The plot thickens

The plot thickens in weapons loss saga
January Masilela, the secretary for defence, says the defence department did in fact appear before Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) about its financial statements. The defence department has repeatedly received bad audit opinions on its finances. Masilela says they have plans to put their house in order. The SANDF had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles in Burundi.
Lekota is lying
Themba Godi, the chairperson of Parliament's standing committee on public accounts, says a statement made by Mosiuoa Lekota, the minister of defence, is actually not true. Godi says Parliament needs to implement more stricter measures of dealing with the departments that continue to get bad financial auditor opinions year after year.

Unsafe and insecure part 8

Selebi and the cop mafia
The inner workings of a mafia-style criminal organisation involving senior policemen have been revealed in a damning dossier. The document paints a chilling picture of how the syndicate — which is involved in the smuggling of drugs, cigarettes and cigars, human trafficking and the trafficking of stolen car parts, liquor and cellphones, has spread its tentacles into the South African Police Service.
A nation in jail
The scale of South Africa’s crime problem has become almost unimaginable. Every day, 150 rapes (of adults and children) and 350 armed robberies serve as curtain raisers to 50 murders. It’s time to catch a bit of a wake up. How can a country that’s technically a war zone, with rampant violent crime, plus exploding white collar crime, plus a thriving narco-economy claim to own the “greatest” constitution in the world?
No military help for cash guards
The military will not be used to help cash-in-transit teams but the government and business will work together to battle the heists, said Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula.
Lifers up for parole
More than 300 prisoners sentenced to life behind bars and who had served 15 years could be considered for parole. Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said each application would be carefully examined. Previously, prison authorities were left red-faced after it emerged that some of those who were released on early parole were later rearrested for committing other crimes.
A mockery of the justice system
Victims of violent crime need to stand together, hold government accountable and protest against the proposed early parole of prisoners serving life terms. Rob Matthews, father of university student Leigh Matthews who was kidnapped and murdered by fellow student Donovan Moodley, slammed the move, describing it as "a mockery of the justice system and demotivating for the detectives who broke their backs to get a good conviction only to have their hard work done away with by the arbitrary early release"
Nqakula's extension call lambasted
Opposition parties are sceptical of Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula's proposal to lengthen the 48-hour period before an arrested suspect has to appear in court. It is outrageous to call for the constitutionally enshrined detention period to be extended because police did not have enough time to formulate charges. The Constitution should under no circumstances be meddled with to compensate for the chronic non-performance of a government department. The police's inability to press charges against suspects has nothing to do with the 48-hour period, but a lot to do with both Nqakula and national police commissioner Jackie Selebi's poor leadership.

