Water Affairs DG put on leave

2009-07-21 15:43

Cape Town - Water Affairs director-general Pam Yako has been put on "special leave" pending the outcome of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities within the department.

"No charges have been levelled against Ms Yako or any official of the department and, until informed otherwise by the outcome of the investigation, the director-general remains innocent," Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Wednesday.

A statement issued by the ministry said Sonjica had decided to investigate the department's finances "following allegations of financial irregularities and information alleging maladministration and mismanagement".

Yako had been put on special leave to "allow for an unfettered process of investigation".

The statement said Yako was lending her total support to the investigation and had indicated a willingness to co-operate fully.
"As a responsive government committed to clean and efficient governance we had to look into these allegations with the seriousness that they deserve," Sonjica said.

- SAPA

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Bling BMW: A slap in our faces

by Wayne G

 

2009-07-18 10:17

"Ask Minister Siphiwe Nyanda what government officials do in a recession..."
What does communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda do in the middle of a recession, where jobs are being lost, houses and cars are being repossessed by the thousand, most industries are in negative growth and we are all being told to watch our spending and tighten our belts?
He goes out and buys, not one, but two top of the range luxury German cars with every extra under the sun attached, thus figuratively speaking running around beltless and shameless.

I sit hear confused and irritated asking myself - what world do our ministers live in? In reality we are being encouraged to save and watch our spending. The government on the other hand, being the well-rounded role models they are, are living like rock stars with an endless supply of funds to buy luxury cars fit for heads of state in most rich first world countries.

While we are grappling with the worst global recession in history our ignorant ministers are rushing out to luxury stores and buying like there is no tomorrow.  Eskom, a state owned parastatal, is raising tariffs by 33%; the country is being lambasted by a wave of strikes demanding extra wages, everything is getting more expensive, house hold debt is at its highest in recorded history, and car sales are in negative growth along with most other sales of goods.

Guidelines are flawed

The prescribed guidelines for ministerial purchases are fundamentally flawed and its current practices are not in line with the current economic trends. How on earth can you justify spending R2.5m on two cars when you as a government are pleading poverty, raising taxes, paying your doctors pittances, not supplying your hospitals with the basic equipment used to save lives to name but a few on a very long list?

Minster, I have a friend who was on a flight from Johannesburg to Durban after the final rugby test match between SA and the Lions. One of our senior rugby players and his family were spotted by cabin crew sitting in economy class with the rest of the common man. He and his family were invited to move into business class and he refused point blank saying "he was very happy where he was".
I mention this purely to make a point that you don't have to take everything that is prescribed to you or your misdirected sense of entitlement deems necessary. This form of behaviour should be a lesson to you and all your "bling bling" cronies in government who are rewarding yourselves before you have even started doing your job. At the moment, the way things are going you should be riding a bicycle to the office or making use of our excellent public transport like everyone else.

 
Minister I challenge you to inform the South African tax-paying public who bought these cars for you out of our hard earned taxes what ceramic surround for controls, ambient interior lighting, adaptive headlights, high beam assist, a three-spoke, leather-covered steering wheel, a R23 400 "rear-seat entertainment" system and a R5 600 "high-gloss satin chrome" paint job help you do your job?
Maybe I am just ignorant but these extras are a slap in our faces. What is wrong with a standard 320d BMW? Most people only dream of owning a 3 series BMW, but you lift your nose up at it and go for the top of the range. Why do you need a 750i BMW?
I will tell you why, because to you it's all about image, image at the cost of all else, as long as you look good in your designer suits, ministerial mansions, and luxury German cars everything else can fall to pieces. This form of behaviour has no place in a third-world country where more than half your population are below the bread line.
No guilt?
Minister, on a more personal level, how do you sleep at night knowing you just spent R2.5m on two cars, while so many South Africans can't even afford a roof over their heads? Do you justify your actions with bureaucratic guidelines and red tape?
Shame on you and every other government official spending our taxes quicker than we can earn them. Every day you hear about another minister blowing the bank on some or other exorbitant spending spree or their officials running elaborate fraudulent schemes.

