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A N C D A I L Y N E W S B R I E F I N G
THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY 1999
PLEASE NOTE: This News Briefing is a compilation of items from South
African press agencies and as such does not reflect the views of the
ANC. It is for reading and information only, and strictly not for
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@ LEKOTA
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
ANC COULD LOSE MORE PROVINCES: LEKOTA
There was a "real probability" that the African National
Congress could lose its hold on more provincial governments in the
long term, National Council of Provinces Chairman Patrick Lekota
said on Wednesday.
He said that as South African society normalised, it was not
unlikely that a situation could arise in which most people in a
province such as Gauteng would continue to support the ANC at
national level, but show different voting patterns at provincial
level.
"It is a real probability, given the structure of our
Constitution as it now stands," he said.
Lekota, who was addressing the media and diplomats at a
briefing in Cape Town, said one of the challenges facing the NCOP
was to continue to insist on not being a rubber stamp for
everything coming from the National Assembly, and to exercise a
certain measure of autonomy.
But he had to admit that party political loyalty impacted on
this process.
He thought the NCOP would come full circle when a situation
arose in which the majority party at national level might not
necessarily be the majority party in most of the provinces.
This would mean provinces in the NCOP would increasingly take
positions not informed by party loyalty.
It was "not unimaginable" that a situation like this could
arise, he said.
Lekota - also ANC national chairman - dismissed a sugggestion
that there was a growing demand for greater autonomy for the
provinces.
He said that if the next Parliament was to change the
Constitution, it would be only to refine the balance of power
between the provinces and central government.
One was looking at whether certain powers would be more
efficiently exercised at the centre or in the provinces, rather
than at federalism versus a unitary state.
Lekota said that one of the challenges facing the NCOP was to
"take the Constitution to the public".
Parliament's public education programme had not been very
successful, and among the African population, of which a large
proportion was functionally illiterate, the Constitution remained
largely unknown.
Part of the NCOP's responsibility was to ensure that members of
the public understood the document so that they were able to impact
positively on lawmaking. This education should begin at school, he
said.
@ SCHALKWYK
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
BAR CODE COULD MEAN ANC GETS TWO-THIRDS: NNP
There was a good chance the African National Congress would get
a two-thirds majority if there was no change to the law that only
people with bar-coded IDs could vote in the coming general
election, New National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on
Wednesday.
It appeared that the ANC in Parliament introduced this
restriction late last year only after careful analysis of the
profile of the more than four million potential voters without
these documents, he told journalists and diplomats at a briefing in
Cape Town.
The NNP had no doubt that its current Cape High Court challenge
on the bar-code issue and related matters was a civil rights case
which could shape the kind of democracy South Africa would have.
The NNP did not envisage losing the case, but would decide when
it heard the judgment what further steps to take.
Indications were that whatever the outcome, the matter would go
to the Constitutional Court for review.
Van Schalkwyk said this could hypothetically, in terms of the
Independent Electoral Commission's March 7 registration cut-off
date, prevent the poll from taking place in May as was being
mooted.
He said the NNP had been "reasonable" throughout in being
willing to reach an out-of-court settlement with the government,
but it was not willing to back down on the bar-code issue.
The NNP and other opposition parties would be seriously
disadvantaged if all ID documents were not allowed.
All opinion polls had constantly concluded that the ANC would
win the election and that the NNP would be the second biggest
party.
But in terms of the current bar-code requirement, the polls
"mean nothing".
The question would be how people with these IDs would vote, Van
Schalkwyk said.
@ CITES-IVORY
GENEVA February 10 1999 Sapa-AFP
ONE-OFF ELEPHANT IVORY TRADE EXPERIMENT APPROVED BY CITES
Most of the conditions are in place to allow a one-off shipment
of elephant ivory tusk from three African countries to Japan to go
ahead, international experts said Wednesday.
In 1997, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) proposed to allow a limited
amount of ivory from Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to be shipped
to Japan in a unique experiment.
A global ban on trade in elephant ivory tusks has been been in
force for almost 10 years.
"The CITES Standing Committee (Tuesday) has taken important
steps towards agreeing a limited experiment in African elephant
ivory to support conservation and community development projects in
Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana," a statement said.
Members of CITES' standing committee are meeting in Geneva this
week to discuss the elephant ivory shipment and other matters,
including measures taken to control trafficking in parts and
derivative products from tigers, another endangered species.
The committee stated that Namibia, Zimbabwe and Japan "fully
meet the conditions on enforcement" and ivory control set down by
the last CITES conference in Harare two years ago, where the
proposal was made.
Bostwana "almost meets these conditions" but there is need for
a further visit by the CITES secretariat's verification team to
confirm that further improvements outlined to the meeting have been
put in place, the statement said.
The motivation behind the one-off delivery was that most CITES
members agreed in 1997 that elephant populations in the three
African countries were stable or growing and that the animals
hould therefore be knocked off the most-endangered species list.
@ AUDIT-LAND
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
AUD-GEN'S AUDIT REVEALS LAND AFFAIRS PROBLEMS
The land affairs department had failed to manage the process of
land claims efficiently, and up to the end of 1997 had processed
only three out of 17803 restitution claims, according to an audit
report released by the Auditor-General's office on Wednesday.
The report, which covers the period from August 1 1997 to
August 31 1998, highlights a number of serious shortcomings within
the department in the areas of planning, management and performance
measurement.
The shortcomings had hampered service delivery and the use of
resources, the report said.
In some instances, capital funds were not spent. Only
approximately R6,9 million - or 2,7 percent of the capital budget
of R248,9 million - had been spent since the implementation of the
Land Reform Pilot Projects (LRPP) up to December 1996.
The report said the Northern Province had not spent any of the
R33 million allocated to it for land acquisition grants.
Only three out of 17803 restitution claims received by the Land
Claims Commission were completed by the end of 1997. A total of
just over R13,4 million was spent on the commission from its
inception to the end of October, 1997.
Adequate feasibility studies were not always conducted to
ensure that projects were sustainable. This meant projects could
be, and were, shut down soon after they began.
The audit report also revealed shortcomings in other government
departments and institutions.
Although corrective steps were implemented by the departments
and institutions concerned, much more was needed to be done to
address some of the deeply-rooted problems, it said.
@ PRESS RELEASE ON A REPORT IN TODAY'S BUSINESS DAY
NEWSPAPER
Issued by: Ministry of Justice
The impression is created in the media that the Honourable Mr
Justice SS Ngcobo has bee appointed to act as Judge President of the
Labour Court in the place of Judge President John Myburgh who
resigned earlier this year. The intention to appoint Judge Ngcobo to
act in this position until a permanent appointment is made was
conveyed to both judges Ngcobo and Judge Froneman, the Deputy Judge
President. Both agreed. However, an appointment has not been made
yet since the Labour Relations Act, 1995, does not expressly provide
for the appointment of an acting Judge President. The Minister is
awaiting legal advice on this issue after which the matter will be
finalized. Reports that an appointment has been finalized or that it
would be an affirmative action appointment are incorrect. Both Judge
Ngcobo and Judge Froneman have the qualifications and experience to
serve in that capacity on merit.
Issued on behalf of Minister Omar by Paul Setsetse
Cape Town
10 February 1999
Tel: (021) 457-506
Cell: 083-252-4770
@ SAFRICA-US
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
US WILL ASSIST SADC PEACEKEEPING EXERCISE
The United States would transport troops from cash-strapped
Southern African countries to participate in the Operation Blue
Crane peacekeeping exercise, scheduled for April in the Northern
Cape, Defence Minister Joe Modise said on Wednesday.
He was speaking after 45-minute talks with visiting US Defence
Secretary William Cohen, who is on a three-day official visit to
South Africa.
About 4000 troops from SADC's 14-member states are expected to
participate in the exercise, which was postponed last year
following South Africa's intervention in neighbouring Lesotho.
The Americans would provide two C130 cargo planes to "help
bring some of the countries that can't bring their members to South
Africa", Modise said.
The US would also help create a simulation centre for training
peace keepers.
Modise said he and Cohen had "extensive discussions" on an
African peacekeeping force, but emphasised that South Africa was
operating within the Southern African Development Community and not
in isolation on the question.
Modise praised the US for its "very valuable" support to
African countries.
Cohen, referring to the conflicts in Angola and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, said Modise had spent a "good deal of time"
outlining the problems in both countries to him.
"We both agreed diplomacy is the only solution."
Modise said it was no secret that Unita rebel leader Jonas
Savimbi and his top officers had visited South Africa for four
days, where attempts were made to persuade them to embrace a
peaceful resolution.
"We will not tire. We will make another effort to get them to
sit around a table and resolve the situation."
The same applied to the DRC.
Earlier, Cohen and Modise were presented with two draft
manuals, the product of a year's work by a combined US and South
African working group on environmental security.
The manuals - on the conversion of military bases in South
Africa, and military training-range management - would be
finalised for worldwide use, Cohen said.
Military staff were also preparing to host an international
conference on range management later this year.
Cohen, who received a 19-gun salute during a military parade at
the Castle on Tuesday morning, later had lunch with members of
Parliament's joint committee on defence, and was to meet Deputy
President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday afternoon.
He will visit Robben Island on Thursday.
@ GUNS-CHARTER
JOHANNESBURG February 10 1999 Sapa
CHARTER FOR GUN CONTROL LAUNCHED
The Charter for Gun Control calling for stricter legislation
and reduction of civilian gun ownership was launched in
Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Speaking at the launch, Southern African Catholic Bishops
Conference spokesman Father Efren Tresoldi said guns were a deadly
recipe that brought more violence in society.
Though supporting more stricter control in gun sales, he said:
"The solution is to go deep into the root causes of crime such as
unemployment, education and health".
Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris dismissed claims that guns led to a
much more safer society as a ridiculous myth.
"That is absolute nonsense. Your own gun is a danger to you,"
he said.
SA National Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition spokeswoman
Safoora Sadek called for the total ban on the sale of replica toy
guns.
"We believe that this can only assist in the creation of a
peaceful and non-militaristic society".
SA Youth Council spokesman Chemist Khumalo said the youth were
the ones who stood to lose if the country was infested with guns.
He said their counterparts in Northern Ireland had just
cancelled an exchange programme on reconciliation, citing crime in
South Africa as a reason.
Meanwhile, the director of Gun Free SA, Adel Kirsten, said the
charter came at an opportune time when the country was gearing
itself for general elections.
"We are going to put pressure on political organisations to
support it," said Kirsten.
She said they were disappointed that the government had not
moved at enough speed and commitment on the issue.
By adopting the charter, the Gun Control Alliance was trying to
establish social consensus on the matter.
"This is a social movement and it's a mobilising tool to raise
awareness and support," Kirsten said.
Statistics on the Charter show that more than 30 people died
from gunshots a day with more than 2000 licensed firearms reported
stolen or lost monthly.
The charter calls on authorities not to issue a gun licence to
any person who could not demonstrate a special need.
About 90 percent of South Africans stated self-defence as a
reason for owning a firearm.
"In Australia, Britain and Canada the motive of self-defence is
rejected as the sole reason for owning a weapon as firearms are
seen as an unacceptable means of protection," the charter says.
@ TOBACCO-BILL
PARLIAMENT February 10 1999 Sapa
TOBACCO BILL TO BE DEALT WITH THIS SESSION
The tobacco bill which President Nelson Mandela referred back
to Parliament last month would be dealt with this session, health
portfolio committee chairman Dr Abe Nkomo said on Wednesday.
He was unable to say exactly when the committee would discuss
the measure.
The Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill seeks to ban
tobacco advertising and clamp down on smoking in public places,
including the workplace.
It was approved by Parliament late last year, but Mandela sent
it back because he had reservations about its constitutionality.
Mandela was concerned that the bill's ban on tobacco companies'
financial assistance to an "organised activity" was too broad, and
that the workplace ban could unintentionally include smoking in the
home.
Speaker Dr Frene Ginwala said on Wednesday that the committee
would have to deal only with the issues raised by the president,
and could not use this as an opportunity to review the entire bill.
@ LEON
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
DP WILL WORK WITH OTHERS TO KEEP ANC OUT: LEON
The Democratic Party believed it should co-operate with other
opposition parties to keep provincial governments out of African
National Congress control where this was possible, DP leader Tony
Leon said on Wednesday.
But this should not occur at the expense of sacrificing the
DP's principles, he told a briefing for diplomats and the media in
Cape Town.
The party would not "go for power at any price".
He had declined a post in the central Cabinet two years' ago
because the terms did not permit the DP to stick to its principles.
Leon said the DP and its predecessors had striven for decades
to end racial discrimination.
"We will fight again at the slightest indication that race is
resurging as a determining factor in the destiny of our people."
In a document released last year, the DP had stated
unambiguously that life chances had to be determined by ability and
the will to work, Leon said.
In another document - titled "The Corruption of
Transformation" and released on Wednesday, the party reiterates
that it believes in non-racial change.
"We believe that South Africa must change from a race-based,
undemocratic, centralised, authoritarian society into an
individual-centred opportunity society, in which everyone,
including those who currently suffer disadvantage because of the
discriminatory past, have the opportunity to take charge of their
own lives and improve their lot."
The document says the DP believes these ideals are, however,
under enormous threat because of the ANC's "insistence on
implementing a race-based transformation programme based on the
narrow foundation of legislated demographic representivity".
In the main, beneficiaries of this programme are those well
connected to the ANC and those who already enjoy the advantage of
middle class incomes and opportunities, the DP says.
Leon said the idea of non-racialism had been betrayed, not by
the forces of "reaction", but by senior politicians and
decision-makers in the ANC itself.
"Four years after coming to power, the ANC has succeeded in
reimposing the racial idea over many aspects of South African
society."
The DP had supported the principle of concessions for race as a
means of redress.
But "when these concessions become an end in themselves in the
name of `demographic representivity', alarm bells start ringing",
Leon said.
@ AUDIT-PRINTING
PARLIAMENT February 10 1999 Sapa
HUGE LOSSES PERSIST AT UMTATA GOVERNMENT PRINTING WORKS
The government printing works in Umtata was incurring losses of
more than R15 million a year because it was over-staffed and
inefficiently run, a performance audit carried out by the
Auditor-General has found.
The printing works is the responsibility of the department of
home affairs
Appearing at a public accounts portfolio committee hearing on
the audit's findings, released on Wednesday, home affairs
director-general Albert Makoena said it was recommended in October
1996 that the printing works be shut, but a moratorium on the
retrenchment of state employees had made this unfeasible.
Should the works be closed, government would have to continue
paying salaries - which totalled R15,5 million in 1997.
The Cabinet had decided that a study be undertaken to ascertain
what should happen to the printing works, and this had been put out
to tender, Mokoena said.
Committee members expressed concern that very little had
changed at the works over the last two-and-a-half years, and
taxpayers continued to pay the price.
"It just seems like an utter waste of money," commented
committee chair Ken Andrew.
ANC MP Cheryl Gillwald expressed concern that the study would
only serve to add to losses already incurred.
The performance audit also found that staff at the printing
works took an average of 24 days sick leave each in 1997, and that
despite reports that they had been drunk on duty and arrived late
for work, they were not disciplined.
Printing machines were under-utilised and when they broke down
they were not fixed.
The works' excess stationery was worth about R12,5 million, and
it was very slow in executing orders.
"In 259 instances, orders dating back to June 1996 had still
not been completed by September 1997," the Auditor-General said.
"In 41 instances, orders totalling R772175, which had been
ready for delivery as far back as June 25 1997, were not yet
delivered by March 2 1998."
Mokoena said while there were problems at other government
printing works around the country, they were not as serious as in
Umtata.
Home affairs deputy director-general Ivan Lambinon said one
reason for the problems was that the printing works was inherited
by the department from the former Transkei government, which had
not administered it properly.
The works provides printing services and stationery to
government departments in the Eastern Cape, and also sells
Government Gazettes.
Mokoena said the number of staff at the works had been
decreased from 291 in 1994 to 227.
Excess staff members could not be transferred to other
provincial government departments, which already had too many
personnel.
Mokoena said the machinery at the works was out of date and no
capital expenditure had been made in recent years, meaning that
many orders had to be filled by the Pretoria printing works.
@ MANDELA
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
MANDELA REBUKES OPPOSITION FOR JOBS-FOR-PALS JIBES
President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday defended his government
against charges of nepotism and "cronyism", and accused opposition
parties and the media of waging a new campaign of discrimination.
Replying to the debate on his state-of-the nation address,
Mandela said the government appreciated vigilance from the
opposition and the media about the deployment of individuals into
positions of authority.
The government had never pronounced itself to be superhuman,
and acknowledged that "temptation may creep in from time to time to
select those we know, who are closest to us".
"Yet we shall always reject, with the contempt it deserves, any
attempt to haunt men and women of integrity and requisite training
and experience from jobs they deserve simply because, by accident
of birth or the whim of life history, they are related to one or
other person in a position of authority?
"What is even more astounding is that those whose policies
targeted these individuals for persecution - quite often on the
basis of such links - and those who quietly acquiesced in this
persecution, are today the first to glibly raise their voice on
this matter," Mandela said.
The government would not bow down to this new campaign of
discrimination, no matter how powerful the forces who combined to
wage it.
The progress that his government had started to make would not
be sustainable "if we do not consistently and systematically change
the composition and ethos of the public service", Mandela said.
