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.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/ANC-meeting-turns-ugly-20110320 

 

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. 

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Bogus-letter-leaves-SA-red-faced-20110320 

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.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article979801.ece/Paid-R500000-to-chill-out 

Cop’s Brutal Force

Cele’s brutal force

March 20 2011 

South African police are becoming more brutal by the day, with civil cases against them pushing the contingent liability budget to a whopping R7.5 billion in the last financial year.

The Sunday Tribune reveals today that the sharp spike in brutal action by the police has prompted the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to investigate three times more severe assault cases last year than in 2001.

These revelations come as the country celebrates Human Rights Day tomorrow and against the backdrop of a recent case in which the police were accused of using excessive force on civilians.

Last month the police stormed a restaurant in Melville, Joburg, in the early hours and assaulted patrons. The incident was captured on closed-circuit TV cameras inside the Catz Pyjamas and it shocked the nation.

Police researchers and lawyers who specialise in litigating against the police have warned that anecdotal reports of giving electric shocks, suffocation and other apartheid-style torture methods have become more prevalent.

• Since 2001/02 the number of assault investigations conducted by the ICD has trebled from 255 to 920 in 2009/10.
• Attempted murder cases it investigated have gone up over seven times from 43 in 2001/02 to 325 in the last financial year.
• The number of fatal shooting investigations was at an all-time high over the past two financial years – at 556 in 2008/09 and 524 in 2009/10. 

And policing researchers say the spike in fatal shootings can be traced back to KwaZulu-Natal, where there has been a 173 percent increase in five years – from 75 in 2005/06 to 205 in 2009/10.

“These statistics raise the question of whether sections of the police in KwaZulu-Natal may have adopted an approach which is defined by the belief that extra-legal methods are not only justified, but in fact necessary to address violent crime.”

Meanwhile, the courts are flooded with civil cases against the police that have pushed the contingent liability budget to R2bn more than the 2005/06 financial year when the police were prepared to pay R5.3bn for assault, damage to property, shooting incidents and other “police actions”.

The Tribune has found a number of civil cases lodged in the Joburg and Pretoria High courts in which the applicants claim the police assaulted, gave electric shocks or suffocated them, and they demand compensation.

The taxpayer carries the burden of paying for the police’s excessive use of force.

“These acts cannot be tolerated in a constitutional democracy."

“Policing in 2011 should be totally different from the apartheid past that we come from.

“Police officers should uphold the rule of law and not be the ones accused of breaking it,” said ICD executive director Francois Beukman.

The outcry came after video footage emerged of police Tactical Response Team (TRT) members barging into Melville bar, the Catz Pyjamas, and assaulting patrons.

The ICD says it is investigating the incident along with another, also involving TRT members, which took place at CJs Pub in Hillbrow.

Wits Law Clinic lawyer Peter Jordi says: “There is a level of criminality within the police much higher than the police will admit.”

He believes there could be hundreds more incidents of common assault at the hands of the police that are not being reported. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/cele-s-brutal-force-1.1044575 

Love me tenders...

It's party time for high-rolling former cop and his wife, who coined it with questionable government contracts

Mar 20, 2011

A couple who made millions from building low-cost government houses - with some of the projects now under investigation - are splashing out R1-million to renew their wedding vows. 

 

Durban's Sibusiso Mpisane and his wife, Shawn, who over the years have been investigated by the disbanded Scorpions and the Special Investigating Unit, this week revealed that money was no object for their five-day bash to celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary and 20 years of being together.

Sibusiso will also celebrate his 40th birthday at the party.

The couple plan to light fireworks on Wednesday in Lamontville, a township south of Durban. This will be followed by traditional ceremonies at their R15-million mansion in La Lucia, in the northern suburbs.

The main party will be attended by a host of celebrities and politicians and will be held at the five-star Fairmont Hotel & Resort in Zimbali next Sunday.

The various traditional cere-monies will include "slaughtering of cows and goats".

