Moments after senior ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu was pulled over for driving in the N2 bus lane, the party's former provincial chairman, Mcebisi Skwatsha, apparently also pulled up and stopped officers from handcuffing him. This is according to Ghost Squad members who stopped Mthembu, 51, on the N2, near the Pinelands off-ramp, early yesterday. They said they detected "a strong smell of alcohol" on Mthembu's breath and arrested him. But they said Skwatsha first prevented them from handcuffing Mthembu, and then officers at Mowbray police station had initially refused to open a drunk driving case.
Soon after his arrest, Mthembu was taken to the Safely Home Anti Drunk-driving Operations War Room, commonly known as The Shadow, in Athlone, where he was tested with a breathalyser. This showed he was more than three times over the legal limit. Yesterday, an hour after his release from police custody on R500 bail, Mthembu spoke to the Cape Times on his cellphone and confirmed he was to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on March 24. He refused to say where he had been driving to or from. "Can we rather leave that for the court?" he asked.
Mthembu laughed heartily when the Cape Times reporter said she heard he had had a busy morning. Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said Ghost Squad members, patrolling the N2's bus lane, had pulled Mthembu over shortly after 7am because he was driving in the lane in a rented Audi A3 hatchback. "The officer had no idea who he was. She got a strong smell of alcohol on him, so wanted to arrest him. Soon afterwards, Skwatsha pulled over, even though he's not allowed in the bus lane, and told the officers they mustn't handcuff (Mthembu)."
Smith said the Ghost Squad members took Mthembu to the Mowbray police station, but "someone may have called ahead saying they're coming". "The officer at the desk was not keen on opening a case. A SAPS officer then made a comment that the metro police officers who arrested (Mthembu) should themselves be arrested."
The Ghost Squad members had then taken Mthembu to the Shadow centre. "His results showed 0.85, while the legal limit is 0.24, which means he was nearly four times over that ... We've got video footage and audio recordings from the second he was brought into the facility to the second he left," Smith said. Mthembu was then taken back to Mowbray police station, where a case was opened. An investigator looking into the matter said there were more problems at the station when SAPS officers gave the Ghost Squad two case numbers. If a wrong case number was placed on the breathalyser results, it could have been rejected by the court. He said once the correct case number was given, Mowbray police station's commissioner, May-Louise Dyers, had reprimanded the implicated members and sorted the matter out.
Skwatsha and ANC member Kholeka Mqulwana were also spotted at the station yesterday while Mthembu was being processed. He was eventually released on bail after 1pm. When the Cape Times contacted Skwatsha and asked him about the incident, he repeatedly responded: "No comment".
Source: IoL
Showing posts with label Mcebisi Skwatsha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mcebisi Skwatsha. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday, November 6, 2009
Ozinsky: 'I can't stay silent'
I'm a political activist. I joined the ANC in 1983 when I was 20 and shortly afterwards Umkhonto weSizwe. I was young and passionate and wanted to liberate our country.
In 1987 I was forced to leave the country but returned to Cape Town as part of Operation Vula in 1989. Since then I have served in various leadership structures of the ANC in the Western Cape.
Some say I'm a hard man. Some say the ANC made me hard. I have witnessed many things in the service of our movement. I even had the misfortune to stand next to my provincial secretary, Mcebisi Skwatsha, as so-called ANC members stabbed and attempted to murder him. At all times I have tried to act in a manner that upholds the traditions of honesty, volunteerism and sacrifice that mark the ANC. I know I've made some mistakes. Nevertheless, despite my shortcomings, I have twice been elected by the ANC branches as regional secretary and later twice as deputy provincial secretary.
Since 1994 I've seen many good comrades corrupted by power in government, business or both. Because of this, I took a decision that while I was a public representative I wouldn't get involved in business or be beholden to any interests.
My pursuit over the years as an ANC public representative was and is simple: ensuring effective oversight of government and ensuring that the programmes of the ANC are implemented. It was in trying to do my job that I was confronted by serious misuses of power by comrade Ebrahim Rasool.
