Last week members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also known as the Hawks) swooped on the offices of the Sunday Times and arrested Mzilikazi wa Africa. Reports suggest that he was arrested for fraud, uttering and defeating the ends of justice for being in possession of a letter purporting to be a resignation letter from the Premier of Mpumalanga. This was already rather odd and disturbing, as being in possession of a fraudulent letter does not constitute a criminal offense.
But throughout the affair something else has been bothering me. Why would the Hawks investigate a matter of fraud and defeating the ends of justice against anyone? Remember, the Hawks was created after the tenderpreneurs like Brett Kebble, the fraudsters like Jackie Selebi, and the politicians like Jacob Zuma and Ngoako Ramatlhodi (who were both targeted by the Scorpions for allegedly being involved in corruption) got their way to abolish that unit.
According to the South African Police Services Act, the Hawks is empowered to investigate “priority crimes”. The Act defines “priority crimes” as “organised crime, crime that requires national prevention or investigation, or crime which requires specialized skills in the prevention and investigation thereof”. It is far from clear that being in possession of a forged letter (which, as I have noted above, is not a criminal offense in our law) would constitute a priority crime as defined by section 17A of the Act.
If a crime was committed at all, it is clearly not an organised crime to possess a forged letter of resignation or even to be involved in the forging of that letter. This is also not an alleged crime that requires national prevention as it is not part of a larger network of crimes that are so embedded in our society and so endemic that ordinary members of the police cannot deal with it because of the sheer scope of the criminality across the country.
It is also rather difficult to see how one would be able to argue that the alleged crime requires specialised skills to investigate. One surely does not need specialised skills as a police unit to read a fraudulent letter and distil its meaning, to trace the origins of the letter by asking Telkom where the fax machine from which the letter was faxed was situated, to impound the relevant computer equipment, and to get experts to analyse the computer equipment to see if the letter was written on a specific computer.
Unless the ability of ordinary police officers to investigate crime is so catastrophically absent as to make them utterly useless, one would be hard pressed to claim that this was a crime requiring specialised skills to investigate. This case therefore does not seem like a “priority crime” at all.
Does this mean the Hawks illegally got involved in the investigation of this alleged crime and the arrest of Wa Africa? Maybe it did, but then maybe it did not.
Section 17D(1)(a) of the South African Police Services Act states that the Hawks can usually only investigate priority crimes. However, section 17D(1)(b) of the same Act states that the Hawks can also investigate “any other offence or category of offences referred to it from time to time by the National Commissioner”.
Ahhh, I hear you say, so the National Commissioner could have asked the Hawks to investigate this pressing matter of a journalist being in possession of a fraudulent letter. Good on our Police Commissioner for being so on top of his job and being so diligent and eager to address the terrible problem of fraudulent resignation letters that is eating away – like a cancer, I tell you – at the very heart of our democracy!
There is only a small little problem with this kind of analysis. The problem is that the National Commissioner is Bheki Cele, the same Bheki Cele whom Wa Africa had reported on in the previous week’s issue of the Sunday Times for signing some document which might or might not have been a lease for the renting of a building – without the tender for that lease being issued as required by the law. Wa Africa had therefore co-authored a newspaper story which implicated Cele in alleged corrupt activities and a week later the Hawks arrested him. This is a rather surprising coincidence, to say the least.
Does this mean that after the Sunday Times published the story suggesting that Cele was involved in corrupt activity, Bheki Cele (with disturbing images of his predecessor, Jackie Selebi, being sent to prison for 15 years for corruption fresh in his mind) pro-actively decided to teach this journalist a lesson and ordered the Hawks to investigate and arrest Wa Africa for being in possession of a fraudulent letter (which, I repeat, is not normally a criminal offence)?
So, at least two distinct but perhaps interrelated questions arise. First, does it mean that there is more to the Sunday Times story than we know and that the Police Commissioner is a thoroughly corrupt man (following in the proud footsteps of his predecessor) and that he may have received some money or other benefits for signing off on the lease of a new Police Headquarters building? Second, did the Police Commissioner abuse the power bestowed on him by the Act by ordering the Hawks to arrest the journalist who had gotten too close to the truth on his corrupt activities?
Of course, these are questions – not assertions. Although this whole story smells very messy, we do not have enough information to know what really happened here.
