WEEKDAY TOP TEN

10. The Times editorial on why something had to be done to root out the rot at CIPRO:

The newspaper notes: "The efficient functioning of the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) is essential for doing business in South Africa, and for the smooth running of the economy. Which is why reports in recent months to the effect that the office was being hampered by corruption, and was in disarray and rudderless because of the prolonged absences of its chief executive, were alarming, to say the least. Things have since taken a decidedly nasty turn for the worse with the Sunday Times reporting yesterday that our intelligence agencies, along with the US embassy, are investigating allegations that Pakistani criminals have taken advantage of the chaos and corruption at Cipro to steal millions of rands from the government to finance terrorism in Pakistan."

9. The Star report on how there was a six hour police delay in carrying out blood tests on Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala after an accident in which four schoolchildren were killed:

Solly Maphumulo reports "the results of tests - taken six hours after the accident - showed there was no alcohol in the blood of Maarohanye nor Tshabalala. The drivers should have been tested within two hours of the accident.... After the crash, both men were taken to the Dube Vocational Testing Centre, where they underwent breathalyser and urine tests. Both were then taken to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital, where blood was drawn for further tests. The first blood alcohol test was conducted on Tshabalala at about 10.30pm, and Maarohanye was tested 30 minutes later. Jub Jub tested negative for alcohol, but his urine tested positive for cocaine and morphine. Tshabalala had alcohol in his blood."

8. Anthony Butler's column in Business Day on how govt is creeping ever closer to plundering the pension funds of civil servants:

Butler notes that there is huge demand from ministers for money - to fund new commitments as well as shortfalls in old ones - in a context of a massive budget deficit. In this context politicians are increasingly eyeing "the Public Investment Corporation and the Government Employees Pension Fund , whose assets it manages. The fund has more than 1-million contributors and R600bn, assets that hang like ripening fruit in front of our political and business leaders' greedy eyes." Butler notes "The anticipated 5% of pension fund assets to be devoted to developmental investments will not go very far in the face of such demands. This could be the beginning of a journey down a very slippery slope. Ordinary people will have another reason not to save for the future. And private-sector pension funds will quickly take steps to move out of the reach of the state's new asset forfeiture unit."

7. The extract published on MSN of Richard Stengel's book "Mandela's Way":

It seems that for all his famous qualities the former South African president is not a particularly good tipper. Stengel writes that Mandela "is generous with his children when it comes to money, but don't count on his generosity if you are his waiter. The two of us once had lunch at a fancy hotel restaurant in Johannesburg where he was waited on hand and foot. The bill came to well over one thousand rand, and I watched as Mandela examined some coins in his hand and left a few tiny pieces of change. After he had gone, I slipped a one-hundred-rand note to the waiter. It was not the only time I ever did so."

6. The Star report on how an attempted robbery by the ‘Rolex gang' had been captured on CCTV

Shain Germaner writes that a "businessman and his wife had just stopped to swipe a tag to open the gated community's boom gate after a morning of leisurely shopping for expensive watches [when] a silver Volkswagen Passat pulled in behind them at high speed and rammed the couple's Mercedes-Benz CL 500 Sports...Within seconds, the hijackers had jumped out with their guns. "I put my foot down and accelerated straight through the boom gate, leaving the hijackers looking very disappointed and my car very damaged," [the businessman] said... This time, though, the gang were caught on camera. The dramatic attempted hijacking was captured live by the CCTV right next to the gated entrance. It was only later, though, when the couple had got over their shock, that they sourced frame grabs of the failed hijacking. The photos include one of the hijackers pointing a firearm at the driver, and after the Mercedes had sped off, one of the would-be hijackers. He turns and faces the CCTV camera full-on. He has blown his cover - and anyone who can identify him will get R10 000 from the Boksburg businessman."

