Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

A state prosecutor, two of his relatives and a member of the SA National Defence Force have been accused of beating two suspected robbers for several hours and throwing one of them into a river.

A prosecutor at the Witbank Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga, Mahlogonolo Mathebula (27); his brother Alfred Mathebula (31), who works at the police forensic laboratory in Pretoria; their nephew Kgaugelo Nkadimeng (27); and Eric Mashegoana (23), an SANDF member based in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, appeared in the Praktiseer Magistrate’s Court last week.

They were not asked to plead to charges of kidnapping and assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm. Nkadimeng was denied bail and remanded, while the other three men were granted R1 000 bail each.

The case was postponed to May 23 for further investigation.

The alleged incident took place while the four men were in Praktiseer, near Burgersfort in Limpopo, for the Easter holidays.

They are accused of beating up two men who were accused of stealing Nkadimeng’s cellphone and R200 in the early hours of Good Friday.

According to the charge sheet, the two suspected robbers, aged 18 and 35, were found at the younger man’s parents’ house about 8.30am and taken to a nearby river.

“The two victims were kidnapped and taken under a bridge at a nearby river where they were seriously assaulted for several hours,” said Limpopo police spokesperson Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba.

The older man was then thrown in the river and swept some distance by the swollen waters before making his way to the riverbank.

The man then hitchhiked to Tubatse police station, outside Burgersfort, where he arrived at 9pm to find that the teenager had already reported the matter to the police.

The teenager had told the police that he had been forced to lead the kidnappers to the older man’s house, where they hoped to find the stolen cellphone and money.

“The 18-year-old managed to jump from the bakkie when they approached the house and ran to the police station to report the matter,” Ramatseba said.

He said police immediately followed the suspects and arrested them all.

Zimbabweans returning through the Beit Bridge border post were highly sceptical of yesterday’s elections and believe they were fixed.

Most of the border-crossers said they didn’t vote. On Friday some 3 000 people went through the border.

Zacharia Mvelo said he was not registered and had not planned to vote. “I just hope things will change. I don’t know whether it (elections) will make any difference. I was home (in Zimbabwe) for three weeks and it is always worse than before. The voting is not any different from the past elections.”

The Morgan Tsvangirai supporter said President Robert Mugabe’s bid to stay in power at the age of 84 was not justified “but I cannot support (Simba) Makoni either”.

Another Tsvangirai supporter said Zanu-PF would win “with or without rigging”.

Garayi Nyamwanza from Harare, who owns an export business said: “I went to register and stood in the queue for three hours. The election officials said I need an affidavit from my father proving I am his son. What is that? It was Zanu-PF’s way of controlling who votes in areas where there are few of their supporters.”

Adriaan Lackey, spokesman for the Border Control Co-ordinating Committee, said: “It’s very quiet in terms of people crossing the border. We haven’t had any major influx in the past three days.”

Human rights organisations from South Africa – who are stationed in Musina during the elections – are reluctant to comment on the developments in Zimbabwe.

Red Cross team leader Mbuso Mthembu said they would render relief and first aid if there was a need.

He said similar operations were being carried out at other borders around Zimbabwe including Kazungula bordering Botswana, Livingstone crossing to Zambia and Nyamapanda and Mwanga in Mozambique.

Michael Malindi, a senior border control officer, said staff in all departments including immigration and customs, SANDF, emergency services, and safety and security were increased from the beginning of March until next Wednesday.

“I cannot say whether there will be a huge number of people coming back tomorrow (Sunday) but everything is running smoothly.”

Yesterday border police intensified their search for illegal immigrants.

Malindi said the deportation rate had been normal through-out the week and there were contingency plans in case there was trouble.

THREE high-ranking Indian army officers face a disciplinary inquiry for allegedly indulging in “misconduct and inappropriate behaviour” while on holiday in South Africa after a South African woman laid rape charges against them.

Although the Pretoria-based woman has withdrawn the charge, the incident was deemed a major embarrassment to India’s proud peacekeeping record, according to the Times of India. The report said the officers had been recalled from their posting with the Indian contingent deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.

The three Indian officers – a lieutenant colonel and two majors – had been deployed to the North Kivu Brigade.

They were detained by police on March 12 while on holiday in South Africa, after a 20-year-old woman accused them of raping her in Plettenberg Bay.

“We have ordered an inquiry into the incident,” Defence Minister A K Antony is quoted as saying. Sources said Antony had asked army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor to take “strict action” against the three officers if the allegations proved justifiable.

Although the report said the incident had come to light during a meeting with a South African delegation on defence co-operation in New Delhi, this was denied by South African High Commission defence adviser, Col Sydney Mdlulwa. He said he did not know whether the men had been recalled.

He told the Herald that the meeting on defence co-operation had dealt with a memorandum of understanding on training and other military issues.

He said the 11-man delegation had been led by the SANDF’s chief of strategy, policy and planning, Tsepe Motumi, on March 13 and 14.

Vikas Swarup, India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Pretoria, confirmed the consulate had sent a report to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

He told the Herald they had been contacted by Plettenberg Bay police after the three army officers had been arrested.

