Daily Archives: April 11, 2012

Zuma encourages African optimism

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BY Nastasya Tay

President Jacob Zuma said Africa needs to be less pessimistic about the continent if it wants a chance at economic success. 

He also expressed his confidence in the continent’s potential in the coming decades. 

The president said Africa will have the upper hand in the global workforce.

Zuma said good governance, peace and economic growth was needed on the continent.

By 2050, Africa will be home to 20 percent of the world’s youth and 25 percent of the global workforce. 

Zuma said six of the world’s fastest  growing economies are in Africa, with the continent growing faster than Asian nations in eight of the last 10 years.  

He said this growth would help produce the crucial resources to improve health, sanitation and Africa’s quality of life. 

“Africa must release themselves from the shackles of self-doubt and be ambassadors of the continent.”

He said this will ensure it receives the foreign investment that will create decent jobs.

(Edited by Zethu Zulu)

 

Tsunami warning lifted..!!!!

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The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Wednesday cancelled an alert issued for countries along the Indian Ocean. 

This followed a massive 8.6 magnitude earthquake near Indonesia. 

The warning was issued to 28 countries and was extended for a further two hours when an aftershock struck off the coast of Sumatra. 

Speaking to Eyewitness News, numerous South African holidaymakers in Thailand said they were moved to higher ground.

One Krabi man said he battled to receive information, but things appeared to be returning to normal.

He said staff at the hotel did not say anything further about the tsunami. 

South Africa was amongst the countries to be issued with a tsunami watch.

But alerts for Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Durban and the Prince Edward Islands were withdrawn.

Shortly after the quake, a tsunami measuring just 17 centimetres was generated in the Indian Ocean. 

There were fears that the wave could gather momentum as it travels.

Motaung sheds light on Vlad V’s future

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Kaizer Chiefs will engage the club’s head coach Vladimir Vermezovic to discuss his future in the coming days.   

Speculation is rife that Vermezovic may not be offered a new deal when his current contract expires at the end of the season.
 
According to those privy to the situation in Naturena, the renewal of Vermezovic depends on whether the team wins the League.
 
However, recent reports claim that his relationship with senior players such as Jimmy Tau and Tinashe Nengomasha has reached an all-time low and it could be on that basis, of his alleged poor relationship with the players, that he may not be offered a new deal.
 
Bobby Motaung says: “We will discuss his future this week. We have to map the way forward.”

“His job is to win things, that’s his life. His lifeline is on achieving and winning  “
– Bobby Motaung  

 
Amakhosi’s football manager further tells KickOff.com that the speculation is “unsettling” the coach; hence his future has to be discussed urgently.
 
“The speculation is unsettling him, but it would take time because we have to look at this holistically in terms of the plans ahead. We want to kill the speculation of who is coming and everything.
 
“We are planning now [for next season] so we have to know by the end of the season [what’s the situation with the coach],” he says.
 
Motaung also hinted that Vermezovic’s future may indeed hinge on whether the team wins silverware this season.
 
“Part of it [his mandate] is obviously to win the League and cups, that’s what he is here for and it is not an easy thing to do, but that’s the challenge and he knows it as the coach. His job is to win things, that’s his life. His lifeline is on achieving and winning,” Motaung adds.
 
Chiefs have not a won a trophy this season. 
 

kickoff.com

Mdluli: More dirt……

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As controversy clouds the withdrawal of murder and fraud charges against embattled police spy boss Richard Mdluli, more details of his alleged criminal behaviour emerged at an inquest yesterday.

Just two weeks after Mdluli was controversially reinstated in the police after being suspended from duty for more than a year, the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court was told that he had assaulted a former girlfriend, kidnapped and assaulted two of her friends and her lover, and repeatedly intimidated several members of her family.

The allegations form part of a 67-page submission that was yesterday read out by investigating officer Colonel Kobus Roelofse as part of the inquest into the murder of Oupa Ramogibe 13 years ago. Ramogibe was married to Mdluli’s former lover, Tshidi Buthelezi.

Mdluli has been saved from a court hearing for now because of the withdrawal last month of a string of charges after he made representations to the National Prosecuting Authority last year. He claimed that his prosecution was politically motivated.

