The Best of Rand Daily Mail

8/21/2019 The Best of Rand Daily Mail

1/52


2/52

THE RDM QUARTERLY

THE MOST POPULAR ARTICLES ON

THE RAND DAILY MAIL

JANUARY-APRIL 2015

Times Media Books


3/52

First published by Times Media Books 2015

Times Media Books

A division of Times Media (Pty) Ltd

4 Biermann Ave

Rosebank 2196

SOUTH AFRICA

Copyright text © Times Media 2015

Photographs © Times Media 2015

All rights reserved

e-ISBN 978-1-928216-72-8 (ePDF)

e-ISBN 978-1-928216-74-2 (ePUB)

e-ISBN 978-1-928216-73-5 (Mobi)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in

any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical

methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.


4/52

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jacob Zuma: Be afraid, be VERY afraid

Chabane’s fatal warning came too late

EFF accountant’s astonishing letter to dissident Mngxitama

How Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie funded Julius Malema’s EFF

Rhodes VC rips into SA’s ‘venal’ political elite

How the ANC’s Fort Hare defeat changes the game

How Cricket SA bosses forced De Villiers to play Philander

ANC in shock as DA wins Fort Hare SRC election

Inside the ANC’s ght for the presidency

‘You are a broken man presiding over a broken society’

The difference between white funerals and black funerals

It has begun: South Africa’s new violent tribalism

Oscar Pistorius judge is roasted by judicial commission

Is this the beginning of the end for Malema?

Jacob Zuma: Mob boss or president?


5/52

JACOB ZUMA: BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

Shielded from accountability, deploying acolytes andbeneting himself, the president has become untouchable

Carol Paton

JACOB ZUMA’S presidency has taken on a particular avour. Exposés of capricious

political interference in important arms of the state such as the prosecuting authority,

the police and the intelligence services have become commonplace: there is little

shock factor left in the abuses of power and process committed by his friends in his

name; and there is no parallel with any other SA president in the extent to which he has

personally beneted from holding ofce.

Less often publicly aired is his devastating impact on the ANC. Under Zuma’s lead-

ership the ANC president has become untouchable, insulated by a national executivecommittee (NEC) of men and women held in place by networks of patronage nobody

dares undo. The senior leadership collective — a key feature of ANC organisational

practice since the 1950s — has been relegated to the sidelines. Despite a succession

of damaging scandals, Zuma therefore can’t be called to account.

The ANC shields him from public and parliamentary accountability in the belief that

it is protecting the organisation it perceives to be under attack from a hostile media


6/52

and an ofcial opposition against its transformative programme. The ANC declined to

be interviewed for this report.

But the bigger and more profound problem is that the ANC leadership collective has

lost control of its president.

Over six years in power, Zuma has placed an array of acolytes in key positions,

ranging from the cabinet and state-owned enterprises to the police and the national

broadcaster, the SABC. Key individuals with a close relationship to Zuma are deployed

as ministerial advisers in government departments. Their distinguishing feature is that

they owe their loyalty to Zuma alone and use it to override government decisions and

bypass the ANC.

Among outside observers — political analysts, investors who watch from afar, the

business community and a growing number of citizens — the question on the lips of

many is how long can the Zuma disaster go on?

It is these two mutually reinforcing trends — Zuma’s destructive hold on govern-ment and an immobilised ANC collective — and how the two unfold which holds the

answer to how much longer he can survive.

How did we arrive at this point?

Zuma’s hold over government and state institutions is effected mostly through the

appointment process. He uses his powers of appointment more cynically than his pre-

decessors did, is less concerned by public criticism of his choices and is shameless

about promoting his own agenda. He has extended his authority to make appointments

beyond those allowed for in law.The appointments of the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the

commissioner of police, the heads of the intelligence services and directors-general

of national departments are presidential decisions. The SABC board and chairman he

appoints on the basis of “parliamentary advice”.

Yet he has been notably active in picking individuals for the SABC and for boards

of state-owned enterprises, which are under the authority of the minister of public

enterprises, to be conrmed by cabinet. In the case of the SABC, he made sure the

ANC committee on communications included Ellen Tshabalala on its candidates list. In

the case of SA Airways he “advised” public enterprises minister Lynne Brown to retain

Dudu Myeni; and at Eskom, he lobbied for Ben Ngubane to be named chairman.

The SA Revenue Service (Sars) is another example of this mode of operating. Pre-

viously, the minister of nance managed the appointment of the Sars commissioner,

as set out in legislation. This time Zuma took an active role and the nal announce-

ment was made by cabinet and not the minister. Though three Sars insiders had been

tipped for the job, the successful candidate, Tom Moyane, was a surprise to everyone.Moyane is a fellow ANC exile who, like Zuma, spent a good deal of time in Mozam-

bique during the struggle against apartheid. He has little tax or nance experience

and appears to have been biding his time until retirement at the state information &

technology agency.

Zuma’s ministers have been complicit in expanding his powers of appointment by

increasingly seeking his private approval before proposing new appointments at cabi-


7/52

net meetings. And the ANC has played its part. By establishing a convention that ANC

subcommittees and its deployment committee have the right to a say over state hiring,

all appointments have become subject to horse-trading.

A good example was the tussle over the Eskom chairmanship in December. The

ANC preferred former Eskom executive and electrical engineer Pat Naidoo, while

Zuma favoured his friend Ngubane. The impasse was settled by retaining the incum-

bent, Zola Tsotsi, despite the utility’s dismal performance under his watch.

Zuma’s appointments are also damaging because of the kind of people he choos-

es. They are seemingly plucked from obscurity. Police commissioner Riah Phiyega, for

instance, was neither a policewoman nor accomplished in any other eld; but she is

known as an admirer of the president. Myeni was a schoolteacher from KwaZulu Natal

who, after serving briey on a regional water board, was catapulted to the top of the

SAA board. The rationale for these appointments often emerges later — as the result

of personal relationships, repayment for favours or simply a way to exert control overprocesses and institutions.

Also active in “advising” on appointments are the Gupta family, who are former Indi-

an nationals and businessmen Zuma describes as his personal friends. Their inuence

over who gets chosen to serve on boards and management of state-owned enterprises

is an open secret. The SA Communist Party, it seems, could stand it no longer when

in a veiled reference to the Guptas it complained in a public statement in November

that it “was concerned that private business had a direct hand in appointments into

key positions within the state”. But despite the embarrassing Waterkloof air force baseincident (when a Gupta wedding party was allowed to land at the base), the ANC has

been unable to chide its leader over his friends. Instead, Zuma has encouraged his

ministers to get on with the Guptas and to take their calls.

When in 2011 the heads of three intelligence departments identied the Guptas as

a threat to national security and decided to investigate the family, within 24 hours they

were summoned by the intelligence minister, Siyabonga Cwele, and told to lay off. All

three were subsequently offered new positions and, despite long-standing relation-

ships of trust built with Zuma during the struggle, they left soon afterwards.

The brazenness of Zuma’s acolytes has taken the ANC and government by sur-

prise. SAA chair Myeni openly deed an order from the minister of public enterprises

to reinstate Monwabisi Kalawe, the CEO whom Myeni had unfairly suspended; SABC

chair Tshabalala and chief operating ofcer Hlaudi Motsoeneng simply ignored ANC

secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa by refus-

ing to stand down after being caught lying about their qualications.

Though galled by such deance, the ANC top leadership has been unable to doanything about it.

The reason lies in the composition of the NEC. Ahead of the Mangaung party

congress in 2012, Zuma built a 70% majority, reective of enormous ANC growth in

KwaZulu Natal, and involving the majority factions in most of the smaller provinces as

well as parts of the Eastern Cape. Mostly, the executive is held together by mutually

reinforcing relationships of patronage. Provincial politicians with vested economic in-


8/52

terests often owe their positions to lines of patronage both up and down the political

chain.

A threat to Zuma would constitute a threat to the entire alliance and has no prospect

of being entertained by a majority, no matter how compelling the motivations or the

extent to which the ANC is being damaged and undermined.

Any attempt to undo the “interlocking patrimonial relations” in the NEC would be like

“trying to unscramble the egg”, says Nic Borain, political analyst at BNP Paribas Cadiz

Securities. “The main feature of such an interlocked relationship is that it is embedded

and difcult to unwind. The problem with proposing a mechanism that could dislodge

Zuma, and with it the calcifying networks of patronage that spread out from him and

his partners into all corners of the state and party, is the old one: who will bell the cat?”

