/qnotables23/ - ===Q Notables 2023===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18796453 (041720ZMAY23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun / “G4S vows to cooperate after contracts with DCS are terminated” due to the “the brazen prison escape of Thabo Bester” (video)

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“Thabo Bester | A since Facebook rapist escape” - https://youtu.be/feIfdbiWGmY

3 May 2023 marked exactly a year since Thabo Bester made his daring escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre. Months on the run led to him and his partner, Nandipha Magudumana, being caught in Tanzania. Aviwe Mtila reports.

“G4S vows to cooperate after contracts with DCS are terminated” due to the “the brazen prison escape of Thabo Bester”

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/g4s-vows-to-cooperate-after-contracts-with-dcs-are-terminated-a3862006-f3ec-4c7a-83c7-841bf21f8e23

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2023

Cape Town - Security company G4S confirmed that all Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC) issued to them through the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) have been terminated.

In a statement, a G4S South Africa spokesperson said they noted the notice of termination.

“G4S South Africa notes that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has issued a notice of termination to Bloemfontein Correctional Contracts (BCC), an independent private company that has held the contract to manage the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) since 2000.

“Over the past 22 years, MCC has had a strong track record and has been recognised as a well-run centre by a number of independent oversight bodies, including the Human Rights Commission and the Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services (JICS), which, in October 2022, assigned MCC the highest possible rating for a correctional centre,” the statement read.

Earlier this week, DCS said they “decided to terminate its concession contract with BCC”.

This comes after the brazen prison escape of Thabo Bester.

“In line with the concession agreement, a termination notice for a period of 90 days has been given to BCC, and thereafter, the contract will cease to operate,” DCS said in a statement.

An internal exercise for takeover process will resume.

G4S further said: “G4S South Africa holds a non-controlling minority investment in BCC, and on 22 November 2019, announced that upon expiry of BCC’s contract to manage MCC, G4S would no longer be investing in correctional services in South Africa.

“G4S is committed to investment in South Africa, but it remains G4S’s firm intention to discontinue all investment in correctional services in South Africa. The company will continue to co-operate with BCC and DCS and will seek to agree an orderly transition of services when BCC’s contract to manage MCC comes to an end.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18796458 (041721ZMAY23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun / G4S: South Africa and History – Part 1

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>>43896

G4S – South Africa and History – Part 1

https://www.g4s.com/en-za/what-we-do/services/care-and-justice

The Public Private Partnership was the first of its kind in South Africa and G4S is proud to be a part of the consortium responsible for the design, construction and financing of the project. G4S signed a 25-year contract to operate the facility as sub-contractor to the consortium. Mangaung is the second largest private prison in the world and opened in 2001. The purpose-built prison ensures that even though facilities are extensive and provide a range of opportunities for inmates to learn and develop new skills, security is tight and controlled at all times.

Internationally, our Care & Justice Services are built on successful custodial and information businesses, specialising in prison management and security, including institutions for juveniles, electronic tagging of prisoners, and the escorting/transportation of prisoners.

https://www.g4s.com/who-we-are/unpublished—our-history

We support our knowledge of global security trends with a deep understanding of our customers’ unique needs. We have an enviable heritage with more than 100 years in the security industry.

2020 -

2020 - The sale of the majority of G4S's conventional Cash Solutions businesses to The Brink's Company was completed. The G4S Academy is launched, establishing one place to share G4S's global expertise. G4S launches COVID-19 business continuity plans and employee protective measures to deliver safe and reliable services to our customers. G4S secures a 10-year contract to run new UK prison, HMP Five Wells. G4S launches the 2020 G4S Supplier Code of Conduct and Inclusion Council. Later in the year, G4S board unanimously recommends offer from Allied Universal to buy G4S.

2021 - G4S is delisted from London Stock Exchange as Allied Universal completes the acquisition of G4S.

2022 - Allied Universal acquires Attenti Group, one of the world’s leading electronic monitoring companies. It also acquires Century Event Security & Staffing which provides security and events services in Las Vegas and Orlando - two of the top exhibition industry cities in the U.S. G4S Secure Solutions UK acquires T.S.S (Total Security Solutions), a major UK provider of security services in the retail sector. The company also wins a four-year contract to provide security services for the London Legacy Development Corporation, which manages Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. G4S Care and Rehabilitation Services wins a ten-year contract to continue operating HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18796464 (041722ZMAY23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun / G4S: South Africa and History – Part 2

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>>43897

G4S – South Africa and History – Part 2

https://www.g4s.com/who-we-are/unpublished—our-history

2000 - 2019

2000 - Group 4 and Falck merge to become Group 4 Falck.

In early 2000s, Group 4 Falck acquires security businesses in Germany, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Norway and Hungary, France and South Africa. The company enters the US security market by acquiring The Wackenhut Corporation, the second largest security services company in the US and acquires a Danish intruder alarm business.

Securicor acquires businesses in Canada, Africa, Europe, Asia and the US.

2002 - Nick Buckles becomes CEO of Securicor.

2004 - Securicor merges with Group 4 Falck's security businesses to form Group 4 Securicor (G4S) and begins trading on the London and Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

2005 - Lars Nørby Johansen is succeeded as CEO by Nick Buckles.

2006 - Wackenhut wins a key fire protection and emergency response contract with NASA. G4S announces sponsorship of Skandia Team GBR, backing Britain’s Olympic sailing bid in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

2007 - G4S 4teen, an innovative global sports development programme, is launched.

In 2007 - 2008, G4S makes acquisitions in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Mozambique and begins providing electronic monitoring equipment and services in New Zealand. In 2008, G4S acquires RONCO Consulting Corporation, one of the world's premier humanitarian and commercial mine action, ordinance disposal and security companies, a support and justice service provider GSL, and Armorgroup, a leading provider of defensive and protective services to national governments and international peace and security agencies.

2008 - A landmark agreement is reached with UNI, the global union federation, on an Ethical Employment Partnership, driving improvements in employment standards across the security industry.

G4S is selected as a support contractor for the US Department of Energy

2009 - G4S acquires Secura Monde International Limited and Shiremoor International Engineering Limited, the UK’s leading specialist banknote and high security technical and commercial advisory companies. Same year in the US, G4S acquires All Star International, a facilities management company that provided services to the US Government and Adesta, US-based provider of integrated security systems. In Asia, G4S acquires Hill & Associates Consultants Limited, Asia’s leading provider of specialist risk mitigation consulting services.

In 2010 - 2011, G4S acquires Munt Centrale in the Netherlands, Plantech and Instalarme in Brazil, Skycom in Africa and The Cotswold Group, an intelligence and investigation company in the UK.

2011 - G4S is awarded two prison contracts and three work programme regions in the UK.

2012 - G4S appoints John Connolly as new chairman. The acquisitions continue when G4S acquires Deposita, South Africa’s leading provider of retail cash solutions technology, and Chubb Emergency Response that provides key holding and response services in the UK.

2013 - G4S launches its landmark human rights policy. Ashley Almanza succeeds Nick Buckles as Group CEO.

2016 - G4S secures a renewed 20-year deal to manage Port Phillip Prison in Victoria, Australia, and becomes the first private security company to secure the UK's Royal Mint.

2017 - G4S joins FTSE4GOOD index in recognition its strong commitment to CSR. G4S is selected to secure Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear power station built in the UK in a generation. In Africa, G4S is awarded Top Employer in 13 countries.

2018 - A new organisational structure creates a Global Cash Division and consolidates Secure Solutions businesses into four regions: Americas, Europe & Middle East, Africa and Asia. The G4S World Cash Report 2018 is published.

2019 - G4S board approves separation of Cash Solutions from the Group. G4S Risk Management is granted membership of the International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) which promotes responsible private security. Cash Solutions in the Netherlands acquires SecurCash.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18796466 (041722ZMAY23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun / G4S: South Africa and History – Part 3

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>>43897

>>43898

G4S – South Africa and History – Part 3

https://www.g4s.com/who-we-are/unpublished—our-history

1980 - 1999

1988 - Falck is acquired by Baltica, a Danish insurance company. Jørgen Philip-Sørensen takes responsibility for Group 4’s European activities. Securicor Chairman Peter Smith is awarded the OBE for services to the security industry.

1990 - Securicor establishes its Custodial Services operations.

1991 - Group 4 begins managing the first privatised prison in the UK, at Wolds in Humberside.

1993 - Falck acquires the security business of ISS Securitas, to become Falck Securitas.

1995 - Falck is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

1997 - Securicor acquires the first Private Finance Initiative prison in the UK.

In the 1990s, Falck acquires security businesses in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Germany, Poland and Estonia.

Group 4 acquires businesses in Austria, Belgium, Canada and Turkey, establishes operations in the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine, starts activities in Bangladesh and provides security services to governments and private organisations in Hungary.

1950 - 1979

1950 - Philip-Sørensen family businesses are consolidated as Securitas International.

1951 - Night Guards becomes Securicor.

1963 - Falck buys Zonen Redningskorps, an independent fire and rescue service in Denmark.

1965 - Jørgen Philip-Sørensen is appointed managing director of his family’s UK businesses.

1968 - The Philip-Sørensen group of companies becomes Group 4 (Total Security).

1971 - Securicor Group Limited and Security Services Limited are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

1901 - 1949

1901 - Marius Hogrefe starts the guarding company Kjøbenhavn Frederiksberg Nattevagt in Denmark.

1906 - Sophus Falck establishes Redningskorpset, an independent fire and rescue service.

1908 - Redningskorpset establishes the first automobile ambulance in Scandinavia.

1930 - Falck becomes a nationwide operator in Denmark.

1934 - The Philip-Sørensen family establishes Securitas AB in Sweden.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18796530 (041739ZMAY23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun / Public Private Partnerships of South Africa

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>>43897

>The Public Private Partnership was the first of its kind in South Africa and G4S is proud to be a part of the consortium responsible for the design, construction and financing of the project.

“Public Private Partnerships of South Africa”

https://www.commonwealthgovernance.org/countries/africa/south_africa/public-private-partnerships/

South Africa is a leader in public–private partnerships in the southern African region, with a highly developed dedicated legal structure in place. The 1999 Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Treasury Regulation 16 cover national and provincial procedures while municipal public–private partnerships are governed by the 2003 Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). The legal and regulatory framework for public–private partnerships defines differences between national and provincial PPPs, and municipal PPPs in terms of areas of interest and advocacy of public participation. However, affordability, value for money and risk transfers remain common objectives to both frameworks. A PPP unit was founded in 2004 to achieve standardisation and the swift financial close of projects. A unique feature of public–private partnership legislation in South Africa is the terms for Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) articulated as a compatible key objective. PPP legislation defines BEE requirements to alleviate both the precedence of inequality in South Africa and the inequalities that can arise from public–private partnerships in developing countries.

National public–private partnerships far outnumber the quantity of municipal projects in South Africa, though the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Client (MIIC) advocates PPPs and some have been achieved, such as the DTI Provincial Accommodation Project. Mistrust by labour unions still characterises the use of PPPs in municipalities, with anxiety surrounding the average unemployment rate of 26 per cent. Health care and transport are core areas for public–private partnerships in South Africa, with the build–operate–own–transfer model most prevalent.

https://www.icafrica.org/en/topics-programmes/focal-points/public-private-partnerships/

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly seen in Africa as an essential mechanism to design, build, finance and/or operate infrastructure facilities hitherto provided by the public sector.

Constraints on public sector resources, growing pressure on government budgets across Africa and concerns about the efficiency [or deliberate failures] of service provision by state enterprises and agencies have led to many governments stepping-up their efforts to encourage partnerships with the private sector.

From the perspective of the private sector, PPPs are becoming increasingly viewed as an effective way to mitigate some of the risks associated with privately-financed and managed projects in Africa. By involving public sector partners, some of the bottlenecks leading to delays and difficulties can be unblocked.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18797359 (042111ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Andre de Ruyter to be served court papers in Germany: report (Parts 1&2)

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>>>/qresearch/18778557

>>>/qresearch/18668622 Eskom and Water Crisis Bun Part One

>>>/qresearch/18777739 Final Eskom and Water Crisis Bun Part Two

“Andre de Ruyter to be served court papers in Germany: report” – 1 of 2

https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/685075/

4 May 2023

The Gauteng High Court has reportedly given the ANC the right to serve papers relating to its defamation claim against former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter – in Germany.

According to News24 [https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/anc-to-serve-papers-on-de-ruyter-in-germany-20230504], the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has given the governing party an “edictal citation”, allowing it to serve court papers in a foreign country.

An authorised official under German law will serve the papers to de Ruyter.

De Ruyter went to ground following an explosive interview with eNCA [https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/666921/de-ruyter-strikes-back-blows-the-lid-on-anc-corruption-political-interference-and-worse-load-shedding-this-winter/] where he made explosive claims of entrenched corruption at Eskom, perpetrated by the ANC.

He alleged that a “high-ranking politician” was directly involved in corruption, and when he reported this to a “senior minister”, the minister in question alluded to being aware of the activity.

The former CEO’s claims made headlines, with opposition parties and South Africans at large speculating on the identities of the politicians mentioned and demanding that de Ruyter name them.

The ANC denied the allegations, and said that de Ruyter had to report the matter to the authorities, open a case with the SAPS, and retract his statements pertaining to the party or face legal action.

However, de Ruyter was nowhere to be seen following the interview, and the ANC struggled to locate him to serve him court papers.

While de Ruyter did finally make an appearance to give his statements to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in April, his presence was virtual, raising questions as to where he was based.

The former CEO only gave vague indications during his interview with ENCA that it might be in the best interests of his and his family’s safety that he leave the country.

Deep trouble

During his presentation to Scopa, de Ruyter said that his life was not currently under threat, and that he had not received any new threats since his alleged poisoning at the end of 2022.

However, the former Eskom executive is in high demand, with many parties seeking answers to the various claims he has made.

According to News24 investigations, de Ruyter’s claims appear to be based on several intelligence reports that were commissioned by the CEO, which contained some outlandish allegations with little to no evidence to back them up.

Not only is de Ruyter on the hook for not repeating those allegations on a very public platform – and naming the ANC in them – but also for the potentially illegal nature of the private investigation from which they were sourced.

As reported by City Press [https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/eskom-secrets-disturb-authorities-20230429], parliament, the State Security Agency (SSA) and the Public Enterprise’s department want to know how unvetted operatives were given unrestrained access to sensitive information at Eskom during the investigations, while the authorised agencies were given no information.

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) member Sakhumzi Moyo also previously said that the investigation could pose a risk to Eskom as de Ruyter was also not properly vetted.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18797363 (042111ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Andre de Ruyter to be served court papers in Germany: report (Parts 1&2)

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>>43902

“Andre de Ruyter to be served court papers in Germany: report” – 2 of 2

https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/685075/

4 May 2023

Answers coming soon?

Speaking to Scopa, de Ruyter was questioned over the senior minister and high-ranking politician he alleged were aware of the entrenched corruption at Eskom.

However, he remained tight-lipped and refused to name names, citing security and litigation risks. He directed Scopa to ask Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, as he was best suited to answer the committee’s questions.

Gordhan is currently in China trying to solve ongoing issues relating to rail contracts but will be invited to appear before Scopa after his trip.

Moreover, the security advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Dr Sydney Mufamadi – also named by de Ruyter as someone who can name specific politicians – is also expected to appear before Scopa.

“The committee plans to meet these cited parties to get more information on the allegations made by Mr de Ruyter. Mr de Ruyter has told SCOPA to contact the HAWKS, Mr Gordhan and Dr Mufamadi for further details on the allegations that he made in the eNCA interview,” the committee said.

“He indicated that he reported the identity of a high-ranking politician as well as individuals he referred to in his interview as allegedly involved in criminal activities in Eskom to Mr Gordhan, Dr Mufamadi and the HAWKS.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18801277 (051759ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / South Africa prepares for Stage 9 load-shedding (Parts 1&2)

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“South Africa prepares for Stage 9 load-shedding” – (Part 1)

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/490273-south-africa-prepares-for-stage-9-load-shedding.html

5 May 2023

Eskom’s System Operator has updated its code of practice around load-shedding that will govern how municipalities must respond to Stage 9 or higher power cuts, News24 reports, https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/stage-9-and-beyond-protocols-get-ready-to-roll-20230505.

Chair of the National Rationalized Specifications (NRS) Association, Vally Padayachee, said the new code would be submitted to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in the coming days.

Once approved by Nersa, the code holds legal status.

“There has been a lot of consultation, but we need to now put a stop date on it for the sake of the grid,” Padayachee said in an interview on Tuesday, 2 May 2023.

“We cannot guarantee that in winter, we will not go beyond Stage 8.”

He highlighted issues that could occur if South Africa were to go into Stage 9 load-shedding without a new code in place.

“Then the System Operator and municipal electricity distributors would have to use their own respective operating procedures to protect the national grid,” said Padayachee.

“In that environment, the propensity for human error is very possible.”

While he didn’t explicitly mention what could result from such human error, the codes of practice surrounding load-shedding are designed to protect the integrity of the grid.

Failure to follow the code, or the absence of the code, could result in the grid frequency fluctuating above or below 50Hz — the frequency that keeps the grid alive.

If this were to happen, the grid could collapse and plunge the country into darkness. Restarting the grid is difficult and time-consuming, and South Africa could be without power for weeks.

Eskom’s System Operator sets out how electrical load is shared among users, and the previous code only gave distributors directives up to Stage 8.

Each stage of Eskom’s rotational power cuts equals up to 1,000MW of load being shed. Under Stage 8, South African residents are subjected to 48 hours of power cuts in a four-day cycle of 96 hours.

Stage 9 load-shedding would require more hours, which is set out in the System Operator’s new code of practice.

Padayachee, in April 2023, said Eskom was reviewing the load-shedding framework to prepare for stages higher than Stage 8.

“Eskom’s grid is at a critical stage, and no professional can guarantee that South Africa could not go beyond stage 8 load-shedding,” he said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18801280 (051800ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / South Africa prepares for Stage 9 load-shedding (Parts 1&2)

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>>43904

“South Africa prepares for Stage 9 load-shedding” – (Part 2)

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/490273-south-africa-prepares-for-stage-9-load-shedding.html

5 May 2023

Stage 9 is on the cards this winter

In April 2023, energy expert Clyde Mallinson revealed that South Africa could face Stage 9 load-shedding this winter during a load-shedding forecast presentation.

He said Eskom faces an 11,000MW shortfall in generation capacity, which would likely mean 2,000MW load-curtailment and Stage 9 load-shedding will be necessary.

Load-curtailment is used to reduce demand on the grid from energy-intensive users like mines and smelters.

Stage 9 load-shedding would mean that households and regular businesses are without power for more than half the day.

“I hope if we do touch stage 9, it will be for very brief periods, like between 17:00 and 20:00 at night,” said Mallinson.

Professor Mark Swilling, co-director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at the University of Stellenbosch, concurs with Mallinson’s prediction.

He said the current load-shedding situation would worsen as winter sets in if there is no improvement to Eskom’s generation performance.

He advised that South African brace for higher stages of load-shedding as demand on the grid increases.

Mallinson’s prediction aligns with information shared by Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

Ramokgopa said the state-owned power utility would face a shortfall of 8,000 to 11,000 megawatts this winter — which could mean stage 8 to stage 11 load-shedding.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18801509 (051913ZMAY23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / President Ramaphosa reveals that a health revolution is on the way (video)

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“President Ramaphosa reveals that a health revolution is on the way”

https://youtu.be/T7foJivIYVg

May 5, 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa has revealed that a health revolution is on the way.

He told the 2nd Presidential Health Summit in Boksburg that the National Health Insurance Bill aims to create a universal healthcare system for all South Africans.

“Concern mounts after survey reveals NHI would force 40% of SA doctors to emigrate”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/concern-mounts-after-survey-reveals-nhi-would-force-40-of-sa-doctors-to-emigrate-40005651

Published Jan 3, 2020

Durban - South African doctors in private practice strongly oppose the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and believe that about 40% of doctors would emigrate if a universal health-care system was implemented.

The SA Medical Association (Sama), which represents 17000 doctors across the country, said the organisation could not support the bill, as it was tantamount to creating a “monopoly” in the health-care sector.

The bill is a financing system that pools funds and aims to provide universal access to quality health care for all South African and non-South African citizens, regardless of their financial ability to pay or socio-economic status.

Sama said: “The establishment of the NHI as a single, monopolistic purchaser for health care opens its structures up to large-scale corruption.”

The organisation said the changes the bill proposed could cause wide-scale harm to the delivery of health care if they were not managed properly, and that the bill had been introduced during a time where there was deep public mistrust of the government.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18810723 (071418ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Jan Oberholzer discusses Jacques Pauw’s “distasteful article” [English Translation] (video)

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>>43904

>>43905

Jan Oberholzer discusses Jacques Pauw’s “distasteful article” [English Translation] – a Jan Oberholzer book deal changed into an Andre de Ruyter article for Naspers (News24)

https://youtu.be/ZWWPwV3_0ZI

English translation

5:00 – “Now how does the matter of Jacques Pauw come to the table? And I think it's important for me to be absolutely open and honest about it. Many people have asked me to write a book. A book about my life, my view on Eskom. My father worked for Eskom for 25 years, so I basically grew up in an Eskom house. I had been an Eskom student, a scholarship holder. I then worked at Eskom for 26 years, I've been gone for 10 years and for the last 5 years I was the group's chief operating officer… Two publishers approached me and told me to write them a letter letting them understand my life and also if I can share what went wrong. From my point of view, what went wrong?… I didn't know how one does it. I basically knew nothing… Because I know Jacques, I contacted Jacques and said, "Jacques, will you please help me. How does one write a book?" Jacques then said, "I’ll get back to you." He came back and said he would be my ghost writer and I wanted to ask, “what is a ghost writer?” Then he said that he will help me write my book. We then agreed with one of the publishers, we signed a contract to write the book… I was very clear from the beginning, this is my story. Nobody else's story… I made it clear that the information is already in the public eye and it will not be anything that Eskom is not aware of but there may be more details. Confidentiality agreements will also be signed… and it was all shared with Jacques. Jacques asked me that he wanted to talk to people in the meantime to get some background and information. And I opened the door to Bowmans [?], to George Fivas, to Tony specifically and I must say that I regard Tony as a very professional person… I have no knowledge of what Tony did during the Apartheid years. I also opened the door for him to two of the former intelligence agents and of course to other people as well. Jacques went and he met these people. When he came back he told me he could no longer write this book and unilaterally canceled the contract with the publisher that was signed by three parties… The next moment this article appeared in News24. So it was a surprise and distasteful to me.I question the ethical values of many people.“

17:03 – “I've known Andre for three years, a little more than three years, and what I've experienced with Andre, I don't believe he would say something he can't prove.”

17:56 – “In my second stint at Eskom, I think I went through seven or eight investigations where they tried to discredit and get rid of me. In May last year, my family and myself also received a very uncomfortable bomb threat.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816313 (081907ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / “De Ruyter's claims on Eskom graft wild and untested" - News24 [Jacques Pauw] (video)

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>>43902

>>43903

>>43907

>“I've known Andre for three years, a little more than three years, and what I've experienced with Andre, I don't believe he would say something he can't prove.”

>>>/qresearch/18678766

>There isn't a shred of evidence on which Gen Engelbrecht can be prosecuted and we challenge Mr Pauw to demonstrate on what grounds he believes Gen Engelbrecht could be charged.

>Dear President Zuma

>I accept that you have taken note of Mr Jacques Pauw's appeal to you in Rapport of 10th instant to keep your word by "bringing to book every one of the policemen who murdered". You would have made this promise to him in Harare in February 1990.

>Should you heed Mr Pauw's call and order that prosecutions be instituted against the police of the old South Africa, is the question of whether you will then "bring to book" all the ANC members who committed murder and other atrocities. Mr Pauw is evidently not bothered with the murders and atrocities committed by the ANC.

>https://www.samirror.com/conflict-of-the-past.html

>>>/qresearch/17928682

>Pauw is the king of the stratcom media cabal. Had it not been for the CCTV footage, Pauw would have gotten away with this lie. His story would have stuck and the question is how many such stories have been carried without proper editorial scrutiny.

>The information was simply handed over to him – an argument some have made against him when he rubbished the many years of journalist Chris Steyn’s investigation into members of the National Party who were involved in child sex and paedophile rings.

>https://uncensoredopinion.co.za/can-jaques-pauw-claim-to-have-a-reputation-and-integrity-to-protect/

“ESKOM DIRTY DOSSIER | Revealed: Apartheid spook behind De Ruyter's R50m off-the-books Project Ostrich” - https://www.news24.com/news24/investigations/eskom-dirty-dossier-revealed-apartheid-spook-behind-de-ruyters-r50m-off-the-books-project-ostrich-20230426

“De Ruyter's claims on Eskom graft wild and untested - News24 [Jacques Pauw]”

https://youtu.be/R2GxEA1SwVE

Apr 27, 2023

The evidence used by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to implicate top officials in government and the ANC in corruption, is wild and untested. That's according to News24 after it blew the lid on an off-the-books investigation into graft at the parastatal. The report was compiled by an intelligence operative, implicated in apartheid-era crimes.

Investigative journalist and author, Jacques Pauw unpacks his now aborted book on Eskom.

14:37 – “George Fivaz yesterday in some statement he released accused me of ‘Stratcom’ operation with other words sort of like a dirty tricks operation against him. I mean Fivas is talking about the Stratcom. The Stratcom operation is in the reports he produced.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816392 (081927ZMAY23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Saps History - George Fivaz

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>>43909

>>>/qresearch/18750089

>But through some heavy drinking, deception and a lot of luck, we [South African Breweries] managed to burgle $3 million. [Meyer Kahn speech - https://youtu.be/Zi0Tcx_vSLk]

"To step up the crime intelligence capacity in KwaZulu/Natal . That is really to get down to the bolts and nuts of crime. Intelligence to pre-empt to be in a position to pre-empt. To be in a position to anticipate what is going to happen in certain areas , you have to infiltrate certain groupings and the activities certain individuals in KwaZulu/Natal.” (4 Jan 1996) [George Fivas] - https://youtu.be/azstFFycAIM [embedded]

George Fivaz

https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02426/05lv02491.htm

National Commissioner of the South African Police Service. Fivaz, appointed in 1995, was the first non-military person to hold this office. His major tasks were to 'civilianise' the service, to reorganise its structures in order to reflect its new priorities in a new South Africa and to stem the rising tide of crime.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/fivaz-happy-to-step-down-17821

Published Oct 29, 1999

He added that he and Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete had an excellent working relationship and that when they reached the stage where they were discussing Fivaz's future, it was Fivaz who suggested that he retire and a black commissioner take his place.

"He said I should stay on. I said I was willing to help but that staying would be wrong," Fivaz recalled. "It is in the best interests of the police to have a black commissioner - only then will people believe in the transformation of the police."

On the day Fivaz's successor was announced, parliament's public accounts committee accused him and SAPS chief executive officer Meyer Kahn [who worked for South African Breweries and was appointed by Nelson Mandela, 14-jaa-winner-meyer-kahn.pdf] of severe mismanagement of funds.

"It was totally unfair and frustrating. There were many remarks that were totally uncalled for and were the biggest load of rubbish," Fivaz said, fuming with rage. "It's absurd to hear them say the police's financial situation is worse than it was two years ago when Meyer Kahn joined us. It's not by coincidence that he made millions in business."

He explained that 11 police forces had been combined into one. This process had mostly been successful, despite the SAPS inheriting "30 000 illiterate policemen".

https://www.gfivaz.com/

George Fivaz & Associates, the management company of our Group of Companies, was founded in 2001 by George Fivaz a previous national police commissioner of South Africa, after recognising the necessity to provide organisations in both the public and private sector with expert strategic safety and security and forensic investigation support services. We assist organisations in mitigating risk factors associated with security threats, corruption, fraud, bribery, theft and non-compliance in both a proactive and reactive manner. Our managers and other specialists are all hand selected individuals with a wealth of experience in the forensic support services industry. These employees were selected on the basis of a proven and impeccable service history, their experience and expertise in the relevant disciplines and their uncompromising integrity. A wealth of expertise of more than a 150 years of combined experience allows us to apply a different approach we do not redesign we improve and revolutionise.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816405 (081932ZMAY23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Stratom: What it actually was and means

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>>43908

>Pauw is the king of the stratcom media cabal.

>14:37 – “George Fivaz yesterday in some statement he released accused me of ‘Stratcom’ operation with other words sort of like a dirty tricks operation against him. I mean Fivas is talking about the Stratcom. The Stratcom operation is in the reports he produced.”

>>>/qresearch/18678705

>As far as political warfare went we were novices. At that stage we did not have a public relations division or “Stratkom” or “Psy-Ops”. We had to wait at least another decade for a public relations division and two decades before we used “Stratkom”.

“STRATCOM: WHAT IT ACTUALLY WAS AND MEANS”

https://ewn.co.za/2020/04/27/stratcom-what-it-actually-was-and-means

27 April 2020 13:09

Stratcom, also known as Strategic Communications, was a police unit setup to create and spread false narratives against political enemies of the National Party government.

JOHANNESBURG - The word 'Stratcom' has re-entered South Africa’s political vocabulary and some politicians and their followers are using it comfortably. They exploit it, particularly on social media, in an attempt to discredit journalists whose work they disagree with. The word initially emerged in the 1990s, in the years leading up to the end of apartheid.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816450 (081945ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy (Parts 1-3)

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>>43908

>>>/qresearch/18767403

>“ANC statement on Andre de Ruyter’s unfortunate decampaigning tactics”

The ANC and other socialist/communists are taking advantage of Jacques Pauw's article. There will be of course no accountability. Not sure if George Fivaz can be trusted. Is this the situation where 2 wrongs make a right?

“SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy” – Part 1

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/opinion/sas-new-third-force-poses-a-grave-threat-to-democracy-fb37d6f1-dc97-4b40-9ca7-84451ea2700d

SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2023

By Prof. Sipho Seepe

The revelation that former Eskom honcho, Andre de Ruyter, relied on a flawed report compiled by an erstwhile apartheid agent, Tony Oosthuizen, for his seemingly outlandish corruption claims against certain individuals has been met with both shock and relief. Equally disturbing is the fact that Business Leadership SA, a self-styled organisation of ethical leadership funded De Ruyter’s clandestine investigation. De Ruyter was the talk of the town following his widely covered interview with television host Annika Larsen.

De Ruyter’s claims were embarrassing for President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister Pravin Gordhan, and the ANC. They had stuck their neck out for their man, even in the face of his glaring incompetence. He was treated royally. Today, they use all sorts of expletives to debase/insult their former darling. It has since emerged that De Ruyter did not have the security clearance required for someone in such a key position. Being white in the new dawn is still a passport of privilege, a key to top posts, even when the necessary qualifications and clearances are lacking.

De Ruyter’s detractors are relieved that he has finally exposed himself for what he is. Former president Thabo Mbeki argued that De Ruyter is “the classical extreme right-wing anti¬ communist fanatic of the apartheid years – a man driven by his ideological conviction to destroy the anti-Christ, the ANC! Now it looks very strange indeed that we could have counted on this sworn right-wing enemy of the ANC and the democratic revolution to rescue Eskom from its counter-revolutionary captors!”

The shock that De Ruyter sought the services of an apartheid spy is misplaced. It derives from the general misconception of the post-1994 dispensation. The supposedly new dispensation did not dismantle apartheid’s architecture. If anything, apartheid was given a lease of life. Jonty Steinberg’s description of South Africa’s political transition is worth repeating ad infinitum.

Steinberg observed (Business Day 12/12/2014):

“The freedom South Africans acquired in 1994 was mercurial and slippery. Politically, the changes were dramatic. The electorate expanded overnight to include every adult. But the structure of society stayed much the same. And white people remained white people, doing what white people had always done: running the professions, the corporations, the universities. Expertise, wealth, technical knowledge, social confidence – all of these remained deeply associated with whiteness.”

The persistence of apartheid architecture can be attributed to the fact that the ANC was either unable or unwilling to radically transform the apartheid state. It was satisfied with “inheriting the colonially designed structures that did not serve African needs and demands very well”. The post-1994 dispensation has since metamorphosed into what Professor Ndlovu Gatsheni describes as a “post-colonial neocolonized world” defined by the persistence of “the structural, systemic, cultural, discursive, and epistemological pattern of domination and exploitation that has engulfed Africans since (the advent of colonial domination).”