On Thursday, Sibusiso, who was a policeman until recently, said he could not "divulge the amount" they were spending. However, conservative calculations and people close to the couple estimated the bill at a minimum of R1-million.

Sibusiso said: "Planning (the event) has taken three months ... and different companies are involved in implementing it."

The entertainment on Sunday will include Grammy award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kora award winner Thandiswa and SA Music Award winner Judith Sepuma.

The more than 200 guests will also be entertained by Stimela, the Jazel Brothers and DJs Muntu and Happygal.

Other details of the "Egyptian royalty-theme party" at the Fairmont Hotel are a closely guarded secret.

Even the menu is under wraps. "It's the element of surprise," said Sibusiso.

But the couple were prepared to reveal they would be wearing Egyptian-style outfits identical to those worn by pharaohs. "We are a couple who like class," he said.

Four years ago, shortly after spending R12-million on their three-storey La Lucia mansion, the Mpisanes bought an adjoining property for R3.5-million.

They flattened the house on the property and built a garage for their luxury cars, which include an Aston Martin, a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, a Porsche Turbo, a Maserati Pininfarina and a BMW 750i.

In March last year, the SA Revenue Service attached the couple's Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible, valued at around R7-million, and two Lamborghinis - one worth R4.5-million and the other R5-million.

Through their businesses, the couple allegedly owed about R50-million in back-taxes, but the matter was later settled and the cars were returned.

SARS spokesman Adrian Lackay said: "The Income Tax Act places a specific obligation on SARS to treat the affairs of all taxpayers confidentially."

Sibusiso could not be reached for comment on this matter.

Once labelled a "fugitive state witness", he has also been the subject of a preliminary probe by the now defunct Scorpions after disappearing for a year and failing to testify in a murder case against a notorious taxi boss, Mandla Gcaba, and his brother.

About 13 years ago, the former constable with the eThekwini Metro Police Dog Unit was a key state witness in the case against the wealthy Gcaba brothers, who were allegedly responsible for a shooting outside the High Court in Durban. Three people had died and six had been wounded by the time the guns fell silent.

With no other evidence linking the Gcabas to the shooting, Sibusiso's disappearance ahead of their trial virtually secured their acquittal.

Another investigation into Sibusiso's lifestyle was launched three years ago after the Democratic Alliance demanded a probe into how a constable, who earned R15000 a month, could afford to own a Lamborghini, which he often drove to work, and the La Lucia mansion.

"I do a lot of things other than being a policeman," Sibusiso said at the time.

He recently said: "Some people were shocked that I drove a Lamborghini while I was a policeman. They thought because I'm black, I must have made my bucks illegally."

Sibusiso resigned from the police after the furore and joined his wife, who owns Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport. The company had by then secured millions of rands' worth of tenders from the eThekwini municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal government.

Recently, Sibusiso was the chief lobola negotiator for police commissioner General Bheki Cele.

The police chief and President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse, attended the Mpisanes' New Year's Eve party in 2009.

This week, Sibusiso said he had a secret gift "which will be unveiled on the day" for his wife, who is the daughter of the late Florence Mkhize, a former eThekwini councillor.

 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article976657.ece/Love-me-tenders...

A mansion to die for 

How did a cop in the Durban Metro Police come to be lord of a R17-million manor?

The identity of the person living at 88 Addison Drive, La Lucia (a spectacular resort made famous by the Oppenheimers many decades ago as a seaside destination for the rich and famous) has in recent months been the subject of intense speculation amongst the locals: is he/she a rock star? A rap artist? Arms dealer? Oil baron? It had to be someone flash who took up residence in the mansion bought last year – at auction – for R17m. It has since been extensively renovated.

http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/1702/A-mansion-to-die-for 

Zuma dumps Shaik

President advised to have nothing to do with former backer....

Mar 20, 2011 

THE close relationship between President Jacob Zuma and his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, is over. 

The two have not seen or spoken to one other since Zuma's inauguration as president on May 9 2009.