So while it was possible to remove Thabo Mbeki when his imperial tendencies

became too much for the NEC, today’s ANC is a different organisation.

The new politics of the ANC is classed as “neopatrimonial” by political scientist TomLodge of the University of Limerick and formerly at Wits University. The term refers to

a political system legitimised by “reciprocal exchanges” between political actors and

characterised by the “personalisation” of the exercise of power.

In neopatrimonial systems (Russia is a good example, says Lodge) ofcials use

public power for private purposes, and political differences or internal competition fea-

ture large in the party not as ideological battles but as contests between groups based

on personal loyalties.

Though the roots of such a trajectory were always present in the conservatism ofthe ANC in its early days, and later in its underground links with criminal networks, they

were particularly brought to the fore by later developments, in particular, the conditions

of post-1994 in which the acquisition of political ofce became the best route for per -

sonal wealth accumulation.

Though Lodge’s analysis implies this change in the ANC is permanent, “It has yet

to become all-encompassing and does not constitute the entirety of the ANC’s internal

life.”

This is a signicant point when looking at the ANC under Zuma. Though nobody

is strong enough to act against Zuma, there are signs that a stealthy ght-back has

begun.

At the ANC’s January lekgotla, at which the party looks at its programme for the

year with a view to providing direction to government, Zuma and his proxies lost two

key policy battles.

The rst was the decision that set-top boxes for television will be manufactured with

encryption software.Though cabinet had taken a decision to this effect a year ago, Zuma effectively

stymied it by replacing then communications minister Yunus Carrim with Faith Muth-

ambi, a minister who has become known for her personal loyalty to Zuma. Muthambi

had failed to implement the cabinet decision and was taken aback when ordered by

the lekgotla to do so.

The reasons for blocking the decision relate to a range of business interests that


9/52

have lobbied hard against it. These include ANC-aligned groupings who want a slice

of the manufacturing action and big corporate interests with lots of cash to hand out.

At the lekgotla the ANC also found its voice on the restructuring of the electricity

sector. Though Zuma had last year — at the urging of his energy minister Tina Joe-

mat-Pettersson — promised to establish an independent system market operator, the

ANC, which has ideological reasons for not wanting to dilute Eskom, has blocked it

at policy level. And while the ANC’s wisdom on this matter has been debated in the

context of the need to restructure the electricity sector, the decision is as much a

sign of being fed-up at the bypassing of ANC policy by presidential sanction as it is

ideological.

These small battles indicate that the pendulum could well swing back and that the

impetus for change in the ANC will build.

For those who want to rescue the ANC, the important thing for them is to bide their

time. No-one will be able to make a move for a new coalition before the 2017 nationalconference approaches.

At that point, as marginalised leaders and groups re-emerge, change could happen

fast. The upside of this scenario is that it raises the possibility of a changing of the

guard in the ANC in three years; the downside is little will change until then.

The damage that will be done to SA’s institutions and to the ANC itself by then will

be more serious and put remedial action further out of reach.

For investors watching SA, there is little with which to be impressed. Structural

economic reforms that are needed to revive growth have little chance of materialising.“The view from outside the country is that there is a slow burn under Zuma,” says

Mark Rosenberg, New York-based Africa director for the Eurasia Group. “This ad-

ministration doesn’t have the political will to reform the labour market and troubled

parastatals but treasury and the SA Reserve Bank are still strong enough to ward off

crisis. Zuma is too strong to be displaced by the ANC but too weak to move the country

forward, so the status quo prevails until the ANC conference in 2017.”

The ght-back in the ANC, when it comes, will be constrained by the changed

nature of the party and its personalised and compromised politics. So even though the

odds are growing that a new leadership clique may take the helm after 2017, the ability

to reform the ANC will be severely curtailed.


10/52

CHABANE’S FATAL WARNING CAME TOOLATE

Hours before his death, he warned funeral goers not to drive

long distances when fatigued

Olebogeng Molatlhwa, Frank Maponya, Benson Ntlemo andShaun Smillie

HOURS BEFORE his death in a car smash, Public Service and Administration Minis-

ter Collins Chabane had warned his colleagues to avoid long-distance travel and the

heightened risk of an accident that went with it.

But the very thing he warned them of killed him and his two bodyguards.

Travelling with the two members of the police‘s VIP protection unit — Lesiba Sekele

and Lawrence Lentsoane — Chabane was killed early yesterday morning when his

car and a truck collided on the N1 freeway between Polokwane and Mokopane, in


11/52

Limpopo.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said C habane‘s car and the truck were

travelling in the same direction, with the truck to the left.

The truck driver allegedly made a U-turn and Chabane‘s car slammed into the

truck.

What remained was a mangled contortion of steel and fragments of the VW Touareg.

The truck — still intact — stood in the middle of the freeway, with a slight dent on

one side, the only evidence that it had been involved in a crash.

Only hours before, Chabane, known in the ANC as “The Animal”, had been ad-

dressing mourners at the funeral of a local leader, Samuel Nxumalo, in Magona, Lim-

popo. He implored them to refrain from travelling long distances, warning that fatigue

would set in.

The result, Chabane warned, was an increased possibility of a fatal road accident.

Though Radebe would neither deny nor conrm the allegations, The Times haslearned that:

* Tests by the police reportedly show that the truck driver was drunk; and

* The truck‘s licence disc had expired on December 31.

Radebe said police investigations would reveal the cause of the crash.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police ofcer at the scene of the accident

said tests to determine the blood-alcohol level of the truck driver indicated that he was

drunk.

“On arresting the truck driver we tested him. It came out at 0.08%, which is abovethe legal limit of 0.02%,” said the ofcer.

He has been charged with culpable homicide, reckless and negligent driving, and

driving under the inuence of alcohol.

Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said on Sunday that he last saw

his friend of nearly 40 years in Parliament on Thursday. They did not get a chance to

speak.

Ramatlhodi, who is in London attending a conference, said he was devastated by

Chabane‘s death.

“This is just such a big shock,” he said.

Chabane and Ramatlhodi met at the University of the North (now University of

Limpopo) in 1977. Ramatlhodi was head of the university‘s arts and culture society.

“Then he was an actor. He wrote and directed,” Ramatlhodi recalled.

Ramatlhodi was also working for the anti-apartheid underground. He soon intro-

duced Chabane to politics and recruited him into the ANC.

“He was a little on the quiet side but could also be a grand performer who dancedand played musical instruments.”

Chabane left the country in 1979 to undergo military training abroad.

When he returned to South Africa he was arrested. He was released in 1990.

A year later he served on the ANC national executive committee, of which Ramat-

lhodi was also a member.

Chabane went on to serve as MEC in Ramatlhodi‘s provincial cabinet in Limpopo.


12/52

EFF ACCOUNTANT’S ASTONISHINGLETTER TO DISSIDENT MNGXITAMA

The party’s national nancial accountant’s letter to embattled

MP Andile Mngxitama

RDM Staff

Dear Comrade Andile,

Introduction

I reluctantly nd myself having to write this letter to you in the early hours of the morn-

ing. I was reluctant to write this because I have always held you in high esteem and

I have always been loyal to you and the September National lmbizo (SNI). Right now

I cannot sleep, I actually cannot breath since our fateful meeting in Melville on 15

January 2015. My comrade, you have destroyed me in a short space of time and in my


13/52

estimation, this is just the beginning. I am bracing myself for the ton of bricks to fall my

way because I know there must already be a hit-back plan. Anyway, there are times

when a man has to do what has to be done irrespective of the consequences.

My biggest bone of contention is the fact that I do not deserve this because I have

stood side by side with you since we met via the SNI. I argued on your behalf on

issues which I often knew little or nothing about, we have red comrades, alienated

and vilied comrades who dared differ with you, I internalised your arguments and was

once called a human shield for you. Why then do this to me? You could have left me

out of this just out of appreciation of my loyalty to you.

We joined the EFF at its formation and maintained high discipline. Way prior to the

NPA (National People’s Aseembly), as SNI we would dismiss or alienate comrades

who dared raise objections or simple matters such as the Sankara Oath about the

EFF. We preached democratic centralism. Just before the NPA, our mandate was for

you to continue on the great path you were on of bringing in ideological balance in themovement by accepting additional membership to the CCT and continuing agitating for

the return of the land without compensation.