The outcome of the inquest will determine if he will be recharged.

The withdrawal of the charges in March has sparked outrage and allegations of interference by President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

But yesterday Roelofse said that he and a team of seasoned police officers, brought in from Cape Town, had obtained 127 affidavits from witnesses and collected 138 exhibits in preparation for the murder trial of Mdluli and three others.

Mdluli and Colonel Nkosana Ximba, court orderly Warrant Officer Samuel Dhlomo, and Colonel Mtunzi-Omhle Mtunzi were charged with murder, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.

Roelofse – who was roped in by the head of the Hawks in Gauteng in March last year after several investigators were threatened – detailed a meticulous investigation with watertight statements from witnesses, including seven witnesses now under cover in the witness protection programme.

He told of months of work culminating in the reconstruction of dockets that had “gone missing”, only to be ordered in February to stop all investigations.

Roelofse told of his team’s difficulties in collecting police records – none of the crime registers covered the relevant periods, and some of the record books, case registers and case dockets could be accounted for.

But statements by witnesses allege that Mdluli and the others launched a systematic attack on Ramogibe.

Mdluli, while married to Vusiwane, is alleged to have had an affair with Buthelezi from 1986 and to have played a key role in the murder of Ramogibe in February 1999.

Statements that will be admitted as evidence at the inquest will show that Buthelezi was a schoolgirl when Mdluli started an affair with her. Mdluli claimed that he had paid for her education, that he paid R12000 in lobola to her parents, and that he and Buthelezi were married traditionally.

In September 1997, Buthelezi preferred an assault charge against Mdluli but withdrew it after Mdluli told the investigating officer that his wife wanted the case withdrawn.

Buthelezi met Ramogibe while still in a relationship with Mdluli, culminating in their marriage at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court in July 1998.

The two, said Roelofse, went into hiding in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, after repeated threats by Mdluli.

This included Mdluli, Ximba, Mtunzi and Dhlomo visiting their respective homes and threatening their families in an attempt to pressurise the two into ending their relationship.

In trying to establish their whereabouts, Mdluli allegedly kidnapped Alice Manana and Sarah Ramogale from their homes between August and October 1998.

Manana alleged that Mdluli and his colleagues intimidated and assaulted them, including at the Vosloorus police station.

Manana opened a case of kidnapping and assault against Mdluli but the docket “disappeared” and no action was taken.

A first attempt on Ramogibe’s life was made in December 1998. He reported the attempt and Dhlomo was assigned to investigate it.

Ramogibe was gunned down in February 1999 while pointing out the scene of the first incident.

Dhlomo claimed that two unknown people approached him and ordered him to hand over his service pistol. Shots were then fired.

Roelofse said robbery should be ruled out as the motive for the killing because photos taken at the crime scene show Ramogibe still wearing his gold chain.

The trial was yesterday postponed to April 30.

Earlier, Mdluli’s lawyer asked for a postponement because his client had asked the state for financial assistance.

Magistrate Jurg Viviers said that he had to consider several aspects in deciding on the postponement, including public confidence in the judicial process, the time that had elapsed since the crime was committed, the fact that there are seven witnesses in the protection programme, and the family of the deceased.

Mbalula steps into Olympic kit saga

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Graeme Raubenheimer 

Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula will look into a decision by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to have a Chinese company sponsor the Olympic kit, he said on Wednesday.

The committee has come under fire from Proudly SA for signing a five-year sponsorship deal with Chinese company Erke.

The agreement is worth US$4 million but SASCOC said no local company was prepared to foot the bill.

Mbalula said they wanted to support Proudly SA.

“We would like to promote Proudly SA goods and in this particular instance I haven’t spoken to SASCOC. We’ll get to grips with that.”

(Edited by Clare Matthes)

 

World on tsunami watch….!!!!!

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Jakarta – Indonesia issued a tsunami warning on Wednesday after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit waters off westernmost Aceh province.

People on Twitter said tremors were felt in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India. High-rise flats and offices on Malaysia’s west coast shook for at least a minute.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.

A tsunami watch means there is the potential for a tsunami, not that one is imminent.

The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was centred 33km beneath the ocean floor around 495km from Aceh’s provincial capital.