This required training, development, the application of new
rules, better management and performance-based assessment of work
done.
The government would not apologise for recruiting skilled
cadres, dedicated to the new order, for positions in the public
service.
Transformation could only benefit if one sector of government
was not allowed to benefit from an abundance of sills at the
expense of others, Mandela said.
Where such positions belonged in the arena of non-partisan
public institutions, the processes should be conducted in a
transparent manner through the normal "competitive" channels.
"This is neither cronyism nor the expression of a so-called
one-party state. It is a necessary commitment to transforming not
only the people's condition of life, but also the instruments that
will make that change possible."
On opposition criticism of affirmative action policies, Mandela
said: "It is one thing to pronounce a commitment to a
representative public service and another to condemn the selection
of blacks, the disabled and women - both black and white - into
managerial positions."
Mandela said when the ANC took over government it was astounded
at the absence of these groups and also of white men who did not
come from the then "correct ethnic group".
"We have set out to change all this. And by doing so, we
believe we have made South Africa the richer- with our society
benefiting from the skills base that the whole nation offers.
"If this is cronyism, we proudly plead guilty," he said
@ CRIME-PAC
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
EXECUTE MURDERERS: PAC OFFICIAL
An Eastern Cape Pan Africanist Congress official, Waters
Toboti, on Wednesday called for tough action against criminals,
saying that if crime could be stopped by making murderers face a
firing squad, then "so be it".
Criminals in South Africa raped, robbed and killed visitors and
tourists with impunity, he said in a statement.
"Farmers are being butchered, our wives, daughters and loved
ones are raped every day, financial houses and banks are robbed
consistently of millions of rands, and in the process of these
armed robberies innocent workers are killed."
Government ministers did not take the crime situation seriously
because they had the protection of bodyguards, which ordinary
citizens did not have, Toboti said.
"What is most disturbing is the fact that many of these
criminals are said to emanate from the ranks of former liberation
movements, especially Umkhonto weSizwe.
"Ordinary citizens believe that this is the reason that the ANC
government is reluctant to use a guillotine; the Dullah Omars of
this world do not want to use capital punishment against their
comrades," he said.
On Monday, PAC leader Dr Stanley Mogoba said the country had to
fight criminals "with all it takes".
In a three-page letter to the media, he said: "We must knock
them on the head, cut their ears, legs or whatever is the offending
part of the body.
"Finally, we must go for the head."
Mogoba said the ugly truth was that everything relating to the
future of South Africans depended on the ruthless "crushing" of
criminals, adding that prisons should be what they ought to be and
not glorified hotels.
Those who robbed others of their human rights should be made to
understand they had committed the worst crime of all.
Killing by the state could not be condoned, but many desperate
people were calling for the return of capital punishment, which
could be "the last bastion of a bleeding nation".
@ HELICOPTER
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
FOUR-MAN CIVIL AVIATION TEAM TO PROBE HELICOPTER CRASH IN CAPE
TOWN
Transport Minister Mac Maharaj has appointed a four-man team to
investigate the fatal helicopter crash in Cape Town's central
business centre on Wednesday morning.
The four occupants of the Mi8 MTV heavy-lift helicopter died
when it smashed onto the roof of Boston House while offloading an
air conditioning unit.
The helicopter's tail rotor struck a billboard and sheared off,
causing the aircraft to plunge six metres onto the roof. Seconds
later its fuel tanks exploded engulfing the helicopter in flames.
The dead were identified as the pilot Konrad Herbst, 38,
co-pilot Grant Ollenwagen, 26, flight engineer Iouri Bykov, 45, a
russian national, and flight engineer Hendrik Johannes Petrus van
Zyl, 31.
Maharaj said the team from the Civil Aviation Authority
comprised three investigators and an expert on the Mi8 helicopter.
He said preliminary indications were that the tail rotor of the
helicopter struck a sign and failed. "Such failure normally
results in the loss of control of the helicopter."
The investigation will focus on aspects such as possible
defects which could have occurred prior to the impact, the
operating procedure of the owners of the helicopter, Heyns
Helicopters, the supporting services, and the conditions
surrounding the approval of this specific operation.
Maharaj said Russian Mi8 helicopters had been used in South
Africa since 1993 and were registered in South Africa in 1997.
"These helicopters have been operating in South Africa without
any serious problems and there is a need for their heavy lifting
capabilities," Maharaj said.
Civil Aviation Regulations require that an operator applies to
the Commissioner for Civil Aviation, Trevor Abrahams, to grant
approval for any operations over a building.
The restrictions normally associated with such apelicopter be used,
safe entry and exit paths be established so that no injury would
result should the load be dropped. Crowd control also had to be in
place and the local authority had to approve the operation.
"The results of this investigation may result in a review of
the above," Maharaj said.
Maharaj passed on his condolences to the families of the
victims.
@ ELECTION
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
GOVT REMAINS COMMITTED TO MAY POLL: MBEKI'S OFFICE
The government stood by its intention to call this year's
general election between May 18 and 27, the office of Deputy
President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
It had noted a report in Business Day newspaper on Wednesday
suggesting it was prepared to postpone the poll, a statement from
Mbeki's spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.
The government remained fully aware that a court challenge was
currently underway and that judgment would be delivered as soon as
possible.
In this regard, the government would continue to abide by and
respect the sub judice rule.
The newspaper report had, however, necessitated a statement of
clarity on the issue.
"The government stands by the statement made by the president's
office during the opening of Parliament that it is the government's
intention - all things being equal - to call for elections
between May 18 and 27.
"Nothing has since changed to alter this announcement by the
president's office," Mamoepa said.
@ RIGHTS-MESSINA
MESSINA February 10 1999 Sapa
SAHRC REFERS CLAIMS OF ABUSE AGAINST FARMER TO PROSECUTOR
Claims that a Messina farmer forced a woman to climb half-naked
into a coffin after he caught her stealing wood were credible, the
SA Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday.
It referred the matter to the national director of prosecutions
in a report released in Messina. The document deals with human
rights violations against farm workers in the Northern Province
districts of Messina and Tshipise.
Commission chairman Barney Pityana presented the Messina
community with a copy of the report earlier in the day.
Evidence about the alleged violations against the woman emerged
during hearings held by the commission in Messina in November last
year.
The report says Ms J Denga testified that she was earlier last
year gathering wood on the farm Leeuplaas when the owner, Roelf
Schutte, apprehended her.
"She alleged that Schutte assaulted her and took her to his
place of business, where he forced her to get into a coffin while
in a state of semi-undress."
This was denied by Schutte, who said he merely detained the
woman until he was able to take her to the police five hours later.
Denga was later fined R800 for trespass and for stealing wood.
The commission found Denga's version to be the more probable
one, says the report. It criticises Schutte's testimony that he
jokingly told one his workers after capturing Denga: "Here is a
woman, take her."
The commission says: "Such utterances constitute sexual
harassment."
In another case, it found that a Ms Randima was subjected to
inhuman treatment while being held for trespassing. She was
compelled to sit under a tree for seven hours without food and
water before being taken to the police.
The commission dismissed six allegations of police misconduct
during an operation against farm workers at Maswiri Boerdery in
March last year.
But it reports widespread mistrust of the criminal justice
among farm workers.
"People testified to being held without charge for long periods
for minor charges like trespassing. Courts often fix unaffordable
bail. People also complained of a double standard in the processing
of complaints by workers and farmers."
This reinforced the view that the police and courts existed
only to serve the farmer community, says the report.
Another area of concern is the way in which the use of labour
from Zimbabwe, which is about 10km from Messina, is being
regulated.
The commission says it found that immigration officials at the
Beit Bridge border post were issuing work permits without
consultation or approval.
"We accordingly recommend that the Department of Home Affairs
take all necessary measures to ensure that applications are
considered in accordance with existing policy."
The Department had since given an undertaking to do so, the
report says.
@ SAPS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
SAPS PERFORMANCE IMPROVING: MUFAMADI
The productivity and performance of the South African Police
Service had improved a lot since these issues were raised in the
Auditor-General's 1996 performance audit, Safety and Security
Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Wednesday.
Speaking during an interpellation debate, Mufamadi said the
report had been a preliminary one. The SAPS had responded to the
report and discussions were being held with the Aud-Gen on
rectifying the problems identified.
Plans to redirect costs away from human resources towards
improving equipment had been implemented, and staff functions and
operations on the ground had also been restructured.
Absenteeism and sick leave among police officers had declined
during the first nine months of last year.
This had contributed to improved discipline and levels of
morale, Mufamadi said.
@ DRCONGO-ANGOLA
KINSHASA February 10 1999 Sapa-AFP
RWANDA, UGANDA A 'DANGER': ANGOLAN AMBASSADOR TO DR CONGO
The Angolan ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), Joao Batista Mawete, has lashed out at Rwanda and Uganda,
accusing them of seeking to destabilize central Africa.
"Rwanda and Uganda are putting international security in
danger," Mawete said in an interview with the Kinshasa daily Le
Potentiel published Wednesday.
Angola is among the main military backers of the DRC government
against rebels who control the eastern part of the country with
support from Rwanda and Uganda. Burundi is also thought to back the
rebels, but denies any military involvement in the DRC.
The Angolan ambassador also accused Rwanda and Uganda of
backing Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence
of Angola (UNITA) in his country.
"There are hundreds of Rwandans and Ugandans" in the ranks of
UNITA, Mawete said, charging that UNITA men received training in
the two countries and that the Kigali and Kampala governments were
supplying arms to the Angolan rebels.
"What is happening militarily in the DRC is not different from
what we are experiencing in Angola. Angola will remain by the side
of President (Laurent) Kabila's government. ... Our active
solidarity is unconditional," he said.
Angola's military intervened last August as the DRC's Tutsi-led
rebels were on the verge of attacking Kinshasa, taking about 10
days to rout the rebels from the strategic southwest.
@ SADC-LESOTHO
MASERU February 10 1999 Sapa
SADC DELEGATION HOLDS MEETING IN MASERU
A team of representatives of the governments of South Africa,
Botswana and Lesotho met in Maseru on Wednesday to discuss military
intervention by the Southern African Development Community in
neighbouring member countries.
After the meeting a spokesman for South Africa's High
Commission in Maseru said the officials discussed "the
multi-lateral legal framework regarding the status of SADC troops
in Lesotho".
The officials comprised legal and military officers and
officials of the departments of foreign affairs of the three
countries.
The SADC provided a military taskforce consisting of troops of
the SA National Defence Force and the Botswana Defence Force in
September last year, which it said was deployed to help restore law
and order in Lesotho.
This followed a mutiny in the Lesotho Defence Force when junior
officers "dismissed" senior army officers and forced the commander
of the Lesotho Defence Force to broadcast a statement over
state-controlled Radio Lesotho that he had resigned.
The officials of the three SADC countries will report to their
principals on the outcome of the meeting.
@ LAUNCH-MRC
JOHANNESBURG February 10 1999 Sapa
MRC LAUNCHES RESEARCH GROUP FOR HEALTH POLICY
A research group to investigate the development of a health
policy and its implementation was launched by the Medical Research
Council in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The Research Group for Health Policy, based at the University
of the Witwatersrand, would encourage scientists to implement
research and to use the results to challenge the Department of
Health on several health reforms, group director Helen Schneider
said.
Planning and evaluating the country's changing health system,
the research group would form partnerships with the government to
create new health policies for a socially just health care system.
The group consists of specialists in social and scientific
research and forms an addition to the statutory MRC's portfolio of
university-based research.
Schneider said policy development would take into account the
management, organisation, and financing of the health system. It
would also incorporate the public and private sectors to improve
social equity and higher quality insurance mechanisms within the
system.
@ HEALTH-FF
PRETORIA February 10 1999 Sapa
EXPEDITE INVOLVEMENT OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN STATE HOSPITALS:
FF
Moves to involve the private sector in the running of state
hospitals should be speeded up, the Freedom Front said on
Wednesday.
Welcoming initiatives in this regard by Gauteng premier Mathole
Motshekga, FF spokesman Ben van der Walt said medical services in
state hospitals had virtually collapsed.
"Delaying decisions on bringing in the private sector would
only result in further deterioration," he said in a statement in
Pretoria.
Motshekga's office on Tuesday confirmed it was considering
proposals to involve the private sector in some provincial
hospitals. This would reportedly entail privatising some services
at such hospitals.
Van der Walt blamed what he termed as socialist policies for
the decline of provincial hospitals.
"We hope the proposals to involve the private sector will be
finalised soon, and we will apply continuous pressure on the
premier's office to do so," he said.
@ MDLADLANA-PENSIONS
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
MDLADLANA TO INVESTIGATE PENSION PAYMENTS
The government had not withheld Occupational Injuries Act
pension payments from people who were not in possession of a
bar-coded identity document, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana
said on Wednesday,
Speaking during an interpelation debate in the National
Assembly, he said payments were not issued to people with temporary
IDs. This was done to prevent fraudulent claims.
Freedom Front MP Pieter Groenewaldt said he was in possession
of a letter - issued last month by the compensation commissioner
- warning pension recipients that payments for people without
bar-coded IDs would be withheld.
Withholding payment brought hardship to the family of the
recipient.
Groenewaldt asked whether the minister would investigate the
claim.
Mdladlana replied: "I am willing to investigate your query...
kindly give me the relevant details and I will definitely take
action on the matter."
He said there was need to encourage all South Africans to apply
for bar-coded IDs.
"One South Africa, one Bar-Coded ID. Let us be proud South
Africans who have South African bar-coded IDs," he said.
@ TRADE-SADC
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
SA WANTS SADC TRADE PROTOCOL WRAPPED UP BY YEAR-END
South Africa wanted a free trade protocol with 11 of the 14
Southern African Development Community (SADC) members finalised by
the end of the year, Mfundo Nkhulu, the trade department's chief
director of African trade relations said on Wednesday.
He told Parliament's trade and industry portfolio committee he
was hopeful a full free trade agreement would be in place by the
beginning of 2009.
Trade Minister Alec Erwin decribed the free trade protocol as
only the first step in the final integration of southern African
economies along the lines of what had happened in the European
Union.
"It can't be possible for the SADC economies by themselves to
attempt to develop, it is not going to happen.
"We have to integrate these economies, we must improve trade
between them and we must do it in a manner that all countries
grow."
Erwin said it was possible that certain aspects of the trade
agreement could be fast-tracked.
He stressed that it was in South Africa's interest to stabilise
and build up its neighbours' economies, which were currently
failing to attract foreign investment.
"Generally speaking our neighbours are gettting larger and
larger trade deficits as a whole and this is generating problems
for them.
"We are seeing a continuous deindustrialisation process in our
neighbours - this cannot be to our benefit."
Part of these countries' problems arose as a result of
inappropriate policies prescribed to them by the International
Monetary Fund, Erwin said.
The next round of SADC trade talks, which will deal with the
chemicals, wood and paper sectors, is scheduled to begin on
February 22, while talks in March will cover the wood, steel and
motor vehicles sectors.
The agriculture sector would be dealt with in April, the
clothing, textiles and footwear sectors in May, and precious stones
in June.
The Southern African Customs Union - comprising South Africa,
Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho - had tabled its tariff
reduction offer in November last year.
It proposed that all tariffs below 17 percent be immediately
reduced to zero once the trade protocol takes effect, that tariffs
of between 18 and 25 percent be phased out over three years, and
tariffs greater than 25 percent be phased out over five years.
Sensitive products would be dealt with in separate protocols.
Nkhulu said Zimbabwe had offered some generous concessions,
including the immediate liberalisation of 56 percent of goods
traded within SADC, which currently attracted duties of below 15
percent.
Other tariffs would be reduced over a period of three to five
years, with the phase-down beginning three years after the protocol
became effective.
Zimbabwe wanted motor vehicles, clothing, textiles, footwear,
steel, cereals, meat, dairy and sugar dealt with as sensitive
products, but were open to negotiation on these issues, Nkhulu
said.
He described Mauritius' offer as defensive.
Mauritius had proposed the immediate liberalisation of 30
percent of inter-SADC trade, and that tariffs on 43 percent of
goods traded be phased down between the fourth and eighth year
after the agreement became effective. It wanted 27 percent of trade
dealt with as sensitive products.
Nkhulu said Zambia had proposed phasing down tariffs on 75
percent of trade, liberalising five percent immediately and dealing
with 20 percent as sensitive products.
A tentative offer had been received from Tanzania, which was
expected to be finalised by the time the next round of negotiations
began. It proposed the immediate scrapping of tariffs below five
percent, which would cover 35 percent of trade; phasing down
tariffs of between five and 20 percent, which would apply to 30
percent of trade; and dealing with the remaining 35 percent of
products as sensitive.
Malawi had proposed the phasing down of all tariffs on 23
percent of goods immediately. It suggested tariffs be phased down
on a further 59 percent of goods from year six of the agreement,
and on the remaining 18 percent from year nine of the agreement.
Mozambique's offer had yet to be finalised.
Although members of SADC, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and
Angola and the Seychelles, have not participated in the
negotiations.
@ QUESTIONS-ELECTION
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
PARASTATALS SHOULD NOT FUND POLITICAL PARTIES: MBEKI
The government did not believe it was appropriate for parastals
to fund political parties, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said on
Wednesday.
Replying to a parliamentary question, Mbeki said the Heath
special investigative unit was probing allegations that the African
National Congress had received funding of R1 million from the
Mpumalanga Parks Board.
