On-going violent protests worry Zuma

President Jacob Zuma has voiced concern about the on-going violent protests South Africans engage in when raising their grievances to government.

He was addressing the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) gala dinner at the International Convention Centre in Durban Friday night.  

Zuma has called on the ANC and its alliance partners - the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and Sanco, to work together on common programmes of addressing the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.  

"There are things that we have not done. We have not for example dealt with South Africans to move away from the mind set of saying if you demand something you need to break things."

He says the manner in which South Africans deal with their democratically elected government has to be different from how the oppressive regime was confronted.

"We certainly need to meet and discuss that change of mind as a broader movement and therefore identify the steps we need to undertake to build this country because we could not change South Africa overnight."

Zuma commended Sanco for managing to strengthen itself after years of infighting

Meanwhile, Zuma called on Sanco to ensure that it monitors the progress the ANC is making on the commitments it made in its election manifesto.

He says it must continue to constructively engage the ruling-party on action to take to speed up service delivery. The President commended Sanco for managing to strengthen itself after years of infighting in the organisation.

"Sanco is a civic movement which is supposed to be where the people are as well as the branches of the ANC, we ought to know if there was dissatisfaction in any part of the country and act first to address that matter so that we do not create an impression that this beautiful democracy is a problem."

He called on all alliance partners to unite and work together.

"No one will help us to do so but ourselves. If we are to achieve all of this we need to work for unity of the progressive forces particularly because the reactionary forces are trying their best to disrupt the process of building this country."

Zuma says in the next five years they need to build on the achievements of the past 20 years and fulfil the commitment made to grow the economy to create jobs.

- SABC

Poo protesters off the hook

Cape Town - Nine men on trial for dumping human waste at the airport were discharged on all but one charge at the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Andile Lili, Loyiso Nkohla, Yanga Mjingwana, Ben Dyani, Jaji Diniso, Bongile Zanazo, Thembela Mabanjwa, Bantubakhe Mgobodiya and Wandisile Mkapa will have to answer a charge of contravening a section of the Civil Aviation Act – which carries a sentence of up to 30 years’ jail.

They are accused of dumping human faeces at the entrance of Cape Town International Airport’s departure terminal on June 25 last year.

They appeared at the Bellville Regional Court on Monday to hear the outcome of their section 174 application, which their lawyer, advocate Pearl Mathibela, had filed with the court in October.

This followed the State’s decision to close its case against the men.

They were charged with contravening the Civil Aviation Act with an alternative count, contravening the National Environment Management Act with an alternative count, and contravening the city’s environmental health by-laws.

They were cleared of all but the first count.

In dismissing counts two and three, magistrate Nonkosi Saba agreed with Mathibela on many aspects, including that “waste” as defined by the by-laws or acts did not mean faeces.

She said the State had not brought evidence before the court to prove the nine men had conspired to cause a riot.

Saba said their intention was to shame the City of Cape Town. “The intention of the accused was not aimed at the aircraft, crew or the navigation facilities of the airport,” she said.

Saba, however, said their actions had affected the operations of the airport, with the entrance having to be cordoned off, forcing some passengers to use an alternative access.

In this regard the men had a case to answer to because someone stepping on the dumped faeces could have slipped and injured themselves.

Their application for discharge was refused.

The nine accused displayed considerable relief, in particular Lili, who pumped his fist and smiled in the dock when the magistrate freed them on some of the charges.

Outside court Lili told his supporters that their lawyers were devising a strategy to deal with the remaining count.

“Now our lawyers are going to look at how they deal with that part that speaks about (possible) injuries to passengers. The one that speaks about injuries is true, because if one would have walked on the (faeces, they could have slipped),” Lili said.

“This is a serious indication that we must not take for granted what we are standing for; the issue of sanitation which has become a problem for all of us,” Nkohla said.

The case was postponed until Thursday.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

- Cape Times

Lindiwe Sisulu and the New Denialism

In 2005, early in her in her first term as Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu announced that the state had resolved to 'eradicate slums' by 2014. This was a time when the technocratic ideal had more credibility than it did now and officials and politicians often spoke, with genuine conviction, as if it were an established fact that this aspiration would translate into reality.

It was not unusual for people trying to engage the state around questions of urban land and housing to be rebuffed as troublemakers, either ignorant or malicious, on the grounds that it was an established fact that there would be no more shacks by 2014.

As we head towards the end of 2014 there are considerably more people living in shacks than there were in 2005, in 1994 or at any point in our history. The gulf between the state's aspirations to shape society and what actually happens in society have also been starkly illustrated at the more local level. Sisulu's flagship housing project, the N2 Gateway project in Cape Town, resulted in acute conflict and remains in various kinds of crisis to this day.

One of the lessons to be learnt from the denialism around the nature and scale of the urban crisis that characterised Thabo Mbeki's Presidency is that although the state is certainly a powerful actor, it has often been profoundly wrong about its capacity to understand and to shape social reality.

But Sisulu's first term as the Minister of Housing is not only remembered for her failure to grasp either the scale of the demand for urban land and housing or the limits of the state's response. There was also a marked authoritarianism to her approach. She did not oppose the escalating and consistently unlawful violence with which municipalities across the country were attempting to contain the physical manifestation of the urban crisis via land occupations.

Sisulu also offered her full support to the failed attempt, first proposed in the Polokwane Resolutions, and then taken forward in the KwaZulu-Natal parliament in the form of the Slums Act in 2007, to roll back some of the limited rights that had been conceded in the early years of democracy to people occupying land without the consent of the state or private land owners.

