Taxpayers Pay Millions for Awaiting - Trial Police Chief

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-soTOAG9KVUwvnTXJuS1RucNerq4WJY08en-PbrlunPrbDLkI74jK2EOw-98seZiiGUfem1JM87gMl4bxZAc31rqt2ZHizKFpf56JrhA2IX0kjHf7O7V0ipgu3NKpx5RJbNY8q4yL2Cz/s1600-h/340x.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216624285266820194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm-soTOAG9KVUwvnTXJuS1RucNerq4WJY08en-PbrlunPrbDLkI74jK2EOw-98seZiiGUfem1JM87gMl4bxZAc31rqt2ZHizKFpf56JrhA2IX0kjHf7O7V0ipgu3NKpx5RJbNY8q4yL2Cz/s320/340x.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">NATIONAL police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who is due to stand trial next year for corruption and defeating the ends of justice, will be costing taxpayers millions of rands until then.<br /><br />Selebi, who went on voluntary leave in January, had his employment contract extended by President Thabo Mbeki for 12 months this week.<br /><br />This means that for the next year Selebi will be paid to do nothing while the state pays for the costs of his criminal trial.<br /><br />Opposition parties expressed disgust at Selebi's contract being extended, saying it was yet another indication of Mbeki's bias toward the controversial police chief. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQLJEzuSHMThzKXQKa5mdVhF5JO0HbesNn0MoAsVYHL7dIfAOEO8USUkhkRXvfToXxK_QMV2CRKRNY-4WnW_QF63p6pNtcmBjCt74qaqUMb8kvAeqGdi42CZ8TOKCm5B-Wt7sQ_s1WTdv/s1600-h/2007120923112809_Selebi220.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216624608973794290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeQLJEzuSHMThzKXQKa5mdVhF5JO0HbesNn0MoAsVYHL7dIfAOEO8USUkhkRXvfToXxK_QMV2CRKRNY-4WnW_QF63p6pNtcmBjCt74qaqUMb8kvAeqGdi42CZ8TOKCm5B-Wt7sQ_s1WTdv/s320/2007120923112809_Selebi220.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It could not be confirmed yesterday how much Selebi is being paid, but in 2006 he was getting R904374, according to a reply to a parliamentary question. With the 7,5% pay increase public servants received last year plus this year's 10,5% increase , Selebi's pay could add up to more than R1,2m.<br /><br />The taxpayer will also have to pay for his trial, set down from April 14 until June 19 in the Johannesburg High Court.<br /><br />According to sources in the state attorney's office, the taxpayer could expect to cough up about R30000 a day for the trial. It is understood that Selebi's senior counsel, Jaap Cilliers, charges about R12000 a day while his junior, Fanus Coetzee, charges about two-thirds of that. His attorneys would cost about R10000 a day.<br /><br />Political parties said yesterday the state should not foot the bill because the charges did not relate to the performance of Selebi's duties so he should pay his own legal fees. Selebi is accused of receiving dodgy payments of about R1,2m.<br /><br />Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald said the extension of Selebi's contract was "proof" that Mbeki was protecting him and so abusing the taxpayers' money.<br /><br />"Selebi's contract would have lapsed at the end of June 2008, and normal practice is to appoint the national police commissioner for a period of five years. The deviation in only extending his contract for 12 months is further proof of President Mbeki favouring Selebi.<br /><br />"Taxpayers already have to foot the bill for Selebi's legal costs, and now they also have to keep him in the employ of the state so that he may continue with his luxurious lifestyle," said Groenewald.<br /><br />Also criticising the extension of the police chief's contract was Democratic Alliance spokesman Frits de Klerk.<br /><br />"Selebi will be paid close to a million rand to do nothing at the same time thousands of honest, hard-working police members have to survive on R4000 per month. This is an absolute disgrace," he said. </span><p></p>

Taxpayers Pay Millions for Awaiting - Trial Police Chief

NATIONAL police commissioner Jackie Selebi, who is due to stand trial next year for corruption and defeating the ends of justice, will be co...

