Polity.org.za Audio Articles

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has the "final say" on the reports issued by her office, senior manager for executive support Futana Tebele testified on Wednesday.

During his testimony before the Section 194 Committee that is inquiring into Mkhwebane's fitness for office, Tebele continually referred to Mkhwebane as the "executive authority".

Responding to a question from evidence leader advocate Ncumisa Mayosi, Tebele said Mkhwebane reads all the reports issued by her office and sends them back if she is not happy with them.

After prompting from Mayosi, he said Mkhwebane has the "final say" on all reports.

The crux of the charges before the committee – that Mkhwebane had behaved improperly and is incompetent – stem from scathing court rulings against her in relation to the Vrede dairy farm report, the CIEX/Reserve Bank report, the CR17 matter and the so-called "rogue unit" investigation.

The implication of Tebele's testimony is that Mkhwebane had the "final say" on these reports.

There has been testimony before the committee that Mkhwebane instructed investigators not to include the GuptaLeaks in their Vrede dairy farm probe.

Mayosi asked Tebele if he was involved in the Vrede investigation.

He said he wasn't really part of the investigation. He said there was "an opinion" that they needed to check whether there was a public-private partnership, which he was involved in due to his experience in that field.

Mayosi asked if he recalled being involved in discussions about the GuptaLeaks and the Vrede project and whether he asked Reginald Ndou, the executive manager for the provincial investigations and integration unit, not to use the GuptaLeaks.

Tebele said he didn't recall such discussions and couldn't remember telling Ndou not to use the GuptaLeaks.

Tebele said there was tension in the quality assurance unit because the lawyers had to report to Mkhwebane's chief of staff, who wasn't a lawyer.

Adding to the tension was Mkhwebane insisting that investigators determine deadlines.

Tebele testified that Mkhwebane's backlog-clearing initiative "created a lot of pressure on people within the office of the Public Protector to work".

Investigators were required to report to Mkhwebane directly and via their executive managers.

"There was lots of pressure on them to complete their work with frequent and constant meetings being held to ascertain how far investigations were and what was being done in respect of reducing the backlog," he added.

He said Mkhwebane didn't take kindly to deadlines not being met.

Tebele said in his affidavit that Mkhwebane would reprimand employees who didn't meet deadlines and would sometimes raise her voice.

He told the committee he could sometimes see how the "executive authority" was "hammering" investigators.

However, he said he never experienced harassment, intimidation and harassment, nor did he see Mkhwebane doing this.

The hearing continued into the afternoon, with Mkhwebane's counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, cross-examining the witness.

Tebele, Mkhwebane and Mpofu are participating through the virtual platform.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has missed the deadline she gave herself for a decision on whether to set up a committee to probe allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa.

During previous communication with African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyolwethu Zungula, Mapisa-Nqakula undertook to reconsider the party's push for an investigation into the claims against Ramaphosa, which stem from a theft at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.

She said she would decide by August.

But on Wednesday, her office announced that due to unexplained delays, she would need more time to consider whether the motion to establish a Section 89 inquiry was successful or not.

"The previous correspondence on the subject refers. I can inform you that the matter of your motion, submitted in terms of Section 89 of the Constitution, continues to receive the attention of the speaker. Regrettably, while a decision on the matter was initially expected by Tuesday, 2 August 2022, there has been a delay," her secretary, Masibulele Xaso, wrote to Zungula.

Three weeks ago, Mapisa-Nqakula rejected Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen's plea for an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations, saying that some of the proposed tasks were still within the purview of other entities or institutions, including law enforcement agencies. Parliament's attention might only be necessary at a later stage, she said.

Steenhuisen said the refusal to establish an ad hoc committee was a deliberate move to shield the president from accountability.

The DA said it would consider its legal options.

Last month, the ATM approached Mapisa-Nqakula. It argued that there was overwhelming prima facie evidence against Ramaphosa of constitutional violations as contemplated in Section 89 of the Constitution.

"It is common cause that [former spy boss] Mr Arthur Fraser has submitted evidence at the Rosebank police station where the president is implicated in serious crimes, including bribery; money laundering; kidnapping; breaching of customs and excise laws; breaching of SARS regulations; breaching the Prevention of Organised Crime Act; defeating the ends of justice, to mention but a few," it said in its submission.