5. Jonathan Jansen's column in The Times how one's own prejudices can catch one unawares:

Jansen notes "It is a common grievance among the black middle classes. You sit in your office. A white person comes in looking for the boss. Before you, the boss, can respond, the white visitor, with bobbing head, looks behind you and asks of the open air: ‘Is anyone here?' I have heard, and indeed experienced, this situation so many times that it isn't funny anymore." Then last week he set off to "meet a brilliant young professor with a distinctively Afrikaans surname at one of our leading [formerly white] universities. The young woman had achieved what few scholars attain so early - a world-class research rating with impressive research publications... In my mind, I held an image of a tall, white Afrikaans-speaking woman whose relative privilege must explain these scholastic achievements. I made my way to [her] office, knocked briefly and turned the door-handle. In front of me appeared a short, black, smiling woman with my kind of hair. My head bobbed briefly to look behind her to see whether Prof Botha was in an office adjoining that of the secretary. When I saw a solid wall behind the still-smiling short professor, my heart sank and I blurted out: ‘I thought you were'." [She] let me down gently with just a hint of criticism: ‘I'm sorry to disappoint you'."

4. The Business Day editorial on how NDPP Menzi Simelane had effectively killed the case against former crime intelligence boss, Mulangi Mphego, for trying to defeat the ends of justice in the Selebi case:

The newspaper notes that "in the interests of justice" Simelane had pulled prosecutor Gerrie Nel from the case earlier in the month. "On Monday, Randburg magistrate Fatima Khan struck the Mphego case from the court roll, saying it was clear the prosecution was not adequately prepared. Some interest of justice. Not that Khan was wrong - she had set clear and reasonable dates for legal applications and answering affidavits to be filed, and the prosecution had failed to comply. Justice delayed is justice denied, as the adage goes, and Khan was right to refuse to grant a further postponement just because the state was in a condition of self- inflicted disarray. The charges... could conceivably be reinstated by the new prosecutor at a later date. However, given the manner in which the case has seemingly been sabotaged by his superiors, this would seem unlikely. So yet another potentially embarrassing situation with strong political overtones is made to go away. How convenient."

3. The Star report on how the ANCYL had deeply offended Jacob Zuma in its efforts to save Julius Malema

Xolani Mbanjwa and Moshoeshoe Monare write that the Youth League had " demanded that the ANC discuss the issue of President Jacob Zuma's fathering a child out of wedlock and this has peeved the President. While the league and Malema insisted that Zuma had not wanted action to be taken against Malema, a top ANC official said the president felt uncomfortable and was peeved by the young leader's raising the matter. When the league met ANC officials last month to persuade the ruling party to drop charges against Malema, youth leaders raised the issue of Zuma's having fathered a child with Sonono Khoza."

2. The Beeld report on how govt was considering a scheme whereby commercial farmers would be forced to hand over 40% of the value of their farms to black shareholders:

Kirby van der Merwe and Pieter du Toit report that Tina Joemat-Pettersson, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said in an interview that "the government's aim of transferring 30% of the country's agricultural land to black ownership by 2014 has failed due to the willing buyer/willing seller system. Only five percent has been transferred so far. The agricultural community and the government have reached a deadlock. ‘If we don't break the deadlock and solve the land issue together, we're heading for a situation which will make Zimbabwe look like a teddy bear picnic'."

1. The Citizen report on how terrorism expert Professor Hussein Solomon believes Al-Qaeda has every intention of targeting the football World Cup:

It seems common cause that South Africa is something of a safe-haven for Al-Qaeda operatives who have made use of the rot in Home Affairs to access fraudulent South African identity documents and passports. The dispute among security experts appears to be whether this makes an attack more or less likely. Solomon, the head of the International Institute for Islamic Studies at the University of Pretoria, told Paul Kirk that "Al-Qaeda has had much of its top leadership killed or jailed. For many years, they have not been able to pull off any sort of terror ‘spectacular' and this World Cup presents the perfect opportunity for them. Al-Qaeda have had years to plan an operation and plant their people here...They will have millions of people watching televisions and they will have no limit of targets." But Mark Schroeder, sub-Saharan Africa expert for private intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, took the opposite view: "Any attack will hurt them more than it could benefit them."

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