ANC wants violent strikers reined in

ANC wants violent strikers reined in
August 24 2011 at 09:00am



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Jabulani Sikhakhane

THE ANC has condemned violence during strikes and called on its alliance partner, Cosatu, to rein in its affiliates.

The ruling party’s national executive committee (NEC) had expressed serious concern about violence during strikes, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday.

Mantashe was briefing journalists on the outcome of the NEC’s special four-day marathon meeting, which started last Friday and ended on Monday evening.

Violence, including the trashing of streets, assaulting of people and the looting of hawkers’ goods, undermined the rule of law and the objectives of strike actions, the ANC said in a statement that echoed Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant’s words during the chemical, metal and engineering workers’ strike last month.

The ruling party also called on Cosatu “to give effective leadership to its affiliates regarding strike action”.

Mantashe described as “criminality and not striking” the looting of goods from hawkers, whom he described as the poorest of the poor.

In condemning violence during strikes, the ANC joins business and the official opposition, who are now pushing for changes to labour laws to make it possible for unions to be sued for damages arising out of violence during strikes.

Business Unity South Africa, the umbrella business group, has said that applying for interdicts in the Labour Courts has yet to show results.


The DA’s proposed amendment will be debated by the parliamentary committee on Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions next Wednesday.

The Star

Comments by Sonny

The ANC created "Violence in SA' when it suited them.

Now they are running scared of the monsters they created!!

Similar to Mugabe in Zimbabwe!

Lawyer on fraud, theft charges

Lawyer on fraud, theft charges
PHILANI NOMBEMBE |
23 August, 2011 00:54
Cape Town lawyer has been accused of putting her hands in the cookie jar by defrauding a company of R2-million.
Antoinette Le Roux, 33, was represented by a Legal Aid lawyer when she appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court to answer to fraud, theft and money- laundering charges.

Le Roux allegedly obtained the money from W Capital Finance, which she used as a "bridging finance" company and was supposed to have deposited it into her trust account but allegedly transferred the money into her personal bank account over a nine-month period between 2008 and 2009.

She is also accused of manufacturing "false vouchers" to cover her tracks.

The money was intended for the purchase of school books. The state claims she failed to keep proper accounting records and spent the money.

Le Roux operated a legal practice, A Le Roux and Associates in Paarl and "solely" used the company for "arrangement of bridging finances". According to the charge sheet, Le Roux established a relationship of trust with the company.

"She had created false vouchers and she presented [them] as legitimate, that the payments of books that she was authorising were not supplied nor delivered to the various [schools]," the charge sheet reads.

Magistrate Amrith Chabilall postponed the matter to September 6 to allow Le Roux time to consult her lawyer. She is out on a warning.

Gordhan 'is the new enemy'

Gordhan 'is the new enemy'
National Union of Metalworkers of SA general secretary Irvin Jim has threatened to call on President Jacob Zuma to fire Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for continuing to execute what he believes to be neo-liberal "anti-worker" policies.

Image: Gallo" "What the minister is saying is that there will be a two-tier system where young people will be paid starvation wages while working in the same companies where workers are currently. Articles
Gordhan's brave move unlikely to prove popular

"Manuel agrees with Gordhan's labour comments "

Youth league right on jobs - academic After Numsa's central committee meeting last week, Jim launched a blistering attack on Gordhan, warning that workers would meet the minister "in the streets" as they now considered him the "enemy" for going ahead with the implementation of the controversial youth wage subsidy.

Gordhan this week told an internal auditors conference in Johannesburg that SA stood to create only four million jobs by 2025 unless it changed some labour policies.

He said laws may have to be relaxed so that young people could enter the workplace and acquire the skills and experience needed at lower wages.

Jim also attacked the government for failing to forge ahead with the banning of labour brokers.

"They are sitting in a cabinet that is reluctant to move swiftly and ban labour brokers. Instead, they are introducing the subsidy.

"What the minister is saying is that there will be a two-tier system where young people will be paid starvation wages while working in the same companies where workers are currently.

"For that, he must know where we are sitting. We think he has joined the enemy class and any minister who does that will meet workers of this country in the streets," said Jim.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said earlier this year that the ruling party also supported the implementation of the youth wage subsidy, and that it was budgeted for.

But Jim said if this was the case, then Numsa and its sister body Cosatu were poles apart from the ANC.

He vowed that government and industry players would not implement the youth wage subsidy in sectors where Numsa members were represented.

Cosatu condemned the initial proposal of the subsidy when Gordhan first announced it during his budget speech this year, saying it would lead to further exploitation of workers by their employers.

Numsa is also angry about Gordhan's recent call for less rigid labour laws as they were costing the country jobs. National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel came out in support of Gordhan's view.

Jim accused Gordhan and those who supported him of harbouring "right-wing" views and warned that the union would call on Zuma to replace him.

"There are people here who conceal their right-wing ideological stances, who are anti-worker, anti-working class and believe that the little that trade unions have been able to defend and improve on the conditions of workers is basically a problem.

"Those individuals are refusing to attack and deal with the fundamental question of what is required to be done to deal with the dominance of white monopoly capital in the SA economy. This economy is an enclave owned by the minority.

"If this continues, we as Numsa will not fall short and call on our own ANC to provide us with a minister who will be subordinating himself to the policies of the ANC. If he continues, we might be left with no option but to say 'we think that this minister has become a problem'," he said.

"They maintain inflation targeting, high interest rates and every time he is given a chance to do his budget speech, he further relaxes exchange controls and allows money to leave the country to casino economies in Melbourne and London."

Spokesperson Kershia Singh said Treasury "released a discussion paper in February on youth unemployment and proposals to address it. The paper is currently with Nedlac ... It is therefore not a new proposal".

Singh said Gordhan "did not call for a flexible labour market". What he had said was: "There is a strong view that we will have to do something in SA if, for example, we are to ensure that the tens of thousands of people who are employed in the clothing industry in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, are to retain their jobs, still get reasonably decent wages, but not be in a position where those businesses are closed because those businesses can't pay the same wages that are required by the bargaining council.

''There is also a strong view that unless we begin to create some dispensation which allows for younger workers to be employed in existing firms on a differential basis, without threatening the jobs of currently employed permanent staff, we will not be able to make the breakthroughs we need to reduce unemployment in SA," Gordhan said.

Mampara of the week: Gwede Mantashe

Mampara of the week: Gwede Mantashe
Sunday Times |
21 August, 2011 00:51
Sitting in judgment
Gwede Mantashe has grasped the wrong end of the stick and he is swinging it wildly.

This is what he said to the Sowetan newspaper: "If the Constitutional Court positions itself to create a perception that it overturns anything passed by parliament, it is going to make nonsense of the democratically elected parliament."

