Johannesburg – Agang SA on Friday announced that the contract of the party’s head of communications, Thabo Leshilo, has been terminated.

“Leshilo remains a member of Agang SA, he is one of the founding members. However, he will no longer speak on behalf of the party as his contract has been terminated. A replacement will be announced soon,” said Agang SA Gauteng chairperson Andries Tlouamma.

He said Leshilo’s contract was terminated on Tuesday.

The party’s leader, Mamphela Ramphele, was announced as the Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate in the 2014 general election on Tuesday.

The announcement was followed by complaints from Agang SA members, who claimed they were never consulted by Ramphele about her move.

Tlouamma said the party thanked Leshilo for his contribution to the party.

“We want to thank him for the role he played as the party’s communications director, the amount of work he did especially with a new party like Agang SA,” said Tlouamma.

“The termination of his contract is not a degradation of his skills. The party is taking a different route,” he added.

Tlouamma said Leshilo would still contribute his skills to Agang SA.

Leshilo, a veteran journalist, is a former newspaper editor.

– Watch News24’s exclusive interviews with Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Numsa is not an ANC trade union like some other unions in the country, its deputy general secretary Karl Cloete said on Friday.

“We are an independent trade union, ” he told metalworkers at a political school in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg.

“We regard ourselves as red, not yellow.”

Cloete said the membership of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA was not dependent on the political party someone supported.

He said Numsa members belonged to every political party “under the sun” in the country.

The union believed in tolerance of debate and there were no holy cows. That is why there had not been a split in Numsa in the last 26 years.

“If we do not understand and appreciate that principle you are likely to trip and fall… (if) you don’t understand that metalworkers in this country come from different political schools.”

At its national special congress in December last year Numsa resolved not to support the African National Congress in this year’s general election.

Cloete described the congress as ground-breaking and said some people felt the union had made a “courageous decision”.

“The new liberal trajectory in the ANC runs very deep… essentially it is anti-working class,” he said.
News24

Johannesburg – Former police commissioner Bheki Cele has requested documents and time to respond to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s allegations that he failed to stop wasteful spending at Nkandla, the Mail & Guardian reported on Friday.

The newspaper said it obtained a letter in which Madonsela informed Cele that the police and the departments of defence and public works had failed to “implement and apply a proper demand management process in respect of the process, the expenditure involved and value for money for the state, and the progress made on a regular basis on the Nkandla project”.

Madonsela tells Cele that there was no indication that Zuma paid or was requested to pay for any of the security measures at his home.

The M&G also said that Madonsela would be meeting with the ANC on 4 February.

On 9 February, Madonsela is set to announce when she will reveal the date on which her Nkandla reported will be released.

– News24

Tzaneen – Stormy weather halted protests by residents at Relela and Kubjana villages in Limpopo on Friday morning.

A Sapa correspondent reported that heavy rain and wind forced protesters off the streets.

The police continued to keep watch in the area near Tzaneen, where three people were killed, allegedly by police, since protests started about a week ago.

Several people, including a pregnant woman, have been arrested for public violence.

Commuters remained stranded on Friday morning, with no taxis running to the villages.

Earlier on Friday, protesters blocked roads and demanded entry fees to Relela and Kubjana villages.

Village ‘pay stations’

A Sapa correspondent came across at least four “pay stations” operated by protesters.

Roads leading into the villages outside Tzaneen were blocked with burning tyres and vandalised stop-sign boards.

The protesters manning these road blocks claimed they were collecting funds to help the four grieving families whose relatives died in protests that started about a week ago.

Groups of between five and 10 protesters were manning the “pay stations” and demanding R5 entry fees for cars, and R10 from loaded bakkies, in full view of the police.

Most people paid the “entry fees”. Those who did not pay were forced to turn around.

Police at one stage aimed at the protesters to fire rubber bullets, but the protesters screamed at the officers and the police backed off, a Sapa correspondent reported.

Villagers working outside the two villages were forced to walk long distances as taxi operators refused to drive through the area.

‘You can’t move in those areas’

Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed that roads were blocked in and around the villages, saying mainly police Nyalas were driving around.

“You cannot move in those areas – even taxis are not operating,” said Mulaudzi.

He warned residents to be cautious at all times.

“We are working around the clock to bring normality in the areas. We are continuing to deploy members.”

He said they were monitoring the areas with the help of Mpumalanga police.