Mr Jacob Zuma, the so called "president of the people" is also slipping into the cracks of gluttonous and unscrupulous spending with a new government which is clearly out of control and has no idea about the fundamental difference between money and wealth.
Let it be known that you were voted in by the people, the same people who are struggling to make ends meet on a monthly basis. It is time for you and your government to humble yourselves and come down to our level. You are after all our employees; we pay your salaries and fit the bills for all of this reckless spending that has become the norm in the ANC.

Lastly, to everyone who voted for the ANC. The next time you are on walking or driving on one of our roads and a 750i BMW with ceramic surround  controls, ambient interior lighting, adaptive headlights, high beam assist a three-spoke, leather-covered steering wheel, a R23 400 "rear-seat entertainment" system and a R5 600 "high-gloss satin chrome" paint job screams past you at 180km/h throwing dust and rubber in your face, leaving your tiny insignificant image in its rear camera view, wipe the dust out of your eyes and take a look around and remember who you voted for. After all it's your vote that gives them the blank cheque.

These officials should be held accountable for this blatant abuse of power and money. It's no wonder we are such an angry nation, our own government is misappropriating our taxes and hiding behind laws they created to protect their taste for the finest luxuries money can buy.

As the late and great Winston Churchill said, "you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time."  We are not fools, so next time you pop into your luxury store and buy some unnecessary item, know we are watching you, and we will not stop until you stop.

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De Lille: Jacob is no Jesus

2008-12-01 22:31

Cape Town - Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille called on the ANC on Monday to stop using Biblical references in its election campaign after a regional party leader likened Jacob Zuma to Jesus.

"The ANC must be condemned in the strongest possible terms for its selective use of Christianity to further its political goals," De Lille said.

She accused the ANC of trying to portray itself and its leader as "god-like" and urged it to "stop using Jesus Christ, the Bible and Christianity in general to garner votes from the poor and the vulnerable".

The fierce critic of the multi-billion rand arms deal said it was blasphemous to compare a politician facing corruption allegations with Jesus.

"We in the Independent Democrats would like to draw the ANC's attention to the fact that Jesus was never charged with corruption.

"Adultery, the machine gun song and Zuma's failure to condemn war talk and hate speech by the ANC rank and file are examples of why it is insulting to compare Zuma with Christ," she said.

The ID's call comes after the ruling party's Free State leader, Ace Magashule, said the ANC president was suffering just like Jesus Christ did, in an interview published on Monday.

"Jesus was persecuted. He was called names and betrayed. It's the same kind of suffering Mr Zuma has had to bear recently, but he's still standing strong. He's not giving up," Magashule said.

De Lille said it was one of several examples of religious rhetoric used by the ANC in the run-up to the national election.

- SAPA

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SACC doesn't own Jesus

2009-06-23 22:27

Johannesburg - The SA Council of Churches (SACC) is trying to "privatise" Jesus and turn the Christian religion into a cult, the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust claimed on Wednesday.
"As the friends of Jacob Zuma Trust in Gauteng province we are not happy or impressed by the attempt on the part of the SACC to want to private (sic) the Christian religion and Jesus Christ in particular," it said in a statement.

"We refuse like many other South African Christians to allow the SACC to conduct itself as if they own Jesus Christ. It has become clear that this religious body wants to turn the Christian religion into some sort of a cult belonging to a particular grouping."
The trust was responding to statements made by the SACC that President Jacob Zuma was "confusing matters of the secular world with matters that are considered to be sacred".
The SACC in turn was reacting to Zuma's telling a rally in Mpumalanga at the weekend that the ANC "will rule until Jesus comes". He has previously made the same remark.

Zuma’s rights as a Christian

The trust said: "We wish the SACC will in future consult with other Christian bodies before thinking that they are the only Christians in this country. It must further desist from embarrassing the Christian community by claiming to be the only body that should give us permission to pray."
The trust's Gauteng chairperson Gaya Mlangeni said Zuma, like SACC members, was a Christian and had "a right to invoke any element of that religion".

"Indeed we agree with the president that the ANC will rule this country until Jesus comes."

