Interesting commentary about Obama being the first ARAB, not BLACK AFRICAN-AMERICAN President.
The big question:
"WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?"
............and this is how they responded to the question:
JULIUS MALEMA:
We don't care whether the chickens crossed or did not cross the road. We will fight & kill if comrade chickens crossed comrade Zuma's road!
SADDAM HUSSEIN:
This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives being called into question.
GEORGE W. BUSH, JR:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.
NELSON MANDELA:
Never again, will the chicken be questioned for crossing the road. This is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
THABO MBEKI:
We need to establish if really there is a connection between the chicken and the road.
ROBERT MUGABE:
For all of these years the road has been owned by the white farmers. The poor underprivileged chicken has waited too long for that road to be given to him and now he is crossing it in force with his fellow war veteran chickens. We intend taking over this road and giving it to the roadless chickens so that they can cross it without fear of retribution from Britain who promised money to institute road reform. We will not stop until all roads less chickens have roads to cross and the freedom to cross them.
Naizvozvo hapana rimwe bato kunyanya MDC, richabatsira huku idzodzi kuyambuka mugwagwa yakavakwa neBuritishi. Ayiwa taramba.
JACOB ZUMA:
I am gravely suspicious that this question is being asked with a malicious intention to trap me, send the Scorpions to raid my chicken run, haul me before the courts and charge me for the chicken that walked across the road towards me as it was running away from an advancing light shower!
BILL CLINTON:
"I did not have any sexual relations with that chicken".
DR IRVIN KHOZA:
This chicken was beginning to think like an irresponsible K@ff*r. (Nigger)
STEVE KOMPELA:
We need to understand that it ' s very difficult and detrimental to ignore the speed at which the chicken was running, or the landscape, there could be other mitigating factors that led to the transgression, for example, the temperature on the day.
SIYABONGA NOMVETE:
What kitchen?
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI:
It will only be detrimental for the chicken to cross the road. As we all know that the negotiations are not progressing as per our agreement with the ruling party yavaMugabe.
THABO MBEKI:
(Latest version) Well as far as we know the road is still in good condition, everything is okay, the chicken is also doing fine...so the crossing of the road never happened...and we are happy with the situation.
PATRICE MOTSEPE:
How much is the road, plus the chicken?
TITO MBOWENI:
We need a tollgate there, and charge these chickens when they cross the road...by the way, that chicken will cost the average South African an extra 5 Rand from next Wednesday....
KINDERGARTEN TEACHER:
To get to the other side.
POLICEMAN:
Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I ' ll know why.
ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross roads.
A gang of suspected thieves posing as homebuyers, who are being linked to what is believed to be hundreds of cases across the country, have been arrested in Pretoria.
The members of the gang, including the alleged ringleader who is a 35-year-old woman, were nabbed in Nellmapius during the early hours of yesterday morning after police were tipped off by an informer on their whereabouts.
Villieria officers arrested the ringleader as well as the suspected getaway driver, a 30-year-old man.
During the raid police seized jewellery, laptop computers and other household electrical goods.
The gangsters, according to police sources, are wanted for numerous thefts across the country in cases where they posed as homebuyers.
Information given to the Pretoria News shows that the syndicate, which specifically targeted houses that were for sale, is wanted for theft throughout Pretoria, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Nelspruit and Tzaneen.
Among the Pretoria suburbs targeted by the gang were Villieria, where police are investigating 12 cases, Silverton, Wierdabrug and Sinoville. A case in Bronkhorstspruit is also being probed.
The modus operandi of the gang is similar to the one which claimed the life of Pretoria preschool principal, Rhinda Abraham, who was gunned down in her home a year ago.
Abraham's son Eric said he believed that his mother's killers had prior knowledge of their house, which was for sale at the time of the murder.
"Days before the shooting several 'potential buyers' came to our house while our family was out and were let in by our domestic worker, who we believe was conned into thinking that they were interested in buying the house. On the night of the shooting the killers knew exactly which neighbour's wall to climb over, exactly which doors to come through and where everything in the house was and what to ask for," he said.
Abraham's alleged killer, Mozambican national, Denis Gentil Nhone (37), who was arrested two days later, is to go on trial in the Pretoria High Court in August for her murder as well as several other cases.
One of the victims of the gang caught yesterday, Frikkie van Niekerk, has described how the smooth-talking gang conned his domestic worker into allowing them into his Queenswood home.
"The four well-dressed women told my domestic worker that they were interested in buying my house.
"When my domestic worker told them to return when I was home they told her a long story about how they had travelled from far and that one of them was pregnant and that they could not return.
"Believing them, my domestic worker let them into the house and, while showing one of them the garden, the others 'viewed' our house," said Van Niekerk.