Swarup said the High Commission had sought consular access to the three Indian nationals.

He said officials from the consulate general in Johannesburg had been sent to Plettenberg Bay to meet the three Indian men the next day.

“Before the consular representatives could reach the officers, they had been informed by the police that the rape charges had been withdrawn,” said Swarup. He said the officers had been released and had returned to their unit. Swarup said it was up to the authorities in New Delhi to take any further action.

“As far as we are concerned, the case is closed,” he said.

The government has been provisionally interdicted from relocating any person from the North West town of Pomfret, which houses former 32 Battalion members and their families.

The interdict against the police, the South African National Defence Force and the Department of Public Works was handed this week in the Pretoria high court.

Judge Brian Southwood gave government until May 12 to state their side before deciding on whether to confirm the interdict or not.

About 6 000 Pomfret residents, with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, turned to the court for help after government started their relocation to Mafikeng.

According to local school principal Domingos Sebastiao, government was trying to drive the people out of Pomfret.

The area was once a national military base and home to the 32 Battalion – made largely of Angolans.

The unit was relocated from Namibia after the country’s independence.

The Pomfret community was informed by the SANDF in 2005 that they would be relocated, and the town demolished.

The reason provided by the SANDF was that area was contaminated with asbestos.

The community denied that there had been any engagement with government on the asbestos issue.

Sebastiao said the relocation of the community would leave its members vulnerable to persecution and xenophobia, which they had already experienced in their dealings with local authorities.

The community stated that there was no longer government representation and no staff or medication at the local clinic.

The nearest hospital is in Vryburg, about 200km and a return taxi fare costs R110, which most members of the community cannot afford.

Sebastiao said government was totally disregarding the community’s rights, including the elderly and children.

He stated that the forced removal was unlawful and politically motivated.

There are indications that a 20mm round exploded during a training exercise held at the South African Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatlha on Monday.

This resulted in one soldier seriously inuring his hand and being taken to 3 Military Hospital in Bloemfontein, where he is undergoing rehabilitation treatment on her hand.

The second soldier suffered minor injuries to his thighs and was treated and discharged from the sickbay at CTC Lohatlha.

Last year a similar incident occurred during a training exercise at the same training centre, where nine soldiers died and 15 were injured.

After an investigation is was found that mechanical failure had led to the incident which occurred in October.

During a training exercise a 35mm MK5 (124) Anti Aircraft Gun's pin sheared and disengaged the control mechanism, which rendered the gun uncontrollable when it was fired.

The investigation also found that out of the 48 guns in the South African Army fleet, ten had sheared pins.

The manufacturer, Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM), had not communicated that it had had problems with the gun to the SANDF at the time of purchasing the equipment.

It was established that OEM also did not communicated hardware changes to safety drill or user drills to the South Africa.

The City of Cape Town’s director of health Ivan Toms, was found dead in his Mowbray home yesterday morning, police said.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones said foul play was not suspected.

He said police used a key from a neighbour to gain access to Toms’ home at about 9.30am after colleagues became concerned that he had not turned up for work.

Toms’ body was found lying on the bed. “There were no signs of forced entry, and there was no sign of a possible robbery.

“The deceased had no external wounds to the body,” Jones said. “But, of course, the normal post-mortem will be conducted,” he said.

Toms, who was born in 1953, attained a medical degree at the University of Cape Town before being conscripted in 1978 for service in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF). He carried out his term as a non-combatant doctor.

On his return to Cape Town, he played a leading role in setting up a clinic in the burgeoning squatter settlement of Crossroads, 15km outside Cape Town. He was the only doctor there and had to attend to thousands of patients.

Outraged by the brutalities committed by the security forces as the apartheid government sought to clear the area of shacks, Toms – then a lieutenant – vowed never to serve the SANDF in any capacity.

He became a founder member of the End Conscription Campaign, and, in 1985, fasted for three weeks in Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral in support of the call for troops not to be deployed in black townships.

“As a Christian I am obliged to say no, to say never again will I put on that SANDF uniform,” he said.

As a result, he, like other members of the campaign were subjected to systematic intimidation and harassment by the defence force’s dirty tricks brigade. The smear campaign questioned Toms’ sexuality.

In 1987, he defied the call-up for a one month SANDF camp and symbolically handed in his uniform at the reporting depot.

For this, he was sentenced to 21 months’ in Pollsmoor Prison, of which he served nine.

In 1991, Toms became the national co-ordinator of the National Progressive Primary Healthcare Network, responsible for developing a national Aids programme.

In 1996 he moved into local government. In 2002, he was appointed Cape Town’s director of health services.

He led the battle against tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, promoting the use of antiretrovirals. Toms was also an outspoken advocate of gay rights.

Two years ago, President Thabo Mbeki awarded him the Order of the Baobab in Bronze, in recognition of what the citation said was his “outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid and sexual discrimination”.

A friend, Democratic Alliance Western Cape MPL Robin Carlisle, described his death as a “tragic and terrible loss for Cape Town”.

“Small in stature, gentle and witty, he was the bravest of the brave,” Carlisle said.