To date nothing had been proved, and once the unit had handed
in its final report, appropriate action would be taken, he said.
"The ANC would not under any circumstances want to receive any
money handed over illegally," he said.
Mbeki said he was unaware of a report quoting Eskom chief
executive Allen Morgan as saying he regarded it as in order for the
electricity utility to sponsor a table at political parties' fund
raising functions.
@ FREESTATE-LEGISLATURE
BLOEMFONTEIN February 10 1999 Sapa
FREE STATE SCALES DOWN LEGISLATURE'S OPENING
The opening of the Free State legislature on Friday has been
scaled down due to financial constraints and the fact that a new
legislature will have to be inaugurated later in the year after the
elections, Speaker Joe Mafereka said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the session, although short, was important. The
legislature hoped to pass a number of bills, including the
provincial Health and Education Bills. A public hearing on the Free
State Environment Conservation Bill would be held next week.
As part of the public participation programme it was intended
to hold a provincial youth parliament. Its aim was to get the youth
from different schools to participate in the law-making processes
of the province and the country.
Last year's open week in which MECs and the chairs of the
various legislative committees had reported back to the public on
performance had been a success. This year an open week would be
held in July and another in November, Mafereka said.
@ IEC-VACANCY
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
NOMINATIONS FOR KRIEGLER'S SUCCESSOR FORWARDED TO PARLIAMENT
Lands Claims Court judge Antonie Gildenhuys and Johannesburg
High Court judge Ismail Hussain were nominated on Wednesday as
possible replacements for Judge Johann Kriegler on the Independent
Electoral Commission.
A selection panel made up of Constitutional Court President
Arthur Chaskalson, the Public Protector, and the chairpersons of
the Human Rights and Gender Commissions, made the nominations after
interviewing the two men.
Their names have been sent to National Assembly Speaker Dr
Frene Ginwala, who said they would be referred to the portfolio
committee on home affairs, which has to choose one.
The committee decision has to be ratified by the full Assembly
before going to President Nelson Mandela, who makes the formal
appointment.
Kriegler, who chaired the IEC, quit at the beginning of this
month, citing differences with the government over the body's role
and funding.
@ ZIM-RIOTS
HARARE February 10 1999 Sapa-DPA
ZIMBABWEAN RIOT POLICE CLASH WITH STUDENTS
Riot police clashed with students at the University of
Zimbabwe's Harare campus on Wednesday and broke up a planned
anti-government demonstration.
Police fired teargas at rock-throwing students and closed off
the major roads around the campus as scattered battles were fought,
but there were no reports of injuries.
Student leaders said they had notified police of their planned
demonstration and had been assured they would be provided with an
escort for their march into the capital centre.
Learnmore Jongwe, secretary-general of the students' union,
said the students planned to protest not only against growing
problems being faced by students after the slashing of state grants
last year, but also over corruption, the deployment of Zimbabwean
forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the recent torture of
journalists and the government's abrogation of the rule of law.
"It is not that the government has no money for students. There
are resources, but these are being abused and squandered by the
government," Jongwe said.
But by early morning riot police had surrounded the campus and
blocked all exits. Riot police were posted along the
seven-kilometre route into the city centre and sealed off African
Unity Square, the main rallying point for anti-government
demonstrations.
The demonstration was the second anti-government demonstration
to have been broken up by riot police in two weeks.
The action was seen by observers as a campaign by President
Robert Mugabe's regime to crush almost nationwide opposition to his
rule.
@ DRUG-BILL
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
DRUG DEPENDENCY AMENDMENT BILL TABLED
Draft legislation paving the way for the implementation of the
government's drug master plan, was tabled in Parliament on
Wednesday.
According to a memorandum attached to the Prevention and
Treatment of Drug Dependency Amendment Bill, the plan was developed
by the drug advisory board, appointed in 1993 to advise the welfare
and population development minister on issues relating to drug
abuse.
Among other things, the bill seeks to establish a central drug
authority, and outlines its functions, powers and duties.
In terms of the bill, the authority will act as an advisory
body to the minister on matters regarding drug abuse.
@ QUESTIONS-LABOUR
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
GOVT WILL REVISE UNPRODUCTIVE LABOUR LAWS: MDLADLANA
The government was not only willing but committed to revising
any labour legislation that could unequivocally be shown to be
detrimental to job creation, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana
said on Wednesday.
He was replying to a question from Willie Fourie (NNP).
@ KWANATAL-MTSHALI
DURBAN February 10 1999 Sapa
MTSHALI SWORN IN AS NEW KZN PREMIER
Former Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Lionel
Mtshali was sworn in as KwaZulu-Natal premier in Ulundi on
Wednesday afternoon.
He was sworn in by Deputy Judge President Vuka Tshabalala.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced in
January that Ben Ngubane would be replaced as premier by Mtshali.
Buthelezi cited the poor matric results as the main reason for
the reshuffling. Ngubane has since taken over again as Minister of
Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, a post which he had held
immediately after the 1994 elections.
Political parties in KwaZulu-Natal claimed Ngubane's removal
was linked to his failure to award casino licences to bidders who
were friendly to the party.
Provincial education MEC Vincent Zulu was also removed from his
position and was replaced by Eileen Nkosi-Shandu, former Deputy
Minister of Public Works.
Ngubane is the second KwaZulu-Natal premier to be removed since
1994. Frank Mdlalose was removed in 1997 and is now serving as
South African ambassador in Egypt.
@ BELGIUM-SA
JOHANNESBURG February 10 1999 Sapa
BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT SOUTH AFRICA FROM 14-20
FEBRUARY
Belgian Prime Minister Jean Luc Dehaene and his wife Celi-Marie
Verbeke Dehaene would visit South Africa from 14-20 February at the
invitation of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, the Department of
Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday.
The statement said Dehaene would be accompanied by a large
business delegation.
"He will be officially received in Cape Town at Tuynhuys on 16
February by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. Dehaene will also pay
courtesy calls on President Mandela, Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo,
Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma, Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu
Buthelezi, House Speaker Frene Ginwala and Deputy Foreign Minister
Aziz Pahad."
The Prime Minister will be hosted at a dinner by Reserve Bank
governor Chris Stals.
"Bilateral trade between South Africa and Belgium is at an
all-time high, with export figures peaking at R3,5 billion and
imports at almost R2,3 billion in South Africa's favour," the
statement said.
Dehaene and his trade delegation will be present at a business
seminar in Johannesburg at which prominent South African and
Belgian business leaders will be present.
"The Prime Minister will be the keynote speaker at this event,
which will serve to further enhance economic relations between the
two countries. One of the focal points of the visit will be Belgium
development co- operation, which is aimed at eradicating poverty in
South Africa and contributing to sustainable socio-economic
progress," said the statement.
@ LABOUR-NEHAWU
JOHANNESBURG February 10 1999 Sapa
NEHAWU TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union will
on Friday at the Union Buildings in Pretoria launch a campaign
aimed at recruiting new members.
Nehawu spokesman Joe Lekola on Wednesday said the launch of the
campaign, known as Operation 400000, came as the result of
resolutions taken at Nehawu's national congress last year.
Lekola said the union decided to adopt the resolution of its
parent body, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, that all workers
within the public service should be organised into one strong
sector union.
Guest speakers at the launch would be Nehawu second vice
president Noluthando Sibiya, African National Congress president
Thabo Mbeki, Cosatu general secretary Mbhazima Shilowa and SA
Communist Party general secretary Blade Ndzimande, Lekola said.
@ QUESTIONS-LESOTHO
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
SA NEGOTIATING LESOTHO INTERVENTION COSTS: MODISE
The South African and Lesotho governments were negotiating the
costs of the South African Defence Force's intervention in the
mountain kingdom, Defence Minister Joe Modise said on Wednesday.
Replying to a question from New National Party MP Theo Alant,
he said Lesotho was aware that it was liable for the costs of
Operation Boleas, estimated to be more than R36 million.
@ QUESTIONS-ALIVE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY February 10 1999 Sapa
ARRIVE ALIVE COST R105 MILLION
More than R105 million had been spent on the Arrive Alive
Campaign which began in October 1997, Transport Minister Mac
Maharaj said on Wednesday.
Arrive Alive had become a permanent campaign and would run
parallel to other road safty initiatives, he said in written reply
to Myburgh Streicher (NNP).
There were 7000 traffic officers, dispersed and fragmented over
about 500 authorities.
"In a fragmented situation, throwing money at the problem will
not resolve the underlying structural issues. South Africa's
traffic management system needs a comprehensive overhaul," he said.
Consultations were continuing on the establishment of an
autonomous road traffic management corporation.
The new structure would co-ordinate all aspects of traffic
management and would hopefully be operational by August 1 this
year.
@ AUDIT-ARTS
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
MANDELA-MADIKIZELA OWES THE STATE R112960: AUD-GEN
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former deputy arts and culture
minister, had still not repaid R112960 she owed the state for an
unathorised overseas trip taken to Ghana in 1994, according to an
Auditor-General's report released on Wednesday.
The public accounts committee has recommended that the money be
recovered from Madikizela-Mandela.
In his audit report on the arts and culture department for the
financial year ending March 31, 1998, the Aud-Gen said that on
March 17 last year the department acknowledged the debt was
outstanding and wrote to Mandela-Madikizela informing her that she
had to pay it.
However, he noted that the state expenditure department had
written to the public accounts committee in May last year
suggesting that it recommend to Parliament that the R112960 be
validated by law in terms of the Exchequer Act.
This would be conditional on the foreign affairs department
being satisfied that the state had received full value for the
money.
"At the time of compiling this report, a final reply had not
yet been received," the Aud-Gen said.
The department said last year it had sought legal advice about
Madikizela-Mandela's failure to repay the money.
The report also notes that claims laid by two provincial
administrations - amounting to R37537 against the arts department
in respect of unauthorised motor vehicle expenses allegedly
incurred by Mandela-Madikizela - were still outstanding.
At the time of compiling the audit report, the state attorney
had still not taken a final decision about how to handle the issue.
The delay was cause for concern, the Aud-Gen said.
@ JUBILEE-2000
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
90 CAPE TOWN ORGANISATIONS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO SCRAP APARTHEID
DEBT
The Western Cape branch of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, calling
for the scrapping of apartheid debt and debts to foreign lenders,
would be launched in Cape Town on Saturday, the organising
committee said in a statement on Wednesday.
Representatives of about 90 organisations were expected to
gather in Salt River in Cape Town for the launch.
The committee said interest on the debt in South Africa last
year was R42,5 million and would increase this year. "This is
almost double the amount allocated annually to health, and 60 times
the amount needed to wipe out the fees owed by all the students in
South Africa," the statement said.
Jubilee 2000 South Africa was launched in November as part of
an international campaign. The international Jubilee 2000 coalition
aims to celebrate the new millennium by lifting the burden of debt
from poor countries by the year 2000.
Organising committees for Jubilee 2000 are operating in
Gauteng, KwaZulu- Natal, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and the Free
State.
@ ECAPE-PENSION
VAALBANK, Eastern Cape February 10 1999 Sapa
LADY FRERE ELDERLY STILL AWAIT PAYOUTS AFTER R1,6M PENSION
THEFT
Thousands of pensioners are struggling to survive after 3000
pension cheques worth R1,6 million were stolen in Lady Frere in
December, robbing them of their January payouts.
The six men implicated in the theft, which took place just
before Christmas, were each granted bail of R6000 on January 29.
This was despite protests from community organisations that
opposed bail.
Sithembiso Luthando, 28, Sayinile Mvuvmvu, 38, Nkululeko
Nwelende, 40, Pheneas Ntwanambi, 28, Thobeka Ngcingi, 35, and
Zwelakhe Poswa, 34, will appear in court again on March 12.
On Wednesday, an atmosphere of despair hung over the
impoverished Buffelsdoring village in the Vaalbank district, which
falls under Lady Frere district welfare offices.
Although a small percentage of Vaalbank pensioners received
cheques on January 26, most of them were last paid on December 6.
A shop owner in the area has been giving pensioners credit to
help them out until the next scheduled payments on February 25.
The shop owner, who declined to be named, on Wednesday
expressed anger at the department over its treatment of the
pensioners.
"It's not their fault the cheques were stolen, but they are the
ones suffering," she said.
Thousands of rands of unpaid credit were also on the store's
books as a result of the lack of pension payments.
"I cannot continue to hand out foodstuffs on credit or run a
shop this way," she said.
Pensioners had come into the store crying, complaining that
they and their families were hungry, the shop owner added.
The area offers virtually no employment, with residents
dependent on social grants or subsistence farming.
"Yesterday, I had an old man here with a pig. He wanted me to
take it so that I can give him food. People also want me to sell
wool for them just so that they can make some money, she said.
A resident in the area, Tozana Pili, said she had been at the
pension paypoint in January when many pensioners were turned away
empty-handed.
"The staff just looked in the old people's faces and said
there's no money, its been taken by the robbers," she said.
A large number of children in the area had not returned to
school as their parents or grandparents could not afford school
fees or to buy stationery.
The shop owner said people were also unhappy that no
explanations for the lack of payment had been given.
Acting regional director of the welfare department, Mmeli
Sixaba, said on Wednesday that the department was still clearing
new cheques to replace the 3000 stolen cheques. This was a
necessary procedure to prevent double payments to pensioners.
Pensioners would receive their regular February payments, but
they would have to wait for the money owed to them for January.
Sixaba could not say when they could expect the January payments.
@ TRAFFIC-KWANATAL
DURBAN February 10 1999 Sapa
NAMES OF DRUNK DRIVERS TO BE PUBLISHED IN NEWSPAPERS
KwaZulu-Natal deputy director of public prosecutions Ross
Stuart has confirmed that names of drivers convicted of driving
under the influence of alcohol will be published in newspapers.
Transport MEC S'bu Ndebele's wanted the names published to
expose motorists who were not obeying road rules and to deter
drivers from drinking and driving.
In a statement on Wednesday Ndebele said the confirmation came
after a meeting with the Justice Department in January where the
issue of drunk drivers was discussed.
He said the Asiphephe campaign targeting drunk drivers would
continue as the department was determined to foster a new culture
where motorists would not drink and drive.
"We can't sit back and allow people to continue dying and
killing innocent people on the roads when we have the power to do
something to try and stop people drinking and driving," Ndebele
said.
He called on the hospitality industry to adopt the Designated
Driver Programme.
Ndebele said the names of offenders would be available at the
provincial Traffic Inspectorate information office from Thursday.
@ ZIM-LAND
HARARE February 10 1999 Sapa-AFP
ZIMBABWE'S LAND REFORM DEALT SERIOUS SETBACK
Zimbabwe's land reforms have suffered a serious setback with a
court ruling that will force the government to reinitiate bids to
acquire 520 white-owned farms for redistribution to landless
blacks.
The government-controlled Herald newspaper reported Wednesday
that an administrative court ruled this week that the government
may compulsorily take only 321 farms of the 841 it had earmarked in
November 1997 under the programme designed to correct inequities in
land ownership.
Whites, who make up under one percent of the population, hold
about 30 percent of the country's land.
The court found that the authorities had failed to file
applications confirming their intention to acquire the 520 farms
within a one-year deadline required by the Land Acquisition Act of
1992.
The Herald said the government would have to begin the process
over again for those farms.
The ruling came in a case between the lands ministry and white
farmer Johannes Fick, who contested plans to acquire his farm.
Deputy Lands Minister Olivia Muchena said the government task
force responsible for land acquisition would meet soon to decide on
the next course of action.
"The Land Acquisition Committee will meet to consider the way
forward with regard to the 520 cases that were filed out of time,"
Muchena said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Zimbabwe last week reiterated that it still adhered to the
accord reached with donors at a crucial land conference held last
September.
At the conference, donors agreed that only 118 farms would be
expropriated and redistributed over an initial two years, with
Britain and the European Union helping in the compensation and
evaluation process.
Two months later the government issued notices of intent to
acquire 841 farms, dismaying donors.
But on Friday, Joseph Msika, chairman of the Land Acquisition
Committee in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-(PF) party, told
reporters: "Government remains committed to the letter and spirit
of the international donors conference of September 1998."
He pledged that the reforms would be carried out within the
country's laws and regulations, but vowed the government would
acquire one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land every year
over the next five years.
"Government would like to assure all concerned that the second
phase of the land reform ... would be carried out in a transparent
manner and in accordance with the laws of Zimbabwe," Msika said.
Asked whether any laws would be changed during the process,
Msika said: "Laws in any country are never static, they are
dynamic."
The government has been planning to acquire five million
hectares (12.5 million acres) of land from whites to resettle
hundreds of thousands of black peasant families in overcrowded
communal areas over the next few years.
This week's administrative court ruling comes against a
backdrop of growing discontent in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe's government has come under intensive criticism over
government corruption, Zimbabwe's intervention in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) conflict and a crackdown on the media.
Last year, Zimbabwe was rocked by an unprecedented wave of
social unrest, including food riots and national strikes, as
discontent grew over economic hardships, corruption and the DRC
conflict.
@ BUTHELEZI
CAPE TOWN February 10 1999 Sapa
IFP & ANC LAUNCH JOINT PROBE INTO ASSASSINATION PLOT CLAIM
Senior African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party
leaders are jointly investigating claims of a plot to assassinate
IFP leaders in KwaZulu-Natal, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's office
said on Wednesday night.
