Lugmag-hoë sê onder eed Zuma wás betrokke

No Fear No Favour No Traitors pleased.........




Donderdag 03 Oktober 2013                  Suid-Afrika                                                 ERIKA GIBSON

Lt.kol. Christine Anderson praat met adv. Frikkie Greeff. Foto: Deaan Vivier

Pres. Jacob Zuma is vir die eerste keer direk en onder eed betrek by Guptagate.

’n Sleutelgetuie in die weermag se ondersoek na die landing van die Gupta-familie se bruilofsvlug uit Indië beweer Zuma en Bruce Koloane, voormalige hoof van staatsprotokol, het ’n ontmoeting gehad waartydens Zuma wou weet of “alles op koers is vir die vlug”.

Beeld kan onthul dat lt.kol. Christine Anderson, tweede in bevel by die Waterkloof-lugmagbasis se verplasingsentrale, Zuma betrek in haar eedsverklaring.

Anderson is een van vyf lugmaglede wat moontlik weens die voorval vervolg gaan word.

Sy bevestig voorts vir die eerste keer dat “Nommer Een” na Zuma verwys.

’n Vroeëre ondersoek deur die departement van justisie het bevind Koloane het minstens drie keer gesê hy voer “Nommer Een” se opdragte uit.

“Nommer Een is die President van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika. Ons verwys weens veiligheidsredes nooit na die president in telefoongesprekke nie,” sê Anderson in haar verklaring.

Die verklaring is deel van die rekord van die weermag se raad van ondersoek na die onreëlmatigheid van die vlug op 30 April vanjaar.

Beeld het gister dié dokumente onder oë gehad, op dieselfde dag wat die weermag se voorlopige ondersoek na die voorval begin het.

Dit is die eerste keer dat al die getuies voor die raad se getuienis nou bekend is. Die ondersoek moet bepaal of daar voldoende getuienis is om van die militêre lede, wat by die debakel betrokke was, militêr te vervolg.

Die ondersoek by die militêre regsafdeling se hoofkantoor by die Swartkop-lugmagbasis is geslote, maar ’n moontlike militêre hofsaak sal oop wees vir die publiek en die media.

Mac Maharaj, presidensiële woordvoerder, het gistermiddag by navraag gesê Zuma en die presidensie het hulle nog nooit uitgelaat oor enige besonderhede rakende die Gupta-debakel of oor die president se moontlike kennis van die reëlings of die gebeure nie.

“Ons het deurgaans volgehou die ondersoek moet alle inligting bepaal en dit is steeds ons standpunt,” het Maharaj gesê.

Die vroeëre justisie-ondersoek het bevind dat Koloane gelieg het oor Zuma se rol. Hy het sedertdien skuld beken in ’n departementele tugverhoor en is veronderstel om vandeesmaand terug te keer na die departement van internasionale betrekkinge en samewerking in ’n laer posisie.

In die bevindings het die presidensie beklemtoon dat Zuma “in geen stadium” aan Koloane enige opdragte gegee het nie.

Die presidensie het ontken dat Zuma of sy kantoor ooit ’n versoek vir so ’n landing van enige mens hoegenaamd ontvang het en Koloane beskuldig van naamgooiery.

Die aanvanklike ondersoek het bevind dat Koloane die naam van Zuma misbruik het, maar het nie bepaal hoekom Koloane tot sulke uiterstes sou gegaan het nie.

In die eerste volledige weergawe van gebeure in Anderson se eie woorde sê sy Koloane het haar aan die begin van April vanjaar een aand gebel om te hoor of Waterkloof geskik sou wees vir die landing.

Hy het gesê dit was vir ’n “kulturele geleentheid”.

“Hy het ook gesê dat daar twee ministers aan boord gaan wees en dat Nommer Een weet van die vlug.”

Volgens haar het sy bevestig dat dit moontlik is dat die vliegtuig daar kan land, mits die nodige magtigings daarvoor verskaf word.

’n Afvaardiging van die Indiese hoë kommissariaat het vervolgens na die geriewe by die basis gaan kyk. Anderson het hulle rondgewys en ook aan hulle genoem dat die basis se instrumentlandingstelsel buite werking was weens herstelwerk.

Kort daarna het Koloane haar weer gebel.

“Hy het my ingelig dat hy pas van die president af kom en dat die president wil weet ‘of alles op koers is vir die vlug’.

“Ek het vir hom gesê ons wag steeds vir die oorvlugklaring en dat ons so gou as wat ons dít het die vlug kan finaliseer.”

Sowat 200 huweliksgaste van die Gupta-familie, wat noue bande met Zuma het, het met ’n gehuurde Airbus op Waterkloof geland, vanwaar hulle na Sun City vervoer is vir die troue.

‘Ons kan niks doen, dis ryk mense’

Aanhalings uit die getuienis voor die raad van ondersoek:

• “Geen ontleding agterna oor die leemtes in die veiligheidsreëlings (rondom die Gupta-vliegtuig) het plaasgevind nie. Ek het net klagtes van die implikasies en bekommernisse ontvang.” – Lt.kol. Y.C. Govender, bevelvoerder van 504 Sekerheidseskader.

• “(My bevelvoerder) het vir my gesê die Guptas is ryk mense en daar is niks wat ons omtrent die saak kan doen nie.” – Maj. Elsie Makgopela, 504 Sekerheidseskader.

• “Die Gupta-gaste en die groep wat hulle ontvang het, was in beheer van die BBP-gebied. Die basispersoneel was hoegenaamd nié in beheer nie.” – Maj. Elsie Makgopela.

• “Ek het eers nadat die vliegtuig geland het vir die eerste keer van die Guptas gehoor. Sedertdien het ek dié van baie keer gehoor.” – Maj. Elsie Makgopela.

• “In my 36 jaar werkondervinding was dit (die Gupta-landing) vreemd en abnormaal.” – Adj.off. Riaan von Bentheim.