SACC secretary general Eddie Makue said the ANC leadership should be mindful that South Africa was a democratic country whose residents determined who should be in power.
"The ANC must be mindful of the mortality of human beings and the immortality of God... mindful that Jesus Christ is one in the tri-une God that we worship.

"We want to remind political leaders that we are living in democracy and in democracy choices of the people are determining factors, and therefore no leader can pre-empt what the decision of the electorate will be."

Divisive comments
Also, he said Zuma should be aware that there were other religions in the country and guard against making divisive statements.
"Finally, we trust that the leadership within the ANC will be sensitive to how their messages are received. They must guard against alienating other religions by statements that they make.
"One must be mindful that although the Christian religion is a majority, there are other religions like Muslim and the Bahai in the country."

Understood in context
Reacting to the SACC's statements on Tuesday afternoon, the ANC said the party had no intention to undermine Christian teachings, values and principles, as the party was founded on those.
"During the 2009 elections campaign, the ANC president visited places of worship in all the nine provinces to seek blessings," the party said in a statement.
The Mpumalanga remark should be understood in the context of Zuma's confidence in South Africans who had, in the last four elections, voted overwhelmingly for the ANC, it added.

- SAPA

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DA finds ANC skeletons

24/05/2009 08:05  - (SA)  

Johann Maarman, Rapport

Cape Town - Expensive Cuban cigars found in a former minister's office, people who were paid up to R100 000 a month to "do nothing" and unapproved expenses.

These are some of the latest scandals threatening the ANC after the DA took over the provincial government in the Western Cape.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille caused a political furore on Friday when she revealed that the ANC had transferred for free provincial land to the national government a day before the election.

The land is worth about R500m and thought to be one of the province's biggest assets.

Meanwhile, Rapport learned that several new ministers in the Western Cape are investigating suspect transactions in their departments.

"The list is becoming longer. Things are becoming worse for the ANC in the Western Cape," an informed source told Rapport.

Theuns Botha, the Western Cape minister for health and the provincial leader of the DA, said the land deal was nothing less that "constructive disempowerment".

"I don't know how the Western Cape ANC can justify their actions. It is disgraceful."

- Rapport

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The ANC and corruption - the irony

Guest Blog: The ANC and corruption - the irony.

It is almost impossible to believe ANC leaders when they claim that they are serious about fighting corruption.

They never miss the opportunity to emphasize how much the ‘ANC is committed to fighting corruption’. On the other hand, they miss every available opportunity to act against their corrupt colleagues.

The most recent and perhaps glaring example of this is the ANC’s insistence to nominate Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and the Travelgate fraudsters as candidates for the National Assembly. Both Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela and the five Travelgate MPs (namely Bathabile Dlamini, Mnyamzeli Booi, Beauty Dludlani, Angie Molebatsi, and Duma Ndleleni) are in the ANC’s top 100 candidates for the National Assembly.

Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela, by the way, had a five-year sentence for fraud and theft reduced on appeal to three and a half years for 43 convictions of fraud in 2004. The sentence was suspended for five years. Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela’s suspended sentence will only lapse in July this year by which time she will already be a Member of Parliament. While section 47 (1) e of the Constitution disqualifies ‘anyone who is convicted of an offence and sentence to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of fine’, it is silent about the eligibility of individuals with a suspended sentence to be nominated to Parliament. This silence, however, does not suggest that it is appropriate to nominate an individual serving a suspended sentence to be an MP. The nomination of Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela reaffirms the dominant perception that the ANC values party loyalty above good governance.

Now let’s turn to the Travelgate fraudsters. They are:

Bathabile Dlamini no 16 on their national list was ordered to repay R120 000 after receiving five year suspended sentence in 2006 for defrauding Parliament of R254 00 in travel vouchers in the Travelgate scandal.
Mnyamzeli Booi no 65 on the list is still facing fraud charges for his role in the Travelgate Scandal.

