Malema: Apartheid was better

Sapa | 31 August, 2012 00:08 Julius Malema. File photo. Blacks are worse off than under apartheid, expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema said yesterday. "We are worse [off] than we were during the times of apartheid. We are being killed by our own people. We are being oppressed by our own government," he told workers at the Aurora mine in Grootvlei, Springs, on the East Rand. The mine was one of two run by President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse, and former president Nelson Mandela's grandson, Zondwa. The mines were liquidated last year. Malema told the workers that politicians would not help them because they benefited from the mines and had shares in them. "Every mine has a politician inside. They give them money every month, they call it shares. But it is a protection fee to protect whites against the workers." He said the fact that the Aurora crisis had lasted for four years showed there was no leadership in the country. Aurora Empowerment Systems bought the mines when the previous owners, Pamodzi Gold, went into liquidation. Since then workers have not been paid and the mines have been stripped of assets. Malema told the workers that they should form a committee to speak to lawyers and present their complaints to the liquidators of Aurora. "We are going to lead a mining revolution in this country. We are going to each mine. We will [ make] these mines ungovernable until the boers come to the table," he said. "We want them to give you a minimum wage of R12500. These people can afford R12500. Mining in South Africa amounts to trillions of rands." The prospective buyers of Aurora mines, Gold One, have reportedly fired more than 1500 workers who went on strike demanding a minimum wage of R6500. The miners claimed management replaced them with contract worker - Times LIVE - Comments by Sonny - MALEMA - The double agent of LUCIFER! The latest joiner! How does this 'Chameleon' get away with wearing the ANCYL beret? He must be an agant of NIA? DOUBLE AGENDA - DOUBLE ROLE - DOUBLE AGENT - DOUBLE CHIVAS ON ICE! - SOUTH AFRICA YOUTH UNDER ZUMA - 'Road rioters exploiting kids' SIPHO MASOMBUKA and NASHIRA DAVIDS | 31 August, 2012 00:08 Protesters block a road leading to Cassel. The Northern Cape has been hit by protests over untarred roads Picture: LAUREN MULLIGAN Children's laughter filled the air in Cassel village, in Northern Cape, as they played on a dusty soccer field yesterday.

They should be in class but, for months now, violent agitation for tarred roads has shut school doors . They are not the only children roaming the streets. Thousands of others in the Taolo Gaetsewe district municipality have had to stay at home since the violence erupted. Yesterday, the main source of contention - a dirt road that runs through the village - was littered with branches, boulders and burned tyres. The acting premier, Grizelda Cjiekella, warned that those "destroying children's right to education" through intimidation will be brought to book. But the alleged ringleaders deny that they are culpable. ''The children are the ones who decided not to go to school because they are also adversely affected by the condition of the roads," said Michael Legalammi, the self-proclaimed "chief marshal" of the protests. "They have to walk long distances to school because transport providers do not want their vehicles driven on these terrible roads.'' Residents want close to 300km of road upgraded - a task Cjiekella said would cost R1.6-billion. A parent, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said children were violently forced out of school to support the protests. "Yes, our roads are bad but I believe children should not have been dragged into this mess at the expense of their education," she said. Aubrey Itumeleng, one of the protest leaders, said that in June last year the villagers were promised 120km of tarred road but the provincial roads department later claimed that it would be able to tar only 50km. "That is when we decided to take to the streets to fight because that is the only language our government understands," said Itumeleng. Cjiekella said the violence that had crippled the area had " political undertones". She admitted that there were service delivery problems but gave a detailed account of how much money had been spent on housing, and education, and on health services and other infrastructure. Cjiekella said that over the past five years the roads department had embarked on 10 major projects in the John Taolo Gaetsewe district municipality - at a cost of more than R500-million. "It is a shame that children and older people are used [in these protests], and their lives and future put in jeopardy by ill-disciplined and disgruntled individuals. Inciting violence and depriving children of education provided by this administration is a criminal offence, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," she said. - MINISTER OF FINANCE MATERIAL - 2012 - Pretoria R1.2m fraud accused gets bail Sapa | 31 August, 2012 17:39 tools of justice Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock An IT specialist accused of defrauding the labour department of R1.2 million was released on bail by the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court today. Labour department spokesman Page Boikanyo said Kenneth Martin Mahuluhulu, 32, was released on a R5000 bail because he was not considered a flight risk. He would have to report to the Sunnyside police station once a week and was warned not to interfere with State witnesses and the investigation. Mahuluhulu would be back in court on October 16. Police arrested him on Wednesday at the University of SA in Pretoria, where he now worked, after he had been on the run for two years. He allegedly colluded with a syndicate that included a former employee of the labour department's compensation fund, to submit fictitious claims to the fund between 2006 and 2009. The fund acts as insurance for workers injured in the line of duty. TIMES LIVE