Die for Zuma? We’ll be lucky if the SANDF rocks up for duty

It is a well-recognised fact that a volunteer army, like the United States, should be far more effective than a conscript one simply because the former is made up of career professionals capable of learning about sophisticated weaponry and tactics through years of service while the latter consists primarily of school leavers and other youngsters dedicated to counting the days they have left before they leave the service.

In the case of South Africa we are the exception that proves the rule.

Gone are the days when Africa and the planet viewed the SADF as a lean, mean military machine capable of thrashing all-comers who dared to darken our doorstep and in its place stands an SANDF steeped in the debacle that was Lesotho, submarines on bricks, dodgy arms deals and even plots to kidnap senior officers.

A fucking joke if you pardon my use of the military term.

Yet all of this pales into significance when regard is had to the strike currently being conducted by the Sandu and our brilliant soldiers.

When I was in the army in 1982/3 I was treated to the unfortunate hell that is the life of a military man. Strict discipline, less rights than a prisoner on death row and conditions befitting a Tibetan monk rather than a boy from the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. Yet they were designed to break you down and then build you back up harder, leaner, fitter and ready to kill.

No longer, this lot seem to be fatter, unfit, ill-disciplined and ready to kill only for more pay, better conditions and any number of other grievances too endless to mention here. Anything but carrying the uniform and the flag with pride.

The result is our borders are open to invasion or unlimited refugees who pour into our townships which occasions xenophobia, disease and crime while this lot are busy planning strikes and — judging by the kidnap plot — anything from a mutiny to a full-blown coup.

The Democratic Alliance has been asking for reports on the SANDF levels of readiness with limited response. The air force seems to be short of pilots leaving them, at best, open to attack from just about any country with a couple of Cessnas. The navy appears slightly more optimistic while the army is as described above.

This from a volunteer army which is supposed to represent the regional power.

In the interest of the government and the people of South Africa, following a week of strikes, kidnap reports and soldiers fighting police, the minister of defence must call for an urgent and transparent cross-the-board probe into the military and the arms deal.

Recently we saw a senior navy officer who refused to vow allegiance to the president and Cosatu saying the government is being too harsh in its response to these protesting soldiers. This instead of expecting total obedience to commander-in-chief and country.

The time to stamp on this conduct hard has arrived.

Any soldier who strikes must be booted out of the service as well as those who don’t deserve to wear the uniform for whatsoever reason. If they don’t like the military there are millions of unemployed who can take their place.

Man for man the British soldier is the best on the planet. I suggest our senior officers and NCOs be sent across to learn about discipline, loyalty and pride in the service from them.

That way we may land up with a service that we can be proud of and the government will have a tool that can be employed where necessary. Right now I wouldn’t want to rely on our lot to withstand an attack from Lesotho never mind, God forbid, Bob’s mob.

SA white gets refugee status - Govt disgusted

Ottawa - A white South African man has been granted refugee status in Canada, after an immigration board panel ruled he would be persecuted if he returned home to South Africa, the Ottawa Sun reports.

This is the first time a white South African has been granted refugee status in Canada claiming persecution from black South Africans, the newspaper said.

Brandon Huntley, 31, presented "clear and convincing proof of the state's inability or unwillingness to protect him", the Canadian immigration and refugee board panel ruled last Thursday.

"I find that the claimant would stand out like a 'sore thumb' due to his colour in any part of the country,” tribunal panel chair William Davis said.

Attacked seven times

Huntley's "subjective fear of persecution remained constant and consistent" up to the time he made his refugee claim, Davis noted.

The Canadian newspaper reported that Huntley - who grew up in Mowbray, Cape Town - claimed he had been attacked seven times by black South Africans. He said he was called a "white dog" and a "settler".

"There's a hatred of what we did to them and it's all about the colour of your skin," Huntley reportedly said.

He first went to Canada on a six-month work permit in 2004, and returned in 2005. He stayed on illegally and made a refugee claim in April 2008, the Ottawa Sun reported.

- Ottawa Sun

White SA refugee: Govt disgusted

Johannesburg - The South African government expressed disgust on Monday at a ruling by Canadian authorities to grant a white South African man refugee status.

The man claimed he would be persecuted if he returned home to South Africa.

Home Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the department had heard about the "baseless allegations against our people and our country".

The Ottawa Sun on Friday reported that Brandon Huntley, 31, presented "clear and convincing proof of the state's inability or unwillingness to protect him", the Canadian immigration and refugee board panel ruled last Thursday.

'Should have allowed SA to respond'

Tribunal panel chair William Davis said the evidence of Huntley "showed a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness" of the SA government to protect "white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans".

"It would have been courteous for the Canadian government to allow the South African government to respond to the allegations," Mamoepa told News24.

This is the first time a white South African has been granted refugee status in Canada claiming persecution from black South Africans.

Called a 'white dog'

The Canadian newspaper reported that Huntley - who grew up in Mowbray, Cape Town - claimed he had been attacked seven times by black South Africans.

He said he was called a "white dog" and a "settler".

"There's a hatred of what we did to them and it's all about the colour of your skin," Huntley reportedly said.

"His claims would have been preposterous and laughable, had they not been so serious," said Mamoepa, who was previously spokesperson for the then-named department of foreign affairs.

Huntley first went to Canada on a six-month work permit in 2004, and returned in 2005. He stayed on illegally and made a refugee claim in April 2008, the Ottawa Sun reported.

- News24

ASA faces race charge

Cape Town - A civil rights organisation has laid a charge with the world's governing body of athletics against the president of Athletics South Africa (ASA) for inciting racial polarisation over athlete Caster Semenya.

Athletics South Africa head Leonard Chuene

AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel said he had laid a charge against Leonard Chuene, with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

"Chuene's polarising statements, which transformed the deplorable events regarding Caster Semenya's gender into a racial issue... is a gross violation of the IAAF's constitution and rules."

Kriel said Chuene had also been charged by AfriForum with allowing the ASA's media conference and gathering at the time of Semenya's return to South Africa to be used as a platform for ANC politicians to exploit Semenya for political purposes.

Attack against whites

"The president of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema, amongst others launched a scathing attack against whites at this occasion," Kriel said.

He said AfriForum had asked the IAAF to take strong action against those responsible for disclosing the information about the gender testing which caused the violation of Semenya's privacy and human dignity.

Semenya, 18, won a gold medal in the women's 800m race at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin, Germany. Her win, however, was marred by controversy as the IAAF ordered she undergo gender verification tests.

Mugabe’s nine lives

‘Mugabe is dead”. That’s a headline many long to see in their lifetime -- so much so that, once in a while, we write it anyway.