You could say that ... or you could say this: "If parliament positions itself to pass laws that have to be overturned by the Constitutional Court, it is going to make nonsense of itself."

After 18 minutes of deliberation, a full bench of Hogarth has decided to adopt the latter position. You are in contempt, Mr secretary-general.

Pikoli hopes for arms-deal probe

Pikoli hopes for arms-deal probe

ROB ROSE, STEPHAN HOFSTATTER and MZILIKAZI WA AFRIKA |
21 August, 2011 00:519
Former prosecutions boss Vusi Pikoli says an independent corruption-busting unit - which the government has been ordered to create before September 2012 - could finally unravel the dirty secrets of the arms-deal scandal.
Pikoli and Sipho Pityana, the former director-general of the Department of Foreign Affairs, are spearheading a campaign under their Council for the Advancement of the Constitution for the formation of a new unit.

The council held a "red-card corruption" rally yesterday in Soweto to lobby the government to set up the unit to "investigate all acts of corruption".

Pikoli has welcomed the possibility that the Hawks - the crime-fighting unit which controversially replaced the Scorpions in 2009 - would re-open the arms-deal probe. But he said the investigation would only have limited success if it reported to politicians. The Hawks fall under the police, which are headed by General Bheki Cele.

Pityana said a "disconcerting view" was growing in the ANC "that to expose corruption is not kosher".

Last month, Hawks boss Anwar Dramat wrote to MPs saying that he had asked overseas investigators for information to "determine whether there is information which points to crime/s in South Africa".

In June, Swedish defence group SAAB admitted that its British partner, BAE Systems, paid R24-million in bribes to businessman Fana Hlongwane to secure the contract to supply 26 JAS Gripen fighter jets to South Africa.

Hlongwane got a reprieve from Pikoli's successor, Menzi Simelane, in March 2010, when Simelane ordered that the freeze on Hlongwane's Swiss bank accounts be lifted.

This week, in an interview with the Sowetan newspaper, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe implied that the constitution was getting in the way of democracy in South Africa.

"If the Constitutional Court positions itself to create a perception that it overturns anything passed by parliament, it is going to make nonsense of the democratically elected parliament," he was quoted as saying.

But Pityana said Mantashe's view represented both "an attack" on the constitution and an intolerance for criticism.

Fire sale: MoD puts helicopters, armoured Jags and Snatch Land Rovers up for sale to plug £36bn 'black hole'

Aug 15 2011 3PM
By Christopher Leake and Richard Hartley-parkinson

Last updated at 9:54 AM on 15th August 2011


Comments (34) Add to My Stories Share
It's quite a novel way to try and plug a £36bn hole in a budget, but the Ministry of Defence has decided to sell millions of pounds of equipment for a fraction of the cost.
Among the items on offer there are Gazelle helicopters (reduced from £5m to £100,000), armoured Jaguars (cut from £200,000 to as little as £12,000) and Snatch Land Rovers (retail price £65,000 but for you £2,000).
They are among a host of other items such as luxury watches that you might expect to see on the wrist of James Bond rather than someone on the front line.
Price chopper: Gazelle helicopters were bought for £5million but are going for £100,000
No armour plated pricing here: These MoD Jaguars are selling for between £12,000 and £25,000 - a fraction of their original £200,000 cost
There are 14 helicopters up for grabs and motorbikes are going for a snip at between £650 and £1,250. The HMS Ark Royal has so far reached £3.5million on eBay - it cost £200m originally.
There are other less obvious pieces of kit on sale including a £6,000 fridge that is advertised at £920, ships' mattresses, a dentist's chair and a 100ft girder bridge that spans 100ft.

For James Bond, a watch does far more than tell the time. It can kill your enemies with a single shot, fire wires into the air so you can swing between buildings, and even undo the zip on your sultry opponent’s dress.
In the real world, expensive timepieces have long been handed out to spies, undercover SAS troops and female intelligence operatives working at British embassies abroad so they could more easily pass themselves off as well-heeled diplomats.
But now these luxury watches – and an extraordinary array of other items from clothing to ships and aircraft – are being sold off at knockdown prices as the Ministry of Defence tries to fill a £36billion hole in its budget.
The ‘unused as new’ watches do not carry an asking price on the defence agency website on which they are advertised. But with other items in the ‘sale’ on offer for a tenth of their original price, it is thought that the watches will fetch only a fraction of their true value.
Scrambling for a good deal: A man works on some ex-MoD motorbikes that will sell for up to £1,250

A snatch: These Land Rovers are expected to fetch between £1,500 and £4,500. They were £65,000 new
They include a Raymond Weil Tango men’s watch – ‘Stainless steel case, black dial with red accented hands, luminous Arabic numbers, sapphire crystal glass’ – that would normally sell for £1,000, and a ladies Crystal Dior watch – ‘Bezel set with 48 diamonds 0.24 carat, black lacquered dial, black rubber strap set with black sapphire crystal’ – worth £4,000.
The MoD is also offering a gents Maurice Lacroix three-dial chronograph watch – ‘Sapphire crystal scratch resistant glass, white square dial with luminous hands’ – that would normally retail at about £5,000.
For comparison, when Daniel Craig reprised his role as James Bond in Quantum Of Solace, he was wearing an OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer with a black dial. Its price new is £4,275.
A source said: ‘These watches were bought for SAS and defence intelligence operatives who work at our embassies abroad, so they look the part when they go to events and parties attended by diplomats and local dignitaries. It’s all part of creating the right image.’
Among the other items on the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Sales website are brand-new combat jackets ordered for the SAS (£350 new, on sale for £30); boxes of pencils, knives and forks; a £6,000 fridge on sale for £920; ships’ mattresses; and even a portable dentist’s chair.
There are even some luxury watches up for grabs, more likely to be seen on the wrist of James Bond than a front-line fighter

Sinking prices: HMS Ark Royal cost £200m to build - it's currently going for £3.5m on eBay
The MoD is trying to raise even more money by offering everything from Army braces, foot warmers and Scottish regimental kilts to trainers, socks, a Guards peaked cap and a host of office and medical equipment.
A source said: ‘The MoD is so desperate to balance the books that they’re selling everything imaginable.’
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former infantry commander, said last night: ‘The one thing of which you can be certain is that once precious defence equipment is sold, it will be needed again within the week. It is like selling the family silver.

'These goods have cost us millions and now they are being sold for peanuts. That cannot be right.’
By the time the sales of aircraft, ships, military bases and tanks are added, the sale could bring in around £4billion – still leaving the MoD well short of its savings target, despite cutting thousands of military and civilian jobs.
In a separate venture to generate revenue, the MoD has catalogued its extensive art collection, which includes famous oils of Nelson – and is selling prints at £18 a time online.
Senior military officers are said to be furious at the sell-offs, which they claim are giving away quality equipment while the forces need everything they can get.
For the more technically minded, the MoD is offering a helicopter cockpit simulator or a 100ft-wide girder bridge used by the Royal Engineers.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘We are committed to delivering the best possible return for the taxpayer when disposing of surplus equipment.
‘Last year alone the Disposal Services Authority (part of Defence Equipment and Support) secured £84million from sales.’

