Global South African News Wrap – 23 November 2012

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Global South African News Wrap 23 November 2012

The ruling party has lost its way Kasrils

Prisons department to set up trading unit to boost training of inmates

ANC plans public input on Joburg metro spending

Sisulu vows to intensify war on graft

Mantashe chides Cosatu for naming choice of ANC leaders

ANC may have to fire councillors after probe

Zumas chickens are roosting at his personal gates of hell

EXPOSED: How Zuma got off the hook

Nkandla: Zuma faces more questions

Zuma must show some respect for SAs citizens

ANC top-job nomination process to heat up

ANCs winner in Mangaung may still lack legitimacy


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20 November 2012The Times

Page 4Dennis Williams

The ruling party has lost its way Kasrils

Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils has condemned the proposedsecrecy bill, saying it is "toxic" and "devious".

Addressing Right2Know campaigners outside parliament yesterday, Kasrilssaid that, by considering the bill, the government showed it had lost its way.

As a previously long-serving member of the ANC and the SA CommunistParty, he was very concerned.

"I haven't given up on the ANC and the party and the alliance with Cosatu, butI am not happy. I am very worried."

Kasrils said the secrecy bill, if enacted in its current form, would hidecorruption and protect "swindlers" in positions of power.

"There are too many things going wrong in the country for us to be quiet.We've been associated with the ANC, we should not just pretend loyalty andgrit our teeth and sit on our hands. We actually have the right to say to thatgovernment of the ANC . that we are worried and we can see our peoplelosing confidence and trust in you," he said.

Arguments that the bill still protected freedom of information and expressionwere nonsense, he said.

"Don't give us that type of hogwash because when you read the bill you beginto see how devious it is," Kasrils said.

He had hoped that the concessions made to protect whistle-blowers andjournalists in the earlier stages of deliberations by the ad-hoc committee onthe protection of State Information Bill would not be done away with as theyhad.

"We thought they had made progress . [but] it's looking like a dog's breakfastof toxic gruel that I said it was right from the beginning and the poisons arethere and the sharp bones are there that will choke us in the end," Kasrilssaid.

After a presentation to the committee by State Security Minister Siyabonga

Cwele last month, the ANC withdrew its proposal to scrap a clause that gavethe bill the supreme power over all other laws.


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The party also backtracked on its suggestion that there would be a minimumsentence for whistleblowers.

The hearing, adjourned early last week because none of the political partiesopposed to the bill attended, is expected to reconvene tomorrow, ahead of the

vote scheduled for November 29.

Kasrils was speaking on the first day of a week-long, 24-hour "camp-out"organised by the Right2Know campaign.

Its national coordinator, Mark Weinberg, said the public had the right to knowon what the government was spending public money.

"Where does the money go, why are the wages set the way they are, why aretaxes set the way they are, why are the taxes spent the way they are, why aredoes the profit leave the country the way it does?" said Weinberg.

IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini was also present.

"I'm here to show my support I fought against this bill for two years and I willcontinue to fight when it comes to the National Assembly," he said.

20 November 2012Business DayPage 4Ernest Mabuza

Prisons department to set up trading unit to boost training of inmates

THE Department of Correctional Services plans to establish a trading entitythat would offer products and services ranging from furniture, clothing, steelworks, food and many others for sale.

This would help inmates acquire the skills to make them productive membersof society upon their release from prison, Correctional Services Minister Sbu

Ndebele said on Monday.

The products would be sold to the private sector and nongovernmentalorganisations, and some would be donated to poor communities.

Mr Ndebele was speaking on Monday at a conference in Boksburg aimed atfinding solutions to South Africas high rate of incarceration and breaking thecycle of crime.

He said a number of proposals had been suggested to reduce overcrowdingin the countrys prisons. These included reducing the number of remand

detainees those awaiting trial and getting nonviolent sentencedoffenders to serve most of their sentence outside prison.


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The country has the ninth-highest prison population in the world and thehighest in Africa.

By the end of April, 156,659 offenders and remand detainees were housed inprisons designed for 118,968 people. Of the prison population, 44,232 are

remand detainees.

Mr Ndebele said one of the solutions the department was considering wasbuilding new centres that would focus on rehabilitation. Mr Ndebele saidimprisonment should aim at re-education, not vengeance. This was because95% of all inmates ultimately returned to their communities.

"Therefore, conviction and sentencing can no longer be meted in isolationfrom eventual reintegration."

Mr Ndebele said key to rehabilitation is empowering offenders with skills to

function effectively in society upon their release, but also to ensure they areinvolved in productive activity while serving their sentences.

"Therefore, the establishment of a trading entity is being prioritised, which willimpact positively on utilisation of offender labour. Through this trading entity,we can offer our customer base consisting of government, NGOs and theprivate sector a wide variety of products and services, ranging from furniture,clothing, steel works, food products, agriculture and many others. In addition,we will continue to donate these products to disadvantaged communities fromtime to time to help alleviate poverty," he said.