A report on Wednesday Mugabe in hospital‎ quickly morphed into the tale that he had actually croaked.

So, distressed at missing the scoop, and having made a few calls to Zanu-PF types who laughed at me, I do what any self-respecting journo would do -- hit Google. I log on to website deadoraliveinfo.com and, punch in Robert Mugabe on search.

Up pops a bright yellow smiley, with the search result: “Alive,” it says. “President of Zimbabwe, currently in the process of driving his country into bankruptcy, anarchy and starvation.”

So, no change there. Just to be sure, since Mugabe has recently added a few new prefixes to his name, I try again: “Robert Mugabe, Supreme Leader”, I write this time. “Alive,” says the site.

“President of Zimbabwe, currently in the process of driving his country into bankruptcy, anarchy and starvation.” Bummer! He’s still at it! Mugabe dies every year.

Then reappears. One minute he’s wheezing up the old ghost in some Far East hospital, the next he’s running up the stairs like some kid, on to the plane and off to visit a fellow Supreme Leader.

Just as he will do soon when he visits Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who sent an emissary to Mugabe on Wednesday afternoon -- as the rumours raged -- inviting him to Venezuela.

The web search continues.There’s a 2004 article, “Mugabe death watch”, on a website called “Damnation”, speculating on Mugabe’s demise after he failed to attend a state funeral.

It links to a site called “The Daily Wanker”.
That figures. There’s a 2005 report quoting The Herald saying Mugabe had “scoffed at rumours doing rounds in Harare that he died last week following heart failure”.

Another, from 2006, quotes George Charamba, Mugabe’s press secretary, saying he had to check with Mugabe about reports that he’d died of heart failure. “He [Mugabe] said: ‘When did I die and where?”’

The good news is that wiki-News isn’t leaving anything to chance. It has a “prepared story”: “Robert Mugabe, dictator and president of Zimbabwe has died today at the age of AGE.
The cause of death was announced as CAUSEOFDEATH.”

The story, says wiki, “describes an event that is scheduled or expected, but has not yet occurred”. And so we wait.

The new voice of the White African

Bok van Blerk probably became most famous for his international hit 'Delarey'. The song brought together the Afrikaans community and celebrated its wonderful culture but also history, and at the end that Afrikaans is something to be immensely proud of, which it most certainly is. Most recently Bok has taken this step further, writing a song 'Kaplyn' commemorating and thanking the brave men whom served on the Border. And now, his song 'Tyd om te trek' (time to move on). When I watch this, I can't stop to feel how the countless thousands of White Africans endured this very same event, and to this day this is still occurring. Not only is this video fantastically filmed, but it really does bring out the REAL events of Africa...the one where journalists are too cowardly to portray. While watching this, remember that this is the reality of the White African, just a cleaner version.

234 teachers probed for rape, assault

The SA Council for Educators (Sace) was investigating 234 teachers for rape, fraud, sexual assault and physical assaulting pupils

Sace is among other things responsible for promoting professional conduct among teachers and removing teachers from the roll who are found guilty of serious offences.

"The number of cases reported to our office has risen in the past few years because more and more people are beginning to realise that it is important to report. We currently have 234 cases that we are investigating," said George Moroafui, Sace's manager for ethics.

In the 243 cases there were complaints of corporal punishment, rape, fraud and sexual harassment.

"We are worried that many sexual harassment cases are withdrawn because the perpetrators struck deals with parents in exchange for money. Most of them are hidden."

Another challenge was that teachers were reluctant to report their colleagues.

"Teachers must report incidents of misconduct for the benefit of pupils. They should not defend the perpetrators."

Moroafui said some teachers were being investigated for receiving social grants fraudulently.

"We urge teachers, pupils and parents to contact our office if they feel that certain teachers are misbehaving and harassing pupils."

Sace officials can be reached on 012-679-9528 and complaints can also be emailed to info@sace.org.za

Wheelchair-bound woman brutally killed

A wheelchair-bound 85-year-old woman, who was staying at a retirement home, was stabbed to death on Wednesday morning.

Sheila Hesk, of Durban, who was staying was at Sandown Village in Pinetown was sleeping at her apartment when intruders gained entry through the lounge window, and stabbed her repeatedly, said police spokesman superintendent Vincent Mdunge. He added that the windows burglary guards had been cut open.

According to Mike Roberts, the village's general manager, Hesk's neighbour said she heard noises coming from the apartment at about 3 am, but she didn't think much of it. She only alerted Roberts at about 9 am in the morning when she realised that her friend's door was wide open.

Roberts subsequently went out to investigate and he was greeted by a horrific sight- Hesk' lifeless naked body lying on her bedroom floor.

Mdunge said her hands and legs were tied up with a rope and she was repeatedly stabbed all over the body. Mdunge said it was still unclear whether Hesk had been raped.

War between SAPS and SANDF

Bloodshed erupted on Pretoria's streets outside the Union Buildings as police and protesting army soldiers openly clashed in running street battles.

Wednesday's violence was sparked after more than 3 000 soldiers, who stormed past mobile police barricades setup through out the city to try and contain the demonstrators, broke open a gate leading onto the laws of the seat of government.

Armed with sledgehammers, pangas, knopkieries, knives and other handmade weapons, soldiers under the banner of the South African National Defence Union and South African Security Forces Union taunted police daring the to stop them as they swarmed through the gate.

Police from the National Intervention Unit, Diplomatic Unit, Air Wing, Public Order Policing Unit and from nearly all of Pretoria's police stations having given soldiers an order to disperse threw stungrenades before they opened fire with rubber bullets.

White South Africans offer blanket confession for all future evils

Talk about quick out of the blocks! No sooner had our conquering heroes set foot in the arrivals hall at O.R. Tambo than Julius and Winnie were sprinting for the microphones to make speeches about racism.

Way to build the self-esteem of our Caster and raise the national tone, comrades. But Julius's question deserves answering. Where were the whites? Well, Julius, they were at something called "work", which is what non-politicians of all races do, in order to pay the taxes that pay your salary.

However, before this degenerates any further, let's get one thing out of the way: a blanket apology by whites for everything, ever.

HAYIBO.COM

PRETORIA - White South Africans have offered to sign a blanket confession, accepting blame for all current and future setbacks in the country, from non-delivery by the ANC to European athletics officials doing gender tests, in the interests of more efficient government and to save precious time and tax money being wasted on paranoid racist witch-hunts.

The decision follows the latest statements by government, implying that white South Africans were racist for not going to O.R. Tambo International Airport to cheer returning athletes.

According to a spokesman for white South Africans, it was time for whites to "cut to the chase" and to accept blame for everything, ever, from now until the end of time, in the interests of efficient government.

