Former Limpopo roads and transport MEC Pinky Kekana flouted the constitution and “abused” her position to “settle political scores” for the benefit of Julius Malema, says Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. According to the protector’s provisional report into the abuse of state power, Kekana had ordered an off-duty traffic officer to arrest Malema’s rival at the chaotic Limpopo elective conference in Makhado two years ago.
Former provincial ANC Youth League deputy secretary, Thandi Moraka, was arrested “unlawfully” on April 10, 2010. This was ostensibly for stealing conference documents even though criminal charges had not been laid against her. Acting on Kekana’s instruction, Takalani Sheriff Tshilongoane had arrested Moraka on the N1 north in Botlokwa, 60km north of Polokwane, Madonsela confirmed. He then drove her car “by force” back to Makhado, where she was briefly detained at the Mphephu police station. The court dismissed Moraka’s case after several appearances, prompting her to lodge a complaint with Madonsela. Titled “State Power-Political Games”, the provisional report said Kekana’s conduct was “improper” and amounted to “maladministration”.
“Kekana’s conduct amounted to maladministration, because she did not just report a crime, but abused her official position as MEC while attending a private, party political event to set state resources in her department in motion to settle a political score,” read part of the provisional report. Kekana has dismissed suggestions that she abused her power as “malicious”.
The arrest came after Moraka had left the politically-charged conference with documents after it degenerated into chaos, with rival supporters threatening, intimidating and swearing at each other. Police had also clashed with supporters of Malema’s arch-rival Lehlogonolo Masoga, firing rubber bullets and spraying them with a water cannon.
Kekana, who had attended the league’s conference in her capacity as Limpopo ANC deputy secretary, is an ally of Malema and Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale.
Source: IoL
Showing posts with label Cassel Mathale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cassel Mathale. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Young Communist League - firing Angie Motshekga won't help
The cheapest political point for any youth formation to score at this time is to jump onto the bandwagon of hatred for Angie Motshekga. The minister of basic education, as the foremost educator in the government, is taking a lot of heat for the mess that is the Limpopo education department. Having failed to deliver textbooks for schools for Grades 1 – 3 and 10 for more than half a year, the department has become a mockery and even the intervention of a provincial task team and the national department has not cleared the mess up. This has become so big that alliance members of the ruling African National Congress have started to voice their concerns. Very loudly and publicly.
When it emerged that national treasury would have to fork out additional funds to support a catch-up programme and pay teachers overtime, the Congress of South African Students president Bongani Mani said, “We reiterate our call to Mama Angie to stop playing games and embarrassing the ANC-led government any further and resign immediately [to] spare President Jacob Zuma the pain of having to fire her… Minister Angie must not force the National Treasury to waste taxpayers’ money; rather she must take [it] from her salary and all those found responsible [should] pay for all that needs to be paid to remedy the crisis that has emerged on her watch.”
For its part, the ANC Youth League threatened action if Motshekga did not go. The deputy secretary general Kenetswe Mosenogi said, “Minister Motshekga is herself an obstacle to education; she cannot take responsibility for the most basic of challenges. She must resign within two weeks or we will mobilise our members and occupy the basic education department in Pretoria.”
Yet at the 91st birthday rally of the South African Communist Party on Sunday, the secretary of the Young Communist League Buti Manamela said that firing Motshekga may not be a smart move since the rot actually lies deep in her department.
In an interview with Daily Maverick, he said that he did not specifically call for the DoBE minister to be fired because this was really the prerogative of the president. “[Zuma] has commissioned a report on the matter and he will decide what action to take based on that report, whether it is a rap on the knuckles, or redeploying [Motshekga], or whatever,” Manamela said.
He continued: “Whether the president decides to fire her or not, there are people in the department who are responsible for this. Even if you fire her, you have to clear out these people as well. You can call for Angie’s head, but it won’t help the situation.”
The YCL secretary directed most of his ire at EduSolutions, the company that won the tender to deliver textbooks in Limpopo. He said, “The people who were given business by government – they should not have been working with the government in the first place if they cannot do something as simple as taking a textbook from A to B. This goes to the heart of the crisis in the system. It goes to our call to ban tenders in crucial services in government.”
At the birthday rally, communist party general secretary Blade Nzimande said that the government should not be outsourcing services in ‘priority services’ as identified by the ANC, like education and health, but the state should build capacity to deliver these services itself.
Manamela said that there were stories emerging that suggested the EduSolutions problem was not limited to Limpopo, but that the company was overcharging the government in other provinces, and delivering the wrong textbooks all over the country where it has tenders.
He said that they were not excluding the possibility that someone or some people in Limpopo were deliberately sabotaging this task so as to interfere with the Section 100 administrative action taken by the national government in several departments in Limpopo.
At the end of last year, the Cabinet took a decision to enact a provision of the Constitution which allows it to inject itself unilaterally into a provincial government. Since the same document is very strict about separation of powers between the different tiers of government, a lot has to go wrong before the uppermost echelon can take such an action. Unfortunately for the people of that province, premier Cassel Mathale and several of his key people chose to interpret this as a hostile political move (perhaps aimed at punishing Mathale for his longstanding support for Zuma’s enemy, Julius Malema).
Whether the textbook crisis could have been sparked deliberately is a question we may never be able to answer, but we do already know that several suspects in the department have tried to silence one of the key whistle-blowers.
Ironically, the YCL stance brings it in line with that of the opposition party Democratic Alliance, which has said that Motshekga is perhaps not the one person to blame in this.
Party leader Helen Zille wrote, “…we in the Western Cape have experienced Minister Angie Motshekga as one of the few – perhaps the only – education ministers since the dawn of democracy 18 years ago who genuinely understands the needs of the school system and is prepared to take some tough decisions to fix it. She stands virtually alone, in the wasteland of education's ‘shell state’, where many incompetent cadres masquerade as top officials with fancy titles, but have little understanding of and even less commitment to the needs of education.”
Despite this stance, the party has since called for her to resign.
Meanwhile, the outcomes of a report commissioned by Zuma, and another by the Limpopo premier, are still to be announced or released publicly. An independent auditor sent out by the DoBE found that many schools still hadn’t received textbooks despite a court order compelling the department to clear the mess up by June 27.
Perhaps calls for Motshekga to resign are not that misplaced. The buck ought to, after all, stop with her. Sipho Hlongwane
Source: Daily Maverick
When it emerged that national treasury would have to fork out additional funds to support a catch-up programme and pay teachers overtime, the Congress of South African Students president Bongani Mani said, “We reiterate our call to Mama Angie to stop playing games and embarrassing the ANC-led government any further and resign immediately [to] spare President Jacob Zuma the pain of having to fire her… Minister Angie must not force the National Treasury to waste taxpayers’ money; rather she must take [it] from her salary and all those found responsible [should] pay for all that needs to be paid to remedy the crisis that has emerged on her watch.”
For its part, the ANC Youth League threatened action if Motshekga did not go. The deputy secretary general Kenetswe Mosenogi said, “Minister Motshekga is herself an obstacle to education; she cannot take responsibility for the most basic of challenges. She must resign within two weeks or we will mobilise our members and occupy the basic education department in Pretoria.”
Yet at the 91st birthday rally of the South African Communist Party on Sunday, the secretary of the Young Communist League Buti Manamela said that firing Motshekga may not be a smart move since the rot actually lies deep in her department.
In an interview with Daily Maverick, he said that he did not specifically call for the DoBE minister to be fired because this was really the prerogative of the president. “[Zuma] has commissioned a report on the matter and he will decide what action to take based on that report, whether it is a rap on the knuckles, or redeploying [Motshekga], or whatever,” Manamela said.