While some legislators have welcomed the proposal, others questioned the basis of the deployment, claiming the international community "neglected" the people of northern Uganda for over 20 years.

"We don't want any foreign troops on our soil," Mr Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, (FDC, Obongi) said. "In any case, where was the international community when our people were being killed, raped and abducted with impunity?"

But Mr Reagan Okumu, (FDC, Aswa) - the vice chairperson of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, said, the government should welcome foreign troops as part of the wider efforts to consolidate the peace process in northern Uganda.

"We have all along demanded foreign intervention to help our people achieve peace," Mr Okumu said. "To us, this is an opportunity for our people to have permanent peace. These South Africans are welcome because we need them and we should not pretend."

The reactions follow reports that the South African Cabinet had approved the deployment of some members of its National Defence Force (Sandf) as part of AU force to northern Uganda.

Quoting a government spokesperson, Mr Themba Maseko, Buanews, a South African news agency, on Thursday said the move was intended to stabilise the region, plagued with violence for two decades.

Talking about the need for foreign troops in northern Uganda, Mr Livingstone Okello-Okello (UPC, Chwa Country) said: "This is important because we have been "crying" for peace-keepers all along. This will be crucial to the fair implementation of the Juba peace process," Mr Okello-okello said.

Although; Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, the state minister for Defence, said the government was not aware of the deployment, Mr Isha Otto (UPC, Oyam South) warned that any deployment of foreign troops in northern Uganda would be regarded as an "invasion" and would be resisted by the people of northern Uganda.

"This is an invasion of our country," Mr Otto said. "Who requested for these troops?. This is not a threat, but as leaders of northern Uganda, we are not aware of these troops and if they are coming they should know that they are not welcome."

He added; "They left us to suffer and when there is relative peace they now want to be seen working for the people. We cannot be ambushed. Our people should be consulted on this matter."

But Mr Akbar Godi, (FDC, Arua Municipality), insists there is need for a neutral force to monitor the peace process.

"It's pointless for us to pretend as if we don't need help. Our people have suffered enough and the time is now to talk and preserve peace because there is no turning back," Mr Godi said.

Northern Uganda has suffered from civil unrest since the early 1980s.

Thousands of people have been killed in the LRA rebellion against the government, and an estimated 400,000 left homeless. Several others were raped and children, women and men forced into captivity.

Two SA National Defence Force soldiers were injured at the army combat training centre in Lohatlha, the department of defence said on Tuesday.

SANDF spokesman Colonel Petrus Motlhabane said the two were injured at about 12.35pm on Monday during an exercise involving quick attacks with live ammunition.

"Indications are that a 20mm round exploded, which resulted in serious hand injuries to one soldier; the second soldier suffered minor injuries to the thighs."

Motlhabane said the seriously injured soldier was at 3 Military Hospital in Bloemfontein, and was undergoing rehabilitation treatment on her hand.

The second soldier was treated for minor injuries and discharged from the sickbay at CTC Lohatlha, he said.

The SANDF has convened a board of inquiry to investigate the cause of the incident.

POLICE arrested 21 men this weekend and confiscated guns, including three AK47s, in an operation aimed at restoring peace between Bergville’s Magangozi and Mhlazwini clans.

Hundreds of police and SANDF members have been deployed to the area to stop clashes between the two neighbouring clans which recently claimed the lives of eight people.

The friction came after several weeks of tension arising from a dispute over a strip of land both clans claim as their own.

About 18 people have been injured and by last Sunday at least 20 homes had been razed.

Many people feared the violence would increase over the Easter weekend as people returned home to burnt houses and dead relatives.

In the early hours of Thursday, 10 men were arrested when police used two helicopters to surround a group of impis assembling in bushes.

Murder

By Friday, 21 had been arrested and three AK47s, one 303 assault rifle, 15 pistols and seven revolvers had been discovered. All the weapons were illegal possessions.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Dir Phindile Radebe said four of the arrested men would face charges of murder.

“We now have the situation under control. Police on the ground are making breakthroughs in the murders committed over the past few weeks,” she said.

A high-level delegation from KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Hamilton Ngidi and inkosi Menzi Hlongwane, representatives of the two clans and local businesses held several meetings this week to dissolve tensions.

Rev Themba Vundla, from the office of KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele, said the meetings had been fruitful.

“We are doing all we can to bring an end to the killings and get people back into their homes. But the meetings also agreed that while talks are ongoing, the police must be able to do their work, because some people have lost their lives,” he said.

On Thursday, the KwaZulu-Natal cabinet decided to reverse the decision to close the Didima Camp in Bergville.

The holiday camp, which is frequented by local and international tourists, was closed earlier this week by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife after violence flared.

Gladman Buthelezi, of Ezemvelo, said they had opened the Didima Camp on Thursday and things were returning to normal.

“All our operations are in place and we expect tourists to come back in numbers,” he said, adding that tourists were not affected by the faction fighting.

The conflict had resulted in the killing of one staff member who worked at the Didima Camp.

The decision to reopen the camp came after a briefing by Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Cele on the situation and the deployment of police in the area.

