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Boks, Bryce and a sex tape

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Peter de Villiers was smeared, his family were put under intolerable political pressure and his one-time closest friends became his arch-foes, but he doesn’t regret a moment he spent coaching the Springboks.

He would even go all the way through the agony of last year’s rugby world cup – even though he still wonders if international bookmakers cost his team their quest to win the cup for a historic third time.

There is only one thing he would do over – he wouldn’t have taken the job as a married man and a father.

“I’m tough, but my family suffered more,” he said on Thursday exclusively to The Star on the eve of the launch of his biography, Politically Incorrect.

In the book, he questions why even though the International Rugby Board had privately thanked him and the team management for keeping the peace and not retaliating after Welsh referee Nigel Owens’s woeful refereeing of the off-the-ball incidents in the Bok-Samoa game, they rewarded Owens with a quarter-final match instead of censuring him.

De Villiers also claims Bryce Lawrence, the Kiwi referee who SA fans believe cost the Boks a quarter-final spot, made an unprecedented 47 refereeing errors in place of his customary six per game.

The coach had to fight many battles before the World Cup, though, starting with the now infamous sex tape.

In his book, he says he had been told that ANC MP Cedric Frolick and anti-apartheid activist and Eastern Province rugby boss Cheeky Watson had been behind the infamous sex tape smear, which almost derailed his Bok coaching career before it even began.

“I don’t know who was behind it or why,” he said, admitting that the questions still haunt him today.

No such tape has ever seen the light of day, and De Villiers has denied any involvement in it.

He partly blames himself for the breakdown in the relationship with a man who, together with Frolick, former sports portfolio chairman Butana Komphela and the Soweto Rugby Club’s Dr Asad Bhorat and Mike Stofile, had been one of his greatest supporters for the top job in SA rugby.

“Cheeky didn’t expect me to be so strong,” he said of his decision to stick with Bok captain John Smit and not appoint Watson’s son Luke as captain.

“Maybe I created expectations in Cheeky Watson, and like most South African fathers, he couldn’t take a step back from his child’s sport. Luke is an outstanding player and captain, but he never lived up to my expectations. John (Smit) was by far the better leader, on and off the field.”

Komphela, too, would turn on De Villiers, demanding that SA Rugby chief Oregan Hoskins fire him after De Villiers’s elderly father had a run-in with an ANC candidate in Paarl during last year’s local government elections, and De Villiers’s daughter was seen speaking to a friend at a DA table on election day.

Hoskins, the biography claims, never stood by his man either, starting with his announcement of De Villiers’s appointment, when he said it was not solely on merit, but based on political considerations too.

“Six months before we went to the Rugby World Cup, he was already negotiating with Heyneke Meyer to replace me…I learnt that from TV, he didn’t have the decency to tell me to my face. I’m not bitter about it, but that’s not the right way to do things.

“You ask the question, this is a multibillion-rand indus-try, are the right people managing it?”

De Villiers said the Kings, the controversial sixth team trying to force its way into the Super Rugby competition, was indicative of the broader malaise. Led by Watson, they are the descendants of the Spears that De Villiers had started with four players and no budget in 2004.

“Then they said we were costing them too much money, so they shut us down. Now we’ve got a franchise in a format that there is no room for, into which they are pumping millions.”

The Eastern Cape needs rugby to be developed, as 60 percent of all SA’s black players come from the region, but the Kings isn’t the answer, De Villiers said.

“If you want to introduce rugby, make every Super 15 team play a game there. If you want to develop talent, let it run its natural course, not by buying players from elsewhere. If they gave black players the chance, they would be the best they could be…

“We don’t have enough (quality) players to justify it. Instead of creating a vehicle to develop and keep the best black rugby players in the country, we’re making a team for the seventh, eighth and ninth best white players who don’t have anything left to give.”

The team’s inability to be competitive, he said, would make them a laughing stock.

Giving new Bok coach Meyer his full backing, he said: “The one thing we must do is support Heyneke… Our duty, every one of us, is just to support him.” – The Star

Girl’s ‘lolly lounge’ hell

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The Organisation, a recently formed group which searches for missing children, rescued five girls from a “lolly lounge” in Eldorado Park last week.

The youngest of the five was 12-year-old Layla*.

She said she had been introduced to the lolly lounges by a friend in February. The 16-year-old friend is still missing.

“She told me these are the places where she hangs out,” said Layla. She believed her 16-year-old friend frequented the lounges often.

“It was so dirty – weed and drug packets everywhere. You could just see that the place doesn’t get cleaned,” she said.

Layla said the couches were full of dust and when someone shifted or sat down, a cloud of smoke and dust would fill the air. She said the bedroom had a single bed in it, with just a base mattress.

