The ANC is facing a very serious crisis in the provinces: people are happy to resort to criminality to get their way. Sometimes it is rampant corruption, and in the case of Moss Phakoe in the North West, it is murder. Again we ask: is Luthuli House happy to sit on its hands as its provincial structures fall apart?
The African National Congress is facing a meltdown of terrifying proportions out in the provinces. There are two assaults on the soul of the party: in the one, powerful party bosses like John Block in the Northern Cape and David Mabuza in Mpumalanga are running the party - and the province - like their personal fiefdoms, to be looted at will.
In the other, factional battles within the ANC are playing out in extreme ways. A few days ago, former ANC mayor of Rustenburg Matthew Wolmarans and his bodyguard were jailed for the murder of ANC councillor and whistleblower Moss Phakoe in 2009. In Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, political assassinations are starting to multiply - and it's not different parties killing each other. This is all happening within the ANC.
The alarm bell that has been shrieking ceaselessly in the ANC has come from outside the party proper: its political ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Its general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, eulogised Phakoe in City Press. He wrote: "Moss Phakoe's tragic story provides a shocking insight into the crisis of crime and corruption in our country.
He sacrificed his life for blowing the whistle on corruption in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in North West.
"Just before his assassination, Phakoe handed Wolmarans a dossier that implicated numerous politicians in acts of corruption in the municipality. He also had evidence of fraud in North West drought-relief projects. R33-million had been allocated for drought relief, but none of the money reached the communities in need. Instead, it was siphoned off through companies," Vavi wrote.
The reason why Wolmarans and his bodyguard are behind bars today is because North-West Cosatu secretary Solly Phetoe led a campaign to bring Phakoe's killers to justice, the general secretary said. The situation for this man got so fraught that Cosatu hired bodyguards to protect him.
And still, the rot goes deeper. Vavi mentioned even more instances of corruption in that province.
"Former Madibeng municipal manager Philemon Mapulane was arrested and charged with fraud and corruption for allegedly receiving bribes for tenders worth R100-million," he said. "Other Madibeng officials have been arrested and charged, and no fewer than 28 cases of fraud and theft involving amounts ranging from R61,000 to R30-million are being investigated." And this is just one province.
In Mpumalanga, political assassinations are all too common. Caswell Maluleke, a council speaker in Ehlanzeni, was shot 14 times in April 2000. He was the mayor of Bushbuckridge at the time and had been appointed to help re-establish the bankrupt and destroyed Bohlabela District Municipality in Limpopo. In 2009, Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala was killed after he blew the whistle on tender corruption around the construction of the World Cup stadium in that city. Last year, Ehlanzeni chief whip John Ndlovu was murdered.
In KwaZulu Natal, a similar trend is emerging. The province is usually cast as homogenous and aligned in one purpose - to anoint ANC president Jacob Zuma for a second time. Yet, all is not as it seems. The Mail & Guardian interviewed a party member in the province who said that he carried a gun wherever he went in case one of his own party members attacked him.
"That ANC comrades in the province are packing heat to defend themselves against their 'own' indicates that the political temperature has reached boiling point: there have been three assassinations, allegedly political, in the province in just more than a year and a half, which debunks the notion that politics in the region is homogenous," the M&G said.
"Several provincial ANC members said the political landscape was just a few bullets and funerals away from 'Mpumalangaisation', a reference to the province where political murders are nearly as commonplace as potholes."
In the case of figures like John Block, the troubles take on a different form. Block was arrested and is being tried for widespread corruption.
Yet he enjoyed the support of large groups at his trial, and even the premier Hazel Jenkins. At this point, there is absolutely no indication that Block is going to be kicked out of the party.
On 20 July, the ANC's PR machine released a statement on Wolmarans. It said: "The ANC values (the) lives of all South Africans and is disappointed that a senior member of the organisation who has served in important positions as a PEC member and a Mayor in the North West has been found guilty of the murder of a whistle blower and a fellow ANC Councillor. It is not only disgusting, it also erodes the values on which the ANC is founded: values of interpreting selflessness and respect for one another and respect for life. Corruption has no place in the ANC or its government at all levels. We are therefore disgusted that in the court proceedings it emerged that Comrade Phakoe was murdered with intentions to cover corruption."
The feeling that the ANC would not have made a big deal of Wolmarans's arrest had Cosatu not intervened hangs thickly in the air.
For now, the country has been spared the murderous appetites of the provincial bosses at the national level. Luthuli House leaders merely content themselves with polluting the state security apparatus with political infighting. Heaven forbid that the ANC's provincial tendencies should find their way to Luthuli House. We'd all be in trouble.
We needn't wait for the provincial bosses to find their way to the national level - questions ought to be asked of the top party bosses right now. Why are they continuing to entertain unspeakable corruption and criminality in the provinces? The answer could, of course, lie in the vulnerability of President Jacob Zuma's presidency. Elected by a motley crew of people who were rejected by Thabo Mbeki, he can't exactly be seen to be lashing out against any one factional leader. He can't lead a move to eject Block out of the party, lest he frighten the likes of Mpumalanga's Mabuza. We all have to wait for Cosatu - easily the most powerful bloc in the tripartite alliance, when all its affiliates sing from the same hymn sheet - to start applying pressure before the ANC moves itself.
Vavi's frustration at the current state of events is fundamental. "The worst problem of all is the emergence of death squads. Political killings are on the rise, in particular in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. If this continues, anyone who speaks out will be silenced, the entire state will be auctioned to the highest bidder and we shall be well on our way to becoming a corrupt banana republic," he raged.
We've said before that as much as the public hates Cosatu during strike season, the federation often acts as the last bastion against corruption in the ANC. Cosatu balances out the powers of the "political hyenas" in the party. No matter what your politics are, you have to acknowledge that we have a lot to be grateful for as far as the unions are concerned.
But again we ask: why is the ANC waiting to be prodded by Cosatu before curbing the largesse of its corrupt regional bosses?
iMaverick is South Africa's first daily tablet newspaper and includes coverage from the Daily Maverick and Free African Media. To subscribe, go to: www.imaverick.co.za.
Source: All Africa
Showing posts with label David Mabuza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Mabuza. Show all posts
Monday, July 23, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The indomitable David Mabuza, still the king of Mpumalanga
ANC chairman in Mpumalanga David Mabuza was elected unopposed in the party’s congress over the weekend. Yes, in the same way that Malema was elected unopposed last year. The ANC clearly has no appetite to kick another troubling leader out. You’d think the lesson of waiting too late to ostracise such a man would have been learned. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
The way the ANC is structured is that it always seeks to point power upwards. More centralisation is good. Even so, provincial structures do exist, and the amount of influence that a provincial boss can exert is almost endless, if certain legal niceties are ignored. This arrangement has proven to be the perfect incubation for powerful regional party leaders, who turn out to be corrupt as well.
This growing trend ought to worry the ANC leadership, if it doesn’t already.
Two examples of this trend stand out: John Block of the Northern Cape, and David Mabuza of Mpumalanga.
Mpumalanga held its provincial congress over the weekend, where Mabuza and his entire slate were elected unopposed. It was expected that provincial treasurer and health MEC Clifford Mkasi would run against the party leader after the ANC Youth League in Mpumalanga touted him as their favoured candidate, but he declined his nomination.
The alliance partners of the ANC as well as the ANCYL complained that the entire process had been tainted by Mabuza. The SACP and Mpumalanga branch of Cosatu have accused Mabuza of using his position as premier to enrich himself and his allies. “The Youth League has also complained of being marginalised during his term. The provincial youth league, Cosatu and the SACP consider Mabuza unfit to hold the esteemed ANC position,” the Mail & Guardian reported.
They also said that they had intentionally been denied speaking opportunities at the congress on Sunday, apparently because Mabuza didn’t want their speakers to tell the delegates what they really thought of him. Ironically for the Mpumalanga ANCYL, its former national leader Julius Malema pulled a similar trick at the league’s national congress last year to ensure he’d run unopposed.
All of this happened against the backdrop of ANC president Jacob Zuma’s speech, in which he called for unity and asked for the enmity between different provincial factions to come to an end. It would appear that Mabuza happily complied by ensuring that his opponents didn’t get to speak or vote for another candidate.
Mpumalanga is not a stranger to what seems to be political assassinations. Caswell Maluleke, a council speaker in Ehlanzeni, was shot 14 times in April 2000. He was the mayor of Bushbuckridge at the time and had been appointed to help re-establish the defunct Bohlabela District Municipality in Limpopo. In 2009, Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala was killed after he started speaking out against tender corruption around the construction of the world cup stadium in that city. Last year, Ehlanzeni chief whip John Ndlovu was murdered.
The most dramatic example of the rot in Mpumalanga was the highly public arrest of Sunday Times investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika in August 2010. He was arrested for reportedly having a forged letter sent to Zuma by Mabuza, in which he resigned as premier. The case eventually fell apart, but the arrest and subsequent interrogation by the Hawks and the police was seen as being politically motivated. The move was very stupid, but the truly chilling part is that Mabuza not only knew he could get away with it, but his own party let him get away with it.
All of this happened while Mabuza was in power, and amid widespread graft and very poor service delivery.
Let us not forget John Block, the Northern Cape party leader who was arrested for corruption in late 2010. He is the finance MEC for the Northern Cape as well as being the party chairman. At his trial, he not only enjoyed the support of picketing supporters outside (who claim that the case is politically motivated) but also that of premier Hazel Jenkins, who has made a habit of sitting in the front row of the court when Block’s case is being heard.
So where does Mabuza’s re-election leave the ANC? Zuma for one will be sleeping a lot easier: his staunch supporter has won. What this steamrolling and bullying of opponents will mean for Mangaung has yet to be seen, since another candidate has yet to officially present him- or herself. As for his opponents, Mabuza has grandly promised not to make a provincial reshuffle to punish those who didn’t support him.
Where it leaves the rest of us is uncertain. There is the very real problem that ANC members are using their positions in government to run the province as their personal fiefdoms, and it seems there is precious little that can or will be done about it. From a political perspective, Zuma has nothing to gain by upsetting a major ally. Intervention in dysfunctional provinces hasn’t exactly proven to be a miracle drug and has only served to soil relations between provinces and the national leadership within the ANC.
There’s the frightening thought that these provincial men and women might take this habit with them into national positions. And who is going to step in to stop them, what with Zuma himself finding the very narrow path of strict legality so hard to tread?
Don’t forget David Mabuza. His face could one day be that of our slip into a very bad place. DM
The way the ANC is structured is that it always seeks to point power upwards. More centralisation is good. Even so, provincial structures do exist, and the amount of influence that a provincial boss can exert is almost endless, if certain legal niceties are ignored. This arrangement has proven to be the perfect incubation for powerful regional party leaders, who turn out to be corrupt as well.
This growing trend ought to worry the ANC leadership, if it doesn’t already.
Two examples of this trend stand out: John Block of the Northern Cape, and David Mabuza of Mpumalanga.
Mpumalanga held its provincial congress over the weekend, where Mabuza and his entire slate were elected unopposed. It was expected that provincial treasurer and health MEC Clifford Mkasi would run against the party leader after the ANC Youth League in Mpumalanga touted him as their favoured candidate, but he declined his nomination.
The alliance partners of the ANC as well as the ANCYL complained that the entire process had been tainted by Mabuza. The SACP and Mpumalanga branch of Cosatu have accused Mabuza of using his position as premier to enrich himself and his allies. “The Youth League has also complained of being marginalised during his term. The provincial youth league, Cosatu and the SACP consider Mabuza unfit to hold the esteemed ANC position,” the Mail & Guardian reported.
They also said that they had intentionally been denied speaking opportunities at the congress on Sunday, apparently because Mabuza didn’t want their speakers to tell the delegates what they really thought of him. Ironically for the Mpumalanga ANCYL, its former national leader Julius Malema pulled a similar trick at the league’s national congress last year to ensure he’d run unopposed.
All of this happened against the backdrop of ANC president Jacob Zuma’s speech, in which he called for unity and asked for the enmity between different provincial factions to come to an end. It would appear that Mabuza happily complied by ensuring that his opponents didn’t get to speak or vote for another candidate.
Mpumalanga is not a stranger to what seems to be political assassinations. Caswell Maluleke, a council speaker in Ehlanzeni, was shot 14 times in April 2000. He was the mayor of Bushbuckridge at the time and had been appointed to help re-establish the defunct Bohlabela District Municipality in Limpopo. In 2009, Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala was killed after he started speaking out against tender corruption around the construction of the world cup stadium in that city. Last year, Ehlanzeni chief whip John Ndlovu was murdered.
The most dramatic example of the rot in Mpumalanga was the highly public arrest of Sunday Times investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika in August 2010. He was arrested for reportedly having a forged letter sent to Zuma by Mabuza, in which he resigned as premier. The case eventually fell apart, but the arrest and subsequent interrogation by the Hawks and the police was seen as being politically motivated. The move was very stupid, but the truly chilling part is that Mabuza not only knew he could get away with it, but his own party let him get away with it.
All of this happened while Mabuza was in power, and amid widespread graft and very poor service delivery.
Let us not forget John Block, the Northern Cape party leader who was arrested for corruption in late 2010. He is the finance MEC for the Northern Cape as well as being the party chairman. At his trial, he not only enjoyed the support of picketing supporters outside (who claim that the case is politically motivated) but also that of premier Hazel Jenkins, who has made a habit of sitting in the front row of the court when Block’s case is being heard.