Yet, a third question does, of course, also arise. If the Police Commissioner was indeed corrupt (hey, it has happened before, but I am not claiming at this stage that I believe he is) and if he is the one who can order the Hawks to investigate (and one presumes also not to investigate) certain crimes, does this mean that we will never really know about the Police Commissioner’s alleged illegal activities? Who will investigate any credible evidence of corruption against the Police Commissioner now that the Scorpions have been abolished? (The Sunday Times story is not very clear, so it is not possible to say from the available evidence whether credible evidence of corruption by the Commissioner actually exists.)
Testimony at the Glen Agliotti trial suggests that Brett Kebble and other crooks were paying the then Police Commissioner and now convicted fraudster, Jackie Selebi, (and who knows who else in the ANC?) to make sure that the Scorpions would be killed off. They did this because they feared the Scorpions. They feared the Scorpions because it sometimes actually did its work properly and was at arms length from the police, whose commissioner was a crook, could therefore be bought, and could therefore make investigations go away.
Can any reasonable person still argue that abolishing the Scorpions was not done – at least, in part – for an ulterior purpose? I would like to hear from that lone voices (the usual suspects who never fail to take a gallant stab at defending the indefensible) who will be prepared to argue that ulterior motives had nothing to do with the demise of the Scorpions. If anyone can convince me of that, he or she could probably convince any parent to send their ten year old son on a one month camping trip in the wild with a group of Catholic Priests.
Hey Pierre,
I got this email recently.
It is clearly a fraud/fake.
Will the HAWKS arrest me for having it?
MY DEAR FRIEND,
GREETINGS TO YOU MY NAME IS PAUL GILBERT ANDERSON (PVT) AN AMERICAN SOLDIER SERVING IN THE MILITARY WITH THE USA ARMY 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION OPERATING IN IRAQ. WITH A VERY URGENT NEED OF ASSISTANCE I HAVE SUMMED UP COURAGE TO CONTACT YOU. I FOUND YOUR CONTACT PARTICULARS IN AN ELECTRONIC ADDRESS JOURNAL. I AM SEEKING YOUR KIND ASSISTANCE TO ASSIST ME TO CLAIM THE SUM OF ($28 MILLION USD) TWENTY EIGHT MILLION UNITED STATED DOLLARS THAT I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AND SAFELY MOVED OUT OF IRAQ TO A SAFE COUNTRY. BEFORE I WILL GIVE YOU DETAILS OF WHERE THE FUND IS, YOU MUST ASSURE ME THAT MY SHARE WILL BE SAFE IN YOUR CARE. AS YOU CAN SEE WE ARE ALREADY PREPARING TO LEAVE IRAQ. I WISH THERE IS RISK INVOLVED I WILL NOT DO IT SO I WANT TO ASSURE YOU THAT THERE IS NO RISK INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT BECAUSE THE FUND HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED TO THE SAFE DESTINATION WITHOUT TRACE OF THE ORIGIN. LET ME HAVE YOUR FULL NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER.
SINCERELY.
CAPT. PAUL GILBERT ANDERSON.
Hi Prof
Is it not possible to overturn the Scorpions decisions now that we have heard evidence in court about Kebble and company’s involvement in getting them dismantled? As far as I am concerned it is very clear they were dismantled for the wrong and corrupt reasons.
In addition to that, surely Pikoli now has the means to appeal/overturn his sacking after this information came to light as well as Selebi’s conviction. Or is it too late now after everything he completed, court cases and his inquiry?
I must say all this it makes me wonder about the politicians who kept saying Scorpions were dismantled for legitimate reasons.
Sorry, left out last sentence. Should be:
I must say all this it makes me wonder about the politicians who kept saying Scorpions were dismantled for legitimate reasons. Were these politicians in the know about the “real reasons” and were they paid to keep putting the “legitimate reasons” spin?
Maggs Naidu – maggsnaidu@hotmail.com says:
August 14, 2010 at 13:39 pm
You will probably be arrested for that Maggs, but only if you also say something against a senior politician or police commisioner.
purpledragon says:
August 14, 2010 at 13:50 pm
“Were these politicians in the know about the “real reasons” and were they paid to keep putting the “legitimate reasons” spin?”
