South Africa's government acted unlawfully in failing to give the Dalai Lama a visa in time for a planned visit last year, a court has ruled.
Tibet's spiritual leader was forced to cancel plans to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations in October 2011.
The Supreme Court of Appeal said the former home affairs minister had "unreasonably delayed her decision".
The government denied it had bowed to pressure from China to block the trip.
Stalling tactics
The Supreme Court of Appeal was hearing an appeal application by two opposition parties - the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Congress of the People (Cope) - about the issue. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the failure to grant the Dalai Lama a visa was a disgrace
Earlier, the Western Cape High Court had dismissed the case, the South Africa Press Association reports. Archbishop Tutu was furious about the visa delay for his fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner and accused the government of behaving "worse than the apartheid government".
According to the AFP news agency, the Supreme Court of Appeal found no evidence that the government had actually made a decision not to grant a visa, but did detect stalling tactics.
"What is justified by the evidence is an inference that the matter was deliberately delayed so as to avoid a decision," the news agency quotes the judgment as saying.
The court said that former Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma "was not entitled to deliberately procrastinate", South Africa's City Press newspaper reports.
Ms Dlamini-Zuma, who is President Jacob Zuma's ex-wife, now heads the Africa Union.
The Dalai Lama eventually delivered a lecture at Archbishop Tutu's birthday celebrations via a video link.
Source: BBC News
Showing posts with label Cope. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cope. Show all posts
Thursday, November 29, 2012
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
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
COPE: Murder of 3 members 'no coincidence'
COPE'S provincial leadership says there has been "a clear escalation of political intolerance" in the Western Cape recently - a trend which, the party says, has culminated in three of its members being shot dead during the past 10 days. The party's Western Cape chairman, Mbulelo Ncedana, was addressing the provincial legislature yesterday when he made the statement.
Ncedana said a Cope member who actively recruited for the party, Mayoyo Mantashe, had been gunned down at New Crossroads.Then three days later, two more party members had been shot dead in separate incidents, he said.
Pieter Malan Cillie, a farmer in Ceres who Ncedana said had been active in establishing COPE structures in that region, was shot dead on Friday. Ncedana claimed that a man had been arrested by the Ceres police for Cillie's murder. He said the man had "admitted to having been bought (paid) to commit the crime though he's remaining mum on who paid him". Provincial police spokesperson Superintendant Andre Traut said this morning that no arrests had been made in connection with Cillie's death.
Also on Friday, Zilindile Madolwana, who had set up Cope party structures in Nyanga, was killed at his home there. Madolwana, 67, who was killed at about 3pm, had just returned to Cape Town on Friday morning after spending four weeks in the Eastern Cape.
Ncedana said: "The worrying thing in all of this for us, beyond our concern with losing invaluable members of our communities, is that these incidents, though in different areas, happened next to each other "There seem to be a common factor in their deaths: that of being very active in establishing COPE structures and being good recruiters. "If a coincidence, it is a very strange one. "These kinds of things are unacceptable, especially in a country like ours where freedom of association is enshrined in the constitution."
Nyanga police spokeswoman Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi confirmed on Tuesday night that a murder docket had been opened into Madolwana's death. Meanwhile, Cope has announced that it will celebrate its first anniversary in Kimberley in the Northern Cape next week.
Cope deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday that the party would hold its celebration next Wednesday, December 16 - Reconciliation Day - the date the party was officially launched amid much fanfare in Bloemfontein last year . While the party has postponed its policy conference and also its elective conference to choose permanent leaders until next year, the Kimberley event willbe used to report back to supporters on what the party has done since it was established. It is still without a constitution and the building of branches is understood to be a slow process.
Shilowa said the party's membership card and the logos for its women's, youth and student wings would be unveiled. Details would also be given about the party's plans for the 2011 local government elections. He said there was "steady" progress in some areas of the country in launching branches, but said that "where weaknesses have been identified these will be attended to". Since the April elections, Cope has been beset by a range of problems, including the departure of some of its leaders, while some members have returned to the ANC.
Source: IoL
Ncedana said a Cope member who actively recruited for the party, Mayoyo Mantashe, had been gunned down at New Crossroads.Then three days later, two more party members had been shot dead in separate incidents, he said.
