Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sniper Rifles


Proof SA sold rifles to Libya

Damning video evidence has emerged, proving for the first time that sniper rifles made in South Africa are being used in Libya’s bloody civil war by forces loyal to embattled dictator ­Muammar Gaddafi.

The revelations come amid continued refusals by South Africa to divulge the details of conventional arms sales to Libya’s repressive government – which totalled nearly R69m last year.

Video clips circulating on the internet and filmed as battles raged in the city of Misrata in north-western Libya earlier this year show rebel fighters displaying captured sniper rifles. The weapons have been identified as the work of a Midrand armoury, Truvelo Manufacturers.

One undated video, which ­appears to have been filmed on a cellphone camera, shows a rebel holding a Truvelo rifle fitted with a sound suppressor.

A similar rifle can also be seen in an Al-Jazeera news report filed on May 29.

Manufactured in Midrand

Tom Wolmarans, a former ­policeman and independent ­forensic expert, said the rifles in the video clips had at least “seven or eight” unique identifying ­“attributes”.

He said it was “highly likely” the rifles had been manufactured by Truvelo.

A leading South African firearms expert speaking on condition of anonymity said four key points of comparison indicated the weapons were Truvelo sniper rifles.

These included:
» An adjustment screw visible on the inside of the butt;
» A “rest pod” under the front part of the butt;
» The “very distinctive half-oval cheek piece”; and
» The shape of the grip.

The National Conventional Arms Control Committee has repeatedly stonewalled questions about the sale of about 120 sniper rifles and between 50 000 and 70 000 rounds of ammunition to Libya in October last year, just months before the country descended into violence.

Answer questions

An estimated 15 000 people have been killed in four months of fighting in Libya and there have been reports of snipers killing ­civilians, children and even mourners at funerals.

Last week Justice Minister Jeff Radebe – the chairperson of the committee – once again failed to answer questions about the sale of sniper rifles to Libya, confirming only that “Category A” weapons had been exported to Libya.

Category A weapons are defined as “major conventional implements of war that could cause heavy personnel casualties”.

Truvelo director Ralf Gebert has also steadfastly refused to comment on the company’s business dealings with Libya.

“There are procedures in South Africa we follow. We stick to the rules and regulations. We are not prepared to say yes or no. If the conventional arms control committee wants to divulge any information they are entitled to do so,” he said this week.

Went to Libya

Truvelo was among the South African companies that attended the Libdex arms expo in Libya in November 2008. References to the event have been removed from Truvelo’s main website.

DA defence spokesperson ­David Maynier – who has repeatedly called on Radebe to answer questions about the sale of sniper rifles to Libya – said South Africa “should never have sold weapons to a serial human rights violating country such as Libya”.

The sale of sniper rifles to Libya first came under scrutiny in February when Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, a member of the arms committee, claimed to have no knowledge of the sales.

Radebe subsequently admitted that the committee had authorised arms sales to Libya last year and said “at the time . . . there was no evidence . . . there would be ­political unrest in that country”.

He said the exports were not at odds with legislation governing conventional arms sales which stipulates that South Africa “will not trade in conventional arms with states engaged in repression, aggression or terrorism”.

And he stated there was “no evidence to back up” claims linking deaths in Libya to arms sold by South African companies. He said a confidentiality clause prevented the committee from providing details about arms sales contracts.

Radebe’s spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, responded to questions about the Libyan arms deal with a copy of Radebe’s earlier statement, which makes no mention of the words “sniper” or “rifles”.


http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Proof-SA-sold-rifles-to-Libya-20110619

Juju

Juju also solved Zimbabwe's energy crisis. 

He vowed to import 5 million metric cubes of sand from Saudi Arabia so that they could drill for their own oil and get rid of the imperialists. 

The brainless morons that keep on believing in this little self-serving punk, hoping against their better judgement that miracles will happen.

ANC Plotted to Disrupt Conference

2011-06-19
ANC leaders plotted to disrupt the Youth League congress, its re-elected leader Julius Malema said on Sunday.
 
"We have defeated you, and we are still going to defeat you," an angry Malema said in his closing address to the conference in Midrand, Johannesburg.

He said some leaders went to the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference on a mission to get African National Congress Youth League leaders out of the way for two years.