The ATM was adamant that it was unclear how finality would be reached, given that the heads of the institutions that have to investigate the allegations were Ramaphosa appointees. The ATM believes Parliament must hold him accountable.

The ATM also contended that the president violated Section 83(b) of the Constitution, which enjoins him, as head of state, to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the republic.

The party also argued that Ramaphosa violated Section 96(2)(a) of the Constitution, which states that Cabinet members and deputy ministers may not "undertake any other paid work".

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa's (Numsa) legal woes are mounting as its secretary-general Irvin Jim and president Andrew Chirwa face a possible 30 days in jail for contempt of court after pushing ahead with the union's interdicted national congress.

The motion comes from formerly suspended Numsa member and president of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) Ruth Ntlokotse. She took her suspension to the Labour Court last month ahead of the national congress. The court ordered that her and other members' suspension be lifted and it interdicted the conference.

Ntlokotse has applied to have the two union leaders arrested and found in contempt after they pressed on with the union's national congress last week, despite the interdict.

Numsa resolved to lift the suspensions and proceeded with the national congress after having a special central committee meeting. The union applied unsuccessfully for leave to appeal the interdict, with Labour Court Judge Graham Moshoana saying that would be purely academic as events had gone ahead despite the court's decision.

Numsa leadership who were elected at the interdicted congress said it would apply directly to Labour Appeals Court for relief as they believed Moshoana erred in his interpretation of the Numsa constitution.

In her notice of motion, Ntlokotse said she wanted the court to declare that Numsa, Jim, and Chirwa had been in contempt of court for "failure to comply with the order made" by the Labour Court on 23 July.

"The applicants intend applying to the above honourable court on 5 August 2022 at 10:00 or so soon thereafter for an order ... that all that was done as from 25 [to] 28 July 2022 under the guise of the 11th National Congress be declared to be null and void," the motion read.

The motion stated that Ntlokotse sought a warrant of arrest for Jim and Chirwa for a period of 30 days, and to have all the resolutions passed at the interdicted congress, including nominations and elections "invalid and of no force and effect".

Attempts to elicit comment from Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola were unsuccessful.

Before the interdicted congress, Ntlokotse was the second deputy president of Numsa. She now works as president of Numsa's umbrella federation, Saftu, alongside the federation's secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, who has of late been an open critic of Jim.

Jim told delegates at the Numsa congress last week that Saftu leadership had grown "arrogant" and worked to sabotage the union's work in service to its members and workers at large.

Numsa members told Fin24 during the congress that Ntlokotse was invited to the national congress after Numsa's special central committee resolved to lift her suspension in compliance with the Labour Court interdict of the weekend before.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said that immediate and short-term electricity needs must be addressed by a plan that deals with reliability of supply within existing parameters in the most cost-effective and source-agnostic manner.

The party released its Energy and Electricity policy on Tuesday, which DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia said would end load-shedding, ensure access to cheap electricity and fuel, and secure the environment for future generations.

Eskom warned that Stage 2 load-shedding might be implemented at short notice over the next three days, owing to a delay in returning generation units to service at the Arnot, Kusile and Koeberg power stations, as well as the failure of a generation unit each at Medupi, Hendrina, Camden, and two units at Majuba.

DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Kevin Mileham explained that Eskom was beset by an apparent inability to fix its fleet and plug the short-term needs while longer-term solutions were put in place.

He said in an effort to eliminate load-shedding there should be a complete unbundling of Eskom, specifically entirely separate enterprises which did not fall under the same holding company.

Commercially viable power stations should be sold to private owners and operated until the end of the remaining life of the station, the DA suggested. The envisioned end state for generation was of a diversified and competitive generation sector, Mileham said.

He said with generation and distribution privatised, the remaining transmission entity of Eskom, free from conflicts of interest, should become a national, State-owned, Independent Transmission System and Market Operator with power planning, procurement, contracting, grid system and electricity market operation functions.

Mileham said that the DA’s electricity policy was built on putting the consumer first, explaining that compared with the African National Congress’s current policy of a State-driven electricity model, the DA approach actively facilitates the emergence of “prosumers”, where customers of electricity may also generate energy into the grid when they have surplus energy.

