Posted 03/06/2008
CLOSURE OF EVER-FASTERNEWS
We regret to inform our readers that we are suspending this Blog (our website) as from today.

We have been in action for several successful years, our readership is at a peak (mostly in the United States, South Africa and Europe), feedback from readers and contributors has been excellent, and we feel we have made a contribution towards unravelling some of the mysteries of South Africa in a complex and critical period.

James Myburgh's blog
However, our co-editor James Myburgh has returned to Johannesburg, working for Moneyweb. We commend his excellent politics site to you: www.politicsweb.co.za (Click here).
Stanley Uys and Paul Trewhela remain based in the UK, and will contribute articles to Politicsweb, but they cannot keep this blog going on the regular basis required. In Stanley's case, health factors are also a consideration.

The blog (www.ever-fasternews.com) will remain posted at this site indefinitely so that readers can access the articles that have been printed since our foundation, principally by clicking on the heading 'Articles'. Personal statements posted today conclude our work.

So farewell from Stanley Uys, James Myburgh and Paul Trewhela. And many thanks for all your support.

Posted 03/06/2008
FAREWELL, AND THANKS, TO ALL
Stanley Uys

I first met my co-editor-to-be James Myburgh in one of those coffee shops in St. George's Mall, Cape Town, in 2001. He was a young researcher with the opposition Democratic Alliance in parliament; I had retired as the morning newspaper group's London editor, still dabbling in journalism, but escaping the UK winter. James had been a student at Cape Town university, under Professor Hermann Giliomee, and it was at Hermann's house in Stellenbosch that I was shown (for my comment) an article written by James.

James's article was on Mbeki, and I was so impressed by it that I showed it to the editor of the Sunday Independent, who was also impressed. This is what occasioned my meeting with James at the coffee shop. We discussed the as yet unpublished article. (See here for full article; and see below for James Myburgh's article from 2001, Mbeki and the Total Formula).

Posted 03/06/2008
A FAREWELL SALUTE TO OUR READERS
Paul Trewhela

The best qualities of western journalism focused on South Africa
Ever-fasternews managed to find a balance between reportage and analysis. The reportage came from South Africa, mostly from reports in the South African press published online, then copied, sub-edited and posted on ever-fasternews. This was journalism often of the highest quality. Analysis came from individual articles from the South African press published online (frequently from editorials or regular columns written by established writers), from contributions by readers which may or may not have been published elsewhere, and from original interpretation by members of the editorial team. Original analysis derived from a wide-ranging and varied combination of experience of South African political conditions of over fifty years as well as from immediate contemporary experience. The criteria of selection for posting of articles related to the best qualities of western journalism. (See entire article here).

Posted 03/06/2008
MBEKI AND THE TOTAL FORMULA
The president's leadership style is to surround himself with yes-men and entrench party control at all costs.

This article by James Myburgh was published in the Sunday Independent (Johannesburg) on April 1, 2001.
(See here. Also 'Farewell" above by Stanley Uys):

Posted 03/05/2008
ANATOMY OF SOUTH AFRICAN DECAY

James Myburgh

The racial breakdown of the 2007 matriculation results, released by the Department of Education last month, provide an important insight into the cause and extent of the crisis currently facing South Africa. The Department points out these statistics "cannot be regarded as completely reliable" based as they are on self-reporting. There are pupils who refuse to classify themselves by race and others who misclassify themselves by mistake. Last year, apparently, numerous Indian and black pupils erroneously classified themselves as 'Asian.' Click here to read further ...

Posted 03/04/2008
VIDEO INSIGHT INTO A MALIGNANT BIGGER PICTURE
Karima Brown
Business Day (4/3/2008)

Residential segregation at University of Free State since 1990s
IT IS not often I find myself agreeing with the South African Students' Congress (Sasco). But I must confess I share Sasco's sense that firm action must be taken not only against the students who made the racist video at the University of the Free State, but also the administration under whose watch the whole sorry business happened. (See more here).

Posted 03/04/2008
GRIM OUTLOOK FOR S.A. ECONOMY
Thabang Mokopanele
Business Day (4/3/2008)

Fewer orders, input price inflation, cut-backs in production

MANUFACTURING activity slumped to a four-and-half-year low last month, knocked by slowing consumer demand for cars and furniture and the power crisis, according to the latest Investec purchasing managers' index. (See more here)

Posted 03/03/2008
'STATE OF THE NATION'
Mondli Makhanya, Editor. Sunday Times (2/3/2008)

From the world's most optimistic nation to a state of depression
I'd like to deal with the rather gloomy mood our country is in. The big question is, how did we find ourselves in this situation where a country whose citizens were among the world's most optimistic, finds itself in a state of depression, with the world increasingly doubting its viability as a prosperous democracy.(See full article here).

Posted 03/03/2008
MINEWORKERS TO LOSE JOBS AFTER POWER CUTS
The Times online (29/2/2008)

Minister acknowledges mining job losses unavoidable
The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, has confirmed that job losses at South African mines are unavoidable. Ms Sonjica [who provoked anger when she told Parliament last month that people should go to bed earlier because of power cuts - ed] said this became apparent at a meeting last week with labour unions and the Chamber of Mines, but she would not disclose the number of job losses that will take place. The urgent meeting was called after some mining companies warned that the country's power restrictions could force them to shed thousands of jobs. Mining companies across the country were forced to shut down for five days last month due to a shortage of power supply. Eskom has since asked all its large industrial clients, including mines and smelters, to cut energy consumption by 10% because of power shortages. It has suggested that companies will have to live with these restrictions until 2012 when it brings additional generation on stream. Gold, platinum and ferrochrome miners have been the hardest hit, with most advising that production forecasts for the year were unlikely to be met. South Africa’s second-largest gold producer Gold Fields said earlier that 6,900 jobs were at risk as a result of the electricity restrictions. Trade union Solidarity has estimated that South Africa's power crisis could result in more than 15,000 job losses while Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt estimates that the number could be as high as 60,000 to 80,000.

Posted 03/03/2008
ZUMA TRIAL: TAX FRAUD EVIDENCE PRESENTED TO COURT
The Times online (1/3/2008)

Failure to declare R2.7m in payments from Schabir Shaik alleged
The National Prosecuting Authority alleged in the Constitutional Court last week that Jacob Zuma, the president of the ruling African National Congress, 'failed to disclose' to the South African Revenue Service and to Parliament for the nine years from 1995 to 2003 that he had received 583 payments from the convicted fraudster, Schabir Shaik.(See more here).

Posted 03/02/2008
ZUMA TRIES TO BLOCK PROSECUTION EVIDENCE
Paddy Harper
The Times online (1/3/2008)

Court application in Mauritius to block release of arms deal documents
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma has come out with guns blazing in affidavits submitted to court, stopping short of accusing President Thabo Mbeki of lying and conspiring to prevent him from becoming the country's next President. Zuma claims he is being targeted by forces in the ANC and government because of his 'pro-poor' political beliefs in a bid to prevent him from becoming President of the country. (See more here).

Posted 03/02/2008
THERE WILL BE BLOOD: COMMUNIST COUP THREAT IN S.A.
Paul Trewhela

SACP and Cosatu prepare to impose command economy by force
On the sixtieth anniversary of the imposition of a Communist regime on Czechoslovakia by bullying and by stealth, it would appear that the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions are planning a coup to install a Stalinist state in South Africa that will impose a command economy. (See full article here).

Posted 03/02/2008
CHIPPY SHAIK FOUND GUILTY OF PhD PLAGIARISM
Jocelyn Maker and Megan Power
Sunday Times (2/3/2008)
Shaik 'plagiarised massively' to secure degree with fake thesis
Shamin 'Chippy' Shaik, former Director of Procurement in the Department of Defence and a central figure is allegations of corruption in the South African arms deal scandal of 1998/99, has been found to have copied the work of five international professors published in a book more than 20 years ago in a thesis submitted for a doctoral degree. Shaik has been officially unmasked as a fake and unceremoniously stripped of his doctorate by the University of KwaZulu-Natal. (More here).

Posted 03/01/2008
RECONCILIATION TAKEN 'TOO FAR'
The Citizen (here) 2/28/2008

South Africa’'s early democracy after 1994 reached out too far with a policy of reconciliation at the expense of 'transformation', the SAHRC said yesterday.

'We focused too much on reconciliation in the first years of our democracy,' said SA Human Rights Commission chairman Jody Kollapen. This had led to difficulties in advancing a 'transformation' agenda because beneficiaries of apartheid resisted transformation as they saw it as undermining reconciliation, he said. Kollapen said criticising early democracy's over-emphasis on reconciliation was not a personal attack on Nelson Mandela. At the time perhaps it was necessary to have such reconciliatory policies, however, with the benefit of hindsight perhaps reconciliation was pushed too far, he said. The response of the white community in post-apartheid South Africa was disappointing, said Kollapen. 'They did not come to the party and contribute to the transformation of the country.'  The recent apology by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for the past mistreatment and suffering of aboriginal people was an example to which South Africa should look. This apology was 'not grudging or limited' but 'sincere' and showed the beginning of an understanding of the hurt and pain caused to people. In South Africa these kind of apologies did not happen.

[Ed.-Kollagen does not recognise the contradiction: an 'apology' for apartheid is a demand for 'reconciliation'. Or that 'transformation' - apportioning South Africa's resourses in accordance with the size of the four ethnic groups (Africans 79.5%, Whites 9.2%, Coloureds 8.9%, Indians 2,5%) - is apartheid continued and contra-reconciliation.]

Posted 02/29/2008
COSATU WHIPS ZUMA INTO LINE
Hajra Omarjee. Business Day.28/2/2008

IN AN astonishing flip-flop on labour policy, African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma has been whipped into line by his trade union allies over his recent comments in support of a more flexible labour policy. (See more here).

Posted 02/28/2008
BODYGUARD OF LIES
Sam van den Berg  

What conclusions can one draw from mounting evidence that the ANC may be steeped in corruption? (See more here).

Posted 02/28/2008
WIKIPEDIA CO-FOUNDER SLAMS TELKOM MONOPOLY
Sunday Times ( 29/4/2007 )

Government money squeeze in Telkom monopoly prevents access to Internet
Two of the world's leading Internet celebrities have blasted South Africa ’s telecommunications policy and called for the unbundling of the Telkom monopoly. The South African government owns a major stake in Telkom, which controls the infrastructure that makes surfing the Internet possible. Larry Lessig, author and cyber-law professor, and Jimmy Wales, co-founder of on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia, said government's telecom monopoly was preventing access to the Internet, which plays a vital role in the spread of information. Lessig and Wales were guest speakers at a two-day digital technology exhibition at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town in April last year. Speaking to the Sunday Times afterwards, they voiced concern that high telecom prices were having a negative impact on Internet access. (See more here).

Posted 02/28/2008
ZUMA'S ROLE IN ARMS DEAL CORRUPTION, COURT TOLD
(28/2/2008)

ANC president 'met French company in London in arms deal negotiation'
Jacob Zuma, the president of the African National Congress and reigning candidate to become President of South Africa following general elections next year, actively and personally used his political status to attempt to secure an arms deal contract for his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik (to whom he was deeply in debt), the Constitutional Court was told on Tuesday this week. According to a submission by Shaik's counsel, Martin Brassey, Zuma attended a meeting on 2 July 1998 at the offices in Whitehall, London, of the British Department of Defence together with Shaik and Jean-Paul Perrier, head of the French arms company Thomson France, in order to 'smooth over' difficulties relating to transfer of shares to Shaik's Black Economic Empowerment company, Nkobi Holdings. (See more here).

Posted 02/27/2008
MANUEL'S ATTEMPTED GAGGING ORDER ON ARMS DEAL ACTIVIST
Times online, JHB, 27/2/2008

Finance Minister's action against arms deal 'prostitution' claim 'unconstitutional'
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel was damaging his own reputation and that of the country by applying for a court order that would silence him, anti-arms deal activist Terry Crawford- Browne said yesterday. The Cape High Court on Monday heard Manuel's urgent application for an order to stop Crawford-Browne from publicly claiming that Manuel was guilty of corruption in the government's multi-billion rands arms deal. Crawford-Browne said: 'A gagging order would make a mockery of the guarantees in the Constitution, which is the foundation of our constitutional democracy.' If Manuel succeeded in his application, said Crawford-Browne, he would compound the international image of South Africa 'as a country where corruption and crime are out of control'. Manuel ‘will also have shredded our constitutional commitments to ministerial accountability and freedom of expression,' he said. Crawford-Browne said that when he told Manuel to his face that he had 'prostituted' himself when he signed the loan agreements for the funding of the deal, his use of the word 'was both accurate and appropriate'. Judge Andre le Grange is expected to make his decision on the application known later this week.

[Note by Ever-fasternews: Terry Crawford-Browne, a former banker, is the author of Eye on the Money. One Man's Crusade against Corruption (Umuzi/Random House, Johannesburg, 2007) which sets out the campaign of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR-SA) against the corrupt 1998/99 arms deal organised under then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. The book was reviewed on ever-fasternews in 'The arms deal. The Modise-Mbeki axis' (28 October 2008). In his book, Crawford-Browne concludes that 'the ANC and its elite' had been 'bought for mere petty cash' by international arms companies. (p.193) This book was followed a few months later by After the Party. A Personal and Political Journey inside the ANC (Jonathan Ball, JHB, 2007) by the former ANC MP, Andrew Feinstein, who was sacked by the ANC from his position on the parliamentary Standing Commission on Public Accounts in 2001 because of his tenacious efforts to expose Cabinet-level corruption in the arms deal. (See 'Book review: Andrew Feinstein: The case against Mbeki', 8 January 2008). Feinstein will speak at the London launch of his book at Foyles Bookshop, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2, on Thursday, 28 February 2008 at 6.30pm. – Ed].

Posted 02/27/2008
COSATU AXES ITS PRESIDENT
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday axed Willy Madisha as its president over his involvement in a missing R500,000 (£33,000) donation scandal. An acting president will be elected at the next Central Executive Committee in May. City Press reports: 'Madisha's expulsion will signal the intensification of a campaign to rid Cosatu of leaders who backed President Thabo Mbeki's failed bid for a third-term as ANC leader'. Madisha was suspended as president of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) in December for apparently telling members not to vote for the then deputy president of the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, at the party's national conference that month. Zuma was elected president at the conference. Malawian businessman Charles Modise laid a complaint against the South African Communist Party (SACP) last year in connection with a R500,000 [£33,000] donation he claimed to have made to the party in 2002. He said he gave the money to Madisha, who in turn swore he delivered the money to SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande. Nzimande denies receiving the money.

Posted 02/26/2008
THE DEMOCRATIC "BRONZE MEDAL"

Tony Leon, the former Democratic Alliance leader, describes the ejection of Thabo Mbeki as ANC leader at Polokwane as a "bronze medal in the democratic Olympics." The gold medal, he comments, would have been a change of government. "The silver medal would have been a better choice than Zuma versus Mbeki. But a bronze medal is better than no prize at all." In an interview with Politicsweb Leon set out what he regarded as the potential upsides and downsides of the Polokwane revolution. As to how they will play themselves out in the end, "only time will tell." Click here to read further....

Posted 02/26/2008
READER'S RESPONSE TO DRECHSLER
Sirs, Wolfgang Drechsler's article (see here) is valuable for its analysis of African sociology. The rest is drivel, and atypical of your website. "Africans," he writes, "are actually aware of their home-made problems, but indignantly reject each and any criticism purely in order not to lose the regular maintenance payments extracted by manipulating the feelings of guilt of the West." By my lights, what payments are made overwhelmingly flow from the south to the north: Europe remains rich because Africa stays poor. Is Drechsler so ill-informed that he is unaware that Kenya's total foreign debt totals US $ 9-billion? (See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/02/MNGRMBJ04I1.DTL) The interest on that swallows 40% of Kenya's national budget, diverting money from roads, schools, clinics and what have you. Even a country such as Ethiopia, among the world's poorest, pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year in interest to rich foreign lenders, a regime zealously enforced by IMF and World Bank lobbying for "fiscal responsibility".