At the same time she also earned some notoriety for her unilateral, and clearly unlawful, declaration in 2007 that residents of the Joe Slovo settlement in Cape Town would be permanently removed from the (entirely mythical) 'housing list' for opposing forced removal. She was also silent in the face of the violence marshalled through party structures against shack dwellers who had had the temerity to organise around issues of urban land and housing independently of the ANC in both Durban and on the East Rand in 2009 and 2010.

Her second term as Minister, in a portfolio now termed Human Settlements, has been marked by a similar silence in response to the even more brazen forms of repression, including assassination, now visited on people organised outside of the ANC in shack settlements in Durban. But there have been some important shifts in her position.

One is that like her predecessor Tokyo Sexwale, she no longer speaks as if the 'eradication of slums' is imminent. In this regard the state has developed a more realistic understanding of the situation it confronts. Another shift is Sisulu's opposition to unlawful evictions in Cape Town. This is, given her on-going silence in response to violent and unlawful evictions elsewhere in the country, clearly an expedient rather than a principled position. But in a context where land occupations are routinely misrepresented through the lens of criminality or political conspiracy her framing of her opposition to eviction in Cape Town in the language of justice may open some space in elite publics to politicise the contestation over urban land, something that is relentlessly expelled from the terrain of the political by a variety of elite actors.

But it is Sisulu's recent declaration that the state intends to do away with the provision of free housing and that people under forty will no longer be eligible for public housing that has been particularly controversial. Both aspects of this comment position her in direct contradiction to the law and the policies to which the government is, at least in principle, committed.

This is nothing new. When it comes to its response to the urban land occupation the state routinely speaks and acts in direct contradiction to both law and policy. What is significant here is the indication that the state, increasingly short of cash, intends to step back from some of its commitments to sustain some forms of public welfare.

Sisulu is presenting the state's public housing programme as if it were a temporary state response to apartheid, which now that things have been normalised, can be abandoned. Both parts of this equation are seriously problematic.

The ANC, in a posture that these days is simply farcical given that it is Putin rather than Lenin that restores the sparkle to Zuma's eyes in tough times, likes to pretend to itself that it is a revolutionary organisation. But public housing, far from being some kind of unique and temporary South African exception to the general status quo, is a standard part of even basic social democratic programmes.

Countries in the South like Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela all have public housing programmes of various kinds. These programmes all have serious flaws, but the fact that they exist and that other states are committed to public housing as a principle, should not be denied. In Venezuela the public housing programme includes housing that is entirely free for entirely impoverished people. There are also governments in the South that have actively sought to legalise land occupations and support the improvement of conditions in shack settlements.

Sisulu's assertion that people under forty "have lost nothing [to apartheid]" is one of the most extraordinary statements to have escaped from the mouth of a cabinet minister since 1994. The pretence that apartheid's consequences came to an end in 1994 is the sort of denialism that is so out of touch with reality - and in a way that works to naturalise inequalities inherited from a long history of brutal oppression that turned race into class - that it's almost obscene to even engage it as if it were a serious proposition.

In a situation in which millions of people cannot access housing through the market the state should recognise the social value of land occupations, offer all the support that it can to improve conditions in shack settlements and develop the best and most extensive public housing programme possible.

But if the state continues to see most land occupations as criminal and to curtail its own public housing programme, it will place millions of people in a situation that is just not viable. The inevitable consequence of the state committing itself to an urban agenda that simply has no place for millions of people will be a radical escalation of the already intense conflict in our cities. To put it plainly guns will become even more central to how our cities are governed. Sisulu's comments amount to a declaration of war.

Dr. Pithouse teaches politics at Rhodes University.

- allAfrica

Here’s trouble, cop said of poo protesters

Cape Town - When police officer Errol Wildschudt saw four men entering through the doors of Cape Town International Airport – each carrying containers of human waste – he turned to his colleague and said: “Here comes trouble.”

Wildschudt was a warrant officer on duty the day the floor of the departures terminal of the airport was splashed with human waste.

On Wednesday he was testifying in the Bellville Regional Court in the matter involving nine people who were arrested for dumping the waste at the entrance of the terminal on June 25 last year.

In the dock, Ses’Khona People’s Rights Movement leaders Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla sat next to Yanga Njingwana, Ben Dyani, Bantubakwe Mgobodiya, Wandisile Mkapa, Jaji Diniso, Bongile Zanazo and Thembela Mbanjwa. They face charges of contravening the Civil Aviation Act.

Outside the court hundreds of protesters sang and danced. Inside, Wildschudt implicated four of the nine men who

emptied the containers at the airport.

Wildschudt, who identified Nkohla, Mbanjwa, Lili and Zanazo, followed Nkohla to a car where he found four more containers containing waste in the boot and assisted other officers to apprehend the men. He said he heard that more men had been arrested at a later stage.

The trial is set to continue on Thursday.

- Cape Argus

South Africans 'gatvol' with politicians: Wits vice-chancellor

South Africa’s “out of control” public violence will transform into a revolution if inequality isn’t dealt with now.

This is according to Wits University vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib, who added that the Marikana tragedy, which saw the loss of 34 miners’ lives during a violent unprotected strike exactly two years ago, was the “most dramatic manifestation” of public violence and inequality.

Habib was speaking at the Institute for Security Studies’s (ISS’s) International Conference on Crime Reduction and Criminal Justice, which started in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Habib said that while public violence was “out of control”, South Africa was not yet on the verge of a revolution, but was heading in that direction if inequality was not addressed.

“While we are not on the verge of a revolution today, if we don't confront this [there will be] serious problems down the line,” Habib said.

According to Habib, there was a “serious crisis” when it came to service delivery failures, which he attributed to “rampant and unthinking” cadre deployment.

"The declining legitimacy of the ANC shows you that there's a serious problem brewing. People are gatvol with politicians, the ANC and the DA,” Habib said.

