Cape Town – A report on the multi-million rand upgrade to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence has been declared top secret. 

Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi told Parliament this week that the document would not be made public as State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele declared the presidential task team’s report in terms of the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS).

This means that not even Auditor General Terence Nombembe or Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will be able to see the report.

According to Eyewitness News, National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu has been waiting three months for Nxesi to table the Nkandla report.

Sisulu’s understanding was that the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, which meets behind closed doors, would deal with sensitive parts related to security but that parts dealing with construction, over-charging and other possible fraud or corruption could be referred to other committees that are open to the public. 

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said the MISS had been created by Cabinet but never passed through Parliament and thus cannot be considered law. 

Mazibuko told the Cape Times that the DA would table a motion in the joint standing committee of intelligence for the report to be sent back to Nxesi.

“The minister must thereafter submit to Parliament a redacted report, which must be made public before the relevant, open portfolio committees.

“The minister must also submit copies… to the public protector and the auditor-general.”

Speaking to Talk Radio 702 on Thursday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said he hoped the details of the spending on Nkandla would be released to the public soon.

“There are further investigative processes and from a government point of view we want to know who overcharged, to what extent and how do we recover the money. I hope my colleagues can give those facts to the public soon,” said Gordhan.

News24

Former President Nelson Mandela’s hospitalisation was prominent on the minds of pupils attending the opening of the African Education Week in Sandton, Johannesburg on Thursday.

The pupils thanked Madiba for opening the doors to learning in the country. The former president has spent almost two weeks in hospital. He is receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection.

It will be an early start to their quest for education as the young minds gathered at the Education Exhibition. The event will cover various educational areas – including career choices and finding a job after matric.

However, it was Madiba’s condition that took centre stage with touching messages for the elder statesman. One pupil says, even though he has not touched his hand, one day he will because he knows and believes he is going to be fine.

Other says they all love him because if it was not for him they would not be free today. “You have inspired us as the youth and we wish you a speedy recovery, we pray for him to get well,” were some of the messages sent to Madiba. The messages for Madiba will be sent to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Addressing the gathering, AGANG’s leader Dr. Mamphele Ramphele says young people have a bleak future ahead of them under the current education system. Ramphele says authorities are violating the rights of poor children everyday and they have to put a stop to that. “We need to raise the bar. It is time for us to stop having low expectations of our children where we think 30% is good enough for them. This is an insult because South African children are as bright any child in the world,” says Ramphele.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The money-laundering and racketeering case against expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been adjourned to Friday.

The State brought an application for the postponement after it failed to announce a High Court trial date as expected. The defence is however opposing the application. The charges against Malema and his five co-accused relate to a R52 million tender awarded by the Roads and Transport Department to On-Point Engineering Company.

Malema has shares in the company through the Ratanang Family Trust. Meanwhile, Malema, who was appearing with five co-accused, says there’s a political conspiracy against him. Malema told prosecutor Billy Moalusi that he is incompetent, a disgrace to the State and furthering political conspiracy against him.

He said the charges against him are politically motivated and are driven by President Jacob Zuma and his administration. He also told the court that the charges are hampering his plan to launch a political party. Malema is out on R10 000 bail while his co-accused were granted R40 000 bail each.

For more http://www.sabc.co.za

The two convicted killers of ANC Chief Whip Johan Ndlovu at Ehlanzeni District Council in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, have been sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional 19 years.

Bongani Mkansi and Moody Khoza killed Johan Ndlovu in January 2011. Ndlovu was among the top contenders for the position of Mayor in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality when he was killed in what was suspected as a political assassination.

The incident happened near Ndlovu’s home in Hluvukani near Thulamahashe in Bushbuckridge. Handing down sentence – Judge Peter Mabuse said the two did not show any remorse and their previous convictions were considered. The murder of Ndlovu followed that of two ANC members in 2009 and 2010. Initially five people were arrested. Two were later released. Khoza confessed in October, and was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. The convicted duo denied any involvement.

Senior State Prosecutor, Charles Mnisi says the death of Ndlovu was a well-planned and a premeditated execution. Mnisi says it was by no mistake that he was killed. He added at the time when they were having a trial within a trial and statements were accepted to form part of the evidence and they were read into the records, it was mentioned that they were hired by certain individuals. The Ndlovu family welcomed the sentence but say there are a lot of unanswered questions. The ANC in Mpumalanga has also welcomed the sentence.