Before that, Zuma had publicly supported the convicted fraudster, even visiting him four times while he was in prison.

A senior Zuma aide told the Sunday Times this week: "That was then; this is now."

Shaik spent two years and four months in Westville Prison and in various Durban hospitals before his controversial parole on March 3 2009 owing to a "terminal illness".

He was convicted on two counts of corruption and one count of fraud relating to his relationship with Zuma.

A Sunday Times investigation has established that:

�Zuma last spoke to Shaik before the 2009 election;

�Shaik had expected to be pardoned two years ago after Zuma had become president, but nothing happened;

�Shaik has tried contacting Zuma numerous times since May 9 2009, but to no avail;

�Top ANC leaders have strongly advised Zuma to have nothing to do with Shaik; and

�The president's financial adviser has become increasingly bitter at being abandoned by his former comrade-in-arms, and has complained to senior ANC leaders about being left out in the cold. He now leads a solitary life with little contact from ANC members.

Yesterday, Zuma's spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, said there was no relationship at all between the two. Asked to elaborate, he said: "The answer I have given is sufficient."

The president's lawyer, Michael Hulley, rejected "with contempt" claims that Zuma had promised to pardon Shaik.

As to allegations that Zuma had abandoned Shaik, Hulley said: "Because of the demands of the presidency, in particular, and government, in general, many of the president's personal relationships have suffered. The president's schedule simply does not permit him to call on friends and acquaintances, much as he may like to do so, and in Shaik's case, the president has done so as and when his schedule permits."

He said that before Zuma became president, Shaik had rendered support and assistance to him and "the Zuma family, in general, in the conduct of the president's financial affairs".

"As part of this assistance, Shaik made payments for and on behalf of the president in respect of various agreed expenses. At all times, the president understood Shaik to have willingly offered his services, which were graciously accepted in the context of the relationship which existed between the Shaik and Zuma families."

The Sunday Times has established that Shaik now wants nothing more than his pardon - after which he wishes to move overseas, away from the incessant scrutiny of the media and the public.

Yesterday, Shaik declined to comment.

The fraudster is estranged from his wife, Zulheikha, and gets to see his young son, Yasir, several hours a week.

He has been described by associates as frustrated, angry and depressed.

This, they say, contributed to him losing his notorious temper and allegedly attacking a journalist and a fellow worshipper at a Durban mosque in two separate incidents in recent weeks.

His relationship with his brothers is also said to be strained.

Shaik ran almost every aspect of Zuma's financial affairs for almost a decade, bankrolling him and his family.

In April 2008, about six months after being jailed, Shaik applied unsuccessfully to then president Thabo Mbeki for a pardon.

In December 2009, Zuma's office issued a statement saying the president was "considering a number of applications and Shaik's is among them".

It insisted Shaik's "application is not enjoying any special consideration".

Nothing came of the application.

News of the collapse of Shaik's relationship with Zuma follows a dramatic week in which the former businessman was arrested early on Monday and investigated for allegedly violating his parole conditions.

This after the Sunday Times reported how he had allegedly punched and assaulted Mohamed Ismail outside the Masjid al Hilal mosque in Overport, Durban, on Friday last week.

Ismail left the mosque after doctors had called him to attend to his ill five-year-old daughter.

The altercation was apparently sparked because Shaik's vehicle allegedly blocked Ismail's exit.

Two hours after the incident, Ismail said that he and his wife had decided not to lay charges.

Shaik declined to comment on the incident. He was later quoted in a Durban newspaper as asking for a meeting to be arranged so that he and Ismail could "pray in peace and not as enemies".

On Tuesday, prison officials visited the offices of the Sunday Times in Durban and requested contact details for Ismail.

The Sunday Times contacted Ismail, but he rejected the request.

Ismail, who has avoided all calls since Shaik's arrest, said he wanted to be left alone.

On Wednesday, KwaZulu-Natal correctional services spokes-man Hlaziya Mtolo said investigators could not find proof that Shaik had violated his parole, so the former businessman was released. 