Africans have been duped to settle for emancipatory pretensions instead of real freedom. Regarding this, Mbeki could not have been more brutally honest.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816471 (081950ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy (Parts 1-3)

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>>43912

>>>/qresearch/18767403

>“ANC statement on Andre de Ruyter’s unfortunate decampaigning tactics” – News24: David Mabuza and Gwede Mantashe mentioned in Andre De Ruyter’s report

>https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/de-ruyter-funded-eskom-investigation--anc

“SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy” – Part 2

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/opinion/sas-new-third-force-poses-a-grave-threat-to-democracy-fb37d6f1-dc97-4b40-9ca7-84451ea2700d

Mbeki observed:

“South Africa is a country of two nations. One of these nations is white, and relatively prosperous, regardless of gender or geographic dispersal. It has ready access to a developed economic, physical, educational, communication, and other infrastructure… The second and larger nation of South Africa is black and poor, with the worst affected being women in the rural areas, the black rural population in general, and the disabled. “This nation lives under conditions of a grossly underdeveloped economic, physical, educational, communication, and other infrastructure. It has virtually no possibility to exercise what in reality amounts to a theoretical right to equal opportunity, with that right being equal within this black nation only to the extent that it is equally incapable of realization.”

The reproduction of the apartheid architecture is sustained by the skilful deployment of what the French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser describes as the state’s ideological and repressive apparatus. According to Althusser, repressive state apparatus comprise the government, the judiciary, the police, and the armed forces whose basic function is to advance and protect the interest of the ruling class. Ideological state apparatus comprises institutions that shape the master narrative of the time. They are part of the superstructure that provides the theoretical, cultural, and ideological logic that undergirds the system. They include media outlets, churches, social and sports clubs, and the family. Their role is to reinforce the ideas and control of the dominant/ruling class. Accordingly, a social class cannot hold state power unless it simultaneously exercises domination over and through the deployment of the repressive and ideological apparatus.

Apartheid masters understood this very well. Regarding the deployment of the ideological apparatus, Steve Biko eloquently argued. “The logic behind white domination is to prepare the black man for the subservient role in this country… To a large extent, the evildoers have succeeded in producing at the output end of their machine a kind of black man who is man only in form… His heart yearns for the comfort of white society and makes him blame himself for not having been ‘educated’ enough to warrant such luxury. Celebrated achievements by whites in the field of science – which he understands only hazily serve to make him rather convinced of the futility of resistance and to throw away any hopes that change may ever come.”

Commenting on the application of repressive state apparatus, Biko observed: “The white man’s quest for power has led him to destroy with utter ruthlessness whatever has stood in his way… The unnecessary harassment of Africans by police, both in towns and inside townships, and the ruthless application of that scourge of the people, the pass laws, are constant reminders that the white man is on top and that the blacks are only tolerated – with the greatest restraints.”

Post-1994 dispensation represents the ANC’s total failure to understand the kinematics and dynamics of power. The ruling party appears to be trapped in the political imagination of apartheid. The new mandarins have become the modern-day enforcers of apartheid. Founding fathers of liberation movements could not have imagined that after almost 30 years in power, Africans would still be pariahs in the country of their birth.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816475 (081951ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy (Parts 1-3)

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>>43912

>>43913

“SA’s new third force poses a grave threat to democracy” – Part 3

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/opinion/sas-new-third-force-poses-a-grave-threat-to-democracy-fb37d6f1-dc97-4b40-9ca7-84451ea2700d

German Philosopher Karl Marx was correct when he famously opined that “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas: ie, the class, which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.”

The ANC is demonstrably bereft of ideas. It only exists to be in office. It no longer pretends to be a revolutionary party. In his 2017 report the then secretary-general of the ANC Gwede Mantashe [the accused], was correct to point out that “being in power is rapidly becoming a source of political bankruptcy”. What the De Ruyter debacle proves, is that the logic of apartheid remains intact. Thanks to the ANC’s ideological bankruptcy. FW de Klerk went to his grave comforted by the fact that under Ramaphosa, the apartheid project will remain intact.

*Prof. Sipho Seepe is an independent political analyst.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816485 (081951ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Ramaphosa deploys 900 soldiers to guard Eskom power stations

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To protect the criminal syndicate?

“Ramaphosa deploys 900 soldiers to guard Eskom power stations”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/ramaphosa-deploys-900-soldiers-to-guard-eskom-power-stations-b1be881a-d2dc-41db-81ba-00d120084ca2

Published May 6, 2023

Pretoria - President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Parliament that he has authorised the deployment of 880 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to safeguard a number of Eskom power stations around the country.

His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya said the deployment would be extended until October 17.

“The president has informed Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and NCOP chairperson, Amos Masondo, in writing of the deployment of SANDF personnel for service in co-operation with the South African Police Service (SAPS) for the prevention and combating of crime and preservation of law and order under Operation Prosper,” said Magwenya.

“Previously, 2 700 members of the SANDF were deployed to assist the SAPS in protecting power stations under Operation Prosper from March 17 to April 17.

“The current deployment is authorised in accordance with the provisions of Section 201(2) (a) of the Constitution,” said Magwenya.

He said the likely cost of the deployment was R147 million.

Earlier this week, Independent Media reported that Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe had denied there was a dispute between him and Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa over the powers of the latter.

Mantashe said he was working closely with the former Tshwane mayor in resolving the energy crisis.

He said Ramaphosa and the Cabinet wanted an end to load shedding, and were taking steps to end it.

Mantashe, who was answering oral questions in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, said Ramokgopa was leading the energy action plan to deal with the crisis.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18816521 (081958ZMAY23) Notable: National Health Insurance Plan for South Africa” (2009) – funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (video and .pdf)

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>>43906

>President Ramaphosa reveals that a health revolution is on the way

>He told the 2nd Presidential Health Summit in Boksburg that the National Health Insurance Bill aims to create a universal healthcare system for all South Africans.

“National Health Insurance Plan for South Africa” (2009) – “funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”

https://archive.org/details/south-africa-nhi-health-plan-2009-bill-gates

https://ia601806.us.archive.org/28/items/south-africa-nhi-health-plan-2009-bill-gates/South%20Africa%20NHI%20Health%20Plan%202009%20Bill%20Gates.pdf

[On the cover]

National Health Insurance Plan for Sout Africa

Preapred by the Task Team on National Health Insurance on behalf of the Health and Education Sub-Committee

DATE: 16 February 2009

This project was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Confidential and not for distribution

[Page 8]

Actions Required of the ANC

The African National Congress has commissioned an NHI Task Team to develop a National Health Insurance (NHI) plan for financing health care in South Africa.

[Page 10]

The ANC is advised to take key decisions in the following areas:

• The mechanisms for resource mobilization, i.e. the decision to increase the health allocations in real terms via the general tax revenue, supplemental national health insurance payroll level and rerouting of public sector employees contributions to medical schemes to the national health insurance fund. In addition there should be removal of tax deductibles to the medical schemes.

• The way health services are to be improved to better serve all our people. Yet “SA's Health Emergency | 'Basic health service collapsed'” [May 4, 2023] - https://youtu.be/l8AYlYlUh1Q [Embedded]

• The type of proposed governance and management structure of the NHI.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18819913 (091352ZMAY23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Wave of bombings hits Graskop and Hazyview

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“Wave of bombings hits Graskop and Hazyview”

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/The-Lowvelder/20230504/281483575711218

4 May 2023

MBOMBELA - A wave of bombings hit the Lowveld over this past long weekend.

On Sunday, two bombings and one business robbery occurred in Graskop within just 45 minutes of one another, leaving one security guard injured and several residents fuming.

They decided enough is enough, took to the streets and went as far as locking the Graskop Police Station up with a lock and chain, demanding the station commander’s resignation. They were elated to report that through unified actions by the various stakeholders in town, they were able to send the station commander packing. “We cannot have businesses 100m away from the police station robbed, and they take no action to prevent these attacks. They also took more than three hours to attend to the crime scene, claiming that they were scared, while we expect them to protect us. We wanted him gone and demand a new commander who will be prepared to fight crime in our town,” one of these citizens said.

A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, confirmed that the local SPAR, TOPS and Pep were robbed.

According to Mohlala, it is thought that there were 30 heavily armed robbers. He, however, did not respond to the allegations from business owners that police members said they were too scared to respond to the robberies, nor did he have any comments on why it allegedly took them more than three hours to respond to the crime scene.

Attacks on filling stations in Hazyview have become such a stumbling block for garage owners, that some of them are considering closing down their businesses. Michael Tomlinson, owner of the Sasol garage just outside Hazyview, is one of them.

A recent robbery on Tuesday brings the total incidents at this filling station in the last 15 months to six. With this week’s attack being the second one this year, Tomlinson said this might just be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

https://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/graskop-onder-beleg-ingryping-nou-nodig/

[English translation] The town was under siege on the Sunday (April 30) of a gang of at least 13 heavily armed assailants who blocked all access routes into the town in the early hours of the morning and fired shots into the streets.

https://www.da.org.za/2023/05/graskop-incident-shows-residents-total-loss-of-confidence-in-saps

This follows the recent criminal attack in Graskop, where a gang of criminals held the small-town hostage while SAPS officers hid in their offices. This incident is not an isolated one and indicates the incompetence and under-resourcing of small town and rural police stations. It underscores the urgent need for action and improved policing in small towns across South Africa.

More

“'It sounded like war': Graskop under siege as gangs of robbers act with impunity | News24” [8 May 2023] - https://headtopics.com/za/it-sounded-like-war-graskop-under-siege-as-gangs-of-robbers-act-with-impunity-news24-38884579

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18819983 (091411ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / “Set aside Eskom judgment", says Pravin Gordhan (Parts 1&2)

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“Set aside Eskom judgment, says Pravin Gordhan” Part 1

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/set-aside-eskom-judgment-says-pravin-gordhan-3d5d812c-f977-498d-befa-1a20f0e8aceb

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023

Cape Town - The court judgment ordering an uninterrupted supply of electricity to hospitals, schools and police stations would “undermine” efforts to balance the protection of the rights of South Africans with the need to stabilise and protect the grid infrastructure, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said.

On Monday, in announcing the department’s intent to lodge an urgent appeal to set aside the High Court in Pretoria judgment, Gordhan said they had serious concerns about the implications of the ruling on the current efforts to stabilise the national grid and get the country out of load shedding.

“While the department respects the independence of the courts, in this case the department believes that the judgment would have unintended consequences and undermine the very efforts to balance the protection of the rights that were ventilated in this case, with the need to stabilise and protect our grid infrastructure," Gordhan said.

The high court on Friday ordered the government to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to all government hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations following an application by the UDM, Action SA, Bosa and other political and civic organisations.

In it, the organisations argued the government and Eskom violated basic human rights by implementing load shedding that has knocked critical areas of the economy such as hospitals.

The court gave Gordhan 60 days to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to these facilities.

Judge Norman Davis, who wrote the judgment, said in cases where sites could not be isolated from the grid to exempt them from load shedding, arrangements must be made for alternative power supply to these government institutions, such as generators. [While “South Africa’s ministers have generators funded – and don’t pay for water!” https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africa-ministers-have-generators-funded-dont-pay-for-water-breaking-10-october-2022/]

“We find that there have been repeated breaches by the state of its Constitutional and statutory duties and that these infringe on citizen’s rights to healthcare, security and education,” Davis said.

Gordhan on Monday said that the department had studied the ruling and “determined through legal advice that the prudent step to take is to lodge an appeal to set aside the ruling and allow for the ongoing efforts to end load shedding to proceed without putting undue risk on the country’s grid infrastructure”.

Bosa spokesperson Sbu Zondi said the government must stop wasting taxpayer’s money on court cases and deliver electricity to its citizens.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18819985 (091412ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / “Set aside Eskom judgment", says Pravin Gordhan (Parts 1&2)

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>>43919

“Set aside Eskom judgment, says Pravin Gordhan” Part 2

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/set-aside-eskom-judgment-says-pravin-gordhan-3d5d812c-f977-498d-befa-1a20f0e8aceb

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023

“We originally brought the matter to court based on the gross violation of human rights, not only in the health, educational and security sectors, but across all spheres of South African society,” Zondi said.

“The fact that the court not only concurred, but, while showing deference to the separation of powers, was damning in its condemnation of the government's derogation of its duty, provided all South Africans with a sense of imminent restoration of justice and reinstatement of their human rights.”

A professor of technology management at the University of Pretoria, David Richard Walwyn, said although the court's decision was laudable, it may be impossible to implement in the short term, and uneconomic in the longer term.

“To exclude schools and hospitals from load shedding would require individual connections or cables from main substations to literally thousands of unique sites.

“It would be more practical for Eskom to provide standby generators, using diesel, to hospitals and perhaps, some of the schools. Even this step would cost more than Eskom can currently afford, and would open more opportunities for the theft of diesel and generating equipment.

“It was inevitable that Eskom would appeal the judgment,” he said.

Energy activist Peter Becker said the responsibility to exempt hospitals, schools and police stations in many cases rested with municipalities, some of which were already dysfunctional and did not have the staff, equipment or budget needed to modify the distribution infrastructure as necessary to comply with the court order.

“It would be good to know the total government, and in particular the Department of Mineral Resources (DMRE), will spend on pointlessly defending and appealing legal action,” he said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18820086 (091439ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / SIU demands answers on appointment of intelligence operation by De Ruyter at Eskom

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>>43910

“SIU demands answers on appointment of intelligence operation by De Ruyter at Eskom”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/siu-demands-answers-on-appointment-of-intelligence-operation-by-de-ruyter-at-eskom-7e645c73-498d-4a36-bac0-d54c1f682bec

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023

Cape Town - The Special Investigating Unit is demanding answers about the use of a private intelligence operation by former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter to probe corruption.

SIU boss Andy Mothibi said they were surprised to learn that De Ruyter had used a private company to gather intelligence and was funded by the private sector.

He said De Ruyter should have approached the SIU on matters that he wanted to be investigated and they would have agreed.

The SIU, the Hawks and the SAPS were appearing before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday, following damning allegations by De Ruyter of massive corruption at Eskom.

Mothibi said they have a number of questions on the appointment of the private company, headed by former SAPS national commissioner George Fivaz, to gather intelligence.

De Ruyter told Scopa two weeks ago that he sought funding from big business for Operation Ostrich.

It was stated that R50 million went into the project.

Mothibi said they have a number of questions on the private intelligence operation at Eskom.

“We want to understand who authorised the appointment of the private company that the former CEO referred to. Why would Eskom put an investigating company when the allegations could have been referred to the SIU or DPCI (Hawks) or State Security Agency? Whether the report of the private investigating company was handed to Eskom and the accounting authority, which is the Board. If the report was handed to Eskom or the accounting authority we would want to have access to that report, to consider it for further investigations that could be further required from a recovery perspective. How was the private investigating company paid or even appointed? If the investigation itself was paid for by third parties, who would be these third parties. Whether the outcome by the private company is acted upon? If so, how is it acted upon and by who?” Mothibi asked.

He added that this would help the SIU to get to the bottom of the appointment of Fivaz’s company at Eskom.

He said the Hawks, the SIU, the police and the National Prosecuting Authority have been investigating a number of cases of corruption from Eskom.

Some of these cases have been referred to the NPA for a decision to prosecute.

Already there are matters that are before court.

But all state agencies are working on corruption cases at Eskom, said Mothibi. [This has been going on for a number of years but no major players have been prosecuted and Eskom is destroyed.]

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18826325 (102017ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Eskom expected to implement up to Stage 10 load shedding

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“Eskom expected to implement up to Stage 10 load shedding”

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/eskom-expected-to-implement-up-to-stage-10-load-shedding-bb5c93db-ba08-46d6-9ac5-b7df86441f75

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2023

Electricity consumers should brace for intensified power cuts of up to Stage 10 load shedding this winter, as nearly half of Eskom’s generation capacity is offline due to breakdowns.

Eskom ramped up load shedding to Stage 6 indefinitely on Sunday, with breakdowns nearing the highest level at 19 333MW of generating capacity, while 4 524MW was out of service for planned maintenance.

The last time breakdowns were this high was at the height of severe power cuts in February, with 21 243MW, while 3 566MW was out for maintenance at the time.

Independent energy analyst Lungile Mashele yesterday said Eskom currently had about a 6 000MW deficit, and the power utility could supply only about 25 000MW against the electricity demand of about 31 000MW.

“I anticipate that during this week, we are going to see Stage 7 and Stage 8 load shedding which we have seen before, but obviously the utility will not communicate it as they typically do, and they will simply say we are load shedding at Stage 6 even though the number hours is much higher,” she said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18826327 (102018ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Agri SA bemoans impact of load shedding on Food Security

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“AGRI SA BEMOANS IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING ON FOOD SECURITY”

https://ewn.co.za/2023/04/28/agri-sa-bemoans-impact-of-load-shedding-on-food-security

28 April 2023 20:44

The agricultural sector further said there's no constitutional framework to highlight an independent mandate of the minister of electricity.

CAPE TOWN - The agricultural sector noted that persistent load shedding was fast becoming a threat to food security – as it may lead to shortages of food in the country.

It said the turf war between the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, and the Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, hindered the efforts to resolve the rampants power cuts crisis.

The sector further said there's no constitutional framework to highlight an independent mandate of the minister of electricity.

Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede said the government must prioritise the devastating state of power in the country.

"What people need to realise is that there's no use you have a good harvest, but you can't process it, and our food processors are really facing an uphill battle when it comes to the processing of those food products into edible food stuff. We have also seen that our vegetable farmers are struggling with irrigation."

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18826347 (102022ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / SASRIA will not pay claims related to grid failure (video)

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>>43924

“SASRIA won’t pay claims from ESKOM grid collapse & SABC calls “radio licence” fake news | VN | 154” - https://youtu.be/IQ9Gx-UcwcI

“SASRIA will not pay claims related to grid failure”

https://www.enca.com/news/sasria-will-not-pay-claims-related-grid-failure

Monday 8 May 2023 - 2:14pm

JOHANNESBURG - The state-owned insurer, Sasria, says it will not cover unrest-claims that may arise if the electricity grid fails.

Sasria provides cover for strikes, riots and other forms of civil unrest to state and private property owners.

In a circular to clients the insurer said that its re-insurers have been urging it to eliminate claims related to load shedding and power grid failure.

The insurer says from the first of June all its existing and new policies will exclude cover for electricity grid failure.

Sasria paid R32 billion in claims following 20-21 July riots.

The government had to inject R22 billion into the insurer for these claims.

“A BLACKOUT IN SA LIKE BOTSWANA'S WOULD COLLAPSE THE POWER GRID”

https://ewn.co.za/2023/05/09/a-blackout-in-sa-like-botswana-s-would-collapse-the-power-grid-expert

09 May 2023 09:47

This comes with the news that neighbouring Botswana suffered a countrywide blackout after midnight on Monday.

Energy analyst and physicist at University of Johannesburg, professor Hartmut Winkle said Botswana is much smaller than South Africa and their problems were quickly sorted out.

However, a blackout in South Africa would be far more serious.

“If we were to have a blackout essentially what would happen is that a breakdown somewhere can then trigger breakdowns everywhere down the line. So, what we want to avoid is a situation where the tripping of one power station - which happens a lot - doesn’t then progress to collapsing the rest of the grid.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18830125 (111522ZMAY23) Notable: Meet Dr Patrick Moore: Greenpeace co-founder who left the organisation hijacked by political left (video)

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“Meet Dr Patrick Moore: Greenpeace co-founder who left the organisation hijacked by political left”

https://youtu.be/GLkiQ0qIm-M

May 8, 2023

Dr Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, shares how he came to join the fledgling group that founded Greenpeace, the bold endeavours and significant victories obtained by the young organisation during its early years, and the details behind his decision to walk away from the organisation after 15 years of devoted involvement. Moore's comprehensive understanding of the Earth's geologic time scale and contextualisation of climate change, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and extreme weather events, among others, is solid and fascinating. A true environmentalist, Moore is a rare example of someone who placed his principles above all else.

TIMESTAMPS.

00:00 Dr Patrick Moore on growing up in absolute wilderness

02:16 On doing a Bachelor of Science in Forestry and Biology, followed by a PhD in Ecology after getting certified

02:54 How joining a fledgling group of people whose aim was to stop nuclear testing began Greenpeace

04:38 On the efforts of Greenpeace leading to President Nixon's cancellation of future tests of nuclear weapons in Alaska, signifying the beginning of the environmental movement

04:58 On going against French atmospheric nuclear testing in the South Pacific

07:02 On Greenpeace's Save the Whales campaign in the 1970s and active campaigning against toxic waste

11:06 On Greenpeace being hijacked by the political left

12:06 On the separation of science from politics being absolutely essential

13:35 On his book, "Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom." [“The truth of the matter is is that there is no hard evidence that carbon dioxide is causing anything to happen to the temperature of the earth. There's none. It is totally theoretical.”]

17:34 On the history of the temperature and CO2 on Earth

21:54 How human beings have increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by about 50%. [“This is one of the best things that has happened in the history of life.”]

22:39 On human beings' capacity to be evil

24:05 On Net Zero [“It’s a suicide pact”]

25:09 On where we would get CO2 from if the world were to abandon fossil fuels and adopt nuclear energy

27:19 On coral reefs and the myth that they are going to die if it gets too hot

28:17 How the consensus is bought and paid for

29:44 How scientists who disagree with the consensus are discredited

31:14 On the claim that extreme weather events evidence catastrophic climate change

33:26 On Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports

36:10 On his decision to walk away from Greenpeace [“It came to the point where the environmental movement including Greenpeace was basically characterizing humans as the enemies of nature.”]

46:44 On the potential motivation driving climate alarmism [“More control than money… It’s a communist kind of approach to the situation… The earth is actually doing quite fine right now. The human species can be immensely proud of itself in retrospect. Not because we did it on purpose, but because we have reversed the decline of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which no other species could have done and this is a good thing, the replenishment. Every molecule of CO2 we emit, came from the environment in the first place… We are just putting it back where it came from and when it was there, life flourished. So that’s all you need to know. You really don’t need to know anything more than that.”]

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18830622 (111737ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben E Brigety: “US had found that [Russian ship] Lady R was loaded with weapons.” (video)

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“SA involvement in Russia-Ukraine war unpacked” – US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben E Brigety: “US had found that [Russian ship] Lady R was loaded with weapons.”

“SA involvement in Russia-Ukraine war unpacked” [Worth watching]

https://youtu.be/1rtesSSvRK4

May 11, 2023

The US ambassador to SA Rueben Brigety said he would stake his life on the claim that our government has sold arms and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine. SA Institute of International Affairs Moeletsi Mbeki and #Newzroom405’s Ziyanda Ngcobo dissect these developments.

“Did South Africa provide Russia with weapons? The US thinks so”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africa-russia-weapons-transfer-lady-r-scandal-breaking-11-may-simons-town/

11-05-2023 15:53

The US government believes South Africa provided Russia with weapons when a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel docked in Simon’s Town.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged reports that the United States government believes South Africa provided Russia with weapons.

US AMBASSADOR RAISES CONCERNS OVER LADY R’S VISIT TO SIMON’S TOWN

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, took to Twitter and wrote, “The Presidency has noted the reported remarks attributed to the US Ambassador, and we will respond in due course.”

According to reports, US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben E Brigety, said the US had found that Lady R, a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel that docked at Simon’s Town in December 2022, was loaded with weapons.

The ambassador said the issue was raised as a concern during the recent visit to the US by a high-level South African delegation.

As previously reported, Simon’s Town residents saw container trucks enter the dockyard and cranes loading and unloading cargo from the ship under cover of night. Armed security personnel reportedly oversaw the operations.

South Africa has maintained that it is taking a neutral stance on the Russia/Ukraine conflict. However, Brigety said there were a series of issues, including Lady R allegedly leaving South Africa with arms, which indicated otherwise.

“The docking of the Russian cargo ship, Lady R, in Simon’s Town between December 6 and 8, 2022, which we are confident loaded weapons and ammunition in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russia,” the ambassador is quoted as saying by the Sunday Times.

Brigety held a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, 11 May.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18830765 (111805ZMAY23) Notable: AfriForum wins order against Rand Water with costs

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“AfriForum wins order against Rand Water with costs”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/gauteng/afriforum-win-order-against-rand-water-with-costs/

May 11, 2023

AfriForum won an order against Rand Water with costs in the Pretoria High Court on 10 May 2023. In November 2020, Rand Water reduced the water pressure in several areas due to the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality’s inability to settle outstanding debts.

Although the water pressure was greatly reduced in several towns, parts of Bethal and Leandra were left completely without water.

Residents had to get by without running water for weeks at a time.

In March 2021, AfriForum submitted an application to review the decision to lower the water pressure after the organisation determined that there was insufficient public participation in the process.

The matter was finally settled by Rand Water’s legal team after two years of delay and the decision was declared invalid and illegal by the High Court in Pretoria.

AfriForum set up emergency water points in Bethal and other affected towns to help communities if their taps ran dry.

These emergency water points are filled by volunteers at no extra cost.

“AfriForum will not just stand by and watch as communities are punished as a result of the mismanagement of state organs and municipalities and we will not hesitate to act if these draconian measures were to be implemented again in other areas,” says Hennie Bekker, AfriForum’s District Coordinator in the Highveld. You can help your town! Add your name here and give AfriForum the mandate to do the same in your town.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18831021 (111853ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / MPs rap Eskom brass on the knuckles for forcing De Ruyter out instead of probing claims (Parts 1&2)

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“MPs rap Eskom brass on the knuckles for forcing De Ruyter out instead of probing claims” – (1 of 2)

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/mps-rap-eskom-brass-on-the-knuckles-for-forcing-de-ruyter-out-instead-of-probing-claims-fef30f88-5757-44dc-9565-e59503158dee

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023

South African lawmakers have hauled Eskom’s top brass over the coals for failing to investigate serious wrongdoing, fraud and corruption at the power utility, following allegations made by former group CEO, André de Ruyter.

De Ruyter deposed an affidavit to Parliament last month, formally stating his televised allegations of corruption amounting to R1 billion a month at Eskom by at least four politically connected cartels.

Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday, that the board had convened a special meeting with De Ruyter to discuss his shocking allegations and their impact.

He said the board was of the view that some of the utterances De Ruyter made had brought the utility into disrepute, and that the board had resolved to agree to the variation of his notice period.

“A good number of the allegations misled the public as if there were new developments that had been shared firstly with the board, and that was not the case,” Makwana said.

“Second, it would have misled the public by indicating that no action was taken internally by Eskom and all concerned,” he added.

But Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa took issue with the manner in which Eskom had dealt with De Ruyter, bringing forward his notice period by a month, and releasing him from his duties.

“Were you not interested in finding out more information about these organised syndicates killing people every day in Mpumalanga from Mr de Ruyter?” Hlengwa asked.

“Here’s your CEO going publicly making these allegations and the default position is to resign him. He was fired, that’s what it is, but that’s the board’s decision. But the issue is did you test the allegations that he made?”

Makwana replied that Eskom’s internal state capture and corruption task team was tasked with investigating the information that flowed from the assertions made by De Ruyter.

Further, he said they had resolved to have a legal independent panel appointed, headed by a retired judge to guide the board independently on the appropriate execution of its fiduciary duties, and its responsibilities in this regard.

“Since the establishment of that state capture task team, a lot of disciplinary hearings have occurred inside Eskom. In the public domain, it is known that in the period around late September or mid-October, 26 former executives – including a former acting CEO of Eskom – were arrested and appeared in court in relation to the allegations,” he said.

“When Eskom made a statement that there was nothing new, it was because these matters were already in court, with regard to the 26 executives arrested,” Makwana said.

In a presentation, Eskom’s chief transmission executive Segomoco Scheepers detailed all the gains they had made in dealing with procurement irregularities such as clamping down on excessive use of “free text” within the SAP system.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18831026 (111853ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / MPs rap Eskom brass on the knuckles for forcing De Ruyter out instead of probing claims (Parts 1&2)

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>>43929

“MPs rap Eskom brass on the knuckles for forcing De Ruyter out instead of probing claims” – (2 of 2)

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/mps-rap-eskom-brass-on-the-knuckles-for-forcing-de-ruyter-out-instead-of-probing-claims-fef30f88-5757-44dc-9565-e59503158dee

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023

Scheepers said some irregularities relating to warehouse management had resulted in the culprits being tracked and criminally charged, and they were observing year-on-year improvements in inventory write-offs.

With regard to inventory corruption, fuel oil theft, and non-technical losses due to electricity theft, he said they were making strides as they had reduced fuel oil expenditure at Tutuka power station by R100 million per month.

Even though Eskom said the current executive was not aware nor involved in the controversial privately funded investigation by third parties sanctioned by De Ruyter, former board chairperson Malegapuru Makgoba confirmed knowing about the investigation.

Makgoba said the probe that De Ruyter undertook was an operational matter because Eskom at the time was besieged with sabotage and corruption, while failing to make headway with law enforcement agencies.

As an example, he cited one or two meetings that De Ruyter had with the former head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate advocate Hermione Cronje where concerns were raised about the lack of progress.

“The Hawks were not doing what they were supposed to. Not that they were not investigating, but they were just taking too long, almost lackadaisical about what needed to be done while Rome was burning,” Makgoba said.

“And this was repeating itself in a number of ways around cases that were being reported either to the SAPS and to the Hawks, with very little action.

“And as the board, we were concerned that our crown in the jewel was being destroyed when we had a security cluster that seemed to be asleep, and these were matters of grave concern,” he said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18831050 (111857ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / Ramaphosa to appoint retired judge to probe Russian ship

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>>43927

>>43903

>>43909

>Dr Sydney Mufamadi

“Ramaphosa to appoint retired judge to probe Russian ship”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/ramaphosa-to-appoint-retired-judge-to-probe-russian-ship-69084bcd-e17c-4655-9f2d-9dbf40774435

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa will appoint a retired judge to lead a probe into the docking of a Russian naval ship in the country that allegedly uploaded weapons and ammunition for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

This was after Ramaphosa slammed US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety II for going public on the matter.

He said the ambassador went public on the matter in spite of an agreement between the two countries that an investigation was under way.

This issue was also discussed when Ramaphosa’s national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi met with top Biden administration officials in Washington recently.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the conduct of Brigety was against the spirit of co-operation.

“It is public knowledge that a Russian vessel known as Lady R docked in South Africa. Allegations have since been made about the purpose of the voyage. While no evidence has been provided to date to support these allegations, the government has undertaken to institute an independent inquiry to be led by a retired judge.

“In recent engagements between the South African delegation and US officials, the Lady R matter was discussed and there was agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course and that the US intelligence services will provide whatever evidence in their possession.

“It is therefore disappointing that the US ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations,” said Magwenya.

A political analyst warned that the possible fallout between South Africa and the US could lead to the removal of the country from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

Professor Bheki Mngomezulu from the Nelson Mandela University said South Africa could land in trouble with the US as it can remove it from Agoa.

However, it would be difficult for the US to impose sanctions on South Africa as it would have to seek support from its allies in the West as they did with Russian President Vladimir Putin when the war started in Ukraine last February.

The immediate threat would be Agoa.

Mngomezulu said South Africa would have a tough time when it came to Agoa.

“The threat is Agoa. They say if relations get sour between South Africa and the US they might not renew Agoa. The fact of the matter is that South Africa is a sovereign state and it takes its own decisions. If the ship was carrying weapons why didn’t they take it up with the ambassador at the time before it escalated?” asked Mngomezulu.

He said there was no reason for the US to be angry with South Africa.

There was no reason for the sanctions as there was no substance to the claims by the US ambassador. There needs to be evidence to back up these allegations, he said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835870 (121640ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / "Gordhan told De Ruyter to gather intelligence somehow," Scopa told (Parts 1&2; video)

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“Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 10 May 2023” - https://youtu.be/QWWu4U1yTqY

“‘Gordhan told De Ruyter to gather intelligence somehow,’ Scopa told” – Part 1

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/parliament/gordhan-de-ruyter-eskom-intelligence-investigation/

10 May 2023

Eskom has denied knowing about the private intelligence investigation into Eskom corruption.

The privately-funded intelligence investigation, initiated by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, into corruption at the power utility dominated proceedings in Parliament on Wednesday.

Eskom’s current board appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) to brief MPs about their response to De Ruyter’s allegations of sabotage and organised crime.

The meeting comes a day after the Hawks, the South African Police Service (Saps) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) accounted to the committee.

It emerged on Tuesday that the law enforcement authorities had no knowledge of any details contained in a report of the R50 million intelligence investigation, which was funded by private donors.

Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya told the committee that he was not aware of the investigation or its findings, despite national police commissioner Fannie Masemola’s claim that the directorate had been informed by Saps.

Lebeya said he first learnt of the private investigation and the related allegations when De Ruyter appeared before to Scopa two weeks ago.

‘Eskom was besieged’

On Wednesday, further details surfaced on how the private investigation came about.

Former Eskom interim board chairperson Malegapuru Makgoba revealed to Scopa that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan may have planted the seed for De Ruyter to pursue the investigation.