He explained that the policy would incentivise the uptake of rooftop solar for residential purposes by granting a once-off tax rebate and would eliminate illegal connection by providing an amnesty for all households with illegal connections.

NEW GENERATION, JUST ENERGY TRANSITION

Cachalia said in view of the “dire state of the country’s electricity generation capacity”, South Africa should be making it easy, not difficult, for independent power producers (IPPs) to bring in new power at scale and in the shortest possible time.

The DA said there needed to be a clear transition plan that would upskill and reskill former coal sector workers and a reduction of barriers for community-owned projects to compete.

COMPETITIVE FUEL INDUSTRY

The DA said to promote a competitive fuel industry with low retail prices for consumers, there was an urgent need to remove government taxes, levies and price controls on liquid fuels to promote competition and ease the cost of living for all South Africans.

“South Africa needs a competitive energy market where the State does not have a monopoly on energy generation, supply and distribution. There should be a multiplicity of private suppliers, competing with one another to provide the best service and lowest price. This requires making it easier for energy suppliers to enter and participate in energy markets,” the party said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is urging South Africans to act with greater urgency and purpose to stop gender-based violence (GBV), and he is specifically calling on communities to work with the South African Police Service (Saps) to ensure that criminals are apprehended.

Last week a group of men and women shooting a music video at a disused mine near Krugersdorp were attacked by armed assailants who gang raped eight of the women.

“Rapists have no place in our society. We call upon communities to work with the police to ensure that these criminals are apprehended and prosecuted. Our communities must not shelter criminals in their midst,” Ramaphosa said.

He said GBV and femicide is a deep-rooted societal problem that is the responsibility of all society to bring to a decisive end.

“We have made a start, but as the terrible crimes in Krugersdorp remind us, we need to do much more and we need to act with greater urgency and purpose,” he said, pointing out that many in communities might know about crimes but choose to keep quiet because the perpetrator is a friend, a partner or a colleague.

He said given the amount of GBV in the country, it is no longer possible to avoid responsibility for reporting sex crimes.

He reaffirmed that all tip-offs received by the Saps Crime Stop contact centre are confidential.

New legal provision that came into effect on Sunday now means that all South Africans have a legal duty to report crimes to authorities.

Ramaphosa said this is one of three laws that he has signed this year to strengthen the fight against GBV and offer greater support and protection to survivors.

Among other things, the laws expand the scope of the National Register of Sex Offenders, strengthen the vetting process, and introduce additional categories of sexual offences.

Ramaphosa said processes are underway to put these laws into effect, including training of prosecutors and magistrates, issuing directives on bail to all Saps officials, and revising charge sheets to include the newly created offences.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa will visit Mozambique and Zambia in a bid to save the country's electricity import contracts that are being eyed by Eskom.

Mnangagwa's trips come at a time when South Africa, which is undergoing an electricity crisis, seeks to replace Zimbabwe as an importer of electricity from Mozambique and Zambia.

"This week I am paying a working visit to Mozambique. In the coming weeks I am likely to meet president [Hakainde] Hichilema of Zambia in Livingstone. Both sister countries supply us with power," Mnangagwa wrote in his weekly column in the state media.

"I will engage my colleagues with a view to ensuring our power imports are secure and uninterrupted."

Mnangagwa noted that most of Zimbabwe's power needs are from the mining sector.

"Even more unsettling is the fact that the bulk of the power demand is coming from the mining sector, including from projects for key minerals like gold, platinum, chrome, coal, diamonds, and lithium," he said.

Zimbabwe's contracts with Mozambique’s Electricidade de Mocambique and Zambia’s Zesco were due to expire at the end of July. What makes the situation precarious for the renewal is that the country struggles to pay its monthly obligation of $6.3-million (R104-million) to Zesco for the imported power.

Sydney Gata, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, warned that Zimbabwe "will stand to lose heavily as these contracts are long-term and at a competitive price".

Fears raised by Gata are that Eskom could sign longer deals with Zesco and keep Zimbabwe out of the picture for many years to come.

Southern Africa Power Pool

In 1995, Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states formed the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which is Africa's first formally advanced power pool.

