Saturday, May 14, 2011

Corrupt IT tender

May 14 2011 

Millions blown

Police are about to swoop on the Ekurhuleni municipality - perhaps even before Wednesday’s election - and arrest five senior officials for an elaborate tender fraud that has cost hundreds of millions of rands for a computer system that does not work. 

The Saturday Star can reveal that a special investigating team has finalised its probe and will meet with the National Prosecuting Authority next week to have the arrest warrants issued. 

Specialist forensic investigators Aurco were called in to the East Rand metropolis when the scope of the fraud proved to be too big for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s (EMM) internal auditors. 

The auditors themselves were tipped off by anonymous whistleblowers. 

The investigation discovered massive fraud and mismanagement in the EMM Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department involving suppliers in collusion with the municipality’s own staff. 

The fraud began when Ekurhuleni looked for a company to design and implement a new computer network infrastructure for the municipality. 

An internal audit report rang alarm bells when it found the winner of the tender had bypassed the municipality’s supply chain management policy. 

International computer giant IBM bid unsuccessfully for the tender. It could have done the work for a third less than the original quote in a third less time. IBM quoted R35 million to have the project completed in 42 weeks, while TCM - the company that “won” the tender - quoted R90m to finish the job in 156 weeks. 

The internal auditors found that TCM had never complied with the bid requirements and that their bid application documents should have been rejected. IBM has gold partner status, which means it has the broadest range of expertise, while TCM had but a third rating and was not as competent as IBM. This rating was only awarded to TCM after the tender was awarded. 

The audit also found that EMM’s staff allowed TCM to start the project without having insurance risk cover, should they fail to complete the project. Over and above this, TCM won the tender without a project or a design plan. 

Ekurhuleni paid TCM a maintenance contract before the system and products were installed and implemented. 

Eight months after the tender was awarded to TCM, someone in the municipality asked about the company’s project plan only to be told none existed. The project manager said a meeting would be held to draw one up and would be e-mailed to EMM’s internal audit department. From June 2007 until June 2009, EMM paid TCM nearly R279m without the project being completed

The audit report also found that EMM had awarded a tender for the supply, delivery installation, implementation of computers and its components to a company called Meropa. 

But Meropa was only registered as a company less than a year before the contract was awarded and it has only one member. That person is related to an EMM employee. 

Meropa in turn is inexplicably linked to four other companies that have been awarded tenders to render a service as part of the municipality’s ICT system. In total, Aurco has found that Ekurhuleni paid at least R386m on its ICT needs to these six linked companies that might well have been set up as shell companies or “post box” vendors, to channel council funds. 

Each company by-passed tender procedures and Aurco believes that there was “bid-rigging” too, where the shell companies were able to tender for work with inside knowledge of what reputable companies had already bid. 

- Last week, the Saturday Star reported how the EMM’s 2010 office, set up to implement world cup initiatives, wasted R22m between popular DJ S’bu and the greening of non-existent sports fields. 

In the process, they flouted tender regulations, according to a secret forensic report.
The council requested a probe into the validity of its 2010 office’s spending and appointed Indyebo Consulting to probe the fields and DJ S’bu’s record company. Indyebo recommended that the Special Investigations Unit get involved. 

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/millions-blown-in-corrupt-it-tender-1.1068855 

 

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a Xhosa from the Eastern Cape. Leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial in 1964. He spent 18 of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island. Released in 1990, he was elected President in 1994 in South Africa's first free elections.  

Nelson Mandela (Rolihlahla Mandela; b. 18 July 1918) was born in the Transkei region of South Africa, in the small village of Qunu - a collection of beehive-shaped huts with thatch roofs, known as rondavels.