Said, an official at Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on December 26 2004 triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230 000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh. 

PSL to look at …


PSL to look at the use of muti

Posted: 2012-04-11 07:04

PSL General Manager Derek Blanckensee says the League will consider setting a rule to ban the use of muti in local football. 

TV images have recently shown teams in the PSL pouring a substance on the field which is thought to be muti. 

Some of the teams include Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Jomo Cosmos. Santos goalkeeper Tshepo Motsoeneng was also shown on TV pouring a substance between the goal posts in a Cup game against Pirates last season.

Blanckensee says at the moment there is no rule that prevents teams using muti.

“There is no guidelines or rule that bans the use of muti in local football and its difficult to take any action against any team found guilty of using muti,” says Blanckensee.

He adds:”I think maybe it is something that we must start to look at because some of the stuff could pose a threat or danger to the turf or the surface.”

It is open secret that local teams use muti including Bafana Bafana after a Sangoma from KwaZulu-Natal claimed he was still owed money for muti that helped the squad during the 2010 World Cup.

 

 

Hijackers and cops all in one…..!!!!!!

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ST Hijacked by cops 1

KRISTEN VAN SCHIE

Two Soweto women were shocked to come face-to-face with their alleged hijackers when they went to a police station to report the attack.

Palesa Lamula and her sister Bontle Sebeko were leaving a tavern in Phiri, Soweto, when the attack happened last Thursday evening.

“As we came out of the tavern, at about 7.50pm, these two men were standing at the car,” recalled Lamula.

They were well dressed, both in jeans, and their faces were unmasked.

The men pointed guns at both women. Lamula was pushed into the car, dropping the keys between the seats of the rented white Toyota.

“They began assaulting us, beating us and smacking us while holding the guns against our heads.”

As Lamula rummaged for the keys, her sister dropped the batch of alcohol she’d just bought. It sprayed up, wetting the jeans of one of the assailants.

With the keys retrieved, the men disappeared in the car.

Minutes later, the sisters and some family members arrived at the Moroka police station to report the hijacking.

Before they’d even entered the station, two men approached them in the parking lot. Well dressed. Both in jeans – one of them still wet. The same men who had attacked them just minutes earlier.

“They came up to us and immediately asked ‘Who hijacked you?’, ‘What kind of car was it?’, ‘Does it have a tracker?’” alleged Lamula. “We recognised them immediately.”

The men claimed they were police officers.

While her sister confronted the pair, Lamula called on officers inside the police station. The men were searched and a weapon was found on one of them.

According to provincial police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale, the men were immediately arrested.

Further investigation revealed they were police officers – both constables.

But on Sunday, the sisters received a call informing them that the men had already been released on bail.

“At this stage the suspects cannot be linked to the crime,” explained Mogale. “The docket was perused by the public prosecutor, who declined to prosecute the case and gave instructions for further investigation.”

She said action would be taken against the officers if they were found to be linked to the hijacking.

The car has not been recovered.

Lamula insists that the officers are the same men who assaulted and hijacked her.

“This is a serious case… We identified those men. I’m positive it was them,” she maintained.

 

1 000 teachers miss 1st day of class

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Johannesburg – Over 1 000 teachers did not arrive for the start of the second school term on Tuesday, pleading exhaustion after a sports day, according to a report on Wednesday.

The Professional Educators’ Union (PEU) sent a letter to schools informing them that some of their staff would be too tired to work because they had attended the Annual Association of Teachers’ Unions of Southern Africa Games in Windhoek, Namibia, The Star newspaper reported.

“Owing to fatigue and exhaustion due to long travelling distances from Windhoek to South Africa, the union applied for time off for members, who will be unable to report for duty on April 10, 2012,” the union wrote.

The letter was signed by PEU general secretary Ben Machipi, who told The Star the teachers had applied for annual leave.

The games included sports such as soccer, netball and volleyball.

– SAPA

 

ANC may bar lawyers at disciplinary hearings!!!

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Johannesburg – Lawyers may soon be banned from ANC disciplinary hearings because they can make it “extraordinarily difficult to bring errant members into line”, while giving the rich an advantage.