Chairman of the national council on correctional services, Judge Siraj Desai,said the problem of overcrowding was worsened by the high number ofprisoners serving life sentences. He said in 1995, there were 433 prisoners injail for life. The figure now is 10,314.

20 November 2012Business DayPage 4

Setumo Stone

ANC plans public input on Joburg metro spending

CHANGES in budget planning could be on the cards in the Joburg metro, asthe African National Congress (ANC) in the region seeks to increase publicparticipation in determining priority projects at local level.

The ANC secretary in the Johannesburg region, Dada Morero, said onMonday plans to adopt a new ward-based budgeting process were at an earlystage.


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The proposed process would see each of the 130 wards in Johannesburghaving separate meetings in their localities, where a list of priorities will bedrafted.

In terms of the current integrated development planning (IDP) process, all

wards gather at a central venue to decide priority projects.

"The new consultation process will be done every year as a part of the IDP,"said Mr Morero. The city would then allocate the available resourcesaccording to the urgent requirements of communities.

This comes amid signs that there is a growing disconnect between thegovernment and citizens a trend blamed for the rise in violent servicedelivery protests this year.

Ward councillors have borne the brunt of the frustration on the ground. In the

past two years in Gauteng, nine councillors houses have been burnt duringservice delivery protests in Soweto and KwaThema townships. YetJohannesburg has in fact experienced fewer service delivery protests thanother cities.

Local government is the only sphere where communities elect publicrepresentatives directly. Previous attempts to ensure more communityparticipation in wards, including the strengthening of ward committees, appearto have fallen short.

Analysts have long warned that communities cannot gain access to thegovernment, and forums are needed to encourage local participation.

Last year, Deputy Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MinisterYunus Carrim acknowledged that voters who protest have genuinegrievances, that they have a right to be heard, and that the problem was thatlocal voters did not have enough of a voice.

In the past, Mr Carrim has also suggested that one approach to giveassistance to ward councillors would be to offer them stipends and reshapeward committees to include civil society groups and sectors such as churches,

local businesses and sports bodies.

During the municipal elections last year, the ANC also decided to havecommunities participate in the selection of their ward candidates. However, insome cases this system was the source of community protests. ANC wardcouncillor candidates were previously chosen by branch activists.

The ANCs national elective conference next month in Mangaung is expectedto provide guidelines on improving forms of community participation in localgovernment.

Mr Morero said he did not expect the new system to be complicated andexpected that such ward-based consultation could be conducted in a week.


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Political analyst Steven Friedman said the new process could be moredemocratic but the challenge would be in ensuring that the majority of thepeople were represented in the budget planning meetings.

20 November 2012Business DayPage 3Linda Ensor

Sisulu vows to intensify war on graft

PUBLIC Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu makes no bonesabout the fact that corruption in government is "endemic" and like each of herpredecessors vowed on Monday in Parliament to do something about it.

However, Ms Sisulus promises are likely to be greeted with scepticism as thepublic has heard similar ones far too often before.

Countless anticorruption plans have been devised, none of which have goneto the core of the problem as identified recently by Public Service Commissiondirector-general Richard Levin namely that public servants are still allowedto conduct business with the state on condition that they declare theirinterests.

Prof Levin proposed that government employees should be prohibited fromhaving outside business interests. This, he believed, was essential ifcorruption was to be rooted out.

Ms Sisulus undertaking that yet another anticorruption unit is in the offing isalso likely to be greeted with public scepticism as this seems to be thestandard solution offered by the government. This one, she says, will have"adequate powers" to investigate corruption.

"I have resolved that the Department of Public Service and Administrationneeds to take a more aggressive approach in eliminating corruption in thepublic service," Ms Sisulu said in reply to a question by Congress of the

People leader Mosiuoa Lekota in Parliament on Monday.

Ms Sisulu said the department was currently implementing the Public ServiceAnti-Corruption Strategy 2002 but added that the strategy was under review"given the endemic nature of corruption and its corrosive effect ongovernance".

"The department has been instructed to craft a strategy that will include, interalia, the creation of an anticorruption unit with adequate powers to investigatecorruption.

"The strategy must close all the shortcomings that we have had in theimplementation of all the strategies that have been drawn up to now, such as


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capacity, powers, preventative measures, co-ordination with otheranticorruption agencies, etc. One of the glaring shortcomings of our corruptionfighting efforts has been the absence of professional investigators."

Among the successes achieved by the government so far in its fight against

corruption, Ms Sisulu said, was the capacity-building programme aimed atstrengthening competencies to prevent, detect, monitor and investigatecorruption; the national anticorruption hotline; and the introduction of the codeof conduct and a financial disclosure framework for senior managers.

Ms Sisulu said she had prioritised the activities of the National AnticorruptionForum.