You declined nomination on “principle”, the now famous revolutionary conscious.

I am aware on the night of the day you declined nomination that an SNI caucus that I

was not invited to was held. Apparently the gloves were taken off at that meeting and

now we see this with the open letters and all the efforts to destroy the movement. Fair

enough, if a political decision to do so is taken, it must be lobbied and debated, how-

ever you did not do so and early January I travelled to Cape Town to hear straight fromyou on what is to be done since you rejected nomination, you did not pitch up. I now

know that you had and still have much better and bigger caucuses outside the SNI. As

has always been the case, myself and other comrades are but just extras in your epic

biopic movie. I ignored cries of comrades who felt this way and turned a blind eye, now

I have rst-hand experience and my worry is my life has been turned upside down.

You are fully aware that I am in the employ of the EFF and responsible for organisa-

tional accounts, payroll and many other necessary expenditures which the movement

engages in on a day to day basis.

As a trusted brother whom I thought loves the EFF, you should have guided and

advised me to make sure that organisational nances are properly managed and

expended, because a perception that all is not well might cause internal strife. You

instead saw my employment in the EFF nance department as an opportunity for you

to steal internal organisational documents and records and leak those to the media

with the sole intention of destroying its integrity in the eyes of South Africa.

I have in my possession all the text messages wherein you were pressuring meto steal internal organisational records so that you can use them to undermine the

integrity of the EFF. This always caused discomfort to me and I wrote to the secre -

tary-general of the EFF disclosing the fact that you are putting me under pressure to

acquire information which will compromise the integrity of the EFF.

After the ofcials of the EFF held a meeting with you, I thought that your attempts

to destroy the EFF from within will come to an end, but you continued.


14/52

Hereunder are the facts:

• We met for the rst time this year after a while on 15 January 2015 in Melville

at your insistence. We have always met there to discuss our politics and

laugh about this or that. I knew that something was underway before we met

in light of the fact that you had declined nomination and the fact that I am still

an employee of the movement in a key position.

• We briey analysed the NPA and you went straight to the point. You indicated

that we need to bring these guys down, referring to the elected President

Julius Malema and Deputy President Floyd Shivambu. Reason being they

are not revolutionaries and they are corrupt. I gave you a thorough listen

and it was for the rst time we discussed taking the CIC down so I was still

shocked, but you being my comrade and mentor, I needed to know where

this was going. In my mind I thought you would suggest I resign and we workon taking them down from the outside or even starting our NPO on racism

as had previously been discussed. Alas, you told me with a straight face to

steal information to discredit them. You indicated that I must think this through

but there is no time as people are talking and I may be implicated In some of

the issues. We parted with a promise to meet again soon and continue this

discussion.

• The following day you called several times to insist that we must meet again

later. This time with a sense of urgency. Under serious pressure I left theofce in the evening and you instructed me to drive towards Sandton, which I

later discovered is Kenny Kunene’s house.

After getting lost a bit, we eventually met and you jumped into my car and

directed me to a house In Sandton. You told me in the car that the situation

has escalated and that we must move quicker in terms of supplying information

that I have on “these guys”. You indicated that we were to meet Kenny and

Gayton who will be facilitating this whole matter. I was shocked but calm. We

got to the house and indeed we met Kenny and Gayton.

• After some banter about whisky and other minor issues we went straight to

the point. The summary of the matter was that I was facing imminent arrest

with the CIC and others for monies of the movement. The car that was

purchased and registered under a company was bought and registered by

me on behalf of the CIC and the Hawks were on to all this and many other

irregularities at the movement. I was given a choice whether I want to go

down with the leadership or I wanted to cooperate with the Hawks and write astatement.

My dilemma was mentioned as the fact that the leadership would pin ev-

erything on me as the accountant. Later we were joined by Bruce who was

introduced as a lawyer who will cut a deal for me with the Hawks to avoid arrest

but I had to make a sworn statement. I refused with the help of you (Andile) to

make a sworn statement and opted to be subpoenaed to talk under oath if the


15/52

need arises. I was promised immunity from imminent arrest if I at least spoke

and gave info that can be useful to the Hawks. The question that kept coming

back was about major nancial irregularities. I could not answer that as I had

never been party to any, I do not know the CIC personally, we do not interact

outside of work-related issues so I could not give credence to the accusation

that there are transactions that I know to be irregular that I probably beneted.

Bruce gave me a lengthy interrogation and actually proved that I would go to

jail as an accountant and the fact that failure to benet would not absolve me.

Under duress and in the presence of the two dangerous ex-convicts, worse

in their house and the lawyer who had just interrogated me and indicated that

I will be arrested soon, I agreed to cooperate and it was conrmed that the

Hawks will leave me alone if I must just meet them for an unofcial statement.

• The second meeting was held the following day at another complex in

Sandton with myself, You (Andile), Gayton and Bruce (the lawyer). I suppliedsome information on the car, and particularly the statement and invoices for

Gauteng Province Party Funds via a memory stick that I keep all my work.

I also provided information and statements on the invoices for most of the

events of the organisation around the 1” Anniversary, because I was made to

believe that Hawks wanted them for the money laundering cases.

• The last meeting we held about this was a day or two later with Bruce (the

lawyer who interrogated me), the white guy who was introduced as the

‘Hawks’ and Bruce’s legal partner In Alberton. We went through the car storyand discussed issues on company credit cards and payments to such. What

shocked me is that the guy, who was rst introduced as the “Hawks”, was

now legal partner of Bruce. I later nd out that this legal partner, who initially

pretended to be the “Hawks” is the City Press journalist, Charles Cilliers.

• By now I was in too deep and a lot was already said to smear the organ-

isation to gain your favourable view. I believe I may have been taped or

recorded. I subsequently spoke to the leadership of the EFF and indicated

I am compromised by your requests, I did not declare full information as I

was assessing the veracity of the arrest, basically in a revolution I admit that

I would have had to take a bullet for cracking under your pressure. However

the leadership called you to ask you to refrain from such and I was so hopeful

that all is behind us even though I still remain compromised.

• My conscious is clear, very clear, I have handed you and Bruce a memory

stick that Bruce was supposed to take the folder with Invoices and GP Party

Accounts as per the ongoing “Hawks” investigations; the following informationwas contained in the memory stick and I now know that you have that stolen

information in your possession now. Hereunder is what you have; a The

car invoice and proof of payment a The EFF GP Party fund statement a

The folder with EFF Provincial (GP, MP, NW, NC, EC and We) and National

Accounts Bank Statements (PArly Admin, Parly Constituency and lEe) a The

Invoices related to the Party’s rst Anniversary and a few other operational


16/52

invoices a You also most likely have our credit card statements based on the

information you are sharing.

The Info you have is stolen property under false pretext, the receiver of stolen Infor-

mation is as much guilty as the thief, I have accepted my fate is in the hand of my

organisation for my cowardice in allowing you and the ex-convicts to bully me into

submission, I will take my punishment like a man and take the lessons thereof.

You can continue using the information bit by bit to discredit me, I have made peace

with that.

In conclusion

I have now seen on social networks and in media that your friend, Gayton McKenzie

is using the misinformation I disclosed to the people who pretended to be the “Hawks”to undermine an insult the integrity of the EFF. With the allegations of nancial irregu-

larities carried by the City Press and now contained In the letter by your friend, Gayton

Mackenzie, I realised that I was used by you and a string of conmen in a scam that

seeks to destroy the Integrity of the EFF.