"Service delivery is being derailed because senior ministers are being forced to spend so much time trying to find new ways of pinning their failures on whites," explained spokesman Whitey Cracker-Blanco. "Which is the fault of the whites, if you think about it."

He said that a recent study had revealed that blaming whites was the second largest consumer of ministers' time, after rolling around in the Treasury vault and giving each other high fives. Service delivery was 14th on the list, just behind hot rock treatments and being measured for ill-fitting suits.

"Whites are desperate to contribute to this society," explained Cracker-Blanco, "but they find themselves demonized by their government at almost every turn.

"Which is why accepting all blame for everything ever is a really great compromise: we speed up service delivery by minimizing finger-pointing, and we don't confuse or upset the government because God forbid anyone in government should ever have to think."

Cracker-Blanco said that South African whites were still working out which crimes they were currently guilty of, and which they were likely to commit in the future, but he said it was likely that whites would "cop to pretty much everything".

"It's a historical fact that we started World War 1 and World War 2," he said. "Okay, not us personally, but that's a distinction this government can't seem to make."

He said that local whites "deeply regretted" their current activities in Darfur, Iraq and the West Bank, but added that they might have stayed at home and not gone on genocidal rampages if the SABC starting making watchable television.

"We'd obviously also like to accept full responsibility for the break-up of the ANC in the next ten years," he said. "When they finally disintegrate amid turf wars and clique squabbles, and the whole thing bogs down in a swamp of graft, sleaze and the odd political assassination, we just want to say: mea culpa. We should have done more."

He also apologized for global warming – "If only we hadn't had so many braais" – and said that whites "truly regretted" causing the inevitable cooling of our sun, the collapse of our solar system, and the ultimate disintegration of the Universe.

"Kill a woman,steal a TV"

An innocent woman was senselessly shot dead by fleeing armed robbers in the driveway of a petrol station in Johannesburg. Woman shot at filling station She was minding her own business and was no threat to the robbers. In Durban, a woman was shot to death by armed robbers, this time in broad daylight on a busy street. Durban woman shot on pavement Yesterday another woman, shot dead in her house by robbers, for a TV set, was buried. Murdered mother laid to rest

These senseless acts, many similar acts and the daily raids on shopping centres fly in the face of promises made by Jacob Zuma, Mthetwa, Mbalula and Cele.

Having been a victim of armed robbers on two occasions, I am concerned and worried. I find it particularly difficult to understand why these violent criminals have to kill their victims, often in the most savage manner. Thanks to the police, the anti-gun lobby and with the assistance of the new firearms act a great number of firearms were transferred from legal and registered owners to criminals. Reports of missing guns handed to the police are rife. The criminals must know they have the balance of firepower, they know - in most cases - the victims are unarmed yet they still kill them.

This begs the question, why the senseless killings? I came up with quite a few possibilities ranging from naked hatred of assorted things, to xenophobia, hunting instincts, hero worship, obsessive-compulsive-behaviour syndrome (CBS), fear of prosecution, lack of life-skill education and projection.

We have already seen the effects of xenophobia in South Africa and in many cases; the robbers consider their victims "non-indigenous" and therefore fair game. Many robbers believe they have to kill the victim in order to get what they want. Complicated psychological conditions like, Borderline Personality Disorder, various forms of CBS , Bi-Polarity and heaven knows what else, contribute to the apparent senseless killings stemming from the seemingly petty robberies.

It is obvious that the government and police can solve the problem by establishing sufficient number of lunatic asylums that will cope with the abnormally high levels of insanity prevailing in the country. Potential lunatics can be locked away in padded cells where they will pose no threat to society.

Ray McRawley, with the Vlok and Niehaus can be the tasked to, at school level, institute a programme teaching brotherly love. This may cure the tendency of schoolchildren to develop a "hate of assorted things", which as we see manifests itself later in life in a desire to kill.

Potential robbers must also realise, the killing of victims to prevent identification in the unlikely event of a prosecution, is unnecessary.

Jacob Zuma, in his first 100 days, has clearly not made the impression on crime he promised. Whilst the Minister and the Deputy-minister are playing the “Mine-is-bigger-than-yours” game and Bheki Cele takes a grand tour, people continue to die at an ever-increasing rate. Given the number criminals in the police, the incompetence of others, the corruption at high levels and the ease with which dockets disappear, I fail to see how Cele's shoot to kill attitude will change the situation.

Mugabe grabs AirZim planes for foreign jaunts

Shower and a change of clothes

Harare - President Robert Mugabe this week commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane to Namibia, keeping it overnight before grabbing another jet for a private visit to Dubai, making the airline lose critical income at a time when it is battling to meet its financial obligations. Mugabe on Tuesday grabbed the national carrier’s Boeing 737 for a Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting, Air Zimbabwe sources said. Upon arriving at Harare International Airport from the SADC meeting on Wednesday, Mugabe drove his motorcade home reportedly for a shower and change of clothes before grabbing a Boeing 767 for a private visit to Dubai. Sources at Air Zimbabwe and from the President’s office said the Dubai visit was mired in secrecy.

They said Mugabe only took 18 people on the Dubai trip. A Boeing 767 has a capacity of 250 passengers. “Ten of the people were security guys and the other eight close staff. No-one really knows about the purpose of the visit but we think it has to do with a medical check up,” said a source. Mugabe in hospital‎ Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available for comment on the matter. However Air Zimbabwe chief executive Peter Chikumba defended Mugabe, saying it was a chartered flight, but he could not confirm whether the President’s office had paid. “I am not able to confirm that. You can charter an airplane just like anybody but I cannot comment on the President (Mugabe)’s travels. We charge the costs of operating chartered flights. This is happening everywhere,” Chikumba told ZimOnline on Friday. Although no figures were immediately available, sources at Air Zimbabwe said Mugabe’s plane grab would cost the financially troubled airline because scheduled flights had to be cancelled.

This is not the first time that Mugabe has diverted Air Zimbabwe planes from scheduled flights. He often does this whenever he wishes to fly outside the country and sometimes even when he is travelling on personal business – and in the process leaving passengers stranded. Air Zimbabwe was one of the best airlines in Africa at independence in 1980. But years of mismanagement and interference by the government have nearly brought the airline to its knees. The airline’s foreign debt – excluding the US$50 million the airline owes suppliers of Chinese made MA60 it acquired in 2005 – has soared to US$28 million. The national flag carrier has just announced that it will cut 500 jobs – a third of its workforce – because of cash-flow problems. In recent weeks Air Zimbabwe has cancelled scheduled regional and international flights due to shortage of funds to buy fuel.

