'It's a sad day for South Africa'

24/03/2009 14:44  - (SA)  

Johannesburg - A peace conference involving Nobel laureates was postponed on Tuesday over Pretoria's refusal to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, angering the grandson of Nelson Mandela.

Mandla Mandela, who helped plan the event, said the rejection of the Dalai Lama was "unfortunate" and tainted his illustrious grandfather's efforts to bring democracy to South Africa.

"It's a sad day for South Africa. It's a sad day for Africa," he told reporters.

Nelson Mandela, along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president FW de Klerk, were to host the peace conference on Friday in Johannesburg, bringing together Nobel laureates from around the world.

The conference was to discuss how soccer can fight racism and xenophobia, as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup.

Officially South Africa says it does not want a visit by the Dalai Lama to draw attention away from preparations for the World Cup, insisting that his visit has merely been "postponed."

Government stands by decision

Thabo Masebe, spokesperson for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said he could not say when the Dalai Lama would be allowed to visit.

"We made the decision. We stand by the decision. Nothing is going to change," he told reporters.

Now that the peace conference has been scuppered, the event's chairperson Irvin Khoza said he did not know when it would be rescheduled.

Tutu and De Klerk had earlier indicated they would withdraw from the event over the controversy, while the Nobel peace committee said it would have to withdraw its support unless the Dalai Lama was allowed to attend.

"For me personally, and the role my grandfather has played in founding our democracy, together with his colleagues, this rejection by the government to not issue a visa to the Dalai Lama is really tainting our efforts of democracy," Mandla Mandela told a news conference.

"I don't think that as sovereign independent country, we need to succumb to international pressures," Mandela said.

Pressure from China

The government has denied that the Dalai Lama's visa was rejected due to pressure from China, a key trading partner.

But Chinese diplomats told local media that Beijing had urged South Africa to deny the visit or risk damaging bilateral relations.

A spokesperson for the Dalai Lama has also blamed Chinese pressure for the refusal.

After South Africa announced its decision, China expressed appreciation for countries that shun the Dalai Lama.

"All countries should respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity... and oppose Tibetan independence. We appreciate relevant countries' measures," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing.

China vehemently opposes any overseas activities by the Dalai Lama, whom it considers a separatist seeking independence for his Himalayan homeland. He denies such charges.

He angered China earlier this month by marking the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising with a speech saying Chinese control had turned Tibet into a "hell on earth."

After the end of apartheid, South African foreign policy had made a strong focus on human rights around the world.

That reputation that has been dimmed after South Africa refused to condemn Myanmar's military junta or Zimbabwe's repressive President Robert Mugabe while it held a rotating seat on the UN Security Council.

- AFP

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Lekota says ANC hurting democracy

January 30 2009 at 11:23AM

By Michael Georgy

The head of South Africa's new COPE party has accused the ruling ANC of undermining democracy by seeking a political deal to save its leader Jacob Zuma from prosecution on corruption charges.

Zuma is expected to become president after an election, due around April, that the ANC is almost certain to win despite revived graft charges against him.

Mosiuoa Lekota, leader of the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) and a former defence minister, said on Friday that the ANC would use its domination of South African politics to seek a political solution to Zuma's legal problems.

"You have no guarantee that after the elections they will not do that," he said. "And I can tell you Zuma does not want to go to jail and so they will do this thing."

Zuma's allies say he is the victim of a campaign to ruin his political career. The ANC denies it will try to help Zuma in a way that undermines South Africa's constitution.

COPE, made up of disgruntled ANC members loyal to former president Thabo Mbeki, who the party pushed out of power, has vowed to challenge the ANC in the poll.

"We must make sure that the security forces are neutral and loyal to the constitution, and depoliticise the public services. If we lose on this, South Africa is going to go down the route of Zimbabwe," said Lekota.

South Africa has been criticised for not taking a tougher line on Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe to ensure that a democratic government is created after a disputed election, although the ANC has called for strong action against him. - Reuters

 

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ANC 'like apartheid NP'

24/01/2009 21:14  - (SA)

Johannesburg - Voters should withdraw their trust from the African National Congress after 15 years of corrupt one-party dominance, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said on Saturday.

He was launching his party's election manifesto at the Nasrec centre in Johannesburg.

"I submit that after 15 years of broken promises and insufficient service delivery, they should not be entrusted with another term in office," he told supporters at the packed Nasrec centre.

Corruption and the growth of unemployment were the central issues in the election campaign, he added.

"I submit that after countless corruption scandals, they have abused your trust once too many".

Holomisa said like the National Party under apartheid, the ANC acted not to advance the interests of ordinary South Africans in need of jobs and social services, but of its own elite.

Cronyism and corruption

"The National Party thought they'd mastered cronyism and corruption; this ANC government has bettered them at their own game."

He said the ruling party could no longer be trusted to respect the courts and the independence of the judiciary, as its leader and presidential candidate, Jacob Zuma, was trying to escape prosecution for corruption.