Fire sale: MoD puts helicopters, armoured Jags and Snatch Land Rovers up for sale to plug £36bn 'black hole'

By Christopher Leake and Richard Hartley-parkinson

Last updated at 9:54 AM on 15th August 2011


Comments (34) Add to My Stories Share
It's quite a novel way to try and plug a £36bn hole in a budget, but the Ministry of Defence has decided to sell millions of pounds of equipment for a fraction of the cost.
Among the items on offer there are Gazelle helicopters (reduced from £5m to £100,000), armoured Jaguars (cut from £200,000 to as little as £12,000) and Snatch Land Rovers (retail price £65,000 but for you £2,000).
They are among a host of other items such as luxury watches that you might expect to see on the wrist of James Bond rather than someone on the front line.
Price chopper: Gazelle helicopters were bought for £5million but are going for £100,000
No armour plated pricing here: These MoD Jaguars are selling for between £12,000 and £25,000 - a fraction of their original £200,000 cost
There are 14 helicopters up for grabs and motorbikes are going for a snip at between £650 and £1,250. The HMS Ark Royal has so far reached £3.5million on eBay - it cost £200m originally.
There are other less obvious pieces of kit on sale including a £6,000 fridge that is advertised at £920, ships' mattresses, a dentist's chair and a 100ft girder bridge that spans 100ft.

For James Bond, a watch does far more than tell the time. It can kill your enemies with a single shot, fire wires into the air so you can swing between buildings, and even undo the zip on your sultry opponent’s dress.
In the real world, expensive timepieces have long been handed out to spies, undercover SAS troops and female intelligence operatives working at British embassies abroad so they could more easily pass themselves off as well-heeled diplomats.
But now these luxury watches – and an extraordinary array of other items from clothing to ships and aircraft – are being sold off at knockdown prices as the Ministry of Defence tries to fill a £36billion hole in its budget.
The ‘unused as new’ watches do not carry an asking price on the defence agency website on which they are advertised. But with other items in the ‘sale’ on offer for a tenth of their original price, it is thought that the watches will fetch only a fraction of their true value.
Scrambling for a good deal: A man works on some ex-MoD motorbikes that will sell for up to £1,250

A snatch: These Land Rovers are expected to fetch between £1,500 and £4,500. They were £65,000 new
They include a Raymond Weil Tango men’s watch – ‘Stainless steel case, black dial with red accented hands, luminous Arabic numbers, sapphire crystal glass’ – that would normally sell for £1,000, and a ladies Crystal Dior watch – ‘Bezel set with 48 diamonds 0.24 carat, black lacquered dial, black rubber strap set with black sapphire crystal’ – worth £4,000.
The MoD is also offering a gents Maurice Lacroix three-dial chronograph watch – ‘Sapphire crystal scratch resistant glass, white square dial with luminous hands’ – that would normally retail at about £5,000.
For comparison, when Daniel Craig reprised his role as James Bond in Quantum Of Solace, he was wearing an OMEGA Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer with a black dial. Its price new is £4,275.
A source said: ‘These watches were bought for SAS and defence intelligence operatives who work at our embassies abroad, so they look the part when they go to events and parties attended by diplomats and local dignitaries. It’s all part of creating the right image.’
Among the other items on the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Sales website are brand-new combat jackets ordered for the SAS (£350 new, on sale for £30); boxes of pencils, knives and forks; a £6,000 fridge on sale for £920; ships’ mattresses; and even a portable dentist’s chair.
There are even some luxury watches up for grabs, more likely to be seen on the wrist of James Bond than a front-line fighter

Sinking prices: HMS Ark Royal cost £200m to build - it's currently going for £3.5m on eBay
The MoD is trying to raise even more money by offering everything from Army braces, foot warmers and Scottish regimental kilts to trainers, socks, a Guards peaked cap and a host of office and medical equipment.
A source said: ‘The MoD is so desperate to balance the books that they’re selling everything imaginable.’
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former infantry commander, said last night: ‘The one thing of which you can be certain is that once precious defence equipment is sold, it will be needed again within the week. It is like selling the family silver.

'These goods have cost us millions and now they are being sold for peanuts. That cannot be right.’
By the time the sales of aircraft, ships, military bases and tanks are added, the sale could bring in around £4billion – still leaving the MoD well short of its savings target, despite cutting thousands of military and civilian jobs.
In a separate venture to generate revenue, the MoD has catalogued its extensive art collection, which includes famous oils of Nelson – and is selling prints at £18 a time online.
Senior military officers are said to be furious at the sell-offs, which they claim are giving away quality equipment while the forces need everything they can get.
For the more technically minded, the MoD is offering a helicopter cockpit simulator or a 100ft-wide girder bridge used by the Royal Engineers.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘We are committed to delivering the best possible return for the taxpayer when disposing of surplus equipment.
‘Last year alone the Disposal Services Authority (part of Defence Equipment and Support) secured £84million from sales.’

Fred van der Vyver wins civil case

Fred van der Vyver wins civil case
2011-08-15 12:57

Read more stories about
Fred van der VyverFred van der Vyver wins civil case - 15 Aug
Lotz murder weapon test inconclusive - 12 Apr
Not malicious, says ex-cop in Fred's case - 09 Dec
Cop admits to giving wrong testimony - 08 Dec
Former cop grilled on shoeprint - 08 Dec
Shoeprint cop takes stand - 07 Dec
Judge dons glove in Fred's case - 02 Dec
Cops 'all believed Fred guilty' - 30 Nov
Pathologist describes Inge Lotz's wounds - 30 Nov



Cape Town - Former murder accused Fred van der Vyver on Monday won his civil claim against the police ministry for malicious prosecution, Eyewitness News has reported.

Judge Anton Veldhuizen ordered the State to pay all costs for the application, including those incurred for experts and advocates.

Van der Vyver was arrested in 2005 after his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, was found murdered in her Stellenbosch flat.

According to the report, there were emotional scenes in courtroom 17 at the Western Cape High Court as the Van der Vyver family clapped and choked back tears as judgment was handed down.

Van der Vyver’s advocate, Dup de Bruyn, with tears welling in his eyes, said it had been a six-year "war".

Van der Vyver was claiming R46m. A new trial to decide how much money he should get was likely to start in 2012.

The State would already have to pay millions of rand for the cost of Van der Vyver’s experts and advocates.



