Johannesburg – Northern Cape ANC chairman John Block has vehemently denied that the party in his province manipulated its members to support President Jacob Zuma’s bid for a second term in Mangaung.

Zuma was nominated unopposed, but delegates were divided on who should be his deputy – between businessman Cyril Ramaphosa and the president’s current deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, who was eventually given the nod.

Addressing the party’s provincial general council on Friday, Block said the provincial ANC leadership neither interfered with nor influenced the branches in voting.

He lambasted political opponents, calling them names, questioning their ANC credentials and accusing them of being “habitual factionalists” hell-bent on dividing the ruling party.

He denied purging or targeting his rivals, especially from the Frances Baard region, which included Kimberley.

Block took a swipe at other ANC provinces for publicly endorsing their preferred candidates, saying they had compromised the fairness of the nomination processes.

“The ANC in the Northern Cape did not manipulate the branches… There was no incidence of violence, disruptions and fights. We did not interfere in the branches’ nomination processes. We allowed branches to express their freedom when making their nominations,” he said.

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North West – The ANC in the North West has nominated President Jacob Zuma for a second term as party leader.

Zuma received 162 votes for the top job while his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe received 14.

The province also decided that national executive committee member Cyril Ramaphosa should be Zuma’s deputy.

Ramaphosa received 142 votes for the deputy president, Motlanthe got 23 and Mathews Phosa eight.

Delegates nominated secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and national chairwoman Baleka Mbete to stay in their current positions.

They wanted Jessie Duarte to take over the job of deputy secretary-general, which was currently held by North West premier Thandi Modise.

KwaZulu-Natal chairman Zweli Mkhize was nominated for the position of treasurer-general.

North West started its nomination conference on Sunday, two days after the ANC’s November 30 deadline.

The province was to have held its provincial general council (PGC) at the Kosmos Hall in Hartbeespoort on Friday.

However, proceedings were delayed because of verification issues and because of a parallel conference being held in Mahikeng.

The parallel conference was organised by provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge, who was supporting the nomination of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe for president of the party.

Provincial chairman Supra Mahumapelo supported the nomination of President Jacob Zuma for a second term.

The African National Congress’ NEC endorsed the Hartbeespoort conference as the official PGC.

Delegates were given the green light to start registering on Saturday, but the conference was delayed again while the provincial executive committee and national executive committee (NEC) members held talks overnight to try and resolve the parallel conference problem.

It was decided at the meeting that the two factions would hold one PGC, together, at a new venue in Rustenburg. – Sapa

A woman has been found hanged from a tree about a kilometre from the shack where her four children were found dead in Skeerpoort, North West police said on Monday.

The bodies of the children aged three months, two, seven, and 10 were found by their father on Sunday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone.

He realised they were dead when they seemed to be sleeping for too long.

“The wife was found dead approximately one kilometre from Schaumburg late in the afternoon, hanging on the tree with a red cloth around her neck.”

Mokgwabone said the man last saw the children alive when he returned home on Saturday night.

“They were allegedly sleeping on the floor in the same room where their mother was sleeping with the baby on the bed.”

The motive for the killings was not known.

Sapa

Durban – A criminal who duped KwaZulu-Natal police into believing he was a Hawks brigadier, and who won accolades for his “crime fighting successes”, has been found hanged in a police cell just six hours after he was arrested.

Musa “Muzi” Khumalo was found hanged by a blanket in a Pretora police cell on Saturday.

He had fled South Africa after his cover was blown in July when KZN police spokesman, Colonel Vincent Mdunge, saw a picture of him that was being circulated as a wanted person.

Mdunge recognised him as the “brigadier” who had berated him for a comment he made to a newspaper.

His death after being on the run for the past two years, has raised suspicions that he may have been murdered because of information he had allegedly had that could have incriminated top police officers.

“He did not end his own life, he was killed … it was to silence him,” a police source told the Daily News yesterday.

“He had ‘dope’ on a lot of high ranking police officers. He had threatened to spill the beans on them.”

The source said Khumalo had close ties with national ministers, politicians and senior government officials.

After hoodwinking the police, he gained acceptance within their ranks and went on to impress them with his detective work.

In the past year, Khumalo had helped police smash local and international car theft and hijacking syndicates, leading to recovery of more than 40 stolen and hijacked cars in northern KZN.