"Can we trust them to be custodians of the judiciary, when they attack judges? Can we trust them to fight crime when their leaders are dodging their day in court?"

He lamented the way in which former president Thabo Mbeki was forced to step down, and said his successor Kgalema Motlanthe was not allowed to be a responsible head of state but forced to rush through legislation that benefited those in the ANC.

One-party dominance

"Fifteen years into democracy we are witnessing the dangers of one-party dominance. For instance, vital decisions - such as the removal of the head of state - are casually taken by a few dozen people without even consulting parliament," he said.

"The caretaker president that the ruling party has appointed now appears to be under pressure to rush into law legislation that the ruling party prefers.

"He is expected to do this irrespective of his constitutional obligation and the oath of his office which oblige him to consider each law carefully.

"His duty, as we all know, is to act in the interest of all people," Holomisa said.

Scorpions

Motlanthe has come under pressure from the party to sign the SABC law, which allows Parliament to sack the board of the public broadcaster, and legislation disbanding the Scorpions.

Holomisa said the elite organised crime unit was punished for investigating senior ANC members.

He vowed that the UDM would bring back the Scorpions, take away powers from ministers and put it into the hands of accountable director generals, increase government spending to fight HIV/Aids and improve the quality of schooling.

Holomisa was expelled from the ANC in 1996 for accusing then public works minister Stella Sigcau of corruption.

- SAPA

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Zuma to oppose Mbeki application

25/09/2008 21:22  - (SA)

Johannesburg - ANC president Jacob Zuma will oppose former president Thabo Mbeki's application to join an appeal against the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgement suggesting he was part of a political conspiracy.

Zuma on Thursday filed notice, in the Constitutional Court, of his intention to oppose the application, according to a statement from his lawyer Michael Hulley.

Mbeki filed papers on Monday applying to join the Constitutional Court appeal brought by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

He argued that certain parts of Justice Chris Nicholson's judgement on the Zuma matter were "unfair and unjust".

"I respectfully submit that it was not necessary for the learned judge to make the findings I am appealing against, or seeking to set aside, in order for him to decide the real issue that was before him.

"In any event, it was improper for the court to make such far-reaching findings concerning me."

Political meddling

In his judgement, Nicholson found that the executive - of which Mbeki was head - might have interfered in the decision to prosecute Zuma, who faced racketeering, corruption, money-laundering and fraud charges related to the multi-billion rand arms deal.

"I am... not convinced that the applicant (Zuma) was incorrect in averring political meddling in his prosecution," Nicholson noted in his ruling.

Nicholson also criticised former justice minister Penuell Maduna's involvement with former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka early in the investigation.

It was after the court ruling that the ANC announced it was recalling Mbeki, not to punish him, but as "a political way to deal with the implications of Judge Nicholson's ruling".

However, announcing his resignation on Saturday, Mbeki disputed suggestions of his involvement in a political conspiracy against Zuma.

"I would like to state this categorically: that we have never done this and never compromised the right of the National Prosecuting Authority to decide whom it should prosecute and not prosecute," he said.

Unfair and unjust

In his court papers, Mbeki said Nicholson's judgement was made without affording him a hearing and constituted "a violation of his constitutional rights" including access to courts and dignity.

He has asked the Constitutional Court to set aside "all findings of law and fact in the judgement" concerning himself.

"The findings... also go further in that they in effect say that I have failed to fulfil the constitutional obligation to uphold and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic," Mbeki noted.

"It is unfair and unjust for me to be judged and condemned on the basis of the findings in the Zuma matter. The interests of justice, in my respectful submission, would demand that the matter be rectified."

He also said there was a "real possibility" that "persons with malicious intent could act on the judgement to the detriment of the office of the president.

"Unless the errors in the judgement are rectified immediately by means of a judgement, I will continue to suffer and may even suffer great harm as would the office of the President of the Republic of South Africa and members of the national executive."

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NPA: Zuma firing irrelevant

30/09/2008 21:15  - (SA)

Johannesburg - Judge Chris Nicholson had no grounds to rule on the establishment of an arms deal inquiry or to comment on former president Thabo Mbeki's decision to dismiss Jacob Zuma as deputy president of the country, according to the NPA.

In its application to the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday for leave to appeal against the judgment handed down by Nicholson earlier this month, the National Prosecuting Authority said that neither issue was actually relevant to Zuma's application to have the decision to charge him declared unlawful.

On September 12 Nicholson ruled in favour of the African National Congress president and said that Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mokotedi Mpshe, should have obtained representation from Zuma before deciding to charge him.

In its papers filed in court on Tuesday, and referring to Nicholson's judgment where he said Mbeki's decision to run again for president was "at its lowest, controversial and not in accordance with the Westminster system we espouse in this country", the NPA said this was irrelevant to the case being argued.