- SAPA

Read more on: police | inge lotz | fred van der vyver | cape town

Funeral march of a man who can't step up to the job

Funeral march of a man who can't step up to the job
Jonny Steinberg | 14 August, 2011 03:43
Jonny Steinberg :

Whenever a South African police officer is murdered, General Bheki Cele puts on his ceremonial gear and gives the fallen one a soldier's burial.
Members of the SA Police Service are killed at an average of two a week; General Cele thus spends a lot of his time burying people.

So much so, that whenever I see the general on television or in the newspaper, I think of funerals. Embodied in his image is the seemingly unquestionable truth that people are waging a war against his police officers.

The question may be taboo, but does the war of which the general speaks actually exist? An annualised average of 101 police have been murdered this year. Is that a lot or a little?

The only way to answer that question is comparatively. There are 154000 police officers in the SAPS; if 101 are killed in a year, the per capita murder rate among police officers is 67/100000.

How does that compare with the rest of us? Well, the per capita murder rate for all males in South Africa is about 60/100000, which means that being a police officer in South Africa is a little more dangerous than being a boy or a man.

But the comparison is not, in fact, fair. The SAPS does not recruit children or the elderly, and only a minority of the current crop of police are middle-aged. It makes more sense to compare the police murder rate, not with that of all males, but with that of young men.

The current murder rate among men aged between 20 and 40 is roughly 90/100000. The average young man in South Africa is thus more than 40% more likely to be murdered in the next year than the average police officer.

What are we to make of these figures?

As Antony Altbeker points out in his book, A Country at War with Itself, there is an important difference between police officers and ordinary young men: police officers put themselves in danger.

If they are, nonetheless, being murdered at a rate similar to or lower than national averages, their training seems to be accomplishing the crucial task of keeping them alive.

I am not for a moment suggesting that we should be complacent about the murder of police officers, any more than that we should be resigned to the 17000 or so South Africans killed each year.

What I am suggesting is that we are not complacent; that the measures the police take to protect their own are pretty effective.

Which brings us back to General Cele. The figures above suggest that he has invented a war that does not exist. To put it another way, he has decided to fix something that isn't broken. Why is he doing that?

The short of it, I think, is that General Cele is an extraordinarily limited leader. He knows about fighting wars, and not much else, and so he looks for wars until he finds them.

He is drawn to the dead, and to those who mourn them, because the gravity of their funerals makes him feel like a general leading a band of soldiers, and that is what he is comfortable doing.

Managing a police service well, however, has little to do with fighting wars. Policing is a peacetime occupation, and a very difficult one at that. General Cele spends an alarming amount of his time fixing what isn't broken, while the things that really are in urgent need of repair go unfixed.

The career structure in the SAPS, for instance, is in a state of permanent crisis. The vast majority of SAPS members hit a career ceiling in their mid-30s. For the remaining 20 or 25 years of his career, the average police officer is miserable, the meaning sucked out of his profession; he has no reason to be good at what he does. The organisation becomes dead weight, resisting all innovation.

That their work is made meaningless is a bigger problem for police officers than that they are being killed at the same rate as people who are not police. Yet I have never heard General Cele speak of this problem in the SAPS. I suspect that he hasn't a single idea about how to fix it, for doing so has nothing to do with fighting wars.

It is tragic whenever a police officer is murdered. The tragedy is compounded, though, when an officer's death serves as a cover for a police commissioner who isn't up to the job.

■Steinberg is with Huma at the University of Cape Town

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


South Africa's once-great police force hijacked by ANC's blacks-only hiring policy

Don't ever believe any ANC-propaganda that the SA police is still even reasonably capable of protecting anyone any longer: the country's security now depends almost entirely on a small army of (fired) Afrikaner cops who now have moved to the country's huge network of private security and detective agencies.

The public forks over a whopping R15-billion annually to this security force... and they not only protect huge swatches of South African cities, suburbia, agricultural regions and business enterprises alike, but also often do other work which should be undertaken by the cops -- such as tracing down criminals and getting them arrested...

This countrywide private security force - created by the ANC regime's racial profiling policies for its police force, now outnumbers the SA police four to one. The country's security now relies almost totally on this small group of well-trained private security officers.


GOVT FAILS TO PROTECT CITIZENS FROM CRIME: DA

Government is failing in its most basic responsibility: to

protect its citizens from harm, Democratic Alliance MP Roy

Jankielsohn said on Tuesday.



Speaking during 'debate' in the National Assembly he said this was evidenced by the fact that employees of private security companies outnumbered the police four to one.


"While we already have almost 20,000 murders, and about 53,000

reported rapes per year, crime statistics would be much higher

without this additional private police force protecting those who

can afford this service, including the police themselves," he said.

"South Africans are afraid of criminals and justifiably so."



57% of South Africans justifiably feared crimes in their own homes..



The Institute for Democracy in South Africa's (Idasa) Afro

Barometer survey on "Public Attitudes to Crime and Security in

South Africa" showed that 57 percent of South Africans justifiably feared crime in their own homes.



34% suffered housebreakings, 19% suffered attacks at home:



A full 34 percent of people surveyed indicated they had had

something stolen from their homes and 19 percent that they, or

someone in their family, had been attacked at home.

"The heart of our families, the home, is no longer safe from

criminals."

Another survey by the Institute of Security Studies indicated

that up to 50 percent of certain categories of crimes were not even

reported. Citizens had lost their faith in the ability of cops to solve crimes.

This implied that police statistics of reported crimes only told

half the story.

"People on the ground are not fooled by government's

grandstanding on crime because they know from bitter experience that they have to face the criminals in their homes.

"Government's primary responsibility is to protect its citizens

from harm. It is clear that government is failing in this most

basic task.

Government obsessed with propaganda sideshows

"Government is failing because it is obsessed with sideshows

such as the Firearms Control Act and racial profiling of police

stations instead of dealing with the real issues facing it,"

Jankielsohn said.



The Firearms Control Act - launched on July 1, 2004 - targeted

law-abiding citizens's legally-registered firearms -- while criminals continued to use millions of illegal militirary attack weapons such as AK-47s.



Shameful personnel practices at police stations:

"Another sideshow that is destroying morale and the proper

functioning of the police is their shameful personnel practices."



The implementation of Resolution Seven, which enforced a national demographic profile onto provinces and individual stations - instead of using the provincial racial profile which would have served the local community much better -- has had a devastating effect on both the morale of the force and the police's own service delivery.



"Police officials are transferred far from their homes and often

do not even speak the language of the community whom they are meant to serve because of national racial profiling.

Racial profiling: ANC is turning the cops against each other:

"The use of racial criteria to determine promotions is also a

great cause of tension and dissatisfaction across all race groups within the service.

"Once again national racial profiles are applied at local police

stations and many good, well-qualified police officials are

overlooked for promotions because of their race.

"Within this context the idea of career pathing becomes a joke.



