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South Africa
16
Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children
How
do we help children exposed to criminal violence? - 30
November
Charlene Smith on the Thought
Leader blog
The
Mail & Guardian is publishing a series of "How
To" articles :
How
to : foster
a child
How
to : find
a place of safety for a child
How
to : apply
for a foster child grant
How
to : get
education for any child
How
to : adopt
a child
How
to : know
your rights as a refugee
How
to : report
sexual harrassment
How
to : apply
for a disability child grant
How
to : apply
for a child grant
How
to : get
a protection order
How
to : respond
to child abuse
How
to : deal
with an unwanted pregnancy
2010 FIFA World Cup
SA
creates special World Cup Courts - 21 November
South Africa plans to create special courts dedicated to
handling crimes committed during the World Cup, aiming to speed
up the judicial process, especially for cases involving
foreigners. Government hopes the promise of swift justice will
help stamp out crime during the event and ease worries of fans
visiting one of the world's most violent countries. - IOL
website
New
system to control soccer hooligans - 2 December
The Department of Home Affairs has introduced an Advanced
Passenger Processing (APP) system to closely monitor the entry
of soccer hooligans into the country for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup. - BuaNews Online
website
SA
setting up national operations room for 2010 FIFA World Cup
- 20 November
A national operations room, or nerve centre, to monitor and
report all incidents during the 2010 FIFA World Cup event, was
being set up, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on
Friday. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Bomb
scare photographer in court - 7 December
German photographer Bernd Fischer, 68, appeared in the Cape Town
Magistrate's Court today in connection with a bomb threat at
last week's 2010 World Cup draw. Prosecutor David Jacobs told
the court that bail of R4 000 was being recommended on condition
that Fischer report to police twice a week and hand in his
passport. Jacobs said the investigating officer had ascertained
that Fischer had property and a "place of abode" in
South Africa. - Times Live
website
World
Cup 2010 : British and German journalists attacked in Cape Town
- 5 December
British and German journalists who were in Cape Town for the
World Cup 2010 draw on Friday were forced into a terrifying
ordeal after criminals stole equipment and cash from them at
knife point, according to La Repubblica. - Goal
website
Teams
to hire warzone security for World Cup - 7 December
Many of the nations taking part in the World Cup will use
private security firms - including war-zone specialists who
operate in Iraq and Afghanistan - to safeguard their players and
officials. Sources in the private protection industry have said
that high-profile football associations from Europe and South
America have already hired firms that will use ex-military
personnel, some of them special forces veterans, to look after
players and their families. The firms will provide
round-the-clock armed bodyguards, bulletproof vehicles, hijack
prevention advice and squads that can handle kidnap situations.
Kidnap insurance is also offered by some agencies. The
revelations come amid fears there could be "gaps in the
coverage" provided by the organisers. - IOL
website
Human
trafficking : SA faces major problem - 3 December
South Africa faces a major problem with human trafficking and
smuggling before the World Cup and it is exacerbated by the
country's inexperience in dealing with this, according to Deputy
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba. Gigaba, briefing
journalists in Pretoria yesterday, admitted that South Africa
had not anticipated the scale of the problem and had woken up to
the reality only recently. "The fact (is) that we don't
have much experience in combating human trafficking. For quite a
long time we thought it was a problem that had nothing to do
with us . . . a problem existing in Europe and the US". - IOL
website
Hiding
SA's street kids for World Cup not a solution - 10 December
While it has been officially denied, we remain suspicious that
government will attempt to remove all children from the streets
ahead of the 2010 World Cup so they are not seen as an enduring
feature of the nation. Given the shortage of space in the few
places of shelter available, just where the street children will
be housed for the duration of the event must be of concern. - Times
Live website
The
dark side of the Fifa World Cup? - 10 December
[During the Grootboom case] Budlender looked the judge
straight in the eye and said that the law as it stood already
criminalized the homeless merely for not having a home because
every single night homeless persons were forced to trespass by
sleeping on someone’s property. It was exactly a policy that
ignored the plight of the homeless that encouraged
criminality, as it forced the homeless to break the law merely
to survive. I was reminded of this fact when I heard that the
City of Cape Town has been taking steps to remove the homeless
from the streets of the mother city for the Fifa World
Cup draw and were also making plans to ensure that there would
be no homeless people n the streets for the actual world cup.
It is unclear what exactly is taking place. I have received
reports that the City used a new bylaw to lock up
homeless persons during the draw and that it was also forcing
homeless persons to sign a letter promising that they would
leave Cape Town for the duration of the World Cup. If they
refuse to sign, they are threatened with arrest. I have been
unable to confirm these allegations. - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
Animal
group concerned by 2010 slaughter plan - 30 November
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(NSPCA) has written to the world soccer body, Fifa, about plans
to slaughter cattle at each of the World Cup stadiums.
"We've sent out a blanket letter . . . to anybody we feel
has a role to play," the NSPCA's farm animal unit manager
Del Jones said on Monday. The NSPCA was reacting to media
reports about a proposal to slaughter cattle to bless the
stadiums where matches will be held during the 2010 Soccer World
Cup. - IOL website
More
bulls may be killed - 1 December
Don't be surprised if an animal is slaughtered at Durban's Moses
Mabhida Stadium as part of the official opening, says eThekwini
Mayor Obed Mlaba, amid controversy over the ritual killing of
beasts. - IOL website
World
Cup stadium 'cow sacrifice' plan sparks row - 1 December
A proposal to bless South Africa's World Cup stadiums by
slaughtering a cow in each one has caused concern among animal
rights activists. The Makhonya Royal Trust, which put forward
the idea, described the cattle killing ritual as a "true
African" way of blessing the 2010 tournament. - BBC
News website
Tourism
chiefs warn against World Cup greed - 4 December
South African soccer and tourism officials are warning hotels,
airlines and restaurants not to scare off future tourists by
hiking prices during next year's World Cup. With about 500 000
tourists expected to descend upon South Africa in mid-2010 and
spend an estimated $850-million during the month-long
tournament, tourism officials said on Thursday they fear
visitors will by put off by exorbitant costs as hotels and guest
lodges raise their prices. Media reports have said that some
hotels are planning to charge as much as $250 for a basic room
that normally would be $100 to $150. Other reports point to
homes along Cape Town's exclusive Atlantic seaboard renting for
$1 000 to $35 000 a day - with one house reportedly
renting for a whopping $1-million for the duration of the
tournament. - Mail & Guardian
website
Fifa
warns on illegal betting - 1 December
Fifa has warned South Africans not to get involved in illegal
betting syndicates, mostly from Asia, that are expected to
descend on the country en masse in the run-up to the World Cup.
Fifa says the multibillion-dollar industry is controlled by
organised criminals who engage in loan-sharking and use
intimidation and violence to collect debts. - IOL
website
Animal
Rights
Calls
for specialised courts for animal abuse cases - 30 November
The Animal Anti Cruelty League on Monday called for specialised
courts to deal with animal abuse cases. AACL General Manager,
Rene Southwood told Eyewitness News too often
justice was hard to come by in animal abuse cases. "It
is very difficult to get anything into court because the cases
are just thrown out so easily ; because the courts are
overworked and animals just do not come into the picture",
said South wood. - Eye
Witness News website
Court
to hear bull-killing case next week - 25 November
An urgent court application to stop the ritual during which men
kill bulls with their bare hands was postponed to next Tuesday
to allow King Goodwill Zwelithini and other respondents to file
their papers. Animal Rights Africa went to the Pietermaritzburg
High Court today to stop the ritual, scheduled for December 5.
It argues that the manner in which the bulls are killed is
cruel. - The Star
website
Talks
to be held over 'cruel' Zulu bull-killing ritual - 24
November
South African animal rights activists have agreed to meet
Zulu groups in a bid to stop a bull-killing ritual, a senior
official says. Cultural commissioner Pat Mkhize announced
the meeting after a court case brought by Animal Rights
Africa was postponed. They are suing Zulu King Goodwill
Zwelithini, arguing that the ceremony, known as Ukweshwama,
is cruel. A royal spokesman said the killing was a highly
symbolic way of thanking God. - BBC
News website
'Why
single out Zulus?' - 25 November
Animal Rights Africa (ARA) on Wednesday said it was
disappointed by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini's decision to
boycott a meeting called to discuss a bare-handed,
bull-killing ritual. Tuesday's meeting was convened by Pat
Mkhize, commissioner for the promotion and protection of the
rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities, to
try and resolve a dispute over the Ukweshwama ritual.
Zwelithini's spokesperson Nhlanhla Mataka said they didn't
go to the meeting because they felt it was not necessary.