Most creditors are wary of doing business with Air Zimbabwe because of the state-owned carrier’s bad debt servicing record. This has forced Air Zimbabwe to rely on government handouts to stay afloat. In February, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the airline was draining US$3 million per week from the fiscus. Starved of cash for re-tooling, Air Zimbabwe uses mostly obsolete technology and equipment while nearly all its planes are between 18 and 22 years old. In addition, the airline pilots and other skilled staff have deserted the airline to go abroad where salaries are higher and working conditions better.

Crooked cops still at work

Police officers charged with or even convicted of crimes in the Western Cape are being allowed to stay in their jobs, in contravention of national police policy.

At least four cases have come to light in the past month in which police officers who have appeared in court or been convicted of crimes ranging from theft to rape, are still at work.

More than a dozen others under investigation for a suspect's death are also still at work, as are two others who admitted to fiddling crime statistics.

The cases are:

• A station commissioner who has been convicted on two assault charges, as well as crimen injuria and intimidation;
  
  
• A police officer charged with raping his 11-year-old half-sister over a period of eight years;
  
  
• A police officer charged for selling stolen police equipment;
  
  
• Fifteen police officer under investigation for six months for the death of a man in their custody; and
  
  
• Two officers who pleaded guilty in a disciplinary hearing to altering case docket details.
  

Provincial police say "each case (in considering suspension) will be dealt with on its own merit". But according to National Police spokesperson Selby Bokaba, national policy is that an officer must be suspended when he or she is charged, or found guilty in court.

Earlier this month former Somerset West station commissioner Sandile Sonjani, who now works in Athlone, was found guilty in court of two assaults, intimidation and crimen injuria relating to attacks on a subordinate in 2007. He was sentenced to five months in jail or a R3 000 fine and plans to appeal.

After the attacks Sonjani was moved to Athlone police station, where he is commissioner.

Police spokesperson Billy Jones confirmed that Sonjani had never been suspended.

He said: "When an officer is found guilty it does not imply that the member is immediately suspended. The suspension is done in terms of (police) disciplinary procedures and not in terms of a criminal conviction."

Factors such as whether the officer had pleaded guilty, how much responsibility the officer had, and his or her rank would be taken into account.

He said the police's "discipline management section will now procedurally look at the matter" and once Sonjani's appeal was concluded, would decide whether he was still fit to be a police officer.

National police spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: "When a (policeman) is charged or convicted in court, irrespective of the crime or that person's rank, that person is immediately suspended. I'm quoting from the national regulations."

Bokaba said there may have been "unique circumstances" in Sonjani's case but he did not know of any. But he said the suspension regulation was "clear" and rank played no role in the decision.

The officer stationed at Harare police station in Khayelitsha, charged with raping his little sister for eight years, was in custody after his arrest on July 29 and appeared in court, but was then released on bail.

He may not be named to protect the identity of his alleged victim, who was initially placed in foster care, but returned to her parents on a Somerset West Magistrate's instruction.

The police officer has been given the green light to go back to work at the Harare police station. He will remain an actively serving officer for at least the duration of his trial, unless a disciplinary hearing orders otherwise.

"When a (police) member is arrested or in... custody... for that period while the member is under arrest or in custody, he or she is under immediate suspension - which means he or she cannot exercise their policing duty and mandated authority," Jones said.

"When the member is released ... then that immediate suspension is lifted. Thereafter the normal disciplinary processes kicks in if the member is still implicated and has to appear in court."

Ocean View constable Hilton Basson was arrested on July 27 for stealing and selling police radios to towing companies. He appeared in the Simon's Town Magistrate's Court and is back at work. Police said depending on the outcome of an internal investigation, he might be suspended at a future date.

Fifteen Organised Crime Unit members, who may not be named because they have not been formally charged, have been under investigation since February for the death of Sidwell Mkwambi, 24. They have not been suspended in spite of a recommendation by the police watchdog body, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD).

It is alleged Mkwambi was beaten at the Bellville South police station where the 15 work, before he was driven in a police van to a mortuary.

Two months ago community safety MEC Lennit Max said there had been "insufficient evidence" to warrant suspensions.

And in a case that didn't make it to court, a disciplinary hearing was last week concluded for two Lansdowne inspectors who pleaded guilty to incorrectly registering case dockets.

More than a million unsolved crimes in SA

More than a million of the two million criminal cases reported annually in South Africa are never solved.

"The cases seem to get lost somewhere -- they fall through the cracks. We have to ensure cases are not filtered out," said Willie Scholtz, head of the South African Criminal Justice System working group.

Scholtz blamed inadequate collection of evidence at crime scenes, insufficient investigation of crimes, trials that ran for an extremely long time, and ineffective court processes for the country's 10,3% conviction rate in criminal cases.

Prosecutors and Legal Aid Board attorneys also played a role by "endlessly delaying cases".

Scholtz heads up a team that assisted with a review of the criminal justice system.
-- Sapa

Related:-
News - South Africa: SA's million unsolved crime cases
"Cases seem to get lost somewhere "10.3 % convicti...

German woman in horror killing

Violent murder of Kristina Gebhardt, 28, beaten to death, dumped in boot of her Fiat Uno over R20 argument with security guards

The German woman, who had been living in Cape Town for more than five years, would have turned 28 today.

Gebhardt's bloodstained body was found in the boot of her Fiat Uno on Wednesday night. Her hands had been bound with electrical wire, believed to have been taken from supplies belonging to a company contracted to do renovations to a building on the corner of Loop and Bloem streets in the city centre.

Police are waiting for the results of the post mortem to determine whether she was raped.

A police source revealed that one of her alleged assailants had been found driving her car in his boxer shorts and a blood-soaked T-shirt.

Gerbhardt had worked part-time shifts at the Baobab book store just metres away from where she was beaten to death.

Her employer, Julie Aitchison, told the Cape Argus she had been approached by a security guard last week and told she could use the Bloem Street basement parking. It had been agreed that she would pay the guard R20 a day.

The book store owner had offered the parking bay to Gebhardt in her absence.

A police source said that on the day of Gebhardt's murder, an argument had allegedly ensued between Gebhardt and a security guard over the R20 payment for the parking.

The guard, arrested after Gebhardt's body was found in her car, which he had been driving, lived in a musty little room at the entrance of the basement parking lot.

Police said they were looking for two other day-shift guards.

It is believed that they had been present when the alleged argument between Gebhardt and the guard took place.

The three are alleged to have kept her captive in the little room where they allegedly bound her hands, beat her and possibly raped her.

Inside the room was a single mattress, a French tutorial, a prayer mat and prayer books. A pair of jeans was still hanging on the back of the door. A few bloodstains were splattered against the faded cream wallpaper.

