Cele Defends Heavy-Handed Cops

2011-05-10 

Police officers are recruited from a society in which 16 000 murders were committed last year.
That was why heavy-handed police officials are only a reflection of the society from which they come, National Police Commissioner General Bheki Cele said in Pretoria on Monday.

Referring to several instances where police officials were heavy-handed and where such actions led to people’s deaths, Cele said it was unavoidable that they would sometimes be rough.

"We are a violent society."

"We are in a society where a six-year-old child is raped by her uncle and stabbed seven times with a knife.

"We are in a society where a 70-year-old man is stabbed 72 times with a knife.”

"Our police officials are recruited in this society and work in this community."

 Violence

Cele emphasised that people should not behave violently and lawlessly.

He referred specifically to protest marches that started legally but then got out of control. At the end of the protest march, buildings were burnt down, tyres were set alight, windows smashed and cars were damaged.


THESE ARE ONGOING INCIDENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA ALMOST ON A DAILY BASIS

"Criminals have no respect for any law or human rights. Neither do the ANC

"Police officials have to face this every day. They have the right to protect themselves and those who are threatened by criminals.”

Cele said there were cases where police acted heavy-handedly, and they paid for that. But there were also cases where police were accused of heavy-handedness even though there was no proof of the allegations against them.

For example, police were accused earlier this year of having used live ammunition on protesters in Nyibe township near Ermelo when their rubber bullets ran out.

The live ammunition apparently claimed the life of Mphikeleli Solomon Madonsela, 41.

Cele said the Independent Complaints Directorate had not found any proof that the police had caused Madonsela’s death.

"People have the right to hold protests, but the violence on both sides - from the police and the people - has to be eliminated.

"Police sometimes use extra violence and sometimes it is unnecessary but no one has the right to burn down someone else’s house, school or even police station.”

Pressure

Professor Christiaan Bezuidenhout, a criminologist at the University of Pretoria, said most police officials were proud of their work and their uniform, “but there are a few rotten apples abusing their power”.

He believed the heavy-handedness of some police officials could be ascribed to the enormous pressure under which they worked and lived.

They saw traumatic scenes every day and shared these with their colleagues.

It led to a “transferred victim state”, in which police officials attracted one another’s trauma, said Bezuidenhout.

In addition, police officials transferred energy from one situation to the next without dealing with it.

"At some point there is a trigger, the police official reacts and it becomes police heavy-handedness, or the police official acts with a group, loses his uniqueness and identity and does things in a group which he never would have done if he was alone.

"Our violent society is a mirror of what is going on in the police. Yet take the police out of the society for 24 hours and there would be chaos,” said Bezuidenhout.


http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Cele-defends-heavy-handed-cops-20110510

Unfulfilled Dreams Of South Africa

May 11, 2011 

LITTLE CHANGE FOR MANY POOR SINCE THE END OF APARTHEID

It took 12 years after the end of apartheid for the Waterworks shantytown to get running water, and 17 years for the ruling ANC to face a voter backlash from its disenchanted residents. 

In Waterworks and many similar settlements across South Africa, the biggest issue for municipal elections on May 18 is the unfulfilled dream of African National Congress rule.

“Our lives are stuck. We are using the same things that were here under the apartheid government,” said Sipho Kadi, who lives in the Waterworks settlement west of Johannesburg. 

Many voters believe the liberation party has failed to make good on its promise to help the black poor who suffered racial oppression throughout much of the 20th century. Some speak of a new “class apartheid” every bit as harsh as the old system. 

In Waterworks and a myriad of such places, residents walk well-trodden dirt paths among ageing corrugated tin shacks, still waiting for electricity, sanitation and the most basic services to help lift them out of abject poverty. 

Kadi is doing what was unthinkable a few years ago, openly supporting the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) which was once perceived as the party of white privilege. “We have been here since before the end of apartheid. There is still no electricity and no jobs. There is no development,” Kadi said. 