• “Dit was duidelik dat dié vliegtuig nooit toegelaat moes word om op Waterkloof of enige ander lugmagbasis te land nie.” – Kol. Maritz Visser, logistieke koördineerder van Waterkloof.

• “Ek het kol. Visser (wat die Gupta-groep ingevolge protokol moes verwelkom) gevra wat aangaan, maar hy het selfs verwarder gelyk.” – Lt.kol. Daisy Mdluli, voormalige bevelvoerder van Waterkloof se verplasingsentrale.

• “Die verhouding tussen my en lt.kol. Christine Anderson was sleg en toksies.” – Lt.kol. Daisy Mdluli.

** Rea​d this report in English

BEELD

GUPTAS: Lieutenant Colonel Anderson has implicated the president under oath 
03 Oct 2013

Erika Gibson

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has — for the first time directly and under oath — been implicated in Guptagate.
A key witness in the army’s probe of the Gupta family landing their wedding guests at Waterkloof air force base said Zuma and Bruce Koloane, the former head of state protocol, had a meeting in which Zuma wanted to know “if everything was on track for the flight”.
Lieutenant-Colonel Christine Anderson, second-in-command at the Water­kloof movement control centre, in her statement on the incident, has implicated Zuma under oath.
Anderson is one of five air force members who may be prosecuted because of the incident.
She confirmed for the first time that “Number One” refers to Zuma.
An earlier investigation by the Department of Justice showed that Koloane had said at least three times that he was executing the orders of “Number One”.
“Number One is the president of the republic of South Africa. For security reasons we never refer to the president in telephone conversations,” said Anderson.
The statement forms part of the military inquiry’s investigation of irregularities that led to the Gupta landing at a military air base on April 30. 
Sister paper Beeld saw the documents yesterday, as the army’s preliminary investigation into the incident started.
It is the first time that all the evidence before the council has been made available to the media. The preliminary investigation must determine if there is sufficient evidence to militarily prosecute the officers who were involved in the debacle.
The investigation by the military legal division’s head office at the Swartkop air force base is closed to the public, but the possible court martials will be open to the public and media.
Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj yesterday said that Zuma and the presidency had not made any statements on the Gupta debacle or on the president’s possible knowledge of arrangements of the events and that the presidency maintains that the investigation must determine all the information.
The Justice investigation found that Koloane had lied on Zuma’s role. He has since admitted guilt in a departmental disciplinary hearing and has been demoted in the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.
The presidency stressed in the Justice probe that Zuma “at no stage” gave any orders to Koloane. The presidency denied that Zuma or his office had received any request for such a landing from anybody and that Koloane was guilty of name dropping. The initial investigation found that Koloane had abused Zuma’s name, but did not determine why he would have gone to such extremes.
Anderson said Koloane had called her one evening at the start of April to ask if Waterkloof would be suitable for the Guptas’ guests to land.
He said it was a “cultural affair”.
“He also said there would be two ministers on board and that Number One knows about the flight.”
She said she confirmed the plane would be able to land if it had the necessary clearances. A delegation of the Indian High Commission then inspected the facilities at the base. Shortly after the inspection, Koloane called her again.
“He informed me that he had returned from the president and that the president wanted to know ‘if everything is still on track for the flight’. 
“I informed him that we were awaiting the overflight clearance and once this was received, we would be able to finalise the movement of the passengers.”
About 200 wedding guests of the Gupta family landed in a chartered Airbus at Waterkloof and were transported to Sun City.
In his evidence before the council, Lieutenant-General Jeremiah Mduduzi Nyembe, head of Defence Intelligence (previously Military Intelligence) yesterday said he had also advised Mike Ramagoma, the minister of Defence’s political adviser, “that allowing the Gupta flight to Waterkloof would have serious political implications. After that he informed me that the minister had decided not to allow the flight.”

THE WITNESS


JOHANNESBURG 4 SEPTEMBER 2013

Zuma the Houdini: No smoking gun, no fingerprints

RANJENI MUNUSAMI  SOUTH AFRICA  4 OCTOBER 2013 01:54

There was a bout of excitement on social media and news bulletins on Thursday morning after Beeld newspaper revealed that a senior air force official had implicated President Jacob Zuma in the landing of a jet carrying guests of the Gupta family at the Waterkloof Air Force Base. The Democratic Alliance reacted promptly to call for a fresh round of investigations to probe whether Zuma had a direct hand in the scandal. But like so many times before, it is difficult to pin Zuma down with incriminating evidence. Many have tried, no one has succeeded so far. That’s because Zuma always covers his own tracks. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

During the 1990s, there were legendary stories about the returning ANC exiles and their heroic encounters to outsmart the Apartheid government. Some of these stories were about Jacob Zuma, who at various stages was involved in the ANC’s underground machinery in Swaziland, then Mozambique and later as chief of intelligence at the ANC head office in Lusaka.

At an ANC social gathering in Durban, the host of the party was telling a story about how Zuma once sneaked into South Africa and casually sat down next to a security branch policeman who was had been looking for him. Because Zuma was so brazen, the policeman did not notice that it was him. The host of the party was telling the story in order to introduce Zuma, who was to speak next.

Zuma chuckled along with the crowd, but when his turn came to speak, he changed the subject. This was a story he could have dined out on for years to come, but he chose not to. In fact, Zuma rarely, if ever, talks about his own deeds and operations in the ANC. He loves, however, to tell tales about other heroic leaders of the ANC and the shared experiences in exile. It is quite curious that years after the end of Apartheid, Zuma’s default reaction is to protect information about himself and those who worked with him.

It is why there is so little documented information about Zuma and his role in the liberation struggle. It is also why it has been so difficult to pin him down on the litany of allegations against him in recent years. If there is something sensitive that Zuma is dealing with, there will be no paper trail – at least not anything that he himself would have written down.

