SA journalists fight proposed media law

SA journalists fight proposed media laws
ANGUS SHAW JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA -

Aug 09 2010 07:04
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South African journalists have launched a campaign to fight what they say is an attempt to curtail media freedoms in a nation known for one of Africa's freest and most open Constitutions. In a declaration published in all main Sunday newspapers, the South African National Editors' Forum said media restrictions proposed by the African National Congress threatened free expression that was the "lifeblood" of the country's democracy since the end of apartheid-era rule in 1994. Those proposals include a new media law and a special tribunal for journalists.One major newspaper even began running small notices alongside important stories that tell readers, "you would not be reading this story" if new media laws are passed.The statement signed by 36 of the country's prominent editors called for restrictions posed by the proposed Protection of Information laws and the Media Appeals Tribunal to be abandoned immediately.It appealed to the ruling party to "abide by the founding principles of our democracy" enshrined in the Constitution that ended apartheid rule and its harsh media controls."Human dignity is indivisible from freedom of speech," the group said.Struggle for freedomIt said free access to information lay "at the very heart of the struggle for freedom" championed by President Jacob Zuma's governing party.The new laws would allow the government to classify a broad range of material that is currently not secret. Under the new law, it would be illegal to leak or to publish information deemed classified by the government, and the offence would be punishable by imprisonment.Critics of the legislation say it does not allow for the public interest to be taken into account in exposing corruption or incompetence by top officials.

The tribunal would also be given powers to rule on media content and impose penalties on journalists.The fears of an onslaught against the media were highlighted Wednesday by the arrest of a reporter who wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Times on alleged corruption by senior officials and police commanders.Mzilikazi wa Afrika was detained for 48 hours and had his computer, notebooks, files and a cellphone seized during investigations into allegations of fraud, forgery and handling a forged document.The reporter's arrest, reminiscent of media repression in neighbouring Zimbabwe, was a rare incident in South Africa after the end of apartheid, the editors' forum said.There were brief but isolated arrests of journalists, including reporters who encroached into a crime scene whose arrests were not politically related.In Sunday's edition of his newspaper, Wa Afrika said police who searched his home ransacked wardrobes and drawers in his bedroom, overturning his mattress and searching under the bed."Having one's notebooks seized is any journalist's biggest fear.They contain details of confidential sources," he wrote.Last week's edition of the paper carried a report by Wa Afrika implicating top police officials in plans to lease a new headquarters building from a wealthy friend and ally without following regular tender procedures.Denying any wrongdoing in that deal at a news conference, police chief General Bheki Cele described Wa Afrika as "a very shady journalist, very shady".Militant youth leaders of the governing party have been in the forefront of calls for tight media curbs.On Saturday, youth league leader Julius Malema branded journalists as "dangerous.""They think they are untouchable and they can write about anything they like ... those who engage in unethical activities must be locked up," he told a youth meeting in Bloemfontein. - Sapa-AP
( Mail and Guardian online )

Cele's dodgy R500m deal likely to face two probes

Cele's dodgy R500m deal likely to face two probes
Aug 8, 2010 12:00 AM By STEPHAN HOFSTATTER, MZILIKAZI wa AFRIKA and BRENDAN BOYLE
A R500-million deal to move police top brass to a building owned by a politically connected billionaire - without a public tender process - is likely to face two probes.