However, under these difficult circumstances many police officials

do sterling work and we appreciate this," Jankielsohn said

http://www.news24.com/Rapport/Nuus/0,,752-795_1691160,00.html

A HISTORY REPORT:............................>>>>>>> A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Mbeki wants to take over control of the justices:

Meanwhile, the country's judges are also furious - and have formed a united front against Mbeki's plan to change the Constitution and take away the independence of the judiciary.


Mbeki wants to take away the judiciary�s right to administer its own affairs with total independence, away from any government influence - in spite of the fact that this independence is actually entrenched in the country's Constitution...


The judges, including outgoing Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson and his replacement, Judge Pius Langa, made their opposition known behind closed doors at a two-day meeting attended by Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla and her deputy, Johnny de Lange, to discuss proposed new laws.


Adv.Johnny de Lange is the dedicated ANC-lackey who also wrote the country's extremely invasive new censorship laws several years ago - and which are much more draconian than censorship ever was during the suppressive apartheid regime. These new laws have given the ANC-regime total access to, for instance, people's mail and all communications on the internet... and South African taxpayers have had to fork over many millions of Rands so that the state's censors can set themselves up in a fancy building in order to spy on their msot private communications.


http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/articles/article.aspx?ID=ST6A116043

Postpone trips to UK - SA govt

Postpone trips to UK - SA govt
2011-08-10 13:02


Johannesburg - South Africans planning to travel to London should postpone their trips, the international relations and co-operation department said on Wednesday, amid violent riots which have gripped the British capital.

"Given the prevailing conditions in that country, we advise South Africans who can delay or postpone their trips to consider doing so," spokesperson Clayson Monyela said.

The South African High Commission in Britain is also ready to assist South Africans who require assistance in that country.

"Government continues to monitor the situation and developments in the UK," Monyela said.

The riots, described as the worst in decades, entered a fifth day on Wednesday.

Scotland Yard said 768 people have been arrested and 111 police officers have been injured so far, according to AFP.

Those needing assistance can contact the department's consular section for information and updates on 012 351 1000.

- Are you there and are you affected? Send us your stories and pictures

- SAPA

Read more on: uk | uk riots

UK riots: Cameron must go, says Libya
2011-08-10 12:40

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Tripoli - The regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday called for British Prime Minister David Cameron to step down, saying he had "lost all legitimacy" because of the riots shaking Britain.

"Cameron and his government must leave after the popular uprising against them and the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations by police," official news agency Jana quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim as saying.

"Cameron and his government have lost all legitimacy," he said.

"These demonstrations show that the British people reject this government which is trying to impose itself through force."

Kaaim called on the UN "Security Council and the international community to not stay with its arms crossed in the face of the flagrant violation of the rights of the British people".

Nightly riots which began in London and quickly spread to other major cities have gripped Britain since Saturday when an angry crowd marched to demand justice after 29-year-old Marc Duggan was shot dead by police in London.

Britain and France are spearheading Nato's aerial bombing campaign against the Gaddafi regime since March, when the United Nations approved action to protect Libyan civilians.



- AFP

Read more on: muammar gaddafi | david cameron | libya | uk | north africa | uk riots

KwaZulu-Natal cop shot multiple times

KwaZulu-Natal cop shot multiple times
2011-08-10 12:34


Durban - A policeman has been shot dead at his home in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday.

“Warrant officer Thokozani Ngcobo was shot dead when he arrived at his home at 19:00 yesterday (Tuesday),” said Captain Thulani Zwane.

Ngcobo, 47, was shot inside his car, he said.

Neighbours rushed Ngcobo to hospital where he was declared dead. He had multiple gunshot wounds.

“At this stage the motive for the killing is unknown and members of the Organised Crime Unit are investigating the murder,” Zwane said.

Ngcobo had been a policeman for twenty-two years.

Fifty-eight police officers have been murdered this year.


- SAPA

Read more on: police | pietermaritzburg | crime

East Rand couple killed in robbery- throat slit !

East Rand couple killed in robbery
2011-08-08 08:09

Related LinksElderly couple murdered on Gauteng farm
Couple murdered on smallholding

Johannesburg - An elderly couple was murdered in Bonearo Park, east of Johannesburg, during an apparent house robbery, it was reported on Monday.

The 65-year-old woman was stabbed in the back before her throat was slit, while the 70-year-old man was found dead with a plastic bag over the head, Beeld newspaper reported.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Cobus Halloway said it was suspected that Percy and Noellene Whitmore were overpowered on Thursday morning after returning from a church meeting.

"The house was in total chaos," said Halloway.

So far, only a DVD player seemed to have been taken from the house.

No arrests had been made.



- SAPA

Read more on: johannesburg | crime
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sushiqueen2 - August 8, 2011 at 08:14 Dam you scumbags!!! Reverse Apartheid is alive!!
Reply to sushiqueen2 James Weather - August 8, 2011 at 08:20 Report comment Its time to start getting together....
This is enough !!!!!
| Ederik - August 8, 2011 at 08:25 No, this is not reverse apartheid. With apartheid the whites did not go into black areas to murder elderly blacks. This is a systematic killing of whites, thanks to Malema. Abnd his superiors just sit back and laugh....
M. Khoza - August 8, 2011 at 08:27 Report comment Implement sharia law and our problems will disappear
Nunya - August 8, 2011 at 08:44 Report comment GENOCIDE!!!!
Explore.@24.com - August 8, 2011 at 08:46 Report comment These bastards have been murdering us on a daily basis for 200 years - ever since we met at the Fish River. Tomorrow there will be another murder and on and on and on. It is not going to change.
MTRJ - August 8, 2011 at 08:14 Report comment Life is not worth anything in this lawless country anymore! DVD player for your life. Sick.
Paralegal - August 8, 2011 at 08:24 Re @Tigerman, and you know this how? If you know who did this, report it to the police otherwise stop making assumptions.
zulufox - August 8, 2011 at 08:25 Tigerman, are you for real... What a mean thing to say...
vanilla34 - August 8, 2011 at 08:42 Report comment ... this is a hate crime! pure and simple.
Wacko - August 8, 2011 at 08:19 Report comment And we suppose they were white scumbags , come kolobe response please....
Verbatim - August 8, 2011 at 08:20 Report comment This only goes to affirm that these so called human beings are nothing but apes who deserve to be shot like dogs.
Reply to Verbatim | 2 comments (hide) | Delete Wotzizname - August 8, 2011 at Don't relate these barbaric neanderthals to animals please. Animals don't do this kind of thing, they have far more intelligence and self respect than these thugs!
Ederik - August 8, 2011 at 08:31 Report comment Please do not compare these barbarians with animals. Animals are wonderful beings and do not do these barbaric things.
ratex - August 8, 2011 at 08:24 Report comment Shoot to kill, then its your word against a corpse. Since the 94 freedom thingy happened, criminals have very little if any regard for life. So why should we, the victims, treat them, the criminals with any respect? Yes 2 wrongs don't make a right, but they will make me feel much better. The sooner we bring back the death penalty the better, scumbags like this do not have the right to live.
6 0 Reply to ratex | 0 comments (hide) | Delete Jack Spam - August 8, 2011 at These muppets will get what they deserve.
1 0 Reply to Jack Spam | 0 comments (hide) | Delete muziwandile.twala - August 8, 2011 at 08:24 Report comment This doesnt make sense.....Kill people over a Dvd player? This was a Hit
3 6 Reply to muziwandile.twala | 1 comment (hide) | Delete Verbatim - August 8, 2011 at 08:29 Report comment dont be stupid please. A hit? They were murdered because a. They were white elderly soft targets and b. the "untermensch" were too lazy to work and would rather steal. Its the African way of doing things. You people are so bloody stupid crying foul the whole time you miss the reality of life in SA.
10 4 | Delete psydomx - August 8, 2011 at 08:25 Report comment Please read this foreigners and tell others, whites are being subject to systematic ethnocide.
5 1 Reply to psydomx | 0 comments (hide) | Delete muziwandile.twala - August 8, 2011 at 08:25 Report comment This doesnt make sense.....Kill people over a Dvd player? This was a Hit
2 7 Reply to muziwandile.twala | 1 comment (hide) | Delete ZotBot - August 8, 2011 at 08:49 Report comment No, it's black racists who hate whites and simply murdered the defenseless old couple because they're white.

