Say what you like about the politics of the national government's intervention in three provinces, one thing is clear: a scaled-down analogue of the eurozone crisis is unfolding within the borders of South Africa. Limpopo literally ran out of money three weeks ago, maxing out its overdraft at the Corporation for Public Deposits and exceeding its half-a-billion-rand facility at First National Bank. The treasury had to move forward its payment on one of the province's regular tranches of funding so that teachers and nurses could be paid.
The province blames unexpected increases in civil service wages and the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation for health workers. These were provided for at central level, but seem to have been implemented amid real confusion and, on a charitable interpretation, unexpected wage payments in a context of rampant corruption and mismanagement may have finally tipped the provincial fiscus over the edge.
The treasury effected a hostile takeover of the Limpopo this week, placing five key departments under administration. To all intents and purposes the province has been stripped of its basic functions. Premier Cassel Mathale is now a figurehead, presiding over a shell of a government run from Pretoria. No doubt the emergency was real and drastic intervention was warranted, but there is no escaping the fact that the move deprives one of President Jacob Zuma's most important opponents of almost all his power and, crucially, of his patronage machinery.
Supporters of Mathale, Julius Malema and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula are fuming over the coup, which they insist is driven purely by politics. They point to other provinces with large overdrafts and rickety finances that have not suffered the same fate. There is no gainsaying the political advantage secured by Zuma with this move, but Mathale and his government opened themselves up to it by allowing Limpopo's finances to deteriorate beyond the mere mess we have come to expect into real crisis.
In contrast to the takeover of Limpopo moves to stabilise the finances of Gauteng and the Free State, with their Zuma-aligned premiers, look more like friendly bailouts. Gauteng, despite a health service that the treasury described to Cabinet as being in "disarray", will be dealt with via an "agreement" between the province and the national government. And in the profligate, but less disastrous, Free State the intervention is limited to the roads department. Those Gauteng projects that do face major cutbacks date from the tenure as finance MEC of Paul Mashatile, another Zuma opponent. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who is at loggerheads with Mashatile, may not be very sorry to see them trimmed or abandoned.
The politics then are real and they are vicious, but so are the impacts of mismanagement, and they stretch deep into other provinces. KwaZulu-Natal and the North West are said by the treasury to be on track for recovery. Meanwhile, in municipalities across the country similar failures are compromising access to clean water, basic infrastructure and housing.
As the treasury warned Cabinet on Monday: "Non-delivery and slow delivery of services poses a security risk for the country." That is a welcome recognition but, if risk is really to be diminished, interventions from the centre will have to move beyond politics.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Showing posts with label Fikile Mbalula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fikile Mbalula. Show all posts
Friday, December 9, 2011
Friday, September 3, 2010
'Coalition of the wounded' turns on Zuma
A new "coalition of the wounded" has emerged in the ANC ahead of the party's national general council, with many of President Jacob Zuma's once most ardent backers now joining forces to stop his serving a second term. It took slightly more than two years for Zuma to alienate some of his staunchest supporters, including the ANC Youth League. Now his future lies in the hands of the left -- Cosatu and the South African Communist Party -- at a time when alliance relations are at a nadir.
According to several ANC sources linked to the Youth League, the SACP, Cosatu and the government, many party leaders have their eye on higher office or want to punish Zuma for not rewarding them sufficiently for their support in the run-up to the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference. They are said to include Siphiwe Nyanda, the communications minister, Fikile Mbalula, the deputy police minister, and Julius Malema, the league's president.
Lobbyists wanting Zuma to retain his position at the ANC's next conference in 2012 claim Nyanda aspires to become the party's treasurer general, although this week Nyanda denied this, saying he has "no such intentions". "I can't choose for myself what I want to be. I went to Polokwane as an ordinary branch member of the ANC and was elected to the national executive committee. The ANC decides, I don't have a say," he said.
ANC sources said that Nyanda was also resentful that he had not landed the defence portfolio, which went to Lindiwe Sisulu. Some Zuma supporters are suspicious of former intelligence chief Billy Masetlha, saying he hankers after higher office -- something he denies. Zuma lobbyists say that Masetlha, who was not given a Cabinet position, wants to be in the ANC's "top six", a platform from which, he believes, he can counter detractors effectively. He denied this, saying he had previously been approached to be a minister, but had declined. He said he had no ambition to have a higher office in the ANC. "What is the fun in being in the top six?" he asked. But he did take a dig at his fellow national executive committee members, who needed to "pull up their socks". "Sixty percent of the people in the NEC are doing other things, like this lobbying and pushing their own agendas. They are not doing their jobs." He said his criticisms would make him "even more unpopular than I already am, but I've had enough".
A second group of leaders, calling themselves the "new frontier", is a subgroup of the broad front that questions Zuma's leadership. They are talking to one another and their constituencies about what they see as the erosion of traditional ANC values. Key new frontier members are Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary, and Sisulu.
An ANC insider close to them said that they were discussing a return to such values as a rejection of corruption and a clear division between party and state. "The new frontier is where the action is," said the source. "New alliances are coalesced around the future of the ANC and of government and these leaders are having a conversation about what is to be done."
A government official with strong ANC links said that the realignment taking place did not bode well for the national general council, which kicks off on September 20. An ANC-aligned government official said: "Anyone who thinks the NGC can be managed must think again. There is an organic unhappiness that will come out there. Each sector [including the youth and women's leagues] is going to the NGC with a position and that will cause huge debate. There is less talk about tickets and more about where the ANC is going." Although Sisulu has kept a low political profile of late, insiders say that she has been thrown into the mix because of a need to ensure gender representation. She is seen as the most senior women leader in the ANC after national chairperson Baleka Mbete. Mbete, who is currently active in business, is said to have lost interest in furthering her career in the ANC.
Also prominent in the coalition is Malema, who was once quoted as saying he was prepared to "kill for Zuma". As recently as January this year, the league was the only major ANC formation to defend the president. But in April Zuma publicly rebuked him for acting in ways "alien to the ANC" after Malema had defied the ANC NEC by singing the song Shoot the Boer and calling the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe a "Mickey Mouse party". He was later dragged into a humiliating disciplinary process, which forced him to make a public admission of guilt and apologise to Zuma. Malema has joined forces with Fikile Mbalula, a former youth league chief who expected more than a "mere" deputy minister position in return for his efforts in ensuring a Zuma victory at Polokwane, youth league sources say. To show their disdain for his "low-ranking position", Mbalula's supporters are urging Zuma to relieve him of his executive duties and return him to Luthuli House.