20 November 2012Business Day

Page 3Natasha Marrian

Mantashe chides Cosatu for naming choice of ANC leaders

IT IS "outright rude" and it bordered on "despising" the African NationalCongress (ANC) for its ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions(Cosatu), to pronounce on the partys leadership preferences, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.

Cosatu has been engaged with the ANC leadership question for more than ayear. Different views on the matter have led to rifts in the federation,particularly between its president Sdumo Dlamini, an avid supporter ofPresident Jacob Zuma and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, a critic of theadministration.

Cosatu, following an intense special central executive committee meeting inSeptember, endorsed Mr Zuma to lead the ANC for a second term. It alsodecided that it would "engage" with his likely challenger, Deputy PresidentKgalema Motlanthe, to compel him not to stand against the incumbent.

Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini repeated this position in KwaZulu-Natal atthe weekend.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Mr Mantashe said the ANC hadmade it clear to its labour ally that "you cannot pronounce on yourpreferences of leadership of an alliance partner".

"It is actually rude to think that you can take over the ANC and steam aheadand announce on your preferences, its outright rude," Mr Mantashe said.


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"We repeated that with Comrade Sdumo that it is totally unacceptable and itsrude and actually its bordering on despising the ANC, that there is no ANC,that the ANC must be tailing Cosatu on everything it does, it cant be correct."

Cosatus support for Mr Zuma ahead of the Polokwane conference aided his

ascendancy to the helm of the ruling party. It also saw Mr Mantashe himselfelected as secretary-general. This time around, Mr Mantashe argued thatCosatus preoccupation with the ANC leadership was going a step too far.

Cosatu affiliates, including the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa),have been vocal over the need for a shift by the ANC leadership in addressingunemployment, inequality and poverty.

However, Numsa was at the receiving end of a tongue-lashing from MrMantashe earlier this year for publicly criticising the ANC national executivecommittee.

Mr Dlamini on Monday declined to comment on Mr Mantashes views.

"I would rather not comment to defend the Cosatu position in the media,particularly on this matter."

Mr Mantashe has also criticised ANC provincial executive committees forpronouncing on their preferences for the partys leadership before branchescould nominate leaders for the top six positions, saying that the provinceswere running branch processes with preconceived outcomes.

20 November 2012Business DayPage 1Sam Mkokeli and Natasha Marrian

ANC may have to fire councillors after probe

THE African National Congress (ANC) may have to fire some of its localgovernment councillors after a high-level probe discovered manipulation and

fraud in the processes that nominated them.

This raises the prospect of by-elections and the ANC has not beenperforming well in recent municipal polls.

The report of a task team chaired by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was tabledand endorsed at a meeting of the ANCs national executive committee at theweekend. It investigated 416 complaints of councillors who did not have thesupport of their communities.

The team was established ahead of last years municipal elections to quell

tensions after some candidates were rejected.


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There were violent protests in some communities where people called onANC leaders to remove candidates they had not endorsed, but who had madeit onto the partys list.

The ANC had, for the first time, allowed community members to vet its

candidates, but gatekeepers circumvented the process and nominated theirpreferred candidates ahead of those who had been endorsed by a screeningcommittee and had popular backing.

The task team found instances where there was "malicious compliance" withscreening procedures, where there had been no "substantive" adherence tothe partys guidelines for candidates.

"In some instances the number of participants (in the vetting processes) wasdeliberately limited in order to facilitate manipulation," its report read.

Residents were mobilised to disrupt vetting meetings in an attempt toinfluence the outcome. Some of the meetings were often deliberatelymanipulated through a tactical choice of location and selective short notice,said the report.

Officials mandated to run the screening committees were found to haverewritten reports. In many cases, popular candidates were ditched and thereasons for this were not communicated to the ANC branches that backedthem.

There were instances where councillors who won their positions fraudulentlyvictimised ANC branch members who had backed another candidate.

The task team also uncovered councillors who demanded bribes to "facilitatethe rendering of basic services".

President Jacob Zuma promised last year that councillors found to have beenfraudulently put into their positions would be removed.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe downplayed the extent of theproblem on Monday.

"The task team investigated 419 complaints. This confirms that the majority ofthe 4,016 wards of the ANC adhered to the guidelines of the ANC. Those 419wards that had problems constitute 10% of the wards we had as the ANC," hesaid at a press conference.

Mr Mantashe said the partys national executive committee resolved that allthe recommendations of the task team will be implemented.

"If the team says redo the ANC process, well redo the ANC process. Wherethe task team says here there was total flouting of the rules, we will recall that

councillor, go for a by-election and contest that ward from scratch," he said.


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The task teams report will be sent to the ANCs provincial structures and itsrecommendations will be handed to the new national executive committee which will be elected next month for implementation.

Mr Mantashe said the affected councilors would not be recalled before the

partys conference next month because its structures were "hectic" withleadership candidate list processes.