Mandela's mother, Nosekeni Fanny, was the third wife of Gadla Henry Mphakan-yiswa, a councillor to the Thembu king and a member of the Xhosa tribe. His father had four wives and thirteen children (four boys and nine girls)
South Africa Holiday: The house where Nelson Mandela was born in 1918His mother had three huts and Mandela lived with her and his three immediate sisters. One hut was used for sleeping, another for cooking and the third for storing grain and other food. Everyone slept on mats on the ground, without pillows. His mother, as a married woman, had her own field to tend and her own cattle kraal - an enclosure for cattle made from thorn bushes
Mandela, who started school when he was seven, was given the name Nelson by a Methodist teacher, purportedly after the British admiral Horatio Nelson.
His father died of tuberculosis when he was nine and the Regent, Jongintaba became his guardian. In Xhosa society that was the natural thing to do. Jongintaba was the head of the Madiba clan. In terms of custom, all members of the clan were treated like people in the same family because they were all descended from the same ancestor. Mandela, or anyone else, could go to the home of any fellow Madiba member, whether in the same village or in a village miles away, and know that he would get food and shelter.
At 16, as is the Xhosa custom, Mandela went to a circumcision school on the banks of the Bashee River, the place where many of his ancestors were circumcised. By the standards of his tribe, he was now a man ready to take part in the 'parliament' of the tribe Imbizo.
When Mandela was nineteen he went to the Wesleyan college in Fort Beaufort. After matriculating he went to Fort Hare University where he was befriended by Oliver Tambo. Before finishing his course Mandela left for Johannesburg.

Mandela's flight to Johannesburg

In 1964 Mandela recalled, "At 23, my guardian felt it was time for me to get married. He loved me very much and looked after me as diligently as my father had, but he was no democrat and did not think it worthwhile to consult me about a wife. He selected a girl, fat and dignified, paid lobola and arrangements were afoot for the wedding. I escaped to Johannesburg."
In Johannesburg he found temporary employment as a mine guard. Shortly after, his friend and lawyer, Walter Sisulu, helped him find work as an articled clerk.
In 1944 Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC). That same year he married Evelyn Ntoko Mase, who, like Mandela, was from the Transkei. They had three children, but they broke up in 1957 under the dual strains from his devotion to revolutionary agitation and her devotion to her faith as a Jehovah's Witness.
Mandela completed his degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA) via correspondence, after which he started with his law studies at the University of Witwatersrand. During this time Mandela lived in the Alexandra township.
In 1948 the Afrikaner-dominated National Party came to power with its apartheid policies of White domination.
Mandela was prominent in the African National Congress (ANC) Defiance Campaign (1952) and the Congress of the People (1955 ) where the Freedom Charter was first adopted.
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela in the office of the Mandela & Tambo lawfirm 1952During this time Mandela and Oliver Tambo operated the law firm of Mandela & Tambo, legal counsel to many blacks who would otherwise have been without legal representation.
Mandela and 150 others were arrested in December 1956 and charged with treason. The marathon Treason Trial of 1956–61 followed, but all were acquitted.
 
South Africa Holiday: Nelson and Winnie Mandela show off their firstborn daughter, Zindzi, at their home in Orlando West, Soweto in 1961Mandela married Winnie, daughter of Columbus Madikizela, the Minister of Agriculture in the Transkei, in 1958, whilst an accused in the Treason Trial. He had two children with Winnie. She was twice detained under the Terrorism Act and repeatedly arrested whilst her husband was imprisoned. (Their marriage was to end in separation in 1992 and divorce four years later, fuelled by political estrangement.)
 
 
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela burning his pass in 1960Following the massacre at Sharpeville in March 1960, and the subsequent banning of the ANC and many other political organisations, the ANC took up armed resistance.
Albert Luthuli, criticised at the time for inertia, was peripheralised, and the ANC used the 1961 Conference for Mandela to issue a dramatic call to arms, announcing the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe (translated as Spear of the Nation and commonly abbreviated to MK).
In January 1962 Mandela toured Africa and visited England. In all these countries he met the Heads of State or other senior government officials. In England he was received by Hugh Gaitskell, then leader of the Labour Party, and by Jo Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party.
Mandela became leader of MK and co-ordinated a sabotage campaign against military and government targets, and made plans for a possible guerrilla war if sabotage failed to end apartheid.
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela was a great public speaker even in the early 1960sIn August 1962 Mandela was arrested and imprisoned after living on the run for seventeen months - he was known as the Black Pimpernel. In October 1962 he was sentenced to five years, charged with leading workers to strike in 1961 and leaving the country illegally.
While Mandela was in prison, police arrested prominent ANC leaders in July 1963, at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, north of Johannesburg.
 