“I think the Minister of Public Enterprises was the one who brought this matter…. he said to André that ‘you have to gather some intelligence somehow… he didn’t say it must be done in the manner that André did it, but he said we needed to gather some information in order to be on top of this problem because load shedding and criminal activities were increasing,” he said.

Makgoba criticised the police and Hawks for being non-responsive when Eskom reported any criminal activities during De Ruyter’s tenure.

“The issue that Mr De Ruyter undertook was an operational matter because Eskom at the time was besieged with sabotage and corruption and we were not getting a mileage from the law enforcement agencies.”

He said there was “very little action” from the authorities “when Rome was burning”.

“This was repeating itself in a number of ways around cases that were being reported… so as the board we were concerned that our crown in the jewel was being destroyed when we have security cluster that seems to be asleep.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835874 (121641ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / "Gordhan told De Ruyter to gather intelligence somehow," Scopa told (Parts 1&2; video)

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>>43932

“‘Gordhan told De Ruyter to gather intelligence somehow,’ Scopa told” – Part 2

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/parliament/gordhan-de-ruyter-eskom-intelligence-investigation/

10 May 2023

Intelligence-driven operations

Makgoba also told the committee that De Ruyter had in fact reported his concerns about Eskom to Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi, on 5 July 2022.

Then on 16 July De Ruyter took several ministers – including Gordhan and Police Minister Bheki Cele – to the Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga, according to Makgoba.

He said the president came later and was briefed on the same day.

Makgoba pointed out that Ramaphosa made a reference to an “intelligence-driven operation” at Eskom that led to 43 arrests during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on 9 February this year.

“Which intelligence-driven operation is this?” he asked.

Makgoba further confirmed knowing about the private investigation although he personal did not see a hard copy of the report, which was compiled by the investigating agency of former police commissioner George Fivaz.

“It seems like Saps and Hawks have only woken up after they had this intelligence-related information. As the interim chair of the board of Eskom, I never received any evidence or documentation, but nevertheless I did get the message [via] word of mouth. I can also confirm that the ExCo was not privy to what was going on in terms of this intelligence gathering,” he added.

Eskom board

Earlier, Eskom denied knowing about the investigation or being possession of the report.

“We don’t have the details around what transpired here,” Eskom chief executive for Transmission, Segomoco Scheepers said.

Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwa also dismissed suggestion that De Ruyter told him about the intelligence operation on 22 November last year.

“No that is not correct,” he said.

De Ruyter last month told Scopa that the constant interference by Gordhan and Eskom’s new board played a role in his decision to resign as they made it difficult for him to carry out his duties.

He claimed that the new board had adopted a different approach to the previous board led by Makgoba, which he had a positive relationship with.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835928 (121651ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / US may have better insight about alleged weapons SA gave to Russia- Bruce (video)

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==“US may have better insight about alleged weapons SA gave to Russia- Bruce” -

Discuss Eskom, destroying SA economy==

https://youtu.be/nz_dm4rgv_g

May 12, 2023

Sunday Times columnist Peter Bruce tells Xoli Mngambi "The Americans could have positioned a satellite on top of Lady R (Russian cargo ship)," to get a full understanding of what was happening with the alleged weapons SA provided to Russia.

1:12 – “What stood out for me Peter was the information from the former board chair Professor Malegapuru Makgoba who says that it was Minister Pravin Gordhan who said to Andre De Ruyter, “gather some intelligence around corruption at this power utility.” What stood out for you?… Exactly that. I mean that it just stood out like a sore thumb… It was just so powerful and it cuts a sway through all of the other nonsense and obfuscation that you get from the ministers and the ANC and everybody else involved in Eskom. He told the truth pretty easy, it turned out.”

4:10 – “They’re [ANC] in trouble. They’re in such trouble that they can’t tell the truth and they’ve got an election now probably less than a year out.”

4:35 – “Let’s then focus the attention a little bit on Eskom and the impact it is having, not just on the economy but the actualy daily lives of people. You already have protests that erupted in Mpumalanga. In Soweto we’re told that there were scenes of violence overnight, people blockading roads. I’m raising that because yesterday I had a conversation with Magda Wierzycka [https://youtu.be/qrzQgP45bW8]. This is an established businesswoman who is not afraid to call a spade, a spade. She had these words to say about not just the state of our economy but the Ramaphosa Administration… “What we are now being forced to accept is no longer poor government, it’s incompetent one. It’s no longer about creating jobs, it’s actually about actively destroying those jobs but not being able to manage the economy. We no longer talking about supporting business. We are talking about again by load shedding, sabotaging businesses and not big business. It’s the SMMEs that you must worry about and again not about flatlining the economy where we are now talking about actually killing the economy and it’s this inability to deal with the infrastructure, the corruption involved, the incompetency on display. So my issue is how can we can even talk about South Africa being a non-failed state.””

8:43 – “We only make, and this is provable, there’s only the facility here to make artillery and shells and bullets that fit NATO weapons and the the Russians employ the Warsaw Pact, used to employ - and still do - an entirely different size of shell and bullets. So it’s going to be very interesting to see what the evidence is and I think the Americans are actually obliged to tell us what the evidence is.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835948 (121654ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Why would Russia’s Kalashnikov make a NATO-friendly assault rifle? - AK-19

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>>43934

>“We only make, and this is provable, there’s only the facility here to make artillery and shells and bullets that fit NATO weapons and the the Russians employ the Warsaw Pact, used to employ - and still do - an entirely different size of shell and bullets. So it’s going to be very interesting to see what the evidence is and I think the Americans are actually obliged to tell us what the evidence is.”

Not sure about the other weapons but…

“Why would Russia’s Kalashnikov make a NATO-friendly assault rifle?” – AK-19

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/idex/2021/02/23/why-would-russias-kalashnikov-make-a-nato-friendly-assault-rifle/

Feb 23, 2021

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Firearms manufacturer Kalashnikov is exhibiting its new AK-19 rifle for the first time outside of Russia during an arms trade show in the United Arab Emirates.

The assault rifle meets NATO’s caliber standards: It is chambered for 5.56 x 45mm rounds, and it has a Picatinny rail, a new collapsible folding stock to adjust length, improved aperture sight and a quick-detachable suppressor.

The gun is based on the AK-12, which was accepted into service by the Russian military in 2018. The AK-19 is compact and suitable for concealed carry.

Defense News asked the Russian company’s CEO, Dmitry Tarasov, why it would design a NATO-friendly rifle when there are measures in place that prevent NATO members from buying it.

“The 5.56 × 45mm round has been traditionally used by many countries of the [Middle East], Southeast Asia and Latin America. It is a huge market, and many countries in those regions view the weapons originating from Russia with much respect. AK-19 is aimed to woo these markets,” Tarasov replied. “The [Middle East] region is, indeed, in our focus as a fast-growing market for defense products. Our legendary brand is well-established in the region, and we are planning to build upon that.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18835991 (121700ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Cyril's Rubicon? RW Johnson on arms-to-Russia torpedo for SA's motor industry, AGOA, ARV supplies (video)

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>>>/qresearch/18519466, >>>/qresearch/18519471 Further notes on South African history – PW Botha’s Rubicon Speech (Parts 1&2)

>>>/qresearch/18519482, >>>/qresearch/18519484, >>>/qresearch/18519488, >>>/qresearch/18519498, >>>/qresearch/18519509 Further notes on South African history – PW Botha’s Rubicon Speech (Parts 1-5)

“Cyril's Rubicon? RW Johnson on arms-to-Russia torpedo for SA's motor industry, AGOA, ARV supplies.”

https://youtu.be/lyQ31l3YzVY

May 12, 2023

“South Africa’s foremost political scientist RW Johnson provides context on the US’s accusation that South Africa has been supplying arms to Russia. It’s reminiscent of PW Botha’s “Rubicon”[interesting that they are using this as a comparison] blunder in August 1985, which sparked massive disinvestment, demand for immediate repayment of foreign debt, an economic collapse and rocketing interest rates. Johnson says Pretoria’s actions threaten hundreds of thousands of South African jobs - and lives. Most apparent are SA motor manufacturers whose lifeblood is selling into the USA and Europe. Equally at risk is the country’s membership of AGOA which gives SA exporters duty-free access to the US market “as a favour” because, strictly speaking, SA shouldn’t qualify. Johnson also points out that millions of South Africans living with HIV/Aids receive antiretrovirals purely through the generosity of US donors - another critical source of goodwill threatened by Pretoria’s actions. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.”

1:18 – “Two things. First of all, he wouldn’t have made that statement without the go-ahead from the State Department. So the idea that he is somehow operating as a sort of lone wolf is not on. Secondly, of course… the fact is that American intelligence does operate within South Africa and they’ve always had people here from the CIA and I’m sure they still do. Now obviously this is a sensitive point because they probably don’t want to reveal much about that which is why of course South Africa is demanding the evidence because they hope that it will force them to reveal that sort of thing.”

4:14 – “This is now 6 months ago that the Lady R was here and several months since the exercises in Admiral Gorshkov. At the time when the Lady R was here, people asked Thandi Modise, the defense minister, what was going on… She said well I can’t be certain about that until I all the full documentation and then I’ll know but after that she said nothing. Now this is 6 months on… It’s amazing, they [the SA government] turn around and say well what is your [US] evidence?… I doubt whether the Americans have got any patience with this and I suspect that there may be a motive for why the Ambassador spoke out so firmly.”

9:59 – “There’s a clause as the Ambassador pointed out in the Agoa Treaty itself which says that this is an agreement between partners who agree that they will not act against the national security interest of the United States.”

12:21 – “I think we’re heading for serious trouble here.”

12:55 – “The ANC has been very vocal about mercenaries drawn essentially from western countries in the Congo and elsewhere but this [Wagner Group] is a more brutal and more rapacious mercenary group than anything we’ve seen before and the ANC has not said a word about it which is very very strange. One of the things I have pointed out in that article is that the [https://www.biznews.com/premium/2023/05/08/rw-johnson-sa-link-wagner-group] is that Illusion 76 [aircraft] which came out more recently. Now the Americans have not yet talked about this. Well I suspect that’s coming because that too was a very strange visit and it looks like something funny was going on there as well. Now that came from the Chkalovsky base in Russia which is used by Wagner as its headquarters for all its logistics. So already the connection there which is very interesting and odd and the [SA] government really needs to talk about that. I mean again this preposterous excuse that the airplane was delivering diplomatic mail… It’ absurd. The Russian embassy has been in Pretoria since 1992. The first thing an embassy has to do is to set up arrangements to receive and send diplomatic mail that’s now being operating for 31 years. Why is there suddenly need for a huge military transport plane to fly all the way from Russia to deliver diplomatic car [?]… That plane was delivering stuff all over Africa which must in many cases have been for Wagner because that’s the only Russian forces which need military supplies which is operating on the continent.”

21:30 – “The reports are that the Russians are paying for the ANC’s municipal election campaign in 2016 already. Apparently as quid pro quo hoping to get Zuma to sign on nuclear power stations. So we know that Russian money is coming into the ANC and helping to pay salaries there right now.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18838646 (130225ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / (from General) 'It's a serious issue': White House responds to claims South Africa passed weapons to Russia

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General Research #2123 >>>/qresearch/18838567

'It's a serious issue': White House responds to claims South Africa passed weapons to Russia

It is claimed that a Russian ship picked up weapons in South Africa last year - an act which would represent a breach of Pretoria's declared neutrality in the Ukraine war.

Mark Stone US correspondent @Stone_SkyNews Friday 12 May 2023 19:11, UK

White House National Security Council spokesman Admiral John Kirby has described reports that a Russian cargo ship transported weapons from a port in South Africa to Russia in December as a "serious issue".

Speaking to Sky News, he said: "We have consistently and strongly urged countries not to provide any support for Russia's war.

"We don't believe that anybody should be making it easier for Mr Putin to kill innocent Ukrainian people, period.

"We've had multiple conversations at multiple levels, with multiple countries about those concerns, but obviously I'm not going to get into the diplomatic conversations themselves.

"It's a serious issue."

Supplying weapons

America's ambassador to South Africa said on Thursday that he was confident a Russian ship, the Lady R, had picked up weapons in the country last year, which would represent a breach of Pretoria's declared neutrality in the war.

"We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion," Ambassador Rueben Brigety told journalists in South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded, saying his government would open an inquiry.

"The matter is being looked into and in time, we'll be able to speak about [it]," the president said.

Phone call

The development comes as both President Ramaphosa and President Putin spoke by phone in a call, which the Kremlin claimed was initiated by the South African side.

In a brief summary of the call, released by the Kremlin, the two "expressed their intentions to further intensify mutually beneficial ties in various fields".

According to the Kremlin, Mr Putin told Mr Ramaphosa that Moscow had never refused the "diplomatic track" to resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Kremlin officials said that President Putin supported President Ramaphosa's peace proposal, which involves African leaders in an initiative to bring about peace.

Summit in August

Russia and South Africa are both members of the BRICS group of nations including Brazil, India and China.

The next BRICS summit is to be held in Durban, South Africa, on 15 August. It is not clear if President Putin will defy sanctions on his travel to attend the summit.

https://news.sky.com/story/its-a-serious-issue-white-house-responds-to-claims-south-africa-passed-weapons-to-russia-12879320

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18842617 (132328ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Covid & Other Pestilence Bun / (from Canada #42) Secrets of Manufactured Consent

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Canada #42 >>43790

Secrets of Manufactured Consent

https://drtrozzi.org/2023/05/12/secrets-of-manufactured-consent/

Danger: Arch criminals Gates and Tedros buying influence in African health

Thanks to Shabnam Palesa Mohamed. The last few weeks have seen WHO director-general Tedros and vaccine profiteer Bill Gates surface prominently in South Africa, where a controversial mRNA production hub was recently launched. While Tedros received a controversial honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria, Gates is reportedly funding a secretive maternal and newborn conference to the volume of at least $9 million.

The conference, which launches 8 May 2023, is described on its website: “For the first time in more than eight years, the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) 2023 will bring together the maternal newborn health communities in Cape Town, South Africa. More than 1,500 stakeholders from around the world will come together to accelerate solutions to improve maternal and newborn survival and prevent stillbirths as we strive to achieve the ambitious targets outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.” Interestingly, this mega-conference is not listed on the CTICC website.

A whistle-blower alerted CHD Africa executive director Shabnam Palesa Mohamed about the conference. She shared “They called it the maternity event, they are keeping it quite, they are not advertising it. Last week, WHO people were there, and Tedros received honours from Tuks university. Doctors from America, Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand etc are attending this conference, it’s more than 10 000 doctors, I’m really scared for the future and mRNA vaccines for babies.”

This well referenced article from the Africa Chapter of Children’s Health Defense is well worth the read: Manufactured Consent -- https://childrenshealthdefense.co.za/home-page/manufactured-consent-gates-and-tedros-buy-influence-in-african-health/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846278 (141908ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / US ambassador to SA has ‘apologised unreservedly’: Dirco after demarche

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It is interesting that Dirco stated that Reuben Brigety apologized when he met with Naledi Pandor… I wonder if he did/will do it in public.

“ANC, SACP accuse US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety of reckless behaviour” - https://youtu.be/sMcgS2Z5TX4

3:35 – “If you look at Agoa, it almost ceased to be a legitimate state and investment relationship instrument. It has been used as a weapon of war. As a weapon, to extract concessions and undermine democratic sovereignty of the nations that benefit from the relationship.”

“US ambassador to SA has ‘apologised unreservedly’: Dirco after demarche”

https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-05-13-us-ambassador-to-sa-has-apologised-unreservedly-dirco-after-dmarche/

13 May 2023 - 09:15

US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety has apologised “unreservedly” after he admitted to “crossing the line” at a briefing he held on Thursday.

This is according to the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) which in a diplomatic démarche on Friday expressed the government's “utter displeasure” with Brigety's “conduct and statements”.

Brigety caused a furore on Thursday when he told reporters a Russian ship that had docked at Simon's Town naval base had left South Africa loaded with weapons.

He also said Washington had established the vessel was loaded with weapons while docked at the naval base in December.

There was controversy when the vessel docked, with Pretoria silent on its activities while in South African waters.

Brigety's comments sparked a local outcry, with questions being raised about the manner he chose to raise these concerns.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has since announced the government would institute an independent inquiry to probe these allegations.

Dirco in a statement released after the démarche confirmed Brigety's apology.

“Dirco finds this behaviour puzzling and at odds with the mutually beneficial and cordial relationship that exists between the US and South Africa.

“Following today’s [Friday] meeting, the ambassador admitted that he crossed the line and apologised unreservedly to the government and the people of South Africa. South Africa is known globally for having one of the most stringent processes when selling arms to other countries [LOL!].

“The process is managed by the National Convention Arms Control Committee (NCACC), which was created through an act of parliament, the National Conventional Arms Control Act (NCAC Act), and the constitution.

Dirco also welcomed Ramaphosa's announcement, saying the “process will allow for facts to be established and for role players to be identified”.

“Anyone found to have broken the law will face severe consequences. South Africa calls on the US embassy in Pretoria to use established diplomatic channels of communication to convey any concerns or to seek clarity on any misunderstandings that may arise in the bilateral relationship,” it said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846288 (141911ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / SACP accuses Brigety of Reckless Behaviour due to his utterances (video)

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>>43939

>https://youtu.be/sMcgS2Z5TX4

Embedded

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846292 (141912ZMAY23) Notable: How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen (Parts 1-3)

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>>43939

>“Following today’s [Friday] meeting, the ambassador admitted that he crossed the line and apologised unreservedly to the government and the people of South Africa. South Africa is known globally for having one of the most stringent processes when selling arms to other countries [LOL!].

“How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen” Part 1

https://www.newarab.com/analysis/how-south-african-weapons-fuel-war-crimes-yemen

03 May, 2021

Analysis: Despite attempts at oversight, Yemen is awash with weapons made by South Africa's arms industry.

As the country stood on the brink of democracy in November 1993, Nelson Mandela proudly promised that in the new South Africa human rights would be the "light that guides our foreign affairs." However, decades later, South African-made weaponry has been deeply involved in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Reports confirm that the country's arms control body continues to approve weapons exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), central protagonists leading a military campaign in Yemen since 2015 that has been characterised by widespread human rights violations and war crimes.

A history of arms sales

In September 1994 - just four months after Mandela's inauguration - the ANC-led government was rocked by media reports that a large consignment of South African weapons had been sold by the government-owned arms company, Armscor, to war-torn Yemen.

As a central pillar of the apartheid regime, Armscor was established to circumvent the UN arms embargo imposed on Pretoria in 1977. Not only did Armscor arm apartheid security forces so they could internally crush resistance to apartheid, but it also supplied weapons to fuel destabilising wars throughout southern Africa in an effort to weaken support for South Africa's liberation movements.

Weapons of South African origin were involved in killing fields across the world, from massacres in the former Yugoslavia to genocide in Rwanda. Armscor's culture of impunity was inconsistent with the principles of a liberated South Africa, leading Mandela's government to swiftly investigate weapons sales.

A new beginning for SA's arms industry

Mandela's investigation transformed South Africa's weapons industry and precipitated the formation of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). The NCACC was comprised of ministers from various government departments, including Defence, Justice, and International Affairs, with a mandate to ensure that South Africa did not become complicit in human rights violations.

In 2002, the government passed the National Conventional Arms Control Act, requiring arms companies to apply for export permits. Permits were granted only after the NCACC assessed each application, ensuring that weapons were not being sent to "governments that systematically violate or suppress human rights."

The purchasing country must honour an end-user certificate (EUC) and agree not to transfer munitions to other parties without South Africa's permission. Weapons were not to be sold to governments that violated EUC undertakings.

On paper, South Africa had a rigorous set of laws and institutions to ensure that its post-apartheid weapons industry could free itself from a sordid history of illicit arms trafficking to some of the world's most murderous regimes.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846295 (141913ZMAY23) Notable: How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen (Parts 1-3)

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>>43941

“How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen” Part 2

https://www.newarab.com/analysis/how-south-african-weapons-fuel-war-crimes-yemen

03 May, 2021

The NCACC and Yemen

However, evidence suggests that 27 years into its democracy, South Africa's arms trade still bears a resemblance to its apartheid-era predecessor.

A new report [https://www.opensecrets.org.za/wp-content/uploads/Profiting-from-Misery.pdf] by South African civil society group, Open Secrets [https://www.opensecrets.org.za/who_we_are/], has exposed what appears to be an indifferent approach on the part of the NCACC to both human rights and regulation, and the lethal consequences of its failure to properly scrutinise weapons exports.

In 2015, more than 42% of South Africa's weapons exports went to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In 2016, that number climbed to 48.9%. In 2017 and 2018, over a third of all SA weapons exports went to the Emiratis and the Saudis.

Over this same period, there have been scores of publicly documented deadly air strikes by the Saudi and UAE-led coalition on Yemeni homes, schools, hospitals, markets, mosques, weddings, and funerals. In this time the NCACC has continued approving weapons exports to these countries.

Weapons gone astray

In violation of its EUC agreements, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been diverting South African weapons to militias in Yemen. Since 2015, SA-made weaponry has been documented on all sides of the conflict in Yemen.

Some weapons were produced by South Africa's state-owned manufacturer Denel, a descendent of Armsco; others by German company Hensoldt, which has production facilities in South Africa.

One of the most egregious diversions of South African weapons involves Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), a joint venture between German arms company Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH and South African Denel.

There is compelling evidence from independent experts and the UN that the mortars used in a 2018 attack on a fish market and hospital in Hodeidah which killed 64 civilians – and which was deemed a war crime – had likely originated from RDM.

The National Conventional Arms Control Act and the UN Arms Trade Treaty require the NCACC to take diversion of weapons into account when considering export applications. However, the NCACC continues to approve arms destined for the Emiratis and the Saudis – serial violators of EUC agreements.

Assessing weapons applications

There is confusion about the information that the NCACC uses to assess weapons applications.

Jackson Mthembu was the chairperson of the NCACC until his death in January 2021. In August 2020, Mthembu told Open Secrets that the NCACC relied on the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), the State Security Agency (SSA) and Defence Intelligence (DI) for information and to flag concerns.

However, three months prior, Defence Committee chairperson Cyril Xaba, told parliament that the NCACC relies almost entirely on the media and public reporting for information.

Public reports from the UN, Yemeni and international NGOs have painstakingly analysed the devastation in Yemen and the role of the Saudi-led coalition, but have been widely ignored by the NCACC.

Mthembu also told Open Secrets that RDM's possible involvement in the Hodeidah attack "is of no concern to the NCACC" because information on the incident had not been directed to South Africa's UN Mission in New York.

Mthembu's response suggests that the legal and institutional frameworks established to ensure that South Africa's weapons trade is not complicit in human rights violations may not be functioning correctly.

The role of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) is acutely aware of the devastation caused by the war in Yemen.

In 2019, Minister Naledi Pandor spoke about Yemen at the UN. In 2020, South Africa's representatives to the UN expressed concern at the human rights situation of Yemeni civilians.

DIRCO has not used its position within the NCACC to discourage the export of weapons to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846297 (141913ZMAY23) Notable: How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen (Parts 1-3)

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>>43941

>>43942

“How South African weapons are fuelling war crimes in Yemen” Part 3

https://www.newarab.com/analysis/how-south-african-weapons-fuel-war-crimes-yemen

03 May, 2021

A missed opportunity

In 2019, the NCACC briefly halted weapons exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Two years earlier, the NCACC had moved a clause requiring on-site inspections to the front page of its end-user agreements. Saudi Arabia, UAE, and several other countries, refused to sign the agreements [https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-11-23-south-africa-blocks-arms-sales-to-saudi-and-uae-in-inspection-row/], alleging that it violated their sovereignty.

A diplomatic spat followed and by the end of 2019 the NCACC had stopped approving weapons exports to these countries. South African weapons companies, however, used the threat of job losses [https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2019/11/27/south-africa-must-permanently-ban-saudi-weapons-sales] to lobby the NCACC to restore exports.

In May 2020, it was announced [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-defence-idUSKBN22P1EH] that on-site inspections could be performed through an unspecified 'diplomatic process'.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18846309 (141915ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / U.S. accusation a veiled threat? (video)

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>>43937

>>43939

“U.S. accusation a veiled threat?” – Very Interesting Discussion

https://youtu.be/dTF0QjwPxjw

May 13, 2023

U.S. Ambassador to SA, Reuben Brigety, has apologised for accusing the country of supplying Russia with arms. Professor Chris Landsberg, Chairperson of African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at UJ, says the accusation is a strategic way to warn other African countries to not 'try what SA has done'.

3:34 – “It seems that, first of all, that message was not only done for America and by America. America was also speaking on behalf of NATO, the so-called leader of the so-called free world. It seems that the irritation with South Africa has now gone beyond that and it’s now reached in a point of alienation and what they did by single out the purported, the giant in Africa and do it such a brazen fashion was to send a message, not just to us but to the region and to all of Africa that any one of you dare do a think like this. Like South Africa… America is a dictatorship abroad. It adopts a posture of do as I say, don’t do as I do. But let me come to more serious implications. One of the ministers in the Presidency yesterday used very strong language that South Africa seems to want to almost induce Africa into “economic warfare”. I think that’s exactly what America is saying.”

7:59 – “The real issue here is… if there is any veracity of truth that we did give weapons to Russia then I’m telling you the implication is twofold; we have effectively become a member in this conflict/war then any future attempt to claim neutrality and non-alignment is blown out of the water. The attempt here was to delegitimize South Africa’s role in the world to create a credibility crisis for South Africa which I think it has. There’s a lack of confidence in our world affairs.”

10:00 – “We know that these comments have sparked a local outcry with questions being raised about the manner he chose to raise the concerns… There are still more questions than answers, like when there’s a state-of-the-art cargo terminal available at Cape Town’s port was a sanctioned Russian freighter allowed to dock at a South African Naval Base? especially because it’s such a tiny base… Just allow me a few seconds to respond but this is very key. Let me tell you what the Ambassador omitted to say yesterday. This is how propaganda works. He omitted to tell us… Last year, 2020, 2017, 2013, 2011 – South Africa did US Army SANDF military training camps in South Africa on our soil with America. Russia sends a ship, they take umbrage. They do exercises with China, they take umbrage. They want to choose for South Africa their friends. Why would the Ambassador omit something like that. What is key about your point it’s not just that this Russian Lady [R] docked there but that port there has so much strategic importance for the Americans… Nobody is focused on President Putin’s reaction overnight… While we focus on the Ambassador’s reaction, the Kremlin, not the Ambassador in Washington or in Pretoria, the Kremlin releases a statement saying, by the way, we had an extensive call, my friend Cyril Ramaphosa and I, and they release gory details basically saying the South Africans confirmed we are the ally; economically, politically and so on. Even they are cornering South Africa now and the idea that President Putin should join the BRICS summit in August virtually. Guess what President Putin said to our President, “You dare do that. There will be consequences from Russia as well.” There are prices and consequences for our choices… And the problem sits with us.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18849431 (150818ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / US Unlikely To Sanction South Africa In Russia Weapons Dispute

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US Unlikely To Sanction South Africa In Russia Weapons Dispute

Reuters May 14, 2023

May 14 (Reuters) – South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said his country had resolved a dispute with the U.S. over allegations that Pretoria supplied weapons to Russia, and South Africa is unlikely to face U.S. repercussions, Bloomberg News reported Godongwana said in an interview on Sunday.

“A number of actions were taken in order to ensure that our relationship with the US remains and that relationship should be normal and cordial,” the minister told Bloomberg in an interview in Cape Town on Sunday. “The Americans are not likely to respond with any anger tomorrow.”

U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety said last week he was confident that a Russian ship had picked up weapons in South Africa in December, in a possible breach of Pretoria’s declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.

South Africa’s government denied the claims. After a meeting between Brigety and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor on Friday, the ambassador “admitted that he crossed the line and apologized unreservedly,” a South African government statement said on Friday.

A finance ministry statement on Saturday said, “Action was taken long ago once this matter was brought to the attention of South African officials” when U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen met with Godongwana in February.

When asked for comment, the U.S. State Department referred to a tweet by Brigety on Friday that said he had corrected “any misimpressions left by my public remarks.”

South Africa’s Finance Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

https://gcaptain.com/us-unlikely-to-sanction-south-africa-in-russia-weapons-dispute/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18856532 (161636ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / US Unlikely To Sanction South Africa In Russia Weapons Dispute

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>>43939

>US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety has apologised “unreservedly” after he admitted to “crossing the line” at a briefing he held on Thursday.

>This is according to the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) which in a diplomatic démarche on Friday expressed the government's “utter displeasure” with Brigety's “conduct and statements”.

>>43945

>South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said his country had resolved a dispute with the U.S. over allegations that Pretoria supplied weapons to Russia, and South Africa is unlikely to face U.S. repercussions, Bloomberg News reported Godongwana said in an interview on Sunday.

It is interesting that all the statements came from South Africa but no response from the US to reaffirm SA’s claims.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18856649 (161716ZMAY23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Cosatu - ‘Farmers rape and murder their workers’: HRC – ‘It’s not a human rights violation’

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“Cosatu – ‘Farmers rape and murder their workers’: HRC – ‘It’s not a human rights violation’”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/cosatu-farmers-rape-and-murder-their-workers-hrc-its-not-a-human-rights-violation/

May 15, 2023

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) believes that Cosatu’s statements that farmers are murderers and rapists merely cause hurt feelings and do not amount to a human rights violation.

“With such a statement, the HRC has once again shown that they judge matters unilaterally and ultimately do little to protect or promote human rights, although this is their primary task,” said Bennie van Zyl, general manager of TLU SA. “We will certainly not let the matter rest, as our primary task is to protect the sustainability of farmers.”

TLU SA approached the HRC in March after Cosatu [Congress of South Africa Trade Unions] released a national statement [http://mediadon.co.za/2023/03/21/cosatu-human-rights-day-statement-2023/] on Human Rights Day claiming that farm workers are being exploited and abused throughout the country.

The statement further said that farmers rape, assault and murder their workers.

TLU SA indicated that the comments are generalisations and devoid of any truth. It also contributes to worsening the relationship between farmers and their workers and increases the incidence of farm attacks as it incites people – not necessarily farm workers – to violence.

TLU SA insisted that Cosatu should publicly apologise to all the farmers in the country and pay R5 million in reparation to victims of farm attacks.

However, the HRC rejected the complaint on 12 April 2023 and said the statement does not constitute hate speech.

In further discussions with the HRC, TLU SA again emphasised that such statements incite hatred and threaten their safety. The HRC, however, maintained that – although “the language used is not ideal”, – the statement is not hate speech and merely “hurtful”.

Meanwhile, the Appeals Court ruled in April that displaying the old South African flag, even in one’s own home, is indeed hate speech as it incites and promotes hatred.

“We would like to establish with the HRC how they distinguish between hurtful and hate speech,” said Van Zyl. “For us, displaying an old flag may be hurtful to some people, but certainly not hateful. On the other hand, statements that farmers rape, assault and murder their workers are hateful in the worst form.

“We would also like to know if it would be considered hate speech if TLU SA said Cosatu members are arsonists and criminals because one of their members was possibly involved in burning pack stores in Kirkwood.

“The problem – apart from the fact that the HRC clearly acts unilaterally and that some people’s human rights in the country are being treated more equally than others – is that the HRC wants to reason about terminology while people’s lives are being threatened.”

TLU SA has again written to the HRC regarding the issues mentioned above.

TLU SA further insists that the HRC should make the 37 000 pieces of evidence (complaints and case numbers) of assault, rape and murder against farmers available before dismissing the matter out of hand.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18856654 (161717ZMAY23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Maclear farmer (74) tortured for 13 hours - Attackers make themselves dinner

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>>43947

>TLU SA indicated that the comments are generalisations and devoid of any truth. It also contributes to worsening the relationship between farmers and their workers and increases the incidence of farm attacks as it incites people – not necessarily farm workers – to violence.

“Maclear farmer (74) tortured for 13 hours – Attackers make themselves dinner”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/eastern-cape/maclear-farmer-74-tortured-for-13-hours-attackers-make-themselves-dinner/

May 1, 2023

A farmer, Francis Davidson (74) was attacked in his farmhouse on 26 April 2023, at 18:00, by three attackers. He was held captive and brutalised by them for thirteen hours.

During the assault the attackers made themselves dinner, ransacked the home and only fled the following day at 07:00.

The attack took place on a farm in Maclear in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The three attackers gained entry to the home by forcing open the front door.

Francis Davidson was assaulted, beaten with a blunt object, burned with paraffin, dragged around the garden and tied up.

He was found on 27 April 2023, still tied up laying injured on the floor by a neighbour who went to investigate after family members could not reach him.

The attackers fled in the farmers bakkie with a number of household items.

