25 Aug 2011
THE ANC Youth League has upped the tempo in its face-off with the ANC, calling for the reopening of the government's controversial R30 billion arms deal.
"We want to get clarity on the arms deal, because time and again we get signals elsewhere outside the country that there are unanswered questions," said ANCYL Limpopo chairperson Frans Moswane yesterday.
The call followed confirmation by the ANC that it had laid charges against the ANCYL's general-secretary Sindiso Magaqa, deputy president Ronald Lamola, treasurer Pule Mabe and deputy secretary Kenetswe Mosegoni.
The ANCYL leaders, including its president Juluis Malema and spokesperson Floyd Shivambu, are charged with bringing the ANC into disrepute. This follows a statement by the league accusing Botswana President Ian Khama of being a "puppet of the West".
The arms deal has haunted the ANC, with allegations that its key members and the party received bribes from arms manufacturers.
In 2005, then president Thabo Mbeki fired his deputy, Jacob Zuma, after the latter's financial adviser Schabir Shaik was found guilty of trying to solicit a bribe from Thint, the local subsidiary of French arms company Thales, on behalf of Zuma. The NPA subsequently withdrew charges of corruption against Zuma.
In 2003, then ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni was convicted after he received a large discount on a luxury car from one of the firms bidding for the contract. Yengeni was chairman of Parliament's defence committee at the time of the arms deal.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Fana Hlongwane - the middleman who received more than R200million in bonuses in the arms deal - bought a R4million home for General Siphiwe Nyanda, Zuma's new parliamentary counsellor, on his retirement as defence force chief five years ago.
Nyanda was defence force chief during the arms deals.
Political analyst Elvis Masoga said the ANCYL was "taking a swipe at Zuma". He, however, said the move was hypocritical.
"When they were prepared to kill for Zuma they said close the investigation, but now because they are probably prepared to politically kill Zuma they say the probe must be reopened."
Executive director of research at Unisa Professor Tinyiko Maluleka said: "In touching on that issue it will not be surprising should they (the ANCYL) get national sympathy."
Moswane denied that they were targeting anyone within the ANC.
ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said: "The arms deal has nothing to do with the ANC as a party. It is in the hands of government."
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/08/25/anc-youth-league-fights-back
25 August, 2011
KENNY LELUMA , former municipal manager of Maluti a Phofung, in Harrismith, the Free State, resigned in 2003 midway through his disciplinary hearing. He was charged with misrepresenting his qualifications. Media reports said the college from which he claimed to have obtained a law diploma could not be traced.
In 2009, Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka deployed Leluma to Ventersdorp municipality, North West. But he left under a cloud last year after allegations that his poor management had exposed the municipality to a R43-million claim.
He was also accused of having paid about R400000 to a "task team" including former colleagues from Bitou municipality, in Plettenberg Bay, for a report on the state of the council that was not delivered.
Leluma, now the adviser to the mayor of Bitou, refused to comment.
- MOJALEFA MATLOLEwas axed as manager of Bloemfontein's Mangaung municipality after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of fraud, theft and corruption involving tenders worth R130-million.
Then, in 2009, he was appointed by then North West premier Maureen Modiselle as manager of the Ngaka Modiri Molema municipality on a salary of R1.4-million a year.
Last year, he was accused of paying a recruitment agency about R230000 to find a municipal manager, a job he later accepted. His contract expired after the local government elections in May and was not renewed.
Matlole disputed that he was fired from Mangaung, saying: "I left with an agreement in my hand and I was paid handsomely."
- GEORGE MTHIMUNYE, a former manager of Dr JS Moroka municipality, in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga, was suspended and later resigned after being charged with sexual harassment and unauthorised or fruitless expenditure. He settled out of court with the municipality and The Times understands that he walked away with a R5-million golden handshake.
Last year, Shiceka sent him to "stabilise things" at Naledi municipality, in Vryburg, North West, but he was suspended early this year amid allegations that he had inflated a municipal traffic department tender by almost R200000. The SA Municipal Workers' Union claims he awarded a tender of more than R200000 without following procedure. His contract was not renewed.
Mthimunye did not respond to messages left on his phone.
- POGISO MAITSHOTLO was suspended and then fired by the department of health in North West after allegations that he stole baby formula milk and sold it to tuck shops.
He is now the speaker of the Ditsobotla municipal council in Lichtenberg. A criminal case against him is pending.
Maitshotlo did not respond to requests for comment.
- MARTIN SEBAKWANE was head of the North West transport department from 2000 to 2005, during which time the company Tswaing Consulting CC was awarded a tender to repair roads. A court later ruled that Tswaing had received the tender fraudulently, with the help of Sebakwane and his chief financial officer.
In 2009, Sebakwane became adviser to then Mafikeng mayor Mosa Sejosingoe, whom the ANC recalled in March. Sebakwane's contract was to have ended with the mayor's departure, but a report by the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance in September showed that he was still receiving a monthly salary of more than R38000 at the time.
Sebakwane said this week that he had been sentenced in absentia. "The justice system has gone awry. I was not the subject of the case."
He has now applied for the post of head of the North West Public Service Commission.
