Cape Watchdog magazine

Cape Watchdog Always on the watch www.capewatchdog.com

April 2016 R15

Rhodes University suspends classes for rest of the week

Arms deal report: No evidence of ‘criminal Backyard dwellings shenanigans’ on the rise in SA

#01 Rhodes

CONTENTS Arms deal

Backyard dwelling

Thuli Madonsela

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06-07

Features 10 Murder accused wanted to sell stolen BMW for R5 000

12 Nkandla ‘firepool’ report factually correct – Nhleko

14 Why the coloured vote has been so elusive for the ANC

16 Brics bank to loan Eskom over R2-billion

18 Interdict brought against Rhodes students

19 [From our archives] Arms deal: seven facts that aren’t going away

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April 2016

FILE: Rhodes University students activists stand outside the magistrate court after the arrest of the five students during the anti-rape protests on 20 April 2016. Picture: Govan Whittles/EWN.

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significant monuments in the form of the Union Buildings, the National Heroes Acre at Fountains Valley and the informal cultural capital - Freedom Park - where we find ourselves today,” he said.

He said one of the glaring divisions of the country’s past was the physical separation of the state’s legislative and executive arms.

“This outcome is itself the result of a political process in which the majority of our people were excluded. The legislative and executive arms were separated in the context of settling stakes of various political camps within the white population,” he said.

Having two capital cities was an ever-present reminder of the country’s morally reprehensible past, which the Constitution intended to eradicate.

Ramokgopa argued that if the Constitution was to remain the supreme law of the land, a case should be made for moving the legislative capital to Tshwane.

(Jerusha Sukhdeo-Raath, News24) Karabo Ngoepe

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retoria – Fort Klapperkop could house Parliament should it be moved from Cape Town, Tshwane Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said in his State of the City address on Thursday.

“This site passed all the criteria, including its relevance to the Tshwane inner-city renewal strategy; its symbolic significance and standing relative to the Union Buildings; its natural and environmental dimensions; as well as its accessibility and immediate availability of land,” he said.

The City owned the land and the site was close to the main roads leading into the Pretoria CBD, to the Gautrain, and to OR Tambo International Airport.

“Above all else, the location of Parliament at Fort Klapperkop connects the trilogy of

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Rhodes University suspends classes for rest of the week Govan Whittles

Fort Klapperkop proposed as new home of Parliament

hodes University suspends classes for rest of the week The university has set up a task team to investigate the allegations of rape on campus.

Rhodes University student activists stand outside the magistrate court after the arrests of the five students during the anti-rape protests on 20 April 2016 GRAHAMSTOWN – Rhodes University has suspended classes for the remainder of the week as student protests against rape on campus are set to continue.

The university says it has suspended classes for the rest of this week due to the protests which are being led by activists against gender-based violence and the Rhodes Student Representative Council (SRC).

It follows the release of a socalled reference list with the names of eleven people accused of raping other students.

The university management has now set up a task team to investigate the allegations.

It says the decision is in recognition of the trauma and strain that all students and staff have experienced over the past two days.

Man accused of raping, robbing 86-year-old woman abandons bail bid

by Jeanette Chabalala

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loemfontein – A man who allegedly robbed and raped an 86-year-old woman abandoned his bail application in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, Free State police said.

Captain Chaka Marope said David Moeketsi, 32, appeared briefly in court where he withdrew his application.

“He will appear on May 13 for his case to be transferred to the high court,” said Marope.

Moeketsi was caught in Bochabela on Tuesday, following an intensive manhunt.

In February, he allegedly attacked the 86-year-old woman, raped her, and made off with her cellphones, money,

jewellery, and computers.

He was allegedly linked to

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the South African

“Justice must be seen to be done to send a message that there is no place in our society for those who violate, defile and abuse our elderly in the sanctuary of their homes,” said Sanco national spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu.

Mahlangu said a stiffer sentence would serve as a deterrent.

“The scourge of rape calls for united action to reclaim our streets as well as neighbourhoods from criminals and stamp out the scourge of gender-based violence,” he added.

Mahlangu praised police for the arrest of the suspect.

four cases of house robbery and rape which occurred last year.

National Civic Organisation (Sanco) said the man should not get bail.

Story and Picture: (File, News24)

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April 2016

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Arms deal report: No evidence of ‘criminal shenanigans’ Judge Willie Seriti has found that it was necessary for the SANDF to acquire the equipment it procured during the ‘arms deal’ Photo and story from: www.mg.co.za

President Jacob Zuma released the findings of the Seriti commission today – announcing that no proof of corruption was found.

Athandiwe Saba

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resident Jacob Zuma released the findings of the Seriti commission today – announcing that no proof of corruption was found. Judge Willie Seriti has found that it was necessary for the SANDF to acquire the equipment it procured during the After four years, 54 witnesses and millions of rands pumped into the Seriti Commission of Inquiry, the judge could not find a shred of proof of the allegations of corruption into 1999 multibillion-rand arms deal.Today President Jacob Zuma presented the long-awaited three-volume report into allegations of fraud, corruption, impropriety and irregularity in the strategic defence procurement packages.