For more wwww.sabc.co.za

Cape Town – A Western Cape constable tried to extort liquor money from a taxi driver allegedly caught with perlemoen, the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court heard on Thursday.

Constable Mjatya Bukani, 35, and reservist Nontando Mhlabeni, 40, pleaded not guilty to a main count of extortion, and an alternative count of corruption.

According to the charge sheet, they were on patrol on 8 December 2010, when they searched a taxi driven by Wanana Gwadino, and allegedly found a bag of perlemoen.

Prosecutor Xolile Jonas said while taking Gwadino and his two passengers to the Khayelitsha police station, Bukani demanded money for liquor from the driver if he wanted his taxi back.

Gwadino first offered Bukani R300, which was “too little”, and then R500, which Bukani accepted.

Bukani then allegedly assured Gwadino that if he paid the R500, he would not be arrested and the confiscated perlemoen and the taxi would be returned to him.

However, at the police station, Bukani allegedly said the R500 was not enough, and he was offered an additional R500.

Gwadino was then allegedly taken to an ATM to withdraw the second R500.

According to the charge sheet, Gwadino and his two passengers were locked in a holding cell, and later released without being charged.

Road Traffic Act violation

Andre Pienaar, for the defence, told the court Bukani was on patrol on the day, when a Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) taxi driver complained Gwadino was encroaching on his route, in violation of the Road Traffic Act.

“My client advised the driver to complain at the police station, and not to himself, and my client then continued with his patrol,” Pienaar said.

Later that day, Bukani saw Gwadino’s taxi on the road, and confronted him. Bukani told him to report to the police station.

When Bukani arrived at the police station, Gwandino and his passengers were locked in a cell, but no one at the charge office knew what the charges were.

Pienaar said Bukani went to the Codeta taxi rank to ask what Gwadino had done wrong.

He was asked to merely warn the errant driver not to encroach on the Codeta route and not charge him. Gwadino was released accordingly.

Pienaar said Bukani was later informed, as he booked off duty, that a bag of perlemoen had been found in his patrol vehicle.

Bukani denied any knowledge of the perlemoen, saying the entire incident had to do with the unlawful encroachment on the Codeta taxi route.

The trial continues.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – The government has disputed Agang leader Mamphela Ramphele’s assertion that it has failed the youth by mismanaging the education system.

“The statement made by… Ramphele regarding education as reported in the media is not only baseless, but devoid of truth,” the department of basic education said on Thursday.

“Her unfounded rants demonstrate further the sheer lack of understanding and appreciation of the education sector on the part of one who claims academic standing.”

Ramphele said earlier in the day that solving South Africa’s education problems required political will, which the current government lacked.

Speaking to reporters after addressing the opening of African Education Week in Johannesburg, Ramphele said the government had spent R230bn on education and the country was not getting value for money.

She said the government’s claim that the legacy of apartheid had inhibited change within the education system was an excuse.

“Twenty years is too long for anyone to say the legacy of another system is holding them back,” Ramphele said.

“[It’s] simply an excuse which has now reached past its sell-by-date. It is not apartheid that said 30% is good enough to pass. It is not apartheid that said 40% is good enough to pass.”

She questioned the tender system for textbooks, suggesting that textbooks be bought directly, and that more technology, such as tablet computers, be brought into the classroom.

Cheap politicking

The department said Ramphele “deliberately elected to be petty and misleading” in her criticism of post-apartheid South Africa.

“The facts indicate that, under the leadership of Minister Angie Motshekga, there have been huge improvements in education,” it said.

“We have uplifted our people from disadvantaged communities more than she can ever imagine.”

It said allegations that the textbook system was a means for money-laundering were “serious”.

“We therefore challenge Dr Ramphele to provide evidence and motivate her claims or the… [department] would be left with no option but to request the Human Rights Commission to investigate this allegation,” it said.

“Only reckless and desperate cheap politicking can blind anyone to such clear, simple, overt and logical facts. We refuse to be used as a stepping-stone in the promotion of any new forum.”

Agang SA is expected to be launched as a political party in Pretoria on Saturday.