It was while Van Niekerk's domestic worker was being distracted that the women's accomplices helped themselves to a camera, laptop computer and other valuables. When Van Niekerk arrived home he was greeted in Afrikaans by the "well-spoken" women who told him what a "lovely" house he had.
"I never suspected that they had just robbed me. I thought they were genuinely interested in buying my house," said Van Niekerk.
Only after a neighbour stopped and asked him if he had been robbed, did Van Niekerk think something was amiss.
"When my neighbour, who is also selling his house, said he had discovered that things were stolen from his home after the same women had come to view his house, I immediately became suspicious. When I walked through the bedrooms I saw that the cupboards had been opened and things were missing," he said.
Van Niekerk said: "They looked like good upstanding citizens, not a gang of crooks."
Police spokesperson Inspector Klaas van der Kooi confirmed the gang allegedly targeted houses that were for sale.
One of the women would keep the homeowner distracted while her accomplices stole valuables such as cellphones, laptop computers, cameras and jewellery.
"So far we have linked the two suspects to 12 cases in Villieria. We are in the process of linking them to other cases throughout Pretoria, including Silverton, Sinoville and Wierdabrug, as well as Johannesburg, Kimberly, Tzaneen, Nelspruit and Bronkhorstspruit.
Related article: Estate agents take stand against crime
Concerned Johannesburg northern suburbs residents have deployed private security companies to guard schools during drop-off and collection times, as armed robbers target parents collecting children.
Since the beginning of the school year two weeks ago, robbers have struck at least five times at schools in northern Joburg and Randburg.
The gangs have reportedly been using a blue Jeep Grand Cherokee and a white BMW X5 with at least two sets of false registration plates.
This week, St Stithians College sent a security alert to parents warning them about the armed gang, who follow moms and rob them on arrival at home.
The Saturday Star can reveal that residents of Craighall Park have employed the services of CSS Tactical to monitor schools in the area.
Craighall Park Residents' Association spokesperson Wendy McAllister said that even before the incidents, they had asked the security companies to take "special care" of the schools and make sure there was a "visible presence".
She said that last year there had been several incidents where residents were followed home from shopping malls, and that had put them on the alert.
"In line with out Public Space Security Plan, the security company looks for suspicious activity at schools and churches."
Last year, the Saturday Star revealed the existence of the so-called Rolex Gang, which preyed on wealthy Joburg residents. The gang comprised three men and two women, who did most of their hits from a navy-blue Jeep Grand Cherokee.
At the time, it was believed that the gang identified their targets in northern suburbs malls, then followed them home and pounced on them in their driveways.
Attacks occurred in upmarket Hyde Park, Houghton, Sandton, Hurlingham and Glenhazel.
Ricky Croock, business development director at CSS Tactical security services, who is familiar with the workings of the Rolex Gang, has confirmed the incidents and believes it is the same gang.
"They have the same tactics. They follow you home. You drive into your driveway and they actually pass you and stop at the driveway next door. You think nothing of it and think your neighbours are getting visitors.
"But when you pull in, they jump out and hit the sensor of the gate so that the gate opens again. The entire attack happens in your yard and not in full view of the street."
The tactical unit has been collecting information at various security and policing meetings to create awareness. "We have noticed that these guys are trying to find soft targets. This trend is a new one that people have not identified yet.
"In the mornings, mothers are so busy with the kids, schools books, bags and lunches that they are not really noticing what is going on around them, so it's easy for these groups to follow them."
Croock said schools had also become a target because it was easy for these men to sit and wait at the gates and watch without standing out.
They identify the mothers and, for example, if they are wearing slippers, they know that they have to go home to shower before they go to work.
Croock said they had deployed military-trained people who were able to identify suspicious-looking people.
More than a year after The Independent on Saturday reported on the disgraceful state of three blocks of flats in Durban which are supposed to be housing policemen and women, conditions have got even worse.
Legitimate residents describe the flats as an embarrassment to the city, with the invasion of criminal gangs and violent "workers of the night".
The Independent on Saturday published a report on the shocking conditions of the flats, with pictures, on January 26, 2008, and residents and neighbours say the situation has got even worse and that the flats are now the breeding ground of criminals and thugs, and are infested with people who are not police officers.
Near the Durban Central police station are two police blocks of flats, the 16-storey Natalia Court and five-storey Somtseu Court. Both have filthy staircases, non-working lifts and the concrete slabs outside the building are cracked.
The 13-storey Excelsior Court in upmarket North Ridge Road has become notorious for prostitutes fighting on the streets, gangs, drug peddlers, loud late-night parties and other criminal elements, according to residents.
However, police management says the maintenance can only be undertaken by the Department of Public Works.