In the corruption case against Zuma, the top of the evidence pile was the famous encrypted fax written by Alain Thetard of the French arms company previously known as Thint and Schabir Shaik’s record of funds he gave to Zuma. Zuma, however, made no record of any deal between the three of them.

Opposition parties and the media have similarly been searching for a paper trail which implicates Zuma directly in the excessive state spending on security upgrades at his Nkandla home. It would stand to reason that work done at the president’s private home must have had Zuma’s consent or involvement. But so far, all that has been produced to show that Zuma was informed about the upgrades is a letter addressed to him, and signed by the then Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and other officials of the department on 5 November 2010.

The letter titled “Nkandla: security installations at the private residence of his excellency President Jacob Zuma” states “Having assumed duty as the minister of public works on the 1 November 2010, I have taken the view that it is prudent to update you on the progress of the above prestige project.”

But Zuma and the government have, however, consistently denied that he had input on the upgrades. The hunt is still on for the smoking gun to show that he did, but it is unlikely that any documentary evidence or testimony to this effect can be produced.

In August the Sunday Times ran a lead story based on an interview with the ousted leader of the Central African Republic (CAR) Francois Bozize. Since the deaths of 15 South Africa soldiers during combat in that country in March, there had been controversy about why SA troops were deployed to the CAR and the nature of their mission.

The Sunday Times tracked down Bozize holed up in Paris possibly to see whether the deposed leader would provide a narrative different to that of the South African government and showing that Zuma had another agenda when he deployed the troops. But all Bozize was able to say was that Zuma had promised to send more troops to Bangui and as a result of him reneging, there was a coup.

Again, no smoking gun.

When dealing with political opponents, it is similarly difficult to detect Zuma’s direct hand. History will show that in the build-up to the recall of Thabo Mbeki, it was Zuma who tried to stop it when he said there was no point beating a “dead snake”. Although the recall was Zuma’s final triumph over Mbeki, there is nobody in the ANC or elsewhere who would be able to say the idea came from Zuma. In fact, nobody knows for sure where the idea germinated before it was blurted out by former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema.

Malema blames his own downfall on Zuma, claiming the president engineered his disciplinary charges and eventual suspension from the ANC. Again, no proof of this. It’s supposition often repeated by Malema and his supporters, which Zuma no longer bothers to deny. There is sufficient evidence to show Malema dug his own grave and nothing can be produced to suggest that his demise was plotted elsewhere.

With all that has gone before, it is surprising that some people think that they will find Zuma’s fingerprints on the Gupta plane landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base. Beeld reported that Lieutenant Colonel Christine Anderson, one of five members of the South African National Defence Force charged before a military court in connection with the landing of the jet carrying Gupta wedding guests, confirmed in a sworn affidavit that the “Number One” referred to in relation with the incident was indeed Zuma.

Bruce Koloane, at the time chief of state protocol, allegedly claimed that instructions for the private plane to be allowed to land at the air base had come from “Number One”.

According to Beeld, Anderson said in her affidavit: “On or about 17 April 2013, Mr Koloane phoned me and he informed me that he had returned from the president and that the president wanted to know ‘if everything is still on track for the flight’.

“I informed him [Koloane] that we were awaiting the overflight clearance and once this was received, we would be able to finalise the movements of the passengers.”

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said there was “no truth” in the allegation in Anderson’s affidavit. “It is not based on fact, it is based on hearsay,” Maharaj said.

Government spokesmen also responded saying the state task team of directors-general which investigated the matter had already established that the president’s name had been dropped so there was nothing new to the claim.

In response to the story, and resultant surge on social media, the Democratic Alliance’s parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said she would take “a number of immediate steps to ensure that President Zuma answers for fresh allegations”. These include tabling a draft resolution in Parliament requesting the establishment of a special ad hoc committee to investigate the matter, submitting a question for oral response to the president and asking Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate the president’s involvement.

But the ANC said it would “not allow Parliament to be dragged into what is clearly a figment of one MP’s overzealous imagination”, meaning it will block Mazibuko’s motion for an ad hoc committee investigation.

There have been suggestions by Anderson’s representative Pikkie Greef that Zuma could be subpoenaed to the military court to respond to the allegation that Koloane was acting on his instruction.

This is unlikely to happen. The military court would probably balk at the idea of the state president appearing before it. Besides, there is no confirmatory affidavit from Koloane to elevate Anderson’s claim beyond hearsay. Koloane has already taken the hit for the incident and has been demoted. Thanks to his cooperation and silence, he still has a job in the state.

Whether or not there was a discussion between Koloane and Zuma will be virtually impossible to prove. Anderson’s representatives could ask for the president’s diary to be subpoenaed but it is unlikely that an official meeting between the two had been scheduled to discuss the plane landing. There might even want to check the visitor’s book at the presidency, but even if there is an entry for B Koloane, there are over 300 staff members in the presidency. There is no way of showing that Koloane had been there to see Zuma.

The fact is, unless Koloane speaks up, all this would be a wild goose chase. There is never going to be a record of a conversation which says “Bruce, make sure my friends’ plane at Waterkloof or else...” It does not exist. It is simply not Zuma’s modus operandi.

President Jacob Zuma lives by the principle of plausible deniability and information on a need to know basis. If there is anything that occurs that could result in a backlash, Zuma’s fingerprints will not be detectable. Apart from the rape trial, when there was no way to deny the sexual encounter with the complainant, it has been impossible to hold Zuma answerable for any of the allegations against him.

Every now and then, the history produces a resilient, hard-wearing leader whose street-smarts outstrip anything anyone from the same generation can offer; Zuma is such a leader. He rose to the nation's top job without being seen as openly ambitious, he controls the ANC strongly without having to raise his voice and he commands an army of "friends" without having to get his hands dirty. He gets his way but leaves no trace. And while it is not impossible that the "smoking gun" linking him directly to any of scandals may finally emerge, it still remains an unlikely prospect. Many have tried, but Zuma is still standing. DM

Photo: Jacob Zuma as the great escape artist Harry Houdini

DAILY MAVERICK

KOMMENTAAR DEUR SONNY

Natuurlik het Zuma geweet.