However, some people remained sceptical that the massive police deployment would be enough to halt the killings.

Dumisani Zondo of the Mhlazwini clan said his father and local induna Dlova, 61, and brother Mfungelwa, 46, were ambushed and killed about two weeks ago.

“We are relieved that at last police have managed to arrest those responsible for the deaths of my father and brother. We were having sleepless nights thinking that the killers would strike again in our homes,” he said.

However, Zondo blamed the violence on inkosi (Menzi) Hlongwane taking sides in the conflict by favouring the Magangangozi clan.

Apartheid South Africa’s official secrets are finally set to be made public, although paid “impimpis” who betrayed their liberation struggle comrades will still be protected and not “named and shamed”.

This is in line with a far-reaching new bill – on the cards for at least eight years – which protects state information from destruction and disclosure, and moves away from the knee-jerk reaction to classifying everything in favour of a more open and transparent approach.

The Protection of Information Bill was gazetted last week by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, and will be tabled in Parliament soon.

The bill allows for automatic declassification of apartheid-era state information and classified information older than 20 years, opening a treasure trove of information about the past.

It sets out a coherent statutory framework for the classification and declassification of all state information, as well as mechanisms to review and appeal such decisions.

Significantly, the proposed legislation also targets private intelligence actors, but does not outlaw them as threatened by former intelligence minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Instead of being banned, they will only be prosecuted and sentenced to five years in jail if they act unlawfully, such as knowingly providing false or fabricated information to a state intelligence structure.

Last month, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told reporters the bill aimed to fill the existing legal gap in relation to threats faced by the state in the course of intelligence-gathering by “unauthorised entities”.

Referring to the controversial Special Browse Mole Report, he said of particular concern was the extent to which “information peddlers” had attempted to undermine statutory national intelligence structures by disseminating false information.

It also covers the so-called hoax e-mails in which there were attempts to discredit senior ANC leaders, as well as the infamous Meiring report to then-president Nelson Mandela that ended SANDF chief George Meiring’s military career.

A special parliamentary ad hoc committee – which will include members of the joint standing committee on intelligence – will be established to process the bill, Kasrils told Weekend Argus.

Acknowledging the sensitivities around the proposed law, Kasrils tried to allay concerns that it would crack down on, rather than aid, the public’s constitutional right to government information, or that investigative journalists and academic researchers would be prejudiced.

Nor was it aimed at covering up state corruption or incompetence, Kasrils said.

He acknowledged there would be “a pressure cooker approach” to process the draft law, but that “we won’t cut corners”, given Parliament’s shorter programme as parties gear up for next year’s elections.

He hoped it would be on the statute books by year end and urged journalists, researchers and others to engage with the ad hoc parliamentary committee, which will hold public hearings on the bill.

Institute for Security Studies researcher Lauren Hutton said the bill made “all the right noises”, although there were questions about capacity and implementation, as well as financial implications.

Among the bill’s strong points was the section dealing with the principles of classification, Hutton said.

Classified information, for example, “may not under any circumstances be used to conceal an unlawful act or omission, incompetence, inefficiency or administrative error” or “prevent embarrassment to a person, organisation, or organ of state or agency”.

The bill says sensitive information must be protected from disclosure to prevent the national interest from being endangered.

The Intelligence Ministry said there was sometimes a legitimate need for the government to restrict information in the national interest.

“However, you can’t simply cite national interest to restrict access to information,” a ministry official said.

“If you want to restrict access, you have to classify or designate in terms of the criteria set out in the bill. You will have to show demonstrable harm.”

In fact, the bill ensured that it would be an offence liable to imprisonment of up to three years to classify improperly.

Unlawful possession or dissemination of classified information is liable to a sentence not exceeding five years, which is lighter than the old act.

The media, for example, will not be allowed to report on classified information, and if they obtain this illegally, or through sources, would be obliged to return it, the official said, adding that this was in line with international experience.

The ministry official said government sources and apartheid-era spies would not be outed under the bill.

The bill overhauls the statutory crime of espionage, ensuring that the presumption is no longer on the accused to prove innocence and sets a penalty of 25 years in jail if convicted.

It creates other offences, including “hostile activities” and – bizarrely – requires spies operating in South Africa to register.

South Africa’s borders are a shambles. There are just 19 police officers to control 3600km of coastline and 283 officers to control nearly 5 000km of land.

There should be 448 officers controlling the coastline and 970 officers on the land border.

As a direct result, according to the Auditor General’s damning report on border control, there are between three and five million illegal immigrants in the country.

The SAPS has been responsible for borderline control since 2004, when it started a five-year process to take over from the Defence Force, but it doesn’t have all the specialised equipment that the army used.

During the 2006/07 financial year, the SAPS spent R77.7 million on border control and R363.7 million on ports of entry.

However the AG’s report tabled in parliament this week found that the number of illegal immigrants in the country represent “between three and five million breaches of border control and security.”

Air border security has also been compromised. Instead of 18 permanent staff and two fieldworkers per province, there have only been temporary secondments from other units.