This week residents went on a walkabout with Neil Hannam, the vice-chairman of the Westville Community Policing Forum (CPF), who plans a clean-up operation at Natalia Court and Somtseu Court.
"These flats are an embarrassment to the city and there are mostly criminals here, not cops. Nothing has taken place here in the past year since the Public Works Department promised to conduct much- needed maintenance. The buildings are just falling apart and we are not seeing any development."
The Deputy Chairwoman of the committee for Durban Central Single Quarters at Somtseu Court, Futhi Ntuli, who is also a senior personnel officer at the SAPS provincial office, said only about three of the 10 communal toilets were working.
"Sometimes people can't even take a bath because there's no water. Windows and doors are broken and there are leaking pipes and taps in the bathrooms. The building hasn't been painted in years. We have been promised for the past three years that a revamp would take place, yet the building has just deteriorated."
Ntuli said they had become accustomed to broken windows, broken glass on doors and slippery floors because of leaking water pipes.
"There are children who could easily get hurt because of these huge broken pieces of glass that are exposed on the doors. Many people have fallen and hurt themselves as there's water all over the floors."
Insp Nyathi Ngubane, who lives at Somtseu Court, said life was unbearable there.
"People treat us differently when they find out that we live here. They think that we are low class because this place is filthy and run down. We are often the victim of harsh jokes and insults and everyone has lost respect for us."
Bernelee Chetty, who lives at Natalia Court with her policeman husband, said living conditions were pathetic with "total strangers" "invading" the place.
"Last month one of these guys broke into a flat and stole a DVD player. We actually saw them running away towards the police station and jumping over the fence. This place has gone to the dogs and it's getting worse as time goes by."
The caretaker at Natalia Court, James Solomon, said working at the flats had been a "terrible experience" for him.
"Two weeks ago there was a sick man on the seventh floor. It took a long time for the paramedics to get to the patient and carry him down on a stretcher, even with the help of residents."
Solomon said there was also an infestation of rats, insects and snakes at the flats.
"These insects and snakes bite residents and they get sick often. I'm terrified of cleaning underneath the staircases and in the cupboards because huge rats and snakes often just storm out of here. The electrical cables are also exposed."
The criminal activities at Excelsior Court have angered residents in neighbouring buildings, particularly those of the exclusive Overport blocks Berriedale Court, Ridge Manor, Ridgeview Heights and Marble Arch.
Tracy Smith, who lives at Marble Arch, alongside Excelsior Court, said the block was supposed to house only police officers and their families but it had become like a "brothel".
"It has become a regular occurrence for these people to get drunk and indulge in drugs with prostitutes during their noisy parties at their rundown garages which face our flats."
Brenda Fynn, who lives in nearby Ridgeview Heights, has been battling to sell her flat for the past three years. "These people have parties whenever they please. They stand outside with beers, drugs and loud music and prospective buyers are immediately put off."
However, SAPS spokesman Supt Vincent Mdunge said: "The maintenance needs are being addressed by Public Works. Residents need to remember that when they live in state-owned flats they are expected to take responsibility for their maintenance, like cleaning and electricity."
He has denied claims that there were non-police officers living at the flats. "In the past we have dealt with complaints about non-police officers and that is now resolved. We have also found that certain members at Natalia have exaggerated about living conditions and the flats have been vandalised by residents themselves."
When asked in 2006, the national Department of Public Works indicated that a R9 million project to renovate these buildings was expected to start in April 2007.
The Independent on Saturday then did a follow-up story in January 2008 and Lucky Mochalibane, the chief director of communications and marketing at the department, said major progress was expected in the next few months.
He said residents needed to realise that there would be delays now and then.
"The processes will now and again be delayed for valid reasons. Residents must remember there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes. This is in the nature of the construction industry, particularly where the tendering system is involved."
Cape Town - President Kgalema Motlanthe's decision to enact the legislation disbanding the Scorpions marks a dark day in South Africa's democracy, opposition parties said on Friday.
But in stark contrast, the move was welcomed by ANC alliance partner the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Motlanthe's decision would have lasting ramifications for the rule of law, judicial independence and the effectiveness of crime-fighting institutions in South Africa," DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said.
"This decision, taken in complete defiance of public opinion, marks a dark day in our short democratic history," she said.
The presidency confirmed earlier on Friday, that Motlanthe had approved the two bills.
Spokesperson Thabo Masebe said the president had approved the SA Police Service Amendment Bill and the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill.
Kohler-Barnard said it was as clear as day that this decision had been taken for reasons of political expediency, in a bid to save the careers of corrupt ANC politicians in government, and to advance the closed patronage society that ANC president Jacob Zuma and his allies "seem so intent on building".
"The President's decision to disband South Africa's most successful crime-fighting unit will, in the years to come, be remembered as a defining moment for the ANC," she said.