Hierdie voorval sou nooit gebeur het sonder Zuma se medewete nie.

Hy moet volle verantwoordelikheid vir die voorval neem!

Hy behoort nie in die pos van president van SA NIE.

LAAT ONS HOM NOU UITSTEM!!

....."THE SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT BY DEFAULT!".....

Mac Maharaj your Communistic Propaganda and deception does not work any more , go on pension!

WE ALL GET SENILE WITH AGE ITS HEREDITARY, YOU KNOW.

NO 1 HAS BEEN AS GUILTY AS SIN EVER SINCE HE CAME OFF THE ISLAND.

​

ERIKA GIBSON

Donderdag 03 Oktober 2013

Jacob's ladder: the middle-class conundrum

nO FEAR nO fAVOUR nO ANC.......................................




RANJENI MUNUSAMI   SOUTH AFRICA  2 OCTOBER 2013  02:16

The ANC in Gauteng has set the cat among the pigeons by saying it wanted to use ex-president Thabo Mbeki and other urbane former and current leaders to help campaign among middle-class voters in the province. President Jacob Zuma, they said, would be deployed to poor and working-class areas. Predictably, this did not go down well with the Luthuli House barons and Zuma’s acolytes in the province as the implication was that the president would put off middle-class voters. But why would the people who benefited most from the ANC government have undecided loyalty at the polls? By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

The 1999 elections was the first time the ANC was on the campaign trail for the national and provincial polls as a governing party. The ruling party had a five-year honeymoon period under Nelson Mandela’s leadership to campaign on and it was carrying its crown prince, and anointed heir, Thabo Mbeki to the throne. Mbeki had become ANC president two years before but because of his aloofness and enigmatic ways, people still didn’t know much about him.

But the country was alive with excitement and expectation. To capture the mood, the ANC used a hit song by South Africa’s biggest female pop stars, Brenda Fassie, as its campaign ditty. Vulindlela, which means “open the gates”, was belted out at rallies and campaign trucks traversing the country, and it worked magic. Fassi adapted the lyrics to include a line, which loosely translated meant “make way, Thabo is coming”. The ANC faithful lapped it up.

KwaZulu-Natal was at the time a major challenge for the ANC as the Inkatha Freedom Party still maintained control of the province. The party therefore had to rope in the big guns on the election trail and at a rally in Durban at the close of the campaign, both Mandela and Mbeki were the top billings. Brenda Fassie performed live. The stadium roared and gyrated during her performance. At one stage she ran up to Mbeki, jumped on him and locked her legs around his waist. Mbeki looked astonished for a second but quickly adapted and danced with her. It was totally out of kilter with his character, but he went with it.

It was one of the rare occasions when Mbeki let his hair down in public – even though the awkwardness of the moment probably still gives him nightmares. But that what is required on the campaign trail: you have to snap out of your comfort zone and woo people by any means possible. Fassie performed at Mbeki’s inauguration – somewhat of an acknowledgment that she helped take him to the people.

President Jacob Zuma on the other hand is a performer himself. He is able to dance in step with any artist performing and can belt out songs to fire up the crowds. He makes his own campaign ditties out of struggle songs, which he adapts to be relevant to the situation at the time.

In the build-up to election 2014, Zuma will no doubt be unleashed and unplugged again at ANC campaign rallies. But there seems to be a growing realisation in some sections of the ANC leadership that this will not be enough to maintain the ANC electoral dominance. Unlike in 2009, Zuma now has a track record in government, one that he will be judged against. And the people who will be doing the most judging will be less inclined to be seduced by a singing and dancing president.

Changing political and economic conditions in South Africa has created an expanding middle class. According to a study of income distribution published by online economics policy forum Econ3x3, the middle class grew from 7.7 million people to 10.4 million between 1993 and 2008. The study’s author Justin Visagie says the middle class is usually understood to mean the group of individuals or households who have achieved a certain level of affluence in their lifestyle.

In his research, Visagie defined the affluent middle class as individuals living in households that have an income of between R1,400 and R10,000 per person per month (using after-tax earnings in 2008’s prices). Visagie found that the black middle class more than doubled in size, from 2.2 million in 1993 to 5.4 million in 2008. The upper class also became more multiracial, from containing just 19,000 black people in 1993 to 257,000 people 15 years later.

It can be extrapolated that the growth of the middle class is a result of ANC policies, particularly with regard to the rapid expansion of the black middle class. This would include black economic empowerment, access to resources, better education and the ability to upskill and progress in the workplace. So these people, logically, should be grateful to the ANC for their better lot in life – which presumably would be expressed at the polls. Why then are there concerns that the middle class could be straying off to opposition parties?

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the ANC in Gauteng said 25% of registered voters in the province are classified as middle class and live in formerly whites-only suburbs. The ANC in the province wants to hold house meetings and public dialogues to reach out to this constituency. They also planned to use people like Mbeki, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC's second-in-charge Cyril Ramaphosa to interface with middle-class voters in such forums.

Predictably, they have since been rapped on the knuckles by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who says the Gauteng leadership “ran ahead of themselves” by announcing their deployment strategy. He says this will be decided by the ANC headquarters, adding that “there is no constituency or profile of constituency that suits a particular individual”.

The Gauteng ANC has consequently issued a statement trying to clarify what they meant and claiming to be misrepresented in the Sunday Times article. Still, they do not deny the comments attributed to their provincial secretary David Makhura about reaching out to the middle class through small forums or that they wanted leaders like Mbeki to help out on the campaign trail. They however dispute the inference drawn by the paper that Zuma is unpopular among the middle class.

