Govt corruption: R30bn could be lost - SIU

2011-10-12 22:46


Cape Town - The head of both the special investigating unit and the asset forfeiture unit said on Wednesday the country could lose as much as 20% of its total procurement budget to graft annually, in response to a question about the extent of government corruption in South Africa.

"I think that may not be an unrealistic estimate," Willie Hofmeyr told Parliament's justice committee, adding that it translated to between R25bn and R30bn.

The SIU was currently investigating 558 procurement contracts to the value of R1.9bn and 360 cases of conflict of interest where R3.4bn was involved.

Hofmeyr said the fight against corruption was hindered by a shortage of investigators and the low rate of criminal convictions of officials found with their fingers in the till.

"We should have 7 000 people whose job it is to investigate corruption and I think we have 700.

"Our policies are pretty good but if there are not consequences for breaching them... a culture of impunity spreads pretty quickly."

Hofmeyr welcomed the cancellation of the flawed lease contracts with Roux Shabangu for new police headquarters but went on to highlight further problems in the police and public works departments.

"From the kind of things we have found the SAPS leases are not an uncommon practice elsewhere."

SIU investigations have shown that public works paid at least R35m to entities where staff held undeclared interests and were investigating irregularities to the tune of R330mlinked to the building and renovation of 33 police stations.

However, he said, the worst leeching of taxpayers' money was not happening at national level.

"Local government is where the problems are the worst and where oversight mechanisms are the least."

Asked about the implications of the Constitutional Court judgment in the Glenister case, Hofmeyr said if a central anti-corruption agency were created he would like the SIU to be part of it and believed the Hawks also had a central role to play.

"There isn't really a centre from which government's anti-corruption efforts are driven. I think there is a bit of a gap there. The Glennister judgment is an urgent issue that needs to be resolved soon," he said.

"If there is a new corruption unit set up we would like very much to be part of it."

The court found that the legislation that created the Hawks did not give the unit enough independence and gave Parliament 18 months to amend it.

Funding trouble

The special investigating unit ran into severe funding trouble this year when Eskom established that legally it may not be paid by state entities that solicit its help, MPs heard.

He told the justice committee the corruption-busting entity had expected to earn R240m from such agreements but instead had to turn to Treasury to tide it over.

"We are getting an additional R97m from Treasury this year," he told MPs.

Hofmeyr said the SIU was alerted to the problem by Eskom in June after the electricity utility had asked it to probe "corporate governance issues", notably persistent problems surrounding its coal supply contracts.

He said the SIU obtained two legal opinions which confirmed that provided by Eskom, upsetting a 7-year-old practice that had seen it accepted remuneration from a range of state entities.

"We got our own legal opinion at the end of June and then a second opinion that confirmed it and accepted we have got a problem," he said.

"Basically, we are not allowed to charge departments for our services. Everybody was a bit blind-sided by this issue."

Hofmeyr mentioned the matter in a briefing on the SIU's annual report.

He said the unit had not wanted to make it public until it was confident of finding both long and short term solutions because it did not want its staff to fear for their jobs, he said.

An amendment to the SIU Act that would make such payments legitimate is in the pipeline, Hofmeyr said. At present, the legislation is silent on the issue.


- SAPA

^^ One could strengthen the anti-corruption force, the AG, the SIU and the Hawks... but, the real and abrupt solution to this extreme financial bleeding would be for the ruling party to loose the next elections, unfortunately.

To think, the money lost per year could pay for one of the following, each year:
- A full Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project
- The Gautrain in its entirety and have billions left for housing
- Buy 600,000 (6,000km2) hectares of productive farmland at market value for land redistribution
- Build 6,000 schools with a capacity of 1000 students each.
- Build 300 Super-Regional Hospitals
- Build 300,000 houses for the poor

*Makes one sick.

Hope to see everyone at:

Occupy Cape Town Parliament Gardens - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Johannesburg, Sandton, Exchange Square - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Durban City Hall - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Grahamstown Cathedral Square -Operation Ubuntu, etc etc tomorrow.

Worldwide peaceful protests against the greed and corruption of corporations and govt.

^^ One could strengthen the anti-corruption force, the AG, the SIU and the Hawks... but, the real and abrupt solution to this extreme financial bleeding would be for the ruling party to loose the next elections, unfortunately.

To think, the money lost per year could pay for one of the following, each year:
- A full Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project
- The Gautrain in its entirety and have billions left for housing
- Buy 600,000 (6,000km2) hectares of productive farmland at market value for land redistribution
- Build 6,000 schools with a capacity of 1000 students each.
- Build 300 Super-Regional Hospitals
- Build 300,000 houses for the poor

*Makes one sick.

Disgusting. And there are still knowledgeable people (on this forum nogal) who support the ANC #mindblowing

Hope to see everyone at:

Occupy Cape Town Parliament Gardens - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Johannesburg, Sandton, Exchange Square - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Durban City Hall - Operation Ubuntu, Occupy Grahamstown Cathedral Square -Operation Ubuntu, etc etc tomorrow.

Worldwide peaceful protests against the greed and corruption of corporations and govt.

Support a real cause.

Jacob Zuma, I believe is a threat for the economic prosperity in South Africa. This Sir, I consider in of enormous difficulties of proposition and economic and social innovation. South Africa is the first economy in Africa, but how his population can she for the greater part be poor. I do not understand his.
Trevor Manuel, Cyril Ramaphosa or still Tokyo Setxwall can better gerer the country.

'Indignant protests' take root in SA

2011-10-15 22:42


Rome - Protesters torched cars, smashed up banks and set fire to a military building in Rome on Saturday in the worst violence of worldwide demonstrations against corporate greed and government cutbacks.

Tens of thousands took to the streets of the Italian capital for a march that turned violent and equal numbers rallied in Madrid and Lisbon while Wikileaks founder Julian Assange joined angry demonstrators in London.

About 50 protesters gathered outside Africa's biggest bourse, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, to voice concern over South Africa's widening gap between rich and poor.

In Cape Town, protesters gathered in the Company Gardens behind Parliament while in Durban their counterparts gathered at City Hall. Protests were also held in Grahamstown.

Biggest show of a movement’s power yet

The protests were inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in the US and the "Indignants" in Spain, targeting 951 cities in 82 countries across the planet in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

It was the biggest show of power yet by a movement born on May 15 when a rally in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square sparked a worldwide movement that focussed anger over unemployment and opposition to the financial elite.

"I think it is very moving that the movement that was born here has extended throughout the world. It was about time for people to rise up," said 24-year-old Carmen Martin as she marched towards Puerta del Sol.

In the Portuguese capital, where some 50 000 rallied, Mathieu Rego, 25, said: "We are victims of financial speculation and this austerity programme is going to ruin us. We have to change this rotten system."

The protests received unexpected support from Italian central bank governor Mario Draghi, a former executive at Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs who is set to take over as president of the European Central Bank next.

"Young people are right to be indignant," Draghi was reported as saying on the sidelines of talks among G20 financial powers in Paris.

"They're angry against the world of finance. I understand them," he added. But as reports of the violence filtered through, he said: "It's a great shame."

Scuffles in London

There were more protests staged in Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, Sarajevo and Zurich.

Thousands also rallied in New York and Washington, where they protested outside the White House and the US Treasury.

Scuffles broke out in London where about 800 people rallied in the financial district by St Paul's Cathedral, raising banners saying: "Strike back!"; "No cuts!" and "Goldman Sachs is the work of the devil!"

Three lines of police, and one line at the rear on horseback, blocked them from heading to the London Stock Exchange and pushed back against lead marchers, some wearing masks.

"I am here today mainly as a sense of solidarity with the movements that are going on around the world," said Ben Walker, a 33-year-old teacher from the eastern English city of Norwich.

Flanked by bodyguards, Assange spoke from the steps of St Paul's.

"One of the reasons why we support what is happening here in 'Occupy London' is because the banking system in London is the recipient of corrupt money," he said.

The European Union also became a target for anger as the eurozone debt crisis continues, with some 9 000 protesters marching to the EU's headquarters in Brussels and rallying outside the ECB's headquarters in Frankfurt.

Just the beginning

In Rome, the march quickly degenerated into running street battles between groups of hooded protesters and riot police who fired tear gas and water jets into the crowd amid a security lockdown in the Italian capital.

"Today is only the beginning. We hope to move forward with a global movement. There are many of us and we want the same things," said one protester, Andrea Muraro, a 24-year-old engineering student from Padua.

"Only One Solution: Revolution!" read a placard. One group carried a cardboard coffin with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's name on it.

Berlusconi later condemned the "incredible level of violence" at the march.

He said the clashes were "a very worrying signal for civil co-existence".

"The violent protesters are a very organised group that infiltrated the demonstration," Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno told reporters.

"We've seen the worst of Europe today in Rome," he added.

Seventy people were injured in the clashes and treated by medics, including three in a serious condition, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Backing from Italy's main trade unions and student movements boosted the numbers at the protest in Rome - in contrast to most of the other rallies.

As the day began, around 500 people gathered in the heart of Hong Kong's financial district to vent their anger. About 100 demonstrators in Tokyo also voiced fury at the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Another 600 demonstrators in Sydney set up camp outside Australia's central bank, where the plight of refugees and Aboriginal Australians was added to the financial concerns.

Support a real cause.

mmmmha. Me and the tens of thousands of others who took part worldwide over the weekend? AS if all of the other causes are making SUCH meaningful headway? lol

Call me crazy but I still don't understand the relevance of South Africans joining this protest. The few South Africans who do join are probably much closer to the "1%" (at least in an African context) than they would like to think.

Call me crazy but I still don't understand the relevance of South Africans joining this protest. The few South Africans who do join are probably much closer to the "1%" (at least in an African context) than they would like to think.

Not crazy at all. :) Most people supporting locally are the 1%, which is great! Many people are asking what the relevance is. In my opinion I think most people around the world (the 1% more so each day) have known that things are not right for a very long time. Now that times are tough people are looking for someone to blame and it just so happens that the culprits have been singled out and their actions affect everyone globally, directly or indirectly. So the SA part of the protest is more of a solidarity movement in support of those in the US and Europe who are marching against corporate influence in govt.

Having said that, many use the protest to highlight issues closer to what affects them and that is in itself okay, seeing as though the global financial industry affects just about every facet of our lives. Whether it be homelessness, poverty, inequality, environmental concerns or even the economic system itself, these issues are all negatively affected by the actions of those who make the decisions abroad.

^^ If the "Occupy" protests were focused locally on anti-corruption, I'd be more understanding and would be super-supportive. I believe that SA's biggest problem is not corporations, but poor, ineffective and indecisive governance. Due to Trevor Manuel's foresight and macro-economics, we escaped the greed, credit-bonanza and lending and spending free-for-all that caused the 2008 collapse and thus came though it only mildly damaged. However, due to the greater government's lack-of-leadership and kleptocracy, South Africa is suffering and the poor in particular are hard hit.

I think SA has bigger fish to fry than to only march in solidarity with the developed world; our "occupy" movement should focus on our issues. Our day-to-day issues will have a far greater negative impact that an ruthless CEO of a multi-national corporation based in London. Locally, it's not Pick & Pay, De Beers or PepCor that's evil, it's people like Shiceka, the Dept. of Public Works and Bheki Cele that are robbing the nation blind.

Amen Annman. The govt should feel uneasy, because local protest is against them.

True, many locals were chanting the decade old slogans : free land, housing, jobs, etc. However, many protestors now realise that borders we have invented, local governments and laws can only shield us to a certain extent. I have said it before and I will again, SA is in a stronger position that some countries due to our constitution and a bunch of good leaders. This is especially the case in the Western Cape where we have a government that is proven to be working for the good of the people as opposed to enriching the few.

HOWEVER, we still have a huge unemployment rate, a huge problem of education and poverty. Inequality and income disparity are one of the highest on the planet! What happens in Europe and the US affects us and it will get worse if nothing changes in terms of the way we think our economy and governance should be run. This protest is also about changing mindset from personal gain to what would benefit the person next door and the person in the shack and so on.

Its startling to think that people still believe we are in an economic slump and that the next 'boom' will occur. What will the next boom be? WW3 perhaps? The space race? Even if there is a next boom, millions will still be starving, millions will still be working in dead end jobs to take care of their children and loved ones and millions will still be uneducated as seen during the previous booms. And then all the gains will, once again, be erased by a bust. Logic?

The fact is that the people who took part in Occupy around the world believe in human rights and dignity before becoming rich or themselves, else they would all be at home. This is something which the system we live under seems to ignore more and more each day.

SALGA just announced they want a .33% local tax on business turnover for local municipalities. Thus, they want to impose a local government tax on all businesses.

All commentators are stating the obvious, stop government corruption and there will be enough money for service delivery. Once again, businesses and tax-payers are coughing up for government ineptitude and kleptocracy, Year of job-creation, whatever! Imposing more tax on business = job shedding to fund extra tax expenditure.

These people have lost the plot so badly it's ridiculous :ohno:

I give the ANC a predicted national vote of 56% in 2014, losing the country outright to a coalition in 2019. If Mazibuko takes over a parliamentary leader of the DA and grooming of leaders of colour continues apace, it's almost certain to be a DA-lead coalition that takes over SA in 2019.

The ANC are in a precipitous decline... time is running out for them. They have nobody to blame but themselves for their demise.

^^Wishful thinking, if the ANC removes Zuma a whole lot of us will be back voting for them...

^^Am not sure if the election of Lindiwe would help, but if ANC keeps Zuma for a second term and DA elects Ms. Mazibuko as parliamentary leader then there might be some substance to your prediction...

^^Wishful thinking, if the ANC removes Zuma a whole lot of us will be back voting for them...

That's what many said when Mbeki was ousted; look what they got! Me thinks the blind sheep and the slaughter house at in close proximity. Self-destructive political logic on the part of the party loyal.

Political parties only listen to the people at the threat of losing power... period! Global rule of politics.

You get the government you deserve. If you deserve R30billion being STOLEN from YOU per year... by all means... may the faithful continue.

^^Stop being emotional and look at this objectively. If Mothlanthe replaces Zuma, how many black people do you think will continue being ambivilent about voting ANC (as many are right now)? Truth is, a significant number of black voters are simply put off by Zuma and if he's removed they'll go back to voting ANC, simple as that.

All the sarcasm in the world cannot make up for what is a South African truism...

Sarcasm or not, it's sad that black people feel like they only have one option. The number of people who seem to think it's preposterous that they would vote for anyone BUT the ANC is shocking. I feel like the generations that were politically aware in the early nineties feel that the struggle was won in 1994. Sadly, no one has shown them that the new struggle is not about race. 2019 is optimistic but I don't see the ANC ever being as powerful as they once were.

Oh, and the way I read it, annman wasn't being emotional. Seems he was just telling it like it is.

^^ Nostra, you have a real knack of trying to read into and misconstrue everything I say. You always treat anything I say in a political debate with contempt and it's getting old. Why do people like GetDownAdam and almost all others' always understand my tone and you don't?

It's not emotional, it's just like this: "To not always succeed is human, as long as you try a different approach every time, but not always get the result you want. To not always succeed is the pursuit of fools, if you try the same approach every time and you expect a different result."

That's not emotional, that's the truth of all things in life, including politics. Vote the same at your own and South Africa's peril. The problem is not Zuma (he is not the cancer of kleptocracy that has infested the ruling party, he is simply a symptom of the cancer), the problem is the ENTIRE ruling party, the kleptocracy is systemic now, without fear of loss-of-power, the systemic cancer can't be healed by removing one tumor in one organ.

Zuma's anti-corruption blitz gets thumbs up :applause:

2011-10-24

Cape Town - Political parties have welcomed President Jacob Zuma's decision to axe Cabinet members Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Sicelo Shiceka.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille also applauded Zuma's announcement that national police commissioner General Bheki Cele was suspended with immediate effect.

"This announcement is better late than never," she said in a statement.

Zuma announced earlier in Pretoria that Mahlangu-Nkabinde would be replaced as public works minister, and Shiceka as co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister.

Zille said Zuma's government had been beset by controversy for several months.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela urged Zuma to take strong action against those involved in the SA Police Service lease deals, as well as Shiceka for his abuse of public money.

Zille lauded Zuma "for reaffirming his government's commitment to the role of the public protector and other Chapter Nine institutions".

The ANC said the Cabinet reshuffle would contribute significantly to strengthening government performance and capacity.

"In this regard, the ANC would [like] to praise and equally endorse the president’s action and decisiveness," spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

The ANC also welcomed Zuma's announcement that Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Willie Seriti would head the new commission of inquiry into the arms deal.

Strong message

African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe said action against the two ministers was long overdue.

"What we still want to see happen is Mr Shiceka paying back the taxpayers’ money he wasted on his alleged visit to his imprisoned girlfriend in Switzerland," he said.

Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Pieter Groenewald also welcomed Zuma's announcements, as did the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac).

"We believe that the president has acted appropriately in responding to the reports of the public protector regarding the misdemeanours by these two former ministers," Casac said in a statement.

Casac welcomed Cele's immediate suspension and the appointment of a board of inquiry to investigate his role in the SAPS leases.

The Congress of SA Trade Unions said it hoped the announcement marked a turning point in the fight against maladministration and corruption.

"From now on there must be a policy of zero-tolerance to the looting of public resources by anyone, in the public or private sector, no matter how senior their position," the trade union federation said in a statement.

Civil rights group AfriForum said Zuma's decision sent a strong and essential message regarding the accountability and responsibility of people in positions of power.


- SAPA

I applaud Zuma's move. Although, it is tarnished somewhat by the delay and the perception that he bowed to pressure rather than being decisive himself. However, whatever the cause, at least we can be pleased that some action is being taken. :)

Problem is he's removed 2 ministers and that little boy Cele.... but in the shuffle he's possibly set things like the Communications ministry back by moving Roy to another ministry... :(

I, too, am a bit worried about the Communications department. Nevertheless, a welcome move by Zuma!

^^ SH*T!!! :ohno: I spoke too soon. According to SABC News reports this morning, Gwede Mantashe has said the axed ministers will be returning to parliament as MP's and have simply lost their jobs as actually ministers. If that's the case, then Zuma has done ziltch, nothing, nadda... just a PR exercise to appease us "stupid" South Africans. He may have just pulled an ANC on us again: Do not punish, redeploy!

What they did was illegal, they should not only be fired, but charged!

what's happening in Midvaal ? so much for the DA's squeaky clean image...

Midvaal probably most corrupt municipality in SA - FF+

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=265422&sn=Marketingweb+detail&utm_

I want to see the details of the report, but if there are corrupt officials in Midvaal, they MUST be fired. However, the VF+'s claim that Midvaal is the MOST corrupt municipality in the whole country is a huge hyperbole of note; sounds of desperate conservative syndrome trying to gain some quick political points after a "liberal" decision by the DA to elect Mazibuko.

I know Martie Wenger and her whole family personally, I find it extremely hard to believe she is part of this quagmire.

EDIT: According to eNEWS this morning, the public-protector report is only being released later today, so where is VF+ getting their premature information from? Anyways, no political party are angels. Have always said, politics invariably becomes dirty somewhere at some stage... voting is choosing the lesser of two evils.

http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/iol-news5-1.989381!/image/464471284.png_gen/derivatives/absolute/464471284.png

DA responds to Midvaal maladministration

November 8 2011 at 07:19pm

INLSA
The Democratic Alliance has welcomed Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's findings of maladministration in the Midvaal municipality.

“Following the Protector's report, the DA will be reviewing the rules that govern the actions of its public office-bearers,” DA MP and chairman of the party's federal executive James Selfe said on Tuesday.

Madonsela said earlier that maladministration was found in the DA-led municipality.

In her official report on the municipality, Madonsela noted that the appointment of Odendaal Summerton Inc. as sole providers of legal services for the past 30 years without following proper procurement procedures was in violation of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework.

She said the municipality's accounting officer had failed to comply with his accounting responsibilities, including debt collection obligation.

The municipality's handling of houses and properties donated by residents with arrears was also “irregular and did not comply with the law”, the Protector concluded.

She found 85 properties were released to the municipality by owners, but some properties were not transferred. They were, however, intercepted by the law firm owned by the DA Midvaal leader Andre Ondendaal.

Selfe said: “In each of these instances, the municipality had already begun a process of remedial action.”

He said Midvaal mayor Timothy Nast had released a comprehensive statement in this regard.

“Mr Nast has also committed himself to carrying out the recommendations of the Protector. The DA leadership takes a special interest in the performance of the governments under our control,” Selfe said.

“In the weeks ahead we will take steps to prohibit DA office-bearers from doing business with DA governments. This is in line with the Business Interests of Employees Act we have passed in the Western Cape.”

Nast said the municipality would report any deficiencies in internal controls.

It would also co-operate with the relevant law society and investigating body in this regard.

Nast acknowledged that Madonsela's findings were correct that procurement processes were not in place when the council was formed after the first democratic local government elections in 2000.

This was before the promulgation of the Municipal Finance Management Act in 2004.

The Protector acknowledged that by 2006 a formally competitive bidding process was initiated.

“Three firms competed for this tender. Out of the three, two did not tender for the full scope of the work and were therefore disqualified. The tender was duly awarded to Odendaal and Summerton Inc,” Nast said.

The Protector had asked for the accounting officer to submit a report to the Council within 60 days to, inter alia, investigate the conduct of the former accounting officer, chief financial officer and other officials involved.

Nast said work would begin on this report, and it would be made public in accordance with the Municipal Systems Act.

“The Protector raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest in respect of the service provider and has requested that we take appropriate steps to review this. We will do so,” he said.

However, Nast said it was unfortunate that there were some factual inaccuracies in the Public Protector's findings on this matter “despite the comprehensive submission sent to her office during the course of the investigation”.

He said the executors of the late CCC Hennop wrote to the Council to offer the stand as a donation in lieu of outstanding rates.

This offer did not meet the requirements of the donation policy of Council, resulting in the property being bought by Vaughn Summerton in an open market at a later stage.

The municipality had no involvement in this, Nast said.

“The internal auditors, CMS Incorporated, investigated this matter and confirmed that a separate register was kept and maintained for donated property.

“I have written to the Protector today to clarify the facts of this matter and to request that she adjusts her report accordingly,” said Nast.

“No government is perfect. Good governments acknowledge this and strive towards the highest standards of financial management and service delivery.”

Midvaal municipality had set the standard in Gauteng for good governance over the last ten years with eight unqualified audits from the Auditor-General under its belt, Nast said. - Sapa

Taxpayers to pay R400m for ANC party
2011-11-10 07:48

Kaydene Jordaan, Volksblad
Bloemfontein - Taxpayers will have to pay more than R400m for the ANC's centenary celebrations in Bloemfontein.

This is on top of the R100m which the ANC had already budgeted for next year's big party.

This amount is however petty cash compared to the money that will be spent to ready infrastructure in the Free State to host the party.

- Taxpayers have already paid R150m for the Philip Sanders resort just outside the city. The resort will be the headquarters of the festivities;

- A further R35m has been budgeted to restore the Methodist church in Waaihoek, where the ANC was founded in 1912;

- R200m has been allocated to renovate the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Mangaung;

- The official house of Free State Premier Ace Magashule will get an upgrade costing R15m;

- Millions will also be spent to restore the historic Mapikela home, and the Winnie Mandela home in Brandfort.

Heritage

Cope's Casca Mokitlane said that as it is an ANC celebration, the organisation must use its own money to finance the party.

The ANC however feels that the centenary celebrations form part of every South African's heritage, which is why it sees no problem in spending large sums of money.

Roy Jankielsohn, leader of the DA in the Free State, said it would be highly irregular for a political party to tap into national, provincial and municipal budgets to pay for its celebrations.

"We are worried about how much money is being used for the restoration of the buildings and church, even if they could be declared national heritage sites."

Professor Andre Duvenhage, political commentator of the North West university, said such spending of taxpayers' money threatens democracy.

William Bulwane, spokesperson for Premier Magashule, did not respond.

Feed the poor cake! freaking unbelievable...

^^ Yeah! I was disappointed in the Midvaal DA for approving an irregular tender for legal services and thought I should have a rant at them, till I saw the scale of what the ANC planned directly after the DA's mismanagement press-release. Talk about the ANC having a DA-bullet for a pistol, but then turning a cruise-missile on themselves.

They say the media's biased... well, there's case in point of not giving the media a chance to hammer someone else, cause if one party spills some milk, the ANC goes and empties the entire dairy!

http://ht.ly/7q1sq

Corruption in DA's Midvaal? Odendaal report 'tip of iceberg'

Arms deal author points finger at Modise’s role
December 5 2011 at 05:00am

IOL

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

Donwald Pressly


There was little evidence that former president Thabo Mbeki received any bribes in connection with South Africa’s arms deal worth as much as R70 billion, but there were clear suggestions that he protected former defence minister Joe Modise from public scrutiny, said former standing committee on public accounts member Andrew Feinstein.

Feinstein, a former ANC MP who has written The Shadow World about “the business of war”, told the Cape Town Press Club at the weekend that it was clear that Mbeki had allowed investigations to be carried out against his then deputy president, Jacob Zuma, “because he was a political adversary”, while Modise, who allegedly received millions of dollars in bribes, was protected because he was a political ally.

Feinstein said it did not take a political scientist to work out why the triple inquiry report – by the public protector, the auditor-general and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) – was changed before it was released. It carried a paragraph that expressed some concern about Modise’s role in the arms deal. It was changed to praise the minister’s involvement.

Feinstein, who now lives in London, said it was also intriguing that Willem Heath had been appointed to head the SIU in place of Willie Hofmeyr, who was clearly not as reliable a supporter of the president.

Heath had told Feinstein 10 years ago that there was plenty of evidence of corruption involving the ANC but had gone on to defend Zuma against the arms deal investigations.

Feinstein, who is a lapsed ANC member, said it was also instructive that Zuma was now leading the campaign for an investigation into rulings of the judiciary. The decision by President Zuma to appoint an inquiry into the arms deal was “not a Damascus moment”, he said, but followed ANC Youth League threats to release information about the president’s role in arms deal corruption.

Feinstein said the commission would only have integrity if Zuma was called to testify. It was on the record that his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption for paying Zuma to further his business interests.

In the book, Feinstein refers to the 783 charges of racketeering, fraud and corruption Zuma faced for receiving payments related to the arms deal through Shaik. Zuma intervened to ensure the businessman won a lucrative subcontract through French company Thomson-CSF, now Thales.

In an encrypted fax, the company agreed to pay Zuma R500 000 a year to further the interests of the company and to protect it from any possible inquiry into its role in the arms deal, Feinstein reported.

Feinstein said it was of utter importance that the judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal should present its report to the public simultaneously to handing it to Zuma so that there was no opportunity to sanitise the report.

He praised Terry Crawford-Browne, the businessman who led the charge to bring the arms deal before another inquiry, for his enormous personal and financial sacrifice.

Referring to Modise, Feinstein said he had intervened to exclude cost as a procurement criterion “on the single largest contract” in democratic South Africa’s history. This referred to the Hawk and Gripen deal.

Noting that most of the Gripens had subsequently been mothballed by the SA Air Force (SAAF), Feinstein said the arms acquisition council had ranked the Hawk last. “Another (shortlist) excluded cost, which gave the Hawk enough points for it to be able to win with a considerable offsets bid.

“The non-costed option, which was the only shortlist considered, kept the Hawk in play when the SAAF had demanded the opposite.”

The SAAF wanted the Aermacchi for trainer aircraft and fighter jets from Daimler-Benz.

Modise had benefited from his intervention by buying up shares in Conlog, a company that benefited from arms deal offsets, Feinstein said.

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Two provinces near economic collapse
CHANDRÉ PRINCE and AMUKELANI CHAUKE | 05 December, 2011 23:5024

In an historic first, the ANC-led government has admitted that two provinces are on the brink of economic collapse and in dire need of financial bailout.

It emerged yesterday that widescale maladministration and possible criminal intent in Limpopo, Free State and Gauteng has forced the National Treasury to dip into reserves amounting to billions of rands in an effort to prevent a looming crisis.

The economic embarrassment has forced the cabinet to place eight departments in Limpopo and Free State under administration, effectively meaning that the National Treasury will play big brother to their finances.

In a shocking statement, cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi revealed how the three provinces - with Limpopo faring the worst - plunged into financial difficulties, forcing the government to urgently review provincial spending and devise elegant solutions to a situation analysts describe as "embarrassing to the country".

A cash-strapped Limpopo alone has asked Treasury for a R1-billion bailout on top of a R757.3-million overdraft to pay for November salaries.

Gauteng needs R627-million to pay for salary increases and faces "chronic problems" with large accrual and other financial disasters. It is not clear how much Free State has requested from the Treasury.

Manyi said the cabinet had been "concerned" about the state of financial management and governance in the three provinces for some time and that the drastic move was necessitated by trends of unsatisfactory spending, overspending and challenges with supply chain management.

"The Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan was asked by cabinet to urgently review the situation in Limpopo and other provinces and report back to cabinet on proposed actions to be taken to improve the financial situation and its impact on service delivery and provincial functions," said Manyi.

The intervention, as decided by the cabinet yesterday, will entail:

Key departments in Limpopo and Free State being placed under administration;
The cabinet assuming responsibility for Limpopo's treasury, education, transport and roads, health and public works departments;
The cabinet issuing directives for Free State's treasury and police and roads and transport departments;
Gauteng signing agreements with ministers of health and finance to address financial challenges in the provincial health department;
Gauteng being assisted with financial management and supply chain management issues;
Forensic investigations with strict deadlines to be carried out; and
A monitoring committee under Gordhan's leadership, assisted by six other national ministers.
And though the ANC might have egg on its face over its failure to adequately deal with its finances in the three provinces it holds majority power over, the cabinet said heads would roll if the investigations uncover any illegal conduct.

MECs, heads of departments, chief financial officers and other appropriate officials will also be replaced by the national acting deployees on a case-by-case basis.

According to Manyi, a cash- strapped Limpopo had used up its R757.3-million overdraft facility with the Corporation for Public Deposits and had asked that its facility be increased by R1-billion to pay salaries and wages on November 23.

"This request was declined but alternative arrangements were made for an early transfer of their equitable share," said Manyi.

Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said yesterday: "I don't think government realises the kind of damage something like this does to the economy. At the moment, as things stand, we are barely managing ... we are not in trouble as yet, but we are not comfortable," said Roodt.

He attributes the provinces' financial woes to incompetence and the ANC's cadre deployment tendencies.

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Youth league rails against Cabinet's Limpopo takeover
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 06 2011 12:58

The timing of Cabinet's intervention in the running of Limpopo was suspicious, the provincial ANC Youth League said on Tuesday.

"The youth league in Limpopo believes that the timing of this recent campaign is aimed at reducing the confidence of ANC members in the current leadership," it said in a statement.

Provincial party elections were due to take place later this month.

Cabinet decided on Monday to take over the running of five Limpopo departments, and to intervene in Gauteng and the Free State.

"Against the backdrop of persistently ignored positive reports of successful, clean audits by the auditor-general, we believe this action, led by the national treasury, is a disingenuous attempt -- which is informed by political manoeuvring -- to alienate ANC members of Limpopo from its leaders," the provincial youth league said.

The ANC's provincial conference would take place between December 17 to 20.

"We find it curious that this announcement follows on the heels of the closure of the leadership nominations linked to mandatory pre-conference procedure," the league said.

Business Day suggested on Wednesday that national government's move to take control of five provincial departments in Limpopo was partly to fix crippling service delivery problems but also a political move.

It would allegedly strengthen President Jacob Zuma's hand in the political infighting with Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale, who supports ANC Youth League president Julius Malema.

The youth league in Limpopo said the intervention was politically motivated.

"Consequentially, the ANC Youth League in Limpopo believes this action is intended to politically blackball the leadership of Cassel Mathale, especially in the face of recent overwhelming branch level nomination of Cassel Mathale to re-emerge as Limpopo chairperson of the ANC.