Velaphi Ndlovu of the Inkatha Freedom Party, said the move once again showed the extent to which the ANC would go to push its own agenda, against the wishes of most South Africans.
"From the start, the disbandment of this elite unit has had very little to do with bolstering our fight against crime, and everything to do with a political vendetta against them," he said.
The ANC was guilty of abusing power and undermining democracy, he said.
"In spite of all the ruling party's talk about democracy, our Republic is at risk, as the ANC continues to fail in separating its own interests from those of the state.
"It attacks the judiciary when it pleases, abuses the state broadcaster for its own purposes, and for a decade now has filled our front pages with endless stories of scandal and corruption.
"If not stopped now, this degeneration will have gone too far to redress," Ndlovu said.
However, Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the decision was an important victory for Cosatu, which had for several years been demanding that "this force" be disbanded.
The Scorpions had evolved into a separate "elite" force which was not sufficiently accountable.
"Its units were being redirected from the fight against organised crime to political campaigns against targeted individuals. It became a law unto itself and undermined the legal rights of those they were investigating," he said.
"We shall oppose against any tendency within the SAPS to adopt the Scorpions' bad practices and political bias into its ranks, and shall not hesitate to criticise them if any of their officers abuse people's constitutional and human rights," Craven said.
Check whether you are on the voters roll by clicking here. All you need is your ID number.
Final voter registration for the 2009 elections will take place from Saturday February 7 to Sunday February 8 2009.
Voting stations will be open from 08h00 to 17h00 on the two days to enable first-time voters to register, and for those who have changed addresses to re-register.
So sure, we all know, as the head ANCYL-biter so piquantly stated, "When a woman didn't enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money." You make a good point, although I suspect you might be conflating the terms "woman" and "prostitute", and confusing the phrase "sun comes out" with "wait until the drunken sot wakes up."WHITE AND PROUD!!
There is a lot of talk these days about Black pride, Jewish pride, Hispanic pride, and even "gay" pride. In fact, there is only ONE major segment of the population that is not encouraged to take pride in its heritage and in the achievements of its ancestors. That group is the White Race. 
The lack of White pride is truly a sad and strange thing, because no group has more to be rightfully proud of than the White people of the world. The glories and greatness that the men and women of our Race have won over the centuries should serve as a source of eternal pride and inspiration to White people everywhere.
Since the dawn of history, we have been a mighty Race of builders, explorers, artists, warriors, inventors, philosophers and cultivators. We have sailed the seas, tamed the vast wilderness, scaled towering mountains, journeyed to the depths of the ocean and into the cold void of outer space.
We have built great civilizations, created breathtaking works of beauty and made the deserts bloom. The technological achievements of our people, from the megalithic calendar of Stonehenge to the moon-walk of the Apollo astronauts, are unequaled.
We have devised sublime philosophies, conquered deadly diseases and performed soul-stirring acts of heroism and self-sacrifice. We are the Race of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven and Homer. We are the sons and daughters of Leif Ericson, Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and Magellan. We are the folk of Alexander, Caesar, Napolean, Washington and Robert E. Lee. We are the descendants of Pythagoras, Galileo, Copernicus and Newton, just to list the great accomplishments of our Race would require the work of a lifetime.
No one has more to be proud of than we do! In order for an individual to be psychologically healthy, he or she must have a clear-cut source of identity and self-worth. And for our Race as a whole to be strong and healthy, White people everywhere must develop a sense of racial identity and racial worth. There is no better way to attain this very necessary level of racial awareness than in having pride in your people and their accomplishments. So take pride in your Race, take pride in what we have achieved in days gone by, and take pride in what we will yet accomplish as we reach for the stars.
Be White and proud!
by Bobby Dinkins - Facebook tribute
Cosatu on Wednesday vowed to distribute its anti-Cope booklet to as many places as possible.
"We are also trying to have the booklet [translated] to Zulu. We will be distributing them to as many voters and workers as we can," said the Congress of SA Trade Unions' KwaZulu-Natal secretary Zet Luzipho.
He said the booklet was distributed to the offices of Cosatu's alliance partners.
The 14-page document was penned by Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini and general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. It concluded with "Yours truly" and their names. Luzipho confirmed that the booklet was "signed by its president and general secretary".
It is entitled "Defend our Movement: Advance the Gains of Polokwane! Expose and Isolate the Black DA".
Dozens of the maroon booklets — bearing African National Congress and Cosatu logos — were available at both organisations' headquarters in KwaZulu-Natal this week.
Among other things, it states that Cope could cause "great damage" to trade union federation if it were to come to power in the general election.
"If these dissidents succeed, it will roll back the gains workers and the poor have made since 1994... unless we defeat it, even this small splinter could cause great damage to our movement," it reads.