Even former Mbeki supporters, previously in the political wilderness, have been roped in to boost the numbers in both the Zuma and anti-Zuma camps. One such a figure, who is being lobbied to support ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, said Mbeki's former supporters fear a takeover by the Youth League and their circle. "[We are more frightened of] an ANC Youth League takeover, which will destroy the organisation. The Youth League's supporters have no intention of rebuilding or uniting the party -- they just want to use positions to accumulate wealth."
Former ANC leaders in the Western Cape say they are being lobbied to support either of the two camps and are being promised plum government jobs. According to sources, Vavi is being lobbied to take over the position of Blade Nzimande, South African Communist Party boss, giving him a better chance to secure a senior ANC position.
The SACP is holding its elective conference in July 2012, six months before the ANC national conference in Mangaung. Zuma can still rely on Cosatu's support, but in return the federation will expect him to strengthen alliance relations. Masetlha is confident that there is no threat to Zuma, despite the Youth League's withdrawal of support and the opposition of other leaders. "There is no threat to JZ. The ANC cannot be run by children and opportunists. We know where to get them and how to get them, so watch this space," he said.
Cosatu's rank and file still support Zuma, despite the government's response to the two-week public service strike. "The president is still relevant. Our hope is not gone. But his strength comes from the strength of the alliance," said Zet Luzipho, Cosatu's secretary in KwaZulu-Natal.
Source: Mail & Guardian
According to several ANC sources linked to the Youth League, the SACP, Cosatu and the government, many party leaders have their eye on higher office or want to punish Zuma for not rewarding them sufficiently for their support in the run-up to the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference. They are said to include Siphiwe Nyanda, the communications minister, Fikile Mbalula, the deputy police minister, and Julius Malema, the league's president.
Lobbyists wanting Zuma to retain his position at the ANC's next conference in 2012 claim Nyanda aspires to become the party's treasurer general, although this week Nyanda denied this, saying he has "no such intentions". "I can't choose for myself what I want to be. I went to Polokwane as an ordinary branch member of the ANC and was elected to the national executive committee. The ANC decides, I don't have a say," he said.
ANC sources said that Nyanda was also resentful that he had not landed the defence portfolio, which went to Lindiwe Sisulu. Some Zuma supporters are suspicious of former intelligence chief Billy Masetlha, saying he hankers after higher office -- something he denies. Zuma lobbyists say that Masetlha, who was not given a Cabinet position, wants to be in the ANC's "top six", a platform from which, he believes, he can counter detractors effectively. He denied this, saying he had previously been approached to be a minister, but had declined. He said he had no ambition to have a higher office in the ANC. "What is the fun in being in the top six?" he asked. But he did take a dig at his fellow national executive committee members, who needed to "pull up their socks". "Sixty percent of the people in the NEC are doing other things, like this lobbying and pushing their own agendas. They are not doing their jobs." He said his criticisms would make him "even more unpopular than I already am, but I've had enough".
A second group of leaders, calling themselves the "new frontier", is a subgroup of the broad front that questions Zuma's leadership. They are talking to one another and their constituencies about what they see as the erosion of traditional ANC values. Key new frontier members are Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary, and Sisulu.
An ANC insider close to them said that they were discussing a return to such values as a rejection of corruption and a clear division between party and state. "The new frontier is where the action is," said the source. "New alliances are coalesced around the future of the ANC and of government and these leaders are having a conversation about what is to be done."
A government official with strong ANC links said that the realignment taking place did not bode well for the national general council, which kicks off on September 20. An ANC-aligned government official said: "Anyone who thinks the NGC can be managed must think again. There is an organic unhappiness that will come out there. Each sector [including the youth and women's leagues] is going to the NGC with a position and that will cause huge debate. There is less talk about tickets and more about where the ANC is going." Although Sisulu has kept a low political profile of late, insiders say that she has been thrown into the mix because of a need to ensure gender representation. She is seen as the most senior women leader in the ANC after national chairperson Baleka Mbete. Mbete, who is currently active in business, is said to have lost interest in furthering her career in the ANC.
Also prominent in the coalition is Malema, who was once quoted as saying he was prepared to "kill for Zuma". As recently as January this year, the league was the only major ANC formation to defend the president. But in April Zuma publicly rebuked him for acting in ways "alien to the ANC" after Malema had defied the ANC NEC by singing the song Shoot the Boer and calling the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe a "Mickey Mouse party". He was later dragged into a humiliating disciplinary process, which forced him to make a public admission of guilt and apologise to Zuma. Malema has joined forces with Fikile Mbalula, a former youth league chief who expected more than a "mere" deputy minister position in return for his efforts in ensuring a Zuma victory at Polokwane, youth league sources say. To show their disdain for his "low-ranking position", Mbalula's supporters are urging Zuma to relieve him of his executive duties and return him to Luthuli House.
Even former Mbeki supporters, previously in the political wilderness, have been roped in to boost the numbers in both the Zuma and anti-Zuma camps. One such a figure, who is being lobbied to support ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, said Mbeki's former supporters fear a takeover by the Youth League and their circle. "[We are more frightened of] an ANC Youth League takeover, which will destroy the organisation. The Youth League's supporters have no intention of rebuilding or uniting the party -- they just want to use positions to accumulate wealth."
Former ANC leaders in the Western Cape say they are being lobbied to support either of the two camps and are being promised plum government jobs. According to sources, Vavi is being lobbied to take over the position of Blade Nzimande, South African Communist Party boss, giving him a better chance to secure a senior ANC position.
The SACP is holding its elective conference in July 2012, six months before the ANC national conference in Mangaung. Zuma can still rely on Cosatu's support, but in return the federation will expect him to strengthen alliance relations. Masetlha is confident that there is no threat to Zuma, despite the Youth League's withdrawal of support and the opposition of other leaders. "There is no threat to JZ. The ANC cannot be run by children and opportunists. We know where to get them and how to get them, so watch this space," he said.
Cosatu's rank and file still support Zuma, despite the government's response to the two-week public service strike. "The president is still relevant. Our hope is not gone. But his strength comes from the strength of the alliance," said Zet Luzipho, Cosatu's secretary in KwaZulu-Natal.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
'Bribery exists in ANC'
ANC head of campaigns Fikile Mbalula has admitted that bribery is rife at ANC conferences. He added that the party was considering setting up a committee to tackle corruption and conflict of interests.
Mbalula said on Tuesday that an "integrity committee" would be discussed by the ANC at its mid-term national general council in Durban next month. ANC national executive committee member Febe Potgieter-Gqubule said such a committee would be able to "look at conflicts of interest" of members and leaders. It would also deal with false allegations against members.