You leave me with no option but to clarify the correct and nal information and facts

about the nances of the EFF. This will maybe help you to stop your efforts to discredit

the organisation. About internal nances, here are the facts:

a) There Is no single staff member who has ever gone home without a salary. Iknow this because from the beginning I am responsible for loading the salaries

of all staff members of the EFF. And if your friend insists that there is such a

member, he must provide the name and details of such a staff member.

b) I hear your friend claims that ofces of the EFF have difculty with payment of

rentals, electricity, and other services utilltles rates. This is not true because all

the 52 regional ofces, the 9 Provincial Ofces, and the head ofce are fully

functional with consistent services utilities and timeous payment of rental and

electricity. I furthermore challenge your friend to show me an ofce that has

such difculties due to lack of payment from the head ofce.

c) I can conrm that the EFF has a credit card, which is used for organisation-

al purposes, and the card was requested from the bank because we were

avoiding petty cash as it is always difcult to account for petty cash, whilst

credit card expenses can be traced. I am unaware of any other credit card as

alleged by your friend, and if there was any I would have known as a person

responsible for organisational nances and accounts.

d) I wish to conrm that I was involved in the registration of the Car (GTI) as an

asset of the EFF, and I gave you incomplete information such that the journalist

who was rst Introduced to me as the Hawks wrote a news report for the City

Press that was misleading about the purchase of the GTI. When I saw City

Press report, I gave the leadership all the necessary information, which they

took to the City Press and the City Press retracted their Initial story on the basis


17/52

of incomplete information. The purchase of the car was above board, and like

in many previous expenses I was directly involved.

e) Since my employment in the EFF Finance department, I can assure you, your

friends, and all members that the EFF does not create unnecessary debts and

always pays for its expenses in full prior to or immediately after the rendering

of a service. This is evidenced by the following:

i. The University of the Free State publicly conrmed that the EFF paid for all the

Conference costs and expenses in full.

ii. The buses that transported all delegates to the National People’s Assembly

were fully paid.

iii. The Conference Materials (T-shirts, berets, pens, note pads, bandanas, ags,

pullout banners, drop banners, sound and stage) were paid in full.

iv. All activities and programmes of the EFF are always paid In full and the EFF

has not embraced a tradition of creating unnecessary debts.v. The EFF centrally paid for all the 34 elective Regional People’s Assemblies

and the 7 elective Provincial People’s Assemblies that happened before the

National People’s Assembly (NPA). All these People’s Assemblies needed

transport, accommodation, venue, sound, stage and conference materials,

and none of them collapsed due to lack or lateness of payments.

vi. The EFF 1st Anniversary rally which brought not less than 50 000 members

and activists of the EFF to celebrate its 1 year of existence was fully paid.

f) The EFF manages all these without direct major contributions from its mem-bers.

g) This will be demonstrated in all the audited statements of the EFF when we

report to the national and provincial parliaments and the Independent Electoral

Commission, which expect accountability on all the nances at the disposal of

the EFF as a political party with representatives in all the national and provin-

cial parliaments.

Revolutionary Conscious

I submit to you my leader that you do not have a revolutionary conscious, let alone a

conscious for that matter, if you did, you would not pull a Blaise on CIC or even use

your junior Comrade to do such.

The plan to take over the EFF is too unrealistic. You quoted Lenin on our rst drive

to Sandton, to paraphrase, you said that in the revolution we might have to work with

rogues to gain the revolution.By any means necessary. I do not know Kenny apart from that meeting and have

no opinion on him as a person, Gayton seems to be well informed and a go getter to a

point of being pushy, but they are both not my associates and I denitely doubt if they

can be associated with the revolution as per your teachings. I have given you a lot of

information under duress. I know that I gave you information that would incriminate the

organisation to avoid jail for myself, some not even true as the circumstances dictated


18/52

that I give dramatic information, but I now know that this was criminal conduct. I have

opened a case at a police station about the impersonation of the Hawks to extract

Information from me, surely that must be illegal. I should have had the courage to tell

you to eff off and I did not, I regret that.

Right now I have decided to pay the ultimate price by writing this letter to you, lowe

no allegiance to the CIC or the EFF, I do not even think that I matter that much in the

bigger scheme of things, but this is a decision that I will be able to leave with and justify

to myself and my family regardless of its consequences.

Your student and former leader at SNI

Rirhandzu Baloyi

EFF National Financial Accountant


19/52

HOW KENNY KUNENE AND GAYTONMCKENZIE FUNDED JULIUS MALEMA’S EFF

Electronic slips show that they bought business class tickets

and tyres for the new party

Mashoto Lekgau

SUSHI KING Kenny Kunene and his business partner Gayton McKenzie have bank-

rolled EFF leaders despite vehement denials by its leaders.

Sowetan has seen electronic copies of business class airplane tickets for a round

trip from Johannesburg to Durban for Julius Malema which Kunene paid for. Malema

made the EFF business trip in July 2013.

Kunene also bought new tyres for EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s BMW 7

series which cost him about R10 000.

The revelations of Malema and Shivambu being nancially bankrolled by the two

were contained in an open letter penned by McKenzie two weeks ago.

But the EFF leaders denied beneting and Shivambu wrote his own open letter

challenging Kunene and McKenzie to present proof that they had come to the nancial

rescue of the EFF leaders and had paid money to the party.


20/52

Kunene, McKenzie, Malema and Shivambu were once close but have since fallen

out.

Kunene was a member of the EFF before the party’s ofcial launch but McKenzie

has never joined the party. When Kunene quit the EFF months before the 2014 na-

tional elections, the two formed their own political party, the Patriotic Alliance - which

contested elections only in Western Cape.

Sowetan saw text messages in which Shivambu sent his banking details to Kunene,

a member of the EFF at the time. The EFF deputy president later thanked Kunene and

McKenzie “very much”.

A Johannesburg mechanic, Garren Schuurman, said he tted two new tyres on

Shivambu’s car in July 2013.

He said: “We tted two tyres on the white 7 Series and Kenny himself was there.

They [the tyres] were to the value of plus-minus R10 000.”

Kunene travelled with Malema on the Durban trip. Kunene conrmed he paid forMalema’s two ights in question and claimed he also paid for Malema’s accommoda-

tion in Durban.

He said he did not air the EFF’s dirty linen in public because the leaders asked him

not to.

“We sponsored them with other things too. For example, there was a time when

Floyd said they needed T-shirts for an event in Soweto and asked Gayton to call him

back because he did not have airtime.

“It’s my money and also Gayton’s money, we sponsored them with over R300 000.There were other things like petrol and accommodation. I even bought their girlfriends

things when they could not afford to.

“We would also give money to [Mpho] Ramakatsa because he was the hard-

est-working leader in the movement, when Julius and Floyd were at my house drinking

my expensive whiskey with girls,” Kunene said.

Shivambu refused to comment, saying: “Chief, I am done with that. Please call me

about something else.”

Malema distanced himself from Shivambu’s open letter.

“I do not want to get involved. Go to Floyd, I am asking you not to involve me.”


21/52

RHODES VC RIPS INTO SA’S ‘VENAL’POLITICAL ELITE

‘We have become a society in which obscene and

unbridled opulence exists alongside debilitating poverty anddeprivation’

David Macgregor

RHODES UNIVERSITY vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela on Thursday laid into South

Africa’s top political elite‚ saying people “of questionable moral and ethical character”

were running the country.

“The noble qualities and values of personal integrity‚ honesty‚ humility‚ compas-

sion‚ respect for each other‚ fairness‚ forgiveness‚ empathy‚ seless dedication and

willingness to put others rst‚ that were so beautifully exemplied by President Nelson

Mandela‚ have given way to venality‚ a complete lack of integrity‚ moral decadence‚

proigacy‚ rampant corruption‚ deceit‚ and duplicity.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rhodes University graduation


22/52

weekend‚ Mabizela said South Africa had lost its moral compass by voting in “people

who have no sense of the difference between right and wrong‚ just and unjust‚ fair and

unfair‚ ethical and unethical” to positions of signicance‚ power and inuence”.

“We have become a society in which obscene and unbridled opulence exists along-

side debilitating poverty and deprivation; a society that relentlessly promotes a culture

of untrammelled greed and conspicuous consumption above the public and common

good; a culture that judges one’s worth by the amount of personal wealth amassed.”

He said South Africa had become a society where far too many people were mired

in desperate daily routines of survival‚ while at the same time‚ crass materialism and

vulgar and ostentatious displays of personal wealth had become fashion statements

for the political elite.

Referring to the disarray in key government institutions like the criminal justice

system — which has recently lost or suspended several top ofcials — Mabizela urged

the 2015 Rhodes University graduates to go out and make a difference in a societycharacterised by incertitude‚ cynicism and despair.

“My appeal to you is that you become an active‚ engaged and concerned citizen

who takes a special interest in and concern for those who are living in the social and

economic margins of our society. We cannot fail them; we dare not fail them.”