"The youth league in the province will not be moved from its support for the leadership of Cassel Mathale and the rest of the leadership line-up, as previously stated."

The provincial league said the Limpopo government was financially secure and able to pay its suppliers and employees.

"The lies being peddled by anonymous forces that salaries and payments to service providers will not be honoured by our government are malicious and completely untrue."

Earlier on Tuesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told SABC radio news that Cabinet had been monitoring the finances of these provinces for some time.

"There's been a ... trend of underspending, overspending, violating supply chain provisions and this is what we want to thoroughly investigate now."

He said it was important that a team of officials were put in place immediately to ensure proper systems and controls were implemented, while a forensic investigation took place.

Gordhan refused to comment on speculation that the move was politically motivated. -- Sapa

Arms deal author points finger at Modise’s role
December 5 2011 at 05:00am

IOL

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

Donwald Pressly


There was little evidence that former president Thabo Mbeki received any bribes in connection with South Africa’s arms deal worth as much as R70 billion, but there were clear suggestions that he protected former defence minister Joe Modise from public scrutiny, said former standing committee on public accounts member Andrew Feinstein.

Feinstein, a former ANC MP who has written The Shadow World about “the business of war”, told the Cape Town Press Club at the weekend that it was clear that Mbeki had allowed investigations to be carried out against his then deputy president, Jacob Zuma, “because he was a political adversary”, while Modise, who allegedly received millions of dollars in bribes, was protected because he was a political ally.

Feinstein said it did not take a political scientist to work out why the triple inquiry report – by the public protector, the auditor-general and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) – was changed before it was released. It carried a paragraph that expressed some concern about Modise’s role in the arms deal. It was changed to praise the minister’s involvement.

Feinstein, who now lives in London, said it was also intriguing that Willem Heath had been appointed to head the SIU in place of Willie Hofmeyr, who was clearly not as reliable a supporter of the president.

Heath had told Feinstein 10 years ago that there was plenty of evidence of corruption involving the ANC but had gone on to defend Zuma against the arms deal investigations.

Feinstein, who is a lapsed ANC member, said it was also instructive that Zuma was now leading the campaign for an investigation into rulings of the judiciary. The decision by President Zuma to appoint an inquiry into the arms deal was “not a Damascus moment”, he said, but followed ANC Youth League threats to release information about the president’s role in arms deal corruption.

Feinstein said the commission would only have integrity if Zuma was called to testify. It was on the record that his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption for paying Zuma to further his business interests.

In the book, Feinstein refers to the 783 charges of racketeering, fraud and corruption Zuma faced for receiving payments related to the arms deal through Shaik. Zuma intervened to ensure the businessman won a lucrative subcontract through French company Thomson-CSF, now Thales.

In an encrypted fax, the company agreed to pay Zuma R500 000 a year to further the interests of the company and to protect it from any possible inquiry into its role in the arms deal, Feinstein reported.

Feinstein said it was of utter importance that the judicial commission of inquiry into the arms deal should present its report to the public simultaneously to handing it to Zuma so that there was no opportunity to sanitise the report.

He praised Terry Crawford-Browne, the businessman who led the charge to bring the arms deal before another inquiry, for his enormous personal and financial sacrifice.

Referring to Modise, Feinstein said he had intervened to exclude cost as a procurement criterion “on the single largest contract” in democratic South Africa’s history. This referred to the Hawk and Gripen deal.

Noting that most of the Gripens had subsequently been mothballed by the SA Air Force (SAAF), Feinstein said the arms acquisition council had ranked the Hawk last. “Another (shortlist) excluded cost, which gave the Hawk enough points for it to be able to win with a considerable offsets bid.

“The non-costed option, which was the only shortlist considered, kept the Hawk in play when the SAAF had demanded the opposite.”

The SAAF wanted the Aermacchi for trainer aircraft and fighter jets from Daimler-Benz.

Modise had benefited from his intervention by buying up shares in Conlog, a company that benefited from arms deal offsets, Feinstein said.

Just finished reading this a good book but not deep enough on the real benifitaries in the sa arms deal. modisa however was the biggest thief

www.iol.co.za

The sickening rot of government agencies and parastatals continues. :bash:

Zuma pal scoops top job with no matric

January 29 2012 at 12:35pm
By Moffet Mofokeng

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Hlaudi Motsoeneng has walked into key positions tailor-made to suit him. He has no matric and has no managerial experience at that level. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi
A supporter of President Jacob Zuma, with neither a matric certificate nor top management experience is tipped to land the R2 million job as chief operating officer of the financially-crippled SABC.

This after the SABC decided to advertise the strategic, second-most powerful post, only internally, for only three working days. According to newly-appointed group chief executive officer Lulama Mokhobo, matric was not a requirement for successful candidates.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng, essentially an ANC deployee at SABC, has had the requirements for the job, one of the key positions in the corporation’s turn-around strategy, tailor-made to suit him because he has no matric and has no managerial experience at that level.

He is the same man fingered by a KPMG probe as having lied about having a matric certificate when he applied for the post of news executive for the broadcaster’s Bloemfontein office several years ago. Should Motsoeneng land the job, he would possibly become the only COO of such a major public institution without matric.

The move has angered workers in the financially struggling organisation. They are asking how a person without an undergraduate qualification could be the second-in-command of an organisation with a R4.7 billion turnover.

At e.tv, for example, Bronwyn Keen-Young is the chief operating officer. She has a Masters degree from Wits University and a Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB) from the University of South Africa (Unisa). Before her appointment at e.tv, she co-founded the Media Monitoring Project in 1993. Another COO, Graham Wayne Dempster, of Nedbank, one of the country’s top banks, is a qualified chartered accountant and has experience in retail banking.

The Sunday Tribune learnt that Mokhobo advertised the job on Friday, but apparently deleted parts where academic qualifications were required, ostensibly to ensure Motsoeneng, who does not have a matric but has strong political backing, qualified for the position.

Staff at the SABC are now questioning the deletion of the academic qualifications from the advert and the three working days allocated to prospective candidates. Applicants have until Tuesday to apply.

They say the position needs a suitably qualified person and Motsoeneng, said to have Zuma’s ear, was not the right candidate.

The advert states that the person who would be appointed to the job should be a “commercially astute executive, with broad ranging experience of success in broadcasting”, have “well developed negotiation and relationship building skills at the most senior level” and the “ability to translate and promote the integration of new business objectives into financial, human capital and organisational development changes on an ongoing basis”. “A demonstrable passion for public service” is the last requirement for the job.

Approached for comment, Motsoeneng said “I don’t want to comment on this issue” and added “speak to the CEO. She is here with me” before handing over his cellphone to Mokhobo.

The CEO said the job did not require a degree and was open only to SABC employees. “We are looking for a candidate who understands the business of the SABC. We don’t have the time to be in a state of inertia. It does not require a degree to run a business operation. That does not require an MBA. Anybody internally can apply for this job. We are very clear that we are not opening it to everybody,” she said.

She said the position did not require technical skill but an understanding of how business operations are run. “You need the ability to oversee complex situations.”

Responding to claims that the advert is tailor-made to suit Motsoeneng, Mokhobo said: “If we (had already) decided on Hlaudi, we would have not advertised the position. We would have given it to him.”

For over four years now, the SABC has not had a permanent COO and a chief technology officer. In stark contrast to Motsoeneng, Solly Mokoetle, the last person to occupy the position permanently in 2006, had a masters degree in journalism from Canada's Carleton University and 25 years experience in broadcasting. Twelve of those years were spent in executive management at the SABC. He also obtained advanced management and finance qualifications.

His successor, Charlotte Mampane, who occupied the COO's post temporarily, had a masters degree in management from Wits University, an honours degree from Unisa and management certificates from Wits Business School.

Mokhobo is the sixth SABC CEO – including those who were appointed in an acting capacity – to be in charge of the broadcaster since 2009. Before her, there was Dali Mpofu, who quit after accepting a R14 million settlement, Gab Mampone, who left under a cloud, and Solly Mokoetle, who was also paid millions of rand before his departure.

Former chief financial officer Robin Nicholson, who also acted in the CEO’s post, has taken the SABC to court for unceremoniously terminating his contract. Phil Molefe, who was the last executive to act as CEO, has returned to his job as group executive responsible for TV and radio news.

A senior staff member not authorised to speak to the media, said: “Where have you seen such a senior position advertised for three working days? This is bad. Where have you seen a big corporation like the SABC with a COO without qualifications?”

Hannes du Buisson, the president of the Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union, confirmed that his union had received “concerns and complaints” about how the advertisement was worded.

“I have received quite a lot of complaints from staff about why there is no qualifications requirement in the advertisement. I can’t say it was drafted for him but there is suspicion,” Du Buisson said.

Communication Workers’ Union spokesman Matankana Mothapo said they would support Motsoeneng’s appointment.

“Let’s not talk about his qualifications. Let’s talk about skills. He understands the SABC. In the shortest time he has been at the SABC, he has done well. We are happy with him,” Mothapo said.

In May 2008, the SABC was plunged into turmoil when its board suspended Mpofu, who had a day earlier suspended ex-news chief Snuki Zikalala for allegedly leaking a confidential document to ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa.

The document in question related to a labour case involving Motsoeneng, who was at the time a current affairs executive producer for Lesedi FM. Motsoeneng was fired in 2007 and Mpofu had pushed Zikalala to reinstate him, but Zikalala refused.

Motsoeneng, according to an internal audit document, misled the SABC about his qualifications when he landed a job as a junior reporter in 1996. The SABC had tried, at least on more than two occasions, to obtain Motsoeneng’s matric certificate but failed.

Sources say the Zuma camp, which had triumphed in Polokwane in 2007, needed to take control of the SABC in a bid to clean his image. In the run-up to the Polokwane conference, those in the Zuma camp complained that Mpofu, who was said to be in Thabo Mbeki’s camp, favoured the former president with positive coverage and Motsoeneng was his antithesis. - Sunday Tribune

:lol::lol::lol: At least the excuse is no longer Aparthied for financial mismanagement and blatant corruption, now it's Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal!!!

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Mathale blames Eurozone debt crisis for Limpopo woes
POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA - Jan 29 2012 15:02

Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale has claimed that the Eurozone debt crisis has hampered financial growth in the province and appealed to provincial government members not to be "defocused" by the fact that five departments had been placed under national administration.

"This must not defocus from the commitment we have made to the people on the mandate they have given us to deliver to their needs," he told ANC members at the party's provincial lekgotla in Polokwane.

He said the province had an obligation to turn the current state of affairs around, "no matter how much we may not like this reality or view it as unwarranted".

Mathale called on party members to work hard to ensure the Limpopo government got back control of the five departments, and do so quickly.

It was the "responsibility of the caucus to transform constituency offices into one-stop centres that offer assistance to our people".

Officials who neglected their constituency work and obligations were "betraying the movement and our people."

Mathale called for the "overdue" reconfiguration of parastatals so they could play a more active role within job creation and economic diversification. However, jobs could not be created without input from the private sector.

Mathale told the meeting that the Eurozone debt crisis had hampered the province's job creation plan, with growth sustained, but at a slower rate.

"How the recession in South Africa further develops will depend on the economic performance of its key trading partners such as the United States, the European Union and China."

The two-day long lekgotla ends on Monday.
The province's finance, education, health and social development, public works, and education departments were placed under the national government's control last year. The remaining departments were operating under guidelines provided by national government.

The province could not pay its civil servants and was broke. This was because of its unauthorised expenditure, which grew from R1.5 billion in 2009 to R2.7 billion in 2011, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said earlier this month. A forensic investigation into the shortfall was currently underway. -- Sapa

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ANC redeploys former Bitou manager to Sundays River - Lorimer
James Lorimer
29 January 2012

DA MP says this despite municipal disciplinary committee finding Lonwabo Ngoqo guilty on 4/7 charges

ANC gives guilty municipal manager a new job

The Municipal Manager of Bitou (Plettenberg Bay) Municipality has been offered and has accepted a job as municipal manager in Sundays River Valley Municipality, despite being found guilty of financial irregularity.

Bitou Municipal Manager Lonwabo Ngoqo has been found guilty by a disciplinary enquiry on 4 of the 7 counts he was charged with, which included contraventions of the Municipal Finance Management Act, as well as an apparent violation of section 67 of the Municipal Systems Act, which means that he should therefore not be able to hold office in another municipality for the next 10 years. The disciplinary process is currently awaiting his arguments in mitigation before sentence is passed. Bitou municipality expect this process to be concluded within 2-3 weeks.

Despite this, it has emerged that Ngoqo has applied for and been appointed to the job of Municipal Manager of Sundays River Valley Municipality in the Eastern Cape. While this may not be in contravention of the exact letter of the new Municipal Systems Amendment Act it certainly violates the spirit of attempts to stop failed municipal officials from being reappointed in other municipalities.

In considering Ngoqo for the position, the ANC-run council in Sundays River decided to appoint him despite reports that he was under investigation. This shows inexcusable negligence at best, and will give rise to speculation that he is another ANC cadre being given a job because of his political connections.

Ngoqo has not yet informed Bitou that he is leaving for a job with a lower salary, and just days ago asked the council to replace his cellphone. This despite the fact that he has told Sundays River that he will start there on Wednesday.

DA Provincial spokesperson on local government Dacre Haddon has written to MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs Mlibo Qoboshiyane asking him to reverse or stay this appointment.

The DA calls on the national minister of Cooperative Governance, Richard Baloyi, to ensure that Qoboshiyane stops Ngoqo's appointment. Failure to do so will show that the ANC's attempts to fix failing municipalities are all talk when they come up against the practice of looking after comrades.

:ohno:

www.news24.com

KZN municipalities slated over spending
2012-01-31 21:31

Bongani Mthembu
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal's 47 municipalities have incurred R2bn in irregular spending, Co-operative Governance MEC Nomusa Dube said in Durban on Tuesday.

"The amount of irregular expenditure is sitting at R2bn. Surely this is a cold and concerning fact that our councillors must attend to," she said during the awarding of certificates to the five municipalities that received clean audits in the 2010/2011 financial year.

Although the province managed to do away with adverse and disclaimer audit reports, it was concerned about the emphasis on matters which arose as a result of irregular spending.

Of KwaZulu-Natal's 61 municipalities, 47 received unqualified reports, while five received clean audits.

Among the culprits which featured prominently for irregular expenditure was KwaZulu-Natal's only metropolitan council, the eThekwini municipality, with irregular spending at over R1bn.

Clean audit campaign

Tuesday's function was also attended by Auditor General Terence Nombembe.

Dube said she had seen major changes in how municipal finances were handled since her department began its clean audit campaign.

"Since the launch of operation clean audit, we have recorded year-on-year improvement in our municipal management area."

The main factors that compromised municipal finances were poor controls, poor quality of financial statements and non-compliance with supply chain management.

Dube said the achievements of the Richmond, Umdoni, Umtshezi, Emandlangeni, and Umzinyathi municipalities showed that KwaZulu-Natal would soon achieve its clean audit target.

Congratulating the municipalities, Nombembe said he would continue supporting municipalities so all of them could get clean audits.

Targets exceeded

"We are very excited by the results. What is pleasing is that for this year we have exceeded our targets.

"Four municipalities said they would attain clean audits this year. I am happy that you have exceeded your targets by getting five clean audits."

Inkatha Freedom Party shadow finance MEC, Roman Liptak, said he was worried too many municipalities remained in financial distress.

"The 2014 deadline for all KZN municipalities to achieve clean audits within the framework of the operation clean audit is unrealistic given the persistent municipal challenges and recurring audit issues."

The lack of proper management repeatedly resulted in poor audit outcomes in municipalities, he said.

"Too many KZN municipalities have acting municipal managers and chief financial officers and it is these critical vacancies that have to be filled before we can expect improved audits."

- SAPA

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=164379

Top Durban ANC names in fraud report
Ethekwini’s former mayor, Obed Mlaba, former municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, several department heads and many employees have been named in a probe into corruption
EDWARD WEST
Published: 2012/02/08 06:43:20 AM

ETHEKWINI’s former mayor, Obed Mlaba, former municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, several department heads and many employees have been named in a far-reaching probe into fraud, corruption and maladministration.

A probe by auditing firm Manase & Associates into the African National Congress (ANC)-led metro — SA’s second-biggest by budget size — was released yesterday by KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Nomusa Dube.

ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary Sihle Zikalala said yesterday the party "views any allegation of corruption as serious". The ANC, in control of 51 of the 61 local government entities in the province, had initiated the audit, he said.

The municipality is expected to comment today.

Democratic Alliance (DA) eThekwini chief whip Dean Macpherson said yesterday it was "rich" of the ANC to congratulate themselves for ordering the investigation, when it was the ANC-led city council "that got us into this mess in the first place".

The audit report said there was sufficient documentary evidence "that confirms" Mr Mlaba’s involvement in a landfill site tender and that the integrity of the process had been "grossly compromised".

The report alleges Mr Sutcliffe had not reported corruption to the police, nor did he appear to have reported irregular expenditure to the mayor and the auditor-general in terms of regulations.

The audit found 10 councillors and 123 city employees did business with the municipality.

It also found that there had been disregard of procurement and municipal management regulations, excessive use of "emergency" clauses to bypass tender procedures, lack of budgetary controls, irregular recruitment, fraud in collusion with suppliers and corruption on the part of metro police officials.

Mr Mlaba and Mr Sutcliffe could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Ms Dube said her department had given eThekwini’s municipal leaders 21 days to respond to the report, after which her department would assess whether the action being taken by the council was adequate.

www.news24.com

Malema cronies looted Limpopo - report
2012-02-12 14:24

Polokwane - Limpopo-based cronies of ANCYL president Julius Malema allegedly spent millions of rand of taxpayers' money on properties, cars and parties, the Sunday Independent has reported.

It claimed that engineer Lesiba Gwangwa was at the centre. Gwangwa was Malema's business partner and the sole director of On-Point and SGL Engineering Projects. The two companies were previously or currently owned by Malema and his Ratang Family Trust.

Both companies have scored more than R400m worth of known Limpopo municipal tenders since 2007.

The companies are being investigated for tender fraud and corruption by the SA Revenue Service, public protector Thuli Madonsela and the elite investigating unit, the Hawks.

The national government stepped in and placed five departments in Limpopo under administration in January after tender fraud brought the province to the brink of collapse.

Madonsela has ordered the provincial roads department to suspend On-Point's participation in the tender awarding process.

She is apparently looking into how Gwangwa allegedly forced contractors to sign secret back-to-back agreements which entitled his company to a share of the proceeds of the tenders it awarded.

According to analysts quoted by the newspaper, President Jacob Zuma, was aware of what was happening in Limpopo, but was allowing the investigation to take its course rather than recalling the province's political leaders.

Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni told the newspaper that the ANC leadership would rather let the investigation expose links between the leadership in Limpopo and the tender irregularities.

"In that manner it would be seen as a technical administrative process that deals with governance and corruption issues without being seen as politically manoeuvred."

- SAPA

Canada, UN to probe SA-Iran deals
*
Johannesburg - Canada and the United Nations are set to probe South Africa's role in busting sanctions against Iran, the Sunday Times reported.

The UN would "look into such reports", according to the paper.

Canada's Border Services Agency was also investigating, as Canadian company Eagle Copters was reportedly implicated.

According to a Sunday Times report last week South African front companies had been used to ship US helicopters and spare parts to Iran. Because some of these parts could be used for military purposes, they violated UN sanctions.

On Tuesday Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said the protector was assessing whether she had jurisdiction to probe the matter.

"She is not investigating, she is assessing the request," Masibi said.

This followed a request by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to investigate the claims, which implicated his partner, Gugu Mtshali.

On Thursday, the National Conventional Arms Control Committee told Parliament's joint standing committee on defence that it had started investigations against the companies and individuals mentioned in the report.

Fin24

Cross post from politics thread, but falls well within the ambit of government corruption, thievery and corruption of the democratic state! :ohno:

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ANC destabilising Theewaterskloof - Theuns Botha
Theuns Botha
20 March 2012

DA WCape leader says violence in Grabouw and Villiersdorp was planned months in advance

Grabouw and Villiersdorp protests politically motivated


Recent protests in Grabouw and Villiersdorp (both in the Theewaterskloof municipality) were planned months in advance by an ANC task team established with the objective of reclaiming power in Western Cape councils through any means necessary.

The politics behind these events explains clearly why violence and vandalism continue in these towns despite resolutions being found over a week ago to the alleged reasons for the protests.

The political context behind the protests is as follows:

An ANC task team is attempting to destabilise the Theewaterskloof municipality and other places where the DA governs.
The members of the task team are Marius Fransman (ANC Provincial Chairperson), Fezile Calana (ANC Provincial Treasurer) and Advocate Duncan Korabie, an ANC-affiliated legal professional.
The task team uses the strategy of attempted bribery to persuade DA councillors and coalition partners to sign motions of no-confidence in the council leadership, thus forcing by-elections where the ANC can contest power.
If negotiations fail, local activists are co-opted to foment violence under the guise of "service delivery protests".
Affidavits filed at the Caledon police station over a month before the violence in Grabouw and Villiersdorp began, detail how Fransman, Calana and Korabie used a local ANC affiliate called John Michaels to facilitate the attempted bribery of DA councillors.

DA councillors were asked to sign a no-confidence motion in the Theewaterskloof council leadership in exchange for jobs, cash or leadership positions in the council. The ANC would then assume control of the municipality as a result of this action.

Filed on 5 February 2012, the affidavits show how John Michaels threatened DA councillors with an ANC strategy to make their wards ungovernable should the plan to pass a motion of no confidence in the council leadership not succeed.

DA councillor Meki Plato recounts how Michaels revealed plans to stir up protest against her among people living in an informal settlement outside Villiersdorp if she "refuses to come over to the ANC".

Michaels was referring to people who are occupying private land on Destiny Farm outside the town.

Michaels also said that they did not plan to make an offer to DA councillor Mlulami Tshaka in Grabouw. Instead they would use school children at Umyezo Wama Apile Combined School to "turn his ward upside down".

Michaels was referring to over-crowding at the school caused by the National Department of Public Works' continuous delays in approving alternative land to build additional school buildings in the area. This is despite constant pressure from the Western Cape Education Department on Minister Thulas Nxesi, his predecessor and even the President to speed up the process.

Michaels and the ANC have proceeded with the plan, as detailed in the affidavits, to foment violent protest in Grabouw and Villiersdorp. Michaels has been operating in the area under the guise of the Elgin Grabouw Civics Organisation.

Having managed to negotiate the defection of a former DA councillor, Catharine Booysen-Nefdt, the ANC failed to get the required number of signatures to pass a no-confidence motion in the council leadership as originally planned.

The ANC-led unrest in Grabouw was designed to help the ANC win the by-election taking place next week on 28 March.

In the first round of "protests" on 5 March, two classrooms at the Umyezo Wama Apile Combined School were set on fire, a third ransacked, and the school hall vandalised.

In the midst of this, pupils tried to salvage their study records and teachers looked on in disbelief.

Michaels was quoted prominently in the press as the leader of the Grabouw protests, promising that classes would not continue until the Education MEC received the memorandum. As the situation developed, one of the local ANC Councillors, Peter de Wet, became increasingly more prominent as one of the leaders of the protest.

It must be made clear that the violence in Grabouw and Villiersdorp is part of an orchestrated ANC campaign to destabilise DA municipalities; it has nothing to do with so-called "service delivery protests."

The fact is that both the municipality and the provincial government have concrete plans to resolve the school situation in Grabouw - despite the delays that have been caused by the National Department of Public Works.

By April 10, a full temporary solution to the overcrowding at Umyezo Wama Apile Combined School will be rolled out. Land has been identified for the placement of 18 mobile classrooms to accommodate the additional learners and end the over-crowding.

Regarding the Destiny Farm residents in Villiersdorp, the municipality has budgeted R5 million to purchase the land as soon as possible. A housing development and basic services will be rolled out on this property.

These solutions have been conveyed in full to the residents of Grabouw and Villiersdorp and the vast majority of people are satisfied with the speed that government is acting on this. Solutions, though, are not what a small group of politically motivated people want.

Fomenting violence is more in line with the ANC's political objectives than peace in the community and genuine delivery solutions to the challenges being faced there.

As ever, the ANC would rather people suffer in poverty than prosper under the DA. But while the ANC tries to break up our communities, the DA will continue in its efforts to build a united province where all can enjoy opportunities to live a better life.

Statement issued by Theuns Botha, DA Provincial Leader in the Western Cape, March 30 2012

pathetic indeed! The DA should make a HUGE fuss about this and embarrass these trouble makers as much as possible, so much so as to force the president to take action against them. These actions are not only vile and low, they are undemocratic and against the constitution.

Its the same in Bitou Council ( Plett ) - they're getting death threats there. this is too much. Its too much to expect the ANC to play fare. What are we gonna do!? - there support base is too strong, and too easily lead. I feel terrible woe at the idea of masses of people being told by ANC folk covering their tracks that the DA is racist just purely to mask any thought that they may govern better! I pray that the DA do take Tshwane and Durban, or at least Port Elizabeth, and dish the dirt on all they discover. Even then, the ANC followers will believe the DA is lying, and thats the worst of all. The freedom charter and founding fathers of the ANC never stated anything like what Zuma said in my tagline. While the greats are turning in their graves and still warm in them, their noble ( and Nobel ) wishes are being overwritten!

State picked up R12m ANC tab

South Africa's government spent R12-million ($1.6-million, €1.2-million) on hosting foreign guests at the ruling ANC's recent 100-year celebrations, the foreign minister said Thursday.

The state picked up an R11.1-million tab to house 50 heads of states and government and nine dignitaries with their delegations at the African National Congress bash in January, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said in a parliamentary reply.

Another sum of just over one-million rands was spent on logistics, including meals, at the three-day event in the central city of Bloemfontein, which marked the founding of Africa's oldest liberation movement.

The celebrations included a golf tournament, animal sacrifice, concerts and a mass rally and were attended by countries that supported the ANC's anti-apartheid fighters and supported the fall of white-minority rule.

The event was also used for meetings on South Africa's foreign policy, and to lobby its nomination of a former foreign minister as the next African Union chairperson, Nkoana-Mashabane said.

The lavish celebrations drew criticism for the former liberation movement, accused of failing to focus on ongoing problems like poverty, inequality and unemployment.

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Inkatha Freedom Party (Durban)

South Africa: Cover-Up on E-Tolling Project Reminiscent of Pre-1994 Tactics
11 MARCH 2012

PRESS RELEASE

The IFP said today that it was shocked to learn the real reasons behind government's push to ensure the controversial Gauteng e-tolling project succeeds.

It is reported today, that the Public Investment Corporation - an investment manager for state institutions - has bought R17 billion in SANRAL bonds. 89% of this investment is made-up of the Government Employees Pension Funds.

"Finally it is clear why government wants to save this project at all cost, despite it being unfeasible and despite it receiving so much public resistance. These types of cover-ups were prevalent during the apartheid regime, but never could one have imagined such a huge cover-up in our post-democratic dispensation," said Narend Singh MP, the IFP's spokesperson on Finance and on the e-tolling project.

It is now clear that there are huge economic issues at stake. If the tolling project fails, Government will not only have to bail-out SANRAL, but it will also have to bail-out the civil servants' pension funds as well.

"It is clear that Government finds itself between a rock and a very hard place," said Singh.

He added, "This matrix that we find ourselves in now is totally untenable, especially since the pensions of ordinary citizens are at stake. Government has misled the public. We believe that this might possibly be one of the biggest post-democratic era scandals to date. I will raise this matter at the next possible opportunity at Parliament, as the taxpayer deserves answers on this matter," concluded Singh.

^^ After this, and the vitriolic tripe Jackson Mthemu spewed in rebuttal to Helen Zille's "The Eastern Cape learners are like 'education refugees' fleeing a defunct system." His reply, not "How can we fix the Eastern Cape," not "How is the unionisation of teachers causing learners harm," not "why would the EC Education Dept. not allow us to put it under administration." No, his reply: "refegee is being racist!"

WTF!!!??? The f**king race card when kids are suffering, when our future is being taken advantage of....

I think it's time to take these mo-fo's down. Time for 2014... BRING IT ON! They've completely lost the f**king plot... They're like a mortally wounded, then prodded animal; Mark my words all logically thinking peeps, these guys are now dangerous on an almost demonic level. If they're not curbed of power come 2014 (and I've been a political oracle before, predicting most political and election outcomes), we're in the deepest sh*t you can imagine. The signs of fascism, ultra-nationalism and racial-populism bordering on genocidal, constitutional and judicial scapegoating and their ultimate executive subversion is becoming ominously evident.

Apologies for the **expletives, but I can't believe what I'm witnessing in our political system. In 2014, we have the power to change the clock's timing, but...

My political-warning intuition now stands on: 5mins to Midnight (23:55).

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Poor municipality's million-rand man
2012-03-25 22:00

Athandiwe Saba, City Press
Johannesburg - The political adviser for one of the country's poorest municipalities earns R1m a year, but nobody, including the man himself, can explain what his job entails.

Zama Mzamane is the political adviser to Mayor Dingaan Myolwa in the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape.

National Treasury salary data show that Mzamane earns a total package of R1 180 860 a year.

He is also a rare breed. In nearly 7 000 records of senior council jobs and pay from the Treasury, Mzamane is the only “political adviser” listed.

OR Tambo includes seven local municipalities in an area with a population of 1.5 million people.

The municipality is considered by the Treasury to have been “financially dysfunctional” over the past two financial years and received an adverse audit opinion for 2010/11.

City Press contacted Mzamane several times to ask him what he did and for further details of his salary package.

But he refused to comment and demanded instead that City Press’s report should reveal similar details in return. “Send me the questions and also state how much you earn and what your job is,” he said.

When told that as a public official he was obliged to answer questions relating to his position, he disconnected the call.

'You child'

“Stop pestering me. Leave me alone, you child,” he said in a follow-up call. He then refused again to answer questions.

Mzamane is a former OR Tambo council chief whip and currently a local ANC executive committee member.

The council’s last annual report shows that his package includes a R70 000 a year car allowance and a R2 000 a month cellphone allowance.

His salary package is slightly less than OR Tambo’s municipal manager, who earns R1 265 760 a year.

He earns more than the director of legal services (R1 068 150), the head of the internal audit (R1 064 900) and other senior positions.

Loud laughter

A call to council speaker Nomakhosazana Meth about Mzamane’s position was answered with loud laughter.

“No, I don’t know what his position entails either. Maybe you should ask him.” She referred all questions to Mzamane.

Mayor Myolwa asked that questions be sent to him using Mzamane’s e-mail address, but when contacted, he claimed not to have received them.

The United Democratic Movement’s chief whip in OR Tambo, Vuyani Dangala, said: “This is a crisis. We don’t understand why there should be such a position.

“This is a duplication of duties, as the municipal manager should be the one advising the mayor on issues of the municipality or any other guidance the mayor might need.”

- City Press

can you belive these F**king chumps. JUST PAY UP!!!

ANC fails to pay contractors
Fri, 23 Mar 2012 9:22 - from iAfrica

The ANC continues to be embroiled in spats over millions of rands in unpaid bills to contractors, according to a report on Friday.

VWV Interactive -- the company involved in staging a production for the African National Congress centenary celebrations earlier this year -- was still owed millions, the Mail&Guardian reported.

VWV said subsequent to payment not being received in full, some of the people and companies it had hired had only been paid 50 percent of the money owed to them.

However, the ANC has disagreed, saying the money, R6.2 million, is under dispute as the live performance in Bloemfontein was rained out.
"We didn't cause the rain. You could say the rain washed away the payment," said ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa.
VWV's chief executive Wanda Shuenyane disagreed.

"We have not been informed of any dispute based on force majeure [irresistible force, a legal clause in supply contracts].