Makhura is not a person known for frivolous or untoward statements, and as one of the policy tsars in the ANC, he is highly respected. He is the lead strategist in the province on the election campaign and is therefore reacting to something they are detecting in the analysis of the electorate. And if they sense that a quarter of the province’s voting population might not be responsive to the ANC’s stock election messaging and campaign strategy, they would have every reason to look for alternate means to reach this constituency in order to keep control of the province.

Gauteng will be one of the battleground provinces in the 2014 election with opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance, making a play to break the ANC’s dominance. The capture of the middle class vote is one of they ways they hope to do that.

But why would the middle class turn on the party that helped those of them with working class roots to climb the ladder? The middle class, by its nature, is aspirational and continuously seeks to improve access to wealth and resources. It is also a section of society with access to information via the media, and in the past few years, social media. This means that people in the middle class are informed about current events and most likely develop opinions on these. They are also receptive to messaging from opposition parties about the failures of the ANC government.

It would stand to reason that the middle class would be informed about the litany of crises that plagued the Zuma administration and could have developed negative sentiments about issues such as the excessive spending on the president’s Nkandla residence, police brutality, corruption and the Marikana massacre. Zuma himself is not exactly a role model for people wanting to climb the social or corporate ladder. He has no formal education, embraces traditions that entrench female subjugation and homophobia, and has not proved to be a pacesetter. All of these run counter to a class of men and women aspiring to improve and modernise.

Mbeki, on the other hand, would appeal to such people. He is sophisticated, suave, highly educated and refined – all the qualities the aspirant in society would look up to.

During the course of his presidency, Zuma has not made the effort to engage this constituency and keep them onside. Instead by dismissing most scandals as mischief-making on the part of the media, and not doing damage control, he has alienated the people who would ordinarily be the ANC’s captive audience.

Gauteng premier and the head of the ANC's campaign committee, Nomvula Mokonyane, who broke ranks with the ANC in her province, says Zuma should remain the face of the ruling party’s campaign in every constituency. She said that in any event, people vote for the ANC, not individual leaders, so there was no need for a special strategy for the middle class.

The ANC is also on shaky ground with working class voters, as delivery failures, poverty and rising unemployment causing disenchantment. It now has the additional problem of turbulence in Cosatu possibly disabling its main channel to the working class.

Mokonyane’s approach could therefore prove to be short-sighted. The ANC obviously needs to think out of the box to reach out to the two classes of voters that should be its primary constituencies, but are in various states of disillusionment and disenchantment.

In some ways, the ANC has to figure out the way to reach out and appeal to both of these constituencies while not offending any of them; all of it has to be done amid the Cosatu turmoil, the Marikana commission's ongoing revelations, the continuing avalanche of scandals and proliferation of new parties that can attack the ruling party from angles that are different from the perhaps predictably middle-class flavoured attack of the DA.

In such a complex situation, fine-tuning the message to hit the exact notes will become extremely difficult. And the often-used trick of giving the audiences the speech they want is not going to work that easily in the age of instant communication and social networks.

So ANC has a problem, and a big part of it is a Zuma problem. Their entire 2014 elections campaign may depend on how they contend with it.

One thing is pretty certain: this time, a popular song, no matter how much it gets people dancing and singing along, will not do the trick. DM

Photo: President Jacob Zuma. (REUTERS/Mike Hutchings)

DAILY MAVERICK 

COMMENTS BY SONNY

THE CHIPS ARE DOWN.

ZUMA MUST BE NEUTRALISED BEFORE THE POLLS IN 2014.

HE HAS OVERSTAYED HIS WELCOME IN SOUTH AFRICA POLITICS.

Khayelitsha policing: Rule of Law 1, Minister of Police 0; but at what cost to the public purse?

No Fear No Favour No Police posting please.........



Rebecca Davis  SOUTH AFRICA  2 OCTOBER 2013 02:12

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court issued a conclusive smackdown to police attempts to halt a commission of inquiry into Khayelitsha policing. It’s a vindication of the autonomous powers vested in the Western Cape Premier, and it’s good news for the civil society organisations who have been lobbying for this commission for several years. It’s to be hoped that the people of Khayelitsha will emerge the real victors, if the commission results in a better standard of policing. But as seems often the case these days, the immediate winners are lawyers - all paid for out of the public purse. By REBECCA DAVIS.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s attempts to stop a commission of inquiry (CoI) into Khayelitsha policing were rejected by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. Mthethwa’s lawyers had sought to argue, following a defeat in the Western Cape High Court, that Western Cape Premier Helen Zille did not have the power to appoint such a commission, and that its appointment should be declared inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid.

Not so, decided the Constitional Court. In a judgment handed down by Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, the judges ruled that the Constitution did allow for the appointment of such a commission by the Premier. The judgment noted, indeed, that “the Premier is obliged to take reasonable steps to shield the residents of Khayelitsha from an unrelenting invasion of their fundamental rights because of continued police inefficiency in combating crime and the breakdown of relations between the police and the community”.

This was music to the ears of the civil society organisations mobilized by the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) who initially had to convince Zille of the need for such a CoI after collecting a formidable dossier of evidence from Khayelitsha residents pointing to the fact that the police force and the criminal justice system were failing to uphold their basic rights.

“We are very happy, this is a huge victory,” SJC General Secretary, Phumeza Mlungwana, told the Daily Maverick after the verdict had been delivered. “We have campaigned for the commission because it means so much to people’s lives. Personally, as a person from Khayelitsha, I know how people feel about actions taken to address high levels of crime. This, for me, means that people can trust in the courts to promote their safety without taking the law into their own hands.”

Mlungwana said the wider implications of the Khayelitsha CoI were that the resolutions to emerge from the commission could hopefully be adopted in communities facing similar crime problems. “This is not about powers between organs of state but about people’s lives,” Mlungwana said.