The AG found that the government had not done any specific border intelligence since it transferred the responsibility of guarding the borders from the Defence Force to the police in 2004. Nor has there been any specialised training for border control or even strategic planning.

Ports of entry either have too few or no critical equipment such as baggage scanners, CCTV cameras and hand-held explosives detection systems. Where these are in place, they are often not used.

No land ports have cargo scanners, yet one border post recorded 75874 trucks leaving South African and 58 252 coming in, during the period under review.

Incoming and outgoing traffic are not separated, increasing the risk of smuggling with documentation easily exchanged.There were no controls to avoid freight being tampered with after freight had been cleared. The eight passenger and 223 freight trains that pass through seven border points every week are also not inspected either.

Some border fences are in a state of disrepair, not equipped with sensors and generally “inadequate”.

Some land ports are not manned for 24-hour periods. There are no patrols or monitoring processes where South African borders are mountains, dams or rivers.

Planes can cross illegally because the SAPS does not have the equipment to detect low-flying aircraft.

The report also slammed failures by the the Border Control Coordinating Committee.

Last year, a Musina-based Home Affairs official said the country was facing a “human tsunami” from thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing the economic meltdown there.

At the time, Safety and Security parliamentary committee chairperson Maggie Sotyu admitted the arrests of more than 5 000 illegal border-crossers in a fortnight were just “the people we managed to catch”.

On a recent trip to the Beit Bridge border, a patrolling SA Defence Force soldier pointed out Zimbabweans without papers standing in no-man’s land about to cross into South Africa in full view of South African border officials.

These included young men who smuggled people across the border by dropping a rope down from the bridge to the South African side of the Limpopo River, he said. Once on the ground, the migrants then found a spot where to cross the three rows of border fencing.

“The problem is that if we catch and deport them today, tomorrow they’re back here. It just carries on,” the soldier said.

A drive along the border line showed the damage wrought by the fence jumpers. The outer fence had been ripped away entirely for 200 metres at one section – very close to an SANDF outpost.

Last September, a report by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Wits University and the Musina Legal Advice Office pointed out the difficulty of accurately gauging the number of illegal immigrants entering every month.

Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday the region has for years been plagued by violence in one of the continent's longest-running conflicts.

This has been perpetrated largely by a group of rebels, the Lord's Resistance Army, who have been accused of committing widespread and gross human rights violations.

Mr Maseko was speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, in which it was also noted that the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) would be visiting a number of countries to assess their legislation regarding the fight against terrorism.

This assessment would include a look at their enforcement capacity, and national systems to implement anti-terror obligations in terms of United Nations Security Council resolutions and other international conventions, Mr Maseko said.

The UN team will be visiting South Africa in June this year, and will be guided by government's Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has also approved the extension of the deployment of SANDF members to the Central African Republic and the troubled Darfur region in western Sudan to help strengthen of the UN/African Union Hybrid Force (UNAMID) there.

Eritrea and Ethiopia, which have experienced recent hostilities, are also to receive SANDF members as part of the UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and the AU Liaison Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (OLMEE)

Further afield, Cabinet approved the extension of SANDF deployments to Nepal, as part of the United Nations UNMIN peacekeeping force situated there, he said.

These moves follow recent comments by Defense Minister Mosioua Lekota to the effect that South Africa will be heightening its peacekeeping efforts, as part of the country's international responsibilities.

Mr Maseko further underlined the purpose of these deployments when he said: "The deployment of our forces in these countries is part of South Africa's fulfillment of international obligations and a contribution to peace and stability in the continent and other parts of the world."

In another regional development, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocols, which provide the legal framework for member countries to cooperate in working towards achieving the objectives of the 14-nation region bloc, have been approved.

The approval is subject to SADC addressing South Africa's reservations regarding the proposed tax exemptions for officials and employees of SADC.

Another matter of protocols concerned that of the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) between South Africa and the European Union, where the ratification of an additional protocol to the TDCA was approved by Cabinet.

This comes amid ongoing discussions between South African representatives and those of the European Union in dealing with the agreement on an Economic Partnership Agreement.

In another regional development, the Cabinet meeting also noted that 55 observers will be going from South Africa to Zimbabwe to observe the March 29 general elections there.

The observers will be part of a total of 150 election observers from the SADC member countries who will be monitoring the elections there.

The South African contingent is being drawn from representatives from civil society, business, religious leaders, members of parliament and government officials, Mr Maseko said.

The observer mission overall is being led by Angola, which currently chairs the SADC committee on peace, security and development.

Mr Maseko added: "The South African government appeals to all Zimbabweans to do everything in their power to create conditions that would ensure free and fair elections."

Same old military thinking What were they up to at the army's recent Vision 2020 seminar? If they solely imbibed the one-dimensional rationality of Greg Mills and Gwyn Prins (Changed landscape means new battles for the SANDF, March 14) then South Africans are in for a repetition of our militaristic past.