Gatvol

The will of the people?
South Africa’s local government elections — held on March 1 — were neither an expression of the “will” of the people nor a sign that “our democracy is maturing” as President Thabo Mbeki, in collusion with the Independent Electoral commission (IEC), wants us to believe. Instead, the elections should be viewed in the correct context: an unequivocal message to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) that the country’s poor masses are gatvol (have had enough). Despite the ANC’s victory, a substantial number of voters have rejected the top-down neoliberal policies that have exacerbated the country’s poverty.
Is there any light at the end of this foetid tunnel?
This question assumed grand importance upon the release of a research report into 34 government departments and public entities. The overview is based on 135 annual audits conducted by the auditor-general over the past four years. A measly count of seven “clean” audits; 35 were either ‘Qualified’, received an ‘Adverse Opinion’, or a ‘Disclaimer’. The latter three findings, translated officially, amount to a finding that the affected entities are in a state of financial disarray and mismanagement. The worst performing entities (unclean in four out of four years) were Home Affairs and Correctional Services.
Union name change may take years
Renaming the Union Buildings – the seat of government in Pretoria – could take years, said the Ministry of Arts and Culture. The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has submitted a formal proposal to rename the Union Buildings after former ANC deputy president Walter Sisulu, who died in 2003.
Millions lost in exceptional spending loophole
Officials are wasting millions by side-stepping tender procedures and abusing an exceptional spending loophole. The Gauteng standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) called on the Department of Finance and Economic Development to answer to R6,6 million of seemingly irregular expenditure. The department said exceptional circumstances applied to each transaction. The head of the transport department allocated a multimillion-rand taxi recapitalisation contract to Sydney Mufamadi’s wife in a similar manner.
SA must place an increased emphasis on technology
Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of the Shuttleworth Foundation, urged South Africa to decide on a global best practice in information and communication technologies (ICT) strategy in order to best position the country for success in the technology game. Shuttleworth cited a number of countries as setting the pace for emerging nations using progressive methods to transform themselves - from South Korea using broadband to evolve its economy and moving towards open source software as a key enabling technology, Spain driving technology into education using free software and China committing to putting all government procurement onto Linux by 2010.
Erwin comes to the rescue
DETAILS are still sketchy about what government intends to do with Infraco, a new company it unveiled last week to lower the cost of broadband. Its core asset is a national telecoms backbone built by Eskom, and R627m has been budgeted to develop the new state-owned entity. Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has said is that Infraco is essential to make SA’s hi-tech sector globally competitive by rapidly increasing the availability of broadband and decreasing its cost to introduce “a genuinely competitive” supply of bandwidth. It is not surprising Erwin deems it necessary to step into the telecoms arena, given the failure of his colleague, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe Casaburri. Despite her years in office, telecoms remain extraordinarily expensive, and President Thabo Mbeki’s repeated calls for cost reductions have washed over her.
Spy versus spy
It’s spy versus spy. Six of South Africa’s civilian intelligence organisations are under investigation for malpractice and abuse of state power and resources. They are the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), South African Secret Service, National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee, National Communications Centre, Electronic Communication Security Centre and the Office of Interception. Intelligence Minister Kasrils said the establishment of a Ministerial Review Commission was necessitated by malpractice which occurred within NIA during 2005.
Get your facts right, Mr Lekota
The Department of Defence is a serial offender when it comes to mismanaging public money, says the government's main watchdog on public spending. Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota launched a scathing attack on The Star for its expose on the army's failure to account for 66 vehicles, 119 weapons and R27-million worth of supplies intended for the SANDF's peacekeeping base in Burundi. SANDF chief General Godfrey Ngwenya said "every single vehicle" had been accounted for - despite Auditor-General Shauket Fakie finding this year that "stocktakes were not performed at all army units during the year" and that stocktaking certificates received from certain units were found to be of "doubtful accuracy".
Recap plan will wreck taxi industry
The regime's plans to scrap old taxis and introduce new ones has provoked uproar in the taxi industry. The long-delayed multi-billion rand taxi recapitalisation programme is aimed at replacing the ageing taxi vehicle fleet with safer and more efficient vehicles in the next seven years. A R50 000 scrapping allowance will be paid to registered taxi operators - at a total cost of R7,7-billion to the government. The programme was initially scheduled to be implemented in 2000, but has been delayed many times. The plan has touched a raw nerve in the industry. It was not happy with the terms of the new operating licences. Even though operators had agreed to the conversion to the new licence, none of them knew what it looked like.
South Africans are living in cloud cuckoo land
The consumer orgy has started to get really messy. Cheap money mixed in with competitive Asian consumer products comprises a dangerous cocktail. In Pretoria, the lights are still on and the policymakers are still out, spending money fast. There is going to be a terrible price to pay for this madness. South Africa's trade deficit (surpluses are history) has exploded. No policymaker in South Africa has given the vaguest hint as to how the trade deficit is going to be financed sustainably. The story does get even more spooky. Contrary to the optimistic slime pumped out by public and private sector spin-doctors, South Africa's economic growth is largely jobless. Job creation running at a pathetic 3000 jobs a month.
Jobs up, but numbers not high enough
More than half-a-million jobs were created in South Africa in the past year, but economists and labour warn it is not enough to make a serious dent in unemployment. At a glance there seems to have been a very big increase in employment, but if it is put into perspective it is not so dramatic. Most of the new jobs were created in the agricultural sector and were seasonal. The problem is that the economy's direction is towards creating businesses that were service, knowledge and skills intensive, while the South African workforce is largely unskilled. The rate at which jobs are being created is not sufficient to keep up with the number of students leaving school every year. Economists have blamed South Africa's stringent labour legislation, which makes hiring an expensive proposition for small-scale companies, and have suggested that government relax legislation to enable small firms to easily hire and fire. Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has described unemployment as a "ticking time bomb."