So where does Mabuza’s re-election leave the ANC? Zuma for one will be sleeping a lot easier: his staunch supporter has won. What this steamrolling and bullying of opponents will mean for Mangaung has yet to be seen, since another candidate has yet to officially present him- or herself. As for his opponents, Mabuza has grandly promised not to make a provincial reshuffle to punish those who didn’t support him.
Where it leaves the rest of us is uncertain. There is the very real problem that ANC members are using their positions in government to run the province as their personal fiefdoms, and it seems there is precious little that can or will be done about it. From a political perspective, Zuma has nothing to gain by upsetting a major ally. Intervention in dysfunctional provinces hasn’t exactly proven to be a miracle drug and has only served to soil relations between provinces and the national leadership within the ANC.
There’s the frightening thought that these provincial men and women might take this habit with them into national positions. And who is going to step in to stop them, what with Zuma himself finding the very narrow path of strict legality so hard to tread?
Don’t forget David Mabuza. His face could one day be that of our slip into a very bad place. DM
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
More South Africans believe politicians are corrupt
Forty percent of South Africans think parliamentarians and councillors are corrupt, according to the Afrobarometer survey, the Star reported on Wednesday. The figure increased from 2008, when 25% of South Africans thought "almost all" or "most" members of Parliament were involved in corruption, according to Dr Cherrel Africa of the University of the Western Cape, who presented the results of the survey in Durban on Tuesday.
According to the study, coordinated by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, most South Africans do not go to their councillor when they have a problem. Seventy-two percent of people in urban areas, and 74% of those in rural areas, said they never contacted councillors. In addition, between 95% and 96% of people surveyed said they never contacted an MP or member of their provincial legislature.
The approval ratings of the country's nine premiers were also measured. KwaZulu-Natal's Zweli Mkhize got the highest rating, at 72%, along with his Free State counterpart Ace Magashule. Western Cape premier Helen Zille got 61%.
Noxolo Kieviet of the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga's David Mabuza got the lowest ratings.
Source: Mail & Guardian
According to the study, coordinated by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, most South Africans do not go to their councillor when they have a problem. Seventy-two percent of people in urban areas, and 74% of those in rural areas, said they never contacted councillors. In addition, between 95% and 96% of people surveyed said they never contacted an MP or member of their provincial legislature.
The approval ratings of the country's nine premiers were also measured. KwaZulu-Natal's Zweli Mkhize got the highest rating, at 72%, along with his Free State counterpart Ace Magashule. Western Cape premier Helen Zille got 61%.
Noxolo Kieviet of the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga's David Mabuza got the lowest ratings.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Monday, March 5, 2012
Corruption, political killings linked – alliance partners
ANC alliance partners in Mpumalanga have taken a swipe at Premier David Mabuza’s “corruption-riddled” administration.
The SACP, Cosatu and the South African Student Congress (Sasco) said they would embark on a series of marches against corruption, to demand an outcome of the probe into political killings and the banning of labour brokers. They believe that corruption and political killings are linked.
“We want the police to come up with practical ways of investigating individuals who are implicated in corruption,” said provincial SACP secretary Bonakele Majuba during a press conference.
“The political killings come as a result of corruption. Tendering is becoming a problem for this country and is causing strain,” Majuba said.
Cosatu secretary Fidel Mlombo said whistleblowers were victimised for reporting corruption.
Mlombo mentioned cases which, he said, indicated that Mpumalanga was a capital of corruption:
» The auditor-general’s report according to which 80% of tenders in Mpumalanga were issued irregularly;
» Alleged corruption related to the R1.2-billion Mbombela stadium;
» The R230-million farm mechanisation tender that was awarded to Mabuza’s former business partner while he was MEC for agriculture;
» The R300 million that parastatal Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) failed to account for;
» R2.7-million theft at Mbombela municipality;
» The withdrawal of charges against former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla and the golden handshake offered to him.
Dladla was found guilty of tender corruption in 2010 but the council withdrew the charges last December and took a resolution to pay him about R2.1 million.
Mlombo said more than ten whistleblowers were killed in Mpumalanga since 2006.
The alliance partners said the police should report back on the progress of its 12-member team that was tasked with probing political murders.
Mpumalanga government spokesperson Lebona Mosia said it was untrue that the provincial administration was not fighting corruption.
“Just last week the premier announced the formation of the anti-corruption council and said its strategy has been approved by cabinet. It can't be true that we're doing nothing because officials and service providers have been charged in this province for corruption,” Mosia said.
Source: News 24
The SACP, Cosatu and the South African Student Congress (Sasco) said they would embark on a series of marches against corruption, to demand an outcome of the probe into political killings and the banning of labour brokers. They believe that corruption and political killings are linked.
“We want the police to come up with practical ways of investigating individuals who are implicated in corruption,” said provincial SACP secretary Bonakele Majuba during a press conference.
“The political killings come as a result of corruption. Tendering is becoming a problem for this country and is causing strain,” Majuba said.
Cosatu secretary Fidel Mlombo said whistleblowers were victimised for reporting corruption.
Mlombo mentioned cases which, he said, indicated that Mpumalanga was a capital of corruption:
» The auditor-general’s report according to which 80% of tenders in Mpumalanga were issued irregularly;
» Alleged corruption related to the R1.2-billion Mbombela stadium;
» The R230-million farm mechanisation tender that was awarded to Mabuza’s former business partner while he was MEC for agriculture;
» The R300 million that parastatal Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) failed to account for;
» R2.7-million theft at Mbombela municipality;
» The withdrawal of charges against former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla and the golden handshake offered to him.
Dladla was found guilty of tender corruption in 2010 but the council withdrew the charges last December and took a resolution to pay him about R2.1 million.
Mlombo said more than ten whistleblowers were killed in Mpumalanga since 2006.
The alliance partners said the police should report back on the progress of its 12-member team that was tasked with probing political murders.
Mpumalanga government spokesperson Lebona Mosia said it was untrue that the provincial administration was not fighting corruption.
“Just last week the premier announced the formation of the anti-corruption council and said its strategy has been approved by cabinet. It can't be true that we're doing nothing because officials and service providers have been charged in this province for corruption,” Mosia said.
Source: News 24
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thuli Madonsela: A timeline
News reports about attacks on the Public Protector can be confusing. Why was she accused of fraud and who are her enemies? Use our timeline to make sense of the story.
October 2009
Advocate Thuli Madonsela is announced as South Africa's new Public Protector -- South Africa's third since 1994. She replaces Lawrence Mushwana, who had a dubious record in connection with the Oilgate scandal.
2 August 2010
Complaints are lodged by Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus with the Public Protector in connection with a Sunday Times report alleging improper procurement in the leasing of office accommodation for the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban. These complaints originated from a newspaper article published on August 1 2010 alleging improper conduct and maladministration by police National Commissioner Bheki Cele and the Department of Public Works (DPW). The combined value of the leases amounts to over R1.7bn and is entered into between the South African Police Service and controversial property vendor Roux Shabangu.
August 3 2010
Madonsela requests Cele and officials at DPW to cease with implementation of the said leases until an investigation into the matter is completed. It is confirmed the investigation would be undertaken in conjunction with Willie Hofmeyr's Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
4 August 2010
Journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika is arrested for allegedly being in possession of a fake letter of resignation from Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza. His arrest is widely seen as an attempt at intimidation relating to the original report appearing in the Sunday Times. He is held in Nelspruit for several days -- even after his case is thrown out of court.
October 11 2010
Director general at DPW, Siviwe Dongwana, informs Cele a new procurement process for the leasing of accommodation for the SAPS headquarters in Pretoria and Durban will be affected after an internal enquiry and independent legal advice deems the lease acquisitions to be invalid.
October 25 2010
Madonsela issues a preliminary report on the investigation, confirming her support for the new procurement process initiation.
October 31 2010
Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaces the former minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, in a Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma.
November 11 2010
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces, upon obtaining legal advice from the Office of the State Attorney on the lease agreement with regards to the Middestad building, that the lease is enforceable.
December 8 2010
DPW announces the suspension of Dongwana on charges in relation to insubordination, dereliction of duty, failure to discharge official duties and bringing the department into disrepute.
February 22 2011
Madonsela releases an initial report into the matter entitled: Against the Rules -- with specific reference to the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria. The report lists a number of irregularities in the leasing process.
March 2 2011
The offices of the Public Protector are visited by members of the SAPS crime intelligence unit, allegedly regarding Madonsela's investigations into Cele. Police later deny it was a raid.
March 10 2011
Madonsela announces she will not revisit findings in her report, despite being asked to do so by Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
June 10 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces a moratorium on all DPW tenders to "root out corruption". The move is slammed by the media and opposition parties and labeled as political opportunism.
June 17 2011
Shabangu calls a press briefing in Pretoria to "set the record straight" and defends the leasing deals, accusing "white capitalists" of accusing him of shady deals because he is a successful black businessman.
June 18 2011
Dongwana tells the media he feared for his safety and that of his family as he felt he was pressured into approving two lease deals.
June 21 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces her intention to take the matter regarding the leases to court to pronounce legality.
July 6 2011
A shock report is published by the Star newspaper about Madonsela’s imminent arrest on charges of alleged corruption during her tenure many years before as commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission.
July 6 2011
The Star report is published the same day as a scheduled press briefing by Madonsela about the police leases and other matters. The report is criticised as a political ploy related to Madonsela's investigations into the leases. The protector vows to continue in her investigations into the leases.
July 7 2011
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe throws his weight behind Madonsela, announcing that she did not break any laws when her company offered services to the justice department while she worked for the South Africa Law Reform Commission. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa also announces that he has no knowledge of an imminent arrest, after consulting with Cele, and the Zuma makes his support clear as well.
July 11 2011
It is confirmed that the head of the SIU, Willie Hofmeyr, is being investigated by the Serious Economic Offences Unit for reportedly flouting supply-chain and procurement procedures in the awarding of a tender to refurbish SIU offices in Pretoria
July 14 2011
Madonsela releases a second report into the leasing scandal -- with specific reference to the Transnet building in Durban -- entitled: Against the rules too. The report finds serious fault with Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Cele during the acquisition and implementation of the leases and calls for serious remedial action. The pair are slammed for their lack of cooperation during the investigation.
July 15 to 17 2011
The weekend media announce the report as a watershed moment for Zuma, which will test his earlier support and possibly force him to take action.
July 18 2011
Cele announces a press briefing for July 19 to respond to findings by the Public Protector that his actions in connection with the two controversial building leases were unlawful, improper and constituted maladministration. The briefing is then postponed to July 21.
July 20 2011
Cele again cancels the press briefing, scheduled for the following day.
Source: Mail & Guardian
October 2009
Advocate Thuli Madonsela is announced as South Africa's new Public Protector -- South Africa's third since 1994. She replaces Lawrence Mushwana, who had a dubious record in connection with the Oilgate scandal.
M&G editor in chief Nic Dawes tells you everything you need to know about Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report into police leasing deals. Will the president take action? What's next for Madonsela? Watch our video analysis and find out.
Complaints are lodged by Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus with the Public Protector in connection with a Sunday Times report alleging improper procurement in the leasing of office accommodation for the South African Police Services (SAPS) in the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria and the Transnet Building in Durban. These complaints originated from a newspaper article published on August 1 2010 alleging improper conduct and maladministration by police National Commissioner Bheki Cele and the Department of Public Works (DPW). The combined value of the leases amounts to over R1.7bn and is entered into between the South African Police Service and controversial property vendor Roux Shabangu.
August 3 2010
Madonsela requests Cele and officials at DPW to cease with implementation of the said leases until an investigation into the matter is completed. It is confirmed the investigation would be undertaken in conjunction with Willie Hofmeyr's Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
4 August 2010
Journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika is arrested for allegedly being in possession of a fake letter of resignation from Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza. His arrest is widely seen as an attempt at intimidation relating to the original report appearing in the Sunday Times. He is held in Nelspruit for several days -- even after his case is thrown out of court.
October 11 2010
Director general at DPW, Siviwe Dongwana, informs Cele a new procurement process for the leasing of accommodation for the SAPS headquarters in Pretoria and Durban will be affected after an internal enquiry and independent legal advice deems the lease acquisitions to be invalid.
October 25 2010
Madonsela issues a preliminary report on the investigation, confirming her support for the new procurement process initiation.
October 31 2010
Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaces the former minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, in a Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma.
November 11 2010
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces, upon obtaining legal advice from the Office of the State Attorney on the lease agreement with regards to the Middestad building, that the lease is enforceable.
December 8 2010
DPW announces the suspension of Dongwana on charges in relation to insubordination, dereliction of duty, failure to discharge official duties and bringing the department into disrepute.
February 22 2011
Madonsela releases an initial report into the matter entitled: Against the Rules -- with specific reference to the Sanlam Middestad building in Pretoria. The report lists a number of irregularities in the leasing process.
March 2 2011
The offices of the Public Protector are visited by members of the SAPS crime intelligence unit, allegedly regarding Madonsela's investigations into Cele. Police later deny it was a raid.
March 10 2011
Madonsela announces she will not revisit findings in her report, despite being asked to do so by Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
June 10 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces a moratorium on all DPW tenders to "root out corruption". The move is slammed by the media and opposition parties and labeled as political opportunism.
June 17 2011
Shabangu calls a press briefing in Pretoria to "set the record straight" and defends the leasing deals, accusing "white capitalists" of accusing him of shady deals because he is a successful black businessman.
June 18 2011
Dongwana tells the media he feared for his safety and that of his family as he felt he was pressured into approving two lease deals.
