No matter what decision the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) takes regarding the prosecution of Mr Jacob Zuma, one incontrovertible fact remains: Mr Zuma does have a criminal case to answer. Another incontrovertible fact is that the arms deal has become a poisoned chalice for the ANC and has forever tarnished its reputation and destroyed our innocence as a newly reborn nation.
Let us look at the known and proven facts first. It is a proven fact that the lawyers investigating the Shaik-Zuma relationship made a unequivocal recommendation that BOTH Shaik AND Zuma be charged with corruption. Yet, then National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, decided only to charge Shaik, a decision righly called “bizarre” by judge Nicholson in his judgment that brought down President Mbeki.
When Shaik appealed the judgment ordering him to forfeit R33 million of ill-gotten assets, the Constitutional Court confirmed the factual basis for charges against Mr Zuma:
Counsel for the applicant [Shaik] very properly conceded in argument that, given the criminal conviction of Shaik, it must be accepted for the purpose of these proceedings that Mr Shaik did pay bribes to Mr Zuma. The payments were made by Mr Shaik in order to influence Mr Zuma to promote Mr Shaik’s business interest and, in attending the meeting [with Thomson-CSF] in London in July 1998, Mr Zuma did, as a matter of fact, promote Mr Shaik’s interests.
In terms of the substantive criminal law (as opposed to issues surrounding a fair trial), the only question that could possible lead to an acquittal of Mr Zuma is if he could somehow show that he received this money and then assisted Shaik to secure contracts in the arms deal, but that he did so without the intention of being corrupt. He will therefore have to argue that he was so naive or so spectacularly stupid that he did not realise that there was a link between all this money he received and the favours he then did for the man he received the money from.
This will be a rather difficult feat to pull off. As Andrew Feinstein demonstrated in his book, and as he reminds us again today in an article in The Star and the Cape Times, Zuma at first supported the work of Feinstein and others on Scopa to uncover the corruption in the arms deal, advising Feinstein to ignore pressure from then President Thabo Mbeki’s office (Mr Essops Fables strikes again!) to halt the inquiry.
But after Zuma and Shaik met with representatives of Thompson-CSF in Durban and Mr Thetard sent the encrypted fax confirming the R500 000 a year bribe for Zuma, this support abruptly ended. As Feinstein points out:
No sooner was the fax received than Zuma cut off all communications with me and signed an absurd letter [written by Mbeki?!] to Gavin Woods (then chair of Scopa) vilifying the committee and defending the integrity of the international arms companies.
This could, of course, be a coincidence. And maybe global warming does not exist, HIV does not cause Aids, and Father Christmas will bring me a new Porsche this Christmas.
Three obvious questions arise. (1) Why did Mr Zuma first protect Feinstein and the ANC members of Scopa when this investigation could embarrass the ANC and could potentially implicate several leading figures of the ANC (including its then President) in the arms deal scandal? (2) Why did Ngcuka decide – against the advice of his investigators – not to charge Zuma despite the fact that there clearly was a case to answer? (3) Why did the NPA change its decision not to charge Zuma after the Shaik conviction and after Zuma refused to resign as Deputy President of the country?
On the first question: We now know that there was a political rivalry between Mr Zuma and Mr Mbeki, that Mbeki somehow got wind that Zuma had Presidential ambitions and that Mr Zuma was hence pressurised to make a statement that he had no intention of seeking the ANC Presidency. We also know of rumours – confirmed in the Mail & Guardian today – that Mr Mbeki was shielding some of the arms deal culprits and may himself have been involved in arms deal corruption, given the fact that Barbara Masakela has admitted she was present at meetings between Mbeki with French arms company Thint. (A meeting that Mr Mbeki mysteriously has no memory of.)
Is it therefore not plausible that Zuma, consumed by ambition, wanted to use Scopa to uncover arms deal corruption implicating his rival? It is not unreasonable to speculate that Zuma therefore might have protected Feinstein and the ANC members on Scopa in the hope that it would weaken or even destroy his rival. But after securing a bribe from the arms company – who understood this dynamic – he changed his tactics.
On the second question: We know Ngcuka met with some editors about the Zuma investigation and that this meeting he was alleged to have said that he was going to use a Solomonic solution against Zuma. He was therefore not going to prosecute Zuma – after all, Mr Zuma was a long standing comrade of Mbeki and, like Ngcuka, a disciplined cadre of the ANC, and comrades do not allow other comrades to go to jail. He therefore announced that there was a prima facie case against Zuma – as his investigators assured him there was – but declined to prosecute Zuma.