Pieter Malan Cillie, a farmer in Ceres who Ncedana said had been active in establishing COPE structures in that region, was shot dead on Friday. Ncedana claimed that a man had been arrested by the Ceres police for Cillie's murder. He said the man had "admitted to having been bought (paid) to commit the crime though he's remaining mum on who paid him". Provincial police spokesperson Superintendant Andre Traut said this morning that no arrests had been made in connection with Cillie's death.
Also on Friday, Zilindile Madolwana, who had set up Cope party structures in Nyanga, was killed at his home there. Madolwana, 67, who was killed at about 3pm, had just returned to Cape Town on Friday morning after spending four weeks in the Eastern Cape.
Ncedana said: "The worrying thing in all of this for us, beyond our concern with losing invaluable members of our communities, is that these incidents, though in different areas, happened next to each other "There seem to be a common factor in their deaths: that of being very active in establishing COPE structures and being good recruiters. "If a coincidence, it is a very strange one. "These kinds of things are unacceptable, especially in a country like ours where freedom of association is enshrined in the constitution."
Nyanga police spokeswoman Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi confirmed on Tuesday night that a murder docket had been opened into Madolwana's death. Meanwhile, Cope has announced that it will celebrate its first anniversary in Kimberley in the Northern Cape next week.
Cope deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday that the party would hold its celebration next Wednesday, December 16 - Reconciliation Day - the date the party was officially launched amid much fanfare in Bloemfontein last year . While the party has postponed its policy conference and also its elective conference to choose permanent leaders until next year, the Kimberley event willbe used to report back to supporters on what the party has done since it was established. It is still without a constitution and the building of branches is understood to be a slow process.
Shilowa said the party's membership card and the logos for its women's, youth and student wings would be unveiled. Details would also be given about the party's plans for the 2011 local government elections. He said there was "steady" progress in some areas of the country in launching branches, but said that "where weaknesses have been identified these will be attended to". Since the April elections, Cope has been beset by a range of problems, including the departure of some of its leaders, while some members have returned to the ANC.
Source: IoL
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Appointment of judicial officers
In terms of Section 176 (3) of the Constitution of South Africa: "The President as head of the national executive, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission and the leader of parties represented in the National Assembly, appoints the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice and, after consulting the Judicial Service Commission, appoints the President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal."
[Sub-s. (3) substituted by s. 13 of the Constitution Sixth Amendment Act of 2001.]
A CV of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke can be found here.
A CV of Justice Sandile Ngcobo can be found here.
Source: the Constitutional Court of South Africa
[Sub-s. (3) substituted by s. 13 of the Constitution Sixth Amendment Act of 2001.]
A CV of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke can be found here.
A CV of Justice Sandile Ngcobo can be found here.
Source: the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Opposition backs Moseneke for chief justice
Three opposition parties on Tuesday urged President Jacob Zuma to reconsider his nomination for chief justice and give the job to Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
In a joint statement, the Democratic Alliance, the Congress of the People and the Independent Democrats said Moseneke was "a more suitable candidate" and a "wise and humble jurist" with a fierce commitment to the independence of the judiciary.
They said Moseneke had effectively been an understudy for the post for the past four years. "He has worked closely with Chief Justice Pius Langa, gaining even deeper experience in relation to the Constitution that Moseneke himself was involved in drafting. Justice Moseneke has been groomed for the position of chief justice for four years and has all the experience required for it. He is a judge of impeccable standing, and has a proven track record of fierce commitment to judicial independence."
Source: Mail & Guardian
In a joint statement, the Democratic Alliance, the Congress of the People and the Independent Democrats said Moseneke was "a more suitable candidate" and a "wise and humble jurist" with a fierce commitment to the independence of the judiciary.
They said Moseneke had effectively been an understudy for the post for the past four years. "He has worked closely with Chief Justice Pius Langa, gaining even deeper experience in relation to the Constitution that Moseneke himself was involved in drafting. Justice Moseneke has been groomed for the position of chief justice for four years and has all the experience required for it. He is a judge of impeccable standing, and has a proven track record of fierce commitment to judicial independence."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Monday, February 23, 2009
Dandala: It is my duty to help our nation
The Congress of the People (Cope) formally introduced its presidential candidate, Dr Mvume Dandala, to the media at Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni on Monday.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Source: Mail & Guardian
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