He added that while inequality was a global phenomenon, how it "manifests itself” in South Africa was “fundamentally different" to elsewhere.

“In Germany, if a child drowns in a pit of faeces, a government falls. In South Africa, it’s business as normal; we've become so immune,” Habib said.

Habib said: "You have to have real behavioural change; we all claim we're dealing with inequality but we're not. …

"We must avoid the romanticisation [of inequality] but also reflect on it. Don't deal with the symptoms alone but also the causal factors," he said. 

Lizette Lancaster, who runs the ISS’s Crime and Justice Hub, added: “People are more likely to mobilise if they feel they have nothing to lose.”

According to Lancaster, police data revealed that violent incidences during public events, including strikes, had increased by 57% in the past two years and by 234% in the past decade.

The provincial hotspots, according to research by the Crime and Justice Hub, were Gauteng, followed by Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Lancaster added that a “huge catalyst” for these violent protests was a combination of media attention and a non-responsive local government, with violence being fuelled by a poor response by the state through the police.

"Many factors create an environment for communities to feel they need to protest but often it’s the state response that creates such a frustrating environment that violence erupts. Often police create the escalation into violence by using force that is not necessary," Lancaster said.

- TimesLive

Poo protest supporters defy cops

Cape Town - Supporters of the poo protesters showed up in full force again outside the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning, following a violent confrontation with police on Tuesday.

A riot erupted on Tuesday when police tried to apprehend Ses’Khona Human Rights Movement leaders Loyiso Nkhola and Andile Lili, who are among nine standing trial for dumping faeces at Cape Town International Airport.

Supporters warned that if police tried the same thing again today the resulting riot would be far worse. They danced and sang outside when their leaders arrived to face trial.

Police gathered outside the gate of the court building which had been locked using handcuffs.

They were taking no chances as they wore full riot gear and prepared stun grenades, an Nyala armed with a water cannon at the ready. It was what police used on Tuesday to disperse the angry crowd.

The court case was pushed to this afternoon.

The trouble began on Tuesday when Nkohla, reportedly jumped on top of a Nyala. Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said when police forced him to come down, the crowd reacted violently.

Three people were arrested on charges of public violence. They will be formally charged and appear in court later this week, added Traut.

“None of those arrested were involved in the court case,” Traut said.

It was a violent start to a trial over a year in the making.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Violence at poo protesters’ court date

SEVERAL police officers, including a metro police official who was left bleeding, came under attack from supporters of the Ses’khona People’s Rights movement outside the Bellville Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Police in turn retaliated with rubber bullets, tear gas and a water cannon to disperse the crowd when mayhem broke loose. There were also reports that two women who had run away from the protest had been struck by a passing car. The two suffered minor injuries.

Hundreds of supporters had gathered outside the court where the movement’s leader Andile Lili and eight other accused were appearing on charges of dumping human waste at the entrance of Cape Town International Airport in An Independent Newspapers photographer was also injured and admitted to hospital after he was hit on the head with a stone.

The altercations broke out when Lili came out of the courtroom to address the 500 supporters during the lunch adjournment on the proceedings.

“We want to make sure that this case is thrown out of the court because there is no case against us,” Lili told the crowd.

“If we don’t fight for ourselves, no one is going to fight our battles. We will make sure that tomorrow (today) there are more of us here.”

Soon after his speech, Lili claimed he was being pushed by a police officer. “Don’t push me, my brother, please,” he shouted.

At the same time, an altercation also erupted between fellow supporter Loyiso Nkohla and a policeman.

The crowd became volatile and stones were flung into the air, igniting the tension.

More altercations followed between police and supporters. When tear gas was fired, lawyers, journalists and security guards had to seek shelter inside the court. Lili and two others were later arrested. Police spokesman Andre Traut confirmed that three people had been arrested. He said they would appear in court on charges of public violence soon.

Earlier in the day, the court heard testimony from three State witnesses who took to the stand in terms of the poo throwing at the airport. Two witnesses were from the airport and one was from the City of Cape Town.

Ahmed Abbas, who works in the maintenance department at the airport, told the court they were in the process of replacing the carpet, where the human waste had been dumped. He said the carpet at the entrance of the airport had been damaged when it was sent for cleaning. Abbas said the costs to replace it could amount to more than R80 000.

“We needed a special company to clean the mat because the company we employed could not clean it. The mat was then removed and taken to hazardous cleaning services. The mat was removed the same day and when it came back, it was damaged,” Abbas said.

He said airlines were not disrupted, but passengers were forced to use another entrance which is about 15m from where the alleged dumping took place.

City official Pierre Maritz who works in the utility services department, came under fire from defence lawyer advocate Pearl Mathibela when he told the court that the city cleaned portable flushed toilets three times a week. The portable toilets were under the spotlight during cross-examination because they were allegedly where the human waste that had been dumped came from.

Maritz told the court the city cleaned these toilets three times a week and residents never complained about using them.

But Mathibela fired back and said the toilets were not cleaned for two months in places such as Barcelona informal settlement in Gugulethu and Khayelitsha.

“There was a dispute between the employer and the employee of the company contracted to the city to clean the toilets,” Maritz said.

Maritz said 16 informal settlements were affected.

In her conclusion of her cross-examination Mathibela said the city did not care for the people as it claimed it did.

She said the city violated the human rights of residents there.

- Cape Times

Acquitted poo protesters now take aim at city

Cape Town - Now that they have been acquitted, the “poo protesters” have turned their sights on the city.

On the steps of the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday – just moments after his not-guilty verdict – Andile Lili said he planned to sue the local and provincial governments for neglecting sanitation in the townships.