It surely is not unreasonable to speculate that this decision could have been politically motivated and that it was a neat but “compassionate” way of getting rid of a political rival. The announcement, so it might have been thought, would destroy Zuma’s political career, opening the path for Mbeki to stand for a third term as President of the ANC. Hence the bizarre decision of Ngcuka.
Which brings us to the third question: After Shaik was convicted, Mbeki through an intermediary, asked Mr Zuma to resign as Deputy President. If he had resigned it would have ended Zuma’s political career and would have cleared the way for Mr Mbeki to stand for a third term as President of the ANC. But Zuma – having presidential ambitions of his own and being a wily operator – refused to resign, forcing then President Mbeki to fire him.
It is entirely plausible to speculate that it was then that a decision was taken somewhere to prosecute Zuma to ensure that he will be politically neutralised. He might be a comrade, but he was being stubborn and his political ambitions and his survival instincts were standing in the way of an Mbeki third term. An announcement was then made in haste (before the NPA had the chance to formulate a case against Zuma) that he would be charged.
I sincerely hope that my speculation is all wrong. If I am correct it would mean that the ANC, through its cadre deployment policy, had thoroughly corrupted one of the pillars of our criminal justice system and that the NPA – a constitutionally created body whose independence has been guaranteed by the Constitution – was used to fight party political battles. We need the NPA to be impartial and independent and to be above party political battles and conspiracies. I sincerely hope that it has always acted accordingly, but I fear that it might not have done so.
But whether I am right or wrong, what is clear is that the arms deal has emerged as a pivotal moment in the history of the ANC. It’s President has a very serious case of corruption to answer for because of the arms deal. Rumours about it’s previous President’s involvement in the arms deal are flying all over the place and apparently now form part of the evidence provided to the NPA to try and stop the entirely legitimate prosecution of Mr Zuma.
We have lost our innocence, and all for a few big and expensive war toys we do not really need. And meanwhile, somewhere in the Free State today 30 people will die of Aids related illnesses because “there is no money” to put them on anti-retroviral drugs.
“An announcement was then made in haste (before the NPA had the chance to formulate a case against Zuma) that he would be recharged”
Why are you using the word ‘recharge’?
1.) If you are talking about Pikoli charging Zuma, that was the FIRST time Zuma was charged and then Msimang J threw that case out.
Or
2.)But if you are referring to Mpshe charging Zuma, then how can you say it was “before the NPA had the chance to formulate a case against Zuma”? That seems hardly the case. The NPA seem more than ready.
If you mean, the Pikoli decision, how can you then infer political interference when Pikoli, himself, has said that such did not exist when he made the decision to charge? Unless you do not believe a word Pikoli says, which would then undo all your arguments on the Selebi matter.
Pierre do not try to have you cake and eat it.
And, Pierre, we were never innocent, Mandela fooled the world into believing we were. The honest truth is that we are as rotten as rotten nations come, in many cases worse. We should be grateful that our dirt is surfacing so we can clean up and become a better nation.
Good Pierre. So most of what you are yap-yapping here I and the other “conspiracy theorists” have been saying all along. So, me thinks it is time for you to eat some humble-pie and apologize. Harms will be next in line so please don’t feel you feel alone.
khozi
“And, Pierre, we were never innocent, Mandela fooled the world into believing we were. The honest truth is that we are as rotten as rotten nations come, in many cases worse. We should be grateful that our dirt is surfacing so we can clean up and become a better nation.”
Excellent point. But you know that those reactionary hypocrites who keep on bashing the ANC because they are not perfect like to play on this “fallen angels we are more holy than thou” theme to justify their atrocities and the racist policies of the Apartheid regime.
khosi // Mar 20, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Many thanks for that honest interpretation. RSA was never innocent, could never be innocent. A system like apartheid does that to a society.
I find it extraordinary that we can so easily believe that the ANC’s, and other liberation movement’s relationship, with arms dealers, drug smugglers, etc (all of who helped sustain the then illegal movements), and the apartheid government’s relationship with petty despots, sanctions busters, gun smugglers, drug dealers, etc, would disappear simply because of the “Madiba dance”. How naïve are we to assume that those nefarious elements would not seek their piece of flesh simply because we had created a “rainbow nation”? That big business would not use the knowledge acquired from private investigative agencies (many who uncovered dark skeletons from impoverished former cadres) to force the hand of senior leaders within the ANC and government?
Zuma (a former intelligence operative) is not doing the country a favour by implicating Mbeki or any other person who was allegedly involved in corruption, it is his duty. If Mbeki, Pahad, etc, are found to have committed crimes, let them be arrested and let them answer to their wrongdoing, but this does not excuse Msholozi, he must also account (either as a state witness or a co-accused).