"It is public knowledge that the show screened on television [twice]... because [the main show] was entirely rained out. But we have not been informed of any dispute based on that."

Shuenyane also said the amount owed was closer to R10 million.

The ANC is also embroiled indirectly in other legal spats, as other subcontractors take primary ANC-hired contractors to court to recoup losses.

^^ Own worst enemy! :ohno:

www.news24.com

Western Cape govt aims to be best in world
2012-03-27 21:38

Johannesburg - The Western Cape's results in the last financial year reconfirmed its position as South Africa's best-run administration, Finance MEC Alan Winde said on Tuesday.

"But, Speaker, our vision for this province does not stop there: we have set ourselves the target of becoming the best run regional government in the world."

Winde was making the provincial treasury 2012/13 budget vote speech in Cape Town.

"One of the most critical factors upon which our success will be judged is our ability to eradicate corruption. We have already made significant progress toward this goal."

In 2010/11, for the second consecutive year, every department of the Western Cape government achieved an unqualified audit from the Auditor-General.

The province also spent more of its total budget than any other province in South Africa, just over 99%, he said.

In the coming year the provincial treasury has been allocated R154.286m, a 7.95% increase on last year's budget.

Administration would receive 21.54% of the budget, or R33.243m, to give strategic direction and quality financial support to Winde and the Treasury team as a whole.

Sustainable resource management would receive 44.21%, or R68.204m, to ensure that the province's budget and its financial assets were professionally managed, and to ensure that budgets across the board were utilised effectively and efficiently.

Assets and liabilities management would receive 19.86%, or R30.639m, to ensure accounting systems, physical assets and supply chain management systems were effectively managed.

Financial governance would receive 14.39%, or R22.22m, to develop and drive financial practices that supported the province's goal of reaching level three financial maturity by 2015.

"Above and beyond these programmes, is a set of new and innovative priority areas that will form the basis of the work of this department in the coming year," Winde said.

These priorities were budget management, public finance, supporting and interlinked financial systems, fiscal policy, immovable asset management, moveable asset management, business information and data management, and accounting.

He said the success of the above initiatives were highly dependent on the province's ability to build fit-for-purpose financial managers at provincial and local level.

"To grow new talent, we have invested in a programme that invites learners from across the province to draft high level essays that deal with the pertinent issues of our economy."

Up to 12 winners each year would receive full bursaries to study finance at a tertiary institution of their choice. The programme would be run in conjunction with Nedbank.

"Through this department's determination, we are fast tracking the revitalisation of the Western Cape public service. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of becoming the best-run regional government in the world," Winde said.

- SAPA

Not quite govenrment, but close links to members!!!!!

MTN’s cash, weapons and ties in Iran

Cellphone giant MTN was so desperate to win a mobile operating licence in the “virgin” territory of Iran that it allegedly put together a package of bribes

Cellphone giant MTN was so desperate to win a mobile operating licence in the “virgin” territory of Iran that it allegedly put together a package of bribes, trading opportunities in sophisticated weaponry, capital investment and diplomatic influence that the Islamic Republic could not resist.

That is the claim of rival firm Turkcell, which was pushed out of the deal when MTN arrived on the scene. It backs up the allegation with a raft of what appears to be internal MTN documents, leaked from the heart of the company’s Iran operation.

The allegations are set out in a $4-billion (R32-billion) lawsuit launched in the US District Court of Columbia in Washington DC this week.

The scheme, allegedly known in MTN as “Project Snooker”, was allegedly driven from the top by then-chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko, with the assistance of Irene Charnley (then commercial director), and Sifiso Dabengwa (then chief operating officer).

It included alleged bribes to South Africa’s ambassador to Iran, Yusuf “Jo-Jo” Saloojee, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Javid Ghorbanoghli; the involvement of former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota in the procurement of highly sensitive weapons systems from parastatal Denel; and access for Iranian officials to South Africa’s top nuclear envoy, Abdul Minty.

The memos attached to the court papers apparently set out how Ghorbanoghli, dubbed “Long John”, was allegedly paid $400 000 to politically undermine Turkcell’s position while Saloojee, codenamed “Short John”, was allegedly paid $200 000 to help MTN deliver pro-Iran votes from South Africa at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) amid controversy over Iran’s nuclear plans.

The Irancell cellphone network was projected to be worth $31.6-billion in revenues over 15 years for a licence fee of $380-million. The licence holder and the Iranian state-owned telecommunications company were to enjoy exclusive use of the market for two years before a third competing licence would be awarded.

Turkcell won the bid on February 18 2004 and MTN came second. But Turkcell claims that MTN, through “unprecedented corrupt acts”, blocked it from entering the agreements, clearing the regulatory environment and completing post-award obligations.

To secure the 49% stake in Irancell, MTN effectively also allegedly carried all the costs for its 51% partner through “sham loans”, Turkcell says.

It is alleged in the papers that MTN paid the €300-million licence fee, capitalisation costs and share transfer tax of Iran’s state-owned defence company, Sairan (also known as Iran Electronic Industries or IEI) and Bonyad (one of the five Iranian quasi-independent charitable foundations that is integral to Iran’s defence establishment) in exchange for their assistance within the ministry of defence and the “Supreme Leader”.

What follows is a summary of Turkcell’s claims in its court application and the supporting documentation that allegedly emanates from within MTN. It has not yet been tested in court, nor has MTN commented on the authenticity of the documents.

The cash bribes: the “Long John” and “Short John” story

A few weeks after Turkcell was made the preferred bidder, Charnley met with Ghorbanoghli (Long John) in Tehran where the minister told her that MTN’s only chance to oust Turkcell was to win political influence in Iran and use South Africa’s influence to favour the Iranian government at the UN Security Council.

And so began “Project Snooker” — the plan on how best to use Iranian and South African government officials to allegedly gain political influence. MTN reached out to a former deputy minister for the Iranian ministry of information and communications technology and to Mohammed Mokhber, the deputy president of a major charitable foundation known as Bonyad Mostazafan, controlled by the supreme leader of Iran.

The Bonyad foundation is controlled by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military complex formed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is believed to control about one-third of the Iranian economy. It is known for engaging in Iran’s shadow foreign policy.

MTN was then introduced to Ebrahim Mahmoudzadeh, a former Iranian deputy minister of defence and then-president of Iran Electronic Industries, who reported directly to the Iranian minister of defence.

As one of Turkcell’s local minority partners in the Irancell consortium, Mokhber and Mahmoudzadeh told MTN executives they would be willing to work with the South African company and dump Turkcell if MTN could obtain certain defence equipment, support its nuclear programme and pay for the licence and other benefits.

For example, MTN was urged to facilitate the purchase of certain military equipment from South Africa for Iran’s state-owned defence company, Sairan, which was previously blocked by South Africa’s national conventional arms control committee. For more than a year, MTN executives regularly visited Mahmoudzadeh and the ministry of foreign affairs to reinforce its political influence.

In about April 2004, the Iranians tested MTN’s ability to deliver on defence products and nuclear votes. Sairan requested that MTN arrange a meeting with Denel, South Africa’s largest manufacturer of defence equipment, as well as then-defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota.

MTN was told Iran was building its defence force and it wanted to purchase military radios, encryption technologies and pilot display computer chips manufactured in the Western Cape, which South Africa refused to sell them previously. MTN made a commitment that it could procure this equipment as well as facilitate installation of eavesdropping technologies on MTN devices were they to be awarded the 49% stake in Irancell.

The MTN board of directors, including Cyril Ramaphosa, Nhleko, Dabengwa and Charnley, received regular reports on the status of Turkcell’s licence and MTN’s strategies.

Enter Saloojee, “aka Small John”, who was appointed South Africa’s ambassador to Iran on May 23 2004. Before he left for Tehran, MTN briefed him about the licence situation and about its desire to win the licence from Turkcell. “Small John” started working closely with “Long John” and convinced the Iranian government that MTN had enough political clout to help Iran on its nuclear and defence equipment needs. Charnley was key to that mix because of her political connections in South Africa, particularly with Lekota — she worked closely with him in the United Democratic Front during the 1980s. Ramaphosa also enjoyed a close relationship with Lekota because of their ties in the ANC.

It is well known in political circles that Charnley and Nhleko were closely aligned with former president Thabo Mbeki. Charnley is friends with Mbeki’s wife, Zanele, who assisted the former MTN executive with funds to help start Smile Communications, a telecoms company.

“Small John” was also allegedly close to Mbeki, with whom he had shared a house at some point during the struggle.

In about June 2004, Saloojee invited Charnley and Nhleko to his house for dinner and that’s where the discussion of the bribes for both “Small John” and “Long John” took place. Saloojee explained that he was hoping to purchase a house in South Africa for $200 000. On April 26 2007, MTN made a direct payment into a trust account for Saloojee, which was received by his property attorneys, Gildenhuys Lessing Malatji Inc. The property transaction was closed on September 26 2007.

MTN had also made a promise to Ghorbanoghli to reimburse him for his assistance and Saloojee had helped the Iranian with personal favours, such as arranging for his children to be educated in South Africa.

It was at a dinner in May 2005 that Charnley offered Ghorbanoghli a $400 000 bribe through a “sham” consultancy agency agreement to reward his efforts to politically undermine and destroy Turkcell’s position as the licence holder and to deliver the licence to MTN instead. The “sham” consultancy payment was authorised by Nhleko on behalf of MTN in a memo dated December 11 2006.

Charnley was sent a confidential memo in which Ghorbanoghli says he has arranged for a friend in Dubai to receive the funds on his behalf through a company called Aristo Oil International Services.

In an invoice from Aristo it described the scope of the responsibilities as “introduce MTN-Iran to key role-players, arrange meetings and generally provide support and assistance during the negotiations and conclusion of the necessary agreements that will provide for MTN’s entry into the Iranian mobile market”.

Ghorbanoghli delivered on that. On September 17 2005 MTN’s executive team flew to Iran and finalised agreements with the IEDC and payment structures. A day later MTN issued a notice to its board members regarding “Project Snooker” and its decision to officially take up the GSM licence in Iran.

On September 21 2005, two months before being awarded the licence, Nhleko delivered a confidential memorandum to Dabengwa, Charnley and MTN’s former chief financial officer, Robert Nisbet, which was copied to the Chris Kilowan and Paul Norman setting out in detail the ground rules for “Project Snooker” and how MTN would deliver on the defence and nuclear support promises.

Weapons: The promised Denel collaboration, which clearly came off

In August 2004, MTN accompanied Lekota on a trip to Iran, which the cellphone company organised and paid for, where they struck an “arms- for-licence” deal with the Iranian ministry of defence to deliver “The Fish”. Nhleko and Charnley were present at the meeting where they signed a confidential memorandum of understanding, promising that South Africa would deliver “heaven, earth, and fish”, meaning the elicit arms and technology in exchange for the licence.

“The Fish” was a code for the name for a combination of military co-operation and big-ticket defence equipment, including Rooivalk helicopters, frequency-hopping encrypted military radios, sniper rifles, G5 howitzers, cannons, armoured landmine-proof personnel carriers, radar technology, pilot “heads-up” display technology and other defence articles that included US systems and components. Iran didn’t have access to this equipment legitimately because of US and international sanctions against it at the time.

To reassure the Iranian authorities, MTN paid for Iran’s nuclear negotiator to meet with then-president Mbeki at his Cape Town residence, a meeting which was apparently facilitated by Charnley, Ramaphosa and Saloojee through their political connections.

On November 16 2004, Charnley sent a letter via fax on behalf of MTN, copied to Saloojee, facilitating a meeting between Denel and the Iran Helicopter Support and Renewal Co. The letter indicated that Charnley had met with then-Denel chief executive Victor Moche to provide helicopter technology from Denel to produce helicopters with US Apache technology in Iran.

Denel’s former head for North Africa and the Middle East, Donald Romfolo, confirmed they had been in talks with Iran’s defence ministry and state arms company, Sairan, in 2004.

But he said the national conventional arms control committee barred the company from trading in Iran “because of the US sanctions”. He denied any knowledge of Charnley and said he knew of no talks with MTN or pressure applied by the company.

Lekota, now president of Cope, flatly denied on Thursday that MTN had paid for any visit by him to Iran. “This is absolutely fallacious. Defence was never bankrupt when I was there.”

However, he confirmed one or more visits “in my official capacity” to Iran, and he confirmed that “in one of those visits it coincided with the MTN people also travelling there — they did form part of the South African delegation going there”.

“I had meetings with the relevant minister and I think even the head of state … but at no stage did I have any meetings with the cellphone company MTN, I was never in any meeting. I had no obligation or, in fact, no power to negotiate anything on behalf of MTN. I think MTN negotiated their business with their counterparts quite independent of their mission. I could not have made any promises to the Iranian government on defence co-operation without going through Cabinet.”

Later, confronted with a specific allegation that he had met his Iranian counterpart in the presence of MTN officials, he conceded that “when official business had been done … we might have been entertained, and that the businesspeople that may have been part of this visit may have been part of that”.

“I deny that there was any negotiations around MTN’s business interests by the ministry of defence led by myself.”

Lekota denied that he would have promised any weapons outside of the arms control committee’s approvals that would have to follow. “I never made any commitments of the nature you are suggesting.”

In the end, and once Iran had handed the licence to MTN, it seems whatever promises about defence materiel may have been made, came to naught.

In March 2007, a year and half after MTN was awarded the licence, MTN began facing even greater pressure from its Iranian partners to deliver on some of its defence and nuclear-related promises. MTN’s representative in Iran, Chris Kilowan, sent a memo to Nhleko from the Iranians calling on the company to deliver on its defence promises. “[MTN's chief executive Nhleko] should attempt as a matter of urgency to contact the president of South Africa and impress upon him that the failure to resolve the defence matters to the satisfaction of Iran will have severe negative repercussions for MTN,” read the memo attached as an exhibit.

The “highly confidential” memo recounts Saloojee’s description of visits to South Africa by top Iranian officials on behalf of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Khamenei dispatched Ali Larijani, then the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to remind Mbeki “that certain defence-related promises were made by the South African minister of defence in 2004 in exchange for which MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in the Irancell consortium”.

The same memo reports that Manouchehr Mottaki, then Iran’s foreign minister, was sent by Ahmadinejad to “get a direct answer” from Mbeki about South Africa’s alleged promises to sell arms to Iran. Kilowan wrote in the memo: “Mottaki reiterated their understanding that MTN was allowed to replace Turkcell in exchange for defense co-operation.”

On the UN Security Council vote, the memo said: “It is now a matter of public record what happened to the vote on Saturday … that South Africa also voted in favour of the sanctions.”

The memo also relates Saloojee’s concerns. “The Iranians did not expect the voting to go otherwise, although they were hopeful that South Africa would at least abstain. As it is, South Africa is now seen as having made a U-turn on the matter and we will have to closely monitor the reaction of the Iranians to the fact.”

MTN also found itself being threatened in late 2007 by “Long John” for not delivering on its promises.

Mbeki’s spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, told the M&G: “Former president Thabo Mbeki does not believe that he should oblige attempts to drag his name into this matter and will therefore not comment.”

The Votes: International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations

Throughout 2004 and 2005, at the same time that MTN was lobbying hard to displace Turkcell, Iran came under intense pressure over its nuclear enrichment programme.

The international community had repeatedly voted against the state before the International Atomic Energy Authority and the UN Security Council, calling on it to meet its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In fact, as Turkcell detailed, from 2004 to 2008, South Africa largely joined the votes against Iran except for a brief hiatus at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006, which coincided with the November 2005 license award.

“MTN learned that the Iranians understood South Africa to play a critical role in being able to lead the ‘non-aligned’ nations on nuclear votes in international bodies,” Turkcell stated.

And so, Turkcell claims, the cellphone giant orchestrated an “informal” meeting between Mbeki and Iran’s nuclear chief, Hassan Rowhani, at a dinner at Mbeki’s Cape Town residence.

“MTN paid for adviser Rowhani to stay at a hotel in Cape Town, sponsored the large dinner party, and covered all travel logistics,” Turkcell claims. “Consistent with MTN’s promises, the president assured adviser Rowhani that the South African government would support Iran at the [International Atomic Energy Authority].”

But Mbeki, through his spokesperson, refused to comment on this account.

That September, when the International Atomic Energy Authority board found Iran not to be complying with its non-proliferation treaty obligations, South Africa abstained.

Come November 20, Turkcell detailed, MTN expected it was to be awarded the licence. Instead, the Iranians are said to have delivered the message that should South Africa vote against Iran at a crucial November 24 vote before the IAEA, it would “cause trouble”.

The decision the IAEA has to make was on whether to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for breaching the NPT.

This appears to have sent the company’s mavericks into a bit of a spin.

It is alleged they approached Saloojee, who approached South African ambassador to the IAEA Abdul Minty. Other frantic calls were made, and as it happened, South Africa abstained from the vote.

Three days later the Iranians issued the GSM license to MTN.

The M&G was unable to reach Minty on Thursday, but when he was approached on the matter in February, he strenuously denied having been influenced: “At no point did [MTN] approach me to influence me in any direction.”

According to him, South Africa’s policy on Iran at the IAEA had been “very consistent”.

The “loan” to the 51% partner

After being awarded the 49% stake, MTN made good on its promises to its 51% shareholder, carrying all its costs. MTN agreed to pay the IEDC’s $88-million capital share of MTN Irancell as well as their share of the $300-million licence fee.

The Iranian partners were clear that they were not willing to pay any “interest” on, or put up security for, a “loan”. Charnley presented the proposed arrangement to MTN. Rob Nisbett, the chief financial officer, was apparently shocked at the proposal and refused to permit the deal on “improper and unsecured terms”.

He insisted that a formal loan agreement be negotiated and entered into with the parties. He also threatened to resign if this was not done.

On November 15 2005 MTN Group directed its subsidiary, MTN International (Mauritius) Ltd, to enter into sham “loan” agreements with the IEDC. Nisbett still voiced concern about this arrangement and informed the executive team that the “loans” put MTN at huge risk. Nhleko issued Nisbett with a formal written warning for opposing the financial terms and was instructed to authorise the transaction.

Documents show MTN made the “loans” through a series of complex “round trip” agreements by shifting the funds around between the IEDC, MTN-Irancell, and MTN Group, which it then recorded on its books as loans.

By the time the loans were due, MTN-Irancell was highly profitable — $118-million profit in 2007, $234-million in 2008, $516-million in 2009, $583-million in 2010 and at least $503-million projected for 2011.

Charnley did not respond to numerous messages left on her cellphone and with an assistant in her office. An automatic message at Saloojee’s office — the South African embassy in Oman where he is ambassador — said staff did not work on Thursdays, and emails were not answered.

Spokespeople for Nhleko and Ramaphosa said they would pass on the M&G‘s respective messages, but neither responded in time for print deadline.

Department of International Affairs and Cooperation spokesperson Clayson Monyela could not be reached, but last month he denied that any company had influence over South Africa’s foreign policy.

Calls to Iran’s embassy in South Africa were placed on hold, after which no calls were answered.

Claim ‘has no legal merit and will be opposed’

MTN and its legal advisers were locked in all-day meetings yesterday, filing its JSE news service (Sens) announcement only at 5.30pm in response to the explosive claims made by Turkcell in a lawsuit filed in the Washington Federal Court at 2am South African time.

Africa’s largest cellphone operator said the claim had still not been served, but that it would oppose it. The company reiterated that there was “no legal merit” to Turkcell’s claim and no basis for such a claim to be brought before a United States court. It also noted the South African government’s denial of the allegations that MTN exercised influence over it.

In advance of Turkcell filing its claim, MTN announced the formation of an independent committee, under the chairmanship of internationally renowned jurist Lord Hoffmann, to investigate Turkcell’s allegations. The Hoffmann committee has already begun its investigations and will report its findings to the MTN board, with any recommendations on actions to be taken as a result of its findings, including their publication.

“The Hoffmann committee has invited Turkcell to participate in its investigation, but Turkcell has to date not done so,” MTN said in the statement. “The invitation remains open to Turkcell to participate in the Hoffmann committee’s investigation.”

Turkcell has been threatening to take MTN to the US courts for corruption since February 2, but held out for a settlement from MTN first before it filed. MTN has been calling its bluff by refusing to settle out of court, claiming extortion.

Turkcell has argued that MTN has many business interests in the US and that the cellphone company has violated the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that gives US courts jurisdiction in some instances to consider claims by foreigners for illegal conduct that occurred in another country. The law is usually cited in human rights and torture cases.

Meanwhile, Turkcell was yesterday dealing with its own set of issues relating to infighting among its board and shareholders.

Reuters reported that the board met to discuss its structure and independent board members. Having founded Turkcell in 1994, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet is locked in a boardroom struggle with the other main shareholders in Turkcell: Altimo and Nordic telecommunications group TeliaSonera.

Turkcell’s board has seven members. The three main shareholders — Cukurova, Altimo and TeliaSonera — each has two seats. Chairperson Colin Williams is the designated independent board member. Altimo and TeliaSonera want him replaced because they say he sides with Cukurova, Reuters reports. TeliaSonera has a 37% stake in Turkcell, whereas Altimo has a 13.2% stake it bought from Karamehmet in 2005. However, Cukurova’s 13.8% stake carries controlling rights because of Turkcell’s structure.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Has anyone seen how psycho Blade Nzimande has become lately. He's been making so insane utterances, claiming government will never do business with Nedbank, that the SA banking sector is close to a "sub-prime type bubble" and will burst, that NGO's, Business and the liberal Media are a "Third Force." WTF?!?! :bash:

Then, ANCYL has rejected the ANC's decision to suspend Malema and say he will continue with his duties.

The SADTU (teacher's union) leader in Queenstown tried to run over the DA's Lindiwe Mazibuko on Friday, when she walked 20km's with students in the Eastern Cape to show the plight they face.

Gauteng's premier also has refused to pay the medical bills of the student who was run-over by the Gauteng MEC for Housing. This, despite his medical bills topping R1million and her being officially recording in the media as promising the Ferraira family the Gauteng Province will foot the medical costs.

I'm actually speechless reading this... all this craziness in one weekend. They ARE really losing the plot; the ANC and its allies are becoming worryingly psychotic. I'm very concerned. :cry:

I give the ANC a predicted national vote of 56% in 2014, losing the country outright to a coalition in 2019. If Mazibuko takes over a parliamentary leader of the DA and grooming of leaders of colour continues apace, it's almost certain to be a DA-lead coalition that takes over SA in 2019.

The ANC are in a precipitous decline... time is running out for them. They have nobody to blame but themselves for their demise.

^^I am completely and purely in disagreement with you. Never predict the future. Too easy your way of thought. Zuma has the total support of the Zulus who voted for a quarter for the inkhata freedom. this ethnic group of the KZN represents 25 % of the population south African and at least 20 % of the voters. In Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Cap, the votes are more or less assure for ANC. But I remain careful!!

^^The tribal card, Zuma's trump card! Eish, we're screwed...

^^ It's not my way of thinking, it's 90% of educated South Africans way of thinking.

Thuli Mandonsela, the Public Protector, recently issued a dire warning that corruption, mismanagement and abuse-of-power is close to a tipping point, there South Africa's democracy could be derailed and we could descend into a police state where a narrow handful of political elites treat the entire country as their private plaything.

This woman is very respected, is there to represent the broad public interest, is of the majority demographic and is apolitical.

I tend to agree with annman on this one... Maybe not his exact timelines, but the ultimate downfall of the ANC is happening rapidly now...

Many of the people I know or interact with in this country who were staunch ANC supporters are now talking about dropping them completely. They may not vote for an opposition party, but they also won't vote for the ANC.... which I personally think is shortsighted on their part, but every 1 vote the ANC doesn't get is good for this country. Its just better if that lost vote goes to a different party.

I want this coutnry to succeed with all my heart and be a true democratic success story with our political system becoming mature and political parties being held accountable for what they do or don't do.

^^ANC to disappear? I believe to dream, the ANC remains the historic and dominant party of South Africa. THE ANC has a problem of leadership, and only that. It is enough that in 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa, Fikile Mbalula and Tokyo Sexwall take queens of the party, and I believe that the party will find its greatness of before.

"God gives birth, ANC the freedom":)

THE ANC has a problem of leadership, and only that.

"Only that?" In other words...the people essentially in direct control of the party's future are a problem, but the ANC's going to survive unscathed? Wishful thinking.

They won't disappear into nothingness, but they will lose support.

^^ Don't exalt liberation movements simply because the past was tough. It's the same fuzzy-logic as exalting a partner that abuses you, cheats on you and lies to you today; yet years ago they made you fall madly in love with them.

Things change, relationships change, political parties change, countries change.

Problem with Africa: They think post-colonial and liberation political movements are almost godlike, many people have some inexplicable undying loyalty to them. It's not remotely healthy.... it's downright WRONG. NOBODY, especially politicians, deserves your undying loyalty... period! Once Africans realise the power lies within themselves, within the citizenry, maybe then and only then will Africa experience true democracy.

Yes, in a democracy the people govern, but when politicians (of any party/race/origin) get a single whiff of a people that are blindly loyal and vote "stupid" they'll take full advantage of those people and run roughshod over democracy. Without pragmatic intelligence in the electorate, there can be no pragmatic intelligence in the government as "you get the government you deserve" in a democracy.

Africans better start voting with their heads and not their past. For a government elected by using your brain will be obsessed with being intelligent; a government elected by using your past hurt will be obsessed with just that - the past and taking offense and being "hurt."

It continues. These people are employed by US to protect and serve US?!?

Secret funds buy hideaway for top cops
2012-04-16 12:09

Jacques Pauw, Media24 Investigations

Durban - The crime intelligence unit (CIU) has used secret state funds to buy a holiday resort on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast for the exclusive use of the unit’s top officers.

These and other shocking facts about the misuse of CIU funds have emerged in statements to Hawks investigators and a secret report to acting police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Beeld is in possession of the statements and has seen the report to Mkhwanazi.

The secret funds were also misused to rent a townhouse at Gordon’s Bay near Cape Town for CIU boss Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli.

Mdluli appointments

Sister papers City Press and Rapport reported on Sunday that seven of Mdluli's relatives had been appointed as CIU agents and were paid from the secret funds.

According to sworn statements, Mdluli had given orders that both his current wife and former wife be appointed as colonels.

The chief financial officer at the CIU, Major General Solly Lazarus also appointed a convicted drug dealer as a “contact person” at the CIU. Millionaire businessman Panganathan “Timmy” Marimuthu was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 1992 for dealing in 3 200 mandrax tablets.

His appeal against his sentence failed, but he never spent a day in prison.

Marimuthu was appointed as a “contact person” in the CIU and paid R50 000 a month.

Police also paid him R250 000 a month in rent for safe houses, some of which were not fit to live in.

CIU appointed five of his relatives as colonels and captains and two of his girlfriends as clerks.

The Hawks investigators said in their sworn statement that Lazarus in turn received gifts from Marimuthu, including overseas trips and jewellery.

Resort

Lieutenant Colonel Dhanajaya Naidoo of the CIU said in a sworn statement to the Hawks investigators that the KZN resort was for the exclusive use of Lazarus and other senior members of the CIU.

Naidoo said Lazarus pretended to make official visits to the resort, but friends and family accompanied him and his trips there were always over long weekends and holidays.

The statements also described how Lazarus freely made use of money in the private funds to buy air tickets for his private use.

“Lazarus used funds from the Secret Service Account [the secret funds] to pay for the flights and accommodation of pastors from the African Dream Centre, a church he belonged to,” said a Colonel Roelofse in his statement.

The information in Beeld’s possession shows that extended “security improvements” were made to some generals’ houses. The secret funds paid for a security fence and an alarm system worth R150 000 at Mdluli’s home in Dawn Park, Boksburg, on the East Rand.

A lieutenant general whose house was broken into received an alarm system worth R40 000, which was paid for with secret funds.

City Press reported last week that there were also security improvements made to the KZN home of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa. He denied this.

Last year Mdluli was charged with murder, abduction, theft and fraud, but the charges against him were withdrawn.

He was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing, but this was also cancelled and he returned to his post recently.

Lazarus’s suspension was also cancelled.

The police, Mdluli and Lazarus did not respond to any requests for comment.

- Media24 Investigations

My predictions in 2014
ANC. Jacob Zuma!

KZN: 75%_80%
Gauteng: 55%_65%
Limpopo:70% _80%
Mpumalanga: 70%_80%
Eastern CAPE: 50%_60%
Western CAPE: 30%_40%
Northern CAPE: 45%_55%
Free state: 60%_65%
North West: 55%_65%

And You?

its too early to suggest what will happen in 2014 in any detail.

Its even too early to think that Jacob Zuma will retain the ANC presidency if you ask me.

I personally reckon the ANC will lose about 10% of its support nationally at the next elections though, and that it will be the signal of either this country sorting itself out or this country spiralling out of control.

^^ANC to disappear? I believe to dream, the ANC remains the historic and dominant party of South Africa. THE ANC has a problem of leadership, and only that. It is enough that in 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa, Fikile Mbalula and Tokyo Sexwall take queens of the party, and I believe that the party will find its greatness of before.

"God gives birth, ANC the freedom":)

The ANC will never disappear (although the ANC of the past has all but disappeared now). I do worry that you list 2 relatively decent (in relation to some of the other members) people alongside that cretin Fikile... he is not fit to lead in the slightest in my opinion.

My predictions in 2014
ANC. Jacob Zuma!

KZN: 75%_80%
Gauteng: 55%_65%
Limpopo:70% _80%
Mpumalanga: 70%_80%
Eastern CAPE: 50%_60%
Western CAPE: 30%_40%
Northern CAPE: 45%_55%
Free state: 60%_65%
North West: 55%_65%

And You?

Are you following the latest shenanigans in SA? Mate ANC's (or should I say Zuma's) support is fractious at best hence Zuma is resorting to all manner of underhand manouvres to stay in power, i.e.

1. Packing concourt with cronies
2. Tightening up the security appararus, including the imminent appointment of the extremely thuggish Mdluli as police commisioner
3. Secrecy Bill
4. Central Govt takeover of Limpopo (very political move) as this is the power base of Zuma's key obstacle

Anyway I believe ANC will lose a lot of voters if Zuma's voted back as president at Mangaung, in that scenario, I can clearly see a DA/coalition take over by 2019, however if Motlanthe is made president, this scenario will take
a bit longer to play out...

Oh boy... Last night a prominent journalist, Tim Ncube, was killed in a head-on collision with King Goodwill Zwelithini's VIP Blue-Light convoy near Nongoma.

When will the government insanity stop?!? Govt. scandalous events hit the news almost hours in succession now, a couple years ago it was every few weeks, now it's almost hours apart! It's insane... :no:

WTF does Zwelithini need a VIP Convoy for?!?!?!

That driver must be charged, and so must Zwelithini in my opinion.

Guys, I just paged through today's Cape Times and Die Burger... It seems one cannot turn a page in the newspaper and NOT find some report on government misappropriation of money, corrumption, underhand dealings, scandal, cover-ups, etc... The proliferation of nonsense that is going down is just staggering and mind-blowing. Did you see the thing about offset investment by companies involved in the Arms Deal? Only R6 billion invested instead of the projected R110 billion... Only 13,000 jobs created instead of 65,000. And trouble in so many of the state departments.... Water Affairs, Defence, Education... women, children and people with disabilities. The list just goes on and on.

Like a battered wife who continually goes back to the beloved abuser; so South Africans are the battered electorate who continually goes back to the beloved liberator. Eventually, South Africans need to get over their victim complexes caused by past hurts, get a divorce and move on by liberating themselves.

Hang in there man. Rationals in SA are prevailing, as the malema saga is showing. We have no choice but being rational and to look forward for the best of everyone. Chill, and Stop reading newspapers for a while.