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela wears traditional Xhosa clothes at the end of the Rivonia TrialMandela was charged with sabotage and other offences in the Rivonia Trial and on 14 June 1964 was sentenced, along with Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi and Walter Sisulu,  to life imprisonment on Robben Island. Dennis Goldberg was the only white person found guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment in a white prison in Pretoria.

Rivonia Trial

On 20 April 1964 Mandela opened the defence case in Pretoria Supreme Court by saying, "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Bram Fischer led the defence and Harold Hanson was brought in at the end of the case to plead mitigation. All except Rusty Bernstein were found guilty, but they escaped the gallows and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela in prison on Robben IslandMandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he was destined to remain for the next 18 of his 27 years in prison. It was there he wrote the bulk of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
In 1980 a statement by Mandela was smuggled out of Robben Island, which read, "Unite! Mobilize! Fight on! Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid!"
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela in his cell on Robben IslandRefusing an offer of conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle in February 1985, Mandela remained in prison until the resounding national and international campaign to "Free Nelson Mandela!" culminated in his release on 11 February 1990 and the unbanning of the ANC (ordered by State President Frederik de Klerk).

Nelson Mandela released

11 February 1990

South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela "Amandla" (Power)On the day of his release, Mandela made a speech to the nation and the world from the balcony of Cape Town city hall, "Our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle."
South Africa's first free elections were held on 27 April 1994. South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela rides in State with the Queen when he visits EnglandThe ANC won the majority in the election, and Mandela, as leader of the ANC, was inaugurated as the country's first black State President, with the National Party's de Klerk as his deputy president in the Government of National Unity.
Over the next five years Mandela presided over the transition from white minority apartheid rule to black majority democratic rule.
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela and his wife GrachaIn 1999, on his 80th birthday, he married Graça Machel, widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president who had been killed in an air crash 12 years before.
 
After his retirement as President in 1999, Mandela went on to become an advocate for a range of social and human rights organisations, including his own Nelson Mandela Foundation.
South Africa Holiday: Nelson Mandela and Beyonce at the 46664 Concert in Cape Town 2003Mandela's failing health led him to announce in 2004 that he would be retiring from public life.
He continues to make occasional exceptions, particularly when speaking out on HIV/AIDS or on child health. His son Makgatho died of AIDS in January 2005.
In South Africa Mandela is often known as Madiba, a title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan. The title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela. Many South Africans also refer to him reverently as 'mkhulu' meaning old man or grandfather.
http://www.southafricaholiday.org.uk/history/le_nelson_mandela.htm

Zindzi Trashed My House

Oct 3, 2009

Zindzi Mandela has been accused of trashing an upmarket rented house before walking off with some of her landlady's expensive furniture.



Businesswoman Michelle Cathrall was at first "honoured" to let her furnished Saxonwold, Johannesburg, home to Mandela, but when her non-paying tenant finally left - after a court battle to evict her - the place "looked like a tsunami" had hit it, she said.

"You can't believe the damage," Cathrall told the Sunday Times this week.

Cathrall, who has roped in an inspection company to assess the damage for a lawsuit she said she intended to bring against Mandela, said an initial estimate of the damage was R386000.

She said her antique furniture had been ruined by water and heat damage; paint had been scraped off the walls; sandblasted floor tiles had been scratched beyond repair and expensive blinds had been removed and thrown on a pile of rotting garbage - with her DStv reception dish and the downpipe of one of the gutters.