What of Mandela? Was he not the head of state at the time? Is he not ultimately accountable?
“the best motive does not cure an otherwise illegal arrest and the worst motive does not render an otherwise legal arrest illegal.” – Schreiner JA
Khosi, yes “recharge”, was a slip of the key board. Will fix it.
Ozoneblue, I have never discounted the possibility that political considerations could have been involved in the decision not to charge Zuma and then to charge him. I have always maintained that this is a separate issue from the one of weather he has a case to answer. I note you have not taken issue with the, what seems to me, incontrovertible fact, that Zuma has a very serious case to answer. I assume that means you agree with that then. Question then is: do we really want a President who has a very serious and credible case of corruption to answer for?
ozoneblue // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:34 pm
oh my god grow up troll! go see a shrienk, psycho!! fuck me you have such issues hey??
khosi
the only thing that this is proving is the complete arrogence of your beloved anc using political interference of an Independent organisation by both Mbeki and Zuma………….
Zuma apparently has a “tape” that will embarrass Ngcuka and the scorpians and proof of political interference that is Ngcuka not Pikoli, remember Pikoli got suspended by the Mbeki camp and fired by the Zuma camp…..Pikoli is clean no political interference in his decision remember he got fired for going against the ANC thats the bottom line. See your doing exactly what the FAKE anc committee did with firing pikoli blaming him on things that really is Ngcuka doings, lets just be fair here
There are calls for zuma to put a Zuma friendly cadre for the NPA post. On top of that the ANC is putting alot of pressure on the NPA and one of them will be jobs under a Zuma administration.
Then you got the release of Shaiks another political interference, there goes your key witness. but the onus is on him to die within a year.
Then you got his brother going directly to the media saying “tomorrow you will see headlines saying the NPA are going to drop chargers”
but then again Ozoneblue who really is the reactionary hypocrites??
ozoneblue u go boy you racist xenophobic dumb ass nimph
@Vuyo,
You see, my initial assessment, given that these allegations on Mbeki are not new, is that they are a bluff. What I now expect, is that Mbeki will indeed call the bluff and release a statement professing his innocence and his willingness to defend it in an open court. In his resignation speech, Mbeki denied this alleged political meddling. And the best his detractors have achieved is to sell these allegations as conspiracy.
If the NPA drops the case based on these reports, then that would amount to Mbeki’s name being defamed, as, on top of allegations being made, it would mean the NPA believes them. The only remedy for him, would then have to sue both the NPA and Zuma, on these innuendos. Then the so called ‘embarrassing revelations’ would have a chance at becoming public knowledge. And that is where the name Mandela will come out. Interesting, Terror Lekota, was on SAFM a few days back and he pleaded for people who have information, of any wrong doing by him or Mbeki, to hand those over to authorities so he can clear his name for the sake of his children and family. What struck me was that he sounded passionate and sincere.
We know that the ANC is not protecting Mbeki by trying to hide these ‘embarrassing revelations’, as there is a health hate for the man(Mbeki) it there(ANC). I would bet a good amount of my money, that somewhere, in there, in whatever is being hidden, the name Mandela features prominently.
Dude got away with AIDS, he is now being protected from this mess.
ozoneblue // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:34 pm
WTF
Why are you so stuck in the apartheid era? Is it because you don’t have another excuse for your shortcomings as a racially insecure being?
Wait, that actually makes sense. That is why you comment in such BIG words; to try and give credit to the lack of substance in your unfounded attacks on people that is basically just trying to help you to grasp the kakness of the ANC. Wake up man… and for once just try to provide credible arguments that is not based on blindfolded loyalty towards this morally corrupt organization.
Zuma is stupid. People who support Zuma are stupid. Thats the bottom line(in laymens terms).
Yes – and BTW I also don’t fall for NPA’s Bret Kebble “assisted suicide” bs they are trying to sell us. And guess who was this Madaka dude – ended up quite dead just like Kebble in rather dodgy circumstances.
“Corruption-busting ex-spy Mhleli “Paul” Madaka was the source of the sensational claim that President Thabo Mbeki accepted R30-million from a German arms bidder, the Mail & Guardian can reveal.
Madaka died in a car accident, after speaking out, in circumstances queried by some of his friends and associates. In a grotesque twist his vehicle crashed into premises of the same German group he had accused of bribery.
Madaka claimed his information came from a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) probe into the multibillion-rand arms deal, associates say. This claim is backed up by an “information note” obtained by the M&G and dating from the time Madaka spoke out.