Beauty Dludlani no 58 on the list was fined R120 000 payable over 40 months for fraud involving R289 000 in the Travelgate scandal.
Angie Molebatsi no 84 on the list was sentenced to pay a R25 000 fine, or three years in jail, plus an additional five year suspended sentence in the Travelgate scandal
Duma Ndleleni no 79 on the list: She was fined R30 000 payable over three years and given a five year suspended sentence in the Travelgate scandal.

The Travelgate fraudsters collectively defrauded Parliament of millions worth of taxpayers’ money. They betrayed the same constituency they were supposed to serve with excellence: the public. The ANC never took any disciplinary action against them when they were nailed. It still failed to discipline them even after most of them pleaded guilty for their crimes. Now it sees fit to re-deploy them to the same institution they defrauded. If the ANC was as serious about fighting corruption as it claims to be it should have not nominated fraudsters to Parliament. Their nominations make a complete mockery of Jacob Zuma assertion that ‘the ANC does not condone or tolerate corruption’. In fact, all available evidence shows that the ANC rewards individuals with a history of corruption with the offer of public office.

The nomination of candidates to Parliament was a golden opportunity for the ANC to show that it is indeed serious about fighting corruption. Yet again, it squandered the opportunity like it has done in the past.

Their nominations undermine the country’s efforts to defeat the spread of the virus of corruption in the public sector. Parliament needs to be a beacon of good governance and ethical leadership. In order to be seen as such, parliamentarians and potential parliamentarians must be beyond reproach. But when the ruling party repeatedly deploys ethically tainted individuals to this institution, it creates the impression that there is nothing wrong in being embroiled in corruption as long as one is a ‘loyal cadre’ of the ANC.

The ANC has never been serious about fighting corruption. The badly thought move to disband the Scorpions is a case in particular. It is an open secret that the Scorpions were disbanded for their success in nailing corrupt ANC leaders despite all the conspiracy theories that the ANC and its alliance partners have advanced in support of the dissolution of the DSO.

The ANC will never be seen to be serious about fighting corruption for as long as it continues to elevate party loyalists with a proven track record of corruption to senior public offices. Unless, it is able to consistently show that it values ethical leadership over party loyalty, its ‘commitment to fighting corruption’ will remain what it is; empty rhetoric.

The ANC has talked the talk on corruption. But it remains to be seen whether it will ever walk that talk.

Guest blog by:
DA Political Researcher

 

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ANC has 'created corrupt crony culture'

By Michael Georgy

Sunday April 19 2009

South African opposition parties accused the ruling ANC of creating a culture of cronyism and corruption at closing rallies yesterday before a parliamentary election this week.

The African National Congress is almost certain to win Wednesday's election -- but the party still faces its biggest challenge since coming to power at the end of apartheid in 1994.

The main issue is whether it can retain the two-thirds parliamentary majority it needs to change the constitution, as it faces criticism over its track record on crime, poverty and AIDS.

The new breakaway Congress of the People (COPE) party, formed by ANC dissidents, hopes to tap into frustrations with ANC graft scandals.

State prosecutors have given the ANC a boost by dropping graft charges against party leader Jacob Zuma, whom the new parliament is certain to elect president.

His ANC has promised to do more to bring economically disadvantaged blacks into the mainstream economy through land reform and affirmative action programmes.

But Africa's biggest economy is on the brink of recession, and Zuma will be in a difficult position. Union allies are pushing him to spend more on the poor, while foreign investors fear he will steer the economy to the left.

COPE has changed the political landscape, but analysts say its chances of breaking the ANC's dominance have faded after an initial buzz.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the ANC had let South Africa down after white-minority rule ended.

"We dared to believe in the even greater hope that South Africa could soon become an equally prosperous, fair and just society," he said. "But soon our hopes were crushed by the harsh realities that some unscrupulous members of the ruling party and erroneous policies imposed on us all."

On Friday, the IFP accused the ANC of employing "terror tactics" and injuring 13 of its members in attacks ahead of the poll.

Critics say South Africa has effectively become a one-party state because people vote for parties, not individuals, giving the ANC an enormous advantage.

Opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said the ANC could turn the country into another failed African state.

"That's how the closed, crony society for comrades works. It's about making a few people rich and everyone else poor," said Zille.

- Michael Georgy

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