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A massive "up yours" to South Africa

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlD1dXQXvVlUEuPCLe9C23oEmCWeBlo6QzKOhTXLXQX0HxuKGE53Hqo49ULqEtwdFJbWTIlA2PH_7_VmLeHcjbEVBOD_to0sbPBGg8jEkJUxrhZ4fnWdhK4mn11h4MkjCAe46iBYA_wAnW/s1600-h/up+yours.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216442952765449634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlD1dXQXvVlUEuPCLe9C23oEmCWeBlo6QzKOhTXLXQX0HxuKGE53Hqo49ULqEtwdFJbWTIlA2PH_7_VmLeHcjbEVBOD_to0sbPBGg8jEkJUxrhZ4fnWdhK4mn11h4MkjCAe46iBYA_wAnW/s400/up+yours.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>Two stories spotlight the paradox of President Thabo Mbeki's handling of the Zimbabwean crisis, as the president of a neighbouring African state and the region's appointed mediator.<br /></em><br /><a href="http://s159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/xr2t/?action=view&current=l_9c58b84eaa1987f29fa14be51f55d7c5.jpg" target="_blank"></a><span style="font-size:130%;">On the one hand there is the hard-hitting analysis Mbeki sent President Robert Mugabe in 2001, lambasting Mugabe's economic mismanagement and assaults on democracy. Presciently, the South African leader warns of Zimbabwe's growing isolation, of the danger posed by the violent "war veterans" who have swamped the ruling party and of the potential fallout for the region of a deepening crisis. He calls on Mugabe to cooperate with the emerging Movement for Democratic Change, with Britain and the International Monetary Fund, and cautions against the reckless misuse of anti-imperalist rhetoric.<br /><br />On the other there is the fact that South Africa has been a worse offender than China in the weapons trade to Zimbabwe, allowing both state-owned Armscor and private dealers to strengthen the vicious and corrupt Zimbabwean military and fuel repression by selling it everything from small arms to helicopters and missiles. This is consistent with South Africa's deep reluctance to condemn Zimbabwe's human rights crimes and repeated moves to shield it from international opprobrium in the United Nations Security Council, the UN Human Rights Commission and the Commonwealth.<br /><br />What this suggests is that Mbeki fully appreciates the nastiness of Mugabe's totalitarian order but has managed to delude himself for many years that the Zimbabwean dictator and his clique are amenable to reason. Mbeki has virtues, but the ability to judge character is not one of them. It also suggests his deep stubbornness and difficulties in admitting he is wrong. He has continued pandering to Mugabe and looking the other way as the attacks on democratic norms, economic idiocy and "regional contagion" he warned against in 2001 have steadily worsened.<br /><br />He will argue that more robust tactics, including economic pressure, would have been no more successful. Perhaps. But his policy of appeasement, which even other African countries now see as a case of bias in Mugabe's favour, has done South Africa great harm and the country's image has been tarnished by association with Mugabe's tyranny. Just as seriously, it has given the impression that South Africa's rulers covertly sympathise with Zimbabwe's rape of the rule of the law and particularly its unconstitutional land grabs. <br /><br />From the outset he should have spoken out about Mugabe's abuses and distanced South Africa from events across our northern border, as Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, and now Kenya, have done. Given Zimbabwe's descent into economic and political anarchy, how feeble and misguided his past rejection of "megaphone diplomacy" now seems!<br /><br /><span style="color:#000099;">An 'up yours' to South Africa</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />President Thabo Mbeki has exceeded even his own high standards of political arrogance.<br /><br />He has provoked howls of outrage by deciding to extend, for a year, the contract of police commissioner Jackie Selebi, despite the corruption charges facing South Africa's top cop. This is a massive "up yours" to public opinion and victims of crime.<br /><br />Selebi's supporters will point to decreases in some types of crime, claiming this resulted from his able leadership. While some categories have tapered off, this has hardly been significant, and others have risen.</span></span><br /><br /><p></p>

A massive "up yours" to South Africa

Two stories spotlight the paradox of President Thabo Mbeki's handling of the Zimbabwean crisis, as the president of a neighbouring Afric...

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Mugabe not different from Saddam Hussein