He claimed party leaders had tried to get league members to vote against his being re-elected ANCYL leader.

Malema singled out Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, saying its delegates had been instructed to vote differently at the four-day conference, where Malema retained his position during elections on Friday.

"Mpumalanga defied the order, some risked losing their jobs," he said.

KwaZulu-Natal delegates were offered R2 000 to vote for a preferred candidate, he claimed.

"People thought these delegates of KZN were willing to sell their soul."

Malema said Mpumalanga needed "proper leadership".

"We are asking proper politics. Mpumalanga must get proper leadership, we cannot be lead by people interfering in the affairs of youth."

Comments:

I wonder where this will eventually all end for this fool,Malema the way he behaves.In England when you speak to people from across a wide spectrum of interest they'll all say he is an embarrassment to their party and that they(ANC Bigwigs)did embarked on an all-out campaign to try and bankrupt the bastard recently with his courtcase but it didn't work for them then.After he was seen taking pictures and shaking hands with the Devil,Robert Mugabe,the ANC have tried but failed to shut the KOOS Malema down.I reckon it will all end for him in an assassination of Malema by the ANC made to look like suicide,like a heart attack or a stroke or some other form of natural causes.Can't see his K@K rhetoric going on forever,do you? 

To my (black) people.Please read this book "Capitalist nigger" by Chika Onyeani and it will change your life forever.You will stop blaiming white people of racism if you read it. 

There's some sensible talk! Black-on-Black racism has been, is and will continue to be worse than across-colour - most of Africa is a testimony to this. Wake up, black South Africa! Malema is only there for himself, not for you. 

 Paranoia is the next step to dictatorship - he is following the path of Idi Amin, Mugabe and all the other African despots hell bent on self glorification and destruction of their countries.



Malema Warns ANC Leaders

2011-06-19

ANC youth leader Julius Malema warned the ruling party's leaders on Sunday to "lead with the people" or face removal from office.
 
Malema was speaking about "white monopoly capital" being the "real enemy", at the closing ceremony of the African National Congress Youth League's conference in Midrand, Johannesburg, which re-elected him as leader.

"The real enemy is white monopoly capital. They are the ones we are fighting against.... it's not racism. It's written in every document of the ANC... transfer of power from minorities."

Malema called on delegates to "intensify" this struggle against white monopoly capital.

"There's nobody who is going to stand before us. Nobody is going to stand before this moving tree of economic freedom fighters.

"They want to change the material conditions of South Africa and they are not asking for permission," said Malema.

He said that if the "leadership of the ANC" did "not join us" then the masses would take over.

"If you are not careful, you will be led by the masses," said Malema.

"The ANC must lead the people. The ANC must lead with the people. We are asking for leadership.

"We don't want to remove anybody.

"We don't want to remove you."

Xenophobic Violence

2011-06-19

Thousands of Zimbabweans ­living in a township outside Polokwane, Limpopo, fled last week following the most serious wave of xenophobic violence to hit South Africa in recent months.

The purge included the killing of Zimbabwean Godfrey Sibanda, who was ­cornered by a mob and stoned to death on Monday night in Extension 75 of ­Seshoga township, northwest of Polokwane, while walking home from work.

Six RDP houses in Extension 71 which had been rented to Zimbabweans were ­also torched by large mobs.

More than 3 000 other Zimbabweans fled to hide in nearby bushes.

Sibanda was accused of raping a five-year-old girl and for being behind other criminal acts in the area, which included the murder of a couple last week and ­robbing a security guard.

The police said they had heard of the incidents, but had no record of these ­alleged crimes being reported to them.

The day after Sibanda was killed, more Zimbabweans were attacked and evicted from their homes by locals who dumped their blankets, bags and other belongings on the street.

3 000 displaced

Those who escaped unharmed were ­being sheltered at the ­Seshego police station with their families. They said that more than 3 000 of their fellow countrymen were displaced.

They were scared to go to the police ­because they thought the police were working with the community, said Christopher Manyanhaire, 27.

He was evicted from his home with his sister, three-year-old nephew and brother-in-law.

He said that the mob caught his sister, Locadia, after she tried to escape through the window.