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The Public Protector's office this week confirmed it was investigating the lease, while the corruption-busting Special Investigating Unit has launched one of its "biggest ever" probes into irregular government leases worth billions of rands.
The deal - exposed by the Sunday Times last week - will involve moving police headquarters to a building owned by Roux Shabangu at a cost to taxpayers of over R500-million, without following normal tender procedures; it is expected to form part of the SIU probe.
The SIU would neither confirm nor deny this, saying it was probing possible irregularities in "numerous leases negotiated by DPW (the Department of Public Works) ... some of which involve significant amounts".
The SIU is an elite unit that fights corruption through forensic investigations and follows up with litigation to retrieve public funds.
Both Shabangu and police chief General Bheki Cele, who signed off on the proposed financial terms of the deal, sent threatening letters to the Sunday Times this week in an apparent bid to gag the newspaper from publishing further details of the dodgy deal - which has raised eyebrows not only due to the lack of a tender, but also because the SAPS signed a 10-year lease with Shabangu while it still has a 10-year lease on its existing head office, Wachthuis.
The SIU said the investigation into government leases was sparked by a request from the minister of public works, Geoff Doidge, to look into "serious concerns he had regarding procurement processes in the department", a spokesman said on Friday.
"The Department of Public Works investigation will be one of the biggest ever launched by the SIU," the spokesman said.
This week Public Protector Thuli Madonsela launched an investigation into the SAPS lease, responding to a complaint lodged by the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa.
"I hope to be in a position to issue my report at the beginning of September," she said in a letter sent to the institute on Tuesday.
Shabangu was not involved in any "underhanded dealings" in clinching the deal, his lawyer, Natalie Visagie, said on Friday. "My client had no interaction or contact with Cele at all. The allegation that Cele signed the lease is completely false.
"The building was sold to my client and it was a condition of the sale that my client would obtain SAPS as a lessee."
Although Shabangu initially denied his political connections, his lawyer said that "President (Jacob) Zuma is a friend of long standing of my client", but insisted "to the best of my client's knowledge, Zuma did not bring to bear any political influence (on awarding the lease)".
Cele, meanwhile, has insisted that the Department of Public Works had exonerated him of any wrongdoing by pointing out that the lease did not need to go out to tender because it was a negotiated contract.
He also said it was "misleading" and "incorrect" to say he had clinched the deal with Shabangu. Cele said he simply signed a "needs assessment" because the SAPS headquarters "was not big enough for it to carry out its administrative functions".
"With that his role as the accounting officer of the SAPS ended," his office said. "The Department of Public Works then took over the process."
But documents in the Sunday Times's possession show that on June 1 Cele signed off on the proposed financial terms of the lease.
The documents, while not the final lease issued, consist of an offer document headed "Agreement of Lease" containing Shabangu's detailed proposed rentals, and a document signed off by Cele entitled "Actual cost calculations: leasing of properties to accommodate government departments", largely reflecting the same numbers.
(View the documents online at www.timeslive.co.za)
This week neither public works nor the SAPS could adequately explain why the R500-million deal did not go out to public tender - as required by Treasury rules.
The rules require all government contracts over R500000 to go through a competitive bid process.
If a service is needed really urgently, departments are allowed to negotiate directly with a contractor. But only if they've given good reasons, which must be as a result of unforeseen circumstances, including "a catastrophic event".
A government official familiar with tender compliance rules, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said contracts were typically negotiated directly only after an open bidding process had failed to produce a suitable candidate.
Accommodation crunches caused by bad planning would result in short-term emergency solutions - not 10-year leases, he said.
"On what basis is the relocation of an entire building urgent? You don't have to move 500 people quickly. Where is the case for urgency?"
Attempts to get answers from public works proved fruitless. "I don't want to talk to the Sunday Times ever again," shouted spokesman Lucky Nchalibane, referring all queries to special projects deputy director-general Mandla Mabuza.
But Mabuza failed to explain why the department decided not to follow normal tender procedures.
This week Cele's office also refused to supply reasons why the move was deemed so urgent it warranted dispensing with normal tender processes, or documents to support his claims, including the needs assessment he claimed was the last document he signed.
"After an appropriate apology, retraction and correction are published, we will consider whether to make available to you the information that has been requested," said a Major-General Julius Molefe. "In the circumstances you leave General Cele with no option but to seek proper redress through other means provided by the law."
Visagie also threatened to hold the Sunday Times liable for any damages suffered by Shabangu, if another deal he was planning to clinch with the SAPS - for renting a building in Durban - fell through because of negative publicity.