“The situation is calm for now. They [protesters] normally start in the afternoon,” he said before 07:00.

On Thursday, residents of Kubjana village near Relela torched the property of a local businessman after the body of a child and two other unharmed children were found in his car.

They had also clashed with police and stoned them.

The protests began after a schoolgirl from Relela, Khomotso Raolane, 15, was found murdered and mutilated in Mandlakazi, near Letsitele, on 24 January.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement in Milnerton blocked roads in a service delivery protest on Friday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said people had burned tyres on Freedom Way from 07:00.

At least 100 people planned to march from Joe Slovo to the municipal office behind Racecourse road to hand over a memorandum.

Van Wyk said the City of Cape Town had granted them permission to march.

“Currently everything is under control,” he said.

Roads were cleared and the public order police were on the scene with local police officers to monitor the situation.

No arrests had been made.

– SAPA

Pretoria – North West police Air Wing Commander Salmon Vermaak “did not say the truth” when he previously testified at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, North West police commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo said on Friday.

Evidence leaders head Advocate Geoff Budlender, questioned Mbombo at the public hearings in Pretoria regarding clashes between police officers and protesting Lonmin mineworkers on 13 August 2012. Five people, including two police officers, were killed on the day.

“We know that Lieutenant Colonel Vermaak said in his affidavit that certain members of the police threatened to kill [North West deputy police commissioner Lieutenant General William] Mpembe. He [Vermaak] says he immediately phoned you and informed you,” Budlender said.

“Your evidence in chief wasn’t very clear to me. Are you saying that that’s a lie or you simply don’t recall?” chairperson of the commission, retired Judge Ian Farlam, intervened, requesting Budlender to tone down his question.

“You don’t have to say it’s a lie, it could be an untruth. It could be an incorrect statement innocently made. I don’t think the witness [Mbombo] intends to say if she disagrees with what Vermaak says then he is lying,” said Farlam.

He asked Mbombo to explain her position.

“I do not dispute that he [Vermaak] phoned me but I don’t agree with the statements in his statement. He is not telling the truth because that is not what he said to me.

“He never mentioned that [threat on Mpembe’s life] to me,” said Mbombo.

Budlender asked Mbombo if she thought Vermaak was lying to the commission under oath.

“He knows what the truth is. According to me, the truth is not what he said.

“What Vermaak spoke to me about is not what he is talking about in his statement,” said Mbombo.

She said Vermaak informed her, during the 13 August 2012 phone discussion, that he was removing Mpembe from the volatile scene because he [Mpembe] was in a state that could cause danger at that area.

Alleged threats against cop

Mbombo said she later heard the allegations of the plot to attack Mpembe from other police officers. She said she also doubted the reality of the alleged threats against Mpembe.

“I have doubts because he did not tell me about the threat. Anything that was not mentioned to me would make me doubtful,” she said.

Budlender asked Mbombo to explain whether Mpembe reported the same threats to her.

“He did not tell me, I am the one who asked him. I asked him after I heard it being mentioned at night. I heard it from police officers, they were not necessarily reporting about it,” responded Mbombo.

“They were also saying they had heard it from Vermaak.”

Mpembe has previously testified at the inquiry that he was told by Vermaak that there was a threat on his life and he “had to get into a Nyala as quickly as possible”.

The three-member commission, led by Farlam, is probing the deaths of 44 people during the wage-related protests in Marikana.

On 16 August 2012, 34 people, mostly striking miners, were shot dead and 78 people were wounded when the police fired on a group gathered at a hill near the mine. They were trying to disperse and disarm them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in strike-related violence.

– SAPA

Cape Town – Former president FW de Klerk took a swipe at the African National Congress on Friday, saying they discriminate against people based on race.

“We were never consulted about the ANC’s approach to transformation and we do not accept it,” FW de Klerk said at a speech to mark 20 years of democracy in Cape Town.

“These policies – in the ANC’s so called second phase of transition – are overtly directed against South African citizens on the basis of their race. That is unconstitutional and the antithesis of the goal of national reconciliation.”

De Klerk, who oversaw the unbanning of the ANC and released Nelson Mandela from 27 years in prison in 1990, said South Africa had failed to provide decent education and jobs for its people.

The time had come for “serious talks” between the government and “all those who are targeted by its version of transformation”, such as farmers, the media, civil society organisations; and small and large businesses.

“We have failed to provide all but a small percentage of our children with decent education,” he said.