I wonder if had the press during Apartheid been turned toward the same sort of scruteny over these sorts of deals and ineffectual administration rather than justifyable narrowing its lense on the more important political persecutions, that they would have unearthed the same level of scandal as often back then? - just something Ive been thinking about lately. My hunch is possibly a yes, however, perhaps there was also some perverse loyalty to the apartheid reigeme which made personal enrichment unsavoury, or their religiosity got in the way of full blown financial scavenging in quite the same way?

personally , I blame the RAP music, and it agrandisements and perpetuation of wealth ethos!!

^^ I blame RAP music... Love it! :lol:

Yeah, I think that Nats were up to lots of crap during the Apartheid regime, however I do have a feeling that the hidden transgressions were more "human rights violation" in nature and less "bling/money/opulence" in nature. Just a hunch... unable to prove as the press was horribly suppressed then and most of SA was "in the dark." Sad that we could be taken back there again by the Info Bill and MAT.

Maybe a better and more humorous way to get the news: Good ol' Zapiro:

http://c1961792.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/f720017dce262cab59cbbc648ae0c81f.gif
from: Mail&Guardian

Another "lighter side" of the insane politics of 2012; Thanks Zapiro!

http://c1961792.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/7774f0493e41fa5f2d6d8fec4823c3d2.gif
Mail&Guardian

http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/iol-news5-1.989381!/image/464471284.png_gen/derivatives/absolute/464471284.png

AG warns about dire situation in SA

May 7 2012 at 01:31pm

Auditor General Terence Nombembe has criticised the government and public servants for a weakening of the pillars of governance protecting South Africa's democracy, Business Day reported on Monday.

He also expressed concern about the vulnerability of his office because of growing lack of support from the government to his warning about this deterioration.

Nombembe said the management supply chains, service delivery, the security of government information and accuracy of government reports were deteriorating.

“Things are serious, and they are even more serious than we thought they are,” he said at the opening of Deloitte's new building in Pretoria on Thursday.

“They are more serious because the people that are employed by government to do work are least prepared and equipped to do it. The situation is dire.

“We are equally vulnerable as those countries where the auditor general has limited scope to do its work because what we are saying is not taken serious, not by the government, not by ourselves and those who need to do something about it.”

He said his office would soon release the audit results for local municipalities, and he expressed his dismay at them.

The people voted into power were slow in taking responsibility for what they had been voted in for, he said.

“The accountability for the results is not taken as serious as it should be. Bad results are regarded as a norm and when people get a disclaimer or qualified reports, little happens to them to show that this is unacceptable. This is the culture we need to be concern about,” he said. - Sapa

^^ What are these racist tendencies from the Auditor General??

We will never stop voting ANC, eh Kwazimoto :lol:

:lol: HEHE! This gentleman (the AG) and Thuli Madonsela must be new nationalist Apartheid agents. The ANC rules, the ANC leads! Viva Zum-Male-Toky-Kgaml-Mbalu-Manta- damn, Viva everyone fighting for the ANC!

R5bn of taxpayers' money 'missing'
2012-08-02 09:28

Cape Town - A shocking report, tabled in Parliament on Friday, shows that more than R5bn of taxpayers’ money has been lost due to looting, tender fraud and irregular spending in government departments.

The Special Investigating Unit was now investigating the matter and said it was intending bringing criminal charges against culprits, reported The Times.

More than R2bn was spent on tenders and irregular spending at provincial level, while R700m of “questionable spending” was done by national state departments.

The rotten apples appear to be the department of rural development and land reform, as well as public works and human settlements.

The report said about R500m disappeared into 36 fraudulent land grants at the department of land reform.

Five people have been arrested in connection with the misspending so far and three farms, valued at R51m have been returned to the department following questionable land deals.

So far 12 officials face disciplinary action and three had been suspended.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* displinary action in the land of milk and honey means to stay at home with full pay until the dust had settled, just to be redeployed to another government department to continue the looting. God knows how much longer the country can stay afloat?

This article is frightening, considering I knew Allan Paulse when he was Municipal Manager of the then ANC-run Breede Valley Municipality and was then, far from extremely competent, commerce-friendly or politically unbiased. If even he's being brushed aside, the ruling party is really scraping the bottom of the algae-laden barrel!

http://www.techleader.co.za/images/mg_logo.gif

ANC won't give up on 'incompetent' cadre
17 AUG 2012 14:10 - ANDISIWE MAKINANA

The ANC-led Oudtshoorn municipality is fighting to keep an unqualified cadre in a top municipal position despite a court ruling that he's incompetent.

Even ANC insiders say the move is "cadre deployment gone bad".

"When the court says the person is incompetent, I would imagine that you'd back off," a senior ANC member of the Southern Cape region said.

The Western Cape High Court ruled on June 1 that Oudtshoorn municipal manager Thandekile Mnyimba was not qualified for the position and declared his appointment null and void.

Mnyimba, an ANC member, was appointed in January despite being judged the least suitable of the five candidates who were shortlisted and interviewed for the position.

One of the unsuccessful candidates, Allan Paulse, also an ANC member, approached the court in Cape Town shortly after Mnyimba's appointment and asked it to review and set aside the appointment.

The court ruled in Paulse's favour and declared Mnyimba's appointment invalid as he did not meet the position's minimum competency levels.

Mnyimba was viewed the best candidate in the interviews by a selection committee of the council. But he was regarded as the poorest in all the other assessments, which were managed by an outside consultant, independent psychologist Riël Hugo.

Competent
The interviewing panel consisted of eight members of the ANC coalition, one of the Democratic Alliance and one of the Congress of the People. The coalition includes the ANC, Badih Chaaban's New People's Party and the Independent Civics Organisation of South Africa.

"Although he demonstrated that he definitely has potential, he displayed a lack of managerial experience, as he obtained a 'competent' or higher rating on only four of the 13 competencies assessed in the management exercise," said Hugo in his summary of the interviewing process.

"He came across as somewhat hesitant to take decisions and tended to refer, even administrative problems, to the executive mayor."

In the court papers, Paulse claimed that he had received reliable information to the effect that the ANC provincial treasurer, Fezile Calana, had instructed the ANC members of the selection committee that Mnyimba had to be appointed as municipal manager.

The court declined to rule on the issue of alleged political interference.

In an answering affidavit, Gordon April, the executive mayor of Oudts*hoorn, argued that it was an accepted practice and norm in most municipalities that the interview process was the primary tool for making staff appointments.

Deeper background
But Judge Andre Blignaut dis-agreed, saying: "The fact of the matter is that Mnyimba possessed only four out of the 13 tested competencies. This result speaks for itself.

"Mr April himself said that the purpose of the competency tests was to establish whether the shortlisted applicants for the posts met the minimum competency levels. Mr Mnyimba clearly did not."

However, April instructed lawyers to appeal the court decision. But this decision was reversed at a council meeting of July 26, where, despite the ANC having a majority in the council, the opposition's proposal to reverse the appeal received a majority vote.

Then, on August 10, the mayor and the municipality launched an urgent interdict in the Western Cape High Court to reverse the council's decision, but the court ruled that the matter was not urgent and would be heard in November.

ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said the party supports the actions of the Oudtshoorn municipality, adding that the court's ruling was based on a technical argument about the requirements of a municipal manager.

Mjongile said politically there was "a deeper background to the story".

Shocking.

http://www.saicehockey.org.za/news24logo.jpg

ANC 'blocking attempts to fight corruption'
2012-08-25 21:00

Johannesburg - The ANC was blocking all attempts to fight corruption, DA Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said on Saturday.

"The DA tried to pass two bills in Parliament to fight the scourge of corruption, but ANC blocked them," Mazibuko said in a speech prepared for delivery at a skills development workshop in Klipfontein.

One bill would have prevented civil servants from doing business with government, the other would have stopped companies in which political office bearers had a stake, from doing business with the state, she said.

She said the African National Congress said the bills, if passed into law, would hurt business.

Mazibuko told her audience that the ANC had left the poverty-stricken all alone.

"You were left alone when what you needed was a partner, someone to give you a hand onto the ladder of prosperity."

Billions of rands that could be used on skills training, the provision of basic services and help entrepreneurs were being stolen by a corrupt few, said Mazibuko.

- SAPA

My five cents: Nationalisation talk, policy misdirection and incoherence, Walmart saga, Telkom foreign investment blockage, ANC!?! Hmmm... You don't give a sh*t about loss of business, why then here and now... hmmm? :ohno:

This from iafrica.com


Opposition parties in the Mangaung metro have heavily criticised the ANC after R80 000 of taxpayers' money was approved for the funeral of a local ANC councillor, the Volksblad newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The approval was given at a special council meeting despite opposition from the Democratic Alliance, Cope and the Freedom Front Plus.

The parties said it was unfair to use money of already heavily burdened ratepayers for the purpose, while the councillor's pension fund gives R20 000 for the purpose, according to the report.

The opposition parties told the newspaper the R80 000 was not only excessive, but went against a ban by the minister of finance.

DA councillor Hendrik Minnie said regulations from the minister prohibit councils from using public funds for funerals, with the exception of a maximum of R1250 for a pauper funeral.

The opposition felt family and friends of deceased ANC councillor Zwelitsha Sekoi could pay for the food at the funeral and not the taxpayers.

ANC councillor Zolile Mancotywa told the newspaper the R80 000 for Sekoi's funeral was less that the R100 000 given for the funeral of another ANC councillor Kedibone Choene, who was a former mayor.

"Therefore we ask in a responsible manner that only R80 000 should be made available," the report quoted Mancotywa.

ANC deputy mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana said the ANC would like a policy on council funerals but the finalisation of the policy was hampered by the minister's guidelines.

^^ Complete disregard for EVERYONE. Yes, they're SO pro-poor! Because that's what R80,000 should be spent on when people live in shacks and have dismal services and education.

Where is the thread of the corruption of the DA?????????

PATHETIC THREAD!!

^^ I apologise to everyone who has suns blocked for replying to his question, but I'm going to try to respond.

suns, there isn't really comparable corruption in the DA, and i dare you to provide evidence of serious corruption in the DA that was not immediatly and harshly delt with. Do a google on "DA Corruption" and see what you get. Seriously You do not make sense. In many posts you seem an intelligent type of person? How on earth is it even possible that you ... aaaah forget it

Exactly... whatever corruption is discovered within the DA is dealt with immediately and people are held accountable. And true, no DA corruption has ever reached any level even near this. Things that have emerged have been unfruitful expenditure of R7,000 in Cape Town with regards to media campaigns, and some money going to waste with the pulping of some magazines that were not distributed in the education sector of the Western Cape... then you compare this to the R25 billion that went unaccounted for, or into unfruitful expenditure, or misappropriated by ANC-led departments and councils in 2011 alone, and you start seeing things in perspective.... which renders that comment by SUNS25 rather, erm, pathetic.

Suns unfortunately takes issue with me... he's this shadow that follows me to every political thread and then when I make a statement, he barks some one-liner with no facts, substantiation or concrete rebuttal.

I think everyone's just over it.

It's not a rejection of differing opinions, it's a rejection of statements with no factual basis and pure personal political dogma.

Eh guys, you do not have it. Why the DA closes schools in the Western Cape? why residents from Cape Flats and Keleyitsha are still poor compared with residents of the city Cape Town? Why the toilet outside in the townships of the Western Cape? Eish****

SUNS 25, if you ever went to the trouble of REALLY following what is happening in the country, then you would know that the closure of the schools is by no means specific to the Western Cape, and by no means specific to the DA. In fact, when the ANC was ruling the Western Cape, they closed a great number of schools (and without the consultation process that the DA has followed). Furthermore, you should also try and find information about the closure of schools nationally, and you will find that the ANC has closed more than 100 schools across the country. What you also seem to ignore is that while the Western Cape government are considering the closure of 27 schools, it has also committed to building 72 new schools, as well as upgrading hundreds of existing ones.

Furthermore, the city of Cape Town is doing better than any other metro in the country with regards to service delivery to the poor. And this toilet thing you are referring to... again not unique to Cape Town. And furthermore, what has become known as the toilet saga was partly to blame on the ANCYL, who kept on destroying structures put up by the city.

SUNS 25, my only conclusion is that you don't have ANY IDEA what is going on in South Africa, that you are in fact just here to be contradictory to the facts because you want to antagonise people, and irritate.

You have no insight, no understanding, and no maturity. And whereas most people here have decided to stop wasting energy on telling you how ignorant you are, I will tell you this one more time. Nobody here takes anything you say seriously, because you have demonstrated time and again that you are nothing but a troll.

^^ Suns, I've modified your questions, I dare you to give me a straight answer:

"Why the DA closes" 27 underpreforming "schools in the Western Cape "and then open 72 new ones?

"why residents from" Soweto, Diepsloot Umlazi, Katlehong, Tembisa, Mamelodi and hundreds of other townships "are still poor compared with residents" in their ANC run provinces?

"Why the toilet outside in the" ANC-run Moqhaka, where the ANC built more than 1600 open toilets, more than was ever built in the western cape?

DA opens and closes 27 schools 72, 47 schools made ​​it is open.

Troll, me? I would like to be serious, but better laugh because I know the category of forumers who defend the DA. Eish ***

In my PM​​, some South Africans forumers tell me otherwise and the Truth. Eish ***

^^ Suns, I've modified your questions, I dare you to give me a straight answer:

"Why the DA closes" 27 underpreforming "schools in the Western Cape "and then open 72 new ones?

"why residents from" Soweto, Diepsloot Umlazi, Katlehong, Tembisa, Mamelodi and hundreds of other townships "are still poor compared with residents" in their ANC run provinces?

"Why the toilet outside in the" ANC-run Moqhaka, where the ANC built more than 1600 open toilets, more than was ever built in the western cape?

Is not it like some forumers say that the Western Cape province is better governed in South Africa? the level of governance between the Province of Western Cape and other provinces in South Africa are far apart. why still the same problems that are found in the Lipompo, Mpumalanga and Soweto in the Western Cape?

Soweto knows a lot of economic and social development that the townships of Cape Flats and Keleyitsha.

Please, you are a mockery of an intelligent and knowledgeable forumer. "some South Africans forumers"... Obviously they have to PM you because they know that if they say it in the open there will be too many of us who can refute their rubbish with facts.

SUNS 25, what is going through your mind when you read in the news about the dire state of affairs in the Eastern Cape province in terms of Education and Healthcare, or Education in the Limpopo Province? Do you honestly think "O, job well done by the ANC government"?? Are you really that pig-headed that you cannot recognise the most disgusting of failures in Provincial and Local Government? Or the billions of Rands that disappear? This is a thread about government corruption, which is so rife that the ANC themselves are beginning to talk about it in the open, because it has become impossible to keep these things hidden from the people of our nation. The people of South Africa are beginning to see for themselves how tax money is stolen, misappropriated, wasted. And thanks to people like Madonsela and Auditor General this gross corruption cannot be hidden from us any more.

Guys...seriously. This is the idiot who posts photos of cooked chickens (I shit you not) in the middle of random threads and says "Trolling :troll:" above them.

It's like debating with a child. There's really no point :lol: Join me in the peaceful bliss that is the ignore list. We do have cookies ;)

O and Soweto has come a long way since it was created, that is true. It is economically vibrant, that is also true. It is situated directly next to the biggest financial powerhouse in Africa. But we cannot say the same about Alexandra Township, can we? Mamelodi? Diepsloot? Mdantsane? Motherwell? Mangaung?

You should realise, as South Africans do, that poverty is endemic to South Africa as a whole. If it is always so easy to blame Apartheid for this (and Apartheid IS to blame for poverty), then why can we not blame the ANC government for the continued legacy of poverty after 18 years in power? Remember, Gauteng is NOT the only province run by the ANC. The worst poverty in South Africa you will not find in the Western Cape, but in the Eastern Cape, KZN, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, all of which are governed by the ANC. Do you see how your own point backfires on you now? Why has the ANC not alleviated poverty in those provinces? Why do you insist on blaming poverty in the Western Cape on the DA, when the province was governed for years by the ANC before the DA took over just a few years ago?

Then why don't we just get him banned for trolling? I have seen those KFC pics myself...

Two quotes springs to mind:
1: Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience
2: Never argue with an idiot. Bystanders won't be able to tell the difference

Who insult me, I insult it, who want that i am banned, I would on another account with violent words. so eish****

idiot, me? where is Dysan1? I lose my patience....

An idiot can not have a degree in mathematics, a idiot can not be valedictorian in one of the most prestigious universities in France. :yes:

honestly, there are people here who need to grow and appreciate democracy.:poke:

An idiot can not have a degree in mathematics, a idiot can not be valedictorian in one of the most prestigious universities in France. :yes:

honestly, there are people here who need to grow and appreciate democracy.:poke:

Maybe you should have studied English instead. Anyway what mathematics did you study, out of curiosity?

EDIT: SUNS is on my ignore list but I couldn't help taking a peek :troll:

O get over yourself. We all have degrees and Master's degrees and PhDs and what not. That is not relevant at all in this case. Your argument, or LACK thereof, keeps on revealing that you have not the slightest clue about politics in this country, or relevance of topic of discussion in these threads.

A disciplinary panel has recommended that Secretary to Parliament Zingile Dingani be fired with immediate effect, Deputy Speaker Nomaindia Mfeketo said on Thursday.

She said the panel had found Dingani guilty on two of nine charges of misconduct, relating to a R180,000 salary advance he secured from Parliament.

"The chairperson found the secretary guilty of two charges of misconduct," Mfeketo told reporters shortly after Dingane was informed of the findings in writing.

"This morning, we received the findings, which is that the secretary must be dismissed with immediate effect."

Mfeketo said the first and most serious charge related to Dingani manipulating the Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the National Council of Provinces into authorising the advance.

"The finding on this charge highlights that the executive authority was improperly induced to sign a memorandum by the Secretary to Parliament. This charge by itself contravenes several sections of the PMFA (Public Finance Management Act)."

Dingani convinced the Speaker and the chairman that a salary advance was his only hope after he ran out of money while building a wall around his house.

He also persuaded them that salary advances were common practice in Parliament, contrary to the fact that there was a directive in 2009 that made it plain these were not allowed, she said.

"The Secretary to Parliament had led evidence that he had developed a funding gap while building a wall at his residence," she said.

She noted that he also contravened the PMFA by securing an interest-free advance, as the law stated that interest must be charged on all loans granted by Parliament.

Mfeketo said Dingani had repaid the money advanced to him in full, but had not paid interest.

The other seven charges related to smaller, procedural matters.

Mfeketo said the executive authority, the Speaker and the NCOP chairman, were applying their minds to the recommendation. However, it was not up to them to take action, but to the National Assembly, which appointed Dingani.

The executive was likely to put the matter to the floor on Tuesday.

Mfeketo said she had received no indication whether Dingani intended to contest the findings.

ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga welcomed the conclusion of the disciplinary process.

Auditor General Terence Nombembe recommended earlier this year that Parliament institute disciplinary processes against Dingani and the then chief finance officer Leslie Mondo for their involvement in the approval of the advance to Dingani.

Mondo was recently dismissed after being found guilty on a number of charges.

Motshekga confirmed the presiding officers would table their recommendation in the Assembly on Tuesday.

The House would then make a decision in this regard.

"This sends a strong message that Parliament, as an institution that makes laws and holds others accountable, does not tolerate unlawful acts within its ranks," he said.

Inertia, who cares if I am in your ignore list? :rofl:

I have a degree in financial mathematics, a master's degree in network in telecommunications. Soon an PHD in management!! I worked in the largest companies in the CAC40 in France. I am of return in Gabon. and You???

PS Inertia: Maybe you should have studied French instead. :troll::troll:

DA corruption list gets longer!! NEWS24;

Democratic Alliance is no better
“The Western Cape delivers services” - maybe this is true if you live in Constantia, Crawford or Thornton (and the areas most News24 readers from the Western Cape live in) but certainly not if you live in Bonteheuwel or Khayelitsha.
“The Western Cape is better run than any other province” – well maybe because it didn't inherit homelands and Bantustans like most of the other provinces did.
Anyone who has any idea about this (my research area) would know that the institutional structure and infrastructure is much better in the Western Cape than it is in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the North West. It’s like comparing the UK government to the Afghan one. You comparing apples to pears (and I canwrite tons more on this).
“The Western Cape government is not as corrupt as the ANC government” – well, we seet hat list getting longer and longer now.
There is multimillion Rand communications tender awarded to TBWA Hunt Lascaris, where Helen Zille’s right-hand-man, Ryan Coetzee, and his buddies are implicated. ThePublic Protector was called in to investigate.
Thelid of corruption has been lifted in the Eden District Council and the re-instatement of the municipal manager after he was dismissed for “gross financial misconduct”. The Public Protector has been called in to investigate.
We fast-forward to last week and we read about the possible manipulation of the land deal by the DA-run City of Cape Town. ThePublic Protector is looking into the possibility of investigating.
Besides the “…48 cases of irregular expenditure amounting to R55-millionidentified in a recent report by the auditor-general…”, we read this week of the security deal in the City of Cape Town.
So the DA’s corruption slate is not so clean after all. Maladministration is notso easy to deal with.
Before I get all DA bashed by the DA die-hards on News24 (mens sal sê die DA betaalsom van julle), the point I’m trying to make is simple: governing is not easy.
Given my academic background, experience and anyone knows, in any work place, how easy it is to mess up, it is important to give the political sphere a bit of slack.
No I’m not supporting corruption. NO I’m not being apologetic but YES I am saying that people in glass houses (DA) should be very careful about throwing stones.With power comes responsibility and possibly huge mistakes.
There’s a cliché that goes: if you don’t do anything, you won’t make a mistake. In other words, when you’re doing nothing – you bound to get a clean audit.
So the point? Let’s stop supporting a party simply because we want to point figures at other parties! In other words, if you’re too slow to get what I just said then what I am saying is: you can’t support the DA simply because the ANC is “supposedly” so, so bad.
P.S.Don’t forget, the DA will also conveniently benefit from the Protection of State Information law.


Source: http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/DA-corruption-list-gets-longer-20120320

Information has demic is intellectually dishonest!!!

Suns, you make it clear that your love for the ANC runs too deep and is unbounded by rationality. Good luck.

Information has demic is intellectually dishonest!!!

I am sorry, but this lot of words strung together do not make sense.

"MyNews24 is a user-generated section of News24.com. The stories here come from users" ... so hardly thoroughly researched journalism.

As a matter of interest, the TBWA Hunt Lascaris matter was resolved, when the Public Protector declared that she found NO CORRUPTION.

SUNS 25, you are a joke. Accept it and move on. No amount of anecdotal "evidence" against the DA could EVER compare to the gross corruption in the SA Government and especially ANC-led provincial and local governments, so don't even try.

O my tits, I'm pissing myself laughing at you now. You are just too precious for words. Thanks for keeping us entertained with your idiocy.

I do not say that in the ANC, there is no corruption. I say that some forumers here are constantly in the process of denigrating the ANC which has and yet preserves freedom and justice for all South Africans. (Blacks and whites).

The hatred of some forumers is just the racism under the guise of corruption and incompetence! :yes:

How some in this forum prefer Tony Leon at Thabo Mbeki? :ohno:

Thabo Mbeki is best president for me that South Africa has never had. Economic growth of 5% (in 8yrs), moralization of politics, leadership,AA, BEE, Black diamonds, WC2010, NEPAD, African Renaissance, it's him! Thabo Mbeki! :cheers:

I do not say that in the ANC, there is no corruption. I say that some forumers here are constantly in the process of denigrating the ANC which has and yet preserves freedom and justice for all South Africans. (Blacks and whites).

The hatred of some forumers is just the racism under the guise of corruption and incompetence! :yes:

How some in this forum prefer Tony Leon at Thabo Mbeki? :ohno:

Thabo Mbeki is best president for me that South Africa has never had. Economic growth of 5% (in 8yrs), moralization of politics, leadership,AA, BEE, Black diamonds, WC2010, NEPAD, African Renaissance, it's him! Thabo Mbeki! :cheers:

ANC preserves freedom and justice for all? really?

So then who is behind the Protection of Information Act? hmmm?

SUNS, listen, I know you are passionate about the ANC and South Africa, and that is good. I know you have a strong connection with the ANC as well, so I think that makes it hard for you to admit their faults.

The guys on here often go overboard with their criticisms of the ANC, that is also true.

But at the same time, the ANC is doing a lot of bad stuff. They are definately swinging to a very racist agenda, which is very worrying and causes often hysterical responses.

The guys on here are not racist ( well, almost all of them). Believe me if the ANC had ten white ministers that were fucking things up, we would tear them to pieces as well.

We all love this country and want the best for it, and therefore the government needs to be watched every step of the way. They do have some good people, and we do remember that they came up with one of the worlds best constitutions...and so we must defend that constitution with all we have.

And try to stay away from the news24 comments section...it is horrible, filled with racists and idiots...and not a good indication of the people we have on this forum.

Inertia, who cares if I am in your ignore list? :rofl:

I have a degree in financial mathematics, a master's degree in network in telecommunications. Soon an PHD in management!! I worked in the largest companies in the CAC40 in France. I am of return in Gabon. and You???

A degree in financial mathematics? So what exactly can you value?

I have a degree in skepticism, if this wasn't apparent already

A degree in financial mathematics? So what exactly can you value?

I have a degree in skepticism, if this wasn't apparent already

If you do not know that there are degrees in financial mathematics, then I pity you. :cripes:

Thabo Mbeki is even worse than Zuma. He was an aids denialist in the country worst hit by the aids pandemic. He supported a health minister who said that people should just eat vegetables and then they will be cured of aids.

I dont think the ANC is doing too badly. The corruption is to be expected when the poor class takes over and theres a total make over of government. People like the public protector, mantashe, manuel, gordhan, pandor, sisulu and montlathle are the people we should trust in.
People are just complaining because many of the services left over from the NP can no longer be sustained due to funds now having to be spent on 45million instead of 5million people.

I dont think the ANC is doing too badly. The corruption is to be expected when the poor class takes over and theres a total make over of government. People like the public protector, mantashe, manuel, gordhan, pandor, sisulu and montlathle are the people we should trust in.
People are just complaining because many of the services left over from the NP can no longer be sustained due to funds now having to be spent on 45million instead of 5million people.

I like your more than usual balanced analysis of the ANC but disagree partly with the last part. The budget of the country has grown considerably than under the previous gov't due to growth in a more inclusive economy.

I do not say that in the ANC, there is no corruption. I say that some forumers here are constantly in the process of denigrating the ANC which has and yet preserves freedom and justice for all South Africans. (Blacks and whites).

The hatred of some forumers is just the racism under the guise of corruption and incompetence! :yes:

How some in this forum prefer Tony Leon at Thabo Mbeki? :ohno:

Thabo Mbeki is best president for me that South Africa has never had. Economic growth of 5% (in 8yrs), moralization of politics, leadership,AA, BEE, Black diamonds, WC2010, NEPAD, African Renaissance, it's him! Thabo Mbeki! :cheers:

Suns I was in your corner right up to you last part on Mbeki. Like my views on the ANC - acknowledging the good and bemoaning the bad - Mbeki is to be praised for the good he achieved in gov't but, should also be criticised for his imperfections.

On the racism claim, I think most on here are not raciest but harbor inherited resentments due to SAs history on its impact on race and politics. I hope that there could be a better balance between criticism and praise on both sides.

If you do not know that there are degrees in financial mathematics, then I pity you. :cripes:

Haha I have a degree in Actuarial Science, so no pity necessary. However your lack of understanding of the term 'value' leaves me even more skeptical.

I dont think the ANC is doing too badly. The corruption is to be expected when the poor class takes over and theres a total make over of government. People like the public protector, mantashe, manuel, gordhan, pandor, sisulu and montlathle are the people we should trust in.
People are just complaining because many of the services left over from the NP can no longer be sustained due to funds now having to be spent on 45million instead of 5million people.

Frantic777,

You are a very honest person. I appreciate it. ;)

On a related note - lovely to see the sports minister announce that the paralympians will now get the same money for their medals as able bodied athletes...

Suns

I recognice that you probably have an emotional connection to ANC that makes it hard for you to see what they have become, but please try to be calm and rational. The ANC of today is not the party of Tambo or Mandela anymore. Those days are long gone.

Corruption in DA cannot in any way be compared to corruption in ANC. It's not even close. Look at provinces like Limpopo and Eastern Cape and what's going on with their health care and education. Do please visit one of the death trap called hospitals that they have in Limpopo.

Take an example: The DA run West Coast District Municipality spends 28% of its budget on wages. The ANC run Alfred Nzo District Municipality spends a staggering 70%. That is why there is no money left for service delivery.

Very few here are racists, mind you. ANC performs as poorly as they do because they have been corrupted by a too long stay in power, with majorities so overwhelming that loosing seems impossible, hence they've stopped trying. DA, on the other hand, has to work hard to win over voters trust beyond the narrow white demographic, and as such can't afford to be as inefficent and corrupt as ANC.

It really is that simple. DA is much better because they have to be. That would never have gotten anywhere otherwise.

Western Cape has a the highest matric pass rate, lowest unemployment, and best delivery of basic services. Cape Town deliver more electrity, water, etc to the poor than any other metro. And DA has made real strides in improving education:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151050299643111&set=a.412609998110.187573.6011868110&type=1&theater

Let go of your fear of DA. Democracy needs a power switch, it is a must. DA is a multi-racial party; don't believe the propaganda against it. In jus one week for instance, the feisty MP Patricia Kopane stands a good chance of getting to lead the DA in the Free State province.

O, but Frantic777 it would have been wonderful if those funds WERE in fact spent on the people... Sadly too much of it is used to line the pockets of ANC cadres and their families and friends. Or have you not been following what's been going on in our country?

One can but laugh at SUNS 25... If someone says a positive thing about the ANC, that person is lauded by SUNS for his "honesty". Anybody who criticises the ANC is called a racist by him. How insightful.... NOT.

SUNS 25, to be honest - nobody here cares about your evaluation of their personalities. You have said some flattering things about me in the past too, which I have ignored. I'm not here to be your friend, sir. I don't give a fat rat's whether you used to think I'm fair and balanced, and whether you call me a racist now. Your opinion of me does not matter.

Why don't you tell us how much time you have spent in South Africa? Tell us what you have seen with your own eyes.... Because you seem to be very reliant on selective cut-and-paste information from a few websites in order to form your opinions. I really don't think you have a clue what you are talking about.

Sun, dont forget that there are some very talented, and very educated, very successful and driven, no nonsense folk on our forum. people who would undoubtedly do better jobs in cabinet that some ministers. if you believe in the mathematical ( as you should ) phenomenon of group wisdom ( like James Surowiecki's "wisdom of crowds" - great book, read it - ) than it should be a no brainer by now that you understand where we are coming from, and why.

Suns

I recognice that you probably have an emotional connection to ANC that makes it hard for you to see what they have become, but please try to be calm and rational. The ANC of today is not the party of Tambo or Mandela anymore. Those days are long gone.

Corruption in DA cannot in any way be compared to corruption in ANC. It's not even close. Look at provinces like Limpopo and Eastern Cape and what's going on with their health care and education. Do please visit one of the death trap called hospitals that they have in Limpopo.

Take an example: The DA run West Coast District Municipality spends 28% of its budget on wages. The ANC run Alfred Nzo District Municipality spends a staggering 70%. That is why there is no money left for service delivery.

Very few here are racists, mind you. ANC performs as poorly as they do because they have been corrupted by a too long stay in power, with majorities so overwhelming that loosing seems impossible, hence they've stopped trying. DA, on the other hand, has to work hard to win over voters trust beyond the narrow white demographic, and as such can't afford to be as inefficent and corrupt as ANC.

It really is that simple. DA is much better because they have to be. That would never have gotten anywhere otherwise.