The broken gutter had also caused a major damp problem.

A leaking kitchen pipe had been haphazardly "repaired" with cling wrap, resulting in the wooden shelf below it rotting and collapsing.

Cathrall accused Mandela of taking a bed, two desks, a tumble-dryer, a lounger and an antique cabinet, as well as sheets, towels and other linen belonging to her.

She said the linen, couches and mattresses left behind were filthy and badly stained.
Her battle with Mandela started last year, when Cathrall went to court to evict her famous tenant due to rent arrears amounting to R70000.

Mandela's attorney, Bally Chuene, denied Cathrall's current allegations against his client.

He said Mandela had not taken the items and had caused no damage - claiming it was all pre-existing.

"These are the same issues raised before ... (Cathrall) is talking rubbish," Chuene said.

Cathrall said she was still battling to get R42000 Mandela owed her for legal costs relating to the eviction order she obtained last year.

Although the High Court in Johannesburg awarded Cathrall costs in that action, she has since paid the amount to her attorneys out of her own pocket and Mandela has not coughed up.

Even a writ of execution against Mandela's property proved fruitless, after the sheriff attempted to attach Mandela's assets only to find her Houghton home "vacant".

However, Chuene said a deposit equivalent to two months' rental - which Mandela had paid before moving in - was sufficient to cover the legal costs.

Cathrall said she had spent 18 months renovating the house before Mandela moved in.

"It was in pristine condition when they took occupancy.

"It was looking so beautiful," she said.

R50m law suit looms for Zindzi Mandela

May 14 2011


Zindzi Mandela and her business partners intend filing replying court documents in the Los Angeles Superior Court after boxing promoter Duane Moody applied in the US court to sue her for R50-million.
 
Moody claims Mandela approached him to help secure the biggest fight in boxing history, a bout between Floyd Mayweather jr and Manny Pacquiao, scheduled for November at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto. 

It would have formed part of Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday celebrations and would have been announced at a press conference on his birthday on July 18. 

The Sunday Tribune reported last week that Moody claims that negotiations were at an advanced stage, but, at the last minute, Mandela could not come up with the cash she’d promised. 

The case was lodged at the Los Angeles Superior Court on April 15, and Moody is claiming damages for breach of oral contract, promise without the intent to perform and negligent misrepresentation. 

But one of Mandela’s business partners, Michael Lodge, president and chief executive of VisionQwest Resource Group, told the Saturday Star this week that there would be a response. 

WE ARE EAGERLY AWAITING THAT RESPONSE


Zuma and Malema's Land Grab Views

May 11, 2011 

President Jacob Zuma today distanced the ruling party from ANCYL leader Julius Malema’s private views on land distribution. 

Zuma was responding to concerns raised by the Greytown farming community over comments made by Malema late last year that land earmarked for redistribution could be taken away without payment if they did not accept the money offered for it.

“What Malema said is neither the ANC’s nor the government’s policy, Zuma said yesterday while on the election campaign trail in impoverished Msinga, in the Greytown area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. 

‘’Policies are not for individuals but are discussed. The ANCYL cannot determine policies. 

People can have ideas and those ideas discussed in the ANC. There were many Malemas before but issues were discussed within the organisation and policies formulated,’’ Zuma said. 
 
“You will be surprised that one day Malema will be stopping others from raising what he had raised before. Malema is on a learning curve and the farming community must not be shaken by his comments. What he says are simply his views.” 

Zuma went on to say that the ANC was older than its outspoken youth leader. 

“There was a similar concern when the ANCYL had an idea about the nationalisation of mines.

We allowed that to be discussed and debated in the ANC because it had been previously debated many decades before when Nelson Mandela came out of prison. The nationalisation of mines also discussed and we came [up] with a mixed economy policy. The ANC does not take policy [decisions] emotionally”. 