The ANC is expected to take an easy victory next week due to its stranglehold on politics coming from its role in bringing down white-minority rule. But this poll may show that its grip on power is weakening. 

Voters are expected to show they are fed up by either not casting ballots or switching to the likes of the DA. It has campaigned as the party of good governance for all and won 15% of the vote in the last municipal race in 2006, when the ANC took 66,3%. 

Since then, the ANC has faced violent “service delivery protests” by tens of thousands of the poor who feel they have become the underclass of Africa’s biggest economy. 

The protests which numbered just two in 2006, hit a record 111 in 2010, according to research group Municipal IQ. 

BUDGET BUSTERS 

ANC governments have spent tens of billions of dollars to improve the lives of the poor. “Our message is simple and factual. We have made substantial progress in improving access to basic services to our people,” President Jacob Zuma said this month. 

But results have been mixed, with large portions of funding lost to corruption and incompetence, further angering the poor. 

If the DA or other opposition groups gain ground, the ANC may try to win support through further massive spending, making it more difficult for the Treasury to rein in a budget deficit, undermining bonds and raising the costs of overseas borrowing. 

The biggest expenditure has been on education but the results have been poor. South Africa ranked 130th out of 139 countries in a recent World Economic Forum survey on quality of education, while Zuma has had to implore teachers to show up for work and stay until the final school bell. 

The economy has mostly posted steady gains since the ANC took over, helping to enrich the upper and middle classes, further distancing them from the poor. 

“We have not been able to overcome this class apartheid that we are living with, which is just as harsh as the apartheid we used to live under,” said Orlean Naidoo, community scholar at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Civil Society. 

“More of these protests need to happen in order for the government to realise what they are doing it not right. They are physically showing that the people have been forgotten.” 

WATER, ELECTRICITY AND PROMISES 

According to a development report by the South African presidency, the percentage of the population living in poverty dropped from 53% in 1995, a year after the ANC took over, to 49% in 2008. 

The percentage of households with access to minimum sanitation — which the government defines as a “ventilated improved pit latrine” — increased from just over half in 1994/5 to almost three quarters in 2008/9. Access to electricity has also increased by the about same rate over the period. 

“There are these huge backlogs, and in a context of high inequality, people notice when others move forward and they are left behind,” said Miriam Altman of the Human Sciences Research Council and commissioner of the Presidency’s National Planning Commission. 

“When people are complaining, it is not that delivery might be slow, or what they expect, but because of this experience, they are frustrated. You will never be delivering enough to satisfy that feeling,” she said. 

Back in Waterworks, the ANC has plastered posters on shacks and made sure the four outside taps allotted to several hundred families have running water. 

“People are confused about who to vote for. So many parties have been here,” said resident Thomas Motloi. 

“One thing that is for sure is that after the election, they will all be gone.” 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1062476.ece/Unfulfilled-dreams-litter-South-Africa-election 

 

70.5-Million Ballot Papers

Only 23-million voters registered in SA for the this month's local-elections in 4,227 wards. 

 

Why did the regime print 70.5-million ballot papers? 

 

AN OVERPRINT OF 47 . 5 million 

Global Total Registered females and males per age group
Female	Age Group	Male
254,712	18 - 19	220,735
2,971,612	20 - 29	2,567,363
3,049,162	30 - 39	2,799,589
2,580,194	40 - 49	2,161,784
1,901,770	50 - 59	1,533,414
1,147,487	60 - 69	843,339
705,824	70 - 79	379,341
386,858	80 - 89	151,394
	Totals
12,997,619		10,656,9

 

23,654,578

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/Censorbugbear-Reports/116752351671946 

http://www.elections.org.za/content/Pages/Statistics.aspx?id=1413&LeftMenuId=88&name=Voters+Roll&ekmensel=14ae2c49_88_248_btnlink 

 

ANC Shifts The Blame

May 11 2011 

WHILE youth organisations yesterday called for heads to roll after revelations that an ANC-led council in the Free State had built open toilets for its residents, the ANC claimed one of its own ministers had failed to inform it about what had been declared by a court as a human rights infringement. 