20 November 2012Business DayPage 15Paul Hoffman

Zumas chickens are roosting at his personal gates of hell

JAMES Selfe is the Democratic Alliance (DA) MP who has done most of therunning since Helen Zille hand-delivered an urgent application for the reviewand setting aside of the prosecutorial decision to withdraw 783 charges ofcorruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering against then privatecitizen Jacob Zuma in April 2009 to the North Gauteng High Court in the samemonth.

Much water has flowed beneath the political bridge since then. In May 2009,Zuma became president of South Africa, having been elected leader of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) in Polokwane in December 2007. He plansto run for re-election in Mangaung next month.

The review litigation has been pursued doggedly, but without much urgency.The initial high court decision in the matter, dismissing the case, wassuccessfully appealed by the DA in the Supreme Court of Appeal in March,and the prosecutors were then ordered to make the record on which thedecision to withdraw charges was based available to the DA in its capacity asapplicant in the review, preparatory to the airing of the review in the NorthGauteng High Court.

Although respect for the order of the Supreme Court of Appeal would normally

dictate that the record be handed over in April, no such handing over hastaken place, largely because Zuma objects, on the grounds of supposedconfidentiality, to the disclosure of certain secretly made tape recordings ofconversations between prosecutors past and present, on which the decisionof then acting national director of public prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe wasbased.

Selfe is quoted in the weekend press as saying that the DA is prepared to "goto the gates of hell" (via the Constitutional Court, if necessary) to get hold ofthe "spy tapes".

If the tapes were ever confidential, which is open to considerable doubt, their"confidentiality" has been forever compromised by the publication in the


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Sunday Times of a summary of 300 pages of leaked material, as well asextracts from the tape recordings upon which reliance was placed as a pretextfor withdrawing charges against Zuma.

These have been dribbled into the public domain in recent weeks, presumably

to boost newspaper circulation and the blood pressure of the nation in the run-up to next months ANC elective conference in Mangaung.

As has long been suspected, the tapes reveal an utterly irrelevantconversation between then Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and his formerboss, Bulelani Ngcuka, regarding the timing of service of the summons onZuma.

This was a conversation about which Mpshe knew nothing at the time that hedecided (all on his own) to press the 783 charges by serving a summons onZuma at the end of December 2007 and in Johannesburg rather than

Nkandla. It beggars belief that Mpshe could ever have entertained the notionthat the gossip on the tapes has or had any relevance in the matter.

The recently leaked documents show that the advice of legal heavyweightsWim Trengove and Andrew Breitenbach was sought in relation to therelevance of the content of the tapes.

They were unanimous in their agreement that this should not give Zuma afree pass.

To his credit, Mpshe did, when announcing the withdrawal of the prosecution,insist that the prosecution service remained convinced of its ability to secure aconviction on the merits of the charges so withdrawn.

The constitutionally guaranteed independence of the prosecution service wascompromised by Mpshes decision to bow to the not inconsiderable politicalpressure being brought to bear on him.

His prospective accused was, at that time, the most popular politician in theANC and its candidate for the presidency in the elections that were held inMay 2009.

Threats of popular uprisings, damage to the economy and the undermining ofthe 2010 Soccer World Cup were used to persuade the hapless Mpshe towithdraw the charges. The fact that he was but an acting chief prosecutor alsorendered him more vulnerable to political manipulation; it is the president whomakes the appointment to this key post.

Mpshe never did rise to that rank; the honour was given to an even moremalleable cadre, Menzi Simelane, in circumstances that did not stand up toconstitutional scrutiny.


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In a strange twist of fate, the litigation around Simelanes appointment, whichstarted after the review of the decision not to prosecute Zuma, has made itsway through the courts faster than the review has done.

The upshot of this is that the country once again has an acting chief

prosecutor at a critical juncture in relation to the future of the prosecution ofZuma on those 783 charges.

As it is likely, on a fair conspectus of the documents summarised in theweekend press reports and the material already filed on record, that thereview will succeed, it will fall to the current leadership of the NationalProsecuting Authority to deal with the considerable fallout of such a finding.

The idea of the reinstatement of the charges, and of a president who spendsmore time in the dock than in the Union Buildings, is a dismal prospect for allconcerned.

Yet, if the notion of equality before the law enshrined in the bill of rightsmeans anything, it is imperative for the reputation of the National ProsecutingAuthority and for the proper administration of justice that the trial shouldproceed and that Zuma should have his day in court.

Due to the number of charges, the complexity of the case and the stallingtactics already very much in evidence, it is unlikely that the "day in court" willmean a trial any shorter than the marathon to which Zumas former financialadviser, Schabir Shaik, was subjected on his way to being convicted andsentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

If Zuma goes the full distance in the prosecution and is convicted, it is unlikelythat his sentence will be any less than Shaiks. If he is acquitted after a longtrial, his credibility on the world stage will be akin to that of former Italian primeminister Silvio Berlusconi. This would not be a leadership phenomenon adeveloping country on the hunt for foreign direct investment can afford.