This was a racist, opportunistic crime by black cowards. That's why they attack in gangs and only old people. Cowards !!!
Wotzizname - August 8, 2011 at 08:26 Report comment Thanks Malema! I bet you're happy!
3 1 Reply to Wotzizname | 0 comments (hide) | Delete BOFFINBOB - August 8, 2011 at 08:27 Report comment The lust for White blood continues.
Crime has no colour. Partly true for VICTIMS of all COLOURS, but we all know the colour of the killers, rapists & thieves that are ruining this country, along with this weak willed government that is continually plundering & raping this country themselves, not to mention being dictated to by a " youthfull idiot & his cronies. "
Oh, watch the liberals come out & say, " well they are the majority, so therefore it is natural that they are responsible for the majority of the crime committed. " As if that makes it all perfectly natural & easier to accept.
Time to turn on the lights SA, we are suffering under this " blackout. "
3 0 Reply to BOFFINBOB | 0 comments (hide) | Delete zulufox - August 8, 2011 at 08:28 Report comment What a sad tragedy, who kills people returning from a CHURCH meeting!!!???
2 0 Reply to zulufox | BOFFINBOB - August 8, 2011 at 08:34 Report comment No doubt the angels were watching over them as it happened !
Risen Ape - August 8, 2011 at 08:39 Report comment This proves they worshiped the wrong god. Christianity must be a myth.
GinSA1 - August 8, 2011 at 08:42 Report comment Who kills people at any time to steal their belongings - irrespective of whether they came from church, mosque, synagogue or the casino?
turfwars - August 8, 2011 at 08:29 Report comment Absolutely no repsect for life!! Where will this end!!
5 0 Reply to turfwars | 0 comments (hide) | Delete Fredster69 - August 8, 2011 at 08:29 Report comment What are you doing about this Mr Zuma? .... so far nothing!!!!!!
Delete Fredster69 - August 8, 2011 at 08:30 Report comment What are you doing about this Mr Zuma? .... so far nothing!!!!!!
Fredster69 - August 8, 2011 at 08:30 Report comment ENOUGH!!!
ZotBot - August 8, 2011 at 08:32 Report comment Time to start fighting back !!!
Zotbot. YES !!!!
2 GinSA1 - August 8, 2011 at 08:32 Report comment http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/death-penalty-in-south-africa-referendum.html - When is enough going to be enough, from the side of the law-abiding citizens of this country? If this happened to your family, would you want the criminals to still enjoy life? Our Government needs to listen the the citizens of this country. We need to at least put pressure on them to hold a Referendum on the reinstatement of the death penalty.
jakes - August 8, 2011 at 08:34 Re Kill the fu#ken bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reg - August 8, 2011 at 08:35 Report comment These poor people have been church-goers for their entire lives, believing that Jesus would protect them, and now this? I think Jesus has some explaining to do.
ZotBot - August 8, 2011 at 08:50 Report comment Don't be a retard. I think black racists will have some explaining to do the day they meet Jesus.
Comic - August 8, 2011 at 08:35 Report comment This must happen with the president and his cabinet, with malema and his trash the we will see what happens.


Search for game hunter’s killers still on :

Police are still hunting for the men who shot dead a professional game hunter who was with his wife and a group of tourists in Mpumalanga.

Ministers' financial interests unveiled

Ministers' financial interests unveiled
Aug 05 2011 17:47


Cape Town - About three-quarters of the cabinet's 35 members have financial interests outside their main occupation and so do 59% of the country's 400 members of parliament.

The findings were released on Friday by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) through its Who owns What Database.

ISS senior researcher Collette Schulz-Herzenberg said there was a trend that many publicly elected officials and senior management in the public sector appear to have financial interests, including directorships of companies, that are not part of their main function or office.

This information was gathered from disclosure forms that public representatives had to complete and the ISS had received from the relevant authorities.

Cabinet members who are also members of parliament were included in the National Assembly total and so may be double-counted, but Schulz-Herzenberg said that the levels of disclosure were higher for members of the executive than for ordinary MPs.

She pointed out that the ISS had so far received 9 000 disclosure records that were filled in by various public officials from 2004 until 2010 including that of President Jacob Zuma, and so far the information received varied greatly in quality and levels of disclosure.

Using Zuma's disclosure as an example, the record indicated that he had received gifts form various heads of state, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and US President Barak Obama.

"However, what it worrying is that President Zuma's own forms do not say what companies he is a director of or not as those fields are completely blank," Schulz-Herzenberg.

The aim of the ISS Who Owns What Database is to make public officials more transparent in their private business dealings, and so make them more publically accountable.

Schulz-Herzenberg said there was an ongoing misconception about what constitutes a conflict of interest and that it was not purely about financial disclosure.

"It could include the use of one's political office, or being located close to those in power, or nepotism, or favouritism, or the use of one's own property to gain advantage," she said.

Schulz-Herzenberg said there were a number of grey areas where transgressions of public interest can and do occur and what was acceptable conduct.

"This tool would give the public a practical means to access thousands of records that largely existed only on paper to work out conflicts of interest in public life," she said.

Schulz-Herzenberg said the idea of the database was not something new as it was mooted by the late Kader Asmal, whom she described as the architect of ethics regulation who prompted those in power to be mindful of the importance of ethical conduct in public life.

