OPINION

Another Mbeki-ite gets the chop...

And nine other of the key articles from the weekend papers

10. The article in Rapport by Charmain van der Westhuizen on her experience as a contract teacher in the Karoo:

Van der Westhuizen worked at Beaufort West Secondary school, a still well run institution in a poor part of town. She states that there was relentless pressure on the teachers to promote students onwards and upwards despite sometimes dismal grades. Last year, according to her calculations, half the pupils in her grade 10 (standard 8) class were functionally illiterate.  

9. Jacques Pauw in City Press on the life story of former MK operative Donald Stephen Makhura:

Pauw writes that Makhura he arrived back in South Africa from exile "in February 1992 and was ordered to set up a self-defence unit (SDU) in Thokoza to fight the IFP. ‘I was in charge of 10 people who each in turn trained 10 more members. It was war. Thokoza was on fire and we followed no rule of engagement in the battlefield. I wish to acknowledge that even innocent people were killed.' In April 1992, Makhura and his SDU members were ordered to relocate to KwaZulu-Natal to engage IFP members in their backyard. En route, the SDU members drove into a roadblock and a shootout ensued. Two policemen were killed and a farmer was shot in the stomach."

Makhura received amnesty in 1999 and was subsequently promoted to a high position in Defence Intelligence. He resigned in 2006 to write his autobiography.

8. The Mail & Guardian report on how the effort to purge the National Intelligence Agency of all Mbeki-ite influence had led to the departure of deputy director general, Arthur Fraser:

Sam Sole writes that, as head of operations, Fraser "was seen as the key remaining Thabo Mbeki appointee -- and that there was a deliberate effort to work him out when Lizo Njenje took over as NIA director general in October last year. Njenje succeeded Mbeki appointee Manala Manzini, whose contract was not renewed. According to two intelligence sources, the battle over Fraser's position has had serious operational consequences, with about 100 high-level covert sources under Fraser not having been paid since December."

7. The opinion piece by Andrew Feinstein and Susan Hawley in the Guardian.co.uk on why the SFO's recent settlement with BAE Systems is a "travesty of justice":

The authors note: "As recently as Friday morning, the SFO team was still taking formal witness statements in relation to a multibillion-pound deal in which BAE sold jets to South Africa that its air force didn't want and are hardly used. Over £100m in bribes was allegedly paid to agents, senior politicians, officials and political parties. The SFO felt it had a strong case.Then out of the blue the SFO allowed BAE to plead guilty to a minor accounting offence in relation to Tanzania, and settled for £30m. It dropped its charges against individuals. There was no mention why the SFO dropped charges relating to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and South Africa."

6. Zapiro's "baby shower" cartoon in the Mail & Guardian

It seems the cartoonist has now firmly planted the shower head back on the president's cranium.

5. Charlotte Bauer's analysis in the Mail & Guardian of the reaction to the Jacob Zuma lovechild story

Bauer asks why the president had to choose to have an affair with Irvin Khoza's daughter - of all people. She writes: "To describe Khoza as chairman of the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee and owner of the legendary Orlando Pirates football club is like calling George Clooney "an actor". I mean, it's true, but it doesn't begin to cover the range and meaning of the man's power and influence. Khoza is South African football's hard man. He is variously known as "the godfather" and the "Iron Duke".... So this is one really good reason to ask Zuma what the hell he was thinking when he started an (unprotected) affair with Khoza's daughter? But there are other reasons. And what has sobered me since the story went public is how very seriously South Africa's citizens are taking this turn of events."

4. The Sunday Independent on the story [$] behind Pretoria's name change and its reversal:

Sibusiso Ngalwa reports that the Minister of Arts and Culture, Lulu Xingwana and her deputy, Paul Mashatile, were essentially freelancing on the issue. When an imminent name change was reported deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe intervened with Mashatile to inform him that the move did not enjoy the sanction of the presidency which felt that it would be unnecessarily disruptive. Mashatile passed this message on to Xingwana, who was in France. The newspaper reports: "the minister was livid and insisted that the name change had to go ahead. She even instructed officials that they should not withdraw the gazette... [It] took a direct call from Xingwana from Motlanthe for the process to be stopped."

3. The Saturday Star story by on how Zuma had, after his ascent to the ANC presidency in December 2007, made a full disclosure to party elders of all his relationships and had promised "not to embarrass the ANC with other sexual revelations."

Sibusiso Ngalwa and Carien du Plessis reported that the breach of this promise had provoked a cold fury among senior ANC leaders. One NEC member said, "Some of us are paralysed (by embarrassment)." A youth leader, and known Zuma supporter, told the paper "We don't know how to handle this man and his sexual appetite. We will defend him to you (the media) but (his actions) are (indefensible)."

2. The Sunday Times report on how a senior ANC leader in Mpumalanga has been implicated in a series of contract killings in the province:

Charles Molele and Mzilikazi Wa Afrika wrote that, "A 25-year-old contract killer has accused an influential ANC leader in Mpumalanga of offering him R100000 and a cushy government job if he poisoned government officials who were blocking access to tenders linked to the 2010 soccer World Cup. The ANC boss, whose name is known to the Sunday Times, was fingered by more than a dozen other sources interviewed during a three-week investigation into the killings of at least a dozen senior politicians in Mpumalanga starting in 1998."

The newspaper named the victims as: "Saul Shabangu, (killed in 1998); Hebron Maisela (killed in 1998); Sydney de Lange (killed in 1998); Rose Alleta Mnisi (killed in 1999); Caswell Maluleke, (survived assassination in 2000); Joshua Ntshuhle (disappeared in 2005); Sizile Ndlovu, (survived assassination in 2006); Thandi Mtsweni (killed in 2008); Jimmy Mohlala (killed in 2009); Isaac Mohale Matsoabane (killed in 2009); Samuel Mpatlanyane (killed in 2010); Themba Monareng (died 2009); Mike Sifunda (died 2009); Simon Lubisi (died 2009); Lucas Shongwe (died 2009)."

1. Jacob Zuma's apology, issued on Saturday, for the pain that his philandering had "caused to my family, the ANC, the Alliance and South Africans in general."

The president's apology led almost all the Sunday newspapers. For instance The Sunday Independent led with the headline "I'm so sorry - Zuma", Rapport with "Zuma: ‘Jammer'; the Sunday Times: "Zuma: I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you"; and the Sunday Tribune with "Sorry...but is he fit to rule?"

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