ARA's Steve Smit said he was disappointed that only
representatives from Premier Zweli Mkhize's office came to
the talks. The respondents in the high court case are the
king, Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional
Affairs Sicelo Shiceka, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa,
KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize and the province's MEC
for local government, housing and traditional affairs Nomusa
Dube. ARA was acting in the interests of an animal who would
die in a manner which contravened the Animal
Protection Act, the National
Environmental Management Act, and the Bill
of Rights in the Constitution.
The Zulu Royal Household has vowed to go ahead with the
ceremony, even if the court rules against it. - IOL
website
Kill
the beasts : but only if they are not cute - 25 November
During the Ukweshwama ritual, a traditional Zulu
ritual that usually takes place at the end of the harvest
season, a group of young men kill a bull with
their bare hands. According to Animal Rights Africa
(ARA) the ritual is rather cruel. - Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
IFP
enters ritual bull killing fray - 26 November
The IFP has entered the fray regarding the bare-handed
bull-killing ritual that forms part of the Zulu first fruits
ceremony known as umkhosi wokweshwama. The party yesterday
lambasted animal rights activists who are trying to stop the
ritual, saying those organisations and individuals had
failed to show due respect to Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini
in their handling of the situation. - IOL
website
'Difficult'
for judge to rule on bull killing - 1 December
A Pietermaritzburg High Court judge on Tuesday avoided
making a ruling on whether to stop a bull killing ritual.
"I suggest that all parties sit down and agree whether
video footage can be taken during the ritual so that this
matter can be handled by Parliament", said Judge Nic
Van der Reyden. - The
Sunday Independent website
Slaughter
ban inflammatory : judge - 1 December
The Pietermaritzburg judge who must decide if the ritual
killing of a bull will go ahead in KwaZulu-Natal at the
weekend said that an interdict to stop the slaughter could
lead to rebellion. Judge Nic van der Reyden said he could
not be blind to the consequences of stopping a tradition
that had been part of Zulu culture for centuries. He said
the resulting protest could be similar to the 1976 Soweto
uprising, in which black pupils rebelled against a
government order that they be taught in Afrikaans. - Times
Live website
Bull-killing
ritual compared to communion - 2 December
Stopping Zulus from killing a bull at the First Fruits
Festival would be akin to ordering Catholics to stop taking
communion, a Pietermaritzburg High Court judge said
yesterday. - IOL website
Court's
bull delay 'heartening' : activists - 2 December
Animal Rights Africa (ARA) was "heartened" at the
Pietermaritzburg High Court's decision to postpone until
Friday a ruling on the ritual, bare-handed killing of a bull
at the Zulu first fruits festival.
While it had hoped for a decision on the matter yesterday
(December 1), the delay indicated the court was "giving
serious consideration to the cruelty aspects of the killing",
ARA spokesman Steve Smit said in a statement today. - Weekend
Post website
Court
told how the bull will be killed - 3 December
The killing of a bull at the ukweshwama (first fruits)
festival - which takes place at King Goodwill Zwelithini's
palace in Nongoma on Saturday - must be performed without
rope, thongs or weapons of any kind. The animal is
overpowered and its air passage closed barehanded. Its neck
is then broken in a manoeuvre that causes a quick and
painless death. No bloodletting of any kind is allowed, nor
is dismemberment part of the ritual slaying. So says history
Professor Simon Maphalala in an affidavit before
Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nic van der Reyden. - IOL
website
Judgment
on Zulu bull killing expected Friday - 1 December
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and millions of the Zulus will
know on Friday morning whether the Ukweshwama ceremony,
which includes the slaughtering of a bull with bare hands,
will go ahead on Saturday as planned. The judgment on the
application brought by the Animal Rights Africa (ARA) was
reserved until Friday morning by the Pietermaritzburg High
Court. - Times Live
website
Bull
killing saga won't end : expert - 3 December
Ndela Ntshangase, lecturer in the University of
KwaZulu-Natal's school of IsiZulu, said the animal group was
likely to take the matter to the Constitutional Court or
"world international courts" if its application
failed. - IOL website
ANC
steps into Zulu bull ring - 4 December
The ANC has entered the bull-killing debate with
its commission on religious and traditional affairs calling
on animal rights activists to allow the nation to debate the
matter before taking it to the courts.
The Pietermaritzburg high court has rejected an application
by Animal Rights Africa opposing the bare-handed slaughter
of a bull during Umkhosi Wokweshwama.
Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini will lead the nation
in the ceremony in Nongoma in northern Zululand tomorrow. - Sowetan
website
Bull-killing
can go ahead, says court - 4 December
Zulus will be able to restore their king's power with the
bare-handed killing of a bull on Saturday following a court
ruling dismissing an application to stop the ritual. Judge
Nic van der Reyden on Friday dismissed the application by
Animal Rights Africa (ARA) in the Pietermaritzburg High
Court. He was satisfied with the evidence of cultural expert
Professor Jabulani Mapalala that the ARA's objection to the
ritual was based on untrue information and hearsay. - Mail
& Guardian website
See
: KwaZulu-Natal
High Court : Pietermaritzburg
'Allowing
bull killing promotes tolerance' - 4 December
KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize said on Friday that the
Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling allowing Zulus to go
ahead with their bare-handed killing of a bull had paved the
way for cultural tolerance. - IOL
website
Bull
ruling a 'victory for Zulus' - 5 December
Screams of "amandla" echoed through the
Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday following a judgment
that was hailed as a victory for the Zulu nation. - IOL
website
Bull
killing ruling overwhelms - 8 December
The National House of Traditional Leaders says it was
"overwhelmed" by a court ruling allowing the
ritual bull killing by the Zulu people to go ahead. "We
had no doubt that the Zulu kingdom was performing its ritual
within the ambit of the Zulu customary law", the
traditional leaders said in a statement. - Times
Live website
Culture
no excuse for cruelty - 6 December
How soon before we start burning witches again? The bull is
now dead. In the aftermath of the noise and the anger in the
week prior to his slaughter, I wish to speak for the dead
bull. Most importantly, though, I wish to speak for a sad,
disintegrating and swiftly disappearing ANC. By Friday, the
noise that persisted was about black versus white, European
versus African, colonialist versus "freedom
fighter". In truth, the debate should be about what is
right and wrong in a new and liberated South Africa. It is
about what carves a path for us into the future as a nation.
- Article by Justice Malala on the Thought
Leader blog
African
culture? Not in my name - 10 October
I am invoking the example of the tragedy of albinos and
twins on the continent because of yet another unfortunate
debate about culture in this country. This is about the
ritual - observed by people of Nguni stock, including Zulus,
Swazis, and Ndebeles - which involves about 40 young men
killing a bull with their bare hands. There is a belief that
the warriors inherit the bull's strength and power when the
beast is killed. When the warriors salute the king upon
completion of their mission, the power is transferred to the
king and his kingdom. I am all for the strengthening
of kingdoms. But I do have a problem with the barbarity of
the ritual and the assertion that it encompasses Nguni
culture. If the purpose of the ritual is to slaughter a bull
to appease the ancestors, I don't see anything wrong with
using a spear to achieve the same goal. I don't understand
the protracted debauchery of pulling the bull by its
testicles and pulling its tongue out, seen in so many
pictures recently. And you call that Nguni or Zulu culture?
Not in my name. I know I speak for many Ngunis who respect
their customs and traditions, but who are outraged by some
of the regressive practices.
- Article by Fred Khumalo on the Times
Live website
Ukweshwama
: what is all this bull? - 4 December
The Scramble for Africa which began in the 1880s has been
largely blamed for disrupting and eroding the cultural
practices and traditions of Africans. Africans have
maintained that colonialism and imperialism served to
entrench Western values while undermining their way of life.