Western Cape has a the highest matric pass rate, lowest unemployment, and best delivery of basic services. Cape Town deliver more electrity, water, etc to the poor than any other metro. And DA has made real strides in improving education:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151050299643111&set=a.412609998110.187573.6011868110&type=1&theater

Let go of your fear of DA. Democracy needs a power switch, it is a must. DA is a multi-racial party; don't believe the propaganda against it. In jus one week for instance, the feisty MP Patricia Kopane stands a good chance of getting to lead the DA in the Free State province.

:applause::applause::applause:

Caisson Boy and Marsupalami,

Dans le Jargon en langue française, on appelle vos affirmations " Du Pipi de Chat". :)

Vous ne dites rien de raisonnable et de raisonner. Votre subconscient est bourré d'auto préjugés qui vous oblige à dire du n'importe quoi sans rationalité. :yes:

Boy Casson: et pourtant you are intellect Boy !!

AMEN!!!

I rather think that what you are describing is yourself. And not surprisingly, you have NOT answered the questions I put to you. But then again, you never do.

Your arguments are the most feeble of anybody's in this forum, and the most devoid of any rationality or reason. And as I said before, nobody cares what you make of their personalities.

I cannot remember when last you made any useful contribution to this discussion. You have no facts, you have no own observations, just emotional nonsense clouded by your unwaivering loyalty to the ANC, no matter how much they have deteriorated and degenerated since 1994.

The two big differences between you and the rest of us are:

1. You have absolutely no first-hand experience of service delivery issues in South Africa
2. Your loyalty is based on a backward-looking rather than forward-looking stance.

We ALL, each one of us in this forum, acknowledge the immense role the ANC played in the liberation of our nation, their struggle cudos, etc. But there is no logic in falling back on Mandela, Sisulu or even Mbeki when the CURRENT ANC Government is failing the people. The current leaders in the ANC do not merit unwaivering support based on the leadership of past figures. We have to evaluate them on what they are doing themselves. It has become clear that they are not delivering on their mandate any more. If you fail to see this, and fail to be critical of this, then you are blinded by your own prejudice.

Nobody here is blind to the weaknesses of the DA. When something goes wrong in the way they govern, we are vocal about it, we criticise and we demand amelioration. But the truth of the matter is that these instances are few and far between, whereas we are met with a daily struggle of coming to terms with yet another scandal, yet another case of corruption, yet another case of cadre deployment, nepotism, hate speech and misgovernance within the ANC at all levels of government, especially at provincial and local level. We cannot, and WILL NOT, ignore this.

^^ We can ignore blind loyalty, blissful ignorance, name-calling-based-political-persuasion, geographical-situational-delusions-of-knowledge and unadulterated bias based on historical preconceptions. This thread will also be locked, just like the Labour thread, due to one person becoming the overwhelming topic of conversation and effectively, hijacking free, logical debate.

IGNORE BUTTON ON.

Caisson Boy,

Well, Nous sommes sur la même ligne dans certains points, c'est déjà bien mais peuvent être amélioré. Comme vous l'avez si bien dit, nous reconnaissons tous la contribution de l'ANC dans la libération du pays et dans la préservation de l'égalité en droit de tous dans l'Afrique du Sud post Apartheid.

Cependant, mes points de vue ne sont pas d'être allié indéfectible comme vous le dites de l'ANC, non pas ça, mais plutôt comme le soulignait Diggerdorg, l'excessif accusation de certains forumeurs de tout ce qui vas mal en Afrique du Sud est la faute de l'ANC. Et c'est là où le mal blesse.

Ainsi, certains forumeurs sous une pluie d'accusation de corruption et d'incompétence de la part de l'ANC, cache en réalité leur haine (profonde) sur ce parti. les faits sont avérés, ils ne veulent pas être dirigé par les majoritaires, c'est un fait indiscutable.

Aussi, vouloir souhaiter la disparition pure et simple d'un mouvement politique qui a pourtant préservé les droits et libertés fondamentales de tous les sud africains (autrefois interdit sur le régime d'apartheid) me laisse encore très perplexe sur l'agenda de certains et doutes de la fiabilité et intégrité de cette catégorie de personne.

Pour finir, certains personnes ici ont besoin d accepter une différence d'idées, de pensées car nous sommes en démocratie.

SUNS 25, je trouve que vous vous exprimez mille fois mieux en français qu'en anglais. Et ce que vous venez de dire est certainement vrai.

Le but de ce forum est trouver les faits, et les discuter dans une façon agréable, et sans être en colère... Il faut que vous sachez que mes commentaires sont fondées sur soit la frustration avec notre situation, soit l'espoir de vivre dans un meilleur pays, ou les deux... Jamais sur la haine sur l'ANC. Les accusations de corruption n'existent pas sans cause, je vous jure. Mais il faut trouver une solution pour l'avenir, car notre futur (tous les citoyens) est ménacé par les problèmes que nous avons discutés ici.

What the hell is up with the French... is not spoken in SA.. If you want to speak French SUNS fuck off to the DRC forum!

Suns you are a moron.

And the old arguement about resources spent on 5 million now being spent on 40 million has not basis in history or facts whatsoever. Spending on education per pupil and healthcare etc was higher and the outcomes better in the old days than it was in many "liberated" african countries. Am no apologist for the old regime but lets not ignore the fact that in terms of education/healthcare etc they were streets ahead of most of the rest of Africa.

Certainly literacy rates are now declining in SA and healthcare is much worse than it was compared to before (anyone hear the John Robbie intyerview with the GP health MEC this morning? Horifying!). Those are the facts of ANC failure and they cannot be blamed on the NP. Neither can the fact that "government" is now a tender free for all for the piggy cadres to feed at the trough and the poor are forgotten in the scramble.

And Suns: information Bill, a politically motivated prosecuting authority and parole board etc etc does not equate to freedom and justice. The very institutions set up in the transition (and not purely due to the ANC) are now being undermined in a big way to preserve the party's grip on power.

mike2005 = 0_0

Dysan 1, can I INSULT this clown of mike2005? please, please!! I would like well!!

Oh go ahead please do! After all your first hand knowledge of South Africa is so impressive. Oh no wait a minute you have not got a clue have you?

Dit help nie meer nie. :( Los dit.

Haha!

BTW is this Suns guy for real? And can someone please explain why he spends so much time being annoying on the SA forum political threads when he is not South African, and, as far as I can tell, does not even live here?

^^ Wish I knew, because then it may be easier to understand where the strange political psychology and dogmatic philosophy on governance comes from.

haha :-)

There is no intelligence here. Retry!

Speak for yourself mate!

Why dont you go and talk about a country you actually know something about?

Graft killing SA, says retail chief

Durban -

South Africa experienced a “precipitous slide” in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index since 2007 and faced the prospect of becoming one of the world’s most corrupt nations.

This was the warning on Thursday of Nigel Payne, the chairman of the Mr Price Group, who unleashed a scathing attack on corruption in the government.

Speaking to more than 1 300 delegates at the SA Council of Shopping Centres annual congress in Durban, he said it was time for South Africans to become angry about corruption. He said it was crippling the country, and firm leadership was needed to stop it from getting worse.

“The declining trend in the Transparency International index does not look great,” said Payne. “In fact, it is scary for SA and almost extreme. The index has a 10-point scoring system… SA dropped from a rating of 4.5 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2011. In 2007, we had a rating of 5.1, and this is a precipitous slide for any country to have.”

He said this was SA’s lowest rating since the index was started 17 years ago. Once the rating went below four, SA was heading for “failed state” status where corruption was part of daily life and resulted in more civil protests.

“We can’t afford to let that happen because… things can deteriorate rapidly into an ‘Arab Spring’ or failed state.”

He said SA had always been rated in the four-to-six zone of the index – the zone of “uncertainty” into which most countries fell. Countries rated above six were in the so-called “premier league”, where “society squeezes out corruption”, and which SA should aspire to join.

In the past three years SA had seen a service protest somewhere in the country almost every day. In many cases it had been a direct result of some kind of corruption.

However, there were heroes doing a fantastic job in the government, such as Auditor-General Terence Nombembe and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. Also, there were outspoken leaders such as Mamphela Ramphele, Desmond Tutu and Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza.

“Corruption is no longer someone else’s problem,” said Payne. “We need an intervention to salvage a future for SA. It is time we get p***ed off about corruption. We must put away the race card. This is about our people… We must create an environment hostile to corruption.”

The Mercury (http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/graft-killing-sa-says-retail-chief-1.1388245#.UFx5ua7oBGR)

http://www.techleader.co.za/images/mg_logo.gif

ANC could benefit from R1bn Capitec Bank bonanza
28 SEP 2012 06:00 - JAMES WOOD, TABELO TIMSE, STEFAANS BRÜMMER

Free shares worth almost R1-billion in Capitec is what a consortium linked to financing the ANC has scored thanks to finance from two state bodies.

These are the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which is supposed to focus on growing state employee pensions, and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), tasked with economic development.

Alongside a funding trust set up by ANC leaders, individual beneficiaries include Gugu Mtshali, the life partner of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Lotto boss Bongani Khumalo and Pilisiwe Twala-Tau, the wife of Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau.

The deal was simple. The consortium, assembled by a controversial ANC fundraiser, bought an empowerment stake in Capitec using funds provided by the IDC. Later, exploiting strong growth in the Capitec stock price, it sold just enough to the PIC to pay off all debt associated with the original purchase.

The ANC and some well connected individuals now stand to benefit from the value of the remaining shares – over R950-million – in another instance of the ruling party acting as both player and referee. The party has hit flak in the past for investing through its front company, Chancellor House, in areas where government has a say.

The consortium is named Coral Lagoon after the shelf company it uses to house its interest in Capitec. Coral Lagoon's second-largest beneficiary is the Batho Batho Trust, founded by ANC leaders in 1992.

Despite attempts to dissociate itself from the ANC, Batho Batho is a major sponsor of the party. A spokesperson would not say whether Batho Batho would transfer proceeds from the Capitec windfall to the ANC, calling it a "hypothetical question" (see "The consortium players that will reap the rewards from the deal").

Batho Batho holds 20% of Coral Lagoon, giving it a net gain of Capitec shares now worth about R190-million.

Other significant stakes are held by the companies Keabetsoe Holdings (32%) and Regiments Capital (18%), both of which appear to have strong links to the ANC treasury.

Mtshali, Motlanthe's life partner, gained shares now worth R9.5-million. She worked for the ANC treasury when Coral Lagoon was formed.

The PIC's role is particularly contentious, because it bought the shares only to warehouse them for onward BEE sale. This echoes its 2004 warehousing of Telkom shares to assist the politically connected Elephant Consortium that consisted of close associates of then-president Thabo Mbeki.

The warehousing allowed Coral Lagoon to gain hugely from an investment for which it paid nothing. But the long-term benefit to the PIC and its customers – government employees, whose pensions it invests – is not as clear.

The IDC and PIC both denied politics played a role, saying they acted within their mandate of supporting BEE while ensuring decent returns.

Coral Lagoon said in a statement: "This transaction can be seen as one of the most successful BEE transactions in South Africa as Coral Lagoon now has an unencumbered holding in Capitec that pays regular dividends."

Capitec said it had found both the IDC and PIC "professional" in their dealings and that it had been un-aware the ANC might benefit.

ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa declined to respond to questions.

New kid on the block
JSE-listed Capitec entered retail banking as little more than a microlender in 2001 but, because of technological innovation and product simplicity, it is now barking at the heels of the four big retail banks.

In 2006, Capitec found itself way behind the financial sector charter's target of a 25% black shareholding by 2010, after a restructuring reduced its BEE shareholding from 17% to 4%.

Capitec needed a new BEE partner. Although potential takers for such deals tend to be plentiful, institutions willing to finance them are not.

What set Coral Lagoon apart was that it brought the IDC along, offering to lend almost the entire purchase price.

ANC's "Mr 15%"
Central to putting the consortium together was Zwelibanzi "Miles" Nzama, a controversial ANC fund-raiser. Nzama attracted public attention in 2003 when a printing company alleged in court that it had lost a Transnet tender because it rebuffed his attempt to extort shares for the ANC.

The company, Sechaba Photoscan, said in an affidavit: "Miles Nzama informed us that … with his contacts in the African National Congress, he could guarantee our success for a consideration of 15% of [our] shares … at no cost to his principal."

Though Transnet had scored Sechaba Photoscan the highest, it awarded the tender to a rival bidder, which had allegedly fallen for Nzama's advances. Sechaba Photoscan won a record R57-million in damages from Transnet.

Nzama, who at the time ran the ANC Fundraising Trust with the then ANC treasurer, Mendi Msimang, remained closely associated with the ANC treasury. Nzama is now an executive of Chancellor House. He did not reply to questions.

… and his friends
Nzama in turn roped in Regiments Capital, a black-owned investment and advisory firm, to help with the corporate financing and to take up a stake.

Regiments executive chairperson Litha Nyhonyha told the Mail & Guardian earlier this year: "Miles [Nzama] and I go back a long way so I know him very well … Capitec was looking for BEE partners. I don't know how they got to approach Miles. And he came to me. We were invited to participate and that's how the deal happened."

Nyhonyha too has a long-standing connection with the ANC treasury. In 1992 he and Vusi Khanyile, who was then head of ANC finance, established the Thebe Investment Corporation, then fully owned by Batho Batho.

Nyhonyha denied rumours that Regiments is linked to the ANC treasury. "We are a strict private company. We were never set up by the ANC and we were never facilitated by the ANC."

But he added: "We believe in this country democracy should be supported financially and, yes indeed, we do donate to the ANC."

A third person who helped to set up Coral Lagoon was investment banker Tshepo Mahloele. After stints at the PIC and the Development Bank, he was qualified to help. In fact, as head of the PIC's BEE-supporting Isibaya Fund between 2003 and 2005, he was directly responsible for warehousing the Elephant Consortium's Telkom shares.

Shares mystery
Mahloele heads Keabetsoe Holdings, a special purpose vehicle whose 32% in Coral Lagoon makes it the biggest beneficiary of the Capitec deal. It gained shares now worth about R300-million.

But Keabetsoe's shareholding is opaque. In a January 2007 circular announcing its imminent deal with Coral Lagoon, Capitec stated that Mahloele and Nzama each held 50% of Keabetsoe.However, attempts to establish Nzama's supposed 50% share and whether he held it personally or as a nominee for the ANC, led to contradictory responses. Mahloele even produced a share register purporting to show that Nzama had never held any shares.

This would leave Nzama without any stake in Coral Lagoon, which is highly unlikely given his role in launching it. Company registration records show him as one of its active directors.

The deal
Capitec issued 10-million shares to Coral Lagoon in February 2007. At R30 a share, the price was R300-million.

Information provided by the parties shows that Coral Lagoon financed the purchase with two loans: R285-million from the IDC and R15-million from Capitec itself. As this covered the full purchase price and the loans were structured using preference shares, Coral Lagoon carried no risk, even if Capitec's share price collapsed.

This left Coral Lagoon as the owner of just over 12% of Capitec, but without the full benefit, as it had to use the substantial dividends received from Capitec to service the IDC and Capitec loans.

That changed in February this year, when the PIC bought about 5.3-million of the 10-million shares from Coral Lagoon, at a small discount to the going price of R185 a share. The proceeds were enough to redeem the full original IDC and Capitec loans and pay taxes and transaction costs.

The net result was that Coral Lagoon remained with about 4.7-million Capitec shares unencumbered by any debt, then worth R872-million. Further growth in the Capitec share price took this to more than R950-million by the close of trading on Wednesday this week.

Coral Lagoon may have some difficulty in turning the shares into instant cash – they cannot be sold on the open market as they must remain in BEE hands – but there is already the benefit of Capitec's sturdy dividend flow. Since February, Coral Lagoon has earned about R22-million in pre-tax dividends.

Denials
The IDC and the PIC denied favouring Coral Lagoon because it is politically connected and said that the deals made commercial sense.

The IDC sidestepped a question about whether it knew of Coral Lagoon's closeness to the ANC treasury, saying: "The IDC considers all applications for funding based on the economic viability and developmental impact of each transaction … Political affiliation of applicants is not a consideration for funding whatsoever."

The PIC responded: "The PIC follows robust and rigorous due diligence processes on all transaction we invest in. This includes assessing transactions on merit and value to be derived for our clients. The PIC does not exclude anyone based on their political affiliations."

On whether warehousing the shares could expose it to undue risk – there are concerns that significant growth in Capitec's unsecured lending might end its bull run – the PIC said it had done a full analysis. It was "comfortable that the risks related to unsecured lending were within acceptable levels given the proposed holding period of the shares and that the indicative financial returns were in line with our benchmark return requirements."

Capitec said it was unaware that the ANC could benefit from the transaction. "Until we received your questions, we were also unaware of the fact that Mr Miles Nzama is a fundraiser for the ANC.

"We believe it is wrong for the ANC, as a political party, to participate in a BEE deal and to benefit from funding intended for BEE. We do not, however, believe that somebody who is employed by the ANC or any other political organisation can for that reason be disqualified from participating in a BEE deal."

Capitec Bank Holdings' chairperson is the founder of the Millennium Trust, one of the funders of the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism
The consortium players that will reap the rewards from the deal

Keabetsoe Holdings: 31.9% = Capitec shares worth R303-million
Announcing its BEE deal with Coral Lagoon in 2007, Capitec said Keabetsoe was owned by Tshepo Mahloele and Zwelibanzi "Miles" Nzama, the ANC fundraiser. But the true ownership remains a mystery, as Capitec says it is now informed that "the administration surrounding the shareholding structure has not been formalised yet", whereas Mahloele has produced a share register showing only himself and businessman Blessing Rugara as shareholders from the start.

Batho Batho Trust: 20% = Capitec shares worth R190-million
Founded in 1992 by ANC and struggle leaders including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Beyers Naudé, initially as the sole owner of Thebe Investment Corporation.

Managing trustee Molefe Tsele insists it is "factually incorrect" that Batho Batho was set up by the ANC or is accountable to it - the founders acted "in their private capacity as community leaders".

Batho Batho's deed binds it to support "democracy and socioeconomic transformation" and "the institutional viability and self-sustainability of historically black organisations". However, the ANC remains an important beneficiary. The Sunday Times has revealed an ANC document dating from Batho Batho's founding, stating that "in the trust's documents the area that the trust covers must be defined in extremely narrow terms, such that any profits received are donated to the ANC".

Although Batho Batho has boasted of donating R230-million to a range of beneficiaries, the ANC is thought to be the largest. When Batho Batho received an amount approaching R100-million from the sale of Thebe shares in 2006, Tsele and then ANC treasurer Mendi Msimang publicly disagreed about whether the ANC should automatically benefit. The ANC is believed to have received the lion's share, although Tsele would not confirm details.

Tsele says that, "without reservation, we do not see it as either legally or morally problematic" to benefit from the Capitec deal.

Regiments Capital: 18% = Capitec shares worth R171-million
Regiments is led by Litha Nyhonyha and his partners, Niven Pillay and Eric Wood. Nyhonyha co-founded Thebe Investment Corporation, set up in tandem with the Batho Batho Trust in 1992.

Lemoshanang Trust: 5% = shares worth R47.5-million
The family trust of prominent businessman Baekeng Japie Moropa.

Capitec Bank Group Employee Empowerment Trust: 5% = Capitec shares worth R47.5-million
A trust set up for Capitec employees that was included in Coral Lagoon in return for Capitec agreeing to finance 5% of Coral Lagoon's purchase of Capitec shares.

Nozala Investments: 5% = Capitec shares worth R47.5-million
A BEE investment company whose board boasts Chancellor House trustee Salukazi Dakile-Hlongwane and, at the time Coral Lagoon bought into Capitec, Mandela daughter Makaziwe Mandela and Lorato Phalatse, a senior official in Thabo Mbeki's presidency.

Mdumo Trust: 4.7% = Capitec shares worth R44.7million
A youth development trust founded by Abdoolrawoof Ahmed, a former accountant of Udumo Investments, a company directed by Nzama and Msimang.

Koma Trust: 3.5% = Capitec shares worth R33.3million
The purpose of the trust is unclear. Trustees include Tlhalefang Sekano, a former union moneyman closely tied to Nzama.

Rorisang Basadi Investment Holdings: 3% = Capitec shares worth R28.5million
A BEE investment company whose board includes Jackie Huntley, a lawyer in partnership with Leslie Mkhabela, who represented ANC moneyman Sandi Majali before being used by PetroSA in a largely unsuccessful attempt to recover Oilgate money from Majali. Huntley represented Julius Malema in his hate speech trial last year.

Gugu Mtshali: 1% = Capitec shares worth R9.5million
The life partner of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. She worked in the ANC treasury when Coral Lagoon obtained its Capitec stake in 2007. Since then she has courted business controversy as a shareholder in the politically connected Imperial Crown Trading, which obtained exploration rights to Kumba's Sishen iron ore mine (later overturned in court). More recently, she was implicated in an alleged sanctions-busting deal to supply helicopter parts to Iran.

Bongani Khumalo: 1% = Capitec shares worth R9.5million
Prominent businessman and former Transnet chairperson, who now heads Lotto operator Gidani.

Pilisiwe Twala-Tau: 1% = Capitec shares worth R9.5million
Wife of Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau and chief executive of Gauteng Enterprise Propeller. She previously occupied senior positions at the Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg metros.

Tdikeledi Majola: 1% = Capitec shares worth R9.5million Unknown.
Values were calculated using a Capitec share price of R201.47. Consortium members generally preferred not to answer questions but associated themselves with this statement from Coral Lagoon: "The consortium is delighted with its shareholding in Capitec, which has played a major role in taking banking to the unbanked in South Africa.

"It is very pleased with the return on its investment to date and with its significant remaining stake in the company. This transaction can be seen as one of the most successful BEE transactions in South Africa as Coral Lagoon now has an unencumbered holding in Capitec that pays regular dividends."

Par for the course

^^But you got to give them a hand for anticipating that Capitec shares will run so hard and selling at the top. They borrowed money to buy into what they thought was an undervalued asset and now they've paid back the debt and made great profit. Am I missing something, this is the definition of a calculated risk.

It's like Lonmin, I bet you there are some ANC and other big wigs organising funding as we speak to buy it at such depressed levels, now when they make a bundle in 5 years time when the stock reverts to it's long term average valuation is that corruption?

As that investment adage says: "Buy when there's blood in the streets."

^^But you got to give them a hand for anticipating that Capitec shares will run so hard and selling at the top. They borrowed money to buy into what they thought was an undervalued asset and now they've paid back the debt and made great profit. Am I missing something, this is the definition of a calculated risk.

It's like Lonmin, I bet you there are some ANC and other big wigs organising funding as we speak to buy it at such depressed levels, now when they make a bundle in 5 years time when the stock reverts to it's long term average valuation is that corruption?

As that investment adage says: "Buy when there's blood in the streets."

And what if the "calculated risk" failed? They used public money - government employees' pension funds no less - for their own personal investment needs.

I fail to see how you can support this?

^^ I agree with accumulation of Black-wealth. I cannot condone blatant politically connected accumulation of wealth, regardless of political affiliation... period.

And what if the "calculated risk" failed? They used public money - government employees' pension funds no less - for their own personal investment needs.

I fail to see how you can support this?


TBH I was being slightly facetious, my point is surely the corruption would be if they did not pay the money back when the deal was underwater or if they were advantaged over other deserving recipients of IDC money?

On the other hand, it might have been an above-board deal, as many ligitemate business people are negative about SA, this creates ample opportunity to buy undervalued assets by the shrewd....

http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/iol-news5-1.989381!/image/464471284.png_gen/derivatives/absolute/464471284.png

Officials’ R5bn gravy train

Cape Town - Government departments spent nearly R5 billion of their budgets on entertainment, catering and travel over the past financial year.

The DA said it would write to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to ask that he issue a notice to all government departments to put a stop to “spending on luxuries” after it emerged the government spent R4.67bn on entertainment, catering and travel the past financial year.

The five biggest-spending departments in terms of these three expense items were the Department of Defence and Military Veterans at R780 million, the Ministry of Police at R685m, Justice and Constitutional Development at R454m, International Relations and Co-operation at R392m, and Correctional Services at R301m.

The Department of Defence spent R10.6m on entertainment, more than the Department of International Relations, whose entertainment costs include those of more than 180 embassies and consulates.

Defence also spent R733.1m on travel and subsistence. Defence and police topped the bill on catering at R35.9m and R22.1m respectively.

The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, which has a relatively small budget of R143.1m, spent R4.5m on catering, R56 000 on entertainment and R18.8m on travel and subsistence.

“It is nothing short of obscene – particularly at a time when so many poor South Africans are struggling to put food on the table for their families,” said Dion George, DA representative on the standing committee on public accounts.

“It boggles the mind that so much money can be spent on luxuries for ministers and government officials when so many South Africans remain in poverty and our economy continues to nose-dive,” he said.

In the 2011/12 financial year, 34 national government departments had spent R194m on “catering” costs, R31.7m on entertainment and R4.4bn on travel and subsistence, he said.

Catering costs usually refer to food and beverage expenses for, among other things, departmental workshops, indabas, launches, training, year-end functions and the opening of Parliament.

“Entertainment” costs, on the other hand, are defined as “luncheon meetings held with colleagues, foreign delegations and/or other individuals” and the “purchase of dinner during authorised overtime” incurred by senior managers and ministers.

Travel costs include transport, accommodation, food and other expenses incurred by officials in the course of their duties.

George said President Jacob Zuma had called on the government to “kill that spirit of self” and “not live above your people, but live with them” in his State of the Nation Address in February.

“How then does he explain the obscene amounts of money his government spent on catering, entertainment and travel?” he asked.

Acting government spokeswoman Phumla Williams told the Cape Argus that she could not comment until she had gone through all the annual reports to determine whether the DA’s figures were correct.

“But right now, I cannot comment on this,” she said.

Political Bureau

http://www.witness.co.za/portal/witness_db1/custom_modules/bb_witness/logo.png

Nkandla upgrade costs soar to R247m
2012-10-17 08:40
Witness Reporters
Cape Town - Significant amounts have been paid to an elevator company and for bulletproof glass for President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla compound.

New information in documents, in the possession of Die Burger, shows that improvements to the estate have already cost the taxpayer almost R250m.

According to the documents, the department of public works has since 2009 spent R188m on building work, and paid R54m to consultants.

This brings the costs of the project to R247m. The original budget calculated in 2009 was R23m.

Bulletproof glass, elevator

A breakdown of spending on the Nkandla compound, which forms part of the public works department's prestige portfolio, includes R23m for “emergency work”.

Other payments include R121m to builders, R2.4m for bulletproof glass, R9.2m for a fence and a payment of R1.9m to a leading international elevator company.

Millions have already been paid to consultants, including architects, surveyors, engineers and project managers.

The presidency said in an earlier statement that the improvements to the compound were a family decision, paid for by the Zuma family.

Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj on Tuesday referred queries to the department of public works.

In turn, Sabelo Mali, spokesperson for minister Thulas Nxesi, referred Die Burger to a statement issued by the minister on October 1, in which he said all expenditure at Nkandla complies with guidelines in the ministerial handbook. He said the Nkandla compound is a national keypoint, which prohibits the release of any details of security arrangements.

Security assessment

In terms of an instruction approved by Cabinet in June 2003 and included in the ministerial handbook, the department can spend R100 000 on security improvements at the private houses of public officials.

Any costs above that must be covered by the official.

Approval of the full R100 000 is dependent on a security assessment by the South African Police Service at the request of the public official.

The handbook added that the official must make a formal application to the department of public works to contribute to security costs, after the assessment is complete.

Standard security improvements could include a bulletproof guardhouse, fences with vehicle and pedestrian gates, burglar guards on windows and doors, security lights, an intercom and alarm system and fire extinguishers.


- The Witness

Words escape me

Paid for by the Zuma family? While some family members still fail to pay for their multi-million Rand wedding... And I love it when a certain presidential spokesperson noted that some people just can't accept the emergence of a black middle class. I love middle-class R280 million compounds. That is roughly 280 middle class homes. An entire middle class suburb!

^^ ANC can only play the race card. Nobody laments a growing Black-middle-class... it is only to the country's benefit and we should applaud it. It's accumulation of wealth through political patronage that's the issue, not real Black wealth creation. Only an idiot would conflate entrepreneurship with corruption! They truly are a lost and deluded party who insults the intelligence of South Africans.

What's sad is, Nkandla will not disadvantage the paler persuasion, it harms real Black-wealth creation and opportunities for the previously disadvantaged: Corruption is theft from the poor! They play the race-card with one hand and whack the race they claim to protect over the head with a sledgehammer with the other.

Couldn't agree more Annman. But then in all honesty why were the ANC ever going to be different to other African liberation movements? What is going on now should not really surprise anyone as the ANC was always (and remains) a quasi socialist organisation that could not and cannot distinguish between the party and the state and that was (and is) (with a few notable exceptions whose time has long since past) intolerant, chauvinistic and racial in it's outlook.

Johannesburg - The government has misled South Africans about how much of the national budget is spent on the salaries of civil servants, Prophet Analytics claimed on Wednesday.


"The government is wrong when it states that only 35% of the annual budget is spent on wages. The true figure is 88%...," analyst Peter Aling said in a statement.


The government had also misled analysts by appearing to agree to 5.4% wage increases for civil servants, he said.


This was according to Prophet Analytics' fourth quarter 2012 Labour Market Navigator Report.


The report indicated an increase in the salaries earned by black civil servants and the proportion of black government employees.


In the past 10 years, the percentage of black civil servants had increased from 42 to 74, and nearly 40% of South Africa's highest-earning blacks were now government employees.


Aling attributed sharp rises in black civil servants' salaries to "managerial bloat", claiming the government used promotion and job re-grading to increase their incomes.


"This results in the average remuneration for public sector workers now (being) 32% higher than that of private sector workers."


If historical rates of progression were maintained, 5.1 million black people would be earning more than the average white person in private business by 2020, he said.


Racial income disparities were steadily, if slowly, closing.

"This is apparent from current census results showing that black incomes grew 10.4% per annum between the censuses, compared to the 6.5% growth in white incomes," Aling said.


Measures to speed up this process included improving the education system and reviewing labour laws, he said.


The National Treasury could not immediately be reached for comment.

News24

Johannesburg - The government has misled South Africans about how much of the national budget is spent on the salaries of civil servants, Prophet Analytics claimed on Wednesday.

"The government is wrong when it states that only 35% of the annual budget is spent on wages. The true figure is 88%...," analyst Peter Aling said in a statement.

The government had also misled analysts by appearing to agree to 5.4% wage increases for civil servants, he said.

This was according to Prophet Analytics' fourth quarter 2012 Labour Market Navigator Report.

The report indicated an increase in the salaries earned by black civil servants and the proportion of black government employees.

In the past 10 years, the percentage of black civil servants had increased from 42 to 74, and nearly 40% of South Africa's highest-earning blacks were now government employees.

Aling attributed sharp rises in black civil servants' salaries to "managerial bloat", claiming the government used promotion and job re-grading to increase their incomes.

"This results in the average remuneration for public sector workers now (being) 32% higher than that of private sector workers."

If historical rates of progression were maintained, 5.1 million black people would be earning more than the average white person in private business by 2020, he said.

Racial income disparities were steadily, if slowly, closing.

"This is apparent from current census results showing that black incomes grew 10.4% per annum between the censuses, compared to the 6.5% growth in white incomes," Aling said.

Measures to speed up this process included improving the education system and reviewing labour laws, he said.

The National Treasury could not immediately be reached for comment.

News24

You see I don't find this sustainable, the main engine of black economic growth seems to be through the public sector. In a modern capitalist economy it's the private sector that should be the engine of growth, employment and wealth. All this points to me is a bloated public sector and inefficient public institutions. There won't be real economic empowerment if a major factor in rising incomes is more public sector jobs, government can only grow so much.

Guptas 'bankroll' Mrs Zuma's bond
There is evidence that the Gupta family is helping first lady number four, Bongi Ngema-Zuma, pay off her R3.8-million home loan.

