2012

Don't pay cops, public warned

Don't pay cops, public warned
2011-12-29 22:01

Related Links
Pretoria metro cop arrested for bribe
Ex-cop fined R10 000 for bribe
R8 000 to make docket disappear



Johannesburg - Gauteng police cautioned the public on Thursday not to pay for basic services at police stations.

"We are concerned about the behaviour of corrupt police officers and members of the public who compensate officers for services," spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said in a statement.

Members of the public were not supposed to pay to report complaints, seek police assistance, certify documents or have affidavits written.

Dlamini said this behaviour was prominent during the festive season, when officers were offered presents in the form of cash for certain services, or for neglecting to enforce the law.

"This behaviour amounts to corruption. Both parties may be charged with corruption and face the full might of the law. Police management are taking steps to prevent this form of corruption."

Anyone who wanted to report this kind of behaviour could call the police's anti-corruption line on 0860 267 7878, 24 hours a day.


- SAPA

Read more on: police | pretoria | johannesburg | crime

Hospital rape suspect arrested

Hospital rape suspect arrested
December 29 2011 at 09:35am
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

File photo

The male nurse who allegedly raped a mentally ill patient at the Osindisweni hospital in Verulam, north of Durban has been arrested, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Thursday.

“The suspect was arrested at his house in the Osindisweni area on Wednesday,” Lt-Colonel Vincent Mdunge said.

The 30-year-old man allegedly raped a mentally ill patient in the shower at the hospital on Sunday night. The man pushed the patient against the sink and ordered her to be quiet before raping her.

He reportedly ran away from the hospital after being questioned by police.

Provincial health department spokesman Chris Maxon welcomed the arrest.

“The MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said on Wednesday the man should consider himself fired. We have already sent him a suspension letter.”

He is facing rape charges and would appear in the Verulam Magistrate's Court on Friday. - Sapa

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nurse raped at hospital
12 Aug 2011 | Frank Maponya | 39 comments
Attacked by a security guard at a clinic on Women's Day

A SOMBRE mood prevailed yesterday during the inauguration of Limpopo hospital boards in Polokwane.

This was after Health and Social Development MEC Dikeledi Magadzi announced that a nurse had been raped by a security guard at a clinic on Women's Day.

Magadzi said the incident happened on Tuesday at the Makahlule Clinic near Malamulele.

She said she would hold the company that employed the culprit liable and was also considering cancelling the contract between the company and the department.

The department would also install CCTV cameras and other equipment to ensure the safety of health practitioners in the province.

"The rape of the nurse by someone who was supposed to guard the institution is not something we can be proud of. We are going to do everything in our power to ensure that heads will roll over this matter," she said.

The victim was advised to open a case with the police and the guard was arrested.

The MEC also chastised some of the board members for victimising hospital heads and staff in terms of the issuing of tenders and also the making of appointments.

She gave Sekororo Hospital as an example, noting that relatives of senior officials were offered jobs ahead of deserving applicants earlier this year.

"We need employees and board members who have the interests of communities - not their own - at heart," she said. "These people must contribute to the ideal of a healthy life for all."

Her outbursts followed reports that outgoing board members at the Helen Franz Hospital in Senwabarwana had been at loggerheads with hospital management since their appointments three years ago.

The members were also accused of inviting the media to reflect on the bad state of the institution "instead of protecting the image of the institution while doing something to improve conditions".

The boards were appointed in terms of Section 61 of 2003 and members are expected to serve a three-year term

For R750k, you can hunt white rhino

For R750k, you can hunt white rhino
December 29 2011 at 09:48am
By Sipho Khumalo


A rhino conservation campaigner is outraged that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has invited hunters to tender to hunt a white rhino bull at Mkuze Game Reserve, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, to manage numbers of the animal and to fund conservation efforts.

Ezemvelo invited the holders of hunting licences to bid to kill the rhino, with a minimum bid of R750 000 being set.

The tender was advertised on the internet for two days only.

The package consists of an identified white rhino, pictures of which were available on request, and two nights accommodation at a lodge. Bidding closed on December 23.

Defending the move, Ezemvelo chief executive Bandile Mkhize said that this was done every year as the reserve reached capacity and animals had to be removed


He said about 30 animals were auctioned annually, with at least two rhino hunts being offered at Mkuze, for this reason.

However, anti-poaching campaigner Simon Bloch said this justification was pathetic given that close to 500 rhinos had been poached this year alone.


“We should be doing everything in our power to ensure the survival of the species,” he said, adding that the rhino should be relocated to an area which had plenty of space instead of being killed.


Wildlife conservationist Tony Conway, chairman of the KZN Rhino Group, said on Wednesday:

“It may seem counter- intuitive, but the removal of a small number of individually identified males enhances the overall meta-population growth rates and furthers genetic conservation,” he said.- The Mercury

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facts:

Both black and white rhinoceroses are actually gray. They are different not in color but in lip shape. The black rhino has a pointed upper lip, while its white relative has a squared lip. The difference in lip shape is related to the animals' diets. Black rhinos are browsers that get most of their sustenance from eating trees and bushes. They use their lips to pluck leaves and fruit from the branches. White rhinos graze on grasses, walking with their enormous heads and squared lips lowered to the ground.

White rhinos live on Africa's grassy plains, where they sometimes gather in groups of as many as a dozen individuals. Females reproduce only every two and a half to five years. Their single calf does not live on its own until it is about three years old.

Under the hot African sun, white rhinos they take cover by lying in the shade. Rhinos are also wallowers. They find a suitable water hole and roll in its mud, coating their skin with a natural bug repellent and sun block.

Rhinos have sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell. They may find one another by following the trail of scent each enormous animal leaves behind it on the landscape.

White rhinos have two horns, the foremost more prominent than the other. Rhino horns grow as much as three inches (eight centimeters) a year, and have been known to grow up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long. Females use their horns to protect their young, while males use them to battle attackers.

The prominent horn for which rhinos are so well known has been their downfall. Many animals have been killed for this hard, hair-like growth, which is revered for medicinal use in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The horn is also valued in North Africa and the Middle East as an ornamental dagger handle.

The white rhino once roamed much of sub-Saharan Africa, but today is on the verge of extinction due to poaching fueled by these commercial uses. Only about 11,000 white rhinos survive in the wild, and many organizations are working to protect this much loved animal.

No parole, but Jackie Selebi to stay in prison hospital

No parole, but Jackie Selebi to stay in prison hospital
NICKOLAUS BAUER - Dec 28 2011 11:11

Jackie Selebi will not receive medical parole but will be kept in the medical wing of a correctional facility "indefinitely", the department of correctional services said on Pretoria on Wednesday.