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told journalists yesterday that the party had “evidence that Luthuli House didn’t know there were open toilets in Moqhaka municipality”, but this was inhuman and the party would take action. 

“It wasn’t brought to the attention of the ANC by anybody, not even Sicelo (Shiceka, Co-operative Governance minister),” he said. 

Mthembu said the regional and provincial leadership had not alerted the ANC to the matter either. 

Shiceka, who is on sick leave and is being investigated for allegedly misspending public money, seemed to have been aware of the issue since last July, when City Press reported on the more than 1 600 open toilets and approached him for comment. 

The DA laid a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission in September and asked for updates twice when the commission appeared before the justice portfolio committee in Parliament – where ANC MPs were also present. 

ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa said the ANC would probe the unenclosed Free State toilets and take “strong action” against those found to have done wrong. 

“No one has a right to subject our people to such dehumanising conditions in the name of the ANC,” Phosa said. 

Phosa added that open toilets violated human rights, and “unlike the DA” the ANC would not wait for a court or the Human Rights Commission ruling before taking action. 

Three hundred toilets had been enclosed so far and the ANC would ensure the remaining toilets were seen to “without delay”. 

The ANC Youth League recently took the DA-led City of Cape Town council to court for leaving toilets in Makhaza unenclosed, and the court ordered the council to enclose the toilets. 

The DA and the ANC have since used the toilet issue to attack each other in the lead up to next Wednesday’s local government elections. 

Youth League leader Julius Malema, who yesterday visited Rammulotsi near Viljoenskroon with Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni and Free State Premier Ace Magashule, said somebody should take responsibility for the open toilets. 

“Heads must roll,” he said. 

He said no municipalities should provide open toilets. It should not even cross their minds.

Malema said that if a municipality did not have enough money to build a fully enclosed toilet, it should not even begin. 

Magashule repeated the ANC’s earlier comment that it had not known about the open toilets.

Yesterday, Malema’s message to those in the street was that the ANC’s leadership had come to Rammulotsi and that things would happen. 

“This old woman must say that the ANC was here and that her plight will be taken care of. They (the toilets) will be closed.” 

Mbalula said Moqhaka mayor Mantebu Mokgosi and municipal manager Mcedisi Mqwathi had explained that the toilets would be enclosed in phases. 

“We condemn open toilets. It’s inhumane,” said Mbalula. 

Yengeni said the ANC’s national working committee first saw a report on the Viljoenskroon situation on Monday. 

“There’s no excuse for this. People in the municipality must take full responsibility.”

The Young Communist League said last night that the Moqhaka mayor and her council should resign over the saga. 

Suspected Thief Beaten to Death

May 11 2011

A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly beating to death a suspected robber in Qokolweni, Eastern Cape police said on Wednesday. 

The man and a group of residents saw a 20-year-old man running out of a house with a TV at 9 on Tuesday night and started assaulting him with whips, Lieutenant Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said. 

The suspected thief died soon after from his injuries. 

Fatyela said more arrests were imminent. The man would appear in the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Thursday. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/suspected-thief-beaten-to-death-1.1067330

Killer ‘a cool, calm, calculated’ woman

May 10 2011 

A calculating, cool manipulator of men, who played her husband like a pawn and watched as he throttled her former lover before she checked the dying man’s pulse. 

 Kalisha Rajcoomar and Amith Sewkarran in court.

That’s the “unusual and disturbing” picture of Kalisha Rajcoomar that the prosecution sought to create on Monday in the Pietermaritzburg High Court during arguments for sentencing of the convicted murder couple, Rajcoomar and her spouse, Amith Sewkarran. 

State prosecutor Gert Nel, who is seeking life sentences for the two, also said Rajcoomar had settled for Sewkarran as “second prize”: the man she really loved, Sandesh Poorun, she had helped to kill. 

The two will know their fate on May 17 when Judge Piet Koen delivers his sentence. 

