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 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

Malema faces fresh charges

Embattled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema's legal woes are set to continue after fresh charges of hate speech were filed against him with the Equality Court on Monday, just hours after the court found him guilty of hate speech that demeaned women. The new charges relate to Malema's singing of the song "dubul'ibhunu" (shoot the Boer), which sparked an uproar.

Civil rights group Afriforum Youth is planning to march on the ANC's headquarters, at Luthuli House on Friday. Afriforum chairman Ernst Roets confirmed filing the new case against the youth leader and the ANC on Monday. The organisation said it had added the ANC as a respondent to the case because the ruling party had defended Malema's singing of the song. Afriforum wants the court to ban the song, order Malema to publicly apologise and be fined.

Source: IoL

The relevant provisions are:

PROMOTION OF EQUALITY AND PREVENTION OF UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION ACT 4 OF 2000

Section 9 of the Constitution

Section 15 of the Constitution

Of equal importants is Schedule 1 of the CRIMINAL PROCEDURES ACT 51 OF 1977; particularly the crime of incitement to commit any offence referred to in Schedule 1.

The relevent offences are:

Treason: the action of betraying the values of the Constitution of South Africa;
Sedition: conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the values of the Constitution of South Africa;
Public violence: Public behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something;
Murder: the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Of equal relevance is the PROTECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AGAINST TERRORIST AND RELATED ACTIVITIES ACT 33 OF 2004

A TERRORIST ACTIVITY is ...

(a) any act committed in or outside the Republic, which -

i) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary use of violence by any means or method;

(ii) involves the systematic, repeated or arbitrary release into the environment or any part of it or distributing or exposing the public or any part of it to -

(aa) any dangerous, hazardous, radioactive or harmful substance or organism;

(bb) any toxic chemical; or

(cc) any microbial or other biological agent or toxin;

(iii) endangers the life, or violates the physical integrity or physical freedom of, or causes serious bodily injury to or the death of, any person, or any number of persons;

(iv) causes serious risk to the health or safety of the public or any segment of the public;

(v) causes the destruction of or substantial damage to any property, natural resource, or the environmental or cultural heritage, whether public or private;

(vi) is designed or calculated to cause serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, or the delivery of any such service, facility or system, whether public or private, including, but not limited to -

(aa) a system used for, or by, an electronic system, including an information system;

(bb) a telecommunication service or system;

(cc) a banking or financial service or financial system;

(dd) a system used for the delivery of essential government services;

(ee) a system used for, or by, an essential public utility or transport provider;

(ff) an essential infrastructure facility; or

(gg) any essential emergency services, such as police, medical or civil defence services;

(vii) causes any major economic loss or extensive destabilisation of an economic system or substantial devastation of the national economy of a country; or

(viii) creates a serious public emergency situation or a general insurrection in the Republic, whether the harm contemplated in paragraphs (a)(i) to (vii) is or may be suffered in or outside the Republic, and whether the activity referred to in subparagraphs (ii) to (viii) was committed by way of any means or method; and

(b) which is intended, or by its nature and context, can reasonably be regarded as being intended, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to -

(i) threaten the unity and territorial integrity of the Republic;

(ii) intimidate, or to induce or cause feelings of insecurity within, the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or to induce, cause or spread feelings of terror, fear or panic in a civilian population; or

(iii) unduly compel, intimidate, force, coerce, induce or cause a person, a government, the general public or a segment of the public, or a domestic or an international organisation or body or intergovernmental organisation or body, to do or to abstain or refrain from doing any act, or to adopt or abandon a particular standpoint, or to act in accordance with certain principles, whether the public or the person, government, body, or organisation or institution referred to in subparagraphs (ii) or (iii), as the case may be, is inside or outside the Republic; and

(c) which is committed, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, for the purpose of the advancement of an individual or collective political, religious, ideological or philosophical motive, objective, cause or undertaking;

Malema blamed for farm attack

The accusations follow a farm attack in Colenso, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, on Sunday night during which a farmer was seriously wounded while his wife was shot dead. “Four men have been detained and they will be questioned by members of the Organised Crime Unit. They have not been charged,” said Superintendent Jay Naicker. The farmer, 70, was shot twice but he survived and was hospitalised, said Naicker. The farmer’s wife was shot dead. “The farmer was busy milking cows with his employees when they were approached by four armed men who demanded cash. The wife, 64, was shot dead and he was shot twice but he survived,” he said Naicker said the attackers did not take anything from the farmer and that the members of the Organised Crime Unit were investigating matter.

Malema sang the highly controversial “dubula ibhunu” (kill the boer) song while addressing students at the University of Johannesburg last week.

AfriForum Youth have lodged a complaint of hate speech against Malema in the Equality Court over the singing of the "kill the boer" song while the Freedom Front Plus has laid a criminal charge of intimidation and hate speech against Malema.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal has commended the police for arresting the suspects. “It is our belief that this senseless attack was incited by the proliferation of hate speech that is the hall mark of ANCYL president Julius Malema,” said DA spokesman on safety, Sizwe Mchunu.

He said Malema’s song “dubula ibhunu” (kill the boer) translated directly to a call for white people to be killed. “There can be no place in our democratic country for provocative language of this kind,” he said. Mchunu said co-operation between the police and the members of Estcourt farmers’ association and local community members had led to the swift arrest. “That the suspects have been arrested, less than 24 hours after the crime, shows what can happen when a community forms a united front against crime.”