Mbalula said that the committee could only be agreed upon by the party's national conference in 2012. He said that money was being thrown around by leaders to lobby for support at ANC conferences and that it was a "danger that the organisation could be hijacked" in this way. "The question should not be how much money you have to have to win, but how hard you have worked for the party. We have been grappling with this question for a long time," he said. Vote-buying, dirty lobbying, factionalism and smear campaigns have characterised the ANC conferences since its unbanning.
The ANC's discussion documents proposed sanctions such as the disqualification of a delegate, expulsion from the meeting and the naming and shaming of candidates and their supporters as a way of containing power struggles. Power struggles and factional fights led to legal threats in the ANC in 2007 and court battles in the youth league this year, forcing the party to intervene and put a halt to legal battles.
Mbalula said the national general council would discuss the issue of ANC members running to the courts before exhausting internal ANC processes to resolve disputes. "If this issue is not addressed there is a danger that the ANC will have a president that is determined by a judge," he said.
Source: IoL
Mbalula said on Tuesday that an "integrity committee" would be discussed by the ANC at its mid-term national general council in Durban next month. ANC national executive committee member Febe Potgieter-Gqubule said such a committee would be able to "look at conflicts of interest" of members and leaders. It would also deal with false allegations against members.
Mbalula said that the committee could only be agreed upon by the party's national conference in 2012. He said that money was being thrown around by leaders to lobby for support at ANC conferences and that it was a "danger that the organisation could be hijacked" in this way. "The question should not be how much money you have to have to win, but how hard you have worked for the party. We have been grappling with this question for a long time," he said. Vote-buying, dirty lobbying, factionalism and smear campaigns have characterised the ANC conferences since its unbanning.
The ANC's discussion documents proposed sanctions such as the disqualification of a delegate, expulsion from the meeting and the naming and shaming of candidates and their supporters as a way of containing power struggles. Power struggles and factional fights led to legal threats in the ANC in 2007 and court battles in the youth league this year, forcing the party to intervene and put a halt to legal battles.
Mbalula said the national general council would discuss the issue of ANC members running to the courts before exhausting internal ANC processes to resolve disputes. "If this issue is not addressed there is a danger that the ANC will have a president that is determined by a judge," he said.
Source: IoL
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Corruption is 'counter-revolutionary': Mbalula
Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, whose name was mentioned in the Brett Kebble murder trial this week, has warned ANC members against corruption.
"ANC members who falter and engage in corrupt activities, they themselves must be arrested and must be named and shamed as corrupt," Mbalula told reporters in Johannesburg. "People being corrupt... is counter-revolutionary," added the former leader of the ANC Youth League. He was briefing the media on the Imvuselelo (renewal) campaign in terms of which the ruling ANC aims to have one million members by 2012.
Mbalula was responding to a question on whether ANC members were allowed to tender for government contracts. "ANC members are not excluded from tenders," he said. "The ANC is a church, what we expect of ANC members, when they tender and run tenders, they must be exceptional." He said the ANC did not want "tenderpreneurs" who "defaulted in the tender process" and ended up delivering bad services, such as poorly built houses and roads. "They must not be tenderpreneurs; tenderpreneurs are corrupt people." Corruption was against the "principles and values of the movement", he added.
Mbalula was speaking a day after his name was mentioned in the High Court in Johannesburg, where convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti stands accused of killing Kebble. The mining magnate's butler, Andrew Minnaar, told the court Kebble had a separate cellphone for "Fikile of the youth league", which was used "to have confidential discussions".
The court also heard that former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was on Kebble's pay roll.
Source: Times live
"ANC members who falter and engage in corrupt activities, they themselves must be arrested and must be named and shamed as corrupt," Mbalula told reporters in Johannesburg. "People being corrupt... is counter-revolutionary," added the former leader of the ANC Youth League. He was briefing the media on the Imvuselelo (renewal) campaign in terms of which the ruling ANC aims to have one million members by 2012.
Mbalula was responding to a question on whether ANC members were allowed to tender for government contracts. "ANC members are not excluded from tenders," he said. "The ANC is a church, what we expect of ANC members, when they tender and run tenders, they must be exceptional." He said the ANC did not want "tenderpreneurs" who "defaulted in the tender process" and ended up delivering bad services, such as poorly built houses and roads. "They must not be tenderpreneurs; tenderpreneurs are corrupt people." Corruption was against the "principles and values of the movement", he added.
Mbalula was speaking a day after his name was mentioned in the High Court in Johannesburg, where convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti stands accused of killing Kebble. The mining magnate's butler, Andrew Minnaar, told the court Kebble had a separate cellphone for "Fikile of the youth league", which was used "to have confidential discussions".
The court also heard that former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was on Kebble's pay roll.
Source: Times live
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Public Protector to probe Malema tenders
The Public Protector is to probe tenders awarded to the company SGL Engineering Projects, on whose board ANC Youth League president Julius Malema apparently serves as a director. The tenders include a R2,1-million sewerage upgrade, R39,3-million sewerage reticulation project, and a R27,9-million street paving and
drainage contract, Kgalalelo Masibi, a spokesperson for the Office of the Public Protector, said on Friday . Also under investigation were a R28-million tender for several municipal infrastructure projects and a R2-billion roads tender, she said.
The investigation followed complaints by AfriForum Youth and the Congress of the People. "The Public Protector can only investigate the conduct of public authorities," said Masibi. "The investigation will focus on whether any conduct in the award or management of the contracts in question was improper," she said.
Public Protector advocate Thuli Madonsela earlier said her office had received a number of complaints about alleged tender irregularities in various municipalities across Limpopo. "I have assembled a team to undertake this task. I have also initiated talks with the Auditor General with a view to conduct a joint investigation," she said.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Malema was asked if he thought it was fair to ask how he had accumulated his wealth at such a young age. Malema replied: "It's very fair. But write facts. What the media did [showed] it was never interested in the facts. I am not rich. I do not have millions as reported." He said that all his houses had bonds and were financed by banks. "I've never got any lucrative tender from anybody, including the company called SGL. "I live on handouts most of the time. If I don't have food to eat, I can call Cassel Mathale [premier of Limpopo] and say: "Chief, can you help me? I've got nothing here." I can call Thaba Mufamadi, I can call Pule Mabe [ANCYL treasurer general] or Mbalula. They all do the same with me. That's how we have come to relate to each other."
Source: Mail & Guardian
drainage contract, Kgalalelo Masibi, a spokesperson for the Office of the Public Protector, said on Friday . Also under investigation were a R28-million tender for several municipal infrastructure projects and a R2-billion roads tender, she said.
The investigation followed complaints by AfriForum Youth and the Congress of the People. "The Public Protector can only investigate the conduct of public authorities," said Masibi. "The investigation will focus on whether any conduct in the award or management of the contracts in question was improper," she said.