A big challenge to workers
"The launch of (Cope) poses a big challenge to workers and the national liberation movement.
"It could confuse and divide voters, cause enough damage to reduce the ANC majority in Parliament... and put the brakes on policies to create jobs, cut poverty and improve the lives of South Africans."
The booklet also accuses Cope president Terror Lekota and his deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa of leaving the ruling party to "pursue an agenda... of the capitalist class".
The move is described as a "coalition of conservative forces".
"Their role is to dislodge a progressive ruling party that has the support of the majority and impose the agenda of international capital and its local allies.
"It's no accident that almost all the dissident leaders, including former trade unionists, are now wealthy business people."
It further accuses Lekota and Shilowa of using leadership positions in the ANC, the SA Communist Party and Cosatu, to accumulate wealth and dispense patronage.
'1996 Class Project'
"They and some of their families benefited from what we now call the '1996 Class Project' which imposed neo-liberal, pro-business and pro-rich Gear policy in the late 1990s.
"They are beneficiaries of the narrow BEE policy that has given a small number of Africans shares in big companies."
According to the document these policies led to the retrenchment of thousands of workers, with at least 15 000 job losses at Telkom alone.
"The very people who, with their capitalist allies, are now mobilising for the dissidents were the most enthusiastic promoters of the pro-capitalist policies that caused all these problems."
Luzipho said the booklet's aim was to "set the record straight" so that voters did not get confused.
"We want the people to know that the same people who yesterday defended the ANC and its alliance partners are now changing their tune and attacking the alliance.
"If by small chance they rule the country, they will erode everything the workers had gained... "
HONG KONG — The Hong Kong government was yesterday urged to review a decision to allow the daughter of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to live and study in the city. 
Bona Mugabe
Bona Mugabe — whose father is banned from travelling to Britain, the US and Europe — has been studying at the University of Hong Kong since late last year, according to the Sunday Morning Post newspaper.
Bona Mugabe’s presence in Hong Kong emerged after her 43-year-old mother Grace allegedly assaulted photographer Richard Jones 10 days ago as he took pictures of her shopping while visiting the city.
Robert Mugabe also reportedly visited Hong Kong in August, before being refused permission to fly on to China for the Olympic Games.
Senior Hong Kong legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing called for a review of the decision to admit Bona Mugabe. She is studying under an assumed name and her identity is not known to her fellow students.
Australia last year deported eight students whose parents were senior members of the Mugabe regime, saying it wanted to prevent those involved in human rights abuses giving their children education denied to ordinary Zimbabweans.
Asked about Bona Mugabe’s admission, a University of Hong Kong spokeswoman said: “We believe that education should be above politics and young people should not be denied of the right to education because of their family background or what their parents have done.”
She also denied there had been any negative reaction from fellow students to the presence of Bona Mugabe, saying: “We are not aware of any reactions relating to the case you refer to.
“We believe that many of our students will share our belief of right of education for everybody and our view that people should not be responsible for what other members of their family have done.”
A university official, who asked not to be named, said Bona Mugabe — who has returned to Zimbabwe with her mother for the Chinese New Year holiday — had enrolled under a different name and many students were unaware of her presence.
When she returns to Hong Kong, the university would “keep a watchful eye more from a student life perspective”, the official said.
Legislator Emily Lau called for a debate over the admission of students such as Bona Mugabe.
“Because there is (currently) no policy, obviously anybody can come to study in Hong Kong. Nobody has ever raised this issue.
“If a regime is so atrocious and responsible for the deaths and suffering of so many people every day, maybe there should be a way for us in Hong Kong to show our repugnance. Many people find Zimbabwe a very, very obnoxious regime.”
Bona Mugabe’s presence has provoked an outcry from some residents, with one writing to a Sunday newspaper: “Send her back to be educated by the system that her father destroyed.
“Could the (government) indicate why it allowed the daughter of a man who has so much blood on his hands to come to Hong Kong in the first place?”
See also:-
Mugabe's daughter studying at Hong Kong University: report Kenya Broadcasting Corp
Exposed: Mugabe girl Bona studies in Hong Kong The Australian
Johannesburg - A 27-year-old Russian citizen was raped in Jeffrey's Bay on Saturday, Eastern Cape police said.
Superintendent Priscilla Naidu said the woman was walking back to her hotel at around 01:15 on Saturday morning.
She left a local club accompanied by two men. The three split up and she walked home alone.
Near Pellsrus parking area, about a kilometre from her hotel, she was grabbed from behind and forced into bushes next to the road.
The woman screamed but the man struck her and threatened to kill her.
He then raped her before telling the woman that he was HIV-positive.
The woman managed to get back to the main road where she ran to people.
A case of rape was being investigated. As usual No arrests had been made.