June 21 2011
Mahlangu-Nkabinde announces her intention to take the matter regarding the leases to court to pronounce legality.
July 6 2011
A shock report is published by the Star newspaper about Madonsela’s imminent arrest on charges of alleged corruption during her tenure many years before as commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission.
July 6 2011
The Star report is published the same day as a scheduled press briefing by Madonsela about the police leases and other matters. The report is criticised as a political ploy related to Madonsela's investigations into the leases. The protector vows to continue in her investigations into the leases.
July 7 2011
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe throws his weight behind Madonsela, announcing that she did not break any laws when her company offered services to the justice department while she worked for the South Africa Law Reform Commission. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa also announces that he has no knowledge of an imminent arrest, after consulting with Cele, and the Zuma makes his support clear as well.
July 11 2011
It is confirmed that the head of the SIU, Willie Hofmeyr, is being investigated by the Serious Economic Offences Unit for reportedly flouting supply-chain and procurement procedures in the awarding of a tender to refurbish SIU offices in Pretoria
July 14 2011
Madonsela releases a second report into the leasing scandal -- with specific reference to the Transnet building in Durban -- entitled: Against the rules too. The report finds serious fault with Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Cele during the acquisition and implementation of the leases and calls for serious remedial action. The pair are slammed for their lack of cooperation during the investigation.
July 15 to 17 2011
The weekend media announce the report as a watershed moment for Zuma, which will test his earlier support and possibly force him to take action.
July 18 2011
Cele announces a press briefing for July 19 to respond to findings by the Public Protector that his actions in connection with the two controversial building leases were unlawful, improper and constituted maladministration. The briefing is then postponed to July 21.
July 20 2011
Cele again cancels the press briefing, scheduled for the following day.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Huge profits from local land deals
A prominent businessman in Mpumalanga, who is linked to premier David Mabuza, has emerged as the central figure in questionable municipal land deals worth R45-million. The Sunday Times has established that town planner Patrick Chirwa used his company, Pacific Breeze Trading 474, to snap up private plots on the cheap and sell them to municipalities at exorbitant prices.
Chirwa is also the owner of Sisonke Development Planners in the province. At the time that most of the deals took place, the premier, Mabuza, was MEC for agriculture and land administration and served as a director of two companies - Above Average Trading Corporation 44 and 45 - with Chirwa. In one deal, a plot was bought for R3.1-million and sold to the Mbombela municipality for R11-million in one day.
At the time, Chirwa was a board member of the Mbombela Housing Association whose mandate included identifying properties for "social integration" on behalf of the council. He is now the chairman of the association. In another deal, Pacific Breeze bought a plot in the Emakhazeni municipality for R1.6-million and transferred it to the council for R17.4-million. Deeds and company records show that between 2007 and 2008 Pacific Breeze bought four smallholdings from private landowners for a total of R7.6-million and sold them to the government for R44.4-million - pocketing a profit of R36.8-million.
The purchases by the municipalities were all financed through the provincial government. Chirwa confirmed the details of the transactions and admitted to making "huge profits". But he claimed these were not "unseemly" because property developers took "large risks". The massive price hikes, which took place during a global property slump, were "due to normal market forces" for farm land "earmarked for development purposes", he said.
Pacific Breeze is not the only entity through which Chirwa made money out of lucrative government deals. The members of Pacific Breeze - Chirwa, Harrington Dlamini and Robert Burwise - also own a company called Lusito Development Specialists. In 2006, Lusito lodged an application to develop the very same properties bought and sold by Pacific Breeze into a "social housing" project. This project ran into stiff opposition from local landowners, who formed a pressure group, the White River Concerned Citizens Committee.
Committee member Stefanus Labuschaghne told the Sunday Times he had attended a residents' meeting in 2006 convened by Burwise, who claimed there were "very powerful politicians behind this development" and that "we won't be able to stop it". Another resident, Paul Clark, said Burwise "told me personally we will never stop this because there were 'very powerful forces' behind it".
Chirwa denied exploiting his political connections and positions to clinch the deals. He said his relationship with Mabuza was professional. "We have no business association whatsoever," he said, and Mabuza "had no influence on the decision of the Department of Human Settlements to finance the purchase of the land". He threatened to sue the Sunday Times, saying: "The questions raised ... are already defamatory." Mabuza, through a spokes-man, denied that he had benefited from the deals - or through any of his business links with Chirwa.
Asked if the Department of Human Settlements planned to investigate the sales for irregularities, provincial head David Dube said "proper processes were adhered to when purchasing the properties and there is nothing currently that warrants any legal action".
Source: Times Live
Chirwa is also the owner of Sisonke Development Planners in the province. At the time that most of the deals took place, the premier, Mabuza, was MEC for agriculture and land administration and served as a director of two companies - Above Average Trading Corporation 44 and 45 - with Chirwa. In one deal, a plot was bought for R3.1-million and sold to the Mbombela municipality for R11-million in one day.
At the time, Chirwa was a board member of the Mbombela Housing Association whose mandate included identifying properties for "social integration" on behalf of the council. He is now the chairman of the association. In another deal, Pacific Breeze bought a plot in the Emakhazeni municipality for R1.6-million and transferred it to the council for R17.4-million. Deeds and company records show that between 2007 and 2008 Pacific Breeze bought four smallholdings from private landowners for a total of R7.6-million and sold them to the government for R44.4-million - pocketing a profit of R36.8-million.
The purchases by the municipalities were all financed through the provincial government. Chirwa confirmed the details of the transactions and admitted to making "huge profits". But he claimed these were not "unseemly" because property developers took "large risks". The massive price hikes, which took place during a global property slump, were "due to normal market forces" for farm land "earmarked for development purposes", he said.
Pacific Breeze is not the only entity through which Chirwa made money out of lucrative government deals. The members of Pacific Breeze - Chirwa, Harrington Dlamini and Robert Burwise - also own a company called Lusito Development Specialists. In 2006, Lusito lodged an application to develop the very same properties bought and sold by Pacific Breeze into a "social housing" project. This project ran into stiff opposition from local landowners, who formed a pressure group, the White River Concerned Citizens Committee.
Committee member Stefanus Labuschaghne told the Sunday Times he had attended a residents' meeting in 2006 convened by Burwise, who claimed there were "very powerful politicians behind this development" and that "we won't be able to stop it". Another resident, Paul Clark, said Burwise "told me personally we will never stop this because there were 'very powerful forces' behind it".
Chirwa denied exploiting his political connections and positions to clinch the deals. He said his relationship with Mabuza was professional. "We have no business association whatsoever," he said, and Mabuza "had no influence on the decision of the Department of Human Settlements to finance the purchase of the land". He threatened to sue the Sunday Times, saying: "The questions raised ... are already defamatory." Mabuza, through a spokes-man, denied that he had benefited from the deals - or through any of his business links with Chirwa.
Asked if the Department of Human Settlements planned to investigate the sales for irregularities, provincial head David Dube said "proper processes were adhered to when purchasing the properties and there is nothing currently that warrants any legal action".
Source: Times Live
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Mpumalanga's MEC for human settlements and two of his bodyguards were shot at, then robbed by men driving a car with a flashing blue light last night, police said today. Captain Leonard Hlathi said the MEC, Madala Masuku, was travelling at the offramp for Bapsfontein near Delmas around 8.15pm, when a silver grey BMW five series came up behind them, with blue lights flashing, signalling for them to stop. Masuku's car also had a flashing blue light, and his driver ignored what was happening and kept driving. "They fired a shot through the MEC's car and the driver then brought the car to a standstill," said Hlathi. After that, three men from the BMW, dressed in the blue police uniform, approached the MEC's vehicle and claimed they were looking for drugs and "other unlawful things". "The MEC introduced himself and said he was an MEC, he was carrying no drugs, and that he was with his two bodyguards," continued Hlathi. The men said they would take the MEC and the bodyguards to a police station and verify their identities, but in the meantime, took away six cellphones, a bodyguard's firearm and the car keys. They later handed back the cellphones and fled the scene with the car keys and the firearm. They drove off in the direction of Johannesburg. Hlathi said the police hoped that anyone who may be able to provide information on the matter would pass this on to police. Masuku's spokesman was not immediately available to comment but Hlathi said the three were not physically hurt during the shooting. Police have not linked it to other potentially politically motivated incidents in the province and the possible existence of a "hit list". Victor Mlimi, a deputy director in the Mpumalanga department of human settlements, was recently charged with fraud, forgery and uttering along with Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika. Wa Afrika was in possession of a letter of resignation purportedly from the province's premier, David Mabuza. The charges against Wa Afrika and Mlimi were withdrawn on September 8. Hlathi thought yesterday's incident was "just mischief". "Blue light gangs", groups of people who take the appearance of police officers to get people to pull over to rob them, are not uncommon in South Africa.
Mpumalanga's MEC for human settlements and two of his bodyguards were shot at, then robbed by men driving a car with a flashing blue light last night, police said today. Captain Leonard Hlathi said the MEC, Madala Masuku, was travelling at the offramp for Bapsfontein near Delmas around 8.15pm, when a silver grey BMW five series came up behind them, with blue lights flashing, signalling for them to stop.
Masuku's car also had a flashing blue light, and his driver ignored what was happening and kept driving. "They fired a shot through the MEC's car and the driver then brought the car to a standstill," said Hlathi.
After that, three men from the BMW, dressed in the blue police uniform, approached the MEC's vehicle and claimed they were looking for drugs and "other unlawful things". "The MEC introduced himself and said he was an MEC, he was carrying no drugs, and that he was with his two bodyguards," continued Hlathi. The men said they would take the MEC and the bodyguards to a police station and verify their identities, but in the meantime, took away six cellphones, a bodyguard's firearm and the car keys. They later handed back the cellphones and fled the scene with the car keys and the firearm. They drove off in the direction of Johannesburg. Hlathi said the police hoped that anyone who may be able to provide information on the matter would pass this on to police.
Masuku's spokesman was not immediately available to comment but Hlathi said the three were not physically hurt during the shooting.
Police have not linked it to other potentially politically motivated incidents in the province and the possible existence of a "hit list". Victor Mlimi, a deputy director in the Mpumalanga department of human settlements, was recently charged with fraud, forgery and uttering along with Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika. Wa Afrika was in possession of a letter of resignation purportedly from the province's premier, David Mabuza. The charges against Wa Afrika and Mlimi were withdrawn on September 8.
Hlathi thought yesterday's incident was "just mischief". "Blue light gangs", groups of people who take the appearance of police officers to get people to pull over to rob them, are not uncommon in South Africa.
SOurce: The New Age
Masuku's car also had a flashing blue light, and his driver ignored what was happening and kept driving. "They fired a shot through the MEC's car and the driver then brought the car to a standstill," said Hlathi.
After that, three men from the BMW, dressed in the blue police uniform, approached the MEC's vehicle and claimed they were looking for drugs and "other unlawful things". "The MEC introduced himself and said he was an MEC, he was carrying no drugs, and that he was with his two bodyguards," continued Hlathi. The men said they would take the MEC and the bodyguards to a police station and verify their identities, but in the meantime, took away six cellphones, a bodyguard's firearm and the car keys. They later handed back the cellphones and fled the scene with the car keys and the firearm. They drove off in the direction of Johannesburg. Hlathi said the police hoped that anyone who may be able to provide information on the matter would pass this on to police.
Masuku's spokesman was not immediately available to comment but Hlathi said the three were not physically hurt during the shooting.
Police have not linked it to other potentially politically motivated incidents in the province and the possible existence of a "hit list". Victor Mlimi, a deputy director in the Mpumalanga department of human settlements, was recently charged with fraud, forgery and uttering along with Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika. Wa Afrika was in possession of a letter of resignation purportedly from the province's premier, David Mabuza. The charges against Wa Afrika and Mlimi were withdrawn on September 8.
Hlathi thought yesterday's incident was "just mischief". "Blue light gangs", groups of people who take the appearance of police officers to get people to pull over to rob them, are not uncommon in South Africa.
SOurce: The New Age
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Poisoned: The man who blew the whistle on Mpumalanga's hit squad
Nkambule collapsed and died at his home in Mjindini on Thursday night last week. At the time he was attempting to get a Mozambican man - who he believed to be the hit man - placed in the witness protection programme. The autopsy, conducted by Mpumalanga chief medical officer Dr Gantcho Gantchev, concludes his death was "unnatural". In the postmortem report, Gantchev describes "white foamy material" found in Nkambule's throat and windpipe, and about 30ml of brownish fluid "suggestive of ... poison ingestion" in his stomach. Gantchev told the Sunday Times: "There is no smoke without fire." "They killed him, they killed my dad," Nkambule's daughter, Buhle Nkambule, said on hearing the news. Toxicology tests will establish the type of poison and when it entered his system.
Nkambule first rose to prominence in 2001 when he claimed there was a plot to overthrow then president Thabo Mbeki. He had been branded a "professional liar" by the ANC after publicly accusing members Mathews Phosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa of being behind the move.
The ex-ANC member also recently claimed that Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza paid R400000 towards President Jacob Zuma's wedding last year. These claims were never denied by the Presidency. His wife, Claudia Xwabe, said this week that Dr Gantchev had told the family that the postmortem showed there was "a drug in (Nkambule's) body".
