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Jacob Zuma apologises for “pain” caused to family, ANC – full text

By Ray Hartley | 2 days, 19 hours ago

PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA’S STATEMENT ON THE IMPACT OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK

“I have over the past week taken time to consider and reflect on the issues relating to a relationship I had outside of wedlock.
The matter, though private, has been a subject of much public discussion and debate. It has put a lot of pressure on my family and my organisation, the African National Congress. I also acknowledge and understand the reaction of many South Africans.
I deeply regret the pain that I have caused to my family, the ANC, the Alliance and South Africans in general.
I reiterate that I took responsibility for my actions towards the family concerned and the child.
I reaffirm my commitment and that of my movement to the importance of the family as an institution. I also reaffirm my commitment and that of my movement to the values of personal responsibility, respect and dignity.
I recognise the responsibility of leaders to uphold and promote these values at all times. ”

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Political Notebook: A chat about the Zuma scandal with Sthembiso Msomi

By Ray Hartley | 3 days, 22 hours ago

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Accountability at last: Defence Secretary gets a grilling by MPs

By Ray Hartley | 5 days, 13 hours ago

DEFENCE Secretary Tsepe Motumi experienced a rare dose of public accountability yesterday when MPs lost their cool over his inability to explain hundreds of millions of rands in misspending.
The amounts under scrutiny were massive. They included R175 million for leases which could not be supported by documentation and an astonishing R193 million paid to consultants which could not be properly verified.
There was also irregular expenditure of R118 million.
After two hours of questioning during which no explanation for the massive audit failure was forthcoming, MPs finally lost their cool with Motumi.
Leading the charge was ANC MP Mandla Mbili who said: “It clearly means the secretary here did not do his job properly as outlined. So you failed in your duties, can you concede on that?”
Motumi responded: “Yes, I did”.
Mbili continued: “You failed in your duties to do what you are supposed to do, then why are you still here then? Tell me why are you still keeping your job? What happened to people under yourself failing to do their job – do you keep them?”
There was more to follow.
The committee has now asked that the Defence Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, explain the spending.
Parliament should be very proud of moments such as these when public officials rightly lose their cool over what is clearly the abuse of the public’s money.
But it should not be left at that. The next step is for Parliament to use its powers to demand legal action to recover the money from officials who have failed in their duty. The prospect of bankruptcy might inspire a little more discipline with our money.

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Zuma admits paternity of Khoza’s baby and asks for privacy – full text

By Ray Hartley | 5 days, 20 hours ago

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ON MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT HIS CHILD
3 February 2010

I have noted recent media reports about aspects of my personal life.
I have noted too that these reports have been the subject of much discussion in the public arena by various organisations and people from all walks of life.
I have therefore decided, after some careful deliberation, to make public comment on a matter that is otherwise intensely personal. I had been out of the country when this matter arose.
I confirm that I have a relationship and a baby with Ms Sonono Khoza. I said during World Aids Day that we must all take personal responsibility for our actions. I have done so. I have done the necessary cultural imperatives in a situation of this nature, for example the formal acknowledgement of paternity and responsibility, including the payment of inhlawulo to the family. The matter is now between the two of us, and culturally, between the Zuma and Khoza families. Read More…

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Helen Zille on the attack over Zuma’s love child – full text

By Ray Hartley | 6 days, 21 hours ago

Three reasons why the ANC is wrong on Zuma
Helen Zille, Leader of the Democratic Alliance
2 February 2010

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu yesterday responded to the furore surrounding President Zuma by stating that “there is nothing wrong [with what] the President had done” and suggesting that the matter is private, and thus does not warrant any sort of public response.
The ANC’s position is profoundly problematic, for three reasons:
First, it demonstrates that the ruling party does not understand the problem, or the relationship between public office and private behaviour.
Public office – that is, those positions in which people serve the public interest – differs from the private sector in one fundamental way: the people appointed to those positions are elected. As such, they are required to embody a series of principles and values, upon which their support is based. In this regard, their personal behaviour reflects directly on their public office, for their mandate is borne of their private attitudes. The more important the public position, the more a person’s attitudes come to bear on their public persona. Hence the question: “Is this person fit to be President?” or “Is this person fit to hold public office?” Read More…

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Twenty years later, the struggle is against corruption