Often these cultural extremists were not able to draw a
clear distinction between the progressions of humanity as a
result of technological impact and modernity and deliberate
acts that serve to undermine the African way of life. -
Article by Sentletse Diakanyo on the Thought
Leader blog
As
much as I respect Zulu culture, ukweshwama can never be
condoned - 7 December
I accept that there are thousands of examples of animal
cruelty in other cultures ranging from battery hens and
clubbing seals to whaling and shooting wild animals for
sport. They receive the same rebuke as this does and lend no
support to the Zulu argument I’m afraid. Thought the king
might believe that opposition to the ritual it is a slight
on Zulu culture, it is not. Yes people do not know the
culture as well as the practitioners thereof but that is not
necessary to understand when an act of cruelty - which this
clearly is - has occurred. - Article by Michael Trapido on
the Thought Leader
blog
SPCA
wants to stop killing of animals in cultural rituals - 7
December
With the controversial bull killing ceremony over the SPCA
said on Monday it wants to put an end to the killing of
animals in cultural rituals completely. - Eye
Witness News website
Spilling
the blood of bulls to preserve Zulu tradition - 8
December
The bull was badly outnumbered, and while its muscular body,
thick black hide and rock-hard horns offered significant
advantages, this was not a brawl the animal was likely to
win. Forty Zulu warriors were circling about, there to kill
it with their bare hands. Penned up in the royal kraal, the
bull trotted around for a while, looking nervously for an
escape. Then it hesitated, and the warriors - all in their
late teens or early twenties - moved in, their hands
reaching for anything to grasp, the tail, the legs, those
horns. By the account of some participants, veteran warriors
had to be recruited to properly snap the animal’s neck. - New
York Times website
Black
Economic Empowerment
Zuma
names BBBEE Council member - 3 December
President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday announced the names of those who
will serve in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE)
Council. According to the Presidency, Zuma appoints members
of the council in terms of the BBBEE Council Act no 53 of 2003.
- BuaNews Online
website
Cyberlaw
SA
firm urges Facebook caution - 30 November
Facebook comments and photographs could be held against
employees, said training organisation AstroTech in a
statement on Monday. "We're seeing increasing numbers of
companies coming to courses trying to navigate their way around
rapid changes in information technology law or those laws that
apply to it. And how Facebook is used is a real concern",
said chief executive officer training company AstroTech, which
offers courses in internet technology and the law. AstroTech's
course is facilitated by lawyer Warren Weertman who has helped
draft legislation in South Africa. - News24
website
Defence
Talks
on unions banned - 20 November
The defence ministry insisted on Friday that an interim service
commission reporting on conditions in the military never had a
mandate to raise the fraught issues of trade unions for
soldiers. "The commission's terms of reference were clear
from the outset: its priority is to investigate and make
recommendations regarding remuneration and the conditions of
service of members of the SANDF - not about the existence or
non-existence of unions within the military," the ministry
said in a statement. - IOL
website
Education
Ex-student
sues TUT - 4 December
A young unemployed woman is suing the Tshwane University of Technology
(TUT) for R2-million. Even though Sharon Kwadi can't afford the kind of
lawyers the institution has, she is determined to "see justice
done" - to have the institution compensate her for the four years
she spent studying towards a programme TUT was not accredited to give. -
IOL website
Porn,
booze among class acts at school - 5 December
Boozing, bullying, possession of pornography and dangerous weapons,
smoking cigarettes and drugs, intimidating learners and teachers and
vandalism of school property are just some of the reasons schools gave
when applying to education departments to expel pupils this year.
Details were released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga
yesterday. - IOL website
Teacher
played role in suicide of pupil (13) : report - 10 December
The investigation into the death of a 13-year-old Scottsville Primary
School pupil has blamed a teacher for putting pressure on the child to
commit suicide. The pupil S'duduzo, Qulo, hanged himself because he did not want to go
back to be taught by a "racist teacher". Provincial MEC for
education Senzo Mchunu confirmed that the investigation had been
concluded and that the report containing the findings was sent to the
mother and the school on Monday. He said it will not be released
publicly at this stage. The recommendations of the investigation include
that disciplinary action be taken against the teacher. - Sowetan
website
Environment
25
November 2009
Sonjica
: Release of the National Environmental Compliance and
Enforcement Report 2008/9, Pretoria
Polity website
1
December 2009
Statement
by Carrol Moses, Department of Water and Environmental Affairs
spokesperson, on the enactment of the Integrated
Coastal Management Act
Polity website
SA
to have dedicated environmental courts next year : Sonjica -
25 November
Dedicated courts to deal specifically with infringements against
the South African environmental policies, were likely to become
effective within the next six months, Water and Environmental
Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Wednesday. Speaking at
the launch of the National Compliance and Enforcement Report,
Sonjica said that she had met with Justice Minister Jeff Radebe
in September to discuss the issue. The discussions led to the
decision to move forward with the process of re-establishing the
environmental courts. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
SA
announces emissions target as climate talks start - 7
December
While South Africa would continue to increase its greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions until 2020, it would do so at a lesser rate -
provided financial, technological, and capacity building
assistance was forthcoming from developed nations, said the
Presidency as the international climate change talks in
Copenhagen started on Monday. South Africa will undertake
mitigation actions which will result in a deviation below the
current emissions baseline of around 34% by 2020 and by around
42% by 2025. This level of effort enables the country's
emissions to peak between 2020 and 2025, plateau for about a
decade and decline in absolute terms thereafter, said the
Presidency in a statement. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
See
also : United
Nations Climate Change Conference. 7-18 December 2009
Finance
South
Africa : King III : what does it all mean?! - 25 November
There has been much public debate about company laws as a result
of the enactment of the new Companies Act of
2008 ; and, more
recently, the release of the King Code and Report on Governance
in South Africa ("King III"), which will become
effective on 1 March 2010. But what does King III deal with and
how will it apply to business South Africa? - Article by
Vaughan Pierce and Stephen Kennedy-Good of Deneys Reitz
Attorneys on the Mondaq
website
* * * Free registration required * * *
Gender
Issues
'SA
gender machinery in disarray' - 25 November
South Africa's "gender machinery" is in
"disarray", with it not even being clear who is
coordinating the 16 Days of Activism campaign, a group of NGOs
said on Wednesday. "At a time when it is most needed,
participants noted, the national gender machinery is in
disarray," read a statement from Gender Links and the
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR).
"There is a lack of clarity on which agency is driving
the 16 Days of Activism campaign, which used to be housed in
the Department of Local Government, following the
establishment of the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and
People with Disabilities in April this year. - Mail
& Guardian website
Health
1
December 2009
Zuma
: Address by the President of South Africa, on World Aids Day,
Pretoria
Polity
website
Can
Aids orphans now claim damages from SA government? - 23
November
Now that government has acknowledged that it, or at least the
former administration, is responsible for the premature deaths
of hundreds of thousands of South Africans, what stops this
country's estimated 1.4 million Aids orphans from launching a
civil claim for damages? - The
Daily Maverick website
'Frenzy
over amputations missed the point' - 8 December
I make this statement on behalf of the division of paediatric
surgery at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. I
gave the instruction for the amputations and take full
responsibility for the interventions. To have to perform a
destructive procedure such as a limb amputation on a small child
is, believe me, a devastating and emotionally highly distressing
experience for a dedicated children's doctor. Media reports
failed to point out that the amputations were essential,
unavoidable and life-saving for little Thembisa [Nikelo].
Doctors at Far East Rand Hospital instituted treatment and saved
her life, but tragically not her limbs. As doctors we can
resuscitate but not resurrect, including the dead tissue of
gangrenous, dead distal extremities. Anybody who contests this
statement or suggests a "cover-up", kindly do so
openly, state your name clearly and be prepared for legal
consequences. - Statement by Peter Beale, professor and head of
the division of paediatric surgery at Wits University, on the IOL
website
Human
limbs 'scattered around dump site' - 2 December
The Green Scorpions on Wednesday found another two sites of
buried medical waste in the Welkom area in the Free State. They
were found buried on the Jonkerus Farm, 25km outside the town,
and on the Welkom Showgrounds, said chief director for
regulatory services in the environmental affairs department,
also known as the Green Scorpions, Sonnyboy Bapela. "It's a
crime scene now". Each waste site was about 10m wide. The
site on the Showgrounds was at least two metres deep.
