Pretoria – ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said on Friday that he did not know anything about reported “ghost members” in some provinces.

 

“I know that we have a very respectable team from headquarters that went to each and every region of our country. They went to each and every province and… there were claims of ghosts even when they were auditing,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Centurion.

 

“But the outcome of the audit has put us at over 1.2 million. Now these are the members that are residents in all the branches, in all the regions and all the provinces of the African National Congress.”

 

Mthembu said he was not worried about the claims about ghost members because a proper audit had been done.

 

ANC Eastern Cape secretary Oscar Mabuyane told Business Day the party had discovered that databases from public and private institutions had been used to get people’s details to enrol them.

 

Some were not even aware they had been made ANC members.

 

Mabuyane said this was discovered when the membership register was checked ahead of branch meetings to discuss the upcoming national elective conference in Mangaung.

 

The ANC’s NEC is holding its meeting at The St George Hotel, in Irene – the last meeting of the NEC elected at Polokwane in 2007.

 

Mthembu said President Jacob Zuma had presented a political overview earlier in the day.

 

“The president raised mainly organisational issues. As you will know, we are going to an elective conference in less than a month’s time, so the president spoke on the strengths and weaknesses of the ANC,” Mthembu said.

 

“One of the issues that the president raised and continues to raise is the issue of instilling discipline in the ANC.”

 

He said the incoming NEC would have to deal with many of these issues.

 

Zuma also said the ANC needed to be up to speed with what was happening in communities. This was so the party was not taken by surprise when there was a service delivery protest.

 

Mthembu said the branches in those areas where there were protests needed to be able to tell the party’s national office why the community was unhappy.

 

“If branches can’t tell national office what is going on, maybe there is a serious problem in the way our branches operate,” he said.

 

The NEC would also look at preparations ahead of the elective conference.

 

Mthembu said more than two-thirds of the ANC’s branches had held their branch general meetings (BGMs).

 

“All BGMs should be done and all provinces should have consolidated all their nominations in that province by the 30

 

November 2012,” he said.

 

“We have more than 70 percent of the branches that are finished and we want the other 30 (percent) to get there.”

 

All ANC branches in good standing are holding meetings to nominate their preferred candidates for the party’s top six positions and the NEC.

 

They will then take their nominations to their provincial nomination conference, in preparation for the elective conference.

 

Mthembu said the NEC would start discussing the organisational report and sign-off on it; this report would then be taken to Mangaung.

 

Other reports to be discussed were the 2011 Census and African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s report on irregularities in provincial councillor lists. – Sapa

The South African Men’s Under 17 National Team (Amajimbos) is ready for Ghana in the first leg third round encounter of the African U-17 Youth Championship qualifiers.

 

The match is scheduled for Saturday, 17 November 2012 at the Sinaba Stadium in Daveyton.

 

 Kick-off is at 15h00.

 

This is the last round of qualification, and the home side is well aware that a positive result in the first leg will take them a step closer to qualifying for the 10th edition of the African U-17 Youth Championship scheduled to take place in Morocco from 13 – 27 April 2013.

 

South Africa has been camp since Sunday (11 November) and their head coach Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba is full of confidence, despite his charges having had little time to prepare as this match came during school exams.

 

“There is an air of optimism and excitement amongst the players as well as nerves, which is quite normal. We don’t want to make excuses as some of the players have been writing exams during our preparations, but we are confident we will do well,” said Mashaba.

 

“That we are playing at home does not guarantee us a victory, we have to work for it as much as Ghana will be doing. The best form of defence is attack and that is how we will approach this encounter – try to get an early goal and go for more, not defend it.”

 

Mashaba knows what to expect from the opponents.

 

“Ghana has very tough and skilful players. So we need to focus more on tactical work because we know they also have a very good history in youth football. We expect a difficult day at the office but my players know what’s required of them to get victory,” added Mashaba.

 

The return leg match will be played in Ghana in a fortnight.

 

Here is the full SA squad: 

 

NO.

 

  PLAYER’S NAME

 

  CLUB

 

  1

 

  Jody February

 

  Ajax Cape Town FC

 

  2

 

  Sibongiseni Mkhize

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  3

 

  Rivaldo Coetzee

 

  Ajax Cape Town FC

 

  4

 

  Ayabulela Magqwaka

 

  Ajax Cape Town FC

 

  5

 

  Tshidiso Monamodi

 

  Bidvest Wits FC

 

  6

 

  Thembinkosi Phiri

 

  Bidvest Wits FC

 

  7

 

  Kabelo Seriba

 

  Supersport United FC

 

  8

  Ricardo Ndiki  Africa Sport Development  

9

 

  Sabelo Malunga

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  10

 

  Bongane Mathebula

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  11

 

  Tlotlo Leepile

 

  Stars of Africa FC

 

  12

 

  Morne Nel

 

  Old Mutual Academy

 

  13

 

  Tshepo Mashigo

 

  School of Excellence

 

  14

 

  Nhlakanipho Ntuli

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  15

 