"Following the medical report from the staff at Steve Biko Academic Hospital it has been decided Mr Selebi will be kept in the medical wing of a correctional facility indefinitely, after his release from hospital," the national commissioner of correctional services,Tom Moyane, told reporters.

After losing the appeal against his conviction for corruption, the former commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS) began his 15-year jail sentence on December 5.

According to Moyane, Selebi has received intermittent treatment for "uncontrollable sugar diabetes" and undergone laser surgery on his eyes since his arrival.

The 61-year-old former top cop was then transferred from prison to the Steve Biko Academic hospital in Pretoria on December 19 and is currently receiving treatment at the facility's nephrology ward.

Selebi is undergoing dialysis treatment at the facility and his current condition was described as "critical but stable" by hospital officials.

"This department is trying to be as transparent as possible, to dispel suggestions that Selebi is faking it," Moyane added.

At this stage neither Selebi nor his legal representatives have filed a formal application for medical parole.

There have also been no recommendations for medical parole from the doctors attending to Selebi.

The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg found Selebi guilty of receiving money in exchange for favours and information from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti.

It is understood Selebi collapsed at his home in Waterkloof on December 2 upon hearing his appeal against his conviction failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

For coverage of former police chief Jackie Selebi's corruption trial and aftermath, visit our special report.
( Mail And Guardian Online)

Ministers’ R92m housing bill

Ministers’ R92m housing bill
December 29 2011 at 09:02am
By LOUISE FLANAGAN

THE STAR
Two security guards sit in deck chairs outside this house in Pretoria, which has allegedly been bought by the government to house a new cabinet minister. Picture: Jennifer Bruce
Ministers and deputy ministers live in state-owned mansions barricaded with extra security that costs more than many people’s homes.
President Jacob Zuma’s expanded executive has cost you R92 million in new houses - mainly in the Waterkloof area - in Pretoria for 15 politicians - and that’s just for their second collection of state-funded homes.

The national Department of Public Works spent R71.795m buying the 15 properties, including attorneys’ fees.

That’s an average of nearly R4.8m a house… but that wasn’t good enough for your politicians.

So the department spent another R11.4m on renovations and furnishings, and another R8.5m on extra security. The total bill came to R91 644 540.48.

And it’s not finished yet; some spending on furnishings and renovations is continuing.

Another 19 houses in Cape Town cost another R116m, excluding extra work or furnishings.

When The Star asked cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi if the cabinet had discussed any security threat to the ministers and deputy ministers that explained the level of expenditure, he referred all queries to Public Works.

The department had not responded to earlier requests for comment by late on Wednesday.

The details of the Pretoria expenditure are in the reply by the minister of public works to questions in the National Assembly by DA MP John Steenhuisen.

“It’s little wonder they’re so out of touch with the needs of ordinary South Africans when they’re living in such a cosseted situation,” Steenhuisen commented to The Star.

“It’s a huge form of largesse.”

Last week The Star reported on the purchase in March of one of the 15 houses in Auriga Street, Waterkloof Ridge, for R6.3m.

The department had refused - for “security reasons” - to tell The Star which member of the executive would occupy the house, but the minister’s reply identifies the occupant as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Dina Pule.

The houses for Pule and Deputy Minister of Higher Education Hlengiwe Mkhize were the most expensive of the 15, at R6.3m each, plus lawyers’ fees.

Pule’s job involves monitoring government delivery and assessing related policy. The Presidency’s policy document for this monitoring lists one of the “non-negotiable principles” for improving government performance as the need to “recognise that there will always be limited funding and resources, and yet be willing to commit to doing more with less and doing it on time”.

The cheapest house cost R2.4m. It hasn’t been assigned to anyone.

The department paid above the Tshwane metro’s official valuations for every property, in some cases well above. One cost three-and-a-half times the market-value estimate.

So far, 11 of the houses have been assigned - three to ministers and eight to deputy ministers. None of the properties were bought through open tender but through a “negotiated procedure”, the minister said in its reply.

As they are the second state-provided properties for the incumbents, they are supposed to pay rent on these: R905 a month each for three of the properties and R745 a month each for the other eight.

The spending flies in the face of the lack of funds for service delivery. For example, of the 203 state schools in the Joburg central area, nearly three-quarters get less than R500 000 a year each in state funding and only nine get more than R1m.

The cost of those 15 houses could have added R450 000 to the budgets of every one of those 203 Joburg schools. What was spent on those 15 houses could have run Gauteng’s Heidelberg Hospital for a year or Mamelodi Hospital for six months.


The extra security alone on the house for the deputy minister of police cost enough to pay a police lieutenant in the Presidential Protection Services for 31 months or a Limpopo police station commander for two years.

The curtains for the deputy minister of mining’s pad cost as much as the pay for a minimum-wage coal miner working underground for about four years. - The Star

South African held in Mozambique for drug trafficking

South African held in Moz for drug trafficking
2011-12-28 07:48


Related Links
Cape Christmas drug busts - 8 held
SA a huge link in drug network
Man nabbed with drugs in Rustenburg
3 month wait for drug mule - report


Johannesburg - Mozambican police arrested a South African woman for carrying drugs when she entered the country at Maputo International Airport on Christmas Eve, the news agency AIM reported on Tuesday.

Promise Mpala, 26, had travelled from Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airways flight. She was carrying an unspecified amount of drugs in one of her bags, according to the report.

The drug was detected by the scanner through which all items of luggage of arriving passengers must pass. It had not yet been established exactly what type of drug Mpala was carrying.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported that a 38-year-old South African woman was arrested for drug trafficking in Nigeria last week.

Nene Fikile Happy-girl, and a Nigerian, Onyemaechi Remigus Chibuzor, 29, were arrested last week at the Lagos international airport as they tried to board an Emirates flight to Malaysia.

They were found in possession of methamphetamine, Nigeria's anti-drug agency said.



- SAPA

Read more on: nigeria | mozambique | sa | narcotics | crime

19 killed in horror Free State crash

19 killed in horror Free State crash
2011-12-27 10:03

Related Links
800 die on roads so far this December

Bloemfontein - Nineteen people were killed when a minibus taxi and a car collided head-on in the Free State, police said on Tuesday.

Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said both the car and minibus taxi caught fire after they collided on the R26 between Frankfort and Tweeling on Monday.

"Some of the people were burned beyond recognition after the impact," he said.

He said it was alleged that the accident occurred when the car, with four occupants, tried to overtake another car on the barrier line but instead collided with the on-coming taxi.

The taxi was travelling from QwaQwa and heading towards Johannesburg.

Four occupants from the car and fifteen from the taxi died on the scene.

Over 800 deaths on SA roads

Mophiring said seven people were transported to Mafube District Hospital in Frankfort. Two critically injured people were taken to Pelelomi Trauma Centre Hospital in Bloemfontein.

