Harare – A Zimbabwean election commissioner has resigned, citing doubts about the integrity of results showing a big win for President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, which was dismissed as a fraud-riddled farce by his main challenger.

Mkhululi Nyathi said he quit the nine-member Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) over the way it managed the presidential and parliamentary vote held on Wednesday.

His resignation is likely to add to the dispute over the election both inside and outside Zimbabwe.

The vote, which looks certain to extend 89-year-old Mugabe’s 33-year rule in the southern African nation, passed off peacefully and received broad approval from African observers.

Africa’s oldest leader, Mugabe, has governed the former British colony, then known as Rhodesia, since independence in 1980.

Mugabe’s main rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has denounced the 31 July election as a “huge farce”, alleging massive rigging by Zanu-PF.

Zimbabwe’s largest domestic observer group has also called the elections “seriously compromised”.

“While throughout the whole process I retained some measure of hope that the integrity of the whole process could be salvaged along the way, this was not to be,” Nyathi said in a resignation letter seen by Reuters on Saturday.

Contacted by telephone, Nyathi declined to discuss his concerns in detail.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Friday it would take to the streets to challenge Zanu-PF’s claim of a landslide victory, made less than 24 hours after the polls had closed on Wednesday.

Results for the parliamentary vote released so far by the ZEC show that Zanu-PF will have a two-thirds majority that would allow it to make constitutional changes.

Zimbabwe state media is also reporting Mugabe is poised for a resounding win.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has until Monday to release the official results of the presidential vote.

Serious flaws alleged

Tsvangirai has called on the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to investigate the vote, calling it “null and void” and “not credible”.

But he faces an uphill struggle to convince the regional bodies, as their observers have already endorsed the election as free and peaceful, while acknowledging minor problems.

Western observers were kept out by Harare, and independent domestic monitors have described the vote as deeply flawed by registration problems that may have disenfranchised up to a million people.

This includes the lack of availability of an updated voters’ roll, as required by law.

SADC observers have urged Tsvangirai to accept the result. They expressed relief that the elections have so far avoided the kind of violence that marred a disputed vote in 2008. Then, 200 MDC supporters were killed by Zanu-PF supporters.

Western rejection of the regional African verdict on the election could stir tensions with the continent. But acceptance of Mugabe’s victory will be criticised in countries that say he is a despot guilty of rights abuses and ruining the economy.

Britain, a sharp critic of Mugabe in the past, said it was concerned that Zimbabwe had not enacted important electoral reforms before the vote.

The US government, which has imposed sanctions against Mugabe, said “a peaceful and orderly election day does not by itself guarantee a free and fair outcome”.

The European Union, which relaxed some sanctions earlier this year after a new Zimbabwe constitution was approved in a referendum, has said it is too early to assess the election’s fairness and that it is waiting for the definitive results.

Given the sanctions, the view from the West is key to the future of Zimbabwe’s economy, which is still struggling with the aftermath of a decade-long slump and hyperinflation that ended in 2009 when the worthless Zimbabwe dollar was scrapped.

– Reuters

The Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) led by the Minister for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, Collins Chabane visited several areas in the Bojanala Platinum District municipality in the North West to check progress on the implementation of commitments regarding the Special Presidential Package.
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The parents of three-year-old Olivia van Voeght will remain behind bars.

They were charged with child neglect and appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on Friday. The toddlers’ body was recovered near Lotus River after she went missing on Tuesday.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Members of the Gauteng Legislature, SACP and ANC members have gathered at Majola village Sport fields in the Eastern Cape to bid farewell to Gauteng Economic Development MEC, Nkosiphendule Kolisile.
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The daughter of the late Chief Pius Langa, Phumzile has described her father as their fountain of hope and love after their mother passed away in 2009.

She has been speaking at the Special Official funeral of the late Chief Justice currently underway at the Durban City Hall.

Phumzile Langa says they are grateful to have had a father of Langa’s calibre.

His son, Sandile says as a teenager, his father held various odd jobs to finance his education in order to improve the lives of his family and his community.

He says his father, Langa pursued a career within the legal system in order to contribute towards the improvement of the lives of his people.

Langa’s lifelong friend Marumo Moerane has told the Langa family to be proud of sharing the late Chief Justice with South Africa.

74-year-old Langa died in Johannesburg last week after a long illness.

He served as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court from 2005-2009.

He’s been described as the person who laid the foundation of the law society and the legal profession. He was accorded an official state funeral by government.

President Jacob Zuma, his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, current Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and other cabinet Ministers and judicial officials are among the dignitaries in attendance.

Also attending the funeral is former President Thabo Mbeki and the chairperson of the UN Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
For more http://www.sabc.co.za

Durban – The funeral of former chief justice Pius Langa got under way in Durban on Saturday morning.

Hundreds of people gathered at the city hall to pay their last respects to Langa.