23/52

HOW THE ANC’S FORT HARE DEFEATCHANGES THE GAME

What made the DA cross the threshold of electability with

this constituency of young black students in the rural EasternCape?

Ray Hartley

WHILE THE country was digesting the politics of statues and the fall-out from xeno-

phobic attacks, a seismic event occurred in the Eastern Cape.

I say seismic because it was an event which revealed how the tectonic plates of

politics have quietly been shifting.

What occurred was simply unthinkable even ve years ago. At Fort Hare university,

the bastion of ANC intellectualism sitting at the centre of its political heartland, the SRC

elections have been won by the DA.

Not just won. The DA youth obtained 52% of the vote to the ANC-aligned SASCO’s

37%. That’s a drubbing.

You had to feel for ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane. Dazed and confused

by the defeat, he said: “It‘s quite disappointing because Fort Hare is our pride. You


24/52

cannot complete a conversation about the struggle for liberation without mentioning

Fort Hare. It is not an easy thing to accept. The institution is a cradle for continental

leadership in progressive politics. It‘s a very sad moment.”

If this was just an SRC election, perhaps it would be going too far to read wider po-

litical implications into its outcome. But it was no ordinary election. Among those who

campaigned on the ANC side at the campus were deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa,

sports minister Fikile Mbalula and home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba.

These three ANC leaders represent its best shot of persuading the middle class

and youth vote of the party’s bona des. They failed to do so spectacularly, sending a

strong signal that the party is losing its grip on constituencies it will need to shore up

its support in next year’s local government elections.

Ramaphosa addressed the students at an ANC Freedom Charter forum at the end

of April. Make no mistake, his eye was rmly on the SRC prize. He professed himself

to be moved by the failure of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to activate themeal cards of students. To solve the problem, he said he had assigned the premier,

Phumulo Masualle to look into nding immediate solutions.

The hall was packed when Ramaphosa spoke. But it was no enough to turn the

tide. The message that the provincial government, moribund and mired in corruption

for 20 years would sort out the problem was simply not believed.

If Ramaphosa was the ANC’s middle class foil, Mbalula and Gigaba represented its

best shot at winning over the youth. They too failed to turn the tide.

The election, it turns out, was not fought over who had the best struggle credentials,or who best represented the student demographic. It was about the ordinary struggles

of students, like their inability to get government’s NSAF’s subsidy to work and the

conditions under which they were expected to study 21 years into democracy.

(The EFF did not contest the election — copy edited subsequent to publication)

So, what made the DA cross the threshold of electability with this constituency of

young black students in the rural Eastern Cape? The rst thing is that the DA focused

its attention on student issues and not on global politics or celebrations of struggle

icons and documents.

The DA’s campaign dealt with the issues of student funding and residence short-

ages at the university. The party’s victorious youth leader, Yusuf Cassim was quoted

saying: “For us the students‘ votes are a mandate that we do not take lightly. We have

started with exposing what is taking place at the institution.”

The ANC’s attempts to do the same failed because the students see government

as the agent of the problem. They simply don’t believe that it can solve them.

The second factor is that this was the rst test of DA electability in the post-HelenZille era. The election took place after her announcement that she is vacating the lead-

ership in favour of one of two black candidates — Mmusi Maimane or Wilmot James.

Whatever the chattering classes might or might not say about the signicance of

this move, there can be no gainsaying that it has challenges “identity politics” — the

practise of playing the race card in political contests.

However you look at it, the little SRC election in the Eastern Cape represents a


25/52

moment where traditional political allegiances have been disrupted. If I was in the

ANC’s local government war-room I would be worried.


26/52

HOW CRICKET SA BOSSES FORCED DEVILLIERS TO PLAY PHILANDER

‘AB didn‘t want to play in the semi because of this; it is a

clear case of interference by the board’

Telford Vice and Liam Del Carme

CRICKET SA‘S board hung Vernon Philander out to dry by demanding his selection for

the World Cup seminal, making captain AB de Villiers reluctant to play in the match,

say sources close to the Proteas.

A selector said the panel “had to okay four players of colour” for last Tuesday‘s


27/52

seminal, in which Philander was thrust in from the cold after an injury lay-off to play

alongside Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir and JP Duminy.

“AB didn‘t want to play in the semi because of this; it is a clear case of interference

by the board — they ordered Philander‘s selection,” said a well-placed source who

declined to be named.

“It was a purely political decision. The players are fuming about it but they won‘t

say so.”

De Villiers could not be reached for comment.

Tony Irish, chief executive of the SA Cricketers‘ Association, refused to comment.

“I will be talking to the players [today] when they get back [from Australasia],” he

said.

If the claims are true, a star bowler who has taken 121 wickets in only 29 Tests has

been cynically undermined. Philander has earned every nugget of his success but

being drafted into one of the most important matches in South Africa‘s one-day historyin this way makes him look like a player who has beneted from being black.

The other factor is that Kyle Abbott was denied an opportunity he deserved — and

which possibly cost South Africa a place in yesterday‘s nal. Abbott was the Proteas‘

best bowler in the tournament in terms of average, economy rate and strike rate.

The Philander fandango was danced as Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula warned at the

weekend that CSA and the SA Rugby Union faced expulsion from ofcial South African

sport if they failed to deliver on agreed transformation targets.

“We will ...withdraw national colours; we will ensure that we deregister those thatare intransigent,” he warned.

The SA Cricketers‘ Association is also “considering our legal options” following a

claim that CSA‘s board unilaterally raised the quota for players of colour in provincial

franchise teams from ve to six. CSA denied that Philander‘s inclusion in the semi-nal

was to ll a quota.

“Team management could perhaps be in a better position to respond to your query.

I have not in the past interfered with the selection of the team and I do not intend to do

so in the future. We have always emphasised that national team selection must be on

merit,” said CSA president Chris Nenzani.

CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: “There was and is no political interference

in our selections. We have a selection panel that includes the coach and independent

members, and this panel selected all the teams at the World Cup in the same way that

they did before the World Cup.”

Team doctor and manager Mohammed Moosajee said he was “not aware of polit-

ical selection or interference”.Moosajee explained that: “The selector on tour generally selects the team (the

starting XI), obviously with the input of the coach and the captain. There is always a

selector on tour,” said Moosajee.

Convenor of selectors Andrew Hudson failed to return The Times‘s call.

Despite CSA‘s insistence that it had not interfered in national team selections, there

is a precedent.


28/52

In 2001, the then United Cricket Board president, Percy Sonn, personally overruled

the selection of Northern Transvaal left-handed batsman Jacques Rudolph in the Test

team to play Australia and demanded that he be replaced by Boland‘s Justin Ontong.

Reports from Australia claimed that South Africa‘s captain on that tour, Shaun Pol-

lock, was still uncertain of the composition of his team 15 minutes before he walked out

for the toss. — Additional reporting by Nivashni Nair and David Isaacson


29/52

ANC IN SHOCK AS DA WINS FORT HARESRC ELECTION

Ramaphosa, Mbalula and Gigaba campaigned for ANC

which failed to win the election in the ANC’s heartland

Siphe Macanda

THE ANC is calling its student leadership to account after it was trounced by the Dem-

ocratic Alliance Student Organisation (Daso) at the University of Fort Hare.

Daso obtained 52.5% of the vote in elections at the university last week, while the

ANC-aligned SA Students Congress (Sasco) got only 37%. This was despite the ANC

delegating senior leaders, including Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, Sports Minis-

ter Fikile Mbalula and Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba to campaign for Sasco.

This is the second university campus that Sasco has lost to Daso. Last year theDA students took control of the SRC at Port Elizabeth‘s Nelson Mandela Metropolitan

University.

The ANC‘s provincial leadership has summoned Sasco‘s Fort Hare campus lead-

ers and the provincial executive to a meeting tomorrow, where the students will be

asked to explain why they performed so dismally at the polls.

ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said of the defeat: “It‘s quite disappoint-


30/52

ing because Fort Hare is our pride. You cannot complete a conversation about the

struggle for liberation without mentioning Fort Hare.

“It is not an easy thing to accept [that we lost] Fort Hare. The institution is a cradle

for continental leadership in progressive politics. It‘s a very sad moment.”

Nelson Mandela was a student at Fort Hare, which has produced several other

high-prole African leaders, including the ANC‘s Oliver Tambo, Zimbabwean President

Robert Mugabe and PAC founder Robert Sobukwe.