Earlier, Michael Yeadon, a community leader who represents farmers in the Greytown area, told Zuma, that Malema was a “very scary man” within the community. 

“As a faming community, we also want clean water, roads and schools so that that we will be able to feed the community of Greytown and be able create job opportunities. Also, we want the ANC to be more accessible to us so that we can work together and be able to deliver to the community. We want the assurance from the president that we will be protected [against Malema]”. 

After assuring farmers that their land would not be taken from them, Zuma urged farmers, the business community and local traditional leaders to vote for the ANC in next Wednesday’s local government elections because “it is the only party that has the clear understanding of the needs of the people”. 

He said there have been calls that people must vote for other parties to create a strong opposition but he believed that good policies were more important than the size of political parties. 

“We understand the people and their challenges in the ANC that is why we came out with five priorities,” he said. 

Zuma said education was the priority for the ANC as there’s a need for skills in the country.
“Without education, we will remain a developing state”. 

He also challenged business people to play their part in prioritizing the national priority of job creation. 

Greytown and Msinga have been under the control of the IFP since the first local government elections in 1996. Development in the area has been almost non-exsistent. There is very little infrastructure in the area, which has massive unemployment, and tens of thousands of people after forced to live in extremely harsh conditions, including no access to proper housing, running water, tarred roads and electricity. 

At Nhlalakahle, also in the Msinga area, Zuma yesterday used the metaphor of love relationships to talk the community into voting. 

“Boyfriends and girlfriends should make their appointments on the voting stations on May 18. 

Girlfriends should make sure that their boyfriends vote for the ANC and boyfriends should ensure that their girlfriends vote for the ANC. People should not continue to vote for parties that have no capacity and would not deliver to their needs,” he said. 

At Pomeroy he promised that after the community “voted for the ANC” next week, they will see actual delivery. 

ANC Candidate - Convicted Fraudster:

May 12, 2011

The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday alleged that an ANC local government candidate for Stellenbosch was convicted last year of defrauding the municipality of more than a quarter of a million rand. 

 

DA spokesman Bokkie Geyer claimed that the Bellville Specialised Commercial Court had found Jacobus Andre Davids guilty of 14 counts of corruption pertaining to fraud involving R254,180 between 2005 and 2006,

Davids was listed third on the ANC's proportional representation list for Stellenbosch for the May 18 municipal elections. 

"He is clearly not fit for purpose," Geyer said. 

"The ANC has proven that they are totally uncommitted to clear governance by appointing Jacobus Davids to the number three position," he said. 

The ANC leadership in the Western Cape could not immediately comment on the claims.

 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1064487.ece/ANC-candidate-a-convicted-fraudster--DA

No Finality on Shaik

May 12, 2011

Two-and-a-half months after convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik allegedly assaulted a journalist on a golf course, police have still not finalised their investigation. 

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Brigadier Phindile Radebe said yesterday the docket, which was sent back to the police by acting director of public prosecutions Simphiwe Mlotshwa last month, was still incomplete.

"We are still investigating. I cannot say when the investigation will be complete. At this stage, I am unable to say what needs to be completed because it is a sensitive matter and may jeopardise the case," Radebe said. 

But Institute for Security Studies crime and justice expert Dr Johan Burger said yesterday the average turnaround time for a simple common assault case was no more than two weeks.
"Instead in this case it is taking more than two months. It appears that the police are stalling and there is an unnecessary delay. The police need to come out and say what is keeping them from finalising this matter," he said. 

Journalist Amanda Khoza laid a complaint against Shaik in March, saying he slapped and throttled her on the Papwa Sewgolum Golf Course in Durban on February 26 after a tip-off that Shaik - granted medical parole on the grounds of terminal illness - was teeing off. 

Burger said a completed docket for a common assault case would contain statements from the accused, complainant, witnesses and a G88 form to show the complainant had been examined by a doctor. "In this case, we know who the accused and the complainant are. By now, police would have established the identities of the witnesses. That would have taken no more than two weeks. 

