POLITICS

Menzi Simelane rescues Fana Hlongwane

And nine other of the best articles from the weekend press

10. Chris Barron's interview in the Sunday Times [NL] with Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger on the parastatal's differential tariffs for domestic consumers and big industrial users:

CB: We keep hearing about how serious Eskom is about cost cutting, so how do you justify the fantastic perks and bonuses awarded to your executives? AE: I don't have sight of those bonuses and perks. What I can tell you is that salary increases will be capped at the inflation rate. CB: Are bonuses at Eskom linked to performance? AE: Yes. CB: Can you explain the former CEO receiving a fat bonus shortly before being fired for non-performance? AE: That would be an issue for the board of directors, who would have done his performance appraisal.

9. The Saturday Star report on how controversial liquidator, Enver Motala, was arrested in his Johannesburg office on Friday after an employee laid charges against him for assault:

Thabiso Thakali reports that Motala "allegedly assaulted and choked employee Rishaad Moosa, a trainee liquidator... According to Moosa, Motala wanted to know why Moosa was late from lunch. Moosa said he told Motala that he had been delayed coming from a mosque, and Motala wanted to know why he had chosen to worship so far away from work. ‘I told him he had no right to question me about my choice of place for prayer. He then poked me with a finger and swore at me. When I told him I would lay charges against him if he poked me with his finger again, he got even more aggressive'." A video clip of the incident, captured on a cellphone, "shows Motala charging towards Moosa and screaming ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?' and ‘I will fuck you up ... I'll kill you' as other staff members try to pull him away." Moosa told the newspaper: "This man is very abusive and aggressive to his employees and he believes he can get away with anything because he is well connected."

8. The City Press report [NL] on how the case docket for the murder of Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave - burnt to death by a xenophobic mob on May 18 2008 - seems to have disappeared:

Images of the immolation of the 35 year old Mozambican immigrant sent shockwaves around the world. But Sabelo Ndlangisa writes that according to a recent SAHRC report case records could not be located at either the Reiger Park police station or the National Prosecuting Authority. According to the newspaper "Reiger Park station commissioner Berry Mashamba could not explain to City Press why information about the case... could not be traced. ‘We are still checking for the docket. We don't know if it's missing,' Mashamba said on Friday."

7. The Mail & Guardian report on how state institutions went out of their way to finance Sizani Dlamini-Dubazana, the woman who paid for Zuma's Forest Town residence after he was sacked by Thabo Mbeki in 2005:

Stefaans Brümmer and Sam Sole report that Dlamini-Dubazana, and her company Hola Recruitment and Selection Services, had obtained a R4m loan from the KZN government's Ithala Development Finance Corporation, in 2005, as well as a R6m pay out from the Department of Land Affairs in 2009 for a farm she had bought on auction for R2,7m in 2006.

6. The Zimbabwean's front page story on how Mugabe is planning a blitz on the MDC after the World Cup:

John Chimunhu reports that Zanu-PF "has started recruiting youths for training in sophisticated murder and torture techniques for a massive campaign of violence against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) soon after the World Cup. Investigations by The Zimbabwean have revealed that the vicious campaign of terror is expected to roll into motion in July, soon after the soccer World Cup ends in South Africa and the media spotlight shifts elsewhere."

5. The Mail & Guardian front page lead on the steadily expanding business interests of President Jacob Zuma's wives and children:

The newspaper notes that "Of the 16 adults -- wives, lovers and children -- who can be linked to Zuma, 15 are in business, accounting, with Zuma, for 134 company directorships or memberships of close corporations. Only four of these appear to be Section 21 "not for profit" companies. At least 83 companies (62%) have been registered in the post-Polokwane period when Zuma's political future was secured. Their interests range across the economic spectrum and include property, resources, trade, mining, telecommunications and information technology."