A former Umkhonto weSizwe soldier, Madaka had impeccable credentials as a government graft-buster: he was a senior member of the NIA’s anti-corruption unit before heading the investigations unit of the Public Service Commission, the constitutionally mandated custodian of good governance in the civil service.
Madaka’s death and the absence of outside corroboration means his story remains untested. Both Mbeki and Germany’s MAN Ferrostaal have denied the bribery allegation and separately indicated they are considering legal action after the Sunday Times published the claim last weekend. The paper provided no clear evidence to back its claim.
MAN Ferrostaal led the German Submarine Consortium, which successfully tendered in the late 1990s to supply the navy with three submarines at a cost of more than R6‑billion.”
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-08-the-spy-who-fingered-mbeki
Put that together with the Billy Masetlha saga, the Browse-Mole report
and the bigger uglier picture starts getting clearer.
Great citizens, lets not pre-empt the decision of the NPA. It( NPA ) has since said is still considering the representations by Jz and will then reach a decision. Our mighty professor come here and be personal about this matter by saying is a ” FACT” that he has a case to answer. Lets give the NPA an opportunity to decide on the matter only thereafter can we comment.
The fact of the matter is he has made representations and if it is found that he has no case to answer we may need to heed that call. Prof, what your article suggest is , his right to make representation together with the duty of the NPA to consider such, is just an exercise in futility and i think thats where you are wrong. If am the one who is wrong, then why is it a fact now that he has a case to answer despite the pending decision by the NPA?
Great bloggers, it is inevitable that we have political influence in every transitional goverment.
khosi // Mar 20, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I agree with you here and glad you are intuned with whats happening, i for one can see a major battle still being fought out between Mbeki and Zuma and its about to hit its climax.
I just hope the NPA calls Zuma’s bluff and not be bullied. so much for the legal solution
Ozoneblue
“Put that together with the Billy Masetlha saga, the Browse-Mole report
and the bigger uglier picture starts getting clearer”
and what picture would that be? the Markets and foriegn investors?
or
the ANC is rotten to the core but yet you will still vote for them?
seriously go home and play with urself and let the grown ups talk
I just don’t see how these ‘revelations’ should help Zuma, and why the NPA would even consider them as plausible reasons for dropping charges.
If anything, these would open up a can of worms which will further put Zuma in deeper trouble.
Zuma and his people should realize that it is Zuma who is the BIG fish and not Mbeki. Mbeki has lost all he could and will welcome an opportunity to drag Zuma down with him.
Zuma should go to court or step down before dragging the ANC down with him.
Let’s see if the NPA will act without fear or favour – this is one big test.
Mel,
Whatever the NPA decides won’t change the fact that Zuma has a case to answer. The courts have already established these facts – so get that in your brain.
If the NPA decides to drop the charges they will have to explain why they are doing so in spite of the FACT that Zuma does have a case to answer.
We don’t have to wait for the NPA to decide one way or the other to know what is FACT!
I see one thing that could save Zuma and shut us up once and and for all – Zuma gets his day in court and his prosecution is botched.
That’s an option for NPA …
Dumisani, under Pikoli it seems as if the NPA did act without fear of favour, which scared the shit out of the ANC because they’d never actually encountered a civil service organisation that was actually effective before. This has led to the disbandment of the Scorpions, a 43% vacancy rate as some of our top criminal detectives and investigators move to Australia, where the government actually wants them, and many high priority cases languishing in the doldrums. Let us hope that whoever is appointed (presuming Pikoli doesn’t get his job back) is of the same calibre, although I don’t know if I hold such high hopes.
The question of Zuma and the political conspiracy seems to be staple fodder for the ANC to try and confuse the issue. The train of thought that there is a conspiracy against Zuma, and therefore he should be let off, could be misconstrued to be plausible at first glance.
However, as PdV points out, whether or not there is a conspiracy, dark forces, or anything else, the facts of the matter indicate that there is a case for Zuma to answer. If there were machinations to bring Zuma down, then those people should be found out and dealt with, but that surely cannot absolve Zuma from answering the very valid questions about his role in the Arms Deal.
The ANC’s conspiracy argument is the same as saying that, if I saw a man I dislike intensely kill another random stranger, and then reported him more because I disliked him than I thought he did something wrong, he should be let off, because he was a victim of my dislike for him, and it wasn’t an honest motive for turning him in.
This is obviously ridiculous – it doesn’t matter how the facts come to light – if there is evidence of a crime, the accused must answer that evidence. Again, should JZ be let off the hook, it will be a clear indication to all connected / well placed ANC members that if they are ever in trouble with the law, all it takes is some taxpayer cash and a cry of “political conspiracy!” to get you off.