“The inquiry involved private investigations and interaction with people who were involved in the process. Key witnesses included former president Thabo Mbeki and former ministers of his Cabinet.

“Serious allegations had been made by individuals in the media that investigators abroad had collected evidence of wrongdoing in strategic defence procurement packages linked to some of the winning bids,” said Zuma.

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“To verify these sessions and to obtain evidence that the private investigators had gathered the commission took visits to the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, United States of America and Germany.”

But with thousands of pages of evidence and hours of testimony from 19 August 2012 to June 2015, Judge Willie Seriti found that it was necessary for the SANDF to acquire the equipment it procured.

“In order to carry out its constitutional mandate and its international obligations of peace support and peacemaking,” said Zuma.

He added that Seriti found that all the arms and equipment have been well utilised.

“The evidence tendered was that the projected number of jobs that were to flow from the acquisition were achieved and the commission states that the probabilities are that the number of jobs retained or created would be higher than 11 916,” said Zuma.

He also stated that the offsets which were anticipated to flow from arms procurement had materialised and it was fair to conclude that many had met their obligations and those who had not would do so in the immediate future.

Seriti completely exonerated

all the individuals who had been implicated in the deal including the inter-ministerial committee, the Cabinet members and the consultants.

“The evidence presented before the commission does not suggest that undue or improper influence played any role in the selections of the preferred bidders which ultimately entered into contracts with government,” he said.

The widespread allegations of corruption in the selections process of the preferred bidders found no support or corroboration from the hearings or the commission’s own investigation.

“The large payments made to consultants gave the impressions that the money was destined to the decision makers in the arms procurement process and that they may have been bribed,” said Zuma “The fact that some of the consultants knew or had personal contact with some of the senior politicians in the government of the day was cited as collaboration. The commission states that not a

single of iota of evidence was placed before it showing that any of the money received by any of consultants was paid to any of the decisions makers let alone the members of the inter-ministerial committee or the final decision makers,” said Zuma.

The commission believes that there was no evidence of any “criminal shenanigans” and no basis for disbelieving the witnesses from cabinet, winning bidders and the inter-ministerial committee.

“Government was of the view that any findings pointing to wrongdoing should be handed over to law enforcement agencies for further actions. The commission does not make any recommendations. There are no findings,” Zuma concluded.

“Government was of the view that any findings pointing to wrongdoing should be handed over to law enforcement agencies for further actions. The commission does not make any recommendations. There are no findings,”

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April 2016

Although there had been a decrease in the urban population living in informal settlements from 17 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2014, the percentage of households living in informal dwellings had barely decreased - from 13.6 to 13.1 percent during the same period. File picture: Masi Losi (www.iol.com)

Backyard dwellings on the rise in SA

the percentage of households living in informal dwellings had barely decreased - from 13.6 to 13.1 percent during the same period. File picture Lindsay Dentlinger

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ape Town - Although more South Africans are living in formal housing now than ever before, informal settlements are not getting any smaller.

Migration patterns and the burgeoning number of backyard dwellings are major contributors to the current situation.

A new study released by Statistics SA has revealed that although the number of people living in formal dwellings across the country had increased from 76 percent in 2002 to 80 percent in 2014, migration was still the reason for the high number of people living in informal settlements.

Releasing the report in Parliament yesterday, statistician-general Pali Lehohla said it was less likely that non-migrants were living in informal areas.

Gauteng had experienced the largest migration of 10.9 percent between 2002 and 2011, followed by the Western Cape at 9.4 percent.

The analysis is based on the General Household Survey (2002-2014) and the Census (2006-2011).

Although there had been a decrease in the urban population living in informal settlements from 17 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2014, the percentage of households living in informal dwellings had barely decreased – from 13.6 to 13.1 per-

cent during the same period.

The number of households living in informal dwellings spiked to 16.4 percent in 2006. The increase can be attributed to the growing number of households living in informal dwellings in the backyards of other dwellings.

Read: ‘Renters in better standing’ Deputy director-general for population and social statistics Kefiloe Masiteng said housing delivery remained a moving target because people were continually unbundling households.

“People want their own arrangements.

More and more people are making the decision to move. People are also looking for jobs,” she said.

Between 2002 and 2014, the percentage of households living in informal dwellings in the Western Cape averaged bout 15 percent. “Even though the percentage of households living in informal settlements has stagnated, there has been an increase in the percentage of households living in backyard informal dwellings,” said Lehohla.

This was placing a strain on the provision of basic services, he added.

Still, households living in backyards had better access to services than an informal dwelling in a settlement.

While only around 38 percent of informal dwellings surveyed in 2014 had access

to piped water and 30 percent had flushing toilets, for backyard dwellings, 84 percent and 76 percent respectively, had access to these services.

Gauteng and the Free State had the biggest proportion of municipalities (at least 80 percent) where more than 5 percent of the dwellings consisted of backyard informal dwellings, while in the Western Cape, 44 percent of municipalities were affected.

The same provinces also carried the heaviest load in terms of the actual levels of informal dwellings in backyards.

The Free State had four municipalities among the top 10, followed by the Western Cape with two – Bitou and Swartland.