The 1996 Defence Review process was damaged. It didn't weaken SA's approach to security, as Mills and Prins suggest. Quite the opposite: it made a strong case for the arms deal a decision that will hobble the country's economic development for decades. It is simply not true, as Mills and Gwyn would have us believe, that traditional state-centred thinking about security has reasserted itself worldwide. Actually, the most innovative, interesting and imaginative ideas in security are in the direction of human security, which seeks to extend definitions of security while bringing it closer to the lives of individuals. The entire argument turns on a rerun of the idea of liberal internationalism: invade other places Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan to bring about democracy and secure the interests of capital. This has failed in Afghanistan and will fail in Iran if the Bush administration chooses this option. The Mills-Prins piece is replete with the logic and language of the very interests especially Britain and the US that have made the world unsafe for democracy. Consider just two of these: liberal visa policy and foreign Islamic terrorists. The opposite of the first the policy which Mills and Prins would favour together with the unthinking application of the second, has twice kept my friend Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg out of the US.

But it is in the drift towards conclusion where the real terror lies. Again, two examples make the point. Consider the proposition that an army of 35-year-old privates needs replacing. Thinking like this always goes before that instinctive nationalist turn towards conscription a condition where the burden is always borne by the poor irrespective of the seductive logic of social development and nation-building Then there is the call for increasing ties between the private sector and the military. Here, alas, stalk the bleak lessons of Iraq where Haliburton, whose links to political power are the stuff of legend, drives what many now openly call Military Keynesian unbridled military expenditure which drives inflation and erodes long-term economic confidence. Nelson Mandela Professor of Politics, Rhodes University Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

L'ancien président fête ses 90 ans cette année. Le pays qu'il a tant fait évoluer lui rend hommage. Mais quel rôle joue-t-il encore sur la scène politique?

No call for SA Navy to chase pirates off Horn of Africa Diplomatic Editor THERE has been no formal request to involve the South African Navy in patrols off the Horn of Africa to help bring the rampant piracy there under control, and stability back to the one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, the defence ministry says. After 18 years of civil war in Somalia, pirates have taken advantage of the lawlessness to launch attacks on foreign shipping from the country's coast. About 100 ships have been attacked so far this year.

Speaking at a media conference in Pretoria yesterday, Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesman for Defence Minister Charles Nqakula, said such a request would be directed to the Presidency and the foreign affairs department. After engaging the defence ministry, a political decision would be taken giving directives to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to explore the logistical and budgetary implications of deploying the navy in the area.

Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein told Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya, that his country had been torn apart by the legacy of the long civil war and cannot stop piracy alone.

Navy chief V-Adm Refiloe Mudimo said that, like all divisions of the SANDF, the navy was obligated to honour South Africa's international commitments and responsibilities. But nothing was on the table yet with regard to Somalia, Mudimo said.

While no pirates were venturing into southern African waters, Mudimo said there were already initiatives by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to strengthen the capacity of the region to patrol its waters and render them safe for trade.

About 95% of SA's imports and exports are transported by sea, representing 65% of the country's gross domestic product. At least 75% of SA's fuel needs come by sea from the Middle East, while 30% of oil from Europe, South America and the Middle East goes to various destinations past the Cape of Good Hope.

Mudimo said pirates were not messing with the Cape because of SA's submarines, frigates and patrol vessels. The SADC initiative was also looking at improving the region's capacity to curb drug smuggling and related international crimes such as human trafficking.

Our centres of excellence and facilities are forever hosting students, and trainees of our neighbours such as Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. My senior personnel are travelling to these countries, including Nigeria and Ghana, to share our expertise, Mudimo said. Levels of co-operation, and the sharing of intelligence and information within the region and the continent are crucial if we are to keep our waters safe for intercontinental trade and our citizens. The chief director of maritime strategy, R-Adm Bernhard Teuteberg, said the navy was establishing a multiskilled Maritime Reaction Squadron that would have marines, trained by the army and navy and with diving skills to face a variety of challenges, both in inland waters and on the sea. The squadron would also have an equally highly trained reserve team. Part of the training would be along Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi.

MPs have urged the Department of Defence (DoD) to take legal action against the original Swiss/German manufacturer of an anti-aircraft gun that ran amok during a live-fire training exercise at Lohatlha last year, killing nine SANDF soldiers and injuring thirteen others.

This came after a board of enquiry into the incident found that a design flaw – and not human error – was to blame for the tragedy.

Retired Major General Johan Jooste, who led the enquiry, yesterday presented a summary of its findings to Parliament’s portfolio committee on defence – that a “critical mechanical failure” of a matchstick-sized metal pin caused the accident.

Jooste explained that the failure of this tiny spring pin caused the gearbox of the rotating (upper) section of the gun not to engage properly, leaving the four ton upper section swinging uncontrollably under its own weight.

The problem was further aggravated by a stoppage – a physical ammunition jam – in one of the barrels which caused the force of the other barrel’s “rather long burst” to rotate the gun violently to the left.

The gun then fired directly at the crews of the other seven guns which were positioned in a line adjacent to the faulty gun.

An inspection carried out after the incident found that 10 of the army’s entire fleet of 48 anti-aircraft guns also had broken spring pins – accidents apparently waiting to happen.

