Tuesday, March 22, 2011

ANC Meeting Turns Ugly

ANC meeting turns ugly....

2011-03-20

Chairs flew and ANC provincial executive committee member Lydia Johnson had to dive for cover on Sunday when an ANC meeting at the KwaQanda community hall in Pietermaritzburg turned ugly.

Johnson, the provincial MEC for public works, had been sent to explain the nomination of the party’s ward 6 candidate for the local government elections on May 18.

This was clearly not the choice of the community, and they gave vent to their frustrations by throwing chairs and burning tyres outside the venue.

Bodyguards shielded Johnson on the stage and escorted her to her vehicle before she drove off, and the meeting ended early.

Community members expressed frustration that their nominee was ignored when the candidate, Agnes Mkhize, was appointed.

They claimed Mkhize was being imposed upon them by the local REC, alleging that she is a relative of KZN Premier Zweli Mkhize.

Guidelines

Local ANC branch chairperson Thulebona “Karl” Ngcobo told The Witness they correctly followed all the guidelines the ANC had given them during the nomination process, but were surprised when the community’s choice of candidate was overlooked.

“On Thursday we were called to a meeting at the provincial headquarters in Durban whereby we were informed that our number one candidate had been sacrificed for gender balance and a female candidate had been chosen to take his place.

"Since the candidate was nominated by the ANC branch and supported by the community, we requested that the ANC come to the area and explain its decision to the community.

“We are disappointed with the turn of events at this meeting as we intended everything to be done orderly and peacefully. We tried to calm down the situation, but the people were too angry.”

Ngcobo said that during the nomination process Falakhe Makhathini was nominated to stand for the ward. Mkhize was second choice.

Journalist manhandled

During the chaos that broke out at Sunday's meeting, an ANC REC member, who is known to this newspaper, manhandled this journalist three times and forced him out of the meeting, threatening him with violence.

Community leaders intervened to allow the journalist back in. After Johnson had left the meeting, the REC member was also forced to leave the area, with angry people banging on his car.

ANC provincial spokesperson Makhosi Khoza said the decision to select Mkhize as the ward candidate was based merely on the need for equal gender representation, not because she is related to the premier. What happened to being 100% qualified for the job?
“This was not meant to subvert local democracy, but it is an ANC strategy to address what is dictated in the Constitution. Unless political parties start to deliberately do something, gender representation will always be a challenge.

The ANC will have to go back to the drawing board as we are encountering community resistance on this issue. We cannot force a ward candidate upon the community,” Khoza said.

He apologised on behalf of the ANC for the manhandling of the journalist and promised an investigation.



 

Bogus Letter Leaves SA Red-Faced

Bogus letter leaves SA red-faced

20th March 2011

A crudely drafted bogus letter ­supposedly written by President Nicholas Sarkozy of France has become a major source of international embarrassment for South Africa.

The letter, addressed to the president of the Ivorian electoral commission on December 1, was “sold” to African leaders by the regime of Laurent Gbagbo as an attempt by Sarkozy to pressurise the commission to announce the outcome of the presidential election in favour of opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara.

It was concocted in badly written French and distributed to ­various African­ governments.

France denounced the letter as “a crude forgery that reveals an ­ignorance of international practices and is a clear desire to harm the good relations that exist between France and Côte d’Ivoire”.




Despite this denouncement on February 22, South Africa’s minister of international relations and co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and/or her department distributed copies of it on at least two confirmed occasions.  

Well that's what you get for having under educated people in top positions,  Achievemunts? : Achievements: SAA, ESCOM (sorry, EISHKOM), Rand Water, Tshwane, the list of black "achievements" just goes on and on, doesn't it? We have a bunch of buffoons turning SA into a laughing stock race, card wielding MORONS  would still vote for the current bunch of ignoramuses simply "bekos dey bleck".  There are no friggin achievements by black people. Name one invention besides toyi-toyi. 

