Recent revelations on how the African National Congress used its investment arm Chancellor House to divert taxpayer’s money into its own coffers explains the ruling party’s obsession with black empowerment policy, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.
Allegations of disorder on the main campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) contained in an anonymous email circulated country were untrue, Rector Frederick Fourie said on Thursday. The email apparently makes reference to incidents of intimidation by black students on the main campus in Bloemfontein on March 4.
Soccer players selected for the national team should be directly contracted by the South African Football Association, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Thursday. This would allow coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to work full-time for two years in preparing a winning team for 2010.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against him came to an end on Wednesday when the Constitutional Court reserved judgement. On Thursday, Zuma stayed away from the court building.
Joe Phaahla, the director general of the 2010 Fifa World Cup government unit, is stepping down. He has asked to be relieved of his three-year contract, which expires in August. In a statement on Thursday, the unit said Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile has agreed to this, and Phaahla will leave the unit this month.
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The documents the state is seeking to obtain from Mauritius may never be used against African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday. State advocate Wim Trengove said evidence gathered ”does not automatically become evidence before the court”.
The African National Congress would campaign against the death penalty if a referendum was held on the issue, the party’s secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday. Mantashe’s remarks follow last week’s statement by party president Jacob Zuma that a referendum should be held if enough South Africans wanted it.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s attempt to have search-and-seizure raids as well as a letter requesting documents from Mauritius ruled invalid was set to enter a third day at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on Thursday.
"I have interviewed African National Congress deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe seven times between 1999 and 2008, and I have watched him change. Yes, he has been buffeted by the winds of neo-liberalism, but in my last interview with him, I see a far more forthright socialist emerging," writes Ebrahim Harvey.
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The state’s attempts to obtain documents from Mauritius infringed African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s right to a fair trial, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday. Zuma’s advocate said that allowing the documents from Mauritius to be ”imported” would ”negate” the Zuma legal team’s ability to challenge the documents in court.
President Thabo Mbeki needs to urgently intervene to stop Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla’s ”sadistic games”, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) chief whip Koos van der Merwe said on Wednesday. ”The minister of justice can best be described as a sadist,” he said in a statement.
Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence came to ”incorrect conclusions” in its report on the so-called ”Special Browse Mole Consolidated Report” produced by the Scorpions, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Wednesday. ”Whilst we respect the role of the committee, we contest its views,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
South Africa’s business confidence fell sharply to a seven-year low in the first quarter of 2008, as the sector fretted about an uncertain economic and political outlook, a survey released on Wednesday found. The Business Confidence Index, sponsored by Rand Merchant and the Bureau for Economic Research, fell by 19 index points to 48.
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A state lawyer accused African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma in court on Wednesday of trying to delay justice through his attempt to block the use of seized documents at his upcoming corruption trial. The trial, due to start in August, could ruin Zuma’s hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
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Warrants issued to allow the Scorpions to conduct search-and-seizure raids on the properties of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, his attorney and French arms manufacturer Thint were specific, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday.
Total transformation is needed at the University of the Free State (UFS), the African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State said on Tuesday. Provincial party spokesperson Playfair Morule said the recent ”dehumanising video” which surfaced at the university was just the tip of the iceberg of racist tendencies at the university.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma sat quietly in the front row of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, listening to his legal team challenge the validity of the warrants used to seize documents that could be used against him in his forthcoming corruption trial.
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There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence and the sound of camera shutters as photographers attempted to shoot pictures. A heavy police presence was visible around the court buildings while journalists packed the press gallery trying to get a view of Zuma.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) national working committee initiated a major review of the country’s education system at its fortnightly meeting on Monday, the organisation said. Education is a central pillar of economic growth and the fight against poverty, the ANC said in a statement.
Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana is studying a response from Eskom regarding allegations about a contract awarded by the electricity utility to a company linked to African National Congress investment firm Chancellor House. Mushwana’s office said he had noticed reports stating that Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille intended lodging a complaint.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma on Monday sought to ”clarify” recent statements of his, which he said had been misrepresented in the media, and denied having been ”summoned” by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to explain some of them.
Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) are calling on the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance to join them in setting up a multiparty committee to debate party political funding. ID chief whip Lance Greyling said on Monday: "South Africans have been exposed to scandal after scandal when it comes to party funding."
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The government has suspended further payments of Jacob Zuma’s legal costs over his impending corruption trial, it was reported on Monday. The Star quoted the head of the state attorney’s office as saying that the government would not pay future legal costs until Zuma provides a detailed account of how he had spent money previously received from the state.
Scrap cars, fridges and burning tyres were used to barricade several Durban roads on Monday as about 500 residents demanded that a local ward councillor leave the area. The residents are demanding that an African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor leave his office and move out of the area as he had ”not kept his word on service delivery”.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will ”revisit” its mail handling processes after five staffers became ill after handling a letter delivered to the office of acting head Mokotedi Mpshe, spokesperson Tlali Tlali said on Monday. Mpshe was not affected, but five people had to be treated for headaches and rashes.
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Outside Luthuli House, yellow posters beg South Africans to save power. In the lobby of the African National Congress headquarters, a veteran of the struggle against apartheid is asking to see ”Baba”. The old man does not have electricity and would like to put his case to the party president. A receptionist shakes her head: ”He comes often.”
Heroin is more easily obtainable than a hamburger nowadays, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille told an anti-drugs rally in Johannesburg on Saturday. This was after she led marchers — wearing DA T-shirts bearing the slogan: ”No to drugs and save our children” — through the streets of Vrededorp in Johannesburg.
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The Mauritian Attorney General (AG) has asked for more time to prepare his documentation in Jacob Zuma’s court battle, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. Rama Valayden wants to counter Zuma’s attempt to prevent Mauritius from handing documentation over to the National Prosecuting Authority.
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African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki. ”Power lies in the ANC,” Zuma — who ousted Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest three months ago — told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper.
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Common ground on affirmative action should be found, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma told a largely white Afrikaner gathering on Thursday night. He told union members that they had no home other than South Africa and as such, their concerns should be taken seriously.
South Africa’s Cabinet has approved a Bill that would speed up its land reform programme aimed at transferring 30% of farmland to black ownership by 2014, a government spokesperson said on Thursday. An existing land expropriation act has failed to make significant inroads into land redistribution.