“Some of the people looked tired, their eyes red, some couldn’t sit still and wanted to keep talking to you,” she said.

“The people there look ugly, ugly, ugly,” she said.

Layla was referring to the “old” men that were sitting in the lounge, smoking the drugs.

“The smoke was so much. I felt like I was going to die because I couldn’t breathe any more,” she said.

Layla has a small body. She looks as if she could be 10 years old. Her 16-year-old friend from Westbury would tell Layla that the people who hung out in these lounges were cool and they did things for her.

One public holiday last month, the friends went to a park in Hillbrow. “(My 16-year-old friend) gave me our taxi fare and told me to wait at the park. She went somewhere for a very long time and when she came back, her eyes were big and red and she kept laughing,” said Layla.

She said she and her Eldorado Park friend did not go to school during the first week of this month. Instead, they went to Greymont Park, Clearwater Mall and Westgate Shopping Centre, asking people for money.

“The last time I saw her was on Monday, May 7, when I was on my way to school,” she said.

Layla said she had smoked dagga only once in February. Two weeks ago, however, she was rushed to hospital and found with drugs in her system.

Layla ran away from home on Monday and attempted to run away again on Tuesday. When asked where she would run away to, she said she would go to her sister’s house in Noordgesig.

“I wouldn’t go further than my sister,” she said.

She said her cousin still hung out at the lounges.

Even though Layla was wearing her school uniform, she hadn’t been to school in the past week.

It is believed she ran off to one of the lounges.

Layla refuses to talk about a particular incident that may have been sexual in nature that happened with a man in one of the lounges.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head in refusal whenever The Organisation’s Fazil Carrim tried to coax her into talking about it.

On Tuesday night, The Organisation went with Layla in tow to Hillbrow on another raid to try to find her missing 16-year-old friend.

Later that night, Layla was admitted to hospital after overdosing on medication.

The Organisation is seeking help for Leila from social workers who can take her in.

*Name changed to protect her identity.

 

The Star Africa


 

Pikoli resigns because of ANC – report

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Former National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli has been pressured into resigning from his job at an auditing firm because of political interference, according to a report on Friday.

But Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba dismissed it as a “malicious rumour”.

According to the Mail & Guardian Pikoli was asked to resign from SizweNtsalubaGobodo (SNG), the fifth-largest auditing firm in the country, after African National Congress officials allegedly threatened to cut off government contracts if Pikoli did not leave.

Pikoli, once a shareholder, director and partner in forensic investigations at the firm, confirmed to the weekly newspaper that he was unemployed after being told “there is a clear expectation to resign” at the end of February this year.

Pikoli left SizweNtsalubaGobodo in the middle of March.

“I was told that there was a clear expectation of me to resign because some unnamed people in the ANC were not happy that I was working for SNG and that it would in future be difficult to award contracts to SNG because of me, I was told,” Pikoli told the Mail & Guardian.

He said the firm’s chairperson Nonkululeku Gobodo refused to name “the ANC people” who raised objections to his employment.

“She didn’t want to tell me who exerted pressure on her to fire me.”

According to the newspaper, SNG’s biggest contract was with Transnet. The total value of the external auditing contract, worth R300 million, was never before awarded to a 100 percent black-owned company.

Both Gigaba and Transnet denied Pikoli’s version of why he resigned.

Gigaba’s spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete told the newspaper the minister had merely implemented the recommendation from the board of a state-owned enterprise.

“The minister did not set any conditions for SNG in its deliberations with Transnet, least of all that SNG should dissociate themselves from any of its employees or associates. Allegations to the contrary are false and malicious,” Tshwete said. – Sapa

Zuma art case postponed indefinitely

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Johannesburg – The application to ban artistBrett Murray‘s controversial painting The Spearwas postponed indefinitely, the South Gauteng High Court ruled on Thursday.

It also ruled that video footage of the ANC’s lawyer breaking down may not be televised.

“Before we postpone the matter there is another thing that has to be dealt with,” said Judge Neels Claassen.

“It had been brought to the court’s notice that the portion where the ANC and Zuma’s Advocate Gcina Malindi broke down had been televised.

“And as a full court we are of the view that it should not be further televised,” he said.

That would apply both locally and internationally.

The case was then postponed indefinitely. Another date would be set and another full bench constituted.

The Spear features genitals on an image of President Jacob Zuma.

Let me bury her, pleads murder accused

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An Archbishop wants out of jail so he can bury the woman he is accused of killing.

On Wednesday, Vumile Gwadela, 66, appeared at the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court for a bail information hearing.

He is accused of kidnapping and killing his lover, 32-year-old Nonesi Mdekazi.