“They prosecuted the victims here and they lost,” he shouted, to a roar of cheering and applause. “Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille have seven days to publicly apologise. If they don’t we will sue them.”

The jovial atmosphere outside was a far cry from the quiet courtroom where Lili and his co-accused – Mzwethemba Gulwa, Thembela Mbanjwa, Yandani Kulati, Xolisa Ngwelazi, Yanga Mjingwana and Pam Nyakaza – awaited judgment.

While they joked in the dock, the tension was palpable when magistrate Jasthree Steyn took his seat.

The accused were among 186 protesters arrested at the Esplanade station in Woodstock in June last year. They were headed for the city, allegedly planning to dump faeces at the provincial legislature.

Charged with contravening the Environmental Health by-law, a guilty verdict would have meant fines and even prison for the Ses’Khona Human Rights Movement leadership.

But furrowed brows began to fade as Steyn dug into the State’s evidence. What emerged was a list of contradictions between statements made by police who couldn’t agree on any of the details.

Two of the officers, who were cross-examined during the trial, revealed they had even danced with the protesters.

Steyn labelled the case a “futile exercise” on behalf of the State which had failed to provide vital documentation or concrete evidence that the group was planning to unload buckets of faeces in the city.

After the seven were acquitted of all charges, supporters who had packed into the gallery began to applaud.

“Viva,” they shouted.

Speaking to the Cape Argus on Wednesday afternoon, Lili said now that he had “beaten” the city he could do it again.

How he will fund his new case against the city remains to be seen.

He said he could no longer afford the attorneys who had successfully defended him this time.

A lack of funding had previously led to the other pending cases against him being delayed until next month.

And his legal woes may not be over.

On Wednesday, the DA announced that its spokesman on human settlements, Makashule Gana, would lay criminal charges against several Ses’Khona and ANC leaders in Cape Town on Thursday.

The charges related to the illegal selling of plots on private land in Lwandle before Sanral’s evictions in the area. Affidavits would also be presented to the police documenting Ses’Khona’s alleged illegal diversion of food and blankets from the affected residents.

Lili and others are also still set to face charges relating to two poo protests outside the provincial legislature and the airport.

“We will find the money, but maybe we won’t need to if De Lille and Zille do the right thing and apologise.”

But mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said this was not going to happen. “They owe Cape Town residents an apology for their violent and criminal behaviour.”

He said the magistrate’s verdict was surprising. “We have a number of reservations about the way this case was handled, particularly since critical State evidence was not allowed to be submitted, including photos and other evidence. We expect that the State will appeal against the ruling.”

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

N2 set ablaze and ‘more to come’

Cape Town - The organisers of Monday’s rolling protests along the N2 have warned they will intensify and “cause a huge impact” across greater Cape Town.

On Monday night, Andile Lili, head of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, said the protesters had been “leading themselves”, but with the tacit encouragement of his organisation.

“You cannot separate our organisation from informal settlement dwellers, backyard dwellers or hostel (dwellers) – all of those people are standing in solidarity with Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement,” Lili said.

And he threatened that the protesters would worsen as his organisation began actively “co-ordinating” the protests.

Of their demands, he said: “First and foremost, the city and the province must unban our organisation.

CAPE ARGUS

“Second, we want to protest against the new logo – wastage of poor people’s money. Poor people from Valhalla Park or Masiphumelele could have benefited from that R8 million.

On the first matter, he threatened: “We want permission to march to the city. If they deny them their right to campaign for the elections in our areas, we will block them. We know it is their right to campaign in our areas, but it is also our right to march to the city.

“There will be a huge impact.”

Asked whether he condoned violent protest, Lili explained: “Of course we don’t want them to be violent. But communities agreed that we must make our grievances, must be listened to.

“We told them not to break robots or community facilities, but to close all major routes across Cape Town.”

Since 4.30am on Monday, protests flared up at almost a dozen sites – including N2/Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach Road, N2/Baden Powell Drive, Baden Powell Drive/Walter Sisulu, Jaftha Masimole Drive, Hindle/Fairfield in Delft, and areas in Khayelitsha and Delft.

Throughout much of Monday, police had their hands full keeping the N2 open – in relentless running battles to prevent protesters from scattering burning tyres, chunks of concrete, rocks, rubbish and portable toilet waste containers on the roads.

For large parts of the day, the key national arterial route between Somerset West and the foot of Sir Lowry’s Pass remained closed, as police attempted to keep the road raiders at bay.

The SAPS provincial media office reported that “at about 11:50pm Pops (Public Order Policing Service) members arrested four people at Onverwacht, Lwandle when they found about more than 50 people burning tyres, (after) these people were warned to disperse. Members took action with a stun grenade to disperse them and they dispersed between the shacks,” police reported.

“At 11.55pm Pops members went on foot patrols between the shacks at Borcherds Quarry where protesters were throwing stones at vehicles through the fence between Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach.

“No arrests were made. It is unknown if any private vehicles were damaged. The fire brigade extinguished burning rubble and removed it to the side of the road. N2 between Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach all lanes are open again.”

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille told the Cape Argus: “This is undoubtedly co-ordinated, as last week’s events were, by Ses’Khona, led by Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla.

“They continue to pursue their ungovernability campaign, and their strategy is to ignite this strategy across the Western Cape. They have made these threats, and carried them out, repeatedly, so I am not guessing or speculating.

“There are countless times that they are on record as saying their policy is to make the province ‘ungovernable’,” Zille charged.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, condemned “the spate of illegal protests that have caused great upheaval in parts of the city over the past few days.

“While the city respects the rights of its residents to protest, it cannot condone the actions of parties that have not gone through the nationally prescribed Gatherings Act and received permission to protest,” Smith said.

