POLITICS

How ANC corruption goes way, way back

And nine other of the key articles from the weekend press

10. Sake24 (Rapport) report on how Eskom only gets paid for 65% of the electricity it provides:

In his analysis of an internal Eskom report, recently leaked by the DA, Jan de Lange notes: "The average loss is 35% of the electricity supplied over a 12-month period, against a 26% target... During [June 2009] Eskom supplied 13 082GWh, but was paid for only 10 786GWh, meaning a loss of 2 289GWh. The problems apparently occurred principally in the central region, Gauteng... Non-payment of electricity supplied is also a tremendous problem. In Soweto, for instance, the situation is currently so bad that Eskom is paid for only 26% of the electricity that it delivers to this extensive area."

9. The Sunday Times report on the battle between President Jacob Zuma and the ANC as to whether Brian Molefe should stay on as Public Investment Corporation (PIC) head:

Buddy Naidu writes that "Last Monday Brian Molefe's reign as chief executive of the PIC came to an end. This was after the deployment committee of the ANC decided against renewing his contract which, during his tenure, made him one of the most powerful CEOs in the country. But Business Times understands that, following intense lobbying by Molefe's supporters and well-known businessmen, Zuma has done an about-turn and has personally intervened to ensure he is retained.

Two weeks ago, and ahead of his overseas trip, Zuma is understood to have phoned a senior official in the finance ministry to ask that Molefe remain in the job."

8. The Mail & Guardian report on the sinister force behind South Africa's World Cup sales woes:

Niren Tolsi writes that the "consensus among international tour operators canvassed by the Mail & Guardian was that neither crime nor media fear-mongering about the possible outbreak of a race war in the country had affected sales. Instead, Match Services' ineptitude and high prices were cited as reasons retarding sales. One tour operator told the M&G that it had had to pay a $30 000 (R224 000) licensing fee to Match as well as a 20% surcharge, plus 10% on each ticket it bought for resale."

7. The Saturday Dispatch report on how the Eastern Cape ANC is worried that internal party infighting is going to cost it at the 2011 local govt elections:

According to Sibongile Mkani-Mpolweni an internal party document stated that "a number of municipalities were bedeviled by political in-fighting, weak political and administrative leadership and inadequate technical and financial resources. ‘This situation is driving a wedge between our movement and the people, and if allowed to continue will compromise our electoral performance in 2011,' reads the document. The party admitted that service delivery had been compromised in those unstable municipalities. ‘We have lost and will continue to lose electoral support in those municipalities that are unstable. Worryingly, in the build up to 2011, these have included some of our most strategic economic hubs of the province, which include Buffalo City'."

6. The City Press report on NDPP Menzi Simelane's rather dim understanding of the law governing the institution he heads:

Khadija Bradlow states that last week Simelane sent an email to City Press explaining "the legal reasoning behind the new reporting structures, noting that the move was merely handing power back to the DPPs: which they had hitherto not exercised regarding asset forfeitures." In a subsequent response to that email, inadvertently copied to the newspaper, Hofmeyr pointed out Simelane's misinterpretation of the law. Simelane had, inter alia, incorrectly asserted "that asset forfeiture applications are brought in terms of the NPA Act. Hofmeyr [noted that] the process is actually governed by provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act of 1998."

5. The Mail & Guardian report on how Hitachi fudged key issues about its relationship with Chancellor House at its recent press conference:

The newspaper noted that "On Tuesday HPA financial director Robin Duff claimed that when HPA was formed at the end of 2005, with Chancellor as stakeholder, a due diligence did not reveal a link to the ANC because the trust deed specifying ‘classes of black people and black entities supporting the struggle' did not indicate the ANC's involvement. Musel reportedly said: ‘We did not know it was an ANC front company. We found out only in 2007 from the press when then ANC secretary general [Kgalema Motlanthe] responded to a journalist's question about Chancellor House.'...  But Duff's knowledge may stretch much further back. The M&G spoke to him at least twice in 2006 - far from denying that he was aware of the link, he simply ‘preferred not to comment'."

4. The Mail & Guardian lead story on how financial services firm SA Quantum bought a new Audi A4 for Cosatu's pension fund coordinator and key aide to Zwelinzima Vavi, Jan Mahlangu:

Matuma Lestoalo writes that while both SA Quantam and Mahlangu initially denied the claims, "The transport department's eNaTIS database shows that Mahlangu's car was not financed by a bank and he was registered as the owner from the day he collected it from the dealer. Bank records show that on November 12 last year SA Quantum transferred two amounts - R46 000 and R300 000 - to Audi Hatfield in Pretoria for Mahlangu's Audi A4. Mahlangu collected it and was registered as the vehicle's owner on November 20, eight days later."

3. The Saturday Dispatch interview with Professor Harry Nengwekhulu, acting superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape education department:

Nengwekhulu told Asa Sokopo that his department was "rotten to the core" and its "moral fibre" completely lost. He added that "90 percent of senior officials were tendering with the department - in one case, an employee with 17 registered companies was doing business with the department. Another major problem besetting the department was the existence of ‘ghost' employees - non-existent staff who were put on the payroll and had their salaries diverted to crooked officials. In an unusual move, Nengwekhulu said all provincial education officials, including the MEC, would be paid a month's salary by cheque in the near future to help trace ‘ghost' personnel."

2. The Sunday Times report on how ANC corruption goes way, way back:

The newspaper states that in the Liberation Archives at Fort Hare University are a series of reports to the ANC leadership drawn up between 1990 and 1996 by the party's then auditor and secretary of finance, Nathan Marcus. In 1994 Marcus "compiled a detailed report outlining several investigations on corruption, fraud and theft in ANC offices in New York and London. In the report, which was handed over to Nelson Mandela, he cited two cases where senior officials in London had stolen more than $80,000 in the most brazen manner'. Donor money was often dealt with in cash. He listed other cases of fraud and theft in their offices in France, Denmark, Zambia, Sweden and Kenya. Marcus said in a report that most of the officials involved in the corruption had been nominated on the list of ANC candidates for parliament...In one particular investigation, Marcus found that in just one year in the ANC offices in South Africa, just over R2.7-million had been misappropriated." Frustrated that the ANC refused to act against the culprits Marcus eventually resigned, stating: ‘In these circumstances, I wish to express my lack of confidence in the leadership to affect the necessary changes which, in my opinion, are vital to the future of the organisation'."

1. The City Press report on how slipshod work by subcontractors on a R39m sewer reticulation tender given to Julius Malema's SGL Engineering Projects had claimed the lives of two workers:

Piet Rampedi writes that Maite Raphotle (36) and Vincent Ramathoka (28) - employed by SGL's subcontractor Temelo Construction - were buried alive after the three-metre-long sewer trench they were digging at Modjadjiskloof on March 18 2009 collapsed. "Temelo Construction apparently used a tractor-loader-backactor to put the workers inside the trench but did not place vertical supports inside to prevent it from collapsing, as industry standards require. Independent engineers say this is illegal and is a breach of the basic construction safety regulations governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act."

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