The bakkie was later found in the Katkop area burnt out.

It was reported in the media that Davidson survived a farm attack seven years ago in the same house.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18857412 (161947ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / U.S. says relationship with South Africa strong despite claim ally supplying arms to Russia

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>>43946

U.S. says relationship with South Africa strong despite claim ally supplying arms to Russia

By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times - Monday, May 15, 2023

The State Department and the Pentagon on Monday were silent on allegations from the U.S. ambassador to South Africa that Pretoria is supplying arms to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.

Officials at the State Department referred questions about the claims to the South African government.

“Our relationship with South Africa remains strong. We continue to be committed to the affirmative agenda of our bilateral relationship,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. “There are a number of issues that we look forward to working with them on.”

Last week, Ambassador Reuben Brigety told local media in South Africa that U.S. officials were confident that the Lady R, a Russian-flagged ship that docked in South Africa, was filled with military hardware and bound for offensive operations in Ukraine.

“I will bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Mr. Brigety said.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder declined to address the specifics of Ambassador Brigety’s claims, which have prompted a diplomatic row between both countries.

“This is something that we’re taking very seriously (and) it’s something that the U.S. government has raised and discussed with the South African government,” Gen. Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Monday. “The U.S. has strongly urged countries not to provide support to Russia’s war machine.”

Mr. Brigety later partly walked back his allegations following official protests from the South African government.

“I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with (South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor) and correct any misimpressions left by our public remarks. I reaffirmed the strong partnership between our two countries and the important agenda our presidents have given us,” Mr. Britety said on Twitter.

South African officials denied that they had violated their policy of not taking sides in the war in Ukraine.

“We have been firm on this point. South Africa has not been, and will not be, drawn into a contest between global powers,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Sen. James Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended Ambassador Brigety, saying the way he was treated by South African government officials “doesn’t reflect friendship or a neutral partner.”

More:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/may/15/us-south-africa-relationship-strong-despite-russia/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860724 (171220ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / Russia denies weapons were loaded onto the Lady R (Parts 1&2)

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“Russia denies weapons were loaded onto the Lady R” – 1 of 2

https://mg.co.za/politics/2023-05-16-russia-denies-weapons-were-loaded-onto-the-lady-r/

16 MAY 2023

The Russian government has weighed in on the Lady R weapons saga, denying that South Africa had sent the country any weapons on board the sanctioned cargo vessel, as was claimed by US ambassador Reuben Brigety.

A statement on the Russian Federation’s official South African embassy website on Tuesday said that, according to media reports, Brigety had provided no evidence to support his allegations, which appeared to be an attempt to change Pretoria’s stance on the war in Ukraine.

In addition, the calibre and type of ammunition manufactured in South Africa was not suitable for the weapons used by the Russian Federation’s army, it said.

Brigety’s comments last week sent the rand into freefall and sparked a scramble by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration — which has appointed a retired judge to probe their accuracy — to limit potential damage to South Africa’s trade relations with the US.

The country has been at pains to maintain its non-aligned stance over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and has abstained in the voting in successive resolutions on the matter before the UN General Assembly.

According to the Russian embassy statement, Brigety’s unproven allegations were part of a campaign to force South Africa to abandon this stance.

“Appointing guilty parties at [its] own discretion and resorting to ‘megaphone diplomacy’ have become typical characteristics of US foreign policy. In this context, the words of the US official cannot be perceived otherwise than as an attempt to sway the independent sovereign state’s foreign policy,” the Russian embassy said.

“This comes as no surprise, as the US seems to have lost its ability to interact with partners on [an] equal basis long ago. One’s friendship with the US is only possible under US rules.”

The embassy said a campaign to “pressure” South Africa, co-ordinated with mainstream Western media, was “increasingly gaining momentum”.

“The reason for that is the country’s non-aligned position with regard to the Ukraine conflict, which proves unsatisfactory for the United States,” it said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860726 (171221ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / Russia denies weapons were loaded onto the Lady R (Parts 1&2)

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>>43950

“Russia denies weapons were loaded onto the Lady R” – 2 of 2

https://mg.co.za/politics/2023-05-16-russia-denies-weapons-were-loaded-onto-the-lady-r/

16 MAY 2023

The embassy said the docking of the Lady R in Simon’s Town was “being used as a pretext” and was “totally fabricated and as false as the notorious tube presented by US state secretary Colin Powell at the United Nations Security Council, which was followed by a full-scale invasion of Iraq and cost the lives of one million Iraqis”.

According to the statement, the Russian military did not use the type and calibre of ammunition produced by South Africa, while the “miniscule” amount of arms and ammunition allegedly loaded onto the ship could not have influenced the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine.

The embassy said the US and other Western countries had supplied $100 billion in weapons to Ukraine since 2014 and had recently approved an additional $1.2 billion.

US mission spokesperson David Feldmann said his embassy stood by Brigety’s statement and had “nothing more to add”.

Addressing a state visit by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Cape Town on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said that he had presented an African Union peace proposal to both Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy during separate phone calls.

“Principal to our discussions are efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict in the Ukraine, its cost in human lives and impact on the African continent,” Ramaphosa said.

“In this regard, I presented the initiative on behalf of African heads of state, from Zambia, Senegal, Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa. The two leaders agreed to receive the mission and the African heads of state, in both Moscow and Kyiv.”

Ramaphosa said he had agreed with both Putin and Zelenskiy “to commence with preparations for engagements with the African heads of state.”

He said that the UN secretary general had been briefed about the initiative and had welcomed it.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860733 (171223ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Joint Press Conference between PM Lee Hsien Loong and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (video)

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>>43951

>Addressing a state visit by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Cape Town on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said that he had presented an African Union peace proposal to both Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy during separate phone calls.

The article failed to mention that the Brazzaville Foundation facilitated this.

The timing is interesting. Soon after being accused of selling weapons to Russia, SA is on a peace mission to end the conflict.

“Joint Press Conference between PM Lee Hsien Loong and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa” – Cyril discusses Africa’s peace mission to end Russia-Ukraine conflict

https://youtu.be/LO_afcoF-to

May 16, 2023

10:26 – “I had the opportunity to brief Prime Minister Lee on South Africa’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. I informed him that over the weekend I had the opportunity to represent the views of a number of African leaders with regards to the peace mission that those African leaders have been talking about for quite a number of months and consulting amongst themselves with regards to how Africa can make a contribution to bring about a solution to the conflict in Ukraine and Russia… Group of African heads of states took the view that Africa does needs to put forward an initiative, a peace initiative, that would help to contribute to the solution of that conflict. Facilitated by the Brazzaville Foundation, we’ve been able to have these discussions. Principled to our discussion our efforts to a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict in Ukraine. Its costs on human lives and the impact on the African continent. And in this regard representing various heads of government, I presented the initiative on behalf of these countries; Zambia, Senegal, Congo, Brazzaville, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa as well… This peace mission will contribute to the various other missions that are underway to bring a solution to that conflict.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18860752 (171232ZMAY23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Another “Plot for Peace”? Jean-Yves Ollivier founded Brazzaville Foundation (video)

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>>43952

>Group of African heads of states took the view that Africa does needs to put forward an initiative, a peace initiative, that would help to contribute to the solution of that conflict. Facilitated by the Brazzaville Foundation, we’ve been able to have these discussions.

Another “Plot for Peace”? [https://youtu.be/kvUVMZApJkw – embedded]

Are African leaders about to be made “heroes”?

https://africasacountry.com/2015/02/documentary-film-plot-for-peaces-selective-memory/

Jean-Yves Ollivier, the French businesman who claimed to have stage managed South Africa's transition, in a still from the film… Plot for Peace” tells the story of Ollivier, a French oil and coal trader, who intervened in southern Africa’s liberation wars. The film suggests that Nelson Mandela’s release from prison was the direct outcome of Ollivier’s game of cards, in which he used business contacts to bring together key players in the Cold War in southern Africa.

“Plot for Peace” was funded by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation. Ivor Ichikowitz (who Patrick Bond has called “Africa’s most aggressive arms dealing entrepreneur”) has been criticized for his close connections with the ANC, including Matthews Phosa (interviewed in the film about the ANC, Cuba, and Angola), Moeletsi Mbeki (former president Thabo’s brother) and Sandile Majali (best known for the Oilgate scandal).

Jean-Yves Ollivier founded Brazzaville Foundation

https://www.brazzavillefoundation.org/en/members/jean-yves-ollivier/

Jean-Yves Ollivier was, behind the scenes, the kingpin of the Brazzaville protocol [https://www.brazzavillefoundation.org/en/history/#protocole-brazzaville]. He is the only foreigner to have received South Africa's highest honors, first in 1987 for organising the first and most important regional prisoner exchange, and then from Nelson Mandela in 1995 for his contribution to peace. Jean-Yves Ollivier has made a career as a commodities trader in China, the Middle East and Africa and has engaged privately in international mediation, using his professional contacts in the service of peace. Among the many other peace mediations in which he has participated, Jean-Yves Ollivier played an important role in the negotiations that facilitated the departure of mercenary Bob Denard from the Comoros in 1989 and in the Sun City talks that led to power sharing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between President Joseph Kabila and four rebel leaders in 2002. He also played a role in the reconciliation between Uganda and Sudan, paving the way for the independence of Southern Sudan in 2011. Wanting to work in the philanthropic community, he founded Brazzaville Foundation in 2015.

Brazzaville Protocol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazzaville_Protocol

The Brazzaville Protocol (Official name; Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Cuba and the Government of the People's Republic of Angola for the Conclusions of the Internationalist Mission of the Cuban Military Contingent)[1] mandated the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola, paving the way for Namibia's independence through the New York Accords.[2] Representatives from the governments of Angola, Cuba, and South Africa signed the protocol on December 13, 1988 in Brazzaville, Congo.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916772 (281926ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / DA reacts to appointment of panel to probe docking of Russian vessel (video)

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“DA reacts to appointment of panel to probe docking of Russian vessel”

https://youtu.be/loBayS50WWE

May 28, 2023

Phineas Mojapelo will head the three-member independent panel to look into the circumstances surrounding the docking of a Russian vessel in the Western Cape last year. Mojapelo will be joined by Advocate Leah Gcabashe senior counsel, and Enver Surty as the other members of the panel. The panel has been given six weeks to conclude the investigations and will present the findings of the report to Ramaphosa. Member of Parliament and DA Shadow Minister of Defence, Kobus Marais weighs in.

3:09 – “Obviously then we need to know government’s involvement because we know that AB Logistics which is the logistical company belonging to Armscor was responsible for the handling of the freight and delivering of the rounds and shells from Russia to our ammunition depot.”

“SA’s arms control under global scrutiny following arms-to-Russia allegations”

https://www.biznews.com/intelligence/2023/05/26/sas-arms-control-under-scrutiny-russia-allegations

26th May 2023

Arms-to-Russia row raises doubt about South Africa’s compliance with arms control. It could face tougher scrutiny in future

The South African defence industry comprises state-owned entities such as Denel, Armscor and a division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and private companies. Armscor, as the government’s acquisition agency, has its own logistical capability called AB Logistics. It is authorised to move sensitive, controlled, and hazardous military goods in support of the South African National Defence Force, South African defence industry companies and, in some cases, for foreign clients.

The defence force itself is not mandated to engage in arms transactions except through Armscor.

What this shows is that the investigation into the allegations of arms supply to Russia would involve public and private role-players.

Further compounding matters is the fact that the Lady R cargo ship docked at the time when Russia was preparing for participation in the joint military exercise with China and South Africa (Ex Morsi II) which took place in February 2023. It is not clear if its arrival was linked to the joint military exercise, which would be easy for government to clarify. Regrettably, this coincided with the first anniversary of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916821 (281935ZMAY23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / Phineas Mojapelo to head Ramaphosa's panel into Russian vessel matter (video)

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>>43955

>Phineas Mojapelo

“Phineas Mojapelo to head Ramaphosa's panel into Russian vessel matter” - https://youtu.be/2nmQo4S7C9E

“MOJAPELO, PHINEAS MATHALE DEON”

https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/contact-us/58-acting-judges/mojapelo-phineas-mathale-deon

Personal:

11 June 1951, Polokwane, Limpopo province, South Africa

Married: Dr Setlola Lorna Esther Phoshoko-Mojapelo

Four Children: One son and three daughters

Three grandchildren: One girl and three boys

Education:

Matric: Tshebela High School

B Proc and LLB: University of the North (now Limpopo)

Attorneys Admission Board Exams

Profession:

Lecturer – 1 year at University of Limpopo

Admitted as Attorney of High Court of South Africa: January 1980

Acting Judge of the High Court, Pretoria: 1999 and 2001

Permanent judge of High Court of South Africa (then TPD): 27 January 2003

Deputy Judge President of WLD (now Gauteng Division, Johannesburg): 01 January 2005 - to date (2020)

Acting Judge, Supreme Court of Appeal: 01 December 2019 – 31 March 2020

Professional History:

Candidate Attorney: Webber Wentzel, Johannesburg: Jan 1978 – Dec 1979

Member: Law Society of the Transvaal: 1980 to Dec 2002

Member: Black Layers Association (BLA): 1980 to Jan 2003

Member: National Association of Democratic Laws (Nadel): 1987-1989

Examiner and Senior Examiner: Law Society of South Africa: +- 1988 – 2002

Secretary, BLA: 1985 -1991;

National President, BLA: 1991-1995

IBA Mission to Kenya re Threats to the Independence of the Legal Profession and the Judiciary: 1996

ICJ Mission to Sri Lanka re Threats to the Independence of the Judiciary: 1997

Board Member, BLA-Legal Education Centre: 1995 - 2006

Chair: BLA-Legal Education Centre Trust: +- 2001 – 2006

Commissioner: Judicial Service Commission: 1994 – 2002

Commissioner: South African Law Reform Commission: 1997/8 – 2000/1

LLD (Hon causa): University of Limpopo – 2007

Instructor/Trainer on Trial Advocacy for BLA and Motion Court for the Bar Council: 1996 -2019

Judicial Skills Training for members of Law Society: 2005 – 2018

Attended intensive course on Court Annexed Mediation, Utah, USA: Oct 2019 – Nov 2019

Publications on Legal Topics:

Doctrine of Separation of Powers in SA Context: Advocate 2013

Regular Column on History of the BLA – in several issues of African Law Review: 2017 - date

Papers on variety of subjects delivered over the years

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916836 (281937ZMAY23) Notable: Webber Wentzel law firm

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>>43956

>Candidate Attorney: Webber Wentzel, Johannesburg: Jan 1978 – Dec 1979

Webber Wentzel – 1 of 2

https://webberwentzel.com/About-us/Pages/default.aspx

Webber Wentzel is an African firm founded in South Africa more than 150 years ago. We provide in-depth legal and tax services throughout the continent. Our alliance with Linklaters and network of deep relationships with Africa's leading firms allows us to draw on the highest quality and most business relevant pan-African advice - matching this to the needs of our clients. We have over the last 50 years worked on some of the most transformative and significant matters on the African continent.

We are committed to exceptional client service consistently delivered through every client experience. We have extensive experience in advising on matters spanning Africa's countries, regions and languages: our track record is testimony to this. We support our clients across Africa: we do this independently or working alongside our established and integrated network of alliance and key relationship firms. Whether you work with us independently or alongside our network firms, we deliver a 'single firm' experience. With our culturally diverse teams and African proximity, we have developed a fundamental understanding of the continent's multiple and varied legal systems and cultures. We also bring international perspective to our clients through our alliance with global firm. Linklaters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webber_Wentzel

Webber Wentzel was founded in 1868 and is the only large South African law firm to retain a traditional partnership organisation and not incorporate into a limited liability company.

Notable deals[edit]

• Transaction between The Coca-Cola Company, SABMiller Plc and GFI to create the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa[28]

• Lead African legal adviser in the largest transaction ever to be done in Africa, AB InBev's take-over of SABMiller[29]

• Old Mutual[30] plc on its Managed Separation – African homecoming (listings on the Johannesburg, London, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe Stock Exchanges)

• Wal-Mart's acquisition of Massmart[31] – entry into Africa

• Mercer Africa's (Marsh & McLennan) acquisition of Alexander Forbes[32]

• Oceana Group's acquisition of Daybrook Fisheries in the USA[33]

• Gold Fields' 50:50 incorporated joint venture with Asanko Gold Inc.[34]

• Structuring of the African entities of General Electric[35]

• Tokio Marine Holdings' acquisition of Hollard[36] enabling it to acquire precious foothold in full-scale African expansion

• Pioneer Foods Group Ltd in respect of the firm intention offer by PepsiCo[37] Inc. to acquire the ordinary shares by way of a scheme of arrangement or standby offer valued at ZAR 25 billion

• USD 2,1 billion combination of the majority of Barclays' African operations with Absa Group – the largest cross-border African M&A transaction in 2013[38]

• Actis-backed Emerging Markets Knowledge Holdings' acquisitions relating to its tertiary education buy-and-build platform[39]

• The Carlyle Group (via its Sub-Saharan Africa Fund[40]) on various M&A transactions and fund structuring

• American Tower Corporation's acquisition of up to 723 of Telkom Kenya's transmission towers[41] – ATC's first entry into the Kenyan market, its fifth market in Africa

• Anglo American's restructuring of its shareholding in Anglo American Platinum and its interests in De Beers (combined deal value of ZAR 87 billion)

• Vodafone Group in respect of the disposal of its indirect 34,94% interest in Safaricom to Vodacom Group for ZAR 35 billion

• Woolworths on its takeover of Australian retailer, David Jones, valued at AUD 2,14 billion, and its acquisition of Country Road[42]

• Anglo American on the sale of the New Largo thermal coal project in South Africa to New Largo Coal[43]

• Sibanye Stillwater in respect of its US$500 million streaming transaction with Wheaton Precious Metals International[44]

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916842 (281940ZMAY23) Notable: Webber Wentzel law firm

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>>43957

Webber Wentzel – 2 of 2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webber_Wentzel

Notable cases[edit]

• In 1957 the firm advised Consolidated Diamond Mines of South-West Africa (CDM) in the Great South-West Diamond Case. CDM had been given exclusive rights to mine for diamonds in a diamond-rich area by the administrator of South West Africa, who subsequently conferred the right to Suidwes-Afrika Prospekteers. CDM successfully sued South West Africa to protect their sole right to mine.[6]

• In 1973 the firm successfully completed the case of Venkatrathnan and Another vs Officer Commanding Robben Island. In the case the court decided that prisoners were in principle entitled to study for tertiary degrees.[6]

• In 2004 the firm successfully challenged South African pharmaceutical price capping legislation in the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa in terms of which pharmacists, when dispensing prescription medicine, could charge a fixed fee limited to 26% and capped at R26.00.[6][45]

Notable alumni[edit]

Notable alumni of the firm include:[6]

• Bruce Cleaver, CEO of De Beers Group[46]

• Charles Augustus Wentzel, former Chief Magistrate of the Witwatersrand

• Henry Charles Hull, former board member of Anglo American Corporation and the first Minister of Finance (South Africa)[47]

• Sir Edward Solomon, former South African Senator and Minister of Public Works (South Africa)[48]

• Walter Webber, former Member of Parliament for the Labour Party in Troyeville, founder and champion of the Bantu Men's Social Centre and the Joint Council of Europeans and Natives.

• Ed Southey, President of the Law Society of the Transvaal (1985 and 1986) President of Association of Law Societies of Republic of South Africa (1991)[49]

• Stanley Sessel, former president of the Council of the Association of Law Societies

• Brett Kebble, mining magnate [murdered][50]

• Sheila Camerer, South African ambassador to Bulgaria[51]

• Nicky Newton-King, chief executive officer of the JSE Limited.

• Eric Pfaff, founder of the Maitland Group.[9]

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916863 (281946ZMAY23) Notable: How Middlemen and Corporations Armed the Rwandan Genocide - Armcor

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>>43955

>“Obviously then we need to know government’s involvement because we know that AB Logistics which is the logistical company belonging to Armscor was responsible for the handling of the freight and delivering of the rounds and shells from Russia to our ammunition depot.”

Armscor continues business, from Apartheid to now.

“The Secretary: How Middlemen and Corporations Armed the Rwandan Genocide” – Armscor 1 of 2

https://www.opensecrets.org.za/the-secretary-report/

May 11, 2023

Excerpts

Rather, declassified archival material shows how for years apartheid South Africa and its allies—some of them permanent members of the UN Security Council—circumvented the arms embargo using a complex network to launder cash for arms and to create end-user certificates. Zaire, in particular, served as a central node for the transit of weapons bought illegally by the apartheid regime for União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) in Angola.18 This relationship was also exploited for Mobutu Sese Seko’s suppression of opposition in Zaire; for meetings between South African envoys and representatives of Gabon’s Omar Bongo and Equatorial Guinea’s Obiang Nguema Mbasogo; and to aid Hissene Habre’s coup in Chad.19

State-owned arms company Armscor sold infantry weapons worth millions to the Rwandan government between 1980 and 1992.21 Between 1990 and 1993 alone, South Africa was estimated to have sold arms worth $32 million to Rwanda.22

With regard to the Rwandan civil war and genocide, there are two documented arms sales between South Africa and Rwanda: one in 1992 between Armscor and the Rwandan government and the other in May 1994 (which is the subject of this investigation). The weapons Armscor sold to Rwanda in 1992 were used not only in the civil war but also in the genocide.

Ehlers’ selection as a secretary of PW Botha, the ‘Big Crocodile’, was no coincidence. The young man’s military experience, exposure to state secrets, and ties to the apartheid power elite had groomed him to become part of the regime’s inner circle. He would be Botha’s side when he was developing strategy and consulting with foreign dignitaries.

In late 1989, Ters Ehlers lost his position. PW Botha was ousted as leader of his beloved National Party, and within months, his cabinet was successful in evicting the ailing Botha, who had suffered multiple strokes, from the presidency too.

The 42-year-old Ehlers left his offices at the Union Buildings in Pretoria carrying a little black book that was second to none. His decade as handlanger or assistant to Botha had set him up for life. He, like many securocrats, would leave government to privatise his services. Ehlers packed up his navy uniform and set up shop as a fixer and middleman in the dangerous and dirty world of highly lucrative arms deals. Ehlers became part of what Human Rights Watch, in a report published in 2000, described as South Africa’s ‘old-boy network’ spanning national defence and private business and drawing on experience gained dodging apartheid arms embargoes. This network would go on to run the arms trade in Africa and globally, which included dealing with some of the world’s worst human rights offenders.

In 1990, Ehlers made a seamless transition from the security state to one of its most curious, secret front companies—the Seychelles-based GMR. Named after Italian Giovanni Mario Ricci, GMR was a sanctions-busting front for the apartheid regime from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.13 Ehlers was tasked with taking over the reins of GMR from Craig Williamson, who he knew well from his days in Botha’s presidency.14 This relationship with GMR is important for our understanding of Ehlers’ role in the arms sales to Rwanda during the genocide as those weapons transited through the Seychelles in 1994.

In June 1994, as South Africa settled into a tenuous peace in its second month as a democracy and the genocide in Rwanda reached an alarming crescendo, Ehlers was facilitating a secretive and circuitous arms transaction. He travelled from South Africa to the scenic Seychelles islands to buy weapons, which were sold on to a Rwandan colonel, who provided a falsified end-user certificate (EUC) from then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC).

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18916868 (281947ZMAY23) Notable: How Middlemen and Corporations Armed the Rwandan Genocide - Armcor

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>>43959

“The Secretary: How Middlemen and Corporations Armed the Rwandan Genocide” – Armscor 2 of 2

https://www.opensecrets.org.za/the-secretary-report/

May 11, 2023

The arms travelled to their destination— Rwanda—with Colonel Théoneste Bagosora on a DC-8 plane registered in Zaire.6 Bagosora was an official in the Rwandan ministry of defence and a leader of the Interahamwe,7 the extremist militia considered to be the main perpetrator of the genocide. This circuitous trip was undertaken twice, and was unsuccessful the third time, as the media and people in the Seychelles learned that the arms were supporting the ongoing genocide in Rwanda.8 This arms sale was in explicit contravention of United Nations (UN) sanctions on the sale of weapons to the genocidal Rwandan regime.

Using declassified records from South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO); Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cables and faxes; and police affidavits, witness testimonies, and other documents of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, we show that Ters Ehlers and Théoneste Bagosora facilitated and perpetuated crimes against humanity and genocide in Rwanda in June 1994—a genocide that claimed the lives of over 800,000 to one million people in just 100 days.14

Among the documents Ehlers showed us, there was one he said he is very proud of—it is his certificate, signed by President Nelson Mandela, appointing him as honorary consul of Colombia.

He says that this was the result of work he conducted for the Colombians at the behest of a good friend who held an ambassadorial post at the UN in Geneva. This friend told him that Colombia was ‘struggling with Armscor’. While Armscor and Colombia had a relatively good relationship and Colombia already bought lots of ammunition from Armscor, the South African state-owned arms company was reluctant to sell a Mirage aircraft part that it had developed, which cost half of what it did in France and lasted five times longer.

To assist the Colombians, Ehlers called the chairman of Armscor. Later, in 1995, ‘the friend in Geneva’ called to say that the Colombians had managed to secure the deal with his help. Two months later, the Colombian ministry of foreign affairs offered Ehlers an honorary consul position in South Africa, as Colombia did not have an embassy in South Africa at the time.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924452 (301227ZMAY23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Glencore Subsidiary Buys Sherwin Alumina at Bankruptcy Auction

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>>>/qresearch/18879754

>>>/qresearch/18879871

Glencore has interests in Corpus Christi…

Glencore Subsidiary Buys Sherwin Alumina at Bankruptcy Auction

https://aluminiuminsider.com/glencore-subsidiary-buys-sherwin-alumina-at-bankruptcy-auction/

APR. 25, 2016

Texas’ Corpus Christi Alumina (CCA) purchased the assets of Sherwin Alumina at auction last week, winning the bid with a US$54 million offer. Both companies are subsidiaries of Anglo-Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company Glencore plc.

Although the Port of Corpus Christi submitted a bid, court filings indicated that Sherwin had a pre-existing plan to sell to CCA when it (Sherwin) filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in January. The plan involved Sherwin selling CCA the entirety of its assets in exchange for forgiveness of US$95 million of debt, plus US$250 thousand in cash. Another Glencore company has given Sherwin US$40 million to continue operating during bankruptcy proceedings. Sherwin was able to accept a higher bid if one was offered, but this arrangement is part of a plan to move Sherwin through bankruptcy quickly and in a debt-free condition.

The next step in the plan is to take the plan back to bankruptcy court. The court, namely the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Texas in Houston, will set a date to consider the plan within the next several days or weeks.

The firm is also in negotiations with labor at the plant, but according to a spokesman for US Steelworkers, which represents the plant’s labor force, said it is too early to tell what the sale might mean for labor negotiations. Negotiators are planning to meet with Sherwin’s attorneys this week in an effort to come to an amicable conclusion to talks that have gone on for over one-and-a-half years.

If negotiations fall through, USW’s representatives said that they will work towards separating workers from the plant and securing any back payments Sherwin may owe them. That would allow them to re-apply with Sherwin, but not as members of USW. The union’s attorneys are also working to insure that any agreements made with Sherwin will remain in force once the company’s ownership is settled.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924456 (301227ZMAY23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Glencore Subsidiary Buys Sherwin Alumina at Bankruptcy Auction

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>>43961

“Power plant at old Sherwin Alumina site to resume operations”

https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2019/05/02/power-plant-old-sherwin-alumina-site-resume-operations/3650943002/

May 2, 2019

A shuttered power plant on the old Sherwin Alumina property in Gregory is planning to restart operations in June.

The natural gas plant was built in 2002 to provide energy to its partner, Sherwin Alumina, said David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy Inc. It was "mothballed" in 2016 when Sherwin Alumina filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations, he said.

Now that some issues related to that bankruptcy filing have been resolved, work is underway to get the power plant back up and running as a combined cycle facility by early June 2019, according to a news release.

"I am pleased to announce the return to service of this highly efficient natural gas plant," said Mauricio Gutierrez, president and CEO of NRG, in a statement. "The Public Utility Commission of Texas' recent actions to further strengthen the ERCOT market reinforced our decision to return Gregory to service ahead of summer, providing additional reliability to our customers and Texas' growing economy."

The Sherwin Alumina property has been undergoing environmental remediation since the company entered into bankruptcy. And while the plant is situated on the property, it is not located within the old Sherwin Alumina facility or on the land being cleaned up, Knox said.

The NRG plant is capable of powering about 77,000 homes on the hottest days of the year at full power, the release states.

The plant will also undergo some revamping, as it shifts away from providing steam to the Sherwin Alumina plant, Knox said. It will have eight full-time employees.

"Instead of doing that steam out (to the plant), it just focuses all that steam on the steam turbine and generating that power," he said. "Without the primary customer, we needed to have the economics work."

After its closure, the Sherwin Alumina site was put under the ownership of Corpus Christi Alumina, a subsidiary of Sherwin Alumina's Swiss-based parent company, Glencore Holdings. A representative with Glencore declined to comment when contacted by the Caller-Times on Thursday.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924464 (301229ZMAY23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Bribery Scandal To Cost Glencore $1.1 Billion, While Billionaire Execs Avoid Blame—For Now

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>>43961

>>43962

Its business as usual eventhough…

“Bribery Scandal To Cost Glencore $1.1 Billion, While Billionaire Execs Avoid Blame—For Now”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2022/05/26/bribery-scandal-to-cost-glencore-11b—billionaire-execs-avoid-blame-for-now/?sh=11642fa1625a

May 26, 2022,11:44am EDT

Below are excerpts

Marc Rich, the legendary commodities trader, fled the United States for Europe in 1983 after being indicted for trading Iranian oil during the 1979 hostage crisis and evading $50 million in taxes. From Switzerland, Rich continued to operate Marc Rich & Co. until selling the trading house to his protégés in 1994. By the time President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich on his last day in office in 2001, the company had been renamed Glencore International. Rich died in 2013, age 79, a billionaire and a free man—an example that Glencore’s next generation of fat cats now seek to follow.

Including Rich (and his longtime right hand Pincus Green, now retired with an estimated $900 million) the company has birthed at least nine billion-dollar fortunes. The richest of the Glencore gang is former CEO Ivan Glasenberg, at $8.9 billion, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire rankings. Others include Daniel Maté, 58, a metals trader worth an estimated $3.6 billion, and oil trader Tor Peterson at $2.7 billion.

All three left the company in the past two years, but neither they nor other billionaire executives have yet been fingered in the Department of Justice investigation into Glencore’s misdeeds, resolved this week with the company’s admissions of guilt and $1.1 billion in fines.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the execs likely knew something: “With approval and knowledge of top executives,” Glencore traders for more than a decade until 2018 made illicit payments seem customary. Glencore admits now that its traders bribed foreign officials to secure contracts and cargoes, bribed bureaucrats to avoid audits, and bribed judges to make lawsuits disappear. Its fine under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act will amount to $430 million, with forfeiture of $270 million of ill-gotten gains.

Two Glencore traders have so far pled guilty and are soon to be sentenced. First, Emilio Jose Heredia Collado of California admitted to conspiring to manipulate the price of marine fuel oil in the ports of Los Angeles and Houston. (Those shenanigans will cost Glencore a fine of $341 million and the forfeiture of $144 million in profits.) Second is the government’s star witness, Anthony Stimler, formerly a senior oil trader overseeing West Africa. Stimler last year pled guilty to bribery and money laundering. He has reportedly shown remorse, and has been helping to elucidate for prosecutors the details of how Glencore, via “dozens of agreements” paid millions in bribes to Nigerian officials.

In 2014 Stimler, according to DOJ filings, was told to contribute an “advance” of $300,000 toward the reelection campaign of a Nigerian official. The payment flowed via wire transfer from a Glencore bank account in Switzerland through a New York bank to a Nigerian-owned account in Cyprus. In 2015 in order to get the opportunity to buy cargoes of oil from Nigeria, Glencore was required to submit $50,000 per cargo as an “advance payment.” According to court documents, Glencore made illicit profits of $124 million due to the scheme.

Other details include $147,000 in “Operation Carwash” payments made to three Brazilian officials at state-controlled oil giant Petrobras, which were disguised as a “service fee” of 50 cents per barrel of Brazilian oil that Glencore bought. All told, Glencore allegedly made $40 million in illicit payments to Brazilian officials.