Although the Guptas deny being involved, the circumstances around the bond's initiation and billing - and the very large monthly repayments - suggest their helping hand. This should raise new concern about the Guptas' close relationship with Zuma and his family.

Set on the exclusive Waterkloof Ridge that overlooks Pretoria and the Union Buildings, the property was bought in April 2010 for R5.2-million.

Before the purchase, said a person with first-hand knowledge, the president personally inspected the sprawling property. According to a neighbour, he visits regularly.

The purchase was completed in August 2010, when the property was transferred to the Sinqumo Trust and the R3.8-million bond registered. The trust is controlled by Ngema-Zuma and named after the couple's son.

Public bond records show that the trust was to pay off the bond over five years, a remarkably short period for a home loan of this value. To do so, it committed to paying about R80 000 every month.

Fingerprints
There are three sets of Gupta fingerprints on the transaction:
• The first print is that the bond was granted by India's Bank of Baroda, which has a known relationship with the Guptas.
• The Bank of Baroda also holds the bond on another house closely linked to both the Guptas and the Zuma family, one of which the president's son, Duduzane, calls home. Situated in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, the property is formally owned by Mabengela Investments, controlled jointly by Duduzane Zuma and Tony Gupta.
• And in January 2011, at a high profile South Africa-India cricket event part-sponsored by Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age, President Zuma handed the bank's managing director an award, apparently for fostering bilateral relations.
• The second, clearer fingerprint is a witness signature on the bond *documents by a trusted Gupta lieutenant, Ronica Govender. Govender is something of a factotum to the Gupta family. Company records reflect her as a director in more than a dozen *family companies. She is financial director at the family's flagship IT company, Sahara, a receptionist said this week. She is also listed as special-projects director at JIC Mining Services, a company majority-owned by the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma. Govender this week said her signature on the bond was "irrelevant as anyone can witness this type of document in their personal capacity".
• Fingerprint number three is the freshest: on inquiry this week, a bank employee gave Govender's JIC Mining email address when asked where the bank dispatched the Sinqumo Trust bond statements to. Govender responded that this was "absolute rubbish and even if it was being sent to me, that's not a crime".

Last year, when the Mail & Guardian exposed how JIC Mining had employed Ngema, then still the president's fiancée, as head of communications and marketing, the newspaper asked Gupta family spokesperson Gary Naidoo whether the family had "in any way assisted

Ngema or her family in acquiring [the property] by helping to pay the purchase price, facilitating financing, or meeting or assisting with bond repayments".

Naidoo's written denial was an emphatic "no to all your questions", flying in the face of the choice of financial institution and evidence of Govender's facilitating role.

Naidoo and JIC Mining this week repeated the denials, saying: "The Gupta family or its businesses deny any involvement in any employee's personal dealings with any institution. Therefore, there should be no confusion that we contributed in any way to the raising or paying of the bond for Ms Ngema-Zuma."

Affordable?
However, the question remains how either the president or Ngema-Zuma could afford to pay off the bond at the stipulated rate.

Usually, prospective homeowners cannot secure bonds in which repayments exceed 30% of their gross income.

In other words, to afford the R80 000 monthly instalments, Ngema-Zuma would need to earn about R3.2-million a year, which is unlikely. Even the presidential salary falls far short of this.

In 2010, Zuma was paid only R2.4-million and the higher than average size of his immediate family and his ostensible financial commitments at Nkandla suggest that even the standard bond payment-to-income ratio would be too high for him to afford.

His history of relying on others to support his family is well known.

His loans from arms-deal convict Schabir Shaik and Durban businessman Vivien Reddy provide well-known examples. In another, after media exposure, Zuma disclosed in his 2009 Cabinet interest declaration that a businessperson provided, for free, a luxury home for the use of another of his wives in Durban.

The impression that the Guptas are assisting the Zumas with the Waterkloof Ridge bond was tacitly confirmed to the M&G by an insider to the relationship between the families. He cannot be named as the conversation was off the record.

No declaration
Although neighbours confirmed that Zuma had visited the house regularly during 2012, the president declared neither the home nor a third-party benefit in the open part of his last two Cabinet declarations.

Cabinet ministers are allowed to declare spousal benefits confidentially. However, any assistance received in securing this bond and facilitating repayment could arguably be construed as a direct benefit to Zuma.

Neither the presidency nor Ngema-Zuma replied to questions.

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

And so began the winter of their content

April 2010, when Bongi Ngema went home-shopping in Waterkloof Ridge, was a time of blossoming relationships.

Only four months earlier the future Mrs Ngema-Zuma had presented umbondo – traditional wedding gifts – to President Jacob Zuma at his Nkandla estate, and now she was next in line to marry him.

On another front, the Gupta family and Zuma's son, Duduzane, seemed poised to consummate large-scale commercial success. The events of that time would also lead to great controversy regarding the cosy relationship between the Gupta and Zuma families.

In March 2010, Gupta lieutenant Jagdish Parekh acquired a 50% stake in Imperial Crown Trading 289, which soon became a household name as news emerged that it had grabbed the right to prospect at the Sishen iron ore mine from under the noses of corporate giants Kumba Iron Ore and ArcelorMittal.

Imperial Crown's "squatting" at Sishen, fully supported by the government despite evidence of fraud in the awarding of the right, put the Guptas and Zuma Jr in the position to negotiate an empowerment deal with ArcelorMittal, announced in August 2010. From this Parekh was to score shares and cash with a face value of over R2billion, with Zuma Jr pocketing more than R900-million and a Gupta family investment company R450-million-plus.

That deal eventually fell apart, but there were other Gupta-Zuma pokers in the fire: April 2010 also saw a consortium led by the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma buy Toronto-listed Uranium One's South African assets in a R300-million deal, placing them well to tap into South Africa's expected expansion of nuclear power generation.

Zuma Jr, who had completed an internship at the Gupta family's Sahara computer business, seems to have entered a formal business relationship with the family in mid-2008, when he and Tony Gupta formed investment company Mabengela Investments.

In a 2010 interview, Zuma Jr called Tony Gupta his "exclusive" partner who advised him financially and legally.

Mabengela and a Gupta family company are the controlling shareholders of JIC Mining Services. Bongi Ngema-Zuma has been employed in marketing and communications at JIC since mid-2010.

The Guptas have consistently denied impropriety in their friendship with the president and their business relationship with members of his family. – Stefaans Brümmer & Craig McKune

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

Living in the lap of luxury

Of all the mansions on Grus Street in Waterkloof Ridge, Bongi Ngema-Zuma's is the most distinctly African. A pair of earthenware pots the size of grown men flanks the front door and the walls are a rich, bright yellow.

Ngema-Zuma is also one of the few environmentally conscious homeowners on this street, with two large solar panels perched on her roof.

A neighbour who had been inside the property before Ngema-Zuma moved in described it as "big and luxurious". He added that it had "a massive swimming pool with a fish tank inside".

But small piles of bricks, cement and plastic sheeting inside the property suggest it is undergoing some renovations.

A security watchtower decked out with CCTV cameras looks out over the street, but no guards were manning it when the Mail & Guardian visited this week, and the mansion had an unoccupied feel.

The neighbour said Jacob Zuma had visited at least 10 times in the past nine months, but "at most" spent the night twice. When he visits, Zuma is accompanied by up to 12 black SUVs, which disgorge a number of bodyguards who line the street, keeping a watchful eye.

"They're not that invasive, and tend to let us go about our own business," said the neighbour. – Sally Evans & Lionel Faull

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-30-0...mrs-zumas-bond

Absolutely sickening... :( How does this cretin actually stay president?

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Zuma-a-kept-politician-report-reveals-20121207

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-07-00-secret-report-reveals-how-millions-flowed-to-zuma

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-07-00-zuma-corruption-south-africans-have-a-right-to-know

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-06-all-the-presidents-willing-benefactors-part-one

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-07-00-all-the-presidents-willing-benefactors-part-two

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-07-00-banks-bent-over-backwards-for-zuma

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-07-00-zuma-corruption-of-battleships-and-nkandla

In any other country, even 10% of this type of story would have resulted in all involved resigning.

Wow the shit really has hit the fan. I think it is more important than ever that Zuma gets a second term as ANC president. The DA could not in their wildest dreams get a better voting machine than the vile crock of shit that is Zuma and his ANC

:popcorn:

^^ :fiddle:

Peace and love. ;)

Arms deal probe investigator quits
2013-01-17 09:46

Johannesburg - The integrity of the Seriti commission probing the arms deal has been questioned in a resignation letter penned by one of the commission's senior investigators, according to a report on Thursday.

Norman Moabi, a lawyer and former acting judge from Pretoria, alleges in his letter, which was leaked to Beeld newspaper, that the commission is not being transparent and is concealing an alternative or "second agenda".

Moabi says in the letter, addressed to judge Willie Seriti, that he is resigning because of interference and because he has lost faith in the commission's work.

"I joined the commission to serve with integrity, dignity and dedication to truth. I cannot, in all conscience, pretend to be blind to what is actually going on at the commission."

'Second agenda'


According to Moabi, Seriti rules the commission with an iron fist and facts are manipulated or withheld from commissioners.

Contributions from commissioners who do not pursue the "second agenda" are frequently ignored.

Beeld contacted Moabi, but he declined to comment.

Spokesperson for the Seriti commission, William Baloyi said the commission would fulfil its mandate, as requested by President Jacob Zuma.

"Any other agenda referred to by Mr Moabi is a delusion."

Hearings were expected to start in March.

In October 2011 Zuma announced that Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Seriti would chair the three-man commission of inquiry, flanked by judges Hendrick Musi and Francis Legodi.

Corruption allegations


The multi-billion rand deal has dogged South Africa's politics since it was signed in 1999, after then Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille raised allegations of corruption in Parliament.

Zuma himself was once charged with corruption after his financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who had a tender to supply part of the requirements, was found to have facilitated a bribe for him from a French arms company.

The charges against Zuma were later dropped.

News24

A R1.25-billion contract to supply "smart" electricity meters to the City of Johannesburg was manipulated to favour Vivian Reddy, one of President Jacob Zuma's key benefactors, information obtained by the Mail & Guardian suggests.

Reddy reportedly paid R450 000 for a table at the ANC's anniversary gala dinner in Durban last week, when Zuma made the controversial remark that "wise" businessmen who supported the ANC could expect that "everything you touch will multiply".

The city and its utility City Power, which procured the meters, have denied any irregularities in awarding the tender. But key discrepancies uncovered by the M&G suggest otherwise. They include:

•Detailed allegations that an initial technical evaluation scoresheet was amended to improve the result for Reddy's company, Edison Power;
•The revised scoring pushed another bidder, Hefcom, below the cut-off 70% technical score. When price was factored in, Hefcom – whose bid was half the cost of Edison's – would have scored better than Edison;
•A letter informing Edison it had won the bid is dated before City Power supply chain management even received the bid recommendation or the chair of the adjudication committee had signed off on the decision;
•Edison's share of the contract was pushed up from an initial recommendation of a R600-million share of an R800-million contract to an exclusive contract for R1.25-billion; and
•A man central to the award, City Power chief executive Sicelo Xulu, is alleged to be "friends with Zuma" though he denies this.
There is no evidence suggesting foul play on the part of Reddy or Edison.

The three-year contract to deliver hundreds of thousands of so-called smart meters was awarded in August 2012. The meters will allow the municipality to track and control electricity usage remotely at each metering point in real time. The project is also intended to cut down on fraud and tampering.

There are about 1.5-million metering points in the greater Johannesburg area, the majority of which have to be read manually.

Edison has no prior experience in smart metering, several industry sources said, but the company teamed up with established United States metering company Itron, which separately won the much smaller R50-million contract for the centralised data management "back end" of the system.

Edison was one of the businesses that paid to be at the ANC's Mangaung conference in December and Reddy has long been a vocal supporter of Zuma.

Reddy stepped in to fund part of Zuma's Nkandla homestead in 2003, when the president's former associate Schabir Shaik ran into difficulties. He featured prominently in the report by auditors KPMG on Zuma's benefactors that was prepared for Zuma's abandoned corruption trial.

Edison executive director Bazil Govender, responding on behalf of Edison and Reddy, hit out at suggestions that the firm had been favoured.

"We are fully aware of the company [that has] complained to the M&G, because they tried to pressurise us into partnering with them after the award of the contract," he said. "They threatened to go to the press, to make an issue of this award. We rejected this approach because we believe it was highly unethical. We are lodging a formal complaint to City Power to fully investigate this serious breach of ethics."

He shrugged off Edison's relative inexperience with smart metering, saying that the company was working with an experienced partner in Itron: "We believe we offered the best solution to City Power."

But the M&G has seen tender documents and spoken to several sources familiar with the bid process that together raise serious questions about how Edison was singled out.

Score 'tampering'?
Of central concern are claims that the bid evaluation committee improperly adjusted the bid scores.

According to sources close to the process, the evaluation committee convened on at least two occasions to "re-score" the tender, a process that was overseen by Nkanyiso Msomi, a senior City Power official who also chaired the live technical demon*stration sessions.

The M&G has seen evidence that suggests that initially three bidders were scored above the 70% technical threshold: Edison, followed by Hefcom and, in third place, Mandla Technologies.

City Power claims that only Edison and Mandla broke the 70% bar. It says initial scores based only on the bid documents were adjusted following the live presentations. The utility suggests this would explain any score changes.

However, a source sympathetic to Hefcom said the company was given feedback that they were in the running right until the very end.

And information obtained by the M&G suggests the areas in which Hefcom scores were revised down were unlikely to have been influenced by the presentation.

They include the categories:

•Training and system handover, which was not dealt with in the live presentation at all;
•Ability to synchronise data with other systems. Elsewhere in the final bid evaluation report this is actually listed as one of Hefcom's strengths – unsurprisingly, because the company designed its meters based on its work with City Power systems over the past four years; and
•Energy balancing, a technical function that Hefcom meters have performed in City Power systems for several years.
City Power spokesperson Solomon Masolo ruled out any foul play. He said: "All the tenders were afforded an equal opportunity to present and give a live demonstration and any moderation of the initial score is fully supported by what was presented in the live technical demonstration and presentations."

Pricing anomalies
Hefcom was the cheapest of the three, with a cost per meter of between R4 500 and R5 400. Edison's price per meter works out at R9 716.

Hefcom uses South African technology and all components are manufactured locally, unlike Itron, the US company that will supply the Edison meters. The US company is not related to a South African company with the same name.

There is also some confusion about Edison's price offering. It consisted of two options – the pricier of which worked out at more than R20 000 a meter. City Power says the main difference in the offers "relates to other add-on benefits, including maintenance and spare parts", adding: "The tender was evaluated only on the main [lower] offer."

However, another source close to the process claims Edison's cheaper offer was tied to Itron winning the parallel but separate "back end" data management tender – something evaluators would usually not be allowed to assume for the purpose of price comparison.

Not splitting the risk
After Edison-Itron and Mandla advanced to the second stage – at which companies were evaluated on price and their broad-based black economic empowerment credentials. Mandla outscored Edison because of Edison's higher bid price.

However, the bid evaluation committee recommended that the R800-million contract be split between Edison and Mandla (R600-million and R200-million respectively) and submitted its report to Xulu, the chair of the tender adjudication committee that makes the final decision.

Industry sources say splitting such strategic contracts is common policy in order to "spread the risk" of relying on just one supplier.

Contrary to this wisdom, the committee opted instead to award the entire contract to Edison and Xulu allegedly asked the bid evaluation committee to "correct" the report.

Masolo said the adjudication committee chose a single bidder to "properly manage a single system instead of a variety of proprietary systems that did not talk to each other".

But a number of bidders dismissed this argument, saying all meters under consideration had to comply with an industry standard so they could talk to a common data management system, regardless of their manufacturer.

More 'tweaking'
According to an insider, Xulu's instruction to correct the evaluation committee report was interpreted by some committee members as an order to flip the scores between Edison and Mandla, based on Edison's lower price option, to justify the awarding of the contract to Edison alone. The earlier report was allegedly redrafted to reflect Xulu's instruction. Meanwhile, Xulu is alleged to have taken the R800-million contract award to the City of Johannesburg for approval and returned with an instruction to increase the contract to R1.25-billion.

City Power said the "indicative budget" was adjusted up to R1.25-billion "based on up to 250 000 smart meters that will have to be supplied".

A municipal insider alleged that Xulu met executive mayor Parks Tau to discuss the contract.

Fred Mokoko, a spokesperson for Tau, declined to confirm or deny whether Tau had discussed the matter with Xulu as alleged. Mokoko said the mayor was legally prohibited from participating in the awarding of tenders: "The mayor has noted the allegations, which he has referred to city manager Trevor Fowler for investigation [and] which will shed more light on what happened."

City Power said: "Xulu did not consult anybody on the adjudication of the award."

Jumping the gun?
The M&G has seen a letter of award to Edison, dated August 20 and signed by Xulu, indicating a contract amount of R1.25-billion.

But the adjudication committee's report reflects that it only received the final evaluation committee report on August 21.

City Power says the date of the award letter was an "administrative error", but within the body of the letter the August 20 contract start date is repeated – presumably another error. The utility says that on August1 the adjudication committee met to consider the matter. The committee resolved to award the contract, subject to the committee being provided with further clarification of information provided.

It is not clear on what report the committee based this decision because records show the official evaluation report was received on August 21.

City Power says the August 20 draft letter of award was prepared as part of the presentation to the adjudication committee, which met and formally awarded the contract on September 5.

Xulu only signed the committee report, which included an instruction that the evaluation committee's report was "to be corrected", on September 10.

That instruction appears to *support the claim that some retrospective tinkering was done to the *evaluation committee's work.

City Power said Xulu's instruction was a "request for clarification of information [and] did not relate to the scoring presented in the report".

It is understood that the M&G's preliminary enquiries about the tender led Xulu to appoint auditing firm Ernst & Young to review the tender award process.


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

The connected Mr Xulu
Sicelo Xulu played a central role in the process of awarding a new tender for smart meters. He approved the bid specifications, chaired the adjudication committee and issued the letter of award to Vivian Reddy's Edison Power Consortium.

Given Xulu's role, rumours about his closeness to President Jacob Zuma and the ANC raise concerns about perceptions of bias in favour of one of the president and the party's most visible benefactors.



City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu denies that he is friends with Zuma. (Jeremy Glyn)

Xulu, who studied at Mangosuthu Technikon, is from the Nkanini area near Eshowe in northern KwaZulu-Natal and owns a home at the Eshowe Hills Golf Estate valued at R2.5-million.

Local ward councillor MM Cebekhulu from the Inkatha Freedom Party told the Mail & Guardian that Xulu was friends with Zuma and had invited him for lunch. He said the last known lunch at which Zuma was present was held before the 2011 local government elections.

Xulu responded: "It would be incorrect and presumptuous for me to claim that I am a personal friend of the president. I personally have not had the honour of hosting him."

Cebekhulu said that during the 2011 elections Xulu bought ANC campaign T-shirts and had them distributed in the ward. He called Xulu an "activist".

Xulu said that he had donated shirts to the ANC ward candidate, but had not distributed them, nor campaigned actively.

"I have never and will never allow my personal political views to cloud or compromise my professional career and/or my legal accountability as the accounting officer of City Power," said Xulu.

A source who attended Edison's year-end function – the James Bond movie premiere at Eastgate Mall in Johannesburg on the evening of November 21 – overheard Xulu's predecessor, Silas Zimu, boasting that he and Xulu had received "personal invitations" from Zuma to visit him at his Nkandla homestead. But both dismissed the claim.

The presidency had not responded to questions by the requested deadline. – Jonathan Erasmus, Sam Sole & Lionel Faull

Mail & Gaurdian
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parastatals 'bullied' into supporting the 'New Age'

The public enterprises department is alleged to have leaned heavily on state-owned enterprises to enter into financial agreements with the "New Age".
President Jacob Zuma addressed business breakfasts hosted by the New Age but paid for by the parastatals. (Elmond Jiyane, M&G)
Our CoverageWhat's the fuss over the sweet deal for the 'New Age'?New Age leaders weed out the liesMore CoverageZille withdraws from New Age breakfastsNew Age cleared of wrongdoing in Malema London stories - mostlyThe New Age is owned by the politically well-connected Gupta family, which enjoys friendly ties with both President Jacob Zuma and Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba.

Evidence of the direct involvement of the ministry in the parastatals' doing business with the newspaper comes in the wake of disclosures that Eskom, Transnet and Denel spent R25-million on sponsoring New Age business breakfasts. The breakfasts, which feature political heavyweights, including Zuma, and which industry experts say are highly profitable for the newspaper – are also broadcast live by the South African Broadcasting Corporation at no cost to the sponsors or the New Age.

The newspaper is secretive about its business and does not submit its circulation for auditing, but state and parastatal support appears to form the backbone of its circulation, advertising and sponsorship income.

According to accounts by several sources and documentary evidence, Siyabonga Mahlangu, who is special legal adviser to Gigaba, has been key in putting pressure on the state-owned enterprises. "Mahlangu was the person who arm-wrestled all the parastatals to support the New Age," a former board member of a state-owned enterprise said.

A parastatal manager said Mah*langu, a former ANC lawyer, was perceived as serving the political interests of Gigaba, who considered the good opinion of the New Age and its political and financial backers to be valuable.

But Gigaba's spokesperson, Mayi*hlome Tshwete, denied it and said the minister "has never instructed, implied or insinuated for the New Age to be given preferential treatment". He said Mahlangu also denied claims that he had pressured any parastatals "into deciding which newspapers they should buy".

Intimately involved
However, the Mail & Guardian has seen evidence that Mahlangu was intimately involved in working out the details of SAA's subscriptions to the New Age. Two well-placed sources, who asked not to be identified, also said that Mahlangu had initiated discussions with SAA about the New Age and, as a result, the airline bought more copies of the paper than before and at a higher price.

One of the sources also claimed that Eskom had been put under similar pressure, which resulted in the parastatal's decision to contract the New Age to host six breakfast sessions at a total cost of R7 185 658.

Eskom refused to answer questions about Mahlangu's involvement but said: "The decision to sponsor was reached as a result of mutual discussion over a period of time.

"The main benefit for Eskom and its shareholder was brand awareness and highlighting of the need to conserve electricity. The breakfasts also created opportunities for constructive engagement with our stakeholders in different parts of the country."

A person privy to discussions within Eskom, however, confirmed that pressure to sponsor the breakfasts had come from Gigaba's department.

In the case of SAA, according to documents seen by the M&G, before the intervention by the department of public enterprises early last year, the airline was already receiving a total of 40 770 copies of the New Age a month, or roughly 2 000 a day, for R2 a copy.

Internal SAA assessment
In March last year, the New Age had a meeting with George Mothema, the head of stakeholder relations in the office of the SAA chief executive officer, Siza Mzimela.The newspaper punted a proposal for subscriptions to be pushed up to 7 000 a day at the full cover price of R3.50 a copy and for SAA to commit itself to advertising amounting to nearly R10-million a year. But the proposal ran into resistance from the SAA marketing staff, who argued the New Age was poor value for money because it charged advertising rates comparable to its competitors but had a much lower circulation and readership. Tellingly, the internal SAA assessment was that the only real value the newspaper offered was with "government marketing".

But, despite this, the company concluded an agreement in April for 3 000 copies a day at the full cover price, which means SAA now gets about 63 000 copies a month. By comparison, the airline's next biggest subscription is to the Star, which supplies about 50000 copies a month at less that R4 a copy, a steep discount on its R6.70 cover price.

It appears SAA also committed itself to spending a relatively small amount annually on advertising in the New Age.

But the airline's spokesperson Tlali Tlali said: "The assertion that SAA received an instruction from the shareholder's office to get into a contract with the New Age is pure fiction.

"The New Age is one of the daily publications supplied to SAA. We recently increased subscription volumes after we held discussions with the publication. The decision was based on and informed by a number of considerations. These included the need to improve on our service offering in line with our customer needs and global airline trends. This move also provides for product variety for our passengers."

Malicious allegations
A former New Age insider, who asked not to be named, said: "That newspaper's relationship with government is rock solid. You could say there is a mandate to support the New Age.

"We tried to source advertising from the private sector, but they would ask us: 'Guys, where are the numbers?' They would not advertise without circulation figures.

"But with the parastatals it was different … In some cases, more junior media practitioners in government would also be cautious of advertising in the paper because they could not justify the spending.

"A simple phone call from one of the Guptas to a minister and the junior official would phone back, asking why the New Age had tried to make him look stupid by going above his head and calling his superior. After that, he would agree to advertise."

The New Age dismissed the allegations as malicious and untrue.



The M&G

The sooner the New Age ANC propaganda machine dies, the better. I hope the Public Protector nails them.

^^ Wow! Anything the ANC touches turns into a shitstorm of epic proportions. They really are an epic fail. I don't know how anyone with an IQ above 50 can support them anymore with a clear conscience.

So I'm watching a DAVOS economic discussion on CNN and the panel consists of representatives of the BRIC countries (minus SA) plus one from Nigeria... Are they trying to tell us something?

Another idiot. He looks about as intelligent as a sack of straw:

Mayor racks up 1000s of kilometres
2013-01-29 13:02

http://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/2259/f5fa092dd5284dd08b163bcc68010be5.jpg
Mongi Ntwanambi. (Picture: Volksblad)

Bloemfontein - Municipal finance records show a Free State mayor travels between 450km and 1 000km a day, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Volksblad newspaper reported that Xhariep district mayor Mongi Ntwanambi cost taxpayers nearly R480 008 in petrol, maintenance, licensing, tracking, and repairs for his Mercedes-Benz, and car hire between January and October last year.

This was more than half the price of the vehicle in 2010.

According to the newspaper, at a conservative petrol price of R11.37 a litre and fuel consumption of eight kilometres a litre, Ntwanambi would have to have travelled on average 1007km a day to arrive at the R42 964 he claimed to have spent on petrol in April alone.

He spent the least on fuel in July, at R4 637, when his vehicle was in for repairs, which cost the municipality more than R60 000.

The newspaper reported that Ntwanambi provided his vehicle costs as part of a motivation for the district council to buy him a new car.

The Democratic Alliance in the Free State said the figures were absurd and asked the Auditor General to investigate.

The Volksblad reported the municipality refused to answer questions about the matter.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Mayor-racks-up-1000s-of-kilometres-20130129)

Did you guys read the article where traditional kings cost the taxpayer R 650 million? What is this country, a democracy or a collection of monarchies? They are apartheid remnants anyway and should be destroyed.

I simply cannot comment anymore. I'm proudly South African, but disgraced by our pathetic excuse of a State. It's sickening, it's theft, it's pure hypocrisy of the highest order! And those traditional leaders, who cost taxpayers R650mil per annum, hold approx. 20% of SA's most fertile land in traditional trusts. Then our government goes and slams commercial farming as "evil" whilst millions reside on this traditional land with no title deed or secure of tenure whatsoever! I'm over it.

FNB, Guptas and ANC: Zille responds
January 29 2013 at 12:15pm
By Helen Zille



INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

DA leader Helen Zille

Helen Zille denies that the DA took money from the Guptas. Here is her full statement:

“Before the Nkandla "white-wash" wiped everything else off the front pages, the past week's headlines were dominated by the First National Bank debacle.

“For those readers who may have been hibernating, FNB Chairman Sizwe Nxasana last week made a grovelling apology to the ANC after the bank's senior executives were summoned to Luthuli house for a roasting over an advertising campaign. This included YouTube clips which showed children speaking of the future. Some made negative comments about the government and at least one Minister.

“As a result, according to reports, an enraged ANC threatened to withdraw government business from FNB. This threat is, in itself, an outrage as it confirms that the ANC decides who gets government contracts. FNB's "crime", said the ANC, was that the advertisements took an "oppositional stance".

“FNB buckled and withdrew the video clips after the ANC argued they could deter investment. That is deeply ironic. The ANC's bullying of a private company, its apparent ability to influence state tenders, and its failure to understand the constitutional right of free speech, will do far more to kill investment than anything a child might have said in a YouTube clip.

“For FNB's part, one of their excuses for withdrawing the ads was to protect the children involved. If FNB had reason to fear for the safety of the children, what does that say about South Africa and the ANC? It is truly chilling.

“Even as this controversy raged, there was a lesser story unfolding in the media, arising out of my decision to withdraw from a televised "New Age" breakfast on 31st January. I made this decision after it emerged that State Owned Enterprises (ESKOM, TRANSNET and TELKOM) had funded 24 breakfasts to the tune of R25-million (over and above the tickets sales of R792 per ticket that more than covered the cost of each breakfast). Furthermore, it emerged that the SABC's hour-long broadcast of each breakfast was free (a donation equivalent of R1.8-million per breakfast to promote a newspaper sympathetic to government).

“It is obvious to any thinking person that this cannot be described as a regular event sponsorship (which would typically cover the cost of part, or all, of the event).

“The word "sponsorship" here is a fig-leaf for disguising the transfer of millions of Rands of taxpayers' money into a company owned by the Guptas, who are major benefactors of the ANC and Jacob Zuma.

“I was not aware of these facts when I spoke at a breakfast in February last year. But this did not deter people from accusing me of "hypocrisy" for turning down this year's invitation. The attacks escalated when the New Age produced a video of the introduction of my speech last year, in which I read a protocol list and thanked the event sponsor, TELKOM. This apparently was "proof" that I knew that state funds were being used. Apart from the fact that the government is a minority shareholder in TELKOM (unlike ESKOM, TRANSNET and the SABC), this argument misses the point. There would have been nothing wrong with an ordinary sponsorship. There is something profoundly wrong with a "sponsorship" being used as a cover for a conduit of state funds to a private benefactor of the ANC and Jacob Zuma.

“But this is standard practice in the ANC. Chancellor House has been set up precisely to facilitate these deals. It is corruption writ large.

“Instead of focusing on this, the media diverted their attention to my alleged "hypocrisy". I said that most reasonable people adapt their position when new facts emerge. There is nothing hypocritical about that. It is plain common sense.

“The next diversionary tactic was to accuse the DA of taking donations from the Guptas, and the "hypocrisy" allegations reached a crescendo. The argument went like this: It was hypocritical of you, Helen Zille, to pull out of a breakfast sponsored by the government to benefit the Gupta's newspaper because the DA also allegedly received donations from the Guptas".

“With respect this is a nonsensical argument. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Guptas giving money to any political party they choose - as long as they do not request or receive favours from a government using taxpayers' money as a reward. I said, I could guarantee that no-one in the DA had ever exercised any influence on any DA administration to give the Guptas (or any of their companies) preferential treatment. Nor had we ever siphoned taxpayers' money to them under the guise of "sponsorships".

“Most journalists didn't get it. They kept asking me whether we had received money from the Guptas. I kept replying: Ask Them. If they wish to answer the question, they are free to do so. Indeed, I would welcome them clearing this matter up. But I cannot do so because the DA makes a commitment of confidentiality to our donors. The reason for this is obvious. If the FNB got roasted and almost lost its government contracts because of its "oppositional stance", you can imagine what would happen to individuals or companies who donate funds to the opposition!

“This is the sad reality of South Africa's democracy. Ideally the DA would prefer full transparency. But if we were the only party to apply it, most of our donations would dry up - together with any prospect of sustaining democracy in South Africa.

“Of course, there are risks associated with confidentiality as well - such as the opportunity this creates for people with malicious agendas, such as Marius Fransman, to invent insane allegations, such as that the DA received R4-million from the Guptas to renovate our Cape Town offices! That is so ludicrous that most thinking people would just dismiss it. But some journalists took it seriously and gave it substantial air time. Within minutes it was being repeated on social media as ‘fact’.

“When I heard this, I decided to take the unprecedented step of telephoning our donor to ask him to release me from our commitment of confidentiality.

“He declined. He said he did not want his name in the papers. He is not a Gupta. He is an executive in a company owned by the Guptas. I gave him the undertaking I would not mention his name, but I said, given the wild and unfounded speculation (masquerading as fact) I would have to set the record straight. I undertook not to mention him by name.