"They were at the door trying to kick it down but I was holding it while my sister tried to escape, but they caught her and beat her until the police arrived,” he said.

Manyanhaire, whose family was among those at Seshego police station, said ­locals had complained about Zimbabweans getting state houses cheaply from owners who rented them out.

“They have no right to be living in an RDP house because it’s for us South Africans,” said Paulina Makokwane, a South African whose house is surrounded by three Zimbabwean-occupied houses that were torched on Tuesday.

House-to-house search

On Tuesday evening, City Press ­witnessed a group of close to 200 people ­going from house-to-house looking for ­Zimbabweans.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said one person was ­arrested for arson and they were still ­investigating the murder case.

Fungai Chingorivo, who was part of the evicted group at the police station, said she and her husband had lost everything they had worked for since coming to South Africa in 2008.

“We don’t know what to do now. We have no money and going back home to Zimbabwe empty-handed is pointless because our children and families are suffering,” she said.

By Thursday morning, there were 20 displaced families at the police station with some of their belongings which they had managed to save.

More were expected to arrive and the police have called in local disaster-management officials to help with shelter.

ANC Limpopo spokesperson David Masondo said the party was “disappointed” at what had happened and that it was symptomatic of economic stress in both Limpopo and Zimbabwe.



http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Thousands-of-foreigners-flee-murderous-mobs-20110618-2

'Joke' version of June 16 photo

19 June, 2011 

A fiery debate over whether a parody of the photograph of Hector Pieterson is in bad taste has divided commentators on social networking pages.

The original photograph by photographer Sam Nzima was taken in Soweto on June 16 1976, when police opened fire on child protesters.

Now a photograph in which three unknown people poke fun at the image has gone viral - with many lashing out at the "disrespect" shown to Pieterson.

Pieterson, 12, was shot dead by police and the image of his lifeless body being carried in the arms of 18-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubo, with Pieterson's distraught sister Antoinette Sithole running beside them, drew international attention.

Cartoonists have in the past used the famous image in political satire.

The parody now doing the rounds recreates the scene with a cigarette-smoking man carrying a grinning, younger boy who holds two quarts of beer in his hands.

And the image has left commentators on Facebook divided.

Mosekwa Tshikosi commented: "My first instinct is outrage ... but this picture is no more stupid than a fair amount of 'celebratory' ceremonies that were held across the country."

He added: "This does appear to be a metaphor of how far removed this society is from the ethos of self-sacrifice depicted in the original picture."

Sandra Dlamini said the image was ''grossly insensitive and inconsiderate".
Millicent Beloved Kapitako called it "a sign of the times".

"The youth of today have succumbed to hedonism. It's a blatant mockery of the state of ignorance about our apartheid past. This is sad. When r (sic) we going to wake up from this slumber?" she asked.

But Mike Fraser said South Africans should not allow "one derogatory picture to upset us to the point of generalising about how bad things have become with our youth in South Africa".

"The picture is intended to denigrate a very meaningful time in our country's history, and the reaction to it is exactly what the sick person who took it wanted," he said.

"Something like this doesn't deserve to be dignified with any response. Social media is a breeding ground for sick pranksters. I refuse to lose hope in the wellbeing of our youth because of sick pictures," Fraser said.

Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, said: ''People have a right to do what they want with an image, but at the same time they run the risk of their motivation being misunderstood."

Shapiro added it was important for people to think and talk about the values of the June 16 uprising.



Civil Servants and Debt

19 June, 2011

Civil servants will be taught how to manage their finances in an urgent bid to help them get out of debt.

The aim of the initiative - which has just started for over 180000 government employees in KwaZulu-Natal - is to prevent them from becoming "vulnerable" and committing "unethical or corrupt practices".

...........over 100000 government employees in just four of the nine provinces and 18 of the 34 national departments had more than R45-million docked from their salaries in garnishee orders last month.

Employers are compelled to make salary deductions and pay them directly to creditors if a garnishee order is granted by a court.