It was reacting to allegations made by IFP leader Mangosuthu
Buthelezi earlier in the day that a security company - allegedly
owned by a "Mr McBride" - had supplied arms to ANC members in the
province to be used to attack IFP leaders.
He was apparently referring to suspended foreign affairs
official Robert McBride, who was detained in neighbouring
Mozambique for alleged arms smuggling.
Mbeki's spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa confirmed that Buthelezi had
handed over to the deputy president "a document containing
allegations against a certain security company".
"Both Deputy President Mbeki and Minister Buthelezi, in their
capacity as president of the ANC and IFP respectively, have
referred the matter to Jacob Zuma and Celani Mtetwa to look into."
The two men would report back to their principals with
recommendations.
Addressing journalists and diplomats in Cape Town on Wednesday
morning, Buthelezi said he feared a resurgence of violence in South
Africa, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, ahead of the elections.
He warned that IFP leaders were already being targeted and that
his party had uncovered a plot to assassinate certain party leaders
in KwaZulu- Natal.
"Our greatest threat remains political violence... we are once
again under the onslaught of political violence."
Buthelezi urged South Africans to work together to ensure that
violence did not again become part of the country's political
process.
"The IFP can only be severely damaged by the re-emerging of
political violence," he said. "If we are to empower a government
capable of governing South Africa, the next elections must be
peaceful and the product of co-operation."
On President Nelson Mandela's departure from government and the
political arena, Buthelezi said this might create a further
deterioration in the moral fibre of communities.
He said Mandela had become a symbol of unity and hope, and this
had provided strength and morality in society.
"His departure from the scene may be construed by some
communities, or some people, as a licence to engage in disruptive
activities and the beginning of an open season for all and every
type of action," he said.
There was a need for a government capable of inspiring moral
leadership, economic leadership through the liberalisation of
market forces, and courageous leadership in cutting off the dead
wood and corruption in government.
"We need a government with a strong IFP presence," he said.
Approached afterwards by Sapa, IFP officials refused to divulge
further details of the alleged assassination plot, saying: "We are
seriously concerned about this situation; we have now placed it on
the table of the highest authority in the land."
@ ETHIOPIA-AFRICA
WASHINGTON February 10 1999 Sapa-AFP
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA CONFLICT IS BLOW TO "AFRICAN RENAISSANCE"
Renewed fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea may have ended
hopes for a peaceful and prosperous Africa evoked by President Bill
Clinton during his historic trip to the continent last year.
On Tuesday Clinton urged both parties to "halt the fighting
immediately ... and recommit themselves to diplomatic efforts to
secure a peaceful settlement" to the border clash in the Horn of
Africa region that has raged for 10 months.
Since hostilities erupted in May 1998, Washington has spared no
effort to bring the sides to the bargaining table.
Susan Rice, assistant secretary for the African Affairs Bureau,
shuttled without success between Asmara and Addis Ababa. Then
Anthony Lake, the president's special envoy and a former national
security adviser, led four missions to the region.
Efforts by the Organization of African Unity and the United
Nations also have failed to stop the carnage.
The United States is "caught between a rock and a hard place in
this," said a US specialist in African affairs speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"Here we have two best friends of the US at war with each
other. We cannot take a public position one way or the other
without offending one side or the other."
Over the years, Clinton has met several times with Ethiopian
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Issais Afewerki.
Each has been portrayed as belonging to a new generation of African
leaders.
Last year Zenawi attended a summit of eastern and central
African leaders held in Entebbe, Uganda, during Clinton's trip to
the continent.
The Eritrean president met with Clinton and several top US
officials during a visit to Washington in April last year. He also
was on an official visit to the United States in 1995.
"It's a setback for the United States," said a Western
diplomat. "Washington had high expectations for the nations in
light of its anti- Sudan strategy and also had invested in the two
leaders, who are cnsidered among Africa's most modern."
In the wake of conflicts in Angola, Sierra Leone and the
Democratic Republic of Congo, this latest African conflict could be
another nail in the coffin of the "African Renaissance" hailed by
Clinton during the first US presidential foray to the continent in
some 20 years.
"The African Renaissance is in trouble," the diplomat said. "We
are finding ourselves in a tangle of post-decolonization conflicts
involving border problems that are completely out of synch with
talk by the United States last year of a continent brimming with
opportunities."
@ BUTHELEZI-MCBRIDE
JOHANNESBURG February 10 1999 Sapa
MINISTER'S ALLEGATIONS DANGEROUS,IRRESPONSIBLE: PAULA MCBRIDE
Allegations made by Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi
about suspended foreign affairs official Robert McBride were
dangerous and entirely irresponsible, McBride's wife Paula said on
Wednesday.
Buthelezi told reporters in Cape Town earlier in the day that
McBride was rumoured to be the co-owner of the Durban-based
Excalibur Security Company, which the minister accused of supplying
weapons to African National Congress members in KwaZulu-Natal, to
be used to attack Inkatha Freedom party leaders.
"I have asked for a transcript of Minister Buthelezi's exact
words. If he said what he is reported to have said then he is going
to be sued," Mrs McBride told Sapa.
She said it would only have taken one or two telephone calls on
Buthelezi's behalf to establish that her husband was not an owner
of the security company.
"Robert occasionally uses the firm for protection purposes, but
that's all. I find it shocking that a minister who occupies one of
the highest positions in this country can blurt forth such
unsubstantiated rubbish."
The owner of the Excalibur security company, Andre van der
Bijl, confirmed on Wednesday night that McBride was a mere client
and that he did not own any company shares.
"We escorted Mr McBride to his Truth Commission hearing, and
since then he has made use of our services quite regularly," Van
der Bijl said.
IFP national spokesman Moosa Zondi on Wednesday night told Sapa
that the party's leaders were undazed by McBride's threats of
litigation.
"We stand by what Minister Buthelezi said. We have compelling
evidence that McBride is, in fact, a director of Excalibur
Security, so let him sue us."
Zondi said the police were in possession of hard evidence that
Excalibur Security was linked to violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
"We have never in the past had an axe to grind with McBride. We
would not fabricate a story like this if we did not have evidence
to back up our claims," he said.
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's office confirmed on Wednesday
night that senior ANC and IFP leaders were jointly investigating
claims of a plot to assassinate IFP leaders in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mbeki's spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa confirmed that Buthelezi had
handed over to the deputy president a "document containing
allegations against a certain security company".
"Both Deputy President Mbeki and Minister Buthelezi, in their
capacity as president of the ANC and IFP respectively, have
referred the matter to Jacob Zuma and Celani Mtetwa to look into."
The two men would report back to their principals with
recommendations.
@ COURT-MANKAHLANA
PRETORIA February 10 1999 Sapa
PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN WILL APPEAR IN COURT ON FEB 17
Presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana will appear in the
Pretoria Magistrate's Court on February 17 on charges of failing to
pay maintenance for his eight-year-old daughter.
A warrant for Mankahlana's arrest was issued in October after a
Nelspruit woman claimed he owed her R40,000 in back pay for
maintenance for their child.
The mother claimed that Mankahlana had only paid once for the
upkeep of the child.
Police spokesman Captain George Francis said Mankahlana was
currently in Cape Town for the parliamentary session and his legal
representative arranged with police and the court for him to appear
when he returned to Pretoria next week.
Asked why Mankahlana was only contacted last week and informed
of the warrant and not arrested, when it had already been issued in
October last year, Francis said the case had been handled like any
other.
There were two officers at the Wierdabrug police station which
handled more than 500 warrants of arrest between them per month, he
said.
It also appeared there was no address on the warrant, making it
difficult to trace Mankahlana.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
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A N C D A I L Y N E W S B R I E F I N G
FRIDAY 12 FEBRUARY 1999
PLEASE NOTE: This News Briefing is a compilation of items from South
African press agencies and as such does not reflect the views of the
ANC. It is for reading and information only, and strictly not for
publication or broadcast.
To unsubscribe from the ANC Daily News Briefing mailing list send a
message to 'list...@wn.apc.org'. In the body of your message put
'unsubscribe ancnews'.
@ STORM-CAPE
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
SALVAGE CREWS WILL TRY TO MOVE OIL RIG OFF TRAWLERS
Attempts by salvage crews to manouvre an oil rig off two
fishing trawlers would begin early on Thursday morning, Cape Town
port captain John Woodend announced.
The South Seas Driller broke her moorings on Wednesday when
gale-force winds lashed Cape Town harbour. She collided with two
container ships before ending up with her legs resting on the
trawlers.
Woodend warned that as the south-easter was unlikely to die
down before Sunday, salvage crews could expect to work under
extreme conditions.
The rig collided with container ships Mbashi and City of Cape
Town, causing Mbashi to start leaking oil.
Woodend said the damage to the trawlers would only be
established once the rig had been removed.
The rig was being held by two tugs to take the strain off the
trawlers, Network Radio News reported.
@ ZIM-MEDIA
HARARE 11 February 1999 Sapa
BELEAGURED ZIMBABWE NEWSPAPER APPEALS FOR DEFENCE DONATIONS
The Zimbabwean Standard weekly newspaper, whose editor,
managing director and a senior reporter are facing charges under
Section 50 of the Law and Order Maintenance Act, on Thursday
appealed for donations to fund their defence.
The three were detained by authorities after the paper
published a story alleging there was a mutiny in the army.
A Defence Trust Fund has been established and donators can
either contact the newspaper to inform them about their intention
to do so or make out a cheque to "The Standard Defence Trust Fund",
PO Box BE 1165, Belvedere, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Donators do not have to furnish their personal details.
The paper said that since the detention of its staff it had
received tremendous support and many local and international
organisations had offered financial aid.
"We are very grateful for this support because we realise that
the legal process will be very expensive. We understand that our
costs to date have already exceeded Z$500000."
@ GIANT NEW CAR-CARRIER VESSEL TO DOCK IN PE
Issued by: East Cape News (Ecn)
GRAHAMSTOWN (ECN Business) - The latest addition to Norwegian
car-carrier operator Hual's fleet Hual Trader will dock in Port
Elizabeth today (subs: Fri) on its maiden voyage from Europe.
Portnet spokesperson Ms Lize Hayward said the 6 000-car roll
on-roll off (ro-ro) vessel was built by Korean-firm Daewoo
Shipbuilding and carried Japanese and Korean cars from the Far East
to Europe on its inbound voyage.
It then loaded cars in Europe destined for West Africa, South
Africa and the Indian Ocean countries on the return leg.
The cargo to be unloaded today (subs: Fri) is made up mainly of
Volkswagen and Saab imports.
Hual Trader is the first of six vessels orderd by Hual at a cost
of about R2bn.
Hayward said Hual was one of world's leading car transporters
and moved about 900 000 cars a year.
It is the main carrier of USA- and European-built cars into SA
and operates a fortnightly service to Durban and PE.
"Cape Town and East London are called on occasionally on an
inducement basis."
Hayward said Hual's fleet of Pure Car-Truck Carriers (PCTCs)
carried significant volumes of commercial vehicles and "high and
heavy" construction equipment on the SA route.
@ EC GOV WON'T RETRENCH UNTIL MARCH
Issued by: East Cape News (Ecn)
GRAHAMSTOWN (ECN Business) - Proposed retrenchments of the
Eastern Cape's 16 000 supernumerary civil servants, set for later
this year by Public Service and Administration Minister Dr Zola
Skweyiya, will have no affect on the province's 1999-2000 budget.
Finance and Economic Affairs MEC Enoch Godongwana has said
supernumeraries cost the province about R1bn a year.
Eastern Cape deputy permanent secretary for provincial
expenditure control Mr Jos te Braake (subs: te Braake) said the
retrenchment programme would probably only start after March 2000.
Te Braake said the the skills audit would not be finished before
the end of next month as anticipated by Skweyiya.
"The Eastern Cape is a large province with lots of
supernumeraries."
He said before retrenching them the provincial government would
first evaluate who could be retrained and placed in other government
jobs.
However, he said "many of them (supernumeraries) are labourers
with low levels of education. It will be hard to retrain them to
give them skills the provincial government can use."
Te Braake said because retrenchment packages would be paid out
of provincial salary budgets they had to be paid at the start of the
finanancial year.
This would ensure that they had a "neutral effect" on the
overall budget and that savings in later months could be used to
offset the cost of salaries.
When questioned about the fact that supernumeraries were taken
on by the Eastern Cape government from the former Transkei and
Ciskei homeland administrations in accordance with nationally struck
agreements, Te Braake said this was a "political" question and would
be dealt with by the policy makers.
He said the province could ask central government to share the
rentrenchment costs.
Since 1995 the provincial government has been saying it will cut
the size of the civil service, but numbers have increased since
then.
It was reported by the Centre for Policy Studies last year that
the Eastern Cape government employs more than 146 000 civil servants
- one for each 42 people who live in the province.
However, if teachers and nurses are excluded from this figure,
there is one civil servant for every 261 people.
The CPS also reported that it cost the state five years' salary
to retrench a civil servant. In the private sector, retrenchments
cost 18 months' salary.
The contoversial Voluntary Severance Packages cost between six
and eight months' salary.
@ KALAHARI
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
BUSHMAN LAND CLAIM NEAR SETTLEMENT
A historic agreement returning part of the Kalahari Gemsbok
National Park to the Bushmen who once lived there is expected to be
signed next month, Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom said on
Thursday.
The claim had reached "the point of settlement" and he was
confident the signing ceremony would take place at the park on
March 21 in the presence of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, he told a
media briefing in Cape Town.
Under the agreement the Bushmen would get part of the park,
plus additional land of their own.
"For the first time they will have their own land and they will
enjoy all sorts of opportunities along with that," Hanekom said.
The Kalahari Bushmen had not only been victims of systematic
dispossession of land, but also had their culture destroyed.
They had almost become a special caste, and were treated with
disdain by black people in the area where they now lived. He had
picked this up on a recent visit to the Kalahari area.
"They really are treated like animals by other black people in
the area, which is a disgrace."
Although Hanekom did not give more details at the briefing, it
was reported last year that the deal would entitle the Bushmen to
jointly own and manage more than 1000 square kilometres of the
park. They originally claimed 4000 square kilometres, almost half
the park.
In addition, the department of land affairs would buy 25000
hectares of private land outside the park for the Bushmen, some of
which would be used for agricultural and commercial purposes, and
the rest for a cultural reserve and game farming.
The 300-strong community of Kalahari Bushmen lived in the area
for generations until it was proclaimed a national park in 1931.
They were eventually reclassified as coloured and resettled in
Mier, a coloured reserve south of the park, in 1973.
Hanekom also told the briefing that Cape Town's District Six
land claims should be finalised by the end of this year.
The challenge with this case, which involved some 2000
individual claimants, was to integrate the restitution process with
urban development.
Only one third of the original District Six was still vacant
land, which obviously posed a problem.
"The crux of the matter... is that you have to deal with it
intelligently. You can't just say, well, this is the outcome, and
offer every District Six claimant ten thousand rand.
"This is a recipe for ensuring that there will be resistance to
it, there will be opposition. There has to be considerable
engagement with the affected people."
The final package had to be acceptable to the people of Cape
Town, the municipality and the claimants.
"By the end of the year, I feel confident we'll have dealt with
the District Six claim, finalised it."
Hanekom said he believed the entire national restitution
process could be completed in about ten years. This was swift
compared to other countries, where single land claims had dragged
on in courts for decades.
@ WORLD DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR SA IN 2001
GRAHAMSTOWN (ECN) - A South African bid to host the World
Schools Debating Championships in Greater Johannesburg in 2001 was
unanimously accepted in London on Saturday (subs: Feb 6) by the
World Schools Debating Council.
The championships gather the world's most intelligent and
articulate young leaders in the battle field of the debating floor.
The South African chapter will include Soweto schools as venues
for the debating rounds, and final rounds will be open to the
public.
The bid focused on the championships in South Africa as a
celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. It
was presented by the South African National Debating Council, a
representative body of South Africa's debating universities.
Chairman of the World Schools Debating Council Chris Erskine said:
"I want you to realise what this means. Ten years ago South
Africa was an international pariah. Now, it is at the forefront of
the developing world.
"The world schools debating championships in Johannesburg will
be an integral step for South Africa, acting as a beacon of light
for the African continent."
The bid faced a counter bid from Australia which was muted in
light of the strength of the South African proposal.
As a result, the world council was unanimous in its acceptance
of Greater Johannesburg, 2001.
The world council meeting took place during the London world
championships, where the first national South African schools side
was in attendance.
Their performance added to the pro South African sentiment and
placed pressure on the more established countries to maintain their
position.
@ DOCTORS AND HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATORS HOLD TALKS
GRAHAMSTOWN (ECN Business) - A new health care partnership aimed
at marrying the strengths of doctors and health care administrators
was launched in East London yesterday (subs: wed).
Old Mutual Healthcare medical manager Dr Paul Theron said they
had developed Medipartners in response to weaknesses in other
SA-managed health care models.
Theron said research had shown that some managed care models had
broken down because they tried to control medical costs by limiting
doctor's clinical decision-making powers; this was not in patients'
best interests.
Medipartners aimed to help doctors reclaim health care by
allowing them to focus on providing quality care without forcing
them to deal with administration.
Border Independent Practice Association (IPA) chairman Dr
Michael Watson said: "With health care costs on the increase,
managed care is the way to go."
He said the partnership between IPA and Old Mutual Healthcare
would utilise both parties' expertise to provide affordable,
cost-effective health care for patients.