It is possible that the day in court will be no more than a day if a suitable pleabargain is struck. The trouble with a plea bargain is that it is likely to be onethat puts an end to Zumas political career. It does not seem that the ANC is

ready to relinquish its leader, despite the strong views among the professionalprosecutors that they will be able to secure convictions in the case againstZuma. Why any political party would want a leader under so considerable acloud is best explained by the party in question.

A plea bargain would also not fit in with the "Stalingrad strategy" which Zumahas hitherto adopted with so much success at slowing down the criminal caseand the review proceedings in which he is involved, not as head of state, butas a potential accused in a serious corruption prosecution. The building of thebunker at Nkandla, a home improvement that no other president has seen fitto acquire, may be the last gambit in the "Stalingrad strategy" as the chickens

inevitably come home to roost for Zuma, at his personal "gates of hell", asSelfe puts it.


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18 November 2012Sunday TimesPage 1

Stephan Hofstatter, Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Rob Rose

EXPOSED: How Zuma got off the hook

South Africa's top prosecutors were overwhelmingly in favour of pressingahead with the corruption case against Jacob Zuma and had dismissed theso-called "spy tapes" as irrelevant just days before the charges weresensationally dropped in April 2009.

This is revealed in more than 300 pages of explosive internal e-mails, memosand minutes of meetings leaked to the Sunday Times.

The documents raise questions over why then-prosecutions boss MokotediMpshe ignored all their advice and let Zuma off the hook, citing the "spytapes" as evidence that Zuma was the victim of a plot.

They also lift the lid on the high drama and intense internal wrangling that putSA's criminal justice system on trial in one of the most dramatic episodes ofthe country's recent past. The documents reveal for the first time that theScorpions team prosecuting Zuma:

Believed Zuma was trying to "blackmail" them into dropping thecharges by threatening to release information on the tapes that wouldbe embarrassing to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA);

Urged Mpshe several times to proceed with the prosecution after beingbriefed about the "spy tapes";

Pointed out "fatal" legal flaws in Mpshe's decision not to proceed; and Questioned former NPA boss Bulelani Ngcuka twice about the tapes.

Ngcuka said the same people who accused him of being an apartheidspy were behind these tapes.

The documents include minutes of a briefing held in Mpshe's boardroom on

March 18 2009 by asset forfeiture unit head Willie Hofmeyr and Pretoriaprosecutor Sibongile Mzinyathi - the only two NPA officials who listened to thetapes.

The minutes reveal that Zuma's lawyer, Michael Hulley, approached Hofmeyrwith "new evidence" that he said warranted dropping the charges againstZuma - phone taps of Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy - that he askedHofmeyr to listen to.

Hulley did not disclose evidence of these "spy tapes" in writtenrepresentations he made to the NPA on Zuma's behalf weeks earlier. The

tapes "seemed to be" from the National Intelligence Agency and would beused by Hulley to argue for a permanent stay of prosecution.


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According to notes made by Hofmeyr and Mzinyathi while they listened to thetapes, the recordings reveal McCarthy was "part of a campaign for ThaboMbeki" to win the ANC elective conference in Polokwane in December 2007,which Zuma won. But Hofmeyr and Mzinyathi's notes also state that Mbekihad told McCarthy not to charge Zuma and former police commissioner

Jackie Selebi before Polokwane.

Notes from the meeting say the team prosecuting Zuma "was not aware ofthis manipulation and conspiracies - they followed the evidence.Unfortunately, I doubt if any will ever believe them. This is a sad, sad day inthe history of SA!!!".

These new documents intensify the mystery of why Mpshe would take adecision diametrically opposed to his senior prosecutors working on the case,and is likely to add weight to a case brought by the DA to have it reviewed.

They reveal that on at least two occasions after the "spy tapes" briefing - onMarch 20 and on April 2 2009 - prosecutors sent a memo to Mpshe urginghim to press ahead with the Zuma prosecution. Attached to one of the memoswas a letter prosecutors expected Mpshe to sign and send to Hulley, rejectingthe "spy tapes" as a reason for dropping charges.

"A decision not to prosecute ... would undoubtedly be regarded by many assimply caving in to political pressure," the letter, which was never signed byMpshe, reads. "After anxious consideration, I have concluded that mydecision to indict your client in 2007 was not influenced, improperly orotherwise, by McCarthy."

The letter also states that Hulley's threat to include allegations of politicalinterference based on the "spy tapes" in a court application, and his"observations that this would be a great embarrassment to the NPA and thepersons concerned" amounted to "blackmail".

The new documents unearthed this month show Zuma's chief prosecutor,Billy Downer, former KwaZulu-Natal Scorpions boss Anton Steynberg and twotop jurists they consulted - Wim Trengove and Andrew Breitenbach - wereunanimous the "spy tapes" should not give Zuma a free pass.

"We consider that the oral representations [from Hulley about the tapes] donot change our recommendation [to charge Zuma] and we stand by it,"Downer states in a memo on behalf of the prosecution team sent to Mpshe onMarch 20 2009.