As Bob Dylan wisely sang, “(t)he answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.”
Slain mining magnate Brett Kebble paid to have corrupt former police commissioner Jackie Selebi “make his troubles go away” and ensure the now-defunct Scorpions were disbanded, the High Court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100811131619533C936388
“I never saw Mr Selebi without Mr Agliotti, I know Selebi didn’t eat meat and didn’t drink … Both Brett [Kebble] and Selebi were Zuma supporters and Brett was supporting Selebi with the Khampepe Commission”.</i?
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-08-11-kebble-depressed-and-troubled-before-his-death
Chris says:
August 14, 2010 at 14:42 pm
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the advice.
I will say Selebi is a crook and fraudster.
I will not say that I read that General Cele got involved in a R500 million deal that seems dodgy – I’ll think it but I won’t say it.
BTW I read that the Mabuza’s chief spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, reluctantly admitted on Thursday that he personally tipped off journalists about the existence of the letter, in which the premier purportedly confirms his resignation to President Jacob Zuma.
But then he is not involved in writing anything true about our fine General Cele. (no nasty comments about me butt-kissing in my praise for the honourable, his excellency, the big General, will be entertained – be careful, the Hawks are watching you).
Prof,
No arguments from me on this one. Very well said.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-08-13-spin-doctor-redfaced-over-fake-letter
Chris says:
August 14, 2010 at 14:42 pm
Hey Chris,
I worked out how the clever Hawks will figure out that the email is fake.
They are very smart.
The clue which I think they will sport is this
“MY NAME IS PAUL GILBERT ANDERSON (PVT)”
“CAPT. PAUL GILBERT ANDERSON.”
General Dramat knows there are no Pivots in Iraq, thus swiftly concluding that the email is fake.
Maggs, what do you mean “there are no Pivots in Iraq”? You of all people should know that “PVT” stands for “pervert”, which I may add can even be found in Iraq.
Diegene wat deur hierdie saak gegrief word, moet die aangeleentheid by die OKD vir los. Dien verstande dat die OKD is ‘n onafhanklike organisasie, wat is ywerig genoeg om te reageer op klagtes per e-pos.
Clara says:
August 14, 2010 at 19:00 pm
Hey Clara – I am gonna send you one of the Mossad Guy’s nukes!
And stop confusing the eagle wannabes!
Likewise Prof, not in a thousand years, as the saying goes could I be convinced that the demise of the Scorpions was not a self protection move for the criminal elite, never. Do they really think they are fooling the intelligent, the sophisticated, the educated, but then with their vast poor majority, what fear to do they have of any correct understanding and awareness on their part.
I note Prof that you are being so careful about how you word things these days. I do understand, I’m also being careful. This is one of the saddest results of the ANC’s attack on the media and Democracy, that we start to self censorship, but perhaps its just that we need to be less subtle… less scathing; perhaps we need a new language.
The miracle, whatever it is, yet I await it with high optomism.
Just maybe Fass has something: He/she says so much of meaning on ‘their’ (as in intentionally schizophrenic) postings with severely convoluted language, which so often appears as confused, mysterious, shocking even, and I believe misunderstood; that is unless the riddle of his/her words are correctly deciphered by those wiser and less innocent than I.
My suggestion is that the answer to the threat on our Democracy, our lives and our country, may very well lie in the Arts, in humor, drama, sarcasm, irony, music. By the way, that’s what saved America.
But then, you have to have those artistic dreamers and or musical folk like Dylan, Marley, Tracy Chapman, who care with a passion for their freedom and their people.. Do we have any African followers of these mighty ones? Please speak up, sing up, if you are out there.
@ Prof “.. does this mean that we will never really know about the Police Commissioner’s alleged illegal activities?” Prof, is there presently no truly independent body to investigate allegations against big wig politicians? Surely Cele, just as an example, would never ask the Hawks to investigate him! Would the SIU (Willie Hoffmeyer) or only if instructed by Zuma, which I doubt he would do? Perhaps if Prof or anyone else can explain once and for all how the NPA, the Hawks and the SIU fit together? I know once and for all may be short-lived, but just so we all have the same basic understanding? Appreciated!