This is without even accounting for the wholesale export of African raw material to the north. South Africa and Botswana's diamonds, for example, end up on cutting tables in Antwerp and Tel Aviv. There, they create jobs, companies and entire industries that would have benefitted their countries of origin except for the bias that the mine owners, mainly white, still have against supporting local cutters. What do the European cutters do then? They turn around and sell the same stones, now polished and set, back to the countries they extracted them from. Nigerian oil is refined away from Nigeria, then sold back to them by the oil multinationals, and so it goes. This beneficiation and selling back to the original supplier acts as a fig leaf. It disguises the shame that Europe had nothing to export to the rest of the world except force, mounted on gunboats from around 1500 or so. If he is not reporting this, then Drechsler must be unaware of these basic facts. In that case, I maintain that a livelihood other than journalism awaits him.

Sincerely
Thabo Seseane

Posted 02/26/2008
CANDIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Posted 02/24/2008
ZUMA FACTION PROBES MBEKI-LED ANC'S SHADY DEALS
Buddy Naidu
Sunday Times (24/3//2008 )

Phosa warns that law will take its course if criminality is found
THE ANC'S new leadership has ordered a forensic audit of all empowerment deals and tenders worth billions acquired by the party's controversial investment company, Chancellor House. The Sunday Times has established that the auditing firm Ernst & Young has been appointed to look into the company's books and unravel a series of 'questionable' transactions. The investigation, started by the ANC leadership elected at the December conference in Polokwane, is also expected to look into the roles played by President Thabo Mbeki's inner circle, including his deputy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and former ANC Treasurer-General Mendi Msimang, husband of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. In a move that could be seen as post-Polokowane vengefulness, insiders say all the party's secrets could be revealed and those who benefited could be named and shamed. One said: 'Heads will definitely roll if anything untoward is unearthed, as expected.' (See more here).

Posted 02/24/2008
CABINET-LEVEL EFFORT TO REASSURE ANGLO AMERICAN
Moipone Malefane and Rowan Philip
Sunday Times (29/3/2008 )

Shift of Anglo American investment plans away from South Africa?
Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi dropped everything last week and flew to London to persuade investors not to abandon South Africa in favour of safer havens in Australia, Canada and the US. Moleketi told the Sunday Times that despite the pressure of Wednesday's Budget presentation, it was felt he and senior officials should attend the Anglo American results presentation in London and confront concerns about political and economic stability in South Africa. He said Anglo American chief executive Cynthia Carroll had signalled to the government that she was coming under pressure to shift investment plans from South Africa to Australia , Canada, the US and other countries. (See more here).

Posted 02/24/2008
'I SAW NOTHING WRONG' - ANC PRESIDENT ON RACE RULING
Paul Trewhela

The Rainbow Nation Begins to Separate its Colours

Posted 02/23/2008
HERMANN GILIOMEE ON SOUTH AFRICA'S STRUCTURAL CRISIS
Interview with Alec Hogg
Politicsweb (14/2/2008)

The South African historian discusses the current crisis with Alec Hogg

ALEC HOGG: You're with the Moneyweb Power Hour and it's a warm welcome now to the former professor from University of Cape Town and from Stellenbosch University, Hermann Giliomee, one of our great historians in South Africa. Hermann, you wrote a piece last week for Die Burger and Die Beeld newspapers, and it's elicited a whole lot of interesting reaction. Let's just go back to it a little bit. As a historian you've been looking at South Africa and saying that we're now in the third major crisis of modern times, the first being the 1929 depression, and the other one between '85 and '90, which we all remember so well. I don't know how many people would understand, being right in the middle of it, that it's quite as serious as it is at the moment. How are you making this distinction?

HERMANN GILIOMEE: Well, I suppose one looks at some indicators. One looks at public confidence, one looks at the way in which the world assesses South Africa, and I think there's quite a lot in common between these three crises. The only thing is that at this particular time people still try and see the various crises like electricity, water supply, crime, corruption, as distinct crises - they don'y see it as one general structural crisis. (For the whole interview, see here).

Posted 02/23/2008
WHITE JOURNALISTS EXCLUDED FROM ZUMA ADDRESS

Hajra Omarjee

The Forum for Black Journalists, started in 1996, has organised a conference today from which white journalists have been excluded. The ANC, which has been invited, defended the move yesterday, saying that while the ANC itself is multiracial, it respected the Forum for Black Journalists' 'constitutional right' to organise along racial lines, and would not dictate to them. The forum relaunches in Johannesburg this weekend. The Human Rights Commission’s chairman, Jody Kollapen, said 'There may well be a need for such an organisation, but to exclude white journalists based on their race has to be questioned.' Zuma, elected ANC president in December, is suing a number of media houses for defamation. He has also repeatedly rapped journalists over the knuckles for reporting on allegations of corruption against him. Head of Wits University's journalism school, Prof Anton Harber, said yesterday the exclusion of nonblack journalists concerned him because the invitation said that discussions could not be published. He said this was tantamount to an off-the-record briefing. While the Freedom of Expression Institute defended the right of the forum to organise along racial lines, it said it was 'unstrategic at worst' to prevent any journalists, no matter their race, from attending. Forum for Black Journalists’ chairman Abbey Makoe defended the gathering, saying all black journalists as defined by the law could attend. Zuma said he saw nothing wrong when asked whether he approved of the exclusion of white journalists. Radio 702 laid a formal complaint of racial prejudice with the South African Human Rights Commission. The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) condemned the exclusion of white reporters, saying this 'has no place in South Africa today. Our democracy came after a hard fought struggle at several levels, including the media, and every effort should be made to protect it'.

[Note by Ever-fasternews: Suppose this. The Forum for White Journalists, representing journalists such as Ruth First, Brian Bunting, Laurence Gandar and Donald Woods, organises a conference to which certain political parties only are admitted, and others not, and which excludes black journalists. The ANC naturally regards this as perfectly legitimate and not racist. (Ruth First and Brian Bunting were editors of the banned Communist Party newspaper, New Age. First was assassinated by the apartheid regime with a parcel bomb in 1982, while in exile in Mozambique. Bunting was correspondent for the Soviet news agency, Tass, in exile in London. Gandar was constantly harried by the apartheid state while editor of the Rand Daily Mail. Woods, the editor of the Daily DispatcH in East London, fled South Africa after the arrest and murder of his friend, Steve Biko, and wrote the book about Biko from which the film Cry Freedom was made). Naturally the ANC is not guilty of humbug.

Would it also not be more consistent for the Forum for Black Journalists to consider repudiation of the Roman alphabet as the vehicle for its thoughts, and the invention of a more racially pure form? - Ed].

Posted 02/22/2008
ESKOM CHAIRMAN IN ANC FUNDRAISING CONFLICT
Stefaans Brummer and Sam Sole
Mail&Guardian ( 8/2/2008)

ANC fundraiser as chair of parastatal awarding contracts to ANC
Eskom board chair Valli Moosa presided over the parastatal giving contracts worth billions to African National Congress (ANC) funding company Chancellor House - while also serving on the ANC's fundraising committee. (See more here).

Posted 02/21/2008
MBEKI PLOTTED AGAINST ME, SAYS ZUMA
Jacob Zuma has accused President Thabo Mbeki and the suspended national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli of being the chief suspects in a conspiracy against him. Zuma states under oath that the decision to recharge him and French arms company Thint for corruption is part of a 'carefully orchestrated, politically inspired and driven strategy to exclude me from any meaningful political role'. (See more here).

Posted 02/21/2008
AFRICA THINKS WITH ITS BLOOD
Wolfgang Drechsler
Africa correspondent of the Tagesspiegel

Where the conditional ['subjunctive'] does not exist, it needs to be invented for Africa. The Black continent should be as developed as South America or Asia. Africa possesses every precious metal or other raw material that the earth has to offer. Africa has 88 percent of all platinum reserves, 73 percent of all diamonds, 60 percent of all cobalt and manganese, and 40 of all the gold in the world. Agriculture could flourish and produce surpluses. Africa’s rivers have immense potential for hydro-electric power generation. The Congo River basin alone could generate enough energy to light up virtually the whole continent from Cape to Cairo. (See entire article here).

Posted 02/20/2008
HOW THE ANC IS FUNDED: A THEORY
Paul Trewhela

An hypothesis about state funding of the ANC
From almost as soon as the African National Congress took office in South Africa in 1994, in my interpretation, the arms deal was the occasion, not the cause, of radical dysfunction in government. (See entire article here).

Posted 02/18/2008
FUTURE OF THE SCORPIONS
Letter to the Editor: I wonder if those in the ANC who push so hard for the removal of the Scorpions have considered what the consequences of their actions are for the image of the ANC in general?  Do they realise that they are creating a perception that ANC voters are actually happy to live in a corrupt and criminal environment? That begs the question: Is that really what the majority of ANC voters want? I find that hard to believe.  Could it be that some of those who voted at Polokwane are so bent on protecting comrades from the consequences of their doings, that they have completely lost touch with their constituents? Or do they simply not care a hoot?
Johan Kriel.
ONRUS RIVER (Cape Province, South Africa).
083 235 8316

Posted 02/18/2008
LOOKING AHEAD AT WEDNESDAY'S BUDGET
Razia Kahn, Standard Chartered

To halve unemployment in South Africa by 2014, growth of 6 percent a year was required under the the government's programme - the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiatives for South Africa (ASGISA). Then predicted growth was dropped from 4.3 percent to 3 percent. The country has two levels of unemploymemt: those who are actively seeking work but are jobless – 26 percemt. And those who for one reason of another have given up seeking work – 38 percent. In a budget review today, Razia Khan (Regional Head of Rssearch, Africa: Standard Chartered Bank) comments: 'We have revised down our full year GDP forecast for 2008 from an initial 4.8% to 3%. Even without taking into account the additional expenditure that may now be required, revenue collection is likely to fall. This will have implications for South Africa’s fiscal policy'. (Razia.Khan@standardchartered.com). Here are a few extracts from Khan's review: (See more here).

Posted 02/17/2008
ARMED GUARD FOR BROADCASTING INQUIRY
Cecil Motsepe
City Press. 6/2/2008

The SABC (state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation) has hired four bodyguards to protect its head of internal audits, Elsje Oosthuizen, from being harmed or killed by high-ranking ­officials being probed for fraud and corruption. City Press understands that Oosthuizen is probing influential individuals, including a well-known station manager, a marketing manager and a top SABC lawyer. Now the broadcaster is nervous about her safety. A decision was made in the middle of last year to beef up security around her after she allegedly received threatening phone calls and was followed as she drove out of the SABC's Auckland Park offices.Oosthuizen now has bodyguards 24 hours a day, at work and at home. (See more here).

Posted 02/17/2008
'TURMOIL' IN S.A.FIFA CUP PREPARATIONS
Bareng Batho-Kortjaas
Sunday Times. 16/2/2008



'The way Danny spoke to Tim: God, I have never in my whole life heard a man speak to another man like that'.
Infighting and mistrust is causing widespread tension within the company entrusted to pull off Africa's first Fifa World Cup. Key players in the country's 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) are barely talking to each other, while chief executive Danny Jordaan is being labelled a 'control freak'. 'It is an accident waiting to happen,' an official in the LOC's inner circles said this week. Today the Sunday Times can reveal that media personality Tim Modise, appointed chief communications and marketing officer, was on the brink of leaving the company last week. In addition, strained relations between Jordaan and the LOC chairman, Irvin Khoza, are filtering down into the ranks at the Nasrec headquarters.
Behind the scenes there is bad blood that is affecting the functioning of the LOC. There is 'mistrust' between South African soccer's two most powerful men, who were constantly second-guessing each other. Khoza was this week said to be gleaning his information about the deteriorating situation from other executives rather than Jordaan himself. Fears are growing in soccer circles that although infrastructure projects like stadiums will be completed on time, Fifa will lose confidence in South Africans' ability to run the event and simply parachute in its own people take it over. Fifa boss Sepp Blatter was forced to intervene to repair Khoza and Jordaan’s relationship.
(See entire report here)

Posted 02/17/2008
THE SIX WIVES OF JACOB ZUMA
Bongani Mthethwa and Subashni Naidoo.
Sunday Times. 16/2/2008

ANC leader set to emulate Henry VIII - but he'll be married to them all at once.
The country's most prominent polygamist, Jacob Zuma (newly elected president of the ruling African National Congress), is set to add another bride to his harem - and probably wife number six after that. Just weeks after tying the knot with Nompumelelo Ntuli in a ceremony attended by about 400 guests, plans are under way for the 65-year-old to take on his fifth wife. It was established this week that the unemployed Zuma - who is currently in Mauritius to prepare for a legal challenge - has already paid lobolo [bride price in cattle) for Thobeka Mabhija, described as a Durban socialite. Following Zuma's election as ANC president, the 35-year-old Mabhija was said to have spread the word in Durban circles that she was going to be the country's next first lady. She later denied saying this. When contacted for comment about her upcoming wedding, Mahbija demanded angrily: 'How did you know about it?' She said she preferred her personal life to remain private. If she actually ties the knot, Zuma would match Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, who presently has six wives. Zuma, the father of at least 18 children, has Bongi Ngema from Umlazi lined up for another trip down the aisle.
Zuma's younger brother, Michael Zuma, 59, confirmed that there was a relationship between the ANC president and Ngema, with whom he has a three-year-old son. Over the years, Zuma has relied on the generosity of friends - including ANC stalwart Phyllis Naidoo, who confirmed paying lobolo  9bride price in cattle) for Zuma's first wife, Sizakele and various businessmen supporters like Don Mkhwanazi, Vivian Reddy and Abdul Malek, to pick up the tab for his wedding bills.
Zuma also paid lobolo for Swazi Princess Sebentile Dlamini, 38, the granddaughter of King Sobhuza III, in 2002 but nothing has come out of it. She was reportedly so disappointed at hearing that Zuma had married Mantuli that she had to be taken to hospital to be treated for depression and felt that she was being humiliated in public. The traditionalist Zuma apparently has had to contend with bickering between Mantuli and Mabhija over who should become the first lady should he land the top job. Zuma's son, Michael, said he was unaware of a dispute among Zuma's wives about who should become the first lady. 'There could be a dispute among the women which I’m not aware of but this issue has never been discussed in the family,'he said.

Posted 02/17/2008
A NOTE ON THE ANC
Paul Trewhela

The future of the ANC as a dominant ruling party
There is a great deal of rage in South Africa, both overt and suppressed, and a good deal of this attaches to the record of the African National Congress over its three terms in government since 1994. There has been a certain amount of hope that the ANC would split at a not too distant time in the future, allowing for more 'normal' politics in place of its role as such a dominant single ruling party. Under these circumstances it is helpful to consider the ANC in the most open-minded way possible. (See more here).

Posted 02/17/2008
ZIMBABWEAN ON SUNDAY
The Zimbabwean makes the following announcement:

'We are delighted to announce the launch of The Zimbabwean on Sunday.This will hit the streets in Zimbabwe for the first time on Sunday Feb 17, the third anniversary of the launch of The Zimbabwean. Since 2005, The Zimbabwean has been a voice for the voicless, suffering, people of Zimbabwe - shining a light into the darkness and making a vital stand for Freedom of the Press and of expression. The Zimbabwean 0n Sunday will continue in this noble tradition. We are grateful to our loyal readers and advertisers who have made The Zimbabwean such a runaway success. We hope you will all enjoy The Zimbabwean on Sunday.'
(Wilf Mbanga, Editor. Banned in Zimbabwe, the courageous journalist founded The Zimbabwean in exile in Brighton, and is now embarking on a Sunday edition).