In Venezuela, Glencore paid government-connected intermediaries $1.3 million in order to speed up $12 million in late payments that Petroleos de Venezuela owed the trading house under oil contracts.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, when a lawsuit alleged that Glencore had breached a contract and owed $16 million in damages, a company intermediary had a private meeting with the judge presiding over the case, paid a bribe of $500,000 disguised as a fake invoice for legal work, and the lawsuit went away. In DRC, Glencore admits to paying $27.5 million in bribes.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924476 (301233ZMAY23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / “Killer cholera hits amid decade-long bickering over Hammanskraal water crisis - and tender scandals”

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>>43915

>>43923

>Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa

“Corruption blamed for Hammanskraal water crisis”

https://youtu.be/Ef6adU4rrbw

May 25, 2023

Former Tshwane MMC for Utility Services, Abel Tau says the Hammanskraal cholera water crisis, which has claimed 17 lives so far, could have been avoided years ago if corruption was not rife and political leaders paid attention to the cries of the community. This comes after the Special Investigation Unit revealed that it has enough preliminary grounds to probe a tender for the upgrade of the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant in Hammanskraal.

The tender in question was awarded to controversial businessman Edwin Sodi and later revoked by then-MMC Abel Tau. He unpacks this further.

“Killer cholera hits amid decade-long bickering over Hammanskraal water crisis – and tender scandals” [including the new Minister of Electricity, ANC’s Kgosientsho ‘Sputla’ Ramokgopa”

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-23-killer-cholera-hits-amid-decade-long-bickering-over-hammanskraal-water-crisis-and-tender-scandals/

23 May 2023

The cholera outbreak has killed 15 people so far in Hammanskraal, Tshwane, where water issues have long been used as a campaigning tool by political parties to gain votes and control in the metro.

Thirteen years ago, it was reported that the Department of water affairs had declared the Apies River a disaster area after raw sewage had been pouring into the river located near the Rooiwal sewage treatment plant. That was in 2010.

In response to AfriForum’s petition calling on the Tshwane council to resolve the issue, the then council led by former mayor and now Minister of Electricity ANC’s Kgosientsho ‘Sputla’ Ramokgopa earmarked R11-million for maintenance and upgrading of the treatment plant.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924486 (301236ZMAY23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / Life in the Time of Cholera - the SA reality as ANC governance falls behind 19th Century civilization (Parts 1&2)

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>>43964

“Fikile Mbalula here in interview with HardTalk's Stephen Sakur” - https://youtu.be/NwwK9qcJnrM

“Life in the Time of Cholera – the SA reality as ANC governance falls behind 19th Century civilization” – 1 of 2

https://www.biznews.com/health/2023/05/29/cholera-anc-failure

29th May 2023

The cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, which has killed 21 people so far, is not only tragic but an ominous sign of the continuing disintegration of the South African state. Under the ANC, one after another of the nation’s essential services has fallen to pieces.

In his appalling interview on Hard Talk on the BBC last week, Fikile Mbalula, Secretary General of the ANC, said that electricity was the “one single failure” of 29 years of ANC rule. The interviewer, Stephen Sackur, did not even pick him up on this preposterous claim. Electricity is but one of a multitude of failures which is ruining our country, and by no means the most important one. Failures in education, crime prevention, and unemployment are all more important than our collapsing electricity supply, although none of them have the sudden, spectacular effects of load-shedding. Perhaps most important of all is the ANC’s failure to maintain two of the greatest needs of civilisation: clean water and good sanitation.

Cholera can be treated simply by giving the patient water with suitable salts, cheap and plentifully available, either by drinking or by injection. It is an utter disgrace that anyone in the world today should die of cholera. In South Africa this month, over twenty people did so at Hammanskraal, in the richest province in South Africa, purely as a result of misgovernance.

The ANC’s manifold failures – in education, crime prevention, health, water and sanitation, railways, ports, municipalities, railways, and employment – are caused not only by corruption, incompetence, neglect and arrogance but also by deliberate policy. The ANC has deliberately forced upon the nation policies it knows are ruinous and to which it would never dream of submitting itself. Consider somewhat similar failures in another country far away a century ago.

One of the world’s worst epidemics of malaria happened in Russia in 1922, spreading as far north as Archangel on the Arctic Circle. Nowadays, it would have been blamed on climate change (in the freezing cold!), but actually, it was caused by the collapse of Russian health services following the brutal disruption of the communist revolution and the civil war. (Malaria decimated the European population during the horrible cold of the 16th and 17th Centuries and probably killed Cromwell.) But an even worse loss of life, this time by starvation, was caused by deliberate communist policy.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924491 (301238ZMAY23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / Life in the Time of Cholera - the SA reality as ANC governance falls behind 19th Century civilization (Parts 1&2)

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>>43965

“Life in the Time of Cholera – the SA reality as ANC governance falls behind 19th Century civilization” – 2 of 2

https://www.biznews.com/health/2023/05/29/cholera-anc-failure

29th May 2023

Forced upon the nation

In South Africa, the ANC has forced upon the nation policies such as racial affirmative action, employment equity, transformation, cadre deployment and BEE, which it knows full well are ruinous. It knows that these policies have ruined education for the great mass of our people. ANC ministers would not dream of sending their own children to schools with affirmative action teachers, 92% of whom were black (in line with the Employment Equity Act, which the ANC has recently strengthened). BEE procurement has helped to ruin Eskom, but the ANC keeps pushing it harder and harder. From what we know about the tragedy at Hammanskraal and here, some of the facts seem as muddy as the water the local people have to drink; these ANC policies are largely responsible for the loss of life.

Hammanskraal is a large peri-urban municipality in the north of Gauteng. It falls under the Tshwane local authority, which was ruled by the ANC until 2016 when a DA-led coalition took over. It has a long history of failing water supply and sanitation. In 2008, sewage from the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant (RWWT) in the Tshwane municipality began flowing into the Apies River. Nothing much seems to have been done about it then. In 2011, the ANC closed the Temba Water Purification Plant. In 2019, Thembeka Mphefu, a Tshwane official and the divisional head of supply chain management, awarded a tender worth R295 million to upgrade the RWWT to a consortium of three companies, all owned by a businessman, Edwin Sodi, described as “an ANC benefactor”. Had Mr Sodi completed the work as he promised, the water at Hammanskraal would this month have been safe to drink, and 21 people would not have died. He did not do so and did not have the competence to do so.

According to a tweet by Koketso Resane on 23 May 2023, published in The Citizen, “Instead of using the money to upgrade the plant and ensure Hammanskraal residents get clean water, Edwin bought additional luxury cars, paid ANC salaries, and bagged Kefilwe Mabote as his side.” (Please google “Kefilwe Mabota images”.) In other words, he acted in full compliance with BEE procurement, which President Ramaphosa has recently confirmed he supports. I notice that Comrade Fikile Mbalula blames the DA for the Hammanskraal tragedy.

Will the ANC reverse its ruinous racial policies and allow the poor people in the municipalities to receive the best services at the lowest prices from the most competent and honest suppliers and contractors, regardless of their race or political connections? Will it consider the provision of clean water and good sanitation to all the people to be more important than racial ideology and favours to rich cronies? I don’t think so. Just listen to Fikile Mbalula in the Hard Talk interview, and you won’t think so, either. Stalin thought that achieving socialism was more important than feeding starving people. The ANC thinks that racial ideology and enrichment of the few are more important than the welfare of the many.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924528 (301258ZMAY23) Notable: How Middlemen and Corporations Armed the Rwandan Genocide - Armcor

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>>43967

Keep in mind…

Maurice Tempelsman, De Beers/Oppenheimers/US Connections

https://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1209.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20210301035453/https://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1209.html

NARRATOR: Maurice Tempelsman is an independent diamond dealer and a key intermediary for De Beers.

Mr. ASKIN: In a matter of, oh, 10 days, Maurice Tempelsman holds consultations in Brussels with key officials. He meets with the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa, has consultations with the U.S. State Department, speaks with Mobutu, flies on to go meet with Mr. Oppenheimer of De Beers in South Africa in what, according to what is certainly shown by a number of declassified U.S. State Department documents to be an attempt to stitch together a relationship between the De Beers empire and the Mobutu regime. So it's very clear that from the very beginning of the Mobutu regime Tempelsman had an important role in, to put it most charitably, advising and guiding Mobutu on how to deal with companies like De Beers.-

NARRATOR: The Oppenheimers, through Tempelsman, arranged to have the exclusive supply of diamonds shipped to their offices in London. De Beers has done well on Zaire's diamonds. So has President Mobutu.

Is it coincidence?…

http://whale.to/c/maurice_tempelsman.html

Belgian-born Maurice Tempelsman has a long and bloody history in Africa. When Congo’s first Premier, Patrice Lumumba, pledged to return diamond wealth back to the newly independent Congo in the early 60’s, Tempelsman, who began with De Beers in the 1950’s, helped engineer the coup d’etat that consolidated the dictatorship of 29 year-old Colonel Mobutu, and the coup against Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah; diamonds were at stake in each.

“I believe this was the beginning of what we now know of as conflict diamonds in the Congo,” says blood diamond expert and investigative journalist Janine Roberts, author of the book Glitter and Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel. “From then on diamonds would be extensively used to discreetly fund wars, coups, repression and dictatorships, in Africa.”

Maurice Tempelsman is Chairman of the American Jewish Congress, a Zionist pressure group that claims it works closely with the Israeli military. SEC filings show that LKI directors are high-rolling Zionist lawyers and investment bankers: one director belongs to the law firm that once represented President Kennedy—another Tempelsman friend. LKI is also connected to the euphemistically named United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Tempelsman empire remains rock solid behind Leon Tempelsman & Sons, De Beers, and Lazare Kaplan International—supplier of Tiffany’s and Cartier’s diamonds. A client of Adelai Stevenson’s law firm during the first Congo crises (1960-1970), Tempelsman later hired Lawrence Devlin, a CIA station chief responsible for covert operations in Katanga, to maintain the Mobutu diamond/cobalt connections into the late 1980’s.

Tempelsman is the deep pockets of the Democratic party, a regular supporter of the campaigns of John Kerry (D); Ed Royce (R); Tom Daschle (D); Barack Obama (D); Maxine Waters (D); John Rockefeller (D); Richard Gephardt (D); Howard Wolpe (D); Patrick (D) and Edward Kennedy (D); and the 1988 win of George H.W. Bush.

Tempelsman contributed some $500,000 to Clinton for president, and he is backing Hillary (D)… Botswana’s President Mogae attended the 1999 Attracting Capital to Africa Summit in Houston (TX), organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the “who’s who” of multinational corporations. CCA chairman Maurice Tempelsman organized the summit, where 10 African heads of state met with half of Clinton's Cabinet and 200 corporate representatives.[26] Tempelsman and the CCA organized the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Africa in 2001, featuring DRC President Joseph Kabila, coordinated with an Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) meeting involving President G. W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powel.

Maurice Tempelsman was Jackie O’Nassis Kennedy’s lover and he reportedly courted Madeline Albright.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18924675 (301351ZMAY23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Botswana says it is still keen on De Beers partnership, confident of new deal

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>>43968

>Botswana

>>43969

“Botswana says it is still keen on De Beers partnership, confident of new deal”

https://www.miningweekly.com/article/botswana-says-it-is-still-keen-on-de-beers-partnership-confident-of-new-deal-2023-05-30

30th May 2023

Botswana wants to maintain its partnership with De Beers and is confident that ongoing negotiations for a new diamond sales agreement will succeed, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Botswana is negotiating a new sales deal with Anglo American's De Beers ahead of the expiry of its current agreement, signed in 2011, later this year.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi's threats to walk away from the negotiations if Botswana fails to secure a bigger share of rough diamonds produced by Debswana, their 54-year-old diamond mining joint venture, have fueled speculation that the government may end the relationship.

But in a statement, government spokesperson William Sentshebeng said the negotiations between the government and De Beers "are ongoing, and we are confident that they will result in a deal that will benefit both parties".

Botswana's share of Debswana's output increased to 25% in 2020 from 10% in 2011. Although Botswana has not publicly stated what share it is seeking in the new deal, it is believed to be as high as 50%.

Sentshebeng said talks to renew De Beers' diamond mining rights, which are due to expire in 2029, were also being held well in advance to allow for critical investment decisions.

De Beers and Botswana plan to invest in capital intensive expansion projects at their two largest mines, Jwaneng and Orapa, to extend their lifespans by another 20 years.

In March, Masisi's announcement that Botswana will take up a 24% stake in Belgian gem cutter and trader HB Antwerp was seen as an attempt to reduce De Beers’ dominance over the country’s diamond industry.

But Sentshebeng said Botswana's partnership with HB Antwerp was meant to secure a stake in diamond processing and value addition.

“The partnership with HB Antwerp will not affect or replace the partnership with De Beers, which is premised on mining and selling rough diamonds,” Sentshebeng said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18935782 (011804ZJUN23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Glencore to honour pre-existing Russia contracts, no new deals

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>>>/qresearch/18927938

Glencore is deep in Russian oil.

“Glencore to honour pre-existing Russia contracts, no new deals”

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/glencore-honour-pre-existing-russia-contracts-no-new-deals-2022-03-30/

March 30, 20228:15 AM EDT

LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Global mining and trading Glencore (GLEN.L) said on Wednesday it had "no realistic way to exit" its stakes in Russian company En+ Group and state oil firm Rosneft (ROSN.MM) after reviewing its business ties.

The London-listed miner added in the statement that it would "not enter into any new trading business in respect of Russian origin commodities unless directed by the relevant government authorities".

On March 1, the Swiss company said it was reviewing its business activities in Russia.

Eventhough…

“Glencore sells stake in Russia's Russneft to cap 20-year partnership”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-glencore-sells-stake-russias-071110826.html

February 15, 2022

MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore has sold out of Russneft, capping two decades of investments which saw the Swiss commodities firm trading millions of barrels of the Russian group's oil even as it witnessed some of Russia's top corporate and political battles.

Glencore had helped [Mikhail] Gutseriyev build Russneft from scratch since the early 2000s into a top-10 Russian oil firm by funding the firm's expansion in return for oil export rights.

The deal allowed Glencore, one of the top three global oil traders, to market large volumes of Russian oil.

Glencore remained a shareholder in Russneft during decades of turbulence surrounding the firm, including Gutseriyev losing control, fleeing Russia to London in 2007, and returning home later to become a loyal Kremlin partner again.

Other challenges included Russneft's billions of dollars of debt to Russian state banks, as well as bankruptcies at other financial institutions founded by Gutseriyev.

Keep in mind…

“Glencore Poised to Become Largest Russian Oil Trader”

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Glencore-Poised-to-Become-Largest-Russian-Oil-Trader.html

Feb 02, 2013, 6:00 PM

An unprecedented deal between Russia’s state-controlled Rosneft and Glencore (GLEN:LN)—the world’s largest oil trader—gives Rosneft much-needed cash and positions Glencore to become the world’s largest trader of Russian oil. This is no small deal for a foreign company in Russia.

The deal—sealed in late Decemberwill first see Glencore and another trading major, Vitol, pay Rosneft $10 billion in advance for future Russian oil.- Under the deal, What does $10 billion buy Glencore and its deal partner Vitol? Quite a lot: they will take 67 million tons of Rosneft's oil exports for the next five years.

The cash will help Rosneft recoup after acquiring TNK-BP.

To many analysts, this is a perfect marriage of one of the world’s largest producers and the world’s largest trader. And no one expected the deal to close so quickly. Glencore had long attempted such a move but had failed repeatedly to make it happen. Apparently, though, some shaky relationships have recently been strengthened; namely that between the circle around Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian aluminum tycoon, Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Glencore.

Where does this put Glencore? At the top of the Russian oil trading list. The Russian oil futures represent almost one-tenth of Glencore’s entire global holdings of 2.5 million barrels per day.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18935789 (011805ZJUN23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Second Major Railway Grinds To Halt In South Africa

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“Second Major Railway Grinds To Halt In South Africa”

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/second-major-railway-grinds-halt-south-africa

Thursday, Jun 01, 2023 - 06:55 AM

The precise question one needs to ask is: What the hell is continuing to unfold in South Africa? An economic crisis is worsening, and extended rolling blackouts have been the norm over the last several months, but in the last week, multiple major railways have ground to a halt due to rampant theft of power cables.

Bloomberg said a 535-mile rail line used to haul iron ore and manganese from Kumba Iron Ore Ltd.'s giant Sishen mine in the Northern Cape province to west coast ports was paralyzed on Tuesday after criminal organized gangs stole power cables used to power electric locomotives.

Transnet SOC Ltd., the state-owned entity that operates the line, wrote in a statement:

"Security teams were immediately activated and are working with law enforcement agencies, stakeholders and customers to curb this security threat.

"Our employees will be working around the clock to get services back to normal and get customers' cargo moving as soon as possible."

The 535-mile rail line is the second to be vandalized by theft within a week. This time last week, a 428-mile rail line from the Port of Durban to Gauteng province had capacity significantly reduced due to "theft, vandalism, and rail damage" by gangs.

Meanwhile, this morning, South Africa's rand hit a new record low against the dollar due to rising diplomatic tensions and worsening economic risks.

The rand touched 19.9204 per dollar, just shy of the 20 handle.

Bloomberg noted:

The latest setback for investors is the government's plan to provide diplomatic immunity to attendees of BRICS meetings as it prepares to host Russian President Vladimir Putin at an August summit. That's added to power cuts that are hurting the economy, concerns over China's growth, and renewed gains in the US dollar.

And it's been about a week since the African National Congress, a social-democratic political party in the country, warned that the country could become a "failed state."

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18935795 (011807ZJUN23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / Proposed water licensing regulations requiring up to 75% black South African shareholding place tenuous food security at further risk

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>>43972

>And it's been about a week since the African National Congress, a social-democratic political party in the country, warned that the country could become a "failed state."

South Africa is already in a failed state when laws like this are passed. The key point in this article, “the proposed regulations exempt mining companies”

“Proposed water licensing regulations requiring up to 75% black South African shareholding place tenuous food security at further risk”

https://agrisa.co.za/media/proposed-water-licensing-regulations-requiring-up-to-75-black-south-african-shareholding-place-tenuous-food-security-at-further-risk

1 Jun

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) recently published draft revised Regulations regarding the Procedural Requirements for Water Use Licence Applications and Amendments for comment. According to the draft regulations, certain enterprises applying for water use licenses to take or store water, will in the future have to allocate shares of up to 75% to black South Africans in order for such water use licenses to be granted. The consequences for food security and the sustainability of the agricultural sector should these regulations be passed in the current form cannot be understated – they would have a devastating impact on the sector and its ability to provide the country with a secure supply of food. This is because focussing solely on ownership, to the exclusion of all other relevant factors, will mean the loss (or partial loss) of water resources for numerous currently viable commercial farming enterprises.

Similar requirements are also prescribed in the draft with respect to so-called “stream flow reduction activities” (essentially commercial forestry plantations). The regulations also make provision for hydraulic fracturing (which is a further risk and threat to food security).

The prescribed minimum black South African shareholding requirements of 25%, 50%, or 75%, required for a water use license to succeed depends on the volume of water abstracted or stored, or the area covered (in the case of commercial forest plantations).

The proposed regulations are seen as the DWS’s most radical and sweeping effort to date toward changing the demographics with respect to water use in South Africa. The agricultural and forestry sectors appear to be the primary target of the proposed regulations. The agricultural sector accounts for approximately 60% of South Africa’s total water use. It is worth noting that the proposed regulations exempt mining companies, the state and state-owned entities, as well as 100% black-owned entities.

“Agri SA is of the view that the proposed regulations will have a devastating effect on South Africa’s commercial agricultural sector if adopted in their current form,” says Janse Rabie, legal and policy executive at Agri SA. “It is well known that the DWS envisages compulsory licensing of existing lawful water uses in the near future (a fact which is emphasised by regulation 13 of the proposed regulations). By far the greatest number of agricultural water uses are exercised in terms of historic existing lawful water uses.”

Concerningly, the draft regulations would seem to be attempting to replace the current suite of considerations which apply to granting water licenses with ownership demographics. In terms of section 27 of the National Water Act, the DWS must take all relevant factors into account when issuing a water use license. This already includes the need to redress the results of past racial and gender discrimination.

“Section 27 of the National Water Act however also contains at least 10 other considerations that the DWS (as being the responsible authority for granting water use licenses) needs to consider before granting any application for a water use license. What the proposed regulations seek to achieve is to make BBBEE the sole consideration for granting licenses,” says Rabie.

By contrast, Rabie stresses that this effort by government cannot have come at a worse time for the sector and the economy, which is already reeling from the impact of load shedding, rural crime and deteriorating public infrastructure.

The commentary period on the proposed Revision of Regulations regarding the Procedural Requirements for Water Use Licence Applications and Amendments will expire on 18 July 2023.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18935811 (011811ZJUN23) Notable: Solidarity to companies – you do not have the right to obey injustice (with .pdf)

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>>43974

>Here, https://solidariteit.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=06cebdddb93ed5ecee55f281f&id=ac40cca4e8&e=1320ada9cf, is the letter to employers

The letter also states;

Two injustices are at stake here. The first is the injustice done to white, coloured and Indian persons, relegating them to second-class citizenship.

The second injustice is that there are still many companies in the country that accept this injustice as “just” and normal.

The onus to stop the Act and the regulations rests largely on companies.

In light of this, we kindly request you to:

• Not implement this Act and the regulations as the implementation thereof will condone it;

• Put pressure on the government to withdraw the Act and the regulations;

• Bring an application against the Act yourself, or be admitted to the litigation as a friend of the court; and to

• Make a contribution towards Solidarity’s litigation if you cannot bring an application yourself.

This is going to be an epic and expensive court battle for the benefit of everyone across traditional boundaries.

Now is not the time for blind obedience but for positive protest.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18982897 (101455ZJUN23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / President Ramaphosa must expand Lady R probe to include Nato (Parts 1&2)

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>>43942

>However, evidence suggests that 27 years into its democracy, South Africa's arms trade still bears a resemblance to its apartheid-era predecessor.

>In violation of its EUC agreements, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been diverting South African weapons to militias in Yemen. Since 2015, SA-made weaponry has been documented on all sides of the conflict in Yemen.

>One of the most egregious diversions of South African weapons involves Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), a joint venture between German arms company Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH and South African Denel.

>>43955

“President Ramaphosa must expand Lady R probe to include Nato” – Part 1

https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/analysis/president-ramaphosa-must-expand-lady-r-probe-to-include-nato-def71913-5d75-4c40-84b6-a39c63828ca6

Published Jun 6, 2023

I am not privy to the cost implication of the inquiry to the taxpayer, save to allude to the historically exorbitant fees out of the fiscus every time an initiative of this nature is undertaken. But, still, that is the lesser of my concerns.

In fact, that at hand is of utmost importance in SA’s foreign policy practice is an understatement. Any slight finding that could give credence to Brigety’s publicly discredited allegations will be of dire consequences to Pretoria.

Already, US-SA relations are at their lowest in history, aggravated by SA’s non-aligned stance in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The US has failed to prevail over SA to take their side against Russia, much to Washington’s exasperation with Pretoria’s seeming stubbornness.

I have earlier argued against the narrow terms of reference awarded to the Commission. As a self-declared non-aligned sovereign state, methinks the Ramaphosa administration should have extended to the terms of references to cover, among others, whether any of the Nato states has supplied SA-sourced weapons or military equipment to Ukraine without the requisite permission of SA.

There have been reports – hitherto unchallenged – that Estonia has supplied its batch of SA-purchased Mamba 4x4 Armoured Personnel Carrier vehicles to Ukraine as part of the US-led Nato appeal for the armament of the Kyiv’s Zelensky administration.

According to international law, an “End User Certificate (EUC) is required prior to the export, or re-export, of conventional arms, irrespective of origin.”

Estonia has had no permission from SA to re-export the Mambas to Ukraine. SA could never have granted such a permission as Pretoria’s stance is non-aligned in the conflict.

Yet, there has been no threat of consequences looming against Estonia, ostensibly insulated from reprisals by its Nato membership.

Apart from the Estonian example of how SA’s rights were likely violated under international law, there are further examples where Nato states could be doing just the same at this very moment – with impunity.

For example, last December Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM), a consortium that comprises SA’s arms’ manufacturer Denel, won a multimillion-euro contract to build an explosives factory in Hungary, a Nato state.

DefenceWeb reported that in terms of the deal – signed on December 15, 2022 – a new plant would be built this year and production expected to begin in the next few years.

The new plant is expected to produce explosives that can be used for artillery, tank and mortar ammunition, among others.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18982901 (101455ZJUN23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / President Ramaphosa must expand Lady R probe to include Nato (Parts 1&2)

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>>43976

“President Ramaphosa must expand Lady R probe to include Nato” – Part 2

https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/analysis/president-ramaphosa-must-expand-lady-r-probe-to-include-nato-def71913-5d75-4c40-84b6-a39c63828ca6

Published Jun 6, 2023

Rheinmetall explained in interviews that their undertaking in Hungary “is in response to the shortage of explosives resulting from strong demand for ammunition in Europe and Nato”.

RDM specialises in “the development, design and manufacture of large and medium calibre ammunition as well as plant engineering”. The consortium at whose centre is SA arms manufacturer Denel, a state-owned entity, is credited with establishing “filling plants in three dozen different countries over the last three decades”.

RDM’s “Assegai family of artillery ammunition can be fired from any Nato STANAG-compatible artillery system, including the PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer”. Germany has supplied “a number of PzH 2000s to Ukraine, which is using them against Russian forces”. Furthermore, the system is in service in Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Qatar and Croatia.

Another company that ought to come under the government’s scrutiny is explosives and landmines specialists, DCD Protected Mobility – a Boksburg-based company near OR Tambo International.

DCD’s general manager Cornelius Grundling was quoted as follows: “The company’s flagship product, the Husky – also known as the Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (VMMD) – is in service in 17 countries around the world, including Nato nations.”

Furthermore, “DCD Protected Mobility has a long-standing partnership with the US-based AirBoss Defense Group (ADG),” through which the Husky Mine Detection System is marketed and supported, according to the company.

My argument is that, if the government’s primary concern is the claims by Brigety, so be it. Let’s accept that the US claims triggered the probe. However, in the light of plausible claims that SA-manufactured ammunition supplied to Nato countries are freely forwarded to the battlefield in Ukraine is a grave matter that cannot be ignored.

Non-aligned means SA is not involved in the conflict – on either side – directly or indirectly. Nato countries cannot be at liberty to flaunt the international rules, practices and laws in their Russophobia-inspired aid to Ukraine by doing as they please about SA-acquired arms.

Since the facts about SA weapons-manufacturing companies’ likely involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict are public knowledge, methinks officials in the Presidency or elsewhere in the government should flag this probable transgression of international law. A probe led by the retired judge should have its powers expanded, and terms of reference widened, so that the government establishes facts about the extent of the country’s involvement – if any, in the conflict.

A holistic enquiry will likely answer most, if not all the curious public interest-related questions, instead of partial accountability.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18983193 (101602ZJUN23) Notable: ‘If this was about a bailout, they would be here’: Denel board snubs Scopa

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>>43977

>Rheinmetall explained in interviews that their undertaking in Hungary “is in response to the shortage of explosives resulting from strong demand for ammunition in Europe and Nato”.

>RDM specialises in “the development, design and manufacture of large and medium calibre ammunition as well as plant engineering”. The consortium at whose centre is SA arms manufacturer Denel, a state-owned entity, is credited with establishing “filling plants in three dozen different countries over the last three decades”.

“‘If this was about a bailout, they would be here’: Denel board snubs Scopa“

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/parliament/denel-board-snubs-scopa-june-2023/

6 Jun 2023

The financially embattled Denel pulled a no-show on Tuesday at a meeting with parliament’s Standing Committee of Public Accounts (Scopa).

The state-owned enterprise (SOE) was scheduled to appear before Scopa on Tuesday to explain why it did not table its annual report, and to provide an update on its liquidity crisis.

The committee was also expected to receive an update on the investigations conducted by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) at Denel.

But the meeting was adjourned after Denel’s board snubbed Scopa, leaving members of the committee frustrated.

Delays accountability

At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa indicated that he was notified that Denel board chairperson Gloria Serobe was abroad.

However, he was informed that there would be other board members available, although Denel Group interim CEO Mike Kgobe was present at the meeting.

Hlengwa said the Denel board’s no-show was disrespectful and unacceptable.

“The accounting authority of Denel is the board, not the executives,” he said, adding that the meeting cannot proceed without the board.

Another DA MP Benedicta van Minnen also expressed her frustration with Denel, pointing out that Denel has received a total of R9 billion in bailouts over five years.

Denel restructuring

Denel is currently under a restructuring process carried out by the Department of Public Enterprises amid allegations of malfeasance against Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, City Press has reported.

Denel was granted a R3.2 billion bailout by the National Treasury in February to help turn around the state arms manufacturer within the next two years.

Denel is also reportedly being sued for R112 million by Armscor over contract failure.

The company was awarded a contract, worth R8 billion by Armscor for the full-scale production of new-generation 8×8 Badger infantry combat vehicles in 2013.

The tender is at risk of being cancelled and could cost taxpayers R7.4 billion.

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/denel-board-snubs-scopa-meeting-d14e225d-cf50-48fd-9d05-da31981a9099

Hlengwa said they would reconvene next Wednesday and that the board would have to explain at the next meeting as to why the cost incurred by the MPs, Department of Public Enterprises and Special Investigating Unit should not be borne by them personally [with taxpayer funds].

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18988979 (111856ZJUN23) Notable: Updated BRICS Summit Bun / Ramaphosa expected to go to Moscow in an attempt to convince Putin to attend BRICS summit virtually (video)

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>>43944

>While we focus on the Ambassador’s reaction, the Kremlin, not the Ambassador in Washington or in Pretoria, the Kremlin releases a statement saying, by the way, we had an extensive call, my friend Cyril Ramaphosa and I, and they release gory details basically saying the South Africans confirmed we are the ally; economically, politically and so on. Even they are cornering South Africa now and the idea that President Putin should join the BRICS summit in August virtually. Guess what President Putin said to our President, “You dare do that. There will be consequences from Russia as well.” There are prices and consequences for our choices… And the problem sits with us.”

“Ramaphosa expected to go to Moscow in an attempt to convince Putin to attend BRICS summit virtually”

https://youtu.be/8otzNx7vUK0

Jun 11, 2023

As the 15th BRICS summit draws closer, President Cyril Ramaphosa is reportedly expected to travel to Moscow in a last ditch attempt to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the gathering virtually. The summit is meant to be held in South Africa this August. According to Business Day, cabinet ministers considered moving the summit to China to get round the problem of Putin’s arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Can this matter be resolved in time? Conflict resolution expert Dr Kingsley Makhubela weighs in.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18988989 (111858ZJUN23) Notable: Updated BRICS Summit Bun / BRICS expansion will accelerate creation of a new world order

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>>43979

“BRICS expansion will accelerate creation of a new world order”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/opinion/brics-expansion-will-accelerate-creation-of-a-new-world-order-33823bde-beea-4250-8354-1411a5a5a0e5

SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2023

Excerpts

In preparation for the 15th BRICS Summit in August, the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs met in Cape Town.

About 14 countries, some of whom have expressed their desire to join BRICS, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Bangladesh, and Uruguay, were invited to the meeting.

The ministers deliberated on key global issues, including strengthening multilateralism, the implementation of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, international trade and finance, climate change negotiations and violent conflicts, among other things.

The ministerial meeting of the respective countries’ top diplomats helps set the agenda for the summit and ensure that bloc members are aligned on important global issues.

The upcoming summit will be important, because it will potentially change the structure and size of the bloc by admitting new members, most likely Iran and Argentina, who have long submitted formal applications to join the group.

With a combined GDP of $847 billion and a combined population of 133 million people, Argentina and Iran will sure add immense strategic value to the group. Their addition will strengthen the BRICS’ case for de-dollarisation and also further shift the global economy towards a South-South orientation through increased volumes of trade, technology transfers, and investments.

The meeting discussed pertinent and critical issues affecting the global economy and security. These include strengthening multilateralism especially by elevating the central role of the United Nations (UN) as the main platform for sovereign states to co-operate in delivering global public goods.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18989009 (111902ZJUN23) Notable: Final Lady R Probe Bun / Secrecy surrounding Lady R probe questioned

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>>43927

>>43931

>>43937

>>43949

>>43950

>>43951

>>43955

>>43976

>>43977

“Secrecy surrounding Lady R probe questioned”

https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/secrecy-surrounding-lady-r-probe-questioned-d477c1ba-bea3-4078-943f-846c4cb25092

Published Jun 6, 2023

The DA said it has submitted an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) to obtain the panel’s terms of reference, while the party is obtaining legal advice to “challenge Ramaphosa’s plan to hide the report once it is complete”.

This comes after The Presidency said the terms of reference for the inquiry would not be gazetted nor published as the investigation covers issues of national security and classified information, which is protected from disclosure.