Public Protector advocate Thuli Madonsela earlier said her office had received a number of complaints about alleged tender irregularities in various municipalities across Limpopo. "I have assembled a team to undertake this task. I have also initiated talks with the Auditor General with a view to conduct a joint investigation," she said.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Malema was asked if he thought it was fair to ask how he had accumulated his wealth at such a young age. Malema replied: "It's very fair. But write facts. What the media did [showed] it was never interested in the facts. I am not rich. I do not have millions as reported." He said that all his houses had bonds and were financed by banks. "I've never got any lucrative tender from anybody, including the company called SGL. "I live on handouts most of the time. If I don't have food to eat, I can call Cassel Mathale [premier of Limpopo] and say: "Chief, can you help me? I've got nothing here." I can call Thaba Mufamadi, I can call Pule Mabe [ANCYL treasurer general] or Mbalula. They all do the same with me. That's how we have come to relate to each other."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Friday, March 26, 2010
ANC at war over premier
The political future of Mpumalanga Premier David "DD" Mabuza is in the balance, with some senior ANC leaders pushing for his early exit from the province's hot seat. ANC sources said this week that members of the party's national executive committee (NEC) had been wanting him removed because of the spate of service delivery protests and allegations relating to the murder of government officials and ANC politicians in Mpumalanga.
President Jacob Zuma, who personally intervened in the protests, has complained that government officials at other levels have not followed up on his work. Provincial sources have repeatedly accused party treasurer Mathews Phosa of being opposed to Mabuza, though Phosa denies this. They have also accused ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu of allowing uncertainty about Mabuza's position to continue.
However, Mabuza has powerful backers in the NEC -- they include Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. Several Mpumalanga and national ANC leaders have told the M&G that investigations by the police's crime intelligence unit have looked closely at Mabuza's alleged involvement in the scandals surrounding the Mbombela stadium. His spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said this week that he was aware of the rumours to this effect but no one had officially notified the premier. "We all hear the rumours. The police are better placed to answer that as they are the ones who are investigating," Sithole said. The M&G was unable to obtain police confirmation.
Mthembu said he would not comment on the rumours, though he defended his earlier decision to release a statement saying the ANC took the matter seriously and all allegations against provincial ANC leaders, including Mabuza, were being probed. His remarks angered Mabuza's supporters, who accused Mthembu of using his position to take on political rivals in Mpumalanga. "What we said was that a team is investigating the allegations raised," Mthembu said. "I don't know where this thing that I'm biased comes from. We read about the [existence] of the hit list in the media and we just can't dismiss it." Those backing Mabuza's removal say, bearing in mind next year's municipal elections, it would spare the ANC embarrassment if he left before more evidence against him emerged.
Since becoming premier Mabuza has been locked in political battles with his colleagues in the provincial ANC who feel they were marginalised when he appointed his cabinet. But his supporters believe he is being targeted by individuals out to control provincial resources. Mabuza's detractors are pushing for his rival, Mbombela mayor Lucky Chiwayo, to succeed him. But Chiwayo, who lost the position of provincial ANC chair to Mabuza, is under pressure from Mabuza's supporters to quit as mayor. This week the ANC's Ehlanzeni regional general council passed a resolution recommending that Chiwayo be recalled. The resolution is apparently in retaliation for his refusal to reinstate former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, a Mabuza ally. Chiwayo dismissed him because of allegations that he irregularly authorised the payment of R43-million to Lekia, the company of Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have arrested former ANC provincial secretary James Nkambule on charges of defeating the ends of justice, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Nkambule recently handed an affidavit to police which he claimed was written by a Mozambican hitman known as Josh, who said he was paid to assassinate politicians in the province.
Source: Mail & Guardian
President Jacob Zuma, who personally intervened in the protests, has complained that government officials at other levels have not followed up on his work. Provincial sources have repeatedly accused party treasurer Mathews Phosa of being opposed to Mabuza, though Phosa denies this. They have also accused ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu of allowing uncertainty about Mabuza's position to continue.
However, Mabuza has powerful backers in the NEC -- they include Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema. Several Mpumalanga and national ANC leaders have told the M&G that investigations by the police's crime intelligence unit have looked closely at Mabuza's alleged involvement in the scandals surrounding the Mbombela stadium. His spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said this week that he was aware of the rumours to this effect but no one had officially notified the premier. "We all hear the rumours. The police are better placed to answer that as they are the ones who are investigating," Sithole said. The M&G was unable to obtain police confirmation.
Mthembu said he would not comment on the rumours, though he defended his earlier decision to release a statement saying the ANC took the matter seriously and all allegations against provincial ANC leaders, including Mabuza, were being probed. His remarks angered Mabuza's supporters, who accused Mthembu of using his position to take on political rivals in Mpumalanga. "What we said was that a team is investigating the allegations raised," Mthembu said. "I don't know where this thing that I'm biased comes from. We read about the [existence] of the hit list in the media and we just can't dismiss it." Those backing Mabuza's removal say, bearing in mind next year's municipal elections, it would spare the ANC embarrassment if he left before more evidence against him emerged.
Since becoming premier Mabuza has been locked in political battles with his colleagues in the provincial ANC who feel they were marginalised when he appointed his cabinet. But his supporters believe he is being targeted by individuals out to control provincial resources. Mabuza's detractors are pushing for his rival, Mbombela mayor Lucky Chiwayo, to succeed him. But Chiwayo, who lost the position of provincial ANC chair to Mabuza, is under pressure from Mabuza's supporters to quit as mayor. This week the ANC's Ehlanzeni regional general council passed a resolution recommending that Chiwayo be recalled. The resolution is apparently in retaliation for his refusal to reinstate former Mbombela municipal manager Jacob Dladla, a Mabuza ally. Chiwayo dismissed him because of allegations that he irregularly authorised the payment of R43-million to Lekia, the company of Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police have arrested former ANC provincial secretary James Nkambule on charges of defeating the ends of justice, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Nkambule recently handed an affidavit to police which he claimed was written by a Mozambican hitman known as Josh, who said he was paid to assassinate politicians in the province.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Malema and the spy papers
Julius Malema's "intelligence document" was compiled by a former Sars employee - who is facing criminal charges but insists he was part of a sting operation. In an interview with the media following revelations of his business interests, Malema said he was in possession of a document listing the names of prominent political leaders who backed President Jacob Zuma's rise to power and were targeted for lifestyle audits. "I will make (the document) public, we just took it to the police to verify it," Malema told SAfm. He later told Metro FM last night that he would take the document to Zuma. "We received a document delivered in my office by anonymous fellows ... which has a long list of our names. There were instructions to people in Sars to investigate (me and) ... (deputy police minister) Fikile Mbalula and (Zuma's spokesman), Zizi Kodwa," he said.