Off Subject Question
Why can trade unions collectively decide on salaries but when companies do the same with their prices they are ostracized and fined exorbitant amounts?
Nyanda company in Mpumalanga protest report
Aug 15, 2010 11:48 AM | By Sapa
A company partly owned by Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda was given a R20 million contract to investigate service delivery protests in Mpumalanga, City Press reported on Sunday.
The contract was allegedly awarded to Abalozi Security Risk Advisory Services without following tender rules.
Nyanda is alleged to have a 45 percent shareholding in Abalozi. …
Mpumalanga co-operative governance department head David Mahlobo was quoted as saying the contract was awarded on an “emergency procurement” basis and met Treasury rules allowing for departure from normal tender rules.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article603109.ece/Nyanda-company-in-Mpumalanga-protest-report
@ Pierre,
The Act defines “priority crimes” as “organised crime, crime that requires national prevention or investigation, or crime which requires specialized skills in the prevention and investigation thereof”.
Would the wanton and brutal killing of the “illegal” miners at the Aurora mine be something that should draw the attention of the Dramatic Hawks?
Especially since the workers are being treated in the most atrocious ways – starved, living in squalid conditions with no regard to even basic sanitation, lights, health and safety or essential survival needss requirements according to media reports.
All this in the face of the Mr Myani’s Dept of Labour, the dept of Minerals, the dept of Health, dept of water affairs, dept of environmental affairs – how much more organised could this crime against humanity be?
In a move that could bring the murky world around Czech billionaire Radovan Krejcir into the cold light of legal scrutiny, gold refiner Juan Meyer is to institute legal action against Gauteng police intelligence chief Major-General Joey Mabasa.”
In May, Meyer was arrested for transporting 30kg of just-melted gold between his factory on the West Rand and a buyer’s office on the East Rand.
Although the investigating officer confirmed that, as a licensed dealer, Meyer had a right to transport gold, the case will go to court in October.
Meyer also alleges Mabasa was present at business meetings with Krejcir and at two of these, bags of money were passed to Mabasa.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20100815074326865C606292
What an image Maggs, ‘bags of money’.
On a more present note: DA & ID actually merging…. with other opposition parties a possibility, interesting.
sirjay jonson says:
August 15, 2010 at 19:35 pm
“On a more present note: DA & ID actually merging…. with other opposition parties a possibility, interesting.”
hehehehe.
15+1 = 16%!
Rather than panicking, I see the ANC’s multi pronged attack on Democracy actually working against them.
To me we’ve reached the crisis point with the ANC admission, through their actions and spin denials, that they are not striving for a strengthened Democracy, the rule of law, all equal under that law, or Lady Justice admired and supported, but rather only their own personal self enrichment.
Ultimately the members of the poor majority are not stupid, slow perhaps to see how they are taken, but gradually recognizing and evolving.
And as the ruling regime is not aware, or seemingly careless of the local, national and international ramifications of their errors, they are also not aware of the impact on the poor’s emerging understanding that their governments’ looting and rights attack is actually against them as well. It causes doubt within their uneducated majority. After all, all folks like media gossip, they want to know what their chiefs, king and self serving sycophants are up to, even if they don’t describe it this way.
So I suggest, don’t lose hope…. just possibly the attack on free speech and media is the straw to break the camel’s back.
Prof, good article. Just a question, who are the one’s trained as the spin doctors, isn’t it the self-same media practitioners?
THE ADVOCATUS DIABOLI SAYS :
Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose:
Joseph Paul Goebbels
Nazi Propaganda Minister
“It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it.”
John Pilger
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
Matthew 7:28, 29
Scribes in the follwing context = ” intellectual ” lawyers?
South African Democracy and the retreat of Intellectuals
edited by William Gumede & Leslie Dikeni
(C APE TIMES , DECEMBER 31,2009 , TIM HUGHES’S BOOK REVIEW , PAGE 10 )
Intellectuals
by Paul Johnson
Chapter 13
The Flight of reason
Excerpt :
We are now at the end of our enquiry. It is just about two hundred years since the secular intellectuals began to replace the old clerisy as the guides and mentors of mankind. We have
looked at a number individual cases of those who sought to counsel humanity. We have examined their moral and judgmental qualifications for this task. In particular, we have examined
their attitude to truth, the way in which thev seek for and evaluate evidence, their response not just to humanity in general but to human beings in particular; the way they treat their friends,
colleagues, servants and above all their own families. We have touched on the social and political consequences of following their advice.