Rajcoomar, 24, and her husband, Sewkarran, 26, were convicted of Poorun’s murder in 2009 after pleading guilty. 

Poorun, 26, who was the father of Rajcoomar’s three-year old daughter, was lured to a local inn, plied with alcohol and drugs, and then strangled. 

His charred remains were found in a remote area of Crammond, outside Pietermaritzburg, a week after he had disappeared in February 2009. 

The couple were visibly emotional in the dock yesterday as they listened to legal argument from the State and their defence counsel. 

The highly anticipated conclusion of the trial comes two years after the couple were arrested for Poorun’s murder. 

The couple claimed in their defence that they had been driven to kill Poorun because he had refused to accept their relationship and had constantly harassed, threatened and abused them, making their lives “impossible”. 

State prosecutor Nel submitted yesterday that Rajcoomar was in constant conflict in her relationships, evident from the testimony that she shared an “on-again-off-again” relationship with Poorun and Sewkarran. 

“As far as Rajcoomar was concerned, Poorun was her real love and Sewkarran was second prize. 

Convenience 

“Rajcoomar’s marriage to Sewkarran was one of mere convenience, because Poorun had refused to marry her and she was dead set against being a single mother,” Nel said.

Nel did concede that Poorun had harassed the couple with phone calls and there were instances of physical altercations between them. 

However, Nel submitted that the couple had not sought other alternatives to resolve the problem before they resorted to plotting Poorun’s murder and taking his life. 

Nel submitted further that Sewkarran was merely a pawn in Rajcoomar’s game, that she had easily manipulated both him and Poorun. 

He said the couple had planned the murder extensively over a period of time, giving them ample opportunity to reflect on their actions. 

He described Rajcoomar as a “cool, calm, calculated person with nerves of steel”, saying it was extremely unusual and disturbing that she could watch Sewkarran strangle Poorun and then check Poorun’s pulse to see whether he was dead. 

Nel said any sentence less than life would be too lenient and the message would be sent out that frustrated individuals could resort to murder to resolve conflict. 

Nel argued that the elaborate clean-up after the murder, where the couple wiped down the body and then burnt it, and where Rajcoomar dismantled Poorun’s cellphone and then disposed of it, indicated the level of manipulation. 

Rajcoomar’s advocate, Anand Pillay, submitted that Rajcoomar had confessed to the crime and had expressed remorse for her actions. 

“There is no evidence to suggest that she was the master manipulator. Both accused are equally to blame,” Pillay said. 

Auret van Heerden, Sewkarran’s advocate, said the love triangle that existed between Rajcoomar, Sewkarran and Poorun had comprised all the ingredients that had ultimately led to Poorun’s tragic death. 

He said Sewkarran had an unassertive personality and was easily influenced by Rajcoomar, because of his overwhelming feelings of love towards her. 

“He is still in love with her. He still believes that they will be together once they are out of prison. 

To the normal person out there, this level of loyalty and blind faith may appear inconceivable,” Van Heerden said. 

He said Sewkarran had admitted his role in the planning and execution of the murder, and had taken responsibility for his actions. 

He was a pawn in Rajcoomar’s game and “danced to her tune”, Van Heerden said. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/killer-a-cool-calm-calculated-woman-1.1067001 

Missing Teenagers Found Dead

May 10 2011 

The bodies of three Limpopo teenagers who went missing recently were found at the weekend, police said on Monday. 

Refilwe Lucy Mampshika, 15, her cousin Franscina, 16, and their friend Kedibone Ledwaba, 16, went missing on May 2, Captain Malan Nchabeleng said. 

They walked to a nearby clinic in Nobody village, near Polokwane, and were never seen again. 

One of their bodies was found on the floor of the Apostolic church in the same village on Friday. 

There were no visible wounds. 

Two bodies with open wounds were discovered in bushes at Mathibaskraal village on Saturday. Nchabeleng said the motive for the killings was not known and investigations were underway. 