The bodies of those who died were taken Sasolburg state mortuary.

By Monday night, seven of the injured were reported to be in stable condition.

The names of those who died have not been released yet.

On Monday, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said that reckless overtaking had been one of the main causes behind the over 800 deaths that have occurred on South African roads since December 1.

"Major contributory factors remain speeds too high for circumstances, especially at night and during inclement weather, drinking and driving, drinking and walking and dangerous overtaking on barrier lines in the face of coming traffic," said RTMC spokesperson Ashref Ismail at the time.


- SAPA

Should South Africans be optimistic?

Should South Africans be optimistic?
26 December 2011, 08:19


Most South Africans rates their lives worse in 2011 than they have in the past several years. What do you think? Should South Africans be optimistic?


Since Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990,the last two decades have been the most crucial and eventful ones in South Africa's history. South Africa's Democracy is a society still very much in transition and provides outsiders looking in at South Africa an instrument with which to measure the political climate, to observe trends and developments, and to give input into the decision-making process of companies and political parties.

Although the process of change and political transition still remains difficult to define properly. As an emerging market democracy,special attention gets devoted by others as to their perceptions on pertinent issues such as the mood of all people in the country, optimism, economic well-being, social harmony and trust - all very essential elements to make South Africa work properly as a nation.

Prof. Ronald Inglehart, ISR, University of Michigan (USA) wrote:

"People live in the past far more than they realise. We interpret reality in terms of concepts an world views base on past experiences. This is inevitable-what we experience consist of millions of sensations,and we cannot focus on all of them. Making them coherent means abstracting a few simplified concepts that seem relevant to important goals."

South Africans generally holds very diverse opinions about the process and perceived success of transitional change. Yet despite the plethora of conflicting opinions about the magnitude of social change in the country since 1994,one consensual fact still remains: issues to with racism,inequality,poverty,high crime,murder,rape cuts right through the very bones of everyday South Africans.

Things uniquely South African:

A. Infrastructure...

1. The world's biggest hospital is the Chris Hani - Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.


2. South Africa is one of only 12 countries where tap water is safe to drink. Its tap water is rated the third best worldwide.


3. Pretoria has the second largest number of embassies in the world after Washington, D.C.


4. South Africa is the world's biggest producer and exporter of mohair.


5. The rand, the world’s most actively traded emerging market currency, has joined an elite club of 15 currencies - the Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) - where forex transactions are settled immediately, lowering the risks of transacting across time zones.


6. South Africa mines deeper than any other country in the world, up to depths of 2.5 miles at the Western Deep Levels Mine.


7. It has the largest hydro-electric tunnel system in the world at the Orange Fish Rivers Tunnel.


8. South Africa is the second largest exporter of fruit in the world.


9. Electricity costs are the second lowest in the world.


10. South Africa is the world's largest producer of macadamia nuts.


11. Officially, the youngest language in the world is Afrikaans. By the early-20th century Afrikaans had developed from Dutch, French and other influences into a fully fledged language with its own dictionary. After a mere 90 years, it is the second most spoken language in South Africa (Zulu is the most spoken, the Zulu people being the largest ethnic group).


12. South Africa is the world's biggest producer of platinum, chromium, vanadium, manganese and alumino-silicates. It also produces nearly 40% of the world's chrome and vermiculite.


13. Durban is the largest port in Africa and the ninth largest in the world.


14. South Africa generates two-thirds of Africa's electricity.


15. There are about 280,000 windmills on farms across South Africa, second in number only to Australia.


16. The world's two largest platinum mines are located near Rustenburg.


17. While occupying 4% of Africa's landmass, South Africa boasts more than 50% of the cars, phones, automatic bank tellers and industrial facilities on the continent.


18. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), now rising from a Karoo koppie in Sutherland is the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere (and third largest in the world).


19. South Africa is a middle income country with a strong emerging economy – the 25th largest in the world - and produces more goods than Portugal, Russia or Singapore. It also has Africa’s biggest economy, three times larger than Nigeria or Egypt.


20. South Africa has the fourth largest coal reserves in the world. Its coal industry ranks sixth in the world in terms of output of hard coal and third in terms of seaborne international coal trade.


21. Currently, South Africa is the only country in the world that has voluntarily dismantled its nuclear arsenal.


22. South Africa has 19,004 miles of railway track - 80% of Africa's rail infrastructure.


23. South Africa has the oldest wine industry outside of Europe and the Mediterranean, featuring Chardonnays, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cinsault, Riesling, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage varietals.

B.Travel and Nature...

1.The Kruger National Park nature reserve supports the greatest variety of wildlife species on the African continent. It is roughly the size of Wales, or the state of Massachusetts (USA), which makes it the eighth largest reserve in the world.


2. Home to one of the world's 6 floral kingdoms, South Africa has one-tenth (23 200) of the world's flowering plants, of which nearly 19 000 are endemic, making it the richest region in the world in terms of species to area - 1.7 times richer even than Brazil. It is the only country in the world to contain an entire floral kingdom.


3. It is home to more kinds of mammals than North and South America combined; or Europe and Asia together.


4. South African grasslands have approximately 30 species per square kilometer, greater than the biodiversity of rainforests.


5. Table Mountain in Cape Town is believed to be one of the oldest mountains in the world. Standing at just over 1000 metres, it dominates the city's skyline. Table Mountain can be seen as far as 200 kilometres out to sea.


6. South Africa has the third highest level of biodiversity in the world.


7. Paarl is South Africa's third oldest town and home to KWV Cellars- the largest wine cellar in the world (covering 22 hectares).


8. Kimberley's 'Big Hole' is the largest hand-dug hole in the world and is deeper than Table Mountain is high. Kimberley also has the only drive-in pubs in the world.


9. Mpumalanga province is home to the Blyderiver Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world - and the largest green one. The Grand Canyon in the U.S. is the biggest, and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia the second, but both are very dry.


10. The Tugela Falls in KwaZulu Natal, at 948m (3110ft), is the second highest waterfall in the world.


11. The world's best land-based whale-watching spot is located in Hermanus, Western Cape.


12. Mossel Bay is in the Guinness Book of records as having the second most moderate climate in the world.


13. Seal Island in False Bay is the only place in the world where Great Whites consistently breach (leap completely out of the water) to catch their prey, mainly seals. It also boasts the highest frequency of Great White shark attacks in the world.


14. In 1991, South Africa became the first country in the world to protect the Great White shark.


15. According to 'Trivial Pursuit', Graaf-Reinett in the Western Cape has the world's biggest grapevine.


16. Fossilized footprints were found at Langebaan Lagoon, Western Cape, in a sand-dune-turned-rock. The 117,000 year-old fossils are the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human.