These pins were sent to two separate groups of engineers for metallurgic testing but no metal fatigue or other structural problems were found, leading the enquiry to conclude that a design flaw was to blame.

MPs became visibly angry when Jooste confirmed an earlier accusation by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota – that the original equipment manufacturer did not notify South Africa or other client countries of a previous, identical mechanical failure in another country.

This prompted MPs to call for legal action against the manufacturer, Oerlikon Contraves AG, and for financial compensation for the injured soldiers and the families of those who died.

Without himself pushing for legal action, Jooste pointed out that the report recommended that the legal issues be taken up “on the highest possible level” between the department and the manufacturer.

Defence spokesperson Sam Mkwanazi could not be reached for comment last night on possible legal action and Oerlikon Contraves has maintained its silence on the matter.

The board also made several non-causal “secondary findings”, pointing out weaknesses in the Air Defence Artillery’s live-fire exercise procedures.

The Deputy Minister on Thursday appealed to pilots currently serving in the SAAF to stay longer in service while their problems were being addressed.

Speaking at an awards ceremony for pilots who have successfully completed their various pilot courses, Mr George said poaching by both international and local airlines was costly for the country and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

"We are spending a lot of money training people who at the end leave the service to join the private sector.

"We are currently working on a plan to retain our people, we want them to serve our country," he said.

The Deputy Minister said they would be looking at the issue of incentives as one of the options for retaining pilots from leaving the SAAF.

He said as a way of retaining pilots, one of the options might be to look at extending the contracts of pilots to enable them to serve longer periods in the SAAF.

He said they believed retaining pilots was a situation the SANDF would be able to manage, and he urged the newly qualified pilots to be patriotic.

The SAAF in recent years lost a number of pilots to the private sector within the country and abroad.

A total of 22 pilots received wings insignia in different categories which includes Flight Engineering, Electronic Warfare Operator and Air Photographer.

One of the recipients, Wendy Sharp, 21, from Pretoria told BuaNews that she was looking forward to staying longer at the SAAF.

She said she was always interested in pursuing a career in the industry.

"I have always wanted to do what men do, and with this achievement, it has proven than I can do that."

The shy pilot said she was looking forward to learning more about helicopters.

"I am also looking forward to becoming a Commander and be deployed outside the country," she said.

In 2007, SANDF's first black female helicopter pilot, Lieutenant Phetogo Molawa, 21, who hails from the Free State displayed her flying prowess in an Oryx army helicopter.

Ms Molawa completed her helicopter training at the defence force and is now one of the few women helicopter pilots in the Air Force.

Change of mood as D-G questions sponsored trip of MPs involved in government tenders

There is something intoxicatingly exciting and refreshing about the tit-for-tat exchange between Home Affairs director-general Mavuso Msimang and members of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. At a meeting this week to discuss the department’s progress in sorting out its administration and other problems, the D-G was taken to task by members of the committee.

In an unusual and perhaps historic move, Mavuso fired back and asked committee members some tough questions. Questions that had to be asked. His move and tactics were unusual, because D-Gs always go before portfolio committees like schoolchildren marched to a headmaster’s office. They normally don’t ask questions and are expected to field a flood of questions from MPs. This has been the tradition, an exercise through which heads of government departments and ministers have been held accountable by MPs, who do so on behalf of the nation.

There can be nothing wrong and everything right with Mavuso’s tactics. Who said MPs are the only ones that can ask questions in Parliament? Who said they themselves cannot be asked questions and held accountable for their actions?

Msimang put the cat among the pigeons when he questioned the propriety of a German trip by MPs with oversight over his department. The visit in June last year was partly sponsored by MAN Ferrostaal, a company with an interest in the very smart card technology that the Home Affairs Department will soon invite tenders for. Ferrostaal already has a stake in the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal.

He also complained, correctly so, that the committee was bypassing his department on foreign visits, forgoing the opportunity to be properly briefed, leading to unintended consequences. He quoted, as an example, the visit by committee members to Germany last June.

Msimang told MPs that he was concerned when he heard about the trip and sponsorship, because it had the potential to compromise the integrity of the department’s supply-chain management rules and procedures

“I fear this company, which is associated with smart card production, might have to be barred from any future participation in home affairs procurement procedures … With all due respect, we could not understand what business the portfolio committee members had discussing smart cards with potential bidders,” Msimang said

I am afraid that the committee chair’s justification that the delegation went to look at the system and that the trip was declared simply does not wash.

There is only one reason why companies will spend hundreds of thousands to spoil MPs by flying them, probably business class, to an overseas destination, accommodate them in posh hotels and entertain them to sumptuous meals. They do so to influence the MPs. It is to buy their support so that the company can win a tender. It is immoral and corrupt. Period. MPs always hide behind their own desks, claiming they were not involved in the structures that adjudicate and award the tender. But we all know that you don’t have to be a member of a tender committee to have influence.