By Ray Hartley | 6 days, 21 hours ago

THE momentous events of early 1990 when FW de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela have stirred many emotional memories among South Africans.
De Klerk wrote in this newspaper yesterday about how he came to the decision to take these bold initiatives which set South Africa on the path to democracy.
Only the most churlish observer blinded by prejudice would say that South Africa is not a better place today than it was in 1990.
But it has been a very challenging twenty years during which there have been dramatic advances and serious failures.
The ANC has undergone a dramatic transformation. In 1990 it was of necessity an exiled party that operated in secrecy led by a hierarchy that ran the party as “political machinery”.
The last twenty years have seen the ANC change into a party with a massive electoral majority and a strong record of transformation in government. The face of government, the law books and the tarred streets of Soweto all provide ample evidence of this dramatic transformation.
But the ANC has also become enmeshed in dramatic internal power struggles, jockeying for position and the rise of a tendency which promotes the acquisition of wealth and power over service to the poor.
The very real possibility exists that this tendency will dominate, turning a blind eye to corruption and implementing a second transformation – turning government into a crony state that is a vehicle for the enrichment of the political elite.
The shocking state of the books of most government departments and mounting corruption signal the need for a second struggle to return South Africa to the founding values of its democracy.

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Susan Shabangu shoots down Malema nationalisation proposal

By Ray Hartley | 1 week ago

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has promised there will be no nationalisation of South Africa’s mines despite a high-profile campaign by ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema.
“In my lifetime there’ll be no nationalisation. Maybe when I’m dead, and rest assured I’m not dying next week,” she was quoted as saying by the wire agency, Sapa.
More from the story:
Though nationalisation was not government policy, South Africa was a democratic country, and young people who wanted to “flex their muscles intellectually” should not be suppressed.
“Why should we stop young people when they want to engage in an intellectual debate?
“If Malema flexes his muscle as a young person, and engages in intellectual and academic exercise, why must we stop him?”
Shabangu told the media conference that the notion of state participation in the mining sector was nothing new.
It already owned diamond mining concern Alexkor, and had a stake in Anglo American.
“So we are already there. We exist, we compete, we are part of the markets,” she said.
However, such involvement had to be strategic and in the national interest.

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FW de Klerk’s speech to Parliament, 2 February 1990 – full text

By Ray Hartley | 1 week ago

Mr Speaker, Members of Parliament.

THE GENERAL ELECTIONS on September the 6th, 1989, placed our country irrevocably on the road of drastic change. Underlying this is the growing realisation by an increasing number of South Africans that only a negotiated understanding among the representative leaders of the entire population is able to ensure lasting peace.

The alternative is growing violence, tension and conflict. That is unacceptable and in nobody’s interest. The well-being of all in this country is linked inextricably to the ability of the leaders to come to terms with one another on a new dispensation. No-one can escape this simple truth. Read More…

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ANC: Zuma’s affair with Khoza “not shameful” – full text

By Ray Hartley | 1 week ago

ANC RESPONSE ON REPORTS REGARDING THE PRESIDENT RELATIONSHIP

The African National Congress (ANC) would like to set records straight that the matter between the ANC President and his personal relationship with anyone remains a personal matter. We respond to this matter in order to clarify our stance in response to media reports especially those emanating from political commentators on this matter. Read More…

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Back-stabbing is now the primary focus of politics

By Ray Hartley | 1 week ago

THE ANC Youth League is about to begin a serious campaign to unseat the ANC’s secretary general, Gwede Mantashe.
This is in and of itself not a particularly noteworthy occurrence, but for one thing: Mantashe is not yet half way through his term of office and the dust has only just settled from the Polokwane backstabbing which installed him with the full support of the same youth league.
What these political machinations reveal is that the removal and replacement of leaders is fast becoming the major pre-occupation of the ruling party, and that is dangerous for the country because it means that pressing social issues will continue to take a back seat.
Mantashe is but one of several politicians who will have to devote substantial energy to staying in office. Others will no doubt devote just as much energy to winkling the incumbents out of their offices.
The word in the ANC’s corridors is that when someone says they are right behind you, you had better brace yourself for a knife in the back.
This climate of Machiavellian plotting translates into paralysis in government as politicians attempt to assemble coalitions of supporters instead of taking and implementing the tough decisions our country needs.
Staring at the political tea leaves takes the gaze away from the distant horizon where serious problems are rumbling.
This country needs desperately to craft policy to attract investment, secure its future energy and water needs and grow industry. The public service, a third of which passes audit muster, is riddled with corruption and inefficiency.
When the politicians stick each other in the back, it is the people that die of the wounds.

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