However, while there are many problems, the biggest hurdle is transmission across the region because some member states are not active on the universal power grid. As such, a lot of power goes to waste.

Power generation experts say SADC produces enough electricity to reduce power shortages, but the distribution aspect of the business lags.

Countries such as Angola, Malawi and Tanzania have not connected to the SAPP grid, hence the shortcomings in transmission because they can't share surplus energy with the rest of the region.

The Africa Progress Report 2015 on electricity access underpins the importance of countries working together for power generation, but at the moment any new power generation capacity projects in Tanzania, Malawi and Angola aren't accessible to the rest of the SAPP member states.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the central bank’s constitutional mandate to maintain price stability is sufficient to foster job creation, suggesting there’s no need for that directive to be expanded.

The head of the governing African National Congress’s (ANC's) economic transformation committee last week raised the prospect of widening the South African Reserve Bank’s mandate to help create more jobs and support transformation in the nation’s financial industry. Godongwana chaired discussions by the committee about the issue at the ANC’s five-yearly policy conference over the weekend.

“The mandate of the Reserve Bank is defined in the constitution” to maintain price stability in the interests of economic growth, he said in an interview Sunday. “You can then say in maintaining that stability in the interest of growth, you then must take into account that growth with employment generation, so there is nothing wrong with that.”

Godongwana’s comments are further evidence that President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is expected to stand for a second term as leader of the ANC at an elective conference in December, has managed to keep his economic policy intact despite opposition from within the party. A document seen by Bloomberg showed support for his plans to boost private participation in infrastructure and energy investments.

The mandate of the central bank has been a hot-button issue for the ANC, with opponents of its policies saying it’s focused too much on inflation at the expense of job creation.

South Africa has a 34.5% unemployment rate -- the highest on a global list of 82 nations monitored by Bloomberg. The Thomas Piketty-backed World Inequality Lab ranks South Africa as the world’s most unequal nation for which wealth data is available. That’s a legacy of the apartheid system that limited economic opportunities for Black South Africans, who make up about four-fifths of the population, in favour of the country’s White minority.

The head of the ANC’s economic transformation committee, Mmamoloko Kubayi, also raised the prospect of increased engagement between the central bank and the National Treasury on policy matters. Godongwana said he communicates regularly with central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.

“I don’t have a problem with writing a letter to Lesetja but I can’t instruct Lesetja, the constitution does not allow me to do so,” Godongwana said. “We meet regularly so I am happy with the interaction.”

Other issues raised for discussion by the committee at the ANC conference included:

The introduction of a wealth tax as a possible way to minimize income and wealth inequality in South Africa

Feasibility studies into adding new refinery capacity, following the closing of existing facilities

The need to ensure that gas and nuclear power are considered as energy sources despite opposition from some critics who favour the sole use of renewable energy.

The issues raised by the committee will be discussed at the ANC’s elective conference in December, when it will appoint officials to lead the party for the next five years.

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg has postponed former president Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial to allow the Constitutional Court to rule on his latest legal bid to remove Billy Downer as his prosecutor.

On Monday morning, Judge Piet Koen adjourned proceedings to 17 October, for the apex court's decision on Zuma’s "special plea" appeal bid. If the Constitutional Court dismisses Zuma's appeal, the arms deal corruption trial will proceed on 7 November.

Downer confirmed that the former president’s attempt to persuade Supreme Court of Appeal President Mandisa Maya to reconsider her court’s dismissal of his special plea appeal had failed.

Zuma, who was excused from attending court on Monday, is now demanding that the Constitutional Court order Maya to reconsider her decision.

Zuma is adamant that Downer lacks the impartiality and independence to prosecute him.

While Zuma's Foundation has announced that he will privately prosecute Downer for, among other things, allowing court documents to be given to News24, Zuma has yet to issue summons against him.

The former president is facing charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

French arms company Thales joins Zuma in the dock.

It's alleged Zuma received millions in payments from his friend and former adviser Schabir Shaik to help Thales, then known as Thint, secure contracts linked to the arms deal.

Shaik was convicted in 2005.

Zuma and Thales have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's "engagement" with the African National Congress's (ANC's) integrity commission wasn't completed, national executive committee member Zizi Kodwa said on Friday.