On Friday, police confirmed that "foul play" was suspected. "We have opened an inquest into the death," said provincial police spokesman Captain Leonard Hlati. Nkambule had recently met with police commissioner General Bheki Cele to discuss efforts to bring a Mozambican man, known in the criminal underworld as "Josh", to South Africa, where he was to be placed under a witness protection programme. Josh was to testify against prominent figures regarding the death of former Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala. Mohlala was killed after he blew the whistle on irregularities in the awarding of tenders to build the R2-billion Mbombela stadium. Mohlala's name was on a hit list of nine municipal officials opposed to awarding the contract for the construction of the stadium.
Josh has since claimed in an affidavit, now in the possession of the police, that he was hired by Mpumalanga officials and a soccer boss as a "cleaner" from 2000 until 2009 to eliminate political and business opponents. His work included smuggling drugs, poisoning people and carrying out other "hits". He said that the people he targeted included Nkambule; a former mayor of the Gert Sibande district council, Andries Gamede; Scopa chairman Fish Mahlalela; and Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo.
He further alleged that Govan Mbeki municipality chief financial officer Joshua Ntshuhle's car was driven to Malawi to make it look like he had vanished. Ntshuhle went missing in December 2005, days before he was due to testify in the fraud and corruption trial of the municipality's marketing manager, Sibusiso Sigudla. The gangster further claimed that he was hired, along with three Zimbabwean nationals and a fellow Mozambican, to kill Mohlala. He said four of the men who helped carry out the hit on Mohlala had since been killed.
Nkambule recently slammed the police investigations into the murders - which might have also exposed the tender irregularities - as slow. He was due to appear in court this week on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice after police accused him of fabricating the sworn statement by Josh.
The Sunday Times has established that the police have yet to question anyone in connection with Nkambule's earlier complaint that he had been poisoned. The politician had maintained he was poisoned in 2006 by political opponents, leaving him having to be hospitalised several times. In August last year, Nkambule said, Josh approached him and confessed that he had poisoned him on instructions from a senior politician. In a statement seen by the Sunday Times, Josh details how he was handed "a small bottle that was full of liquid substances" in 2006, and instructed to infiltrate a company catering for a matric dance in Barberton where Nkambule was a guest speaker. "I did in September 2006 ... empty the bottle ... in James Nkambule's food and I went to personally serve him at his table," he said in his statement.
Josh claimed he was prompted to confess to Nkambule after he learnt that his fellow assassins had all been executed to destroy evidence. Nkambule submitted the statement to police in February - whereupon he was arrested on suspicion of fabricating the statement. Hlati this week rubbished Nkambule and Josh's claims: "We did not question any person because we did not receive any statement from Josh," he said on Friday. "If you have this Josh, please produce him."
Source: Times Live
Thursday, September 9, 2010
'Fake Letter' Official gets Death Threats
The government official caught at the centre of the controversy surrounding journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika's arrest has apparently been receiving death threats. Victor Mlimi, a Mbombela councillor and deputy director in Mpumalanga's housing department, says that he has been suspended from his government post on 54 "trumped up" misconduct charges and has also received telephonic death threats.
Mlimi was arrested and charged alongside Wa Afrika on fraud, forgery and uttering (circulating fraudulent items) charges for supposedly being in possession of an alleged fake letter of resignation from Premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma. The charges were provisionally withdrawn on Wednesday, to allow the State to properly investigate the allegations and the actual role played by Wa Afrika and Mlimi in the controversy. “It is strange that I was arrested and charged for a document that was not in my possession. This case has made my life difficult because since I was arrested I've received death threats from faceless people. I was also suspended two weeks ago, on very strange charges," Mlimi told African Eye News Service (AENS). He said he had neither reported the threats to the police nor had he hired private security. “What is the point of reporting death threats to the police in this province? They are the people who arrested me. They are probably on the payroll of the person who is behind the whole mess here," he said.
Mlimi said he also received death threats in 2005, when he protested against intimidation during the election of a chairperson of the ANC Ehlanzeni regional executive council that year. He said. more recently, he was accused of paying the R8 000 bail of former ANC member James Nkambule, now COPE's chairman in Ehlanzeni, after his arrest in March. Nkambule was arrested for supposedly obstructing justice, fraud and forgery after claiming to be in possession of a hit-list of politicians and officials believed to be critical of the provincial government. Nkambule claimed that the list was drafted by a hitman, known only as 'Josh', who had been hired by a high-level but unnamed politician.
Mlimi's name was on the list, along with the assassinated speaker of the Mbombela local municipality Jimmy Mohlala, who was investigating tender irregularities around the Mbombela Stadium. “My only mistake was to attend Nkambule's court appearance, not knowing that the next time I came to court I would be an accused in [this] strange political case,” he said.
Mlimi declined to say on Wednesday whether he intended suing for defamation or other damages after the charges were withdrawn this week. Wa Afrika has indicated that he intends suing individuals in both government and political parties. He refused to name the people.
Premier Mabuza's office has, however, made a number of public statements accusing Nkambule and Wa Afrika of undermining government and participating in a campaign to unseat Mabuza. The provincial ANC Youth League and the South African National Civic Organisation have gone further and accused the two of being 'traitors'. Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, this week refused to comment of the withdrawal of charges. Provincial ANCY spokesman Ozzy Ronald Lamola said however that it is "disappointing" to hear that Wa Afrika was a free man. “Our disappointment stems from the fact that he was accused of a very dangerous crime that warranted him being charged with high treason. We, however, respect the due process of the law and hope that he is not off the hook as we believe that the investigation will confirm that he must indeed be charged with high treason,” said Lamola.
Sanco provincial treasurer Raymond Makamo accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of bowing to public pressure by withdrawing the charges against Wa Afrika. “Why did they charge him in the first place if they did not have enough evidence against him? We believe that there is a case against Wa Afrika,” said Makamo.
After Mlimi and Wa Afrika's brief court appearance on Wednesday, the NPA returned Wa Afrika's passport, notebooks and other documents that were confiscated from his house when he was arrested on August 4.
Source: Capital
Mlimi was arrested and charged alongside Wa Afrika on fraud, forgery and uttering (circulating fraudulent items) charges for supposedly being in possession of an alleged fake letter of resignation from Premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma. The charges were provisionally withdrawn on Wednesday, to allow the State to properly investigate the allegations and the actual role played by Wa Afrika and Mlimi in the controversy. “It is strange that I was arrested and charged for a document that was not in my possession. This case has made my life difficult because since I was arrested I've received death threats from faceless people. I was also suspended two weeks ago, on very strange charges," Mlimi told African Eye News Service (AENS). He said he had neither reported the threats to the police nor had he hired private security. “What is the point of reporting death threats to the police in this province? They are the people who arrested me. They are probably on the payroll of the person who is behind the whole mess here," he said.
Mlimi said he also received death threats in 2005, when he protested against intimidation during the election of a chairperson of the ANC Ehlanzeni regional executive council that year. He said. more recently, he was accused of paying the R8 000 bail of former ANC member James Nkambule, now COPE's chairman in Ehlanzeni, after his arrest in March. Nkambule was arrested for supposedly obstructing justice, fraud and forgery after claiming to be in possession of a hit-list of politicians and officials believed to be critical of the provincial government. Nkambule claimed that the list was drafted by a hitman, known only as 'Josh', who had been hired by a high-level but unnamed politician.
Mlimi's name was on the list, along with the assassinated speaker of the Mbombela local municipality Jimmy Mohlala, who was investigating tender irregularities around the Mbombela Stadium. “My only mistake was to attend Nkambule's court appearance, not knowing that the next time I came to court I would be an accused in [this] strange political case,” he said.
Mlimi declined to say on Wednesday whether he intended suing for defamation or other damages after the charges were withdrawn this week. Wa Afrika has indicated that he intends suing individuals in both government and political parties. He refused to name the people.
Premier Mabuza's office has, however, made a number of public statements accusing Nkambule and Wa Afrika of undermining government and participating in a campaign to unseat Mabuza. The provincial ANC Youth League and the South African National Civic Organisation have gone further and accused the two of being 'traitors'. Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, this week refused to comment of the withdrawal of charges. Provincial ANCY spokesman Ozzy Ronald Lamola said however that it is "disappointing" to hear that Wa Afrika was a free man. “Our disappointment stems from the fact that he was accused of a very dangerous crime that warranted him being charged with high treason. We, however, respect the due process of the law and hope that he is not off the hook as we believe that the investigation will confirm that he must indeed be charged with high treason,” said Lamola.
Sanco provincial treasurer Raymond Makamo accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of bowing to public pressure by withdrawing the charges against Wa Afrika. “Why did they charge him in the first place if they did not have enough evidence against him? We believe that there is a case against Wa Afrika,” said Makamo.
After Mlimi and Wa Afrika's brief court appearance on Wednesday, the NPA returned Wa Afrika's passport, notebooks and other documents that were confiscated from his house when he was arrested on August 4.
Source: Capital
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
NPA withdraws Wa Afrika charges
Charges against Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and his co-accused Victor Mlimi will be provisionally withdrawn, a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson said on Tuesday. "The case docket containing evidential material was submitted to prosecutors in the NPA. After perusing the case docket we are of the view that it is desirable that the matter be fully investigated prior to taking a decision on whether or not to prosecute," read a statement by advocate Mthunzi Mhaga. "We therefore deem it appropriate that the charges be provisionally withdrawn pending further investigations."
They had faced charges of fraud, forgery and uttering after being arrested by members of the Mpumalanga police and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, a division of the police known as the Hawks, in August. The arrest of the pair related to alleged possession of a resignation letter by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, which the presidency has said is a fake. The NPA said once investigations had been concluded, the docket would be re-submitted and the case could be reinstated. The charges will be formally withdrawn on Wednesday.
Wa Afrika was arrested on August 4 as a debate on the possible introduction of a media tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill was underway at his employer's headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg. After being kept in custody, charges were withdrawn the following day, then reinstated. A court order issued by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria had him released ahead of his bail hearing. He was finally released on R5 000 bail after an appearance at the Nelspruit Regional Court on August 6. Mlimi is a deputy director for informal settlements in Mpumalanga.
Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley was not immediately available for comment, but their online portal Timeslive quoted him as saying that National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele "owes wa Afrika an apology. A big one". Wa Afrika's lawyer Eric van den Berg said they had been notified of the NPA's intentions and were pleased. "It has been a shadow over him," said Van den Berg. Some critics felt the arrests were related to a story Wa Afrika had co-written about a R500m on police headquarter lease agreement, purportedly agreed to by Cele without it going out to tender.
The day before his arrest, Cele called him a "very shady journalist", and when asked if he would take action against the reporter, he replied: "Time will tell".
Source: News 24
They had faced charges of fraud, forgery and uttering after being arrested by members of the Mpumalanga police and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, a division of the police known as the Hawks, in August. The arrest of the pair related to alleged possession of a resignation letter by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, which the presidency has said is a fake. The NPA said once investigations had been concluded, the docket would be re-submitted and the case could be reinstated. The charges will be formally withdrawn on Wednesday.
Wa Afrika was arrested on August 4 as a debate on the possible introduction of a media tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill was underway at his employer's headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg. After being kept in custody, charges were withdrawn the following day, then reinstated. A court order issued by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria had him released ahead of his bail hearing. He was finally released on R5 000 bail after an appearance at the Nelspruit Regional Court on August 6. Mlimi is a deputy director for informal settlements in Mpumalanga.
Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley was not immediately available for comment, but their online portal Timeslive quoted him as saying that National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele "owes wa Afrika an apology. A big one". Wa Afrika's lawyer Eric van den Berg said they had been notified of the NPA's intentions and were pleased. "It has been a shadow over him," said Van den Berg. Some critics felt the arrests were related to a story Wa Afrika had co-written about a R500m on police headquarter lease agreement, purportedly agreed to by Cele without it going out to tender.
The day before his arrest, Cele called him a "very shady journalist", and when asked if he would take action against the reporter, he replied: "Time will tell".
Source: News 24
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Minister says back-up was needed to apprehend journalist
The police were forced to call for back-up in the arrest of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika because he resisted. This is according to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, answering questions in Parliament yesterday.
Wa Afrika was arrested at the Avusa head office in Rosebank, Johannesburg, last month. He was then driven to Mpumalanga, where he was kept in police holding cells before appearing in court two days later. Police officers sent to arrest him were involved in a screaming match with senior editors about whether photographers could take pictures of the arrest.
DA police spokesman Dianne Kohler Barnard asked why it was necessary to send 20 police officers to arrest Wa Afrika. Mthethwa said two police officers from Rosebank police station, sent to the Avusa offices to locate Wa Afrika, had to call for back-up because they were being prevented from making the arrest. "I hope you'll agree with me that nobody is allowed to obstruct that particular process," he said.
Mthethwa's version has been disputed by Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley, who said Wa Afrika was on his way to hand himself over at the Rosebank police station when he was so dramatically arrested. "That's fictitious. It is totally untrue. There was no resistance to the arrest," Hartley said. Mthethwa said the investigating officer from Mpumalanga had been forced to wait for more than two hours at Rosebank police station for Wa Afrika to hand himself over as promised. "When the suspect failed to present himself to the investigating officer, two other officers proceeded in one vehicle to the place of this person's work," he said. "At the place of work, a commotion broke out and other vehicles were dispatched to establish the problem."
Mthethwa said that though the government had agreed with the SA National Editors' Forum that journalists should not be arrested for doing their work, the agreement did not cover journalists who were accused of fraud.