Senior Policeman's startling admission: Arrest was political

Senior Policeman's startling admission: Arrest was political
Aug 8, 2010 12:00 AM By STEPHAN HOFSTATTER and CHARLES MOLELE

There is mounting evidence that political pressure lay behind the arrest this week of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Africa, despite furious denials from police top brass.
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A senior police official close to the case admitted yesterday that police were feeling the heat from ANC politicians to crack down on wa Afrika, because of his reporting.
"Ja - it's political pressure," he told the Sunday Times.
Yesterday, Mabutho Sithole, a spokesman for Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, confirmed the premier had laid the initial complaint, at the Kabokweni police station in Nelspruit, which culminated in wa Afrika's arrest.
Mabuza, a controversial figure in Mpumalanga, has been the subject of various articles in the Sunday Times and other publications.
The complaint was sparked by a letter faxed to the Sunday Times, in which Mabuza supposedly states his intention to resign as premier. Mabuza insisted the letter was a forgery and that he had no intention of resigning.
"He (Mabuza) complained to the police here at Kabokweni after we got a copy of the letter and received information that there were people in possession of a letter bearing his name and signature," said Sithole.
Wa Afrika was arrested at 11.15am on Wednesday outside the Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
Minutes earlier Sunday Times lawyer Renier Spies had been negotiating with Kabokweni station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Mabasa at Rosebank police station not to arrest wa Afrika at his office, but rather to allow the journalist to hand himself over at the station.
"In the meantime (Mabasa) contacted a 'general' whose further particulars are unknown to me, via his cellphone," said Spies. "According to (Mabasa), the general he spoke to was on his way to the station and wanted to join us."
Minutes later, several police vehicles with sirens blaring pulled up alongside wa Afrika outside the Sunday Times building while he was walking to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle and drove off at high speed.
At 7pm on Thursday night, the Sunday Times went to the High Court in Pretoria to bring an urgent application for wa Afrika's release. Just before 10pm, acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered his immediate release following an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 10:30pm on Thursday night.
He appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday on charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on bail of R5000 and is scheduled to appear again on November 8.
Spies said he was convinced there was "political pressure on (Mabasa) to effect an arrest".
This is borne out by the line of questioning police adopted when interrogating wa Afrika and fellow suspect Victor Mlimi, a senior provincial government official, at the Nelspruit office of the police's provincial Organised Crime Unit on Thursday.
"I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga," said wa Afrika. "That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case.
"They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me."
Mlimi's lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, said his client was questioned for two hours about the ANC's provincial leadership succession battles, and which political camp he supported.
"I was present when my client was asked, Are you destroying the image and integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga? I advised my client not to answer that question. It struck me that this has more to do with politics than a criminal case."
The day before the arrest, police chief General Bheki Cele had referred to wa Afrika as a "shady journalist", in response to an article he co-authored about the police chief's involvement in clinching a R500-million lease agreement, without going to tender, with billionaire businessman Roux Shabangu.
The vigour police used to pursue wa Afrika also raised eyebrows. The case was opened at Kabokweni police station on Monday and wa Afrika was arrested two days later.
Police have yet to arrest anyone connected to the deaths of Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts and culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane - both of whom appeared on an alleged hit list that emerged last year .
Mohlala was gunned down outside his house by three masked men in January 2009 in Kanyamazane township outside Nelspruit. Mpatlanyane was shot in his Nelspruit home in January 2010.
"Those murders are still under investigation," Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi told the Sunday Times yesterday.
The visible lack of progress in these cases contrasts with the swift action taken against wa Afrika, one of the journalists who exposed the alleged hit list.
Cele's spokesman, Nonkululeko Mbatha, told the Sunday Times yesterday "the semblance and impressions you have are not factual". "Police have instituted a probe which is ongoing and appealed to members of the public who might have information ... to come to the fore."
Asked about the negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, she said: "I cannot undo that impression but the fact of the matter is no one is immune from investigation of what is suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by the general (Cele) to apprehend or intimidate the journalist are incorrect and a figment of imagination."
Mabuza's spokesman also denied exerting any political pressure on police, or that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate wa Afrika and derail his investigative reporting on the murders.
hofstatters@sundaytimes.co.za; molelec@sundaytimes.co.za
First Letter from the Office of the Commissioner (pdf)
Second Letter from the Office of the Commissioner (pdf)
Letter from the Attorney (pdf)

Moordenaar wat ‘ys aan ’n Eskimo kan smous’

Moordenaar wat ‘ys aan ’n Eskimo kan smous’