4. The report by Jacques Pauw in City Press/Rapport on how sex slavers in Mozambique are selling women into prostitution in South Africa:

Pauw writes: "We were introduced to a Johannesburg accomplice of the Mozambican syndicate who said he had been helping the gang since 2004 to bring scores of girls and women to Johannesburg. The women and girls were delivered to brothels and clubs in Randburg and Hillbrow. ‘Some were as young as 16,' he said. ‘They were told in Mozambique they were going to be waitresses, but when they got here the traffickers told them they are ­actually whores. ‘Those who refused were beaten up and even raped until they agreed.' Not knowing who we really were, the traffickers allowed us to travel with them to Maputo, where we were introduced to four members of the syndicate.... After several days in Maputo befriending the traffickers, they finally agreed to display their human merchandise to us. Two weeks ago we entered a seedy flat in downtown Maputo where three Mozambican women, all apparently 18 years old, were offered for sale at R5,000 each. Palmiera, Alice and Maria, who were being looked after by older women, were ordered to dress nicely before being paraded for us. We were allowed to take their photographs. They were delighted to pose for us - still under the impression that they were going to be waitresses in South Africa."

3. The Sunday Times front page lead on how the NDPP, Menzi Simelane, had ignored 500 pages of evidence when ordering the Asset Forfeiture Unit to abandon its case (see No.1) against BAE agent and former special advisor to Joe Modise, Fana Hlongwane:

Rob Rose writes that a 106-page affidavit from deputy director of Public Prosecutions Billy Downer, in court documents placed before Judge Willem van der Merwe, "details how Hlongwane was effectively paid £4.9-million between October 1999 and July 2001 by Arstow, a company set up by BAE to pay ‘commissions' for the arms deal. Downer says ‘there are reasonable grounds to believe that (Hlongwane) has committed the offences of corruption, fraud, money-laundering and/or racketeering in the context of the arms deal', and that he "derived financial reward" from the arms deal." Rose also quotes from a "A 2008 affidavit signed by Gary Murphy, an investigator in the UK's serious fraud office... said bank statements showed BAE paid £115-million to advisers ‘to assist in the securing and maintaining of the Hawk and Gripen contract' with South Africa and other countries. Regarding Hlongwane, Murphy says: ‘I suspect that this secretive arrangement was designed to facilitate ... the onward payment of monies by Fana Hlongwane to SA government officials who could influence the decision-making process on the selection of the Hawk and the Gripen'."

2. The joint City Press/Eyewitness News reports see here and here) on how sacked SARS employee and former Special Forces operative, Michael Peega, is allegedly working as an intelligence operative for the ANC Youth League:

Dumisane Lubisi, himself a prime target of the ANCYL, reported in City Press that "Peega is ­allegedly collaborating with others to gather information about journalists and other politicians who have written or voiced concern about Malema's lavish lifestyle and business interests. The information is then compiled into so-called ‘intelligence dossiers'. Sources who spoke to City Press and Eyewitness News on condition of anonymity claimed that Peega and others were using their contacts in government departments and banking institutions to compile the ‘dossiers'. A government official said the dossiers were handed to the league to discredit those they perceived to be their enemies." Eyewitness News' Stephen Grootes wrote that according to sources Peega "draws up the damning documents which contain only a few true facts to lend credibility to the rest of the information."

1. The Mail & Guardian report story on how Simelane is close to finally pulling the plug on investigations into the arms deal:

The newspaper reported: "This week Simelane ordered the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) not to pursue an attempt to seize millions of rands -- allegedly the proceeds of bribes from arms multinational BAE Systems -- held offshore by arms-deal kingpin Fana Hlongwane. This was after the AFU team had already obtained a provisional court order -- a so-called ‘preservation order' -- against Hlongwane.

According to the article: On Monday Simelane called in AFU head Hofmeyr in the presence of two of Hlongwane's legal representatives, Christo Stockenström and Jaap Cilliers. There, according to one source, Simelane all but instructed the lawyers to make representations on Hlongwane's behalf as to why the matter should not be pursued. Hlongwane's representation was submitted a day later, after which Simelane ordered the AFU to drop the case."

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