What conclusions should be drawn ? Readers will judge for themselves. But I think I detect today a certain public scepticism when intellectuals stand up to preach to us, a growing
tendency among ordinary people to dispute the right of academics, writers and philosophers, eminent though they may be, to tell us how to behave and conduct our affair? The belief
seems to be spreading that intellectuals are no wiser as mentors, or worthier as exemplars, than the witch doctors or priests of old. I share that scepticism. A dozen people picked at
random on the street are at least as likely to offer sensible views on moral and political matter;. as a cross-section of the intelligentsia. But I would go further. One ot the principal l
lessons of our tragic century, which has seen so many millions of innocent lives sacrificed in schemes to improve the lot of humanity, is – beware intellectuals. Not merely should they be
kept well away from the levers of power, they should also be objects of particular suspicion when they seek to offer collective advice. Beware committees, conferences and leagues of
intellectuals. Distrust public statements issued from their serried ranks. Discount their verdicts on political leaders and important events. For intellectuals, far from being highly
individualistic and non-conformist people, follow certain regular patterns of behaviour. Taken as a group, they are often ultra-conformist within the circles formed by those whose
approval they seek and value. That is what makes them, en masse, so dangerous, for it enables them to create climates of opinion and prevailing orthodoxies, which themselves often
generate irrational and destructive courses of action. Above all, we must at all times remember what intellectuals habitually forget: that people matter more than concepts and must
come first. The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas.
Every imaginable and unimaginable facility
exists for making ourselves heard and seen.
But have we anything to say?
Anything to show?
I love the irony that God in his infinite
mercy injects into all our feats, to keep us
humble lest we should harbour the fatal
illusion of being gods ourselves, and to
keep us laughing lest we take ourselves
seriously. Besides the steeples climbing into
the sky he plants the gargoyles grinning
down at the earth – a celestial contribution
to the theatre of the absurd.
Malcolm Muggeridge
(Lecture – The Fourth Temptation 1977)
Shield Chemicals risks losing critical shelf space for its car care products if Massmart, the JSE-listed retailer, establishes that the 46-year-old car-care company submitted broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) scorecards that could not be authenticated.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5602748
And so the Kleptocracy goes. Spot on Prof. I now fear for this country – it seems that the few (many?) good men and women of the ANC we are told about but never hear from are losing or have already lost the battle…
I think the evidence is mounting that this was a “revenge” arrest ordered by Bheki Cele. Perhaps he should remember what happened to Selebi who ordered the arrest of Gerrie Nel on spurious grounds!
On the Scorpions issue I recall an ANC politician interviewed on Tv who stated unequiocally that the Scorpions were being disbanded because ‘that is what you you do with a dog that begins to bite its owners,” or words to that effect!
Why the use of Hawks indeed? Pure imtimidation. For another take on the media bill see
http://www.jplandman.co.za/ReportDetail.aspx?ID=1155
@spoiler:
One can say with reasonable certainty that there must indeed be some good people in the ANC. The law of averages should tell us that not all people are bad. The thing is, though, that the ‘good’ ANC types don’t want to lose their cushy jobs and generous pensions, or possibly even their lives (if they happen to be in Mpumalanga or thereabouts). So they put up and shut up. Tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t do the same.
You had better watch out, Prof.
First it was the SIU under Willem Heath (& SCOPA) that was trashed (although the SIU has done some good work since then). Then the NPA did not prosecute Zuma with Shaik. Then Pikoli got nobbled for being cheeky enough to obey the Constitution. (Then came the Polokwane Putsch – not a direct assualt on the pillars of democracy, freedom and good governance in itself, but having consequences for us all, nonetheless.) Thent he Scoprions were disbanded. Then came the Nicholson judgment (which fitted in so perfectly to the ‘Stalingrad strategy’ as to raise serious questions about whether the judge was “got to”). Then came the spurious logic for the removal of Thabo Mbeki (alongside multiple floated theories of how Mr Zuma could avoid prosecution, and some veiled threats). Then came the JSC’s fudging of the Hlophe complaint. Then came the “release” of Mr Shaik. Then came the infamous Mpshe decision. Then came the appointment of hatchet men as Minister of Justice and Commissioner of Police. Then came the appointment of Menzi Simelane. Now we have infamously irregular mineral licences and deals. In between, we have had ongoing political manipulation of the SABC. And all along, we have had wicked procurement decisions (that have also mostly been unconstitutional as a consequence of their not being targeted at actual delivery). Now we have the threats against the media and the blanket suppression of access to any state information that might incriminate corrupt leaders.