He continued: “Whether the president decides to fire her or not, there are people in the department who are responsible for this. Even if you fire her, you have to clear out these people as well. You can call for Angie’s head, but it won’t help the situation.”
The YCL secretary directed most of his ire at EduSolutions, the company that won the tender to deliver textbooks in Limpopo. He said, “The people who were given business by government – they should not have been working with the government in the first place if they cannot do something as simple as taking a textbook from A to B. This goes to the heart of the crisis in the system. It goes to our call to ban tenders in crucial services in government.”
At the birthday rally, communist party general secretary Blade Nzimande said that the government should not be outsourcing services in ‘priority services’ as identified by the ANC, like education and health, but the state should build capacity to deliver these services itself.
Manamela said that there were stories emerging that suggested the EduSolutions problem was not limited to Limpopo, but that the company was overcharging the government in other provinces, and delivering the wrong textbooks all over the country where it has tenders.
He said that they were not excluding the possibility that someone or some people in Limpopo were deliberately sabotaging this task so as to interfere with the Section 100 administrative action taken by the national government in several departments in Limpopo.
At the end of last year, the Cabinet took a decision to enact a provision of the Constitution which allows it to inject itself unilaterally into a provincial government. Since the same document is very strict about separation of powers between the different tiers of government, a lot has to go wrong before the uppermost echelon can take such an action. Unfortunately for the people of that province, premier Cassel Mathale and several of his key people chose to interpret this as a hostile political move (perhaps aimed at punishing Mathale for his longstanding support for Zuma’s enemy, Julius Malema).
Whether the textbook crisis could have been sparked deliberately is a question we may never be able to answer, but we do already know that several suspects in the department have tried to silence one of the key whistle-blowers.
Ironically, the YCL stance brings it in line with that of the opposition party Democratic Alliance, which has said that Motshekga is perhaps not the one person to blame in this.
Party leader Helen Zille wrote, “…we in the Western Cape have experienced Minister Angie Motshekga as one of the few – perhaps the only – education ministers since the dawn of democracy 18 years ago who genuinely understands the needs of the school system and is prepared to take some tough decisions to fix it. She stands virtually alone, in the wasteland of education's ‘shell state’, where many incompetent cadres masquerade as top officials with fancy titles, but have little understanding of and even less commitment to the needs of education.”
Despite this stance, the party has since called for her to resign.
Meanwhile, the outcomes of a report commissioned by Zuma, and another by the Limpopo premier, are still to be announced or released publicly. An independent auditor sent out by the DoBE found that many schools still hadn’t received textbooks despite a court order compelling the department to clear the mess up by June 27.
Perhaps calls for Motshekga to resign are not that misplaced. The buck ought to, after all, stop with her. Sipho Hlongwane
Source: Daily Maverick
Friday, February 3, 2012
SIU probes graft and corruption in Limpopo
The treasury has called on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to begin probing some of the damning evidence unearthed by central government's intervention force in Limpopo. A letter of understanding was issued by Lungisa Fuzile, the treasury director general, on January 24, paving the way for the investigators to begin their work. Fuzile confirmed the letter to the Mail & Guardian, but said the treasury was "not in a position to comment on the investigation". He referred the M&G to the SIU, which was not prepared to comment.
This is the first time treasury has commissioned the SIU to investigate irregularities in the province. It follows a decision by the Cabinet on December 8 last year to effectively take over the cash-strapped Limpopo government and bring five of its 11 departments under administration. Within weeks of the books being opened, the province was declared bankrupt and a trail of maladministration and gross abuse of public funds uncovered.
It is expected that there will be considerable overlap between the SIU investigation instigated by treasury and the probes that are already under way into the financial affairs and business dealings of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema who, together with his friend and political ally Premier Cassel Mathale, is highly influential in the province. The two have been linked to a string of companies that have been trading off the public purse for a number of years. Last year the M&G revealed how On-Point Engineering, part-owned by Malema, had secured a programme management contract at the provincial transport department through which tenders were doled out to friends and party cronies, as well as to business partners of Mathale. The M&G later exposed attempts on Malema's part to pressurise staff at the local health department to pay out on multimillion-rand contracts that were being investigated for fraud. Both men have also built impressive property portfolios and lived lavish lifestyles that eventually demanded scrutiny.
The SIU has not been given a deadline to complete the latest probe and it is too early to predict what consequences, if any, its findings might have. However, in a recent radio interview, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said "there certainly will be consequences if there is wrongdoing, including putting people through the necessary disciplinary processes or criminal processes".
It first had to be established "whether the evidence really strongly and decisively takes us in that particular direction". Gordhan is due to brief the National Council of Provinces on the intervention and its progress in Parliament on Thursday.
Source: Mail & Guardian
This is the first time treasury has commissioned the SIU to investigate irregularities in the province. It follows a decision by the Cabinet on December 8 last year to effectively take over the cash-strapped Limpopo government and bring five of its 11 departments under administration. Within weeks of the books being opened, the province was declared bankrupt and a trail of maladministration and gross abuse of public funds uncovered.
It is expected that there will be considerable overlap between the SIU investigation instigated by treasury and the probes that are already under way into the financial affairs and business dealings of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema who, together with his friend and political ally Premier Cassel Mathale, is highly influential in the province. The two have been linked to a string of companies that have been trading off the public purse for a number of years. Last year the M&G revealed how On-Point Engineering, part-owned by Malema, had secured a programme management contract at the provincial transport department through which tenders were doled out to friends and party cronies, as well as to business partners of Mathale. The M&G later exposed attempts on Malema's part to pressurise staff at the local health department to pay out on multimillion-rand contracts that were being investigated for fraud. Both men have also built impressive property portfolios and lived lavish lifestyles that eventually demanded scrutiny.
The SIU has not been given a deadline to complete the latest probe and it is too early to predict what consequences, if any, its findings might have. However, in a recent radio interview, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said "there certainly will be consequences if there is wrongdoing, including putting people through the necessary disciplinary processes or criminal processes".
It first had to be established "whether the evidence really strongly and decisively takes us in that particular direction". Gordhan is due to brief the National Council of Provinces on the intervention and its progress in Parliament on Thursday.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, December 9, 2011
Power, patronage and the provinces
Say what you like about the politics of the national government's intervention in three provinces, one thing is clear: a scaled-down analogue of the eurozone crisis is unfolding within the borders of South Africa. Limpopo literally ran out of money three weeks ago, maxing out its overdraft at the Corporation for Public Deposits and exceeding its half-a-billion-rand facility at First National Bank. The treasury had to move forward its payment on one of the province's regular tranches of funding so that teachers and nurses could be paid.
The province blames unexpected increases in civil service wages and the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation for health workers. These were provided for at central level, but seem to have been implemented amid real confusion and, on a charitable interpretation, unexpected wage payments in a context of rampant corruption and mismanagement may have finally tipped the provincial fiscus over the edge.
The treasury effected a hostile takeover of the Limpopo this week, placing five key departments under administration. To all intents and purposes the province has been stripped of its basic functions. Premier Cassel Mathale is now a figurehead, presiding over a shell of a government run from Pretoria. No doubt the emergency was real and drastic intervention was warranted, but there is no escaping the fact that the move deprives one of President Jacob Zuma's most important opponents of almost all his power and, crucially, of his patronage machinery.
Supporters of Mathale, Julius Malema and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula are fuming over the coup, which they insist is driven purely by politics. They point to other provinces with large overdrafts and rickety finances that have not suffered the same fate. There is no gainsaying the political advantage secured by Zuma with this move, but Mathale and his government opened themselves up to it by allowing Limpopo's finances to deteriorate beyond the mere mess we have come to expect into real crisis.