Investigators have so far found syringes, scalpels, used
bandages, discarded medications as well as amputated limbs,
placentas and foetuses. - IOL
website
New
health watchdog to be introduced next year - 24 November
An independent health watchdog will be introduced by April to
ensure clinics and hospitals adhere to quality standards, Deputy
Health Minister Dr Molefi Sefularo said in Johannesburg on
Tuesday. The National Health Act
will be amended to create the watchdog body, which will report
to Parliament either directly or through the health minister. - Mail
& Guardian website
Human
Rights
Motlanthe
blames farmers for murders - 28 November
Some of the country's most horrendous farm murders are being
committed by exploited farm labourers, according to deputy
president Kgalema Motlanthe. While condemning the behaviour of
the community of De Doorns in the Western Cape - who attacked
foreigners - as "acts of immorality and criminality",
Motlanthe was also critical of farmers on Friday. - IOL
website
Complaint
lodged after Motlanthe's farm murder comments - 1 December
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe finds himself reported to the
Human Rights Commission after accusing farmers of bringing the
most brutal farm murders on their own heads by exploiting
foreign labourers. - Times
Live website
Former
brothel owner switches sides - 25 November
The city has found a unique weapon in its fight against
prostitution - a former brothel owner who last hit the headlines
when she took her attempts to have prostitution legalised all
the way to the Constitutional Court. Ellen Jordan, who lost
R3,2-million and was bankrupted by her fruitless efforts to have
the country's prostitution laws declared unconstitutional seven
years ago, has since switched sides and will now be advising the
city on the ins and outs of the industry. Reports during her
court case in 2002 dubbed her "the Madam of South
Africa", but Jordan said yesterday she had changed and now
believed the sex industry was exploitative and women were driven
to it through lack of choice. - IOL
website
International
Affairs
Section
39 : now that we've got it . . . - 21 November
What are we going to do with it? "It" being a seat on
the Security Council of the United Nations. Although we were
actually returned unopposed along with the other new members,
the campaign for the seat was presented as the next-to-last
struggle to end all struggles. - 234next
website
Zim
land deal : farmers threaten Davies - 20 November
More than 200 South African farmers whose land was seized in
Zimbabwe are threatening legal action against the South African
government for apparently excluding them from an investment
protection treaty with Zimbabwe. They have written to Trade and
Industry Minister Rob Davies threatening to take him to the High
Court if he fails to provide a copy of the Bilateral Investment
Protection Agreement between the two countries, to be signed on
November 27 in Harare. - IOL
website
SA
mediators arrive in Zimbabwe - 30 November
Three South African mediators arrived in
Zimbabwe on Sunday to help speed up inter-party negotiations there.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told a rally on Sunday that
President Jacob Zuma was expected in Zimbabwe
this week, when he was expected to check on progress
as Southern African Development Community's main mediator to the
country. - Eye
Witness News website
Judiciary
New
judges announced by Zuma - 25 November
President Jacob Zuma announced the appointment of 14 judges to
various courts across the country today. - Business
Day website
Keyphrases
:
Annah Malefsane Kgoele(Mafikeng High Court)
Basheer Wagley (Labour Court. Deputy Judge President)
Herbert Qedusizi Msimang (KwaZulu-Natal High Court. Deputy Judge
President)
Jeremiah Buti Zwelibanzi Shongwe (SCA)
Johannes Willem Eksteen (Eastern Cape)
Judith Margaret Roberson (Eastern Cape)
Keoagile Elias Matojan (Gauteng High Court)
Lorrimer Eric Leach (SCA)
Nomonde Patience Mngqibisa-Thusi (Gauteng High Court)
Phillip Coppin SC (Gauteng High Court)
Ronel Getruida Tolmay (Gauteng High Court)
Sulet Potterill (Gauteng High Court)
Urmila Bhoola (Labour Court)
Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi (SCA)
Meyer
Joffe tipped for top job at judicial institution - 27
November
The Western Cape legal fraternity’s hopes of seeing the back
of Judge President John Hlophe appear to have been dashed after
it emerged this week that the Jackie Selebi trial judge, Meyer
Joffe, is the only contender for the South African Judicial
Institute's top job. The Mail & Guardian can reveal
that Judge Joffe - who has been at the centre of some
controversy as the judicial officer presiding over the
corruption trial of South African's former top cop - is the only
judge who will be interviewed on Friday for the executive
director's position. Joffe would fit the bill because he is
winding down his career and is scheduled to retire in 2011 from
his position on the South Gauteng High Court bench. - Mail
& Guardian website
Retired
SA judge warns against delayed justice - 27 Novembeer
A failure to deliver an outstanding judgement in good time is as
much an abuse by a judge as beating a spouse would be, a retired
South African Constitutional Court judge said in Windhoek on
Friday. Retired Judge Johann Kriegler made the hard-hitting
remark when he addressed a meeting of the Law
Society of Namibia, which has tried - but failed - to get
the Judicial Service Commission to take disciplinary action
against Judges of Namibia's High Court and Supreme Court in
connection with long delays in delivering reserved judgements. -
allAfrica website
Why
do Westerners get it so wrong? - 2 December
There is a long and ignoble tradition of Western intellectuals
taking an interest in foreign regimes and getting it horribly
wrong. There was a striking example of this disjuncture in the
recent lecture, in Johannesburg, by Margaret Marshall the Chief
Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Marshall
was born in South Africa, studied at Wits University, and served
courageously as NUSAS president in 1967. She left the country in
1968 to study in the United States and has not looked back,
pursuing a distinguished legal career in her adopted country. In
November Marshall was invited to Johannesburg to deliver the
Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture by the Legal Services Trust. Her
comments on the United States were critical and insightful, and
in certain respects, highly relevant to South Africa. Her
limited comments on the judiciary South Africa, however, managed
to be both slavish and boastful. Before delivering her lecture,
Marshall should have taken some time to properly acquaint
herself with what has been happening in South Africa. As it is,
her comments, such as they were, bore no relation to the actual
lived reality. Moreover, they can be read as an endorsement of
the agenda of the thugs and racists currently in charge. -
Article by James Myburgh on the Politicsweb
website
Bogeymen
and loathing - 3 December
I want to respond to the article that appeared yesterday,
written by James Myburgh, the editor of this site, itself a
response to the comments made by Margaret Marshall, the Chief
Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Jeremy
Gordin responds to James Myburgh's criticism of Margaret
Marshall on the Politicsweb
website
"Strange
alchemy of life and law" - 3 December
James Myburgh's article, "Why do Westerners get it so
wrong?", gives a superb analysis of the
"disjuncture" in the thinking of left/liberal
intellectuals in Western societies when writing about
foreign totalitarian systems of which they know very little
indeed. Myburgh writes also, however, that this disjuncture
in relation to foreign systems "stands in marked contrast
to the rigorous and critical stance" these intellectuals
"have to take in analysing their own societies - if
they are to maintain their reputations and the respect of their
peers". The difficulty is that in South Africa, this
ignorance - the opposite of a "rigorous and critical
stance", whether wilful or unconscious - is an
ignorance at home. - Paul Trewhela on Margaret Marshall and the
Bram Fischer question on the Politicsweb
website
Justice
Cluster
New-look
judiciary mooted - 27 November
New Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo is driving a major initiative
to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. The Mail
& Guardian has learned that the administrative arm
of the country's courts is to come under the direct control of
the judiciary. - Mail &
Guardian website
How
govt allocates legal briefs racially : Jeff Radebe - 24
November
Text of justice minister's speech to the BLA on November 13 2009
Acknowledging that the management of litigation by the state is
fragmented and lacking in policy direction, we commit to the
ideals of an integrated, policy driven, professional, empowering
and cost effective management of state litigation. In this
regard the department is in the process of finalising a
blueprint which will mirror a framework on how state litigation
should be managed and coordinated. This policy framework seeks
to address the above challenges, to ensure an improvement in the
quality of services rendered and generally for the proper
management of state litigation. In the first quarter of the
current financial year, of the 754 briefs that were issued to
Counsel, 89% of these were issued to blacks (i.e. black females
and males). Of the 89%, 63% was issued to black male advocates
and 26% was issued to black females. It should be noted that in
the majority of cases client departments dictate as they hold
the purse, which counsel to brief, and that the State Attorney
has no say in the matter. This situation must be remedied. With
respect to the value of the briefs, R68 331 868 was paid out to
counsel as opposed to R62 177 845 that was paid during the first
quarter of the last financial year. Expenses increased by R6 154
023, that translate to nine percent. - Politicsweb
website
Justice
splurges R105m on 'luxury' - 23 November
Justice department staff, the minister and his deputy, as well
as judges have been clocking up frequent-flyer miles and hotel
stays at taxpayers' expense to the tune of R105-million so far
this year. Last year the department spent R188m on travel
and accommodation costs.The figures were given in a written
reply to a parliamentary question. - IOL
website
11
November 2009
Introduction
of the President of the Republic of South Africa, President
Jacob Zuma, by Minister Jeff Radebe, Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Development on the occasion of the Heads of
Prosecuting Agencies Conference, at The Cullinan, Cape Town
SA Government Information
website
Labour
Issues
Cosatu
meets to review strategy - 20 November
South Africa's powerful Cosatu trade union federation meets next
week to take stock of its relations with the ruling ANC and
progress made in economic restructuring to benefit the country's
poor. Cosatu, which says it has over two-million members across
the country, aims to convince President Jacob Zuma to change
economic policies to improve the lives of millions of workers. -
Creamer Media's
Engineering News website
Labour
court to hear whistleblower case - 26 November
A Limpopo municipal employee will go the Labour Court in
Johannesburg on Friday after he was embroiled in revelations
that a fellow employee allegedly stole municipal airtime to win
a competition for a BMW. The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC)
is defending SA Municipal Workers' Union shop steward Patrick
Aphane. He wrote to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in September
asking for an audit of the Sekhukhune municipality's finances
after the BMW allegations surfaced. He also confirmed this
request on SABC radio and as a result was charged on October 29
for bringing the municipality into disrepute. - IOL
website
Keyphrase :
Public Disclosures Act
Vavi,
Godsell urge workers to make use of training layoff scheme -
8 December
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on
Tuesday that it was disappointed in the number of employees and
employers that have taken up government's training layoff scheme
initiative. President Jacob Zuma said last week that the
R2,4-billion scheme had saved around 4 482 jobs. Cosatu general
secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told journalists that the training
layoff scheme still had a long way to go before making up for
the estimated 959 000 job losses that had occurred in South
Africa, since the start of the economic recession. "The
training layoff scheme is a fantastic opportunity",
Millennium Labour Council chairperson Bobby Godsell told
journalists on Tuesday. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Land
Affairs and Property
Land
use classification workshop
The Chief Directorate : National Geo-spatial Information
(CD:NGI) of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform
held workshops in Cape Town, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg and East
London to discuss the National Land Use
Classification and Methodology initiative. Comments
and input from the various workshops held around the country are
in the process of being collated and will be used to create a
final proposed draft document which will then be proposed as a
national standard. A secretariat is to be created to manage the
National Land Use Classification and Methodology and it will
have the ability to make amendments to the document where
necessary. - ee
publishers website
Sexwale
slams 'morally reprehensible' fraud - 26 November
A total of 923 government officials have been caught during the
Human Settlement Department's crackdown on corruption, Human
Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday. "We
cannot allow people to turn the poor into a business. This is
morally reprehensible," Sexwale said. According to a report
by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), which heads the
department's special audit task team, 800 of those arrested were
in national and provincial government, and 123 in local
government. Five members of the legal fraternity had been struck
of the roll for housing corruption. - IOL
website
Outraged
group plans 'slumlord' class action - 3 December
Outraged citizens of Nelson Mandela Bay are gearing up to launch
a massive class action against the municipality in a bid to get
it to force Irish "slumlord" Ken Denton to repair his
decaying and derelict properties in the city's historical heart.