Feel free to believe that there is a conspiracy if you must. But when judging whether JZ should go to court or not, one must look at only the facts surrounding the matter, and not how those facts came to light (presuming there was no illegal activity in gathering the evidence). On the facts available to the public, it seems to me to be quite simple – Zuma is in hot water.
Here’s a conspiracy theory. Mandela dies “quickly”, Big Fish= Mandela. Zuma excused. Mbeki let off. Zuma is president. All is forgotten. Dark forces mop up any loose ends.
I think that Mandela was involved in the arms deal – that is why he is sitting quietly by and watching things go to pot. That is why we have people scurrying around trying to shut Zuma up.
The Big Slipper @ 5:59 pm
“Let us hope that whoever is appointed (presuming Pikoli doesn’t get his job back) is of the same calibre, although I don’t know if I hold such high hopes”
That is not a unique sentiment thought cause ever since 1994 most off the white people didn’t hold any “such high hope”. Did you ever contemplate that perhaps it would be better for you to fuck off to Australia together with your beloved Scorpions ?
Ozoneblue // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Ozone! I am shocked!
shakira @ 4:04 am
Lets face it shakira. This typical Afro pessimism and negativity is nothing new, It has been around since 1994 amongst the same suspects of our divided nation and yet we moved forward against all expectations and these persistent prophesies of impending doom has never materialized. I’m sick and tired of it and if that shocks you then let it be so.
Ozoneblue, Afro-pessimism is surely when one expects things to go badly without having reason to do so. But reflective criticism is when the people one expects to do bad things have done so repeatedly. Given the attacks on the judiciary, the outrageous firing of Pikoli, mutterings about a political solution for Zuma’s case and the rumours about candidates for Pikoli’s job, surely it is not unreasonable to worry that the President will appoint a party hack as NDPP and that this person will not prosecute without fear, favour or prejudice.
PdV
“Given the attacks on the judiciary, the outrageous firing of Pikoli, mutterings about a political solution for Zuma’s case and the rumours about candidates”
Pierre – I have elaborated plenty of times on valid reasons for Pikoli getting the boot. You talk about the rule of law. Do you think it is OK for what many people believe was the brutal, cold blooded and politically motivated assassination of Brett Kebble to go unpunished because a Mafia boss whose very livelihood depends on criminality, lies and deceit claims it was an “assisted suicide” ? Was it OK for Pikoli to give him “amnesty” based on his “confession” ?
You may not like Kebble because he was helping the much hated ANCYL : but would you have been happy with that outcome if the victim of such a callous and cold-blooded murder was a “counter-revolutionary” friend or perhaps family ?
Ozoneblue,
Of course afro-pessimism has been in existence for a long time now, but let’s face it, any cock-up by our people reinforces such stereotypes especially when such cock-up are so frequent as to suggest they are the order of the day. For me the enemies of my people are the very Black people who fuck-up, rather than those who point out those fuck-ups.
Unless you can refute with facts what the likes of the Big Slipper write, they will remain credible. Hiding behind afro-pessimism will not solve our problems, but will only make them worse.
Remember that the discourse in this thread is about an established ‘cock-up’ by Zuma (among others). He did take bribes from Shaik; and the people have the right to speculate about the NPA motives should charges against Zuma be dropped. The timing and the reasons for the Pikoli firing are also suspicious.
Should these things be pointed out by Black people only?
I sent an email to Jacob Zuma asking him to help me with my predicament. My home was forfeited to the state in 2003 and in 2006 the Constitutional Court did not respect my civil rights and in 2007 my children were thrown into the street even though I had been found “Not Guilty” of wrong doing in 2005. My side of this story is on http://www.simonprophet.com.
Jacob Zuma, to date, has never replied to my email but I did indicate to him that the Prevention of Organized Crime Act has the power to relieve him of everything he owns. On a balance of probabilities Jacob Zuma is going to join the ranks of the unemployed and the homeless.
Prior to the eviction from my home I had planned to let the kids sleep in the one car and I would sleep in the other but when I was finally forced out of my home in handcuffs the Asset and Forfeiture Unit was there to grab both of my cars which were auctioned off to further enrich Willie Hofmeyr. The unity of my family has been shattered and today we survive where we can on the street.
Willie Hofmeyr has, thus far, got away with his persecution of myself and my family so why is he dragging his feet with Jacob Zuma? Why doesn’t Willie Hofmeyr use his insidious law in the direction to where it was intended?
ozoneblue – I have mentioned this before on this blog, but I think you need this adice from one Steven Biko.