Unsafe and insecure part 7

Forensic labs staff shortage crisis
Inadequate training and the mass exodus of skilled staff have plunged police and health department forensic laboratories into a "national crisis". The quality of staff is so poor that chemical laboratories get through only 10 percent of their monthly caseloads, while national forensic laboratories are struggling with backlogs of at least 400 cases a month. The police is facing a national crisis, with police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and his political mates destroying national assets. We are at a point of no return.
Changing laws?
The Constitution guarantees the right to appear in court within 48 hours for anyone arrested for allegedly committing a crime. But that could change if Charles Nqakula, the safety and security minister, has his way. Appearing before Parliament's safety and security committee, Nqakula said 48 hours is too short a time for his boys in blue to tighten up their cases.
SA roads among the deadliest in the world
South Africa's ageing road infrastructure has reached its "sell-by" date with daily reports of giant potholes, cracks and dangerously uneven surfaces on major arterial roads. A dire lack of technical skills, particularly in the civil engineering sector, was a major problem. Many South African roads have long passed their 25-year lifespan. This is a major problem when there are not enough skilled people to put the situation right.

Undermining the regime

Job loss blackmail
Minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica accused Australian junior diamond producer Tawana Resources of "blackmail" by threatening to retrench employees in South Africa if her department did not issue a mining right to the company's Kareevlei Wes project. The department has been criticised for not employing sufficient skilled people to assess and process the huge volume of license applications since May 2004.
Tension over issuing of mining licences
If accusations levelled at the department of minerals and energy about its lack of capacity and tardiness in issuing mining and prospecting licences are true, the government must be held accountable for lost investment opportunities for the industry over the medium to long term. The Chamber of Mines has done research that shows that the regulatory regime, including mining, environmental and water licences, has curtailed investment in the industry.
ANC's power grab warded off
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has warded off an attempt by the African National Congress (ANC) to strip her of her executive powers, after the provincial government dropped its threat to change the system of governance in the city. In terms of a compromise agreement brokered by Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, the multiparty government, led by Zille's Demo-cratic Alliance (DA), will retain control of the city in exchange for Zille giving the ANC two additional sub-council posts. The ANC's provincial secretariat was delighted that Zille had been forced to reconsider her "Verwoerdian-type sub-councils" and to implement ward committees and ward participatory mechanisms.
Thousands confront minister
Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula completed her imbizo focus week with a visit to Winterveld. She was confronted by thousands of residents. They had been standing in the sun waiting for her for more than four hours, but did not mind waiting for a chance to share their grievances with Mapisa-Nqakula. They have had enough of living on the outskirts of the municipality and of being treated like a second-class citizens. Better service delivery was promised has not happened. The subject of incompetent department officials was broached. Two people issued with the same names on their IDs is becoming a common practice. When you go to Home Affairs you have to queue for six hours.

As spoken by the regime

We can account for each and every one of them
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota reacted with outrage to reports that the defence force had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles during peacekeeping operations in Burundi. "We can account for each and every one of them, where they are operating," Lekota said about the vehicles, adding that none were missing. Lekota admitted that rifles and mortar bombs were missing. "Some of which in ambushes, others of the things was stolen and others of the things were lost. Of course it is normal that things can get lost and so on," he said. 22 000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from a South African National Defence Force base in Burundi. 35 rifles were taken by Janjaweed rebels in an ambush of SANDF peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region. Rifles were lost when a vehicle "fell" into the river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
SA grapples with black empowerment
It has created a wealthy black elite but has been decried for leaving millions of people behind.
As opponents grow more vocal, there are signs the government may be ready for a rethink. Through black economic empowerment, the state is pushing companies to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement. Often, however, lucrative deals have gone to a few businessmen with ties to the ANC regime. "We nevertheless share a fundamental objective to defeat the tendency in our society towards the deification of personal wealth as the distinguishing feature of the new citizen of the new South Africa," Mbeki said. The speech was widely viewed as a veiled swipe at the nouveau riche, and a signal of change.
Minister criticise ANC's pooh-poohing
The ANC councillors' tendency to pooh-pooh all the motions raised by opposition parties, no matter how crucial they are, was criticised by National Minister of Public Works, Thoko Didiza. Didiza, who attended an eThekwini Municipality full council meeting. She was commenting on the Democratic Alliance's motions about the spiralling crime at the beachfront and Spoornet's failure to look after its properties, which have now become havens for criminals. Both motions were ridiculed by the ANC councillors and not carried. Her comments received a huge round of applause from the opposition parties, especially the DA, while ANC councillors were stunned to receive such criticism from their comrade.
Remove all the confusion
The government has sent out the strongest signal yet that messages about nutrition from Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang are damaging, saying its duty now is to "remove all the confusion". Deputy Health Minister Nosiviwe Madlala-Routledge said there had been a conscious decision by the cabinet to make it clear that foods like garlic and beetroot are not alternatives to antiretrovirals. The deputy minister denied that Tshabalala-Msimang had been "sidelined" but that cabinet ministers were all "getting a better grasp of the disease".
Lazy public servants must go
Public servants who fail to bring value to the public service must "bow out", according to Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. She said: "Some of them are quite indifferent. I do believe there are people who have an attitude... who are just there to draw a salary and don't have any real contribution to make."