The panel has been tasked to establish persons who were aware of the cargo ship’s arrival, and, if any, the contents to be off-loaded or loaded, the departure and destination of the cargo. The panel will also evaluate whether constitutional, legal or other obligations were complied with in relation to the cargo ship’s arrival, its stay, the loading or off-loading of its contents, and its departure.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said hiding the panel’s findings will completely undermine the ability of prosecutors and the public to hold guilty parties accountable for any violations of the law. “Hiding the findings of the report will only further damage South Africa’s international standing, as it will create legitimate fears of a cover up.

“The fact that Ramaphosa has suddenly announced his intention to hide the report from the public suggests he has already become aware of incriminating information that he wants to hide from public view to protect his ANC government.”

Legal expert Mpumelelo Zikalala said questions will be raised about the attempt to classify material before the panel has started its work. “You cannot hide anything by simply saying it is a matter of national security because there is significant public interest in this.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18999686 (131626ZJUN23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / SA Presidency acknowledges receipt of call for farm murder commission, eight farmers murdered in a week

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“SA Presidency acknowledges receipt of call for farm murder commission”, “Eight farmers murdered in a week.”

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/sa-presidency-acknowledges-receipt-of-call-for-farm-murder-commission/

12th Jun 2023

The latest spate of farm killings has seen renewed calls for action including a commission of inquiry and an appeal to the national agricultural community to “intensify” security and readiness.

Since the start of June there have been at least eight farm related murders reported in Limpopo and Western Cape.

The call for a commission of inquiry was made to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa by Noko Masipa, Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister. Her letter was acknowledged by The Presidency on the same day it was electronically sent.

Part of the Masipa letter reads: “Despite the frequency of farm attacks and murders, the DA and indeed the whole of South Africa, remain perplexed not much is being done to protect our farmers from criminal elements terrorising rural communities. Lawlessness has taken root on our farms and in rural communities but nothing is done to deal with the scourge decisively”.

“If we continue to pursue rural crime prevention as a separate activity from food production value chain, we continue to expose farmers and rural residents to criminal networks,” she warns the South African number one.

Pieter Groenewald’s Freedom Front Plus (FF+) maintains farmers are under siege and cannot be blamed “if they take the law into their own hands to protect themselves”.

“Eight farmers murdered in a week. That is the same number as was murdered in the first three months of this year, according to the latest SA Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics. Government is too quick to label farm murders as ordinary criminality. This excuse has been held up for far too long now,” Groenewald said, adding “burning farm murder victims alive does not amount to ordinary criminality” and pointing out the use of AK-47assault rifles should not qualify for the SAPS “ordinary criminality” descriptor.

While nowhere near the official SAPS statistic of close to 70 murders a day in South Africa, FF+ statistics show one farm murder for every eight rural attacks over the past four years.

He warns: “If the police do not take swift, decisive action to address farm attacks, it should be no surprise if farmers increasingly start taking the law into their own hands”.

AfriForum, long a vociferous campaigner for improved policing in South Africa’s agricultural sector, also made its voice heard in the wake of the latest attacks and deaths.

“AfriForum urges farmers and rural residents to urgently become part of local neighbourhood or farm watches. The only way to curb these horrific attacks is for communities to mobilise and step up preparedness,” Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum community safety spokesman, said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18999691 (131626ZJUN23) Notable: Final Violence and Crime Bun / Farm attacks and farm murders are being driven by false narratives

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>>43982

“‘Farm attacks and farm murders are being driven by false narratives’”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/farm-attacks-and-farm-murders-are-being-driven-by-false-narratives/

June 7, 2023

The recent wave of farm attacks that have plagued the country in the past eight days can most likely be attributed to inflammatory remarks from organisations such as Cosatu, which believe that farmers are rapists and murderers, fueling animosity towards farmers.

According to TLU SA’s statistics on farm attacks and murders – tracked since 1990 – there was a slight decrease in these crimes in May of this year compared to the same period in 2022. This was also reflected in the crime figures released a week ago. However, the past week’s attacks indicate that there must have been a catalyst somewhere.

“We once again appeal to the Human Rights Commission to consider ‘offensive’ statements against farmers in a more serious light,” says Bennie van Zyl, the CEO of TLU SA.

“Farmers cannot rely on the police or the government to protect us. Getting a quick response from security companies in rural environments is also not as easy as in cities. Therefore, we are reliant on ourselves to secure our communities and change the narrative about farmers – that they assault workers, have lots of money, and stole the land.”

TLU SA is continuously involved in rural security projects and readily provides input and advice on improving the system.

“We will continue to build relationships with the police on a rural and personal level to establish a security network,” says Van Zyl.

“We have experienced several foot soldiers in the police who still believe in what they do and try to perform their duties properly under tough circumstances. We sympathise with the challenges that hinder them, such as poor top-level management, a shortage of basic resources like reliable vehicles, and a lack of experienced specialised forces. However, this impacts the safety of farmers, their families, workers, and ultimately food production.

TLU SA urgently appeals to President Ramaphosa and the rest of the cabinet to dismiss the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, and officials who fail to fulfil their duties properly and replace them with driven, loyal, diligent, and experienced officials who are up to the task of combating crime.”

Read: Cosatu – ‘Farmers rape, assault and murder their workers’ – TLU SA files hate speech complaint - https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/cosatu-farmers-rape-assault-and-murder-their-workers-tlu-sa-files-hate-speech-complaint/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18999696 (131627ZJUN23) Notable: Updated BRICS Summit Bun / BRICS Summit: Police Minister and SAPS high level delegation visit China

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>>43983

>TLU SA urgently appeals to President Ramaphosa and the rest of the cabinet to dismiss the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, and officials who fail to fulfil their duties properly and replace them with driven, loyal, diligent, and experienced officials who are up to the task of combating crime.”

“BRICS Summit: Police Minister and SAPS high level delegation visit China”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/brics-summit-police-minister-and-saps-high-level-delegation-visit-china/

June 12, 2023

Police Minister, General Bheki Cele has successfully wrapped up a five day official visit to the People’s Republic of China, ahead of the upcoming 15th BRICS Summit to be hosted in Johannesburg in August 2023.

Minister Cele led a delegation of senior officials from the South African Police Service (SAPS) headed by the Deputy National Commissioner of the SAPS, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili.

The official visit to the People’s Republic of China saw the South African and Chinese police delegations, discuss among other policing matters, the strengthening of China-South Africa practical law-enforcement cooperation and collaboration.

The three city tour to Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai was characterised by engagements with various key safety and security role players of China.

China’s Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong hosted Minister Cele and the South African delegation on 8 June 2023.

High on the agenda of the fruitful engagement was the establishment of a formal and rigorous policing exchange program of personnel capabilities and training between the two countries.

The two Ministers also reflected on security preparations of the 15th BRICS summit to be hosted in Johannesburg, where President Xi Jinping will join other head of states and attend the summit in August.

Transnational and environmental crimes, the collaboration to deal with violent crimes in South Africa, through technological interventions and the safety of nationals residing in both countries also featured high on the agenda.

“We have no doubt that the fruitful security and safety discussions on this trip will be cemented and put into action in the shortest possible time. While we share a rich history with China and have had several cooperations with our law enforcements over the years, we are encouraged by the new avenues being explored to boost South African techniques in law enforcement with our Chinese counterparts. The first price for both our countries is a revived policing partnership that will translate to the safety of citizens and the improvement of policing through technology, specialised skills and modernised South African police service that is people orientated.”

Engagements with the management and senior officials from the Chinese Department of Public Safety and the China People’s Public Security University (CPPSU) ranked the most elite police academy in China; also formed part of the five day official visit. Members from SAPS specialised units such as the National Intervention Unit (NIU) and Special Task Force (STF) recently received combat and educational training and graduated from the University.

Minister Cele and the South African delegation also throughout the week in the People’s Republic, visited police stations in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai.

The delegation noted the country’s police station models which serve as one-stop service centre points for residents promoting transparency and an open-door policy between police and the communities they serve.

SAPS Newsroom - https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=46616

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18999706 (131628ZJUN23) Notable: US Cracks Down On Entities Training Chinese Pilots, Including Erik Prince's Frontier Services Group - South Africa mentioned

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“US Cracks Down On Entities Training Chinese Pilots, Including Erik Prince's Frontier Services Group” - South Africa mentioned

https://zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-cracks-down-entities-training-chinese-pilots-including-princes-frontier-services

TUESDAY, JUN 13, 2023 - 06:55 AM

The Biden administration is going after China's ability to train pilots abroad, particularly while utilizing NATO or Western resources. On Monday the Biden administration added 43 entities to an export control list involved in training programs for Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) pilots.

Front and center on the list is Frontier Services Group Ltd, which is the Hong Kong-based security and aviation company founded and led until April 2021 by Erik Prince, also the founder of the now defunct and infamous Blackwater private security firm.

Reuters reviews that the new listings "include Frontier Services Group sites in China, Kenya, Laos and the United Arab Emirates; TFASA units in South Africa, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom; and AVIC entities in China and South Africa."

The US Bureau of Industry and Security said of its export control list that the entities are being targeted as they have been training PLA pilots using "Western and NATO sources." These have been deemed activities which "threaten national security."

Further, according to Reuters, some of the companies have hired elite pilots from the UK to teach Chinese military pilots.

"The Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a flight school under scrutiny by authorities in Britain for recruiting British ex-military pilots to train Chinese military fliers, was also added to the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List," per the report.

The listed companies are now blocked from receiving US exports for any activities seen as running counter to American interests.

Reuters also notes of the export control list that "Thirty-one Chinese entities in total were added to the list, some for acquiring U.S.-origin items in support of China's military modernization, such as hypersonic weapons development."

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19002435 (132347ZJUN23) Notable: Updated BRICS Summit Bun / (from General Research) Macron asks for invitation to BRICS summit - media

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General Research #23331 >>>/qresearch/19001992

13 Jun, 2023 15:58

Macron asks for invitation to BRICS summit – media

The French president would be the first Western leader to sit in on the gathering of emerging economies

French President Emmanuel Macron has asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for an invitation to the upcoming BRICS summit in Pretoria, French newspaper L’Opinion reported on Monday.Macron’s recent attempts to win over his African counterparts have fallen flat.

He raised the possibility of attending the summit during a phone call with Ramaphosa earlier this month, L’Opinion stated, citing sources in the Elysee palace.

According to one “well-informed” source, Ramaphosa was non-committal. “Presence at this summit was mentioned during the conversation between the two leaders, but Pretoria gave no indication of whether or not to extend this meeting to other international leaders,” the source said.

If Macron were to attend the summit,he would be the first leader of a G7 nation to do so. BRICS leaders and Macron apparently share a desire to overhaul the global financial and geopolitical order, with Macron hosting a conference in Paris next week aimed at overhauling the financial system to better benefit the developing world. Ramaphosa is due to attend the conference, and a cordial meeting between him and Macron could set the stage for the French president to make history in Pretoria.

However,Macron’s relations with the rest of the BRICS bloc– Brazil, Russia, India, and China –are fractious at best, and Paris has sent mixed messages to these nations. For example, Macron has called for peace negotiations in Ukraine and put himself forward as a potential mediator, yet has backed a Ukrainian-drafted peace plan that Russia categorically rejects, while continuing to send heavy weapons to Kiev.

Likewise, Macron has asserted that Europe must not follow the US into a confrontation with China, and has opposed the opening of a controversial NATO liaison office in Japan.

However, he signed a joint communique with other G7 leaders last month labeling China “the greatest challenge to global security and prosperity in our time,” a position identical to that of the US.

Meanwhile in Africa, Macron’s condemnations of Russia have irritated France’s former colonies on the continent, who see Russia as a more reliable partner than their former master.

Since the term was first coined in 2001, BRICS has grown from an acronym into an informal alliance that has overtaken the US-led G7 bloc in its share of global GDP, has its own development bank, and counts Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Argentina among 19 prospective members.

https://www.rt.com/news/577963-macron-south-africa-brics/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19017498 (161815ZJUN23) Notable: Parliament has passed NHI Bill

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>>43916

>“National Health Insurance Plan for South Africa” (2009) - “funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation”

“Parliament has passed NHI Bill”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/parliament-has-passed-nhi-bill-539c6e6a-eadc-4f40-a1fb-49727a3208e1

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says the adoption of the National Health Insurance Bill was to stop two trains travelling on parallel tracks heading for a crash.

But the situation can be rescued if they can be pulled together so that they complement each other.

This was how Phaahla described the role that would be played by the NHI in the country to end the two tier system in the healthcare system.

He said the current situation was not sustainable.

But opposition parties said they did not support the Bill as the healthcare system in the country was already facing challenges.

The Freedom Front Plus threatened the government with action if the Bill was signed into law after going through the National Council of Provinces and other processes.

But the ANC on Tuesday muscled through the National Health Insurance Bill in the National Assembly with a majority of 205 members against 125 votes from the opposition parties.

Phaahla said they need to adopt universal health coverage in the country.

He said the NHI Bill has been in the making for 12 years.

“Honourable members in simple terms what the NHI seeks to do is stop the two trains, that is, private health and public health travelling on parallel tracks but both surely going toward crashing while if they can be pooled together there is a good chance of complementing each other.

“The NHI seeks to pool resources of those who can only contribute to the fiscus through indirect means such as VAT and other collections and those of us who are able and are already making fragmented contributions into 81 different schemes into one pool which can purchase services from both the public health system and private providers from lowest level of care up to the highest,” said Phaahla.

The DA said it would be difficult to implement the NHI because in the UK the NHS system was already buckling under pressure with a backlog of 7.6 million people on the waiting list for hospital services.

The IFP said hospitals and clinics were already stretched to the limit and there were no doctors and nurses in public health facilities.

But Phaahla defended the implementation of the NHI saying it would provide equal access to healthcare services for all South Africans.

“What we have not been so successful with is the avoidance of replacement of race-based differentiation of access and quality by a class-based differentiation. As inequality has been growing in our country even cutting across race, access to quality health services has been a casualty with those who have private medical insurance consuming 51% of the national spending while constituting only 16% of the population, while 84% depend on 49% resources from the fiscus and services provided by the Public Health System only.

“This has led to a situation where the Public Health System is under tremendous pressure while private healthcare is over-servicing its clients leading to ever rising costs to the members of medical schemes while the investors are enjoying huge dividends including from the JSE,” said Phaahla.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19017499 (161815ZJUN23) Notable: Parliament has passed NHI Bill

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>>43987

“Medical Association rejects NHI Bill in current form”

https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/medical-association-rejects-nhi-bill-in-current-form-b29c4502-1014-4cdd-b5d2-e1834e2c8edc

Published May 31, 2023

The bill, looks to give every South African the right to access comprehensive health-care services free of charge at accredited health facilities such as clinics, hospitals and private health practitioners.

Sama chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said the association had been engaging the bill since 2007, and participated in all the stages of the submissions.

"While universal health coverage as envisaged in the objectives of the bill intends to improve the health and livelihoods of the citizens of South Africa, the bill in its current form sets up the health-care system for failure at the expense of further deterioration of the health and well-being of all who live in the country," Mzukwa said.

“In all those engagements we raised issues because we realised that we have a vision in the country that has to fit into the UN’s sustainable goals, especially on universal health coverage.

“We agree that our health-care system needs reform, but how that reform comes about is the debate we are engaging in.”

Mzukwa said one of the concerns was that there had not been any proof of concept in terms of piloting the NHI project.

“The pilot project between 2012 and 2013 had serious deficiencies as it did not talk about the reinvestment mechanisms, the private sector and contracting of general practitioners. There were many elements that were left out,” said Mzukwa.

He said the funding mechanism was open to corruption as it gave immense power to the health minister.

“If we allow the NHI to go without a watchdog, we are worried we will face the same corruption challenges we faced during Covid-19.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19017506 (161816ZJUN23) Notable: Parliament has passed NHI Bill

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>>43987

>>43988

“Condemnation after Parliament accepts the new bill on National Health Insurance”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/condemnation-after-parliament-accepts-the-new-bill-on-national-health-insurance/

June 15, 2023

The civil rights organisation AfriForum strongly condemns parliament’s decision to accept the new bill on National Health Insurance (NHI).

The organisation has also already assembled a team of the country’s top legal experts, economists, and medical experts to oppose the legislation on all possible levels.

According to AfriForum, NHI is just one more of the castles in the sky that the ANC government has built with the aim of campaigning for votes in light of next year’s national election.

The current public health system is succumbing to its ANC inflicted wounds, yet government now wants to force all citizens to become even more dependent on the state with their culture of mismanagement.

The result will be that medical practitioners leave the country, patients die, and cadres are further enriched through corrupt medical contracts.

“People thought load shedding was bad, but this policy will lead to health care shedding,” says Jacques Broodryk, spokesperson for AfriForum.

“Besides, there is no way the already overburdened taxpayer is going to be able to finance the state’s new pipe dream. Do you think for one moment that the members of parliament who passed the legislation use government hospitals when they are sick? No, they use top private hospitals or even travel abroad for medical treatment,” concludes Broodryk.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19017513 (161818ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Unapproved dangerous’ goods on plane spark diplomatic spat between Poland and South Africa (video)

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“‘Unapproved dangerous’ goods on plane spark diplomatic spat between Poland and South Africa”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/unapproved-dangerous-goods-on-plane-spark-diplomatic-spat-between-poland-and-south-africa-2b19c125-7fa9-49b5-8560-9e2687caa4b0

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2023

Cape Town - The Foreign Ministry of Poland confirmed the detainment of a plane in Warsaw, which precipitated a standoff, attributing it to the presence of dangerous goods onboard for which the security team had no permission to bring into the country.

The Ministry indicated that thorough preparations had been undertaken for President Cyril Ramaphosa's trip to Poland on Thursday.

This trip was part of a peace mission by African leaders and was intended as a stopover en route to Kyiv, Ukraine. Ramaphosa arrived in Kyiv on Friday and toured various regions of the conflict before his meeting with his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Polish Foreign Ministry highlighted that it had held several discussions with South African officials to adequately prepare for Ramaphosa's trip, aiming to address all necessary details for the visit.

However, the Ministry noted that the plane's detainment was due to it carrying dangerous goods.

"The plane had dangerous goods onboard, which the South African representatives were not authorized to bring in. Additionally, there were individuals onboard the aircraft whose presence the Polish side hadn't been informed of in advance," stated the Foreign Ministry.

“Racism allegations fly as South African plane with security forces denied disembarkation in Poland”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/racism-allegations-fly-as-south-african-plane-with-security-forces-denied-disembarkation-in-poland-d201c8f1-1c1e-4031-89aa-40abb932768b

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2023

South Africa said on Friday a plane carrying the security personnel accompanying President Cyril Ramaphosa on a peace mission to Ukraine was held up in Poland, in an incident that sparked a diplomatic squabble.

A charter flight carrying security forces and journalists was blocked upon landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport on Thursday, with Polish authorities not allowing those on board to disembark, according to South African officials.

The Polish government said some of those on board did not have permission to carry weapons into the country and were thus not allowed to disembark.

"They were not given permission to leave the plane with their weapons. They considered that they would remain on board," said the country's deputy minister for special services, Stanislaw Zaryn.

Magwenya said South African officials were working to resolve the impasse, which earlier triggered an outburst from the head of Ramaphosa's security, who accused Polish authorities of racism - a charge Zaryn dismissed as "nonsense".

The plane left Pretoria early on Thursday, reportedly carrying about 120 people, in between security personnel and journalists.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19019972 (170232ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / (from General Research) Zelensky offers zero flexibility to African leaders

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General Research #23354 >>>/qresearch/19019916

Zelensky offers zero flexibility to African leaders

Ukraine’s leader has again rejected the offer to mediate an end to the conflict

16 Jun, 2023 22:12

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky brushed off the African Union peace initiative on Friday, insisting there can be no negotiations with Russia. The high-ranking delegation, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Kiev and is headed to Moscow next.

“I have said clearly and many times during our meeting today that allowing any talks with Russia while the occupiers are still on our land means freezing the conflict, the pain and the suffering,” Zelensky said at the press conference afterward.

According to Zelensky, Russia “deceived” the world for years with the Minsk process and is trying to do so again. For peace to happen, he argued, “Russian troops need to leave our entire independent territory.”

The Franco-German proposal Ukraine had agreed to in 2015 was supposed to bring peace in the Donbass, but former German chancellor Angela Merkel admitted last year that its true intent was to buy time for NATO to arm Ukraine. Former French president Francois Hollande has confirmed Merkel’s account. Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted with disappointment, saying he believed for years that Berlin and Paris had been sincere.

Zelensky also told reporters that Ukraine was greatly helping African nations with food security and setting up “grain hubs” on the continent “with our partners,” accusing Russia of using hunger and social instability as a tool of political pressure.

The grain Kiev exported under the terms of the Black Sea Initiative, however, has mostly gone to the EU and ended up as animal feed. Meanwhile, the UN has failed to unblock the export of Russian food and fertilizer to Africa, which used to account for a far greater share of the continent’s needs.

The African Union mission got off to an inauspicious start in Warsaw, when Polish authorities held up Ramaphosa’s security detail. While in Kiev on Friday, the visitors were reportedly told to take shelter from incoming “Russian missiles.” Ukrainian authorities later claimed to have shot down six Russian hypersonic rockets.

“There's obviously some deliberate misinformation being spread here,”Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya later told South African media, adding that the delegation didn’t hear any explosions or see anything out of the ordinary.

Zelensky has previously turned down the Vatican’s offer to mediate a ceasefire as well, telling the papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi earlier this month that he would only accept the terms of his own Ukrainian “peace formula.” The list of ten demands includes Russia’s withdrawal from all territories Kiev claims as its own, payment of reparations, war crimes trials and NATO membership for Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed it as delusional and said that any peace talks will be with Zelensky’s “masters” in the West, rather than their puppet.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578176-zelensky-african-union-peace/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19022249 (171629ZJUN23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / ‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims

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“‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims”

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/section-194-inquiry-mkhwebane-extortion-claims/

2 Jun 2023

Some MPs have come to the defence of the Section 194 Committee chairperson, Qubudile Dyantyi, amid allegations that he attempted to solicit a bribe from suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

Dyantyi, African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Pemmy Majodina and former minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson have been accused trying to extort funds from Mkhwebane to make her impeachment inquiry into her fitness to hold office “go away”.

While a case has since been opened with the police, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula also advised Mkhwebane to formally file a complaint with the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.

‘Fiction’

In a meeting on Friday, United Democratic Movement (UDM) MP Bantu Holomisa asked the committee to address the allegations hanging over Dyantyi before the inquiry resumed next week.

“It would be possible that on Monday the chairperson of the Ethics Committee, who has been approached by the public protector on the advice of the Speaker, comes and briefs the committee before we start.

“Perhaps the Speaker or the Ethics Committee, if they want, should also liase with the Hawks who I believe are investigating this matter so that we know [what happened] because these allegations are serious,” Holomisa said.

But ANC deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude urged the committee to refrain from getting involved.

“It will be unfair to get into a matter that doesn’t concern us,” she said.

ANC MP Boyce Maneli shared the same sentiments, saying the matter should be dealt with by the relevant structures unless it affected the committee’s work.

“I’m saying this without subtracting the fact that we are where we are because the committee has bent backwards to enter into a space that we believe that we should have not, but all of this was done because it had material implications for the continuation of this inquiry,” Maneli said.

Xola Nqola, also from the ANC, labelled the allegations as “fiction” aimed at tainting the inquiry as the process edges towards its finality.

“We are not going to allow ourselves to be defocused by gossip in the streets or any fictitious kind of activity that is happening out there.”

Dyantyi, meanwhile, highlighted that the committee would not stop any person from raising their grievances.

“There are always platforms, whether it’s the court and if there are serious allegations of corrupt activities and criminality, where those things must be sent to, whether it’s laying charges… they are within their own rights to do that,” he said.

‘Expose the whistleblower’

Speaking to the SABC on Thursday, Mkhwebane insisted that there was evidence to back up the allegations and this was given to the police when her husband, Mandla Skosana, opened a case of extortion last week.

The public protector also confirmed that she laid her complaint with the Ethics Committee, but expressed her dissatisfaction with the Speaker’s decision to decline her request for a meeting.

“I said I wanted to discuss with you as a whistleblower and privately I wanted to engage her and tell her and inform her what has transpired. She then as well said no I can’t meet with you, just refer the matter to the Ethics Committee.

“Now the worst part is that she went ahead to even expose the whistleblower. The letter is very clear, very clear that can you keep this, there’s a confidential and very sensitive matter I would want to discuss with you involving the members of the committee,” Mkhwebane said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19022252 (171630ZJUN23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / ‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims

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>>43992

>Tina Joemat-Pettersson have been accused trying to extort funds from Mkhwebane to make her impeachment inquiry into her fitness to hold office “go away”.

“Tina Joemat-Pettersson leaves a complicated legacy” – Part 1

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/tina-joemat-pettersson-complicated-legacy-june-2023/

6 Jun 2023

As tributes pour in for former Cabinet minister and African National Congress (ANC) MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson, she leaves a complicated legacy behind.

South Africa learnt of Joemat-Pettersson’s death at the age of 59 on Monday evening, sparking mixed reactions from the public as the former minister was no stranger to controversy.

Here’s what you need to know about Joemat-Pettersson:

Education

Born on 16 December 1963 in Kimberly, Joemat-Pettersson attended William Pescod High School before she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and History and a Higher Diploma in Education – both from the University of the Western Cape.

She also obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Executive Management in Education from the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Career

Joemat-Pettersson worked as a teacher before beginning her activism in the Azanian Students Organisation (Azaso) around 1985 and was later a member of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu).

She then became active in politics in 1994, campaigning for the ANC in the Northern Cape in the first democratic elections.

The ANC member was subsequently elected as a member of the Northern Cape legislature, where she served as the Education, Arts and Culture MEC for 10 years and was the Agriculture MEC for a term.

She also held various leadership positions in the South Africa Communist Party (SACP), where she was a chairperson in the Northern Cape in 1998, and in 2003 she was elected as the ANC provincial treasurer in her home province.

In 2009, she was elected to Parliament and was appointed as the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Minister.

Former president Jacob Zuma appointed her as Energy Minister in 2014.

Joemat-Pettersson further served as an ANC MP and chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police from 2019 until her death.

Fuel reserves scandal

Her tenure as Energy Minister came with some controversy, especially the 2015 sale of South African oil reserves, where she was found to have flouted the Public and Financial Management Act (PFMA) and other statutes.

Joematt-Pettersson allegedly approved a deal for the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) to sell 10.3 million barrels of the country’s oil reserves at a discounted rate.

She told Parliament that it was not a sale but simply a rotation of the stock, despite no new stock having been purchased.

However, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane later found no wrongdoing on Joemat-Pettersson’s part in a report on maladministration and misconduct allegations against her pertaining to the deal.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19022254 (171631ZJUN23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / ‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims

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>>43993

“Tina Joemat-Pettersson leaves a complicated legacy” – Part 2

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/tina-joemat-pettersson-complicated-legacy-june-2023/

6 Jun 2023

Nuclear deal

Joemat-Pettersson during this time also signed an intergovernmental nuclear power deal with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom.

The deal would have seen Rosatom build reactors in South Africa with a total installed capacity of up to 9 600MW, but the agreement was declared unlawful and unconstitutional by the courts.

Sekunjalo scandal

Joemat-Pettersson was also involved in controversy in 2012 when she was at the centre of an R800 million tender.

As Minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, she oversaw the granting of the multimillion contract to businessman Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium to manage the department’s fishery, research and patrol vessels. [Dr Iqbal Survé, Non-Executive Chairman of Independent Media, and Chairman of the Sekunjalo Group - https://www.iol.co.za/authors/dr-iqbal-surve, https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/dr-iqbal-surve-we-need-to-move-forward-together-as-wef-2023-starts-0d69e6f6-e4ac-406b-b7e1-aa77d01c6a51, https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/wef-2023-3-things-sa-must-do-now-for-tomorrow-says-surve-5e4a6816-f84f-4147-8eb9-d97a7e53eeea]

This despite the company having no experience in the field. The contract was declared improper and irregular.

She was then found guilty of maladministration by former public protector Thuli Madonsela in 2013 for her role in the matter.

Violated Ethics Code

In 2019, Joemat-Pettersson was found to have brought the ANC into disrepute following the release of a report by the public protector.

She was found to have violated the Executive Ethics Code when she spent over R150 000 to fly her two children and their nanny home from an overseas trip in 2010.

Although she was ordered to pay back the funds, the ANC’s integrity commission in April this year cleared her of wrongdoing.

Mkhwebane extortion allegations

More recently, Joemat-Pettersson was accused of trying to extort funds from Mkhwebane to make her impeachment inquiry “go away”.

The committee’s chairperson, Qubudile Dyantyi, and ANC chief whip, Pemmy Majodina have also been implicated.

Mkhwebane’s husband, David Skosana, has opened a case of extortion.

Skosana reportedly gave screenshots of WhatsApp messages purported to be between Joemat-Pettersson and himself to the police.

Mkhwebane has also reported the allegations to the Ethics and Members Committee.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19022282 (171637ZJUN23) Notable: Final ANC Bun / "The biggest corruption scandal to hit SA's Parliament" - Mkhwebane shares alleged bribe clips (video)

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>>43992

>“‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims”

>>43993

>South Africa learnt of Joemat-Pettersson’s death at the age of 59 on Monday evening

>However, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane later found no wrongdoing on Joemat-Pettersson’s part in a report on maladministration and misconduct allegations against her pertaining to the deal.

“"The biggest corruption scandal to hit SA's Parliament" - Mkhwebane shares alleged bribe clips”

https://youtu.be/lU3nco4-QGc

Jun 13, 2023

Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane released the clips to back up her claims that the late Tina Joemat-Pettersson, another ANC MP Pemmy Majodina and the chairperson of the Parliament's Section 194 inquiry Richard Dyanti tried to solicit a R600,000 bribe from her to make the inquiry disappear.

Remember

“Ramaphosa implicated in ‘money laundering’ and misleading parliament by Mkhwebane – report”

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/politics/ramaphosa-implicated-in-money-laundering-and-misleading-parliament-by-mkhwebane-report/

9 Jun 2019

If a leaked preliminary report by the public protector is made final, the president may sit with an embarrassing black mark next to his name.

The Sunday Independent has reported that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found President Cyril Ramaphosa guilty of “inadvertently misleading” parliament over his R500,000 campaign donation from Bosasa in her preliminary report.

The paper has had access to the report, which they claim includes the bombshell that Ramaphosa and his campaign team may have become part of money laundering activities, since the donation from controversial Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson had gone through a number of intermediary companies to reach them. [Keep in mind, “Gavin Watson: Pathologist concludes he was dead before fatal crash – report” - https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/gavin-watson-death-cause-pathologist-report-how/]

Then

“Mkhwebane fights against suspension: Ramaphosa is ‘heavily implicated’”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/busisiwe-mkhwebane-public-protector-ramaphosa-suspension/

28-05-2022

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says President Cyril Ramaphosa should not suspend her, because HE is heavily implicated…

Then

“President Cyril Ramaphosa suspends Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane”

https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-suspends-public-protector-adv-busisiwe-mkhwebane-9-jun-2022-0000

9 Jun 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa has, in accordance with section 194 (3)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, decided to suspend Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane from the office of the Public Protector effective 9 June 2022.

Section 194(3) (a) of the Constitution provides that the President may suspend the Public Protector (or any member of a Chapter 9 institution) “at any time after the start of proceedings by a committee of the National Assembly for [their] removal”.

Advocate Mkhwebane will remain suspended until the section 194 process in the National Assembly has been completed.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19027267 (181525ZJUN23) Notable: Another vote of no confidence for the new Johannesburg mayor scheduled for 20 June 2023

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“Of parties and puppets | Carte Blanche | M-Net” – Another vote of no confidence for the new Johannesburg mayor scheduled for 20 June 2023

https://youtu.be/FaE71cgT8lM

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟰 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯.

Johannesburg is the economic hub of Gauteng. It’s a cosmopolitan metropolis that boasts the tallest building in the country; a symbol of wealth towering above Africa’s richest square mile. It should be the envy of every municipality. But poor service delivery, corruption and gross mismanagement have turned the City of Gold into neglected decay. And its troubles don’t end there… While Joburg falls into a state of disrepair, the elected political elite – entrusted with the care of the city – have been squabbling for power, leaving the municipality rudderless. Now, there’s a new, new sheriff in town – the third mayor in just the last five months. A man with virtually no digital footprint or discernible experience in running a multi-billion-rand municipal budget, Kabelo Gwamanda seems wholly out of his depth.