"To accede to [Zuma's] representations, apart from being contrary to themerits and the interests of justice, would not be appropriate. Such a course ofconduct, however weighty the reasons given in support thereof, will foreverleave the impression that the NPA has become a pawn of the politicalestablishment and cause irrevocable damage to public confidence in the

system of justice."


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Mzinyanthi - the only other person who listened to the tapes with Hofmeyr -and Thanda Mngwengwe, the former Scorpions boss who charged Zuma in2007 - also reportedly wanted Zuma's prosecution to go ahead despite the"spy tapes".

Despite this, on April 6 2009, Mpshe announced that charges against Zumawould be withdrawn because the "spy tapes" contained evidence thatMcCarthy and Ngcuka had conspired to remove Zuma from office.

Only Hofmeyr apparently believed that McCarthy's "alleged prosecutorialmisbehaviour" warranted dropping the charges against Zuma, according toone memo.

After Mpshe made his bombshell announcement of dropping charges , a flurryof e-mails and memos reveal how unhappy other top prosecutors were withhis decision. In one sent to Mpshe on April 14 2009, setting out the team's

reservations, Downer states that the "legal motivation" for the decision is"questionable and may be vulnerable on review".

He criticises the prosecution boss for relying "heavily" on the "abuse ofprocess" doctrine in the UK and Canadian law, without any reference to SAlaw. "We are concerned that this doctrine may have been inappropriatelyapplied without due consideration of its applica-bility in our law."

The key issue, whether the abuse of process would have prevented Zumafrom having a fair trial, "was not even addressed", the memo states.Moreover, two key questions - whether McCarthy's manipulation of theprosecution improperly influenced Mpshe's decision to charge Zuma afterPolokwane, and whether he still considered that the decision to prosecutewas correct - were never answered. "This failure appears to us to be fatal tothe correctness of the decision," the memo states.

The documents also reveal fascinating details never published before aboutMcCarthy's role in manipulating Zuma's prosecution for political ends.

One memo, titled "Combined team synopsis of the November/December 2007decision to prosecute", states that Scorpions investigator Johan du Plooy

objected to McCarthy's plans to serve summons on Zuma at Nkandla onDecember 26 2007. Du Plooy considered this "outrageous and unsafe", andthe plan was shelved. Two days later he joined the sheriff in serving thesummons on Zuma at his Joburg residence.

E-mails also reveal that after being briefed about the "spy tapes" Mpsherepeatedly tried to reach McCarthy at the World Bank, where he now works asvice-president of integrity, to get him to answer the charges of being part of apolitical conspiracy.

"It would appear, on the face of it, that the recorded conversations may

damage your integrity," Mpshe wrote in one e-mail. "They include that you


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may have been party to a conspiracy to use the NPA's prosecution processirregularly to attempt to influence politics."

McCarthy eventually replied that he deemed Mpshe's questions "irrelevant"and declined to answer them.

DA chairman James Selfe said this week that the NPA was clearly incontempt of court by not handing over the "spy tapes", which Mpshe said in2009 were independently obtained and declassified.

Despite the court order given in March, the DA went back to court inSeptember to force the NPA to hand over the tapes - a case only likely to beheard early next year. "We'll go to the Constitutional Court if we have to. We'llgo to the gates of hell to get this," said Selfe.

Hofmeyr and Downer referred all questions to the NPA, which declined to

answer them. Asked if it had caved in to blackmail by dropping chargesagainst Zuma despite strong opposition within its own ranks, NPA spokesmanBulelwa Makeke said: "This is a sideshow that the NPA would rather not bepart of at this point, as it is still awaiting a court ruling on this matter."

Ngcuka failed to answer questions he asked to be sent to him. McCarthy andHulley didn't reply to e-mails or messages left for them.

18 November 2012Cape TimesSapa

Nkandla: Zuma faces more questions

Johannesburg - Opposition parties on Sunday lashed at President JacobZuma for misleading Parliament about the bond he had on his house inNkandla.

As the president was speaking under his oath of office, he seems to haveknowingly misled Parliament and the nation that he had a bond, and this

amounts to perjury.

This is a very serious offence under the Constitution and the law as indicatedin Section 89 of the Constitution of the Republic, said Congress of the Peopleleader Mosiuoa Lekota.

The City Press newspaper reported that the land on which Zuma's homestands was owned by the Ingonyama Trust, headed by King GoodwillZwelithini, which managed 32 percent of all land in KwaZulu-Natal on behalfof the state for the benefit of its occupants.

On Thursday, Zuma told Parliament: I took the decision to expand my homeand I built my home with more rondavels, more than once. And I fenced my


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home. And I engaged the bank and I'm still paying a bond on my first phase ofmy home.

The newspaper said it had been unable to locate public records to supportZuma's claim that the Nkandla property was bonded.

The deed document for the property showed that the Ingonyama Trust wasthe owner.