- CHARLES NDABENI, the former North West Tourism and Parks Board CEO, left under a cloud in 2008 amid allegations that business associates and companies linked to him benefited by nearly R9-million from contracts awarded by the board.
He then joined the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, which fired him this week. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union accused him of corruption and mismanagement of funds. Ndabeni reportedly earned R1.4-million a year and claimed about R370000 in travel allowances.
He did not respond to requests for comment.
- MWELI MATANZIMA was suspended by the North West Department of Education in 2009 after being charged with fraud and corruption. He challenged his suspension in the Labour Court and won, but the department refused to reinstate him and he resigned last year.
Shortly thereafter he was appointed by Basic Education Minster Angie Motshekga to help administer the Eastern Cape education department.
Matanzima did not respond to requests for comment.
- DAKOTA LEGOETE was suspended by the Tswaing local municipality, in Sannieshof, North West, in 2009 after allegations of fraud and corruption but is challenging his suspension in court.
The ANC appointed him this year as a Tlokwe, Potchefstroom, municipal councillor.
Legoete said he had not been found guilty of any wrongdoing and so was eligible to stand as a councillor.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2011/08/25/dubious-officials-hired-by-the-state-elsewhere
25 August, 2011
The party that led South Africa out of apartheid had by 2010 slipped into anti-democratic practices reminiscent of the regime it fought to overthrow, says a US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
In the assessment of the Pretoria embassy cable, dated January 8 2010, the ANC was following in the footsteps of the white-minority regime in its handling of Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), a politically thorny protest movement by impoverished shack dwellers.
"The parallels between AbM's struggles against the ANC and the latter's fight against the apartheid regime cannot be ignored," says the cable, titled "Is the ANC as Democratic as it Claims?"
"The accounts of forced removals, violence, intimidation and leaders in hiding seem like echoes of a time supposedly gone forever."
The ANC won South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 after decades fighting apartheid.
But the party of Nelson Mandela has lost some of its lustre under his successors, including current President Jacob Zuma - accused of presiding over growing corruption and intolerance for free speech since he came to power in 2009.
The leaked cable draws a link between the psychology of the ANC's fight against apartheid and its handling of the AbM.
"Even talk by ANC leaders of a 'third force' at work are eerily reminiscent of a paranoid apartheid era," it said.
"The AbM movement is a test of democratic governance for the ANC, as it decides what to do when its own people do not support its vision of development."
http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2011/08/25/us-compared-anc-to-apartheid-regime-wikileaks
2011-08-25
by Nielen
Dear Mr President,
You were democratically elected by the people of South Africa to be our national leader. You were elected by the people of this country to be the person who should lead this nation. Don’t you think it is time you start doing it?
As our leader, we expect you to have integrity, respect, show impeccability and moral values.
We waited and waited and saw precious little of such things. Instead we saw you hide behind your legal team when claims of corruption and rape were made. We saw your comrades laugh at these claims and the people who made them. Not once did I hear you stand up like a man and give your account of the matter. The charges brought against you were not relating to fighting for the people of this country, unless you count the people fighting for those lucrative government tenders. The charges related to your financial wellbeing and your personal pleasures.
For many years a lot of people fought hard against the oppression of one group of people by another, based on the colour of their skin, or the language they speak. Many of those people paid with their own blood for the freedom of their brothers and sisters. If we can believe all the rumours you prefer payments to be made in cash instead.
When election time comes around I see your face on posters in our streets. I hear you making promises to the people of this country. But then we don’t really see or hear from you again, unless you are getting on your snazzy jet to go visit some foreign country. To be honest, I don’t pay any attention to the promises you make. I am fortunate to have running water, electricity, a house and a job. But what about the millions of people in our country who do not?
What happened to the millions of jobs you personally promised to create? I don’t see much change in our unemployment stats. I don’t see help for our entrepreneurs. All I see is racism called BEE and AA that benefits only a handful of your friends.
What about the houses you promised to build? From what I understand most of them are delivered late and without much quality. That’s probably what happens if you give the job to your buddies who are more interested in getting rich than providing housing for our nation.
What about our education? From all accounts the standard of our schools are going down faster than the Gautrain can get to Pretoria (if the copper cables are not stolen). The same goes for the health care system in this country and many of the other vital services your government are supposed to deliver to its people.
I hear rumours that your Youth League leader will get another rapping over the knuckles for making statements about our neighbour countries. But I don’t hear you stand up against his racist and sexist remarks. Do you realise that when we see you sitting quietly behind him when utters those statements, we assume that you are endorsing him? Do you realise that he does more damage to racial relations in this country in a week than you could repair in a year, if you even bothered to try?
Crime is rising almost as fast as HIV infections, but can you be surprised if you look at the example our president is setting? What your lawyers can sort out, a shower will.
Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is absent. Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is silent. Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is not doing his elected job.
Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is not showing our people what honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility and hard work means. Now more than ever before it is time for you to stand up and do your job Mr President. And if you cannot do that, be man enough to stand down and let someone else do the job. It has been far too long since South Africa had a president it can be PROUD of!
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/YourStory/Dear-Mr-President-20110824