Rasool says that Skwatsha and I destroyed him and his premiership, that we gave information to the DA. The SACP provincial secretary implied that we are impimpis. Rasool also says I stopped the building of a hospital in Mitchells Plain, leaving the impression that I had something to do with depriving coloured people of a much-needed amenity. Rasool made this accusation because I opposed his government's selling its most valuable asset, Somerset Hospital, prime real-estate valued at more than R1-billion. He has left me no choice but to defend myself. Unless we are honest about the real problems facing the ANC in the province, the ANC will never be able to regain the trust of the people of the Western Cape. The decision to release the funds for the construction of the hospital was the prerogative of the national treasury. I had no influence over it.
My questioning of the sale was an attempt to ensure that there was no corruption. For halting the transaction the ANC's provincial leadership received widespread praise. It is something of which I am proud, believing that in the process I have helped to look after the best interests of the province and its people. As for Rasool's allegations about leaks to the DA, for which he has provided no evidence, it is as well to consider his own record. Rasool's term as premier can be understood only if you understand his relationship with the media.
In the run-up to the 2003 ANC's list process to prepare for the 2004 national and provincial elections, then community and safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane, who was a close ally of Rasool, got his department to produce an "intelligence report". This was leaked to the press as an official document. It said there were three factions in the ANC in the Western Cape and that I, a white, was a leader of the "Africanist" faction.
The Cape Argus ran a series of libellous articles based on this document in an apparent campaign to undermine potential rivals to Rasool. Eventually he became premier after an election campaign coordinated by Skwatsha and myself. Rasool became intimately involved in briefing journalists, and at least one senior journalist from the Cape Argus, but I believe more, benefited financially from their proximity to a web of companies contracted by the province. I don't make this allegation lightly; there is proof. The journalist was compelled to resign because of it.
Rasool also met with representatives of companies that were aggrieved by the outcome of a tender process in the then ANC-controlled City of Cape Town. He then leaked information to The Voice and the Cape Argus, which wrote false stories that Skwatsha was involved in a R40-million fraud. At the time Rasool was provincial chairperson of the ANC. Instead of raising the issue with his provincial secretary, Skwatsha, Rasool instructed South African Police Service Captain Piet Viljoen to raid the city council offices. The ANC and its mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, were deeply embarrassed by this action. The National Prosecuting Authority declined to prosecute the case. Although Rasool denied in a press conference that it was he who briefed the police to obtain the search warrant, he confessed doing so in a meeting with the national officials of the ANC. Skwatsha's traffic fines, which he had already paid, were also leaked to The Voice.
In 2007 a document from the forensic investigation unit of Rasool's office was leaked to the Mail & Guardian in an attempt to accuse Skwatsha of corruption in the sale of state land. Skwatsha's actions were vindicated by the high court even though Rasool refused him legal assistance. Out of loyalty to the ANC I've not commented on these matters. I now believe that my silence has allowed the damage to continue for too long. While I deny ever giving documents to the DA, I want to confess to giving documents to the Cape Argus that helped expose the Rasool government's relationship with senior journalists.
In 2006 the ANC was asked by the lawyers for the newspaper to provide them with evidence for the allegations that journalists were paid to write stories. A formal decision was taken by the provincial leadership of the ANC that, to protect the best interests of the party, documents in our possession should be handed over. We provided the same evidence to the national leadership of the ANC.
A disciplinary process was undertaken at the paper that led to the quiet resignation of one journalist, but I do not believe that the full story of this extraordinary scandal was ever told. Comrade Rasool, and those media institutions that worked with him, must come clean about who really campaigned to destroy the ANC in the province, and how.
Max Ozinsky is the ANC's chief whip in the Western Cape legislature. He writes on his own behalf
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
In 1987 I was forced to leave the country but returned to Cape Town as part of Operation Vula in 1989. Since then I have served in various leadership structures of the ANC in the Western Cape.
Some say I'm a hard man. Some say the ANC made me hard. I have witnessed many things in the service of our movement. I even had the misfortune to stand next to my provincial secretary, Mcebisi Skwatsha, as so-called ANC members stabbed and attempted to murder him. At all times I have tried to act in a manner that upholds the traditions of honesty, volunteerism and sacrifice that mark the ANC. I know I've made some mistakes. Nevertheless, despite my shortcomings, I have twice been elected by the ANC branches as regional secretary and later twice as deputy provincial secretary.