It’s a point that often seemed to be lost in the drawn-out saga leading up to Tuesday’s ruling. After the Women’s Legal Centre presented Zille with the proposal for a CoI, on behalf of groups like the SJC, in November 2011, Zille spent the next eight months fruitlessly trying to elicit a response from top police officials. Frustrated by their inaction, she received the approval of her provincial cabinet to go ahead and set up such a commission in August last year – which finally prompted a flurry of legal action from SAPS top brass aimed at halting the inquiry.

Why were Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Police Commissioner Riah Piyega so opposed to the idea of an inquiry which had the potential to result in making life a lot easier and safer for the residents of Khayelitsha? This is the million dollar question. Were they concerned about the reputational risk to SAPS, based on what ugly truths might emerge? That’s the really dark view. Was it more a case of being affronted by the idea that a provincial commission would have the power to issue subpoenas over a national body (SAPS)? Was it genuine concern about the potential overreach of powers by a provincial Premier, or were they offended by the idea of the leader of the opposition being able to sidestep their authority?

None of these options - or any conceivable others, actually - exactly cover Mthethwa and Piyega in glory, given the very real daily dangers faced by Khayelitsha residents. While the police continued to stubbornly explore legal avenues to stop the inquiry going ahead, the policing situation has remained dire. In July, GroundUp reported that at least seven new cases had been added by the SJC to the dossier for police investigation, all involving rape.

And yet again, what is fundamentally a political dispute has ended up in the in-box of judges to settle. Last November, when opposition parties approached the courts to ask them to order the Speaker of the National Assembly to urgently schedule a vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma, Judge Dennis Davis warned: “There is a danger in South Africa…of the politicisation of the judiciary, drawing the judiciary into every and all political disputes, as if there is no other forum to deal with a political impasse relating to policy, or disputes which clearly carry polycentric consequences beyond the scope of adjudication.”

In the case of the Khayelitsha CoI, the Constitutional Court ruling made it clear that the Constitutional Court was the appropriate forum for the resolution of the dispute because the issue fell within the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the Constitutional Court. But the judgment nonetheless made the point that the people paying for all this litigation are the public.

“More and more disputes between or amongst spheres of government or organs of state end up in courts and in this Court, in particular,” the judgment noted. “The litigation is always at the expense of the public purse from which all derive their funding. That is true of the present dispute between the province, the Commissioner and the Minister.” In this case, the legal costs of Premier Zille, Minister Mthethwa and Commissioner Phiyega are “ultimately sourced from the same public purse”. The court ruled that it would be unfair for civil society organization the SJC to end up out of pocket, so it ordered the Police Ministry to pay the SJC’s legal costs too - out of that same public purse.

The judgment also noted that the cost of such litigation is not just financial. “Often litigation of that order stands in the way or delays sorely needed services to the populace and other activities of government,” it said. “Here too, effective policing in Khayelitsha and the functioning of the Commission may have to await the outcome of litigation.”

In this case, the outcome of the case will hopefully have tangible, real-life benefits for Khayelitsha residents. But it should never have come to this. The police ministry’s wasting of time and public money in fighting this battle through the courts further sullies its reputation. The party led by Zille is sometimes painted by opponents as blind and deaf to the plight of the poor, but in this instance it is the ANC who has been left looking as if they care more about petty politicking than protecting the vulnerable.

In November last year, human rights lawyer Fatima Hassan wrote an op-ed piece comparing the Marikana Commission to the Khayelitsha Commission. In both commissions, Hassan wrote, “the unprecedented, recorded public scrutiny of the SAPS is potentially possible”. But even at that time, it was becoming clear that this might be a pipe dream.

“In both Commissions, we have seen the sinister tentacles of the security apparatus and the SAPS at work, effectively trying to shut down scrutiny and dissent about its role and functions in various communities through intimidation and interference with key witnesses, a disregard for the spirit of the Constitution, and an indefensible deference to business or party political interests,” Hassan wrote. And in both cases, the public pays. DM

Read more:

• Understanding the two Commissions of Inquiry into the police, onGroundUp
• Constitutional Court Judgment in matter of Khayelitsha CoI

Photo:Head-to-head. Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa has lost his battle to stop a commission of inquiry into Khayelitsha policing appointed by Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille.

DAILY MAVERICK

COMMENTS BY SONNY

THROUGHOUT THIS GUY'S CAREER HE HAS BEEN A POLITICAL FAILURE.

NOW HIS WIFE HAS ALSO SHOWN HER WEAK POINTS IN PUBLIC.

THEY SHOULD BOTH BE REDEPLOYED AND REPLACED WITH COMPETENT PEOPLE!

OR IS THERE NOBODY COMPETENT ENOUGH IN THE ANC TO TAKE THEIR PLACES?

Al-Shabab: We will strike Kenyans where it hurts

Mail & Guardian

Al-Shabab: We will strike Kenyans where it hurts
Africa

02 OCT 2013 09:29AFP, REUTERS


Militant group al-Shabab, who have claimed responsibility for the attack on Westgate mall, have threatened to step up militant attacks against Kenya.
Kenyan troops drive towards Westgate mall on September 24. (AFP)
Somalia's al-Shabab threatened on Wednesday to step up militant attacks against Kenya, after Nairobi refused to pull its troops out of Somalia.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for last week's attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, in which at least 67 people died, with 39 more listed as missing by the Red Cross.

"We will strike Kenyans where it hurts the most, turn their cities into graveyards and rivers of blood will flow in Nairobi," the al-Shabab said in a statement.

"The Kenyan government's decision to keep its invading force in Somalia is an indication that they haven't yet learnt any valuable lessons from the Westgate attacks," the extremists added, warning that Kenya was "inviting unprecedented levels of insecurity, bloodshed and destruction".