Unsafe and insecure part 6

Black mark for violence
A school in King William’s Town is tearing itself apart. Order has broken down so badly at Khumbulani High School in Tyhusha that it is listed as the most dangerous school in the province and among nine pinpointed nationally. A pupil was stabbed to death by an older boy during morning assembly. Police had to be called in regularly to stop faction fights between rival groups from two villages. Educators are literally afraid of learners who carry dangerous weapons at school. Parents have resorted to arming themselves when they take their children to school, the Dispatch has learned. The school is being destroyed by its own pupils who come to school drunk and fight on the grounds and by parents who lack interest in their children’s education.
No clarity on Selebi
Charles Nqakula, South Africa’s controversial Minister of Safety and Security, has not met or even phoned his crime fighting bosses to get to the bottom of allegations that his top cop is being investigated by the elite crime fighting unit, the Scorpions. The two law enforcement agencies still refuse to comment on a Scorpions investigation into the business dealings of the late Brett Kebble, who was gunned down in his vehicle in September last year. Selebi’s name has been linked to that of Glenn Agliotti, who was a business associate of Kebble and himself the subject of an investigation.
Selebi must go
SA’s national police commissioner Jackie Selebi must resign his post as the country’s top cop. The Scorpions were handed a “secret dossier” listing Selebi’s alleged links to illegal activities conducted by Kebble, as well as to alleged mafia boss Glenn Agliotti, who has been fingered as having links with a drug- and cigarette-smuggling syndicate. The dossier contains claims that Selebi received a generous R50000 monthly payment from Clinton Nassif, Kebble’s security adviser. It is Selebi, as the head of the police service, who is tasked with finding Kebble’s killer.
Sex pest case delayed yet again
AN APPEAL to uphold sexual harassment findings against former ambassador Norman Mashabane was again delayed in the Pretoria High Court. The case has been delayed several times since it was brought to court in January last year. Mashabane was found guilty at an initial hearing in 2001 on a battery of charges that included stroking the buttocks of an employee, molesting a staff member in a lift and making suggestive motions with his tongue to another. The panel recommended he be fired, but he appealed the judgment and was allowed to continue in his post pending the outcome. In June 2003 another charge was laid against him, and he was again found guilty. The findings were reversed by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Worthy of the lunatic fringe
South Africa's new coordinator on HIV/AIDS conceded that the government had fallen short in fighting the epidemic and promised much better results using life-saving drugs. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka now heads the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) and is President Thabo Mbeki's top official on HIV/AIDS. Controversial Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been sidelined after a disastrous showing by South Africa at the world AIDS conference in August in Toronto. Her policies were labelled "worthy of the lunatic fringe" by a senior U.N. official.