As the school year begins in earnest, the long-standing secretary general of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), Thulasizwe Nxesi, admits that the education system is in crisis.
Yet he refuses to accept that teachers are partly responsible for failing the country's pupils on a daily basis.
Nxesi says it is all too easy to point the finger of blame at the country's 390 000-strong teacher population, arguing instead that theirs is a sorry lot in this day and age.
With a low starting salary of about R120 000, with benefits included, teachers cannot be expected to perform like other professionals if their work is not rewarded and recognised like that of their peers, the 49-year-old unionist argues.
"It's a joke," he says. "We've been living in a denialist country."
Consequently, there's been an exodus of young teachers to the private sector, "where they can earn two or three times as much", leaving behind an ageing teaching population "of people who are looking after their pensions".
The teaching population should be somewhere in the region of 420 000 today to cover the needs of South Africa's 27 000 schools, but instead it's steadily declining and is not helped by the steady crawl of HIV/Aids into classrooms.
"And when someone leaves or dies, you can expect to wait six months or a year to get a replacement teacher in some places," Nxesi claims.
Those who stay behind are left to grapple with a crumbling infrastructure. Many of the country's schools are not up to standard.
Just how many, the union chief does not know.
"But many, many schools are not in good shape."
It's a problem that's exacerbated by overcrowding. Although the average student-to-teacher ratio is 32:1 in government-funded schools, and 17.5:1 in private schools, Nxesi says it is not uncommon for classrooms to swell to "40, 50, even 70 in some cases".
They are statistics that feed into a staggering 50 percent drop-out rate.
"If one accepts estimates that every year 1.1 million children start Grade 1, then why did we have only 589 912 pupils writing matric in 2008?" former academic and activist Mamphela Ramphele recently asked.
"But teachers are not to blame," Nxesi insists.
"The problem is government," he argues. But not only are they not listening, "we don't think they are taking education very seriously".
Year-on-year government has repeatedly allocated the greatest chunk of the budget to education. However under Naledi Pandor's watch, Nxesi says he has watched the Department of Education take on a more liberal line which he fears is the death knell for free education.
"And the problem with that is that it will be the survival of the fittest" which will drag the poor black classes back to the dark days of apartheid, in education terms.
Although Nxesi talks up a good line, he would do well to look over his shoulder once in a while at the ranks he represents, if improvement of the system is what's really driving his agenda.
Today, Sadtu membership stands at 240 000, the largest union of educators in this country.
Yet the union has still to do a basic audit of its members to see who actually holds the appropriate qualifications to teach.
"The debate of the qualification is a difficult one," Nxesi argues, but offers an estimate of about 30 000 people who are not qualified to stand in front of classes, a grim statistic for the one in 12 classrooms subjected to sub-standard teaching.
Yet it is Sadtu which is lobbying for government at the same time to equip each teacher with a laptop to keep abreast of the new Outcomes Based Education system.
"You can't expect us to teach in the dark ages," he says, seemingly unaware of the contradiction he throws up.
With so many unqualified teachers, Sadtu is unable to impart basic education without conflating the problem with technology.
The union has been equally lax about getting tough with teachers who repeatedly bring the profession into disrepute.
Last year 18 teachers were struck off the national roll for sexual harassment, of a total of 30 or so cases that were brought before the South African Council for Educators, according to chief executive Raj Brijraj.
It has to be asked how many rapes and sordid incidents of sexual misbehaviour will have to be committed before Sadtu will begin to act.
The glaring contradiction, however, is that Sadtu is shameless in its support for the ANC, yet it is an ANC government which, in Nxesi's words, "has failed the children of South Africa when it comes to education".
"Government is not the ANC," he insists.
"Most of the policies that were implemented in the past few years were not ANC policies," he argues, jumping on the bandwagon that has become the ANC get-out-clause in the wake of Thabo Mbeki's recall from office.
"(The Mbeki administration) came up with their own thing. Gear was never an ANC policy, but they implemented it anyway."
In the run-up to the general election, the union has begun to campaign hard for the ruling party.
"Sadtu is not going to be apologetic that we are organising for the African National Congress," Nxesi says.
Yet it begs the question why the likes of Sadtu does not leave politics to the politicians and focus instead on education, which Nxesi himself admits is in crisis.
The better the performance of teachers and the greater return they provide for tax payers' money spent on education, the stronger they would stand in the eyes of the government. Which, in turn, would lead to greater bargaining power.
Surely it's in Sadtu's interests to raise the bar for its membership and improve on its basic bread and butter issues.
"Never," is the answer. "We cannot abandon (politics) to someone else. We refuse to be confined to the shop floor. We feel that we have not liberated South Africa fully and we will continue to struggle in politics."
Nxesi has been with the union since it was formed in 1990 and has served as its secretary general since 1994.