Since 1994 I've seen many good comrades corrupted by power in government, business or both. Because of this, I took a decision that while I was a public representative I wouldn't get involved in business or be beholden to any interests.
My pursuit over the years as an ANC public representative was and is simple: ensuring effective oversight of government and ensuring that the programmes of the ANC are implemented. It was in trying to do my job that I was confronted by serious misuses of power by comrade Ebrahim Rasool.
Rasool says that Skwatsha and I destroyed him and his premiership, that we gave information to the DA. The SACP provincial secretary implied that we are impimpis. Rasool also says I stopped the building of a hospital in Mitchells Plain, leaving the impression that I had something to do with depriving coloured people of a much-needed amenity. Rasool made this accusation because I opposed his government's selling its most valuable asset, Somerset Hospital, prime real-estate valued at more than R1-billion. He has left me no choice but to defend myself. Unless we are honest about the real problems facing the ANC in the province, the ANC will never be able to regain the trust of the people of the Western Cape. The decision to release the funds for the construction of the hospital was the prerogative of the national treasury. I had no influence over it.
My questioning of the sale was an attempt to ensure that there was no corruption. For halting the transaction the ANC's provincial leadership received widespread praise. It is something of which I am proud, believing that in the process I have helped to look after the best interests of the province and its people. As for Rasool's allegations about leaks to the DA, for which he has provided no evidence, it is as well to consider his own record. Rasool's term as premier can be understood only if you understand his relationship with the media.
In the run-up to the 2003 ANC's list process to prepare for the 2004 national and provincial elections, then community and safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane, who was a close ally of Rasool, got his department to produce an "intelligence report". This was leaked to the press as an official document. It said there were three factions in the ANC in the Western Cape and that I, a white, was a leader of the "Africanist" faction.
The Cape Argus ran a series of libellous articles based on this document in an apparent campaign to undermine potential rivals to Rasool. Eventually he became premier after an election campaign coordinated by Skwatsha and myself. Rasool became intimately involved in briefing journalists, and at least one senior journalist from the Cape Argus, but I believe more, benefited financially from their proximity to a web of companies contracted by the province. I don't make this allegation lightly; there is proof. The journalist was compelled to resign because of it.
Rasool also met with representatives of companies that were aggrieved by the outcome of a tender process in the then ANC-controlled City of Cape Town. He then leaked information to The Voice and the Cape Argus, which wrote false stories that Skwatsha was involved in a R40-million fraud. At the time Rasool was provincial chairperson of the ANC. Instead of raising the issue with his provincial secretary, Skwatsha, Rasool instructed South African Police Service Captain Piet Viljoen to raid the city council offices. The ANC and its mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, were deeply embarrassed by this action. The National Prosecuting Authority declined to prosecute the case. Although Rasool denied in a press conference that it was he who briefed the police to obtain the search warrant, he confessed doing so in a meeting with the national officials of the ANC. Skwatsha's traffic fines, which he had already paid, were also leaked to The Voice.
In 2007 a document from the forensic investigation unit of Rasool's office was leaked to the Mail & Guardian in an attempt to accuse Skwatsha of corruption in the sale of state land. Skwatsha's actions were vindicated by the high court even though Rasool refused him legal assistance. Out of loyalty to the ANC I've not commented on these matters. I now believe that my silence has allowed the damage to continue for too long. While I deny ever giving documents to the DA, I want to confess to giving documents to the Cape Argus that helped expose the Rasool government's relationship with senior journalists.
In 2006 the ANC was asked by the lawyers for the newspaper to provide them with evidence for the allegations that journalists were paid to write stories. A formal decision was taken by the provincial leadership of the ANC that, to protect the best interests of the party, documents in our possession should be handed over. We provided the same evidence to the national leadership of the ANC.
A disciplinary process was undertaken at the paper that led to the quiet resignation of one journalist, but I do not believe that the full story of this extraordinary scandal was ever told. Comrade Rasool, and those media institutions that worked with him, must come clean about who really campaigned to destroy the ANC in the province, and how.