Old Mutual brought financial and actuarial expertise to the
partnership and this allowed doctors to concentrate on delivering
quality care at reasonable prices.
Theron said: "We have already used selected managed care tools
while intensively researching various global models to establish a
system appropriate for this country.
"Contrary to the more conventional top-down approach, our model
is based on a partnership with medical professionals because doctors
need to actively manage their patients.
"With traditional managed care systems various tools such as
hospital and pharmacy benefit, disease and demand management
programmes, as well as provider and patient profiling, are employed
to control costs.
"However, leaving the delivery of health care to the
professionals is a key principle in our managed care initiative."
The scheme focuses primarily on hospitalisation and edicines.
It also introduces the concept of peer review which allows
doctors and service providers to constantly evaluate the quality of
care being given within the scheme.
Theron said until now managed care had always focused on the
price of care.
However, he said Old Mutual believed demand and utilisation of
health care services also needed to be managed.
"While managing costs is one side of the coin, the other is to
ensure the delivery of good quality care at an affordable price.
"The only way to effectively manage this process is to give
doctors equity in the system through a mutually beneficial
partnership."
@ HOUSING-MOFOKENG
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
GAUTENG LEADING IN HOUSING DELIVERY: MOFOKENG
Gauteng's housing and land affairs department built 91000
houses which benefited 360,000 families in the past four years, MEC
Dan Mofokeng said on Thursday.
Addressing a media breakfast in Braamfontein, Johannesburg,
Mofokeng said the province was not only leading with the delivery
of houses in the country, but was accelerating delivery and was now
capable of completing a house every three minutes.
"In Bophelong we will be completing 10,000 houses in less that
two years. This is unprecedented in the history of the entire
country," he said.
The department also provided services to over 150,000 sites
ensuring that over 600,000 families had access to clean water and
sanitation.
Hostel upgrading, the provision of subsidies, land and
essential services, and the transfer of title deeds was also being
accelerated.
The budget had been transformed to focus on redressing the
imbalances of the past and this contributed in upgrading quality of
life.
Mofokeng said the challenges facing the department consisted
of, amongst others, managing the high level of expectations from
the community and the pace of delivery, ensuring improved
effectiveness and efficiency, and coming up with a five-year plan
that would prepare the department to be ready to enter the 21st
century with high productivity and delivery levels.
Communities had to be mobilised to play an active role in
development programmes and corruption had to be rooted out to
ensure good governance.
"Corrupt people who embezzle funds should find no sympathy from
any sector in the community, be it in the public, private or in
social circles," Mofokeng said.
Housing department and land affairs' chief director of policy
and development Monty Narsoo said it was difficult to measure the
housing backlog in the province until the Census '96 results were
released. At the moment it was estimated to be around 900000.
The population of the province, according to race, stood at 63
percent for blacks, 31 percent for whites, two and four percent for
Indians and coloureds respectively.
Studies undertaken by the department indicated that there was
an influx of people from North-West, followed by Mpumalanga, the
Northern Cape and Northern Province.
"There is no indication that the huge influx is from outside
the country. It is largely internal," said Narsoo.
It was estimated that about 40,000 people from rural provinces
entered Gauteng monthly, causing housing backlogs and unemployment.
At the moment, unemployment in Gauteng was less than the rest of
the country at 21 percent.
Gauteng was a small province which did not have much land and
the housing department's budget allocation would determine whether
the backlog would be met.
Mofokeng suggested the department would have to look at ways of
accessing funding from other sources.
@ PAROLE WITH WIRES ATTACHED DOES NOT IMPRESS
GRAHAMSTOWN (ECN) - Opposition parties have reacted with anger
over Correctional Services Minister Ben Skhozana's plan to parole
petty criminals after wiring them to electrical tracking devices.
Correctional Services media liaison officer Barry Eksteen
confirmed (subs: weds) that Skhozana was pushing ahead with the idea
and would put it before Cabinet soon.
East Cape Democratic Party chairperson Stuart Farrow questioned
how government would be able to monitor convicts outside prison when
they could hardly manage to monitor them inside prison.
He said: "I believe in the principle of zero-tolerance. People
must understand that there is right and wrong. Releasing these
prisoners will just exacerbate the current problems."
United Democratic Movement provincial chairperson Chief Dumisani
Gwadiso said the government was trying to get "cheap popularity at
the expense of our citizens".
"We cannot understand why at this stage, when crime is at its
highest peak and the government has no means to control it, it wants
to release prisoners. Those who suffer at the end of the day are
law-abiding citizens".
PAC acting provincial spokesperson Peter Mwati accused the
government of failing to deal with crime.
He said that after last year's Presidential release, more than
50% of those who were released were re-arrested for new crimes.
He said: "Criminals are criminals whether they have committed a
serious or less serious offices. They should be kept in prison where
they belong in order for the community to be safe from them".
@ STATEMENT BY THE JOHANNESBURG BAR COUNCIL
Issued by: Society of Advocates of South Africa
ON THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE ZIMBABWE JUDICIARY
The Johannesbur Bar Council has noted with concern recent
developments in Zimbabwe in which the rule of law has been treated
with contempt by no less than the government of Zimbabwe itself.
The defiance by the army of orders of court, especially
concerning the freedom of the individual, and the reported remarks
of the president of Zimbabwe that individuals may conduct
themselves in a way that can result in them forfeiting the right to
legal protection, are events which are chilling to anyone who
believes in democratic values and the rule of law.
Such acts and statements must be condemned without
qualification.
The Johannesburg Bar believes that it is a responsibility of
government to uphold the authority of the courts of the land and to
give effect to the rule of law, Judges of the High Court of
Zimbabwe are entitled to assuramces that this will occur and to
characterise their requests for such assurances as "judicial
impertinence" is a profound dereliction of duty on the part of the
government of Zimbabwe.
We voice our deepest concern at these events and express our
full support to the legal profession and the Judges of the High
Court of Zimbabwe for their principled and courageous stand against
such outrages.
ISSUED BY THE JOHANNESBURG BAR COUNCIL : 9 FEBRUARY 1999
ROLAND SUTHERLAND S.C
Chairman Johannesburg Bar Council
First Floor
Schreiner Chambers
94 Pritchard Street
JOHANNESBURG, 2001
Telephone: (011) 337-4495
Telefax: (011) 333-5630
@ INSURANCE-FIRE
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
SHORT-TERM INSURANCE INDUSTRY TO INVESTIGATE FIRE SERVICES
The South African Insurance Association (SAIA) is conducting a
national and comprehensive investigation into the effectiveness of
fire services.
SAIA chief executive Barry Scott said the investigation
followed concerns by the short-term insurance industry that fire
services were experiencing major inefficiency problems which
contributed to the severity of fire losses.
"SAIA has contacted the Minister of Constitutional Affairs and
Development, expressed its concerns and offered to fund and conduct
the investigation," Scott said.
He said the minister's department had conducted its own
research and had concluded that many of the services were
experiencing difficulties.
SAIA's offer was accepted, Scott said.
He said the investigation, to be completed for presentation to
the cabinet by the end of May, will determine the problems and
propose possible solutions for implementation.
"It will be conducted nationally in Johannesburg where 21
stations will be investigated and in Cape Town at six stations,"
Scott said.
Pietersburg, Ladysmith, including Ezakheni, East London,
including Butterworth, King Williams Town and Umtata will also be
included in the investigation.
Stations in the central district council, North West region
including Leherutsi, Itsateng and Molopo are also included.
"It has become necessary to conduct this investigation, as an
analysis of the South African insurance market fire account showed
that severe corrective action was needed," Scott said.
He said that while claims had escalated significantly during
the decade, premiums had failed to keep up, resulting in serious
losses.
The incidence of claims had not increased, but the severity
had.
@ ELEPHANTS
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
REMAINING THULI ELEPHANTS TO REMAIN IN SA
The remaining 23 Tuli elephants who were expected to be
exported to China and Japan will remain in South Africa, the Rhino
and Elephant Foundation announced on Thursday.
To an international outcry, 30 elephants were captured in
Botswana last year and held in captivity by Riccardo Ghiazza, a
wild elephant trainer of African Game Services, who planned to
export them to zoos and safari parks.
Four have already been flown to Germany and three to
Switzerland.
Foundation director Andrew McKenzie announced: "Initially they
will be kept close to the PWV and other populous areas where they
will be accessible to thousands of people, especially children, who
could benefit enormously to see, feel, smell and hear elephants up
close."
The programme would be based on walks with one of the elephants
through a wilderness area as part of an open-air teaching
programme.
The elephants would remain in the custody of the National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, pending the
outcome of the Attorney- General's decision on their fate.
McKenzie said the foundation would monitor their well-being
until then.
@ MAHANYELE
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
FRAUDSTER HAD THREE HOUSING SUBSIDIES
A fraudster in Thokoza, East Rand, had managed to obtain three
government housing subsidies, Housing Minister Sankie
Mthembi-Mahanyele said on Thursday.
"How he got that remains to be checked... we think it's because
of loopholes in the local government system there," she told
journalists at a briefing in Cape Town.
She said her department was hard at work closing all the
loopholes in the subsidy scheme.
Investigations were underway into alleged fraudulent dealings
in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and culprits would soon be brought
before the courts.
She also said that by the end of this year the government would
be closer drastically reducing the three million housing backlog,
and providing skills and jobs to thousands of people.
So far most of the backlog had been addressed, and more than
600,000 jobs provided.
Corrective measures were already underway to deal with
poorly-built houses, and developers were co-operating on this.
Asked how much she was expecting for this year's housing
budget, she acknowledged it would not be much, considering that
resources - including finances - were a general problem in the
country.
@ BENGU
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
BENGU DENIES R1 BILLION SPENT ON RETRENCHMENTS
Education Minister Sibusiso Bengu on Thursday denied a claim by
Democratic Party leader Tony Leon that his department had spent R1
billion on the retrenchment of teachers.
Briefing the media and diplomats in Cape Town, Bengu said the
department had not spent near that amount.
In any case, the money had gone not on retrenchments, but
rather a redeployment of teachers, and voluntary severance packages
for those who did not want to be redeployed.
The process had not been a "disaster", as had been suggested,
and this was borne out by stabilised and improved matric results,
despite a loss of teachers.
Deputy Education Minister Smangaliso Mkhatshwa said ordering
and distribution of 1999 school textbooks was underway and hitches
such as the 30 schools in Upington in the Northern Cape which had
not requisitioned any textbooks, were receiving urgent attention.
The distribution of most learner support materials should be
completed by the end of the month.
In documentation distributed at the briefing, the education
department said it faced the challenge of strengthening the
credibility and reliability of the senior certificate (SC) exam,
while it modernised curriculae and prepared the system for a new
Further Education and Training Certificate.
Last year, a national workshop had been held during which a
framework was designed for a minimum improvement of five to ten
percent in pass rates.
Last year, for the first time in the history of the SC, there
had been no theft of a single exam paper, despite its scale.
@ BYELECTION-LOTUS
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
NATS RETAIN SOUTHERN PENINSULA WARD
The New National Party retained the Lotus River ward in the
Cape Peninsula in a municipal by-election on Wednesday.
In a 30 percent poll, the NNP got 1377 votes, the Lotus
River/Grassy Park Residents' Association (LOGRA) 677 and the
Democratic Party 482.
Western Cape NNP leader, premier Gerald Morkel, said the voters
of the province had "clearly used this opportunity to confirm their
trust in the New National Party to govern effectively".
Western Cape DP leader Hennie Bester said his party had
increased its support six-fold on a much lower percentage poll than
in 1996.
"I am delighted with this result, particularly because Lotus
River provides us with a cross-section of the various
socio-economic and religious groupings found in the coloured
community."
Morkel said LOGRA was African National Congress-aligned.
The NNP would ensure its election machine was geared to keep
the party in power and stop the ANC in the Western Cape.
@ MOZ-SA
MAPUTO 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
MOZAMBIQUE SLAMS SA PARTNER IN AGRICULTURAL PROJECT
Mozambique seeks a more "serious partner" for an agricultural
development project in view of the failure of a South African
agency to honour its obligations, a cabinet minister said Thursday.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Helder Muteia urged the authorities
in neighbouring South Africa to seek an alternative to the South
African Chamber for Agricultural Development in Africa (SACADA) for
the Mozagrius project.
"We want a serious partner, a partner with commitment," Muteia
told AFP.
He said while the South African government displayed a strong
political will to help boost agricultural development in
Mozambique, SACADA had failed to even provide its share capital to
Mozagrius.
Save for initial loans of 5,500 dollars - from the land
concessionaire, Mozagrius Development Corp. (SDM) - extended to a
first group of 16 South African farmers settled in the vast and
fertile northern Mozambican province of Niassa in 1996, the farmers
have received no other financial assistance.
The idea behind the programme is to help introduce new
agricultural technology and skills to Mozambique.
SDM holds the concession over the 220,000 hectares (550,000
acres) of land in the northern Niassa province and gives each
farmer 1,500 hectares (3,750 acres).
Muteia said farms kept operating despite the financial problems
while the government sought alternatives to ensure that the project
continued.
A total of only 1,500 hectares has so far been planted, with
crops such as maize, tobacco and cotton.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican government and some Zimbabwean
farmers' associations are planning to set up an agricultural scheme
similar to Mozagrius in the central Manica province.
@ BOTSWANA-REFUGEES
GABORONE 11 February 1999 Sapa
BOTSWANA GRANTS ASYLUM FOR NAMIBIANS WHO FLED PERSECUTION
Botswana decided to grant political asylum to 15 Namibians who
crossed into the country illegally, fearing persecution, it was
announced on Thursday.
Permanent secretary in the Office of the President, Louis
Selepeng, in a statement said, the government asked the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees to resettle the 15 outside
Botswana.
"Whilst awaiting resettlement, the Namibians will be allowed to
remain in Botswana," said Selepeng.
They were free to move and there were no restrictions except
that they could not engage in any activities deemed as continuing
their political objectives against Namibia.
The Namibian government claimed the group was seeking the
secession of the Caprivi Strip.
Applications for asylum from the remaining 2096 people who
crossed into Botswana were still being considered.
A refugee advisory committee, on which the UNHCR has a
representative, had completed its assessments of their applications
and it was now up to the Botswana government to make decisions.
Selepeng said the Botswana government remained committed to the
notion of voluntary repatriation as the most durable solution.
"We want the Namibian government to assure them of their safety
so they will return voluntarily," he said.
Amongst those granted asylum were former Namibian opposition
leader Meshake Muyongo, regional governor of the Caprivi area
Johnnie Mabuku, member of the Namibian House of Review and a
national councillor Francis Sizimbo, traditional leader from the
Caprivi area chief Boniface Mamili, Francis Mushadikwa, reported to
be an officer of the Namibian Defence Force and a councillor from
the Namibian Opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance Moses
Mukelabia Walubita.
@ VETERANS-BILL
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MILITARY VETERANS' AFFAIRS BILL TABLED
Draft legislation paving the way for equal treatment of all
South African military veterans, including those of the former
liberation movements, was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
According to a memorandum attached to the Military Veterans
Affairs Bill, it is intended to give proper recognition to all
military veterans, identify, and where possible remedy disparities
regarding their entitlements, and regulate their entitlements in a
uniform and integrated way.
The bill establishes an Advisory Board for Military Veterans'
Affairs and an Office for Military Veterans' Affairs.
Veterans of former liberation movements, former TBVC states and
conscripts of the old SA National Defence Force are presently
excluded from aid by the state, the memorandum says.
The bill itself does not provide for entitlements for veterans.
It entrusts functions to the structures created in the bill to
determine national policy in respect of all persons who may
reasonably be regarded as military veterans.
In terms of the bill, these structures will have to research
the situations of veterans who do not presently qualify for
statutory entitlements and investigate existing legislative
provisions applicable to them.
@ CRIME-SANDF
PRETORIA 11 February 1999 Sapa
SOLDIERS HELPED POLICE TO ARREST 479 SUSPECTS LAST MONTH: SANDF
Soldiers helped police to arrest 479 criminal suspects in
anti-crime operations last month, the SA National Defence Force
said on Thursday.
A total of 222 illegal weapons were seized and 43 stolen
vehicles recovered, SANDF spokeswoman Laverne Machine said in
Pretoria.
Soldiers retrieved 226 head of stolen livestock, while 7400
illegal aliens were arrested in border control operations.
Machine said 10000kg of dagga and 472 Mandrax tablets were
confiscated.
@ AIDS-DP
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
GOVERNMENT HIV/AIDS CAMPAIGNS FAIL MISERABLY, SAYS DP
Government campaigns to curb the spread of HIV/Aids have failed
miserably, Democratic Party health spokesman Mike Mills said on
Thursday.
"Despite an impressive show of faces and voices last year on
Aids Day it has remained a low priority on the government's
agenda,"Mills said in a statement.
The increase of HIV/Aids in KwaZulu-Natal was proof of this, he
claimed. According to Mills, an as yet unpublished survey by a
provincial newspaper showed one in three adults are believed to be
infected by the disease. This represented a 20 percent increase in
a year.
"(Health) Minister Nkosazana Zuma stubbornly remains committed
to the quick fix instead of giving priority to effectively dealing
with what is probably the biggest health threat faced by South
Africa today.