Family members informed the Daily Voice Gwadela had expressed his wish to be released on bail so that he can bury Nonesi.

Outraged by the statement, one of the victim’s relatives, Sibongile Mkwambi, says: “He can provide us with access to this money he talks about so that we can lay her to rest.

“But we don’t want him out on bail.

“The community is too upset and there is no telling what they are capable of if they could get their hands on him.”

Nonesi’s aunt, Noluthando Mdekazi, 39, says she is relieved the elderly man did not get bail.

 

“I just wish he can tell the truth so that we can bury Nonesi and find peace,” she says.

“We want to bury her in the Eastern Cape next week if the State would have released her body by then.”

The elderly Archbishop has admitted to police that he hired hitmen to kill his young lover from a Cape Flats township.

It is alleged the Zionist cleric scoured the township of Philippi seeking out men willing to to carry out the murder for a measly R3 500.

After a scramble to locate Gwadela’s new attorney proved fruitless, the matter was postponed by Magistrate Francis Makamadela to June 18.

He remains behind bars until the bail application in over three weeks from now.

Mfuleni residents came out in their numbers to protest outside the court, chanting that Gwadela should not get bail. Inside, community members packed the small courtroom in the hope of catching a glimpse of the frail accused.

Gwadela was arrested nearly two weeks ago by Cape Town police in Lady Frere, Eastern Cape, on a charge of kidnapping.

He fled to the rural area immediately after Nonesi mysteriously disappeared in April.

A mere four days after his arrest, he led police to a mountainous slope on the outskirts of Stellenbosch where Nonesi’s decomposing body was discovered.

A charge of murder was then added to the case.

 

*This article was published in the Daily Voice

DA bid for Zuma audit blocked

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IOL news oct 5 Sa bribery_money aug 31

By Deon de Lange

ANC MPs closed ranks in the National Assembly on Wednesday to block a DA-sponsored proposal that would have required President Jacob Zuma’s declared financial interests – and those of his family members – to be independently scrutinised by the auditor-general.

 

 

DA MP Athol Trollip had hoped to make legislative history by becoming the first opposition member since 1994 to successfully introduce a Private Members’ Legislative Proposal in Parliament. But the ANC rejected the plan out of hand.

 

 

Trollip had suggested that a new bill be considered to “address the fact that the president is subject to no one but himself” regarding his annual declaration of financial interests.

 

 

The Executive Members’ Ethics Code requires all members of the executive at national and provincial level to disclose their financial interests, assets and liabilities – as well as those of their spouses, permanent companions and dependent children – within 60 days of taking office.

 

 

Zuma fell foul of this requirement in 2010 when, more than six months after he became president, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found he had failed to fully declare his interests on time. Madonsela however noted that the code was ambiguous in several respects, including in that it did not specify who the president should report to.

 

 

Nevertheless, Zuma was found to have been in breach of the code – for which he later expressed “regret”.

 

 

 

 

 

Madonsela found there had been a “systematic pattern of non-compliance” with the code by Zuma and several members of his executive and recommended that the cabinet “urgently attend to the matter”. Despite repeated assurances from the executive that a new code was on the way, it has yet to see the light of day.

 

 

Madonsela also pointed out that her predecessors had found similar transgressions by members of the cabinet going back to 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

Just this week, Zuma told MPs he believed it was okay for politicians to dabble in business – even state-linked business. DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko asked Zuma on Wednesday whether he would support plans to ban political parties – or associated investment firms – from doing business with the state.

 

 

Zuma responded: “If we have a company established… following the necessary procedures, rules and laws… (that then) wins the tender… is that corruption?” Excluding politicians from doing business, he said, would be “discriminating simply because they are politicians”. – Cape Argus

ANC advocate to return after breakdown

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Advocate Gcina Malindi was expected to return to court to continue argument over whether artist Brett Murray’s painting should be banned, after breaking down in court on Thursday.

“He’s fine. He will be back to proceed,” said Malindi’s instructing attorney, Titus Mchunu.

After a gruelling morning of questioning in the High Court in Johannesburg on why there was a racial overtone to the painting, featuring genitals on a likeness of President Jacob Zuma, and whether the image could actually be banned given its wide distribution on the internet, witnesses said they saw Malindi slump in his chair and cry.

Judge Neels Claassen immediately adjourned, and word was later sent to the court that the case would resume at 2pm.

The ANC, Zuma, and Zuma’s children made an urgent application to have the painting “The Spear” removed before it was defaced on Tuesday. They also want City Press to remove images of it from its website.