Mbalula could not be reached, but Kodwa said even though he had not seen the document, he was aware of it. Although a cabinet minister anonymously told The Star last night that the document was "handled at the highest level", Ministry of State Security spokesman Brian Dube said Minister Siyabonga Cwele "does not know what Malema is talking about". Malema told e.tv that the document was compiled by "very senior people in Sars, very senior management, some of them in cabinet today" - a tacit reference to former Sars commissioner and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Coincidentally, Gordhan called for lifestyle audits in his budget speech last week.
The Star was approached last year by a former Sars employee, Michael Peega, who claimed he was part of a secret intelligence unit in the revenue service established by Gordhan. The Pretoria-based Peega, 34, said Malema was referring to his document. Malema's spokesman, Floyd Shivambu, said they were yet to release the document, but refused to confirm that this was the same Peega report. Peega said part of their brief was to investigate the lifestyles and tax status of senior Zuma supporters. This was during 2007, when the ANC's succession battle reached its apex. Others on Peega's list included national police commissioner Bheki Cele. Cele, through his spokeswoman Nonkululeko Mbatha, said last year that he was aware of the document but had decided to treat it "as rumour". However, Peega was fired by Sars for allegedly getting involved in rhino poaching and is facing criminal charges. He claimed he was part of a sting operation, a claim denied by Sars. The revenue service fired him after he was arrested following an internal disciplinary hearing.
At that time, The Star could not establish the veracity of Peega's claims or Sars's denial. Contacted yesterday, Peega said he stood by the document. "I am not backing off. That's why I want (Sars) to confront me in public to say that this document is not authentic. I am 200 percent behind it," Peega said. Asked about the criminal charges, he said: "The case has not gone to trial, there have been postponements... I maintain what I told you, that (I was part of a sting operation)." Peega said they were given fake IDs to operate and place suspects under surveillance.
Peega, who was initially with the military's special forces, said other recruits in his units included former members of the defunct Scorpions and police. Sars's senior managers at the time dismissed Peega as a disgruntled employee and said the so-called intelligence unit was a legitimate department dealing with organised crime. The taxman showed The Star documents to illustrate that the unit was legitimate, audited and accounted for. Sars said at the time there was a different unit that conducted routine lifestyle audits, and not Peega's department.
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay told The Star last night: "Sars has a proud record of integrity and applies the law with fairness, with impartiality, and equally to the affairs of all taxpayers."
Source: IoL
Mbalula could not be reached, but Kodwa said even though he had not seen the document, he was aware of it. Although a cabinet minister anonymously told The Star last night that the document was "handled at the highest level", Ministry of State Security spokesman Brian Dube said Minister Siyabonga Cwele "does not know what Malema is talking about". Malema told e.tv that the document was compiled by "very senior people in Sars, very senior management, some of them in cabinet today" - a tacit reference to former Sars commissioner and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Coincidentally, Gordhan called for lifestyle audits in his budget speech last week.
The Star was approached last year by a former Sars employee, Michael Peega, who claimed he was part of a secret intelligence unit in the revenue service established by Gordhan. The Pretoria-based Peega, 34, said Malema was referring to his document. Malema's spokesman, Floyd Shivambu, said they were yet to release the document, but refused to confirm that this was the same Peega report. Peega said part of their brief was to investigate the lifestyles and tax status of senior Zuma supporters. This was during 2007, when the ANC's succession battle reached its apex. Others on Peega's list included national police commissioner Bheki Cele. Cele, through his spokeswoman Nonkululeko Mbatha, said last year that he was aware of the document but had decided to treat it "as rumour". However, Peega was fired by Sars for allegedly getting involved in rhino poaching and is facing criminal charges. He claimed he was part of a sting operation, a claim denied by Sars. The revenue service fired him after he was arrested following an internal disciplinary hearing.
At that time, The Star could not establish the veracity of Peega's claims or Sars's denial. Contacted yesterday, Peega said he stood by the document. "I am not backing off. That's why I want (Sars) to confront me in public to say that this document is not authentic. I am 200 percent behind it," Peega said. Asked about the criminal charges, he said: "The case has not gone to trial, there have been postponements... I maintain what I told you, that (I was part of a sting operation)." Peega said they were given fake IDs to operate and place suspects under surveillance.
Peega, who was initially with the military's special forces, said other recruits in his units included former members of the defunct Scorpions and police. Sars's senior managers at the time dismissed Peega as a disgruntled employee and said the so-called intelligence unit was a legitimate department dealing with organised crime. The taxman showed The Star documents to illustrate that the unit was legitimate, audited and accounted for. Sars said at the time there was a different unit that conducted routine lifestyle audits, and not Peega's department.
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay told The Star last night: "Sars has a proud record of integrity and applies the law with fairness, with impartiality, and equally to the affairs of all taxpayers."
Source: IoL
Monday, February 22, 2010
Vavi on state contracts
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has called for all career politicians - and their spouses - to be banned from doing business with the government. And three ANC Youth League branches have leapt to the defence of their president, Julius Malema, in the wake of reports that he has earned R140-million through state-awarded contracts. The ANC Youth League in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape said Malema had broken no laws by doing business with the government.
The campaign to expose his business dealings was being driven by factionalism within the ANC and racism, the provincial structures said. "We reaffirm that the constitution of the country allows for all citizens... to engage in legitimate business activity... for as long as the country's economic establishment is structured in the manner it is, young people of this country should not be penalised for seizing the opportunities brought about by this kind of economic dispensation," said Mpumalanga league secretary Isaac Mahlangu.
It was reported at the weekend that Malema had scored tenders worth R140m, mainly with municipalities in his home province of Limpopo. Vavi, who has called for lifestyle audits to be done on politicians and public officials, said the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP should develop guidelines banning members and their spouses or relatives from benefiting from state tenders. "We have to say 'how do we avoid a conflict of interest?' Even if someone is not directly involved in the business, maybe it's your wife or husband... it can't be okay that a minister, a premier, a mayor or a councillor's wife does business with the government that you lead. There should be an outright ban on people's representatives doing business with the government," Vavi said.
Mahlangu said the revelations about Malema's contracts were in part an intensification of dirty lobbying ahead of the ANC Youth League's national congress in 2011 and the ANC's elective conference in 2012. Malema is expected to be challenged by his deputy, Andile Lungisa, at the youth league congress, while the league is backing Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to replace Gwede Mantashe as ANC secretary-general in 2012.
ANC Youth League Northern Cape secretary Dikgang Stock said the organisation was outraged and flabbergasted by reports on Malema's lifestyle. "These flaccid media reports are a poor attempt to ferment ferocious opposition to our programme of action that includes the redistribution of wealth of this country to the poor, including our firm, unwavering call for the nationalisation of the lucrative mining industry.