"If there is a key witness, who may be overseas or unavailable to make a statement, police need to come out and say this. This is not a murder or high-level corruption case where there is sensitive information that needs to be hidden," said Burger.

While the delay was not explained it could be assumed that Shaik's being a high-profile person was "for some reason impacting negatively on the police's ability to finalise this matter".
Shaik was rearrested soon after Khoza's complaint when a new assault claim against him surfaced. He spent 48 hours behind bars after the Department of Correctional Services said it could not ignore the allegation he punched Mohamed Ismail at the Masjid al Hilal mosque in Overport. 

After a two-day investigation, the department released Shaik on the grounds that he had not violated parole conditions and there was no proof of the assault as Ismail could not be located.
Shaik, friend and former financial adviser of President Jacob Zuma, served 28 months of his 15-year jail sentence for fraud and corruption - mostly in hospitals. 


Zuma Charms Farmers

May 12, 2011

Zuma was responding to concerns raised by the Greytown farming community over Malema's assertion that land earmarked for redistribution could be taken away without payment if the farmers did not accept the money offered for it. 

"What Malema said is neither the ANC's nor the government's policy," Zuma said yesterday while on the election campaign trail in impoverished Msinga, in the Greytown area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. 

PARTY TIME: President Jacob Zuma dances during yesterday's election rally in Pamaroy near Msinga in the Greytown area of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands

"Policies are not for individuals but are discussed. The ANCYL cannot determine policies. People can have ideas and those ideas discussed in the ANC. There were many Malemas before, but issues were discussed within the organisation and policies formulated," Zuma said.
"You will be surprised that one day Malema will be stopping others from raising what he had raised before.
"Malema is on a learning curve and the farming community must not be shaken by his comments. What he says are simply his views." 

Zuma went on to say that the ANC was older than its outspoken youth leader. 

"There was a similar concern when the ANCYL had an idea about the nationalisation of mines. We allowed that to be discussed and debated in the ANC because it had been previously debated many decades before when Nelson Mandela came out of prison. The nationalisation of mines was also discussed and we came [up] with a mixed economy policy. The ANC does not take policy [decisions] emotionally." 

Earlier, Michael Yeadon, a community leader who represents farmers in the Greytown area, told Zuma that Malema was a "very scary man" within the community. 

"As a faming community, we also want clean water, roads and schools so that we will be able to feed the community of Greytown and be able create job opportunities.
"Also, we want the ANC to be more accessible to us so that we can work together and be able to deliver to the community. We want the assurance from the president that we will be protected [from Malema]." 

After assuring farmers that their land would not be taken from them, Zuma urged farmers, the business community and local traditional leaders to vote for the ANC in next Wednesday's local government elections. 

"It is the only party that has the clear understanding of the needs of the people," Zuma said. 

Greytown and Msinga - the focus of Zuma's visit yesterday - have been IFP-controlled since the first local government elections in 1996. Development in the area has been almost nonexistent.
There is very little infrastructure in the area, which has massive unemployment, and tens of thousands of people are forced to live with no access to proper housing, running water, tarred roads or electricity. 

Zuma was confronted by scores of dissatisfied residents who made it clear that they now want to try their luck with the ruling party to see whether it can deliver their basic needs. 

However, the IFP mayor of Msinga Local Municipality, Joshua Sikakhane, has rubbished their claims, saying poor service delivery in the area stemmed from the fact that their annual budget was a mere R72-million - "very little" in his view. This was in addition to a R61-million annual grant from the national government for the provision of services. 

According to the 2001 national census more than 168000 people live in Msinga.
Msinga falls under the IFP-led Umzinyathi municipality, and many locals claim councillors have failed them for two terms. 


A Grade 11 pupil at Madudula High School, Sifiso Ndlovu, said residents were pinning their hopes on an ANC victory in the area. "We have no water, no toilets and few access roads. The critical thing that we want to see is provision of proper service delivery like other areas," he said. 