Posted 02/16/2008
ZUMA CAMP SPLIT OVER MOTLANTHE
Matuma Letsoalo
Mail&Guardian 15/2/2008

A bitter factional battle is raging within ANC president Jacob Zuma's camp as party members jostle for top government posts under the new regime. At issue is whether Zuma or ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe should replace Thabo Mbeki as the country's president after 2009. Despite the party's recent pronouncement that Zuma would be the ANC's presidential candidate in next year's national elections, the Mail & Guardian has established that there is little consensus within the Zuma camp. The point of dispute is the country's deputy presidency.'The core Zuma group, led by KwaZulu-Natal finance minister Zweli Mkhize, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande and some leaders of the ANC Youth League, is already trying hard to block Motlanthe’s appointment as the country’s deputy president under Mbeki. The Motlanthe faction is lobbying for the ANC deputy president to be the organisation's presidential candidate in the national elections. The lobby says that Zuma, who was acquitted of rape charges and now faces corruption charges, is too tainted to be the face of the ANC during the elections. A senior ANC executive committee member sympathetic to Motlanthe told the M&G that the ANC leadership was planning to approach Mbeki with a formal proposal to appoint Motlanthe after the matter had been discussed and agreed by all NEC members during next month’s meeting. However, it appears the Zuma loyalists are now planning to head off the idea of Motlanthe's appointment believe the move would give him an advantage over Zuma.(See more here).

Posted 02/14/2008
INTERPRETING THABO MBEKI

James Myburgh

In his State of the Nation Address on Friday President Thabo Mbeki quoted from the famous opening passage of a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens which begins: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Mbeki said that as he was preparing his address "one among us" suggested that these well-known words capture "what he considers the essence of the reality confronting us."

He added that he personally disagreed with the assessment that "we have entered an era of confusion." "Like the rest of our Government" he said, "I am convinced that the fundamentals that have informed our country's forward march in the last 14 years remain in place."

In reality South Africa appears to be in a state of national despondency. There can be few authorities inclined to describe the current period as the "age of wisdom" or - following the recent power outages - the "season of Light." However, if one reads a little further the relevance of the passage to the current situation becomes more apparent.

(Click here to read further ... )

Posted 02/13/2008
DON'T TRUST MBEKI, BLATTER
If Fifa chief Sepp Blatter believes President Thabo Mbeli's assurances that South Africa will create 'the best ever' FIFA Football World Cup tournament in 2010, he is being taken for a ride. Tourism authorities fear the energy crunch, which halted key gold and platinum mines last month, will make South Africa an unsuitable host for the event, but Mbeki says 'I have absolutely no doubt that we will honour our undertaking to FIFA and the world community of soccer players and lovers to create all the necessary conditions for the holding of the best ever FIFA Football World Cup tournament.' Informed observers think the assurances to Blatter are wholly irresponsible. (See more here).

Posted 02/12/2008
WARNING AGAINST POLITICISED MILITARY TRADE UNION
President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation address (8/2/2008), if low-key, went off peacefully, but on the previous day the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) had called upon the Minister of Defence to assure the nation that the integrity and neutrality of the military were not being undermined by the conduct of the South African National Defence Union (SANDU). SANDU allegedly threatened 'chaos' at the opening of Parliament (8/2/2008). SANDU spokesperson Charlton Boer was photographed wearing a T-shirt supporting Jacob Zuma, who has ousted Mbeki as president of the ruling African National Congress. The DA says 'This indicates that the SANDU is not politically neutral. There is a great deal of tension that exists between the SANDU and the military, with a number of court cases, including constitutional court cases, having been instigated by SANDU against the military. While the DA supports fair labour legislation for all, the conduct of the SANDU has become increasingly aggressive and openly hostile towards, not only the MoD, but now also the President [Thabo Mbeki]. SANDU gives the impression that it has allowed itself to become embroiled in party politics. This is a very dangerous situation for a military union to be in, and threatens to undermine the political neutrality of the military as a whole. In the build-up to 2009 [when general elections are held and Mbeki steps down as national president – ed], we cannot afford to have a military union taking political sides and publicly attacking not only the MoD, but also the President. We need to guard carefully against the rise of a politicised military, which historically has been the bane of developing countries'.

Posted 02/12/2008
S.A. CAN HANDLE WORLD SOCCER CUP - MBEKI
Amid (unconfirmed) rumours that the 1910 Fifa World Soccer Cup tournament will be staged in Australia because South Africa cannot handle it, President Thabo Mbeki declares: 'I am aware of the fact that many in our society are troubled by a deep sense of unease about where our country will be tomorrow. I have absolutely no doubt that we will honour our undertaking to Fifa and the world community of soccer players and lovers to create all the necessary conditions for the holding of the best ever Fifa Soccer World Cup tournament'. Mbeki apologised for the scale of the problems caused by the power cuts and said they would be resolved 'in a relatively short period'. The black-outs at one stage stopped production at some of the country's biggest gold and platinum mines. Opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille, however, says Mbeki has not managed to calm the nerves of the South African nation. Mbeki constitutionally must step down as national President early in 2009, and therefore will no longer be president when the Wold Cup is staged.

Posted 02/11/2008
SOUTH AFRICA'S RICHEST
South Africa's billionaire club is growing fast. With only 21 billionaires last year, the Rich List now boasts 28. This year there are nine new billionaires - on the (Johannesburg) Sunday Times Rich List. Of the top 100 wealthiest on the list, about 20 are black and three are women. The Rich List shows that white men remain by far the wealthiest South Africans. Although the number of people with such wealth is actually much higher, the Sunday Times only included the list of people from publicly available information on JSE-listed investments. Research staff of Who Owns Whom excluded property, cash, offshore investments or money held with fund managers from their calculations. Entrepreneurs, sports stars, holders of patent rights and owners of non-listed companies may be as rich as people on this list, but it is impossible to determine their wealth, or even their identities. South Africa’s old-money families, the Oppenheimers and Ruperts, who have always been considered South Africa's richest families, have been overshadowed by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who is officially the richest man in the country. The India-born steel magnate, who tops the list for the third consecutive year, with R27.3-billion, has been included in the list by virtue of his shareholding in steel maker Mittal SA. His wealth represents the value of his investment in S A only. The Rich List, which calculates wealth as at March 31 this year, places Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of the world’s biggest diamond producer, De Beers, in second position, with a R16-billion shareholding in Anglo American. Patrice Motsepe (mining), who was ranked eighth in 2005, is now the country’s third-richest person with a R13.5-billion fortune in shares alone.(JHB Sunday Times 10/2/2008).[South Africa's unemployment is just under 40 percent and its poverty rating is 60 percent].

Posted 02/11/2008
OPPOSITION CALLS FOR DISSOLUTION OF S.A. PARLIAMENT
The leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, has called for the dissolution of the 400-member National Assembly and for fresh elections to be held now instead of in 14 months' time when President Thabo Mbeki is due to step down. This follows Mbeki's ousting as president of the African National Congress (while retaining his position as South Africa's president), and the sweeping changes the triumphant Jacob Zuma camp are making. Writing in her weekly online letter, Zille (who is also the mayor of Cape Town) commented on Mbeki's State of the Nation address on February 8: 'This was business as usual for the president. He gave the speech of a manager, not a leader'. Zille said in putting forward the motion for the dissolution of parliament her party was saying it was time for real accountability, 'not the replacement of one morally bankrupt administration with another'.

Posted 02/11/2008
IS THE CRISIS IN S.A. BEYOND REPAIR?
Stanley Uys

Hermann Giliomee, formerly a professor at both Cape Town and Stellenbosch universities, is one of South Africa's most prominent historians. As such he has delved long and deep into the country's past. But he does not hesitate to look into the future as well, as he has just done in an article which appeared on February 8 in the Afrikaans daily newspapers, Die Burger (Cape Town) and Die Beeld (Johannesburg). We reprinted the article on this website (see below: SA Faces Its Third Great Crisis:02/06/08). Briefly, Giliomee says the first crisis was the 1929 Depression and the second was the race turbulence, tighter sanctions and capital flight in 1985-1990. The third crisis is the present one: the crisis in electricity and water supply, steady collapse of the infrastructure, the acute shortage of skills, one of the highest violent crime rates in the world and rampant corruption to which the government seems to turn a blind eye. Many of these developments are the result of a policy of too rapid 'transformation' and black empowerment. Die Burger reported on 8 February 'an unprecedented wave of inquiries  about emigration mainly from people belonging to ethnic minorities' (whites, coloureds, Indians). For many outside the ranks of the ANC a catalyst has been the ousting of Thabo Mbeki as president of the African National Congress, his replacement by Jacob Zuma, and the crisis in the electricity supply.(See more here).

Posted 02/10/2008
SOUTH AFRICANS WILL NEED BRITISH VISAS
The Johannesburg Sunday Times reports (10/2/2008) that Britain is about to strip South Africa of its visa-free status and charge R1,000 (63 GBP) for a visa).This is because of rampant corruption in the Department of Home Affairs, notorious for its maladministration. South Africans would have to provide fingerprints, 'facial biometrics' and travel documents to get visas. More than 250,000 tourists, business people and family visitors to Britain are said to apply for visas each year. The door is being shut because corrupt Home Affairs officials have been dishing out genuine passports to people smugglers, foreign asylum seekers and allegedly suspected terrorists wanting to enter Britain. British immigration experts say the South African passport is 'no longer worth the paper it's written on'. Last month a British trial heard that at least 6,000 illegal Asian immigrants had been smuggled in on South African passports. SA's Home Affairs concedes there are 'major issues about the integrity and credibility' of South African passports.(See more here).

A diary in a home in Mayfair, Johannesburg, sparked the visa crisis. Seized in a raid by South African detectives on April 4, 2006, the business diary, allegedly belonging to businessman Inayat Patel, 35, contained the names of 89 Indian citizens who had been issued with South African passports by corrupt Home Affairs officials. Patel and five others were arrested in South Africa and about 27 in Britain. English- speaking 'escorts', possibly genuine South African citizens, are said to be paid up to R15,000 to pose as friends of the illegal immigrants and help them through British immigration. Prosecutor Sarah Dillon said the true scale of the operation might never be known as the diary only pinpointed the 89 people. A new report is said to contain details of the discoverty of 10,000 blank South African passports in Britain.

Posted 02/10/2008
THE FALL OF THABO MBEKI
Jan-Jan Joubert
Edited version, address at Harvard University (8/1/2008)

How Mbeki centralised power and lost touch with ANC supporters
The African National Congress, which was founded in Bloemfontein on January 8 1912 , is the oldest liberation movement in Africa and has governed South Africa since the advent of democracy in 1994. It garnered 69% of the vote during the 2004 general election and has since increased its parliamentary majority to 299 seats out of 400 through floor-crossing. It also rules all nine provinces, though it has never achieved overall majorities in two: KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape . The ANC rules these two provinces outright only because of floor-crossing. The ANC has always been a battleground between elite interests and the needs of the masses, a tension yet again at play during the party's national conference of December 16-20 in Polokwane. A brief overview of ANC history might help indicate the significance and scope of the defeat President Thabo Mbeki suffered three weeks ago. The events are obviously too recent to present any sort of definitive analysis at this stage, and I will not attempt it. Some observations from my ringside seat might, however, prove helpful, especially if we consider the way Mbeki centralised power and lost touch with the critical mass of ANC supporters, and the importance of a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in a state where one political party is as dominant as the ANC is in South Africa . (For the rest of Jan-Jan Joubert's analysis, see here ).

[Jan-Jan Joubert is chief political reporter of the Afrikaans-language newspaper, Die Burger, published in Cape Town, and is one of South Africa's leading journalists.]

Posted 02/08/2008
NO CHANGE, AS MBEKI DELIVERS STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS

Brendan Boyle
Sunday Times online (8/2/2008)

Mbeki's Apex Priorities in next-to-last State of the Nation address (They will not exactly cause the nation to tremble with anticipation - ed).

President Thabo Mbeki used his next-to-last State of the Nation address to present 24 'Apex Priorities' for his government in its final months in power. 'Business Unusual,' Mbeki declared to a packed joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces. 'We speak of Business Unusual not referring to any changes in our established policies, but with regard to the speedy, efficient and effective implementation of these policies.' (See more here).

Posted 02/08/2008
'RUSSIANS' AND 'AMERICANS' IN PUBLIC LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Paul Trewhela

Thoughts on the commemoration of Robert Sobukwe

One of the most major leaders of resistance to the apartheid system from fifty years ago - now almost invisible, the outcome of a process of 'deliberate selective remembrance...a concerted effort of a blackout or load shedding,' in the words of the director of the Pan African Foundation, Thami Ka Plaatjie - is being commemorated in South Africa this year on the thirtieth anniversary of his death. (City Press, 2/2/2008) Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe was the first president of the Pan Africanist Congress, which formally broke away from the African National Congress in 1959 and initiated the campaign of pass-burning that culminated in the massacre of 69 African demonstrators at Sharpeville in March 1960. When he completed a prison sentence in 1963, the apartheid regime kept him in total isolation from normal human contact on Robben Island for a further six years, and under severe restrictions until his death in 1978. The Pan African Foundation will host a number of activities in Sobukwe's memory. (See more here).

Posted 02/08/2008
BRAVE RESPONSE TO COMMUNIST PARTY LEADER'S 'APARTHEID-STYLE INTIMIDATION'
Mathatha Tsedu
Editor, City Press, JHB (5/2/2008)

SACP leader Nzimande threatens boycott over City Press news report
We publish below an open letter from Blade Nzimande, the general secretary of the South African Communist Party and member of the African National Congress National Executive Committee. The letter makes a number of accusations against this newspaper and its editorial leadership, alleging we are out to divide the ANC. The statement suggests to the owners of this newspaper, Media24, that the editors be fired. If this is not done, a veiled threat is added that a possible boycott of City Press could be effected. The letter was apparently triggered by last week's lead story on how an angry Jacob Zuma [newly elected president of the ANC, with crucial support from Nzimande and the SACP - ed] had complained about members of his NEC who have been allegedly positioning themselves to lead the ANC, should he be convicted. (See more here)

Posted 02/07/2008
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IN SOUTH AFRICA
Sunday Times online (7/2/2008)

'More and more obvious SA might be entering recession' as power crisis cuts deep
There is growing concern that South Africa's economy might slide into a recession as the country grapples with an electricity crisis, high interest rates and galloping inflation. Economists told The Times this week (after the release of the Business Confidence Index) that the rate of economic growth could dwindle to between 1 percent and 2 percent this year, if we are lucky, and might even dip into negative territory if the electricity crisis is not resolved. Economist Mike Schussler said: 'There’s even a good chance that we will not grow. It is becoming more and more obvious that we might be entering a recession.' Schussler said the power cuts had 'knocked the stuffing' out of the manufacturing and mining sectors for January and part of February. He had revised his growth forecast down to 2.6 percent. 'But if this [the power crisis] continues, I will have to lower that as well,' he said. (See more here).

Posted 02/07/2008
ARMS DEAL: D.A. RATTLES THE SKELETONS IN ANC'S CLOSET
Mail&Guardian (6/2/2008 )

Parliament to reopen Public Accounts investigation into Government corruption
The Democratic Alliance has lauded the decision by Themba Godi, the chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), to place the DA's request for Scopa to reopen the arms-deal probe on the agenda...
Former ANC MP and Scopa member Andrew Feinstein had made a number of serious allegations of cover-ups and corruption related to the arms deal in his recently published book, After the Party. A Personal and Political Journey inside the ANC (Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg, 2007). [See ‘Book Review. Andrew Feinstein: The Case against Mbeki (8 January 2008)']. To date, none of the allegations has been denied or refuted...criminal investigations relating to allegations of corruption associated with the arms deal have now been launched in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. [See earlier Mail&Guardian report below].

...........................

'S.A. MINISTERS AND ANC GOT MILLIONS': GERMAN PROSECUTORS
Evelyn Groenink, Sam Sole and Stefaans Brummer
Mail&Guardian (14/2/2007).
(See entire article here)

Posted 02/06/2008
MBEKI TO BE 'SNUBBED' AT OPENING OF PARLIAMENT
Ndivuho Mafela
Sunday Times online (2/2/2008)

Zuma supporters cut back on President's State of the Nation address
Parliament has cut back on plans for President Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation address on Friday in the latest power-play by Jacob Zuma’s new ANC leadership. Speaker of the Assembly Baleka Mbete, who is also the new ANC chairman and head of the party's Political Committee at Parliament, has postponed the presentation of the legislature’s theme for the year and will present it at a separate function some days after Mbeki's address. On previous occasions Mbeki had walked past banners inscribed with a theme on his way to Parliament’s main chamber. This time the banners will be absent. MPs who have been briefed on the arrangements said the traditional lunch for Cabinet ministers, MPs and important guests immediately after the President's speech had been dropped. Instead, Speaker Mbete will host a massive A-list banquet at the Cape Town Convention Centre in the evening. (See more here).