“We have not made any arrests and will carry out a post-mortem soon to determine how the girls died.” 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/missing-teenagers-found-dead-1.1066999 

Killed over a bag of potatoes

May 10 2011

The whispers of a young city man on his deathbed has led to the arrest of two men for a vigilante attack over a pocket of potatoes, while a third is still being sought by police. 

Ridhwaan Fester, 23, of Parktown in Athlone died yesterday morning after the attack that left him disfigured and later in a coma. 

He died after his life support machines were switched off. 

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Ian Bennett confirmed today that before slipping into a coma, Fester had whispered the names of his alleged attackers to a family member. 

Bennett said this had led to the arrest of two men, one of 58 and one of 40, just a day later. 

The third man has not yet been found. 

He said the two men had been charged with murder and would appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court tomorrow. 

It is alleged that Fester tried to steal a pocket of potatoes from a fruit and vegetable stand in Lower Klipfontein Road in Gatesville last Monday. The stock is left in the stand overnight, and watched over by a security guard. 

According to a witness, who asked not to be named, Fester was caught by a security guard at about midnight. 

In his harrowing account of events, the man described how Fester had tried to run away, but had been caught and allegedly dragged back across Klipfontein Road and tied to a lamp post in the Gatesville parking lot. There he had been allegedly savagely beaten and left tied to the pole, said the man. 

The witness said that at about 5am, Fester had tried to escape. A group of about five men had gone back and turned on him, using pipes, sjamboks and wooden planks with protruding nails to beat him.

“It was brutal. I wish I could have helped him, but I know I would have also been beaten,” said the man.

Bennett said police officers on patrol had seen Fester tied to the pole. The officers had immediately called for an ambulance to take him to the Hanover Park day hospital.

His uncle, Naseegh Fester, said the family had gone to the hospital and could not believe what he looked like.

“He was disfigured. He had two holes in the side of his head where the nails had hit him. He had holes in his legs. He had sjambok marks on his face, back and legs. He was barely conscious,” said Fester.

He said his nephew’s body was covered with scratch marks, as if he had been dragged.

It was at this time that Ridhwaan Fester identified his attackers in a whisper to a family member.

The men were known to the family and Fester was also able to confirm that he had been alone during the attack.

The family then took him home and he went to bed. “I tried to wake him up on Tuesday morning, but he had slipped into a coma,” said his mother, Sumaya Kamalie.

He was taken to Groote Schuur Hospital where he remained in a coma and on life support.

The machines were switched off yesterday morning.

“All of this about potatoes. And it’s not like he even had the stuff. There was nothing on him,” said his uncle after his funeral yesterday afternoon.

Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said any vigilante actions had to be rejected.

“You can’t kill someone over a pocket of potatoes.

“There’s a tendency of not reporting crime because people want street justice. But they need to respect the rule of law,” said Fritz.

Athlone MP Connie September condemned the murder. “As much as we want a crime-free society, we can’t have a situation where people take the law into their own hands,” she said.

She said that instead of acts of vigilantism, policing, street committees and community policing forums needed strengthening to combat the huge crime wave in the area.

September welcomed the arrests.

Bennett said police were still investigating and asked that anyone with information contact Constable Zass at 021 697 9238 or 084 201 9519, or CrimeStop at 08600 10111.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/killed-over-a-bag-of-potatoes-1.1066966 

15 Robberies in ONE DAY at Cresta

May 10 2011 

Three women have been mugged while shopping at Cresta mall, northern Johannesburg, The Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. 

One of the victims was quoted as saying that when she went to report the crime to mall security, she was told there had been 15 similar incidents the same day. Mall security did not however confirm the muggings to the newspaper. 

Cheryl Maistry was robbed on a Saturday afternoon inside Jet while shopping with her son and mother-in-law. She said three women surrounded them when they stopped behind a pillar in the store, out of view of the security cameras. 

The women demanded their valuables and when Maistry didn't respond one of them allegedly lifted three-year-old Mikael out of the trolley. 

“She didn't even need a weapon because she was holding my child,” Maistry was quoted as saying. The two women handed over all their valuables, including their wedding rings. The thieves put down the child and left the store. 