“Where protests endanger or inconvenience other residents, the city will support the SAPS in whatever way we can to protect our residents.”

He warned the city would use “all means at its disposal, including reviewing CCTV footage where available, to identify the culprits”.

“It is unclear who is behind the protests, but the possibility that these actions could be politically motivated cannot be ruled out.

“We, however, have noted the repeated public calls by Mr Andile Lili to embark on illegal action and we trust that these and other utterances will be investigated by the SAPS.”

- Cape Argus

Nkandla pic ban was ‘misunderstood’

The media misconstrued the cabinet directive over the publication of photographs of President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home, a government spokeswoman said on Friday.

“Government has no problem with the media publishing pictures of National Key Points, including President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence, as it is part of their daily line of duty,” said Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) acting CEO Phumla Williams.

“However, zooming into safety and security features of National Key Points is a challenge as it compromises national security.”

Several newspapers printed photographs of the Nkandla residence on Friday after a warning by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele that it was illegal to do so.

Cwele was addressing a post-cabinet briefing on Thursday that was dominated by the tussle between government and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela over her impending report on the use of public funds to upgrade security at Nkandla.

Williams said in a statement it appeared that the media had misconstrued the directive and that reporting on the matter was out of context, providing a disingenuous view to the public.

“The publication of security features of President Jacob Zuma’s home directly opens access to and can obviously pose a threat and risk to the personal safety of the Head of State.”

Rather, the GCIS urged the media to take a responsible stance by not publishing “any security features of National Key Points” that could compromise national safety.

In Parliament on Thursday, Cwele said publishing photographs on Zuma's Nkandla home was an unacceptable security breach under the National Key Points Act that would not be tolerated in any democracy.

“In terms of the National Key Points Act, no one including those in the media, is allowed to take images and publicise images even pointing where the possible security breaches are,” he said.

He said he was issuing a request, but the government would consider those who ignored it to be breaking the law.

“At this stage we are just appealing. We are appealing to the South African public.

“...It is important also to just send a caution that we have got laws - yes, some of them we will have to amend - but the continuing of flaunting of these pictures (of) a place which has been declared by the minister of police as a national key point is also not correct. It is a breach of law.”

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said Zuma was the victim of a propaganda campaign suggesting he used taxpayers' money for his private home.

“We have seen these things being peddled, said time and time again, that the state built the houses for the president with R206 million, which is a lie.

“Those who do so follow the example of (Joseph) Goebbels, the propagandist of Hitler. No matter how often you repeat this lie, it is a lie. We have disaggregated this R200 million, where it went, and most of it went to the security features.”

On Friday, many newspaper front pages were dominated by pictures of the president’s KwaZulu-Natal home.

The Star, Cape Argus and Cape Times carried front page photograph of the upgrades.

The Times, in an editorial, said it would continue to publish the pictures.

“Efforts to stop us from doing so will be a betrayal of our duty as watchdogs of democracy,” it said.

The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Thursday that the media would continue to publish photographs of Nkandla because it believed this was in the public interest.

It was not the intention of the media to undermine Zuma's security by publishing the pictures.

The editors said the photographs published had been taken from a distance or from the air to show the extent of the upgrades to the property. - Sapa

DA slams ‘thuggery’ during Cape march

The ANC must dismiss councillor Loyiso Nkohla for inciting the violence in the Cape Town CBD on Wednesday, the DA said.

“The actions by members and supporters of the ANC Youth League, led by ANC councillor Loyiso Nkohla and expelled ANC councillor Andile Lili, today (Wednesday) are pure vandalism and thuggery,” DA Western Cape leader Ivan Meyer said in a statement.

“The DA condemns this in the strongest terms.”

ANCYL Western Cape spokesman Muhammad Khalid Sayed said there was no justification for the criminal activity in the CBD.

“Those responsible should be held accountable for their actions,” he said.

“No amount of frustration can be used as an excuse to harbour and protect thieves and looters.”

It was sad that the legitimate plight of people demanding quality service delivery and access to land was vulgarised by thugs hiding among people with legitimate concerns.

Some protesters looted shops and vendors, and damaged property during a protest in the CBD, said Captain Frederick van Wyk.

He said it appeared that around 3,500 people took part in the protest. No arrests had been made.

According to a newspaper report, Meyer said Nkohla had urged residents in a number of informal settlements to loot the CBD and start erecting illegal structures in and around the city.

“He was quoted saying, ‘You will not have to go hungry because there are so many places that you can loot in the CBD. The police can't arrest us all because there will be too many of us', at a public meeting held in Nyanga over the weekend,” Meyer said.

The DA said it would lay a charge of incitement to commit a crime against Nkohla in light of his statements and the violence and looting in the CBD.

Meyer said that, given the Constitutional Court ruling that the organisers of a march or gathering could be held liable for damage caused, the organisers of Wednesday's march should also be held responsible for the damage caused.

“Today's protest march to the (provincial) legislature in itself was purely political grandstanding,” he said.

The FW de Klerk Foundation's Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) said in a statement that constitutionally enshrined rights to protest did not extend to criminal behaviour such as theft, destruction of property, intimidation and assault.

“Regardless of the grievances people may have, such criminal behaviour by protesters is unacceptable and should be condemned by all South Africans, including the ANC,” it said.

The CFCR noted that the ANCYL had reportedly called for governance in Cape Town and the Western Cape to be disrupted in the past.

“However, the ANC's previous failures to reprimand the ANCYL for its calls to destabilise the Western Cape inevitably raise the question of whether the ANC tacitly supports such statements and threats.”

The CFCR also condemned the statements attributed to Nkohla.