17. Most of the world's proto-mammalian fossils are found in the Karoo region.

18. The 2,02 billion year-old crater in Vredefort is the oldest known crater on Earth. The general estimate of its original diameter is roughly 300 km, which makes it the largest crater on the planet, as well.


19. The Sterkfontein Caves, in Gauteng, is the site where the oldest human skeletal remains were found in the world (3,5 million years old). This is the place where the human race was born!


20. Close to Oudtshoorn are the Cango Caves, a 3 km long sequence of caverns of glittering stalagmites and stalactites, which makes it the longest underground cave sequence in the world.


21. The Boesmansgat is renowned as the second deepest sinkhole (about 299 metres) and the largest of its kind in the world. Many attempts have been made at world records in cave-diving in this exceptional sinkhole.


22. The St. Lucia estuarine system, in Kwazulu Natal, is the largest estuarine system in Africa.


23. South Africa is home to the world's smallest succulent plants (less than 0.39 inches) and the largest (the baobab tree).

C.Entertainment...

1. South Africa has the second oldest Film Industry in the world.


2. The Cape Argus Cycle Tour is the largest timed cycle race in the world.


3. South Africa has the longest wine route in the world.


4. South Africa has the highest commercial bungi jump in the world (710 feet).


5. M-Net is Africa's largest pay television service, delivering 24-hour programming to dozens of countries across the continent.


6. South Africa has the most luxurious train in the world, The Rovos Rail.


7. The Lost City Resort is the largest thermal resort in the world as well as the largest building project undertaken in the southern hemisphere.

D.Military History...

1. South Africa has the world's second oldest air force, established 1920.


2. The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) was the first war of the 20th century and saw the introduction of trench warfare, the first large-scale use of concentration camps for non-combatants, and the most prolonged period of guerrilla warfare by a conquered nation's military against a victorious army.


3. Camouflage was first used in battle by the Boers, who used camouflaged trenches and adapted battledress to blend into treeless landscapes.


4. The world's first news footage and propaganda films were shot during the Anglo-Boer War.


5. Technologically, it saw the first use of a generation of weapons that are still with us today - automatic handguns, magazine-fed rifles, and machine guns.


6. The Guinness Book of Records lists the Anglo-Boer War as Britain's most costly war outside of the two World Wars.



E.Business...

1. The Rand Refinery is the largest refinery of gold in the world.


2. The South African oil company SASOL has established the only commercially proven oil from coal operations in the world.


3. The world's biggest producer of non-fuel minerals is South African company Anglo-American Corporation.


4. The University of South Africa UNISA is a pioneer of tertiary distance education and is believed to be the largest correspondence university in the world with 250,000 students.


5. Eskom, the national electricity utility, is the world's fourth largest in terms of both sales volume and normal capacity.


6. The De Beers Group of companies control more than 80% of the world supply of rough diamonds.


7. SABMiller ranks as the largest brewing company in the world by volume. It supplies up to 50% of China's beer.


8. Samancor Limited is the world's largest producer by sales of manganese and chrome products.


9. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange was the 9th best performing stock market in 2010, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.


10. Stellenbosch University was the first university in the world to design and launch a microsatellite.


11. South Africa is the sole producer of the Mercedes Benz C Class, right-hand drive vehicles.


12. KSDP Pentagraph is rated as the world's second best design company by British design magazine, 'Creative Review'. The company is responsible for the new-look packaging of 'Fanta' and design modifications of 'Coca-Cola' soft drinks worldwide.

F.Politics...

Right now,South Africa is a one-party state. Since their first democratic elections in 1994, the South African Parliament has been controlled by the African National Congress,the party of Mr. Mandela,Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Zuma,which controls 69.7 percent of the popular vote.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu pointed out the danger for South Africa,when he said that South Africa needed “a viable opposition party” because “democracy flourishes where there is a vigorous debate.”Does the fate of a viable two-party system in South Africa rest on the shoulders of the DA.We have to wait and see! South African politics has always been tribal even under the Apartheid Government.

Before the 1994 democratic elections the National Party was for white Afrikaners,the remnants of the former Progressive Party was for white English-speaking South Africans,the Inkatha Freedom Party for Zulu nationalists, and the ANC for predominantly Xhosa speaking South Africans. Whether or not rebirth by meiosis will ever succeeds in South Africa won’t be known for quite some time.

G.Corruption...

Professor Michael Savage,a sociologist at the University of York in England,wrote this about South African politicians:

"Theft,fraud and violence,South African MP's do it all. A culture of impunity has made the South African parliament one of the most scandal-ridden governments in the world whereby MP's are arrested for drunken driving,shoplifting,fraud and varied corruption offences.

Of the 535 MPs, 29 have been found guilty of domestic violence, 7 have been arrested for fraud, 19 have been accused of bouncing fraudulent cheques,117 have been involved in at least two businesses that have gone bankrupt,71 cannot obtain a credit card because of their bad credit ratings,14 have been arrested on drug-related charges,8 have been arrested for shoplifting,84 have been arrested for drunken driving.

Tony Yengeni,the former chief whip of the ANC,who was convicted for fraud in 2003 while chairing the country's defence committee said this of their ANC elite of which he's part of:"What does the high court got to do with my life? I don't have to ask permission from them to do certain things...

When asked about his numerous luxury cars which includes a MASERATI and two BMW's he replied "many other people have cars including white people who still have all the wealth of this country".

For those brought up in the townships politics becomes the doorway to self-enrichment.Survivalism in SA is seen as political entitlement. Few MP's ever goes to prison.


H.Behaviour and attitude towards the commercial farming sector...

In a press interview,world famous chef,Gordon Ramsay,said South Africa had some of the world's best food, with a "wonderful country in which to grow it - good climate, top-quality farms, a superb variety of the most exotic vegetables and fruits and world-class meat".

The BBC on the other hand ran a series entitled "Cooked" - in one edition, South African Justin Bonella visited the Ceres district and spoke to the Du Toit's whose family has farmed fruit for four generations. The dried fruit industry is big on the family's agenda - they export to 20 countries, and their quality is top class.

Precision farming, attention to detail, good marketing and plain old hard work have catapulted this family and others in the district to the point where the BBC films their lives to show around the world.


Contiguous with the partying, the publicity and the international TV programmes,the ANC government was granted leave to appeal a court ruling prohibiting the singing of a so-called ANC "liberation song" urging people to "kill the Boer".(Boer being the Afrikaans word for farmer).

Julius Malema,their former ANC Youth League leader, sang that song openly, publicly, brazenly, with no thought of the consequences there off.Taken to court by concerned organizations, Malema was ordered to stop. He ignored the court's injunction, and continued singing.

He sought leave to appeal, and was supported by none other than the ruling ANC government. In other words, the ANC government supported the exhortation to shoot South African farmers who EACH feed 1 100 people every day, and who keep the incompetent and venal ANC in power.