Deputy Public Protector Mamiki Shai said: "Disclosure was not only about economics but about civil society functioning. Disclosure improves the public's understanding of their role in governance and in protecting their investment in government and public funds."

Shai said the public was not participating in holding public officials accountable in the way they should be.

"Ask anyone about tax money and they have difficulty conceptualising government money as that of the labour of those working. Every taxpayer should understand that government money is their money and should be accounted for," Shai said.
Read more about: sa economy | kader asmal | jacob zuma

Hawks investigate Fidentia Curator

De Wet Potgieter

Embattled Cape Town lawyer Dines Giwhala not only faces criminal charges following his co-curatorship over the controversial Fidentia financial scandal, but it was also confirmed on Wednesday that the Hawks were investigating a wide range of criminal allegations against him in another multimillion rand case.

Gihwala has acted for former finance minister Trevor Manuel and provided legal advice to Frene Ginwala on axed prosecuting head Vusi Pikoli.

The New Age on Wednesday revealed that the former boss of the Fidentia Asset Management Group, J Arthur Brown, had laid a wide range of criminal charges against the curators of his multibillion rand group of companies, which were put under curatorship by the Financial Services Board (FSB) in 2007.


Brown, who was arrested in 2007 and initially charged with more than 190 charges, now faces criminal charges ranging from fraud, corruption, money laundering and theft. Giwhala is co-curator of Fidentia with George Papadakis.Johannesburg criminal defence lawyer, Ian Small-Smith, acting on instructions from Swiss-based investment bankers Montague Goldsmith AG, made a formal report earlier this year to the police against Giwhala and Rivonia businessman, Lancelot Manala.

It was confirmed to TNA on Wednesday that Hawks’ Commercial Crimes Division in conjunction with the NPA Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit were investigating the report, in which Small-Smith laid criminal complaints of fraud, theft and various statutory criminal breaches, involving the misappropriation of millions of rands, against Gihwala.

According to the Swiss company’s CEO, Karim Mawji, Giwhala used R21073.82 from the trust account of legal firm, Hofmeyr, Herbstein and Giwhala (HHG), of which he was the chairperson, in August 2005 to pay for tuition fees at Stellenbosch University. He transferred a further amount of R57182.66 to the Dines Giwhala Trust’s account. “This is a clear case of theft,” Mawji declares in an affidavit handed to the police earlier this year.

The 2010 financial statements of Seena Investments, a dormant company owned by Giwhala and Manala, show the two men awarded themselves R5.5m in “directors fees” and a further R1.1m each as “administration fees”. The charges by Montague Goldsmith against Giwhala relate to a debt of about R10m owed by him to the Swiss-based investment bankers at the time he was appointed as co-curator for Fidentia. to the Swiss bankers he claimed he took the money as an advance on his fees.

Within months of becoming the curator he withdrew R10m from Fidentia and paid it over to Montague Goldsmith. In a letter to the Swiss bankers he claimed he took the money as an advance on his fees.

It was thereafter discovered in a forensic audit of Fidentia’s accounts that the R10m refund was not withdrawn from Giwhala’s attorneys’ trust account – where it should have been – but from Fidentia’s bank account which was being managed by Giwhala and Papadakis.

The law firm Hofmeyr, Herbstein Giwhala Inc, who were later incorporated as Cliffe Dekker, Hofmeyr, it’s suggested, should be criminally charged as they are implicated in the indictment. Giwhala was subsequently released from the firm as its chairperson.

Brent Williams, CEO of Cliffe Dekker, Hofmeyr, said yesterday that his firm acted on behalf of Giwhala in his capacity as co-curator of Fidentia, not in the matter with Montague Goldsmith.

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Fidentia Accused lays charges against curator's heafty takings

De Wet Potgieter

The former boss of the Fidentia Asset Management Group, J Arthur Brown, has laid a wide range of criminal charges against the curators of his multi-billion rand group of companies, which were put under curatorship by the Financial Services Board (FSB) in 2007.

The Fidentia issue was described at the time as “the largest investment scandal” in South African history.

Brown, who was arrested in 2007 and initially charged with more than 190 charges, now faces criminal charges ranging from fraud, corruption, money laundering and theft.

He appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Monday when his counsel, Jantjie van Niekerk, told Judge Robert Henney media reporting and the alleged misconduct of the curators would result in Brown receiving an unfair trial.

Brown’s lawyer, Bertus Preller of Abrahams and Gross Inc, yesterday confirmed the charges of theft, fraud, corruption, money laundering, contraventions of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act, as well as statutory infringements in terms of the Companies Act, have been laid with the police against curators Dines Gihwala and George Papadakis.

Gihwala faced criminal complaints earlier this year. Criminal defence lawyer Ian Small-Smith, acting on instructions from Swiss-based investment bankers Montague Goldsmith AG, made a formal report to the police in terms of the act.

In the report, Small-Smith laid criminal complaints of fraud, theft and various statutory criminal breaches, involving the misappropriation of millions of rands, against Gihwala over that matter.

In addition, the Antheru Beleggings Trust, which invested millions in Fidentia, applied at the start of the year to the Western Cape High Court for the company to be put into liquidation, rather than remain under the joint curatorship of Gihwala and Papadakis.

In support of the application, the Antheru trustees alleged that the curators had sold assets (purchased by Fidentia with investors’ funds) to their friends for amounts far below their true market value and have helped themselves to millions in fees.

In the latest development, Brown highlights in his founding affidavit to the police “various instances of gross misconduct on the part of Gihwala and Papadakis”.

According to Brown, Papadakis was closely associated with Clint Nassif, the man who said he assisted Brett Kebble to commit suicide, during the SARS investigation into the slain man’s financial affairs and therefore “did not meet the requisite fit and proper criteria to be appointed co-curators of the Fidentia Group”.

Among the charges levelled by Brown against the two curators in his statement to the police are:

• The curators stole at least R10m from the estate of Fidentia and attempted to conceal the theft by charging fees.

• They misrepresented the financial position of Fidentia and misrepresented and attempted to conceal various transactions they entered into and misrepresented facts.

• The curators have acted in concert with their firms and other third parties to maximise fees, enter into intolerable transactions to the detriment of the Fidentia estate. The curators created fictitious documentation, financial records and used the same to further their objectives.

• Allegedly committed perjury by giving false evidence, failed to comply with court orders and “wilfully misled” the court in their reports and affidavits.

• Defeated the ends of justice by instituting false charges against Brown and intimidated various people into giving false evidence. The curators also allegedly created fictitious documentation such as financial records and used it to further their objectives.

According to Brown, Gihwala and Papadakis gave false and defaming evidence in various affidavits.

“It is clear the curators are permitting the firm, of which Giwhala is the chairperson, to generate generous and indeed luxurious legal fees,” said Brown.