Have I left anything out?
Almost every pillar of a stable, just, prosperous and free society has been trampled into the dust.
So, Prof, what odds that academia will be a target? And, why not ensure that your blog is mirrored on an overseas server and domain name that cannot ever be touched by a South African jurisdiction?
Clara says:
August 16, 2010 at 14:38 pm
“One can say with reasonable certainty that there must indeed be some good people in the ANC. The law of averages should tell us that not all people are bad. The thing is, though, that the ‘good’ ANC types don’t want to lose their cushy jobs and generous pensions, or possibly even their lives (if they happen to be in Mpumalanga or thereabouts). So they put up and shut up. Tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t do the same.”
So, Clara what your saying is that we are being screwed and better start enjoying it.
@ Maggs
“hehehehe.
15+1 = 16%!”
Maggs, I hope I can speak also for you when I say I have about zero interest in the policies of the ill-starred still-born and abortive political shortgun thingy. These two (Zillee and Lillee), are twin “Madams” who wish only to patronise black people, in the manner of a northern (Jhb) suburbs housewife.
Zuma has a workable plan to fix corruption. Watch this space. Malema is young. (But he will learn!) The liberal press has an agenda. The ANC died for press freedom. Who will guard the guardians? Transformation!
Thanks.
And now the ANCYL in Mpumalanga is regaling us with their grasp of law and the Constitution:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100816133403438C623315
Note that the ANC has decried and rebutted the same lot attacking Mr Phosa (who was quite possibly doing what they are complaining of).
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
August 16, 2010 at 15:43 pm
Hey Dworky,
I suppose that we could conclude that Zille now has her ID and de Lille has given her’s away.
Oh well, 16% is VAT +2%!
Jam, you left out the most important battle in the whole campaign.
The attempt at disarmament of the law-abiding by means of the Firearms Control Act.
Mikhail Dworkin Fassbinder says:
August 16, 2010 at 15:43 pm
Who’s more comical – the 16%ers or this oke?
Mthembu said the ANC had made it fashionable to fight corruption and was doing so successfully.
“We have a big arsenal of instruments to fight corruption within the state, and they are performing their functions very effectively without fear or favour.”
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article605935.ece/DAs-marriage-to-ID-based-on-a-lie–ANC
The ANC is South Africa’s weapon of mass destruction.
First the Scorpions, then the SABC (his master’s voice a-la apartheid) and now the media. Zuma says that being compared to the apartheid era is an ‘unbearable insult’. I suppose it would be compliment to compare him and the ANC to Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler, Stalin which seems to be where South Africa is heading.
Anything that is in the way of the ANC’s corrupt and despotic way will be destroyed even if it is un-Constitutional. We have seen it with the NPA, Judiciary and others where control is vested in the ANC through cadre deployment.
South Africa is in possibly more danger than ever before. There is a ground swell of discontent amongst the population from the poor and service delivery to the rich being exploited to the constitutional rights of both being pissed on by the ANC
Killed two people, fled the scene of an accident, called his buddy (now our Police General), lied to the court and the lucky winner gets :
Durban businessman and socialite Sifiso Zulu has been sentenced to five years imprisonment, of which two years has been suspended for three years.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article623732.ece/Prince-Sifiso-Zulu-sentenced-to-5-years-in-jail
Let’s see if I understand the sentence – he gets five years, two suspended for three years.
Does that mean if he does not kill anyone while driving through red traffic lights during the three years in jail then he’s ok?
Aiaiaiai!
These little eyasses are getting too big for their wings!
Maybe it’s time to get rid of these buzzards too!
The corruption probe by the Hawks and the asset forfeiture unit centring on Uruguyan businessman Gaston Savoi and his Intaka health group is likely to have significant political fallout in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-08-27-asset-raids-snare-anc-heavies
Government’s “we have no money to pay workers” is understandable with all the goings on.