010-08-07 22:00
Joe Mamasela. Foto: Robert Tlapu
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Jacques Pauw
Joe Mamasela, ’n gewese askari van die apartheidspolisie se Vlakplaas-moordeenheid, het verlede week in die hof verskyn nadat hy glo die eienaar van sy huurhuis in Soweto doodgeskiet het. Jacques Pauw, wat in die 1990’s met Mamasela kennis gemaak het, loop terug op sy bloedspoor.Joe Mamasela is ’n swierbol met ’n kleurvolle woordeskat. Soos ’n vriend sê: “Hy’s glad, seepglad. Joe is die soort ou wat ys aan ’n Eskimo kan smous.”Maar agter die flambojante uiterlike skuil ’n gewetenlose moordenaar met ’n lang bloedspoor agter hom. Verlede naweek het Mamasela glo die eienaar van sy huurhuis in Soweto, Joseph Nhlapho, dood­ge­skiet. Mamasela het gevlug, maar hom ’n paar dae later aan die polisie oorgegee en is van moord aangekla. Dit is die eerste keer dat Mama-sela van ’n misdaad aangekla word – maar dit is nie die eerste keer dat hy moor nie. Ek het hom eenkeer gevra hoeveel mense hy al doodgemaak het. “Ek’s nie seker nie,” het hy gespog. “Dis omtrent 40.”Hy’t vertel hy het ’n notaboek gehad waarin hy net sommige slagoffers se name neergeskryf het: “As ek al die name moes neerskryf, sou ek ’n Bybel nodig hê.” Meer as ’n dekade lank het sers. Joseph Mamasela herhaaldelik gemoor. Vir die Vlakplaas-bevelvoerders Eugene de Kock en Dirk Coetzee was hy die volmaakte moord­masjien.Van sy slagoffers was net 15 jaar oud. Hy het mense verwurg, doodgemartel of met plofstof aan stukke geblaas. Ander is met messe of vuurwapens vermoor. Hy het gespog dat hy petrolbomme in die huise van minstens 300 anti-apartheidstryders gegooi het.Maar Mamasela is nooit vervolg nie. Hy het sy kennis aan staatsaanklaers verkoop in ruil vir vrywaring – sekerlik een van die mees immorele ooreenkomste wat die staat ooit met ’n misdadiger gesluit het.Almal wat Mamasela in die 1980’s of 1990’s geken het, het geweet dis net ’n kwessie van tyd voordat hy weer moor. En tog het hy ongekende beskerming van die prokureur-generaal en later die nasionale vervolgingsgesag (NGV) geniet. Mamasela het geweier om om WVK-amnestie aansoek te doen. Hy het homself beskou as ’n slagoffer wat gedwing is om te moor: “Ek het geen alternatief gehad nie. My plig was om als, wettig of onwettig, te doen wat my bevelvoerders vir my gesê het om te doen.”Ironies was Mamasela eens deel van die struggle. Hy het in 1977 militêre opleiding in ’n ANC-kamp in Botswana ondergaan. Hy het in opdrag van die ANC teruggekeer na Suid-Afrika, maar is aangekeer. Hy sê hy is gemartel totdat hy ingestem het om vir die veiligheidspolisie te werk.Op Vlakplaas was hy een van Coetzee se sogenaamde askari’s – swart aktiviste wat “gedraai” is.“Min het ek geweet ek spring van die braaipan in die vuur?… Ek is gedwing om my eie mense dood te maak,” het hy in ’n onderhoud aan my gesê. Mamasela het egter geesdriftig gemoor, só goed dat hy aangestel is as ’n gewone polisiesersant.Sy eerste slagoffer was die Durbanse menseregte-prokureur Griffiths Mxenge, wat in opdrag van Coetzee vermoor is. Hy het daarna moorde gepleeg in diens van Vlakplaas en die Noord-Transvaalse Veiligheidstak. Coetzee het oor Mamasela gesê: “Hy het daai moordlus gehad. Hy was altyd gewillig en selfs gretig om die werk te doen. Hy was ’n fantastiese misdadiger en ’n wrede man.”Jacques Hechter, Mamasela se bevelvoerder by die Noord-Transvaalse Veiligheidstak, sê: “As ons moes gaan doodmaak, was Mama­sela gereed en hy kon nie wag om dit te doen nie.” In Junie 1986 het hy byvoorbeeld aangebied om tien aktiviste in ’n minibus na Botswana te neem. Die jongstes was 15, die oudste 22.Mamasela het hulle bier gegee tydens die rit. Naby die Botswana-grens, waar ’n span van die veiligheidsmag gewag