection with the Jackson money laundering theory said: "It could have been anybody. It could have been your gardener. It could have been my gardener." "I gave a waiter who was hitchhiking a lift the other day and next thing I saw his picture in the papers for murder. The man was sitting right next to me in my car. You just never know."

Source: News 24

Menzi guts the NPA

Menzi Simelane, the national director of public prosecutions, has “totally dismantled” the successful Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU), say well-placed sources, and removed and redeployed its head, advocate Chris Jordaan SC.

The acclaimed Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) almost went the same way during restructuring by Simelane, said the sources, and its head, Willie Hofmeyr, kept his post only because Justice Minister Jeff Radebe intervened last week.

Hofmeyr is deputy national prosecutions director and head of the independent statutory Special Investigations Unit. Jordaan had been with the SCCU since its inception in 1999.

Simelane has claimed that the restructuring is to promote service delivery, but the commercial crime unit’s conviction rate has never fallen below 92%.

Morale is said to be plummeting at the national prosecuting authority (NPA) and many senior staff are hunting for jobs elsewhere. About 16 legal figures have received notices that they are to be redeployed.

NPA sources said the restructuring of the SCCU was “already done and dusted” by the time Radebe intervened.

From April 1 the SCCU’s name has been changed to the Commercial Crime Component (CCC). Although there used to be a national reporting structure, the unit no longer has a head and its regional offices now report to the provincial directorates of public prosecutions.

It has been split into two, one section dealing with complex commercial-crime cases and the other with “run-of-the mill” cases and general litigation.

Sources complained that the restructuring was ill-conceived and had placed a heavy burden on those responsible for general litigation because there were too few staff.

‘Why has it been split?’

“It’s a practical question. Why was the commercial crime unit not left alone? Why has it been split?” said an official close to the developments, who asked not to be named. “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”

Jordaan has been moved to the NPA’s Pretoria offices and has apparently been unofficially told that he will now be the national coordinator of commercial crime. But sources said he no longer has contact with the unit.

The Mail & Guardian has also learned that Simelane has told Hofmeyr to choose between heading the AFU or the SIU.

NPA sources said they felt Simelane was hell-bent on purging senior managers and implementing restructuring plans at breakneck speed. They described him as a “terrible manager” who had been dogged by controversy since President Jacob Zuma appointed him in December and expressed grave concern about the motivation for the restructuring.

Worries about his leadership peaked in March after he ordered the AFU not to try to seize millions of rands in alleged bribes from arms multinational BAE Systems, held offshore by arms-deal kingpin Fana Hlongwane.

Three weeks ago opposition parties raised strong objections to a five-year NPA strategic plan tabled in Parliament. The plan stated that the AFU had been disbanded and was included as a division in the regional offices.

This week Simelane told the M&G the clause in the “draft strategic plan was an unfortunate drafting error”.

On why he had not consulted Radebe, he said the document had not been finalised.

‘NPA needs to transform itself’

Questioned on the purpose of restructuring, he said: “Your questions seem to suggest that the NPA is fully transformed and therefore there is no longer a need. The idea is furtherest from the truth. To reiterate—the NPA needs to transform itself to meet the needs of society in contributing to the criminal justice system, with a view of enhancing public confidence.

“The structure is being streamlined to ensure a focus on core functions, with experienced prosecutors utilised in the delivery of core services. The aim is to show significant improvement to service delivery.”

Radebe’s spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, said Simelane had explained to the minister that he told Parliament’s justice committee that the strategic plan still needed ministerial approval.

“The minister accepted the national director of public prosecution’s explanation and the bringing of disciplinary proceedings did not arise,” he said.

But sources said there was “guerrilla warfare” at the NPA. Manie de Clercq of the Public Servants’ Association said plans to redeploy three senior NPA advocates appeared to have been put on hold.

“But we haven’t received anything in writing from NPA to say it has withdrawn the redeployments, so we’ll still go through the process of conciliation,” said De Clercq.

Who would have an issue?

South Africa has won international recognition for the way it has implemented the forfeiture of proceeds from crime, so well-placed criminal justice sources insist that there must be hidden agendas behind the “bizarre” schemes to close the old Asset Forfeiture Unit.
AFU figures for 2009-2010 show:

The value of new restraints—orders for the freezing of physical assets and cash—was R491-million;
The value of confiscation or forfeiture orders was R184,7-million;
The value of deposits into the criminal assets recovery account was R51,7-million; and
Orders in favour of the victims of crime amounted to R52,3-million.