At the Checkers store in the mall, 75-year-old Isobel Oxley's purse was stolen from her handbag when a woman asked her to reach for a box of tissues on a shelf. 

Both Jet and Checkers confirmed the crimes. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/3-women-robbed-at-cresta-mall-1.1066964 

judge ‘not impressed’

May 10 2011 

The judge presiding over the Eugene Terre'Blanche murder trial was “not impressed” with how the case had been handled, he said on Tuesday as he postponed the matter to October.

“I must say I am not impressed with the manner in which this was handled. It resulted in time being unnecessarily wasted,” Judge John Horn said in the High Court sitting in Ventersdorp.

“I came here to hear a trial, not to hear arguments regarding postponements. This whole situation was most unsatisfactory.”

The trial of Chris Mahlangu and a minor accused of killing the AWB leader was set down for October 10 to 21.

Horn said Mahlangu, whose previous attorney Puna Moroko withdrew just days before trial, could not be blamed for this.

“If a postponement was not granted it would be prejudicial and unjust to accused one (Mahlangu) and he would not be afforded a fair trial.”

Mahlangu and a minor are accused of bludgeoning Terre'Blanche to death at his North West farmhouse in April last year, apparently in a wage dispute. The two worked for him at the time.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/et-judge-not-impressed-1.1067028 

Protesters Torch Vehicles

May 10 2011

Thousands of protesters torched two buses and damaged four vehicles during a strike at the Medupi power station in Lephalale, Limpopo, on Tuesday morning, police said. 

“Residents alleged that Eskom is employing foreign-experienced boilermakers and not considering the residents for the positions,” said Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi. 

Two buses were set alight and two police vehicles and two cars were damaged during the protest, he said. 

Police had deployed members of the public order policing unit to stabilise the situation. 

Mulaudzi said police condemned violence by people who did not want to engage in dialogue when they had problems. 

“As the police, we will not hesitate to take action against anyone who transgresses the law,” he said. 

Police were monitoring the situation. No arrests had been made and no injuries had been reported

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/limpopo-protesters-torch-vehicles-1.1067137 

Sheryl Cwele Suspended on Full Pay

 May 11 2011

Convicted drug dealer Sheryl Cwele has been suspended on full pay from her position as health services director of the Hibiscus Coast municipality. 

The decision was announced to the council on Tuesday. 

Municipal manager S’bu Mkhize confirmed that Cwele had been suspended, but would not comment further on the matter. 

“The council will decide on further disciplinary action within the next 30 days,” Mkhize said. 

However, DA members who attended the meeting said that Cwele had been suspended with her full monthly salary. 

The mother of four, who owns a R1.2 million house with her husband, State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, receives a net salary of R29 000. 

Cwele was convicted last Thursday, along with Nigerian national Frank Nabolisa, on a drug-dealing charge. 

Both received 12-year sentences the next day and were granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. 

Cwele’s bail of R100 000 was extended pending the outcome of her appeal, but Nabolisa returned to jail, having been in custody since his arrest in December 2009. 

Meanwhile, the  Right2Know campaign says that President Jacob Zuma must explain whether he knew about Cwele’s link to drug activities when he appointed her husband to his cabinet in 2009. 

The Right2Know campaign demands to know from President Jacob Zuma, who re-appointed Siyabonga Cwele to Cabinet as Minister of State Security in May 2009, whether he or officials within the Presidency had knowledge of the following:

• Was any unit or operative within the intelligence sector aware of allegations that Sheryl Cwele was implicated in international drug trafficking at the time of her husband’s appointment?
• If so, was this information shared with the President as part of what should be a standard intelligence risk assessment of all prospective members of Cabinet and their families in order to ensure the integrity of the executive?
• If so, why did the President not take action by refusing to reappoint him, or removing the country’s top spy from his position in the interests of national security?
• If not, why did the country’s spies withhold such critical information from the Presidency that could influence a crucial political appointment?