In contrast to the takeover of Limpopo moves to stabilise the finances of Gauteng and the Free State, with their Zuma-aligned premiers, look more like friendly bailouts. Gauteng, despite a health service that the treasury described to Cabinet as being in "disarray", will be dealt with via an "agreement" between the province and the national government. And in the profligate, but less disastrous, Free State the intervention is limited to the roads department. Those Gauteng projects that do face major cutbacks date from the tenure as finance MEC of Paul Mashatile, another Zuma opponent. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who is at loggerheads with Mashatile, may not be very sorry to see them trimmed or abandoned.
The politics then are real and they are vicious, but so are the impacts of mismanagement, and they stretch deep into other provinces. KwaZulu-Natal and the North West are said by the treasury to be on track for recovery. Meanwhile, in municipalities across the country similar failures are compromising access to clean water, basic infrastructure and housing.
As the treasury warned Cabinet on Monday: "Non-delivery and slow delivery of services poses a security risk for the country." That is a welcome recognition but, if risk is really to be diminished, interventions from the centre will have to move beyond politics.
Source: Mail & Guardian
The province blames unexpected increases in civil service wages and the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation for health workers. These were provided for at central level, but seem to have been implemented amid real confusion and, on a charitable interpretation, unexpected wage payments in a context of rampant corruption and mismanagement may have finally tipped the provincial fiscus over the edge.
The treasury effected a hostile takeover of the Limpopo this week, placing five key departments under administration. To all intents and purposes the province has been stripped of its basic functions. Premier Cassel Mathale is now a figurehead, presiding over a shell of a government run from Pretoria. No doubt the emergency was real and drastic intervention was warranted, but there is no escaping the fact that the move deprives one of President Jacob Zuma's most important opponents of almost all his power and, crucially, of his patronage machinery.
Supporters of Mathale, Julius Malema and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula are fuming over the coup, which they insist is driven purely by politics. They point to other provinces with large overdrafts and rickety finances that have not suffered the same fate. There is no gainsaying the political advantage secured by Zuma with this move, but Mathale and his government opened themselves up to it by allowing Limpopo's finances to deteriorate beyond the mere mess we have come to expect into real crisis.
In contrast to the takeover of Limpopo moves to stabilise the finances of Gauteng and the Free State, with their Zuma-aligned premiers, look more like friendly bailouts. Gauteng, despite a health service that the treasury described to Cabinet as being in "disarray", will be dealt with via an "agreement" between the province and the national government. And in the profligate, but less disastrous, Free State the intervention is limited to the roads department. Those Gauteng projects that do face major cutbacks date from the tenure as finance MEC of Paul Mashatile, another Zuma opponent. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who is at loggerheads with Mashatile, may not be very sorry to see them trimmed or abandoned.
The politics then are real and they are vicious, but so are the impacts of mismanagement, and they stretch deep into other provinces. KwaZulu-Natal and the North West are said by the treasury to be on track for recovery. Meanwhile, in municipalities across the country similar failures are compromising access to clean water, basic infrastructure and housing.
As the treasury warned Cabinet on Monday: "Non-delivery and slow delivery of services poses a security risk for the country." That is a welcome recognition but, if risk is really to be diminished, interventions from the centre will have to move beyond politics.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, August 27, 2010
Juju and premier linked to waste deal
Businessmen closely linked to Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema have emerged as beneficiaries of the multimillion-rand medical waste management industry. A company belonging to Mathale's business partner, Selbie Manthata, and Malema's close friend and ally, Ali Boshielo, have been cut into a lucrative Limpopo medical waste tender. There were also attempts to include Boshielo and Manthata into a multimillion-rand North West medical waste contract and a new four-year contract for medical waste management in Limpopo. Limpopo is Malema's home province and he and Mathale wield considerable political power there.
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of three signed contracts showing the close relationship between Manthata, Boshielo and waste management baron David Sekete, whose Buhle Waste company is a major player in the medical waste industry. Malema denied this week that Boshielo was fronting for him and Mathale said Manthata, his business partner in three entities, did not have to report to him about his business transactions.
Neither Boshielo nor Manthata responded to questions. Pinky Mokoto, a prominent North West ANC politician and mayor of the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality, which includes Mafikeng, was cut into the North West deal by Buhle Waste. Sekete defended his relationship with politically connected partners, saying Buhle Waste was owned by people "who all happen to belong to the ANC" and that it "so happens that the youth who approached us are members of the ANC Youth League".
Boshielo is a prominent youth league member who sat on the board of the league's investment arm, Lembede Investment Holdings, before it was "systematically dissolved" this year. Although permanently based in Polokwane, Boshielo often stays at Malema's Sandown house when he visits Johannesburg, a mutual friend of the two men told the M&G. Asked to comment, Malema's spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said: "None of your business." Manthata and Mathale are linked through their shared interests in two close corporations, Bollanoto 322 Copper Mine and Uereka Resource, and a private company, Emerald Sky Trading 18.
Tender 1: Limpopo health
The M&G reported in July that Malema's Blue Nightingale Trading 61 was originally given a 3% stake in Tshumisano Waste Management, a company awarded a five-year R200-million tender by the Limpopo health department in 2005 for the removal, treatment and disposal of medical waste from hospitals. Malema, provincial secretary of the youth league at the time, was bought out of the company for less than R150 000 in 2006. Tshumisano was established to get the Limpopo tender. Apart from Malema, it included Buhle Waste, Medicare Process Technologies and Afrimedicals. Tshumisano was awarded a second government tender in August 2008 by the North West health department to deliver similar services for 16 months.
In April 2009, four years after starting to deliver on its contract with Limpopo health, Tshumisano sub-contracted Silver Meadow Trading to transport medical waste collected from Limpopo's 360 state clinics. Boshielo and Manthata are two of Silver Meadow's three directors. According to the agreement, in the M&G's possession, Tshumisano agreed to pay Silver Meadow Trading a retaining fee of R170 000 a month minus a 20% management fee, meaning that the company will have made more than R2,4-million from the deal when Tshumisano's contract ends in November.
Tender 2: North West health
Four months later, in August 2009, North West advertised a four-year tender for the removal and disposal of medical waste. The M&G has in its possession a memorandum of understanding signed by four parties -- Buhle Waste, Boshielo and Manthata's Mercuritech and Pinky Mokoto's Makgoloke Engineering and Projects -- on August 19 and 21. The document details each party's share in the joint venture and acknowledges Buhle Waste as the "leading contractor". This week Sekete denied that Mercuritech eventually formed part of the North West tender. He provided the M&G with another agreement entered into between Buhle Waste and Makgoloke on August 22 last year -- 12 days before Mokoto was appointed mayor. Sekete defended Mokoto's inclusion in the tender. "[Mokoto] was an ANC MP until April 13 2009. At the time we met her she was running her own businesses and was no longer a government employee. "Thus, when the North West tender closed in August 2009, she was not holding any public service job," Sekete said. According to him, she has "never put in any money to capitalise the North West project and has not received any payments from us". Sekete admitted only to meeting Mokoto at the tender briefing session. "She has added value, recruiting staff and ensuring training takes place." Mokoto did not respond to questions.
Tender 3: Limpopo health
The third document leaked to the M&G is a joint venture agreement between Buhle Waste and Limpopo Medical Waste, the company previously known as Silver Meadow Trading. The purpose of this was to tender as one for the new Limpopo medical waste contract, advertised in January this year, which was previously held by Tshumisano. According to the document, signed on April 7, Limpopo Medical Waste's share of the deal would have been 75% and Buhle Waste's 25%. Buhle Waste would procure a medical waste disposal plant and transport facilities, while Limpopo Medical Waste would "source the market for medical waste".