A total of 15 642 officials in the Western Cape and Free State, who owe creditors a staggering R181-million, had R9-million deducted from their salaries last month, {May} while:
  • Staff in KwaZulu-Natal's 16 provincial departments were slapped with 25 580 garnishee orders;
  •  
  • At least 41 083 garnishee orders totalling R16-million a month affect members of the SA Police Service and correctional services; and
  •  
  • At least 21 877 teachers in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and Western Cape are forking out R9.5-million a month to creditors.
KwaZulu-Natal's MEC for finance, Ina Cronje, who launched a unique financial literacy programme for her province's 189000 civil servants recently, said the alarming statistics had "reinforced the need" for the initiative.

Working together with the banks, accounting firms and chambers of business, the province's Public Service Training Academy will be holding financial education workshops for staff.

"Indebted employees are vulnerable to accepting bribes and committing unethical or corrupt practices to remedy their financial situation," said Cronje.

She said employees with financial worries could not perform at their best, while some were forced to seek additional jobs to pay their bills .

"The fatigue and stress of holding two jobs is likely to impact negatively on an employee's capacity to deliver."

She said public servants were not different from other South Africans and that "generally, South Africans are poor savers and high spenders".

A sergeant based at the KwaMashu police station in Durban said he was battling to survive because his take-home pay after deductions was just over R1000.

"I don't know how to manage any more. Long before the month is over, I have to borrow money, which I can't repay."

Dumisani Nkwamba, spokes-man for the Department of Public Service and Administration, said the country's 1.3 million public servants served the public with honesty and integrity.

"We cannot characterise them as being lazy and corrupt. It's inappropriate and wrong. There are a few who are engaging in practices that are not in line with the ethos of the public service, but it's not the entire public service."

In a statement, he said the department recognised the impact of high debt levels on productivity.
He said accounting officers needed to ensure that, after deductions, employees still had enough money to take care of their families.

The Sunday Times also found that:
  • 1 917 staffers in the Department of Justice fork out R1.2-million in garnishee orders;
  • 1 347 officials in agriculture, forestry and fisheries pay out R52 4000.00; and
  • 34 employees in the national Treasury had deductions totalling R25 186.00 in May.
Rej Brijraj, chief executive of the SA Council for Educators, said the problem of a large number of teachers being in "perpetual debt" was serious.

Modise Letsatsi, chief negotiator of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa, said many garnishee orders were obtained before the establishment of the National Credit Act.


 http://www.timeslive.co.za/incoming/2011/06/19/civil-servants-learn-how-to-beat-debt

SA sniper rifles in Libya

19 June, 2011 

South African-made sniper rifles have found their way into the hands of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

A video seen by the newspaper shows rebel fighters displaying the rifles after they were taken from pro-Gaddafi troops according to Sunday's Rapport newspaper.

The rifles have "seven or eight highly unique characteristics" that prove they came from Truvelo Manufacturers in Midrand, Gauteng, according to Tom Wolmarans, a former police officer who used to work for the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.




According to the paper other weapons and forensic experts agreed with this opinion.

Truvelo's director Ralf Gebert refused to comment on the company's transactions with Libya.

"There are procedures in South Africa we are following. We adhere to the rules and regulations and that's that. We are not prepared to say yes or no," he was quoted as saying.

According to international news reports Gaddafi's forces have been using sniper rifles to shoot civilians during pro-democracy protests and at funerals.

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe earlier this month refused to say whether the R68.9 million worth of arms South Africa sold to Libya last year included sniper rifles.

The DA said it would hand a copy of the video to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who was considering the party's request to investigate the matter.

The party had previously alleged that more than 100 sniper rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition had been sold to Libya, a transaction authorised by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.

"We cannot sit back and allow South Africa to become an armoury for dictators around the world," DA shadow minister of defence and military veterans David Maynier said in a statement.

Wake up or face a North Africa situation

17 Jun 2011

THE statements by Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel and Cosatu chief Zwelinzima Vavi that South Africa is crumbling must be taken seriously if we are to avert a North Africa.

South Africa has lost its aesthetic content. Potholes, power blackouts, corruption and crony capitalism reflect the decline.

An uncanny sense of déjà vu and defeatism settled in the political consciousness like bad memory and bad faith. There is no politics other than what the elite decide. Our beloved nation is in decline because positive leadership is scarce, our leaders are sleepwalking into an abyss because of their egocentric and corrupt attitude.

