OPINION

"The youth leader and the businessman"

And nine other of the top stories from the weekend press

10. The Noseweek report fingering [$] Durban's creepy city manager, Dr Michael Sutcliffe, in the granting of municipal tenders to politically connected ex Metro Cop S'bu Mpisane and his wife, Shawn:

The magazine notes that a few years ago it asked Sutcliffe whether the Mpisane's were "beneficiaries of contracts with the city to build housing in Lamontville? Sutcliffe insisted that this was not the case" and described Noseweek as a "racist rag." However, Sutcliffe confirmed to the Mercury earlier this year that a total of "around R300 million" had, in fact, been paid to the Mpisane's company Zikhulise over the past 18 months for a housing contract.

Noseweek reports that when it "tried to establish why Sutcliffe had denied the existence of the contracts between the City and the Mpisanes, he replied: ‘Based on all my investigations there is no evidence his companies have been awarded tenders, but ... we took over a provincial project [in August 2006]. That's it and please don't waste my time with your manufactured untruths.'"

9. The opinion piece {$] by Makhudu Sefara in the Sunday Independent in which he tells a story, doing the rounds in Polokwane, of the "youth leader" and the "struggling businessman":

The story goes that the businessman touched the leader for a few thousand rands at a party in Polokwane late last year. The leader "took out his bank card and gave the businessman his ‘secret' PIN number." After going off and withdrawing his R10,000 from an ATM the businessman checked out the bank balance. It held R53,000,000.

8. The Weekend Beeld report [NL] questioning how it was possible for the Vuna-mine to be granted a license from the department of water affairs to dig out coal from a wetland in the Klein-Olifantsrivier catchment area:

Elise Tempelhoff reports that the mine belongs to Andrew Hendricks, husband of former minister of water affairs, Lindiwe Hendricks, and forms part of NuCoal Mining. It began open cast mining on the site in September 2008 despite being denied a license by the regional water affairs office. In December 2009, after fifteen months of mining, it was suddenly granted a license by the national department of water affairs.

7. ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's Mbeki-ite opinion piece in City Press defending himself from tenderpreneurship charges:

Malema writes: "Certain revelations came out in the process of engaging the entire discourse of media conducted lifestyle audits. First is the racist notion and supposition expressed by both black and white people that the success and progress of black youth in the post democratic dispensation is automatically a consequence of corruption. This notion should be openly confronted and exposed as it has potential to undermine our hard won freedom to participate actively in the economy. Second is the notion that seeks to criminalise all entrepreneurs that provide services to government as inherently corrupt and unethical, and labelled tenderpreneurs who have no brain and skill to do anything productive. The question we should ask is who should provide services to the State if all black entrepreneurs who put up consulting and construction firms are going to be rubbished as inherently corrupt tenderpreneurs."

6. Chris Barron's interview in the Sunday Times with ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu on the lifestyle audit issue

Chris Barron began the interview by asking why the ANC was not in favour of lifestyle audits. Mthembu: "Until all of us get better clarity, it's only then that we'll be able to categorically say what is our stance. I don't know that we'd be opposed to anything that wants to deal with people who get rich in a manner that we can't understand." Barron: "Does this mean the ANC will be investigating Julius Malema?" Mthembu: No. We have not said that we'll be investigating anybody. If there is any wrongdoing that is brought to the fore, before any structures of the ANC concerning any member, including Julius, then, obviously, there'd be a need for such an allegation to be probed further. So far we have not received any indication of any wrongdoing."

5. The Mail & Guardian report on the dossier Malema is using to try to head off a SARS probe into his tax affairs:

Sam Sole writes that "One senior national executive committee member admitted to the M&G that [Finance Minister Pravin] Gordhan's anti-corruption crusade was in part designed to neutralise money politics in the ANC...The anti-corruption drive is a high-stakes political game -- hence Malema's move to show that many close Zuma allies could be targeted by ‘lifestyle audits'. Malema has indicated he will take the fight to Sars and Gordhan -- and it is clear that he is not operating in a vacuum. ‘Sars is very politically isolated,' warned one insider."

4. The lead story in the Sunday Times on the infighting within the presidency which resulted in Chief Operations Officer, Jessie Duarte, sending a letter of resignation to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe:

Moipone Malefane reports that "Duarte does not see eye to eye with deputy director-general Lakela Kaunda, the head of the Private Office of the President. Kaunda has enjoyed a close relationship with Zuma for more than 15 years and is said to be the real power in the Presidency....' They have been fighting for some time. They both like power and are bullies,' said an insider, who added that the two had ‘clashed over many administration issues'. These include Duarte's unhappiness about Kaunda allegedly blocking Zuma's senior advisers from meeting with the president on a regular basis, something that has frustrated Presidency officials."

3. The City Press lead story on the dodgy construction work carried out by the Malema-linked company SGL Engineering Projects in Limpopo:

Piet Rampedi reports that at Kgapane Township, where SGL was paid R27,9m to build two bridges and a 14km stretch of street pavement, "only a portion of one of the two bridges constructed last year are still in place. A bridge built at the township's Meloding Section is effectively a hill of soil covered with pavement. It has no concrete layers. Residents said heavy rains in January swept it away just a few weeks after it was finished."

2. The Sunday World lead story on how a Mozambican hitman, ‘Josh', has confessed to a series of politically directed murders in Mpumalanga:

Charles Molele and Mzilikazi wa Afrika report that in an affidavit to police ‘Josh' implicated at "least one senior ANC politician and a top soccer boss [in] the death of former Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala, who blew the whistle on irregularities in the tenders to build the R2bn Fifa 2010 World Cup stadium in Nelspruit. The police want him to make a confession before a magistrate. Arrangements are being made for his safety when he makes the confession and for his placement in the witness protection programme. He will then testify against the senior ANC politician, two Mpumalanga businessmen and a prominent soccer boss. The Mozambican claims he was hired by the Mpumalanga government officials and the soccer boss as a ‘cleaner' from 2000 until 2009 to eliminate the four men's political and business opponents. His work included smuggling drugs, moving cash, burying dead people and murdering opponents, some by poisoning."

1. The City Press front page report on how, contrary to his denials, Malema's signature was attached to company documents giving him a 70% share in SGL Engineering Projects:

Dumisane Lubisi and Piet Rampedi write that "In terms of a memorandum of association signed by Malema and his business partner, Lesiba Cuthbert Gwangwa, last May, the company issued 1,000 shares. The documents show that Malema took 700 shares, making him a 70% shareholder while the remaining 30% went to Gwangwa."

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