“I also tried to phone the Guptas, but the telephone number I obtained was no longer operational.

“So, protecting individual identities as much as possible in these extremely unusual circumstances, here is the story.

“In the run-up to the 2009 elections, the DA North West Provincial Leader, Chris Hattingh, contacted the DA's fund-raising office to say a long-standing acquaintance of his wanted to make a donation to the DA's election campaign. The fund-raising staff made an appointment for me to speak to him. I did, and I received a pledge of R200 000.

“The donor then suggested that I come and fetch the cheque at the Gupta's house in Saxonwold, and it transpired that he was a senior executive in one of the Guptas companies. I and my colleague Ian Davidson duly went to the Guptas home, ate some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten, and received the cheque for R200 000 from the individual who had made the pledge. It was a personal cheque from his personal bank account. It did NOT come from a Gupta company, nor from the Guptas, but it was handed over at their home.

“The DA subsequently thanked the donor. And, because we had been guests at the Gupta's home, our fundraising department included our standard letter of thanks to the Guptas, even though the donation had not come from them.

“Later, during the campaign, when funds were tight, we sent an appeal to a range of donors and potential donors. Mr Tony Gupta was one of them. We did not get support from him. But we did get support from the same executive who had previously donated. Again, he wrote us a personal cheque from his private bank account in the amount of R100 000.

“In 2010, the fundraising department scheduled an annual fundraising meeting between me and the same businessman, at which he pledged another R100 000. We received this amount by cheque, but this time the cheque was made out in the name of a company of which the donor is a senior executive. This company is either partially or wholly owned by the Guptas (but is not one of their well known brands such as Sahara Computers or The New Age newspaper).

“In 2011, Chris Hattingh, who had first introduced us to this donor, prompted me to approach him again. Chris said the donor wished to contribute in his personal capacity as he believed in what the DA was doing. By this time, I was becoming concerned about news stories linking donations from companies associated with the Guptas to the ANC's power abuse and political patronage. Even though it was stressed that the person would make the donation in his individual capacity, I did not think it wise to pursue the relationship. I therefore declined the request for an appointment.

“The same occurred in 2012.

“Early this year (ironically on the same day I withdrew from the New Age Breakfasts) Chris contacted me again to say his acquaintance had requested another meeting, and he presumed it was to continue his donations to the DA in his personal capacity. I declined for the third year in a row.

“Without naming names, that is the full story. I normally would not tell it. This is an exceptional circumstance, in which the facts have been twisted and manipulated once again to undermine the DA.

“Perhaps most importantly: the donor has never once asked a DA government for any special favours or preferential treatment. He knows very well that we don't function like that.

“The Guptas have only ever asked me for one favour: Once, before they were scheduled to come to Cape Town, their secretary called and requested an official police escort for them from the airport. I said no.

“So where is the scandal?

“I suggest that the media stop following the trail of red herrings, laid out for them by the ANC, and start following the real scandal, which is the diversion of millions of Rands of taxpayers money to private companies who donate to the ANC and the Zuma family.”

IOL

It just gets more ridiculous every day. They're completely running the country to the ground, yet people will still blindly vote for the ANC. It amazes me.

It unfortunately doesn't amaze me anymore :(

There was a headline in some newspaper today about a R680000 breakfast.. didn't even need to read the story to know it has something to do with government.

And have you been following The New Age. Their journalism, since Zille stopped going to the business breakfasts, has been blatant revenge "stuff you" journalism. So much so, they've reported them to the Press Ombudsman yesterday, due to gross inaccuracies, incorrect reporting and dereliction of fact-checking.

And have you been following The New Age. Their journalism, since Zille stopped going to the business breakfasts, has been blatant revenge "stuff you" journalism. So much so, they've reported them to the Press Ombudsman yesterday, due to gross inaccuracies, incorrect reporting and dereliction of fact-checking.

Again it was unfortunately expected. The New Age has always been a thinly veiled propaganda machine for the ANC

OMG!!! "Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s office having splurged close to R700 000 for one breakfast briefing last year." From Independent Online.

R700K for a f'ing brekkie! With the most biased and least-read national paper as well.

I walked past the Telkom shop in Mountain Mill Mall yesterday and there it was, huge stand of The New Age (For Free) outside the store in the mall corridor - and the stand was chock-o-block full of papers. Didn't look like more than one or two had been taken all day.

What in the hell were those people eating??

Thats the one I saw on a lamppost earlier...

What in the hell were those people eating??

They're eating a few tax-payers, that's what they're eating! :bash:

Economy R675bn lost to graft since 1994

Cape Town - It seems as though South Africa could be losing the fight against corruption.

Paul Hoffman, director of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, has warned that the estimated R675bn lost to corruption since 1994 could be just the beginning.

Hoffman said this in a presentation on the impact of corruption and inequality at the Towards Carnegie 3 conference at the University of Cape Town, Die Burger newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Hoffman based the figure of R675bn on government's admission that the economy loses R30bn per year to corrupt activities.

The disclosure elicited visible shock among conference goers. Some spoke of a war between values enshrined in the constitution and those set out in the ANC's national democratic revolution.

Questioned over losses to corruption which cannot be measured in money, such as government credibility in the eyes of the public, he affirmed the relevance of this type of damage.

Hoffman said the energy that goes into covering up corruption in for example the arms deal creates "permanent structural damage" to the country. "The R675bn is just the beginning," Die Burger quoted him as saying.

According to Hoffman, the government's efforts to stop corruption are not only insufficient but also trip up its ability to finance social welfare, which could be used to alleviate poverty.

If tender fraud and corruption could be eradicated, that would already make an extra R30bn available for social upliftment, said Hoffman.

He also said clean civil service governance could act as a buffer against corruption if conducted according to the values set out in the constitution, but these values are practically dead.

Instead, there is cadre deployment "which is not only illegal but unsustainable".

Cadre deployment automatically leads to a conflict of interest, as cadres hang on to their jobs at any cost, said Hoffman.

- Fin24

Former Goldfields CEO recalls a visit to Nkandla and that sinister smile on Zuma's face

Readers who have received an email purportedly written by former Gold Fields CEO Chris Thompson about a meeting with Jacob Zuma about Nkandla have wondered: can it be real?

Noseweek reporter Mark Thomas tracked Thompson down to his home near Denver, Colorado, US. Yes, said Thompson, he wrote it. But he had intended it as a private communication to a friend, not for general publication. However, now that it had gone viral, “I may as well confirm that I wrote it – and that it’s a true account”.

“Now that it’s to be published, I hope it contributes to widespread efforts to expose and clean out the rot at the top in South Africa’s politics.”

So here’s what the former Gold Fields CEO said in his email to a friend on Saturday, 24 November, 2012:

“When I was CEO of Gold Fields [1999-2002] I got a call from [former President Nelson] Mandela saying we should build a school at Nkandla for Zuma – he was the vice-president at the time. GFL had a foundation, which I headed, and we built schools all over the country but only where there was real need. Nkandla already had a school so I told Madiba we would look into it. The conclusion was that it was marginal but it could be said to have need for a new and bigger school.

“When he called me again to repeat the request a couple of months later, I said I’d go down to Nkandla myself and meet Zuma. I flew down by chopper and Zuma flew in with an entourage, with three military choppers, and put on a big lunch etc for us. He then took us to see the existing school and meet the architects who had designed the proposed new school. It was pretty grand. In the course of discussion I asked what the cost would be and the architect, standing next to me (who absolutely stank of booze) grinned and said ‘R12 to R14 million’. I turned to our foundation chief and said that that was about three times what we usually spend and asked what should the cost be for the design we were looking at. The answer: ‘about R5 or R6 million’. So I looked at the architect and asked ‘Where does the rest of the money go?’ He looked across the table at Zuma and Zuma just looked at me with this big smile.

“So I flew back to Joburg and called Mandela. ‘Yes we will build a school in Nkandla but there are two conditions: 1) it will be a school that GFL designs and not Zuma’s design, and it will be built by our contractors reporting to us (It ended up costing about R4m). And, 2) we are listing GFL on the New York Stock Exchange in two months and we want you to come and ring the bell for Gold Fields at the launch’ [In New York on 9 May 2002 – Ed]. He agreed.

“The reason I asked for him was because Anglo Gold had brought a real live lion (drugged of course) on to the NYSE stage as a very successful publicity stunt, and as long-time rivals we wanted to upstage them.

“The effect of Mandela on the floor was electric. We got huge press around it and the stock went up nicely.”

The new Mnyakanya Secondary School, built by Gold Fields, was opened in March 2004.

Thompson concludes: “But I will never forget that smirk on Zuma’s face. The revelation about the highway and his house scam are all consistent with what we saw that day.”

www.noseweek.co.za

^^ It's sad to say, because I love South Africa and her people. However, I'm so glad I will not being paying tax to this government much longer. R675billion, that should be a damn crime against humanity. It's not disgusting, it's plain EVIL. Bring on Ramphele and Zille!

We'll get there :) All the fraud and corruption will hopefully add momentum to the DA campaign and give the ANC a nast surprise next year. Don't give up on SA just yet!

Guyz, soon an "thread" for Opposition corruption! ;)

TO ALL YOU GUYS: plz who should the majority of black south Africans vote for if not "A.N.C", D.A.?

TO ALL YOU GUYS: plz who should the majority of black south Africans vote for if not "A.N.C", D.A.?

Anyone who will work FOR them and not rip them off and try destroy the country through greed and corruption.

TO ALL YOU GUYS: plz who should the majority of black south Africans vote for if not "A.N.C", D.A.?
Anyone that doesn't just care for elections, but nothing for the electorate.
Anyone that doesn't go, "Look what we did for you in the past, you owe us forever, regardless what we do."
Anyone that doesn't use emotional and cultural blackmail and scaremongering to gain votes.
Anyone that takes taxpayer money and reinvests it wisely in service delivery, good/clean governance, education, health and infrastructure.
Anyone that respects the sanctity of the constitution beautifully crafted under Mandela's watch.
Anyone that respects the three other pillars of democracy: Free Media, Independent Judiciary and Active Civil Society.
Anyone that has articulate, sound and workable policies that WILL be implemented.
Anyone who is a stable and functional political entity.
Anyone who is smarter than I: The intelligent voter wants someone more capable than him/herself to run the nation.

TO ALL YOU GUYS: plz who should the majority of black south Africans vote for if not "A.N.C", D.A.?

Is the 'Soccer Party' still around?

^^ It's sad to say, because I love South Africa and her people. However, I'm so glad I will not being paying tax to this government much longer. R675billion, that should be a damn crime against humanity. It's not disgusting, it's plain EVIL. Bring on Ramphele and Zille!

Sounds like you have made up your mind on the decision to emigrate?

Mac Maharaj: The 'foul secret' that has torn sister from sister


Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj's sister-in-law has spoken to the M&G about her knowledge of a secret Swiss account.


New evidence has emerged to support the claim that Mac *Maharaj and his wife, Zarina, took kickbacks on a 1990s contract for new drivers' licences – and it comes from the heart of the presidential spokesperson's family: Zarina's sister, who has chosen to go public with what she says is her knowledge of the origins of the Swiss account into which the money was paid.

The payments, in 1996, flowed allegedly from a subsidiary of French multinational Thales, via a Swiss account controlled by Schabir Shaik, to an adjacent account opened by Zarina Maharaj.


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


Shirene Carim: In her own words

Maharaj's lawyer Rudi Krause and Schabir Shaik's repsonses


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Shaik's dealings with Thales are best known from his corruption conviction in part for facilitating an agreement for the company to pay Jacob Zuma in return for his "protection and support" as the arms deal scandal broke.

During 1996, however, Thales subsidiary IDMatics was in a consortium with Shaik, bidding for the contract to produce the new credit card-style drivers' licences. Mac Maharaj was minister of transport at the time and Zarina's sister, Shirene Carim, an uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) veteran, was living in London.

Maharaj has always refused to answer media questions about the payments. And when the Mail & Guardian sought to publish details of an in-camera interview under oath with the Scorpions in which he gave answers at odds with the facts, he laid a criminal complaint. He is also opposing a court application for permission to publish details of the interview.

Now, in a move that appears driven in equal measure by courage and bitterness, anger and principle, Shirene Carim has come forward to recount the details of Zarina's trip to Geneva in October 1996 to open a Swiss account and to lay bare what she knew about Shaik's involvement.

The existence of the bank account has been known for some time, but Carim has provided fresh details corroborating the forensic record and adding her view of the attitude of the Maharajs at the time.

Documents obtained by the Scorpions during its investigation of Maharaj showed that Zarina opened an account with Banque SCS Alliance in Geneva on October 14 1996. It was into this account that more than $210 000 was transferred, cash which originated from Thales subsidiary IDMatics.

Case withdrawn
The Scorpions case against Maharaj was withdrawn in 2009 by acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe for reasons that remain unexplained.

Shirene Carim, who served with MK's special operations division from 1984 to 1987, took the initiative to contact the M&G during a visit to South Africa from her home in London.

She told the M&G she struggled with the decision to make disclosures that would brand her as disloyal to her family and forever cement the rift with her elder sister and possibly the wider family.

But it is also evident that Zarina's alleged disclosure to her sister that she was going to Geneva to open a bank account to receive money from Shaik injected a poisonous secret into their already difficult relationship from which it never recovered.

Shirene set out the allegations in an initial email to the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism without at first disclosing her identity.

"I'd hoped that by now, justice would prevail.

"In 1996 or 1997, Mac's wife stayed with me in London UK on her way to Geneva to open a bank account, as she could only have been boasting to me.

'In shock'
"I was given the details of the provider of the funds – Shaik – and the reason why. I was in shock until she left, to be back the following evening.

"She called the next afternoon, having missed her flight due to the time difference in Switzerland of which she was unaware.

"I asked her if I should call my friends in Geneva who would collect her and give her a bed for the night. She declined, saying she'd take a hotel room and Schabir would 'have to' pay for it.

"When she should have been back, a call came and I insisted on knowing who was speaking. 'Schabir' came the answer. I told him she wasn't back from Geneva where she'd gone to open a bank account for the *proceeds of bribery and corruption.

"She arrived, left for South Africa and the next communication was a call from her husband, Mac, who told me they were writing their wills and would I stand as executor should anything happen to them.

"I reminded him that I'd do anything for the welfare of their children who I loved as my own. He thanked me and told me he'd be in touch. I've never heard from him or seen his wife and children to this day.

"I have been in a state of confusion ever since."



Legacy of a 'foul secret'
In a subsequent interview with the M&G, Shirene expanded on this account and her reasons for coming forward now.

Shirene alleged that in the 16 years since 1996, on five trips to South Africa, she had attempted to see her sister face to face in order to deal with the legacy of what she called this "foul secret".

Each time she was rebuffed, she claimed.

Shirene's story is consistent with the known facts. The M&G has discovered, among the evidence submitted at the Shaik trial, previously unreported information suggestive of a link between Shaik, Thales and the account. Among the documents seized by the Scorpions from Thales' offices in South Africa were business cards and handwritten numbers for a director of Banque SCS and a fax found during the raids on Shaik featured a business card for the same director.

In addition, details of the build-up to and aftermath of the breakdown in her relationship with Zarina also provide some corroboration for Shirene's account.

First came a visit by Mac and Zarina to London earlier in 1996, when Nelson Mandela made a triumphant state visit as president of a newly democratic South Africa.

Mandela, with Mac and family in tow, arrived on July 9 1996, Shirene's 50th birthday.

Shirene's celebration
Mandela's visit ended on July 13, but Mac and Zarina could not stay for Shirene's celebration, set to take place on Sunday July 14, despite having been invited long in advance.

One of the reasons they stood her up is telling.

On July 2, Schabir Shaik had written to engineering firm Brown & Root, Shaik's intended partners in another project under the department of transport, the planned new La Mercy airport outside Durban, now known as King Shaka.

Shaik asked the American company to make arrangements for a Disney World holiday by the Maharaj family. The intended travel dates were July 13 to 16.

In his letter, Shaik noted that this assistance to the minister was "strategically important to ourselves".

The family duly skipped the birthday party and Brown & Root picked up the R15 000-plus tab for accommodation and airport transfer and invoiced Shaik. It is not clear whether Maharaj ever repaid Shaik.


During this time, Shaik also addressed a letter to Mac at the Dorchester Hotel in London, where he was staying as part of Mandela's entourage.

The letter confirmed the booking at Disney World and included the following note to Mac: "Brown & Root people, my partner and colleagues in South Africa, were expecting you to call them. Kindly advise Dr Anwar Wissa when that would be possible given your more relaxed schedule in the States.

Zarina's bitterness
"Special message. I understand from my warehouse that the expected documents had reached your desk in the UK. Kindly confirm at your soonest."

Mac and Zarina did see Shirene during that London trip, however. Shirene and her partner Ted joined them for a meal at a restaurant on the Thames.

After dinner, despite the glow of South Africa's democratic transition and the glittering setting, some of Zarina's bitterness burst through, Shirene alleged.

"We went out for a coffee on the balcony. Zarina stood there and said, in front of everyone, in front of my daughters, in front of their partners, in front of her children, she said: 'If it wasn't for you, Mac would be minister of defence'."

The background to that comment was, according to Shirene, her perceived political unreliability: "According to them, I was a renegade."

She believes this stemmed partly from a report she made to Mac about conditions in ANC camps in Angola following the 1984 Pango mutiny, which was brutally put down.

"I was in the camps in Pango and I was listening to the people complaining [about conditions] and I was saying to them, 'I will take your complaints back to HQ.'

Causes of the mutiny

"So, when I went back to Lusaka, I said to Mac: 'You know people are very unhappy … and the causes of the mutiny, I've been told it was this and it was that.'

"Some of the soldiers had been [there] since the 1976 uprisings: they were not being deployed … many of them had not even been allowed to set foot outside the camp in eight years.

"And Mac said: 'Oh you're just a …' I forget the term he used – someone on the periphery."

Shirene is aware that she will be accused of drawing on this well of bitterness to make up a damaging story about her sister after the existence of the Geneva bank account was first revealed in City Press in March 2007.

Against that accusation, she said, she had raised the issue before.

Her partner, Ted Dougherty, confirmed that she long ago relayed to him the outlines of Zarina's Geneva gambit and its implications.

Shirene said she also told her brother Adam, who lives in Canada, and her daughter Magali long before the details became public.

"I told Magali because she was staunch ANC and she said, 'Mum, you've got to go to the ANC and report them.' I said, 'Magali can you imagine what would happen if we brought this up? What would happen to their children?'"

An explanation

Shirene said Adam did not want to get involved and she was worried that a wedge had been established between her and her daughter.

"Since my sister went to visit her in June last year, she hasn't communicated with me. I don't know what Zarina has told her."

Shirene said she also wrote to Mac and Zarina asking for an explanation for why they had involved her.

They never wrote back or came to see her again, in spite of passing through London on many occasions.

In about 2007, she also wrote an email about Zarina to two other people: activist and artist John Matshikiza and former M&G editor Ferial Haffajee.

Matshikiza was a friend of Shirene's when he lived in London.

Involved in corruption

When she realised he had written the foreword to Zarina's autobiography, Dancing to a Different Rhythm, published in 2006, she made contact: "I needed to warn him so he would be prepared whenever it became public knowledge that she had been involved in corruption."

She said neither Matshikiza (who died in 2008) nor Haffajee replied to her.

Haffajee said that she received the correspondence and wrote back, but did not receive a reply. She said she recalled that Swiss accounts were mentioned amid "personal stuff" about Zarina and she passed the information on to the newsroom with a caveat about the source, but it was never followed up.

Corroboration of these contacts was provided by Zarina herself. Shirene showed the M&G an SMS from her most recent communication with her sister, in December last year, in which Zarina notes: "Shirene, the ever widening chasm between us can perhaps still be narrowed – the content of your emails to Johnny when he was still alive and a journalist, notwithstanding. Drop in in the new year."

But the casualness of the invitation infuriated Shirene: "Like ... I should 'drop in' – even if you might be busy – [when] what I wanted to say was: 'I wanted to see you only to ask you why you burdened me with your foul secret which you expect me to take to my grave'."


Mail & Gaurdian

It just gets worse...

Nkandla tuck shock
2013-02-03 11:08
Adriaan Basson, City Press

Durban - Included in the government’s R206m splurge on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla compound is a tuck shop built for First Lady Sizakele Khumalo’s use.

City Press can reveal that the department of public works paid a contractor to build a brand-new tuck shop for MaKhumalo.

This challenges Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi’s contention that government only spent money on security upgrades and operational measures at Nkandla.

MaKhumalo is Zuma’s first wife and has been running a tuck shop and vegetable garden at Nkandla for years.

The website of her Mashobane Foundation states that she “presides over the homestead in Nkandla, where she is often seen among ordinary rural South Africans”.

“She is active in the community, and her interest is agriculture and food security. She runs a vegetable garden and a tuck shop in Nkandla.”

Open secret

A high-level source with knowledge of the Nkandlagate splurge told City Press it was an open secret that the new tuck shop built at the president’s homestead was for the private use of his first wife.

At last week’s press conference on the scandal, Nxesi was at pains to defend Zuma’s hands-off role in the process and said there was “no evidence” that public money was spent to build the “private residence” of the president. But Nxesi said nothing about the new tuck shop.

In an official public works progress report, dated 5 November 2010, the cost for the construction of a “guard house, bin and tuck shop” was estimated to be R586?467.

Neither of Zuma’s spokespersons responded to questions this week.

Nxesi’s legal adviser, Phillip Masilo, said disclosing information about a National Key Point was “outside the normal standard”.

He didn’t respond to specific questions on why the state was paying for a building upgrade that clearly benefits Zuma’s family.

Masilo said: “After the security assessments and threat analysis by the security agents, the department of public works was required to implement the recommendations in line with the assessment.

No comment

“We cannot comment on the allegations as we do not have knowledge of the documents to which you are referring.”

Nxesi has refused to release his full report.

Companies contracted on the project this week denied any wrongdoing. Nxesi announced his task team discovered irregularities in the appointment of service providers and in procurement processes.

These were referred to the Special Investigating Unit, Auditor-General and the police to investigate.

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Nkandla-tuck-shock-20130203)

What astounds me is that every. single. day. a story such as this is released. This alone would cause an uproar in many other countries, but we've become to used to it here...

R4.4m on furniture for Gauteng premier
2013-02-05 09:03

Johannesburg - Taxpayers have paid R4.4m for furniture for the Gauteng premier's official residence over the past few years.

Over the last four years, R1.2m was spent on new furniture, linen and curtains for Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s official home after she moved into the house in Bryanston in May 2009, reported Beeld.

Former provincial premier Mbhazima Shilowa lived at the house between 2005 and 2009, when furniture worth R3.2m was bought, amongst others for a liquor and cigar bar.

When Mokonyane moved in, she removed the bar and cigar bar and replaced it with a dining room and living room.

All five bedrooms got new linen and curtains. A new TV unit, coffee tables, beds, mattresses and couches were also bought.

This was revealed in an answer by the provincial department of infrastructure development in response to a question by the DA.

Mokonyane’s spokesperson said the provincial department determined how much was spent on the house.

“Her official home is state property and therefore renovations are determined through a process of analysis, planning and budget,” said Thebe Mohatle.

Shilowa’s furniture would be sold at an auction.

The DA’s Jack Bloom said the R4.4m of furniture that had been bought for the home since 2005 was a huge waste of taxpayer’s money.

“About 15 RDP homes could be built for the price of Mokonyane’s smart furniture.”

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/R44m-on-furniture-for-Gauteng-premier-20130205)

Can I get government budget to outfit my home for R1.2m please?

:ohno: dont these rotten thieves have any respect for the people that they are suppose to serve? i honestly trust that the eyes of those people who continue to empower these thieves, would open. These actions by government officials are nauseating. The whole fkn govt must be fired, by revolt if need be.

Apparently 730 farmers have been laid off in Limpopo alone following the increase of the minimum wage from R69 to R105.

Minister splurged R2.1m on furniture
2013-02-17 14:30

Johannesburg - Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana allegedly splurged R2.1m of state's funds decorating her department's head office, the Sunday Independent reported.

Nearly half of this amount was spent during two sprees in which Xingwana's office spent close to R500 000 each time, the paper said.

While the department is responsible for purchasing its own furniture, the furniture for the ministry, particularly the minister's office, is bought through the budget of the department of public works, the paper reported. However, Xingwana's spokesperson Cornelius Monama told the paper that there was no furniture when the minister moved into her new office in Pretoria.

"The furniture she used when she was at the Union Buildings was left in the Presidency.

"In her Cape Town office, the minister is still using the previous minister's furniture," Monama told the paper.

Monama admitted that in one case, the department had gotten quotes from only two service providers, instead of the three stipulated according to official regulations.

He said the Xingwana had instituted an investigation relating to this incident of irregularity.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Minister-splurged-R21m-on-furniture-20130217)

This week the Auditor-General (AG) provided a comprehensive report to Johannesburg’s finance committee on the state of Johannesburg’s finances.

The report details serious problems with the way that Johannesburg’s finances are being managed, and it explains exactly why the City has received another qualified audit – its third in a row.

Qualified audits usually mean that a council or government department is not able to account for what it has done with the money it receives. And that is certainly the case on this occasion – there are large amounts of public money on the books of the Johannesburg City Council that simply cannot be traced, or debts that will never be repaid to the City.

This has a disproportionate impact on poor residents. It undermines the City’s ability to deliver services and takes resources away from housing projects, electrification projects and other activities that are vital to making life better for the poor.

The AG’s report has revealed serious mismanagement of Johannesburg’s finances. The following issues are of particular concern:

Ghost assets:
Johannesburg’s books include “ghost assets” worth R130 million. These are assets that are in Johannesburg’s books, but do not exist in reality. This means the assets may have been lost or stolen. Or, most worryingly, it could mean that money meant to purchase these assets was spent on other unknown, and unaccounted for, expenses – or indeed that it found its way into the private bank accounts of corrupt officials.

Billing chaos:
The billing crisis has caused chaos in Johannesburg’s finances. The City is, on average, taking 303 days to collect outstanding debts. Ideally, this period should be no longer than 30 days. The AG found that this delay was due to a massive number of unresolved billing queries, which inflates the value of outstanding debts, and greatly delays payment of the legitimate debts. This is making it almost impossible for the City to manage its income effectively.

Overcharging for basic services:
The City overcharged residents by R258 million for refuse removal services, since there was a breakdown in the system that monitors the number of bins used per household. Households using more bins must pay more. Unfortunately the City’s monitoring system broke down, and a number of households were overcharged. That “income” has had to be scratched from the books, leaving a R258 million hole in the City’s finances.

Systemic electricity distribution losses:
The City experiences massive systemic losses in its electricity distribution network. The total losses in the distribution network tally to R1.37 billion for the last financial year. It is uncertain what portion of this is due to ageing infrastructure, and what portion is due to electricity theft.

Systemic water distribution losses:
The City lost R805 million in water distribution losses. These losses are primarily due to ineffective metering and ageing infrastructure.

Massive provision for possible debt write-offs:
The billing crisis is also forcing the City to make provision for the possible write off of massive amounts of debt. The billing crisis overstated the size of these debts. In the last year, it has had to classify R12.9 billion in expected revenue from debtors as “unlikely to ever materialise”. This constitutes 68% of all debt owed to the City by consumers. It is again unclear to what extent this is caused by the billing crisis overstating the City’s income (and consumers’ debt), and to what extent it is caused by a simple failure to collect income properly.

Fraud:
The City is being crippled by fraud. In the last year there were 88 internal forensic investigations into financial irregularities. Of these, 68 have been resolved, and 20 are still ongoing. Some of the investigations have found massive fraud:
• An investigation into the finance department found fraudulent activities relating to R100 million in cash and cheque management problems.
• The Department of Planning and Urban Management found that a R10 million in funds was fraudulently misappropriated.
• The Johannesburg Metro Police Department defrauded the City to the tune of R18 million in the last year.

On top of all this, the AG also found that another R10 million could not be accounted for due to fraud.

Pikitup is bankrupt:
The AG states that the continued viability of Pikitup, Johannesburg’s refuse collection utility, is in serious question. It has raked up a R336 million deficit; and its liabilities already exceed its assets by R323 million.

Pikitup is essentially bankrupt. A significant bailout is likely going to necessary. Two years ago, a major auditing firm put together a turnaround plan for Pikitup. This plan has never been made public, and has never been implemented. What happened to this plan and why was it never implemented?

Failure to pay service providers on time:
The City currently repays its service providers, on average, in 159 days. That is more than five times the Municipal Finance Management Act’s (MFMA) prescribed 30 day payment period. It also makes a completely mockery of President Zuma’s commitment In this year’s SONA that state entities are working towards repaying service providers within 30 days.

Breaches of the Municipal Financial Management Act:
The City has been found to breach 5 different aspects of the MFMA, and on 6 separate issues.
In general, there is significant failure to exert internal financial control over both incomes and expenditure.

Failure to achieve targets:
All of these financial and administrative problems are impacting negatively on the City’s ability to achieve its targets. During the financial year of 2011/2012, the City set itself 579 service delivery targets. Of those, 517 were not met. This means that 89% of the service delivery targets the City set itself were not met.

The fact of the matter is that when a City cannot account for its money, cannot manage its revenue, cannot bill properly and cannot pay service providers on time, it cannot deliver services. That is why Johannesburg is not delivering proper services to its residents.

Nothing better illustrates this than the fact that the City could not achieve 89% of the service delivery targets it set itself. It is simply not good enough. Millions of South Africans are living in Johannesburg, in desperate need of basic services, yet those services will remain a dream until the City fixes its finances.

If the City is unable to properly develop, measure and meet its targets, it is unlikely to be able to implement its own 30 year growth and development strategy. Much like the NDP at the national level, this plan has excellent objectives, but it is doubtful whether the City can implement it given its failure to meet its own targets.

The DA will do whatever we can to fix this situation.

We will systematically approach each of these problems, to demand accountability, to demand that those responsible for fraud, theft and corruption are removed and we will place solutions on the table.

We will begin by demanding that the City provide information for each of the 88 internal investigations into fraudulent activities in the City administration. Each employee and public representative implicated must be removed.

We will request a follow-up meeting with the AG to request additional information on the R10 million in fraud he has identified, as well as the overstating of asset values. If the AG is not able to assist us sufficiently, a public protector investigation might be warranted.

We will also call on the chief accounting officer for the City to appear before the MPAC committee to explain the blatant breaches of the MFMA on a number of important procedural aspects.

As for the structural problems relating to distribution losses – we will again urge the Mayor, and the relevant officials in the City, to make the necessary investments in maintaining our infrastructure. The decay in water and electricity infrastructure is now reaching crisis levels, with annual distribution losses topping R2 billion for the first time.

We will also reiterate our call for the City’s utilities to be privatised where possible. Due to the nature of Pikitup’s operations it is unlikely that it would be feasible to privatise the whole entity. The DA would propose that those activities within Pikitup that are viable for commercialisation be privatised, and that the others be rolled into a City Cleansing Department.

Johannesburg is the heart of South Africa’s economic engine. We have to get this city functioning right, delivering services, improving people’s lives and creating jobs. If we fix the administrative problems in this city, and manage our finances well, it can be turned into a powerful centre of job creation and economic growth. We have to act now to stop the decay, and produce a better life for all of Johannesburg’s residents.

da.org.za

^^:coffee:

R140million for a website! Had a look at: www.fsl.gov.za, it looks like it was designed by a 10year old. Then the tender-thief has the audacity, after an industry expert said financial institutions that require hectic security and additional features, pay about R12million, to use the f**king RACE CARD... :ohno:


Free State govt spends R140m on website
2013-03-04 11:06

Johannesburg - The Free State provincial government spent R140m on its website, it was reported on Monday.