In his essay Black Consciousness and the Quest for a True Humanity he said:
“Blacks have had enough experience as objects of racism not to wish to turn the tables.
“While it may be relevant now to talk about black in relation to white, we must not make this our preoccupation, for it can be a negative exercise. As we proceed further towards the achievement of our goals let us talk more about ourselves and our struggle and less about whites.”
That is even truer now than when Biko said this.
Stop being so defensive and sort out your (blacks peoples) problems. You’ll help yourself in the process.
Anybody on here know who the correspondent is who wrote this article on Zuma and Thami Zulu?
http://www.businessday.co.za/weekender/article.aspx?ID=BD4A963830
Wessel, it is Jacob Dlamini.
I am not an Afro-pessimist. I am genuinly concerned about what is happening in my country – all just to please Zuma.
Take for instance the case of Shaik. All indications are there that the Minister of Correctional Services lied when he said that the medical reports concluded that Shaik is in the final stages of a terminal illness. What is worst is that it seemed that the medical reports recommended parole not for the reasons required in the Act but because the Department of Correctional Services refused to take Shaik, a convicted and sentenced prisoner, back to prison after he was released from hospital.
That right there is the undermining of the rule of law. There was an order by the judiciary that should have been executed (the prison sentence), but the Department that should have executed this order refused to do so. By releasing Shaik for reasons other than provided for in the Act, they also acted contrary to the provisions of an Act of Parliament.
What concerns me even more is the fact that if someone dares to point out the failures of the government of the day, they are urged to leave the country or they are called Afro-pessimists or they are accused of being supporters of the Apartheid regime or something similar. Isn’t this more or less what Zanu-PF are saying about their critics?
[...] Zuma did as a matter of fact promote Mr Shaik’s interests”. This point is underlined in an excellent and comprehensive post on Constitutionally Speaking which really gets into the nitty gritty of this [...]
shakira // Mar 22, 2009 at 10:53 am
lol its sad but i have to agree…or in my case a xenophobic attacks.
but heres the crux of the whole matter if the representations by Zuma is correct and holds water based on the evidence of a so called tape it would prove the ANC under Mbeki manipulated the NPA. The reason why Im also pointing at the ANC is they act as a collective lets remember that and Mbeki can not simply be made the escape goat. Now if Zuma makes representation this will also prove his guilt as he also he said he has goods on people and that he is not the big fish but small fry this alone suggest that he is saying that he was not innocent. but also having evidence on the Arms deal is obstructing justice and is just as guilty in the involvment of the arms deal
What is interesting is the ANC spin doctors saying this is not in the south africa’s best interest as everyone as a collective is guilty and now must walk because everyone is tainted from the Mbeki to Zuma to the NPA.
If you dont agree well then you get shouted at by supporters your an Afro-pessimist and are urged to leave and you support the apartheid system. simply backs against the wall tactics esp now its election time and the ANC doing very heavy damage control and enforcing political pressure on the NPA
The question is will the country really implode if Zuma and the “collectives” of the ANC, Mbeki and other cabinet ministers find themselfs in the dock?
I highly doubt it, the very reason is this, south african democracy is alot stronger than that and the constitution is alot stronger than the ANC, Zuma,Mbeki and the NPA…..so really what the ANC is saying as a collective after 15yrs of democracy is they have no faith in the work they have already done to strengthen democracy and the constitution is weak. That is the message the ANC is sending by blackmailing South African democracy. That Ozoneblue is how you and your beloved ANC has lost its moral compass. but being an Afrocentric and stubborn i dont expect this to sink in as this will throw your whole world apart
2000-2009 Western Cape
51,961 Shacks have been demolished through fire and flood.
216,583 Citizens have been displaced for elemental and Xenophobic reasons.
The figure is more than there were shacks in the western cape 1999…
ie More people have been displaced in the past 9 years through fire and flood than there were people living in shacks 9 years ago.
We really need those WMDs…. it will help us provide things in our constitution like 24b3 and 26…
Sorry Irene die Boom is nie groot genoeg nie!
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-03-21-ancs-dodgy-funders
This article is pertinent in the light of the denials about the “Browse” report.
Yes, Vuyo, I noticed that too. Rumour has it that ex-General Nyanda is the conduit through which Libyan money flows to Zuma (in the article it is pretended that the money is going to the ANC, but I suspect this is a blind).
The fact seems to be that the NPA needs a figleaf. It seems to have been told by the ruling class that Zuma must not be charged or he will spill the beans (and not on Mbeki, but on the rich and powerful). But it can’t do that without an excuse. The secret documentation (which turns out to be the same stale hash as before) provides an excuse.