When members of a Central Improvement District (CID) patrol pulled over the driver of Gebhardt's Fiat Uno on Wednesday night, the back seats of the car had been dropped. Her body was found shoved into the enlarged boot space.

Gebhardt's laptop computer and cellphone were missing but her wallet was still on her battered body.

More than an hour after she left work, Gebhardt's boyfriend had called her on her cellphone and tried the bookstore, but to no avail. He had then driven to a Loop Street coffee shop where the couple had often gone, hoping to find her there.

Instead, he had seen her green Fiat Uno being driven by a stranger, prompting him to launch himself at the car in an attempt to stop it.

The CID patrol, who had witnessed his desperate rescue attempt, had come to his aid and had forced the car to stop.

Aitshison labelled the murder a "tragic loss and waste of life".

She said she had met the "bubbly" Gebhardt through friends and had occasionally asked her to mind the book store while she was out.

"I can't begin to imagine what her family is experiencing in Germany," Aitshison said.

Another friend, Fuad Matthews, described Gebhardt as a vibrant person.

Matthews, who celebrated his birthday yesterday, said: "I wondered why she wasn't calling me. I was going to send her flowers for her birthday today.

"You could not have found a more beautiful person, inside and out. It's really not cool for any human being to experience what she did.

"Cape Town is not going to be the same again."

Police said they had very few leads because they were having difficulty identifying the two alleged accomplices and had no addresses for the men, who are still on the run.

Police spokeswoman Inspector Carin Loock said the suspect would face a murder charge when he appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday.

No further arrests have been made.

hat tip zulumann

Teetering on the brink of collapse

All 25 municipalities in North West - most now teetering on the brink of collapse - will have to be rebuilt from scratch because of ANC infighting, fraud and corruption and a general flouting of the law.

This is the assessment of a confidential report by an ANC national executive committee task team sent to investigate political and administrative chaos in the province.

"The financial status of many of the local and district municipalities is so serious that a number are on the verge of bankruptcy and non-viability," the report, leaked to The Sunday Independent, says.

These include Ventersdorp, which the Auditor-General has said is "not a going concern".

The party sacked and suspended Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality mayor Themba Gwabeni last week, and more heads would roll, said task team leader Saki Mofokeng, adding that politicians would be forced to account for what had gone wrong.

The detailed account of how political power struggles in the past 15 years had affected the functioning of the province led to the disbanding of the party's provincial executive committee (PEC) last month.

"Most of the corruption, negative political interference and looting of state resources in the province can be traced to the PEC, directly or indirectly," the report says.

North West residents were paying a high price for "successive bitter and highly unethical battles" fought for political and economic dominance by different factions. This had led to municipalities breaking down.

The task team found that the "total disregard for the law" shown by councillors had been "aggravated by the fact that no action is taken by the ANC to discipline (them)".

A "deliberate blurring" of roles and responsibilities of politicians and officials had led to many instances of mayors irregularly appointing staff, overseeing procurement committees and assigning their preferred service providers - in direct contravention of the laws governing municipalities.

The report warns that unhappiness in communities - expressed in violent service delivery protests - will escalate unless there is urgent intervention from the ANC and the government.

"Communities are suffering the consequences of corruption in tendering that has little to do with providing essential services... councillor behaviour amounts to the 'looting' of state resources, which precipitates into financial mismanagement, and a municipality's inability to budget for... basic service delivery," it says.

Mass action would "result in the further implosion of governance and service delivery in the province".

Councillors' illegal actions included: nepotism and irregular staff appointments; inflating tenders for personal profit; awarding tenders to companies that funded political campaigns; accepting bribes and kickbacks from service providers; abusing council credit cards, vehicles and property; and selling council property.

In one instance, a R5m roads tender in Greater Taung Local Municipality was awarded to a consultant who was paid even though the work was not done, because the consultant had given money to the ANC "for some political activities".

"These are just some examples from a long list," the report says, noting that these municipalities suffered "massive service backlogs" as a result, mostly in providing water and sanitation.

Ministers splash on posh hotel again, still

Ministers splurge at hotel

Two government ministers have splashed out on accommodation in an exclusive hotel, flying in the face of calls by President Jacob Zuma that officials tighten their belts in the economic crisis.

Minister of defence Lindiwe Sisulu and KwaZulu-Natal MEC for economic development and tourism Mike Mabuyakhulu stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban — a favourite of England’s Prince Harry and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

The Beverly Hills boasts the province’s first butler service for VIP guests. Its cheapest rooms are more than R3000 a night, while suites cost more than R5000.

Their extravagance comes as the government moves to cut wasteful spending and address concerns that officials are “living large”.

According to the national Treasury, the government’s revenue shortfall is projected at R60-billion this year.

A ministerial task team was established this month to develop guidelines to slash big spending. It has already submitted a draft report to cabinet.

Minister of defence Lindiwe Sisulu (right)

Sisulu’s spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya confirmed that she had stayed at the hotel on August 7 after being called to an urgent meeting with President Jacob Zuma.

“Accommodation had to be arranged at short notice. The Beverly Hills was the most suitable accommodation and by far the most cost effective as it charges us government rates, which makes it the cheapest in relation to the security requirements of any minister.”

Bheko Madlala, Mabuyakhulu’s spokesman, said the MEC had hosted a two-day conference at Sibaya Casino and Entertainment World outside Umhlanga on August 6 and 7. There are two hotels on the premises.

“On the first day , the MEC hosted a dinner which went well into midnight. Because of its proximity to the conference centre, the Beverly Hills was the only available accommodation on the day.”

Priya Naidoo from Southern Sun, which owns the Beverly Hills, would not disclose the group’s “specific” government rates.

But Gerhard Patzer, the Hilton’s general manager, said his and most hotels in Durban offered discounts to government officials.

MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu

Themba Godi, the chairman of the standing committee on public accounts, said it was unacceptable that ministers appeared to have ignored cheaper hotels where government had standing arrangements.

“Ministers should lead by example. President Zuma has made announcements that culture and attitudes should change,” he said.

More than R200 000 was spent on parliamentary committees meetings and workshops at luxury hotels in Cape Town rather than at parliament

MPs also stayed overnight at these hotels;

The North West education department spent about R90 000 to pamper 43 directors and chief directors at a day spa outside Pretoria;

The Department of Police bought two new luxury BMWs for ministerial use, equipped with extras like reverse cameras and a navigation system, for R1.3-million.

Kuben Naidoo, the national Treasury’s budget head, who is working with the ministerial task team, said the Treasury would issue extensive cost-containment guidelines, including cellphone expenditure, car hire and hotels. Spending on travel in some departments was “over the top”, he said.