Wa Afrika and his co-accused, Victor Mimi, appeared in court in Nelspruit on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice. They were each granted bail of R5 000. The reporter's arrest was only days after he co-wrote a story on a document allegedly signed by national police commissioner Bheki Cele relating to a R500-million lease on new police HQ in Pretoria. The arrest is also said to relate to a fax of what the police claim is a fraudulent letter of resignation purportedly written by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza.
Source: Times Live
Wa Afrika was arrested at the Avusa head office in Rosebank, Johannesburg, last month. He was then driven to Mpumalanga, where he was kept in police holding cells before appearing in court two days later. Police officers sent to arrest him were involved in a screaming match with senior editors about whether photographers could take pictures of the arrest.
DA police spokesman Dianne Kohler Barnard asked why it was necessary to send 20 police officers to arrest Wa Afrika. Mthethwa said two police officers from Rosebank police station, sent to the Avusa offices to locate Wa Afrika, had to call for back-up because they were being prevented from making the arrest. "I hope you'll agree with me that nobody is allowed to obstruct that particular process," he said.
Mthethwa's version has been disputed by Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley, who said Wa Afrika was on his way to hand himself over at the Rosebank police station when he was so dramatically arrested. "That's fictitious. It is totally untrue. There was no resistance to the arrest," Hartley said. Mthethwa said the investigating officer from Mpumalanga had been forced to wait for more than two hours at Rosebank police station for Wa Afrika to hand himself over as promised. "When the suspect failed to present himself to the investigating officer, two other officers proceeded in one vehicle to the place of this person's work," he said. "At the place of work, a commotion broke out and other vehicles were dispatched to establish the problem."
Mthethwa said that though the government had agreed with the SA National Editors' Forum that journalists should not be arrested for doing their work, the agreement did not cover journalists who were accused of fraud.
Wa Afrika and his co-accused, Victor Mimi, appeared in court in Nelspruit on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice. They were each granted bail of R5 000. The reporter's arrest was only days after he co-wrote a story on a document allegedly signed by national police commissioner Bheki Cele relating to a R500-million lease on new police HQ in Pretoria. The arrest is also said to relate to a fax of what the police claim is a fraudulent letter of resignation purportedly written by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza.
Source: Times Live
Monday, August 16, 2010
Nyanda proved he is unfit as public office bearer - CDP
The Christian Democratic Party said on Monday Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has proved he is unfit as a public office bearer. It has been reported that a company partly owned by Nyanda was given a R20 million contract to investigate service delivery protests in Mpumalanga. It is believed the contract was awarded to Abalozi Security Advisory Services without following tender rules.
Rivals of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza have been labelled by Abalozi as the instigators and funders of the protests which began in February last year. The CDP’s Rev Theunis Botha said, “If President Jacob Zuma still feels it unnecessary to relieve Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda of his duties, he should at least consider reassigning him to a new portfolio, that of ‘tenderpreneurship’.”
Source: Eye Witness News
Rivals of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza have been labelled by Abalozi as the instigators and funders of the protests which began in February last year. The CDP’s Rev Theunis Botha said, “If President Jacob Zuma still feels it unnecessary to relieve Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda of his duties, he should at least consider reassigning him to a new portfolio, that of ‘tenderpreneurship’.”
Source: Eye Witness News
Friday, August 13, 2010
Spin doctor red-faced over fake letter
Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza's spin doctors seem to have played a central role in circulating the fake letter that led to the dramatic arrest of Sunday Times investigative journalist, Mzilikazi wa Afrika, last week.
Mabuza's chief spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, reluctantly admitted on Thursday that he personally tipped off journalists about the existence of the letter, in which the premier purportedly confirms his resignation to President Jacob Zuma. He also emailed a PDF copy of the letter to at least two journalists at the same time as the premier's office was lodging criminal charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice against "conspirators" Wa Afrika and Mbombela (Nelspruit) councillor Victor Mlimi. The charges were changed last week after the two had been arrested to fraud, forgery and "uttering" — which is knowingly circulating a fraudulent document.
The letter came from a confidential source and was faxed, via Mlimi, to Wa Afrika, who received it on July 21. Wa Afrika then passed the letter on to another Sunday Times journalist, who followed it up with the premier's office by sending it to Sithole for verification.
Sithole has confirmed receiving the PDF version of the letter from the Sunday Times on July 24. "I knew immediately that it was fake. The signature is nothing like the premier's real one. I told them it was part of a plot to destabilise the province and smear the premier," said Sithole. Based on Sithole's response, plus denials from the presidency and ANC, the Sunday Times decided against publishing a story on the issue.
Sithole nevertheless phoned Sowetan journalist Alfred Moselakgomo the following day, July 25, to tip him off about the "rumours" and the existence of the letter. Sithole then emailed a copy of the PDF letter to Sowetan's Mpumalanga bureau chief, Riot Hlatshwayo, and Sowetan reporter Kingdom Mabuza on Monday July 26. "We hadn't even heard rumours about the issue until the tip-off on the Sunday, and would not have had enough evidence to publish anything if we hadn't received the letter from Mabutho," says Hlatshwayo.
Hlatshwayo co-wrote a story about the allegations and then forwarded the PDF letter to City Press, Beeld, The Witness, Jacaranda FM and investigative news agency African Eye News Service (AENS). He also tipped off colleagues in the SABC's local radio and TV news teams. The SABC and City Press subsequently ran stories on the rumoured resignation and Mabuza's insistence that the publicity was part of a political plot to oust him and to topple the provincial administration.
Sithole refused to say why Wa Afrika had been targeted for arrest when he had not circulated the letter or written about it, or why journalists who had circulated it and written about the controversy had not been charged. "Regardless of how the journalists got the letter, there is a plot, and journalists are part of it. We have evidence. But this whole matter is now sub judice and I will not comment further [out of] respect for the legal process," said Sithole. He refused to confirm or deny whether the evidence against Wa Afrika was based on surveillance of the media by intelligence agencies. Mabuza has previously boasted about receiving weekly classified reports on "troublemakers" in the province, including reports about "people who say things". "I checked with [Mabuza] and he will not tell me yes or no. He said he is not going to tell me, because the information is classified," said Sithole.
He also refused to say why the province had not pressed charges in the case of another high-profile fraudulent letter — one purportedly used by project management company, Lefika Emerging Equity. Lefika, whose owners include Kaizer Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung and Mpumalanga tycoon Herbert Theledi, allegedly wrote a fraudulent letter to First National Bank. The letter, on the Mbombela municipality's letterhead, requested an overdraft based on the claim that it had submitted a sizeable invoice to the council in December 2008 for its work on the Mbombela stadium.
Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala, who announced publicly that he intended lodging fraud charges with police, was killed in front of his teenage son in January 2009, two days before he was scheduled to meet investigators.
Lefika and Motaung were not immediately available for comment, but both repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo said at the time that the murder was an assassination to silence Mohlala and said he and other council officials had received threatening calls.
The Sunday Times confirmed on Thursday that Wa Afrika had been investigating why no fraud charge had been lodged in the case and why no one had been arrested for the killing. The paper's legal spokesperson, Susan Smuts, also confirmed that Wa Afrika claimed that he had been followed and narrowly evaded a possible kidnap attempt in the province in April. Another journalist who has started looking into the case, City Press's Sizwe samaYende, is currently under 24-hour protection after dodging a gunman who ambushed him at his Mbombela home last Friday night. "Both these cases, Wa Afrika's matter and Mohlala's murder, are active and ongoing investigations and as such I cannot comment on them," said Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi on Thursday afternoon.
Wa Afrika and Mlimi are both out on R5000 bail each, pending further investigation by the Hawks. They have had to surrender their passports and are scheduled to reappear in the Nelspruit courts on November 8. Wa Afrika's attorney, Eric van den Berg, meanwhile confirmed that the Hawks had agreed to return Wa Afrika's notebooks and research files, which were seized from the journalist's home without a search warrant immediately after his arrest last week and were turned over to crime intelligence officers in Mpumalanga for "analysis". They include material stretching back 11 years, including notes on his investigations into the arms deal, Travelgate and other scandals.
Media freedom organisations, including the South African National Editors' Forum, have expressed concern that the identity of whistleblowers and confidential sources unrelated to the fraudulent letter case may have been compromised.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Mabuza's chief spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, reluctantly admitted on Thursday that he personally tipped off journalists about the existence of the letter, in which the premier purportedly confirms his resignation to President Jacob Zuma. He also emailed a PDF copy of the letter to at least two journalists at the same time as the premier's office was lodging criminal charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice against "conspirators" Wa Afrika and Mbombela (Nelspruit) councillor Victor Mlimi. The charges were changed last week after the two had been arrested to fraud, forgery and "uttering" — which is knowingly circulating a fraudulent document.
The letter came from a confidential source and was faxed, via Mlimi, to Wa Afrika, who received it on July 21. Wa Afrika then passed the letter on to another Sunday Times journalist, who followed it up with the premier's office by sending it to Sithole for verification.
Sithole has confirmed receiving the PDF version of the letter from the Sunday Times on July 24. "I knew immediately that it was fake. The signature is nothing like the premier's real one. I told them it was part of a plot to destabilise the province and smear the premier," said Sithole. Based on Sithole's response, plus denials from the presidency and ANC, the Sunday Times decided against publishing a story on the issue.
Sithole nevertheless phoned Sowetan journalist Alfred Moselakgomo the following day, July 25, to tip him off about the "rumours" and the existence of the letter. Sithole then emailed a copy of the PDF letter to Sowetan's Mpumalanga bureau chief, Riot Hlatshwayo, and Sowetan reporter Kingdom Mabuza on Monday July 26. "We hadn't even heard rumours about the issue until the tip-off on the Sunday, and would not have had enough evidence to publish anything if we hadn't received the letter from Mabutho," says Hlatshwayo.
Hlatshwayo co-wrote a story about the allegations and then forwarded the PDF letter to City Press, Beeld, The Witness, Jacaranda FM and investigative news agency African Eye News Service (AENS). He also tipped off colleagues in the SABC's local radio and TV news teams. The SABC and City Press subsequently ran stories on the rumoured resignation and Mabuza's insistence that the publicity was part of a political plot to oust him and to topple the provincial administration.
Sithole refused to say why Wa Afrika had been targeted for arrest when he had not circulated the letter or written about it, or why journalists who had circulated it and written about the controversy had not been charged. "Regardless of how the journalists got the letter, there is a plot, and journalists are part of it. We have evidence. But this whole matter is now sub judice and I will not comment further [out of] respect for the legal process," said Sithole. He refused to confirm or deny whether the evidence against Wa Afrika was based on surveillance of the media by intelligence agencies. Mabuza has previously boasted about receiving weekly classified reports on "troublemakers" in the province, including reports about "people who say things". "I checked with [Mabuza] and he will not tell me yes or no. He said he is not going to tell me, because the information is classified," said Sithole.
He also refused to say why the province had not pressed charges in the case of another high-profile fraudulent letter — one purportedly used by project management company, Lefika Emerging Equity. Lefika, whose owners include Kaizer Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung and Mpumalanga tycoon Herbert Theledi, allegedly wrote a fraudulent letter to First National Bank. The letter, on the Mbombela municipality's letterhead, requested an overdraft based on the claim that it had submitted a sizeable invoice to the council in December 2008 for its work on the Mbombela stadium.
Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala, who announced publicly that he intended lodging fraud charges with police, was killed in front of his teenage son in January 2009, two days before he was scheduled to meet investigators.
Lefika and Motaung were not immediately available for comment, but both repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo said at the time that the murder was an assassination to silence Mohlala and said he and other council officials had received threatening calls.
The Sunday Times confirmed on Thursday that Wa Afrika had been investigating why no fraud charge had been lodged in the case and why no one had been arrested for the killing. The paper's legal spokesperson, Susan Smuts, also confirmed that Wa Afrika claimed that he had been followed and narrowly evaded a possible kidnap attempt in the province in April. Another journalist who has started looking into the case, City Press's Sizwe samaYende, is currently under 24-hour protection after dodging a gunman who ambushed him at his Mbombela home last Friday night. "Both these cases, Wa Afrika's matter and Mohlala's murder, are active and ongoing investigations and as such I cannot comment on them," said Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi on Thursday afternoon.
Wa Afrika and Mlimi are both out on R5000 bail each, pending further investigation by the Hawks. They have had to surrender their passports and are scheduled to reappear in the Nelspruit courts on November 8. Wa Afrika's attorney, Eric van den Berg, meanwhile confirmed that the Hawks had agreed to return Wa Afrika's notebooks and research files, which were seized from the journalist's home without a search warrant immediately after his arrest last week and were turned over to crime intelligence officers in Mpumalanga for "analysis". They include material stretching back 11 years, including notes on his investigations into the arms deal, Travelgate and other scandals.
Media freedom organisations, including the South African National Editors' Forum, have expressed concern that the identity of whistleblowers and confidential sources unrelated to the fraudulent letter case may have been compromised.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
SANCO joins Mpumalanga campaign against 'treasonous' journalists
The SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) on Tuesday added City Press journalist Sizwe SamaYende to a list of supposed “traitors” for reporting critically on Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza. SamaYende is currently under 24-hour protection after narrowly evading a gunman who ambushed the award-winning journalist at his (Nelspruit) home on Friday night. “SamaYende and Mzilikazi wa Afrika are committing high treason by fabricating stories that destabilise the province. They are traitors. Premier Mabuza cannot focus on governing, because he must now focus on answering these smear campaigns that they publish,” explains Sanco Mpumalanga treasurer and spokesman, Raymond Makamo.