Some of the city's top legal minds have already been consulted
and a campaign to raise R150 000 to start the class action will
be launched shortly. "It is just a matter of deciding who
would be best to go after", said one SOC (Save Our City)
member who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It could be
the municipality, the provincial government or heritage bodies
such as the SA Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) for failing to
enforce the Heritage Act of 1999".
- Weekend Post
website
Tear
it down : or pay - 24 November
At least four developers accused of building unauthorised
holiday resorts on KwaZulu-Natal's treasured World Heritage
Site, the iSimangaliso Wetlands Park, will have to demolish them
and rehabilitate the area. If they fail to do so within a
specified time, conservation authorities will tear them down,
restore the bush and recover the costs from the developers. This
is according to an order confirmed by Judge Piet Koen in the
Durban High Court on Monday. - IOL
website
Land
Claims and Expropriation
Judge
slams land laws - 11 December
In a strongly worded judgement recently handed down by Judge
Yasmin Meer in the Land Claims Court in Durban, she expressed
the court’s dissatisfaction with the numerous applications
that landowners were being forced to bring before it, due to the
ineptitude of the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights
in resolving land claims. In particular, Judge Meer singled out
the commission’s failure to refer disputed claims to court, to
honour deeds of sale entered into between landowners and the
commission, and to comply with court orders. This judgment
followed an application by a group of Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal,
landowners for a contempt order against chief land claims
commissioner Blessing Mphela. - Meat
Trade News Daily website
Farmer
paid by state after drastic measures - 4 December
A North West
landowner who was granted a court order in September compelling
the Land Claims Commission to pay him in 48 hours finally
received his money yesterday after his lawyer began attachment
proceedings against the state.
The case
suggests other landowners who went to court to compel the
commission to honour sale agreements worth over R300m may have
to resort to attachment orders to force the state to pay its
debts. Two months after the commission failed to obey a Land
Claims Court order to pay Brits vegetable farmer Hennie
Wolmarans, his lawyer Kerneels Lourens began steps to implement
a recent Constitutional Court judgment. This allows moveable
property belonging to the state to be attached and sold to
satisfy a judgment debt. "It's a sad day in our democracy
when we have to go so far", said Lourens. "This is
undermining the rule of law and sanctity of contracts". - Business
Day website
Hope
lost in valley of broken promises - 8 December
Bureaucratic inertia and a financial crisis at the Land Claims
Commission are having a devastating effect on both land
claimants and farmers at the giant Hartbeespoort irrigation
scheme in the Crocodile River valley, near Brits, a major food
supplier to Gauteng. Court papers and personal accounts paint a
depressing picture of declining vegetable production and a
deteriorating security situation that has destroyed property
values and resulted in several murders and an increase in farm
attacks, arson, housebreaking, vandalism, and the theft of
copper piping, irrigation equipment and crops. - Business
Day website
Keyphrases :
Bakwena
Bapo Ba Mogale
Reprieve
for ex-land affairs top official - 3 December
A former senior official in the department of land affairs will
be able to spend Christmas with his family before knowing his
fate on whether he will be convicted of corruption or not.
Cyril Kabelo Chuene briefly appeared in the Nelspruit
magistrate's court on Monday where his case was postponed to
January 15 to allow him to get a new lawyer after his first
lawyer withdrew from representing him.
His R5 000 bail was extended.
Chuene allegedly solicited and received a R10 000 bribe from a
farmer after promising him that he would nullify a claim on his
farm in Beestekraal near Hazyview. - Sowetan
website
MPs
may take on Treasury over land reform shortfall - 23
November
Parliament has urged the government to allocate more money to
agrarian reform, saying SA cannot afford to postpone this any
longer and the lack of sufficient funding would compromise its
development agenda. The legislature's view was expressed in a
report adopted by the House last week in response to the
medium-term budget policy statement tabled in Parliament by
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last month. - Business
Day website
Minerals
and Energy
Mixed
reaction to Eskom tariff proposal - 1 December
Eskom's revised tariff proposal received a mixed reception on
Tuesday. Opposition parties rejected the proposed 35% tariff
increase every year for the next three years, down from the
previous proposed increase of 45%, saying it did little to
"dampen concerns" about the effects of inflation. - Polity
website
Eskom
tariff hike won't help growth : ANC - 2 December
Electricity parastatal Eskom's revised tariff increase proposal
will not help growth in the country, the ANC said on Wednesday.
The party was "concerned" about the effect Eskom's
revised 35% tariff increase proposal for a three year period,
would have on the majority of South Africans who would find it
"hard to afford". "We see the Eskom proposal to
the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) not
assisting South Africa's economic growth, especially its
recovery from the recent economic recession," the ANC said
in a statement. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Eskom
loses power monopoly - 4 December
The government opened the door for independent power producers
by announcing the National Integrated Resource Plan on Thursday,
scotching Eskom's plans to stall construction of the Kusile
power station. The Department of Energy is drawing up the
regulations that Eskom and the National Energy Regulator (Nersa)
must follow. Energy Minister Dipuo Peters says the department is
also creating a new entity, the Independent System Operator
(ISO), which will not reside within Eskom. - Fin24
website
SA
minerals law too 'weak' on beneficiation, Cronin avers - 26
November
South African Communist Party (SACP) deputy general-secretary
Jeremy Cronin has described provisions on minerals beneficiation
in the country's Mineral and Petroleum
Resources Development Act as "weak", but has
also suggested that a legislative amendment might be a more
"effective" and "affordable" remedy than
nationalisation. In a response to the African National Congress
Youth League's framework document on the nationalisation of
mines, Cronin (whose critique was described as
"racist" by the league's president Julius Malema)
agreed that the continued exportation of largely unprocessed
minerals was reproducing "our semicolonial economic
status" and costing South Africa "many potential
jobs". - Creamer
Media's Mining Weekly website
Biff!