It's not as if Malema's words mean nothing - farm murders in South Africa are so high as to make South African commercial farmers the most murdered group in the world outside a war zone!

When the ANC defends its support for a court appeal on the grounds that the song is "part of their heritage", then what sort of a heritage is that? Their song was distinctive in its motives, and directed at farmers: the IBhunu (the Boer) was always singled out as the ANC's military wing's enemy.

This fact can be confirmed by reading any transcript of Radio Freedom broadcasts from Africa in the seventies and eighties. "Dubula iBhunu" means shoot the farmer and there are no ambiguities - and there is no ambiguity either about the fact that the South African government supports this! A strange and insidious the ANC Government is indeed!

South African farmers are already on the ropes - dairies receive only 38% of the retail price of milk, apple farmers get 32% of the retail price while a wheat farmer receives only 20% of the price a consumer pays for a loaf of bread, according to the Standard Bank.

A 2011 study by Vinpro showed that a grape farmer made a profit of 44c on a bottle of wine while a profit of R1,07 is the sustainable minimum. Farmers carry the largest risk in the value chain, says Standard Bank.

Grain consumption in the developing world,including South Africa, has increased 80% over the past 30 years, while the amount of meat each person consumes has doubled over the past three years.

Corn is being diverted to the production of ethanol - in the year 2 000 only 6% of America 's corn harvest was used to manufacture ethanol - now about 40% is. Will the ANC Government be importing corn from the US?

Can the ANC Government itself produce food for 50 million people, given that they are gradually usurping the land? Do they intend importing food after they have driven many commercial farmers from their land?

The signs are there that importing food may not be an option! About 925 million people go to bed hungry every night, while every day, there are 219,000 more mouths to feed. In 2010-2011, the world consumed more grain than it produced. Globally, food costs 39% more than it did a year ago.

The Green Light for nationalization...

The ANC's socialistic National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as outlined in the Freedom Charter carries on, despite the lavish capitalistic lifestyles of the ruling elite! Julius Malema and his friends call for "taking back the farms" because as non-producers by nature, they need to continually feed on an ever-shrinking cake.

Land has always been in their sights, whether taking it and ruining it makes sense or not. It is good politics to talk about taking back the land and it worked in Zimbabwe .

Too late the masses realized they had been hoodwinked, as they are now being bamboozled in South Africa, swept up by Malema and other ANC cadres' anti-white crusades, fuelled by poverty, government ineptitude and an innate sense of entitlement: it's "someone else's fault" they are in the current predicament! The commercial farmers are a very convenient scapegoat!

Farmers were shocked to learn that the ANC government is willing to amend the Constitution for the sake of land redistribution.

South Africa's National Democratic Revolution's policy originally trumpeted that land "reform" would benefit "the people",but since 2006 the government take to buying up farms and then leasing them out,has in the process,spent over $3,7 billion(US) buying up farms, but much of the land has not been allocated to anyone.

That meant that vast areas are standing unused or that a handful of people are getting great windfalls from the national fiscus.

Are you generally optimistic, or pessimistic?

More than 60 percent of young South Africans think the country is heading in the wrong direction and that the country is in long-term decline.They also believe the country's political system is dysfunctional.

If you had to put forward your own personal advice for South Africans going forward into one sentence what would it be:

Relax,We’ll be fine, or Find shelter,the worst is yet to come?

How do South Africa compare to other countries regarding optimism vs pessimism:

Americans were 45% optimistic, 51% pessimistic
South Korea: 15% optimistic, 82% pessimistic
Italy,France and Germany was evenly split: 45% optimistic to 45% pessimistic
Japanese were 12% optimism, 45% pessimism.
Lebanon 7% to 77%
China was 68% to 7%
India at 55% to 30%
South Africa was 62% optimistic to 30% pessimistic

Among the most optimistic people in our world are South Africans and Australians says a BBC report.

South Africans and Australians are among some of the most optimistic people surveyed. South Africans are remarkably optimistic about their family (65%) and their country (62%) and lean positive about the world (44%/33%).

Australians are nearly as optimistic about their family (54%) and as optimistic about their country (61%), however they swing more negative about the world (31% getting better, 45% getting worse) compared to South Africans.

Unemployment Is South Africans' Biggest Concern...

A Gallup poll recently showed that South Africa's unemployment rate at more than 25% was the highest Gallup measured across more than 100 countries in 2011. The country lost about 1 million jobs between 2008 and 2009, or about 8% of the national workforce. The South African economy contracted in 2009, while household indebtedness grew more than double.

ZIMBABWE...

By contrast, in neighboring Zimbabwe, economic growth has been strong after the government shifted to dollarization (use of hard currencies) to battle hyperinflation in 2009. While Zimbabwean leaders still have work to do on the country's economy, the dollarization of the economy has improved the lives of Zimbabweans.

What then...

In light of the sheer size of the job cuts, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that a lack of jobs is what South Africans say is the most important concern their families face. But what may be surprising is that even those who rate their lives higher on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, say this too.

Those who rate their present lives at the bottom of the scale are far more likely than others to identify poverty or a lack of money another pressing problem.

South Africans, irrespective of their life evaluation ratings, express similar levels of concern about overall inflation, increases in food prices, and dearth of basics such as food and water.

South Africans' consumer confidence, according to the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence latest release, has improved recently, especially on the dimension of employment expectations.

Most South Africans rates their lives worse in 2011 than they have in the past several years.What do you think
( News 24 )

Comments:
Wikkie - December 26, 2011 at 11:37 .
Murder Rates in SA is higher than deaths at the height of the Iraqi war.
Rape, it is a world crisis.
Bugger Somalia, bugger Afghanistan, bugger tsunamies - why is the world so quiet on the disaster brought by the ANC in South Africa?

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

quintona - December 26, 2011 at 09:27
This society is rotten to the core. Murder rates are second only to war zones and we are officially the rape capital of the world. The police in Sandton have now taken to rape as a standard practice. The job and tax payer situation can only land up in economic collapse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Teen gang-raped by 5 men
2011-12-27 13:21

Related Links
Gang rape victim gives birth
Soweto teen gang-raped
Teen gang raped, tied to tree

Polokwane - A 16-year-old girl has been gang-raped at Shongwane village outside Lephalale, Limpopo police said on Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohale Ramatseba said the girl and her boyfriend, 18, were on their way home from a tavern on Monday night when they were confronted by five men who assaulted the boyfriend.

"The boyfriend allegedly fled, the victim was then dragged to the bushes and raped by the five suspects," he said.

No arrest has been made.