Belinda Benson, Ingonyama Trust's property manager, confirmed to CityPress that the deeds office records, uncovered by the newspaper, were forZuma's homestead.

Democratic Alliance leader Lindiwe Mazibuko said: Serious consequencesmust follow if President Zuma misled Parliament this past week about havinga bond on his private home in Nkandla.

She said what Zuma did reflected negatively on his office and warranted themost urgent and immediate consideration by the National Assembly.

I will today (Sunday) write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, MaxSisulu, and urge him to request clarification from the Presidency as to thereports in the City Press today, as they seriously risk bringing Parliament intodisrepute, Mazibuko said. - Sapa

19 November 2012Business DayPage 9Aubrey Matshiqi

Zuma must show some respect for SAs citizens

ON SATURDAY, I watched the excellent DVD, Africa Rising, by the renownedSouth African house DJ, Black Coffee. The DVD, which was recorded at theMoses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, is one of the best things to come out of

Mzansi. That I love house music is not the issue.

What is important, is the fact that the Black Coffee DVD made me think a lotabout what, in my recently published short e-book, I refer to as the ZumaMoment. One of the things I find interesting about the Zuma Moment is theeffect the ascendancy of President Jacob Zuma to the presidency of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) in Polokwane and that of the country in May2009 has had on popular culture. This, of course, started with what I believe isthe sense of confidence and significance the Zuma Moment has lent to thepeople of KwaZulu-Natal.

Here, I am not referring to the narrow Zulu nationalism and chauvinism ofsome among us.


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I remember standing at a street corner in Durban during the 2010 nationalgeneral council of the ANC, where I saw something I had never seen before.

Something about the people of this city was different, and this is something Ihad not seen when I lived in Lamontville and went to school in Umlazi.

The people I saw in Durban in 2010 exuded a sense of confidence that wasnew to me, and I am as convinced now as I was in 2010 that the election ofZuma as ANC president and head of state had a lot to do with it.

In terms of popular culture, I believe that the explosion of what in local musicwe call the Durban Sound is to some extent a product of the Zuma Moment.The influence of kwaito and house artists from Durban such as ZakesBantwini, Big Nuz, Professor and, of course, Black Coffee, bears testimony tothe fact that the Zuma Moment has had an effect well beyond the realm ofpolitics.

Assuming that the Zuma Moment will be extended in Mangaung next month,the influence of the Durban Sound, as well as the sense of confidence itrepresents, bar some aesthetic shifts, is set to continue too.

Unfortunately for Zuma, what seemed to have subsided has now made a verystrong comeback.

In the months leading up to the Polokwane conference, it was argued bysome that Zuma lacked the ability to govern a modern state and economy.

The sense of resignation that followed his election has now mutated into acrescendo in the sound and volume of condemnation.

Unlike the Durban Sound, the condemnation is not music to Zumas ears,because it is not the sound of veneration.

To the president, it is not the sound of music at all. It is the disparaging,disdainful and shrill tones of the vindicated.

And his outburst in Parliament last week suggests that this is the most atonal

and discordant thing he has heard since the heydays of Polokwane. In effect,Zuma has become a political conductor a medium through which, in part,the Durban Sound transmits all that is perceived to be good and beneficialabout the Zuma Moment.

Others, on the other hand, are using the same medium to transmit theirperceptions of what they believe is wrong with SA today.

In their eyes, Zuma is the worst thing that has happened to this country sincethe advent of democracy in 1994.


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Unfortunately, the manner in which Zuma dealt with allegations thatastronomical sums have been spent to upgrade his home looked to me like afinger the middle one.

As much as Zuma believes he must be treated with respect, it is incumbent on

him to show some respect for the citizens of this country, especially since, ashead of state, he is their chief servant.

The fact that some among us are idiotic in their opposition to him does notchange this.

Mr President, the decision to treat us with respect or disdain should not becontingent on the conduct of your detractors.

ANCs winner in Mangaung may still lack legitimacy

19 November 2012Business DayPage 3Stephen Grootes

WHOEVER is elected leader of the African National Congress (ANC) at itsconference next month may suffer from a lack of legitimacy, with implicationsfor the long-term future of the party.

This is because last week ANC Veterans League chairman Sandi Sejakepublicly claimed there had been manipulation of branch numbers within theANC.

He suggested that unless serious steps were taken, the leadership electedduring the partys Mangaung conference would lack legitimacy.

On the same day, reports emerged claiming that a group of armed men hadburst into an ANC branch meeting in Ekurhuleni in Gauteng and forced partymembers present to vote to nominate President Jacob Zuma.

Also, perceptions of the fairness of Luthuli House, the partys head office,appear to be open to question, with those who stand to lose out at Mangaungappearing to be prepared to make claims, even if they cannot make themstand up.

Mr Sejakes claims appear to bolster the arguments of those who havesuggested that the number of branches in KwaZulu-Natal has been inflated tostrengthen Mr Zumas chances. Mr Sejakes position, his seniority, and thefact he is making the claims in public could all serve to start a debate withinthe ANC about the numbers.