<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrZxi6oYVuGclyb95kV5Zib9EZOISDijfz5HsLZum2EOn5EEsF56DYg2SxmNFBl6ZumzGlx-CMZW1PQOej9o5gfLuzfRMh0cNjopZ9BNjcdrdzGDqyMSkNo8gkL6kE3JyX1su0bjiO3at/s1600-h/zbw_80362047.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216398883668075010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrZxi6oYVuGclyb95kV5Zib9EZOISDijfz5HsLZum2EOn5EEsF56DYg2SxmNFBl6ZumzGlx-CMZW1PQOej9o5gfLuzfRMh0cNjopZ9BNjcdrdzGDqyMSkNo8gkL6kE3JyX1su0bjiO3at/s320/zbw_80362047.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Robert Mugabe vowed to go ahead with the presidential run-off today in the face of accusations that the vote would bestow upon him a 90 per cent mandate as meaningless as that which Saddam Hussein once enjoyed.<br /><br />Addressing his last rally before polls open for the surreal one-horse race, Mr Mugabe told supporters that he would be magnanimous in victory and willing to talk with the opposition.<br /><br />“Should we emerge victorious, which I believe we will, sure we won’t be arrogant, we will . . . say ‘Let’s sit down and talk’, and talk we shall,” he told the crowd on the outskirts of Harare. “So there it is, let the MDC reject it or accept it. We will continue to rule this country in the way we believe it should be ruled. This is an African country with responsible leaders.”<br /><br />The renewed offer from Mr Mugabe came in spite of the insistence of Morgan Tsvangirai that the time for talking would be over if the election went ahead. In an interview from his hiding place at the Dutch Embassy in Harare, the opposition leader said that as soon as Mr Mugabe declared victory he would become the illegitimate leader of Zimbabwe. “And I will not negotiate with an illegitimate leader,” he said.<br /><br />Last night Zimbabweans, many of whom work far from home, were returning to their villages and townships after receiving threatening summonses from the ruling Zanu (PF) to report before the vote. Farm workers in Chegutu, southwestern Zimbabwe, said that they had been told to arrive at polling stations at 6am, an hour before voting begins, and stay there until after the results were posted.<br /><br />“If there is one MDC vote they will find that person and cut off his or her head,” Ben Freeth, a white farmer quoted his workers as telling him. “ ‘It is a serious threat’ were the words that they used to tell me.”<br /><br />The same message was delivered to voters in Chiredzi, in the southeast of the country, who were handed serial numbers of their ballot papers and told that their votes would be traced and punishment meted out if they were found to have voted the “wrong way”.<br /><br />Mr Tsvangirai urged his supporters not to risk further harm and obey the instructions, with reassurances that the international community would never accept Mr Mugabe’s victory. Nigeria last night joined the chorus of African nations calling for a postponement of today’s vote. “They should go,” Mr Tsvangirai said. “If they even vote for Zanu (PF), if they even vote for Mugabe, what does that change? Even if he gets 90 per cent it’s not different from Saddam Hussein, 99.9 per cent of forced voting. What difference will that make?” he told the BBC World Service.<br /><br />On Wednesday night more than 300 opposition supporters had taken refuge at the South African embassy in Harare, where officials were struggling to cope. “We don’t have any facilities to take care of these people, so we are doing our best,” Willem Geerlings, an embassy spokesman, said.<br /><br />In past weeks victims of the political violence, which has claimed at least 90 lives, have taken refuge at the office for the Movement for Democratic Change in Harare. Police raids have left the opposition unable to guarantee them sanctuary. Mr Tsvangirai was forced to flee to the Dutch Embassy on Sunday night when armed soldiers arrived at his house.<br /><br />His deputy, Tendai Biti, the MDC general secretary, has been charged with treason. Mr Biti was released on bail last night from prison, but had to surrender his passport. George Sibotshiwe, Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesman, fled to Angola this week after he spotted armed men approaching the safe house where he was staying. Other top opposition officials are also in hiding, including Mr Tsvangirai’s campaign manager. The party headquarters in central Harare was abandoned after a police raid this week.<br /><br />The vote has been condemned as a farce after Mr Tsvangirai’s withdrawal because of the extreme campaign of violence and intimidation waged on his supporters. Mr Tsvangirai predicted that the vote would go ahead with maximum turnout. “There will be massive frogmarching of the people to the polling stations by force,” he said. “There could be a massive turnout, not because of the will of the people but because of the role of the military and the traditional leaders to force people to these polls.”<br /><br />The chance that any monitors would be able to observe such abuses seemed distant last night. The independent election observer body of Zimbabwe, which fielded 50,000 observers in March, announced that it would be unable to monitor the poll because of the threat to its staff. A statement by the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said that it was “gravely concerned about the safety of its observers given the deliberate targeting”.<br /><br />Mr Tsvangirai said that he would not leave Zimbabwe after the election — as he had threatened. “I will be here, I will be here and I’ll be watching Mugabe destroy himself. It’s now very clear that this man is self-destructing,” he said.<br /><br /></span><p><a articleid="ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15-003&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15&manualTopicId=false'" class="link-06c" href="javascript:fSubmit("><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Mugabe's one-party plan threatens "irreparable harm"</span></em></a></p><p><a href="http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15-003&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15&manualTopicId=false"><em><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15-003&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1985-07-09-15&manualTopicId=false</span></em></a></p><p><br /></p>

Mugabe not different from Saddam Hussein

Robert Mugabe vowed to go ahead with the presidential run-off today in the face of accusations that the vote would bestow upon him a 90 per ...

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