This is the third attack on farmers in one weekend. On Saturday night, a 46-year-old farmer was shot through his bedroom window while sleeping on his Rietfontein farm near Potchefstroom, the North West police said. The man was taken to Potchefstroom Provincial Hospital in a critical condition while police search for those involved. On Friday, 65-year-old Jan Wheeler was murdered outside Marble Hall in Limpopo. His killers gained access into the farmer's house by breaking the back door, Limpopo police said. They overpowered Wheeler in the bedroom and repeatedly stabbed him with a sharp object. The men took a few electrical household appliances and ran away.

The DA member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Tom Stokes, said he believed the issue of farm killings was aggravated by [Malema’s] singing of struggle songs that advocated the killing of farmers. He was referring to Malema singing “kill the boer” song last week at a meeting while addressing students at the University of Johannesburg. This caused an uproar as some people viewed it as advocating the killing of farmers. “Malema’s actions, along with subsequent attempts by the ANC’s Gwede Mantashe to justify his conduct, stand in stark contrast to the pain and suffering being experienced by this family and the many others before them,” said Stokes.

Stokes' view was supported by Advocate Anton Alberts of the Freedom Front Plus who said, as an influential youth leader, Malema created an atmosphere in which “reckless thoughts and actions flourished”. “No deep thoughts are needed to realise that Malema’s comments are creating an atmosphere which is conducive for those who want to commit murder... he is an accessory to the wiping out of farmers in South Africa.”

The argument by the ANC that the song was merely a preservation of struggle literature, rang hollow in the face of a family that had lost a wife, mother and grandmother, said Stokes, referring to Sunday night’s farm murder in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Freedom Front Plus was in the meantime preparing a report on farm murders and Malema’s role in it. This will be given to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “We will also investigate the possibility to lay charges against Malema at the International Criminal Court, or in the least make the court aware of a growing phenomenon of the victimisation of minorities and specifically the Afrikaner in South Africa,” said Alberts. This, he said, could escalate to international crimes.

Source: Times Live

Malema under fire for 'kill the boer' song

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema is facing a barrage of complaints to the police and chapter nine institutions over his latest racial outburst, after he led students in singing "kill the boer". Freedom Front Plus leader and Deputy Agriculture Minister Pieter Mulder will on Wednesday lodge a hate speech complaint against Malema at the Brooklyn police station, Pretoria.

Mulder said the use of the slogan was a contravention of section 16 of the Constitution. "Freedom of speech does not include the advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and which constitutes incitement to cause harm and has in any case been declared as hate speech by the courts."

Malema, according to the Sowetan, led students at the University of Johannesburg in a song saying: "Shoot the boere [farmers], they are rapists". He told students that former president Nelson Mandela had convinced blacks to forgive, but they should never forget what was done to them. AfriForum Youth national chairman Ernst Roets said the organisation would submit a complaint to the Equality Court in Johannesburg. Roets said it was not the first time Malema sang the song reminiscent of the late Peter Mokaba.

He sang it at his birthday celebrations in Polokwane last week, in a province where six farmers were murdered in the past month, Roets said. "Julius Malema has become the biggest embarrassment of not only the youth, but also of the country. "There is no way in which you can dismiss the song as something that simply has to be viewed in a political context and that doesn't have any real consequences," he said.

The Afrikanerbond lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). "It is clear that neither the ANCYL or the ANC have the political will or power to reign in Mr Malema and his daily tirades against everything we hold dear in South Africa," it said in a statement. "We trust that the Human Rights Commission will act in a manner which will restore our faith in this institution as well as in the promotion of human rights." In the complaint, Afrikanerbond chief secretary Jan Bosman said there were about 750 to 850 attacks on farms each year, adding that last year alone 120 people were murdered on farms. "Incitement to violence is a serious offence and with the current problem with rural safety we simply do not need a politician such as Mr Malema to exacerbate the problem," he said.

In 2007, the slogan "kill the farmer, kill the boer" was defined as hate speech by the commission. The FF Plus lodged a complaint with the SAHRC after ANC members used the slogan during two public meetings in 2006. Initially, the commission said the slogan did not constitute hate speech, but was an instance, although an undesirable one, of the right to freedom of expression. However, the party successfully appealed against the finding.

Theunis Botha, acting chair of the Christian Democratic Alliance, said Malema's comments could not be ignored and dismissed as a joke. "By the ANC not denouncing statements made by Malema, the joker has now effectively countered one of the rare occasions on which farm murders are condemned by the Minister of Police [Nathi Mthethwa]. "While the slaughtering of farmers continues, we are again back to square one as far as the government's attitude to these farm murders are concerned."

Mthethwa on Monday said farm murders should not be politicised. He said additional police and efficient tactics would be employed to mitigate farm and rural murders. "Surely, if Mthethwa calls on politicians not to make politics of farm murders, the same should apply to ANC office bearers, such as Malema. "By not banning Malema from the ANC, which is apparently, the only way to cut him to size, the country is done a great disservice," Botha said.

The ANC on Wednesday said it had not yet decided whether it would talk to Malema about his comments.

Source: IoL