Sekete defended this arrangement, saying it was made "for empowerment purposes without a preconceived notion of using political influence as criteria. Our aim has been to transfer skills to local business partners who in turn could recruit the unemployed youth to work in the medical waste industry throughout the country." Following reports that politically connected businessmen were in line for the tender, the process was cancelled by the Limpopo health department and Tshumisano's contract was extended by six months, until November this year. The official reason given for the cancellation of the tender was that there were minor errors in the tender document. A new round of tenders is under consideration. Mathale did not deny his business interests this week, saying he was an entrepreneur "long before" 1994 and has declared his business interests.
On the subject of Manthata, Matale's spokesperson, Phuti Mosomane, said in a statement: "In conducting his affairs as a businessman, Manthata does not have to report to the premier about the transactions that he is making. "At the same breath the premier does not have to report to Manthata on his business affairs." Shivambu, told the M&G this week that Malema had nothing to do with Boshielo's interests in the medical waste industry and did not lobby for his friend to be given tenders.
'A dirty little business'
"Our industry is a dirty little business," a major player in the medical waste treatment industry told the M&G this week. The industry is notorious for illegal dumping. The media have recently carried numerous reports of children being injured while playing near dumped material. Illegally stored placentas and syringes were found in a warehouse in Gauteng three years ago.
In the past five years the Green Scorpions have launched 14 criminal investigations into medical waste companies for environmental transgressions. They have charged company directors and an employee of waste treatment plant Aid Safe Waste.
Buhle Waste chairperson David Sekete and Springbok prop Johan le Roux, who is notorious for biting the ear of an All Black player, are two of the Aid Safe directors facing trial. Both have pleaded not guilty, but the company is currently negotiating a plea bargain with the National Prosecuting Authority.
According to the industry insider: "The problem is that some companies are getting contracts from provinces when they don't have the capacity to handle the waste and have to subcontract it to other waste treatment plants that struggle." Dumping and illegal storage occurs in these circumstances, he said. The auditor general investigated the industry three years ago, while the department of environmental affairs also commissioned a study.
Albi Modise, the department's chief director of communications, said medical waste has been identified as a national priority. "The sector is generally not supported by extensive capital investment and can become vulnerable when treatment facilities break down as transporters are required to seek alternative treatment facilities," Modise said. "Contracts have been awarded to several transporters who do not own their own treatment facilities."
Based on a 2007 study by the department, there is currently "reserve capacity" for waste treatment in South Africa. Modise said it was not ideal to truck medical waste from province to province, as often happened. In one case the M&G was told that medical waste from Limpopo was transported to Cape Town to be destroyed.
Source: amaBhungane
The Mail & Guardian is in possession of three signed contracts showing the close relationship between Manthata, Boshielo and waste management baron David Sekete, whose Buhle Waste company is a major player in the medical waste industry. Malema denied this week that Boshielo was fronting for him and Mathale said Manthata, his business partner in three entities, did not have to report to him about his business transactions.
Neither Boshielo nor Manthata responded to questions. Pinky Mokoto, a prominent North West ANC politician and mayor of the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality, which includes Mafikeng, was cut into the North West deal by Buhle Waste. Sekete defended his relationship with politically connected partners, saying Buhle Waste was owned by people "who all happen to belong to the ANC" and that it "so happens that the youth who approached us are members of the ANC Youth League".
Boshielo is a prominent youth league member who sat on the board of the league's investment arm, Lembede Investment Holdings, before it was "systematically dissolved" this year. Although permanently based in Polokwane, Boshielo often stays at Malema's Sandown house when he visits Johannesburg, a mutual friend of the two men told the M&G. Asked to comment, Malema's spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said: "None of your business." Manthata and Mathale are linked through their shared interests in two close corporations, Bollanoto 322 Copper Mine and Uereka Resource, and a private company, Emerald Sky Trading 18.
Tender 1: Limpopo health
The M&G reported in July that Malema's Blue Nightingale Trading 61 was originally given a 3% stake in Tshumisano Waste Management, a company awarded a five-year R200-million tender by the Limpopo health department in 2005 for the removal, treatment and disposal of medical waste from hospitals. Malema, provincial secretary of the youth league at the time, was bought out of the company for less than R150 000 in 2006. Tshumisano was established to get the Limpopo tender. Apart from Malema, it included Buhle Waste, Medicare Process Technologies and Afrimedicals. Tshumisano was awarded a second government tender in August 2008 by the North West health department to deliver similar services for 16 months.
In April 2009, four years after starting to deliver on its contract with Limpopo health, Tshumisano sub-contracted Silver Meadow Trading to transport medical waste collected from Limpopo's 360 state clinics. Boshielo and Manthata are two of Silver Meadow's three directors. According to the agreement, in the M&G's possession, Tshumisano agreed to pay Silver Meadow Trading a retaining fee of R170 000 a month minus a 20% management fee, meaning that the company will have made more than R2,4-million from the deal when Tshumisano's contract ends in November.
Tender 2: North West health
Four months later, in August 2009, North West advertised a four-year tender for the removal and disposal of medical waste. The M&G has in its possession a memorandum of understanding signed by four parties -- Buhle Waste, Boshielo and Manthata's Mercuritech and Pinky Mokoto's Makgoloke Engineering and Projects -- on August 19 and 21. The document details each party's share in the joint venture and acknowledges Buhle Waste as the "leading contractor". This week Sekete denied that Mercuritech eventually formed part of the North West tender. He provided the M&G with another agreement entered into between Buhle Waste and Makgoloke on August 22 last year -- 12 days before Mokoto was appointed mayor. Sekete defended Mokoto's inclusion in the tender. "[Mokoto] was an ANC MP until April 13 2009. At the time we met her she was running her own businesses and was no longer a government employee. "Thus, when the North West tender closed in August 2009, she was not holding any public service job," Sekete said. According to him, she has "never put in any money to capitalise the North West project and has not received any payments from us". Sekete admitted only to meeting Mokoto at the tender briefing session. "She has added value, recruiting staff and ensuring training takes place." Mokoto did not respond to questions.
Tender 3: Limpopo health
The third document leaked to the M&G is a joint venture agreement between Buhle Waste and Limpopo Medical Waste, the company previously known as Silver Meadow Trading. The purpose of this was to tender as one for the new Limpopo medical waste contract, advertised in January this year, which was previously held by Tshumisano. According to the document, signed on April 7, Limpopo Medical Waste's share of the deal would have been 75% and Buhle Waste's 25%. Buhle Waste would procure a medical waste disposal plant and transport facilities, while Limpopo Medical Waste would "source the market for medical waste".
Sekete defended this arrangement, saying it was made "for empowerment purposes without a preconceived notion of using political influence as criteria. Our aim has been to transfer skills to local business partners who in turn could recruit the unemployed youth to work in the medical waste industry throughout the country." Following reports that politically connected businessmen were in line for the tender, the process was cancelled by the Limpopo health department and Tshumisano's contract was extended by six months, until November this year. The official reason given for the cancellation of the tender was that there were minor errors in the tender document. A new round of tenders is under consideration. Mathale did not deny his business interests this week, saying he was an entrepreneur "long before" 1994 and has declared his business interests.
On the subject of Manthata, Matale's spokesperson, Phuti Mosomane, said in a statement: "In conducting his affairs as a businessman, Manthata does not have to report to the premier about the transactions that he is making. "At the same breath the premier does not have to report to Manthata on his business affairs." Shivambu, told the M&G this week that Malema had nothing to do with Boshielo's interests in the medical waste industry and did not lobby for his friend to be given tenders.
'A dirty little business'
"Our industry is a dirty little business," a major player in the medical waste treatment industry told the M&G this week. The industry is notorious for illegal dumping. The media have recently carried numerous reports of children being injured while playing near dumped material. Illegally stored placentas and syringes were found in a warehouse in Gauteng three years ago.