"Furthermore the inter-departmental Aids committee which has
been set up under the chairmanship of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki
has been alarmingly quiet." While the DP supported the
establishment of such a committee, there needed to be clarity about
the committee's agenda and how it planned to implement it, said
Mills.
@ IVORY
GENEVA 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
ZIMBABWE AND NAMIBIA ALLOWED SINGLE IVORY SHIPMENT TO JAPAN
Zimbabwe and Namibia have been given permission to sell 34
tonnes of elephant ivory tusk to Japan in a one-off shipment next
month, the ruling international body said Thursday.
Botswana was not given the green light, but may be allowed to
join the experimental trade if it meets certain conditions, the
standing committee of the convention on international trade in
endangered species of wild fauna and flaura (CITES) said in a
statement.
CITES gave its go-ahead for the sale of existing stocks for the
two African countries at a week-long meeting in Geneva where issues
related to elephant ivory trade were top of the agenda.
A global ban on trade in elephant ivory tusks has been been in
force for almost 10 years. Delegates at the meeting said the
one-off move does not signal any lifting of the ban.
Namibia and Zimbabwe have met a series of conditions imposed by
CITES members as safeguards against poaching and are authorized to
sell 13.8 tonnes and 20 tonnes of ivory respectively to Japan from
March 18, CITES said.
Botswana will have to undergo further inspection by the CITES
secretariat to ensure that the country fulfils its obligations
before it can join the experiment.
The controversial initiative was first proposed at the 1997
tenth conference of the parties to CITES in Harare.
Most members then felt that the elephant populations in the
three African countries no longer faced threats to their future and
should be downlisted from the highest-risk category Appendix 1.
However, they imposed conditions for the one-off sale to Japan,
including commitments by the concerned African nations to re-invest
trade revenues into elephant conservation, for safeguards to be
made at the time of sale and shipment and an agreement to report
and monitor all trade and illegal poaching of elephants.
The standing committee also endorsed a project for the
monitoring of the illegal killing of elephants in Africa and Asia
(known as MIKE).
@ AIDS-DP
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
ZUMA RESPONSIBLE FOR AIDS CAMPAIGN FAILURE: DP
The government's campaigns aimed at preventing the spread of
HIV/Aids had failed and Health Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma had to
accept responsibility, the Democratic Party said on Thursday.
Proof lay in the dramatic spread of HIV in KwaZulu-Natal over
the past year, DP health spokesman Mike Ellis said in a statement.
According to an as yet unpublished government survey reported
in a Durban newspaper, as many as one in three adults in the
province was believed to be HIV positive.
Nationally, it was believed that one in five adults might now
be infected.
Despite an impressive show of faces and voices last year on
Aids Day it had remained a low priority on the government's agenda,
Ellis said.
"Minister Zuma stubbornly remains committed to the quick fix
instead of giving priority to effectively dealing with what is
probably the biggest threat faced by South Africa today."
Furthermore, the inter-departmental Aids committee set up under
the chairmanship of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki had remained
alarmingly quiet.
While the DP supported the formation of that committee, it was
essential that the public knew what its agenda was and how it
intended to implement its plan of action.
"Now that the grim reality of HIV/Aids has caught up to her, it
remains to be seen if minister Zuma will stick to the quick fix or
choose to deal with reality and come up with long term-solution to
put the brakes on the spread of the disease," Ellis said.
@ EDUC-MANAGEMENT
BLOEMFONTEIN 11 February 1999 Sapa
UNIQUE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME FOR ADULTS
Working adults who have never had an opportunity to acquire
formal academic qualifications can now register for a degree course
that will qualify them for a career in management leadership.
The BML is the first approved degree of its sort in South
Africa. It is being offered by the University of the Free State in
co-operation with the DePaul University, of Chicago, USA.
BML co-ordinator Bennie Anderson said South Africa at the turn
of thre faced the challenge of social transformation and cultural
responsibility within an economically accountable strategy.
Students would be admitted to the programme on the basis of
their previous job experience. The programme was particularly
suited to middle- aged persons who want a career change.
The programme offered students an opportunity to develop their
skills in preparation for a career in management leadership in a
specific field, for example, telecommunication networks or
marketing strategies, said Anderson.
Skills they acquired in the course of their work could be
formally recognised as credits for part of the curriculum.
The format, style and content of the course is structured for
maximum benefit for adult learners. They can complete the course in
three years, but that period can be lengthened or shortened
depending on the extent to which the student wishes to become
financially and personally involved.
The course will be officially launched in Bloemfontein on
Friday afternoon.
@ JORDAN-TOURISM
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
QUANTUM LEAP IN GROWTH FOR SA TOURISM: JORDAN
Tourism in South Africa had experienced a quantum leap in
growth since the arrival of democracy in 1994, Tourism and
Environment Affairs Minister Pallo Jordan said on Thursday.
Speaking at a briefing for the media and diplomats in Cape
Town, he said that five years down the line the country had emerged
as Africa's leading tourist destination, and ranked 25th in the
World Tourism Organisation's (WTO) listing of the world's 40 top
holiday destinations.
However, crime against tourists remained a big threat to the
industry and had the potential c
growth and job creation.
WTO figures showed that South Africa was currently among the
seven countries in the world which had experienced an increase in
tourism of South Africa.
"We are confident that this is now being addressed through the
partnership we have secured with the private sector.
"We expect the total funding for the international marketing...
for 1999 will be in the region of R150 million."
The launch of the restructured South African Tourism Board
(Satour) boded well for the industry, both in South Africa and
abroad.
Jordan said his department's tourism development strategy for
1999/2000 aimed to increase the number of jobs in the industry by
130000.
Referring to the crime situation in South Africa, he said his
department had established the tourism safety task group (TSTG) to
ensure that through co-ordination of efforts, tourists were safe.
The main roleplayer in this regard was the SA Police Service.
"Crime against tourists in our country is a big threat to the
tourism industry and it has the potential to cripple opportunities
that are there for the nation with regard to economic growth and
the creation of jobs."
On the recent spate of bombings in Cape Town, he said his
department had not been able to quajobs."
On the recent spate of bombings in Cape Town, he said his
department had not been able to quantify their effect on tourism.
"However, they must have had a very negative effect on the
country's image abroad," he said.
@ MANDELA TO VISIT FINLAND, DENMARK, NORWAY AND SWEDEN
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE STATE VISIT BY PRESIDENT MANDELA TO
FINLAND, DENMARK,NORWAY AND SWEDEN : 14 - 18 MARCH 1999
President Nelson Mandela will be paying State Visits to
Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 14 to 18 March 1999. He
will visit Finland from 14 to 15 March 1999, Denmark from 15 to 16
March 1999, Norway from 16 to 17 March 1999, and Sweden from 17 to
18 March 1999.
During these visits he will meet with the Heads of State and of
Government, as well as the leaders of the political, business and
social sectors of these Nordic countries.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden,
King Harald Vof Norway, and President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland,
have each paid State Visits to South Africa since 1995. They have
all issued invitations to President Mandela to visit their
countries, not only to reciprocate, but also in recognition of the
strong ties which exist between South Africa and the Nordic region.
The Nordic countries have been firm supporters of South African
democracy for more than three decades and their support and
cooperation continues to grow. Since 1994 over R2 billion has been
committed by Nordic development cooperation to South Africa and
relations continue to be strengthened in the political, economic,
social and cultural fields.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRETORIA
11 FEBRUARY 1999
@ ANC-VIOLENCE
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
WE NEVER CONSPIRED TO KILL IFP LEADERS: ANC
The African National Congress had never conspired to
assassinate leaders of the Inkatha Freedom Party, ANC national
executive committee member Pallo Jordan said on Thursday.
He was reacting to claims by IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi
that a security company, allegedly owned by ANC member and
suspended foreign affairs official Robert Mcbride, had supplied
arms to ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal to attack IFP leaders.
The claim has been denied by McBride, who has threatened to sue
Buthelezi.
Addressing journalists and diplomats at an ANC briefing in Cape
Town, Jordan said McBride was a member of the ANC in good standing.
"I seriously doubt he'll get involved in anything of that
nature."
Senior ANC and IFP leaders Jacob Zuma and Celani Mtetwa have
been mandated by their leaders to jointly probe the allegations and
make recommendations.
On the question of amnesty for perpetrators of gross human
rights abuses, Jordan said he did not believe general amnesty was
on the cards.
The ANC's approach would be based on whether the granting of
amnesty would enhance or undermine reconciliation.
Jordan dismissed the notion that the ANC was seeking a
two-thirds majority in order to amend the Constitution.
"As things stand, the ANC doesn't want to change the
Constitution."
However, there were other parties, such as the Democratic
Party, who wanted to amend the Constitution, he said.
@ ENVIRON-WILDLIFE
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
RHINO AND ELEPHANT FOUNDATION LAUNCHES WILDLIFE WELFARE
INITIATIVES
The Rhino and Elephant Foundation on Thursday launched a number
of initiatives aimed at improving the welfare status of wild
animals in South Africa.
"Welfare transgressions in the wildlife industry occur with
monotonous regularity. Antelope die of heat in unsuitable transport
crates, rhinos arrive with their horns broken off and deaths occur
due to capture stress," Foundation Director Dr Andrew McKenzie
said.
As a result, the foundation had decided to launch a number of
parallel initiatives, each with its own time frame and objective.
"Firstly, we have appointed Dr Hym Ebedes, wildlife
veterinarian and pioneer of the use of long-acting tranquillisers
in wildlife, as our wildlife welfare specialist, with immediate
effect," McKenzie said.
Ebedes would be responsible for collating information on
wildlife welfare transgressions, advising on solutions, archiving
information and arranging for appropriate action to be taken when
necessary.
"In the future, we will shun eco-tourism operators who do not
join the Wildlife Translocation Association or subscribe to the
organisation's code of conduct.
"Also, by reporting members that do not adhere to the code, all
participants can make an immediate and substantial difference to
the game industry in South Africa," MacKenzie said.
The foundation would also reprint the capture and care manual,
a definitive text on the capture, transportation, care in captivity
and eventual release of wild animals.
"This book, currently almost out of print, has played a pivotal
role in ensuring an awareness of proper, humane techniques to be
applied when it becomes necessary to handle wild animals as part of
restocking programmes."
Furthermore, the foundation would be putting all its efforts
into ensuring that a proposal forwarded to the government in 1998
for the establishment of a wildlife welfare enforcement agency
received urgent attention, MacKenzie said.
"This agency would employ experienced and qualified personnel
and
would be tasked with ensuring that the specialist field of
wildlife welfare received the sustained attention it required."
The Rhino and Elephant Foundation would not compromise on its
stance that wild animals used or handled in any way in the process
of conservation should be treated humanely and with the utmost
respect, MacKenzie said.
"The foundation is equally steadfast in its determination that
this will most effectively be achieved through constructive
engagement and professional advice, not through threats,
prosecution, demonstrations or activism."
@ DEBATE
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
SA HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE WINNERS HEAD FOR VIENNA
Twelve South African high school children left for Vienna on
Thursday night to represent the country in a model United Nations
General Assembly debating competition on February 15.
The pupils, from all of the nine provinces, were the winners of
a countrywide debating competition run last year by South African
Breweries and Education Africa, in co-operation with the UN and the
Ministry of Education.
The prize trip to Vienna would be followed by a visit to the UN
headquarters in New York and the White House in Washington, DC,
said Education Africa spokesman James Urdang.
@ MOGOBA
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MOGOBA UNAPOLOGETIC FOR AMPUTATION SUGGESTIONS
Pan Africanist Congress president Stanley Mogoba on Thursday
said he was unapologetic for his view - expressed in a letter to
the media on Monday - that consideration should be given to
amputating the limbs and ears of serious criminals.
"We need corrective measures (and) if it means that criminals
have to have their hands and their ears and their feet cut off, I
don't mind if everything else has failed," he told journalists and
diplomats at a briefing in Cape Town.
Mogoba said he wanted to make very clear that he opposed
capital punishment, but it was not enough for political leaders to
merely say they were sorry about the scourge of crime in the
country.
"I am saying no to capital punishment, but I am not going to
stop there and say ok, nothing else.
"What I have said reflects some of the views I have held for a
very long time."
On Monday, in a three-page letter to the media, Mogoba said the
country had to fight criminals "with all that it takes".
"We must knock them on the head, cut their ears, legs or
whatever is the offending part of the body," urged the bloodthirsty
bishop.
"Finally, we must go for the head."
At Thursday's briefing, Mogoba said that when he heard that
criminals' limbs were amputated in Malaysia, he "did not like it",
but he did like the peace which had resulted from such measures.
"I have not come across anybody who has got a better way of
speaking the language to criminals that they understand."
He laid the blame for high levels of crime squarely at the door
of government, and said his suggestions to resolve the problem were
motivated by his love for South Africa and the desire to do
something to address the concerns of ordinary people, who were
being terrorised by criminals.
"We are not excluding this at all, this cutting of limbs, but
we don't like it.
"We would like the government to come up with other ways to
ensure we don't cut off people's limbs," he said.
@ MANDELA-SCANDANAVIA
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MANDELA TO VISIT SCANDANAVIA
President Nelson Mandela will pay state visits to Finland,
Denmark, Norway and Sweden in mid-March, the department of foreign
affairs announced on Thursday.
During the five-day visit - scheduled for March 14 to 18 -
Mandela would meet the heads of state and of government, as well as
the leaders of the political, business and social sectors of the
four Scandanavian countries.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, King
Harald of Norway and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari had each
paid state visits to South Africa since 1995, the department said
in a statement.
All four had invited Mandela to visit their countries in
recognition of the strong ties which existed between South Africa
and the Nordic region.
Each of the countries had been a firm supporter of South
African democracy for more than three decades, and their support
continued to grow.
Since 1994 over R2 billion had been committed to South Africa
in Nordic development co-operation, the department said.
@ ANN LINDH VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
Sweden's Foreign Minister, Ms Anna Lindh, arrived in South
Africa today on an official visit until 14 February 1999.
Minister Lindh is leading the Swedish delegation to the Nordic
Robben Island Conference, which is scheduled to take place from 11
to 14 February 1999 on Robben Island.
During the visit Minister Lindh will also meet with Deputy
Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, during which bilateral and regional
issues will be discussed.
Minister Lindh and Deputy Minister Pahad will also sign a three
year development cooperation agreement. The media is invited to the
press
conference in Room 1735, 17th Floor, 120 Plein Street, Cape
Town.
Enquiries:
Adri Cronje 082-8890071.
ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRETORIA
11 FEBRUARY 1999
@ BOTSWANA-NAMIBIANS
GABORONE 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
BOTSWANA GRANTS ASYLUM 15 NAMIBIAN SECESSIONISTS
The Botswana government has granted political asylum to 15
refugees from the Caprivi strip in Namibia, believed to be the
leaders of a secessionist movement in the region, the president's
office announced Thursday.
"Whilst awaiting resettlement, the Namibians will be allowed to
remain in Botswana," said Louis Selepeng, permanent secretary in
President Festus Mogae's office.
Selepeng said the government had asked the United Nations to
resettle the 15, who fled to Namibia fearing prosecution for
seeking the independence of the northeastern Caprivi province,
outside Botswana.
Those granted asylum were among the first of more than 2,000
Namibians from the Caprivi to flee across the border into Botswana
after the Namibian authorities in October tried to rout the alleged
secessionist movement.
They include Mishake Muyonge, who was sacked as leader of the
official opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance for secessionist
activities, the regional governor of the Caprivi area Johnnie
Mabuku, Caprivi traditional leader Chief Boniface Mamili, and
Francis Sizimbo, a member of the Namibian upper house of
parliament.
The group will be allowed unrestricted movement but must
refrain from pursuing their political objectives against Namibia,
Selepeng said.
He said the Botswana government was still considering asylum
applications from the remaining 2,096 Namibian refugees.
The government remained convinced that voluntary repatriation
was the best solution for the refugees, he said.
"We want the Namibian government to assure them of their safety
so they will return voluntarily," he said.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma last year branded the
border-jumpers "terrorists" and demanded they return home to stand
trial for treason.
@ RIGHTS
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MARCH 5 DEADLINE FOR HRC VACANCIES
A special parliamentary committee on Thursday set a March 5
deadline for the receipt of nominations for two vacancies on the
Human Rights Commission (HRC), which arose from the recent
resignations of commissioners Helen Suzman and Marlene Bossett.
The committee decided it would advertise in national and
regional newspapers, and then finalise its recommendations as soon
as possible.
It would also ask HRC chairman Dr Barney Pityana for a briefing
on the type of skills required.
Ms Nozizwe Routledge (ANC) was on Thursday unanimously elected
chairwoman of an ad hoc committee tasked to fill the vacancies on
the HRC.
@ TAXI-DP
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
PUBLIC NOT GIVEN ENOUGH TIME ON TRANSPORT BILL: DP
The Democratic Party on Thursday called for public hearings to
be held on the National Land Transport Bill in view of its possible
controversial nature.
The bill re-arranged the taxi industry in South Africa and
since this was a vital aspect of the transport industry and one
which had proved very controversial over the years, it had the
potential to be contentious, DP transport spokesman Mike Ellis said
in a statement.
"It also creates a new bureaucracy in terms of control of the
taxi industry and this needs to be carefully discussed to ensure
the feasibility and workability of such a bureaucratic structure."
The DP was concerned at the manner with which the bill had been
dealt with to date.