Kenya invaded southern Somalia to attack al-Shabab bases two years ago, and later joined the 17 700-strong African Union force deployed in the country.

Somalia timeline - Why did the Kenya massacre happen?
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday said troops had been sent to Somalia to restore order to their anarchic neighbour, and they would not leave until the job was done.

"We will not be intimated, we will not be cowed," Kenyatta said. "We will stay there until they bring order to their nation."

'Exit Somali soil'
In turn, al-Shabab said it was "fully determined to intensify attacks inside Kenya until the last KDF [Kenya Defence Force] boots exit Somali soil", saying it had the "right to defend our land and our people from enemy aggression".

"If Kenya's political leaders are still persistent in their quest to occupy our Muslim lands and carry out heinous atrocities against our people, then let them know that Kenyans will never find peace and stability in their country."

Meanwhile, Kenya's president told Somalia on Tuesday to "put their house in order", in a sign of frustration at the festering instability in the neighbouring country after the attack on the Nairobi shopping mall.

Kenyatta said he would not be bullied into withdrawing his soldiers, who are part of an African peacekeeping force.

He also took aim at the Somali government, which a source close to the Kenyan presidency said had also recently called for Kenyan troops to leave before withdrawing the demand under pressure from regional leaders.

Islamist warlord
"If their desire is for Kenya to pull out of Somalia, my friends, all they need to do is what they should have done 20 years ago, which is put their house in order," Kenyatta told religious leaders at a multi-faith prayer meeting.

Mogadishu, in turn, has been angered by Kenya's perceived close relationship with a former Islamist warlord now in control of Somalia's southernmost region, which borders Kenya.

There was no immediate reaction from the Somali government.

But al-Shabab said in a statement that if the Kenyan government's decision was to keep its forces in Somalia, it was an indication that it hadn't yet learned "any valuable lessons" from the Westgate attack. – AFP; Reuters


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Why Kenya should be furious with SA

01 OCT 2013 VERASHNI PILLAY


Jacob Zuma's good-news philosophy is costing us lives, writes Verashni Pillay, in the wake of the Kenya attack and the release of the crime stats.
A woman pays her respects to the victims of the Westgate mall siege outside the shopping centre in Nairobi.(AFP)
Jacob Zuma's good-news philosophy isn't just something to poke fun at on Twitter. It's costing us lives.

Think I'm being too dramatic?

Two weeks ago South Africa's annual crime statistics were released for the previous financial year: April 2012 – March 2013. This means it is six to 18 months out of date and we can't tell when any of the crimes occurred within that period.

Security experts have pointed out that this is a huge blow to a number of critical crime prevention strategies. Civil organisations, community forums and anyone interested in combatting crime in their area don't have any real-time information to work from.

Why? Because that's too much information to control for our increasingly secretive government.

Instead it wants to package that information in ways that are positive – or the "opposite of negative" as Zuma so memorably put it while addressing journalism students.

The debate around positive or sunshine news is more insidious than we realise. It's one thing having the threat of muted investigative reports, it's quite another stifling the regular release of data that could bring down crimes and save lives. The crime statistics are a new facet to this dangerous philosophy.

But wait, as your telesales presenter puts it, there's more. The politics of good news also means that people sympathetic to the powers-that-be are put in strategic places.

Think Richard Mdluli at the head of crime intelligence – that is when his friends in high places can keep him there between court challenges over his many alleged crimes.

For the likes of Zuma to keep their hold on power, and reduce the leaks of pesky bad news, it is critical to have those sympathetic to their interests in key positions like intelligence.

The problem is that crime intelligence is pretty damn important to us as the public too. It's what we need to bring down organised crime such as hijacking syndicates and, on a more sinister note, to prevent terrorism attacks.

Our politically beleaguered crime intelligence has failed on both these counts.

Reports around "White Widow" Samanthat Lewthwaite indicate that she used a false South African passport to get around, popped in and out of the country a number of times, and even stayed at length while planning her path of destruction.

Lewthwaite is thought to be responsible for the recent al-Shabab terrorist attacks at Kenya's Westgate mall that left more than 65 dead and scores more injured and missing.

It turns out various South African intelligence services knew about her, and were informed of the danger she posed by foreign intelligence services a few years back – as well as the fact that she was spotted in the country watching key embassies as recently as February this year.

In the biggest indictment of our intelligence in the aftermath of the nightmarish attack, various agencies seem to have failed to act on this and other indications that Lewthwaite was a danger and should be stopped. (Reports from Kenya reveal its intelligence services also failed, but that's a topic for another time).

The cynic in me feels that our intelligence service are instead wrapped up in politically significant "spy tapes" , intercepting sensitive conversations to help a particular ANC faction win, and uncovering ground reports of political conspiracies to win favour with our current president.

That seems to be all I've been hearing about our crime intelligence in the past few years.

Forget the critical work of actually protecting those you serve. And there's more besides the threat of terrorism.

The unit is so weakened by the political appointments, factionalism, interference and the lack of a morally strong leader that they have not been able to attend to the growth in organised crime over the past 18 months, which South Africans only found out about earlier this month thanks to the delayed statistics release.

But the authorities must have known about this unusual uptick in organised criminal activities – a direct result of a failing crime intelligence unit – yet did nothing about it and continued with the petty politicking protecting the likes of Mdluli and, by extension, Zuma.

Political games, it sometimes seems, wins over saving people's lives as far as our current crime intelligence unit is concerned.