In the past five years the Green Scorpions have launched 14 criminal investigations into medical waste companies for environmental transgressions. They have charged company directors and an employee of waste treatment plant Aid Safe Waste.
Buhle Waste chairperson David Sekete and Springbok prop Johan le Roux, who is notorious for biting the ear of an All Black player, are two of the Aid Safe directors facing trial. Both have pleaded not guilty, but the company is currently negotiating a plea bargain with the National Prosecuting Authority.
According to the industry insider: "The problem is that some companies are getting contracts from provinces when they don't have the capacity to handle the waste and have to subcontract it to other waste treatment plants that struggle." Dumping and illegal storage occurs in these circumstances, he said. The auditor general investigated the industry three years ago, while the department of environmental affairs also commissioned a study.
Albi Modise, the department's chief director of communications, said medical waste has been identified as a national priority. "The sector is generally not supported by extensive capital investment and can become vulnerable when treatment facilities break down as transporters are required to seek alternative treatment facilities," Modise said. "Contracts have been awarded to several transporters who do not own their own treatment facilities."
Based on a 2007 study by the department, there is currently "reserve capacity" for waste treatment in South Africa. Modise said it was not ideal to truck medical waste from province to province, as often happened. In one case the M&G was told that medical waste from Limpopo was transported to Cape Town to be destroyed.
Source: amaBhungane
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Public Protector to probe Malema tenders
The Public Protector is to probe tenders awarded to the company SGL Engineering Projects, on whose board ANC Youth League president Julius Malema apparently serves as a director. The tenders include a R2,1-million sewerage upgrade, R39,3-million sewerage reticulation project, and a R27,9-million street paving and
drainage contract, Kgalalelo Masibi, a spokesperson for the Office of the Public Protector, said on Friday . Also under investigation were a R28-million tender for several municipal infrastructure projects and a R2-billion roads tender, she said.
The investigation followed complaints by AfriForum Youth and the Congress of the People. "The Public Protector can only investigate the conduct of public authorities," said Masibi. "The investigation will focus on whether any conduct in the award or management of the contracts in question was improper," she said.
Public Protector advocate Thuli Madonsela earlier said her office had received a number of complaints about alleged tender irregularities in various municipalities across Limpopo. "I have assembled a team to undertake this task. I have also initiated talks with the Auditor General with a view to conduct a joint investigation," she said.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Malema was asked if he thought it was fair to ask how he had accumulated his wealth at such a young age. Malema replied: "It's very fair. But write facts. What the media did [showed] it was never interested in the facts. I am not rich. I do not have millions as reported." He said that all his houses had bonds and were financed by banks. "I've never got any lucrative tender from anybody, including the company called SGL. "I live on handouts most of the time. If I don't have food to eat, I can call Cassel Mathale [premier of Limpopo] and say: "Chief, can you help me? I've got nothing here." I can call Thaba Mufamadi, I can call Pule Mabe [ANCYL treasurer general] or Mbalula. They all do the same with me. That's how we have come to relate to each other."
Source: Mail & Guardian
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
Friday, March 26, 2010
ANC at war over premier
The political future of Mpumalanga Premier David "DD" Mabuza is in the balance, with some senior ANC leaders pushing for his early exit from the province's hot seat. ANC sources said this week that members of the party's national executive committee (NEC) had been wanting him removed because of the spate of service delivery protests and allegations relating to the murder of government officials and ANC politicians in Mpumalanga.
President Jacob Zuma, who personally intervened in the protests, has complained that government officials at other levels have not followed up on his work. Provincial sources have repeatedly accused party treasurer Mathews Phosa of being opposed to Mabuza, though Phosa denies this. They have also accused ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu of allowing uncertainty about Mabuza's position to continue.
However, Mabuza has powerful backers in the NEC -- they include Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. Several Mpumalanga and national ANC leaders have told the M&G that investigations by the police's crime intelligence unit have looked closely at Mabuza's alleged involvement in the scandals surrounding the Mbombela stadium. His spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said this week that he was aware of the rumours to this effect but no one had officially notified the premier. "We all hear the rumours. The police are better placed to answer that as they are the ones who are investigating," Sithole said. The M&G was unable to obtain police confirmation.
Mthembu said he would not comment on the rumours, though he defended his earlier decision to release a statement saying the ANC took the matter seriously and all allegations against provincial ANC leaders, including Mabuza, were being probed. His remarks angered Mabuza's supporters, who accused Mthembu of using his position to take on political rivals in Mpumalanga. "What we said was that a team is investigating the allegations raised," Mthembu said. "I don't know where this thing that I'm biased comes from. We read about the [existence] of the hit list in the media and we just can't dismiss it." Those backing Mabuza's removal say, bearing in mind next year's municipal elections, it would spare the ANC embarrassment if he left before more evidence against him emerged.
Since becoming premier Mabuza has been locked in political battles with his colleagues in the provincial ANC who feel they were marginalised when he appointed his cabinet. But his supporters believe he is being targeted by individuals out to control provincial resources. Mabuza's detractors are pushing for his rival, Mbombela mayor Lucky Chiwayo, to succeed him. But Chiwayo, who lost the position of provincial ANC chair to Mabuza, is under pressure from Mabuza's supporters to quit as mayor. This week the ANC's Ehlanzeni regional general council passed a resolution recommending that Chiwayo be recalled. The resolution is apparently in retaliation for his refusal to reinstate former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, a Mabuza ally. Chiwayo dismissed him because of allegations that he irregularly authorised the payment of R43-million to Lekia, the company of Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have arrested former ANC provincial secretary James Nkambule on charges of defeating the ends of justice, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Nkambule recently handed an affidavit to police which he claimed was written by a Mozambican hitman known as Josh, who said he was paid to assassinate politicians in the province.
Source: Mail & Guardian
President Jacob Zuma, who personally intervened in the protests, has complained that government officials at other levels have not followed up on his work. Provincial sources have repeatedly accused party treasurer Mathews Phosa of being opposed to Mabuza, though Phosa denies this. They have also accused ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu of allowing uncertainty about Mabuza's position to continue.
However, Mabuza has powerful backers in the NEC -- they include Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. Several Mpumalanga and national ANC leaders have told the M&G that investigations by the police's crime intelligence unit have looked closely at Mabuza's alleged involvement in the scandals surrounding the Mbombela stadium. His spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said this week that he was aware of the rumours to this effect but no one had officially notified the premier. "We all hear the rumours. The police are better placed to answer that as they are the ones who are investigating," Sithole said. The M&G was unable to obtain police confirmation.
Mthembu said he would not comment on the rumours, though he defended his earlier decision to release a statement saying the ANC took the matter seriously and all allegations against provincial ANC leaders, including Mabuza, were being probed. His remarks angered Mabuza's supporters, who accused Mthembu of using his position to take on political rivals in Mpumalanga. "What we said was that a team is investigating the allegations raised," Mthembu said. "I don't know where this thing that I'm biased comes from. We read about the [existence] of the hit list in the media and we just can't dismiss it." Those backing Mabuza's removal say, bearing in mind next year's municipal elections, it would spare the ANC embarrassment if he left before more evidence against him emerged.