Although a few clans in the area have access to water, roads, sanitation and electricity, residents claim that not a single low-cost house has been built in the area. 

Sikakhane said: "With the little we get, we have been able to appoint a contractor to start building 500 low-cost houses. These will be the first batch of houses for the local people. The building of these houses was the brainchild of my municipality, responding to the complaints of the community. We have seen many communities benefiting from the Department of Human Settlements building houses, but uMsinga was often left out."
Sikakhane said the IFP-led municipality had sunk boreholes to give residents access to clean running water. 

Mandela Grandson in Court

May 12, 2011

Nelson Mandela's grandson, and business partner of President Jacob Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, appeared in the Randburg Magistrate's Court yesterday on charges of speeding. 

Zondwa Mandela, CEO of embattled mining company Aurora Empowerment Systems, was allegedly caught driving at 158km an hour in a residential area in Fairland, Johannesburg, on Saturday night. 

He was released the same night on R1000 bail by the Traffic Offences Court. 




The businessman was smartly dressed in a blue and white striped shirt and a blue suit when he made his first court appearance. 

He is also the director of a Johannesburg branding and marketing company. 

The court heard that photographs of Mandela's car were already in the docket. 

Mandela's attorney, Sello Baloyi, said his client would plead not guilty.
"We are going to challenge that," he said. 

The case was postponed to May 20 for further investigation. 



Racism and Judge Nkola Motata

Afriforum lodges racism complaint against Motata

May 12, 2111

 The Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) is expected to hear a racism complaint against Judge Nkola Motata, lodged by AfriForum, on Saturday. 

"The JCC invited AfriForum to address the meeting on Saturday and to make a submission in writing to the JCC concerning Motata's conduct," AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said on Thursday.

The complaint is related to remarks Motata made after he crashed his car into a wall in Johannesburg while drunk. 

AfriForum said that an audio recording of the events was played in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court during his trial and that he had made racist remarks against whites after the crash. 

"Among other things, Motata said with reference to Mr Richard Baird, owner of the house where the crash happened: 'No Boer is going to undermine me. This used to be the white man's land, but it isn't anymore.' 

"Motata also allegedly told members of the Johannesburg metro police who tried to calm him that they should not support the white man," said Kriel. 

They believe that Motata's conduct violates the public's confidence in the legal system. 

If Motata is found guilty of gross misconduct he has to be removed, by the president and by a two thirds majority vote in the National Assembly. 

The judge crashed his car into the perimeter wall of a house in Hurlingham, north of Johannesburg, in 2007. 

In November the High Court in Johannesburg turned down his application for leave to appeal the conviction and sentence for drunk driving. 

He was fined R20,000 or one year in jail. 

He was placed on special leave for the trial, and it was not immediately clear on Thursday if he was back at work and whether he had petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal directly for leave to appeal. 

AfriForum also took ANC Youth League president Julius Malema to the Equality Court on a hate speech charge for singing lyrics that translate as "Shoot the Boer".
That case continues.

 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1064506.ece/Afriforum-lodges-racism-complaint-against-Motata

Judge Nkola Motata

September 09 2009 



South African Judge Nkola Motata has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with the option of a R20 000 fine following his conviction for drunken driving by the Johannesburg magistrate's court.

Arguments in mitigation and aggravation of sentence were completed this morning. Motata's defence counsel earlier asked the court for Motata's sentence to be wholly suspended. The State has argued that the fine could be as hefty as R120 000 or six years imprisonment. It says a wholly suspended sentence would be inappropriate and are asking for a R10 000 fine. Motata's driver's licence could also be suspended for six months.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recently indicated that it will deal with the matter of Judge Nkola Motata at its meeting next month. JSC chairperson, Advocate Marumo Moerane, confirmed that there are complaints against Motata which have been pending before the JSC for some time awaiting the finalisation of the criminal case.