Bang! Wack! Pow! The nationalisation debate gets personal -
23 November
The South African Communist Party deputy general secretary
Jeremy Cronin's core position is that nationalising the mines is
a bad idea, not because nationalising things is necessarily bad,
but because the mines are in too hopeless a state to be worth
nationalising. Sasol and ArcelorMittal, on the other hand,
should be nationalised, he argues. Malema's core position in
response to this bizarre logic is that Cronin is (a) not a
proper communist, and (b) that obviously, the useless mines will
not be nationalised, only the ones making a profit. And
obviously, the state will not have to pay for them. - The
Daily Maverick website
25
November 2009
SACP
: Statement by Jeremy Cronin, South African Communist Party
Deputy General-Secretary, on the Nationalisation of the mines
Polity website
Motsepe
backs nationalisation of mines - 10 December
Businessman Patrice Motsepe would back nationalising the
country's mines if it was in the country's best interests, SABC
radio reported on Tuesday. "My belief has always been, if
nationalisation is what is in the best interests of South
Africa, I'll support it, whether it's nationalisation, or
whether it's socialism - if the policies are what will improve,
uplift and create a better lifestyle, better living conditions .
. ." the billionaire and executive chairperson of African
Rainbow Minerals (ARM) said at a handover of a rural upliftment
project in Limpopo. - Mail &
Guardian website
Municipal
Management and Procedure
eThekwini
|
Press
Release : City launches Maritime Cluster
This
press release was emailed out at : 07 December, 2009 19:03
The
Municipalitys Economic Development Department has joined
forces with the maritime sector to establish the eThekwini
Maritime Cluster as a platform for the industry to identify
and address cross cutting issues of strategic importance as a
collective. The launch of the eThekwini Maritime Cluster marks
a significant milestone for the implementation of the Maritime
Industry Development Programme through public private
partnerships to ensure the industry in Durban remains
efficient and competitive.
The
partners involved include : the eThekwini Municipality,
Transnet, Department of Economic Development & Tourism,
National Department of Transport, Durban Investment Promotion
Agency (DIPA), Department of Trade and Industry KZN (TIKZN),
Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Maritime
Industry. Cllr Lafaso Majola, Deputy Chairman of the Economic
Development Committee said that as of the Durban Port is the
largest on the African continent, the eThekwini Municipality
therefore recognises the critical role of the Maritime
industry towards the local and provincial economy. We regard
the multi billion rand maritime industry as a pillar of our
transforming and progressing economy. This cluster will be the
stimulus for the industry and will play an important role in
supporting and developing the industry and value chain
efficiencies.
He
explained that through this cluster, the Port of Durban, the
shipping industry, government and the local economy were
inextricably intertwined in a unique partnership of
sustainable development, economic growth and job creation for
previously disadvantaged people.
We
look forward to working together with all industry
stakeholders to ensure that Durban holds its grid position as
Africas leading harbour and container port, he added.
The
Port of Durban is South Africas largest port in terms of value
of cargo handled as well as number of vessel arrivals per
annum. It is estimated that the port and its related
industries contribute in excess of 20% of Durbans GDP. Durban
is approximately 55% of the KwaZulu-Natal GDP, which in turn
is approximately 15% of the South African GDP. Thus, in round
figures the Maritime Industry in Durban contributes between
1.5 and 2.0 percent of the national GDP. Depending on which
sub-sectors are included in the estimate, this points towards
a contribution to the local GDP of between R25bn and R35bn
according to Port of Durban statistics.
Mr
Shunnon Tulsiram, Head : Economic Development Unit said, The
development and operations of the Port of Durban and City are
interrelated at various levels. To achieve a common vision for
the sustainable development of the Port and City in the
future, and to ensure their successful co-existence, joint
planning is essential. He added, the eThekwini Municipal Area
and the KZN province is highly dependent on the maritime
sector as one of the main economic drivers of the region,
therefore it is critical that the port and the inter-related
shipping and cargo sectors are efficiently capitalised and
managed in order to remain competitive by international
standards. This is a public private partnership that will help
bring about change that is required. It would be driven by the
industry".
Mr
Jannie Roux, Chairman of the eThekwini Maritime Cluster said,
"If we have a successful port, we will have a successful
city. It is that realisation that caused the City to have a
maritime cluster. The role of the cluster is to keep the port
successful for the future. We also need to have infrastructure
to ensure successful growth of the port".
For
more info contact Mrs Noma Sokhela, Programme Manager :
Logistics, Economic Development Unit on telephone 031-311 4096
or email sokhelan@durban.gov.za
Issued
by the eThekwini Municipality, Communications Unit. Tel Sohana
Singh on 031-311 2044 or email singhsohana@durban.gov.za
|
Press
Release : Misspelt Geographical Names to be Corrected
This
press release was emailed out at : 25 November, 2009
13:55
The
eThekwini Municipalitys Executive Committee (EXCO) has
approved recommendations by the KZN Provincial
Geographic Names Committee to correct the spelling of
some rivers and settlement names around eThekwini
Municipal area.
The
Provincial Committee said the names would have to be
urgently corrected so that they could be adopted
together with the name of the new airport in La Mercy.
A
report containing 19 incorrectly spelt names of rivers
and settlements was submitted to EXCO this week. The
list contains the existing names, the proposed names
as well as the reason for changing the names. Some of
the names included in the list are: Inanda, which will
be changed to eNanda, uMgeni (river) to uMngeni,
eMgeni (village) to eMingeni Amanzimtoti to
eManzamtoti, Umhlanga to uMhlanga Rocks.
Other
names that will be corrected are : Umlazi/Umlaas to
eMlaza, Umhlali to eMhlali, Tongaat to oThongathi and
uMbongintwini to eZimbokodweni. The names suggested
for correction will be forwarded to the National
Minister of Arts and Culture for approval. The EXCO
also accepted a report from the Masakhane,
Grants-in-Aid, Non-Racism, and Non-Sexism Committee,
seeking permission to name unnamed streets in ward 20,
KwaDabeka to the west of Durban and ward 58 in
Waterloo to the north. The naming of the streets is in
line with an EXCO resolution seeking to rationalize
township addresses so that every street within the
eThekwini Municipality should be named. According to
the report, all ward and PR Councillors were informed
of the project and no objections were received from
the affected communities.
Whilst
some of the streets are to be named after local
heroes, a majority of them will be named using neutral
names such as those of flowers, animals and rivers.
Issued
by eThekwini Municipality, Communications Unit. For
more information, please contact Mandla Nsele on
031-311 2276 or e-mail nselem@durban.gov.za
|
National
Intelligence Service
3
December 2009
Zuma
: Address by the President of South Africa, at the Intelligence
Services Day, Pretoria
We speak of state security because our primary task is to defend
our people against any hostile force aimed at undermining their
sovereignty and disrupting the national programmes. This country
is not immune to these kinds of threats, and at all times
requires adequate institutions and resources to mitigate them.
These lead us to undertake a comprehensive review of legislation
governing intelligence structures, ethics of work, quality of
intelligence product and the infrastructure required to be
efficient. We also plan to improve the capacity of intelligence
through an increase in spending on technical capacities and
tradecraft training. We are also guided by the objective to
build an 'intelligence officer for life'. - Polity
website
National
Prosecuting Authority
Pikoli
and State reach out of court settlement - 22 November
Eyewitness News has learnt that axed NPA head Vusi Pikoli
has reached an out of court settlement with the state. The two
parties acknowledged a breakdown took place in their
relationship and Pikoli has subsequently received a R7.5 million
settlement. - Eye
Witness News website
Pikoli's
lawyer to withdraw case - 23 November
Former National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi
Pikoli's lawyer will withdraw on Monday an application
challenging his dismissal in the High Court in Pretoria. "I
will be withdrawing the application today [Monday]", his
lawyer, Aslam Moosajee, said. - Mail
& Guardian website
Does
R7,5m pave the way for Pikoli's new job? - 23 November
President Jacob Zuma has opened the door for axed prosecuting
head Vusi Pikoli to find a new job in the government. And, in
the R7,5 million settlement deal that ended Pikoli's legal war
with the state, government officials have not only recognised
the former national director of public prosecutions as a
"man of integrity", but also reaffirmed the importance
of prosecutorial independence. - IOL
website
Paying
off Pikoli - 24 November
The settlement agreement between former national director of
public prosecutions (NDPP) Vusi Pikoli and the government makes
for fascinating reading. The government concedes that Pikoli is
"professionally competent, sufficiently experienced and
conscientious and (has) the requisite integrity to hold a senior
public position". - Business
Day website
Pikoli,
the NPA and the R7.5 million - 24 November
It is a pity that Vusi Pikoli decided not to embarrass the
government by going ahead with his case in which he was
challenging the lawfulness of his suspension and eventual firing
as head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). - Pierre de
Vos on the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
Who
will run the NPA? - 24 November
Now that Vusi Pikoli has pocketed his R7.5 million and is out of
the picture, President Jacob Zuma has a free hand to appoint a
new National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). The
constitution is pretty clear on this and also on what that
person should be : The head of the NPA must be a "fit and
proper person" and "able to appear in any court in the
Republic". In other words, he or she, must be an advocate.