Wa Afrika was arrested by a large Hawks police task-team outside his Sunday Times office last week Wednesday, and was charged with fraud, forgery and uttering (circulating fraudulent items) during a brief court appearance on Friday. The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that an investigating officer has admitted the arrest had been politically motivated. “It is not the arrests that are political – it is they, the journalists, who are in the pockets of political masters, who are trying to have Premier Mabuza removed from office,” insists Makamo.
Sanco Mpumalanga openly campaigns on behalf of Mabuza, including championing him during the run-up to the fiercely contested 2008 provincial conference of the African National Congress where Mabuza was elected chairman. “We know that they have meetings where they plot what they are going to write. Wa Afrika must tell the world who he met with at Protea Hotel on February 3. And, SamaYende must tell us why he meets with sources at Galitos [restaurant] in Nelspruit,” says Makamo. When quizzed how he knew about the supposed meetings, Makamo would only say that “reliable sources” kept the “true comrades” briefed on “troublemakers”.
Premier Mabuza publicly boasted earlier this year that he receives weekly classified intelligence briefings on individuals deemed to be a threat to his administration. Mabuza implied at the time that journalists and civil society critics might be monitored for the reports, but his spokesman Mabutho Sithole has refused over the past week to confirm or deny whether journalists are in fact under surveillance.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi also declines to say whether the Wa Afrika arrest, for his as yet unclear role in circulating a supposedly fraudulent resignation letter in Mabuza’s name, was based on intelligence data. “Claims that I am a traitor, or in the pay of some political faction or plot, are absolute hogwash. I write what I see, based on facts, and my reporting is open for scrutiny by anyone - including the courts,” said SamaYende in response on Tuesday. “I’m not certain whether there is a link between these claims and the attack on me at the weekend, but it certainly gives the police something to work on.”
Wa Afrika was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Zondi has meanwhile confirmed that investigators have seized reporter notebooks and research files dating back 11 years – despite Wa Afrika’s alleged crime only being committed in July this year. The notebooks, which include details of confidential sources and whistleblowers, have been handed over to Mpumalanga-based police for “analysis”.
The SA Communist Party (SACP) in Mpumalanga on Tuesday branded the arrest and seizure of research material as intimidation and a possible abuse of state power. “We note with alarm [and] shock, the dramatic Hollywood-style arrest of a journalist -- in order to instil fear, not only to journalists but to whoever exposes corruption in our province. We want to re-iterate our resolve to intensify our campaign and struggle against corruption, no amount of intimidation will deter us,” says SACP provincial spokesman, Lesetja Dikgale.
Dikgale also cautioned local journalists, however, to avoid being used as pawns in factional politics and to ensure that they verified the authenticity of leaked documents.
Source: Capital
Wa Afrika was arrested by a large Hawks police task-team outside his Sunday Times office last week Wednesday, and was charged with fraud, forgery and uttering (circulating fraudulent items) during a brief court appearance on Friday. The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that an investigating officer has admitted the arrest had been politically motivated. “It is not the arrests that are political – it is they, the journalists, who are in the pockets of political masters, who are trying to have Premier Mabuza removed from office,” insists Makamo.
Sanco Mpumalanga openly campaigns on behalf of Mabuza, including championing him during the run-up to the fiercely contested 2008 provincial conference of the African National Congress where Mabuza was elected chairman. “We know that they have meetings where they plot what they are going to write. Wa Afrika must tell the world who he met with at Protea Hotel on February 3. And, SamaYende must tell us why he meets with sources at Galitos [restaurant] in Nelspruit,” says Makamo. When quizzed how he knew about the supposed meetings, Makamo would only say that “reliable sources” kept the “true comrades” briefed on “troublemakers”.
Premier Mabuza publicly boasted earlier this year that he receives weekly classified intelligence briefings on individuals deemed to be a threat to his administration. Mabuza implied at the time that journalists and civil society critics might be monitored for the reports, but his spokesman Mabutho Sithole has refused over the past week to confirm or deny whether journalists are in fact under surveillance.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi also declines to say whether the Wa Afrika arrest, for his as yet unclear role in circulating a supposedly fraudulent resignation letter in Mabuza’s name, was based on intelligence data. “Claims that I am a traitor, or in the pay of some political faction or plot, are absolute hogwash. I write what I see, based on facts, and my reporting is open for scrutiny by anyone - including the courts,” said SamaYende in response on Tuesday. “I’m not certain whether there is a link between these claims and the attack on me at the weekend, but it certainly gives the police something to work on.”
Wa Afrika was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Zondi has meanwhile confirmed that investigators have seized reporter notebooks and research files dating back 11 years – despite Wa Afrika’s alleged crime only being committed in July this year. The notebooks, which include details of confidential sources and whistleblowers, have been handed over to Mpumalanga-based police for “analysis”.
The SA Communist Party (SACP) in Mpumalanga on Tuesday branded the arrest and seizure of research material as intimidation and a possible abuse of state power. “We note with alarm [and] shock, the dramatic Hollywood-style arrest of a journalist -- in order to instil fear, not only to journalists but to whoever exposes corruption in our province. We want to re-iterate our resolve to intensify our campaign and struggle against corruption, no amount of intimidation will deter us,” says SACP provincial spokesman, Lesetja Dikgale.
Dikgale also cautioned local journalists, however, to avoid being used as pawns in factional politics and to ensure that they verified the authenticity of leaked documents.
Source: Capital
Monday, August 9, 2010
Mzilikazi wa Afrika and the Shape of Things to Come
We cannot imagine the fear, the gut-churning oily awful fear that gripped Mzilikazi wa Afrika when he was taken away on Wednesday. He says he thought he was going to be killed. An unmarked car, men with guns, refusing to listen to him, irrationally forceful and aggressive. Then the huge fight to keep him in their power. The 2:30 am interrogation. The questions about whether he was part of a group trying to destabilise the provincial ANC. Yes, the ANC, not the province or the country.
Kafka would have been proud of our officials. First, there’s the late-night high court application, the claim that it would be “too inconvenient” to release Wa Afrika when he was due in court just a few hours later. Really, what kind of a lawyer could ever say that? And which jack-booted hooligan tries to enforce this kind of nonsense? Then just a few hours later, Wa Afrika appears, at the appointed time in Regional Courtroom One in Nelspruit. And it’s just him, and his lawyers. The first person to burst through the door at 8:32am was actually a low-flying radio reporter. It was a little sad really, you expect huge drama, the Hawks ready to go and all you get are empty wooden benches.
Eventually, things started to move at around 9:15am, when Wa Afrika’s lawyer was compelled to stand up and explain that the whole show was going upstairs, to a packed Regional Courtroom Two. All the benches were taken up by Nelspruit residents there for the humdrum rape, murder and assault cases. The grumbling reporters, including Wa Afrika himself, were forced to lean on walls for support. When it did start, it was a blink-and-you’d’-have- missed-it affair. Bail agreed, conditions satisfactory to both parties, see you in November.
Outside the court a hostile crowd was growing. These were angry people, claiming that Wa Afrika was destabilising the ANC. They wanted to shout, scream and heckle; that job was done very well. Wa Afrika’s lawyer popped out to tell reporters not to worry, he’d be out soon to thank everyone for their support. The crowd didn’t like that. They were not there to support him. If they could, they’d bury him. His lawyer, Eric van den Berg, an old hand, read the crowd's mood and made sure his client didn’t have to go through all that.
But the crowd itself was fascinating. This reporter found himself having to count to 10 when told by one of its members that Wa Afrika was guilty of treason. The logic was this; Mabuza is a premier, therefore he’s like a governor, therefore if you take him on, you’re taking on the province. That’s right, ladies and gentleman. Nigeria, just three hours down the N4 from the heart of Johannesburg.
But this is the problem with the province in a nutshell. Leaders are conflating the province with themselves. They are the ones who must be served, not the people. They are the ones who must control. Everything. All of it.
So many questions after this week. Here’s just a flavour:
Who decided Wa Afrika should be arrested?
Was it a police officer?
Was it Bheki Cele?
David Mabuza?
Menzi Simelane?
All of the above?
Who really decided he should be charged? The moment this really passed into illegality was not at the time of the arrest, it was when a prosecutor decided on Thursday that there was no evidence to back up a case. Then the Hawks tell us there was “engagement”. Really? With whom? Was it Pretoria? Or Nelspruit? Who has the power to overrule a prosecutor? Simelane must have been involved, one way or another. And who was the one to phone him? It must have been Mabuza, or his representative. We’ve said it before this week, this is ANC deployment in action. This is what happens when a political party is not happy with just controlling all the political levers of power, but needs to control absolutely everything. And then when things go wrong, and that becomes public, kill the messenger. Why not. You’ll get away with it.
And that’s the sad, sorry story of Wa Afrika's arrest. That no one, not Mabuza, not Simelane and certainly not Cele will ever face any punishment for this. You know it and we know it.
This week has seen the cancer of Mpumalanga politics get a national face. We now all know there is something deeply wrong in the province. And that it’s only because this happened to a journalist from a paper with the nous and the money to do something about it that he’s free now. What would have happened if some swastika armband-wearing functionary had decided this was all classified and that the public doesn't need to know anything? And under the Protection of Information Act, many would have the power to do it.
And if that’s not scary enough, understand this. The symbol of today was not Wa Afrika walking free, or the angry misguided crowd outside the court. It was the Hawks officers who came into the court room in riot gear. With guns, tear-gas and those vests that bring the menace. And sun-glasses in a court room. It’s them, the foot soldiers who are going to claim one day that they were just following orders that will do the kicking pushing shoving hurting and perhaps killing. We need to know who really controls them. It’s certainly not the people of this country.
Shape of Things to Come indeed.
Source: The Daily Maverick
Kafka would have been proud of our officials. First, there’s the late-night high court application, the claim that it would be “too inconvenient” to release Wa Afrika when he was due in court just a few hours later. Really, what kind of a lawyer could ever say that? And which jack-booted hooligan tries to enforce this kind of nonsense? Then just a few hours later, Wa Afrika appears, at the appointed time in Regional Courtroom One in Nelspruit. And it’s just him, and his lawyers. The first person to burst through the door at 8:32am was actually a low-flying radio reporter. It was a little sad really, you expect huge drama, the Hawks ready to go and all you get are empty wooden benches.
Eventually, things started to move at around 9:15am, when Wa Afrika’s lawyer was compelled to stand up and explain that the whole show was going upstairs, to a packed Regional Courtroom Two. All the benches were taken up by Nelspruit residents there for the humdrum rape, murder and assault cases. The grumbling reporters, including Wa Afrika himself, were forced to lean on walls for support. When it did start, it was a blink-and-you’d’-have- missed-it affair. Bail agreed, conditions satisfactory to both parties, see you in November.
Outside the court a hostile crowd was growing. These were angry people, claiming that Wa Afrika was destabilising the ANC. They wanted to shout, scream and heckle; that job was done very well. Wa Afrika’s lawyer popped out to tell reporters not to worry, he’d be out soon to thank everyone for their support. The crowd didn’t like that. They were not there to support him. If they could, they’d bury him. His lawyer, Eric van den Berg, an old hand, read the crowd's mood and made sure his client didn’t have to go through all that.
But the crowd itself was fascinating. This reporter found himself having to count to 10 when told by one of its members that Wa Afrika was guilty of treason. The logic was this; Mabuza is a premier, therefore he’s like a governor, therefore if you take him on, you’re taking on the province. That’s right, ladies and gentleman. Nigeria, just three hours down the N4 from the heart of Johannesburg.
But this is the problem with the province in a nutshell. Leaders are conflating the province with themselves. They are the ones who must be served, not the people. They are the ones who must control. Everything. All of it.
So many questions after this week. Here’s just a flavour:
Who decided Wa Afrika should be arrested?
Was it a police officer?
Was it Bheki Cele?
David Mabuza?
Menzi Simelane?
All of the above?
Who really decided he should be charged? The moment this really passed into illegality was not at the time of the arrest, it was when a prosecutor decided on Thursday that there was no evidence to back up a case. Then the Hawks tell us there was “engagement”. Really? With whom? Was it Pretoria? Or Nelspruit? Who has the power to overrule a prosecutor? Simelane must have been involved, one way or another. And who was the one to phone him? It must have been Mabuza, or his representative. We’ve said it before this week, this is ANC deployment in action. This is what happens when a political party is not happy with just controlling all the political levers of power, but needs to control absolutely everything. And then when things go wrong, and that becomes public, kill the messenger. Why not. You’ll get away with it.
And that’s the sad, sorry story of Wa Afrika's arrest. That no one, not Mabuza, not Simelane and certainly not Cele will ever face any punishment for this. You know it and we know it.
This week has seen the cancer of Mpumalanga politics get a national face. We now all know there is something deeply wrong in the province. And that it’s only because this happened to a journalist from a paper with the nous and the money to do something about it that he’s free now. What would have happened if some swastika armband-wearing functionary had decided this was all classified and that the public doesn't need to know anything? And under the Protection of Information Act, many would have the power to do it.
And if that’s not scary enough, understand this. The symbol of today was not Wa Afrika walking free, or the angry misguided crowd outside the court. It was the Hawks officers who came into the court room in riot gear. With guns, tear-gas and those vests that bring the menace. And sun-glasses in a court room. It’s them, the foot soldiers who are going to claim one day that they were just following orders that will do the kicking pushing shoving hurting and perhaps killing. We need to know who really controls them. It’s certainly not the people of this country.
Shape of Things to Come indeed.