Posted 02/06/2008
SOUTH AFRICA FACES ITS THIRD GREAT CRISIS

Hermann Giliomee

With its strategic mining industry, which is dependent on cheap power and labour, its long distance from export markets and its inherent political instability, South Africa is a place where crises always wait just around the corner. Nevertheless, over the past three-quarters of a century, the country experienced only three real crises. First was the Depression of 1929-33, and then the crisis of 1985-1990 inflamed by P.W. Botha's Rubicon speech. Now we sit with a crisis around the infrastructure, skills and crime. (See entire article here).
.......................

POWER CRISIS 'COULD TRIGGER RECESSION' - S.A. BUSINESS FORUM
Sunday Times online (6/2/2008 )

Annual economic growth could drop to 1 or 2 percent
There is a 'very real' risk that South Africa could face an economic recession as a result of the current electricity crisis, the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said today. 'We have already been going through an economic slowdown, [the electricity crisis] could push us into a recession,' Sacci economist Richard Downing said. He said annual economic growth could slow down to as little as one or two percent. 'It is apparent that the shortage of electricity does pose a severe threat to the production capacity of goods and services, since critical production time is lost due to electricity power shortages during working hours. Even if the loss in output could be limited to five percent to ten percent of gross domestic product, it will be difficult to attain any growth in the economy in 2008,' Downing added. He said the effects of the electricity crisis had not been fully captured in the current Business Confidence Index (BCI) for January 2008. These effects would only be noticeable in the next three to four months. The BCI for January 2008 released by Sacci today measured 93.8, after it declined to 94.8 in December 2007.

Posted 02/06/2008
VISAS FOR UK?
In a statement today, Tony Leon, former leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, calls for caution before Britain enforces visas on South Africans visiting the UK. Evidence submitted to the British House of Commons Home Affairs select committee indicates that South Africans may in the near future be required to obtain visas to visit Britain. Leon says: 'Such a move will have a serious effect on business and travel links between our countries and create barriers to entry which are without precedent in terms of the travel regime which has stood since the time of Union in 1910. In light of the potential negative implications of this situation, I have written to Britain’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Paul Boateng, to emphasise the need for caution from the British authorities before they consider enforcing such a regime. Equally, it is clear that the (South African)  Ministers of Home Affairs and Intelligence must ensure that they resolve problems in their departments, to remove any perception that our country is a safe haven for international terrorists and criminals. British authorities have been urged to overhaul immigration rules that allow South African passport holders to enter Britain without a visa and stay for six months. British security services, including the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), intelligence services and anti-terrorist police have argued that this loophole is being exploited by terrorists with links to al-Qaeda and also by illegal immigrants. British intelligence services have already shut down an Al-Qaeda cell, members of which had been allegedly travelling to terrorist camps in Pakistan via South Africa. South Africa has also been linked by British authorities to people-smuggling, in which people were smuggled from India to South Africa, where they attained forged South African passports before being transported to London.

 

Posted 02/06/2008
ANC AT WAR IN MANDELA'S UNIVERSITY TOWN
Xolani Xundu
Sunday Times online ( 6/2/2008 )

Rival ANC factions club opponents in Alice, seat of Fort Hare University

ANC councillor Neliswa Nombombo is recovering from head injuries sustained in a fight between the supporters of President Thabo Mbeki and of ANC leader Jacob Zuma in Alice at the weekend. Alice is a dusty town at the foot of the Amathole Mountains . The roads have potholes that can pass for fish ponds. The town's biggest employer, the University of Fort Hare, is slowly emigrating to East London , faculty by faculty. When someone finally locks the gate of Fort Hare's Alice campus, leaving behind the red face-brick buildings that have become synonymous with African academic excellence, the Nkonkobe municipality will have a major crisis on its hands - mass unemployment. (See more here).

Posted 02/05/2008
SOWETAN POLL: DON'T DISBAND THE SCORPIONS
The Sowetan online (5/2/2008)

Readers vote 4:1 for ANC government not to break up crime-busters

Don’t disband the Scorpions. That was the message from more than two-thirds of Sowetan online users who answered a poll on the website about the ANC's decision to put an end to the investigative body. More than 10,000 users registered their vote on the site with a whopping 79.64% saying they did not think the Scorpions should be disbanded. This was in reaction by a decision by the newly elected ANC leadership to disband the combined prosecuting and policing body within the next six moths. The Scorpions would then be absorbed into the South African Police Service. Only 20.36% of the 10,535 people who voted agreed with the ruling party's decision. Since its inception (under President Thabo Mbeki's regime), the Scorpions’ investigations have led to the prosecution of many high profile figures, including recent cases against ANC president Jacob Zuma and National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. Jacob Zuma, now ANC president, blames the Scorpions for 'persecuting' him on corruption charges (the first trial against him collapsed, but the state says it will resume the trial in August). The Scorpions were also involved in Zuma's prosecution for rape in 2005, but that trial, too, collapsed.

BUSTING THE CRIME-BUSTERS: A BOON FOR THE CRIMINAL IN S.A.
Sunday Times online (5/2/2008 )

The Scorpions are the country's last effective corruption busting unit and disbanding them will impact on fighting organised crime, the (opposition) Democratic Alliance has stated. 'Every time special units were integrated [into the police], it has impacted on the ability to fight crime in that area,' said the party’s spokesman on Justice, Tertius Delport. The DA says the Scorpions should maintain their independence from the police. The advantage of the unit, officially called the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO), was that it combined intelligence gathering, criminal investigation and prosecution. 'This powerful combination of skills and expertise led by a qualified and experienced prosecutor means that the DSO is able to conduct investigations that are solid and will stand up in court,' said Delport.

The unit had a conviction rate of between 82 and 94 percent since 2002. The number of people it had arrested went up from 66 in 2002 to 617 in 2006. It finalised 180 prosecutions in 2002, 214 in 2006. Some of its successes included being the first in South Africa to convict financial directors of fraud and notch up convictions for money laundering and racketeering. The DSO had been involved in the fraud cases against Durban businessman Schabir Shaik [financial 'adviser' to ANC president Jacob Zuma, and now serving 15 years in prison - ed] and former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni [elected to the ANC’s National Executive Committee last December following a court sentence of four years’ imprisonment, and then appointed by the NEC to its National Working Committee, which oversees parliamentary business – ed] and had been responsible for arresting Glenn Agliotti, following the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble. [Agliotti has provided crucial information to the police about his friend, Selebi, whom Agliotti showered with gifts and money. – ed].

Delport said:‘The reasons for disbanding are not based on facts and have not been advanced in order to combat crime or improve the combating of crime... but serve the interests of individuals in elite circles of the ANC.' The DA's Len Joubert questioned the urgency of the ANC's efforts to disband the Scorpions, saying it would knock other matters off the Justice Committee's already full agenda. It intended completing the process by June. 'The draft Child Justice Bill will now have to be sacrificed for this, which is not nearly as urgent as it seems to be.'

Posted 02/05/2008
POLITICAL VIGILANTISM
Mohau Pheko
Sunday Times online ( 2/2/2008 )

Freedom of speech and association protected by SA Bill of Rights

Edmund Burke says 'all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing and say nothing'. One of the great indicators of democracy in a society is the vision of its radicals and the accessibility of its eccentrics. Equally critical is the tolerance and understanding that our society should show to its dissenters. Dissent and disagreement with ruling parties is necessary for the consolidation of democracy. Dissent presupposes that there are necessary oppositions to power that need to be freely expressed, even if they are perceived as being that of a minority opinion. They are the essence of human freedom. (See more here).

[Ms Mohau Pheko is Coordinator of the African Gender and Trade Network. Based in South Africa, GENTA delivers economic and social research to parliamentarians, women's organizations and civil servants. As an independent political economist she has advised governments, corporations and international aid programmes. Ms Pheko holds a Master's degree from the College of New York Medicine, worked in medicine in the United States and is an Expert Group Member of both the United States-Africa Business Committee and the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Between 1996 and 1998 she was Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s National Coalition in South Africa.]

Posted 02/05/2008
TO THE BRINK: STATE OF DEMOCRACY IN S.A.
Xolela Mangcu
Sunday Times online (2/2/2008)

Less than a decade for the ANC to betray Mandela's promise
How time flies! It seems like only yesterday that former President Nelson Mandela stood at attention, ready to be sworn in as the first President of a democratic South Africa . Almost every leading statesman and woman was here to witness the event for themselves. All over the world, people were glued to their television screens in virtual communion with South Africa as we celebrated one of the greatest political moments of the 20th century - the birth of a new country under the leadership of the most loved political leader in the world. At academic conferences and seminars, at dinner parties, at musical and cultural events, the mere mention of South Africa captured people’s interest. The conversations would turn on the miracle unfolding in SA. Even though I knew that our achievement was not a miracle, I enjoyed the voyeurism of it all. Mandela governed with the assistance of FW de Klerk and the younger, princely Thabo Mbeki. Mandela had wanted Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed him as president, but Mbeki had been groomed from exile for this moment. Mbeki was to be to Mandela what Nehru had been to Gandhi or what Jefferson had been to Washington : a worthy successor - or so we thought. Then, with remarkable rapidity, things began to take a turn for the worse. It took the African National Congress less than a decade to betray Mandela’s promise. (See more here).

Posted 02/04/2008
ANC PARTY/STATE BID TO MUZZLE SUNDAY TIMES?
Xolile Bhengu
Sunday Times online (4/2/2008 )

Editors fear papers could become government propaganda organs
The South African National Editors Forum has raised concerns about a R5-billion bid by government officials for the company that owns The Times and the Sunday Times. Koni Media Holdings wants an 'outright purchase' of Avusa, Business Times reported. Raymond Louw, chairman of Sanef's Media Freedom Committee, said he was not convinced that Koni was motivated entirely by business interests. 'This is deeply alarming, as the company [Koni] is composed of prominent civil servants, and this may be an attempt to bring their own opinions to the Sunday Times,' he said. (See more here).

Posted 02/03/2008
REPORT: SA EDUCATION IN CRISIS
Mail&Guardian
3/2/2008

South African education is in crisis mode, according to a Finweek report published this week. The report reveals not only a shocking skills shortage 13 years into post-apartheid South Africa, but also a fundamental crisis in an education system sorely lacking resources to equip a nation adequately for future growth. The report points to the failure of the education system to face up to the challenges of global competition in the 21st century. 'We are probably talking about an effort -- assuming for argument's sake we get the education system functioning optimally now -- lasting an entire generation before we see the results of a well-educated society working its way through the labour market and economy', said Stellenbosch economist Servaas van den Berg. During the past two years, the South African education system ejected 535,000 people from school without any passing certificate and a very uncertain future. These school leavers will join the ranks of the unemployed, says Finweek. At this time, citizens between the ages of 20 and 24 represent 14% of the labour force, but are already over-represented among the unemployed, accounting for roughly 27%. In 1999 only half of the country's maths and science teachers had tertiary qualifications in these subjects. And South Africa is losing skilled professionals to other countries that recruit in South Africa. Little is being done to train a next generation of engineers, scientists and other professionals. (Click here for more).

Posted 02/03/2008
ZUMA BLOCKS SACKING OF PROVINCIAL PREMIERS
Moffet Mofokeng, Sabelo Ndlangisa and Caiphus Kgosana
CITY PRESS.02/02/2008

ANC president Jacob Zuma is fighting a rearguard action against party provincial structures which are demanding that premiers allied to President Thabo Mbeki be ousted immediately.This week the top ANC structure, including Zuma, fanned out throughout the country, calling for calm and emphasising that premiers would not be changed until next year when they had served their full terms. Provinces where provincial executive committee (PEC) members allied to Zuma are calling for the ousting of premiers include the Western Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and North West.
The assurances by the ANC leadership come amid indications that directors-general and other senior civil servants in the national government have also been assured that their jobs will not be affected by the change of guard next year. The clamour for the removal of premiers is linked to the jostling for positions before the party's list conference process which will indicate who will occupy public positions after next year’s elections. If the premiers are removed, those who replace them will have a headstart in the run-up to 2009.

Posted 02/03/2008
AFRICA NEEDS A REVOLUTION TO END THE GOVERNANCE OF 'BIG MEN'
Mondli Makhanya
Sunday Times ( 3/2/2008 )

Half a century of anti-democratic rule in Africa

This weekend the presidential jets and commandeered national aircraft took turns taxiing down the runway at Addis Ababa airport. Africa's leaders were going home after yet another festive jamboree. One can bet that when they get home, after having pledged to do good things for Africa's people, they will go back to their bad old ways. They will beat up opponents, jail civil society activists, harass journalists and do everything to subvert democratic values. Each one of them will do so knowing full well that elsewhere on the continent their counterparts are doing exactly the same thing. That the show in Addis Ababa was just that: a chance to display their jets, size of entourage, Savile Row suits and taste in fine wines. The ritual has been going on for over 50 years, ever since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity. For half a century the mighty men of our continent have hopped from capital to capital, speaking lofty words and signing thick documents they had not read. (See entire editorial here).

Posted 02/03/2008
FEAR GRIPS ANC OFFICE-HOLDERS AS THE PURGE BEGINS
Sunday Times (3/2/2008 )

Loyalty tests in the corridors of power as ANC factioneering takes effect
Fear stalks the corridors of ANC power as new president Jacob Zuma asserts his authority in Parliament, provinces and party structures. Top ANC leaders were told this week that many party members feared being axed from government positions because of their perceived loyalty to outgoing President Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted from the party leadership in December. ANC MPs conveyed their anxiety to ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise and national chairman Baleka Mbete in a closed lekgotla (assembly) of the ANC’s parliamentary caucus on Thursday. (See more here).

Posted 02/02/2008
S.A. POLICE CHIEF CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION
South Africa's National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was charged on February 1 on three counts of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice. He also faces an alternate charge of receiving an unauthorised gratification 'by a person who is party to an employment relationship'. Selebi was not asked to plead, and the charges were not formally put to him, but his lawyer said he intended pleading not guilty after the case resumes on June 26. Last month Selebi was placed on special leave and resigned as head of Interpol when news of the charges broke.(See more here).

Posted 02/02/2008
BLACK LEADER CALLS FOR NATIONAL CONVENTION
Sunday Times online (2/2/2008)

Delivery to citizens worsens in 'incredibly politicised' civil service
The factions within the African National Congress are bringing the entire country into disrepute and causing uncertainty to investors, said United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa today. 'The so-called new NEC (National Executive Committee) of the ANC is threatening to remove those who resist them, but they have not been clear about what exactly this "resistance" is. In the process they are bringing the entire country into disrepute and causing dangerous uncertainty in the minds of investors'. Holomisa said the signs of a purge were already visible and would affect service delivery because the civil service under the ANC had become 'incredibly politicised'.

National Convention on economy, crime, corruption...
Holomisa said the UDM had identified that there was an urgent need for a national debate and consensus on several matters. This is why they had proposed to sponsor a National Convention to operate outside the confines of party politics. The convention would deal with the economy, crime and corruption, threats to the judiciary, education, the role of the SA Broadcasting Corporation, and social cohesion, including racism, tribalism and xenophobia. 'The lack of service delivery has been occasioned in many areas by the infighting in the ruling party. How long must the nation wait for this disease in the ruling party to heal itself? What if it is forever'?. There was a need for a convention to review South Africa's progress since 1994 and to chart the way forward. 'As South Africans we cannot simply fold our arms and watch our country going down the drain. We are told the economy is doing well, but out in the streets we see so much suffering.' Holomisa said false promises made about service delivery by the ruling party for the past 14 years were 'propaganda'. 'The ANC government style is not different from the apartheid regime's approach when it comes to propaganda'.