het, het hy stilgehou. Die jong mense is uit die bussie gehaal en met gif ingespuit. Hulle is toe weer in die bussie gesit voordat dit met plofstof vernietig is.Hy is goed betaal vir sy vele moordtogte. Mamasela het die polisie in 1993 verlaat, nadat Coetzee hom reeds by verskeie moorde betrek het.De Kock het later in sy eie verhoor getuig dat die polisie bedrae van tot R27?000 op ’n slag aan Mamasela moes betaal om stil te bly. “Hy het ’n staatsmotor gekry, ons moes sy kinders se skoolgeld betaal en sekuriteit by sy huis installeer. Hy het die polisie as gyselaar gehou; dit was pure afpersing. Dit gaan nooit stop nie.”De Kock was reg.In 1994 was Mamasela bang sy voormalige meesters sou hom ’n sondebok maak. Dis tóé dat hy na die prokureur-generaal is en aangebied het om alles te vertel. Hy is in die getuiebeskermingsprogram geplaas. Ek het Mamasela in 1995 ontmoet toe hy sy rol in die moorde van die Pebco-drie aan my beken het. “Hulle is ontvoer; hulle is Cradock toe geneem. Hulle is met ’n ysterpyp oor die kop geslaan; hulle is dood. Ja, hulle is dood, een vir een.”Die prokureur-generaal (en later die NVG) het hom R13 000 per maand betaal as deel van die getuiebeskermingsooreenkoms. Sy troefkaart was dat hy die staat se kerngetuie in ’n rits hofsake sou wees. Dit het nooit só uitgewerk nie. Maar belastingbetalers het bly opdok vir Mamasela.“Alles het vir Mamasela oor geld gegaan,” sê Coetzee. “Hy het eenkeer vir my vertel hy het R300 000 van die prokureur-generaal gekry. Hy het suiker van Swaziland na Suid-Afrika gesmokkel en ’n onwettige Tokarev-pistool gedra.”Nadat die WVK-proses sy verloop geneem het, het Mamasela uit die openbare oog verdwyn en bykans ’n dekade lank was sy naam nie in die koerante nie. Maar op ’n dag het hy by ’n motorfietswinkel in Johannesburg ingeloop, ’n stapel geldnote op die toonbank neergegooi en vir sy seun ’n nuwe motorfiets gekoop. Die verkoopsman was Leon van Rooyen, ’n gewese weermag-offisier. Dié twee het beste vriende geword. Hulle het later ’n veiligheidsmaatskappy met die naam Uthingo begin. Van Rooyen beskryf Mamasela as “godvresend, saggeaard, ’n liefhebber van mense” wat “weggeskram het van geweld”. Van Rooyen sê in 2001 of 2002 het Mamasela vir hom gesê dat hy R500 000 ontvang het van die regering as “’n finale pakket. Hy was baie gelukkig en het ’n huis en ’n erf gekoop.”Van Rooyen het Mamasela gehelp om navorsing te doen vir sy outobiografie, wat hy onlangs voltooi het. To Hell and Back handel oor sy kinderjare in Soweto, sy ballingskap, inhegtenisneming en sy loopbaan as moordenaar.“Hy hou nie terug nie en spaar niemand,” sê Van Rooyen. “Dis hoe Joe is – ’n reguit mens wat jou sal hel toe stuur as jy dit verdien.”Mamasela wou hê oudpres. Thabo Mbeki moes die voorwoord vir sy boek skryf. Van Rooyen sê hy het Mamasela na Luthuli-huis vergesel, waar hulle met onder andere Smuts Ngonyama, destydse ANC-kommunikasiehoof, vergader het.Van Rooyen sê toe hy en Mama-sela hul veiligheidsmaatskappy gestig het, was laasgenoemde nie gekwalifiseer om by die Raad op Veiligheidsbeamptes (SOB) te registreer nie. “Maar ná net ’n paar oproepe na vriende in Pretoria was Joe geregistreer.”Mamasela se vrou, Bhongi, is twee jaar gelede oorlede. Sy het ’n meestersgraad gehad en was ’n senior Gautengse provinsiale amptenaar. Sy dogter is op universiteit en sy seun het rekenaarwetenskap gestudeer.Twee jaar gelede het Van Rooyen en Mamasela hul sakeverhouding beëindig, maar is steeds vriende. “Hy was al dikwels in my huis en ek vertrou hom met my kinders. Iets moes sy laaste optrede (die moord laas week in Soweto) uitgelok het.”Mamasela het ’n veiligheids-en-vullisverwyderingsmaatskappy met die naam Joengile begin. Hy was ook bekend as ’n “mashonisa” (geldwolf).