“CONFIRMED: Joburg Mayor ran dodgy funeral scheme”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-joburg-mayor-kabelo-gwamanda-latest-scheme-18-june-2023/

18-06-2023 09:36

All this comes just days before Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is set to face a motion of no confidence against him in the council

The City of Johanesburg’s Mayor, Kabelo Gwamanda’s seat is in jeopardy, now more than ever: Opposition parties in the council who have been calling for his removal could now have the ammunition they need to get rid of him as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has reportedly confirmed to Sunday Times that he was at the centre of an illegal funeral scheme.

WHAT EXACTLY IS GWAMANDA ACCUSED OF?

Kabelo Gwamanda is accused of defrauding vulnerable people through his funeral insurance and burial scheme. Investigative journalism programme Carte Blance did a story on the allegations, which led to ActionSA filing a motion of no confidence against him.

The embattled mayor is said to have convinced his victims to make monthly contributions to this scheme, but they were unable to claim from it when the time came.

MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE THIS WEEK

The motion of no confidence against the mayor of Africa’s economic hub is schedule for Tuesday, 20 June 2023. ActionSA is believed to have met with the different political parties to lobby for its support when the motion is heard.

ActionSA reportedly reached out to the DA on 15 May 2023 seeking a meeting about all parties discussing the need for a motion of no confidence in the wake of the Carte Blanche allegations.

The DA reportedly failed to respond to these requests despite several parties in the moonshot pact discussions observing the importance of repairing the reputational damage to the confidence in our multi-party coalition project at a local level.

Gwamanda became Joburg’s mayor in the beginning of May 2023, following the resignation of his fellow Al Jama-ah councillor Thapelo Amad. There are concerns about the lack of stability in the City of Joburg, which many have attributed to the rows between the various political parties in the council.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032117 (191345ZJUN23) Notable: ANC Bun | Brazzaville Foundation Bun / Brazzaville Foundation: Behind the African Peace Mission Between Kyiv and Moscow

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>>43952

>Facilitated by the Brazzaville Foundation, we’ve been able to have these discussions.

>>43953

>>43954

“Brazzaville Foundation: Behind the African Peace Mission Between kyiv and Moscow”

https://weafrica24.com/2023/05/17/brazzaville-foundation-behind-the-african-peace-mission-between-kyiv-and-moscow/

Published May 17, 2023

The announcement by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to send an African peace mission to Ukraine and Russia surprised many African diplomats, as preparations are being carried out by the Brazzaville Foundation, created and directed by the French Jean-Yves Olivier.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, May 16th by Cyril Ramaphosa. According to the South African president, Kyiv, and Moscow have agreed to host a delegation led by the heads of state of Zambia, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda, Egypt, and the ‘South Africa.

It is therefore in parallel with the usual diplomatic frameworks that this mission project was set up. With, at the heart of its presidential networks, the Brazzaville Foundation was created in 2015 and chaired by the Frenchman Jean-Yves Ollivier. The businessman made his fortune trading commodities around the world, particularly in Africa, where he has forged strong ties with decision-makers over the past four decades. From former Ivorian President Félix Houphouët-Boigny to President of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou-Nguesso via Angolan José dos Santos, Jean-Yves Ollivier is a regular at presidential palaces. “I devoted myself to business and politics caught up with me”.

Close to President Jacques Chirac, Jean-Yves Olivier worked in the shadows in South Africa during apartheid and then with Nelson Mandela, in the DRC, the Comoros, and even Sudan. In 2020, he also organized a conference in Lomé on the fight against counterfeit medicines with seven heads of state from the continent. “We know today that trafficking corrupts from the base to the highest level of the state, that it also feeds terrorism,” he said at the end of the event.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032167 (191356ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / The arms dealer behind the African peace mission to Ukraine (Parts 1&2)

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>>>/qresearch/18879937

>>43994

>Rosatom

>>43998

“The arms dealer behind the African peace mission to Ukraine” – Part 2

https://mg.co.za/politics/2023-06-19-the-arms-dealer-behind-the-african-peace-mission-to-ukraine/

19 JUN 2023

Kremlin connections

The stated intention of the African peace mission is to end the war in Ukraine, but the mission is not off to an auspicious start.

By the time the delegation disembarked at the Kyiv train station on Friday morning, three presidents had already dropped out (Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the Republic of Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and Museveni).

Ramaphosa was travelling with a reduced security detail after the bulk of his security was grounded at the airport in Warsaw. Polish police said they did not have the appropriate authorisations for their weapons. This claim is disputed by Ramaphosa’s security head, who said Poland was trying to “sabotage” the mission.

On arrival in Kyiv, the presidents – Ramaphosa, Azali Assoumani of the Comoros, Macky Sall of Senegal and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia – were greeted by the sound of air-raid sirens and explosions.

These were caused by a Russian missile attack, which could have led to awkward questions on Saturday, when the African leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. Russian authorities would have been well aware of the presence of four African presidents during the missile strike.

The revelation of Ichikowitz’s role, and his potential commercial interest, likely further complicated the negotiations. It is not known whether Paramount Group is selling weapons to either side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, although at least one piece of military equipment produced by Paramount – a Marauder-type armoured vehicle – has been spotted with Russian forces on the front line, according to news website DefenceWeb.

Ichikowitz is known to be connected to at least one major oligarch who is close to Putin. Both Ichikowitz and the Brazzaville Foundation’s Ollivier spoke at the 2019 edition of the Rhodes Forum, described by some as “Putin’s Davos”.

The Rhodes Forum is organised by Vladimir Yakunin, a former KGB officer who later served as the president of Russian Railways. He has been under United States sanctions since 2014 due to his support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Australian sanctions on Yakunin describe him as “a close personal and financial associate of Vladimir Putin”.

Despite this, in 2020, the Brazzaville Foundation – of whom Ichikowitz has been an enthusiastic supporter and funder – announced a formal partnership with Yakunin’s think tank, the Dialogue of Civilizations, saying they “share many of the same objectives”. It has since said that this partnership “was never implemented”.

Ollivier’s ties to Russia are even closer, having served as an advisor to the state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom. This is the same energy company that was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal in South Africa under Ramaphosa’s predecessor, Jacob Zuma – a scandal that in part paved the way for Ramaphosa to take power.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declined to comment specifically on the role of Ichikowitz and Ollivier.

He told The Continent: “When anyone in the world comes up with initiatives that ‘we will talk to Ukraine and Russia and settle everything’, we politely advise: if you want to actually help, and not pretend to mediate, so as not to take a position, focus on specific actions.”

This article first appeared in The Continent, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the Mail & Guardian. https://www.thecontinent.org/_files/ugd/287178_f84c8a1a7c80467cb308746909192747.pdf?index=true

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032601 (191552ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Cyril Ramaphosa hails ‘historic’ Ukraine peace mission after talks (video)

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“President Cyril Ramaphosa and Africa peace mission team back home”

https://youtu.be/KHwfyOc9xbI

The crew that was meant to accompany President Cyril Ramaphosa to the war-torn Ukraine and Russia is back home, after being stuck in Poland for their visit. The almost 120-member team comprising 11 local journalists and over 90 SAPS and SANDF members was denied passage to both Ukraine and Russia due to the nature of weapons they were carrying on their flight. They arrived home just after 9pm yesterday at the Waterkloof Airforce Base in Pretoria. Meanwhile, President Ramaphosa is also back in the country after what he described as a successful mission.

He was with six other African heads of state on the African Peace Mission to meet with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymir Zelenskyy.

“Cyril Ramaphosa hails ‘historic’ Ukraine peace mission after talks”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/cyril-ramaphosa-hails-historic-ukraine-peace-mission-after-talks-vladimir-putin-russia-breaking-19-june-2023/

19-06-2023 12:32

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday hailed an African mission to broker peace in Ukraine as “historic” upon returning from talks in Kyiv and Saint Petersburg that however did not yield any immediate results.

“This initiative has been historic in that it is the first time African leaders have embarked on a peace mission beyond the shores of the continent,” Ramaphosa said in a weekly newsletter on Monday.

On Monday, Cyril Ramaphosa said “one of the key achievements” of the mission “was the positive reception” it received from both sides, “which we found encouraging and which provides cause for optimism that the proposals will be given consideration.”

Both Zelensky and Putin have agreed to further engagements, he said.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032638 (191559ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Unapproved dangerous’ goods on plane spark diplomatic spat between Poland and South Africa (video)

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>>43997

>>43998

>>43999

>>44000

>>44001

>The almost 120-member team comprising 11 local journalists and over 90 SAPS and SANDF members was denied passage to both Ukraine and Russia due to the nature of weapons they were carrying on their flight.

“Govan Whittles’ account of SA flight's grounding in Poland”

https://youtu.be/oLL-jV_JlpA

Jun 19, 2023

Questions continue to be raised about why President Cyril Ramaphosa's security team was blocked from proceeding from Poland to Ukraine and Russia. There are also calls from the EFF for the Polish embassy to be downgraded and the ambassador to be expelled from South Africa. Newzroom Afrika’s Govan Whittles unpacks how the drama unfolded.

2:11 – “As soon as we landed, the air traffic controllers at Chopin International Airport in Poland ushered the South African plane to the furthest edge of the terminal building… We were with the cargo planes… Then right next to our plane was the perimeter fence of the airport and as soon as we touched down, the Polish media were already set up with cameras outside the fence. Clearly they were told that we were about to land… Only about 7 hours later does the head of the presidential security call us to the front and say, “come see what’s happening. The police here, they’re threatening to confiscate our weapons if we offload them.””

6:59 – “To be fair, this trip of which the preparation was very secret and weren’t allowed to say anything about our intention to travel to this area. We were explicitly advised not to report on it beforehand. Remember, even in the presidential briefing by the spokesperson the day before we went, the spokesperson said the President was only going to Geneva for that International Labor Organization Summit. He didn’t mention that from Geneva he would fly to Pland to attend to the African Peace Mission. That’s the level of secrecy that was around this.”

10:34 – “-What happened here is that the invitation was extended to us as a lift on the airplane which was being chartered by the presidency. Not at our request but they had offered us a lift and said that we could cover the African Peace Mission.” [Interesting! It reminds me of “Plot for Peace” - >>43953]

11:45 – “Right now, we’re waiting for a statement from the presidency. A lot has happened and there were serious infringements alleged by the presidential protection services for which we’re hoping the presidency will clarify. We’ve been told that they’re not going to do so. Until they do, the only official statement on record about what happened is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland which says that they didn’t have premits for the weapons and they didn’t have the correct documentation. Of course there are other geopolitical factors here which are obvious based on how we were treated. We’ll get into that at a later stage. We should also point out that most of the presidential protection services and police hold diplomatic passports. So the allegation that they didn’t have proper documentation is neither here nor there. There did appear to be some wrangling of political forces in the background probably linked to the question of where those were going and then we get into the discussion of Lady R but we hope to unpack that through the afternoon.”

12:48 – “I think it was in the Sunday Times where they alleged that there was a conversation that was had prior to this trip about the return of a prisoner from South Africa, a Polish prisoner. Were there murmurs about this at all during your time there?… No none that we were aware of. As far as we were aware, the negotiations between the South African presidential protection services and the police were hostile and didn’t achieve much if anything, and those kind of negotiations would have happened during the Presidential check-in with his Polish counterpart which we understand didn’t last for more than a half an hour which is highly unusual for President to check-in with his counterpart and then be back on the plane within 45 minutes. So there did appear to be tension from that moment and that needs to be explored because, of course, after our President visited the Polish President and then made his way to off to Ukraine, the negotiations to let us off the plane deteriorated significantly. With him was our International Relations Minister, Naledi Pandor who we confirmed didn’t have extensive discussions with the Polish counterpart during that check-in in Warsaw.-”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032970 (191659ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Unapproved dangerous’ goods on plane spark diplomatic spat between Poland and South Africa (video)

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>>44001

>The almost 120-member team comprising 11 local journalists and over 90 SAPS and SANDF members

“SA security officials 'warned about Polish protocols on weapons'”

https://youtu.be/EBe_fJYom1M

Jun 19, 2023

Members of the Presidential Protection Service and journalists travelling with President Cyril Ramaphosa on the African Union peace mission to Ukraine and Russia were grounded in Poland at the weekend. A PPS member was also strip-searched by Polish police. They wanted to confiscate weapons from the chartered flight. Security officials were reportedly warned about custom requirements for transporting weapons via Poland. Security Expert Rory Steyn weighs in.

4:35 – “Well, it is completed unprecedented. I have never ever heard of that large a number of security personnel traveling with our President.”

6:05 – “Having done this previously, how much security detail did the former President or the first President [Mandela] of the democratic South Africa enjoy?… I’m going to decline to answer that question as I always do. You’re not the first one to ask me that. Out of respect for my colleagues that still do this work, it would be inappropriate of me to comment on the numbers around the President because I don’t want to compromise either their safety nor that of our President. So I’m going to decline to answer that… Suffice to say, I’ve never heard of 120 South Africa personnel leaving the shore of South Africa for any presidential cooperation.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19032975 (191700ZJUN23) Notable: SA hosts high-level foreign delegations (video)

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“SA hosts high-level foreign delegations”

https://youtu.be/NvHzHyty1yg

Jun 19, 2023

Today, the French foreign minister is in SA to hold meetings with International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor, while tomorrow there will be high-level delegations from Denmark and The Netherlands in the country. University of Pretoria's Roland Henwood weighs in.

0:11 – “Over the last 3 months or so, you may have noticed there’s been a really high number of State visits to South Africa. People from diverse places such as Finland and many other places coming through to Pretoria.”

0:27 – “It’s really a parade of people. So many of them from European countries to South Africa. Is there any particular reason why there have been so many state visists here so recently?… The answer lies probably in history and the fact that especially European countries have been heavily invested in South Africa over a very long time.”

2:14 – “One must remember that traditionally Pretoria holds a very specific and interesting position in global politics in that this is one of the best connected diplomatic capitals in the world, after Washington, the second most missions. [It] used to be, I’m not sure if it’s still that high.”

10:49 – “We’re not discussing much closer to home what could be a civil war in Sudan for example. Is that simply because of how important the Russia Ukraine conflict is? The impact on food prices? Was it just because some fo the Western Powers have been able to make it the most important thing for us to discuss?… I think it’s a combination of these factors that yes it is a key issue. It is redefining global politics. We cannot ignore that. Yes it is also important because influential and powerful governments are driving this but there are other reasons also. It’s important because media is focused on that. It’s more accessible, it’s more visible and probably much bigger than anything we’ve had in a very long time. The problem with Sudan is it’s an African conflict and that does not make it less important but that makes it less newsworthy. It’s very difficult to get access and information and to show that to the rest of the world. This is the interesting part, African media houses are also fixating on the Russia-Ukraine war and are ignoring what is happening in Sudan by and large.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19038359 (201503ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Protection services delayed before Russia peace mission “due to aviation insurance exclusions” (Parts 1&2)

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“Protection services delayed before Russia peace mission (“due to aviation insurance exclusions”)” – 1 of 2

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2023-06-13-protection-services-delayed-before-russia-peace-mission/

13 June 2023 - 20:46

The multimillion-rand mission by six African heads of state spearheaded by President Cyril Ramaphosa to forge peace in the war in Ukraine hit a glitch this week.

The advance team of the presidential protection services was scheduled to leave for Russia via Poland to establish its security apparatus and personnel before the imminent mission to Russia but encountered difficulties due to aviation insurance exclusions for certain aircraft operators into Russia.

According to aviation sources closely involved in the aviation charter business, a passenger jet costing more than R20m sourced from a North African airline apparently was no longer available due to insurance limitations travelling into Russia.

An aircraft was then apparently sourced in the United Arab Emirates, but the departure is expected to be delayed because clearances required for such flights were by Tuesday morning still in process. By the afternoon, the chartered aircraft had not arrived in Johannesburg.

This could mean a delay in the placement of the protectors and the timely completion of a threat assessment before the presidential mission, as well as the intricate logistics involved in the mission to succeed.

The heads of state from Egypt, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Ramaphosa are leading the peace mission. While it was expected to start soon, Ramaphosa was to depart on Tuesday night for Geneva where he will attend the World of Work Summit, hosted by the International Labour Organisation.

The SA Police Service (SAPS) in its response did not elaborate much due to “operational security” reasons, but confirmed that the flight was “on schedule”. It is understood that the flight was scheduled to leave Tuesday night with about 120 passengers and equipment on board.

Security concerns

At a media briefing on Monday, presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the departure and flight details of the presidential peace mission would not be made public due to security concerns in a high-risk area.

It is also unclear how and where Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will fit into the negotiations as the advance team at least will fly only to Russia and back — not to Kyiv, Ukraine.

“The presidential protection services team is heading over there to conduct their usual advance security threat assessment and planning exercise once dates are affirmed [before the presidential mission],” Magwenya said.

Police national spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said in response to Business Day’s questions that the charter of the team’s aircraft was not handled by the air force as it was only responsible for the air transport of the president and deputy president. The flight arrangements were therefore handled by the police.

The air force sources chartered aircraft as per a list of approved VVIP service providers on a government contract. Business Day understands from sources in the aviation industry that the service providers in turn need to find aircraft abroad for certain international flights if none is available in SA.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19038362 (201504ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Protection services delayed before Russia peace mission “due to aviation insurance exclusions” (Parts 1&2)

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>>44005

“Protection services delayed before Russia peace mission (“due to aviation insurance exclusions”)” – 2 of 2

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2023-06-13-protection-services-delayed-before-russia-peace-mission/

13 June 2023 - 20:46

Need assurance

Even though Mathe said the service provider was on the approved Treasury database, the aircraft sourced in North Africa encountered problems with the airline’s insurers because of the flight’s destination.

According to Mathe, the issue of insurance was not the police’s problem, but that of the airline responsible for supplying the chartered jet. The police just needed to be assured that the airline complied with international aviation rules and regulations.

Most SA service providers “contacted the same airline [for aircraft] but inflated the price [quoted to the police] with almost 200% in profit”, Mathe said.

She confirmed the flight path was from SA to Poland, then on to Russia and back to Poland, back to Russia and back to SA.

Insurance for aircraft operators became an issue after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent sanctions issued by the US and the EU. Russia closed its airspace to countries that maintained sanctions against it while the same applied to restrictions on Russian-registered aircraft over Europe, the US and other countries that sided with the US and the EU.

About 500 commercial aircraft leased from EU and US companies and operating within Russia remain trapped in Russia after the sanctions were announced. Russia subsequently confiscated the aircraft refusing to allow them to fly back to its lessors, causing millions of dollar in losses.

While certain airlines and aviation operators still continue with scheduled flights in and out of Russia, some chartered aircraft are leased under different insurance restrictions and would therefore not be covered when flying into the four countries. Aircraft from the UAE continue to operate in and out of Russia without any restrictions.

The peace talks in Russia would only be announced on the day they started in Moscow, Magwenya said.

Ramaphosa will host a joint working visit by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen next Tuesday.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19038369 (201504ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Ramaphosa’s plane “failed to get clearance to fly over Italian airspace”

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Ramaphosa’s plane “failed to get clearance to fly over Italian airspace”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/breaking-president-cyril-ramaphosa-security-poland-latest-16-june-2023/

16-06-2023 05:29

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s peace mission has not been without drama as members of his security staff along with a number of South African journalists are stuck in Poland. According to several news reports, the flight, which left the country in the wee hours of Thursday, was flagged by aviation authorities after it failed to get clearance to fly over Italian airspace.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19038744 (201603ZJUN23) Notable: SA hosts high-level foreign delegations (video)

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Naledi Pandor Interview – Netherland and Denmark visit, G20 Summit, etc.

It is interesting that activists tend to become Presidents or Prime Ministers.

https://youtu.be/dacKhcMkSP4

Jun 20, 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa will today host a joint working visit by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte and the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen in Pretoria. The Prime Ministers are on a two-day working visit to South Africa aimed at solidifying the three countries' relationship in the areas of green hydrogen, renewable energy and just energy transition. It is expected that South Africa and the Netherlands will sign the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on green hydrogen. The visit also brings a substantial group of investors to South Africa. The investors will take part in a joint business seminar. Let's now cross to our International News Editor Sophie Mokoena.

0:36 – “These countries are quite important to South Africa. These are countries that supported South Africa during Apartheid. When you look at Netherlands in particular, you know that it was the queen of the Netherlands in the 60s who took the decision that she was not going to visit South Africa under the Apartheid government… until South Africa was free. That is why the late President Nelson Mandela, when he was released in prison, the Netherlands was also part of those countries that were prioritized in terms of visiting those countries.”

9:28 – “The Prime Minister of Denmark is her first visit but I do know having met her before that she was a young lady of 12 involved in all the protests against Apartheid in her country and she shared with me as we walked from the airplane to the car that it was her dream to visit the country when it is free [for criminals] and she’s realizing her dream by being here.”

11:41 – “As South Africa prepares to assume the G20 Chair in 2025.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19038831 (201618ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Eskom Bun / Eskom rescues technicians from dangerous Joburg areas (video)

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>>44008

>it is free [for criminals]

The South Africans struggle continues…

“Government only understands language of violence - Diepsloot residents” - https://youtu.be/rt43isBbVtA

“Eskom rescues technicians from dangerous Joburg areas”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/eskom-rescues-technicians-from-dangerous-joburg-areas-e6d135ba-371d-46c1-bbc5-f15931022e7e

TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2023

Eskom has withdrawn its technicians in the Diepsloot and Marlboro areas over the safety of its technicians.

The power utility issued a statement on Tuesday indicating that it had become unsafe for its staff members to resolve technical issues in the area.

"We will return to the areas when we deem it safe for our employees to operate. Their safety is important to us," the parastatal said.

Over the last few days, protests in the Dieplsoot turned violent as residents have vowed to wage war against high-levels of crime in the area.

In images that have gone viral, residents could be seen barricading roads with burning tyres and setting alight shacks which they say belong to criminals and drug lords.

Stalls belonging to some undocumented migrant vendors had to be closed down, with some of them being attacked by angry community members.

Meanwhile, in Marlboro, Eskom had already begun a process to remove illegal connections.

According to the utility, this was part of its initiative to "safeguard electricity infrastructure against overloading."

It said it was also doing this to prevent supply interruptions as well as any injuries and fatalities that may occur due to the illegal connections.

As a result, Eskom technicians have been targeted, prompting the utility halting its operations in the area.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19047814 (212157ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / (from General) NATO member threatens African aid cuts over support for Russia

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General Research #23390 >>>/qresearch/19047755

21 Jun, 2023 16:02

NATO member threatens African aid cuts over support for Russia

The Finnish government’s approach is a classic case of coercive diplomacy, a South African politician has told RT

African countries that back Russia in the Ukraine conflictwill lose development assistance from Finland, the country’s foreign trade and development minister, Ville Tavio, said on Monday.

The new Finnish government led by Petteri Orpo is seeking to cut development aid by around $1 billion and redirect the savings. Tavio told national broadcaster YLE that “Ukraine will become a new recipient country.”

In a separate interview with The Times, the minister claimed his country’s “primary duty is to support Ukraine,” arguing that it is “morally wrong” for countries that support Russia’s “aggression” against Kiev to continue receiving development aid from Finland.

“Developing nations should focus on their internal development instead of endorsing Russia’s war. I am keeping an eye on countries that receive aid from Finland, but choose not to respectinternational rules-based orderand Ukraine’s state sovereignty,” Tavio said.

Although the minister did not name any countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, and Mozambique are Finland’s main partners in Africa, having received foreign aid from Helsinki for decades.

Several countries on the continent, including South Africa, have remained non-aligned in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, despite foreign pressure to back Kiev.

South African politician Themba Godi, a former member of the National Assembly, described it as a “disgrace” for the Finnish government to threaten African nations with aid cuts.

“It’s a classic case of coercive diplomacy where threats and blackmail are used to achieve certain positions,” Godi told RT. He added that “positions that countries take on the Russia-Ukraine conflict may not necessarily be informed by rational thinking and independent decisions but may be the product of blackmail.”

According to Godi, Helsinki’s stance only reinforces the view that countries that are US allies have no regard for Africans.

The continent’s nations, he added, are more drawn toward Russia and China as a result of bullying by Finland and others.

The new Finnish government has additionally outlined plans to tighten immigration rules and make it more difficult for foreign nationals to obtain residency or citizenship in the country.

https://www.rt.com/africa/578382-finland-african-aid-cut-threat/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19053808 (222101ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Russia and Ukraine Bun / Unapproved dangerous’ goods on plane spark diplomatic spat between Poland and South Africa (video)

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“Peace mission fiasco in Poland – FF Plus demands answers”

https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/peace-mission-fiasco-in-poland-ff-plus-demands-answers/

June 20, 2023

The FF Plus demands that Maj. Gen. Wally Rhoode must appear before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police to explain the fiasco in Poland involving President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security detail.

Maj. Gen. Rhoode, head of the presidential protection unit, was part of the security group denied entry into Poland.

According to the Polish authorities, there had been problems with documents and permits for goods and personnel.

According to a media report (News24, 18 June 2023: Ramaphosa’s protection team ignored warnings about Polish permits), air force officials had warned the “leadership” of the security contingency about this.

It seems that they were specifically informed about the documentation required to travel with certain goods and personnel. This warning was, however, ignored.

Still, Maj. Gen. Rhoode decided to have an impromptu media conference on the plane’s steps at the Chopin Airport and accused Poland of racism.

By making such rash statements, Maj. Gen. Rhoode entered the political arena.

It is not appropriate for a member of the police to make such statements, and he must be called to account.

Clarity must also be provided on why such a large security contingency was needed, and why they had taken weapons along.

I will ask the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, whether a permit was issued for the weapons, and he must also indicate how many weapons and how much ammunition was taken along.

What transpired here is to be expected when it comes to any form of planning by the ANC government.

It is, however, still an embarrassment for the whole of South Africa, and the country and its people deserve answers.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19064930 (241639ZJUN23) Notable: Updated Covid & Other Pestilence Bun / Covid Is Genocide - A Biological Warfare Crime - Dr. David Martin Speaks To The European Parliament (video)

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“Covid Is Genocide - A Biological Warfare Crime - Dr. David Martin Speaks To The European Parliament”

https://youtu.be/GaD8qEWJglY

Jun 23, 2023

He references Pfizer.

18:41 – “Let’s read this because we have to read this into the record everywhere I go. “Until an infectious disease crisis is very real present and at the emergency threshold that is often largely ignored. To sustain the funding base beyond the crisis,” he said, “we need to increase the public understanding for the need for medical countermeasures such as a pan influenza or pan coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of the process.” Sounds like public health? Sounds like the best of humanity? No ladies and gentlemen, this was premeditated domestic terrorism stated at the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, published in front of them. This is an act of biological and chemical warfare perpetrated on the human race and it was admitted to in writing that this was a financial heist and a financial fraud. Investors will follow if they see profit at the end of the process.”

Watch it in full!… It’s just brilliant!

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19064964 (241646ZJUN23) Notable: BlackRock Recruiter Who ‘Decides People’s Fate’ Says ‘War is Good for Business’ (video)

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>>44012

>“Until an infectious disease crisis is very real present and at the emergency threshold that is often largely ignored. To sustain the funding base beyond the crisis,” he said, “we need to increase the public understanding for the need for medical countermeasures such as a pan influenza or pan coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of the process.”

This is not just in health… It’s all about profit and not humanity.

“BREAKING: BlackRock Recruiter Who ‘Decides People’s Fate’ Says ‘War is Good for Business’”

https://youtu.be/tgONwXR1Uwo

Jun 20, 2023

2:33 – “BlackRock, one of the world’s leading asset and investment managers which owns significant shares in companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch, Meta, Target, Proctor & Gamble, Comcast, CNN, Fox News and, yes, Pfizer.”

https://okeefemediagroup.com/breaking-blackrock-recruiter-who-decides-peoples-fate-says-war-is-good-for-business-while-spilling-info-on-asset-giant/

“The senators…are f***ing cheap – you got 10 grand, you can buy a senator,” Varlay remarked in what is arguably the most unabashed description of corruption and bribery from their own company we’ve ever heard. The extended soundbite from Varlay is below:

You can take this big f*** ton of money and buy people, I work for a company called BlackRock…It’s not who is the president it’s who is controlling the wallet of the president. You could buy your candidates. First, there is the senators these guys are fuckin cheap. Got 10 grand you can buy a senator I’ll give you 500k right now It doesn’t matter who wins they’re in my pocket.

Varlay doesn’t stop there, he goes on to describe what those in his line of work think of the tragedy of war saying its “real f***ing good for business”.

Ukraine is good for business, you know that right? Russia blows up Ukraine’s grain silos and the price of wheat is going to go mad up. The Ukrainian economy is the wheat market. The price of bread goes up, this is fantastic if you’re trading. Volatility creates opportunity for profit…

Varlay added that its “exciting when s*** goes wrong.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19077312 (261719ZJUN23) Notable: Final Commodities Bun / Economic sabotage: Mantashe accuses Lesotho government after 31 illegal miners die in Free State mine (video)

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“Illegal mining is economic sabotage – Mantashe” - https://youtu.be/CSGM-htlqpA

“Economic sabotage: Mantashe accuses Lesotho government after 31 illegal miners die in Free State mine”

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/economic-sabotage-mantashe-accuses-lesotho-government-after-31-illegal-miners-die-in-free-state-mine-d4e9ed53-8dbc-49b3-95b2-3a3cb145b41d

Published Jun 23, 2023

Pretoria - As news broke on the presence of at least 31 bodies of suspected illegal miners, believed to be Basotho nationals, underground at the Virginia Mine in Free State, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe has accused Lesotho of interfering with South Africa’s economy.

Mantashe said officials of the Lesotho government have more information on the tragic incident, after survivors of the mining tragedy in Free State “ran to Lesotho to report” without informing any South African authorities.

Mantashe said on Thursday, Lesotho’s minister in charge of mineral resources was deployed to Welkom, Free State. He said the Lesotho minister “made a very strange suggestion”, that surviving illegal miners should be deployed to go underground and retrieve bodies of the deceased illegal miners.

“I asked him a very straightforward question: should we send people into a methane-infested shaft knowingly? What happens if more die, would you take responsibility? This incident, more than any other incident, has confirmed our view that this thing of illegal mining is actually economic sabotage, it is war on our economy and, therefore, those who died there are almost like soldiers dying in combat,” Mantashe said in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Friday.

“It is quite a serious matter and I don’t know why is the Lesotho government not seeing that this is quite dangerous, because they give us a lot of instructions, coming from the prime minister of Lesotho in trying to talk to the executives of Harmony (mining company [owned by Patrice Motsepe]) and everybody.

“I think it is a dangerous issue for neighbours to do that to one another. Lesotho must come partner with us in mining if they want to. They must come through the front door. We have done that with their water, we went there, met them, had a bilateral and we committed ourselves. The president has visited Lesotho and so on. They should do that,” said Mantashe.

He said Lesotho as a nation cannot be having “some strange relationship with illegal miners” operating in South Africa.

Earlier, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said it received a report that at least 31 suspected illegal miners who are believed to be Basotho nationals, have lost their lives in a ventilation Shaft 5 Virginia Mine, in Welkom, Free State province.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations of the Kingdom of Lesotho relayed this message to the High Commission of South Africa that, on May 18, 2023, a group of suspected illegal miners died in a mine ventilation shaft which was last operational in the 1990s,” said Makhosonke Buthelezi, spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

“Although information on this tragic situation comes sporadically, we are doing our utmost best to act on the information, including information regarding three bodies which have been reported to be retrieved and brought to the surface by other illegal miners.

“Working in collaboration with the previous owners of the mine, Harmony, the DMRE inspectors have assessed the situation and determined that methane levels at the mine ventilation shaft 5 are very high. As such, it is currently too risky to dispatch a search team to the shaft,” said Buthelezi.

However, the South African authorities are considering various options to speedily deal with the situation.

“Although this is a unique and strange situation, all relevant stakeholders will endeavour to ensure that the suspected deceased illegal miners are brought to the surface,” said Buthelezi.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19110654 (021425ZJUL23) Notable: Webber Wentzel law firm

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>>43958

>Webber Wentzel

>Notable alumni of the firm include:

>Brett Kebble, mining magnate [murdered]

“Agliotti tells all in new book” - https://youtu.be/FiSjJ5uUVXc

“Agliotti dies on hospital operating table”

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/sunday-times-1107/20230702/281569475173604

2 Jul 2023

Convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti, left, who turned state witness against late former police commissioner Jackie Selebi and stood trial for Brett Kebble’s 2005 murder, is believed to have died on the operating table of a Joburg hospital on Saturday.

According to a police source, his family rushed him to Olivedale Clinic in the morning where he later died. An inquest into his death has been opened.

A police officer stationed at Douglasdale police station, north of Joburg, said Agliotti, 66, who was required to report to the station for his parole, had recently been ill and seemed to be getting worse.