Elderly Berea woman in nightmare attack

While she was bludgeoned, bitten and repeatedly hurled to the floor by a young assailant who screamed "Who is this God you call for?" an 82-year-old Berea resident battled to fathom the horror that had invaded her lifelong home.

Ella Horne, who has lived in the wood and iron Victorian house at the corner of Sydenham and Essenwood roads since her birth, is known and loved by many residents in the area. Her home, which is almost a century old, is admired daily by passersby as a reminder of a bygone age. It is thought to be the only remaining dwelling of its kind in the city.

Horne is a former concert pianist who worked for the Daily News for 20 years until her retirement at the age of 70.

The nightmare began at 12.30pm on August 14. From her hospital bed Horne described how she was woken by the sound of breaking glass. "I went to the back of the house to investigate, and then moved to the front bedroom. As I opened the door the picture window exploded, and then he was on me, with his fingers around my throat. I didn't stand a chance."

Her assailant launched a savage and protracted attack, punching her repeatedly in the face and doing his best to strangle her. He also smashed a heavy china fruit bowl against her skull. "I prayed so hard," said Horne. "'Dear God, protect me.' Then my strength started to go. 'I'm dying,' I said. I closed my eyes and tried not to let my breathing show. He left me then, and started to trash my home. Finally it was quiet. I lay there, covered in blood, with my darling cat beside me."

The assailant ransacked the house and stole a television set, electric irons, radios and an unspecified number of other valuables. Horne was to lie unattended for more than 16 hours before a passing motorist noticed the broken window and alerted the police.

Neighbour Allan Reinecke has vowed the community will clamp down on crime. "We will not take acts like this lying down. If criminals keep targeting Berea, they should be warned: we will take firm action."

The report Mbeki and Zuma hid from you

Oil-for-food probe names government heavyweights

• Commission’s report ‘lacked credibility’, says energy department boss
  
• How Saddam was paid for oil

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has been named by a government-appointed commission as being “privy to material information” relating to controversial businessman Sandile Majali’s shady oil deals with the former Iraqi regime.

Majali — a well-known ANC funder who was also at the centre of the Oilgate scandal in 2004 — carried out deals with Iraq in a manner that contravened United Nations-imposed sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

In all, Saddam’s regime scored about 1.8-billion from surcharges and kickbacks under the UN’ s oil-for-food programme.

Motlanthe is named in a report compiled by the Donen Commission, which was set up by former president Thabo Mbeki. It was asked to probe the involvement of South African companies and individuals in the violation of the UN sanctions on Iraq.

Despite promising to make the commission’s report public, Mbeki kept it under wraps after it was handed to him in late 2006.

He said the government would “take the appropriate decisions in due course” and, if anyone had broken the law, this would be “taken up by South Africa’s law enforcement agencies”.

Motlanthe also resisted calls to release the report during his six-month stint as president. President Jacob Zuma has ignored similar requests.

The Sunday Times can today reveal that — besides Motlanthe — the report also names minister of human settlements Tokyo Sexwale, whose role in the scandal was scrutinised by the commission.

At issue are the so-called “surcharges” paid to Iraq for its oil.

All revenue from Iraqi oil sales was supposed to go into a special UN-supervised account to be used only for humanitarian purposes.

But the Iraqi government levied surcharges of about 10% on all sales and demanded that these should be paid into Iraqi government accounts, in defiance of the UN.

Sexwale told the commission that he did not know that Mocoh — a foreign entity in which he was co-director — had “incurred obligations to pay surcharges” while it negotiated oil contracts in Iraq .

Mocoh and Imvume apparently paid “surcharges” for oil allocations to the State Oil Marketing Organisation of Iraq.

But the commission, headed by advocate Michael Donen SC, expressed doubts about Sexwale’s written submission to it.

Both Motlanthe and Sexwale were named by the commission in their then respective capacities as ANC secretary-general and businessman.

Also named in the report is Department of Minerals and Energy director-general Sandile Nogxina who, in 2001, led a departmental delegation to Iraq.

The report slams him “for failing to act with an overriding appreciation that state departments were bound by international law to prevent the payment of surcharges by South African companies”.

The violation of the UN sanctions against Iraq first surfaced when it emerged that the UN’s oil-for-food programme was abused by international companies .

An investigation by the UN’s independent inquiry committee in 2005 found that because Iraqi officials were allowed to choose oil customers, they levied the “surcharges” on companies who applied for allocations.

These companies included Montega Trading, on whose behalf Majali’s Imvume allegedly offered to pay surcharges, and Mocoh, in which Sexwale was a co-director.

Donen found that Motlanthe might have been privy to information on how Majali and his company, Imvume, allegedly offered to pay surcharges from the proceeds of two Imvume contracts that were concluded.

Motlanthe and Majali travelled together to Iraq in May 2002 and attended a meeting with Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz where, it is alleged, surcharges were discussed.

The report claims that, on an unspecified date, Majali promised to pay 464000 from the proceeds of the resale of the 1.8 million barrels of oil he had bought on behalf of Montega Trading. The oil was to be supplied to South Africa’s state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund.

In its report, dated September 30 2006, the Donen Commission said it needed more time to subpoena information from Majali and Motlanthe.

The report said that, without the summons, the commission could not establish with “evidential certainty” whether Majali paid or offered to pay surcharges.

Mbeki appears to have ignored the request for more time.

The UN report had earlier said documents from the Jordan National Bank showed that Mocoh paid surcharges totaling 574699 in two separate transactions in 2001.

Sexwale told the commission in a statement that although he had been made aware by his co-directors in Mocoh that the Iraqis demanded surcharges, he had made it clear that he was not at any stage prepared to sanction the payment of surcharges.

He relied instead on his ability to lobby senior Iraqi officials to waive such demands.

But, said the commission, “Sexwale is silent as to when and to whom he made the requests”.

“Sexwale’s response is also silent as to whether or not he received a response to his requests let alone a positive response.”

The commission said it needed further information from Sexwale in terms of how Mocoh negotiated more oil contracts while it incurred obligations to pay surcharges.

In his affidavit to the commission, Nogxina said that he had visited Iraq to address concerns that black economic empowerment companies were being asked to pay surcharges.

The commission, however, said Nogxina’s visit to Iraq did not prevent South African-linked companies from offering or paying surcharges.

While the Sunday Times received no response from either Motlanthe or Sexwale this week, Nogxina attacked the commission, saying he had been acting in the interests of South African companies and had not gone to Iraq to represent the interests of the UN .

“We went to explain to the Iraqis that BEE companies were being asked surcharges.