ANCYL Gauteng provincial secretary Thabo Kupa said attempts to discredit Malema would not succeed. "President Malema is a political activist who is a child of the working class and a poor family. His work for the poor is well known to everyone, therefore any attempt by forces that connive with capital to discredit him has never and will not succeed," he said. Kupa said it was malicious to associate with corruption the attempts by young black people to succeed in business.
ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said Malema had not broken any laws by engaging in business with government. "Comrade Malema is neither a member of Parliament or a cabinet minister and he has therefore not breached any law or code of ethics by being involved in business," he said.
Source: IoL
The campaign to expose his business dealings was being driven by factionalism within the ANC and racism, the provincial structures said. "We reaffirm that the constitution of the country allows for all citizens... to engage in legitimate business activity... for as long as the country's economic establishment is structured in the manner it is, young people of this country should not be penalised for seizing the opportunities brought about by this kind of economic dispensation," said Mpumalanga league secretary Isaac Mahlangu.
It was reported at the weekend that Malema had scored tenders worth R140m, mainly with municipalities in his home province of Limpopo. Vavi, who has called for lifestyle audits to be done on politicians and public officials, said the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP should develop guidelines banning members and their spouses or relatives from benefiting from state tenders. "We have to say 'how do we avoid a conflict of interest?' Even if someone is not directly involved in the business, maybe it's your wife or husband... it can't be okay that a minister, a premier, a mayor or a councillor's wife does business with the government that you lead. There should be an outright ban on people's representatives doing business with the government," Vavi said.
Mahlangu said the revelations about Malema's contracts were in part an intensification of dirty lobbying ahead of the ANC Youth League's national congress in 2011 and the ANC's elective conference in 2012. Malema is expected to be challenged by his deputy, Andile Lungisa, at the youth league congress, while the league is backing Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to replace Gwede Mantashe as ANC secretary-general in 2012.
ANC Youth League Northern Cape secretary Dikgang Stock said the organisation was outraged and flabbergasted by reports on Malema's lifestyle. "These flaccid media reports are a poor attempt to ferment ferocious opposition to our programme of action that includes the redistribution of wealth of this country to the poor, including our firm, unwavering call for the nationalisation of the lucrative mining industry.
ANCYL Gauteng provincial secretary Thabo Kupa said attempts to discredit Malema would not succeed. "President Malema is a political activist who is a child of the working class and a poor family. His work for the poor is well known to everyone, therefore any attempt by forces that connive with capital to discredit him has never and will not succeed," he said. Kupa said it was malicious to associate with corruption the attempts by young black people to succeed in business.
ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said Malema had not broken any laws by engaging in business with government. "Comrade Malema is neither a member of Parliament or a cabinet minister and he has therefore not breached any law or code of ethics by being involved in business," he said.
Source: IoL
Friday, February 19, 2010
Union slams Malema
While a Cosatu-affiliated union leader described Julius Malema as part of a "marauding gang" threatening to destabilise the ANC, the youth leader in turn warned the federation's Zwelinzima Vavi to stop demanding lifestyle audits. At the centre of it all is a low-intensity war triggered by succession tensions ahead of the ANC's 2012 national conference, following skirmishes over the 2007 conference.
The youth league wants to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe with Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula. This has angered Cosatu and the SA Communist Party as they see the coup intentions as motivated by anti-communist sentiments. Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has questioned President Jacob Zuma's silence while Mantashe was being attacked by Malema. Jim intimated that Zuma had failed Mantashe by not defending him.
Numsa singled out Malema and accused him of causing divisions within the alliance. Jim warned Malema that he would have to work very hard to remove Mantashe. "We know that he (Malema) has been one of the people among the ANC Youth League, which is not a class organisation, who have been talking. "We sat down and analysed what has been said and we will defend the ANC because we believe that it is not the property of unscrupulous individuals who are only interested in their wealth and tenders," said Jim. He said a number of alliance members wanted communists and trade unionists out of the alliance.
Numsa said the ANC in the provinces was being used for financial gain - and cited that all provincial ANC conferences had been contested in the quest for power over government tenders. "There's a network of marauding gangs who don't sleep and they impose their hegemony on others... and they do as they wish. "The ANC is not an organisation of tsotsis (thugs) who would sit in shebeens and decide to put their friends as leaders. "Mantashe is being eaten alive and Malema should have been reprimanded," said Jim. "Those who've said Mantashe must go are threatening to weaken, fragment and destabilise this movement. Enough is enough," said Jim. He said Malema was not the only ANC leader to have been booed in public, referring to the jeering of the youth league president by SACP delegates in Limpopo last year.
Numsa questioned why the ruling party had drafted a report to the ANC national executive committee on the booing of Malema but had failed to do the same when former President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka were booed while in office. "When Julius is booed at the SACP, there must be a report, but Terror (Lekota) got booed in Polokwane, Thabo (Mbeki) was booed in KwaZulu-Natal including Phumzile (Mlambo-Ngcuka) and there was no report," said Jim.
The union also backed the SACP's call that all the names of people, including politicians, who applied for state tenders should be made public to prevent the "depletion" of taxpayers' money. Cosatu general secretary Vavi wants politicians' lifestyles to be audited to expose their inexplicable wealth.
At a meeting between Cosatu and the ANC Youth League leadership yesterday, Malema apparently told Vavi that his demand for audits would expose some of the leaders in the left "who pretend to be working class". According to an insider, Malema said the so-called Left leaders were not as clean as they appeared to be.
Source: IoL
The youth league wants to replace ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe with Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula. This has angered Cosatu and the SA Communist Party as they see the coup intentions as motivated by anti-communist sentiments. Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has questioned President Jacob Zuma's silence while Mantashe was being attacked by Malema. Jim intimated that Zuma had failed Mantashe by not defending him.
Numsa singled out Malema and accused him of causing divisions within the alliance. Jim warned Malema that he would have to work very hard to remove Mantashe. "We know that he (Malema) has been one of the people among the ANC Youth League, which is not a class organisation, who have been talking. "We sat down and analysed what has been said and we will defend the ANC because we believe that it is not the property of unscrupulous individuals who are only interested in their wealth and tenders," said Jim. He said a number of alliance members wanted communists and trade unionists out of the alliance.
Numsa said the ANC in the provinces was being used for financial gain - and cited that all provincial ANC conferences had been contested in the quest for power over government tenders. "There's a network of marauding gangs who don't sleep and they impose their hegemony on others... and they do as they wish. "The ANC is not an organisation of tsotsis (thugs) who would sit in shebeens and decide to put their friends as leaders. "Mantashe is being eaten alive and Malema should have been reprimanded," said Jim. "Those who've said Mantashe must go are threatening to weaken, fragment and destabilise this movement. Enough is enough," said Jim. He said Malema was not the only ANC leader to have been booed in public, referring to the jeering of the youth league president by SACP delegates in Limpopo last year.