Or, putting it bluntly, we are doomed not only because of the corruption of the ANC, but also because of the corruption of our national political and economic establishment, which promotes the corruption of the ruling party.
We should not necessarily be too pessimistic. In my view, the truth is being exposed, bit by bit. If this process continues, there could well be a sea-change in attitudes).
Apart from the possibility of going to prison (which would take a very long time, with appeals and the like), there is another reason why the ANC would be reluctant to have a trial. This is exactly that the truth would come out (again) – there would be this steady stream of facts about payments made, and favours granted that would be hard to gainsay. Imagine how this could affect the next Municipal elections…
If we assume (for discussion’s sake) that the NPA has indeed been pressurised into agreeing to drop the charges, then all of the attention that the issue has enjoyed might well make it rather difficult for them to go through with it. It is all very well to have threats and / or promises, but if there is the certainty that the truth will be revealed, then those at the top may ultimately baulk, and prefer to let the law take its course.
Once there is hard information about any (potential) threats or inducements to drop the charges, then the smelly stuff will really hit the rotating wind-device. Anyone out there in the press with a handle on cell-phone records…
Also, the Shaik parole could be very instructive. I don’t want to jump the gun too much, but it is beginning to look like that was a VERY amateurish job, carried out VERY brazenly. Who is to say that the Zuma submission to the NPA, and any decision flowing from that is not equally ham-handed and brazen?
There is no doubt that Jacob Zuma has a case to answer too.
Jacob Zuma suggests that he is innocent because there are others who have done worse or the same as him and therefore should not be charged, since they are not charged. I have no doubt in my mind that there are people who have taken tens of millions while he only made a mere four million. Now, this does not make him any less culpable only less shrewd.
He has made several applications to Mauritius not to have evidence needed to prove his guilt handed to the NPA. He does not say that the evidence is fabricated, but merely that it is political case against him. This suggests that the evidence is real. What also seems to be forgotten is that the NPA and Zuma were busy in a court battle to obtain the evidence; therefore, the NPA was not ready for trial. It was no fault of theirs.
I suppose whats happening in SA is really the story of Africa since independence from the colonial powers. The ruling party and in particular its old guard behave as they did in the liberation movement. The back stabbing and secret funding goes on. Problem is these clowns forgot that we have a constitution and a free press. Now the more they wriggle and cook the books as it were, the worse it gets. Greedy fools attacking eachother like starving dogs in an alleyway. we really need a new breed at the top of the ANC, not dinosaurs liek Mbeki and Zuma, or anyone grromed by them like JZ’s mini me, Malema. Is there anyone out there?
A War of Guilty Men (by Paul Trewhela)
The war of brothers between these guilty men, which has already compromised judicial process in South Africa in the most serious way, now threatens to turn South Africa into a zone of ethnic, class and sheer anarchic mayhem that could make Kenya look like a kiddies’ playpen. The greatest responsibility for saving South Africa from this fate now lies with ANC leaders with sober heads who were not compromised by the arms deal. Their first responsibility is to find out the truth, as best they can. Their second is to tell it. They must place this entire revolting and shameful mess into the hands of the courts, where it belongs, and they must defend the integrity of the legal system against all comers without discrimination. Only the courts can place the full truth of the arms deal out of the realm of myth and counter-myth, accusation and counter accusation. A political solution can only follow a legal solution. There is no other way in which the ANC can clean its hands, or South Africa be saved from bloodshed. Things fall apart….
My first bite at the bogg and website! Without sounding patronising, there are some thought provoking bloggers.
I contend that the arms adeal and the JZ’s case are sideshows as the National Democratic Revolution(NDR) falters.
From a political strat on the side of the Alliance(ANC/Cosatu/SACP), it is clear what the agenda should be and who dictates the terms. Eastern Cape had a phenomenal growth in ANC membership after the ANC NGC in July 2005 to Polokwane. Or should I say from Tshwane to Polokwane. There were 70 653 as at NGC and 153 164 as at Polokwane and only 73% of the branches in ‘potential good standing’ implying there were also ghost branches.
Going to Polokwane 1 in 4 ANC members were from the EC.
“Of all the areas in the country, the largest swing towards the ANC occurred in the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality, where the ANC scored 36% in 1999 and 59% in 2004. Moreover, these gains were consolidated during the 2006 where the Eastern Cape rec orded the highest turnout of registered voters (56%) and the strongest growth in ANC votes (compared with 2000) of any province.” ANC Organisational Report, Polokwane ’07
The point being that a decision was reached after the NGC to swell the ranks of the ANC with workers and penned in the July 2007 SACP Congress resolutions, that there must be the ‘hegemony of the working class’.