The High Court judge crashed his Jaguar into the wall of a residential property in Sandton in January 2007. Judge Nkola Motata's defence team has applied for leave to appeal his conviction and sentence in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court.


African Union 2

Republic of Madagascar Antananarivo +261 Malagasy ariay(MGA) Jun.26.1960 Prime Minister Monja Roindefo President of the High Authority of Transition Andry Rajoelina
Republic of Malawi Lilongwe +265 Kwacha(D)(MWK) Jul.06.1964
President Bingu wa Mutharika
Republic of Mali Bamako +223 CFA franc (XOF) Sep.22.1960 Prime Minister Cissé Mariame Kaidama Sidibé President Amadou Toumani Touré
Republic of Mauritania Nouakchott +222 Mauritanian Ouguiya (MRO) Nov.28.1960 Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Republic of Mauritius Port Louis +230 Mauritian rupee (MUR) Mar.12.1968 Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam President Anerood Jugnauth
Republic of Mozambique Maputo +258 Mozambican metical (Mtn) (MZN) Jun.25.1975 Prime Minister Luisa Diogo President Armando Guebuza
Republic of Namibia Windhoek +264 Namibian dollar(NAD) Mar.21.1990 Prime Minister Nahas Angula President Hifikepunye Pohamba
Republic of Niger Niamey +227 CFA franc (XOF) Aug.03.1960 Prime Minister Seyni Oumarou President Mohamadou Issoufou
Federal Republic of Nigeria Abuja +234 Nigerian naira and Kobo(NGN) Oct.01.1960
President Goodluck Jonathan
Republic of Rwanda Kigali +250 Rwandan franc(RWF) Jul.01.1962 Prime Minister Bernard Makuza President Paul Kagame
Republic Arab Saharawi Democratic Aauin
saharawi pesetas Feb.27.1976 Prime Minister Abdelkader Taleb Oumar President Mohamed Abdelaziz
Democratic Republic of sao Tome and Principe Sao Tome +239 Dobra(STD) Jul.12.1975 Prime Minister Joaquim Rafael Branco President Fradique de Menezes
Republic of Senegal Dakar +221 CFA franc(XOF) Jun.20.1960 Prime Minister Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye President Abdoulaye Wade
Republic of Seychelles Victoria +248 Seychellois rupee(SCR) Jun.29.1976
President James Michel
Republic of Sierra Leone Freetown +232 Leone (SLL) Apr.27.1961
President Ernest Bai Koroma
Somali Republic Mogadishu +252 Somali shilling (SOS) Jul.01.1960 Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke President Sharif Ahmed
Republic of South Africa Pretoria(Executive), Bloemfontein (Judical),CapeTown(Legislative) +27 South African rand (ZAR)

President Jacob Zuma
Republic of The Sudan Khartoum +249 Sudanese pound (SDG,SDD) Jan.01.1956
President Omar al-Bashir
Kingdom of Swaziland Lobamba(royal and legislative) Mbabane (Administrative) +268 Lilangeni(SZL) Sep.06.1968 Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini King Mswati III
United Republic of Tanzania Dar es Salaam(traditional capital) Dodoma (Location of legislature) +255 Tanzanian shilling (TZS) Dec.09.1961 Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda President Jakaya Kikwete
Togolese Republic Lome` +228 CFA franc (XOF) Apr.27.1960 Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo President Faure Gnassingbé
Tunisian Republic Tunis +216 Tunisian dinar(TND) Mar.20.1956 Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebi President a.i Foued Mebazaa
Republic of Uganda Kampala +256 Ugandan shilling (UGX) Oct.09.1962 Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi President Yoweri Museveni
Republic of Zambia Lusaka +260 Zambian Kwacha(ZMK) Oct.24.1964
President Rupiah Banda
Republic of Zimbabwe Harare +263 Zimbabwe Dollars(ZW$) Nov.18.1980 Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai President Robert Mugabe