Posted 02/02/2008
SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE
James Myburgh
30/1/2008

At some point the ANC's hold upon its support is going to break. It is just a matter of when. It could be in a month, a year, or a decade. (For entire report see here).

Posted 02/02/2008
ESKOM: THE REAL CAUSE OF THE CRISIS
James Myburgh
1/2/2008

Since 1997 the ANC government has used various methods to fend-off criticism. These have run from attacking motive to bullying, obfuscation, bullshitting, lying, and outright denial. Over time civil society and media became inured to these tactics. So it was something of a welcome surprise when senior government officials - including the president and his deputy - started admitting responsibility for South Africa's energy shortages. The basic line pushed by President Thabo Mbeki (and others) was that government underestimated the likely rate of economic growth and wrongly ignored Eskom's warnings that it needed to start building new capacity. For this they were very sorry. These apologies have not silenced criticism, but they have been very effective in drawing attention away from where it should have been focused...In June 2002 [Thulani] Gcabashe [appointed CEO in 2000] approved a corporate directive on procurement from black suppliers. This established a "Hierarchy of Procurement" which had to be followed in "sourcing products and services." Although existing agreements were to be respected, for any further purchases drawn from outside the company Eskom was required to go first to "Black Women-owned Suppliers," then "Small Black Suppliers," then "Large Black Suppliers," then "Black Empowering Suppliers." Only once these options had been exhausted could "other" South African suppliers be considered. (See entire article here).

Posted 02/02/2008
LEGALISE PROSTITUTION? ANC MP's APOLOGY
An African National Congress (ANC) MP has apologised to women for his comments that prostitution should be legalised ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. 'I wish to submit my profound and unreserved apology to all women of South Africa for the manner in which these comments in the portfolio committee were attributed,' said George Lekgetho in a statement. 'I would like to state that I had not in any way intended to offend or undermine the dignity of women of this country.' It was not clear from the statement whether Lekgetho was still supporting the legalisation of prostitution. Asked for clarification, a spokesman for the party's parliamentary caucus, Moloto Mothapo, said the MP was simply 'revising the contrast in which the statement was reported'. The manner in which Lekgetho had coined his statement was regrettable, said Mothapo. Lekgetho had told a meeting of the portfolio committee on arts and culture in Parliament lthis week that legalising prostitution would help make the tournament a success, 'because we hear of many rapes, because people don't have access to them [women]. If sex working is legalised, people would not do things in the dark. That would bring us tax and would improve the lives of those who are not working.' His suggestion was met with a groan of protest and chuckles from other MPs.

Posted 02/02/2008
DAYS OF DOUBT ENERGISE OPPOSITION
Aubrey Matshiqi
Business Day. 2/2/2008.

'The election of (Jacob) Zuma as ANC president has the potential to disturb even further the fragile equilibrium between the Zulu king, Buthelezi, the IFP and the ANC. Zuma's popularity in KwaZulu-Natal may translate into electoral gains for the ANC. Furthermore, Zuma may destabilise the relationship between the king and Buthelezi. This relationship has in the past swung between open hostility and periods of relative peace that were imposed by the IFP's extension of patronage to the king. But the IFP is king no more in KwaZulu-Natal and this has compromised its capacity for patronage. The ANC under Zuma, faced with a king who seems worried about the effect of democracy on his position, may emerge as a better friend to the budget of the royal household. Despite statements to the contrary, the IFP must be concerned about the impact of "Zumocracy" on the balance of forces in KwaZulu-Natal'. ['Days of doubt energise opposition,' by Aubrey Matshiqi. See entire article here).
Matshiqi is senior associate political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies.

Posted 02/01/2008
'SLEEP EARLIER TO SAVE POWER' - ENERGY MINISTER
The Sowetan (31/1/2008 )

MPs jeer as Mbeki's minister counsels Parliament
Save electricity by sleeping earlier and by boiling less water, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told Parliament in Cape Town. 'Go to sleep earlier so that you can grow and be cleverer. Boil less water, use the microwave rather than the stove, take a shower and not a shallow bath,' she told a special sitting of Parliament to discuss the power crisis. She assured the country that power problems were no threat to the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The minister was unveiling a 10-point plan to encourage South Africans to change the way they use electricity. Amid heckling and jeering from opposition MPs, she criticised calls from 'some quarters' to identify culprits and castigate them.
Ms Sonjica was loudly jeered when she thanked the ANC for the leadership 'it has provided in helping us deal with this emergency'. She blamed the power crisis on the 'country being part of the global village.' As Ms Sonjica explained, 'There is a high demand of energy globally. China, in 13 of its provinces, has the same problem. The growth of India and China has had an impact.' She said energy markets in Ontario, Canada, had collapsed. 'There have been blackouts in the US and Europe, and Brazil had gone through the same experience. We are confident that we have the ability to turn around the situation. We reassure South Africans and the world that all our projects will be on course and that the 2010 Fifa World Cup is not under any threat.'

[Note by Ever-fasternews: In language one might use with a four-year-old, Ms Sonjica has resurrected the classic expression of political servility from under the apartheid regime, the expression of deference: 'Ons bedank die minister' (We thank the minister) as her guidance to Parliament and the nation. South Africa gets curiouser and curiouser.-Ed]

Posted 02/01/2008
A LAMENT FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S ABSENT INTELLECTUALS
Pitika Ntuli
Sunday Times ( 27/1/2008 )

Hired guns on the road to the OK Corral of Inducements

IF YOU call to mind the great thinkers, among them Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Edward Said, Jean Baudrillard and Kwame Anthony Appiah, you understand why there is scepticism about the existence of intellectuals in South Africa. If true intellectuals are around, we will need a powerful microscope to find them. The two or three who aspire to this role turn out to be hired guns on the road to the OK Corral of inducements. This is the age of information, communication systems and knowledge industries. It is the age where intellectuals are more needed than ever before - but they seem to be sleeping through the great revolution. (See more here).

Posted 02/01/2008
GAUTENG DIRECTOR-GENERAL 'IN LEAGUE' WITH CRIMINALS
Mail&Guardian (18 January 2008)

Corruption by top Provincial official alleged by convicted gang boss
Gauteng's top official, provincial Director General Mogopodi Mokoena, co-owned a company with Brett Kebble's murderer, Clint Nassif, and accepted a R250,000 cheque from him. Mokoena’s links with Nassif were among issues raised by Glenn Agliotti in an affidavit the National Prosecuting Authority submitted to court last week in response to Jackie Selebi's application to block his prosecution. (See more here).

Posted 02/01/2008
ENERGY CRISIS: NAME THOSE IMBECILES NOW
Raenette Taljaard
Sunday Times online (29/1/2008 )

Accountability, not double-speak, demanded as economy grinds down
The prospect of closed gold mines in South Africa caused not only considerable dismay about the economy but pushed up the price of gold in late-Friday trading (25 January). Added to this was the staggering image of South Africa ’s gold mines, a mainstay of old, closed for business and incurring heavy daily losses. This has led to talk of revisions of the domestic growth rate, stalled investment plans, concerns about the 2010 national World Cup project and of grim prospects in an already troubled global and local environment, with instability and inflationary pressures mounting. Eskom is a utility that ought to have been broken up a long time ago. The ill-advised comments of SA Communist Party and ANC executive Jeremy Cronin, blaming privatisation plans that were never effectively implemented, is a stunning example of the kind of policy direction we can expect to assist us in hastening the grinding of our economy to a halt.(See more here).

Posted 01/31/2008
INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS: NO CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST MBEKI
From www.politicsweb.co.za. 28/1/2008

Patricia De Lille MP, Leader of The Independent Democrats (ID). has called on President Thabo Mbeki's government to resign over the power crisis in the country. On February 12, 2008, at the first sitting of Parliament after the State of the Nation Address, the Independent Democrats will move a motion of no confidence in Mbeki and his Cabinet. The ID will move the motion in terms of Section 102 (2) of the Constitution, which reads, 'If the National Assembly, by a vote supported by a majority of its members, passes a motion of no confidence in the President, the President and the other members of the Cabinet and any Deputy Ministers must resign.'

[EVER-FASTERNEWS COMMENT:The motion is unlikely to succeed. Of the 400 members of the National Assembly, the African National Congress holds just under 300. Most of them were hand-picked by the Mbeki government under the electoral system of Proportional Representation. At the next general elections in 2009, when Mbeki must retire as national president, the MPs will be hand-picked by the Jacob Zuma camp, now that Zuma has displaced Mbeki as ANC president. Meanwhile, the present MPs will be torn by loyalty to Mbeki and by a desire to get on board the Zuma band-wagon. Seeing that Zuma probably would get rid of many of them anyway in 2009, they might have nothing to lose by remaining loyal to Mbeki].

However, a motion of no confidence could cause further tensions among the ANC MPs, and further stir the pot of black politics in South Africa. The ID is a very small party, and De Lille clearely is busy trouble-stirring with her limited resources.

See www.id.org.za

Posted 01/31/2008
ELECTRICITY CRISIS WILL BLOCK NEW PROJECTS
ENERGY CATASTROPHE
Extract from Sunday Times editorial.

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki, his Minister of Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin, and Jacob Maroga, the head of the state power company, Eskom, must take real responsibility for the catastrophic blackouts that have hit South Africa. Mealy-mouthed apologies for policy mistakes are not enough. Though we appreciate the openness with which Eskom management has dealt with the matter, we are concerned that Maroga does not seem to understand the urgency of the situation or its dire consequences for business and the people of South Africa. On Friday 25 January, while the power company was pulling the plug on the mines, he reportedly said he was unaware that they had closed. Yet, the previous day, Eskom at short notice had sent a letter to mining companies and other major business clients telling them that the power utility was cutting their supplies - and it would not be held responsible for the consequences. Eskom does not seem to be able to manage or alleviate the crisis into which it has plunged the country.(See more here)

Posted 01/30/2008
POWER COLLAPSE: ANC SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
David Bullard
Column, Sunday Times (27/1/2008)

ANC's destruction of SA's electricity supply
Multiple choice examination question 1. You are a political party that has just come to power in a country's first democratic election. The previous government only provided utilities for around 7 million people out of a population of around 43 million. The supply of water and electricity to everyone is one of your core manifesto promises. Will you require A) more power stations; B) fewer power stations; C) don't know; D) a kickback to get me interested? A fairly simple question and in case you're still puzzling over the answer, it is A. The answer the knuckleheads at the ANC gave was B, which is why we are looking increasingly like Zimbabwe at the moment. Instead of building more power stations they mothballed existing ones, sent their buddies in to run Eskom and got rid of what they called the 'greybeards', a racist term for elderly Afrikaner men who knew what they were doing. At the end of the year the new executives looked at the balance sheet, found it contained money and awarded themselves handsome bonuses for doing bugger all. (See more here).

Posted 01/29/2008
REDEMPTION SONG: LESSONS OF BIKO AND BOB MARLEY

Paul Trewhela

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but our selves can free our minds.

- Bob Marley, 'Redemption Song,' from the album, Uprising (1980). (See more here)

Posted 01/29/2008
UNIONS FEAR MINE JOBS CRISIS
Charlotte Mathews
Business Day (29/1/08)

MINING trade unions warned yesterday SA would face a major labour crisis if the halt to underground operations at major gold and platinum mines persisted . The suspension of underground mining followed Eskom's cut in power to mines late last week, after it suffered a serious power shortfall because of scheduled maintenance and breakdowns.The Solidarity union said it had asked President Thabo Mbeki to declare a disaster under the Disaster Management Act, which would require the government to provide assistance and financing to repair the damage, Meanwhile, only SA's coal mines were reported to have returned to full operation yesterday.

Posted 01/28/2008
INTERNAL ANC STRUGGLE CONTINUES
The ANC, under its new president Jacob Zuma, tightened its grip further on the party yesterday when newly elected ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa warned ANC premiers and mayors who refuse to take instructions from the organisation that they will be removed from their positions. Phosa said there was no ANC leader who was above the organisation. 'If you do not take instructions, then you are asking for marching orders'. Phosa denied that the ANC had been divided by the Polokwane conference in mid-December when Zuma replaced Thabo Mbeki as the party's president. However, ANC Western Cape provincial chairperson James Nqulu concedes that the ANC's national conference in Polokwane divided the organisation. 'It was a difficult conference'.

Further, ANC parliamentary Chief Whip Isaac Mogase has been removed from his position by the party's new leadership. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe says the changes are being made to show there is a link between the national executive committee and the party's leadership in Parliament. However, the debate continues on whether the party under Zuma or the state under Mbeki is the real ruler in the country. Last week, the Mbeki camp claimed that the government remained firmly under Mbeki's control. It dismissed concerns that Mbeki's humiliating defeat at Polokwane had made him a lame duck. Zuma is due to go on trial in August for racketeering, money laundering, fraud and corruption in connection with the country's arms deal and has said he will stand down as ANC leader if convicted. The question though is whether the state seriously intends to rearrest and recharge him, provoking a national outcry from Zumaites. Last year a corruption trial against Zuma was struck off the court roll when the judge said the evidence was inadequate. Speculation has been growing that the ANC, now controlled by pro-Zuma officials, will pressure Mbeki to bring ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe (appointed by the Zuma camp) into the Cabinet, possibly replacing Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (appointed by Mbeki).

Posted 01/27/2008
ELECTORATE SHOULD DECIDE ON SCORPIONS
Mondli Makhanya
Editor, Sunday Times (27/1/2008 )

Leading members of the ANC want to disband the elite Scorpions investigative unit by incorporating it in the SA Police Services. The formal title of the Scorpions is the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO). It is a multidisciplinary agency that investigates and prosecutes organized crime and corruption and is a unit of The National Prosecuting Authority. Its staff of 2000 consist of the best police, financial, forensic and intelligence experts of South Africa. They came into operation on 12 January 2001. The view is widely held that the Scorpions, who are presently completing investigations into charges of corruption against Jacob Zuma (Thabo Mbeki's recent replacement as ANC president) have been getting too close to the truth behind South Africa's massive arms scandal). Below is a comment on their proposed closure by Mondli Makhanya, courageous editor of the Johannesburg Sunday Times (27/1/2008). (See entire article here)

Posted 01/27/2008
GUILTY! FAILURE OF ENERGY SUPPLY
[Note by Ever-fasternews: During the last ten years of apartheid, there was a constant fear in the mining industry that sabotage by the military wing of the African National Congress could lead to massive loss of human life in the mines in South Africa, as well as cause major disruption to production and the economic basis of the industry. A power cut affecting hoists, fans, pumps, lighting and other basic functions in deep-level mining would put human life at risk as well as production. Fortunately this never happened. Last week the government of the ANC brought about the result which the mining industry most feared from sabotage by the ANC under apartheid. Five gold mining companies suspended operations for reasons of safety when Eskom, the state electricity utility company, stated that it could no longer guarantee power. The ANC government had neglected to act on warnings it received from a White Paper on future energy supply tabled in 1998, and it had persisted in misleading Parliament].

GUILTY! FAILURE OF ENERGY SUPPLY
Sunday Times ( 27 January 2008 )

THESE are the people to blame for plunging South Africa into darkness.
0 Thabo Mbeki - Ignored an Eskom warning in 1998 that there would be a power crisis by 2007.
0 Alec Erwin - Told Parliament in 2006 that there was no national energy crisis.
0 Phumzile Mlambo - Ngcuka - Failed to tackle crisis as Energy Minister and then as Deputy President.
0 Jacob Maroga - Joined Eskom in 1995 and failed to act or raise alarm when made CEO last year.
0 Thulani Gcabashe - Former Eskom CEO knew for 10 years about looming crisis but failed to tell the public. (See entire article here).