All the clever people have left SA ! What you are left with shouldn't surprise you , you surely know about affirmative action ? But then again , blaming the people behind the scenes has become a cultural retreat for your kind . The people elected to power should have the brains to run the counrty , or go back to their rondavels   I can imagine the frustration and disgust when forgein politicians have to deal with our South African semi literate and just plain stupid politicians.
Is it not time to elect politicians based on ability and results, instead of family/friends contacts and loudness of voice?  We don't need bogus letters to embarrass us. We have an entire bogus government that is the laughing stock of the world.The Department of Stupidity at it's best "This is made in South Africa, proudly South African".  
OMG! And we are 'guavamented" by these idiots!?


Hillary Clinton

A spokesperson for the European Union (EU) Mission in South Africa, Frank Oberholzer, confirmed that the letter was presented to a delegation of EU parliamentarians on February 24 which involved Mashabane.

According to a highly-placed source Mashabane also handed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the same letter during a meeting on February 27 and 28 in Geneva, Switzerland.

As far as can be determined the letter first surfaced among African leaders during the state visit to South Africa in December by Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos, a known close ally of Gbagbo.

This was after Dos Santos had flown to Abidjan to meet Gbagbo.

Department of international relations spokesperson Clayson Monyela denied that Mashabane or the department had used or were influenced by the letter in its engagements on the Ivorian crisis.

“The letter never became an ­issue in our stance on the Ivory Coast ... no letter which is not ours would have influenced our position,” he said.

'Stupid'

When asked if Mashabane or her department had handed the letter to third parties, Monyela replied: “I will not be drawn into the issue of a letter which is not our letter.”

One senior diplomat described South Africa’s treatment of the false letter as “perplexing” and ­another as “just plain stupid”.

It is understood that West African leaders are angry with the way South Africa handled the letter even after the Economic Community of West African States had ­rejected Gbagbo.

South Africa first supported the African Union (AU) position that Ouattara had won then changed, saying: “We hold no brief for any of them.”

It then supported the recent AU Peace and Security Council decision to finally declare Ouattara the ­legitimate president.

Monyela denied that South Africa had changed its initial stance.

He said the matter had been considered by a high-level AU panel [of which Zuma was a member] and that, as a result, South Africa supported the decision by the council to recognise Ouattara as the legitimate leader. 

Suspended Senior Official Drew Salary for Two Years

Paid R500000 to chill out

March 21, 2011

After spending more than R500 000.00 on paying a suspended senior official for two years, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has finally decided to act. 

Following a protracted disciplinary hearing, the department fired principal environmental officer Tebogo Mooketsi on Friday for misconduct dating back to November 2008.

Mooketsi continued to draw a R19 000.00 monthly salary and perks that included a subsidised car and cellphone airtime vouchers.
The department axed Mooketsi in the same week that The Times queried the progress of his disciplinary hearing.
The department's "transversal services" deputy director-general, Priscilla Pietersen, said Mooketsi's salary and perks could not be stopped because he had not been found guilty of anything.
She said the department had stopped the airtime vouchers but could not say when.
The department would not give precise details of Mooketsi's suspension and axing, but The Times has established that he was suspended for selling department files to prospective developers at the Cradle of Humankind.
Pietersen said a "full" internal disciplinary hearing took place and that the presiding officer ruled on January 7 that he be fired.
The sanction was, however, not implemented until March 15 and the sheriff of the court delivered his dismissal letter only on Friday.
  • Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa revealed in parliament last week that 105 police officers were suspended with full pay in the 2009-2010 financial year, costing the government R2.5-million.
Responding to a parliamentary question, Mthetwha said he had told police management to "review, extensively consult, and come up with proposals about policies governing suspension with full pay" and report to him by the end of April.
Mthethwa took a tough stance, saying paying suspended "cowboy cops" to stay at home "could soon become a thing of the past".
  • The Mail& Guardian reported in November that about 50 Mpumalanga education department examination officials, suspended for their roles in leaking grade 12 question papers in 2009, were still drawing salaries totalling R5-million a month.