Source: The Daily Maverick
Cele requests to meet with Sanef
Recent reports on police commissioner Bheki Cele and the R500 million rental deal for police headquarters may be on the agenda in a meeting between him and the SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef) on Tuesday. Sanef media freedom expert Raymond Louw said on Monday Cele had requested the meeting and they did not know what issues he would raise. "Obviously he is going to raise some issues, he may raise issues about the reports on the move of the police headquarters."
At a media briefing last week Cele said he would be approaching Sanef about the article in the Sunday Times to discuss what he said had been a unanimous agreement on the principles of professionalism. The Sunday Times reported that Cele had signed a R500 million property rental deal that would see police headquarters move to the Middestad Sanlam centre in Pretoria. According to the report the deal was not treated as a tender, violating Treasury regulations that all government contracts worth over R500,000 go through a bid process. However, Cele had denied this.
Louw said the editors were going to raise concerns about the conduct of the police in the arrest of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika.
Wa Afrika was arrested outside the Sunday Times' offices on Wednesday by members of the Hawks special police unit. He was apparently arrested for the possession of what police claim was a fraudulent letter of resignation from Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma.
The meeting would take place at Sanef offices in Johannesburg at 10am.
Source: IoL
At a media briefing last week Cele said he would be approaching Sanef about the article in the Sunday Times to discuss what he said had been a unanimous agreement on the principles of professionalism. The Sunday Times reported that Cele had signed a R500 million property rental deal that would see police headquarters move to the Middestad Sanlam centre in Pretoria. According to the report the deal was not treated as a tender, violating Treasury regulations that all government contracts worth over R500,000 go through a bid process. However, Cele had denied this.
Louw said the editors were going to raise concerns about the conduct of the police in the arrest of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika.
Wa Afrika was arrested outside the Sunday Times' offices on Wednesday by members of the Hawks special police unit. He was apparently arrested for the possession of what police claim was a fraudulent letter of resignation from Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma.
The meeting would take place at Sanef offices in Johannesburg at 10am.
Source: IoL
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The premier and the faxed letter
It is now clear that Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika's arrest on Wednesday was directly related to an allegedly fraudulent resignation letter purportedly written by Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza.
The letter, dated June 2 2010, is addressed to President Jacob Zuma and asks Zuma to relieve him of his duties with effect from July 17, shortly after the end of the World Cup, in order not to divert attention from the soccer tournament. The document was widely circulated by fax among journalists. After learning that such a fax had been sent to the Sunday Times, Mabuza's office opened a fraud case at the Kabokweni police station, about 30km outside Nelspruit.
One of the recipients of the letter was wa Afrika - a journalist Mabuza's office has accused of portraying the province as a "butcher ground" for political enemies. The reference is to a series of reports about the murder of former Mbombela council speaker Jimmy Mohlala and the assassination of other senior ANC figures in the province. Mohlala had exposed alleged corruption in World Cup tenders, including those for Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium.
Wa Afrika and this reporter had penned articles about a Mozambican man , identified only as "Josh", who claimed to have been hired as an assassin by a senior Mpumalanga politician. The series also covered the mysterious deaths of several civil servants - including a provincial government spokes-man, Sammy Mpatlanyane, who was shot and killed at his home in January.
Mabuza's silence on the killings and the emergence of an alleged hit list containing names of senior ANC leaders in the province added to the political pressure on the premier on the back of nearly a year of service-delivery protests in the province. Mabuza, a wealthy politician who opts to live on his farm rather than in an official residence, had initially had a smooth run after beating Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo to the post of ANC chairman of Mpumalanga. But this did not last for the man known as "The Hurricane" due to his verbal outbursts and propensity to shout at his staff. In May 2009, after his appointment as premier, service-delivery protests flared in Mpumalanga. Seven local municipalities were affected, including Thaba Chweu in Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg), Mkhondo in Piet Retief, Pixley ka Seme in Volksrust, Emalahleni in Emalahleni (formerly Witbank), Mbombela, Lekwa in Standerton and Dipaliseng in Balfour.
In most areas the protests turned violent with government buildings being razed and police firing rubber bullets at crowds. At the height of the protests, Mabuza's close ally, Raymond Makamo, accused ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa of being part of a plot to oust Mabuza by "funding and fuelling" the protests. Phosa is suing Makamo, the Mpumalanga secretary of the SA National Civics Organisation, for R1-million in damages for this. In September last year, a group of disgruntled ANC members organised a press conference to discuss the removal of Mabuza as provincial chairman. The press conference was cancelled at the last minute after some members - claiming to have received threatening phone calls - decided not to attend. The group later wrote to Zuma, asking him to remove Mabuza as premier. "Mr President, may you please relieve our Premier of his duties if you want to see progress in the province," the letter read.
The letter went on to accuse Mabuza of a litany of irregularities while he was MEC for three departments - education, agriculture, and roads and transport. It also accused him of buying cars for local journalists in return for their writing positive stories about him. His spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, dismissed the allegations as "baseless". Nonetheless, in 1998 Mabuza was forced to resign as MEC for education after a forensic investigation found his department had inflated the province's matric pass rate from 46% to 72.5%. About 7000 pupils who had been told they had "passed" their exams were later told they had failed.
Early last year, former provincial ANC Youth League secretary James Nkambule claimed that Mabuza had paid R400000 towards Zuma' s wedding in 2008. Nkambule made the claim in a letter to ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe, in which he accused Mabuza of having used his financial position to land the position as premier. N either Zuma nor Mabuza's offices have disputed the payment.
Source: Times Live
The letter, dated June 2 2010, is addressed to President Jacob Zuma and asks Zuma to relieve him of his duties with effect from July 17, shortly after the end of the World Cup, in order not to divert attention from the soccer tournament. The document was widely circulated by fax among journalists. After learning that such a fax had been sent to the Sunday Times, Mabuza's office opened a fraud case at the Kabokweni police station, about 30km outside Nelspruit.
One of the recipients of the letter was wa Afrika - a journalist Mabuza's office has accused of portraying the province as a "butcher ground" for political enemies. The reference is to a series of reports about the murder of former Mbombela council speaker Jimmy Mohlala and the assassination of other senior ANC figures in the province. Mohlala had exposed alleged corruption in World Cup tenders, including those for Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium.
Wa Afrika and this reporter had penned articles about a Mozambican man , identified only as "Josh", who claimed to have been hired as an assassin by a senior Mpumalanga politician. The series also covered the mysterious deaths of several civil servants - including a provincial government spokes-man, Sammy Mpatlanyane, who was shot and killed at his home in January.
Mabuza's silence on the killings and the emergence of an alleged hit list containing names of senior ANC leaders in the province added to the political pressure on the premier on the back of nearly a year of service-delivery protests in the province. Mabuza, a wealthy politician who opts to live on his farm rather than in an official residence, had initially had a smooth run after beating Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo to the post of ANC chairman of Mpumalanga. But this did not last for the man known as "The Hurricane" due to his verbal outbursts and propensity to shout at his staff. In May 2009, after his appointment as premier, service-delivery protests flared in Mpumalanga. Seven local municipalities were affected, including Thaba Chweu in Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg), Mkhondo in Piet Retief, Pixley ka Seme in Volksrust, Emalahleni in Emalahleni (formerly Witbank), Mbombela, Lekwa in Standerton and Dipaliseng in Balfour.
In most areas the protests turned violent with government buildings being razed and police firing rubber bullets at crowds. At the height of the protests, Mabuza's close ally, Raymond Makamo, accused ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa of being part of a plot to oust Mabuza by "funding and fuelling" the protests. Phosa is suing Makamo, the Mpumalanga secretary of the SA National Civics Organisation, for R1-million in damages for this. In September last year, a group of disgruntled ANC members organised a press conference to discuss the removal of Mabuza as provincial chairman. The press conference was cancelled at the last minute after some members - claiming to have received threatening phone calls - decided not to attend. The group later wrote to Zuma, asking him to remove Mabuza as premier. "Mr President, may you please relieve our Premier of his duties if you want to see progress in the province," the letter read.
The letter went on to accuse Mabuza of a litany of irregularities while he was MEC for three departments - education, agriculture, and roads and transport. It also accused him of buying cars for local journalists in return for their writing positive stories about him. His spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, dismissed the allegations as "baseless". Nonetheless, in 1998 Mabuza was forced to resign as MEC for education after a forensic investigation found his department had inflated the province's matric pass rate from 46% to 72.5%. About 7000 pupils who had been told they had "passed" their exams were later told they had failed.
Early last year, former provincial ANC Youth League secretary James Nkambule claimed that Mabuza had paid R400000 towards Zuma' s wedding in 2008. Nkambule made the claim in a letter to ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe, in which he accused Mabuza of having used his financial position to land the position as premier. N either Zuma nor Mabuza's offices have disputed the payment.
Source: Times Live
Senior policeman's startling admission: Arrest was political
There is mounting evidence that political pressure lay behind the arrest this week of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, despite furious denials from police top brass. A senior police official close to the case admitted yesterday that police were feeling the heat from ANC politicians to crack down on wa Afrika, because of his reporting. "Ja - it's political pressure," he told the Sunday Times.
Yesterday, Mabutho Sithole, a spokesman for Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, confirmed the premier had laid the initial complaint, at the Kabokweni police station in Nelspruit, which culminated in wa Afrika's arrest. Mabuza, a controversial figure in Mpumalanga, has been the subject of various articles in the Sunday Times and other publications.
The complaint was sparked by a letter faxed to the Sunday Times, in which Mabuza supposedly states his intention to resign as premier. Mabuza insisted the letter was a forgery and that he had no intention of resigning. "He (Mabuza) complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got a copy of the letter and received information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," said Sithole.
Wa Afrika was arrested at 11.15am on Wednesday outside the Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Minutes earlier Sunday Times lawyer Renier Spies had been negotiating with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Mabasa at Rosebank police station not to arrest wa Afrika at his office, but rather to allow the journalist to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime (Mabasa) contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone," said Spies. "According to (Mabasa), the general he spoke to was on his way to the station and wanted to join us." Minutes later, several police vehicles with sirens blaring pulled up alongside wa Afrika outside the Sunday Times building while he was walking to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle and drove off at high speed.
At 7pm on Thursday night, the Sunday Times went to the High Court in Pretoria to bring an urgent application for wa Afrika's release. Just before 10pm, acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered his immediate release following an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 10:30pm on Thursday night. He appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on bail of R5000 and is scheduled to appear again on November 8.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on (Mabasa) to effect an arrest". This is borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating wa Afrika and fellow suspect Victor Mlimi, a senior provincial government official, at the Nelspruit office of the police's provincial Organised Crime Unit on Thursday. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," said wa Afrika. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. "They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Mlimi's lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, said his client was questioned for two hours about the ANC's provincial leadership succession battles, and which political camp he supported. "I was present when my client was asked, Are you destroying the image and integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga? I advised my client not to answer that question. It struck me that this has more to do with politics than a criminal case."
The day before the arrest, police chief General Bheki Cele had referred to wa Afrika as a "shady journalist", in response to an article he co-authored about the police chief's involvement in clinching a R500-million lease agreement, without going to tender, with billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. The vigour police used to pursue wa Afrika also raised eyebrows. The case was opened at Kabokweni police station on Monday and wa Afrika was arrested two days later. Police have yet to arrest anyone connected to the deaths of Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts and culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane - both of whom appeared on an alleged hit list that emerged last year . Mohlala was gunned down outside his house by three masked men in January 2009 in Kanyamazane township outside Nelspruit. Mpatlanyane was shot in his Nelspruit home in January 2010. "Those murders are still under investigation," Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi told the Sunday Times yesterday.
The visible lack of progress in these cases contrasts with the swift action taken against wa Afrika, one of the journalists who exposed the alleged hit list. Cele's spokesman, Nonkululeko Mbatha, told the Sunday Times yesterday "the semblance and impressions you have are not factual". "Police have instituted a probe which is ongoing and appealed to members of the public who might have information ... to come to the fore." Asked about the negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, she said: "I cannot undo that impression but the fact of the matter is no one is immune from investigation of what is suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by the general (Cele) to apprehend or intimidate the journalist are incorrect and a figment of imagination."
Mabuza's spokesman also denied exerting any political pressure on police, or that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate wa Afrika and derail his investigative reporting on the murders.
Source: Times Live
Yesterday, Mabutho Sithole, a spokesman for Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, confirmed the premier had laid the initial complaint, at the Kabokweni police station in Nelspruit, which culminated in wa Afrika's arrest. Mabuza, a controversial figure in Mpumalanga, has been the subject of various articles in the Sunday Times and other publications.
The complaint was sparked by a letter faxed to the Sunday Times, in which Mabuza supposedly states his intention to resign as premier. Mabuza insisted the letter was a forgery and that he had no intention of resigning. "He (Mabuza) complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got a copy of the letter and received information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," said Sithole.
Wa Afrika was arrested at 11.15am on Wednesday outside the Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Minutes earlier Sunday Times lawyer Renier Spies had been negotiating with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Mabasa at Rosebank police station not to arrest wa Afrika at his office, but rather to allow the journalist to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime (Mabasa) contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone," said Spies. "According to (Mabasa), the general he spoke to was on his way to the station and wanted to join us." Minutes later, several police vehicles with sirens blaring pulled up alongside wa Afrika outside the Sunday Times building while he was walking to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle and drove off at high speed.