- SAPA

Christmas truce

Christmas truce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


A cross, left near Ypres in Belgium in 1999, to commemorate the site of the Christmas Truce in 1914. The text reads:
1914 – The Khaki Chum's Christmas Truce – 1999 – 85 Years – Lest We Forget.Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas of 1914, during the First World War. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German and British soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many soldiers from both sides – as well as, to a lesser degree, from French units – independently ventured into "No man's land", where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides had also been so friendly as to play games of football with one another.

The truce is seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent events of modern history. It was not ubiquitous, however; in some regions of the front, fighting continued throughout the day, whilst in others, little more than an arrangement to recover bodies was made. The following year, a few units again arranged ceasefires with their opponents over Christmas, but to nothing like the widespread extent seen in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from the high commands of both sides prohibiting such fraternisation.

The truces were not unique to the Christmas period, and reflected a growing mood of "live and let live", where infantry units in close proximity to each other would stop overtly aggressive behaviour, and often engage in small-scale fraternisation, engaging in conversation or bartering for cigarettes. In some sectors, there would be occasional ceasefires to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead soldiers, whilst in others, there would be a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised, or worked in full view of the enemy. However, the Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation – even in very peaceful sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Julaftonen (Christmas Eve), a 1904–05 watercolor painting by Carl Larsson
Also called Day before Christmas
Night before Christmas
Observed by Christians and many non Christians


Type Christian, cultural
Significance Day or evening preceding the traditional birthday of Jesus
Date December 24
Observances
Gift shopping, gift giving, goodwill greetings, Midnight Mass, other church services, meals, preparations for the arrival of Christmas gift-bringers, Matzo Ball
Related to Christmas Day, Christmastide, New Year's Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25. It is a culturally significant celebration for most of the Western world and is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day.

One reason celebrations occur on Christmas Eve is because the traditional Christian liturgical day starts at sunset, an inheritance from Jewish tradition, which in turn is based in the story of creation in Genesis: "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day." This liturgical day is followed for all days in the Eastern rite and the custom of beginning Christmas celebration (as well as Sunday and the other major festivals) in the preceding evening is preserved in western Churches that have altered the liturgical day to start at midnight, for example the Roman Catholic Church. Many churches still ring their church bells and hold prayers in the evening before holidays; for example the Nordic Lutheran churches. In some languages, such as the Scandinavian, Christmas Eve is simply referred to as "Christmas Evening".

Since Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born at night (based in Luke 2:6-8), Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, in commemoration of his birth. The idea of Jesus being born at night is reflected in the fact that Christmas Eve is referred to as "Heilige Nacht" ("Holy Night") in German, "Nochebuena" ("the Good Night") in Spanish and similarly in other expressions of Christmas spirituality, such as the song "Silent Night, Holy Night".

Nominally religious people, or people who are not formal with definitions, may see the whole day as a day of celebration or as just the day before Christmas. Millions of people around the world with no Christian or religious affiliation or background also celebrate Christmas and Christmas Eve. The emphasis of celebration on Christmas Eve varies from country to country and region to region. ( Wikipedia)

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


The Christmas Story of the Birth of Jesus

By Mary Fairchild, About.com Guide

This Christmas story gives a biblical account of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas story is paraphrased from the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke in the Bible.

References:
Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.
The Conception of Jesus Foretold
Mary, a virgin, was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus.
At first Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel's words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, "How will this be?" The angel explained that the child would be God's own Son and, therefore, "nothing is impossible with God." Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior.

Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words found in Isaiah 7:14 foretelling this event, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus:
While Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, as foretold to her by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning.
Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. The angel explained that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus and that he was the Messiah, God with us.

When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary home to be his wife, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality is one of the reasons God chose him to be the Messiah's earthly father.

Joseph too must have wondered in awe as he remembered the words found in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)

At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken, and every person in the entire Roman world had to go to his own town to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Probably due to the census, the inn was too crowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger.

The Shepherd's Worship the Savior:
Out in the fields, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep by night. The angel announced that the Savior had been born in the town of David. Suddenly a great host of heavenly beings appeared with the angels and began singing praises to God. As the angelic beings departed, the shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the Christ-child.
There they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, in the stable. After their visit, they began to spread the word about this amazing child and everything the angel had said about him. They went on their way still praising and glorifying God. But Mary kept quiet, treasuring their words and pondering them in her heart. It must have been beyond her ability to grasp, that sleeping in her arms—the tender child she had just borne—was the Savior of the world.

The Magi Bring Gifts:
After Jesus' birth, Herod was king of Judea. At this time wise men (Magi) from the east saw a star, they came in search, knowing the star signified the birth of the king of the Jews. The wise men came to the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and asked where the Christ was to be born. The rulers explained, "In Bethlehem in Judea," referring to Micah 5:2. Herod secretly met with the Magi and asked them to report back after they had found the child. Herod told the Magi that he too wanted to go and worship the babe. But secretly Herod was plotting to kill the child.
So the wise men continued to follow the star in search of the new born king and found Jesus with his mother in Bethlehem. (Most likely Jesus was already two years of age by this time.) They bowed and worshipped him, offering treasures of gold, incense, and myrrh. When they left, they did not return to Herod. They had been warned in a dream of his plot to destroy the child.

Selebi won't leave hospital - doctors

Selebi won't leave hospital - doctors
2011-12-23 16:44

Related Links
Selebi briefing postponed
Selebi's health improving - department
Minister to speak on Selebi's health


Pretoria - Convicted former national police chief, Jackie Selebi, is too sick to be discharged from hospital, said correctional services commissioner, Tom Moyane, on Friday.

He said the department had been informed by doctors at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria that Selebi's condition did not permit him to be released from hospital.

Moyane, together with members of the department's executive management team, received a briefing from the team of doctors treating Selebi.

"Mr Selebi will continue to receive treatment at the hospital and his condition, at present, does not permit for his removal and re-admittance at the Pretoria Correctional Centre to continue serving his sentence due to the seriousness of his condition."

A joint press briefing on details of his health will now be held on December 28 by the team of doctors, correctional services department and Selebi's family.

The department has said Selebi is being treated for "kidney related problems".

Selebi, 61, was taken to the nephrology (kidney) ward of the northern Pretoria hospital on Monday morning under armed guard.

The disgraced former police chief was booked into prison on December 5 to start a 15-year jail term. He was found guilty of corruption after he accepted money from convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti, and giving him benefits that included showing him a British drug investigation report. Selebi was president of Interpol at the time.

His appeal against his corruption conviction failed in the Supreme Court of Appeal on December 2. Selebi watched the judgment on television at home and collapsed when he heard the outcome, Coetzee said at the time.