It also said that Nicholson's judgment, stating that "the decision of Mr Mbeki to dismiss the applicant from his office as deputy president of the Republic of South Africa was unfair and unjust because the applicant had not been given a chance to defend himself in a court of law", was not an issue raised by either the State or Zuma's legal team.

"None of those issues were material to the resolution of the case. This court was accordingly not acting in pursuance of its duty to resolve the dispute between the parties."

In its application, the NPA states 16 grounds that it has for appeal including the fact that it believes that "the court erred in holding that the NDPP had to request and consider representations from the applicant" prior to the 2005 decision by former NPA boss Vusi Pikoli and the December 2007 decision to prosecute Zuma.

The NPA maintained in its papers that there had been no review of the decision to prosecute Zuma but that it "was a fresh decision taken after the prosecution started by the Pikoli decision had been terminated by the order of Msimang J striking the matter from the roll in September 2006".

The NPA, in the papers signed by state prosecutor Anton Steynburg, claimed the court had "committed an irregularity" when Nicholson held that a commission of inquiry should be established to investigate the arms deal.

The NPA pointed out that Zuma's founding affidavit "contained numerous accusations of bad faith which were not only entirely irrelevant to the applicant's causes of action but in many instances were based on hearsay evidence or no evidence at all.

"The NDPP consequently brought the application to strike out those parts of the founding affidavit".

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Mbeki fights back

23/09/2008 07:27  - (SA) 

Philip de Bruin, Beeld

Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki has ushered in a new round in the fight against the Zuma camp in the ANC, with an urgent appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Mbeki wants to have "remarks made in passing" by Judge Chris Nicholson that he had meddled in Jacob Zuma's prosecution, set aside.

On Monday, experts on the Constitution said it was a clear indication that Mbeki "had not thrown in the towel" and that "anyone who thinks that the fight between Mbeki and Zuma was a thing of the past, lives in a fool's paradise".

The passing remarks to which Mbeki refers in his affidavit to Chief Judge Pius Langa, are those made by Nicholson in his ruling in the Pietermaritzburg High Court earlier this month.

Nicholson ruled that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had not given Zuma the opportunity to make representations before deciding to charge him again for fraud and corruption, amongst other things.

At that stage Zuma had just been elected ANC president in Mbeki's place.

Serious allegations

Mbeki says in the affidavit that, instead of focusing on the issue at hand, Nicholson went much further of his own accord, saying in passing that Mbeki and the ministers serving or having served with him, had meddled in the NPA's decision to prosecute Zuma.

Mbeki says these are serious allegations against him, not only in his personal capacity, but also as head of state, and they had resulted in him having to resign.

He argues that Nicholson had no right to make remarks of this nature without giving him and the relevant ministers the opportunity to state their case in court.

Mbeki states that this has affected his constitutional rights of human dignity and access to the courts. He argues that he should be given direct access to the Constitutional Court in order to have the "false" allegations set aside.

As Nicholson's remarks were not court orders, an appeal cannot be lodged against them in a Court of Appeal. Only the Constitutional Court now has the power to intervene, Mbeki argues.

Mbeki 'has strong chance of success'

Professor Marinus Wiechers, former law professor at Unisa and an expert on the constitution, thinks Mbeki has a "very strong chance" of success.

"I was astounded when I heard Judge Nicholson make his statements on Mbeki and the executive. That was not the legal issue he was required to rule on. I thought he should have let it go.

"One thing is certain: Mbeki's appeal is proving wrong all those who thought he had gone quietly, as Sunday night's dignified speech on TV could have indicated.

"On the contrary, he is clearly ready for battle, and upon close examination, Monday's appeal is nothing other than a veiled warning to Zuma that the Mbeki-Zuma fight is far from over."

Professor Tom Coetzee, former law professor at North West University's Potchefstroom campus, said he considered Nicholson's statements on political meddling in the Zuma prosecution as "neither relevant, nor fair".

"I was astonished. The Constitutional Court's ruling will be groundbreaking. Mbeki is taking the right route. No one should underestimate his intelligence."

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Shilowa resigns 'out of principle'

29/09/2008 14:34  - (SA)

Johannesburg - Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa has announced his resignation.

"I am resigning due to my convictions that while the ANC has the right to recall any of its deployed cadres, the decision needs to be based on solid facts, be fair and just.

"I also did not feel that I will be able to, with conviction, publicly explain or defend the NEC's decision on comrade Thabo Mbeki," Shilowa told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.

He denied that he had been "pushed" to resign but said he was doing it out of principle.

"It is a known fact that I hold strong views on the manner of his dismissal and to pretend otherwise would be disingenuous," Shilowa said, referring to the ANC National Executive Committee's decision to remove Mbeki from office.

"I acknowledge and respect the ANC's rights to recall any of its deployed cadres. I am, however, of the view that there was no cogent reason for doing so."

Shilowa denied rumours that he was starting or would be part of a new political party.

"I know of no group who is starting another new party. I cannot be party to something I do not know," Shilowa said.

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