Free State director general Elzabe Rockman signed a three-year contract to redesign the website in 2011, the Sowetan newspaper reported.

She had reportedly disputed the amount, claiming it was actually R40m.

The agreement was signed with businessman Tumi Ntsele, who reportedly holds tenders with several other provincial departments.

The Sowetan reported that the company was awarded the tender even though two other companies submitted significantly lower bids.

Etionee Bruwer, owner of web development company Jam Factory, told the newspaper the amount charged for the website was "ridiculous".

"The company that is working on that site is probably making R3.5m profit a month," he said.

Bruwer said the most paid for a website was R12m, by financial institutions which needed to protect sensitive information.

Ntsele told the newspaper opposition parties had an agenda against black businessmen and that the website's cost was fair. :bash:


- SAPA

R140million for a website! Had a look at: www.fsl.gov.za, it looks like it was designed by a 10year old. Then the tender-thief has the audacity, after an industry expert said financial institutions that require hectic security and additional features, pay about R12million, to use the f**king RACE CARD... :ohno:


Free State govt spends R140m on website
2013-03-04 11:06

Johannesburg - The Free State provincial government spent R140m on its website, it was reported on Monday.

Free State director general Elzabe Rockman signed a three-year contract to redesign the website in 2011, the Sowetan newspaper reported.

She had reportedly disputed the amount, claiming it was actually R40m.

The agreement was signed with businessman Tumi Ntsele, who reportedly holds tenders with several other provincial departments.

The Sowetan reported that the company was awarded the tender even though two other companies submitted significantly lower bids.

Etionee Bruwer, owner of web development company Jam Factory, told the newspaper the amount charged for the website was "ridiculous".

"The company that is working on that site is probably making R3.5m profit a month," he said.

Bruwer said the most paid for a website was R12m, by financial institutions which needed to protect sensitive information.

Ntsele told the newspaper opposition parties had an agenda against black businessmen and that the website's cost was fair. :bash:


- SAPA

Oh WOW! And it cost R140m? I have no language.

Just look at the western cape gov website and compare with Free state one. Its such a shame that the tender had to go to her buddies.

LOL. That is one of the WORST "professional" websites I've ever seen.

Cost was fair at R140m?!

Gotta love these morons.

Anything above R5m for a basic informational site is ridiculous, and even R5m is ridiculous. I would have done that FSL site for R250k.... thats about all the design looks like it should cost.

At R140m the site must expose all the functionality of the government and it must provide complete eService functionality.

^^ Yeah, it's a WordPress site. You can buy the theme for $40. Shameful.

You can get a freaking theme for free if you're that desperate o_O

And some of the links don't even work... its just pathetic.

I wanted to give feedback on the website, but after typing it out, it just went to a page it couldnt find. Worst ever.

#ThatAwkwardMoment: You're Ace Magashule and you've launched a multi-multi-million website that looks like so, when the Dept. of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning launches their site on SABC3 the next day: http://eadp.westerncape.gov.za/

For a government site, it's not half bad. A bit of good news for the day. :)

The EADP site is a Drupal site. It should have taken one or two people a couple of weeks to set up, tops. Which is fine -- the vast majority of government departments don't provide services through their websites, and god knows nobody ever visits them, so that's all they need. It could have used a little visual finesse, but whatever.

I think a lot of people are going to the wrong page for the Free State site. It seems a lot of people think it's fsl.gov.za (which is a horrendous site), but it's not. It's freestateonline.fs.gov.za. Which is also actually totally fine. But it should have cost R350 for the theme, a few thousand a year for hosting, and about a month's work to load all the content and go through testing with the FS government. Somebody should go to prison for this.

I don't know why anyone -- the EADP, the Free State government, or really anybody except SARS -- bothers to "launch" their websites. It's like holding a launch event for a telephone line: they need one to communicate with people. It's not exceptional. It doesn't do anything. Almost no one is going to use it anyway. All it does is host a ton of irrelevant copy that no one will read, and some documents that should have been available online before (and probably were).

Does the government not have any kind of converged IT strategy? Why are individual departments hiring individual people to build websites? I have an anecdote: at my first job, my (very unscrupulous) boss got a contract from a national government department to build what was envisaged as a comprehensive workflow tool for the entire department. He and a senior manager in the department "designed" it on his office whiteboard in about two hours. It was built by seventeen-year-old me. It was my first project, and I think I was given two months. The DG inspected it and seemed relatively happy -- but it was horrific. It could never have worked. Nobody even had a clear idea of what requirements it was supposed to fulfill. Thank god he didn't have the gall to ask for 40 million, so it was cheap.

The EADP site is a Drupal site. It should have taken one or two people a couple of weeks to set up, tops. Which is fine -- the vast majority of government departments don't provide services through their websites, and god knows nobody ever visits them, so that's all they need. It could have used a little visual finesse, but whatever.

I think a lot of people are going to the wrong page for the Free State site. It seems a lot of people think it's fsl.gov.za (which is a horrendous site), but it's not. It's freestateonline.fs.gov.za. Which is also actually totally fine. But it should have cost R350 for the theme, a few thousand a year for hosting, and about a month's work to load all the content and go through testing with the FS government. Somebody should go to prison for this.

I don't know why anyone -- the EADP, the Free State government, or really anybody except SARS -- bothers to "launch" their websites. It's like holding a launch event for a telephone line: they need one to communicate with people. It's not exceptional. It doesn't do anything. Almost no one is going to use it anyway. All it does is host a ton of irrelevant copy that no one will read, and some documents that should have been available online before (and probably were).

Does the government not have any kind of converged IT strategy? Why are individual departments hiring individual people to build websites? I have an anecdote: at my first job, my (very unscrupulous) boss got a contract from a national government department to build what was envisaged as a comprehensive workflow tool for the entire department. He and a senior manager in the department "designed" it on his office whiteboard in about two hours. It was built by seventeen-year-old me. It was my first project, and I think I was given two months. The DG inspected it and seemed relatively happy -- but it was horrific. It could never have worked. Nobody even had a clear idea of what requirements it was supposed to fulfill. Thank god he didn't have the gall to ask for 40 million, so it was cheap.

City of CT website, and to a much, much lesser degree the City of JHB site actually provide a lot of useful services. There are for instance many channels for 2 way communication on the City of CT site, and it is regularly updated with relevant info. Similarly I believe there are some online services with the CoJ website, none of which I've personally tried myself.

City and Municipal websites can and should be fully interactive with features that directly benefit the residents. As far as I'm aware the CoCT website is delivered in house, and personally I think it is a fantastic site. For me it is a website "worth" launching, however I doubt they ever did as, like you say, it should just be like a phone line, or like actually visiting the offices. Just easier and hassle-free.

Yeah...being able to report potholes etc. on the City of Cape Town website by dropping pins on Google Maps, and actually seeing them fixed 2 days later is rather handy :lol:

Yeah...being able to report potholes etc. on the City of Cape Town website by dropping pins on Google Maps, and actually seeing them fixed 2 days later is rather handy :lol:

Potholes, what potholes?!

Potholes, what potholes?!

Exactly why there aren't any ;)

Exactly why there aren't any ;)

I remember reading on twitter some chick being pissed off that CoCT was doing N1 roadworks when the road "was perfectly fine already" - that's how you maintain things! Don't wait for them to be literally falling apart, then do some dismal maintenance work on them.

Great work yet again CoCT :cheers:

Yeah, the CoCT website definitely has better services than any others I've seen. It's also easy for us to identify the services it needs to provide, because we're its direct customers in a lot of instances. The EADP presumably also has direct customers, and it would be nice for them to conduct whatever business they conduct with it online, but they can't. And I think this is the case with most departments.

Also: apparently I can register my pet on the CoCT website in case he gets lost. That possibly shouldn't have been top of their list of priorities, but it's clever.

Yeah, the CoCT website definitely has better services than any others I've seen. It's also easy for us to identify the services it needs to provide, because we're its direct customers in a lot of instances. The EADP presumably also has direct customers, and it would be nice for them to conduct whatever business they conduct with it online, but they can't. And I think this is the case with most departments.

Also: apparently I can register my pet on the CoCT website in case he gets lost. That possibly shouldn't have been top of their list of priorities, but it's clever.

It looks like it's the enforcement of a by law - so it's main focus is not to find lost pets but instead to have a database of how many households have pets, and how many pets are kept on average per, say, square meter. Presumably to assess what "Pet services" are needed where. I think it's a great initiative to enhance service delivery

AG paints a bleak picture of state spending and management

Auditor general Terence Nombembe's findings have shown a string of failures to spend state funds well - in some cases for more than a decade.

Nombembe was upbeat about the future of the management of government this week, the key message repeated over the more than 500 pages – not counting the subsidiary reports on each province – of the Consolidated General Report on National and Provincial Audit Outcomes released by his office on Tuesday was that the rot starts at the top.

Department heads did not set the right tone for clean management, the report held in some instances, showed their lack of seriousness by failing to fill key positions, or failed to take action against civil servants who broke the rules, and sometimes the law.

In fact, said Nombembe in his foreword, he decided to publish an entire booklet on the many laws and regulations that could be used to prosecute those guilty of poor performance, misappropriation of state resources and fraud. "These must be used where necessary to reverse the culture of 'business-as-usual'."

The tools to do so existed, said Nombembe elsewhere in documents that accompanied the biggest annual overview of the trustworthiness of numbers out of most government institutions at provincial or national level. He further mentioned that he has faith that the government could clean up its act "although the set of audit outcomes for the period under review showed slow progress towards total clean administration." Nombembe's office described his overall reaction – "he was encouraged and convinced that the tangible remedial measures recently announced by the government would go a long way in addressing the public sector's current administrative and governance deficiencies."

A good place to start might be at the top. In its review of various ministerial portfolios, the report disclosed that the presidency never met with the auditor general in the last financial year, nor made any promises to clean up its own act.

"We could not secure any meetings with the minister and therefore did not obtain any commitments regarding his portfolio," the report said about the Presidency. "The minister had also not provided any commitments in the prior year."

The real problems
But the presidency, though important symbolically, wielded a relatively small budget and came off relatively lightly for its non-compliance with various structures on spending state funds. The report highlighted that the real problems were elsewhere.

•In the Eastern Cape, not one of the 26 government institutions examined received a clean audit. Likewise, in the Northern Cape none of the 22 government institutions received a clean bill of health. North West has just one: its provincial gambling board
•More than a third of national government departments, the report found, "would have started 2012/13 with more than 10% of their budget effectively spent", hampering their ability to do their work during the current financial year through a lack of budget controls
•Nearly R600-million in tenders were awarded to suppliers linked to employees of the relevent department – sometimes senior managers were responsible for the awards – or their families. In three quarters of cases, the conflict was never disclosed
•Tenders found to be unfair increased across the board
•Both irregular and fruitless expenditure increased greatly compared to the previous year, which continued a solid trend
Reports on various specific projects and focus areas of government held similarly grim news, from school workbooks not delivered to inappropriate disposal of medical waste in seven of South Africa's nine provinces.

Challenges
Nor were such problems a new phenomenon, even though slippage has been particularly evident during the Zuma administration.

"Some provinces are still experiencing challenges although this programme has been implemented for more than 10 years," read a section of the report dealing with grants to teach HIV and Aids life skills.

Though the report dealt with the trustworthiness of financial reports and the keeping of promises, the auditor general increasingly sought to identify the root causes of poor audit performance, with sometimes blunt findings.

"There appears to be no appreciable consequences for officials who fail to comply with laws and regulations to which departments and public entities are subject or for officials who fail to discharge their legislated duties," another part of the report read.

The auditor general was also clear on what drove progress in spending in the precious few state organs that saw improvement in their audit results.

"It is evident from this year's results that audit outcomes only improved in areas where the leadership adopted a hands-on approach to addressing shortcomings in their respective portfolios," said Nombembe in a statement. "Leadership in these portfolios personally took on the oversight role of their control environments and this led to a remarkable improvement in outcomes."

Only 22% of the 536 entities examined received clean audits. Audit opinions remained the same for most departments and institutions, with the auditor general saying 62 improved, while 80 did worse than in the previous financial years

M&G

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Parliament stunned as full cost of Nkandla is revealed
14 MAR 2013 16:19 - ANDISIWE MAKINANA

The DA claims the state paid 260% more on President Jacob Zuma's private home in Nkandla than it did in securing a new prison in the Northern Cape.

On Thursday afternoon, Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer stunned the House when she revealed that R117-million was paid to provide security in Zuma's Nkandla home, compared to R45-million spent in securing the new jail in Kimberley.

While giving a breakdown of the Nkandla security costs, Dreyer also revealed the names of companies that she said benefitted from the development and received payments for contracts that seemed to be for bona fide security measures at Nkandla.

They were: the Bonelena Construction Enterprises & Projects for emergency works relating to security measures; Moneymine [which] got a negotiated contract for security measures inside the house; Natal Parkhomes for the supply and delivery of Parkhomes accommodation for members of the South African Police Services and or defence; Pro-Hydraulics for the supply and installation of a mobile generator; South African Bullet Resistant Glass installed bulletproof glass; Betafence Projects South Africa supplied and installed a high security fence; Otis got the tender to install a lift and E Magubane installed phase 11 security measures.

Dreyer said the cost for these security measures added up to R117-million.

"To put this amount into context, the department of public works built a new jail in Kimberley with top range security for R45-million, but spent R117-million – exactly 260% more – to provide security for one man," she said.

The Kimberley prison which entails buildings of 41 754sqm and accommodates 3 000 male offenders was completed in 2010 at a cost of R777-million to the state.

Confirmation
Dreyer's allegations come a day after National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu announced that he had received a letter from Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi regarding the tabling of the report by the department's task team on the security upgrade of Zuma's home.

Responding to Dreyer in Parliament, Nxesi did not reject Dreyer's allegation and appeared to confirm them.

He was not impressed with the DA member for not waiting for the tabling of the task team's report and instead bringing information from her "informers".

He said: "We said it publicly [when releasing the preliminary report] that there were irregularities in the supply chain and there was overpricing which we were suspecting, hence we said we are subjecting those issues to further investigation.

"I'm not sure what is this thing which is new that you are trying to say here," said Nxesi.

Meanwhile, the ANC in Parliament welcomed Nxesi's intention to table a report on the security upgrades at Zuma's private residence.

"The minister's decision to subject the report to parliamentary scrutiny is demonstrative of his commendable respect for the authority of Parliament. The decision is also reflective of the seriousness with which the minister regards his obligations in relation to parliamentary accountability and oversight," it said.

Security
​The ANC proposed that a special parliamentary mechanism be created to ensure that Parliament deals with the report without compromising the president's security. "We will therefore prefer that the report of the department of public works task team be dealt with by a special committee and in-camera."

The party said section 59 of the Constitution permitted in-camera committee meetings when "it is reasonable and justifiable to do so in an open and democratic society".

In terms of rule 152 of the rules of the National Assembly, meetings of the committees are open to the public, including the media, except when the committee is considering a matter which is, among others, of a private nature that is prejudicial to a particular person or confidential in terms of the legislation.

The ANC said matters pertaining to the security details of the head of the state have similar weight of sensitivity to those normally dealt with by the joint standing committee on intelligence, which conducts its business in-camera.

"An open deliberation on this matter will not only compromise the security of the president but it may also make Parliament liable to court action or be legally prejudicial to individuals and companies under investigation.

"Democratic parliaments all over the world employ similar mechanisms when dealing with sensitive security matters as those contained in the task team report," it said.

Why Tshwane is 'technically bankrupt'

The city has used a financial loophole, skipped tenders, and paid 10 times more than Jo'burg did. Mmanaledi Mataboge reports.

Tshwane paid a service provider R13-million for a job that cost Johannesburg less than a R1-million. - that is more than 10 times what the Johannesburg metro paid the same company, Mohlaba & Moshoana Inc, for the provision of an advisory service on fleet management.

It cost Johannesburg R716 000, with an additional R140 236 for professionals in the project team.

Last year's auditor general report said the Tshwane municipality was "technically bankrupt". The municipality also failed to pay its R242-million salary bill on time in January, allegedly because of cash-flow problems. Employees received their salaries a few days late because of a "technical glitch", according to the municipality.

Tshwane spokesperson, Blessing Manale, denied the metro was struggling financially and said the metro's finances were "sound and on track to attain its objectives".

Mohlaba & Moshoana was given the contract without it going out on tender because Tshwane used section 32 of the municipal supply chain management regulations, which allows a contract secured by another organ of state to be used. Tshwane inherited the law firm from Johannesburg, which enlisted the company's services for a 12-month period in 2010-2011. During 2011, Tshwane approached the firm to assist the city to centralise its fleet management on a 15-month contract.

The Mail & Guardian has seen copies of the service-level agreements with the firm for both Tshwane and Johannesburg.

Certain competencies
Tshwane defended the expense, saying the service the company provided to the municipality was much more demanding. Manale said that "the nature of service was similar to those rendered for the City of Johannesburg in that it related to fleet advisory services. However, the scope of work relative to the detail work to be carried was different between the two."

Manale said, in Johannesburg, the firm had simply reviewed "an existing fleet contract, specifically focusing on the fleet vehicles and advising on the procurement thereof in terms of a new contract".

But, in Tshwane, the work was much more involved. "This was effectively a greenfield project as it entails a review of the entire fleet operations model, including vehicles, labour, workshop infrastructure, fleet management systems, organisational structure, fleet policies, asset register and budgeting."

Manale said more man-hours were spent on the project than on Johannesburg's. He added that spending the R13-million was justified because "certain competencies required are not [available] within the City of Tshwane or any other organ of state. We could not, therefore, even if we wanted to provide advisory services for this type of project."

But a municipality employee dis-agreed and said Tshwane had a fully-fledged fleet management unit that could have done the job.

According to the service-level agreement, the firm was appointed "to undertake a review of its [Tshwane] fleet services provision and to recommend a suitable model for the provision and management of its fleet".

Aforementioned appointment
It also promised that the working relationship between the city and the firm would be continued.

"In the event that the outcome of this review determines that the most suitable model entails the procurement of a private sector provider, the aforementioned appointment contemplates and includes that the service provider shall be retained for the purposes of rendering continued transaction advisory services to the CoT [City of Tshwane] pertaining to such procurement."

Mohlaba & Moshoana referred all questions to Tshwane.

Section 32 of the supply chain management regulations states that the procurement of goods or services under a contract secured by another organ of state is allowed "only if there are demonstrable discounts or benefits to do so".

Tshwane claims there were benefits. "The speed at which we were able to move towards implementation of the project and the hundreds [of hours] of management time and money saved," said Manale.

Tshwane also forged ahead with the contract despite the advice by the municipality's legal services, which warned about the high costs.

Feasibility study
"From a legal perspective, it is advised that the further appointment in terms of section 32 of the SCMR [supply chain management regulations] is supported, subject thereto that the rates and tariffs are the same as that in the CoJ [City of Johannesburg] tender and furthermore that the period of this additional appointment be capped."

Among the costs recorded in the service-level agreement are:

•R766 080 for advice on the implementation of transitional, short-term provisions for a fleet;
•R2 052 000 for advice on centralising the fleet budget, and for an affordability analysis and a financing framework;
•R5 472 000 for implementing a full maintenance lease (FML) for a minimum of five years, preferably exploring existing intergovernmental services;
•R1 140 000 for the procurement and implementation of a centralised vehicle monitoring system; and
•R2 872 800 for the project close-out.
Municipal employees said the firm undertook "to get the best maintenance plan for the fleet". "[But] the amount is exorbitant taking into account most car dealers provide a maintenance plan, especially if you buy in bulk," said the employee, who was not authorised to comment.

According to the agreement, the company would undertake a feasibility study that encompassed "project scoping and initiation, stakeholder consultation, status quo and gap analysis, comparative analysis, value assessment, recommendations and final feasibility report".

The second part of the contract was to implement the recommendations from the first phase, which included the preparation of bid documents and identifying prequalifying bidders, the preparation and issuing of request for proposal bids, receiving and evaluating the bids and selecting preferred bidders, compiling a value proposition and assessment report, negotiating with the preferred bidder and preparing a contract management plan, and acquiring a council resolution and signature of an agreement.

Manale said Tshwane was not charged the R2-million for the project close-out, which cost Johannesburg only about R20 000.

"Mohlaba & Moshoana merely provided as a proposal estimating what it will cost should they carry out the close-out phase of the project.

"The City of Tshwane has a counter proposal that the close-out be left out of Mohlaba & Moshoana's scope of work. In actual fact, we have informed them that we would not require them to carry out that aspect of work as they had initially proposed."

Questioned about the possible abuse of section 32, Manale said "the use of section 32 or public tender is neither here nor there, since all lead to same and it is provided for in terms of the supply chain regulations".

Mohlaba & Moshoana recommended that a centralised vehicle monitoring bureau should be established to assist with a monitoring system and the company would assist with the procurement of the service provider

M&G

Centurion and PTA East are carrying the rest of the struggling Metro

This is becoming a joke. Scandal after scandal...

R50m in World Cup legacy funds missing
2013-03-26 11:06

Johannesburg - Around R50m meant for 2010 World Cup legacy projects in the Eastern Cape has gone missing, The Times reported on Tuesday.

Parliament's sport portfolio committee was investigating the matter. Committee chairperson Richard Mdakane said the discovery of the missing funds was made in June last year.

"There was a problem about the legacy project when we visited Buffalo City and an allegation was made there is R50m that is unaccounted for," Mdakane was quoted as saying.

The Buffalo City municipality includes East London, Bhisho and King William's Town.

"We requested the department of sport in the Eastern Cape to deal with the matter [but it has] not really come back to us."

Mdakane said they were consulting with the portfolio committee on safety and security and sport director general Alec Meomi on the matter.

The municipality's spokesperson Keith Ngesi denied there was any money missing.

He told The Times that around R21m had gone into upgrading the Buffalo City Stadium and that there had been delays in other projects.

"The metro is aware of the work that has not been done and responsible units are putting together a report, including paid invoices with a portfolio of evidence of work done," he said.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/R50m-in-World-Cup-legacy-funds-missing-20130326)

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Central African Republic: Is this what our soldiers died for?
28 MAR 2013 00:00 - AMABHUNGANE REPORTERS

The lure of arms deals and diamonds – and possibly other mineral resources – sucked the ANC into the Central African Republic.

South African military involvement in the Central African Republic has from the start been entwined with ANC-linked deals, raising questions about the motivation for the disastrous deployment of South African troops to the troubled country.

The figure at the centre of the web is the politically connected businessperson and fixer Didier Pereira.

Pereira is currently partnered to the ANC security supremo and fundraiser, Paul Langa, and former spy chief Billy Masetlha. Their group has initiated several business projects in CAR, including some involving diamonds

Pereira, originally from Congo-Brazzaville, is a special adviser to the recently toppled CAR president, François Bozizé.

He has maintained business ties with powerful ANC security and intelligence figures during both the Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma presidencies.

Although the ANC figures who Pereira does business with has changed between presidencies, the nature of his dealings have remained consistent.

Quid pro quo?
As the security situation in the CAR deteriorated in October last year, Pereira brokered direct access to Zuma for Bozizé's son and CAR defence minister, Francis Bozizé, in a bid to "unlock a sensitive weapons delivery issue", the specialist publication Intelligence Online reported recently.

Bozizé Jnr does not appear to have got what he came for because of South Africa's statutory weapons trade controls, but Pereira's reported role as a facilitator of this key meeting is noteworthy.

A CAR diplomat in Pretoria, who did want to be named because of the fluid political situation back home, said that Pereira had lived in South Africa for "more than 20 years" and that he was a recognisable figure among embassy staff.

He also previously partnered with a notorious Zimbabwean arms dealer, John Bredenkamp, according to sources with a detailed knowledge of the central African region and company searches in South Africa.

Other South African-linked interests in the CAR include the Canadian-based gold exploration and mining company, Axmin. Its president and chief executive, George Roach, was also associated with UraMin, a politically well-connected uranium prospecting company, which is said to have enjoyed Thabo Mbeki's backing when it won a concession in the CAR.

The concession was later sold to the French nuclear multinational, Areva.

The oil exploration company, DIG Oil, which also enjoyed Mbeki-era political support, has an oil concession in the south west of the country.

To the rescue
Bozizé's rule of the CAR has been precarious after he toppled his predecessor, Ange-Félix Patassé, in a coup in 2003, which was condemned at the time by both Mbeki and his then-deputy, Zuma.

Bozizé won an election in 2005 that excluded Patassé from the ballot, but his grip on power was soon threatened by Patassé-linked rebels. As Bozizé's military situation worsened, he sought help from South Africa.

A joint South African Defence Force (SANDF) and defence department "fact-finding mission" went to the CAR in January 2006. A flurry of diplomacy between Pretoria and Bangui in April that year culminated in the then-defence minister, Terror Lekota, signing a co-operation agreement in defence, minerals and energy at the end of that month, which he followed up with an "onsite assessment" trip to the CAR in May.

Pereira was quick off the mark. On May 18, a week after Lekota's return, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the CAR mining ministry. It envisaged the creation of a public-private partnership, Inala Centrafrique, according to documents of Inala and its business partners, which were obtained by the Mail & Guardian.

ANC stake
Inala Centrafrique was formally registered in August 2006. Over time, its shareholding was settled at a 35% stake for the CAR government and 65% going to a South African company, Serengeti Group Holdings. The latter was majority-owned by Nxumalo, whose notoriety during the ANC underground days was underscored by his part in the Virodene vitamins-for-Aids scandal.

Significant stakes also belonged to Pereira and the Chancellor House Trust, share registers show.

An Inala Centrafrique business proposal to the CAR government, dated July 6 2007, retrospectively confirmed that "the joint venture is a culmination of the accord signed by both … Mbeki … and Bozizé … during the meeting of the governments in South Africa in … 2006 for the two countries to work together."

It identified Nxumalo as chief executive and Pereira as chief operations officer.

While this deal was being hammered out behind the scenes, South Africa signed a formal, five-year defence co-operation agreement with the CAR on February 11 2007, involving both the deployment of South African troops and the provision of military equipment.

Zuma renewed the agreement in December last year, on the grounds of which, in the face of the growing crisis, he ordered a reinforcement of troops to the CAR in January this year.

Diamonds and arms
The Inala Centrafrique joint venture between the CAR government and Pereira, Nxumalo and the Chancellor House Trust was primarily a mechanism to buy diamonds from the CAR's small-scale miners.

But the plan had two other elements, which, if implemented, would give Inala and its ANC-linked shareholders total dominance of the CAR's diamond market.

The first was an initiative to create and equip, on behalf of the state, a police des mines, or mining police, to combat illegal diamond dealing.

Seleka troops hold their position near the presidential *palace in Bangui soon after the coup. (AFP)
The second element, it appears from the documents and an interview with a would-be Inala business partner, was for Inala to be granted an export monopoly by the CAR government.

In other words, although its majority shareholding was privately held, Inala would have been endowed with part of the form and function of a state agency: a national diamond exporter with an associated police enforcement arm.

Dividends of more than $800-million over 10 years were envisaged.

In a further example of the conflation of South African state and ANC party interests, a Serengeti subsidiary partnered with a South African armoured vehicle business, Mechanology, in September 2007 to revamp decommissioned armoured vehicles that the SANDF had offered to donate to Bozizé.

The armoured vehicle deal broke down, apparently because there was a dispute over who would pay for the refurbishment.

Inala's attempts to control the CAR diamond mining industry fizzled out by March 2008.

New ANC partners
By then, the Zuma-linked faction of the ANC's security and intelligence apparatus appears to have inherited the relationship with Pereira from Serengeti.

At about the same time that Serengeti dropped the ball on the armoured vehicles and the Inala diamond deal collapsed, a company called Bagamoyo Investment Holdings was formed with Pereira as a founding director.

Chief among Pereira's co-directors in Bagamoyo is Langa who, like Nxumalo before him, comes with a heavy-hitting ANC security and intelligence pedigree, but also with strong whiffs of controversy.

He was suspended and later dismissed as chief executive of the Robben Island Museum after a forensic audit found a R25-million hole in the company accounts back in 2008.

Langa was head of security co-ordination at ANC headquarters in the late 1990s. His Zonkizizwe group of companies appear to perform both security and fundraising functions for the ANC.

Other directors in Bagamoyo included:

Fabien Singaye, a former Rwandan diplomat who served as Bozize's personal adviser and is alleged to have played a central role in the purchase of CAR uranium assets by UraMin, a company with a number of South African links; and
John Robertson, an IT specialist who works with Langa in the Zonkizizwe controlled Tsohle Technology Holdings.
Masetlha confirmed that Baga*moyo was set up to exploit opportunities in CAR.

Masetlha said: "Our role was to try and engage South African business persons to invest in the area. Pereira happened to be one of the people who knew CAR well. I agreed to get involved and spoke to Paul []."

Masetlha, who is recovering from a long illness, said he was hazy about the details but added that Lazarus Mbethe was brought in as well, because of his business acumen.

Masetlha, Pereira, Langa and Mbethe appear as directors in two other shelf companies, Evening Star Trading 665 and Universal Pulse Trading 117, both set up in November 2006.

Mbethe is heavily involved in mining. He was part of the Pitsa ya Sechaba consortium that partnered with Chancellor House and the Russian company, Renova, to form United Manganese of Kalahari, which controversially got manganese rights in Northern Cape.

Masetlha said he and his partners were trying to get involved in stabilising the country through development. Projects he recalled included the refurbishment of a hotel, which is understood to have been the Oubangui Hotel, with which Pereira has also been associated.

He confirmed Langa had been "there on the ground" frequently – "he's been in and out" – and had concerned himself particularly with security issues.

Most significantly, Masetlha confirmed the group had an interest in diamonds from the region and had owned a barge to be used for alluvial diamond mining somewhere upstream on the Ubangi River where the group had a diamond concession.

He said the group had also discussed upgrading some of the main roads and the airport, but little progress had been made because of the instability in the country.

"The problem was security … the SA government got involved in trying to help Bozizé at least beef up his personal protection," said Masetlha.

No comment
Masetlha and another South African businessperson who has contact with Pereira independently supplied the same cell number for him.

When the M&G contacted the number and asked for Pereira, the man who answered the phone said he was Pereira. But when the M&G identified itself and indicated it wished to talk about the CAR, the person who answered said it was a wrong number. He refused to give his name and hung up.

Mbethe said he was in a meeting and then hung up the second time the M&G phoned him.

Robertson said he was not involved in Bagamoyo and referred questions to Langa.

Attempts to contact Langa by phone were unsuccessful. Written questions faxed to him at his request were unanswered at the time of going to press.

A spokesperson for the presidency was unavailable to comment.

* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Email amabhungane@mg.co.za

The M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All views are ours. See www.amabhungane.co.za for our stories, activities and funding sources.

You read all of the above, and then you read this, and the two parties couldn't seem further apart...

No frills for Cape Town mayor
2013-04-03 14:04

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will not apply certain benefits allocated to the mayor, deputy mayor, and speaker, it said on Wednesday.

Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson said in a statement the city would not take advantage of some provisions, as resources should be used for service delivery.

According to a national government notice in December 2012, the city was entitled to an official furnished residence for Mayor Patricia de Lille and the sole use of council vehicles for the deputy mayor and speaker of the city.

"We must, at all times, remember that the money received from the people of our city must go towards improving the lives of communities across our city," Neilson said.

The city introduced a number of austerity measures in its 2013/14 budget tabled in council at the end of March.

These cost-cutting measures included a R103m reduction in the general expenses category, which affected travel, office furnishings, catering, and public relations projects.

The use of consultants had been reduced and there was a saving of R46m in the staff budget after reducing the number of vacancies.

"In these challenging economic times we, who have been mandated to spend public money, must do everything to be as prudent as we possibly can," Neilson said.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/No-frills-for-Cape-Town-mayor-20130403)