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article976913.ece/Zuma-dumps-Shaik 

 

Office 'still waiting' for Shaik file

2011-03-20

Johannesburg - Three weeks after Schabir Shaik allegedly assaulted a journalist on a Durban golf course, it was still not clear whether the convicted fraudster would face criminal charges, the Sunday Tribune reported.

An official at the prosecutor's office in Pietermaritzburg said on Friday they had still not received a docket from the police.

"We hope it will reach us before close of business. Once the director receives it, he will evaluate its contents before making a decision," Natasha Ramkisson was quoted as saying.

Tribune journalist Amanda Khoza last heard from police on March 4, via an SMS. It informed her that the case had been transferred to provincial level and that she would be informed of the prosecutor's decision within a fortnight.

Shaik allegedly slapped and throttled her on the Papwa Sewgolum golf course on Saturday, February 26 while she was covering his playing golf while out on parole.

Meanwhile the man Shaik allegedly punched outside a Durban mosque two weeks ago has declined to report the assault, the Sunday Tribune reported. Mohamed Ismail was allegedly punched when he complained that Shaik had parked him in, preventing him from getting to his daughter in hospital.

Shaik was released from prison on Wednesday afternoon after being arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Office-still-waiting-for-Shaik-file-20110320 

Director General gets R1.5 million - for doing nothing.

DG gets R1.5m – for doing nothing

2011-03-20 

Johannesburg – One of South Africa’s top-paid government officials is earning a salary of R1.5m while he is sitting at home, doing nothing.

Another official’s salary has been described as a “state secret” because should it become public knowledge, it could undermine national security!

The director generals of South Africa’s state departments earn astronomical salaries but they are not keen on sharing this info with taxpayers.

Rapport gained information about the DGs’ salaries in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). 

Siviwe Dongwana, 

The Director General of the Department of Public Works.

The man, who is getting his remuneration package of R1.5m a year while sitting at home, is Siviwe Dongwana, the director general of the department of public works.

He has not been working since December 2010 because he is being investigated for alleged misconduct and dereliction of duty.

He was suspended only seven months after his appointment.

The man whose salary has to be kept secret, apparently in the interests of national security is Siviwe Dongwana, the director general of state security.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/DG-gets-R15m-for-doing-nothing-20110320 

Prison boss was bribed....

What's so shocking about this? Its just another day in SA ...

Linda Morris Mti

 

 

Chief Security Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee

South Africa, Government & Public Administration

Birth Details

Date of Birth: 02-11-1954      Place of Birth: Port Elizabeth

Current Position(s)

Chief Security Officer, 2010 Soccer World Cup, (2007 - present)

Chair, South African Students Movement, (1974 - present)

Previous Position(s)

Commissioner, Government of South Africa (2001 - 2007)

Co-ordinator, Intelligence (DG Post), National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) (1996 - 2001)

2011-03-20

A shock report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) claims a mansion was built for former prisons boss Linda Mti by a company that received tenders worth R1.5 billion on his watch.

The report nails facilities management group Bosasa, headed by the politically connected businessman Gavin Watson, for bribing Mti and the former chief financial officer of the prisons department, Patrick Gillingham.

City Press is in possession of a copy of the report that has been kept under wraps after it was handed to correctional ­services minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula by the SIU in September 2009.

The SIU found the existence of an ­“improper and corrupt” relationship between senior correctional services officials and the Bosasa group, which has received massive tenders since 2004 to provide ­catering services, security equipment, televisions and modern fencing to prisons.

Bosasa has links to senior government and ANC officials, including National ­Intelligence Agency boss Gibson Njenje, who was one of the company’s founding members and a former chairperson.

The group also benefits from massive transport and justice department tenders, and is running the Lindela repatriation camp for the home affairs department.

