Celebrations in Juju's home town

Celebrations in Juju's home town
Seshego, Julius Malema's home town, erupted into wild celebrations last night following the firebrand's suspension as president of the ANC Youth League.



By Frank Maponya

Seshego, Julius Malema's home town, erupted into wild celebrations last night following the firebrand's suspension as president of the ANC Youth League.

Large convoys of cars noisily drove through the streets of the township, just outside Polokwane in Limpopo, with people hanging out of windows.

Residents, young and old, came out of their houses to join in the celebrations. This happened in the presence of police.

Malema and his lieutenants, who had been hero-worshipping him, were nowhere to be seen.

The group sang anti-Malema songs as they welcomed his downfall.

"It's over with Malema. There will be peace in South Africa," sang the group.

"We have had enough of Malema and his group, who had been looking at their own interests rather than those of the masses who voted them into power.

"He should have known that what goes around comes around," warned one of the angry protesters, who refused to be identified for fear of victimisation.

"We want Sello Moloto back to lead Limpopo because there is a leadership vacuum," said another, who clearly showed disapproval of current Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale's leadership style.

The sanctions imposed on the youth league's top six officials were widely welcomed yesterday. Many saw them as a move to restore discipline.

"We cannot allow people to engage in deviant behaviour and not act," said ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu.

Other political parties and civil society groups applauded the decision by the ANC's national disciplinary committee to axe Malema as league president, and Floyd Shivambu as his spokesman, saying they had polarised South Africa and damaged the country's reputation.

Malema was slapped with a five-year suspension and Shivambu with a three-year ban.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions would not comment specifically on the sanctions, but said the union federation was committed to discipline in the ANC.

DA youth leader Makashule Gana said the move would be a catalyst for the ANC's internal power struggles and cause a realignment of politics in the next five years.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder said South Africa was a better place: "Malema and Shivambu have without a doubt caused a lot of damage to South Africa internationally as well as nationally."

ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said the ruling sent a strong message to the youth league that ill-discipline in any form would not be tolerated.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said Malema had been caught in the crossfire of an ambiguous policy.

"We find it mind-boggling how the same ANC failed to sanction Malema for insulting former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008," he said. "The verdict on him will certainly be finalised at the ANC's 2012 Mangaung conference."

Malema has been ordered to vacate his office. - Additional reporting by Sapa.

ANC chiefs caught up in R200m tender trap

Arrests in scandal in which premier, finance MEC allegedly play key roles
Sep 5, 2010 12:00 AM | By MZILIKAZI wa AFRIKA and STEPHAN HOFSTATTER
Two senior ANC bosses have been drawn into a R200-million tender scandal in which the Hawks arrested eight people and raided their houses last week.

KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize
Photograph by: TEBOGO LETSIE
'These commissions (are) just another way of giving kickbacks, paying bribes to the officials'
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KwaZulu-Natal premier Dr Zweli Mkhize and ANC Northern Cape chairman John Block played key roles in multimillion-rand deals awarded to Cape Town firm Intaka.

Block is Northern Cape finance, economic development and tourism MEC. Mkhize is provincial ANC leader in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Hawks raided Block's house and offices in Kimberley in August last year, allegedly seizing incriminating documents. Block's spokesman, Derek Martin, this week confirmed the raid.

Court papers seen by the Sunday Times implicate Block, who served as acting Northern Cape premier twice this year, and Ithala bank CEO Sipho Shabalala in the massive corruption case that spans at least five South African provinces, Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Last Wednesday, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and police priority-crimes directorate the Hawks seized R200-million in assets in simultaneous dawn raids in Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town. They arrested five businessmen in Cape Town, including Uruguayan tycoon Gaston Savoi, and three senior government officials in KwaZulu-Natal.

Savoi's Ferrari, Maserati, Lear Jet and properties were attached.

Shabalala was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

The suspects are accused of colluding to award massive tenders without proper tender processes, inflating prices of goods and services rendered by up to seven times and creating shell firms for kickbacks for officials, court papers show.

The alleged fraud centres on water-purification and oxygen plants supplied by Gastoi firm Intaka for KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Cape health and local government departments. Block is Gastoi's partner in Intaka's Northern Cape branch.

Mkhize, as KwaZulu-Natal economic affairs MEC, wrote in July 2005 to then local government and traditional affairs MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, asking him for R43.2-million from the poverty alleviation fund to buy water-purification plants from Intaka.

Intaka allegedly sold a plant valued at R420000 for R4.9-million to the provincial health department.

Mkhize wrote: "It is my view that it would be more than justified to fund the purchase of this equipment from the poverty alleviation fund, which is intended inter alia to fund exactly this type of social and economic related infrastructure."

Yesterday, Mkhize spokesman Ndabezinhle Sibiya said: "It is incorrect to suggest that Mkhize 'put pressure' to push the deal. Mkhize expected that the processes would be expedited. No instruction for illegal or criminal acts was given.

"Dr Mkhize therefore denies in the strongest terms suggestions that he was involved in the facilitation of a fraudulent deal, and categorically denies any wrongdoing on his part."

KwaZulu-Natal's health department spent R44-million on water-purification plants and the Northern Cape government R112-million on water-purification and oxygen plants Intaka supplied. Investigators believe up to R16-million was paid in bribes in KwaZulu-Natal and R13-million in the Northern Cape. Shabalala and Block were not arrested or charged , but properties and luxury vehicles owned by Shabalala were attached. Investigators said more arrests, including Shabalala's, were imminent.

It is not clear if Block faces arrest or if Mkhize will be questioned.

Justice minister Jeff Radebe said last week "more arrests would follow" in the Northern Cape.

Hawks investigator Petrus du Plooy said in an affidavit "Intaka was involved in similar and related criminal activities in the Northern Cape", involving its health department. Intaka sold the department 11 plants for R47-million "at similarly excessive unit prices. Intaka was entitled only to charge R7.975-million."

Letters and agreements between Intaka, Savoi and Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal health officials were seized, and also invoices for "several payments made by Intaka to and on behalf of several officials and/or their related business entities".

In an affidavit, lead Hawks investigator Clarence Jones said: "These commissions (are) just another way of giving kickbacks, paying bribes to the officials."

mzilikazi@sundaytimes.co.za hofstatters@sundaytimes.co.za

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Comments by Sonny

Take away corruption and the ANC will cease to exist!