The AFU has been involved in many high-profile cases, including:

The David King tax fraud case, in which court orders were secured in the United Kingdom and Guernsey to freeze accounts of millions of rands that King allegedly removed from South Africa;
The Jabulani Mabaso corruption case, in which assets of R191-million were frozen. The state alleges he defrauded the KwaZulu-Natal education department of R200-million; and
The Schabir Shaik graft case, in which assets of R41-million were frozen.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Superior courts bill meets with praise and caution

The legal fraternity has hailed the reworked Superior Courts Bill for ensuring the administrative independence of the courts, but warned that the enhanced power it gives the Constitutional Court could prove fraught.

The long-awaited bill, withdrawn by then President Thabo Mbeki in 2006 amid an outcry, was finally approved by Cabinet this week with any vestige of initial attempts to place the administration of courts under the Justice Minister understood to be removed. In its new incarnation, the bill makes the office of the Chief Justice responsible for running the country's courts, including the magistrates' division.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe said that this provision would be reality before the end of the year and would enshrine the "independence, impartiality and dignity of the judiciary".

Legal experts welcomed it as a radical departure from the Mbeki-era draft that was slated by the opposition as seeking to give the justice minister the power to hand-pick judges and the ruling party the ability to sideline those deemed unsympathetic to its cause. "The threat to the independence of the judiciary has been completely averted," constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said on Thursday, after Cabinet announced it had approved the bill.

But the chairperson of the General Council of the Bar, Patrick Mtshaulana, said that it would be misguided to see the new legislation as purely the product of the Zuma administration and blame Mbeki for all that was once wrong with it. He pointed out that after withdrawing the bill, Mbeki put it in the hands of Radebe, as head of the African National Congress's (ANC's) policy unit, with a brief to take into consideration the criticism heaped onto the legislative project.

That fed into resolutions taken at the ruling party's watershed Polokwane conference and into the final version of the bill, that has won rare praise from the Democratic Alliance for "restoring the proper relationship between the executive and judicial branches of the State".

Said Mtshaulana: "I understand that this minister does not want to in any way effect the independence of the judiciary and it is consistent with this purpose." He voiced concern, however, about the bill's confirmation of the Constitutional Court as South Africa's new Apex Court, a move that breaks with the Commonwealth and European justice models to borrow from the American system.

Mtshaulana argued that the creation of an Apex Court contradicted the agreement reached in negotiations on the constitution at Kempton Park that made the Constitutional Court the final authority on constitutional matters but conferred on the Supreme Court of Appeal an equal status on all other matters. The bill removes the distinction and seals the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court as the highest court in the land for all litigation. The prospect has divided legal experts for years, with some warning that it would put the ANC in a position to dominate the judiciary by doing away with the notion of two centres of judicial power. "Once a court acquires the status of an apex court, what that court decides is the beginning and the end. It becomes possible for one court to dominate the judiciary," Mtshaulana said. "I can foresee that, in years to come, what we have seen in the last two years will be nothing. I mean the conflict between the executive and the judiciary with the executive believing that the courts come too close to taking political decisions."

A hint in this direction was heard in the National Assembly in March when Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said that government could approach Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo over a landmark ruling in the South Gauteng High Court could throw housing policy into "chaos". Sexwale told Members of Parliament that there was a danger that case law could impact on policy with dramatic consequences, in that particular case by denting State coffers. The court evicted squatters from a building in Berea but ordered the Johannesburg city council to provide them with temporary accommodation, or pay each occupier or household head R850 to rent elsewhere.

De Vos said that differing views about the creation of the Apex Court endured. "One view is that it is not healthy because legal certainty is compromised. "Others, and I subscribe to this view, say that there is a need to transform the law to infuse ordinary lives with the values of equality, respect for dignity and procedural fairness and the price to pay for that is less certainty."

De Vos said that in practice, the ambit of the Constitutional Court had already grown beyond as innovative lawyers realised that any question in law could be "made into a constitutional matter". But he warned that once the bill cast that tendency in stone, the court's caseload would increase considerably.

"I'm a little bit nervous that the highest court will be overburdened and it would make it difficult to sustain the level of thoughtfulness we have seen up to now."

Source: Polity

Police Interview Radovan Krejcir In Lolly Jackson Murder

Attorney Ian Small Smith, who acts for Radovan Krejcir a Czech businessman, has confirmed that his client spent an hour with police today during which he gave the authorities his full assistance and cooperation.

Krejcir is believed to be associated with George Smith - the alias used by a Cypriot national - who is wanted by the police pursuant to the murder of Teazer's boss Lolly Jackson in Kempton Park on Monday night.

A bank manager who will remain unnamed here deposed to an affidavit in which he says that he was introduced to Krejcir by George Smith “whom he knew as a member of the Greek Cypriot community“ during 2007.

As a result thereof he alleges that he assisted Jackson and Krejcir in certain illegal money transactions. In addition he alledges that he was doing major money laundering on behalf of Jackson.

Source: Newstime