The SACP has a paper ‘The SACP and State Power’ wherein it clearly spells out that it will intervene in all centers of power. From State Owned Enties to Municipalities the SACP must assume a leading role. It is also categorically stated in the party statutes that your loyalty is to the Party first, period.
The Party thinks it can march to Socialism and yet the social and political situation is no ripe. This is where I think they missed the boat completely. They should have taken heed of what Cde Joe Slavo terms ‘careerists’ in his seminal pamphlet “The South African Working Class and the National Democratic Revolution” 1988.
“A failure to understand the class content of the national struggle and the national content of the class struggle in existing conditions can hold back the advance of both the democratic and socialist transformations which we seek.” JS
“The SACP’s 12th Congress ’07, quite deliberately sought to influence and impact upon the critical ANC 52nd National Conference – not in a narrow electoral contest manner, but, above all, in seeking to re-open democratic space within the ANC and our alliance, and in seeking to impact positively on policy resolutions. Indeed, in the Central Committee’s analysis these objectives were broadly achieved. The 1996 class project’s political and ideological supremacy within the ANC has been (at least provisionally) broken. Many important positive resolutions were adopted at Polokwane, and there is generally a much improved policy-making engagement within the Alliance, including at the May 2008 Alliance Summit, alliance ETC processes, and the important Health and Education campaign.” SACP and State Power.
Here is a sample of the resolutions;
1 NOTING That the question of state power is the central question of any revolution
2.That state power is located in diverse sites, including the executive, the legislatures, the judiciary, security forces, the broad public sector, state owned enterprises, and other public institutions
3.That the strategic Medium Term Vision (MTV) of the SACP is to secure working class hegemony in the State in its diversity and in all other sites of power
4.That electoral politics are an important but not an exclusive terrain for the contesting of state power
5.Working class power in the state is related to working class power in all other sites, including the imperative of developing organs of popular power, active forms of participatory democracy and social mobilisation
6.That structures of the SACP and our cadres have confronted many problems with the way in which the Alliance has often functioned, particularly with regard to policy making, the lack of joint programmes on the ground, deployments and electoral list processes.”
Last pasting from JS
“Even where the socialist transformation is directly on the agenda, the role of the private sector cannot be dismissed. Leaving aside the lunatic excesses of Pol Pot’s Kampuchea, many hard lessons in this area have been learnt by some of the established socialist states and, more recently, by African parties dedicated to a socialist advance. The transition period to socialism may well demand a maintenance of selective parts of the private sector. A mechanical and generalised elimination of this sector for the sake of satisfying sloganised orthodoxy, has often served to undermine the faith of the working people in the capacity of socialism to ‘deliver the goods’.
Instructive!
The question of the Secret tapes and how this will stop the chargers of Zuma
Zuma’s legal team has telephone taps conversations between former president Thabo Mbeki and former Scorpions head Leonard
what is wrong with this picture?
how does a private citizen gain access to state intelligence information and secret tapings?
surely this is a breach of National security? How legal is this?
How legal is it for the Intelligence agency to be phone tapping a president by law this can only be judicially authorised and founded on a legitimate crime-fighting motive.
How dangerous is it for a “private citizen” to gain access to this?
what are the legal implications of this?
@pierre
with the tapings that Zuma has, can he not be charged with extortion?
1) I would like to hear your run down on this what the NPA is legally obligied to do.
a) dropping the case on what legal grounds?
b) if conspiracy should the NPA charge the conspiracist?
c) Inlight of Zuma having evidence of tapes and phone tappings can the NPA charge Zuma with Extortion?
d) Infact is this not a breach of security bordering on treason between Mbeki and Zuma?
2) what can Zuma be charged with now, as a private citizen who seems to have presidential tapes and in possession of nation security information? How is this possable?
a) How dangerous is it for a private citizen to have access to such information?
b) How long has Zuma had this new evidence of tapes and phone tappings
3) What is south africa’s law on phone tappings and presidential security?
a) when can a presidential room or office be phone tapped?
b) what is the procedure if this is leaked into the public domain?
[...] The NPA cannot credibly drop the charges as evidence of Zuma receiving payments from his former financial adviser Schabir Shaik, who has been convicted for corruption, had been upheld by the Constitutional Court. That evidence cannot go away therefore the right thing for the NPA to do is continue with the Zuma prosecution but also to investigate and prosecute those in the NPA if there has been a conspiracy. See a blog that explains this by Pierre de Vos, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of… [...]
[...] “Fact: Zuma has a case to answer” (Constitutionally Speaking) [...]