Overall, the North West (21 percent) and Gauteng (19 percent) had the highest proportion of its urban population still living in informal settlements.

The biggest declines were in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State.

But despite the proliferation of backyard dwellings, generally, the percentage of households who live in formal dwellings increased across most provinces between 2002 and 2014, but stayed stagnant at 84.8 percent in the Western Cape.

The Western Cape, at 33 percent, had the third-largest number of people waiting for state housing.

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April 2016 Picture: Mary-Ann Palmer

Thuli Madonsela South Africa’s fearless public advocate www.capewatchdog.com

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April 2016

“Thuli Madonsela is an inspirational example of what African public officers need to be. Her work on constitutional reform, land reform and the struggle for the protection of human rights and equality speaks for itself. As South Africa’s public protector, with her ability to speak truth to power and to address corruption in high places, Madonsela has been outstanding.

To speak about corruption in high places is often subversive and always embarrassing. The machinery of state can be called upon to intimidate or even destroy and eliminate whistle-blowers. It therefore requires extraordinary courage and patriotism to do what Thuli Madonsela has done. Yet in standing up for the truth as she sees it, she has assured herself a place in the history of modern South Africa and among the tiny but growing band of African public servants giving us hope for the future of our continent.”

Lamido Sanusi

‘Hope is restored in the constitutional dream’ – Thuli Madonsela W

ith the Constitutional Court’s unanimous and stinging judgment ringing in everyone’s ears, Advocate Thuli Madonsela sat down for what will most likely be one of her last major press conferences as Public Protector.

“The Constitutional Court restored hope in the constitutional dream,” Madonsela said.

Flanked by her deputy, advocate Kevin Malunga, and facing a wall of cameras at Public Protector House in Pretoria, Madonsela said that as a lawyer she would “cherish [the judgment] for the rest of her life.”

This morning, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng delivered the court’s verdict that President Jacob Zuma’s failure to implement the findings of the Public Protector’s Nkandla report was “inconsistent with the Constitution”.

Importantly, the court also confirmed that the Public Protector’s findings were not merely recommendations as the president’s previous legal team had suggested, saying in their judgment that: “If compliance ... was optional very few culprits would allow it to have any effect.”

Madonsela said that as the verdict was read “you could hear a pin drop” in her office as her staff followed on TV – the silence only occasionally broken by “aman-

dla” fist pumps and a few tears.

The unanimous judgment of the 11 justices, read by Mogoeng, was glowing in its praise of Madonsela’s office. It called the Public Protector “an embodiment of a biblical David”, “one of the most invaluable constitutional gifts to our nation” and “one of the true crusaders and champions of anti-corruption and clean governance”.

As quotes from the judgment were read back to her, Madonsela struggled to suppress a smile.

To have the powers of her office confirmed by the highest court in the country just months before her seven-year term came to an end was “better late than never”.

“The Public Protector as a person comes and goes. The Public Protector as an institution never leaves,” she said.

Madonsela is constitutionally obliged to step down on October 19.

Ironically, the urgent job of selecting a new Public Protector now falls into the hands of the two parties most heavily slated in the court’s judgment – the president and Parliament.

In terms of the Public Protector Act, Parliament must appoint a committee to scrutinise all applicants for the job of Public Protector and make a recommendation to Parliament. A 60% vote is needed to con-

firm the candidate. Finally, Parliament’s recommendation will be passed to Zuma, who must decide whether to approve or reject the future Public Protector.

Both in the committee and in Parliament the ANC would hold a significant majority.

Asked whether there was a risk that the Constitutional Court’s damning judgment would encourage Parliament and the president to reassert their authority by picking a tame candidate, Madonsela said: “There would be no point in the government appointing a Public Protector who would lead the government towards a cliff ... To wish to have a Public Protector who tells you lies is to have an enemy who tells you they are a friend.”

The job of the Public Protector is to see the government’s blind spots, she added.

Malunga, who is the deputy Public Protector, sat next to Madonsela. Asked whether he would put his name forward as a candidate, Malunga said: “I get asked this question every day, three times a day, by security guards, cleaners, MDs – I think because they are genuinely concerned about the future of this institution.”

Malunga added that “when that bridge comes I’ll consider it”.

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April 2016

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Celebrities react with anguish to death of Prince at 57 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Musicians, actors and other celebrities reacted to the death of music great Prince with shock and anguish Thursday. http://www.ew.com

http://www.herald.co.zw

breaking

“We will run out of patience very soon” - Malema

During an episode of Talk To Al Jazeera, Malema told Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull that if the ruling ANC continues to respond violently to peaceful protests: “We will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun.”

Mantashe: ANC bus crash victims paid the highest price for solidarity Gwede Mantashe says unity remains the bedrock upon which the ruling party was built on. http://www.dailymaverick.co.za

Nene appointed as advisor at Thebe Investment

Nhlanhla Nene said his appointment will be full-time for a term of two years effective from next month.

FILE: Nhlanhla Nene. Picture: GCIS.

SA laws to target executives involved in cartels, collusion

SA has cracked down on price-fixing cartels in the construction sector & recently investigated steel.

FILE: Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel. Picture: World Economic Forum.

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