“Statements inciting violent and criminal behaviour, or calling for any legitimately and democratically elected government within South Africa to be made “ungovernable”, are irreconcilable with our Constitution and should not be tolerated as acceptable social or political discourse.” - Sapa

Why I fling poo - law student

Cape Town - A self-proclaimed agitator has backed up the City of Cape Town’s claim that just a small group of people is behind recent protests around the city.

But he has warned that residents who co-operate with authorities’ new plans to pay for information on ringleaders run the risk of being regarded as “traitors”.

The Khayelitsha man, 23, a second-year law student at the University of the Western Cape, spoke to the Cape Argus on condition of anonymity, because of his frequent involvement in faeces-dumping and illegal blockades of the N2. He has been actively involved in protests since 2010, been arrested twice and shot with rubber bullets “dozens” of times.

“I want to challenge the stereotype that protesters are only desperate, unemployed people with no hope. I am a student, I live in a nice residence and have plenty of food to eat.

“Yet I return to Khayelitsha because I care about my community and I don’t want to see them being abused by the government.”

He said he rose with other protesters at 1am, blocked the N2 with burning tyres and dumped faeces at 4am, battled with police and still made it to morning lectures.

This Khayelitsha man says he is one of the people who drives the service delivery protests in his area. Photo: Cindy Waxa

Cape Argus

He said that a group of about 15 activists across a range of informal settlements were able to mobilise residents and co-ordinate protests in areas such Khayelitsha’s BM section, Barcelona, Europe, Kanana, Kosovo and as far afield as Dunoon. The existing discontent in these communities made it easy to rally people, he said. The cellular chat application WhatsApp is the group’s main form of communication among themselves.

Last week, JP Smith, mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, urged the media to stop referring to the protests as being related to “service delivery”.

Smith said there was increasing evidence that a “political element” underpinned these protests. Smith said the evidence was in the possession of Premier Helen Zille.

Protests had become more frequent and violent, with increased reports of rock throwing on the N2. A new “intelligence-driven” strategy was needed, he said.

Smith said prolonged investigations, photographing culprits and offering rewards for information that led to arrests were being considered.

On Wednesday, he will brief the media on damage to city property from recent protests.

Responding, the protester said that, although he was an active member of the ANC Youth League, his involvement in the protests had nothing to do with “party politics”.

“(They) are directed at the provincial government and its failure to provide proper services for people in informal settlements.

“We do not dump faeces at the offices of the DA, we go straight to provincial legislature. If the ANC takes power in the Western Cape and nothing changes, these protests will continue. In fact, they will intensify. This is a struggle of poor people who are subjected daily to conditions unfit for humans.”

Many of the main organisers were not affiliated along party political lines, he said.

In Khayelitsha, the Cape Argus spoke to another man, 37, who said he had been involved in dozens of service delivery protests in Site C over the past few years. He too professed to be an organiser without a party political mandate. He was a member of the ANC, but noted that many of the protests were directed at ANC ward councillors who failed to respond to community grievances.

“When I was younger we would stone buses and trucks, just as the youngsters are doing today. Now, I see it as my duty to teach them the ways of protesting without putting other people in danger. We do not want to see innocent people hurt.”

Both activists agreed that when “mob mentality” took over and at times when police fired rubber bullets there was “uncontrollable” violence, looting and vandalism.

- Cape Argus

N2 Shit again

Cape Town - N2 Inbound, Queuing Traffic at Khayelitsha due to earlier #protest action

'Poo Protesters' strike again

CAPE TOWN - The N2 in Cape Town was briefly closed to traffic this afternoon, after the city’s so-called poo protesters struck again. This time their target was one of the city's busiest highways.

Protesters forced a truck driver off the road and used the vehicle to block all traffic. Human waste was strewn across the road. Police managed to open the highway a half an hour later.

The protesters are calling for permanent brick toilets, instead of the portable flush ones that the city is rolling out.

In recent months, the protesters have alerted the media to the time and place of their attacks. They have targeted the Provincial Legislature, the airport and highways. They have also struck at Democratic Alliance meetings in regional townships.

The Western Cape Government says the so-called poo protests are part of the ANC’s campaign to make the province ungovernable.  It says the protesters are doing everything in their power to stop effective service delivery in the DA-led Province. -eNCA

Seven poo dumpers denied bail

Cape Town - Seven men who allegedly dumped human waste at Cape Town International Airport were denied bail by the Bellville Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Magistrate Jannie Kotze ruled that it was not in the interest of justice to release the men because it was likely they would commit a similar offence again.

The men are Loyiso Nkohla, Andile Lili, Yanga Njingwana, Ben Dyani, Jaji Diniso, Bongile Zanazo, and Thembela Mabanjwa.

The magistrate granted bail of R500 each to the two remaining men, Bantubakhe Mqobodiya and Wandisile Mkapa, on the basis of their medical conditions.

They were ordered not to convene or attend a protest without authorisation, to refrain from threatening, intimidating or interfering with members of the public, and to not damage or interfere with public property.

All the men are charged under the Civil Aviation Act, and face up to 30 years in prison if they are found guilty.

The men allegedly dumped 10 buckets of faeces at the departures terminal of the airport on June 25.

Nkohla, who is an ANC councillor, and Lili, who is a former councillor, were arrested while out on a warning for a similar offence.

They were released on condition they not take part in any protests.

“In spite of this condition, they arranged for faeces to be dumped at the airport which, in fact, has nothing to do with service delivery,” Kotze said.

“They even went and notified the media. The only inference the court can draw from this is that they were not worried about being identified. This shows no respect for the court or legal system.”

The case was postponed until August 5, for the investigation to be completed and for the director of public prosecutions to decide on a trial court.

Supporters packed the benches and shouted as the men were led back to the holding cells.

They became loud and started singing songs in the court, while police officers looked on.