A few years ago, after it became clear that the government wanted to splash out billions to buy new military hardware for the SANDF, it unleashed a torrent of these “study trips”. A number of MPs, notably then members of the National Assembly’s defence committee, were invited and went on fully paid-for freebies to many Europeans countries. Their hosts were arms-manufacturing companies whose sole interest was to win tenders in the multibillion rand arms deal. So you had the Brits, Germans, Spanish, Italians and the French, to name but a few, who splashed out millions to bribe whoever they thought was influential in the defence committee, and in the ANC for that matter.

Once the winning tenders in the South African arms deal were announced, there were a few noses out of joint. Some of the losing bidders went on a campaign to show that the winning bidders paid bribes to South Africans.

In South Africa, Tony Yengeni, one of the then MPs who went on a junket, was later exposed, along with others, for having received secondary favours in the form of a massive discount from one of the companies bidding for a slice in the arms deal.

MPs this week were clearly taken aback and not at all happy with Mavuso’s questions. I won’t be surprised if behind the scenes he comes under some serious pressure from the ANC to back down. However, I think we need more D-Gs like Mavuso to raise alarm bells when they believe that the actions of MPs are likely to compromise the work of the government department and/or introduce a conflict of interest.

The SANDF is in for a major shake-up after the apparent mismanagement of billions of rands worth of military hardware.

But Defence Secretary January Masilela yesterday denied that the lack of management of military assets was a crisis, preferring to call it a challenge.

He was speaking in Pretoria where the defence force’s chiefs of staff and senior staff officers met accounting and asset management experts to discuss how to properly manage the department’s assets.

The meeting is part of a seminar aimed at improving accountability of asset management in the defence force.

Masilela’s insistence that the situation is not a crisis has been contradicted by several high-ranking officers, however, with one expressing concern about how the military’s assets were to be managed “if the basic management of inventory is lacking”.

The Auditor-General last year criticised the Defence Department about the management of its assets.

Masilela said: “This is a huge challenge that demands huge resources. We need to employ both the correct and properly trained people to help us resolve this challenge.

“The Department of Defence is the department with the largest asset base of both moveable and immovable inventory and because of this, these assets need to be properly managed.

“The department is committed to rectifying the qualified reports that it has received over the years from the Auditor-General by addressing shortcomings about how its assets are managed.

“The department, in co-operation with various role players, will easily be able to co-ordinate, adopt and embrace the concepts of asset management.”

He said the cabinet took the decision that ministers had to account to parliament.

“The government is lifting the bar when it comes to asset management. The new systems are far more complicated and a big challenge for the department.

“This means that we have to re-look at strategies to improve on the management of our assets.

“We will be looking carefully at whether what we are doing is right, what skills we have and need, and whether they are enough.

“Some of our prime focus areas are our information systems and foreign deployments where both material and systems are becoming obsolete.

“We are working now to prevent this so that we do not have to spend huge amount of money later,” Masilela said.

He said that after the seminar they would have concrete recommendations for the government on what action needed to be taken to rectify the situation.

This in a bid to address nine of the 16 unqualified reports the SANDF received from Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).

According to January Masilela, the SANDF Secretary, the department, which has one of the largest asset base both of moveable and immoveable assets, is unable to properly manage its assets due to poor computer systems.

"Some of the problems of unaccountability are due to the old systems which are currently being used in the department and therefore they were implementing new computer systems.

"Defence has a huge pool of asset and this poses a challenge to manage it especially with the old systems. We are engaged in a process of cleaning the data.

"The systems at the moment are not linked to each other," he said, speaking to journalists at the South African Reserve Bank were senior defence officials were attending a seminar on asset management on Tuesday.

Mr Masilela said as a department, they were confident that with the new measures that are being put in place, there will be more accountability and control and management of assets.

The Public Finance Management Act aims to elimination of waste and corruption in the use of public assets and to ensure timely provision of quality information.

In 2006 Defence Minister Mosioua Lekota dismissed media reports about the SANDF that it could not account for several Casspirs, an ambulance, bakkies, one fire-fighting truck, Landrover defenders, a water tanker, a Yamaha motor cycle, cars and a tractor.

At the time the report claimed that 40 mortar bombs, 54 R4 rifles, four R5 rifles, a sniper rifle, 12-gauge short guns, eight machine guns, eight pistols and 27 grenade launchers were missing.

Minister Lekota at the time explained that each of the vehicles reported to have been lost was accounted for and that most were back in the country while some were still in operation.

The national secretary of the SA National Defence Union is claiming R100 000 in damages from the defence minister and from the SANDF for defamation after he was allegedly called” stupid” and other names during a Military Bargaining Council meeting.

Cor van Niekerk stated in papers before the Pretoria high court that in 2004 Vuyani Sipambo, a civilian employee of the SANDF, told him: “While you were killing soldiers, I was already a unionist.”

He said Sipambo also told him “you are just a stupid person” and he had “never seen such a stupid person before”. Van Niekerk said these statements were defamatory and implied he was a murderer and intellectually challenged. He said they were meant to humiliate him.

The SANDF said Sipambo and Van Niekerk insulted each other. It was claimed Van Niekerk provoked Sipambo by telling him “you are useless” and “you will not last long in the defence force”. The SANDF said Sipambo had to ask the chairman of the meeting to protect him against Van Niekerk’s insults.