The president appeared before the commission on Tuesday, according to Kodwa, after he volunteered to do so to respond to allegations relating to a robbery at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in February 2020.

This, after he faced pressure from some ANC members, including Tony Yengeni, to step aside while the allegations about a cover-up of the robbery were investigated.

"The first time, he immediately contacted them for a meeting and they were not available. He met them earlier this week, but that engagement is incomplete," Kodwa said.

Asked whether Ramaphosa refused to answer questions during the first engagement, Kodwa said: "No report has been submitted that lists the questions asked and answered. The engagement has not finished."

For weeks, there has been mounting pressure on the president, who faces a Public Protector inquiry and a Hawks investigation into the allegations.

Former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser blew the whistle when he laid a criminal case against Ramaphosa in connection with the allegations in June.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane replaced the staff she purged from the Office of the Public Protector with officials from her previous employer, the State Security Agency (SSA), recently reinstated Free State head Sphelo Samuel testified.

On Friday morning, Samuel fielded questions from MPs serving on the Section 194 Committee conducting an inquiry into Mkhwebane's fitness for office.

The MPs largely traversed topics covered during his main testimony on Wednesday and cross-examination the previous day.

African National Congress MP Judy Hermans asked Samuel why he thought Mkwhebane had an "orchestrated plan" to destroy the Office of the Public Protector, as he previously testified.

He said there was a purge of senior managers, and Mkhwebane replaced them with people who would be loyal to her.

Hermans added it was a serious allegation and asked if external sources were at play. Samuel said some officials from the SSA came in to replace those purged.

There was also an official who left the SA Revenue Service (SARS) under a cloud. Samuel did not name him, but most probably referred to Luther Lebello - who has been referred to as former SARS commissioner Tom Moyane's "hit man".

Lebelo was cited in both the Nugent Commission into the functioning of SARS and in the Zondo Commission testimony as being instrumental in the sidelining of senior staff who were key to the functioning of SARS, which enabled the capture of the institution.

In February, Mkhwebane defended her decision to appoint Lebelo as chief of staff in December.

Samuel testified earlier Mkhwebane insisted Public Protector staff should obtain security clearance, but he did not believe it was necessary for them to do his work.

He applied twice, both times unsuccessfully. He believed it was a way for Mkhwebane to get rid of some staff.

Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mimmy Gondwe asked Samuel, who has worked under every Public Protector, whether they also required it and what clearance level - confidential, secret, top secret - Mkhwebane required.

Samuel said it was never a requirement for Public Protector staff to apply for security clearance.

This only happened once Mkwhebane became Public Protector. She required they apply for top secret clearance.

The meeting got off to a rocky start.

Committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi announced MPs would question Samuel.

DA MP Kevin Mileham hardly finished his first question before the ATM's Vuyo Zungula raised a point of order, asking that advocate Dali Mpofu SC, should confirm he had concluded his cross-examination of Samuel.

Dyantyi said Zungula was not Mpofu's "spokesperson", and Zungula would complain bitterly about this.

Mpofu did complain he did not finish his cross-examination on Thursday afternoon.

"This is completely unfair, we can't run this like a kangaroo court," said Mpofu.

He added someone should have given him the courtesy of indicating he was "being gagged" or that his cross-examination was finished.

Zungula and Economic Freedom Fighters MP Omphile Maotwe said Dyantyi was unfair, and he should allow Mpofu to continue with his cross-examination.

The other parties did not support this and said the time frames given to the parties in this inquiry had been clearly set out in its rules.

Mpofu was still unhappy and accused the inquiry of breaching both the audi alteram partem principle and principle of fairness.

He claimed it had "never been done before" to stop a legal representative from asking all their questions.

Dyantyi explained that on Wednesday, when they started, he gave time frames to the evidence leader, advocate Nazreen Bawa SC, who finished at 15:30.

He said he would re-examine Mpofu's time at 15:00 on Thursday, which he did, and extended his time.

On Thursday, at around 15:30, Dyantyi informed the committee he extended Mpofu's time for cross-examination until 17:00.

Dyantyi said if he gave the evidence leader a certain time frame, she had to tailor her questioning. Mpofu must do the same.

This quibble abo...