According to Brown’s statement, the curators to date have earned R92m in direct fees, while legal fees amount to about R22m.

The charges by Montague Goldsmith against Gihwala relates to a debt of about R10m owed by him to the Swiss-based investment bankers at the time he was appointed as co-curator for Fidentia. Within a few months of becoming the curator he withdrew R10m from Fidentia and paid it over to Montague Goldsmith.

In a letter to the Swiss bankers he claimed he took the money as an advance on his fees.

Numerous attempts to contact Gihwala were unsuccessful. When asked for comment, Papadakis referred The New Age to the Financial Services Board (FSB), which said yesterday it was unaware of the charges laid by Brown. A spokesperson for the FSB, Logan Ramalu, said yesterday the FSB was not aware of criminal charges against Papadakis and Gihwala.

“It must be pointed out, however, that there is currently a criminal case pending against Mr Brown, among others, in which, according to the FSB’s knowledge, Mr Brown is raising some of the allegations as a defence to the charges against him,” said Ramalu.

“The correct forum to respond to these allegations would therefore be in court.”

It must also be emphasised that curators are appointed by court on recommendation by the FSB.

Similar allegations concerning the appointment of the curators were made in court papers in which the liquidation of Fidentia Asset Management was sought in the Western Cape High Court during 2010.


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Fidentia curators probe 'significant entity'
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 22 2009 15:29


Fidentia's curators have been probing a deal involving "a significant entity in the financial-services industry", according to a report made public on Monday.

In the report, dated March 10, curators Dines Gihwala and George Papadakis detailed how they had recovered, or had firm agreements on, about R160-million of Fidentia cash.

They also listed a number of assets that still had to be sold, including the Sante Winelands Hotel and Spa at Franschoek, and Fidentia's former headquarters in Cape Town's Century City, for which they are seeking more than R53-million.

"There is also a transaction involving a significant entity in the financial-services industry, which may be liable to the curators in a transaction that appear[s] to be a sham," they said.

"Inasmuch as the curators are still investigating this claim, they are reluctant to disclose the identity of such entity to ensure no reputational damage is suffered by such entity, just in case it turns out that the information at the disposal of the curators is unreliable and/or inaccurate."

Former Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown is currently facing criminal charges related to the Fidentia debacle.

One-time Fidentia accountant/financial director Graham Maddock is behind bars after entering a plea agreement with the Scorpions, which involves testifying against Brown.

The curators said in their report that Maddock had undertaken in the plea agreement to pay them R6,3-million.

Of this they had so far received R2,8-million, from the sale of the Maddocks' Constantia family home.

An associate of Brown's, Louis Koen, had agreed to repay R10,9-million, and had so far handed over R3,2-million of this.

Johan Linde, who received R5,1-million as purported dividend and restraint of trade agreements, had paid over the entire amount to the curators.

These amounts make up part of the R160-million total.

The curators said summonses for similar payments, totalling more than R20-million, had been issued against Johan de Jongh, Hjalmar Mulder and Zacharias Brown.

Also unresolved were claims of R8,5-million against former Fidentia director Rudi Bam, R24,7-million against Brown and his wife, Susan, and R77-million against businesses formerly controlled by broker Steve Goodwin.

Goodwin was jailed two months ago, in another Scorpions plea agreement, after being apprehended in the United States.

Gihwala has previously said that the shortfall on Fidentia's books could be as much as a billion rand.

The publication of the curators' report, available on the Financial Services Board's website (www.fsb.co.za), follows an order made by the Cape High Court last week. -- Sapa

Unions: 'Hyena' king laughing all the way to the bank

FIENIE GROBLER JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Aug 04 2011 13:36



The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has added its voice to criticism of South Africa's granting of a R2.4-billion loan to Swaziland.

"This decision by the South African government to give King Mswati's regime a financial bail-out is a direct assault on our solidarity efforts to free and liberate the people of Swaziland from this hyena's tyranny," Numsa spokesperson Castro Ngobese said on Thursday.

"This bail-out or loan has made our government 'hug and kiss the most hated hyena'," he said, quoting from a 1984 speech delivered by African National Congress stalwart Oliver Tambo.

Ngobese demanded that South Africa withdraw the loan.

"If our South African government does not adhere to our demand it will reinforce our suspicions that our own government is prepared to fund a dictator's opulent lifestyle, use workers' hard-earned money, generated through taxes, to be squandered by King Mswati in order to unleash state terror and starve the people of Swaziland to death while King Mswati and his stooges wallow in opulence and bling."

The Young Communist League and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) also criticised the loan on Thursday, adding their voices to those of Numsa, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which spoke out against the loan on Wednesday.

"The current state of affairs in Swaziland is one that is characterised by a serious lack of good governance," YCL spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said in a statement.

"The behaviour of our central bank should be condemned."

Popcru said the Swazi government did not deserve a bail-out.

"Popcru agrees with Cosatu [Congress of SA Trade Unions] that there must be no bail-out from South Africa until all these demands have been met," Popcru general secretary Nkosinathi Theledi said in a statement.

The demands include the unbanning of Swazi opposition parties, the freeing of political prisoners and the promotion of freedom of speech in Africa's last absolute monarchy.

The Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo), however, said it welcomed the loan but said that Swaziland's spending should be closely monitored.

"Azapo calls on the South African government to establish a joint monitoring committee made up of Swaziland Embassy in South Africa and the South African Embassy in Swaziland with the mandate of ensuring that the bail-out conditions are respected and honoured," Azapo spokeperson Gaontebale Nodoba said in a statement.

South Africa said on Wednesday that it had agreed to lend Swaziland R2.4-billion, with conditions.

These included that Swaziland undertake confidence-building measures and implementing fiscal and related technical reforms required by the International Monetary Fund.

Agence France-Presse reported that the loan was about a quarter of the amount the kingdom had originally requested.

Last year, Swaziland lost 60% of its revenue from a regional customs union, which was the government's main source of income.

Reuters reported that the Southern African Customs Union's revenue collapsed after South Africa's 2009 recession, and that the Swazi government had been using central bank reserves, running up at least $180-million (about R1.2-billion) in unpaid bills.

King Mswati II has often been accused of fiscal mismanagement and autocratic rule.

He has also been criticised of living a lavish lifestyle while his subjects live in abject poverty, exacerbated by sky-high Aids rates. - Sapa

Mail & Guardian

Comments by Sonny

Feed the flames of Revolution!

His Hyena should govern his country instead of tasking virgin brides.

He bought a fleet of BMW's some time ago - the cars rusted in the sun.

Britain should have footed this bill!

The ANC should concentrate on their own "Poor" instead of dish out our cash to tribal

hobnobs!!

Soon the winds of revolution will again blow in the kingdom of Swaziland!