The prices charged were allegedly wildly inflated — two water purification systems that could have been sourced at about R725 000 per unit were bought from Intaka for nearly R5-million each.
and
Elsewhere White disclosed that Nkonyeni introduced Savoi to Mkhwanazi and that she was in SMS contact with Savoi.
Addressing him as “Doc!”, she apparently informed Savoi about setbacks in contract negotiations between Intaka and provincial officials and said: “Next time we’ll have to be more careful and perhaps u need to cancel the donation since u r losing on maintenance. What do you suggest? Peggy.”
Nkonyeni, said to have been Zuma’s preferred candidate as KwaZulu-Natal premier, is not facing charges. But she was charged in an earlier case involving the purchase of a mobile ultrasound scanner through Savoi’s company. Charges were provisionally withdrawn against her and two others in August 2009 when a key witness suffered a breakdown and could not testify.
These way to turn around this crisis facing our country is to
- scrap the Hawks
- bring on the PoIB
- amend the NPA Act to allow for “political solutions”.
- get parliament to oversee the media or at least elect people of their choice onto the MAT (I can think of one former acting NPA boss, one former Public protector head, one former spokeswoman in the Presidency, one former Chief Whip all of who will do a very effective job protecting the public from all this crappy news).
Why the Hawks?
It’s about personal service of course!
Billionaire denies paying cop boss
Fugitive Czech billionaire Radovan Krejcir says the head of police crime intelligence in Gauteng, Major-General Joey Mabasa, was a man he could turn to “for help in a difficult situation” but denies allegations that the cop was on his payroll.
In an interview with City Press Krejcir said he was introduced to Mabasa by his lawyer, who told him that “this is the crime intelligence chief and if you need some help, like you are in a difficult situation and cannot get hold of me or want to deal with the police directly, this is the person you must deal with”.
http://www.citypress.co.za/SouthAfrica/News/Billionaire-denies-paying-cop-boss-20100829
hehehehe!
The succession debate has started even before General Cele has warmed up the National Commissioner seat – Gen Cele must start having sleepless nights.
The head of the Hawks, Anwa Dramat, on Wednesday questioned whether it was in South Africa’s interest to pursue the only two remaining investigations linked to the arms-deal scandal.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-08-hawks-boss-questions-viability-of-armsdeal-probe
What happens about the people who open scam businesses to loot other people and no one sew them. I have got one who took R100,000 for me, and I do not know what to do to et that money back. I have got all the details with me. Balu- 0824796146
My friend had encountered a fraudster who uses a so call daughter to get funds out of her from December last year, But going into it a bit more I have discovered that they are smuggling drugs and guns into South Africa as well as human trafficing as I had discovered some girls in Sandton, Benoni, Brixton who profess that they are the bosses. They are using her funds “for student fees in Nigeria to fund their unit in South Africa. This guys operated as US Citizens and have a counterparts in Nigeria Lagos and another in Sunnyhill Pretoria in Johannesburg their details are as follows: Billy Castrol at email Billy_castrol@ yahoo.com Passport number 100024522, Elizabeth Castrol at email prettylizyy@yahoo.com and and Ige Abigail Temitope Lagos Nietria whom money was transfered to on a monthly basis for student fees, South Africa Benjamin Kgomotso on 0721322132 and 0795207714. They have defrauded her out of thousands of dollars as she is a trusting person and believed that she was helping a student with her fees. They have defrauded a couple of other SA Citizens but they are afraid to come forward.as they were threatened with death They have promised to pay her back and still have not. She is facing a criminal charge becuase she has not paid her bebt because they had threatened her with her family because these people have been praying in her. Can you help her as these are international criminals her home address and she is afraid that they would hurt her families, they have prayed on the vulnerable of our females because of their greed. She has gone into hinding as well as her family because of these people pleae help her urgently. She had logged an international case on a website that the American Enbassy recommended and seeing she works for an International Company she has put the word out their because of these people as well as an International bulletin but I do not know the outcome as I’m travelling and I feel that I must help her. It has now been almost 2 months and she has had no word from our Crimestop agencies in the Western Cape, Gauteng as well as the DA office in Cape Town. Do we need to take this to Interpol , CIA, FBI or any USA Security Agency as he proclaimed to work an agency as per his emails to her and Scotland Yard, because we will take the law into our own hands as we are a crimefighting community because of scum like this. The next shipment of drugs and illegal firearms will be due soon worth over R40 million at OR Tambo just contact Benjamin on the numbers provided, he will hesitate but get an African to talk to him.Please I would appreciate an urgent response as I fear for my friends life because of these people.
what does HAWKS stand for?