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The alleged attack in Ekurhuleni also leads to suspicions Mr Zumassupporters are prepared to resort to violence. As this occurs amid claims thathe is using the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association as a privatearmy, the claims could gain some currency.

The association has denied the suggestions but has issued severalstatements that could be interpreted as threatening to Mr Zumas opponents.

Many ANC branches appear to be battling to reach quorums at branchgeneral meetings, held to nominate leaders.

All of these factors, when taken together, could point to problems aroundlegitimacy for Mr Zuma, should he be re-elected.

At the same time, several ANC leaders, particularly his rival, Deputy PresidentKgalema Motlanthe, have spoken out against the use of "slates", the practice

where ANC leaders run for positions as a group. However, at this stage itappears whoever wins at Mangaung will probably have used a slate, thusfurther de-legitimising themselves.

This means that when certain disputes within the party have to be resolvedafter the conference, Mr Zuma could appear to lack the moral and politicalauthority to intervene.

As the ANC appears to grow in membership and finds consensus harder toattain, these disputes could become more common. At the same time, theywill become harder to resolve because he and other elected leaders wouldfind it hard to create long-term solutions to problems and could only have thelegitimacy to create short-term solutions.

One of the more important moments of Mr Zumas first term as ANC leaderoccurred a few months into his presidency, when the Congress of SouthAfrican Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it believed he had been elected throughan alliance of forces that opposed former president Thabo Mbeki. This was apublic admission that the ANC had not elected him as the best possiblecandidate, but because only he was seen as able to dislodge Mr Mbeki.

That moment was key, as it showed Cosatu did not support Mr Zuma forhimself but only for what he had stood against. This made it harder for him toappear to be the legitimate leader of the party. Should he be re-elected, hecould well face the same problem again.

However, he and other leaders could re-establish their legitimacy if the taskteams investigating the manipulation claims are seen to be able to reachaccurate findings. Should Mr Zuma publicly disavow "slates" and be seen towin on his own strengths, that could re-establish his credibility.

19 November 2012


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Business DayPage 2Natasha Marrian

ANC top-job nomination process to heat up

THE African National Congress (ANC) conference nomination process is setto heat up this week, as branches scramble to meet a November 30 deadlineto nominate candidates for the top jobs. The Democratic Alliance (DA) alsoheads to an elective conference at the weekend.

The ANCs national executive committee on Sunday emerged from its finalmeeting before the national conference in Mangaung elects new officebearers next month.

Former home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zumas report into allegedANC candidate selection fraud ahead of the local elections last year waspresented to the committee at the meeting. Further details on the report andthe nomination process are to emerge from a media briefing later in the week.The Sunday Independent reported Ms Dlamini-Zuma found the selection ofcandidates was fraught with irregularities and manipulation, with the ANCconsidering disciplining and firing those implicated.

The ANC nomination process ends with provincial nomination conferences inthe coming two weeks. The Free State will hold its nomination conference inSasolburg on Thursday. While the province is set to endorse President JacobZuma to lead the party for a second term, deep divisions remain.

Party members are determined to push on with a Constitutional Court bid tooverturn the outcome of a June conference that saw the partys longest-serving provincial chairman, Ace Magashule, re-elected.

Mpumalanga and Gauteng will hold their nomination conferences at theweekend the former is firmly in Mr Zumas camp and the latter pushing forhis deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, to replace him in December.

KwaZulu-Natal, the ANCs largest province by membership numbers, makesits nominations at the weekend. Its largest region, eThekwini, held a regionalconference over the past weekend and endorsed Mr Zuma to lead the partyfor a second term. The region also favours businessman and nationalexecutive committee member Cyril Ramaphosa to replace Mr Motlanthe asdeputy president. It wants to see ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantasheretained in his position and his deputy, Thandi Modise, replaced by nationalexecutive committee member and communications head Jessie Duarte.

The nomination process has been far from smooth and the ANC was forced toappoint three task teams to deal with irregularities and complaints by branch

members. On Friday, ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said two-thirds ofbranches had finished their work.


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The long-awaited Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditionsof Employment Amendment Bill are set to be debated in the NationalAssembly this week. It is expected the debates will be heated as the bills dealwith the regulation of labour brokering in South Africa, the balloting of workersbefore strike action can occur, as well as with collective bargaining and

essential services.

On Saturday, DA leader Helen Zille is expected to open the partys congresswhere she is expected to be re-elected. Last week, the DA rolled out itsnewest recruit, former Congress of the People MP Nosima Balindlela. Thepost of federal chairman held by Wilmot James is set to be challenged by MPMasizole Mnqasela. DA leader of the Eastern Cape Athol Trollip reportedlysaid Ms Zille had to prepare herself to be challenged at the partys nextcongress in 2014.

Documents

Global South African News Wrap – 23 November 2012