Gun owner wants Cele jailed

Gun owner wants Cele jailed

2010-08-05 23:26
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Sonja Carstens, Beeld
Pretoria – A business consultant is asking the North Gauteng High Court to send national police commissioner Bheki Cele, to prison for 30 days, for the alleged disregard of a court order to make a decision about his firearm licence.Nicolaas Korb, from Irene, Centurion, alleges in court papers that the registrar of firearms and Cele were “purposely or alternatively grossly negligent” by not abiding by a court order issued by Judge Natvarial Ranchod on March 2.According to court documents, Cele is the registrar. The summons was served on the registrar’s office on March 10.Ranchod ordered that the registrar has a further month’s grace period to consider Korb’s application for a licence for a .22 rifle.This means Korb should have been informed before or on April 10 whether his application had been successful or not – four years after it was submitted.According to the documents, Sylvia Khumalo of the central firearm register’s call centre on Wednesday confirmed to George Nell, Korb’s legal representative, that his licence has not yet been approved.According to Korb he did everything within his power to bring the summons under the attention of the registrar as well as Cele, but there was still “a refusal and/or failure” to comply with a “simple order”.The court documents state he initially applied for the licence on December 14 2005 at the Lyttleton police station.Start all overWhen he checked in middle-2006, he was told he hadn’t paid the necessary fees. According to Korb he has since repeatedly submitted copies of receipts with the police.On June 21 2007 Christel Viljoen told Korb they couldn’t find any evidence of his payment, and that he had to follow the process from the beginning again.He refused to do so and asked Nell to at least take up the matter with the minister.According to court documents a letter was served to the registrar of firearms by hand on September 11 last year, in which he is told to give Korb’s application final consideration.Nell also served the letter on the office of the minister of police on September 25 last year.In a last-ditch attempt to get “the necessary reaction”, Korb sent the sheriff with a copy of the court order to serve on Jaco Bothma, head of the central firearm register.The case was also repeatedly discussed with Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane, secretary of police.A copy of the court order was handed over on June 24 to a task team which was to investigate problems with the execution of the Firearms Act and which Nell was invited to address.According to Korb, he was under the impression that his case would be taken up by Nathi Mthethwa, minister of police, to prevent “possible embarrassment” for the minister and the chief of police.“Even this attempt, has not produced a positive reaction yet,” according to Korb’s statement.
Read more on: service delivery sapf bheki cele