“And we wanted to say that in our policy BEE companies were assisted to thrive and we wanted Iraq not to levy surcharges,” he said.

He said this was after he had been approached by Majali and Montega Trading with the complaint about surcharge requests from the Iraqis.

Nogxina said the commission had not subpoenaed him to testify on his submission, nor given him and his department a draft report.

“This and the fact that the report was not published meant that it lacked credibility,” he said.

The commission report claimed that “the records of the Department of Minerals and Energy, as well as the affidavit of Advocate Nogxina, are characterised by a singular lack of clear reference to the legal issue created for South Africa by the imposition of oil surcharges on its nationals, or to how this problem was being addressed by (the department) .”

But, although Mbeki had asked the commission to report on what steps to take on any wrongdoing it found, the commission concluded that the matter of alleged surcharge payments could not be tried in a South African court.

It recommended, among other things, that the Corruption Act be amended to make it possible to try South Africans involved in the payment of irregular payments to regimes under the UN sanctions.

In June, DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip asked Zuma whether he would release the report.

Zuma has yet to respond.

Is she a he, or isn’t she?

Nazi cover-ups, sexually ambiguous sprinters and tell-tale five o’clock shadows

Is she a he, or isn’t she? A South African 800 metre runner’s gender has been questioned after she stormed to victory in the World Championships in Berlin yesterday. Below see top 10 gender benders in sport. And - a word of warning - be prepared to stomach phases like, ahem, 'ambigious genitalia', 'transitioning’ and 'gender reassignment'.

1. Physically imposing middle-distance sensation Caster Semenya, 18, was at the centre of an inquiry on Tuesday due to concerns over whether she is really a bloke or lass.

Weeks before the race the International Association of Athletics Federations made Semenya take a gender verification test, the results of which are not yet known.

Below shows her storming to victory in Berlin yesterday:



Strong running, you must agree. Make up your own mind about Semenya.
Here she is speaking after her semi-final win.



2. Poor Caster could lose her (his?) medal if the IAAF determine she is actually a he – and it would not be the first time an athlete has been stripped of a medal … not to mention their dignity.

Three years ago Indian runner Santhi Soundarajan had to hand back her 800m silver medal after failing a gender test at the Asian Games in Doha. Sadly, feeling publicly humiliated, Soundarajan (below) later attempted suicide.

3. Back in 2005 a judge in Zimbabwe sentenced a leading youth athlete to four years in prison for competing in female events, after Samukeliso Sithole was caught with his pants down and found to be a man.

The 18-year-old, who earlier claimed to be a hermaphrodite, notched up seven gold medals in women's competitions in 2004.

After six witnesses - including two doctors – confirmed that Sithole was a man, she / he confessed and then was locked up.

4. Stanisława Walasiewicz (later Stella Walsh) won Olympic gold for Poland in the 100 metres at the 1932 Los Angles Games. Four years later she won silver in the same event.

So popular was Walasiewicz in her homeland that she was named Polish sportsperson of the year in 1930 and from 1932-4 while in her career she set over 100 national and world records, including 51 Polish records, 18 world records, and eight European records.

And she would have gone down as one of the greatest sportswomen in history if she had not been caught up in an armed robbery in 1980. Walasiewicz was a bystander in the heist in Cleveland, Ohio, and was shot dead. An autopsy revealed that she possessed male genitalia.

5. In 2004 Australian golfer, and former man, Mianna Bagger qualified for the Ladies European Tour, becoming the first transsexual in history to do so. The LET had previously stated all entrants must be “female at birth”, but the rules were changed for Bagger following a ruling by the International Olympic Committee.

6. American Richard Raskind was a pretty good tennis player – in 1972 he reached the final of the national championships for those 35-and-over. Later, as Renee Richards, he would go as high as 20th in the women’s world rankings.

In the 1960s Raskind travelled to Europe to seek out a famous gynaecologist in the hope that he would make him a woman. However the lady was for turning and shelved that idea to return to the states to marry and father a child.

But Raskind’s longings would not go away and in 1975 he underwent sex reassignment surgery. As Richards she gained notoriety for initially being denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, who citied an unprecedented women-born-women policy. Renee disputed the ban, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favour a year later. New balls please!

7. German pole vaulter Yvonne Buschbaum, 29, was crowned world junior champion in 1999 and went on to finish sixth at the Sydney Olympic Games the following year. She also won Bronze at the European Championships in 2002, making her the second best female German pole vaulter in history … and then things went a little bit strange.

In 2007 Buschbaum retired from the sport and began gender reassignment and demanded to be called ‘Balian’, after the blacksmith played by Orlando Bloom in the 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven.

8. Canadian cyclist Kristen Worley, a former man, very nearly competed at last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. She would have been 40, but her gender ‘transitioning’ began in 1996.

Years of hormone injections followed and while she claimed that she could achieve the Olympic qualifying time for the 3,000m pursuit, the Canadian Olympic committee brought an end to her dream, stating that the times had not been achieved in correct circumstances.

If she had have gone to Beijing, she would have been the first openly transitioned athlete to compete at an Olympic Games.

9. Ewa Klobukowska was the first Olympic athlete to fail a gender test. In 1967 she was found to have ‘one chromosome too many’. Three years earlier she had stormed to prominence at the Tokyo Olympics having won gold in the women's 4x100 m relay and the bronze medal in women's 100 metres.

In Prague a year later Klobukowska ran the 100m in 11.1 seconds – then a world record. Further, in 1966, at the European Championships in Budapest she won two gold medals in 100 m sprint and 4x100 m relay and the silver medal in 200m sprint.

10. World record breaking high jumper Hermann Ratjen was forced by the Nazis in Germany to pretend to be a woman at the Berlin Games in 1936. The Nazis wanted to ensure that Germany won much more medals than they had done the previous Games – and many more than the dominant Americans – and Ratjen, or Dora, as he became known, missed out on a medal that year – he / she came fourth in the high jump.

But he won the European Championships in Vienna in 1938, setting a world record for the ladies high jump with a 5 feet 5.75 inches leap.

Ratjen was only found out while travelling back from the European Championships. Although Ratjen was wearing a skirt, two women spotted him with a five o'clock shadow at a train station and a doctor was summoned and his sex revealed.

Though Ratjen never competed again, because of his ‘ambiguous genitalia’, in 1957 he had been made to disguise himself as a woman “for the sake of the honor and glory of Germany”. He added: “For three years I lived the life of a girl. It was most dull.”

Gender tests triggers terror of brain tests for professional athletes

BERLIN. South African sports administrators have congratulated 800-meter star Caster Semenya on her gold medal in Berlin, saying that "she's the man". Meanwhile professional athletes have reacted with terror at a suggestion that they undergo brain tests to establish whether or not they are Homo Sapiens or more primitive hominids.