Max Ozinsky is the ANC's chief whip in the Western Cape legislature. He writes on his own behalf
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
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
Friday, June 13, 2008
Skwatsha stabbed at ANC meeting
The African National Congress's Western Cape secretary, Mcebisi Skwatsha, was stabbed in the neck at an ANC meeting in the Worcester town hall on Thursday evening.
The provincial ANC said in a statement that Skwatsha was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure and to clean up the wound. Police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said a 30-year-old man was arrested and would appear in court soon. National party spokesperson Jessie Duarte said the meeting was held following a decision of the Western Cape ANC to suspend the Boland regional executive for "defiance of provincial directives on municipal matters. The ANC is deeply shocked at the knife attack." The Western Cape ANC said in a statement the meeting was well attended and orderly, but was "disrupted by a small group of people who came for the purpose of disrupting the meeting". "We stopped the meeting to ensure the safety of those who were present," it said.
Skwatsha is no stranger to controversy. In September last year, he was cleared by the Western Cape legislature's public accounts committee of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal. Allegations that Skwatsha had interfered in the sale of a province-owned 2,4ha erf in Tamboerskloof had been referred to the committee by the Democratic Alliance.
The Mail & Guardian reported in June 2007 that Skwatsha had used his former position as provincial minister of transport and public works to steer the land deal to business people close to the ruling party. That was the conclusion of forensic investigators and a provincial government disciplinary hearing. The documentary record obtained by the M&G, which included a draft forensic report, court papers and records from the disciplinary hearing, made it clear that Skwatsha had intervened with provincial officials, who appear to have committed fraud in an effort to ensure that the tender was awarded to a consortium known as Rowmoor Investments 490.
Rowmoor included among its directors Fezile Calana, a former ANC employee; Shaun Rai, a businessperson aligned with Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool’s opponents in several politically sensitive empowerment battles; and Nombeka Mlambo, who had since fallen out with Rai.
Also last year, Skwatsha also cleared of claims that he had failed to disclose an interest in two companies while employed as provincial transport and public works minister. A legislature committee said that Skwatsha had had interests in Jama Security Services and GAEB Game Farming, but there was no obligation on him to declare these in the register of members' interests as he was not an MPL at the time -- early 2004 -- that he resigned from the companies.
Skwatsha resigned his provincial cabinet post in July 2005.
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
The provincial ANC said in a statement that Skwatsha was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure and to clean up the wound. Police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said a 30-year-old man was arrested and would appear in court soon. National party spokesperson Jessie Duarte said the meeting was held following a decision of the Western Cape ANC to suspend the Boland regional executive for "defiance of provincial directives on municipal matters. The ANC is deeply shocked at the knife attack." The Western Cape ANC said in a statement the meeting was well attended and orderly, but was "disrupted by a small group of people who came for the purpose of disrupting the meeting". "We stopped the meeting to ensure the safety of those who were present," it said.
Skwatsha is no stranger to controversy. In September last year, he was cleared by the Western Cape legislature's public accounts committee of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal. Allegations that Skwatsha had interfered in the sale of a province-owned 2,4ha erf in Tamboerskloof had been referred to the committee by the Democratic Alliance.
The Mail & Guardian reported in June 2007 that Skwatsha had used his former position as provincial minister of transport and public works to steer the land deal to business people close to the ruling party. That was the conclusion of forensic investigators and a provincial government disciplinary hearing. The documentary record obtained by the M&G, which included a draft forensic report, court papers and records from the disciplinary hearing, made it clear that Skwatsha had intervened with provincial officials, who appear to have committed fraud in an effort to ensure that the tender was awarded to a consortium known as Rowmoor Investments 490.
Rowmoor included among its directors Fezile Calana, a former ANC employee; Shaun Rai, a businessperson aligned with Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool’s opponents in several politically sensitive empowerment battles; and Nombeka Mlambo, who had since fallen out with Rai.
Also last year, Skwatsha also cleared of claims that he had failed to disclose an interest in two companies while employed as provincial transport and public works minister. A legislature committee said that Skwatsha had had interests in Jama Security Services and GAEB Game Farming, but there was no obligation on him to declare these in the register of members' interests as he was not an MPL at the time -- early 2004 -- that he resigned from the companies.
Skwatsha resigned his provincial cabinet post in July 2005.
Source: Mail & Guardian Online
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