Verashni Pillay is an associate editor at the Mail & Guardian.
Read more from Verashni Pillay
Twitter: @verashni
Google+: Verashni Pillay

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Most Wanted Terrorists

MOHAMMED ALI HAMADEI

ADNAN G. EL SHUKRIJUMAH

ABDULLAH AHMED ABDULLAH

JOANNE DEBORAH CHESIMARD

AHMAD IBRAHIM AL-MUGHASSIL

ABDUL RAHMAN YASIN

HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD

DANIEL ANDREAS SAN DIEGO

ADAM YAHIYE GADAHN

FAOUZI MOHAMAD AYOUB

JEHAD SERWAN MOSTAFA

JABER A. ELBANEH

JAMEL AHMED MOHAMMED ALI AL-BADAWI

JAMAL SAEED ABDUL RAHIM

OMAR SHAFIK HAMMAMI

ALI SAED BIN ALI EL-HOORIE

ISNILON TOTONI HAPILON

ABD AL AZIZ AWDA

IBRAHIM SALIH MOHAMMED AL-YACOUB

ALI ATWA

HUSAYN MUHAMMAD AL-UMARI

MUHAMMAD AHMED AL-MUNAWAR

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI

RAMADAN ABDULLAH MOHAMMAD SHALLAH

HASAN IZZ-AL-DIN

ABDELKARIM HUSSEIN MOHAMED AL-NASSER

SAIF AL-ADEL

ANAS AL-LIBY

WADOUD MUHAMMAD HAFIZ AL-TURKI

MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH KHALIL HUSSAIN AR-RAHAYYAL

ZULKIFLI ABDHIR

RADDULAN SAHIRON
The alleged terrorists on this list have been indicted by sitting Federal Grand Juries in various jurisdictions in the United States for the crimes reflected on their wanted posters. Evidence was gathered and presented to the Grand Juries, which led to their being charged. The indictments currently listed on the posters allow them to be arrested and brought to justice. Future indictments may be handed down as various investigations proceed in connection to other terrorist incidents, for example, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The Rewards for Justice program, administered by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, offers rewards for information leading to the arrest of many of these terrorists.

It is also important to note that these individuals will remain wanted in connection with their alleged crimes until such time as the charges are dropped or when credible physical evidence is obtained, which proves with 100% accuracy, that they are deceased.

Hawks bust R40m lease scam

Hawks bust R40m lease scam

October 2 2013
By BALDWIN NDABA

Independent Newspapers
Alleged syndicate mastermind Sayed Hoosen Mia
Related Stories
Corrupt official shown the door


Johannesburg - The Hawks claim to have smashed a syndicate that allegedly swindled the national Department of Public Works into paying more than R40 million for six Joburg buildings it never occupied.

Over five years, starting in 2006, wealthy businessman Sayed Hoosen Mia, 67, and an official of the department, Desmond Simamane, 45, are alleged to have duped his bosses into leasing buildings owned by Mia and getting kickbacks from the businessman for his efforts.

They are now facing corruption and money-laundering charges after police attached to the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation and the Anti-Corruption Unit nabbed them.

Mia, the father of two prominent Joburg medical doctors, and Simamane have already made two court appearances in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on the multimillion-rand fraud charges. Mia’s 10 companies are listed as the “accused” in court papers.

The Hawks and the Gauteng Directorate of Public Prosecutions have listed Mia and Simamane’s case as one of key court matters that need to be speedily prosecuted. A State prosecutor in the National Director of Public Prosecutions office in Joburg has already been appointed to prosecute the two.

The State alleges that Mia and Simamane’s corrupt relationship began in 2006 and had been going on for five years when the department started instituting an internal probe.

Copy of Copy of ST syndicate Linksfield House
The Linksfield abode of alleged syndicate mastermind Sayed Hoosen Mia and below is the home of Public Works Department official Desmond Simamane in Melville, Joburg. Pictures: Google Maps and Adrian de Kock
THE STAR
The department asked the Hawks to conduct the investigation after it became suspicious that acts of corruption were taking place among officials in its Braamfontein office.

The State said in court documents that Simamane was employed in the Public Works Department as a senior administrator.

One of the functions of the department was the acquisition and administering of lease office accommodation for the various national departments, known as client departments.

Simamane, who was stationed in Braamfontein, had as one of his duties the acquisition of office accommodation for national government departments through a tender process, including the management of the resulting lease contracts.

Mia, on the other hand, provided lease accommodation to client departments through a tender process of the Department of Public Works. This was done through his companies.

The State alleges that in 2006, Simamane accepted a gift from Mia – a Nissan Hardbody bakkie, with registration number RFM612GP, valued at R156 400.

Copy of Copy of ST syndicate Melville House

He also obtained regular use of a BMW 525 sedan – registration number XKR 844 GP – valued at R566 250.

The State says Mia, either personally or through his companies, also made several internet transfers into Simamane’s personal account or that of his soccer club, Island Football Club. The R640 500 internet payments made into the Island Football Club’s account were made between August 18, 2007 and April 1, 2011.

The State says Mia offered the cars and money to ensure that Simamane recommended his companies for the lease contracts.



Simamane, the State alleges, also failed to declare to the department that Mia was providing accommodation to the client departments, but ensured the funds from the client departments were fraudulently made available to Mia and his companies.

Mia faced similar charges. He was also charged with bribing Simamane with cash and expensive vehicles for his personal use on July 23.

Simamane is out on R5 000 bail and Mia has been released on R10 000 bail.

The State did not oppose bail.

Mia, in his bail application, asked the court to release him on bail on medical grounds.

“I had two heart attacks in the last few years and had to have five stents inserted in the arteries of my heart. I also have a problem with my blood pressure and am afflicted from time to time with gout, for which I am required to take various medications.”

Mia also told the court that he has been in business in Lenasia and Joburg for more than 40 years and

had always been involved with the community.

“My family and I are well established in Johannesburg and my two sons are medical doctors. I have five grandchildren. I consider Johannesburg to be my home and I have no reason or intention to go anywhere else now or in the future.

“I have been in business for many years and I would estimate my house and other assets to be valued in the sum of R20m. My liabilities, on the other hand, amount to approximately R12m,” he said.



Mia and Simamane will be back in court on January 15, when a trial date is expected to be set.

baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za

The Star