They argue it infringes Zuma’s dignity as an individual and as president of the ANC and the country. City Press has refused to remove the painting, citing freedom of expression. – Sapa


Heated exchange led to advocate’s tears

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Cape Town – A heated exchange between the ANC’s Advocate Gcina Malindi and Judge Neels Claassen at the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday led to the lawyer breaking down in tears.

Claassen had earlier asked him if the ANC would still be making a submission to court if FW de Klerk’s face was used in the painting.

Malindi began speaking about the country’s transition from apartheid to a democracy and apparently became rather emotional, put his hands to his chest and started sobbing.

The lawyer was said to be so emotional that even opposing counsel comforted him.

Malindi’s junior advocate might take over from him.

The ANC is applying to have Brett Murray’s painting The Spear, which depicts President Jacob Zuma with his penis showing, removed from City Press’s website and from display at the Goodman Gallery. 

Earlier, Malindi conceded that dignity and privacy rights do not apply to Zuma’s office as president of the country or the ANC.– News24

Would you take a call during dinner?

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BY Daily Mail

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London – Paying attention to your companion during a special meal out might be considered a basic courtesy.

But a survey reveals that for 68 percent of Britons, this is no longer the case, for they would happily take a cellphone call during a dinner date – even if they know it is not important.

The study reveals the rise of ‘Rude Britannia’ since the proliferation of smartphones, with 63 percent leaving their devices on the table while out for dinner with a friend.

More than a third of those questioned admitted they would struggle to live without their mobiles.

More than half (59 percent) keep their phones with them at all times, and 16 percent walk around with them in their hands all the time.

One in seven of the 1,000 people polled even take their phones to the toilet with them to send text messages or check Facebook.

“The British have always been synonymous with good manners and politeness”, said Hannah Bouckley of the mobile phone company Recombu, which conducted the study.

She added: “The research shows we are shunning our manners due to obsessive phone addiction.

“It was only 10 to 15 years ago when high earners and business people were the only owners of clunky mobile phones. Now everyone from young children to pensioners relies heavily on a mobile phone.

“If we are not accepting calls and texts at dinner, we are playing games, watching videos or organising our lives with them.”

The research suggests people Britain cannot bear to be separated from their smartphones, with more than a third admitting they would struggle to live without their mobiles.

Around a third – 35 percent – said they couldn’t live without their television, 23 percent without their laptop, three percent would be at a loss if they did not have their iPod, and two percent would struggle without their tablet.

The survey also found Brits never want to miss anything, with more than half – 59 percent – keeping their phones on them at all times and 16 percent continuously walking around with their mobile in their hands.

One in seven of the 1,000 people polled (14 percent) even take their phone to the toilet with them to bash out a text or check Facebook while they are at work. – Daily Mail

 


Harden up, Moeneeb!

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By Stuart Hess

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When I heard about Moeneeb Josephs’ teary-eyed sessions with Benni McCarthy this week, my thoughts turned to JP Duminy and the lengthy wait he endured before breaking into the national cricket side.

Apparently Josephs no longer wants to play for the national football team because he refuses to play second fiddle to Itumeleng Khune as he feels he’s worked hard enough and deserves to be South Africa’s “No1”. How lame.

Khune and Josephs to me are ’keepers of similar ilk. Both are athletic, both are erratic, but where Khune stands out – over every ’keeper in the country – is his accurate distribution.

But that’s beside the point. Obtaining a national cap should be hard – bloody hard in fact. Crying because you can’t get a spot for South Africa seems a bit soft to me.

Duminy made his one-day international debut in 2004, but didn’t become a regular in that one-day side for three years. Duminy is one of the most precocious batting talents in the world, nevermind just South Africa, but he bided his time – he had to – before exploding onto the world scene on that magical tour of Australia in 2008/09.

Everyone knew what a talent he was, including teammates who watched him in the nets. His ability pushed them to become better and that is the point Josephs is missing.

He and Khune are the two best goalkeepers in South Africa. Josephs’ presence would have pushed Khune to do better and that would have helped the national team.

With due respect to the back up Pitso Mosimane has called in now following Josephs’ decision, if something happens to Khune in the next few days leading up to those World Cup qualifiers, it is the South African team that will suffer, because the next best isn’t available anymore.

Josephs must realise that playing for the country is a privilege, no one deserves to be there. He would do well to pick up the phone to Duminy and ask him how, despite everyone saying he was “the next big thing”, he had to be patient and bide his time, how he used that to become a better player, to become stronger mentally and be ready when his time came.

There’s no point crying about your missed opportunities, unless you’re close to your ultimate goal or they’re tears of joy upon achieving the ultimate goal.

Crying because you don’t get a chance wins you no friends. Harden up Moeneeb, get back to the grindstone, make more sacrifices and save the tears for something other than Benni’s shoulder. – The Star