Numsa questioned why the ruling party had drafted a report to the ANC national executive committee on the booing of Malema but had failed to do the same when former President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka were booed while in office. "When Julius is booed at the SACP, there must be a report, but Terror (Lekota) got booed in Polokwane, Thabo (Mbeki) was booed in KwaZulu-Natal including Phumzile (Mlambo-Ngcuka) and there was no report," said Jim.
The union also backed the SACP's call that all the names of people, including politicians, who applied for state tenders should be made public to prevent the "depletion" of taxpayers' money. Cosatu general secretary Vavi wants politicians' lifestyles to be audited to expose their inexplicable wealth.
At a meeting between Cosatu and the ANC Youth League leadership yesterday, Malema apparently told Vavi that his demand for audits would expose some of the leaders in the left "who pretend to be working class". According to an insider, Malema said the so-called Left leaders were not as clean as they appeared to be.
Source: IoL
Friday, December 18, 2009
Are you a nationalist or a communist?
That’s what ANC members will need to decide before the 2012 national conference, the battle lines of which are being drawn with much public kicking and screaming. Supporting Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula for the post of party secretary general will show you’re a nationalist. A vote for the present incumbent, Gwede Mantashe, will mean you’re a communist. Or will it? In the debates now raging within the alliance, ideologies don’t really feature. This is a game about playing the man — the ball is practically off the pitch.
Nowhere in the world is the line between communists and nationalists fading faster than it is in the latest skirmish between the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Mantashe is the chairperson of the SACP but at the same time the darling of the business world. So to call him simply “red” would be a mistake.
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, who serves as Mbalula’s proxy, supposedly fights under the nationalist banner, saying President Jacob Zuma must not “surrender” to communists. But Malema introduced the debate on the mines, which he believes should be nationalised. So has Malema become a communist? Enter what Malema likes to call “the yellow communist” — cowardly fakes or the 21st-century version of champagne socialists. These communists say they feel the plight of the people, but they do it while living in mansions in upper-class suburbs with, to paraphrase an old struggle song, “garden boys and kitchen girls” all round.
Malema’s favourite “yellow communist” right now is SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande. True, he’s no stranger to the good life and things only got better with the acquisition of a new R1.2-million BMW. In turn, Nzimande’s favourite “African chauvinist” nationalist is Malema. As for who is the pot and who is the kettle, both share a taste for the finer things in life, including their 4x4s — Nzimande loved his black Jeep Cherokee before he became higher education minister; Malema adores his grape-coloured Range Rover. Both have chauffeurs. Perhaps they would argue that they need their SUVs when visiting the rural masses who elected them in the hopes of a better life.
ANC stalwarts say the “real ANC” operates within a nationalist framework — nationalism implying a common identity and entrenching ideas about “us” (the people) and “them”. In theory the ANC leans towards the left in its belief in nonracialism and popular sovereignty — meaning the party believes it can derive legitimacy only from its popular support. Yet, in effect, the nationalists find the leftwingers a nuisance, believing the communists are using the ANC as their ticket to the spoils of liberation.
Maybe SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin has the answer. He claims Malema displays communist tendencies to feed the greedy black bourgeoisie. Therefore, Malema is using communist principles to gain access to the same spoils for himself and his friends. Which is exactly the same thing the nationalists fear the communists will do.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Nowhere in the world is the line between communists and nationalists fading faster than it is in the latest skirmish between the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Mantashe is the chairperson of the SACP but at the same time the darling of the business world. So to call him simply “red” would be a mistake.
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, who serves as Mbalula’s proxy, supposedly fights under the nationalist banner, saying President Jacob Zuma must not “surrender” to communists. But Malema introduced the debate on the mines, which he believes should be nationalised. So has Malema become a communist? Enter what Malema likes to call “the yellow communist” — cowardly fakes or the 21st-century version of champagne socialists. These communists say they feel the plight of the people, but they do it while living in mansions in upper-class suburbs with, to paraphrase an old struggle song, “garden boys and kitchen girls” all round.
Malema’s favourite “yellow communist” right now is SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande. True, he’s no stranger to the good life and things only got better with the acquisition of a new R1.2-million BMW. In turn, Nzimande’s favourite “African chauvinist” nationalist is Malema. As for who is the pot and who is the kettle, both share a taste for the finer things in life, including their 4x4s — Nzimande loved his black Jeep Cherokee before he became higher education minister; Malema adores his grape-coloured Range Rover. Both have chauffeurs. Perhaps they would argue that they need their SUVs when visiting the rural masses who elected them in the hopes of a better life.
ANC stalwarts say the “real ANC” operates within a nationalist framework — nationalism implying a common identity and entrenching ideas about “us” (the people) and “them”. In theory the ANC leans towards the left in its belief in nonracialism and popular sovereignty — meaning the party believes it can derive legitimacy only from its popular support. Yet, in effect, the nationalists find the leftwingers a nuisance, believing the communists are using the ANC as their ticket to the spoils of liberation.
Maybe SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin has the answer. He claims Malema displays communist tendencies to feed the greedy black bourgeoisie. Therefore, Malema is using communist principles to gain access to the same spoils for himself and his friends. Which is exactly the same thing the nationalists fear the communists will do.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Monday, October 19, 2009
Asmal: Militarisation of police is 'craziness'
Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula's idea of militarising the police service is "craziness" and smacks of "low-level political decision-making", former minister Kader Asmal said in Cape Town on Monday. "The new administration is referring to the militarization of the police," Asmal told the Cape Town Press Club. "I have this former head of the youth league [Mbalula] who aspires to be secretary general of the ANC. Ha, really, I hope I won't be alive," he said. "He said we must militarise the police. We spent days and days in 1991 to get away from the idea of a militarised police force. Extraordinary. "This is a kind of craziness all of us have to take into account. It is part of that low-level political decision-making without reference to the Cabinet."
Mbalula has said he wants the police service transformed into a paramilitary force, with military ranks and discipline. It has been reported in the media that he has been canvassing African National Congress offices to elect him as the party's secretary general in 2012. Asmal said it was remarkable how the current administration's "political memory" had failed, hinting that it was showing signs of re-establishing apartheid-era security organisations such as the Bureau of State Security (Boss). "So the police service is wrong. According to the president it must be a police force. "We have a minister of intelligence now called minister of state security. Shew. Bureau of State Security. Boss it was known as. It is remarkable how political memory totally recedes into the background."