This is one of the proposals contained in the ANC’s policy discussion document on organisational renewal, released in Johannesburg on Tuesday. It is one of a series of documents set to be discussed at the party’s policy conference in Midrand in June.

“The use of lawyers in disciplinary cases should be reviewed to ensure that the organisation does not end up in a situation where it is extraordinarily difficult to bring errant members into line.

“Otherwise, those with resources can get away with blatant transgressions and be above the organisation,” the document says.

Malema appeal

This proposal comes on the eve of ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s appeal against his expulsion from the ANC, to the party’s national disciplinary committee of appeal.

It is set for Thursday before the party’s national disciplinary committee of appeal – the day President Jacob Zuma turns 70.

Malema has employed two senior counsel for his hearing – advocates Dali Mpofu and Patric Mtshaulana – which has been dragging on for almost eight months. This has partly been blamed on the fact that Malema has fought the case on every technical point possible, and also because his lawyers weren’t always available at the same time as disciplinary committee members were.

Last week the ANC’s disciplinary committee betrayed their frustration with the lengthy process by taking the unusual step of suspending Malema with immediate effect for comments he made recently while awaiting his appeal.

According to the party’s constitution, sanctions following a disciplinary hearing can only kick in after the internal appeals process had been exhausted.

The discussion document further says the ANC’s elected leadership should act “firmly and promptly” regardless of who is being disciplined. “The ANC should have the right to institute disciplinary action against any member, including a member if its leagues, who may violate the ANC code of conduct.”

Malema has previously argued that the ANC had no right to discipline him in his capacity as youth leader.

The party is also seeking to eliminate any possible criticism of disciplinary committee members as being partisan because they were ambitious to become leaders. Disciplinary committees “should be composed mainly of the veterans and other cadres who are beyond reproach,” it reads.

The league has repeatedly called for disciplinary committee members to recuse themselves because they were perceived as being biased, while the head of the appeal committee, Cyril Ramaphosa, is being lobbied by groups in at least two provinces to stand for a leadership position in the party.

Political education

ANC Gauteng secretary David Makhura, who briefed journalists about the document flanked by Sports Minister and the ANC’s head of organisation Fikile Mbalula at Luthuli House, also emphasised the need for political education.

“If we don’t educate our members we could end up in permanent disciplinary mode,” he warned.

Malema was ordered to undergo political education following his disciplinary hearing in 2010, but he was hauled over the coals again for the same offence just over a year later.

Answering questions from journalists about the ANC’s position on court action against the party, Makhura said it shouldn’t be used to settle internal party disputes.

Malema said last month at a rally in Limpopo, where Mbalula was also present, that he would take the party to court, but he has since been quiet on this threat.

Mbalula on Tuesday said people who are disciplined should feel there had been fairness “and that they can appear in a disciplinary and that there is recourse”.

He likened it to the justice system where, if you are unhappy about the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, you go to Braamfontein, where the Constitutional Court is.

He said, however, a disciplinary hearing should only be a last resort. Elders should first try to talk to the member in question.

The organisational renewal document also proposes that there should be a six-month probation period for joining the party, rather than the current eight weeks.

Polokwane conference

The document also denies claims that all the ANC’s problems started in the run-up to its 2007 Polokwane conference.

“It is disingenuous to suggest that factionalism, ill-discipline and in-fighting started in the run-up to and after Polokwane,” the document says.

It also says the party’s problems cannot be blamed on “specific individuals who hold leadership positions”, but these should rather be “overcome through an organisational and mass approach”.

The document also proposes ways for the party to deal with corrupt members, ways for the party to function, even if in opposition, and closer cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations.

Meanwhile, the ANCYL’s national working committee met on Tuesday, but without Malema, whose latest suspension has barred him from participating in party or league meetings.

“One of the issues discussed was the (ANCYL’s) Limpopo congress – which is supposed to take place this week – and the suspension of Juju for calling Zuma a dictator,” an insider said.

Apparently Malema wants the Limpopo Youth League PEC to be elected this week so that he can have his people serving in the structure, so that he is not out in the cold when he is expulsion is upheld.

After dealing with the issues the NWC will then bring it to the NEC of the Youth League, a source said.

ANCYL spokespeople could not be reached for official comment late on Tuesday.