Since becoming premier Mabuza has been locked in political battles with his colleagues in the provincial ANC who feel they were marginalised when he appointed his cabinet. But his supporters believe he is being targeted by individuals out to control provincial resources. Mabuza's detractors are pushing for his rival, Mbombela mayor Lucky Chiwayo, to succeed him. But Chiwayo, who lost the position of provincial ANC chair to Mabuza, is under pressure from Mabuza's supporters to quit as mayor. This week the ANC's Ehlanzeni regional general council passed a resolution recommending that Chiwayo be recalled. The resolution is apparently in retaliation for his refusal to reinstate former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, a Mabuza ally. Chiwayo dismissed him because of allegations that he irregularly authorised the payment of R43-million to Lekia, the company of Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have arrested former ANC provincial secretary James Nkambule on charges of defeating the ends of justice, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Nkambule recently handed an affidavit to police which he claimed was written by a Mozambican hitman known as Josh, who said he was paid to assassinate politicians in the province.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Malema woes worsen - 4 firms not on CIDB database
NONE of the four companies owned or directed by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema is registered with the Construction Industry Development Board. This means that Limpopo municipalities that gave him tenders did so illegally. They did not check with the CIDB before awarding the tenders. The CIDB is the construction industry regulatory body whose board reports to the minister of public works. SGL Engineering Projects, 101 JunJus Trading, Blue Nightingale Trading 61 and Ever Roaring Investments, of which Malema is a co-director, were not on CIDB’s database.
The CIDB was established through the Construction Industry Development Board Act No 38 of 2000.
“Public institutions are responsible for making sure that the companies they award tenders to are graded and regulated by the CIDB,” said spokesperson Katli Molise. According to the Act, no contractor may undertake, carry out or complete any construction works for public sector contracts, awarded in terms of competitive tender or quotation, unless he or she is registered with the CIDB and holds a valid registration certificate issued by the CIDB.
The CIDB requires employers of private and public sector projects to apply to the CIDB for the registration of a construction project within two working days from the date that the contractor’s offer to perform the construction work is accepted by the employer. Every organ of state must, subject to the policy on procurement, apply to the registrar of contractors. CIDB spokesperson Kotli Molise said it was up to a public institution to make sure that its contractors were graded by the CIDB. “Anyone can undertake to provide a construction service to a public institution, but they must comply with industry regulations,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Limpopo government will not take action against any municipalities that had allegedly given tenders to Malema before receiving a formal complaint. A weekend newspaper reported that Malema had benefited in tenders from several municipalities in the province. This was followed by allegations that Malema had got the tenders illegally by intimidating mayors and municipal managers that if they did not tow the line they would be fired. But Phuti Mosomane, spokesperson for Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale, said for as long as there had been no formal complaint lodged by anyone, then there would be no need for the government to act. “We have not received any formal complaint about the allegations of issuing of tenders illegally and there is no basis for us to act,” said Mosomane. He further challenged those with evidence to come forward. Asked if they did not care about government resources being looted in public view, Mosomane could only say “that does not arise because we are not aware of any irregularities being performed in any of our institutions”.
Sello Moloto, leader of the Cope in the Limpopo legislature, said they would lodge a complaint with MEC for local government and housing Soviet Lekganyane. His department is responsible for municipalities.
Source: The Sowetan
The CIDB was established through the Construction Industry Development Board Act No 38 of 2000.
“Public institutions are responsible for making sure that the companies they award tenders to are graded and regulated by the CIDB,” said spokesperson Katli Molise. According to the Act, no contractor may undertake, carry out or complete any construction works for public sector contracts, awarded in terms of competitive tender or quotation, unless he or she is registered with the CIDB and holds a valid registration certificate issued by the CIDB.
The CIDB requires employers of private and public sector projects to apply to the CIDB for the registration of a construction project within two working days from the date that the contractor’s offer to perform the construction work is accepted by the employer. Every organ of state must, subject to the policy on procurement, apply to the registrar of contractors. CIDB spokesperson Kotli Molise said it was up to a public institution to make sure that its contractors were graded by the CIDB. “Anyone can undertake to provide a construction service to a public institution, but they must comply with industry regulations,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Limpopo government will not take action against any municipalities that had allegedly given tenders to Malema before receiving a formal complaint. A weekend newspaper reported that Malema had benefited in tenders from several municipalities in the province. This was followed by allegations that Malema had got the tenders illegally by intimidating mayors and municipal managers that if they did not tow the line they would be fired. But Phuti Mosomane, spokesperson for Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale, said for as long as there had been no formal complaint lodged by anyone, then there would be no need for the government to act. “We have not received any formal complaint about the allegations of issuing of tenders illegally and there is no basis for us to act,” said Mosomane. He further challenged those with evidence to come forward. Asked if they did not care about government resources being looted in public view, Mosomane could only say “that does not arise because we are not aware of any irregularities being performed in any of our institutions”.
Sello Moloto, leader of the Cope in the Limpopo legislature, said they would lodge a complaint with MEC for local government and housing Soviet Lekganyane. His department is responsible for municipalities.
Source: The Sowetan
Friday, October 9, 2009
Inside the Malema machine
As the Mail & Guardian arrives at Luthuli House at 3.40pm on Wednesday, late for an interview with ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, we are told to wait our turn to see “the president”. There is already a queue outside his office. The patient line -- ranged in groups in the outer office or wherever they can find a chair -- includes former ANC spin doctor Carl Niehaus and the newly elected South African Football Association president, Kirsten Nematandani, and his entourage. Then there is the Progressive Youth Alliance, a fundraising group for a Caster Semenya gala dinner and the leadership of the National African Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc).
The queue waits patiently, as petitioners at a royal court, for their turn inside Malema’s seventh-floor corner office with views over the city and an imposing portrait of Nelson Mandela on the wall facing the youth league president’s desk. After about 45 minutes Malema, wearing a golf shirt and jeans, pitches up and asks us to accompany him to his office. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, my chief. It has been a long day,” he says, smiling.
Malema’s cellphone keeps ringing throughout our interview as people try to secure a meeting with him. One of those who calls is the deputy minister of police, Fikile Mbalula, who is politely told by Malema to wait until he has worked his way through the queue outside. In some parts of society Malema is seen as the ANC’s in-house court jester and a buffoon, but a closer look reveals him to be the party’s crown prince, who wields influence and power while others just stand by and watch. He is the one people go to when official structures have failed them or have not delivered the results they wanted.
Although Malema holds no official government position and is only an ad hoc member of the ANC’s powerful national working committee (NWC), he knows that when he talks, everyone -- inside and outside the ANC -- listens. The primary source of his power is the fact that he was elected by a critical constituency for the ANC -- the youth.
A senior member of President Jacob Zuma’s inner circle describes Malema’s role thus. A year ago there was widespread concern in the party about voter apathy among the youth and how this would influence the ANC’s overwhelming majority at the ballot box. Concerns were rife that increasing unhappiness with bad service delivery was threatening the ANC’s authority and providing a breeding ground for anti-ANC sentiments. Then came Malema and, in one swoop, he captured the hearts and minds of these straying sheep with his frank comments and criticism. “He is the only voice who is willing to stand up and say: ‘This is how we feel and what we want.’ People understand the anger in what he is saying,” says writer Jabu Ngwenya, author of I Ain’t Yo’ Bitch, a recently published novel about the experience of young people in South Africa. “I admire him. He’s got the balls to stand up and speak his mind.”
ANC leaders have more questionable reasons for “supporting” him, claiming he holds some of them hostage. “Many people in the NEC have baggage. He knows about everyone’s baggage and they know he knows,” says one NEC member who is also a government official. Crucially, as a founding member of the campaign to elect Zuma as ANC president in 2007, Malema knows why certain leaders jumped on the Zuma campaign wagon. Says the NEC member, dryly: “He knows their reasons were not always noble and ... he’ll use that power when he thinks he needs to.”