We take a look at some of the possible candidates. - The
Daily Maverick website
Zuma
to move fast on NPA - 24 November
President Jacob Zuma is expected to move fast to appoint a new
national prosecutions chief and to pick somebody not
associated either with his inner court or his long battle with
the law, analysts said on Tuesday. Centre for Policy Studies
senior researcher Aubrey Matshiqi said Zuma is likely to make
"a strong choice" in a bid to send a reassuring
message about the rule of law. - Polity
website
New
NPA chief named - 25 November
Former justice director general Menzi Simelane has been
appointed National Director for Public Prosecutions with
effect from 1 December, the presidency said on Wednesday.
President Jacob Zuma has appointed the Deputy National
Director for Public Prosecutions, Advocate Menzi Simelane, as
the National Director for Public Prosecutions with effect from
the 1st of December 2009, in terms of Section 10 of the National
Prosecuting Authority (NPA) act 32 of 1998," a
statement read. - iafrica
website
Simelane
: Zuma's shock choice - 25 November
Outrage as discredited Menzi Simelane is placed in charge of
prosecutions. He disgraced himself before a
government-appointed commission by giving testimony that was
found to be contradictory, inaccurate and "without basis
in law", but Menzi Simelane has now been appointed South
Africa's chief prosecutor. - Times
Live website
Ginwala
on Simelane : full text - 25 November
Times Live blog
Neither
fit nor proper - 25 November
President Jacob Zuma has a wide – but not unlimited –
discretion to appoint the National Director of Public
Prosecutions (NDPP). By purporting to appoint Adv Menzi
Simelane as NDPP, President Zuma acted unlawfully because
Simelane clearly does not meet the requirements for the job as
stipulated by the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) Act. What counts in Simelane's favour
is that his view of the NPA – not shared by Ginwala, senior
counsel or by any person who has read the Act and the Constitution
– is that the NPA is not independent, that the NPA
should take instructions from the Minister of Justice and the
President – even in making decisions on individual cases –
and hence that the NPA is a tool in the hands of the
government to do with it as it pleases. If this appointment is
allowed to stand, it will bring an end to even the pretense
that the constitutional guarantee that the NDPP must act
without fear, favour or prejudice, will be adhered to. -
Pierre de Vos on the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
Presidency
responds to law professor's remarks - 1 December
In a vibrant democracy such as South Africa's, this is to be
expected. However, certain utterances - such as calling
President Jacob Zuma a "gangster" - clearly go
beyond the standards of decency and intelligent debate. - BuaNews
Online website
Apology
to President Zuma - 1 December
In my criticism – which I believe to be valid and based on
the proven facts and a correct interpretation of the law and
the Constitution – I unfortunately reverted to the
kind of intemperate language, which sadly has become all too
common in our political discourse, by referring to our
President as a "gangster". I regret using such
intemperate language, which detracts from the substantive
debate regarding the unfitness of Adv Menzi Simelane to
hold office as the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
I wish to apologise unreservedly to our President for the
use of this intemperate language which, as the Presidency
points out, does not contribute to the healthy and
respectful debate so needed in our democracy. - Pierre de
Vos on the Constitutionally
Speaking blog
Simelane
slammed as 'inappropriate' choice - 25 November
Opposition parties expressed reservations on Wednesday about
the appointment of Menzi Simelane as National Director of
Public Prosecutions. "It is difficult to imagine a more
inappropriate choice", the Democratic Alliance
spokesperson on justice Dene Smuts said. Independent Democrats
leader Patricia de Lille was shocked that President Jacob Zuma
could appoint someone "accused by Frene Ginwala's panel
of deceiving Brigitte Mabandla, his former boss and justice
minister, and of interfering with the NPA's
independence". - IOL
website
Dismay
as Simelane succeeds Vusi Pikoli at NPA - 26 November
Senior political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies
Aubrey Matshiqi said Simelane's appointment was perplexing.
The "inauspicious circumstances" under which Zuma
became president should have led him to send a strong message
about the rule of law and independence of institutions, he
said. "This appointment defied that expectation and may
send the opposite message that politics must triumph over the
independence of our institutions". - Business
Day website
Why
Simelane for the NPA? - 27 November
The simple question for me on this one is why Simelane? -
Michael Trapido on the Thought
Leader blog
'Hands-on'
Simelane has a different take on prosecuting body - 26
November
When he was director-general of the Department of Justice,
Menzi Simelane expressed a very different view of his new role
as national director of public prosecutions than his
predecessor, Vusi Pikoli. If Simelane stands by those
opinions, a differently structured National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) can be expected to the one under Pikoli.
During last year's inquiry into Pikoli's fitness to hold
office, chaired by former speaker of the National Assembly
Frene Ginwala, Simelane described the "difference of
opinion" between himself and Pikoli. - Business
Day website
Setback
for German-SA probe into bribes - 26 November
Menzi Simelane's appointment as new head of the National
Directorate of Public Prosecutions will end any hopes of
reviving a joint German-South African prosecuting agency
investigation into alleged bribes paid by German warship
manufacturer Thyssen Krupp in the 1999 arms deal.
When Simelane was director-general of the Justice Department,
the German authorities had asked for cooperation from the
department to investigate the alleged bribes. Simelane first
said he had never received their request, then that he had
sent it back with questions of his own. But in February, the
NPA told Parliament's standing committee on public accounts
that they wanted to work directly with the German authorities
in investigating the arms deal, because the Justice Department
was not cooperating. - Sowetan
website
Formal
complaint laid against new NPA boss - 27 November
Simelane's legal standing as an advocate is also under threat.
Senior Counsel Patrick Ellis, head of the ethics committee for
the Pretoria Society of Advocates, confirmed to the Cape
Argus today that he had received a formal complaint
against Simelane, specifically regarding his testimony before
ANC elder and former Speaker Frene Ginwala's commission of
inquiry into the fitness to hold office of Simelane's
predecessor, Vusi Pikoli. - IOL
website
Rumour
of resignation rocks National Prosecuting Authority - 26
November
A second shockwave hit Gauteng Justice with claims that the
regional director of public prosecutions, Advocate Charin de
Beer SC, "has resigned", "is being replaced"
or "moved out" and "will not be back".
"It could be the first in a wave of backlash resignations",
The Citizen was told by a reliable source. - The
Citizen website
'Zuma's
first choice was not Simelane' - 29 November
Controversial newly appointed prosecutions boss Menzi Simelane
turned on Thabo Mbeki and former presidential legal adviser
Mojanku Gumbi, telling President Jacob Zuma and Justice
Minister Jeff Radebe that he took a fall for the previous
government. Simelane was not Zuma's first choice for National
Director of Public Prosecutions though, as Weekend Argus
has learned reliably that the ANC initially approached
distinguished lawyer Dumisa Ntsebeza just before elections,
and he turned it down. - IOL
website
Radebe
believes Simelane is ready for the job - 27 November
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe
has commended the appointment of Menzi Simelane as national
director of public prosecutions, saying that he is fit to
occupy the position. Speaking at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday night, Radebe said there would be
nothing that would prevent Simelane from assuming his
position. - IOL website
Simelane
is proper person for NPA : Radebe - 27 November
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe on Monday criticised the Ginwala
inquiry for its "attack" on new NPA head Menzi
Simelane and the Public Service Commission (PSC) for failing
to allow Simelane to state his case. Briefing the media,
Radebe said that having considered all relevant factors, he
was satisfied that the PSC's recommendations did not justify
conducting a disciplinary hearing against Simelane. - IOL
website
30
November 2009
Statement
by Jeff Radebe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional
Development, on Menzi Simelane
Polity website
Case
for last link in Zuma's judicial safety chain is weak - 3
December
The brouhaha around the appointment of Menzi Simelane as
National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) is unlikely to
die down anytime soon. If anything, the stout defence by
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe of President Jacob Zuma's
decision to appoint Simelane, who was not even tipped by any
of the pundits, has simply added fuel to the fires of
criticism. This matter is not insignificant. - Article by Paul
Hoffman on the allAfrica
website
The
case against Simelane - 4 December
The General Council of the Bar
(GCB) is
nvestigating
17 complaints against newly appointed prosecutions boss Menzi
Simelane, including allegations published in the Mail &
Guardian a year ago. - Mail
& Guardian website
Link to Ellis memorandum :
http://www.mg.co.za/uploads/2009/12/03/simelanedoc.pdf
NPA's
independence at stake? - 4 December
The institutional independence of the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) could be at risk if newly appointed
prosecutions head Menzi Simelane's view of the role of the
Department of Justice in the NPA prevails. - Business
Day website
Tutu
: Simelane appointment an 'aberration' - 7 December
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Monday called on President
Jacob Zuma to reverse the appointment of national prosecutions
boss Menzi Simelane, describing it as an
"aberration". "The appointment of advocate
Menzi Simelane as National Director of Public Prosecutions is
a setback for the integrity of South Africa's post-apartheid
legal system," Tutu said in a statement. "Simelane's
integrity has been questioned from within his own political
party and by his profession". - Mail
& Guardian website
Simelane
scoffs at 'armchair critics' - 9 December
Chief prosecutor Menzi Simelane has scoffed at "armchair
critics" opposed to transformation, in his first reported
reaction to the controversy surrounding his appointment.