Sasco provincial secretary Yanga Zicina said they viewed their loss to Daso at Fort

Hare as part of a learning curve.

“We believe that we might have been caught wanting. But we do not believe that

the students totally rejected Sasco. It‘s merely about their bread and butter issues,”

Zicina said.

DA youth leader Yusuf Cassim said Daso‘s immediate mission was to deal with

students’ pressing issues, which include a lack of funding and residence shortages.“For us the students‘ votes are a mandate that we do not take lightly. We have

started with exposing what is taking place at the institution,” Cassim said.


31/52

INSIDE THE ANC’S FIGHT FOR THEPRESIDENCY

The ruling party’s most senior members have locked horns,

promising a bloody presidential succession race

Nathi Olifant and S. Shoba

FOR PROVINCIAL and national internal elections, a candidate who has eThekwini on

their side has a huge advantage.

The ANC has had so many chaotic elective conferences, it is tempting to dismiss

last weekend’s aborted eThekwini regional gathering as yet another episode in the

long-running post-Polokwane soap opera.

But this would be a grave mistake. What happened last Saturday at Durban’s

Greyville Racecourse has serious implications for the race to succeed President Jacob

Zuma as ANC leader when he steps down in two years.

In case you missed it, here is a recap of events:

Earlier this year, eThekwini — the ANC’s biggest region in terms of membership

gures — held an elective conference in which mayor James Nxumalo narrowly beat


32/52

his rival, eThekwini councillor Zandile Gumede, to the post of regional chairman.

The elections were nullied by Luthuli House after Gumede’s supporters com-

plained about one of the branches that had been allowed to vote although it did not

meet the constitutional requirements for participating in the conference.

Last weekend, the conference was reconvened, with Nxumalo and Gumede still in

the race. By all indications, the mayor — who also happens to be the SACP’s provin -

cial chairman — was destined to win the vote again.

Then, a section of Gumede’s supporters apparently tried to sabotage the confer-

ence by initially staying away from the venue, in the hope that this would cause the

gathering not to form a quorum.

When they realised that the strategy would not work — more than 260 of the 410

accredited delegates were already at the venue — the Gumede camp changed tactics

and decided to attend.

Trouble ensued soon after the conference started. A group of Gumede supporters disrupted KwaZulu-Natal premier and ANC provin-

cial chairman Senzo Mchunu’s speech, protesting that one of the branches in their

camp had been barred from attending the conference.

Not even the intervention of ANC national executive committee member Joe

Phaahla, who tried to explain to the protesters why that branch’s ve delegates had

to be excluded, helped. The conference degenerated into chaos and party bosses

eventually agreed that the branch be allowed to attend.

Immediately a problem emerged: the protesters now had a new demand. Theywanted Mchunu and other members of the provincial executive committee as well as

the ANC Youth League’s provincial task team to leave the conference. They did not

trust them, they said, claiming they were involved in “rigging” the previous regional

vote.

The conference collapsed. Nxumalo’s supporters believed this was the Gumede

grouping’s objective all along because they had realised they would not win.

“Their numbers were low and they were hellbent on ending the conference,” said a

provincial executive committee member sympathetic to the Nxumalo faction.

But why would the collapse of a conference in South Africa’s third-biggest metro

have implications for those in the running to replace Zuma as the ANC’s next leader

in 2017 and — if the ANC wins the 2019 elections, as expected — the next president?

With 75000 registered members, eThekwini remains the ANC’s largest and most

inuential region, despite having lost 25000 members since the party’s last national

congress in 2012.

For both provincial and national internal party elections, therefore, a candidate whohas eThekwini on their side has a huge advantage.

At provincial level, a Nxumalo victory is seen as something that would boost

Mchunu’s chances of remaining KwaZulu-Natal premier and ANC chairman beyond

2019.

A Gumede victory would shift the balance of forces in favour of provincial party

secretary Sihle Zikalala, who is said to be campaigning to replace Mchunu.


33/52

At national level, Zikalala is regarded as close to ANC treasurer-general Zweli

Mkhize.

For months, Mkhize has been said to be campaigning quietly for the ANC deputy

presidency on a ticket that would then have the current deputy president, Cyril Rama-

phosa, as president.

The assumption was that Mkhize would run against current secretary-general

Gwede Mantashe, a former unionist who has also served as the SACP’s national

chairman.

Mantashe was seen as Nxumalo’s natural ally, given the association of the two can-

didates with the SACP. But a decision by Mantashe to nullify the rst conference has

left angry Nxumalo supporters accusing him of betrayal and making unsubstantiated

claims that he had struck a deal with Mkhize that would see the two of them take over

the ANC presidency in 2017.

“What is happening is that Mantashe and Mchunu fell out. Mantashe has nowformed an alliance with No2 [Ramaphosa]. They have told him [Mantashe] that Rama-

phosa will go back to business and Mantashe will be president and Zweli will be his

deputy. Now he is doing all these things because of his presidential ambitions,” said

an ANC-SACP leader closely linked to the Nxumalo campaign.

According to this theory, Mkhize would bring to the campaign KwaZulu-Natal’s huge

support base and Mantashe would deliver the Eastern Cape, the party’s second-big-

gest province by numbers.

But Mantashe denied all this and said his detractors should not point ngers at himfor the collapsed conference.

“Wait, you have presidential ambitions and you go use that at regional conferences?

Not even provincial conferences?

“Don’t you think that’s an exaggeration of people who see themselves as very im-

portant? Where is the link? I want to be president? Then I am very ambitious. In other

words, comrade Cyril is a wrong deputy ...

“It is rumours if they say this conference was collapsed by Gwede, who was not

there, by the way. They disrupted it themselves,” Mantashe said.

Despite Mantashe’s denials, and clear evidence that the two attempts to have the

conference were thwarted by the warring factions, perceptions of Luthuli House’s in-

terference are now treated as fact by both sides to the conict.

Whichever side eventually wins the conference would most likely align itself with

whomever it believes had been on its side.

ANC members on the ground believe their top six leaders to be deeply divided over

who should succeed Zuma. Party structures, at least in the largest region, operate onthe basis that the presidential race will involve Ramaphosa, Mkhize, Mantashe and

party national chairwoman and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete — all of

whom currently hold top-six ANC posts.

The only possible candidate outside of the top six would be African Union Commis-

sion chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is said to have the backing of her

former husband.


34/52

But it is the perception that four of the six top leaders are ghting over who should

succeed Zuma that is causing damage to the ruling party, with every decision being

perceived as being motivated by the need to advance their own careers.

As a result, these leaders are now unable to stop the kind of chaos witnessed at

last weekend’s eThekwini conference.


35/52

‘YOU ARE A BROKEN MAN PRESIDINGOVER A BROKEN SOCIETY’

Opposition leader delivers tongue lashing at Zuma during

debate on state of the nation speech

Mmusi Maimane

Madame Speaker,

Honourable President and Deputy President

Honourable Members

Fellow South Africans

Bagaetsho

Dumelang,


36/52

Eleven days ago we lost one of South Africa’s literary giants, Professor Andre Brink.

Our sadness at his passing is tempered only by the great literature he bequeathed us.

Professor Brink taught us a powerful lesson. He taught us that you cannot blame

a faceless system for the evils in society. It is human beings that perpetrate wrongs

against others. And it human beings that have the power to correct these wrongs.

We would do well to heed this lesson as we debate the State of the Nation today.

Because, if we are to succeed as a nation, we need to start believing in the power

of human agency. We need to resurrect the idea that the choices we make, and the

actions we take, matter.

It is true that the uneven legacy of the apartheid system weighs heavy on us. It is a

fact that black children still do not have the same opportunities as white children. This

is a human tragedy that nobody in this House should ever accept.

Much has been done to redress the past, make no mistake. Life in South Africa

today is certainly better than it was during apartheid. But we need to hold ourselves toa much higher standard than that.

We need to become the nation that President Nelson Mandela helped us believe

we could become. A place of hope, prosperity, seless leadership and mutual respect.

And so the question we must ask today is: what is holding us back from achieving

Madiba’s vision?

We can blame apartheid. We can blame the global nancial system. We can even

blame Jan van Riebeeck.

But in our hearts, we know what the problem is. We have allowed those in power tobecome bigger than our institutions, breaking them down bit by bit.