They took their protest outside and sang and danced peacefully in front of the court building in Landros Road. - Sapa

"Terrorists" delay housing delivery

 Cape Town -Mec Bonginkosi Madikizela Calls for Police Action in Boys Town Project, Nyanga

I am calling for immediate South African Police Service (SAPS) action in response to complaints laid by the community of Nyanga. The Boys Town Housing project in Crossroads, Nyanga, Cape Town, has been beset by violence since its inception. At stake are some of the 1392 houses planned, of which 559 have been completed. These houses are desperately needed by the people of Crossroads, and it's my job to ensure that they are delivered as quickly as possible.

There have been repeated allegations from the community about intimidation and violence around the project, and I have repeatedly made the call for people to come forward with evidence. Many cases have in fact been laid at the Nyanga Police station, yet there has been no operational plan created by SAPS to investigate. I am told that the community has lost faith and trust in SAPS.

Allegations that the actions are political, and therefore need not be investigated, are not acceptable. If people break the law, destroying property, endangering life and perpetuating violence, they must be prosecuted and put behind bars. There is no excuse for breaking the law. In order for this to happen, SAPS must do its job and follow up on cases reported. Intimidation of contractors cannot be allowed, and work must continue. In a meeting with SAPS at Nyanga this morning, it was agreed that an operational plan would be put in place and the criminals in the area tracked down.

I will be following up on this. If the plan is not operationalised, I will request the Western Cape Minister of Community Safety, Mr Dan Plato, to engage the Western Cape Police Commissioner, General Arno Lamoer, the ensure that action is taken. It is unacceptable that the interests of a few people who behave like terrorists keep hundreds from access to decent housing in the area.

Issued by: Western Cape Human Settlements

Langa shack fire protester arrested

Cape Town - Residents who lost their homes in a shack fire in Langa in 2005, toyi-toyi-ed this morning outside the Delft police station after one of their leaders was arrested.

Siviwe Nondonga was arrested by police because he was seen as a “trouble maker”, residents said.

It was unclear this morning if he had been formally charged.

“But, he is no different from the rest of the community, we are all frustrated. We are here to see him released without being charged,” said resident Florence Myeki.

Myeki, who has been living between tent camps, community halls and a temporary relocation area (TRA) in Delft, said the provincial and local government had not stuck to their promises to provide housing for those left homeless after the fire.

A blaze in Joe Slovo informal settlement left 1 600 families homeless in January 2005. A year later, the Cape Argus reported on the confusion of residents as they were moved into a temporary location in Delft.

“That was years ago. We all thought that we would be out and in new houses by now, but the structures are deteriorating badly and we recently heard the news that the council wants to move us into a new set of TRA structures that are being constructed on land that was supposed to be for real houses,” said Myeki.

She said residents would resist moving into another temporary location by taking their protests to the streets again this week.

- Cape Argus

Nkandla: who will take the fall?

Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has given the clearest indication yet that some of his department’s officials will take the rap for the R248 million Nkandlagate scandal.

He told Kaya FM host John Perlman during an on-air interview on Thursday: “It is clear in this case that people went over the budget.”

It was the first time Nxesi had spoken out about what may have gone wrong with the exorbitant upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s rural homestead at KwaNxamalala after initially setting his aim on whistle-blowers.

Nxesi also announced that an internal Public Works investigation into Nkandlagate will be concluded in the next week and that its findings will be made public.

At the same time, it has emerged that the two main contractors on the project – Bonelena Construction and Moneymine Enterprises – may have contravened the construction industry’s regulations by performing work for which they were not qualified.

City Press previously revealed that the two companies were awarded work worth R99 million (Bonelena) and R61 million (Moneymine) respectively on the Nkandla project.

Bonelena owner Thandeka Nene disputed the R99 million figure, but wouldn’t say how much her company was paid.

All construction companies in South Africa are registered and graded by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) according to size and capacity.

Bonelena has a grade 7 general building (potentially emerging) rating, which means it is only allowed to do work up to the value of R40 million.

But the regulations do provide for emerging companies to be given work higher than their grading if the client (Public Works in this instance) is satisfied that the contractor has the potential to develop and provide financial and management assistance to the company.

The Pietermaritzburg High Court liquidated Bonelena in July this year.

Moneymine has a grade 6 general building (potentially emerging) rating, which means it can only be given contracts worth up to R13 million, or a maximum of R40 million if Public Works approves.

Any Public Works official who awards tenders contrary to the industry’s regulations will be guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding R100 000, says CIDB spokesperson Kotli Molise.

The Nkandla upgrade forms part of the department’s prestige portfolio, which is also the subject of a corruption investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

Nxesi and his department has been under great pressure to explain how R248 million was spent on “security upgrades” at Zuma’s home that included the building of a clinic for Zuma’s use; a tuckshop for security guards; a cattle culvert (tunnel) and the relocation of three families.

The minister told Perlman it was “very clear” the prices charged for the Nkandla upgrades were “questionable”. He slammed the building industry, saying it was “likely you will be exploited”.

“In some instances we sit with this situation of these tenderpreneurs who are running many projects, running from one project to the other without completing a project.”

Nxesi said the public had the right to be angry about the cost of the Nkandla upgrade, but must give him a chance to complete his investigation.

Asked by Perlman if the state would have to do similar upgrades if Zuma chooses to move to another residence, Nxesi said yes. “Unfortunately, according to the laws, we have to do that if he chooses to do that.”

But, added the minister, Zuma should be “appreciated” for choosing to live in a rural area “with the poor people”.