  Bongani Khanyile

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  16

 

  Sanele Nxele

 

  Senaoane Gunners FC

 

  17

 

  Thamsanqa Masiya

 

  Sundowns FC

 

  18

 

  Fagrie Lakay

 

  Santos FC

 

  19

 

  Siyanda Ngcobo

 

  Orlando Pirates FC

 

  20 

 

  Tholumusa Mthembu

 

  Golden Arrows FC

 

  21 

 

  Sizwe Nkosi

 

  Bidvest Wits FC

 

  22

 

  Elias Monene

 

  Diambars Academy

 

  23

 

  Reanetse Ramatlhapeng

 

  Diambars Academy

 

  24

 

  Linda Bhengu

 

  Amazulu FC

 

    

 

johannesburg – South Africa cannot end up in a situation like Zimbabwe where a president is considered more equal than others and can’t be subjected to criticism, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Thursday.

 

But all citizens of the country, and not only the president, should not be subjected to insults, Vavi told The Star.

 

This applied whether you were a striking worker, an unemployed person or even an “unborn baby”, Vavi said.

 

He was responding to the call by the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal – and backed by its general secretary, Blade Nzimande – for a law to protect the office of the president following a “barrage of insults directed at President Zuma”.

 

Nzimande told The Star on Wednesday a law preventing people from insulting a sitting president was necessary because some white South Africans had shown little respect for black people and their cultures. He was the first senior tripartite alliance leader to publicly back the call for the so-called insult law, which was first raised by the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal.

 

Nzimande warned that some in the black community were approaching boiling point over insults directed at Zuma and the post-1994 agreement could unravel as a result.

 

SACP provincial secretary Themba Mthembu said the discussion had been prompted by attacks on Zuma, including the way in which he was portrayed in the controversial painting, The Spear.

 

Vavi said Cosatu had also expressed its disgust over The Spear, “not because he (Zuma) was the president, but a human”.

 

“My starting point is that insults directed towards anyone are not right. Whether you are the president, or a church minister. Also, we must protect the dignity of every South African, whether you are unemployed, a striking worker or an unborn child.”

 

But Cosatu did not back the SACP proposal.

 

“We don’t want to support something that will personalise the issue. The constitution treats us all equally. I get scared when people say ‘just the president’.

 

“In Zimbabwe they used that law to block any form of criticism against the president and we don’t want that in South Africa,” said Vavi.

 

Nzimande, in a radio interview on Thursday, said it was important for all South Africans to realise everyone had to “take responsibility for our very carefully negotiated transition, including the need to promote social cohesion”.

 

“That’s the debate we need to be having, which is embedded in what the SACP in KZN is saying,” Nzimande, who is also Higher Education minister, told Talk Radio 702’s Stephen Grootes.

For more details go to iol.co.za

Johannesburg – The defence minister is liable for damages suffered by a Groblersdal man shot nine times during a 2003 robbery with an army-issued automatic rifle, Beeld reported on Friday.

 

The SA National Defence Force would have to pay for the injuries suffered by Leon van Beneke, who spent months in intensive care and still walks with difficulty, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled.

 

The rifle parts and ammunition were stolen piece by piece by Jacob Motaung, an employee at the Infantry Military Base in Middelburg, and given to one Vusi Mahlangu, with the knowledge that Mahlangu intended to commit armed robberies.

 

Five appeal court judges agreed unanimously that the defence force had a constitutional obligation to protect the country’s citizens.

 

Van Beneke was given leave to pursue his damages claim.

 

“There is no doubt that enormous damage can be inflicted on the public when defence force weapons are inadequately guarded.

 

“The minister of defence must take responsibility when her employees do not perform their duties as far as the safeguarding of weapons is concerned,” the judges said.

 

Furthermore, the minister had not managed to convince the court that everything possible had been done to prevent the theft of the weapons.

 

The judges ordered the minister to pay Van Beneke’s legal fees in the high court and the appeal court. – Sapa

 

 

Limpopo – Six teenagers were arrested on Thursday for the murders of three children in Limpopo in August, said police.

 

“They are being kept in a place of safety and will appear before the Mookgopong Magistrate’s Court on Friday…,” said Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.

 

He said the six were aged between 12 and 14, and would face three charges of murder, and rape.

 

Brothers Bafana Kekana, nine, and Hosea Richard Kekana, 10, and their cousin Johana Kekana, 12, were found dead in Mookgopong (formerly Naboomspruit) on August 18.

 

They had been stoned to death. Bloodied stones, covered by a blanket and tree branches, were found near their bodies.

 

They were wearing their school uniforms and their hands and feet were bound with shoelaces.

 

The girl, Johana, had been raped before being killed.

 

The children were last seen alive on August 15, during a march to demand more teachers at their school, Dikobo Primary. They lived at the Montadi Youth Care Centre.

 

Mulaudzi said the six teenagers lived in the area where the bodies were found.

 

The SA Human Rights Commission said in October that it was investigating the murders, and whether the children’s guardians had been negligent. – Sapa