Asmal said the government would have to change the Constitution to "militarise" the police ranking system. "If a station commander is made general, what is going to happen to the national commissioner of police? "He is going to be 'generalisimo' or 'il duce' or Field Marshall. "According to the Constitution the president appoints the national commissioner of the police. You have to amend the Constitution and become the laughing stock of the world just to change a name."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Mbalula has said he wants the police service transformed into a paramilitary force, with military ranks and discipline. It has been reported in the media that he has been canvassing African National Congress offices to elect him as the party's secretary general in 2012. Asmal said it was remarkable how the current administration's "political memory" had failed, hinting that it was showing signs of re-establishing apartheid-era security organisations such as the Bureau of State Security (Boss). "So the police service is wrong. According to the president it must be a police force. "We have a minister of intelligence now called minister of state security. Shew. Bureau of State Security. Boss it was known as. It is remarkable how political memory totally recedes into the background."
Asmal said the government would have to change the Constitution to "militarise" the police ranking system. "If a station commander is made general, what is going to happen to the national commissioner of police? "He is going to be 'generalisimo' or 'il duce' or Field Marshall. "According to the Constitution the president appoints the national commissioner of the police. You have to amend the Constitution and become the laughing stock of the world just to change a name."
Source: Mail & Guardian
Monday, September 29, 2008
Western Cape ANC denies obvious rift
The entire Western Cape ANC is denying that it faces a major rift along political fault lines between its former chair, James Ngculu, and former premier, Ebrahim Rasool, on the one hand and its newly elected chair, Mcebisi Skwatsha, on the other.
Last week the ANC in the province held its long-awaited provincial conference and the Skwatsha grouping -- seen as strongly pro-Zuma -- made a clean sweep of the top five positions by unanimously electing Skwatsha as party chairperson, Premier Lynne Brown as deputy chair, Sipho Kroma as secretary, Max Ozinsky as deputy secretary and Songezo Mjongile as treasurer.
In contrast with other recent provincial conferences of the ruling party there were no threats, intimidation or mayhem, but about 42% of branches (86 of 205) boycotted the conference claiming that they were deliberately excluded because they supported Lerumo Kalako for the position of chairperson.
Kalako is seen as a Thabo Mbeki supporter and a staunch backer of now ousted Ngculu. He told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday: "I have nothing to say. It's best if you phone Skwatsha and Ozinsky for their comments." Although a member of the ANC's provincial executive committee, recently ousted premier Rasool did not attend the conference either. He told the local media that he did not want to cause further divisions in the organisation.
On the first day of the conference regional secretary Mbulelo Ncedana and about 500 of his supporters held an alternative meeting in Langa, where Ngculu addressed them after delivering his formal conference address. On both sides of the political divide ANC members deny that the boycott of the conference marks an imminent split in the organisation. Garth Strachan, Western Cape finance minister, said the ANC has 54 000 signed-up members in the province, of whom about 400 were disaffected. "These people chose to step outside due process and they're bringing the name of the ANC into disrepute. They're doing the opposition's work for them and we don't see this as signifying a split in the ANC." Strachan is adamant that the ANC's national leadership, under the chairmanship of NEC member Fikile Mbalula, listened to the concerns of the disgruntled members.
Ncedane sent a memorandum to the national executive committee claiming that Skwatsha and his supporters manipulated branches attending the conference to ensure a Skwatsha victory. Both Strachan and Ozinsky denied this. "When you're a democrat you have to abide by the democratic process. You can't cry foul and boycott the process because you don't like the majority vote," Ozinsky said. "Honestly, we're worried about the divisions in the province. It's worrying if senior provincial leaders are playing a factional and divisive role with the intention of disrupting the highest organ of the organisation in the province, namely the conference."
Regional executive committee member Yengwayo Kutta said he and others decided to boycott the conference because "there had been a clear attempt to exclude branches that supported Kalako as the ANC chair". "Eighty-five branches out of 205 are not participating because we're unhappy with the process. Branches in good standing were excluded because of political interference. I myself believe that the conference is fraudulent," Kutta said. "We want the national leadership to listen to our concerns and then we would like another, more inclusive, conference to be held."
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Last week the ANC in the province held its long-awaited provincial conference and the Skwatsha grouping -- seen as strongly pro-Zuma -- made a clean sweep of the top five positions by unanimously electing Skwatsha as party chairperson, Premier Lynne Brown as deputy chair, Sipho Kroma as secretary, Max Ozinsky as deputy secretary and Songezo Mjongile as treasurer.
In contrast with other recent provincial conferences of the ruling party there were no threats, intimidation or mayhem, but about 42% of branches (86 of 205) boycotted the conference claiming that they were deliberately excluded because they supported Lerumo Kalako for the position of chairperson.
Kalako is seen as a Thabo Mbeki supporter and a staunch backer of now ousted Ngculu. He told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday: "I have nothing to say. It's best if you phone Skwatsha and Ozinsky for their comments." Although a member of the ANC's provincial executive committee, recently ousted premier Rasool did not attend the conference either. He told the local media that he did not want to cause further divisions in the organisation.
On the first day of the conference regional secretary Mbulelo Ncedana and about 500 of his supporters held an alternative meeting in Langa, where Ngculu addressed them after delivering his formal conference address. On both sides of the political divide ANC members deny that the boycott of the conference marks an imminent split in the organisation. Garth Strachan, Western Cape finance minister, said the ANC has 54 000 signed-up members in the province, of whom about 400 were disaffected. "These people chose to step outside due process and they're bringing the name of the ANC into disrepute. They're doing the opposition's work for them and we don't see this as signifying a split in the ANC." Strachan is adamant that the ANC's national leadership, under the chairmanship of NEC member Fikile Mbalula, listened to the concerns of the disgruntled members.
Ncedane sent a memorandum to the national executive committee claiming that Skwatsha and his supporters manipulated branches attending the conference to ensure a Skwatsha victory. Both Strachan and Ozinsky denied this. "When you're a democrat you have to abide by the democratic process. You can't cry foul and boycott the process because you don't like the majority vote," Ozinsky said. "Honestly, we're worried about the divisions in the province. It's worrying if senior provincial leaders are playing a factional and divisive role with the intention of disrupting the highest organ of the organisation in the province, namely the conference."
Regional executive committee member Yengwayo Kutta said he and others decided to boycott the conference because "there had been a clear attempt to exclude branches that supported Kalako as the ANC chair". "Eighty-five branches out of 205 are not participating because we're unhappy with the process. Branches in good standing were excluded because of political interference. I myself believe that the conference is fraudulent," Kutta said. "We want the national leadership to listen to our concerns and then we would like another, more inclusive, conference to be held."
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
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