SA ‘now more unequal’

De Klerk, who shared the Nobel peace prize with Mandela in 1993, said South Africa’s “greatest” transformation failure was that it was now a more unequal society than it was in 1994.

He referred to the country’s Gini coefficient or measure of income inequality.

“Our Gini coefficient of 0.7 makes us one of the most unequal societies in the world.

The closer the coefficient is to one, the higher the inequality in a country.

“Not only has inequality increased throughout society, it has also increased within each of our population groups.”

“Clearly, the government’s policies to promote equality have failed.

“The main beneficiaries of affirmative action and black economic empowerment have been the emerging black middle class and elite – and not the vast majority of truly disadvantaged South Africans.”

He said however, that the ANC had achieved remarkable successes since it came to power under Mandela in 1994, including building three and a half million new homes, providing electricity, water and sanitation to 80% of the population and extending social grants to more than 16 million people.

– AFP

Johannesburg – Two of the five people accused of attempting to murder investigators in the Radovan Krejcir case applied for bail in the Alexandra Regional Court on Friday.

Sergeant Nandi Nkosi and Zoe Biyela appeared side-by-side and were cuffed by the wrists. There were heavily armed officers inside and outside the court.

Prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba said the State opposed bail because the women were facing schedule five [serious] offences.

“The State has a strong case against the accused,” he said.

He described Nkosi as “dangerous in terms of her skills” because she knew the witnesses and had the means to track them down.

“The accused is highly skilled and trained as she works for crime intelligence,” he said.

He said despite Nkosi being suspended it would not limit her means to find information because of her training.

The affidavits of both Nkosi and Biyela were read out in court in which the women deny any involvement.

Lawyer Titswa Modise, for Biyela, said she was not aware of the plot to kill the investigators.

“The case against the accused is exaggerated and does not exist,” said Modise.

They would appear with their co-accused Siboniso Miya, Owen Serrero and Jacob Nare on 18 February.

The five are charged with conspiracy to murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, possession of unlicensed ammunition, possession of stolen vehicles, and theft.

The accused, barring Nkosi, were arrested earlier this month when police pounced on them as they were allegedly plotting to kill forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan and crime intelligence officer Colonel Nkosana “Killer” Ximba.

Nkosi, 34, employed in the police’s crime intelligence unit, was arrested on 16 January for allegedly providing software to track the investigators.

Nine cellphones were confiscated from her.

The court heard that an SMS was sent from Nkosi’s phone to the other people involved asking if Ximba had been killed.

Pictures of Ximba and O’Sullivan were also found on their phones, Gcaba said.

The case was postponed to 5 February for judgment on bail.

– SAPA

Durban – There was a huge round of applause in a Durban court on Friday when it was announced that more than 100 charges against businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane were withdrawn.

The charges related to alleged fraudulent invoices.

The court was packed with Mpisane’s supporters and a large media contingent.

Mpisane was appearing in connection with the alleged inflating of her business invoices by almost R5m to cut her tax bill.

Speaking outside the court, Mpisane said she and her husband were delighted with the verdict.

She complimented the national director of public prosecutions [NDPP] Mxolisi Nxasana for “taking the right decision”.

She also praised her legal team.

“One cannot say that it will end. There has been a misuse of power. The prosecutor suppressed the evidence. She [made] a mockery of the justice system.”

Mpisane, who was elegantly dressed and flanked by her husband as she spoke to the media, said an amount of R4.7m was trivial when she had paid tax of more than R157m.

“We should not have been dragged here. We just want peace and want closure. I am not a politician and I am not a public figure.”

Prosecutor Arno Rossouw told the Durban Regional Court that the charges against Mpisane had been withdrawn by the NDPP.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Nathi Ncube said the NPA had a strong case but believed the powerful allegations that prosecutor Meera Naidu had suppressed evidence would have rendered the trial unfair.

Asked about the allegations Ncube said: “We view the allegations very seriously. We cannot provide any more information as it is an internal matter and the prosecutor has not been given a chance to explain.”

He said as this was a criminal matter Mpisane would have to bear the costs of her legal team and there were no cost implications for the taxpayer.

Earlier in January, the State also withdrew more than 50 charges of fraud, forgery and uttering of a forged document against Mpisane.

She still faces charges in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court, where she stands accused of interfering with a State witness related to the tax fraud case.

– SAPA