A former Limpopo youth league member, who has now defected to the Congress of the People, puts things even more bluntly: Malema will use blackmail to get what he wants. “He gets to know a secret about a certain politician, especially about how they amassed wealth, and then he will use that against them when they differ.” As a measure of how seriously he is taken within party structures, the ANC even established a group of leaders to give him guidance, though privately some of them say he refuses to listen. “He receives correction, but it doesn’t really look like he’s changing the direction,” said one such mentor. “We have accepted that he is a problem child.”
Malema’s decision to close down Lembede Investments, the youth league’s investment arm that was fraught with allegations of corruption, gave the ANC hope that he would be a strong and responsible leader. But now the party leadership is “uncomfortable” about his behaviour and unsure of how to deal with it. As one NEC member who is also in business remarks: “Closing Lembede was a good sign that the youth league [would] be a beacon of moral credibility. But now it seems to be going the other way.” Under Malema the youth league campaigned vigorously for the sacking of Thabo Mbeki. There is some truth in the assertion that Malema is used to saying things the ANC is not able to say. A week before the ANC NEC took a decision to relieve Mbeki of his duties, Malema “predicted” that Mbeki would be fired as president. But a senior Luthuli House official told the M&G that Malema “was given information” and then went out in public and spread the word.
Malema himself has admitted to being a decoy during the 2009 elections to distract DA leader Helen Zille while “Zuma was sprinting to the Union Buildings”. Malema believes that as a youth leader he should be allowed latitude. “Maybe the problem is how we raise issues. But comrades should accept I can’t raise issues like ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. I must put more fire on what I say so that people can feel the heat.”
Despite the fact that Malema evokes hate and derision from many South Africans, most ANC leaders see a bright future for him, even touting him as a possible contender for the ANC presidency some day. “There is no reason why he cannot be president one day, if nothing major goes wrong. He comes from the movement and knows a lot about the ANC,” says one.
Zizi Kodwa, Zuma’s spokesperson and former youth league leader, concurs: “What I’m sure of is that he will mature with age, like the vintage wine of the Cape. We expect him to grow over time and, in the ANC, such growth is appreciated and rewarded.”
One weekday in the late 1990s, as schoolchildren went about their classroom business, a lone teenage boy stood at the corner of Landros Mare Street and Hospital Road in Polokwane, holding up a placard, writes Mmanaledi Mataboge. He was protesting against the late delivery of stationery at schools, corporal punishment and “ineffective” school principals. Within minutes, he was joined by hundreds of schoolchildren. The boy was Julius Malema and his solitary protest, which gained such rapid momentum, signalled one of the ANC Youth League president’s precociously early steps on the road to crafting a career in politics.
The youth league’s secretary in Limpopo’s Capricorn region, Jacob Lebogo, grew up with Malema in Se-shego and was one of the classmates who joined Malema in his street-corner protest. He relishes retelling the story and remembers that many elders in the area were scandalised: “What is this child doing?” In hindsight the elders might rather have asked: “Who is this child?”
Malema (28), the firebrand youth leader often criticised for his controversial public statements, is a respected, even a feared, figure, within the ANC and its youth wing. Those who grew up with him or helped groom him into the leader that he is today describe him as a textbook product of the ANC, from a militant teenage hothead fired up in the dying days of the struggle against apartheid to the country’s most powerful youth leader. And, they say, he is still evolving. “He has become a different person from the boy I initially met,” says one of his close comrades, Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, who started working with Malema when the youth leader was elected national president of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) in 2001. Back then few politicians, never mind anyone else, took him seriously. Says Mathale: “We had known him before, but we dismissed him as just another school kid. He still had the militancy of high-school politics. Just like all of us, his head was hot.”
Malema was raised in the ANC’s nursery from the age of 10 when he joined Masupatsela, a pioneer movement of the party, the young members of which were both lectured on democracy and tasked to act as enforcers of boycotts. Says Lebogo: “He did not jump any step of learning in the organisation. He was trained in mobilising people and in being a marshal. He collected and pushed tyres that were burned during stayaways.” Malema rose through the ranks to lead Cosas in the province and nationally and in 2003 he was elected provincial secretary of the youth league before ascending to the party presidency last year. Among those who groomed him were former youth leaders: the late Peter Mokaba, the late Frans Mohlala, and Mathale. The Limpopo premier sees nothing unusual in Malema’s behaviour. “We were all fearless. That’s why Oliver Tambo called us the young lions. You do not sugarcoat things; a stone is
a stone.”
Malema’s boyhood passion for politics saw him attending the funeral of Chris Hani, the late SACP general secretary, in 1993 in Johannesburg, when he was just 12. Says Lebogo: “He sneaked on to an [ANC supporters’] bus [in Seshego] and the only time they realised he was on a bus was when he was hungry and came out.”
Malema’s image as a bully who shoots off ill-informed bullets in public is a little more complicated: according to his comrades, he consults as a matter of course, but sometimes can’t resist blurting out what he had wanted to say all along. Mathale, one of Malema’s confidants, says Malema usually consults him on issues before raising them in formal meetings -- though his advice is not always heeded. “When I see it is wrong I’ll tell him not even to bother raising it because I will not support it. But because he is difficult sometimes, he will go ahead and put the matter on the table for discussion, and when he loses, he comes back and says ‘I should have listened to you’.”
In public Malema refuses to back off from some of his wilder statements, but in private he is capable of regret. He might call Mathale after an outburst and tell him: “I have said something I should not have said. Do not be surprised when you hear about it.” Still, Malema’s outbursts are not merely tolerated; several close commentators on Malema’s brand of politicking assume the tones of indulgent parents.
As one youth league NEC member who did not want to be named remarked that Malema should be allowed time to grow and make mistakes. “If you have a toddler who does not cause havoc in the house and break things, you should get worried. We all know that a child should explore.”
The advantage to the ANC of having a “fearless” youth leader such as Malema who can say what they think but would not themselves say publicly is broadly accepted. What shocks some sectors of the public -- Malema’s fury about the absence of black Africans in the economic cluster, for example -- can relieve ANC leaders of the responsibility of putting such issues on the table. “But,” says one source, “when we go to an NEC meeting they will say: ‘You’ve got it right.’”
Malema’s unedited honesty can also make itself felt much closer to home. “If you gossip, you’re in trouble,” says one youth wing NEC member. “He’ll expose you in a meeting.” Mathale believes Malema is still evolving into the mature leader many in the party believe he will become. “He can engage in any debate. That’s what makes him different from other young leaders ... and in five years the country will see a different Julius.”
Lebogo is equally confident about Malema’s future. “You don’t need to market Julius -- everybody knows him.”
Source: Mail & Guardian
The queue waits patiently, as petitioners at a royal court, for their turn inside Malema’s seventh-floor corner office with views over the city and an imposing portrait of Nelson Mandela on the wall facing the youth league president’s desk. After about 45 minutes Malema, wearing a golf shirt and jeans, pitches up and asks us to accompany him to his office. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, my chief. It has been a long day,” he says, smiling.
Malema’s cellphone keeps ringing throughout our interview as people try to secure a meeting with him. One of those who calls is the deputy minister of police, Fikile Mbalula, who is politely told by Malema to wait until he has worked his way through the queue outside. In some parts of society Malema is seen as the ANC’s in-house court jester and a buffoon, but a closer look reveals him to be the party’s crown prince, who wields influence and power while others just stand by and watch. He is the one people go to when official structures have failed them or have not delivered the results they wanted.
Although Malema holds no official government position and is only an ad hoc member of the ANC’s powerful national working committee (NWC), he knows that when he talks, everyone -- inside and outside the ANC -- listens. The primary source of his power is the fact that he was elected by a critical constituency for the ANC -- the youth.