Danger on the roads

Blood in the streets
Gauteng’s commuter traffic ground to a halt as taxis affiliated to the National Taxi Association (NTA) blockaded freeways, clashed with police and turned on innocent motorists while they vented their opposition to the recap programme. The government and the South African public were subsequently warned that “blood will flow in the streets” if the recap was pushed ahead. The NTA says as long as Transport Minister Jeff Radebe keeps implementing his programme without talking to stakeholders, the protests will continue.
Gauteng goes HOV positive
The controversial high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on a 36km stretch of the Ben Schoeman Highway is on the verge of becoming permanent. Discussions are also on the cards to implement it on all major roads throughout Gauteng. The provincial government experimented with a lane dedicated to vehicles with three or more people last week, as part of Public Transport Month. The majority of motorists felt it caused traffic jams, and slowed them down unnecessarily. Despite this, the authorities, among them Transport Minister Jeff Radebe, reported they were satisfied with the way it operated.
This is a complete rip-off
Why is the ANC in the eThekwini council so keen to fork out millions of rand in hard-earned money from ratepayers to bail out a private bus company? Is it because most of the company shareholders are African National Congress bigwigs? The ANC-dominated council agreed to approve R20-million funding to bail out the financially-strained Remant Alton (Pty) Ltd, which has a four-year contract to run the city's bus fleet. The Democratic Alliance demanded that the bus company provides financial statements before being bailed out. The debate resulted in angry IFP members walking out of a meeting citing ANC councillors' arrogance.

Incompetence all around us

Prison blight
The prison system is in need of intense and urgent attention. The correctional services department has had to give about R800m back to the national treasury, because they can’t fill vacant positions and new prisons were budgeted for but not built. Overcrowding is only one of the many horrors detailed in the report of the Jali commission of inquiry into corruption, maladministration, violence and intimidation. The picture of SA’s prisons is unrelentingly bleak. Gangs dominate prison life. Sexual violence is perpetrated against vulnerable inmates. Prison security is leaky. Prison warders and senior prison management are embroiled in all of this. Corruption and abuse are institutionalised in the system.
N2 Gateway tainted with graft
Crossroads residents have appealed to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to use Red Ants, security guards from Gauteng reputed to be fearless, to evict beneficiaries of the N2 Gateway housing development who make extra money by renting their shacks in Boys Town. Officials responsible for N2 Gateway brought relatives from the Eastern Cape to occupy the flats at the expense of people who had been waiting for years.
Shortage of assessors for environmental impact assessments
Government had put in place a more streamlined system to get rid of the backlog of environmental impact assessments (EIAs), which was holding back development. Many developers have complained that the lengthy delays and costs in completing EIAs have made their projects unviable. In some instances, EIAs have taken up to three years to complete. Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk expressed concern about the quality of EIAs and the dearth of expert assessors.
The voice of a nation
In just one region of Zimbabwe, in just one decade - in Matabeleland in the 1980s - President Mugabe was responsible for the massacre of 20,000 civilians. This is the equivalent of a Sharpeville massacre every day for more than nine months. There was a global campaign against apartheid. Why isn't there a similar global campaign against Mugabe's murderous tyranny? Ooops, silly me. The killer is the wrong colour. He's a black murderer, not a white one. Besides, it is racist and neo-imperialist for anyone in the west to criticise the leader of a developing country, even a bloody butcher like Mugabe. It is the view of the South African government, judging from the pitiful performance of the South African foreign minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

In need of repair

Bungling in Burundi
South African National Defence Force troops were sent to Burundi to keep the peace - but it seems the poor management of equipment and the theft of South African weapons that land in rebel hands is fuelling the conflict. Millions of rands worth of vehicles, guns, ammunition and bombs, and supplies worth over R27-million have vanished from the South African army base in Burundi over the last four years.
Railways in bad repair
Railway infrastructure in SA is in an “unacceptably bad state of repair” and its technologically is outdated, says the Railway Safety Regulator. This poor infrastructure was the cause of major railway accidents, burdening operators with huge costs. Spoornet experienced 1994 collisions and derailments in the year to March, while Metrorail’s figures was 412. Apart from poor infrastructure, a major contributory factor in accidents was human error. This indicated poor management and lack of a safety culture at the operators.
Reading is not taught in schools
The Gauteng education department has appointed READ Educational Trust to train Gauteng teachers on methods to improve literacy in the province’s schools. It has been established that reading is not taught in many schools nationally. The national department’s systemic evaluation of reading skills revealed that only 39% of Gauteng’s grade three pupils were literate at the appropriate grade level.
Stop sex officer roll-out
Child rights advocacy organisations and the Democratic Alliance (DA) are calling for a halt to the pilot roll-out of family violence, child abuse and sexual offences officers to Gauteng police stations until problems have been ironed out. Gauteng is the first province to see these special unit officers transferred to police stations as part of a bid to strengthen police stations and transfer skills. The process so far had been haphazard, unplanned and without consultation.