The SIU report claims that:

•  The department of correctional ­services (DCS), under Mti, used savings from the fund for the compensation of prison staff to pay for the Bosasa tenders;
  
• Gillingham received cash, cars, a ­kitchen and payments towards a house from Bosasa;
  
• Gillingham carried business cards indicating he was a “consultant” to a Bosasa affiliate while he was working for the DCS;
  
• Bosasa was involved in drafting tender documents for contracts it won in a way that gave it a clear advantage in the awarding of these tenders; and
  
• Mti, who was head of security for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, appointed Gillingham as acting chief financial officer in 2004 shortly after allegations surfaced that he (Gillingham) submitted fraudulent subsistence and travel claims, had an affair with his secretary and intimidated staff.

The SIU concludes that there was an “improper and corrupt relationship” ­between Gillingham, Mti and the Bosasa group of companies.

Bosasa has previously denied acting illegally and brought a court challenge against the investigation. The SIU undertook not to “interrogate material witnesses” (including Bosasa officials and the company’s auditors) until the court case was finalised.

Mti and Gillingham previously denied taking bribes. Mti said in November 2009: “I can tell you that there’s no money that went into my own pocket.”

How the SIU did it
In 2006 various allegations surfaced in the media relating to the alleged irregular awarding of multimillion-rand contracts by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to the Bosasa group of companies.

Later in 2006 the Public Service Commission and the Auditor-General referred specific allegations relating to the Bosasa contracts to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for further investigation.

In November 2007 former president Thabo Mbeki issued a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate tender irregularities at the DCS.

The SIU employed a multi-disciplinary team of forensic lawyers, forensic accountants, forensic investigators and cyber forensic experts to conduct the investigation.

The SIU obtained 28 affidavits, the majority from correctional services officials.

A former Bosasa employee, who is unnamed in the report, provided the SIU with a crucial affidavit, describing how Bosasa influenced tender processes.

In December 2008 the SIU made mirror images of Bosasa’s computer servers and the laptops of Bosasa employees Angelo Agrizzi, Andries van Tonder and Frans Vorster.

The SIU discovered that a data deletion utility had been used to wipe data from the servers, but the unit managed to retrieve data by employing advanced data-recovery techniques.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Report-Prison-was-boss-bribed-20110320

Tutu criticises Zuma

Tutu criticises Zuma, govt

2011-03-09 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday passed wide-ranging criticisms of President Jacob Zuma and his administration.

Delivering the annual Desmond Tutu Ecumenical Lecture at the University of the Western Cape, the former cleric, who turns 80 later this year, strayed far in his speech from the strict definition of ecumenical.

"I am very fond of President Zuma. He is affable and warm. But I do believe it would have been better for him to have been pronounced innocent by a court of law weighing the evidence, rather than through a dubious administrative act," Tutu told his audience.

He then turned his attention to South Africa’s controversial arms deal.

"And, if indeed there is nothing to hide, the government surely has nothing to fear from a judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal. It is an unnecessary albatross to carry the huge doubts."

Dragged backwards

On corruption, he warned the country was being dragged backwards.

"Our country with such tremendous potential is going to be dragged backwards and downwards by corruption, which, in some instances, is quite blatant."

Tutu criticised Zuma’s relationship with Schabir Shaik and the Gupta family.

"It may be that there is nothing to worry about with the parole of [Schabir] Shaik, but it must raise eyebrows when someone who was said to be at death’s door is shown playing golf. It is worrying when his close relationship to the president is put in juxtaposition.

"Perhaps the Gupta family would make all those lucrative deals and it is merely coincidental that the president’s son is a beneficiary."

Coincidences

He described these relationships as worrisome.

"It may all be above board, but it is worrisome. I am sure it is all in order, but it is disturbing that there are these seeming coincidences."

Tutu called for a return to a constituency-based electoral system.

"I think the party lists for selecting our representatives have served their very important purpose of ensuring representation for every conceivable grouping in the transition years.

"But we really do not want kowtowing sycophantic voting figures who are always ready to change their principles in order to stay on those party lists.

"We must revert to the well-tried constituency system," Tutu said.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Tutu-criticises-Zuma-govt-20110309