A senior member of President Jacob Zuma’s inner circle describes Malema’s role thus. A year ago there was widespread concern in the party about voter apathy among the youth and how this would influence the ANC’s overwhelming majority at the ballot box. Concerns were rife that increasing unhappiness with bad service delivery was threatening the ANC’s authority and providing a breeding ground for anti-ANC sentiments. Then came Malema and, in one swoop, he captured the hearts and minds of these straying sheep with his frank comments and criticism. “He is the only voice who is willing to stand up and say: ‘This is how we feel and what we want.’ People understand the anger in what he is saying,” says writer Jabu Ngwenya, author of I Ain’t Yo’ Bitch, a recently published novel about the experience of young people in South Africa. “I admire him. He’s got the balls to stand up and speak his mind.”
ANC leaders have more questionable reasons for “supporting” him, claiming he holds some of them hostage. “Many people in the NEC have baggage. He knows about everyone’s baggage and they know he knows,” says one NEC member who is also a government official. Crucially, as a founding member of the campaign to elect Zuma as ANC president in 2007, Malema knows why certain leaders jumped on the Zuma campaign wagon. Says the NEC member, dryly: “He knows their reasons were not always noble and ... he’ll use that power when he thinks he needs to.”
A former Limpopo youth league member, who has now defected to the Congress of the People, puts things even more bluntly: Malema will use blackmail to get what he wants. “He gets to know a secret about a certain politician, especially about how they amassed wealth, and then he will use that against them when they differ.” As a measure of how seriously he is taken within party structures, the ANC even established a group of leaders to give him guidance, though privately some of them say he refuses to listen. “He receives correction, but it doesn’t really look like he’s changing the direction,” said one such mentor. “We have accepted that he is a problem child.”
Malema’s decision to close down Lembede Investments, the youth league’s investment arm that was fraught with allegations of corruption, gave the ANC hope that he would be a strong and responsible leader. But now the party leadership is “uncomfortable” about his behaviour and unsure of how to deal with it. As one NEC member who is also in business remarks: “Closing Lembede was a good sign that the youth league [would] be a beacon of moral credibility. But now it seems to be going the other way.” Under Malema the youth league campaigned vigorously for the sacking of Thabo Mbeki. There is some truth in the assertion that Malema is used to saying things the ANC is not able to say. A week before the ANC NEC took a decision to relieve Mbeki of his duties, Malema “predicted” that Mbeki would be fired as president. But a senior Luthuli House official told the M&G that Malema “was given information” and then went out in public and spread the word.
Malema himself has admitted to being a decoy during the 2009 elections to distract DA leader Helen Zille while “Zuma was sprinting to the Union Buildings”. Malema believes that as a youth leader he should be allowed latitude. “Maybe the problem is how we raise issues. But comrades should accept I can’t raise issues like ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. I must put more fire on what I say so that people can feel the heat.”
Despite the fact that Malema evokes hate and derision from many South Africans, most ANC leaders see a bright future for him, even touting him as a possible contender for the ANC presidency some day. “There is no reason why he cannot be president one day, if nothing major goes wrong. He comes from the movement and knows a lot about the ANC,” says one.
Zizi Kodwa, Zuma’s spokesperson and former youth league leader, concurs: “What I’m sure of is that he will mature with age, like the vintage wine of the Cape. We expect him to grow over time and, in the ANC, such growth is appreciated and rewarded.”
One weekday in the late 1990s, as schoolchildren went about their classroom business, a lone teenage boy stood at the corner of Landros Mare Street and Hospital Road in Polokwane, holding up a placard, writes Mmanaledi Mataboge. He was protesting against the late delivery of stationery at schools, corporal punishment and “ineffective” school principals. Within minutes, he was joined by hundreds of schoolchildren. The boy was Julius Malema and his solitary protest, which gained such rapid momentum, signalled one of the ANC Youth League president’s precociously early steps on the road to crafting a career in politics.
The youth league’s secretary in Limpopo’s Capricorn region, Jacob Lebogo, grew up with Malema in Se-shego and was one of the classmates who joined Malema in his street-corner protest. He relishes retelling the story and remembers that many elders in the area were scandalised: “What is this child doing?” In hindsight the elders might rather have asked: “Who is this child?”
Malema (28), the firebrand youth leader often criticised for his controversial public statements, is a respected, even a feared, figure, within the ANC and its youth wing. Those who grew up with him or helped groom him into the leader that he is today describe him as a textbook product of the ANC, from a militant teenage hothead fired up in the dying days of the struggle against apartheid to the country’s most powerful youth leader. And, they say, he is still evolving. “He has become a different person from the boy I initially met,” says one of his close comrades, Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, who started working with Malema when the youth leader was elected national president of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) in 2001. Back then few politicians, never mind anyone else, took him seriously. Says Mathale: “We had known him before, but we dismissed him as just another school kid. He still had the militancy of high-school politics. Just like all of us, his head was hot.”
Malema was raised in the ANC’s nursery from the age of 10 when he joined Masupatsela, a pioneer movement of the party, the young members of which were both lectured on democracy and tasked to act as enforcers of boycotts. Says Lebogo: “He did not jump any step of learning in the organisation. He was trained in mobilising people and in being a marshal. He collected and pushed tyres that were burned during stayaways.” Malema rose through the ranks to lead Cosas in the province and nationally and in 2003 he was elected provincial secretary of the youth league before ascending to the party presidency last year. Among those who groomed him were former youth leaders: the late Peter Mokaba, the late Frans Mohlala, and Mathale. The Limpopo premier sees nothing unusual in Malema’s behaviour. “We were all fearless. That’s why Oliver Tambo called us the young lions. You do not sugarcoat things; a stone is
a stone.”
Malema’s boyhood passion for politics saw him attending the funeral of Chris Hani, the late SACP general secretary, in 1993 in Johannesburg, when he was just 12. Says Lebogo: “He sneaked on to an [ANC supporters’] bus [in Seshego] and the only time they realised he was on a bus was when he was hungry and came out.”
Malema’s image as a bully who shoots off ill-informed bullets in public is a little more complicated: according to his comrades, he consults as a matter of course, but sometimes can’t resist blurting out what he had wanted to say all along. Mathale, one of Malema’s confidants, says Malema usually consults him on issues before raising them in formal meetings -- though his advice is not always heeded. “When I see it is wrong I’ll tell him not even to bother raising it because I will not support it. But because he is difficult sometimes, he will go ahead and put the matter on the table for discussion, and when he loses, he comes back and says ‘I should have listened to you’.”
In public Malema refuses to back off from some of his wilder statements, but in private he is capable of regret. He might call Mathale after an outburst and tell him: “I have said something I should not have said. Do not be surprised when you hear about it.” Still, Malema’s outbursts are not merely tolerated; several close commentators on Malema’s brand of politicking assume the tones of indulgent parents.
As one youth league NEC member who did not want to be named remarked that Malema should be allowed time to grow and make mistakes. “If you have a toddler who does not cause havoc in the house and break things, you should get worried. We all know that a child should explore.”
The advantage to the ANC of having a “fearless” youth leader such as Malema who can say what they think but would not themselves say publicly is broadly accepted. What shocks some sectors of the public -- Malema’s fury about the absence of black Africans in the economic cluster, for example -- can relieve ANC leaders of the responsibility of putting such issues on the table. “But,” says one source, “when we go to an NEC meeting they will say: ‘You’ve got it right.’”
Malema’s unedited honesty can also make itself felt much closer to home. “If you gossip, you’re in trouble,” says one youth wing NEC member. “He’ll expose you in a meeting.” Mathale believes Malema is still evolving into the mature leader many in the party believe he will become. “He can engage in any debate. That’s what makes him different from other young leaders ... and in five years the country will see a different Julius.”
Lebogo is equally confident about Malema’s future. “You don’t need to market Julius -- everybody knows him.”
Source: Mail & Guardian
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