Too much money

South Africa has more money than it can spend
South Africa has a problem many would envy -- more money than it can spend. In the 12 years since the fall of apartheid, ill-equipped officials have battled to distribute billions of dollars on vital programs from justice to social welfare. 9 billion rand (US$1.20 billion) went unspent in 2005/06 from national and provincial budgets, up from 7 billion rand in 2004-2005. The core hurdle to growth is a dire shortage of key skilled professionals like engineers. South Africa's small pool of skilled workers is due to crime and affirmative action -- the former repels foreigners who may help plug the skills gap while the latter has sparked an exodus of educated whites.
Face off with taxi operators
The regime has vowed to forge ahead with its taxi recapitalisation programme despite violent opposition from dissident taxi operators which led to gridlock and traffic chaos on main routes in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Mounting tension over the controversial R7,7bn initiative has raised fears that taxi drivers may embark on rolling mass action, raising questions about the ability of government to implement the project.
Infighting unearths incestuous deals
Infighting at the SA Post Office has unearthed incestuous business relationships and conflicts of interest by the chief executive and the chairman of the board. Khutso Mampeule, the chief executive of the Post Office, and Phuti Tsukudu, his chairman, are in hot water with communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. Mampeule bypassed board chairman Tsukudu and called a board meeting to discuss selling insurance products through Postbank branches. The implication of Tsukudu's appointment to the board of Mutual & Federal this month was on the agenda of the meeting.
Corruption in housing highlighted
Lack of development and corruption within the local housing projects were among issues raised at a community imbizo. Some of the residents from Boys Town informal settlement in Crossroads say they have been waiting to have their houses for eight years now. They told ousing minister Lindiwe Sisulu that they have lost faith in their local councillors and that they want houses to be built in their areas and not elsewhere.
A glimmer of hope?
The South African government is reviewing its strategy for tackling the Aids epidemic. The bitter truth is that prevention efforts have so far largely failed in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa's most powerful economy, while Zimbabwe and other East African countries have had success in curbing new infections. Fresh targets are to be set out in a five-year plan due out on December 1. This is all happening very late.
People have simply had enough
A church leader has said that if the president and members of the government ignore public anger about violent crime they could be making a grave mistake. Bishop Ivan Abrahams, the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church, said he had been surprised by the depth of public unhappiness. "There is clearly a powerful fire burning out there," said Abrahams.

Does this qualify as good news?

Eager to get experts back
The Soccer World Cup tournament in 2010 is starting to lure white experts such as engineers, construction workers and accountants back to South Africa. Trade union Solidarity said a total 1 000 experts who had placed their names on its unemployment list, already had found work. Many engineers are either retired or they moved overseas because of black economic empowerment. These people can definitely mean something for the South African market because they have the skills.