President Jacob Zuma was expected to deliver a eulogy at the funeral.

Former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, speaker of the National Assembly Max Sisulu and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng were also expected to deliver tributes.

Security was tight in and around the city hall, with scores of police keeping watch in the area.

Langa died last Wednesday at the age of 74. He had been in hospital for about a month due to a long illness.

He retired in 2009 and went on to chair the Press Freedom Commission, which looked into regulation of print media in South Africa.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Arms deal commission chair Judge Willie Seriti has laughed off allegations that his management style is responsible for resignations from the commission, Beeld reported on Saturday.

“I guess everyone has their own management style and I have mine,” he was quoted as saying.

The newspaper reported that he laughed when asked about the allegations.

“The commission’s integrity is in no way affected by any resignation. Besides, the commission meetings are open to the public and anyone can assess the evidence for themselves.”

The presidency announced the resignation of Judge Francis Legodi from the commission on Thursday.

Legodi and Judge Hendrick Musi were appointed to help Seriti probe allegations of fraud and corruption relating to the strategic defence procurement package.

President Jacob Zuma announced the establishment of the commission in October 2011. Since then, it has been dogged by claims that its integrity may be compromised.

Norman Moabi, a senior commission investigator, quit in January. He alleged in a letter, leaked to Beeld newspaper, that the commission was not being transparent and was concealing an alternative or “second agenda”.

According to Moabi, Seriti ruled the commission with an iron fist and that facts were manipulated or withheld from commissioners.

The commission is scheduled to start on Monday.

– SAPA

Durban – The Durban North schoolboys who allegedly stole a safe containing items valued at R2.4 million from a house on Mount Edgecombe Golf Estate in March last year have yet to appear in court.

Sixteen months after the theft, the police have not yet wrapped up the investigation.
For more http://www.iol.co.za

Cape Town – A woman who embezzled R1.4 million while in the employ of Bishops Diocesan College in Rondebosch, Cape Town, was jailed on Friday for six years on 65 counts of fraud.

Marlene Dirks-Connally, 45, daughter of a priest, sobbed as she embraced her husband in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court, before being led out of the court room to the holding cells.

She appeared before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who told her that there was “no excuse for what she had done”.

She said Dirks-Connally could have approached her father for counselling, but had failed to do so.

Dirks-Connally was a credit clerk at Bishops, and was responsible for ensuring that the school’s service providers were paid.

Sonnenberg said Dirks-Connally had created fictitious invoices, and had channelled the payments into her own bank account over a period of three years.

Dirks-Connally had heard “via the grapevine” how electronic systems could be manipulated, and financial pressures had led her to experiment with manipulation.

Sonnenberg added: “Why did she do this? Because she heard that it can be done. She then tried it, it worked and she became greedy.”

She said Bishops only became aware of the embezzlement when a service provider refunded an amount that had been overpaid.

The service provider informed the school of the repayment, and the school then launched an investigation to establish how and why the overpayment had occurred in the first instance.

At that stage, an amount of R1 416 410 had already been embezzled, she said.

Sonnenberg said Dirks-Connally had executed her carefully planned scheme over a period of three years.

Prosecutor Derek Vogel told the court that Bishops was a famous private school, and that the staff and financial management were shocked and appalled that such a huge sum of money had been stolen “from under their noses”.

He said the school aimed at excellence in education, music and sport, not only for the rich but boasting 40 pupils from poorer communities who were talented in music and sport.

Because the embezzlement exceeded R500 000, Dirks-Connally qualified for the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for a first-time offender.

However, he listed circumstances that justified a less severe sentence, including that she had pleaded guilty and was a first-time offender.

Sonnenberg rejected as “too lenient” defence counsel Christie Casner’s suggestion of correctional supervision, involving a 10-month period of imprisonment, to then be released into house arrest.

She said a fine was also out of the question, as it would give would-be offenders the idea that they could buy themselves out of a prison sentence.

Sapa

Rustenburg – The ANC in the North West vowed on Friday to pull out all the stops to win the forthcoming by-elections in Tlokwe municipality and elsewhere in the province.

“(We) continue to intensify our efforts to mobilise members and support in Tlokwe for the forthcoming by-elections,” said party spokesman Ishmael Mnisi.

“In other regions the African National Congress is content that we will emerge victorious as well.”

Tlokwe’s ANC mayor Maphetle Maphetle has been unseated twice when ANC councillors voted with the opposition to replace him with Democratic Alliance councillor Annette Combrink.

The ANC’s North West provincial disciplinary committee expelled the councillors concerned, resulting in them losing their seats.

Mnisi said Tlokwe municipality was one of the eight municipalities where the ANC intended winning by an overwhelming majority. The elections would take place on August 7.

“The people of the North West know the good work the ANC does to better their lives. Our people will vindicate us next week and moving forward by ensuring our overwhelming victory during these by-elections.”

Sapa