- City Press

The road to Nkuntlatara

Terry Crawford-Browne referred to South Africa’s infamous arms deal as the country’s “golden calf”, a reference stemming from the biblical construction of the Israelites whilst Moses hiked Mount Sinai. It also serves as an ironic metaphor to the phrase “...the road to hell is paved with good intentions...”

The now famous Crawford–Browne is best known for his efforts in campaigning against the arms deal from its inception in 1999, citing its wastefulness and true purpose as the origin of large scale corruption in the country.

According to many, me included, the arms deal was nothing more than a veil to mask money laundering in an effort to raise funds for the impoverished cadres of the ANC.

It was obvious that 1990’s S.A did not have a place in the sun for every ANC member who took part in the “struggle”, and that these people needed to be thanked for their support during the opposition of apartheid, hence the need to purchase expensive and unnecessary military equipment at inflated prices.

Some of the funds were raised by selling off South Africa’s massive stockpile of semi-crude oil stored in Langebaan by the previous National Party government; a product of the need for total independence during the sanction years, and a commodity deemed unnecessary by the ANC as economic barriers evaporated after the 1994 elections.

The problem with the arms deal is simply that it is the origin of most of what is wrong with present day South Africa, as pretty much all of the major issues at hand at the moment is either directly or indirectly linked to the cover-up of one of the biggest instances of white collar crime in the history of the country.

When one considers issues like the Protection of State Information Bill (‘the Info Bill’), E-Tolling, the sacking of Thabo Mbeki, the shroud of corruption and fraud charges surrounding Jacob Zuma, wasteful spending of public funds, tender fraud and the concept of “cadre deployment”, then the common thread becomes alarmingly evident.

The info Bill is designed to lock away inconvenient details of the arms deal, E-Tolling is installed and operated by the Austrian based Kapsch TrafficCom, part of a consortium of firms with their majority shareholding vesting with the Swedish weapons manufacturers involved in the arms deal.

In a logic baffling move, Thabo Mbeki was forced to step down as president only months before his second term ended, simply because he fired Zuma for his apparent involvement in the arms deal via Shabir Shaik.

The concept of money making the rounds to the benefit of ANC ‘cadres’ established a culture of wastefulness in government, and anyone caught with their hands in the cookie jar since the arms deal, only received a gentle slap on the wrists due to their intimate knowledge of the grand plan; just ask Tony Yengeni.

 The simple fact of the matter is that Zuma can ill afford not to be president, for the sake of his own liberty as well as most of the current top brass in the ANC. It was as clear as day that Mbeki wouldn’t protect them when he sacked Zuma without consultation.

This brings us to the latest scandal to hit the country... Nkandla!

As the literate part of South Africa is surely aware by now, Zuma’s publicists have been enduring a hellish nightmare during the past months over the Nkandla saga, and the apparent miss-appropriation of public funds on the president’s private residence to the tune of R250 mil.

Various government officials made the effort to shower the media with explanations and threats, none of which makes any sense, simply re-enforcing the suspicion that something is amiss.

However, I recently received an article via e-mail by Mybroadband, where the freeway running through Nkandla was placed under scrutiny. One needs to remember that the only reason this freeway was built, was so the president could access the compound quickly and easily... at a cool R 1.5 Billion... (Yes, with a B)

The department of Public Works claims that a private company by the name of Korong Capital Partners is building the freeway at its own cost, and will donate the road to the government on completion.

Public works goes further in their explanation by stating that Korong is what is referred to as an “Angel Investor” and simply feels the need to contribute to the government, and Zuma in particular, at a loss of R1.5 Billion to itself. It also appears that the freeway funding originated from the U.S.A, via an American attorney.

However, the startling portion of the story only starts to unravel from here...

It appears that the only director of Korong Capital is an S.A resident who failed to qualify for a R1 mil loan, yet succeeded in securing R1.5 Billion to build to freeway so it can be donated thereafter. It also appears that the registered address of Korong is a 60 square metre flat in Sunning Hill, Johannesburg... not the type of place a Billion rand company operates from...

Then, the kicker... the Sunning Hill flat is owned by none other than the manager of the Housing Development Agency of South Africa, bringing the trail of suspicion to full circle.

So... what is the link to the arms deal?

Well, Korong Capital was a shelf company registered in 1999, and remained dormant in South Africa until the freeway construction through Nkandla.

The arms deal was initiated in 1999, marking the dawn of a new era in South Africa. It thus appears that Korong is simply a vessel created with the sole purpose of laundering money, making it appear as if the funds originated from a third party.

Where the money came from initially remains a mystery, but one can only speculate as to the probability. My submission is that these funds formed part of the initial arms deal, paid by the government all those years ago.

It was a simple case of inflated invoicing so the money could leave the country, just to end up in a suspense account in a foreign bank and earning interest, under the beneficiary name of Korong Capital Investments.

The worst of it is that this may only be the tip of the iceberg, as many dormant shelf companies could exist with the same purpose... no one would know, unless the full details of the arms deal is exposed.  

The further suspicion arises that billions in arms deal money was laundered in the same manner, finding its way into accounts held in the names of shelf companies in various banks across the world, from Zurich to the Cayman Islands.

In return, many of the weapons contractors were paid in the Freeway Improvement Project, loosely referred to as the E-Tolling saga. From a business perspective, it makes sense to settle for less if you’re operating a lucrative contract such as E-Tolling, which also explains the inflated rates initially advertised.

It seems then that the road the country and the ANC followed with the arms deal is leading through many supplementary problems, forcing the guilty to cover their tracks. It could snowball the cover-up to such a point where the inevitable flight or fight point will force the bad apples out, or rot the entire country to its core.

So... going full circle and getting back to the road to hell being paved with good intentions... it seems the phrase could also read that bad intentions will most certainly lead down the same path... either to hell, or Nkandla!

- news24