Unrealism in the new South Africa

Blow whistle on corrupt officials
Provincial and local government minister Sydney Mufamadi has urged members of the public to become whistle-blowers in order to root out corruption.
Tender award to minister’s wife sparks row
The Gauteng transport department has launched a forensic audit into procedures adopted by its controversial head, Sibusiso Buthelezi, after a query by the auditor-general into a R5m tender awarded to a company whose MD is the wife of Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi.
The issue has been placed on the back burner
Cape Town's executive mayor Helen Zille says the African National Congress has the power to resolve the dispute between the city and provincial government "tomorrow", but instead "the issue has been placed on the back burner" by the postponement of critical, high-level meetings.
Magic unrealism
Last week saw the 20th anniversary of the air accident in which Mozambican president Samora Machel lost his life along with some 25 other passengers on a Tupolev TU-134 aircraft. President Thabo Mbeki suffered one of his increasingly frequent bouts of magical unrealism. Speaking on the anniversary of the crash, he trotted out vaporous promises about how no one would rest until “the real causes of the shocking Machel accident” were uncovered. Any dignity about Machel’s memory is being shoved aside, supplanted by the unseemly needs of Mr Mbeki, and others, to poach upon the tragedy. Investigations into the Machel/Tupolev had found unanimously that the accident was caused by pilot and crew negligence of criminal proportions.
Blood will flow
Thousands of taxi drivers and owners have vowed that blood will flow if government insists on pursuing its taxi recapitalisation programme. The threats, made by scores of taxi associations, came as nearly 10 000 taxi drivers, owners and operators in 700 taxis took to the capital's streets. The demonstration led to several taxis and buses being stoned and set alight and saw three taxi drivers and two police officers getting injured in running battles.
Industry demands clarity
News that the government-owned Infrastructure Company (Infraco) would be allocated R647 million received a muted reception from the telecommunications industry, with many players demanding clarity on the company's operations. Finance minister Trevor Manuel said government would allocate R1.4 billion to Infraco and the pebble bed modular reactor. There is now a conflict of interest with the state having a stake in telecommunications operators. Government departments would be competing with each other. Public Enterprises minister Alec Erwin said he planned to set up Infraco using the long-distance fibreoptic network created by Eskom and Transnet. This was despite minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri saying earlier this year that the department would use Sentech to roll out wireless broadband services.
What did Manyatshe get?
Did the contractor controversially paid R100-million by the Post Office to revamp its branches do private favours for executives of the para­statal -- including its then-CEO, Maanda Manyatshe? Manyatshe, now boss of cellphone giant MTN, denies a "corrupt relationship" with the contractor, Vision Design House (VDH). But he admits that, at the time VDH worked for the Post Office, he discussed the state of his homes with a VDH director, who visited his Cape Town home and produced a “computer-generated schematic of suggestions”. VDH also worked on design plans for Manyatshe’s Johannesburg home. This was days before Manyatshe signed the main contract between the Post Office and VDH.
Crisis feared as teacher shortages rise
Teacher shortage levels are increasing as less and less people are joining the teaching profession. Teacher unions have warned of a future classroom crisis if more teachers are not trained. An estimated 20 000 teachers leave the profession each year, but only 6 000 newly trained teachers enter the profession.
Show us the money
The government committing to make available funds for the construction of the 2010 World Cup stadiums -- as Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel did in this week's mini-budget -- is one thing. The actual release of the money to the nine host-city municipalities is another. The concern is now whether cities will meet the agreed start date for the building of five new stadiums and the refurbishment of five others.
Popcru too powerful
The Jali commission of inquiry has slammed the inordinate power it says is exercised by the Cosatu prisons affiliate Popcru in the administration of prisons. Also underscored by the report is the systematic nature of corruption and maladministration in prisons and the indifference of the department and its officials to sexual abuse in correctional facilities, which it warns may spread HIV infection. The prevalence of gangs in prison is also highlighted. Jali’s team found that Popcru had attempted to influence the strategic direction of the correctional services department.
Policy will split aquaculture sector
The aquaculture industry fears that the release of a draft policy to regulate marine and fresh water farming will further fragment the sector. The release of the draft policy by Marine and Coastal Management (MCM), a branch of the department of environmental affairs and tourism, was contrary to an agreement reached last November that separate draft policies by MCM and the department of agriculture would be amalgamated for public comment. Aquaculture is the farming of fish, abalone, crayfish and plants under controlled conditions in marine or fresh water. South Africa contributes less than 1 percent of African aquaculture production, which in turn contributes about 1 percent of global output.
Urgent measures needed to restore trust in the life industry
This time last year, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel intervened as Pension Funds Adjudicator Vuyani Ngalwana, in a series of high-profile rulings, set aside the confiscatory penalties levied by the life assurance industry when members of retirement annuity (RA) funds - often through no fault of their own - could no longer afford to pay their contributions/ premiums to RAs and life assurance endowment policies. These penalties are morally unacceptable. They can ensure that ordinary people will spend their retirement in destitution or be wholly reliant on the state. These penalties were created to enable the life companies to pay their sales forces perversely structured upfront commissions on long-term contracts.
Judge embroiled in child pay row
A Pretoria High Court judge is refusing to pay child maintenance to his former lover, saying the paternity-test results showing a 99,99 percent probability that he is the father of her illegitimate son are inconclusive. His rationale for this attitude was that there is a chance that, out of the remaining 0,01 percent, there could be someone whose genetic make-up was identical to his.