Posted 01/27/2008
ZUMA STEAMS AHEAD
Zuma camp steams ahead into Parliament

Despite promises by new ANC president Jacob Zuma and his allies that there would be no policy changes and Mbeki's own pledge that there would be smooth co-operation between the party and government, the new year has started on an adversarial note. The struggle between the 'two centres of power' in the ANC (the state under President Thabo Mbeki and the party under Jacob Zuma) is ratcheting up further. The dominant Zuma camp consolidated its power in Parliament this week by appointing two members of the party's powerful National Working Committee (NWC) to lead the ANC MPs. The Zuma camp therefore has asserted its power in an area that was previously Mbeki's domain. The ANC's new Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the changes were necessary to ensure better coordination between the two leaderships - in Luthuli House (ANC headquarters) and in Parliament.(See more here). The Mail & Guardian spoke to four people close to the president. They say Mbeki is willing to listen to the ANC, but will not implement any party decision that he thinks is impossible or could undermine the rule of law.

Posted 01/27/2008
SIGNS OF CRACKS IN ZUMA CAMP
City Press
Sabelo Ndlangisa

SIGNS of cracks in the Zuma camp have emerged after 'a blistering attack' by angry ANC president, Jacob Zuma, on some of his new national executive committee (NEC) members. Zuma has accused the NEC members of working behind his back to push his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, and treasurer Mathews Phosa. He says NEC members want the two to become the country's president and deputy president next year if charges of corruption levelled against him by the state lead to a jail sentence. Reports from the first NEC (National Executive Committee) meeting on January 7 say Zuma was so angry that he later had to apologise. He was asked to do so by senior members including Zola Skweyiya.

[Ed - Zuma supporters swept President Thabo Mbeki's supporters from the newly elected NEC last month and have laid claim to being the 'ANC' now. But a signficannt number of Zuma camp members hold the view that while Zuma's charisma was needed to reduce the Mbeki camp to second place, Zuma himself is just not presidential material].

Sources say Zuma said he was aware that members of the new NEC were going behind his back. 'He was so angry, he told the NEC this had to stop or he would take action. After the break, he came back subdued and apologised for the anger, but said the issue was true and should stop. Apparently, some senior people spoke to him and said his anger would generate new divisions in the new NEC.' (For full report see here)

Posted 01/26/2008
KANE-BERMAN ON THE THREAT OF SOVIET MODEL OF GOVERNMENT
John Kane-Berman

The Democratic Alliance must propose 'no confidence' in Mbeki

NOBODY should have been surprised when President Thabo Mbeki interfered with due process of law by suspending the national Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, in September, in an attempt to shield National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi from arrest and prosecution. This was the same Mbeki who torpedoed Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in 2001, when it tried to investigate the arms deal of which he was the major sponsor. (See more here).

Posted 01/26/2008
THE ANC AND THE IRON LAW OF OLIGARCHY
Xolela Mangcu
Business Day (24 January 2008)

Whether oligarchy or democracy will prevail in the ANC

I START my first column of the year with a wager. I suggest that you cut it out, file it away, and pull it out five years down the line. The wager is simple, the incoming crop of African National Congress (ANC) leaders are likely to behave in ways that are not radically different from their predecessors. (See entire article here).

Posted 01/26/2008
MINES WAKE TO POWER 'NIGHTMARE'
The 'nightmare' of South Africa's major gold, platinum and diamond mines shutting down because of power failures became a reality on Friday. 'Tens of millions of rands a day are being lost. It's a nightmare,' said T-sec chief economist Mike Schussler. The Chamber of Mines earlier announced that several gold and platinum mines had to shut down operations because Eskom could not guarantee power supplies on Friday. Coal supplies were also soaked during the recent rains, compounding the problem. De Beers Consolidated Mines has ceased production at its six mines: Venetia, Finsch, Kimberley, Cullinan, The Oaks and Namaqualand. Gold Fields spokesperson Willie Jacobsz said the impact of power cuts was 'very, very dramatic. It is radical ... unprecedented'. None of the mining companies has a timeframe of how long the situation is expected to continue. Opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille says that if in the 1990s the government had spent billions of rands on new power stations instead of on armaments, South Africa would not now be facing an electricity crisis. (See more here).

Posted 01/26/2008
ZUMA'S TEAM GETS A GRIP ON PARLIAMENT
The ANC's new leadership stamped its authority on Parliament yesterday by giving two of the most powerful political positions to its (Zuma) loyalists. (See full report here).

Posted 01/25/2008
MARK GEVISSER ON MBEKI AND THE ARMS DEAL
Paul Trewhela

The central role of the President in a corrupt deal
In his very intensive, exhaustively prepared biography of Thabo Mbeki - now already yesterday's man and yet a key figure to the present and the future - Mark Gevisser gives a balanced summary of the existing state of knowledge of Mbeki's role in the arms deal corruption scandal of the late 1990s. Along with Mbeki's bizarre stance on HIV/AIDS and the calamitous refusal of his government to accept the elementary advice of the 1998 White Paper on the need for expansion and renovation of electricity power supply, the arms deal will forever be the albatross hanging round this ancient mariner's neck. Try as they might to evade the consequences, whether from the side of Mbeki in the former leadership of the African National Congress or from his enemies and rivals now with their own hands on the tiller, this albatross is coming home to roost. (See entire article here).

Posted 01/25/2008
PROTESTS AT ANC MOVE TO DISBAND SCORPIONS
President Thabo Mbeki and cabinet will go ahead and place the [elite investigative unit - ed] Scorpions under the South African Police Service. A two-day cabinet lekgotla (assembly) will mainly be used to discuss ways and means of ensuring that the Scorpions are disbanded by June this year. (See more here).

Posted 01/24/2008
100,000 BABIES UNNECESSARILY INFECTED WITH HIV
Statement by Mike Waters, MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on Health:

According to the DA's calculations, more than 100,000 babies are likely to have been unnecessarily infected with HIV because of the Minister of Health's four year delay in implementing dual therapy guidelines to replace the outdated mono-therapy guidelines currently in place. The Minister owes the nation an explanation.(See more here)

Posted 01/24/2008
LETTER FROM S.A.: A TALE OF HEALTH CARE

This is one of many letters published in South Africa's newspapers concerning the state of the country's hospitals:

'I heard a woman screaming for about half an hour in an emergency ward in a different wing. She was still screaming when I left. Nurses were wandering past the window from which the screams came and hardly looked up. The toilets were filthy and what I saw of the kitchens looked scary. Her pillow stank of something or other. (See more here)

Posted 01/24/2008
MBEKI WARNED 10 YEARS AGO OF ELECTRICITY CRISIS
The South African government was warned 10 years ago that the country's electricity demand would exceed its generation capacity by 2007 (see the 1998 White Paper on the Energy Policy of the Republic of South Africa). The 110-page document warns that 'Eskom's present generation capacity surplus will be fully utilised by about 2007'. The document stated: 'Timely steps will have to be taken to ensure that demand does not exceed available supply capacity and that appropriate strategies, including those with long lead times, are implemented in time.' (See more here)

Posted 01/23/2008
DEMOCRACY TO KLEPTOCRACY IN FOUR YEARS FLAT
Four years: that's how long it took for the government of the African National Congress, nominally under President Nelson Mandela but effectively run by his Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, to get into the real business of corruption, of self-enrichment of leading politicians and the ruling party. Mbeki appears not to have been guilty of personal corruption, as the Defence Minister and his exile comrade, Joe Modise, almost certainly was; but he has a case to answer in relation to what he knew, what he himself organised, and what he arranged to be provided corruptly and illegally, at the public expense, to fund the ANC (thus to ensure his continuance in office for ten years, as President). If Mbeki resembles Putin in his obsession with power and secretiveness, the great nexus of corruption in the arms deal scandal of 1998/99 under Mbeki’s remit created the context for a re-run in reverse of the post-Soviet script in Russia, with a Yeltsin succeeding to a Putin in the presidency of the ANC (as Mondli Makhanya has argued). From the old National Executive Committee of the ANC to the new NEC elected last month, South Africa has made the transition from corruption secretively and autocratically hidden to a kleptocracy naked, open, and unashamed. (It is called 'transformation'). On the NEC the convicted fraudster Yengeni sits beside the accused but so far unconvicted Zuma in deciding the fate of the nation. As in Russia, Stalin is as Stalin does.(See more here).

Posted 01/23/2008
'MBEKI STILL IN CONTROL' - GOVERNMENT
South Africa's government said on Tuesday it remained firmly under the control of President Thabo Mbeki, dismissing concerns that his humiliating defeat in the battle to lead the ruling party had made him a lame duck. (See more here).

Posted 01/23/2008
ANC TARGETS JUDICIARY, MEDIA
James Myburgh

The new ANC leadership is rushing headlong into a confrontation with the judiciary, national prosecuting authority, and the press. The resolutions adopted by the party's national conference, now ratified by its National Executive Committee (NEC), demand the dissolution of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) and the limitation of judicial independence. They also provide for a greater measure of state control over the media. (See full article here).

Posted 01/22/2008
AUDIT OF MBEKI BY MK OPERATIVE GAVIN EVANS
Thabo Mbeki did some things well. Most notably, he maintained economic stability....He also did exceptionally well in maintaining the momentum of Nelson Mandela's success in pacifying KwaZulu-Natal by appeasing the megalomania of Mangosuthu Buthelezi (through Zuma’s skills, it must be said)....In other areas his record was ambiguous....But these efforts were mired by corruption and incompetence and, in the end, have just not been enough. [Gavin Evans was a former member of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe - Spear of the Nation.] (See more here).

Posted 01/22/2008
THE SCORPIONS DISBAND
Michael Hamlyn, I-Net Bridge
Sunday Times online (21/1/08)

Government protects ANC leaders from corruption charges: Zille

The ANC is getting rid of the elite investigative unit, the Scorpions, to protect prominent ANC members from corruption charges, according to the leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town. Zille said today that besides the seven convicted criminals on the ANC's 80-member National Executive Committee, six NEC members are currently the subject of criminal investigations. At least two of these are currently being investigated by the Scorpions. 'Ngoako Ramathlodi is being investigated by the Scorpions for allegedly being a secret shareholder in a company that received a multimillion rand tender from the Limpopo provincial government when he was premier of the province,' Zille said. 'Another ANC NEC member, Thaba Mufamadi, is being investigated by the Scorpions for receiving bribes in a social grants tender award.'

'Web of corruption surrounding ANC'
She recalled impending charges against [National Police Commissioner and newly-resigned head of Interpol] Jackie Selebi, and the indictment of [ANC president] Jacob Zuma came about because of investigations by the Scorpions. 'In time, further investigations by the Scorpions would no doubt reveal the extent of the web of corruption surrounding the ANC,’'she suggested. She said the government's decision to disband the Scorpions, in line with the ANC's resolution at Polokwane, is clearly an attempt to destroy the most effective corruption-busting force in the country. 'The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the government is getting rid of the Scorpions to protect prominent ANC members from corruption charges'. 'The view that the government is disbanding the Scorpions to protect ANC members is given further credence by the fact that the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, has announced that she will hurry the legislation through parliament by June this year. This calls into question her ability to carry out her parliamentary role impartially while holding high political office in the ruling party.'

Posted 01/22/2008
S.A.'s ELECTRICITY CRISIS
South Africa is experiencing its biggest electricity supply crisis ever, according to a spokesman of the opposition Democratic Alliance, Hendrik Schmidt. His statement today follows repeated outages - failure of the state's Electricity Supply Comission (Eskom). In a statement today, Schmidt says 'Millions of South Africans and thousands of South African businesses are being disrupted because of Eskom's load shedding exercises which, by all accounts, seem to be out of control. The tide of anger is rising and the time to take action is now'. (See more here).

South Africa faces electricity rationing
Sebastien Berger. Daily Telegraph (22/1/08) January 2008)

South Africa's electricity monopoly is considering rationing power after extended cuts across the country. Jacob Maroga, Eskom's chief executive, has announced that due to supply shortages South Africans would need to reduce electricity consumption by 10 per cent. 'The bottom line is that we are constrained by not having enough power in our reserve margin to meet demands'.

Cut to neighbours
Eskom announced yesterday that it had stopped supplying electricity to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia because of shortages of power at home. South Africa has experienced increasing power cuts. Hospital operations have been interrupted, restaurants cannot cook, traffic lights are regularly off, and angry commuters set fire to six trains in Pretoria. Managers blame the problems on years of under-investment that have resulted in capacity failing to keep pace with a growing economy. Poor maintenance is also a factor.
Shortages are predicted to last for at least five years, until more generating stations can be built.

Posted 01/21/2008
DUBIOUS AND DUBIOUSER

James Myburgh

The new ANC leadership seems to be in a desperate hurry to dismember the Directorate of Special Operations, undermine the judiciary, and bash the media. Quite apart from the damage this programme will do to South Africa, the new leadership seems curiously indifferent to the harm they are likely to do to themselves in the process.

But then again: if you are a ruling party that believes it "will be in power forever until the son of man comes back," then you won't worry about the negative political and electoral repercussions of your actions (since there will be none).

As part of this three-pronged campaign the new ANC leadership has made claims which have proved to be exaggerated or untrue. (Click here to read further...)

Posted 01/21/2008
MOTLANTHE AS SECOND DEPUTY PRESIDENT?

S'Thembiso Msomi, City Press

WILL President Thabo Mbeki sacrifice his deputy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, to accommodate the demand by the Jacob Zuma-led ANC for Kgalema Motlanthe [newly elected as ANC deputy president] to join government? Or will he resist and reshuffle the lower end of Cabinet and offer Motlanthe a sufficiently senior position to allow him to learn the ropes of governance between now and May next year [ahead of the general election? - ed] These were the two critical questions facing the ANC National Executive Committee lekgotla (meeting) as it met Mbeki and his Cabinet last week. (See more here).

Posted 01/21/2008
QUESTIONS FOR MBEKI GOVERNMENT ABOUT ELECTRICITY 'CRISIS'
The Democratic Alliance is to quiz government on why state utility Eskom is supplying power to South Africa's neighbours when its own people are having to deal with rolling blackouts. It has called for a halt to electricity exports, and the cancellation of power contracts with other Southern African Development Community states. 'Regardless of our contractual obligations, there can simply be no reason for South Africa to supply Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique when there is such a desperate lack of reserve capacity in our domestic market', DA public enterprises spokesman Manie van Dyk said in a statement today. It was clear South Africa was facing a national crisis, and was not in a position to look after other countries' electricity requirements, he said.(See more here)

Posted 01/21/2008
FEINSTEIN IN DER SPIEGEL ON ARMS DEAL CORRUPTION
Andrew Feinstein

As an ANC Member of Parliament I attempted to investigate the vast web of corruption allegations that tainted the controversial arms deal. Der Spiegel's recent story "Bribery Allegations Cloud German Ship Sale to South Africa" adds to these allegations. The story alleges that 'Chippy' Shaik, Head of Acquisitions in the South African Defence Force at the time of the deal, solicited and received a $ 3 million bribe from successful bidders, ThyssenKrupp. The information is gleaned from the investigation by Dusseldorf prosecutors into alleged payments of $ 25 million of 'commissions' in the deal by the German industrial giant. In an ironic example of famed German thoroughness, officials at ThyssenKrupp are supposed to have kept notes of their meetings with Shaik when he requested the money. As the ranking ANC member on Parliament's Public Accounts Committee I was told in detail of the flaws in the procurement process used to award these lucrative contracts. What struck me immediately was that 'Chippy' Shaik was involved in every stage of the process and was very close to the South African Defence Minister at the time, Joe Modise. (See more here).

Posted 01/20/2008
CAN S.A. TRUST MBEKI ANY LONGER?
Mondli Makhanya

President betrayed trust over Selebi and Mafia boss Agliotti
President Thabo Mbeki has held the ultimate trust a nation can bestow since he was sworn in as our first citizen on June 16 1999...'Trust me,' Mbeki told religious leaders who raised concerns with him over a year ago about the relationship between National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and Mafia boss Glenn Agliotti, who had just been arrested in connection with Brett Kebble’s murder. He said he had no evidence suggesting Selebi had done anything wrong, and promised to act if anything came up.(See more here).