Simelane, through National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga, spoke to the Star newspaper.
- Mail & Guardian
website
Simelane
to 'revolutionise' NPA - 9 December
Advocate Menzi Simelane, who has been in office for seven
days, is expected to make "some revolutionary decisions"
with regard to the future functioning of the National
Prosecuting Authority (NPA), read a statement from the body.
The newly appointed NPA boss has already announced his policy
for prosecutors in the higher and lower courts. This includes
office-bound decision makers going back to the courtroom. - The
Citizen website
DA
going to court over Simelane - 10 December
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille will on Friday bring a
legal challenge against the appointment of Menzi Simelane as
National Director of Public Prosecutions. On Thursday, the DA
said Zille would be approaching the North Gauteng High Court
in a bid to oust newly-appointed Simelane. - News24
website
'Court
bid won't stop Simelane' - 11 December
New prosecuting boss Menzi Simelane was "undeterred"
by the court bid that the DA will launch today to challenge
his appointment. And, said National Prosecuting Authority
spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga, the court bid would have no impact on
the stability of Simelane's leadership of South Africa's
prosecutors. - IOL website
Presidency
8
December 2009
Zuma
: Oliver Tambo Memorial lecture by the South African President,
Lusaka
Polity website
Privacy
Google
Street View raises crime fears in South Africa - 30 November
In the apartheid era it would have looked distinctly sinister :
strange vehicles on patrol in South Africa's townships with
protruding cameras capturing billions of images. In fact, the
Toyota Prius cars and the quirky tricycles belong to Google,
which is bringing its popular but controversial Street View
service to Africa for the first time. Community groups have
expressed fears that criminals will be able to analyse suburbs
and pinpoint vulnerable house, getaway routes and hiding places.
- Mail & Guardian website
Road
Accident Fund
Pretoria
Bar Council probes 'double briefing' - 30 November
The Pretoria Bar Council launched an investigation into 'double
briefing' by some advocates who were thought to be
wrongfully earning tens of thousands of rand in fees. This
was primarily related to cases involving the Road Accident Fund.
At the same time, advocates at the Johannesburg Bar told Eyewitness
News there were persistent allegations the practice was
occurring there too. - Eye
Witness News website
Victim
waits for ruling on claims - 8 December
An East London woman’s hopes of claiming money from the Road
Accident Fund for pain and suffering after an accident last year
now lies with the North Gauteng High Court which will hear an
application launched by the Law Society of
SA on behalf of seven applicants against the RAF and the
Minister of Transport. According to Johannesburg attorneys Adams
& Adams' Nicolette Koch, the applicants are asking the court
to declare certain sections of the RAF
Amendment Act unconstitutional and invalid. - Dispatch
Online website
'Shoot
to Kill'
Thou
shall not (just shoot to) kill - 24 November
In the last few weeks in South Africa, exponents and antagonists
of a proposed 'shoot to kill' policy have been provided with
ample ammunition. - Polity
website
Cele
tells police to use deadly force - 7 December
National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele has again told members
of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to "use deadly
force" against criminals. "If somebody uses a camera
to shoot you, smile. But when they use anything else to shoot
you, use deadly force before anybody uses it - and don't
miss", he said at the launch of the police's festive season
campaign in Sandton, Johannesburg on Monday. Cele said he had
never used the term "shoot-to-kill" and he was not
about to. - Polity
website
Trade
and Industry
Developing
countries ready tariff deal without WTO - 20 November
As the World Trade Organisation's Doha round stumbles into its
ninth year with no end in sight, a group of 22 developing
countries are poised to clinch their own deal to cut tariffs and
boost trade among themselves. The deal to expand the General
System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) could be announced during the
WTO's own three-day ministerial conference starting November 30,
when trade ministers from most of its 153 members will be in
Geneva. - Creamer
Media's Engineering News website
Zimbabwe
: trade deal with South Africa of farm products - 25
November
Zimbabwe and South Africa have signed a bilateral investment
protection treaty. However, the treaty omits the contentious
issue of the many farms President Robert Mugabe expropriated
without compensation under his land reform programme.South
African trade and industry minister Rob Davies said that
addressing the issue of expropriated land would have
"opened up old wounds" and made it impossible to
negotiate the agreement. He said South Africa wanted to
contribute to stabilising the economy and political situation in
Zimbabwe. - Meat
Trade News Daily website
SA
business boycotts BIPA ceremony - 27 November
A South African business union on Thursday said it was
boycotting today's signing ceremony of a bilateral investment
promotion and protection agreement (BIPA) between Zimbabwe and
South Africa in Harare, saying it was not consulted about the
pact's content. Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), which said
the reported content of the BIPA has rung alarm bells for some
members, insisted that the agreement would work better if
private investors were happy with the document.
- ZimOnline website
Business
should take advantage of trade pact - 30 November
The signing of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreement (Bippa) between Zimbabwe and South Africa should spur
the country’s businesses to work hard. The signing of the
agreement, which has been on the cards since 2004, is also
testimony of the trust that South Africa has on the inclusive
Government and goes a long way to show good neighbourliness. The
agreement is set to unlock investment inflows into both
countries and local industries should use the opportunity to
widen their markets and also source funds for other projects. - Chronicle
website
Transport
and Roads
Containers
stuck as ban is enforced - 11 December
The transportation of containers by road has been thrown into
chaos by the Department of Transport enforcing legislation that
bans truck trailers commonly used in South Africa from carrying
international standard "high cube" containers. These
containers account for more than 50 percent of all containers
transported. The Road Freight Association (RFA) said at least 80
vehicles had been impounded by 10am yesterday in Pinetown by the
Road Traffic Inspectorate. - Business
Report website
Miscellaneous
Ginwala
slates poor leadership - 6 December
Former parliamentary speaker Frene Ginwala has decried what she
described as President Jacob Zuma's lack of political
leadership. - Times Live
website
Come
and get me : fraudster dares cops to find him - 3 December
A self-confessed fraudster, who thrives on stealing people's
identities and running up large debts in their names, has dared
the police to find him.
"And I am
not about to stop", he bragged. "This is the only
skill I have. At least I am not killing anyone", said the
Pretoria man who operates under several names. Sowetan
contacted the suspect, who calls himself John. "Google the
word 'fraud'", he said. He later asked : "After
reading the dictionary meaning of fraud do you still think I owe
[one of the victims]?" Sounding unperturbed, the man
revealed that he was married with two children and that he
drives a luxury car. "I have an IT degree but I am
fascinated by this", he said.
Asked if we could visit his house, he calmly remarked : "Do
you honestly expect me to tell you where I stay?"
He also offered tips to [one of his victims]. - Sowetan
website
'Drug
lord linked' to Cwele's wife arrested - 6 December
A man thought to be a Nigerian drug lord, allegedly with links
to the wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, has been
arrested on the East Rand for drug dealing. Frank Nabolis
was arrested by members of the Hawks special investigations
unit. It had been reported that Sheryl Cwele was being
investigated for international drug trafficking after claims
that she was directly linked to Tessa Beetge, an unemployed
Margate woman who had been arrested in Sao Paulo on June 13,
last year, for possession of 9kg of raw cocaine. Police last
week confirmed their investigation into Cwele's alleged links
with the drug syndicate had been completed, and that the docket
had been sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for a
decision on whether to prosecute. - IOL
website
Keyphrase :
Drug smuggling
Meteor
belongs to the state - 25 November
The Astronomical Society of South Africa said on Wednesday a
meteor had no monetary value and belonged to the state where it
landed. Dozens of people claimed the meteor spotted over Gauteng
at the weekend landed on their property. - Eye
Witness News website
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