Cele steps into journalist fray

Cele steps into journalist fray

2010-08-05 09:26
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Sydney Masinga, African Eye
Mbombela - Two Mpumalanga civil servants were arrested and charged along with Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika for possession of an allegedly fraudulent resignation letter from Premier David Mabuza to President Jacob Zuma.The civil servants have not yet appeared in court and cannot therefore be named, but they include a deputy director in Mpumalanga's Department of Human Settlements and a rural schoolteacher.They are scheduled to appear in the KaBokweni Magistrate's Court on Thursday while Wa Afrika is set to appear on Friday, on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.Wa Afrika is being defended by lawyers from Sunday Times, but it is unclear whether the two officials have any legal representation.The supposed resignation letter is dated June 2 and is printed on a provincial government letterhead reading: "I hereby state my intention to resign as premier of the Mpumalanga province, with effect from the 17th of July 2010, as discussed with the president."I will await your further instructions on the process to be followed. I trust that the confidential nature of this issue shall be respected for the good of all concerned.”National issueMpumalanga police spokesperson, Captain Leonard Hlathi, declined to comment, referring all questions to national police commissioner General Bheki Cele's spokesperson, Nonkululeko Mbatha, because “this matter has become a national issue because it involves the president".Mbatha would only say: "We have taken over the case."The more senior suspect, who works in the province's informal settlements division in the Ehlanzeni region, appears to be accused of fabricating the letter.The second suspect is apparently accused of circulating the letter to journalists from a fax machine at the Mganduzweni Primary School outside White River.Both civil servants were arrested at work on Tuesday.Human Settlements spokesperson Freddy Ngobe confirmed on Wednesday that an official from the department was arrested, but declined to identify them."I heard rumours about who was arrested, but do want to name them. The department would like the law to take its course, and that is our official comment,” said Ngobe.Hitlist, assassinAnother of Wa Afrika's alleged sources, former Mpumalanga ANC Youth League leader and current Cope chairperson in Ehlanzeni, James Nkambule, has also been arrested on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.Nkambule was arrested March 25 and released on R8 000 bail shortly after admitting he had circulated a supposed hitlist of Mpumalanga public figures.The list included Mbombela municipality speaker, councillor Jimmy Mohlala, who was executed in front of his family in January 2009 while investigating tender irregularities relating to the Mbombela 2010 stadium.The list also included names of other officials who had either died or disappeared in questionable circumstances.Nkambule claims that the hitlist and an accompanying affidavit were drafted by a Mozambican assassin, identified only as 'Josh', who claims to have been hired by "a senior Mpumalanga politician".More arrestsSecretary of the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in Mpumalanga, Raymond Makamo, has accused Wa Africa and one of the housing official of colluding to destroy Premier Mabuza."I saw Mzilikazi meeting (the housing official) at the Protea Hotel earlier this year when the hitlist stories were still hot," said Makamo."That is when we suspected that they were working together against Comrade DD. We expect more people to be arrested."The premier's spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said that the arrest proves that "there are people who are hellbound on destroying the premier's good name"."We have always said there was a conspiracy going on against the premier. We accept the arrest and hope that the law will take its course," said Sithole.
- African Eye
Read more on: media crime nelspruit bheki cele david mabuza

Praise for Selebi sentence

Praise for Selebi sentence
2010-08-03 14:25
Judge: Selebi an embarrassment
Selebi sold his badge
Selebi gets 15 years behind bars
Cape Town - Former national police chief Jackie Selebi's 15-year jail sentence is a "rare instance of justice for corrupt cadres", the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.This marked the end of one of the most controversial trials in South African history, DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler Barnard said."Controversial because of the numerous obstacles placed in the way of due process and the law in trying to bring this criminal to book and controversial because we as a country are almost completely unfamiliar with the idea of a corrupt official, connected to the ANC, actually going to prison," she said.As Selebi came to grips with the idea of prison, so too should the government think about the integrity of a police structure that was for years led by an individual who on Tuesday joined the ranks of the very criminals from which the police were supposed to protect society."The reason was cadre deployment and cadre deployment alone, and that ANC-driven policy needs to be scrapped," Kohler Barnard said.Meanwhile, Independent Democrats leader Patricia De Lille also welcomed the sentence, saying that she agreed with Judge Meyer Joffe that Selebi was an “embarrassment”.Missing the Scorpions' stingShe said the sentence sent out a strong message that South African courts would not hesitate to deliver justice in corruption cases.ACDP president Kenneth Meshoe said Selebi's case would not have ended in a successful prosecution had it been investigated by the police."In light of attempts by the SAPF (South African Police Force) to intimidate the prosecutor, Advocate Gerrie Nel, it is unlikely that this case would have been successfully investigated had it been left to the SAPF," he said.Nel was head of the investigating team from the now disbanded anti-corruption unit, the Scorpions. The highly successful unit was closed down in 2008.Meshoe said the ACDP believed the reputation of the SAPF and Interpol suffered as a result of Selebi's crime and conviction."This sentence is thus justified even though he is in his sixties," he said.Meshoe said Selebi's sentence will send a strong message to policemen that corruption was totally unacceptable, the ACDP said on Tuesday.
- SAPA
Read more on: jackie selebi trial da dianne kohler barnard jackie selebi