We have allowed one powerful man to get away with too much for too long. This

man is here in our presence today.

Honourable President, in these very chambers, just ve days ago, you broke Par -

liament.

Please understand, Honourable President, when I use the term “honourable”, I do

it out of respect for the traditions and conventions of this august House.

But please do not take it literally. For you, Honourable President, are not an hon-

ourable man.

You are a broken man, presiding over a broken society.

You are willing to break every democratic institution to try and x the legal predica-

ment you nd yourself in.

You are willing to break this Parliament if it means escaping accountability for the

wrongs you have done.

On Thursday afternoon, outside this House, Members of Parliament were beingarrested and assaulted by your riot police.

A few hours later, inside this House, our freedom to communicate was violated by

an order to jam the telecommunications network.

Not long after, armed police ofcers in plain shirts stormed into this sacred chamber

and physically attacked members of this House.

This was more than an assault on Members of Parliament. It was an assault on the


37/52

very foundations of our democracy.

Parliament’s constitutional obligation to fearlessly scrutinise and oversee the Exec-

utive lost all meaning on Thursday night.

The brute force of the state won. And the hearts of our nation broke.

We knew, at that very moment, that our democratic order was in grave danger.

And what did you do?

You laughed. You laughed while the people of South Africa cried for their beloved

country.

You laughed while trampling Madiba’s legacy – in the very week that we celebrated

25 years since his release.

Honourable President, we will never forgive you for what you have done.

Madam Speaker, I led my party out of this House on Thursday night because we

could not sit by while our freedoms were destroyed right in front of us.

When we emerged from this chamber, we heard the President reading the cold andempty words from his prepared text.

They were the words of a broken man, presiding over a broken society.

For 6 years, he has run from the 783 counts of corruption, fraud and racketeering

that have haunted him from before the day he was elected.

For 6 years, this broken man has spent his waking hours plotting and planning to

avoid his day in court.

In this broken man’s path of destruction, lies a litany of broken institutions. Each

one of them targeted because of their constitutional power to hold him to account. A broken SARS, that should be investigating the fringe tax benets from Nkandla,

the palace of corruption that was built with the people’s money.

A broken NPA, that should have continued with its prosecution of the President,

without fear or favour.

A broken SIU, a broken Hawks, a broken SAPS. And so we could go on with the

list of institutions President Zuma is willing to break to protect himself and his friends.

This is why we are a broken society. Because the abuses do not stop at the door of

the Union Buildings. The power abuse is happening at every level. We have mini-Zu-

ma’s in governments and municipalities all over South Africa.

In Mogalakwena, I met a woman who had not been able to wash for days because

there was no water.

The lack of water in Mogalakwena is not a system failure. It is a failure of local

politicians to put the people rst. In this community, service delivery has come to a

standstill as ANC councillors wage a factional war over access to the spoils of power.

Local police ofcers with a duty to serve the community have been co-opted byfactions to intimidate residents and supress protest. As the war rages on, rubbish piles

up in the streets, sewage pipes continue to leak, and the taps run dry.

All because of these broken men, presiding over broken towns and cities. They

learned from the best.

In Atteridgeville, I met a good man running a hospice that is struggling more and

more each day to care for the sick because all their money goes to fuelling a generator.


38/52

This is their last line of defence against an electricity crisis that plagues them on a daily

basis.

The daily struggle of this community-funded organization is just one example of the

devastating impact this electricity crisis is having on households, businesses, schools,

hospitals, and countless other facets of society.

Where is the accountability from this broken man who claims to be our President,

when all he can offer is more of the same? All he does is promise to keep bailing out

Eskom and secure its monopoly over our power supply.

Load-shedding is a crisis that will take our economy to the brink of economic

shutdown. Our economy has lost R300 billion since 2008 because, without a stable

electricity supply, manufacturers cannot produce, investors are driven away and jobs

are lost.

That is why Mr President when you stand here and promise the same jobs every

year that never materialize, we simply cannot believe you. On Thursday the Presidentsaid that the NDP’s ambition to grow at 5% by 2019 is at risk as a result of slow

global growth and domestic constraints. How then are other SADC countries growing

at an average of 5.6% facing the same external pressures? The answer is our real

constraints are because of the policy failures of this government.

In his 9 point plan he failed to address the need for solid economic infrastructure.

He left the electricity monopoly with Eskom. Gave the broadband monopoly to Telkom.

And left SANRAL to toll our roads in Gauteng. The legacy of this will be more govern-

ment bailouts and failing infrastructure, leading us to more job losses, more debt anda broken state.

The broken man who broke our economy.

Despite all his past promises, what President Zuma failed to tell us last week was

that, today, there are 1.6 million more South Africans without jobs than when he took

ofce in 2009. Living, breathing human beings robbed of their feeling of self-worth, and

their ability to provide for their families.

From Ikageng, to Nelson Mandela Bay, to Soweto, I met unemployed youth who

have lost hope of nding a job. They are the victims of an unequal education system

that serves the interests of a powerful teacher’s union over learners, and where poorer

schools go without textbooks, desks and proper classrooms.

The consequence, as parents in Riverlea told me, is that crime and drugs continue

to enslave our youth, and druglords operate freely in our communities.

This is the state of our broken society, battling under the burdens of unemployment,

crime, power cuts, and an unequal education system.

South Africa may be a broken society under a broken President, but the spirit of ourpeople is a lot harder to break.

We are still standing as a people today because South Africans were able to free

ourselves from the worst forms of oppression under Apartheid.

Today we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that is admired across the world.

We have an obligation to future generations of South Africans to make sure we

continue the ght for a fairer society, where there is greater opportunity for all to live


39/52

a better life, and where the rights and freedoms granted to us by the Constitution are

protected.

But on Thursday we received a criminally weak account of the State of the Nation

from a broken President.

We can have a stable electricity supply in South Africa, but a war-room is not going

to solve it.

The President knows what needs to be done to keep the lights on: break the Eskom

monopoly. As long as they are in charge of the national grid they will act to prevent

any meaningful contributions by independent power producers to our electricity supply.

He must also abandon the R1 trillion nuclear deal – future generations will pay

for this in electricity price hikes while we wait over a decade to see any power. And

of course the secrecy behind this deal means there is scope for corruption on a me-

ga-Arms deal scale.

We can and we must have a more equal education system, where schools areproperly resourced, teachers are well-trained, and there is commitment and leadership

from school principals.

There are many hard-working educators out there, but the President ignored the

need to hold principals and teachers accountable when they fail our children.

We believe it is possible for entrepreneurs to ourish, with an economy that grows

at 8% and creates millions of jobs if we make the right choices.

But the government’s ideas are stale. We need economic infrastructure that is

reliable. We need tax incentives for established business people to participate in men-torship programmes. We need a National Venture Capital Fund to fund start-ups. We

need to rollout Opportunity Centres where advice and support is readily available. We

need a real Youth Wage Subsidy that benets even the smallest of businesses.

We believe it is possible for our country to be a place where the streets are safe and

communities are healthy places to raise families, where the police properly managed

and trained.

But while our communities are being over-run by druglords and the President said

nothing about crime! Where are the specialized anti-drug units? Drug crime has dou-

bled since they were taken away.

People don’t trust the police, but if the SAPS is going to have its integrity restored,

it needs to start with the national police commissioner.

Our crime-ghting institutions such as the Hawks, the NPA, and the SIU must be

led by people committed to fairness and justice, and free from interference by powerful

political interests.

We believe it is possible to realize a vision of South Africa where every effort ismade to redress the legacy of Apartheid through a land reform programme that truly

benets those who were denied access to land.

All the President has offered us is a populist proposal to ban foreign land owner-

ship. This will only kill investment and jobs.

The 17.5 million hectares of fertile soil in communal land areas must be unlocked

for reform purposes. State-owned land must be fully audited and used to fast-track


40/52

redistribution to deserving beneciaries. And farmworkers must become farm-owners

in partnership with commercial farmers, through the NDP’s system of identifying and

purchasing available land on the market. But we all know, Mr President, that half the

people sitting behind you don’t support the NDP and will not implement it.

Only through bold reforms that go to the heart of the problem will we meaningfully

redress the legacy of restricted access to land.