He will step down when his fourth term ends next year and suggests that he will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and join the ranks of parliament when it does.
"There are many people who argue that I was at the start of the struggle for education and that there is a need to push me into parliament to take it forward."
Not a bad reward for someone who has yet to deliver on his part of the struggle.
See also Wasting precious Western education on primitive savages
Goodbye, George W.
After eight years as President, we would probably be thinking unkind thoughts even if it was the Dalai Llama who held the job. In the case of George W. Bush, saying goodbye comes as a distinct relief. As with all modern day Presidents, we just have seen too much of him over the course of eight years.
I felt the same about Bill Clinton when his second term mercifully came to an end, but that feeling was also tinged with the disgust I felt then and now for disgracing the office with his White House intern antics. How and why he has found forgiveness with Democrats or anyone else still eludes me.
Reporters and others keep saying that what you see is what you get when it comes to George W. If so, he is surely one of the goofiest Presidents we have had, afflicted with a variety of mannerisms and ticks that have made him easy fodder for impersonators and comics.
I cannot shake the feeling that the man lacked seriousness or at least the intellectual depth to grasp the events and issues that came to his attention daily. There really seemed to be a “frat boy” at the core of his personality. It often seemed that, as the oldest son, he was just engaged in the family business of running the country.
Even so, I thought Bush’s response to 9/11 was right on target. Learning that Osama bin Laden was headquartered in Afghanistan, he sent the CIA and the military there to chase out the Taliban. Failing to capture bin Laden, he could have stuck to covert efforts, but he went beyond the initial action, invading Iraq for what I am sure he saw as the greater needed to draw in al Qaeda to destroy it. Simply said, he succeeded. Al Qaeda is reportedly a shadow of what it was when it attacked the U.S. in 2001. Bin Laden issues weak messages from hiding.
So, perhaps history will be more kind to him than present opinions. The rest of his eight years, though, hardly merit hosannas. He spent and he spent and he spent. He introduced legislation that only a liberal would consider; the No Child Left Behind Act, the Prescription Medicine benefits on top of a Medicare program that was already running out of money, the failure to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
George W. could just as well have been a Democrat. He leaves with a popularity rating so low that it rivals Harry S. Truman who was a Democrat. Here again, though, history has proven that many of Truman’s decisions were the right ones.
His farewell address was dignified, but not without the fumbling over simple words and phrases now so familiar to his inability to deliver a speech without these stumbles. It is not his speeches, however, by which he will be remembered, but by his enduring faith in the spread of freedom and democracy.
The result of his tenure is, after three decades of despotic control, an Iraq as a young democracy. It is an Afghanistan struggling to throw off the oppression of the Taliban, the spawn of a duplicitous Pakistan, itself struggling to be something, anything more than just another junta-run excuse for a nation. Bush has strengthened ties to India and to China. Burned by his initial confidence in Vladimir Putin, he has kept Russia bottled up to some degree.
His humanitarian instincts are seen in programs to deal with AIDS and Malaria in Africa, but his reputation will rest ultimately on his role as Commander-in-Chief. Here again, history may speak well of him in hindsight.
We may look back on the Bush years with some nostalgia, if not for the man, then for the fact that we did not suffer another attack like 9/11 and that you knew he would not let that happen on his watch.
This is a photo taken after the inauguration which shows the area from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial that has literally been trashed.
Say hello, say goodbye
South Africa was on a collision course with the new president of the United States, Barack Obama, because of his more enlightened approach to addressing human rights, DA foreign affairs spokesperson Tony Leon said on Wednesday.
Leon told the 100 Club in Cape Town that Obama, inaugurated on Tuesday, offered the opportunity for America and the world to look for rights-based and multilateral solutions to the globe's many crises.
"South Africa, by rights and by inclination, should be a willing and vigorous partner in the plan to reinvigorate a more just world order," he said.
Instead, SA's recent votes and voice in international councils and forums, such as the United Nations, had "put us in the company of the rights-delinquent nations and authoritarian regimes of the world".
"What we practise at home, in our constitution and via progressive legislation we contradict abroad for fear of offending some of the most retrogressive authoritarian countries in the world.
"Shortly before Christmas, South Africa's foreign policy was again in the news in Washington - and again for all the wrong reasons.
"Under the headline 'South Africa's Crime' the highly influential Washington Post decried our government's enablement of Robert Mugabe's 'destruction of neighbouring Zimbabwe, at the cost of thousands of lives'."
The SA government is enabling Robert Mugabe's destruction of neighboring Zimbabwe, at the cost of thousands of lives.