Reference: Appointment Municipal Manager Elias Motsoaledi Local Council.
Honourable Sir,
BACKGROUND.
The abovementioned position advertised in the last quarter of 2011, inviting applications on or before 15th December 2011, who meets the criteria mentioned in the advertisement, to apply.
Interviews conducted from the applications received on 16th January 2012, and a shortlist of 6 candidates (5 Male and 1 Female) decided upon. A report on the interviews conducted submitted to COGHSTA (Annexure A)
The panel conducting the said interviews composed by the majority of Elias Motsoaledi Local Council Office Bearers, having an undertone of biased against applications outside of the Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality stalwart.
The interview score list (Annexure B) clearly indicating the appointment of Mrs. MM Mtsweni as favourite candidate with a score of 164, the closest being 142 for Mr. G Mthimunye. How the final score was arrived at, and what basis used for score calculation being sub rosa and unknown to the writer hereof.
Of critical importance is the fact, however that Mrs. MM Mtsweni, as Director of Infrastructure service in her current tenure, being accordingly responsible for the infrastructure development in the circumambient ambit of the Council.
Various questionable decision of her ability to manage, delegate forthcoming, the most prominent being the development of the ‘Canal Street Project’ costing the taxpayers in excess of R 5,0+ million. The street, after the work was completed, being in a worst state of dilapidation and derelict, with a non-functional drainage system, and the street overflowing every time that it rains.
This being only one, of which there are numerous, examples of the incapability of the said Mrs. MM Mtsweni where taxpayer’s money was misappropriated and mismanaged.
Three (3) of the total four (4) of which the interview panel was composed of, being fully aware of the disastrous decisions and actions taken by the incumbent herein.
CURRENT POSITION.
1. The appointee being contractually employed by the Elias Motsoaledi Local Council on a five year contract. She however never completed the said contract with the Council and are now contracted to the Thembisile Council;
2. The appointee in reference to her terms of Office was to be assessed on a Three-Monthly basis by the Executive Council of the Elias Motsoaledi Local Council, to which assessment she never submitted;
3. The appointee in terms of contract and the Council’s obligation, to be housed in an official residence for the tenure period. On completion of the tenure it being required that the house be vacated. The appointee however since January 2012 illegally occupying the premises to which she is not entitled to, not being in a contractual agreement with the Elias Motsoaledi Local Council;
4. The four panel interviewing committee all being aware of these anomalies surrounding the appointee’s contraventions, incapacities and contradictions, yet preferred to conveniently ignore same, in favour of an appointment in itself which would be a carbon copy of the appointment, at great expense, of the previous Municipal Manager; (Mr. LJ Kabine – R 2,7 million, and the subsequent events;
5. Irrespective of this total incompetent capacity and track record of the applicant, the Council in its wisdom, at a subsequent special meeting held on the 8th March 2012, by simple majority recommending the appointment of Mrs. MM Mtsweni to the advertised position, irrespective of her not even conforming in any way to the minimum qualifications requirements as per the advertisement.
REQUESTED ACTION.
Higher authority need to familiarize itself, before making or confirming the appointment, to be informed of the demeanours, total misfeasance, and misguided leadership, relevant to the recommended appointee.
Your intervention sine qua non to stop a repetition of the Council having to pay millions (LJ Kabine R 2,7 m and WN Rampedi R 2,4 m) to get rid of incompetent employees, required as a matter of urgency.
As Minister according to Section 18, 4(a) and (b) of the Local Government Laws amended Act no 19 of 2008, to request the MEC to investigate the maladministration, fraud, corruption, or any other serious malpractice which in the opinion of the Minister, has occurred or is occurring in a Municipality in the Province.
Sincerely,
Mogotji @ seunmp@gmail.com