Police later realised, however, that this had been a brilliant strategy by Khumalo to eliminate his rival criminals and use his “position” in the Hawks to sustain his alleged car theft and hijacking operation.

In July this year, police said three warrants of arrest had been issued for Khumalo in KZN – for murder, escaping from police custody and impersonating a police officer. Johannesburg police were also looking for him for impersonating a Hawks investigator.

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Cape Town – ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has played down the divisions, chaos and violence – including an assassination attempt – that marred a nominations process in which President Jacob Zuma has emerged as the clear leader in the contest for power at Mangaung.

The ruling party’s national working committee met on Sunday ahead of today’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in the wake of nomination conferences collapsing in three provinces.

Limpopo, the North West and the Western Cape failed to conclude their conferences by Friday’s cut-off date but were granted extensions. All three provinces harbour supporters of a change in the ANC’s top leadership.

But Mantashe said on Sunday: “On people with issues about the processes, there are no real matters. We have no reports of unhappiness.”

On Sunday Zuma said in Mgababa, south of Durban that reports of infighting within the ANC came from people who did not understand the organisation.

He also said that those who wanted leadership change should explain what was wrong within the organisation, Sapa reported.

Zuma has bagged an apparently decisive number of votes for his re-election as party boss from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, the Free State, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape.

But provincial conferences at the weekend were characterised by long delays, disputes over credentials, and violence, including the attempted assassination of North West ANC provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge.

A group of Zuma supporters disrupted the the Limpopo provincial conference, while in the bitterly divided North West parallel meetings were convened by Zuma backers and by those pushing for his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, pictured, to take over the reins instead.

In the Eastern Cape, some regions claimed that the rules had been violated at the provincial conference and complained about “thuggery”.

The disagreements could cast a shadow over the ANC’s 53rd national conference at Mangaung in two weeks’ time.

Mantashe said at least 80 percent of the party’s provinces and leagues had completed their nominations.

“We’ve completed nine conferences and the 10th is under way. That’s 10 out of 12 (the three leagues and nine provinces),” Mantashe said.

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Limpopo – For the remaining tenderpreneurs allegedly implicated in a Limpopo pothole tender scandal, Christmas might not be a good time.

The Hawks are planning more arrests in the R63 million tender scandal, which was allegedly of fraudulent benefit to Julius Malema’s cousin Tshepo and ally Collins Foromo.

Already 13 “tenderpreneurs”, including a senior manager in the Limpopo Roads and Transport Department, Mmakgomo Kgosana, have been arrested for fraud.

Tshepo Malema’s Arandi Trading Enterprise and Foromo’s TC Foromo Trading Enterprise are among companies that were awarded contracts to fix potholes by the department under questionable conditions last year.

Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said on Sunday that more arrests would be made . “Our investigations are continuing. We will make more arrests, some of them will not enjoy Christmas,” he said.

The contracts were awarded in February last year after heavy rains in the province.

Ramaloko said Kgosana wrote a letter to motivate for the awarding of contracts to mend potholes. But Siviko Mabunda, of the Forum of Limpopo Entrepreneurs, alleged that some companies were paid for doing nothing.

He reported this to the Hawks and the Public Protector. Mabunda said tender procedures had been flouted in the awarding of the contracts. But former department spokesman Theesan Moodley told The Star last year that procedures had been followed.

“We are not worried at all because… we considered this to be cost-effective,” Moodley said at the time.

Roads and Transport is among five departments that were placed under administration last year for maladministration and financial mismanagement.

On Sunday, Ramaloko said some of the companies even placed bids to patch potholes on gravel roads. “How do you patch a pothole on a gravel road?” he asked, adding that some of those arrested appeared to be clueless about company registration and bidding for tenders.

On Wednesday, the Hawks arrested Cedric Phukubje, Calvin Legodi, Hlangelani Phasha, Precisous Lekolwane, Mabina Ratshidi, Denis Khoza and Mulalo Nelwamondo. Kgosana was also arrested.

Tshepo Malema, Foromo, Calton Marule, Portia Sebela, Sekgobokgobo Legodi and Betty Mashashane were arrested on Thursday.

All the suspects appeared before the Polokwane Magistrate Court last week and were granted bail of between R5 000 and R10 000. Their cases were postponed to January 29 and 30.

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