The President Knew 

The coalition of civil society organisations wrote to Zuma on Tuesday following media reports that Zuma and former president Kgalema Motlanthe, now the deputy president, were indeed aware that Cwele was implicated in international drug trafficking at the time that her husband was appointed state security minister. 

The Presidency refused to comment on the letter. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/now-zuma-grilled-over-cwele-1.1067368 

ANC'S Open TOILETS

May 10, 2011 

ANC roasts mayor over its open-toilets

In a bid to prevent further acute embarrassment, and damage to its election campaign, the ANC yesterday staged a dramatic public relations exercise by beginning to enclose some of the open toilets in Viljoenskroon, in the Free State. 

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema threatened tough action over the failure to enclose the toilets, saying "heads must roll". 

The ANC found itself with egg on its face when the Sunday Times this week revealed that the party - which had publicly criticised the DA and dragged it to court over open toilets in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, in Cape Town - had its own open toilets scandal in Rammulotsi. 

The ruling party yesterday dispatched heavyweights to the township, just outside Viljoenskroon, on a damage-control mission. 

They included Malema, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, Free State Premier Ace Magashule and ANC national executive committee member Tony Yengeni. 

Moqhaka executive mayor Mantebu Mokgosi, under whose authority Rammulotsi falls, was hard-pressed to provide answers to Malema, Mbalula and Yengeni when they demanded to be told why the toilets were not enclosed. 

At the home of Mantsho Ndesi, whose toilet is unenclosed, Malema asked Mokgosi: "Mayor, what happened?" 

To which Mokgosi responded: "We wanted to enclose the whole area, but the money was for toilets and not the structures. In 2006 we requested money from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. We also asked from the province and national government." 

Malema, who looked agitated and not satisfied with Mokgosi's answers, then asked: "What did the province say?". 

"They haven't responded, but we still have hope that they will respond," said Mokgosi. 

But Free State Premier Magashule said he knew nothing of the problem: "I was not aware of the situation. We were here in December and we didn't see anything.  EISH!!!

"We are now taking up the matter and we are starting tomorrow. We will assist the council from tomorrow. We have the money." 

The Human Rights Commission, which investigated the Rammulotsi open-toilets scandal after it was reported by the DA, said it had completed its investigation and would release its findings soon. 

The scandal, which has caught both the ANC and the DA on the back foot, has also seen COPE joining the fray. 

COPE provincial leader Dennis Bloem has opened a case against the ANC-run municipality . 

During the tour of the township, the ANC's head of election strategy, Mbalula, said he was lost for words. 

"We condemn open toilets. It's unnegotiable, inhumane and indefensible; that's why we are here. 

"No human being in South Africa should ever live in conditions of this nature; it's beyond words. 

As the ANC we say we will wait for no court case; we say these toilets must be enclosed and must be enclosed now." 

Malema said that if any councillor were found to have embezzled money meant to enclose the toilets "heads must roll. 

"We cannot come here and heads are not rolling. As an ANC councillor, this must never ever cross your mind. 

"If you don't have money, don't do it at all. ??????????????

"When we leave here, there must be a way out of these toilets so that people will see that, since the arrival of the ANC, something is happening. 

"From tomorrow there will be action." 

Yengeni, who is also a member of the ANC's national working committee, said the open-toilets scandal had been discussed by the party leadership on Monday 

"There is no excuse; people must take full responsibility." 

The ANC leaders spoke to a few residents, some of whose toilets were already being enclosed.

Mbalula and Malema rolled up their sleeves and helped the builders in enclosing the structures.

Later, the ANC team went to the Rammulotsi Community Hall, where a crowd of more than 2000 had gathered to hear them. Mbalula told the crowd that the ANC had swung into action as soon as it heard about the problem. 

"We don't analyse issues from ivory towers." 

Malema told the cheering crowds: "We are here not to look at the problem but to solve it. We can't treat our people as sub-humans." 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/specialreports/elections2011/article1061421.ece/ANC-roasts-mayor-over-its-open-toilets