“He was required to check in and sign in and you could tell he was not well. At times he wouldn’t step out of the car when he came because he couldn’t walk,” said the officer.

Police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said he could not confirm the details surrounding Agliotti’s death. He declined to comment on social media rumours that Agliotti slipped and bumped his head on stairs at home and died of a brain haemorrhage in hospital.

“We cannot comment on the allegations until we receive a hospital report and until the inquest into Mr Agliotti’s death has been finalised,” said Masondo.

Agliotti was a key figure in the drug related prosecution of Selebi, with his evidence used to implicate and prosecute the former police boss, who died in 2015. Agliotti agreed to turn state witness against Selebi in exchange for a lenient sentence on drug trafficking charges.

He earned himself several nicknames in court, including being known as the “Landlord” for being a player in a drug syndicate, a name he insisted was misplaced.

Then there was Germiston magistrate Deon Snyman, who presided over a drug trafficking trial where he referred to Agliotti and his co-accused as “snitches, pimps, rats who would sell their soul to evade a long prison term”.

At the time of the Selebi court case, the state made a deal with three alleged drug dealers — Stefanos Paparas, his father Dimitri and their driver Stanley Poonin — who were acquitted by the Germiston magistrate’s court on the grounds that the evidence against them might be unreliable.

But perhaps Agliotti was best known for a quote from the late Selebi himself, who said about Agliotti: “He is my friend, finish and klaar”. Selebi was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In November 2010, Agliotti was granted a discharge application that freed him from the four charges, including a count of murder for the Kebble slaying.

“I am relieved … justice was done, justice wasn’t only done, it was seen to be done,” he said at the time. “I am angry at the same time.”

Agliotti’s co-accused in that case, including Mikey Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel Smith, who shot Kebble, received indemnity from prosecution after testifying against Agliotti.

Judge Frans Kgomo, who granted the discharge application, was unimpressed with the outcome, saying: “This case is about corrupt civil servants as well as politicians or politically connected officials wining and dining with the devil incarnate under shade of darkness.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19110660 (021427ZJUL23) Notable: Webber Wentzel law firm

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>>44015

>Convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti, left, who turned state witness against late former police commissioner Jackie Selebi and stood trial for Brett Kebble’s 2005 murder, is believed to have died on the operating table of a Joburg hospital on Saturday.

Kebble, Agliotti and Selebi Timeline

https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2023-07-02-glenn-agliotti-dies-in-joburg-hospital/

02 July 2023

TIMELINE

September 27 2005, 9pm - Brett Kebble was shot and killed in his Mercedes-Benz on a bridge over the M1 highway in Melrose, northern Johannesburg.

November 16 2006 - Glenn Agliotti was charged with Kebble's murder.

January 2008 - Former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi was arrested for corruption, based on his relationship with convicted druglord Agliotti.

July 26 2010 - Agliotti's trial begins in the Johannesburg High Court

August 3 2010 - Selebi is found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 15 years in jail.

November 4 2010 - Agliotti applies for the charges against him to be dismissed.

November 25 2010 - Agliotti is acquitted of murdering Kebble.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19110760 (021443ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Judge Joffe goes out with a bang: Minutes after sentencing Jackie Selebi, he announced his retirement

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>>44015

>Agliotti was a key figure in the drug related prosecution of Selebi, with his evidence used to implicate and prosecute the former police boss, who died in 2015. Agliotti agreed to turn state witness against Selebi in exchange for a lenient sentence on drug trafficking charges.

“Judge Joffe goes out with a bang” (Minutes after sentencing Jackie Selebi, “he announced his retirement")

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/judge-joffe-goes-out-with-a-bang-671898

Published Aug 4, 2010

It was Judge Meyer Joffe's last sitting in the Johannesburg High Court as a judge but it will be the one he is remembered for.

On Tuesday after presiding over one of the most high profile cases in recent South African history, Judge Joffe sentenced former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to 15 years in jail.

Minutes later he announced his retirement. He told a packed gallery that he had five minutes to vacate his office at the high court.

He is due to take up an executive director position at the South African Judicial Institute.

The institute was formed last year to train aspirant judges and would be temporarily housed in the CBD while its offices at Constitutional Hill are being built.

Despite this Judge Joffe indicated he would be available for Selebi's application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence if it was brought before him.

In October 2006, Judge Joffe was a presiding officer in the case of Thembekile Mankanyi, a South African gold miner, in his failed attempt to sue his employer AngloGold Ashanti, stating that he had developed the lung disease silicosis while working in the Vaal Reefs Mine.

Mankayi at the time sought R2.6 million.

Judge Joffe ruled against Mankayi.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19110853 (021458ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Judge Joffe fights back: Defence's argument to have him recused from the corruption trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi

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>>44015

>>44016

>>44017

“Judge Joffe fights back” – “defence's argument to have him recused from the corruption trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi “

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/judge-joffe-fights-back-463081

Published Oct 29, 2009

Judge Meyer Joffe on Thursday angrily challenged several aspects of the defence's argument to have him recused from the corruption trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi.

Visibly infuriated at times, Joffe fired a rapid line of questions at defence lawyer Jaap Cilliers about arguments made that the judge showed pro-State bias.

Cilliers also criticised the judge's handling of a City Press article on which the defence wanted to cross-examine State witness Glenn Agliotti.

The article detailed a secret tape which showed Agliotti talking to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in January 2008.

In the article, the journalist said Agliotti appeared "enthusiastic" in the recording in requesting a meeting with intelligence officials.

In previous testimony Agliotti said he was summoned to a meeting with intelligence later that month.

Joffe stopped a question from the defence to Agliotti about his "enthusiasm" which he said was merely about a journalist's impression, rather than factual.

"I allowed it to an extent that I felt was correct," replied Joffe.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111422 (021635ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Meyer Joffe tipped for top job at judicial institution

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>>44017

>On Tuesday after presiding over one of the most high profile cases in recent South African history, Judge Joffe sentenced former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to 15 years in jail.

>Minutes later he announced his retirement. He told a packed gallery that he had five minutes to vacate his office at the high court.

>He is due to take up an executive director position at the South African Judicial Institute.

“Meyer Joffe tipped for top job at judicial institution”

https://mg.co.za/article/2009-11-27-meyer-joffe-tipped-for-top-job-at-judicial-institution/

27 NOV 2009

The Western Cape legal fraternity’s hopes of seeing the back of Judge President John Hlophe appear to have been dashed after it emerged this week that the Jackie Selebi trial judge, Meyer Joffe, is the only contender for the South African Judicial Institute’s top job.

The Mail & Guardian can reveal that Judge Joffe — who has been at the centre of some controversy as the judicial officer presiding over the corruption trial of South African’s former top cop — is the only judge who will be interviewed on Friday for the executive director’s position.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111427 (021635ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Retired judge [Meyer Joffe] to lead inquiry into Gupta assets

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“Retired judge [Meyer Joffe] to lead inquiry into Gupta assets”

https://www.southafricanlawyer.co.za/article/2020/08/retired-judge-to-lead-inquiry-into-gupta-assets/

Monday, 31 August 2020

Retired Judge Meyer Joffe will chair a closed inquiry into how an estimated R1bn of assets, cash, high-value residential and commercial properties and mining equipment belonging to the Guptas’ Islandsite company allegedly vanished, says a Sunday Times report.

The disappearance is alleged to have occurred through questionable business rescue practices and irregular intercompany loans, property valuations and sales agreements.

Islandsite, which was placed in business rescue in 2018 after SA’s banks unbanked the Guptas, reportedly owed creditors R770m. These debts included: Bank of India (R31m); Sahara Computers (R467m); and the Gupta’s Westdawn (R200m).

Law enforcement sources investigating the family allege the Guptas used Islandsite to channel funds from questionable government contracts to buy a Midrand office building, a Cessna jet, luxury German cars and plush homes in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Islandsite owns nearly R100m worth of residential and commercial properties as well as an estimated R500m worth of mining equipment which, through Westdawn, was leased to the Gupta’s Optimum Coal Mine.

Last week, Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Judge Joseph Raulinga granted Islandsite’s new business rescue practitioner, Mahier Tayob, permission to hold an inquiry into the company’s affairs.

Declining to name those who would testify in-camera at the inquiry, to be held in Pretoria in September, Tayob said they would be subpoenaed this week.

The Sunday Times says it understands they include bank executives, shareholders, lawyers, estate agents and executives of Gupta-linked companies.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111438 (021639ZJUL23) Notable: Jackie Selebi Bun | Violence and Crime Bun | Webber Wentzel Bun / Browse Mole report a ‘mixture of fact and fiction’

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>>44015

>>44016

>Jackie Selebi

Remember this older post.

Prior to Jackie Selebi’s conviction…

“Browse Mole report a ‘mixture of fact and fiction’”

https://mg.co.za/article/2008-07-03-browse-mole-report-a-mixture-of-fact-and-fiction/

3 Jul 2008

Suspended head of the National Prosecuting Authority Vusi Pikoli had a feeling that the first version of the Special Browse Mole Report would cause trouble but didn’t do anything about it immediately because he was advised to ”file” it and his department already had a heavy workload.

”It was one of those documents that you wish you have never seen. I had this gut feel about this document, that this was going to cause trouble,” he said in Johannesburg on Thursday at the Ginwala commission of inquiry into his fitness to hold office.

The report was handed to him in March or April 2006 by former Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) [or Scorpions] head Leonard McCarthy [he worked for the World Bank after the scorpions were disbanded October 2008].

McCarthy said that because he was so busy, there was no harm in filing it away because he was going to give him a final report.

Although it already contained a number of conclusions ”on the face of it”, Pikoli considered it a ”mixture of fact and fiction”.

The report contained allegations of a foreign funded operation to bring African National Congress president Jacob Zuma to power.

One of the ”high profile” investigations that the DSO was working on was a corruption case against Zuma. The other was a corruption case against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

When he read the final version in June/July he became angry and thought that ”if there was a time that Mr McCarthy was going to leave the DSO, it was going to be that time”.

It had clearly been produced by someone who had contact with ”old apartheid structures of intelligence”, he said, and not a single member of the DSO had the capacity to produce it.

He believed it was clearly an intelligence report, and not the mandate of the DSO, although it had some elements of organised crime in it.

Pikoli was suspended on September 23 last year on the grounds of a breakdown in relations with Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Brigitte Mabandla and that he did not fully appreciate maters of national security.

He believes it is because of the Selebi investigation. – Sapa

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111447 (021641ZJUL23) Notable: Jackie Selebi Bun | Violence and Crime Bun | Webber Wentzel Bun / Cops obstruct Selebi investigation

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>>44022

>>44015

>Convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti, left, who turned state witness against late former police commissioner Jackie Selebi and stood trial for Brett Kebble’s 2005 murder,

“Cops obstruct Selebi investigation”

https://mg.co.za/article/2008-07-05-cops-obstruct-selebi-investigation/

5 JUL 2008

Police and National Intelligence Agency leaders appear to be waging a war of attrition against the National Prosecuting Authority and the Scorpions.

Evidence at Jackie Selebi’s court appearance and at the Ginwala Inquiry suggests acting police commissioner Tim Williams and NIA boss Manala Manzini have instituted a campaign to frustrate the Selebi case.

Selebi’s lawyers last week tabled a series of letters between Williams and acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe as part of their unsuccessful application to oppose the postponement of Selebi’s case.

The correspondence shows Williams has blocked access by Scorpions investigators to crucial evidence needed for the Selebi prosecution.

In January and May Mpshe wrote to Williams asking him to facilitate the handing over of information in police hands, including:

• details of alleged mobster Glenn Agliotti’s role and payments as a police informer;

• police videos on which Agliotti is recorded;

• information on whether John Stratton, the Australian accused of planning Brett Kebble’s murder, was a police informer;

• the diaries of key players, including Selebi and members of crime intelligence, who interacted with Agliotti; and

• Selebi’s travel records.

Williams’s responses are sarcastic and hostile. In his first reply, he said the request was so ”vague and filled with discrepancies” that it was impossible for him to assist.

”My willingness at our informal meeting to assist you with a request for further material related to your already instituted prosecution of Commissioner Selebi did not amount to a willingness to conduct a further investigation on behalf of the DSO,” he wrote.

”I was under the impression, gleaned from media statements issued by yourself and your media relations officer — that you were already in a position to proceed with your prosecution against the national commissioner.

”Your request at this late stage is unreasonable and I would not want to become a reason for or a stumbling block preventing you from commencing with your prosecution without delay.”

On May 27 Mpshe repeated the request in more detail, providing explanations for how each piece of evidence would be useful to the prosecution.

Conveniently for Selebi, Mpshe’s correspondence and Williams’s reply were leaked to the media and some of it was published on June 22, allowing Selebi’s lawyers to write to the police on June 23 asking for it.

Contrasting starkly with their response to the NPA, the police sent Selebi’s lawyers the full correspondence on the same day, including Williams’s second reply, also dated June 23. Selebi may have seen the response before Mpshe did.

In his second reply Williams lectured Mpshe on the role of the crime intelligence division (CID), emphasising the prohibition on the disclosure of intelligence sources and methods.

He complained that the CID’s requests to the Scorpions for details of their investigation were denied: ”In fact the [Scorpions] deliberately misled the division regarding the extent of their investigation.”

Williams does not acknowledge that he knows key members of the CID are considered suspects in the Scorpions’ case. Williams states that as members of the investigation team were allowed supervised ”access” to informer documentation relating to Agliotti and others, this should suffice.

He would not provide the actual material, meaning it could not be used as evidence.

The same applied to video material, including a crucial 2003 recording in which Agliotti admits to crime intelligence boss Mulangi Mphego that he tried to get money from Kebble needed to pay Selebi.

Williams declined to say whether Stratton was a police informer, as this would disclose the ”secret services” of the SAPS. However, Mphego is known to have boasted to the media of Stratton’s status as his agent.

Also for reasons of ”secret service” Williams declined to make diaries available. On the subject of Selebi’s travel records, Williams complained provision of these would be a ”monumental task” but he would do his best to assist.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111485 (021652ZJUL23) Notable: Jackie Selebi Bun | Violence and Crime Bun | Webber Wentzel Bun / Browse Mole report a ‘mixture of fact and fiction’

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>>44022

>The report was handed to him in March or April 2006 by former Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) [or Scorpions] head Leonard McCarthy [he worked for the World Bank after the scorpions were disbanded October 2008].

Correction, Leonard McCarthy worked for the World Bank prior to the Scorpions being disbanded.

Leonard Frank McCarthy, Integrity Vice President, World Bank Group

https://live.worldbank.org/experts/leonard-frank-mccarthy

In June 2008, Leonard McCarthy was appointed by Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank, to serve as Vice President of the World Bank. He heads the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), whose mandate it is to anticipate, detect, deter and prevent fraud and corruption in Bank Group-supported activities. INT impacts the work of the World Bank by ensuring that funds are used for their intended purposes, thereby contributing to the organization’s core mission of promoting development and reducing poverty.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Mr. McCarthy headed the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) in South Africa, specializing in crime analysis, investigation, prosecution, forensic accounting, asset forfeiture, and civil litigation. During his tenure, the DSO successfully prosecuted many entities involved in financial crime, organized criminal enterprises, grand corruption, urban terror and money rackets. In addition, the DSO generated millions of rands destined for criminal restraint, and interdicted drugs and other contraband worth billions.

Since joining the World Bank Group, Mr. McCarthy has spearheaded significant operational and organizational changes within INT that have increased its capacity to address fraud and corruption in a more concerted manner. Under his leadership, INT focuses on promoting creative solutions in investigations, integrity due-diligence, litigation, forensic audits and settlements, to solidify the lending environment and provide assurance to World Bank shareholders.

INT’s newly-created Preventive Services Unit analyzes insights gained from investigations, and disseminates good practices to other Bank staff and governments in the form of structural precautions, fiduciary mechanisms, detection tools and sound advice. The recent increase in cooperation efforts with international stakeholders, facilitates information sharing and joint action with other investigating institutions.

Previously, Mr. McCarthy held the position of Director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa, to which he was appointed by then President, Nelson Mandela.

He is a lawyer by profession and holds the following degrees: Baccalaureus Artium (BA), Bachelor of Law (B.Juris), and LLB (Bachelor of Laws).

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19111495 (021654ZJUL23) Notable: Jackie Selebi Bun | Violence and Crime Bun | Webber Wentzel Bun / Scorpions were disbanded in October 2008 (3 months after Selebi trial) and was unconstitutional

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>>44023

>Police and National Intelligence Agency leaders appear to be waging a war of attrition against the National Prosecuting Authority and the Scorpions.

>>44015

>Judge Frans Kgomo, who granted the discharge application, was unimpressed with the outcome, saying: “This case is about corrupt civil servants as well as politicians or politically connected officials wining and dining with the devil incarnate under shade of darkness.”

>>44024

“Scorpions were disbanded in October 2008 (3 months after Selebi trial) and was unconstitutional”

“Scorpions disbanding unconstitutional”

https://mg.co.za/article/2011-03-18-scorpions-disbanding-unconstitutional/

18 MAR 2011

The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that sections of the Acts that disbanded the Scorpions and created the Hawks were inconsistent with the Constitution. It has given Parliament 18 months to rectify the legislation.

The ANC and its allies were cautious in their responses to the ruling but opposition parties expressed enthusiasm.

Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke delivered the majority judgment, prepared with Justice Edwin Cameron, which ruled that “the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [the Hawks] is insufficiently insulated from political interference”.

The judgment was a narrow majority one, supported by five of the court’s nine judges.

Justices Johan Froneman, Bess Nkabinde and Thembile Skweyiya concurred with Moseneke and Cameron’s judgment.

A minority judgment, prepared by Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, found that the Hawks’ structural and operational autonomy was already secure.

Acting Justice Frederik Brand and Justices Mogoeng Mogoeng and Zakeria Yacoob concurred with him.

The Hawks is a unit in the South African Police Service that reports to the ministry of safety and security, and is therefore in effect directed by the executive.

The former Scorpions was a unit in the National Prosecuting Authority and so was nominally independent of the executive.

The Scorpions achieved a conviction rate of more than 90% and pursued high-profile cases, including the arms deal investigation that led to the conviction of Zuma’s former financial adviser, Durban businessman Schabir Schaik, on fraud and corruption charges.

The unit’s “search and seizure” methods were bitterly opposed by sections of the alliance and it was formally disbanded in October 2008 after Parliament adopted the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Act and the South African Police Service Amendment Act.

The Hawks, which has all but shut down the arms deal probe, said it welcomed the judgment and “will be taking the necessary steps under the guidance of Parliament to give effect to the judgment”.

“The DA’s shadow minister for police, Dianne Kohler Barnard, said the Scorpions should have been retained. Disbanding them “was designed to shut down investigations into ANC politicians and allow [them] to continue to dispense patronage, as well as engage in corruption”, she said.”

Cope spokesperson Philip Dexter said the judgment put an onus on the government to “do the right thing” and the closure of the Scorpions had left a void in corruption investigations.

He cited police National Commissioner Bheki Cele, who “is implicated in wrongdoing. How can the Hawks investigate their own commissioner?”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19117473 (032051ZJUL23) Notable: ANC Bun | Brazzaville Foundation Bun

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ANC Bun

>>43906 President Ramaphosa reveals that a health revolution is on the way (video)

>>43964 “Killer cholera hits amid decade-long bickering over Hammanskraal water crisis - and tender scandals”

>>43965, >>43966 Life in the Time of Cholera - the SA reality as ANC governance falls behind 19th Century civilization (Parts 1&2)

>>43973 Proposed water licensing regulations requiring up to 75% black South African shareholding place tenuous food security at further risk

>>43992, >>43993, >>43994, >>43995 ‘Section 194 Inquiry won’t be distracted by gossip,’ says ANC MP on Mkhwebane extortion claims

>>43995 "The biggest corruption scandal to hit SA's Parliament" - Mkhwebane shares alleged bribe clips (video)

Brazzaville Foundation Bun

>>43953 Jean-Yves Ollivier founded Brazzaville Foundation (video)

>>43954 “Meet the Brazzaville Foundation: The royal-backed UK charity accused of ‘laundering’ the reputation of an oil-rich African autocrat

>>43997 Brazzaville Foundation: Behind the African Peace Mission Between Kyiv and Moscow

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19117487 (032052ZJUL23) Notable: G4S Security Company Bun

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G4S Security Company Bun

>>43896 “G4S vows to cooperate after contracts with DCS are terminated” due to the “the brazen prison escape of Thabo Bester” (video)

>>43897 G4S: South Africa and History – Part 1

>>43898 G4S: South Africa and History – Part 2

>>43899 G4S: South Africa and History – Part 3

>>43900 Public Private Partnerships of South Africa

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19117497 (032053ZJUL23) Notable: Jackie Selebi Bun | Violence and Crime Bun | Webber Wentzel Bun

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Jackie Selebi Bun

>>44022, >>44024 Browse Mole report a ‘mixture of fact and fiction’

>>44023 Cops obstruct Selebi investigation

>>44025 Scorpions were disbanded in October 2008 (3 months after Selebi trial) and was unconstitutional

Violence and Crime Bun

>>43909, >>43910 Saps History - George Fivaz

>>43911 Stratom: What it actually was and means

>>43918 Wave of bombings hits Graskop and Hazyview

>>43947 Cosatu - ‘Farmers rape and murder their workers’: HRC – ‘It’s not a human rights violation’

>>43948 Maclear farmer (74) tortured for 13 hours - Attackers make themselves dinner

>>43972 Second Major Railway Grinds To Halt In South Africa

>>43982 SA Presidency acknowledges receipt of call for farm murder commission, eight farmers murdered in a week

>>43983 Farm attacks and farm murders are being driven by false narratives

Webber Wentzel Bun

>>43957 Webber Wentzel law firm (Part One)

>>43958 Webber Wentzel law firm (Part Two)

>>43969 Alessandra Berridge - Executive Vice-president, Commercial and Partnerships” at De Beers Group and was a partner at Webber Wentzel

>>44016 Kebble, Agliotti and Selebi Timeline

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19126684 (051206ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Selebi’s attorney raised 3 issues to justify Judge Meyer Joffe’s recusal

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>>44018

>“Judge Joffe fights back” – “defence's argument to have him recused from the corruption trial of former top cop Jackie Selebi “

>>44017

>>44015

>Agliotti was a key figure in the drug related prosecution of Selebi, with his evidence used to implicate and prosecute the former police boss, who died in 2015. Agliotti agreed to turn state witness against Selebi in exchange for a lenient sentence on drug trafficking charges.

Selebi’s attorney raised 3 issues to justify Judge Meyer Joffe’s recusal

“Selebi trial: Judge Joffe stands firm”

https://mg.co.za/article/2009-10-30-selebi-trial-judge-joffe-stands-firm/

30 OCT 2009

Earlier on Thursday, Cilliers listed the ways in which Selebi felt that Joffe had been biased against him. The first was that when Agliotti admitted to lying to the court Joffe did not raise the issue of the ”conduct of the prosecution” who ”had knowledge of the fact that their witness was lying”.

Cilliers’s next point was that chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel and his prosecuting team withheld important documents from the defence, which they then included in a bundle they had handed to Joffe.

”The prosecution acted with ulterior motive … they manipulated the evidence,” said Cilliers. ”You did not raise how it came about that the documents were put in that bundle.”

Joffe, appearing to be nearing the end of his tether, asked Cilliers: ”Mr Cilliers, how long have you been senior counsel? If you felt hard done by by Mr Nel’s conduct, why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve dealt with it. Why do you put it at my door and not raise it yourself … I’m being taken to task for not chastising Mr Nel. I’m putting it to you, why didn’t you raise the objection?”

The third issue revolved around a controversial City Press article of two weeks ago, which described a video that had been leaked to the newspaper by an unknown source. Joffe had not allowed Cilliers to complete cross-examining Agliotti on the article.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19126722 (051222ZJUL23) Notable: Updated Judge Meyer Joffe Bun / Judge [Meyer Joffe] suggests City Press be investigated on Selebi tape

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>>44029

>The third issue revolved around a controversial City Press article of two weeks ago, which described a video that had been leaked to the newspaper by an unknown source. Joffe had not allowed Cilliers to complete cross-examining Agliotti on the article.

“Judge [Meyer Joffe] suggests City Press be investigated on Selebi tape”

https://www.news24.com/News24/Judge-suggests-City-Press-be-investigated-on-Selebi-tape-20150430

20 Oct 2009

SOUTH Gauteng High Court Judge Meyer Joffe has suggested that City Press be investigated on how it obtained a secret recording of a meeting Glenn Agliotti had with National intelligence Agency last year.

The meeting, held at a Sandton hotel on 4 January 2008, shows that Agliotti requested a meeting with then acting police crime intelligence head Mulangi Mphego because he had information he wanted to share with him.

Giving his testimony in the trial of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, Agliotti had told the court that Mphego – who was at the January 4 meeting – requested a meeting with him which was held three days later.

However, video evidence seen by City Press reporters revealed that it was Agliotti – and not Mphego as the court heard – who requested the meeting.

In the video Agliotti said: “Look there are some things that I left out in the statement that I want to share with you. This is my brother (pointing at Mphego), and I’m willing to meet him again. You are a very busy man Mr Manzini. I really want to meet with Mphegs.”

Agliotti has testified that he met with NIA’s then-director general Manala Manzini and his deputy, Arthur Fraser, because he wanted a “better deal” for himself to stop his prosecution for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

Today Selebi’s lawyer, Jaap Cilliers, had begun asking Agliotti about the City Press article when state advocate Gerrie Nel objected, saying the witness could not be cross-examined on information contained in a newspaper. But Judge Joffe allowed Agliotti to answer a question on whether he remembered requesting the meeting with Mphego.

“It was later at night, I cannot remember or confirm. The only thing I can remember is that there was an arrangement for a meeting with Mphego,” Agliotti said.

When further questioning based on the article ensued, Nel objected and Cilliers suggested that, based on the City Press article, there was a video in existence which should be traced.

Judge Joffe said that the City Press reporter, Jackie Mapiloko, should be investigated on how she obtained the tape because “it is clear that someone is trying to improperly influence the court by leaking information” to the newspaper.

https://mg.co.za/article/2009-10-20-a-third-force-at-work-in-selebi-trial/

Cilliers maintained that the video was pivotal, as it will show Agliotti as a witness lacking credibility. ”The witness misled you when he tried to indicate how this meeting came about … The witness clearly stated in his evidence in chief how the January 4 and January 7 statements came about. This clearly contradicts his version.”

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19126731 (051224ZJUL23) Notable: >19140862, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC)

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“AN APPLICATION BY ZIMBABWE MINING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FOR THE REMOVAL OF STUART ISAACS, SC AND MR. JUSTICE MEYER JOFEE AS ARBITRATORS”

https://zambialii.org/akn/zm/judgment/zmsc/2018/581/eng@2018-01-12/source

Below are excerpts

APPEAL NO. 208/2014

SCZ/8/207/2014

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF ZAMBIA

HOLDEN AT KABWE

AMAPLAT MAURITUIS LIMITED 1 st APPELLANT

AMARI NICKEL HOLDINGS ZIMBABWE LIMITED 2nd APPELLANT

STAURT ISAACS, SC 3rd APPELLANT

MR. JUSTICE MEYER JOFEE 4™ APPELLANT

and

ZIMBABWE MINING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION RESPONDENT

By a letter dated 22nd November 2010, Amaplat and Amari disputed ZMDC’s entitlement to terminate the MoUs and insisted that they remained legally binding.

The MoUs had arbitration clauses. As a result, Amaplat and Amari referred the matter to the International Court of I Arbitration (ICA) for arbitration. The ICA set up an arbitral Tribunal in terms of the Rules of that Court. The 3rd Appellant in the| first matter, Mr Stuart Isaacs, QC of the United Kingdom was nominated by the United Kingdom ICC National Committee as Chairman. The 4th Appellant in the first matter, Justice Meyer Joffe of South Africa, was nominated by Amaplat and Amari as co-arbitrator. Mr James Prince Mutizwa of Zimbabwe was nominated by ZMDC as co-arbitrator. On the 12th of May 2011, the ICA appointed Lusaka, Zambia as the seat of arbitration. Despite this, the matter was set down for hearing in Cape Town, South Africa, from the 13th of August to the 24th of August 2012.

The hearing commenced in Cape Town. ZMDC was suspicious of some of the questions posed by Judge Joffe to an Amaplat witness. They asked Judge Joffe to recuse himself. They also asked Mr. Stuart Isaacs, QC, to recuse himself, after he refused to determine a jurisdictional challenge brought by ZMDC. On the 27th of September 2012, the ICA dismissed the application asking Judge Joffe and Mr. Isaacs to recuse themselves.

1. A declaration that Judge Joffe and Mr. Stuart Isaacs, QC have conducted themselves in a manner that raised doubts as to their impartiality and that they demonstrated biasness or a perception of biasness;

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/19126855 (051301ZJUL23) Notable: Same players seen in both Selebi and Zuma’s trials

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>>44030

>Agliotti has testified that he met with NIA’s then-director general Manala Manzini and his deputy, Arthur Fraser, because he wanted a “better deal” for himself to stop his prosecution for the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble.

>>44029

>a video that had been leaked to the newspaper

In both trials, they have the same players and leaked videos. Coincidence?

Even Judge Meyer Joffe came out of retirement to address the Gupta assets. >>44021

Remember, the Zondo Commission and the media pushed the narrative; “South Africa's Jacob Zuma would do anything for the Guptas - Zondo report” - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61269603

>>44022

>When he read the final version [Browse Mole Report] in June/July he became angry and thought that ”if there was a time that Mr McCarthy was going to leave the DSO, it was going to be that time”.

>It had clearly been produced by someone who had contact with ”old apartheid structures of intelligence”, he said, and not a single member of the DSO had the capacity to produce it.

>He believes it is because of the Selebi investigation.

>>44023

>Police and National Intelligence Agency leaders appear to be waging a war of attrition against the National Prosecuting Authority and the Scorpions.

>Mokotedi Mpshe

Same players seen in both Selebi and Zuma’s trials

https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/2021-09-14-justice-malala-how-ramaphosa-created-the-arthur-fraser-monster/

14 September 2021

He [Jacob Zuma] was in fine fettle as he defied the law for days until he was taken in by his security detail at midnight on July 7. Until that day the man could offer a lusty rendition of Awulethe Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machine Gun) at the drop of a hat.

The only long-term illness Zuma suffers from is an aversion to facing the law, getting his day in court and answering allegations against him linked to the arms deal and his role in state capture. To evade the law, Zuma will do absolutely anything, including what his benefactor Schabir Shaik did over 10 years ago — faking it.

No-one should be surprised by the arrogant announcement on Tuesday evening by Arthur Fraser, the correctional services commissioner and former director-general of state security during Zuma’s presidency, that he had overruled a recommendation that his former boss should not be released on medical parole.

We all knew that Zuma was going to walk the minute he was taken to the Estcourt prison. Why? Because Fraser, who oversaw every detail of the destruction of the state security agency that has been detailed at the Zondo commission, was in charge of the prisons service – and he has delivered for his former boss before.

Remember that the Mail & Guardian newspaper told us back in 2009 that the leaked secret recordings of conversations between former Scorpions boss Leonard McCarthy and others, which Mokotedi Mpshe used to (wrongly) justify his dropping of corruption charges against Zuma, were leaked by Fraser. [Did Fraser also leak the Selebi recording?]

Giving Zuma a “get out of jail free” card for the second time was a cinch.

Ramaphosa’s ‘unity’ to blame

So what does this all mean?

No matter how anyone looks at it, the state capture cabal has won a significant victory. Ask any ordinary citizen today and they will tell you that in SA, there is nothing like the concept of “equal before the law”.

Indeed, many would declare that we are in full-on Animal Farm mode and that there is no equality across the entire society.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s belief that it is his job to keep the ANC united is at the heart of the problem. Fraser should have been showed the door as soon as Zuma was out of power. Instead, Ramaphosa shifted him to correctional services.

Tolerating crooks

Unity should not mean tolerance of criminality — but Ramaphosa has largely allowed the criminal element in the ANC to hang around. There is merit in keeping one’s enemies close, but there is no merit in giving them the space to undermine your administration and your country.

We know now that the July riots were orchestrated from the heart of the intelligence structures [soon after Zuma handed himself over to the police].

We know this because Ramaphosa fired the state security minister and brought the intelligence portfolio into his office, with an instruction to former minister Sydney Mufamadi to clean house. He didn’t do this for fun — it was because his initial play of leaving the intelligence structures in the hands of Zuma-ites was used against him [or the intelligence has full control of the country now and are running it].

Consider the secretary-general’s office at the ANC head office. Walking into that office was like stepping into the living room at the Gupta family home: it was a hotbed of Zuma acolytes.