- SAPA

Read more on: tom moyane | jackie selebi | pretoria | crime

I am clean, says MEC who faces charges over fraud

I am clean, says MEC who faces charges over fraud
23 Dec 2011 | Sowetan Reporter
FORMER North West MEC for education, Reverend Johannes Tselapedi, says his arrest on Tuesday is a ploy to damage his image.
ACCUSED: Johannes Tselapedi "The plot is thickening in North West against the innocent," Tselapedi said in Mahikeng yesterday.

He said it was up to the court to decide whether he was guilty, but he was confident he would come out clean.

Tselapedi also warned that North West should guard against "a phenomenon where the corrupt paint themselves as angels and innocent people are painted as corrupt".

Tselapedi was arrested with former head of department Mathanzima Mweli and suspended head of department Charles Raseala for fraud and corruption amounting to more than R12-million.

The three appeared on Tuesday ain the Mmabatho Regional Court a few hours after the Hawks raided their homes.

They were charged with four counts of corruption, eight counts of fraud and money laundering.

Tselapedi had further four counts of contravention with the Public Finance Management Act.

He was granted R250000 bail while Mweli and Raseala were given R500000 bail each. They remained in police custody for further police investigation until February 20.

Tselapedi also questioned the manner in which he was arrested.

"The rights of people are not fully explained and some documents are not given, ultimately you start to wonder, is this an ordinary arrest or are there some referrals and intentions. It is going to be a battle," he said.

Former mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema, Themba Ngwabeni - who has just rejoined the ANC from Cope - said he and Tselapedi were friends who have suffered the same bad treatment.

"I have gone through a similar situation. We both stand for the truth and I trust him. I know that he will not even steal a cent from his church. I know that we will go through this together. Side-by-side we will continue to be friends."

Malema’s R4m farm

Old McDonald had a farm,
Ei-I-Ei-I-O
And on this farm he had a duck
Ei-I-Ei-I-O
With a quack quack here
And a quack quack there,
Here a quack, there a quack,
Everywhere a quack quack,
Old McDonald had a farm
Ei-I-Ei-I-OOOO



Malema’s R4m farm
2011-12-24 10:00

Related Links
Malema’s sugar daddy
Official linked to Malema’s firm robbed
Tender boss made payments to Juju
Malema’s tender bonanza
Public Protector ‘probing Malema’
Adriaan Basson and Carien du Plessis
Suspended ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has added a massive R4-million farm to his property portfolio.

City Press can reveal that ­Gwama Properties, a company partly owned by Malema’s ­Ratanang Family Trust, bought the farm Schuilkraal – 139 hectares of prime agricultural land near Polokwane?– in August.

The farm was ostensibly bought for cash as no bond was registered.

Malema has on numerous ­occasions hinted he would like to take up cattle farming if kicked out of the ANC.

On Thursday the firebrand youth leader, who was elected to the ­provincial executive committee of the Limpopo ANC this week, ­denied owning a farm.

“Who said Gwama is mine? Get your facts right. There is no farm that I bought. Julius Malema has got no farm,” Malema said.
He added that he was on holiday, and wished City Press a happy ­Christmas.

The following challenge ­Malema’s denial of partly owning the farm:
» The Mail & Guardian revealed that Gwama was partly owned by the Ratanang Family Trust.
Malema had never challenged this;

» Neighbours of Schuilkraal (“shelter kraal” in Dutch) told ­Beeld in August that the previous owner, Dries Kotzé, told them that Malema had visited him on the farm with the intention of buying the property and that he was a “gentleman”;

» Kotzé admitted that Malema initially offered R1.5 million for the farm, but he declined the offer;

» But neighbours said Malema later agreed to pay R3.5 million for the farm in “two or three ­instalments”, putting down an R800 000 cash deposit.

At the time, Kotzé told Beeld that the transaction had collapsed ­because of all the media attention on Malema.

But deeds office records show that the purchase went through on July 28 and that the property was registered to Gwama on August 31.

Malema’s former business ­associate at SGL Engineering, Lesiba Gwangwa, is the sole director of Gwama Properties.

The company also owns another R1.4 million house in the ­upmarket Faranani Estate in Polokwane, where Malema’s son and mother stay.

Schuilkraal is Malema’s second farm. City Press revealed in July the Ratanang Family Trust also owned a smallholding on the farm Palmietfontein, which was bought for R900 000 in cash.

Gwangwa is the chief executive of On-Point Engineering, the ­tender-rich company also partly owned by Malema’s family trust, which is currently the subject of a Hawks and Public Protector ­investigation.

On-Point has earned millions from Limpopo government contracts, including a R51?million ­tender from the roads and transport department to run a project management unit.

Malema’s spokesperson, Floyd Shivambu, accused City Press of a “fishing expedition” and of diverting attention “after every progress made by the ANC Youth League and its leadership”.

In an interview with the Sunday Times last month, Malema said he already had 20 cattle and “will breed them, take them to the ­abattoir, slaughter them and then sell the meat”.

In May Malema told residents of Alexandra that land should be ­expropriated from white people without compensation.

“We need fearless leaders who will tell these whites we are putting our people here for free. We have to buy land from whites when they did not even buy land from us. This is confirmation that we must get the land for free,” Malema said.

Last year, on his return from Zimbabwe, Malema praised ­President Robert Mugabe’s land seizures and called on South ­Africa’s youth to engage in agricultural activity.

Malema has appealed his five-year suspension from the ANC. His appeal is due to be heard next month.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Protector ‘probing Malema’
2011-11-04 16:34


Related Links
Malema hearing rescheduled
Youth league vows to stop Malema song

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is reportedly probing claims of irregular tenders awarded by the Limpopo government to a company linked to ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.

The outcome of the investigation was expected before the end of the year, the Public Protector’s office told the SABC today.

At the centre of the investigation was On-Point Engineering, a company in which Malema reportedly held shares, and state entities involved in awarding the tenders to the company.

Malema was also being investigated by the Hawks.

Madonsela’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi told the SABC the Hawks and the Public Protector had pinpointed their respective areas of investigation to avoid any duplication.

During the probe, questions would also be asked about the involvement of Malema’s Ratanang Family Trust.


- SAPA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANCYL plans to ‘embarrass’ parent body
2011-12-24 10:00


Mmanaledi Mataboge, Sabelo Ndlangisa and Carien du Plessis
Julius Malema’s ANC Youth League (ANCYL) plans to “embarrass” the ANC if his appeal against a five-year suspension from the party fails.

City Press understands that if Malema’s appeal fails:
» The league will refuse to elect an acting president until the current term comes to an end in 2014.

“The idea is to embarrass the ANC. It will be in a form of protest to tell them that they forced us into this situation,” said a youth league source;

» Malema’s deputy, Ronald Lamola, will run the league “but only as a deputy president, and he’ll make it known that he’s not the acting president or the president”, said a government source close to Malema’s inner circle; and

» Although Malema’s appeal is only expected to be heard after the ANC’s January 8 celebrations, Malema is planning to embarrass President Jacob Zuma from the main stage in Bloemfontein.