Posted 01/19/2008
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ANC TO DITCH MBEKI
Justice Malala

If the African National Congress is interested in the welfare of this country it should start taking steps to get rid of the corrupt regime of President Thabo Mbeki and his cronies immediately. To sit around for the next 18 months until Mbeki is forced to hold an election will see probably the worst incidence of abuse of power, unilateralism and looting we are ever likely to experience in our lifetimes. Mbeki has already started. In my view he is unlikely to stop. He has over the past four weeks displayed why he was so unequivocally booted out of the ANC presidency. (See more here).

Posted 01/19/2008
ZUMA ATTACKS S.A. MEDIA
Sunday Times. (18/1/2008)
Media values derived from 'apartheid and commercial interests'

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma's attack on the print media this week reveals a 'hostile state of mind towards the media,' says the SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef). 'The attack on the media contains wild generalisations encompassing the media as a whole,' it said in a statement today. Sanef was responding to Zuma's weekly newsletter, published on his party's ANC Today website (see here) in which he said the media in South Africa was 'politically and ideologically’ out of synch with the society in which it operates. 'There are few, if any, mainstream media outlets that articulate a progressive left perspective,' Zuma said. Sanef said Zuma's letter contained no specific allegations, and therefore did not merit a reply. However, the generalised complaint that the media was politically and ideologically out of synch with the society in which it exists could be responded to 'by suggesting that the ANC president and the ANC carefully read the many readers' letters columns in the newspapers, which will tell them what the people think'. (See more here).

Posted 01/18/2008
RACIAL MURDER TRIAL RAISES ANGRY EMOTIONS
White youth charged with murder of black people

An 18-year-old white, Afrikaans-speaking youth has been charged with multiple murder and attempted murder in the town of Swartruggens in North West province in the former Transvaal, after four black people - two of them children - were shot and killed in the nearby 'informal settlement' (squatter camp) of Skielik earlier this week in an apparent racial murder outrage. Another seven people were injured. Heavily armed police in riot gear stood around the courtroom in Swartruggens when the alleged killer, Johan Nel, was remanded in custody until next Thursday. A large angry crowd outside the courtroom called for Nel to be executed, with more than 600 people blocking the main road into the town. Nel was completely hidden from the public when transported to and from the court. Only journalists, the families of victims and the police had a glimpse of him. Members of the victims’ families complained that court proceedings had taken place only in Afrikaans without translation into Tswana, the language spoken in Skielik.

'Kill the farmer, kill the Boer'
Nel is the son of a local white farmer. A white man, Frans Pieterse, had earlier been killed in front of his wife and children in his house just outside Swartruggens. Ben Marais, a Democratic Alliance councillor in the North West, condemned the mayor, Willemiena Moleko, for inciting racism and mass hysteria over the killings in Skielik while having remained silent about the killing of Pieterse and murders of white farmers. Members of the crowd outside the courtroom called out 'Kill the farmer, kill the Boer', a revival of a slogan from more than 20 years ago, in the 1984-86 townships revolt in the last years of the former apartheid regime. A number of local white people, including the murdered Pieterse, have joined a predominantly white trade union called Solidarity - which developed out of the former (white) Mineworkers Union, with the slogan 'We protect our people!' - to represent their interests. The scale of 'farm murders' in South Africa is a subject that needs statistical attention. The killings in the area of Swartruggens suggest that racial tensions in South Africa - never far beneath the surface - are emerging again in the so-called Rainbow Nation as a primary social reality.

Posted 01/18/2008
MBEKI'S LIE ABOUT SELEBI
Paul Trewhela

There is evidence that President Thabo Mbeki lied about his knowledge of allegations of criminal dealings by Jackie Selebi, the National Commissioner of Police, who is on extended leave while facing charges of corruption and fraud. Selebi was Mbeki's political comrade in the African National Congress in exile and recently resigned as president of Interpol. Mbeki appears to have gone to extreme lengths to block and disrupt the prosecution of Selebi by the Scorpions, the investigative wing of the National Prosecuting Authority. [See "'Mbeki's mad dash to save Selebi'" (18 January 2008)]. The President's legal adviser, Advocate Mojanku Gumbi, said this week that Mbeki had acted immediately when he learned that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was ready to proceed with action against Selebi. On Saturday 12 January, Mbeki denied that anyone had provided him previously with information indicating wrongdoing on Selebi's part. He said: 'I have said this before, many times, that if there was anybody who has information that shows that National Commissioner Selebi has done wrong things, I would act on it. Nobody did, nobody came to me.' In court papers filed by Selebi himself the previous week, however, a letter written to Mbeki by suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli showed that Mbeki had, in May 2007, been informed about the allegations against Selebi. Ms Gumbi could not explain how Selebi had obtained a copy. There are widespread suspicions that Pikoli was suspended by Mbeki as part of efforts to protect Selebi.(See more here).

Posted 01/18/2008
'MBEKI'S MAD DASH TO SAVE SELEBI'
Mail&Guardian
Sam Sole, Stefaans Brummer, Adriaan Basson

Information pieced together by the Mail & Guardian suggests the Presidency, the Justice and Constitutional Development Department, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and South African Police Service (SAPS) joined in a desperate effort to prevent police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi from being charged (with corruption and links with top Johannesburg criminals). (See full report here).

Posted 01/18/2008
'TRANSFORMATION' IN EDUCATION
The extract below is from a blog forwarded to us by Sam van den Berg. The article was originally posted by Steve Hayes on January 14, 2008 on his blog - see here.

For the last 15 years or more there has been talk of the need for 'transformation' in education. One of the things that was done was to introduce 'Outcomes-based Education' (OBE). And what was the outcome? Mary Metcalfe, former Gauteng MEC for Education, and now head of the Education Department at Wits university writes in The Times: 'Every year on average for the past four years, of the learners who reached matric, only 17% achieved the standard necessary to proceed to university. A third failed matric. Ten years is a short time in education. It takes four years to train a teacher, seven years to pass through primary education, and many years for changes in curriculum intention to take firm root in classrooms. It may be that the annual matric media circus has focused our attention narrowly on the expectation that for this nation of 'miracles' there might be a quick-fix solution after the ravages of apartheid education; that our exceptionalism will mean that because we wish it, 'next year' will be better. The hard reality is that we are not making the progress we need in the two most critical dimensions of education performance: quality and equity.'

Posted 01/18/2008
ANC'S ABOUT-TURN ON TOP JUDGE
Xolani Xundu
Sunday Times online (18/1/2008)

ANC deputy president affirms 'confidence in the courts'

The ANC has done a hasty about-turn over its attack on Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, admitting that his speech at the weekend, in which he said he was not on the bench to serve the ruling party, was not malicious. This followed a high-level meeting on Wednesday between ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, Chief Justice Pius Langa and Moseneke. The meeting was called to discuss the judge's reported comments and the ANC statement in which he was attacked and his integrity questioned. [See 'Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke: A profile’ ( 16 January 2008 )]. ANC spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said yesterday that, after listening to Moseneke’s account of his speech and its context, the party accepted that 'no ill was intended. He said: 'The ANC confirms its confidence in the integrity of the deputy chief justice, and reaffirms its confidence in the courts to uphold the law and safeguard the rights of all citizens.’ Moseneke said he explained to Motlanthe that he had emphasised in his speech that everyone should strive to achieve what was good for all South Africans. He said: 'There is nothing in what I said that is inconsistent with my responsibility as a judge and as a citizen. We would all do well to remember that, in our constitutional democracy, judges are not answerable to any political or other organisation, but are answerable to the will of the people as expressed and formalised in the Constitution and in the laws of the republic. Deputy Chief Justice Moseneke reportedly told guests at his birthday party in KwaZulu-Natal that he had dedicated his life to working for an egalitarian society. 'I chose this job very carefully,' he was quoted as saying. 'I have another 10 to 12 years on the bench and I want to use my energy to help create an equal society.' Moseneke welcomed the ANC's retraction and its 'expression of confidence in my integrity'.

Posted 01/18/2008
ANC ECONOMIC POLICY: COMING CHANGES
Carol Paton: Financial Mail

Jobs now the priority
Though neither radical nor catastrophic, ANC economic policy is gradually changing. First and most significant is the addition of a clause that makes 'the creation of decent work opportunities the primary focus of economic policies'. The first official signs of the direction in which the new leadership of the ANC under Jacob Zuma will seek to shift economic policy have emerged with the public release of the organisation's conference resolutions. The final resolution on economic transformation - first discussed at the ANC policy conference in June and adopted by the recent Polokwane conference - contains subtle but important additions which alter the emphasis of how economic policy has been implemented over the past 10 years under President Thabo Mbeki.
WHAT IT MEANS
Jobs not inflation the problem. Debate on role of the central bank is needed. This makes jobs government's priority, an objective which though generally shared has at times been downplayed or traded off against other objectives by different government ministries. 'This central objective should be reflected in the terms of reference of development finance institutions, bodies such as the competition commission, the terms of public procurement s, the sequencing of industrial and trade policy reforms and our macro economic policy stance,' continues the clause. Though not mentioning the Reserve Bank by name, the intention of the above clause is to, among other things, allow for a debate on the mandate of the central bank beyond the confines of dealing with inflation. At present, the mandate of the Bank - as contained in the constitution – 'is to protect the value of the currency in the interests of balanced and sustainable economic growth'. The importance of creating or preserving jobs is not part of the Bank's mandate, a fact that many critics, particularly on the Left, deplore, arguing that its narrow focus on inflation leads to a stringent interest rates regime that chokes growth and job creation. Cosatu has described inflation targeting as 'disastrous' and as being responsible for falling economic output in some sectors and static jobs growth. Though not quite so firmly, the ANC's other key ally, the SA Communist Party (SACP), has also criticised the present target range of 3%-6% for being too rigid under present conditions.Inflation targeting is certain to be up for discussion at the ANC's lekgotla this weekend, as well as at the cabinet lekgotla to be held in the week thereafter. Since Zuma's election as ANC president last month, key positions in the ANC have been filled by his supporters in the Left of the alliance, Cosatu and the SACP. They are now in a position to sway economic thinking in the party and exert their influence on state policy. A second subtle shift in policy in the resolutions is the greater emphasis given to industrial policy. The resolution makes a clear statement about the relative importance of trade and industry, arguing that 'industrial policy should lead our overall approach to sector development, while trade policy should play a supportive role and be sensitive to employment outcomes'. (See here for full comment).

Posted 01/18/2008
ZUMA SUES SUNDAY NEWSPAPER
Sunday Times online ( 17/1/2008)

Civil action to follow 'Dingane' comment
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is claiming R5 million (370,000 GBP) from the Johannesburg Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper, Rapport, for defamation and injuria, his spokeswoman Liesl Gottert said today. This latest claim comes just a day after he reached a R50,000 out-of-court settlement with the same paper for a previous defamation and injuria claim. Ms Gottert said the latest claim was due to a 'degrading and defamatory heading above a photo with a caption that was printed in the publication on 30 December 2007.' Ms Gottert said that the heading, reading 'Piekniek met Dingaan' (Picnic with Dingaan), was printed above a photo of Mr Zuma, in the company of Messrs Leon Schuster and Steve Hofmeyr. 'The caption indicates that Mr Zuma was enjoying a braai (barbeque) with various well-known Afrikaners'. (See more here).

Posted 01/18/2008
MBEKI 'FULLY DESERVES' A BREAK
Mbeki has been working all his life and deserves a break

President Thabo Mbeki began the process of normalising his life after he was ousted as African National Congress party president in Polokwane last month. Mbeki became deputy president to Nelson Mandela in 1994, and in 1999 ascended to the presidency of the country. This means that for 13 years, Mbeki has not tasted normal South African life. An Mbeki adviser recently said one of the problems with the president is that he has not actually had to handle cash or buy something across a counter for a long time. 'Everything, from groceries to clothes, is handled by staff members. He does not know what it is like to buy petrol. He has become practically and emotionally disconnected from his own people,' he said. (See more here).

Posted 01/17/2008
LAW, NOT WAR, MUST PREVAIL
Mondli Makhanya

THE outright war between the South African Police Service and the Scorpions, the investigating unit of the National Prosecuting Authority, has threatened the political stability of the country, damaged the credibility of its law enforcement agencies and left its people feeling unprotected from criminals. (See more here).    

Posted 01/17/2008
ZUMA CAMP TO RULE?
Eric Naki
The Sowetan, JHB (16/01/2008 )

Zuma expected to be running SA after ANC policy meeting

Like the ANC leadership succession, the relationship between the executive headed by President Thabo Mbeki and the ruling party led by the new ANC president Jacob Zuma will be a point of debate for some time, even beyond this weekend’s ANC lekgotla [leadership policy discussion forum – ed]. This is so especially that there are now two centres of power, something the Zuma camp had vehemently opposed. The ANC annual leadership indaba, which starts on Friday and runs until Sunday, will determine how the two offices will cooperate for the next 18 months. The Zuma leadership is expected to call the government to order so that it talks to the party more often. A protocol likely to be agreed on will indicate that Zuma, though not the president of the country, is now running the country from Chief Albert Luthuli House. (See more here).

Posted 01/17/2008
SLUR ON DEPUTY CHIEF JUSTICE DIKGANG MOSENEKE
Paul Trewhela

A slur by the ANC on one of South Africa's most eminent black jurists

The Zuma camp's onslaught on the judiciary has brought it into conflict with one of South Africa's most eminent black jurists, within days of it being warned of the dangers of attacking the criminal justice system by former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson (president of the International Commission of Jurists) and Advocate George Bizos, the defenders of Nelson Mandela. The most senior body of the ruling African National Congress, its National Working Committee, issued an extraordinarily tendentious and ill-tempered criticism on 15 January of South Africa's Deputy Chief Justice, Judge Dikgang Moseneke: a former political prisoner on Robben Island for ten years, one of the principal architects of the South African Constitution and the Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand. It is a revealing slur, revealing more about what the ANC has become than it does about the Deputy Chief Justice. (See more here).

Posted 01/16/2008
S.A. SKILLS SHORTAGE LOOKS PERMANENT
This article by John-Kane Berman, executive director of the SA Institute of Race relations, contains 10 pages of analysis of the shortage of skills in South Africa. It is accessible on www.sairr.org.za/ see Publications, Fast Facts , with the statement: "While there have been comments that the ongoing skills crisis in South Africa is an 'urban legend', data presented in this edition show that this is clearly not the case....Our review of the skills shortage shows skills deficit being experienced in a wide range of industries, and puts paid to the notions that the South African skills crisis is exaggerated".

To deny that South Africa faces a critical skills deficit is to deny the past, ignore the present, and jeopardise the future. History as well as current facts contradict the claim earlier this year by Mr Jimmy Manyi, chairman of the Commission for Employment Equity, that South Africa’s skill shortage is an urban legend. This [10-page –ed.] issue of Fast Facts quotes statistics showing that our shortages of professional and technical people range horizontally across the various sectors of the economy. It would be strange if it were otherwise. South Africa is not much more than a decade away from apartheid. The chairman of Massmart, Mr Mark Lamberti, put the point well in a recent speech in Johannesburg to Oxbridge alumni: ‘Apartheid’s most devastating and enduring legacy was that it destroyed the human capital of our nation. For the most part black people were not educated, the family unit was shattered, leadership icons outside of the struggle were scarce, and confidence, self-esteem, and humanity was insidiously and systematically destroyed. Concurrently a generation of moral, despondent white talent emigrated.’

Add to that the insanity of ‘no education before liberation’ and the way in which schoolchildren were used for revolutionary purposes, and it is obvious that the post-apartheid government faced no challenge greater than that of fixing education. Militant trade unionism has compounded the challenge, as have the pensioning off of teachers and the removal of disciplinary powers from school authorities.

Belated attention
Only belatedly has the government started paying attention to early childhood development and other forms of pre-school education. The shortage of teachers begins at that level and stretches right up to the abysmally few being produced who can prepare matriculants for university degrees in accountancy, engineering, or medicine. The standard of English coming out of our schools is so poor that many university graduates cannot even write a decent job application.