It appeared in the Government Gazette dated January 19 and the
closing date for public submissions was listed as February 2.
"We regard this as an unacceptably short time for public
input," Ellis said.
The bill had not yet been tabled in Parliament, which received
it on February 4 - two days after the closing date for public
opinion.
"This would seem to indicate that public opinion is neither
expected not wanted."
@ HELICOPTER-DAITZ
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
PARKS STAFF SHOCKED BY HELICOPTER CRASH
The Cape Peninsula National Park on Thursday expressed shock at
the helicopter accident in the Cape Town central business district
in which the aircraft's four occupants were killed.
They died when the tail section of their helicopter struck an
advertising board after offloading an air-condition unit atop
Boston House in Strand Street.
The pilot lost control and the tail section struck an adjacent
building, shearing it off. It plunged about six metres onto the
roof of Boston House. Seconds later the fuel tanks burst and the
helicopter was engulfed in an inferno.
The head of the Cape Peninsula National Park, David Daitz, said
the machine involved in Wednesday's tragic accident was a back-up
to the contracted helicopter supplied by Heyns Helicopters for
fire-fighting in the Cape Peninsula National Park.
"Heyns Helicopters have been contracted to provide an aerial
fire- fighting service in the Cape Peninsula since January 1994,
initially to the Cape Town municipality, and since December 1998 to
South African National Parks," Daitz said.
"Our experience of the Heyns crews has been that they are
absolutely competent, practise extensively, leaving nothing to
chance, and have always put safety first."
Daitz said Wednesday's accident, which appeared to have been
the result of an error in the depth perception of the pilot, proved
nothing other than that these things could happen to the very best
of professionals.
The fact that the helicopter plunged to the roof of Boston
House rather than down to Strand Street where the consequences
would have been far greater for innocent bystanders, probably owed
as much to the pilot's skill as good fortune.
Daitz said his staff were shocked by the accident and mourned
the passing of valued colleagues. He extended the park's
condolences to the families of the aircrew.
@ BRITAIN-SAFRICA
LONDON 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
LONDON INSISTS ANC ASKED MANDELSON TO HELP WITH SOUTH AFRICAN
ELECTIONS
Former British minister Peter Mandelson is in South Africa to
help the African National Congress with its May general election
bid at the ANC's express invitation, the Labour party insisted
Thursday.
Responding to denials by the ANC that Mandelson, who has a
reputation as an election strategist, had ever been asked to give
advice, a spokesman for the Labour party said the former trade and
industry secretary had held "informal discussions" with the ANC.
"The question is whether the Labour party can help the ANC with
any assistance with the elections due in the Spring," a party
spokesman said.
He said Mandelson had gone to South Africa in response to a
request from the ANC, with which Labour has traditionally had close
links. The trip was being paid for by two trade unions affiliated
to the party.
The party spokesman added that the discussions had yet to reach
any conclusions. There has been widespread speculation that
Mandelson could act as an election strategist for the ANC.
On Wednesday ANC spokesman Thabo Masebe said Mandelson, who
resigned his government post in December over a home loan scandal,
met ANC election manager Amos Masondo in a personal capacity while
holidaying in South Africa.
But he insisted: "He is here on holiday and he had requested to
make courtesy calls to members of the ANC.
"Even now we still deny that he has been asked to help with the
ANC's election campaign. We have not asked for his assistance, so I
don't think he will be called on to do that."
Masebe did confirm that Mandelson, who masterminded Labour's
landslide victory in Britain's 1997 elections, had asked to meet
other ANC officials and would be travelling to Cape Town.
But he again denied that Mandelson was on loan from Labour to
the ANC to steer the latter's campaign for South Africa's second
democratic general election.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman
insisted, however, that the ANC had asked Labour for help on
political and electoral strategy.
"I'm sure they will find Peter a very useful person to talk
to," he said.
Mandelson himself dismissed the suggestion that the ANC was
embarassed by his presence in South Africa as "absolutely
ridiculous."
Labour had long-standing links with the ANC, he pointed out in
a telephone interview with Britain's domestic news agency, Press
Association, from Johannesburg.
It had given it valuable assistance before the first democratic
elections in 1994 and the contacts had continued since.
Mandelson said that he had had "very good" discussions with ANC
staff this week, centering on organisational and publicity matters,
rather than media handling.
"If I can make any contribution to the ANC and the building of
democracy in South Africa, I will do it. It's a privilege to help,"
said the ex- minister.
"I certainly admire the integrity and commitment of the people
I have met in the ANC - they have done a good job and deserve to
be re-elected."
Mandelson said he had been in South Africa since Monday and
would be staying until the end of the week.
The reports of his advisory role came after Blair pledged
support to the ANC in the election which will see Thabo Mbeki
replacing Nelson Mandela as party leader and, following the ANC's
anticipated victory, president.
@ COSATU-ELECTION
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
COSATU LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO ENSURE DECISIVE ELECTION WIN FOR
ANC
The Congress of SA Trade Unions on Thursday reaffirmed its
commitment to the African National Congress and said it would
ensure the party achieved a decisive victory in the upcoming
election.
Speaking at a press conference following a two day meeting of
Cosatu's executive committee, deputy general secretary Zwelinzima
Vavi said the union intended to encourage as many workers as
possible vote for the ANC in the May election.
It was hoped the campaign would help the ANC to retain the
seven provinces it won in the 1994 election, and gain control of
the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Vavi said affiliates appointed national and regional
co-ordinators, and released people to work at the federation's
offices to oversee the campaign.
As part of the campaign all shop stewards were encouraged to
become involved at factories and in communities.
Vavi said Cosatu would channel its efforts into ensuring all
workers applied for bar-coded identity documents, registered to
vote, and that those who registered voted for the ANC.
"Workers have no intention of abandoning the only vehicle for
real transformation - the ANC - in this election," he said.
The federation will produce a booklet to be sent to members
outlining gains made on behalf of workers since the last election.
These include the right to strike without fear of dismissal as
outlined in the constitution, the Labour's Relation's Act, Basic
Conditions of Employment Act, National Skills Act, the Employment
Equity Act and improvements in health and safety on the mines.
Vavi said these were all opposed, in one form or another, by
the commercial media, the Democratic Party, the Inkatha Freedom
Party and the Pan Africanist Congress.
The federation would focus its campaign on the Western Cape,
Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.
Cosatu president John Gomomo admitted the federation's decision
to campaign in the Eastern Cape was linked to the United Democratic
Movement's increased support in the province.
He said it appeared people in that province had a very short
memory, and had forgotten that it was the ANC that fought for
transformation.
Asked if all Cosatu members, irrelevant of their political
affiliation, would have to pay levies towards the ANC's election
campaign, secretary- general Mbhazima Shilowa said yes, adding: "We
are aware that there are workers who are not members of the ANC but
we are saying to them that those (non-ANC) are the parties who took
us to court over workers rights to strike. We (the ANC/Cosatu
alliance) represented them in court," he said.
Shilowa said an overwhelming number of workers supported the
ANC.
The executive committee resolved at its annual meeting, held
from February 9 to 10, to advance gains made by the reconstruction
and development programme.
The federation decided to base worker office bearers at the
head office in order to increase Cosatu's capacity to respond to
issues.
The committee reiterated its commitment to the March 3 campaign
to encourage all people to contribute one day's wages to the job
creation fund.
President Nelson Mandela had already sent the federation a
cheque for R1940, and all affiliates promised to contribute a
minimum of R1000 as their initial contribution.
Shilowa said it was a matter of social responsibility that
every person who earned above the minimum wage should contribute to
the fund.
Cosatu would also to make detailed submissions to the
Parliamentary Trade and Industry Committee which launched an
investigation into interest rates and service fees charged by
banks.
@ LESOTHO-BORDER
MASERU 11 February 1999 Sapa
SUSPENSION OF TRAVEL CONCESSIONS ANGERS LESOTHO BUSINESSMEN
Lesotho's trading community has been angered by South Africa's
suspension of special travel concessions allowing multiple entry
for business purposes without having to stand in long border post
queues.
The South African Home Affairs department placed notices at
border posts between Lesotho and South Africa informing the public
that the issuing of travel concessions had been suspended until
further notice.
The six-month travel concessions were granted to people who
travelled regularly for business or study.
Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-president Thabang
Nyeoe said in an interview on Thursday that it was unfortunate the
South African authorities had imposed this suspension without
regard for the serious consequences.
Nyeoe said Lesotho businessmen would be adversely affected in
their business activities and would now have to queue for three to
four hours, particularly at the Maseru border post.
This would cause a slump in trading between Lesotho and South
Africa as Basotho traders wanted to travel quickly to nearby South
African towns and return to their businesses.
Business has been brisk between Lesotho and some Free State
towns since the destruction of businesses in Maseru and two other
main lowland towns in September last year. Many of the businesses
have not been reconstructed.
The clamp-down on travel concessions across the Lesotho-SA
border would be tantamount to imposing non-tarriff barriers, Nyeoe
said.
SA high commissioner to Lesotho Japhet Ndlovu said he hoped the
problem would be resolved soon.
Lesotho Foreign minister Tom Thabane travelled to the Maseru
border post for an on-the-spot investigation of the matter.
However, chief immigration officer for the Free State Naas
Kotze said there was no problem with queues at the border.
@ BELGIUM
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
BELGIAN PM TO VISIT SA
Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene is to pay a six-day
official visit to South Africa in mid-February, the department of
foreign affairs said on Thursday.
Dehaene will arrive in Cape Town on February 15, where he will
hold talks with, among others, President Nelson Mandela, Deputy
President Thabo Mbeki, Health Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma, Foreign
Minister Alfred Nzo, and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu
Buthelezi.
He will also visit Robben Island, Table Mountain and
Franschhoek, before leaving for Johannesburg on February 17, on the
second leg of his South African visit. He returns to Belgium on
February 20.
@ MANDELA AT THE COMMUNITY BUILDER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Issued by: Office of the President
JOHANNESBURG 11 FEBRUARY 1999
Master of Ceremonies\
Editor of the Sowetan, Mr. Aggrey Klaaste\
Chief Executive Officer of SABC TV, Mr Molefe Mogkatle\
Ditinguished Guests\
Community builders,
In a society such as ours nothing is so important as building a
strong sense of community and shared goals. Thanks to such
leadership peace and democracy have brought us the chance to
address the basic needs of our people.
Though our nation inherited a state geared towards minority
needs, and though the majority of South Africans had been denied
the education or experience required to govern a modern society, we
have done remarkably well. No government before has done so much to
improve the lives of millions, especially the poor, at this
democratic government.
But the task is far from complete. The challenge to mobilise
all South Africans to be community builders in every walk of life
has never been greater.
I therefore consider myself privileged to be in the company of
men and women who have made the rebuilding of their country the
theatre of their operation. Congratulations to you all!
We should also commend our public broadcaster in helping to
honour community building in a way that can be witnessed by the
w nation. It is partnership such as this between the Sowetan
and the SABC that is critical to the achievement of our goals.
We need a concerted effort by all South Africans working
together: rich and poor; workers and employers; government,
business and community organisations, in a national crusade to
speed up delivery of services; to create jobs and end poverty; to
combat crime and corruption; and to remove the effects of past
discrimination.
At the opening of Parliament we discussed our country's urgent
need of an "RDP of the Soul", for the moral regeneration of our
society, for self- respect and respect for others. The achievements
we are honouring tonight show that the initiative of the people is
a step ahead of us. They are an example to all South Africans, a
call upon us to examine our consciences and ask ourselves: What am
I doing to make South Africa a better place for all who live in it
and to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged? What am I doing
to counter criminal and corrupt activity? What am I doing to help
reconcile and unite our people?
And what, we should ask at this time, are we doing to ensure
that our second democratic elections should be a success? These
elections will not only confirm our break with the past, but
strengthen us as a nation to turn our hopes into reality.
We need therefore to mobilise all those who have not yet
registered to do so, and in particular the youth. The right to vote
is too precious, and has been won with too much sacrifice, for us
to let it wither because our people have failed to put themselves
on the voter roll.
Our active participation in the coming elections will be the
ultimate contribution we can make to community building this year.
I thank you for allowing me to share with you in honouring
community builders, men and women who are beacons of hope on the
parth to a better life for all.
@ DFA ON HOSTILITIES BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo has noted with grave concern the
reports of escalating fighting between Ethiopian and Eritrean ground
troops, supported by aircraft, in the Badme and Tsorona border areas. These
reports suggest that both sides are violating their commitment to the airstrike
moratorium agreed to by both parties in June 1998.
The Minister said that the South African Government fully
supports the United Nations Security Council Resolution of 10 February 1999,
which urges both sides to cease hostilities and to enter into direct
negotiations with one another. Furthermore, he believes that every effort should
be made to implement the Framework Agreement which was approved by the OAU
Central Organ Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and
Resolution at its 17 December 1998 meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRETORIA
11 FEBRUARY 1999
@ LUYT
PRETORIA 11 February 1999 Sapa
LUYT RENEWS CALL FOR UNITED OPPOSITION
Federal Alliance leader Louis Luyt on Thursday renewed his call
for a united opposition to unseat the African National Congress in
the general election.
Millions of people from all population groups were dissatisfied
with the government, he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a
public meeting in Welkom.
"We cannot deny them the right to vote for an alternative
government."
The leaders of opposition parties should realise that their
supporters expected them to seriously explore the possibility of an
alliance.
Salaries, perks and positions should not be allowed to stand in
the way of such a move.
"The ideal of a government by alliance is possible and within
reach," Luyt said.
All parties supporting federalism, a free-market economy, and
traditional family values should join forces.
"As a unit we can unseat the government, and I and the Federal
Alliance will work tirelessly to bring parties together," Luyt
said.
@ BUDGET-PREVIEW
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
FEW FIREWORKS EXPECTED FROM BUDGET
Few fireworks are expected from the Budget that Finance
Minister Trevor Manuel is set to present in Parliament on Wednesday
next week.
The bulk of the figures, which in previous years kept analysts
guessing right up to delivery of his Budget speech, were made
public in November last year with the release of the medium-term
Budget policy statement.
For the 1999/2000 financial year, the policy statement set the
Budget deficit at 3,5 percent of GDP, revenue at R191,3 billion
(26,9 percent of GDP) and expenditure at R216,3 billion.
Interest on state debt was set at R48 billion.
Finance ministry spokesman Logan Wort on Thursday said any
adjustments to the Budget policy statement would depend on how the
economy had performed since the statement was drawn up, but its
underlying assumptions would remain the same.
The three-year expenditure figures will need adjusting to take
into account Cabinet's decision to spend almost R30 billion on new
equipment for the defence force.
This cost is to be spread over a number of years, and is
unlikely to affect the 1999/2000 projections.
Macro-economic projections contained in the policy statement
for 1999/2000 are: GDP of R710,2 billion; GDP growth of two
percent; inflation of six percent; and, real private consumption
growth of two percent.
Real domestic fixed investment growth was expected to decline
by two percent.
Attracting the most interest on Wednesday will be tax changes.
An increase in VAT is unlikely, given the upcoming elections.
Middle and lower-income taxpayers are likely to see some relief
for fiscal drag - which comes about as a result of their being
placed in a higher tax bracket due to inflation.
Most analysts are expecting an increase in sin taxes - on
cigarettes and alcohol, with spirits expected to be particularly
hard hit.
Observers are waiting to see whether the minister raises taxes
on retirement funds, and what will happen to the rate of estate
duty and donations tax.
Manuel will unveil details of government's spending plans,
although the medium-term Budget policy document has already made
clear how money will be split between national, provincial and
local government.
It states that in 1999/2000, after the state's interest bill is
settled, the nine provinces will account for 56,3 percent (R94,6
billion) of expenditure, national government 42,3 percent (R71
billion), and municipalities 1,4 percent (R2,3 billion).
The provincial allocation was split as follows: Eastern Cape
17,6 percent, Free State 6,8 percent, Gauteng 15 percent,
KwaZulu-Natal 19,8 percent, Mpumalanga 6,7 percent, Northern Cape
2,5 percent, Northern Province 13,3 percent, North West 8,5 percent
and the Western Cape 9,8 percent.
The allocations were adjusted to take account of the new
census.
Wort said the provinces were also supposed to table their
budgets next week, but it was possible not all of them would be
ready on time.
@ COMOROS-OAU
PORT LOUIS 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
OAU MISSION STRANDED BETWEEN RIVAL FACTIONS ON COMORAN ISLAND
A delegation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the
separatist Comoran island of Anjouan is "stuck" between two armed
factions, officials in the Mauritian capital told AFP on Thursday.
"The delegation is apparently having problems right now, stuck
between two armed factions who have been fighting on the island for
several weeks," an official said.
Anjouan separatists, who unilaterally declared independence
from the Indian Ocean republic in August 1997, have since split
into supporters of former prime ministers Omar Said Chamasse and
Abdou Mohammed Mindhi and militias defending self-styled president
Abdallah Ibrahim.
Mauritian Prime Minister Navim Ramgoolam has contacted the
French embassy in Port Louis over the fate of the delegation, which
includes diplomats from Mauritius, South Africa, Mozambique,
Madagascar, Mauritania, Tanzania and Kenya as well as OAU
officials.
Ramgoolam has also consulted with the Mauritian mission in
South Africa and the Mauritian charge d'affaires in Addis Ababa,
where the OAU is headquartered, seeking assurances that the
delegation can leave Anjouan safely.