At least four sources within the ANC and the league claimed efforts were under way to ensure that Malema didn’t share the stage ­
with Zuma.

“They fear that Julius is going to develop some selective amnesia and embarrass the president by excluding his name when he mentions other presidents,” said the source.

In recent public speeches Malema has been avoiding Zuma’s name when praising former ANC presidents, but instead mentioned his deputy and former president, Kgalema Motlanthe.

The ANC’s leagues traditionally deliver messages of support at events such as these.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the ANC’s national disciplinary committee of appeals, said he expected Malema’s appeal to be heard between January 19 and 23.

He said representatives from both sides would file papers and lead arguments, but there would be no need for witnesses to be examined.

Malema won a small battle this week by being elected to ANC structures in his home province, Limpopo.

But he still has a mountain to climb to save his political career.

His election to the party’s provincial executive committee was part of a plan to save him from his five-year suspension.

But cracks are showing in this plan?– Malema only managed to come in at number 17 out of the 20 additional members in the provincial executive committee, with the support of just more than half of the delegates.

Delegates at this week’s conference resolved to ask the ANC to consider a “political solution” for the “problems” between the ANC and the youth league.

This, in effect, was a demand for Malema’s suspension to be lifted.

ANC Limpopo spokesperson David Masondo said the resolution was made “because there seems to be different conceptions of the role of the youth league in society and the ANC, and this can’t be answered by the narrow disciplinary mechanism”.

“This is not just about Julius, but what the role of the youth league should be in society as a whole.”

Malema’s supporters were rallying other sympathetic provinces to take similar resolutions. Sources said ANC secretaries in North West, Gauteng, Free State and Western Cape were sympathetic to him.

- City Press

Corruption obstacle to foreign investment in South Africa

Corruption obstacle to foreign investment in SA
December 2011
SABC

Last month President Jacob Zuma fired Ministers Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Sicelo Shiceka for corruption.(SABC)

Some analysts have warned that deals that enrich the politically-connected in sectors such as mining are among the obstacles to foreign investment in South Africa.



Their warning comes after former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi lost a corruption conviction appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein yesterday. He has until tomorrow afternoon to hand himself over to the Johannesburg prison to start his 15-year jail term.




Last month, President Jacob Zuma fired two cabinet ministers in a bid to dispel criticism that he was soft on graft. President Zuma also suspended Selebi's replacement, Bheki Cele, pending an inquiry into an irregular multi-million-rand lease for new police headquarters. President Zuma has launched a fresh inquiry into a multi-billion-rand arms deal.






Corruption and bribery are getting worse in South Africa, according to a survey by anti-corruption organisation

Corruption and bribery are getting worse in South Africa, according to a survey by anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. In four out of the six countries surveyed in southern Africa, people reported paying bribes to speed up services.




In South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo more bribes were paid to avoid problems with authorities. The survey surveyed more than 6000 people in the DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.




Across the region, 62% of people believed corruption had become worse in the past three years. Those polled in all six countries named police as the most corrupt service provider.



At least 52.8% of South Africans surveyed by Statistics South Africa say they have been asked to pay a bribe to a traffic official to avoid a fine. Stats SA conducted the Victims of Crime 2011 survey to assess the experiences South Africans had with corruption.




The survey showed that 5.6% of households had been asked to pay a bribe to government officials between 2008 and 2010. The results further showed that 15.9% paid for drivers licenses and 13.8% of job seekers paid for work.

Breakthrough in 'holiday' rape case

Breakthrough in 'holiday' rape case
By: Jonathan Erasmus, Zululand Fever

2011-12-23 15:57
Richards Bay - The suspects who are believed to be involved in the rape a Gauteng woman who was holidaying in Richards Bay appeared in the Richards Bay Magistrate's Court on Friday.

The 38-year old rape victim from Vanderbijlpark was raped in front of her son, nephew and their two friends at their self-catering unit in the upmarket suburb of Meerensee at approximately 21:30 November 21. The victims had only just arrived an hour earlier for a five day vacation.

The five suspects were arrested in Ventersdorp on Monday in Van Riebeeck St by the SAPS tactical operational management section.

The accused were also found in the possession of two firearms. They are also linked to other cases in Douglasville, Mahikeng and Ventersdorp.

According to Richards Bay police spokesperson Captain Debbie Ferreira the suspects, some of who are from the Eshowe area in Northern KZN and from the Bulwer area, Durban, appeared in the Richards Bay on a charge of house robbery and rape.

Elderly couple

Only one of the accused allegedly raped the 38-year old woman. However, which suspect it may be has yet to be determined.

"The suspects might be linked to more cases. This arrest is the culmination of extensive police work and collaboration between various units within the SAPS," said Ferreira.

The case has been remanded until 30 January 2012.

After raping the mother and ransacking the self-catering unit; allegedly four armed suspects entered another self-catering unit on the same property and held an elderly couple at gunpoint while they searched the house, also threatening them with rape and murder.

The suspects took the rape victim, her son, nephew and their two friends into the elderly couple's unit where they proceeded to tie them all up with shoelaces.

The suspects then fled in the rape victim's BMW X5 which they later dumped in nearby eSikhawini.

Read more on: durban | crime

President playing musical chairs with SIU

President playing musical chairs with SIU
SIPHO MASONDO | 22 December, 2011 00:234 Comments



http://youtu.be/Ih3NpEEPYa0

Related News
'I'm not to blame for blunders'
Zuma appoints acting head of SIU
Heath resigns President Jacob Zuma has removed Nomgcobo Jiba as acting head of the Special Investigating Unit barely a week after her appointment. He has replaced her with the deputy national director of public prosecutions, Nomvula Mokhatla.
Zuma spokesman, Mac Maharaj, would not explain Jiba's removal.

She was appointed after the resignation of Willem Heath, who had been in the job for about two weeks.

Heath, who replaced Willie Hofmeyr after Zuma axed him, resigned after saying that former president Thabo Mbeki had been behind rape and corruption charges against Zuma.

Department of Justice spokesman Tlali Tlali said: "We indicated last week that the president has initiated the process that will lead to the appointment of the new head of the SIU. The vacancy left by the resignation of Heath will be filled soon.

"There is an acting head appointed to hold the fort before the position is filled."

A source close to the National Prosecuting Authority, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "It's a better move than the previous one. I do think the minister [Jeff Radebe] wanted someone who is not followed by controversy."

In 2007, Jiba was suspended for her role in the arrest of then Gauteng head of Scorpions, Gerrie Nel. This was at the height of the tensions between the Scorpions and the police over a corruption investigation into then national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.