Although South Africa has some excellent private and government schools, it will take a generation to fix the rest. It is surely time to reverse the centralising thrust of education management, using lessons from elsewhere. New York also has rotten schools. The mayor, Mr Michael Bloomberg, recently introduced a system of rewards and punishments for good and bad principals. Incentives work in business. They can work in education too.

Posted 01/16/2008
YESTERDAY'S CROOKED ROGUES - WILL A NEW START BE SQUANDERED?
Mondli Makhanya
Editorial, Sunday Times ( 13 January 2008 )

ANC deputy president Motlanthe and the fraudster Yengeni

Newly elected ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe is considered one of the wise men of the party. His grasp of South Africa's anti-colonial wars is legendary. His understanding of ANC history and the evolution of Africa's liberation struggles is encyclopaedic. And his insights into geopolitics are impressive. Many of the organisation's veterans and Young Turks will tell you how they relish a good political conversation with this former Robben Islander, trade unionist and political thinker. But the erstwhile secretary-general of the ANC does tend to over-think some things and get himself wrapped up in philosophical sophistry. (See more here).

Posted 01/16/2008
BIZOS ON INTEGRITY OF THE JUDICIARY
Interview with Chris Barron
Sunday Times ( 13 January 2008 )
Se also below 'Chaskalson and Bizos alarm at tone of Zuma debate'. (01/05/2008).

Danger of 'tremendous damage to democracy'

Respected human rights lawyer George Bizos has issued a statement, with former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, deploring public pronouncements questioning the integrity of the judiciary. Chris Barron asked Bizos:

Should criticism of the judiciary be out of bounds?
No, but it must be well informed. There must be some knowledge of the facts and the law, and not prompted by self-interest and prejudice.

Can't the things being said by the ANC Youth League and Cosatu be laughed off as the kind of populist rhetoric that democracies should accommodate?
Those who unjustifiably criticise the judiciary and query its impartiality cannot be laughed off. It's a very important institution and it can only succeed ... it has no police force, it has no army. Its strength lies in its integrity and the regard in which it is held by the public at large. Statements that unjustifiably question its integrity and impartiality are harmful. People start not having respect for judgments and rulings, and it's the beginning of a process that can do tremendous damage to democracy. (See more here).

Posted 01/16/2008
A GOOD TIME TO STOP DIGGING
James Myburgh
16 January 2008

Cosatu and the SACP are burying their moral credibility

For the past several years, Cosatu and the SACP have been important guardians of the ANC's internal democracy. At a time when President Thabo Mbeki was silencing dissent within the ruling party, and beginning to openly abuse his power, those two organisations remained critical of his rule and outside his control. In 2001 the leaders of the two organisations - Zwelinzima Vavi and Blade Nzimande - took a very public stand when Matthews Phosa, Tokyo Sexwale, and Cyril Ramaphosa were accused by the Minister of Safety and Security, Steve Tshwete, of 'plotting' against the president. The person who actually conducted the police investigation into the three ANC leaders was the recently appointed (now suspended) national commissioner, Jackie Selebi. The Mail & Guardian reported (May 10 2001) that Selebi had personally met an informer on his way to meet an advisor of Phosa at Pretoria station, 'handed him a recording device disguised as a cellphone,' and then listened in on the meeting 'real-time, from police headquarters.' As a consequence of their outspokenness Vavi and Nzimande (and Jeremy Cronin) were vilified by the Mbeki-ites and excluded from the centres of ANC power. When Mbeki and his once loyal no.2, Jacob Zuma, fell out the SACP and Cosatu seized the opportunity. Understandably perhaps the two organisations decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth - especially when they knew they could use it to ride back into the centre of town. (Click here to read further ... )

Posted 01/15/2008
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS OF FIRST MAGNITUDE
Paul Trewhela

The ANC as prime suspect in arms deal corruption
It is clear that South Africa has now fallen into a constitutional crisis of first magnitude, the most dangerous since the re-constitution of the state in 1994. The new National Working Committee of the African National Congress, which was appointed last week by the National Executive Committee elected at Polokwane in December, last week also appointed a committee of its own members to investigate arms deal corruption. This will not wash. From information that has come to light so far, the prime suspect in arms deal corruption is the ANC itself. It seems most likely that the ANC itself, as the party of government under President Nelson Mandela in the late 1990s – but effectively under the control of then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki – arranged the arms deal as the means of funding its campaign in the general election of June 1999. The ANC won that election with an increased majority, Mbeki replacing Mandela as State President. The means by which it won that election appears to have been a criminal fraud on the nation. (See more here).

Posted 01/14/2008
YENGENI, SCHREINER AND THE ETHICS OF THE ANC
Paul Trewhela

An ethical judgement concerning torture
The African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and their former military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) had a perfectly sound way of making a crucial ethical distinction. It concerned how members of these organisations judged a fellow member who gave information to the security police of the former apartheid regime, following torture. This included giving information that led to the arrest of a comrade, which would frequently lead to the torture of that person too. In my time, in the mid-Sixties, we never made a moral judgement about a person who gave information to the state under torture; but we did absolutely condemn a person who elected to give evidence in court against other people, at the price of securing his own freedom. People in the first category we considered to have been in a morally neutral state. They had fallen subject to human frailty, the frailty of our human and physical nature under extreme pain. The other made a moral choice in free will to betray his comrades for personal advantage, and was fit only for contempt. (See more here).

Posted 01/13/2008
S.A. TOP POLICEMAN FOR THE CHOP?
Stanley Uys

Such is the influence of South Africa's police chief Jackie Selebi (a friend of President Thabo Mbeki's) that although he is to be charged with corruption and defeating the ends of justice, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has felt obliged to assure him that he will not be subjected to the public humiliation of formal arrest. The acting National Director of the NPA Mokotedi Mpshe says: 'I have undertaken that if he is to be charged, he will not be arrested and an arrangement will be reached with his attorney for a date on which he has to appear in court.' In 2002 Agliotti, a convicted South African drug trafficker, helped to fund Selebi's campaign to become vice-president of Interpol, and now Selebi is president of Interpol. (See more here).

Posted 01/10/2008
THE ZUMA 'SUPER CHARGES'
Adriaan Basson
Mail&Guardian. 4/1/2008

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has thrown a powerful new book of charges at African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma, which includes the 'super charge' of racketeering and a slate of new witnesses to testify against the newly elected ANC leader. There is now only one legal avenue left for Zuma to escape a possible career-ending criminal trial - to bring a successful application for the permanent stay of charges against him on the basis that his rights to a fair trial have been irreversibly infringed. According to insiders this might happen very soon, even within a few weeks. Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, this week said that he still had to consult with his client. Meanwhile, as the legal fracas looms, a Zuma supporter has warned that 'blood will be spilt' in the courtroom at Zuma's next court appearance. By confirming a court date for August, the NPA has now put the ball into the court of the accused to bring a permanent stay application. They will have to serve notice on the NPA and confirm an earlier court date for the hearing. In a statement released this week, the NPA indicated that it was ready to proceed with the trial at the earliest possible date. 'Any delays in the commencement of the trial are accordingly entirely in the hands of the defendant parties and their legal teams.' If Zuma succeeds with such an application it could be the end of the road for the prosecution. If the application is denied, Zuma and arms companies Thint and Thint Holdings will stand trial in the Pietermaritzburg High Court from August 4 to December 12. (See full report here).

Posted 01/10/2008
ZUMA WORRIED ABOUT ZIM
The Zimbabwean. 9/1/2008

The new president of the African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, has expressed grave concern over the deteriorating standards of living in Zimbabwe, and accused the government of President Robert Mugabe of failing to address the problems transparently in its desperate bid to cling to power. A highly placed source within the ANC told CAJ News this week that Zuma was also concerned at the number of undocumented Zimbabweans crossing into South Africa. The source further stated that Zuma had recently met MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, but this was denied by MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa, who confirmed that the MDC was indeed in touch with the ANC on an ongoing basis. The ANC source said Zuma would meet Tsvangirai before the end of this month to discuss the way forward on Zimbabwe's forthcoming harmonized elections scheduled to take place in March.

EDITORIAL 9/1/2008
Let's get it right
There can be no doubt that the forthcoming elections will not be free and fair. The evidence is there for everyone to see. First of all, the Mugabe regime is insisting on holding the elections under a constitution which it has already agreed is flawed. The MDC and Zanu (PF) negotiators have agreed on a new constitution, but Mugabe wants to hold the elections under the present constitution, which tips the scales in his favour. Despite agreements in Pretoria about a new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mugabe has gone ahead unilaterally and re-constituted the old one, whose impartiality has been questioned. This body is going ahead with delimitation of constituencies without consultation with other interested parties. We have received reports of gerrymandering of constituency boundaries to dilute the urban vote.

The voters' roll is in a total shambles, with numerous genuine errors as well as hundreds of thousands of ghost voters. The opposition is still unable to campaign freely around the country. MDC activists continue to be harassed and even murdered - as reported in this week's issue. Mugabe's insistence on holding the elections in March, knowing full well that the entire process is flawed, can only result in him continuing to rule as an illegitimate president - reviled by his own people, and despised and isolated by the international community. There is no point in holding elections simply for the sake of it. What is important is to get things right before that, so that there is no dispute afterwards.
(See here).

Posted 01/10/2008
THINGS FALL APART

THE SECOND COMING
William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Well, hopefully it's not that bad in South Africa. There are plenty of the worst filled with passionate intensity, but it's too early to say that the best lack all conviction. So far no blood-dimmed tide; but the ceremony of innocence in Parliament has progressively been drowned since the sacking of Andrew Feinstein from his position as chairman of the ANC Study Group on the parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in January 2001, followed by his resignation as an ANC MP the following August. [See 'Andrew Feinstein: The Case against Mbeki' (8 October 2008)]. What is true is that mere anarchy was loosed upon South Africa by the arms deal corruption scam under then Deputy President (1998) and subsequent (1999) President Thabo Mbeki. And now things fall apart. (See more here).

Posted 01/09/2008
ZUMA MOVES TO CONTROL ANC GOVERNMENT
Cabinet now accountable to ANC committee

ANC president Jacob Zuma is asserting his control over President Thabo Mbeki's government. The Zuma-dominated National Executive Committee of the ANC has appointed its national chairman, the speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Baleka Mbete, to oversee the work of Mbeki's cabinet ministers and of ANC MPs. 'We want to make sure that the party is in charge,' members of the executive told The Times. 'The Political Committee [which Mbete will head] gives direction to parliament and to the cabinet. Everybody falls under it and no one is above it.' (See more here).

Posted 01/09/2008
D.A. SAYS ANC NOW 'CAPTURED BY CRIMINALS'
Call on ANC members to 'jump ship'

The election of convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni to the ANC's powerful National Working Committee (NWC) is proof that the ruling party has been taken over by criminals, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has said. 'The outcome of the ANC's NEC meeting confirms that it has been irreversibly captured by populists, careerists and convicted criminals. This is a party willing to sacrifice principle at the altar of power as Tony Yengeni's election to the NWC amply demonstrate. (Se more here).

Posted 01/09/2008
CONCERN ABOUT ANC'S NEW NATIONAL WORKING COMMITTEE
Thabo Mkhize
Sunday Times online (9 January 2008)

No collective representation of Mbeki camp in NWC

Political analyst Professor Adam Habib voiced his concern this week about the composition of the ANC's National Working Committee [chosen at the first formal meeting of the new National Executive Committee, elected at the ANC’s national conference at Polokwane last month - ed]. Habib said: 'People in this working committee are capable, and boast some of the top people within the ANC. I do worry whether they have the capacity to heal the ANC and thus the country. The downside is that there is no collective representation; there are no Thabo Mbeki people. The NWC reflects the decision of the Polokwane conference. Mbeki supporters represent 40 percent of the ANC support base, but they are not represented. The question is whether the Mbeki camp will just sit there and take instructions from them [the NWC]. If they [Mbeki supporters] are not represented, the NWC might lose touch with them.' (See more here).

Posted 01/08/2008
ZUMA'S ROLE IN UMKHONTO INVESTIGATED
Paul Trewhela

An insight into differences in the ANC underground

Gavin Evans, a former operative of the South African Communist Party, the African National Congress and the ANC/SACP military wing during the underground period 1980-1990, has placed important information in the public domain about the new ANC president, Jacob Zuma, which adds to previously meagre knowledge about Zuma's role as head of Military Intelligence in Umkhonto weSizwe (the ANC's former armed wing, Spear of the Nation). This appears with other important contributions to knowledge about the ANC and the SACP in their secret war against the apartheid state, and subsequently, with relevance to the current turbulent vortex in South African political life. The revelations appear on an internet weblog, www.gavinevans.net, run by Evans, who lives in Britain. (See more here).

Posted 01/08/2008
Book review ANDREW FEINSTEIN: THE CASE AGAINST MBEKI
Paul Trewhela

After the party, the hangover

If there is a single book to read to get an understanding of contemporary South Africa, it must be Andrew Feinstein's After the Party. A Personal and Political Journey inside the ANC (Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg, 2007). The African National Congress - party and government, under President Thabo Mbeki - has never been written about before with such intimacy, such candour, such extensive first-hand personal and professional experience. (See more here).

Posted 01/06/2008
CRITICAL NEC MEETING
Stanley Uys

Zuma returns to ANC headquarters in Johannesburg tomorrow (Monday) for a meeting of the new 80-member National Executive Committee (NEC). Last month, Zuma supporters swept all six of Mbeki's top supporters, and many others, from the NEC. The new NEC is now pro-Zuma, and the country is watching to see how the new NEC handles the question of whether Zuma should be recharged with corruption in August. Constitutionally, the NEC has no right to interfere - as a state servant, the National Prosecution Service (NPA) must take the decision, but the NEC could so politicise the issue that the NPA could be brought to a deadlock. (See more here).

Posted 01/06/2008
JOYOUS, POLYGAMOUS ZUMA
Stanley Uys

Not content with having just unseated Thabo Mbeki as President of the ruling African National Congress (while not questioning his position as South Africa's national President), a joyous, polygamous Jacob Zuma, 65, yesterday took unto himself his fourth bride in the traditional setting of his northern KwaZulu-Natal homestead, Nkandla. He delivered the traditional lobola (bride price) of 11 cattle for Nompumelelo, 33, and slaughtered another four cattle for the 500 guests, some of whom carried familiar Zulu weapons of shield and knobkerries (clubs). The bride and her party had arrived late on Friday night, which they spent under a tree in a meeting spot called an isigcawu. (See more here).

Posted 01/06/2008
'RAINBOW OF LIES'
By Sam van den Berg

Jacob Zuma has done the country a service long overdue: he has finally exploded the fairy-tale of the Rainbow Nation.

Politicians came together in the nineties and 'solved' the problem of racism. Mandela and De Klerk presided as patron saints over the labours of those who drafted a democratic constitution - stumbling along the path so clearly laid out by the reviled Liberal Party more than 30 years before. They also presided over the Truth and Reconciliation process.

No-one seemed to notice that the process ignored those who had suffered most -innocent victims of decades of socio-economic brutality, and victims of a dirty war (approved by Mandela and the leaders of the National Party in their separate ways) of cowardly and indiscriminate bombs in public places, necklacings provoked by gossip and provocateurs on both sides of the struggle for power. (See more here).

Posted 12/22/2007
REFLECTIONS ON A CLEAN SWEEP
Paul Trewhela

Fall of the ancien regime
At Polokwane the ANC made a clean sweep of President Thabo Mbeki's power apparatus. Mbeki lost every key position. He himself declined nomination to the controlling National Executive Committee, but will probably, like former President Nelson Mandela before him, be appointed ex officio to the NEC and the more senior National Working Committee. His long-standing comrade from exile and Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad - booed at the conference - was voted off the NEC, as was his equally long-standing exile comrade and Intelligence Minister, Ronnie Kasrils. So too his Director-general in the Presidency, the Reverend Frank Chikane. Kasrils suffered the humiliation of seeing his former subordinate in the Intelligence ministry, Billy Masetlha - whose dismissal and arraignment on criminal charges was initiated with an approach by Kasrils to Mbeki - elected to the NEC, effectively in his place.(See more here).