Madam Speaker, the tide is turning in our country. As Professor Brink wrote in his

most celebrated work, A Dry White Season:

“The image that presents itself is one of water. A drop held back by its own inertia

for one last moment, though swollen of its own weight, before it irrevocably falls… as if

the water, already sensing its own imminent fall, continues to cling, against the pull of

gravity, to its precarious stabilty, trying to prolong it as much as possible.”

Madam Speaker, change may seem slow, but it is coming. There is a swell starting

to build and, when the wave crashes, it will sweep this broken man out of power.When that happens, we will be there to start xing this broken society, and unleash the

potential of South Africans.

That is why the party I lead in this Parliament will not join other parties in breaking

down our institutions. Because one day, when we are in government, we will want

those institutions and this Parliament to hold us to account.

And so we will work within the institutions of democracy to hold this government to

account, and we will continue creating opportunities for all where we govern. We will

work tirelessly to build a truly democratic alternative in South Africa. We will restorepower to our people.

I thank you!


41/52

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHITEFUNERALS AND BLACK FUNERALS

In certain circles in KZN, people go to funerals to mingle,

gossip and rub shoulders with wealthy tenderpreneurs

Ndumiso Ngcobo

NEXT TIME you’re driving around on a Saturday morning, take the time to notice the

occupants of the cars around you.

But when you do, note their skin colour. I know, I know. Since Madiba donned that

jersey number 6 on June 24 1995, we’ve all been absolutely colour blind and have

been holding hands in perfect harmony. Still, indulge me.

You see, some months ago the missus and I were driving on the N3 between

Durban and Maritzburg when she remarked, “Funny. Most of the black folks are wear -

ing suits, ties, formal dresses and hats. Most of the white folks are in T-shirts, vests

and baseball caps and they’re towing boats.”

Now, I don’t have a PhD in anthropology from an esteemed institution such as La

Salle. Like one of our ambassadors, my certicate was lost in the post. But I still have

a theory about what’s at play here.

You see, most of the darker-hued individuals you’ll see being strangled by bow ties,

corsets and whatnot are off to a funeral. That’s it. That’s all me and my ilk ever do on

weekends: we spend the whole damn time stickin’ people in the ground.

Our funerals ceased being about accompanying loved ones to their eternal dirt

naps around the time of the Info Scandal. We go to funerals to mingle, catch up on

gossip and rub shoulders with government ministers, w ealthy tenderpreneurs, Gen-

erations actors and other VIPs so that, come Monday, we can casually remark “You

know, Gwede said the funniest thing on Saturday”, creating for ourselves an aura ofpolitical connectedness.

Our funerals also serve the purpose of launching the brand-new Range Rover

Sport we just “bought” (with obligatory 40% “balloon payment”) onto the collective

consciousness of society.

The rst time I attended a white person’s funeral, I thought I had landed on another

planet. The service was meant to start at 9am and by 8.45am everyone was seated,

all 27 of us.

At promptly 9am, the organ started and everyone rose. Besides the priest, three

other people spoke for about three minutes each. Around 9.30am, things were wrapped

up and the family proceeded to the crematorium while we went outside to the lawn and

grabbed some sandwiches. By 10.15am I was back at my desk at work as if nothing

had happened.

Oh no, not our funerals. First, you have to show your face at some point during the

week before. There will inevitably be a small crowd there, eagerly awaiting the rst


42/52

batch of scones from the kitchen. A few females from the bereaved family will be seat-

ed on a mattress with doeks on their bowed heads, next to a lit candle. The mourners

will be perched on chairs, facing the women, looking for signs of grief, while humming

slow hymns about how death is nothing more than a gateway to the beautiful hereafter.

The rst big event on the day of the funeral is when the casket is brought out of the

house and the mourners can fully appreciate it in its glory. There’s always that aunt

who takes out a hanky, dabs at her eyes and murmurs approvingly, “At least my uncle’s

child is going to rest inside a beautiful ‘house’. It must have cost at least R80k.”

And then off to church for the four-hour speech marathon, where speaker after

speaker tries to out-cliché the last. I will wager half my meagre, post-Nene income

that no black KZN funeral since 1960 has ever ended without the words, “Death be

not proud”; Kufa uyinuku (Death, you’re slovenly); or Akwehlanga lungehlanga (What’s

happened has happened).

Towards the end of the whole rigmarole comes the most dramatic part, called usey-abonwa, the viewing of the body.

There is always some woman — a cousin of the deceased, thrice removed — who

waits until everyone has seen the body before she approaches. She’s already wailing

at 200 decibels by the time she’s 10m from the front, and then she truly opens her

voice box and emits bloodcurdling screams that seem to part the roof of the Lord’s

house, before she collapses at the feet of the casket stand and is promptly whisked

away.

In certain circles in my native KZN, we call such people umaythanqaze (one whothrows herself violently on the ground). The most curious thing about her is that her

grief tends to miraculously dissipate and she’s usually spotted later in the “after-tears”

tent, gyrating with a Smirnoff Guarana in her hand. And great fun is had by all.

Unlike the sandwiches mentioned above, we have a full-on, catered party after-

wards, accompanied by the esh of a recently departed bovine. Piles of pap, sev-

en-colour salad, samp, rice and dumpling ll our plates, and the festivities continue the

next day, when the neighbours return to fetch the hats they left behind.

It’s a pity I don’t believe in making stipulations about one’s own funeral. I think that’s

just selsh. Funerals are not about the dead. It’s really up to the living to mourn you

whichever way they choose. I’d hate for my funeral to become a circus.

If there’s life after death, I hope the Lord grants me just one wish; about ve sec -

onds for me to sit up in my cofn at my funeral and yell at umaythanqaze, “Get your

ass off the oor! I’m trying to rest, ferchrissakes!”


43/52

IT HAS BEGUN: SOUTH AFRICA’S NEWVIOLENT TRIBALISM

Attacks on foreigners suggest the emergence of a tribal

identity in which black South Africans see themselves asdifferent to other Africans

Xolela Mangcu

THE MOZAMBICAN leader Samora Machel once famously proclaimed that, “for the

nation to live, the tribe must die”.

I never liked this formulation because of its underlying assumption that tribal iden-

tities don‘t matter.

Throughout history, human beings have belonged to one tribe or another. But as Archie Mafeje argued in his famous 1971 article “The Ideology of Tribalism”, published

in The Journal of Modern African Studies, the colonial-apartheid system manipulated

tribal identities to Balkanise the black population into different homelands.

A concept that once referred to a small group of people in a limited geographical

area was revised to be co-extensive with people who spoke more or less the same

language over large territories. To be sure, smaller tribes were often conquered by


44/52

bigger tribes. But then they saw themselves as part of new kingdoms, not tribes.

The danger arose when these kingdoms were not only tribalised but also endowed

with distinctive characteristics. The most damaging of these stereotypes was that the

Zulu were warriors and the Xhosa were educated. That the Zulus were just as desirous

of a peaceful future as anybody or that the great majority of Xhosa were not educated

was disregarded in the construction of divide and rule.

By the ‘80s the narrative was that the Zulu “warriors” were under attack from a

Xhosa-led ANC. This ignored that for most of its existence the ANC was dominated by

highly educated Zulu leaders such as Pixley ka Seme, John Langalibalele Dube and

Albert Luthuli.

The stereotypes left tens of thousands of people dead in the tribal wars of the ‘80s.

The parallels between those wars and the current xenophobic attacks are striking.

These include the horrendous “necklace”, the brandishing of “cultural weapons”, and

the single-sex hostels that were the staging ground for late-apartheid tribalism. Cansomebody please tell me why we still have people living in hostels 20 years into a

democratic South Africa?

The stereotypes are different now, but they all nd fertile ground in a society where

the tribe has replaced the nation. Now it is not just the Zulu or the Xhosa but black

South Africans who see themselves as different from other Africans.

I am now going to speak in the collective “we” in describing this new black tribal

identity and the stereotypes on which it is constructed. I shall do so because we are

all, in different ways, implicated in this horrendous crime against the humanity of otherpeople.

First, we tell ourselves that other Africans are here to steal our jobs. What a lousy

excuse for hatred. Unemployment, inequality and poverty were unacceptably high long

before many Africans came here. Zimbabweans came running here after our own gov-

ernment refused to put pressure on Robert Mugabe to stop the misr

The Best of Rand Daily Mail

Documents

Transcript of The Best of Rand Daily Mail