At 7pm on Thursday night, the Sunday Times went to the High Court in Pretoria to bring an urgent application for wa Afrika's release. Just before 10pm, acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered his immediate release following an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 10:30pm on Thursday night. He appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on bail of R5000 and is scheduled to appear again on November 8.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on (Mabasa) to effect an arrest". This is borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating wa Afrika and fellow suspect Victor Mlimi, a senior provincial government official, at the Nelspruit office of the police's provincial Organised Crime Unit on Thursday. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," said wa Afrika. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. "They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Mlimi's lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, said his client was questioned for two hours about the ANC's provincial leadership succession battles, and which political camp he supported. "I was present when my client was asked, Are you destroying the image and integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga? I advised my client not to answer that question. It struck me that this has more to do with politics than a criminal case."
The day before the arrest, police chief General Bheki Cele had referred to wa Afrika as a "shady journalist", in response to an article he co-authored about the police chief's involvement in clinching a R500-million lease agreement, without going to tender, with billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu. The vigour police used to pursue wa Afrika also raised eyebrows. The case was opened at Kabokweni police station on Monday and wa Afrika was arrested two days later. Police have yet to arrest anyone connected to the deaths of Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts and culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane - both of whom appeared on an alleged hit list that emerged last year . Mohlala was gunned down outside his house by three masked men in January 2009 in Kanyamazane township outside Nelspruit. Mpatlanyane was shot in his Nelspruit home in January 2010. "Those murders are still under investigation," Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi told the Sunday Times yesterday.
The visible lack of progress in these cases contrasts with the swift action taken against wa Afrika, one of the journalists who exposed the alleged hit list. Cele's spokesman, Nonkululeko Mbatha, told the Sunday Times yesterday "the semblance and impressions you have are not factual". "Police have instituted a probe which is ongoing and appealed to members of the public who might have information ... to come to the fore." Asked about the negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, she said: "I cannot undo that impression but the fact of the matter is no one is immune from investigation of what is suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by the general (Cele) to apprehend or intimidate the journalist are incorrect and a figment of imagination."
Mabuza's spokesman also denied exerting any political pressure on police, or that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate wa Afrika and derail his investigative reporting on the murders.
Source: Times Live
Premier 'laid charges' that led to reporter's arrest
Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza laid the forgery charges that resulted in Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika's arrest, the newspaper reported on Saturday. Mabuza's spokesperson Mabutho Sithole told the paper the premier had laid the complaint at the Kabokweni police station on Monday in Nelspruit. "He [Mabuza] complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," Sithole said.
Wa Afrika was arrested outside the Sunday Times offices in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Wednesday by members of the Hawks special police unit. He was apparently arrested for the possession of what police claim was a fraudulent letter of resignation from Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma. According to the newspaper, Wa Afrika was arrested minutes after its lawyer Renier Spies negotiated with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mabasa at the Rosebank police station not to arrest the journalist at his office, but rather to allow him to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime Mabasa contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone ... The general was on his way to the station and wanted to join us," Spies said. Minutes later, Wa Afrika was arrested outside the offices on his way to the police station.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on Mabasa to affect an arrest". This was also apparently borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating Wa Afrika. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," Wa Afrika was quoted saying. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Wa Afrika was arrested outside the Sunday Times offices in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Wednesday by members of the Hawks special police unit. He was apparently arrested for the possession of what police claim was a fraudulent letter of resignation from Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma. According to the newspaper, Wa Afrika was arrested minutes after its lawyer Renier Spies negotiated with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mabasa at the Rosebank police station not to arrest the journalist at his office, but rather to allow him to hand himself over at the station. "In the meantime Mabasa contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone ... The general was on his way to the station and wanted to join us," Spies said. Minutes later, Wa Afrika was arrested outside the offices on his way to the police station.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on Mabasa to affect an arrest". This was also apparently borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating Wa Afrika. "I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," Wa Afrika was quoted saying. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Intelligence agencies monitored Mpumalanga 'troublemakers'
MPUMALANGA Premier David Mabuza refuses to say whether he has used surveillance or intelligence agents to monitor journalists or political opponents.
Mabuza has, however, previously told an April 15 press conference that he routinely monitors "troublemakers" in the province, via weekly intelligence reports containing classified information, including surveillance records of people perceived to be a threat to the stability of his administration.
He boasted at the time that nothing happened in the province without him being aware of it -- but, in the wake of international condemnation of the arrest of Sunday Times investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, Mabuza refused to either confirm or deny this week whether provincial intelligence authorities had included journalists in their surveillance.
Mabuza was not so coy back in April, when he told journalists: "On a daily basis, on a weekly basis I receive reports: intelligence reports with classified information. The reports tell me about your activities [and] about ordinary people doing things. And [the reports] will tell me the names of the people [involved]. They will tell me about threats in the province. It is [the security agency's] responsibility to do that. I mean across the board. "In these service delivery protests, they report who is who. Just for me to know, so I don’t miss the point. Not for me to arrest them. They will tell me [you] are doing one, two, three, four, five. Oh, OK. When I meet you, I will hug you and laugh with you, but I will know: there is something I know about you," Mabuza explained.
When questioned on the legality of monitoring political colleagues or journalists, Mabuza stressed that he merely received the reports. "People are not monitored [directly] by us, but remember that this is not a free-for-all country where you can steal cars, smuggle things, and hope that people will not follow you. As long as the security agencies feel they suspect you, they follow you, and they report where they must report so that you can be arrested or be monitored. It is their duty. "But, for me -- for people who are causing unrest, who are toyi-toying, who [are] saying things -- I must know who is doing what, where. The [security agencies] have a responsibility to tell me. How they do it, how they collect data, it is not my responsibility. I am not going to ask them how they came to this conclusion. Because they are giving me that information not to use, but to know."
Mabuza was then at pains to explain that all surveillance in the province was legal. "Security agencies, they know what to do. They cannot be threatened by you. If they want to listen to your phone, they know what to do. And, they will be granted permission. They must offer reasons why they want to listen to your phone, and a magistrate will give that permission. And that is it. Then you are being listened at. "But on their own, I don’t think that can just listen to your phone. It is a process. If you go to your law, you will find it. It is legislated, because as much as they can listen to your phone, you have got a right as a human being."
Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, confirmed on Thursday that Mabuza had been speaking about the supposed conspiracy involving Wa Afrika and a Mpumalanga deputy director for informal settlements, Victor Mlimi. The two were arrested earlier this week and charged with fraud, forgery, and uttering (to circulate fraudulent items) for being in possession of an allegedly fake letter of resignation purportedly written by Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma.
Mabuza issued a strongly worded press statement shortly after the arrests, claiming Wa Afrika was part of a wider plot to destabilise the province and unseat Mabuza as premier. "Definitely, he was speaking about the same case at that press conference [in April]. It is all linked: this Josh hit-list story, the alleged raid on [Mabuza's] house that never happened, and now the fake resignation letter. We said then that journalists were part of a plot with people who are hell-bent on discrediting the Premier's good name," said Sithole.
Sithole said the allegations, including that Mabuza had an arms cache and millions in cash at his home plus that he'd hired hitmen to murder opponents, were viewed as threats to state security. Sithole also claimed that the violent service delivery riots that have rocked the province for over a year are part of the plot, and are being funded by political opponents. He refused, however, to comment on whether Mabuza had received surveillance reports on journalists who reported on the allegations, or who were perceived to be "part of the plot". "I do not know and I will not ask the Premier, because even if he is receiving such reports, he would not tell me yes or no. He would not be able to divulge in terms of protocol. The content of such reports is classified," Sithole insisted on Thursday. When pressed, Sithole undertook to check with Mabuza. He was, however, still unwilling to confirm or deny on Friday and was consistently unavailable on Saturday.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi also refused to comment on whether intelligence agencies had assisted with the investigation, or whether journalists in the province had been under surveillance. "I have not been briefed on that, and am not going to speculate or say anything before the matter is before court. You will have to wait for the court hearing," was Zondi's initial terse response. When pressed for comment again on Saturday, Zondi said: "I can't comment on spying issues. That is outside my scope".
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) spokeswoman, Lorna Daniels, was unavailable on either of her mobile phones on Saturday. Zondi meanwhile also refused to respond to Mabuza's midnight statement on Wednesday, which claimed Wa Afrika's arrest was linked to that of James Nkambule in March.
Nkambule was arrested after admitting to circulating a hit-list of Mpumalanga public figures supposedly drafted by a Mozambican assassin known only as 'Josh'. The list included Mbombela municipality speaker, councillor Jimmy Mohlala, who was executed in front of his family in January 2009 while investigating tender irregularities relating to the Mbombela 2010 stadium. No one has been arrested for the murder. The list also included names of other Mpumalanga officials who had either died or disappeared in questionable circumstances during anti-corruption investigations.
Source: Capital
Mabuza has, however, previously told an April 15 press conference that he routinely monitors "troublemakers" in the province, via weekly intelligence reports containing classified information, including surveillance records of people perceived to be a threat to the stability of his administration.
He boasted at the time that nothing happened in the province without him being aware of it -- but, in the wake of international condemnation of the arrest of Sunday Times investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, Mabuza refused to either confirm or deny this week whether provincial intelligence authorities had included journalists in their surveillance.
Mabuza was not so coy back in April, when he told journalists: "On a daily basis, on a weekly basis I receive reports: intelligence reports with classified information. The reports tell me about your activities [and] about ordinary people doing things. And [the reports] will tell me the names of the people [involved]. They will tell me about threats in the province. It is [the security agency's] responsibility to do that. I mean across the board. "In these service delivery protests, they report who is who. Just for me to know, so I don’t miss the point. Not for me to arrest them. They will tell me [you] are doing one, two, three, four, five. Oh, OK. When I meet you, I will hug you and laugh with you, but I will know: there is something I know about you," Mabuza explained.
When questioned on the legality of monitoring political colleagues or journalists, Mabuza stressed that he merely received the reports. "People are not monitored [directly] by us, but remember that this is not a free-for-all country where you can steal cars, smuggle things, and hope that people will not follow you. As long as the security agencies feel they suspect you, they follow you, and they report where they must report so that you can be arrested or be monitored. It is their duty. "But, for me -- for people who are causing unrest, who are toyi-toying, who [are] saying things -- I must know who is doing what, where. The [security agencies] have a responsibility to tell me. How they do it, how they collect data, it is not my responsibility. I am not going to ask them how they came to this conclusion. Because they are giving me that information not to use, but to know."
Mabuza was then at pains to explain that all surveillance in the province was legal. "Security agencies, they know what to do. They cannot be threatened by you. If they want to listen to your phone, they know what to do. And, they will be granted permission. They must offer reasons why they want to listen to your phone, and a magistrate will give that permission. And that is it. Then you are being listened at. "But on their own, I don’t think that can just listen to your phone. It is a process. If you go to your law, you will find it. It is legislated, because as much as they can listen to your phone, you have got a right as a human being."
Mabuza's spokesman, Mabutho Sithole, confirmed on Thursday that Mabuza had been speaking about the supposed conspiracy involving Wa Afrika and a Mpumalanga deputy director for informal settlements, Victor Mlimi. The two were arrested earlier this week and charged with fraud, forgery, and uttering (to circulate fraudulent items) for being in possession of an allegedly fake letter of resignation purportedly written by Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma.
Mabuza issued a strongly worded press statement shortly after the arrests, claiming Wa Afrika was part of a wider plot to destabilise the province and unseat Mabuza as premier. "Definitely, he was speaking about the same case at that press conference [in April]. It is all linked: this Josh hit-list story, the alleged raid on [Mabuza's] house that never happened, and now the fake resignation letter. We said then that journalists were part of a plot with people who are hell-bent on discrediting the Premier's good name," said Sithole.
Sithole said the allegations, including that Mabuza had an arms cache and millions in cash at his home plus that he'd hired hitmen to murder opponents, were viewed as threats to state security. Sithole also claimed that the violent service delivery riots that have rocked the province for over a year are part of the plot, and are being funded by political opponents. He refused, however, to comment on whether Mabuza had received surveillance reports on journalists who reported on the allegations, or who were perceived to be "part of the plot". "I do not know and I will not ask the Premier, because even if he is receiving such reports, he would not tell me yes or no. He would not be able to divulge in terms of protocol. The content of such reports is classified," Sithole insisted on Thursday. When pressed, Sithole undertook to check with Mabuza. He was, however, still unwilling to confirm or deny on Friday and was consistently unavailable on Saturday.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi also refused to comment on whether intelligence agencies had assisted with the investigation, or whether journalists in the province had been under surveillance. "I have not been briefed on that, and am not going to speculate or say anything before the matter is before court. You will have to wait for the court hearing," was Zondi's initial terse response. When pressed for comment again on Saturday, Zondi said: "I can't comment on spying issues. That is outside my scope".
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) spokeswoman, Lorna Daniels, was unavailable on either of her mobile phones on Saturday. Zondi meanwhile also refused to respond to Mabuza's midnight statement on Wednesday, which claimed Wa Afrika's arrest was linked to that of James Nkambule in March.
Nkambule was arrested after admitting to circulating a hit-list of Mpumalanga public figures supposedly drafted by a Mozambican assassin known only as 'Josh'. The list included Mbombela municipality speaker, councillor Jimmy Mohlala, who was executed in front of his family in January 2009 while investigating tender irregularities relating to the Mbombela 2010 stadium. No one has been arrested for the murder. The list also included names of other Mpumalanga officials who had either died or disappeared in questionable circumstances during anti-corruption investigations.
Source: Capital
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