What sort of democracy do we have when the rule of law, supremacy of the law, equality before the law and fundamental human rights are not considered as prerequisites? Why must we celebrate democracy when poverty and unemployment stalk this beautiful land? Poverty as a result of unemployment free flows like stream water?

The boundless greed and hypocrisy of the politically well connected ultimately torments the majority. Inequality is not just bad for social justice, but also for economic efficiency.

Crime is escalating at an alarming rate.

The most important reason why violence is increasing is that it is often triggered by people feeling disrespected and scorned.

This exacerbates insecurity and social unrest, which then diverts public and private resources from social services and productive investments to safety and security.

Our nation is at a political crossroad. We either flourish together or perish as a democratic nation.

Rape of under age girls on the increase

June 19th, 2011

"Parents neglecting their children is a societal problems that becomes the police’s problem." Lt Gen Amon Mashigo (provincial police commissioner) addressed the media on Thursday at the provincial joint operations centre, expressing his concern over the high number of under age girls falling victim to rapists.
 
During  May alone,  eight rapists from Limpopo - whose victims were mostly under age girls - were sentenced to life terms in prison.

Provincial police commissioner Lt Gen Amon Mashigo, during a press briefing on Thursday at the police’s provincial joint operations centre,  said this was a great concern.

Parents must raise the bar and look after their children, he said.

"Parents neglecting their children is a societal problem which becomes the police’s problem," he added. Between May and June this year, 96 sentences were handed down for crimes including rape, attempted rape, robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping, abduction, common assault, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, child neglect, contravention of  protection orders and theft. 

According to Mashigo, 57 of these convictions were for rape, of which 34 involved children aged 18 years and younger.

Child Protection Week was held in May, Youth Day will be held this month, and Women’s Day in August. Mashigo addressed the media against this background, saying police in Limpopo are working hard to respond to the call made by the minister of police, Nathi Mthethwa to enhance the management and successful prosecution of crimes against women and children. 

He praised the work of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units from the different areas to ensure criminals are put behind bars. 

"I want to commend the persistence of the teams throughout the province in tracking down these rapists. 

 "The police will not rest until they are brought to justice.

"I hope the length of the sentences imposed in these cases sends a clear message to would-be-offenders." 

Convictions and sentences include: 

• Sydney Leshabane (18) from Maake has been sentenced to three life sentences for the rapes of two 10-year-old girls in 2008 and 2009 respectively, as well as a 12-year-old in 2009.
• Foster Nkwongwana (19) and Sewetja Kgatle (22) were  given life sentences for the rape of a 16-year-old girl in 2007.
• Matome Peter Morobela (33) of Tzaneen was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a 16-year-old girl.
• Morné Grobler (34) of Louis Trichardt was sentenced to three life sentences for the rape of his 11-year-old step daughter; he was convicted on June 3 this year.
• Jomo Molefe Serage (24) was sentenced to three life sentences plus 23 years in jail. 
The crimes he was sentenced for include three rapes, two for theft, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, malicious damage to property, pointing of a firearm and aggravated robbery.
• Petrus Mathebula (29) was sentenced to two life sentences for the rape of two women aged 28 and 29  in 2007. 
• Nkhumbuleni Tshiedzaedza (27) who preyed on women  from 2006 to 2009 - was sentenced to two life terms and 81 years in prison by the Sibasa regional court on six counts of rape and robbery.
• Berry Sithole (28) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the  rape of a 15-year-old girl in Giyani.
 

‘Hotel drama’, Malema madness and more

June 18 2011

The ANC Youth League 


The congress started on Thursday, with the Saturday Star newspaper reporting that rival factions of Malema and Maile supporters trashed the Don Suite Hotel in Kempton Park. 



The newspaper said rivals threw chairs, tables and sofas into the swimming pool of the hotel in the early hours of Thursday morning. 



Apparently, Maile supporters form Sedibeng, the only Gauteng region that nominated him, were angry because they had allegedly not been given rooms. 

State officials punished for applying rules

19 June, 2011 

Four government officials who refused to bend the rules to approve R1.6-billion police lease deals were threatened, victimised and suspended - and one was even fired.

Yet almost a dozen others that should be disciplined have yet to face the music.