– SAPA

vJohannesburg – Public interest law centre Section 27 backed Equal Education’s (EE) campaign for minimum norms and standards for school infrastructure on Thursday.

“We believe that failure to adopt these norms and standards over more than five years is a violation of the right to basic education,” Section 27 said in a statement.

It also condemned Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s response to EE’s protest on Tuesday.

“This reminds us of the dark days when the discredited former minister of health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, resorted to similar tactics in order to cloud the real issues surrounding HIV/Aids in South Africa,” it said.

On Tuesday Motshekga said a re-draft of the norms and standards for school infrastructure would take at least six months to complete.

It would not be done at EE’s whim, she said.

After an EE-organised march in protest over the delay she commented: “… To suddenly see a group of white adults organising black African children with half-truths can only be opportunistic, patronising and simply dishonest to say the least.”

Section 27 said the department had to embrace non-racialism and focus on the state of the country’s schools.

Deadlines

EE denied it was imposing impossible deadlines, saying the deadlines were proposed by Motshekga’s legal team, agreed to by her and noted in the high court.

The timeline required the minister to consult the public and promulgate final and binding norms and standards by 15 May.

EE said Motshekga asked for an extension for publication of the norms and standards on 9 May.

“EE granted a one month extension. Now the minister requests ‘at least’ another six months. EE cannot agree to this.”

The norms and standards campaign is to get the minister to define what makes a school a school and to set the basic level of infrastructure – such as toilets, running water, electricity, libraries, classrooms – required for it to function.

– SAPA

North West – Two police officers who allegedly turned a blind eye to a mob killing in North West could lose their jobs, The New Age newspaper reported on Thursday.

The policemen, whose names had been withheld, were filmed on a cellphone driving past a mob justice scene in Majemantsho village near Mafikeng where Boikie Molefe, 34, was being attacked.

Molefe had allegedly stabbed his ex-lover Motlalepula Matlala to death, before being caught and stoned to death.

The New Age reported that a preliminary internal investigation found that the officers should be charged with contravening regulation 20 of the Police Disciplinary Act, which was a dismissable offence.

A report on the matter was given to provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Zukiswa Mbombo on Wednesday.

It found the two officers had failed to protect the victim and prevent the attack.

North West police spokesman Lesego Metsi confirmed the findings and said Mbombo would study the report. – Sapa

Rustenburg – The families who participated in a cleansing ceremony in Marikana this week were thanked for their role in the ritual, the North West legislature said on Thursday.

Police and security guards who participated in Monday’s ceremony should be thanked, speaker Supra Mahumapelo’s spokesman Mongezi Tsenca said in a statement.

“The speaker is happy that our communities and institutions are adding their effort to find closure to the tragedy… .”

On August 16, police shot dead 34 striking Lonmin miners at Marikana. Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed during the violent strike in the preceding week.

President Jacob Zuma established the Farlam Commission of Inquiry to investigate the deaths.

The Bojanala Platinum district municipality said on Monday that the ceremony was successful and that 40 families attended. Spokesman Archie Babeile said the ceremony involved the slaughter of sheep at the site where the miners were killed. – Sapa

Pietermaritzburg – KwaZulu-Natal spent R15m in renovating Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s palaces in 2012/13 financial year, Premier Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.

He revealed the figure when tabling a budget of R63m for the department of the royal household, in the provincial legislature.

He said R20m of the new budget was allocated for “the overall maintenance of the royal household infrastructure, including the refurbishment of palaces.

“The real challenge is that most of the palaces may require major reconstruction due to the age of these structures.”

Mkhize said the allocation would also be responsible for providing domestic services to the palaces.

Construction at Ingwavuma Palace had been delayed due to poor performance by the contractor. This led to the appointment of a new contractor and the project would resume in the 2013/14 financial year.

Renovations at the royal residences included the construction of two double-storey rondavels, a single floor rondavel, a garage with living quarters and a cool room at Dlamahlahla Palace.

There were also renovations to the king’s main house, of the king’s first house and water reticulation at KwaKhetha Palace and the upgrading of the security fence at Linduzulu Palace.

New air conditioners, the installation of geysers, the replacement of broken doors and windows, the upgrading of security lights and plumbing work at the Nyokeni Palace would be done in 2013/14 financial year.

– SAPA