In December, armed clashes erupted between the two factions. A
ceasefire was signed on December 16.
The OAU mission arrived in the Comoros at the start of the week
to evaluate the situation on Anjouan and to ensure that appropriate
steps are taken ahead of an inter-island conference to be held in
Mozambique next month.
The mission was mandated by regional foreign ministers who met
in Pretoria on January 28.
@ MANDELA-CRUSADE
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MANDELA CALLS FOR `NATIONAL CRUSADE'
South Africans should work together in a national crusade to
speed up the delivery of services, job creation and ending poverty,
the combatting of crime and corruption, and the removal of the
effects of past discrimination, President Nelson Mandela said on
Thursday.
Speaking at the Community Builder of the Year awards in
Johannesburg, the president repeated remarks he made at last week's
opening of Parliament; that the country needed an urgent "RDP of
the Soul" for the moral regeneration of society, for self-respect,
and for respect for others.
Mandela said the award ceremony was a perfect example of the
achievement of South Africans in partnership, bettering others'
lives.
"They (the achievers) are an example to all South Africans, a
call upon us to examine our consciences and ask ourselves: `What am
I doing to make South Africa a better place for all who live in it
and to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged? What am I doing
to counter criminal and corrupt activity? What am I doing to help
reconcile and unite our people?'," he said.
Mandela said people should ask themselves what they were doing
to ensure the country's second democratic elections were a success.
The elections not only confirmed a break with the past, but
also strengthened the nation to turn its hopes into reality.
There was a need to mobilise all those who had not yet
registered, especially the youth.
"The right to vote is too precious and has been won with too
much sacrifice for us to let it wither because our people have
failed to put themselves on the voters' roll.
"Our active participation in the coming elections will be the
ultimate contribution we can make to community building this year,"
he said.
@ COURT-PAGAD
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa-AP
SIX MEMBERS OF VIGILANTE GROUP FREED ON BAIL
A court granted bail Thursday to six members of an Islamic
vigilante group after police failed to link them to a bombing wave
that has hit Cape Town.
The men, all members of the "G-Force" security arm of People
Against Gangsterism and Drugs, were arrested last week after police
stopped their car and found six guns and ammunition. They are
charged with possession of illegal weapons
Police initially hailed the arrests - and those of five other
PAGAD members - as a breakthrough in the newly launched Operation
Good Hope, an initiative to combat the bombings of tourist and
other targets by unknown attackers.
However, they failed to come up with enough evidence to bring
any further charges and did not oppose bail, which was set at 2,000
rand (dlrs 330) each. All six were also ordered to report regularly
to police stations and put under a nightly curfew.
Relations between police and PAGAD are tense. In early January,
police fired on PAGAD members, killing one youth. They were
demonstrating against British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit.
PAGAD leaders threatened revenge attacks.
Since then, a top policeman investigating the group was
murdered and bombs exploded outside two police stations.
When bail was granted, dozens of PAGAD supporters in the packed
courtroom leapt to their feet and shouted "Allahu Akbar" the Muslim
rally cry meaning, "God is Great." The six men responded by raising
their fists in the air.
PAGAD spokeswoman Abidah Roberts told reporters police were
ignoring basic human rights in their quest to make quick arrests
for the bombings.
"The police are under such pressure to produce results that
they will stop short of nothing," she said.
In court, defense lawyer Paul Eia said police had forcibly
taken hair, blood and saliva samples from the six men.
"Such tests are illegal and they are unconstitutional. These
samples can never be taken for the offense charged," he said.
PAGAD lawyers said they planned to go to court to get the
samples destroyed.
@ COURT-FRAUD
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
COURT ORDERS SEIZURE OF ATTORNEYS' PAPERS
The Cape High Court on Thursday afternoon ordered the Sheriff
of Wynberg and two attorneys appointed by the court to raid the
offices of well-known Cape Flats attorneys H Mohamed and
Associates, and to seize an estimated 500 client files in
connection with alleged third party funds fraud.
In court papers filed by Martin Welz, editor of the
investigative journal Noseweek, it is alleged that the firm has for
the past 15 years operated a massive fraud scheme involving third
party road accident claims.
Welz, and one of the victims, Freddie Yalezo, brought a unique
urgent application in the public interest to have the files seized
to secure the interests of unidentified victims prior to
publication in the journal of details of the alleged scheme.
In an affidavit before the court, Welz cited an example of a
nine-year-old Khayelitsha girl who was left brain-damaged as a
result of a car accident, and from whom the senior partner of the
firm allegedly fraudulently misappropriated R150,000 of the money
awarded for her care by the Road Accident Fund.
Mr Hoosain Mohamed is said in court papers to have acted in
personal matters for Justice Miniser Dullah Omar and the firm's
offices were formally opened by Omar.
The court application was originally brought on Wednesday, but
in view of the unique legal issues raised in the case, Judge
President Edwin King ruled that the case should be heard by two
judges.
It was heard in camera on Thursday morning by Judges Fritz
Brand and Denis van Reenen.
Their order was made public late on Thursday afternoon after
the Sheriff had entered the attorneys' premises.
The court set a return date of March 18 for further
proceedings.
The applicants were represented by Advocates S C Kirk-Cohen and
I C Bremridge, instructed by Murphy Wallace Attorneys.
@ OECD-LAUNDER-AFRICA
PARIS 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
AFRICAN CORRUPTION, LACK OF LAWS, MAKES IT MONEY LAUNDERING
SITE
Sub-Saharan Africa is considered highly vulnerable to money
laundering, due to a lack of anti-laundering laws and endemic
corruption, the OECD's financial action task force (FATF) said
Thursday.
"Africa south of the Sahara is also considered by many of the
FATF experts to be vulnerable to money laundering, although
information on the region is limited," the FAFT said in its annual
money laundering report.
Local and foreign organised crime groups "can operate
throughout the region due to lack of strong anti-money laundering
laws, combined with the endemic corruption, lack of training and
low training of government authorities," the report said.
South Africa is the only country in the region to have
criminalised money laundering for crimes other than drug
trafficking, and even here there is a lack of "comprehensive
preventive measures," the report said.
"In other countries of the region, it is believed that only
about 20 percent of the population use traditional banks," making
it difficult to apply traditional methods of combatting money
laundering through banking system regulations.
The report identified west African organised crime groups,
particularly in Nigeria, as heavily involved in money laundering
schemes linking developed countries with the region.
But it said that there were also increasing ties between
criminals in the developed world and some francophone countries in
western Africa, particularly Togo, Benin and Senegal.
A typical scheme involves using bureaux de change to channel
illegal funds to bank accounts in FATF member countries. The money
is then used to buy goods shipped to Africa and sold by the
original criminal owner of the money, who then holds the proceeds
of the sale of legitimate imports, not illegal activity.
The FATF is based at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation
and Development in Paris and groups 24 of the 29 OECD members plus
the European Commission, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and non-OECD
members Singapore and Hong Kong.
@ SACP-PLOT
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
SACP PLOT TO UNDERMINE MBEKI DENIED
An anonymous document claiming that a group of mainly white
SACP members within the African National Congress in the Western
Cape was planning to undermine the upcoming presidency of Thabo
Mbeki was leaked to the media on Thursday.
It has been denied by the SA Communist Party and the ANC.
The document was leaked ahead of a special three-day ANC
national executive committee meeting to finalise the party's
national and provincial election lists. The meeting will begin in
Johannesburg on Friday.
The anonymous report, which is in possession of the ANC in the
Western Cape, also claims the group plans to undermine the
goverment's growth, employment and redistribution strategy, SABC
radio news reported.
It claims that the group intends to use Mbeki's vision of
Africanism to fuel hatred between black and coloured communities
within the Western Cape.
The first 24 names on the ANC Western Cape provincial list,
headed by ANC provincial leader Ebrahim Rasool, are alleged to be
supporters of this group.
ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha described the report
as nonsense. There were constant attempt to create division between
the ANC and its alliance partners, he said.
Mbeki is president of the ANC, and is expected to become
president of the country when Nelson Mandela retires after the
general election later this year.
@ MEDIA-RACISM
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
MEDIA RACISM: TERMS OF REFERENCE PUBLISHED
The Human Rights Commission on Thursday released the terms of
reference for its inquiry into media racism.
The commission said in a statement that it was finalising the
appointment of the project coordinator and researcher. It had
received 260 applications for these positions.
The terms of reference would be published in the Government
Gazette on Friday and would also be available on the website
http://sahrc.org.za.
The terms of reference state that the commission would
investigate the handling of race and possible incidence of racism
in the "products of the media" and whether such racism, if found,
constituted a violation of human rights as set out in the
Constitution.
A panel would preside over public hearings, and produce an
interim report, to which parties may respond, before publishing its
final report containing findings and recommendations.
The commission would invite submissions within 14 days.
@ MBEKI-NORDIC
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
MBEKI CALLS FOR NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH NORDIC STATES
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday urged Nordic states to
continue the partnerships they had forged during the liberation of
Southern Africa in a new struggle for human development.
Speaking at the opening of a Nordic conference in Cape Town, he
said people had united across a long distance to emancipate the
peoples of Southern Africa.
"Let us continue this partnership, united in the struggle for
human development."
Mbeki said he was certain that Southern Africa could in that
same spirit of solidarity also contribute to the development of the
Nordic countries.
"It's a relationship which strategically is not one between
donor and recipient ..."
However, Mbeki repeated that there was a need for more
development assistance from Nordic countries and for it to continue
a bit longer.
Since 1992 over R2 billion has been committed to South Africa
by Nordic development co-operation.
The three-day conference to be held on Robben Island from
Friday has been organised by the Robben Island Museum, the Mayibuye
Centre, the University of the Western Cape and the Nordic Africa
Institute.
@ COURT-LD-PAGAD
CAPE TOWN 11 February 1999 Sapa
ARRESTED PAGAD MEMBERS TO BRING HIGH COURT APPLICATION
Anti drug vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs
is expected to launch a High Court application on Friday to have
blood and hair samples taken from six Pagad G-Force members, who
were arrested last week, declared illegal and unconstitutional.
The six G-Force members were arrested on Cape Town's eastern
boulevard last week. Police at the time considered their arrest to
be a major breakthrough in Operation Good Hope's initiative to
bring to book those responsible for the wave of urban terrorism in
the Cape Peninsula.
The alleged illegal taking of the hair and blood samples was
disclosed to the Cape Town Magistrate's Court late on Thursday,
when the six men were granted bail of R2000 each.
They appeared before Magistrate Karen Scheepers, who rejected
an application by Pagad counsel Paul Eia to declare the samples
illegally obtained.
Eia contended that the reason for taking the samples - a
police attempt to connect the men in a broader investigation -
amounted to a fishing expedition and an illegal infringement of
their right to silence.
Eia told the court the six men indicated to the investigating
officer their unwillingness to have their blood and hair sampled,
but he took the samples nevertheless.
Eia told the court Willie Viljoen, who leads the investigation,
undertook to keep the samples sealed for 24 hours.
Scheepers said it was possibly the function of the High Court
to declare the samples illegally obtained, as it was beyond the
powers of the Magistrate's Court to do so.
She said the court was in any event unaware of the background
and did not know why the police took the samples, or why the
accused wanted the samples returned.
The men were released on conditions amounting to house arrest
from 10pm to 6am, pending their next appearance on March 30.
The accused face charges of possession of unlicensed firearms
and possession of an alleged stolen firearm.
The main accused is Loegmaan Sapat, 36. His co-accused are
Faisel Kossain, 37, Faizel Steyn, 22, Moegammat Isaacs, 23,
Nasardien Gamildien, 35, and Christian Arends, 21.
The court ordered Sapat to report daily to Belville south
police. The other accused were ordered to report to Delft police on
Wednesdays and Fridays.
Scheepers warned them they would be rearrested and their bail
would be forfeited if they failed to comply with their bail
conditions.
They were unlikely to be released on bail a second time, she
warned.
@ ANGOLA-US
LUANDA 11 February 1999 Sapa-AP
US ENVOY VISITS ANGOLA TO DISCUSS TRADE
A U.S. envoy arrived Thursday in Angola for a three-day visit
to discuss bilateral economic ties and the country's renewed civil
war.
Whitney Schneidman, the U.S. Assistant Undersecretary of State
for African Affairs, met immediately after his arrival in Luanda
with Oil Minister Botelho Vasconcelos. He declined to speak to
reporters after the meeting.
Angola is sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer after
Nigeria.
U.S. oil companies, including Chevron and Texaco, have invested
heavily in the sector, especially in offshore operations in the
northwest which are under threat from advancing UNITA rebels.
Oil revenue provides more than half the state's income, and
UNITA apparently is aiming to impede oil production.
Schneidman is carrying a letter from U.S. President Bill
Clinton to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, U.S. embassy
officials said. They declined to discuss the contents of the
letter.
Schneidman was due to meet later Thursday with Foreign Minister
Joao Miranda and Defense Minister Kunde Payama.
On Friday, he was scheduled to hold talks with the ministers
for planning and industry.
Schneidman planned to give a news conference before leaving
Saturday, officials said.
Fighting between the government and UNITA - the National Union
for the Total Independence of Angola - flared in December,
unraveling a 1994 U.N.-brokered peace accord aimed at ending a
two-decade civil war in the southwest African nation.
@ SA-LIBYA
JOHANNESBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
FURTHER PROGRESS MADE ON LOCKERBIE AFFAIR: S. AFRICAN MEDIATOR
Further progress has been made towards starting the trial of
two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing, South African envoy
Jakes Gerwel told AFP after returning from Tripoli on Thursday.
"There is progress every time we go there," Gerwel said,
declining to give further details.
"We are expecting a statement from Tripoli sometime and after
that I will be prepared to comment," he said.
Gerwel, a senior aide to President Nelson Mandela, has been
involved in talks to end the stalemate over the trial of the two
Libyans accused of involvement in the 1988 bombing of a PanAm
flight over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The blast killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 others
on the ground.
Tripoli has accepted a proposal for the trial to be held in the
Netherlands under Scottish law, but the agreement has foundered on
Libya's demand that if convicted, the two men serve their sentence
in a Dutch prison.
London and Washington demand that the men should be jailed in
Scotland if found guilty.
Gerwel this week flew to Libya, which has been under
international sanctions over the affair, after holding talks with
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in London Monday.
Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar ibn
Sultan, has also been involved in efforts to resolve the issue, and
was in Tripoli last week for secret talks, according to Britain's
Guardian daily.
The prince and a South African mediator, Jakes Gerwel, went to
Libya last month on the same mission.
@ TRUTH-MWELI
PIETERMARITZBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
IFP MEMBER WHO KILLED UDF MEMBERS APPLIES FOR AMNESTY
An Inkatha Freedom Party member who shot several United
Democratic Front supporters dead at Imbali township in
Pietermaritzburg in the late 80s on Thursday told the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of his actions.
Phumlani Mweli, who is serving seven life sentences for killing
seven people, and 23 years for four counts of attempted murder,
told the TRC's amnesty committee he was carrying out instructions
from local IFP leaders Abdul Awetta and Jerome Ngcobo.
"We were shooting randomly at people in UDF strongholds. We
wanted to annihilate UDF members since they were in alliance with
communists," Mweli said.
He said his leaders told him the IFP would organise lawyers in
the event of arrests. His sister's house was later burned down by
people he believed were UDF supporters.
In another application, African National Congress member
Sikhulu Hlengwa of Mfume in Umbumbulu told the amnesty committee he
participated in the murder of a man who claimed he was an ANC
member.
Hlengwa said he killed Mthandeni Mbambo in January 1991 because
Mbambo followed the ANC despite his membership of the IFP. He said
ANC members saw Mbambo as a spy.
Hlengwa said he shot Mbambo once and other ANC members stabbed
him to death. Hlengwa was sentenced to 15 years in 1993.
@ POPCRU
PIETERMARITZBURG 11 February 1999 Sapa
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES WILL NOT TAKE MEASURES TO PROTECT PMB
OFFICE
The Department of Correctional Services will not take any
measures to safeguard its Pietermaritzburg provincial office after
30 members of the Police and Prisons' Civil Rights Union stormed
the office on Wednesday and forced commissioner Thandiwe Kgotsidisi
out of her office.
Departmental spokesman Barry Eksteen on Thursday said there was
nothing his department could do apart from laying charges against
people suspected of unruly actions.
Popcru members stormed into Kgotsidisi's office, escorted her
to her car, and warned her not to return.
@ LIBYA-AFRICA
TRIPOLI 11 February 1999 Sapa-AFP
KADHAFI CALLS FOR AFRICAN SUMMIT
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has called for a meeting of
African leaders to deal with "plots" against the continent, the
official agency JANA said here Thursday.
Kadhafi made the proposal in phone calls to African heads of
state, including South African President Nelson Mandela, and
Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, acting president of the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU), JANA said.
The Libyan leader stressed the necessity to "hold an African
summit to extinguish the fire ravaging Africa due to an imperialist
plot," the agency added.
"We cannot remain with our arms crossed in the face of plots
against Africa," it quoted Kadhafi as saying.
He pressed leaders to "quickly hold a summit to put an end to
the dangerous, poisonous situation in the west, center and Horn of
Africa."
Kadhafi has closely followed armed conflicts in Sierra Leone,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea,
but efforts to mediate between the various belligerents have proved
unsuccessful.
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