The provisional report on the police's controversial R1.6-billion property leases by public protector Thuli Madonsela gives a detailed account of what went on behind the scenes and the fallout between those doing their jobs and their political masters.

The first casualty was former public works minister Geoff Doidge, who was axed by President Jacob Zuma on October 31, soon after launching an internal probe.

Geoff Doidge

Doidge had halted the R1.1-billion Durban lease pending the probe and suspended the R500-million Pretoria lease. The buildings involved are owned by businessman Roux Shabangu, who is close to Zuma.


Roux Shabangu
 
Days after Zuma appointed Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde as the new Minister of Public Works on November 1, she reinstated the Pretoria deal with Shabangu.


Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde 
 
This was despite two legal opinions, sought by her department, which concluded that the deal was illegal and should be cancelled.


Siviwe Dongwan
 
Hours after she allegedly put "pressure" on her director-general, Siviwe Dongwana, to reinstate the deal with Shabangu, she suspended him.
 
Dongwana told investigators that General Bheki Cele had summoned him to a meeting five days after he was appointed director-general.

Bheki Cele

Cele complained about a public works official from Durban, Irene Nel, who dealt with the police portfolio, saying that she was challenging his authority.

Dongwana said Cele was "extremely upset that a junior official had raised concerns about the accommodation requirements" of the SA Police Service.

"National commissioner regarded Ms Nel's inquiries as meddling in the affairs of the SAPS and further stated that she was running his department for him," he said.

Nel became another casualty after she raised the alarm over the SAPS irregularly negotiating with a landlord - before public works even knew of their space needs.

She questioned why the SAPS wanted to relocate the child protection and family violence units away from communities they served and also raised the flag on the tender process not being followed.

She was subsequently removed from the SAPS portfolio.

Dongwana said that after Doidge put the Durban lease on hold and started an internal investigation, he began receiving calls from Shabangu complaining the department had "an agenda against him".

Shabangu accused Dongwana and other officials of being "obstructive".

The report states: "As time progressed, Shabangu's demeanour became more aggressive to the extent that Mr Dongwana had to implement additional security measures at his office in order to avoid confrontation with Mr Shabangu."

Dongwana said after Mahlangu-Nkabinde replaced Doidge, "Shabangu's approach towards him became much more confident and demanding".

"Shabangu further referred to the new minister as his elder sister and showed him sms messages on his cellphone of communications between him and the new minister in connection with the new lease."

The SAPS head of property management in KwaZulu-Natal, Brigadier Thembinkosi Ngema, also expressed concern regarding the R1.1-billion lease to his provincial commissioner Monnye Ngobeni "about meeting the landlord of the building in the absence of the Department of Public Works".

For his pains he was "removed from (the) area of responsibility", the report said.

Nel told the Sunday Times she was "just doing (her) job" and declined to comment, as did Doidge, Dongwana and Ngema.

Meanwhile, Shabangu changed his tune on Friday, claiming Zuma was not his friend. This was after earlier telling the Sunday Times otherwise in two interviews and in a letter from his former lawyer, Natalie Visagie. The letter from Visagie reads: "The facts are: President Zuma is a friend of long standing of my client."

On Friday Shabangu said he had fired Visagie for "misrepresenting" his brief. She could not be reached for comment.


Cele was 'solely responsible'

19 June, 2011

Police chief General Bheki Cele has failed to convince public protector Thuli Madonsela that his hands are clean in the R1.1-billion Durban leasing scandal.

In her latest report, Madonsela rejects Cele's excuse that he relied on his procurement officials to handle the lease.

Cele had withdrawn all delegating of contracts over R500000 and " was therefore solely responsible to ensure that the procurement of the lease complied", her report says. ''The view of the National Commissioner that he was reliant upon the advice and decisions of senior (police officials) for his approval of the procurement ... cannot be accepted."

The Sunday Times previously exposed how Cele drove a similar irregular lease deal worth R500-million to move the police's top brass to a building owned by Roux Shabangu in Pretoria.
The report says: "According to the documentation provided, both the buildings were identified by the SAPS (national commissioner)."

It details how the police started negotiating with Shabangu "prior to the Department of Public Works becoming involved in the procurement process, as was required. The national commissioner further conceded that, as the accounting officer, he took full responsibility for the procurement of the lease, irrespective of the involvement of other officials."