Semenya, who claimed gold in the 800-meters in the IAAF Championships in Berlin, triggered a gender controversy after sports administrators began to feel threatened by her abdominal muscles, which are reportedly capable of independent thought and movement.

However, this morning the controversy was forgotten as South African officials lined up to congratulate her.

"She's the man," said SASCOC spokesman Hotfoot Gwede.

He also asked the media to refer to the local Olympic body as SAS out of respect for the country's star athlete.

"Please, just leave the COC off for now, okay? It's a touchy subject just at the moment, and we want her to enjoy her win."

Meanwhile the issue of gender testing has sent shockwaves through the sports world, as officials have suggested expanding it to tests for whether or not professional sportspeople have brains, or at least brain stems.

"If we're going to test to see whether people are male or female it's only fair that we test to see whether they're people or idiots," explained Dr Fritz Neanderthal of the Berlin Institute for Anal Retentiveness .

"For many years we have suspected that some athletes competing as Homo Sapiens are in fact earlier species of human, notably Homo Erectus."

He said they had first become suspicious after watching English Premier League footballers and some Springbok forwards.

"They have incredible difficultly staying on their feet," said Dr Neanderthal. "It's almost as if they have not yet completely mastered bipedal movement."

But professional sportspeople have slammed the suggestion, with one senior Australian cricketer saying that the tests are "bad".

"We people," said the player, who has been dated by models and dated to the early Pleistocene era.

"Not stupid. Clever, we. Throw ball. Hit ball. Run fast. Sports car buy. Lie with blonde women. Is good. Why we deserve not human status?"

Football has yet to comment as most Premier League players are currently fighting over a dead wildebeest in a marsh in Tanzania.

hayibo.com

Malema, Young Communists, neck and neck in racist rhetoric race

JOHANNESBURG. Julius Malema has staged a stunning comeback after being initially outpaced by the Young Communists League in the ongoing rhetoric around South African athlete Caster Semenya. The YCL had made the early running by blaming a racist conspiracy by "the white race", but Malema has made up good ground with his own racist statement.

On Thursday the YCL set the early pace with a blistering attack on "the white race", saying that a decision to test Semenya's gender "smacks of racism of the highest order".

The YCL was widely quoted in national media as saying that the test "represents a mentality of conforming feminine outlook within the white race".

Nobody in South Africa is entirely sure what this statement means, least of all the YCL policy director who wrote it by throwing darts at a thesaurus.

The ANC Youth League's Julius Malema acknowledged that it had been an impressive start by the YCL, but vowed to catch up. Last night he officially entered the race with his own racist conspiracy theory, which was exactly the same as the YCL's except slightly less coherent.

According to Malema, international athletics officials did not value the contributions made by Africans to the Olympics and other global events which was "why they start [sic] this racist attack on this beautiful woman, well built, well-relaxed [sic]".

Asked if he had ever noticed that every track medal at every Olympics since the 1980s had been won either by an African or someone of African origin, Malema asked journalists not to confuse him with the facts.

He also declined to explain what a "well-relaxed" woman was.

Neither Malema nor the YCL were able to explain how the racist white race had allowed Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Eritreans to win a total of 12 medals in Berlin, while also permitting black stars from Jamaica, the United States and the Caribbean to claim dozens of medal. However they both said that they were figuring it out.

Meanwhile both parties have conceded that they will probably keep driving the luxury sedans manufactured by the white race in Germany, but said they do so with a heavy heart at the injustice of it all.

Asked if either the ANCYL or the YCL were going to be censured for their racist smears, government spokesman Sideshow Khumalo laughed and said, "Oh dear, oh my goodness no, how quaint!"

"How many times do we have to tell you?" he said.

"If a white person criticizes Africa, it is racism. If an African criticizes a white person, it is democracy. Okay? Got it?"

hayibo.com

Deadly Swine Flu spreading across South Africa

BUMPED TO THE TOP FOR UPDATE - SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS

Swine flu death toll now six ‘and rising’

Get your masks people.. it’s going to get messy

South Africa's swine flu caseload has increased fourfold since the country's first case was reported on June 14.

First Swine Flu Death Reported In South Africa

Ruan Muller, a 22-year-old student at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town, becomes the first fatality due to swine flu in sub-Saharan Africa. 28/07/2009

South Africa Reports Second Swine Flu Death in Bloemfontein

The 15-year-old teenager was admitted to Pelonomi Hospital with pneumonia symptoms but the health department confirmed he died of the N1H1 virus. 1/08/2009

South Africa's Third Victim of Swine Flu Reported in the Western Cape.

A Western Cape man, Johann Hack, collapsed at home and was declared dead on Tuesday morning at Vergelegen Medi-Clinic hospital in Somerset West. 4/08/2009

SA's Fourth Swine Flu Victim

A 23-year-old woman, believed to be seven months' pregnant, died at the Addington Hospital in Durban on Wednesday 12/08/2009.

SA Records Fifth Swine Flu Death

A second pregnant woman has died from swine flu, the national Health Department said on Sunday. the 27-year-old Eastern Cape woman's death brought the number of the H1N1 deaths to five in the country. 16/08/2009.

SA's H1N1 Toll Reaches 6

South Africa now has six confirmed swine flu deaths. A 64-year old diabetic woman, the third person in the Western Cape, has died at Tygerberg Hospital of the A(H1N1) virus. 16/08/2009

First Gauteng Swine Flu Victim, and Seventh in the Country

Earlier on Thursday, the institute confirmed that the virus was the cause of death of a 21-year-old Pretoria woman 19/08/2009

Eighth Swine Flu Death Confirmed

The 38-year-old woman, who was in her third trimester of pregnancy, died at Dora Nzinga Hospital in Port Elizabeth. 20/08/2009

Swine Flu Toll Rises to 9 - UPDATE

NINE South Africans have died of swine flu since the disease broke out in the country on June 18.

An unidentified person believed to have contracted swine flu died at the weekend.

The last confirmed swine flu death was that of a 53-year-old man from Randfontein, on the West Rand, on August 14

Track the rapid spread of swine flu in South Africa with News24.

I have been following the epidemic since its first outbreak. What first looked to be some ominous signs of a doomsday scenario, is now uncomfortably close to home, just around the corner.

How often is that the stuff of science-fiction becomes science-fact: Greg Bear writes in his Nebula award-winning novel Darwin’s Radio, “the next great war will start inside us.” In the next stage of evolution, mankind is history. Is it really like Nietzsche believed: “The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.”

SA swine flu cases near 3 500 mark