Madonsela and her investigators grilled Cele on April 18 this year. The police chief claimed "there were sufficient funds" for the Durban lease but "could not explain where exactly the additional funds were to be diverted from".

Investigators found "there was no evidence that the SAPS planned or budgeted for either of the leases".

"At the time the procurement of the lease was initiated, both the SAPS lease and capital work budgets were significantly overextended," the report says.

Public works and police officials admitted there "was no legitimate urgency in procuring the lease", the report finds.

Cele denied he had ordered the removal from the police portfolio of Durban public works official Irene Nel, who was critical of the procurement processes.

Cele told Madonsela he did not regard it "suspicious" that Shabangu was tipped to get two lease deals worth R1.6-billion "in a very short period of time" without testing the market.



Mampara of the week: Jacob Zuma

19 June, 2011


Mampara of the week: Jacob Zuma
 
 
It is with a heavy quill and a sad heart that Hogarth commits this week's award to the commander-in-chief of the South African armed forces.

For it was he who made a terrible choice this week. 

As president (of the country), he was scheduled to address a youth day celebration at Orlando Stadium.

As president (of the ANC), he was scheduled to drop into the ANC Youth League conference to secure a public pledge of loyalty from that organisation's increasingly rotund rabble-rouser.

He chose the latter, and when he eventually arrived at Orlando Stadium - three-and-a-half hours late - the youth had left en masse.

Placing political ambition over the people makes you a Mampara, sir.


Let Khanyi handle cash!

19 June, 2011

A delegate stunned his comrades at the ANC Youth League conference on Friday night when he nominated self-confessed gold-digger and socialite Khanyi Mbau for the post of national treasurer.

 
Khanyi Mbau

It was during nominations for the league's top six posts when a Gauteng delegate stood up to say he wanted Mbau to contest for the position held by Pule Mabe. But delegates present said the entire house roared with laughter as the man made his nomination.

"Imagine that. We would walk into her office and find Gucci wall covers. I wouldn't want to see what Luthuli House would look like - it would be chaotic, parties every day," said one delegate. 

There were no seconders for the motion.


Public works DG ‘feared’ for his safety

2011-06-18

Siviwe Dongwana

Director general in the national department of public works, Siviwe Dongwana, feared for his safety and that of his family as he felt he was pressured into approving two police lease deals worth R1.6bn, the Sunday Times reported.

 
These claims appear in a report into the lease probe by public protector Thuli Madonsela, the newspaper said.

The report, which would be officially released in June, was allegedly highly critical of police Commissioner Bheki Cele, Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and businessman Roux Shabangu.

The report deals with leases in Pretoria and Durban and follows an earlier report which focused on the Pretoria lease.

"Due to the pressures put on me by the new minister [Mahlangu-Nkabinde] I signed the lease agreement," Dongwana allegedly told Madonsela.

"If it was not for the pressures put on me, I would never have done so. By this point I was extremely stressed, tired and scared and was concerned for my personal safety and that of my family."

The report was sent to President Jacob Zuma, Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Cele, Shabangu, police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, among others, this week, the Sunday Times reported.

Shabangu did not want to discuss the report, and after providing a detailed response, Cele retracted it.

"We are legally barred from responding to any of your questions as they relate to an ongoing investigation by the public protector," Cele was reported as saying.

Public protector Madonsela declined to comment, saying "[the report] was supposed to be confidential until the final report is released".
 
Right...so we have true mafia in office....!
Don't play ball and you and your family can get a bullet in the back of the head....

Corruption wheel keep on turning
Proud SA keep on burning
Rolling, Rolling
Rolling down Kak river!
Sung to the tune of "Tina Turner - Proud Mary" ;) 

Yeah it reminds me of a song by Queen; we want it all, we want it all, and we want it NOW! 

all sick man..all sick...they steal not millionsbut billions..in the name of whatß and woh pays in the end? I am ashamed to say I am SA 

I dont think the public protector stands a chance here - she is a "woman" and these boys in power are not going to take anything she writes seriously. Its not their "culture" to do so. Just watch and wait. 

so this is what all those innocent folks in the struggle died for, corruption, theft and a government full of murderers