SOUTH AFRICAN President Kgalema Motlanthe concedes that the situation in Zimbabwe is "very dire." No doubt he's familiar with what the United Nations is reporting: that more than 1,000 people have died of cholera in a spreading epidemic, that 17,000 others are infected and that more than half of the country's remaining population requires emergency food aid to avoid starvation. Hospitals have closed, 80 percent of the country lacks safe drinking water and school attendance is down to 20 percent. Inflation was last registered at 231 million percent; as a practical matter the economy has stopped. As U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put it last week, Zimbabwe "stands on the brink of economic, social and political collapse."
So is Mr. Motlanthe at last ready to use South Africa's considerable leverage to end the nightmare in its neighbor? Will his government finally join those of Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, the United States, Britain, France and Canada in calling for 84-year-old strongman Robert Mugabe to step down? Well, no. "It's really not for us," the president told reporters Wednesday. "I mean, I don't know if the British feel qualified to impose that on the people of Zimbabwe, but we feel that we should support and take our cue from what they [Zimbabweans] want."
Actually, what Zimbabweans want, desperately, is an end to the humanitarian emergency in their country -- which can come only with Mr. Mugabe's departure. What South Africa wants is something else entirely: to resuscitate Mr. Mugabe's dying regime through a bad deal cooked up by "mediator" Thabo Mbeki, Mr. Motlanthe's predecessor. The plan calls for a "unity" government between Mr. Mugabe and the winner of last March's presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai. Yet it long ago became clear to all but the South Africans that the formula is unworkable. Mr. Mugabe has no intention of sharing authority, especially over the military and police, which have been waging a violent campaign against the opposition. "I will never, never, never surrender . . . . Zimbabwe is mine," he said Friday.
The terror apparatus is the last functioning part of Mr. Mugabe's government. According to Amnesty International, two dozen opposition activists have disappeared in the past six weeks. Mr. Mugabe lately has been claiming that the opposition is training fighters in Botswana and trying to assassinate his ministers (the air force chief was mysteriously wounded in the hand by a gunshot). The opposition believes that Mr. Mugabe may soon attempt to impose emergency rule, using those false allegations as an excuse.
The outgoing Bush administration and Britain tried again last week to have the U.N. Security Council take up this crisis. Once again they were stopped by South Africa, with support from Russia. Instead Mr. Motlanthe has announced a vague initiative by South Africa's neighbors to supply humanitarian support. What's happening here is pretty clear: South Africa, a country that aspires to continental leadership, is allowing a depraved strongman to utterly destroy a neighboring country, at a cost of thousands of lives. Mr. Motlanthe's government has the economic, political and military leverage to rescue Zimbabweans from their leader; yet it not only refuses to act but actively blocks intervention by other countries. Mr. Motlanthe, Mr. Mbeki and those in South Africa who support this unconscionable policy have become accessories to a grave humanitarian crime.
Source : South Africa's Crime - washingtonpost.com
Three weeks after being raided by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) during a massive tender-fraud investigation, controversial facilities management company Bosasa Operations was awarded another multimillion-rand contract by the Department of Correctional Services.
The prisons department has now awarded contracts worth more than R2,5-billion to companies in the Bosasa group in the past five years.
Bosasa's latest treasure is the sought-after catering contract to provide thousands of prisoners in 31 of South Africa's largest prisons with food. The government's tender bulletin specifies that the contract was awarded at "±R279-million" a year for three years. The 31 prisons fall within seven management areas.
Bosasa previously held this contract, which was awarded for the first time in 2004. Before 2004 prison staff and inmates ran the kitchens in correctional facilities.
The Mail & Guardian reported in late 2007 on the SIU's investigation into tender rigging in the department, which includes massive tenders awarded to the Bosasa group.
A dispute about the extension of Bosasa's 2004 catering contract also led to the souring of relationships between Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour and former prisons boss Vernie Petersen, who refused to grant a further extension of Bosasa's contract.
Petersen eventually succeeded in putting the catering contract out to tender, but soon thereafter -- in November last year -- was removed from his position.
This week a senior member of Parliament's portfolio committee on correctional services told the M&G: "It is now clear why Petersen was removed [because of his opposition to an extension of the Bosasa contract]. That was the motive."
The re-awarding of the catering tender to Bosasa this week led to a chorus of disapproval from unsuccessful catering companies, which accused the prisons department of uncompetitive behaviour. Their fury was further stoked by unconfirmed reports that the department's adjudication committee originally awarded two management areas (Johannesburg and Krugersdorp) to two other catering companies and the rest to Bosasa. This recommendation was allegedly changed at a "high level".
Bosasa spokesperson Papa Leshabane said he was unaware of this, "but we would be more than happy to respond to facts". At least three unsuccessful tenderers are seeking legal advice on the matter.
Adding to their suspicion is a letter dated December 15 that was sent to all tenderers on behalf of Director General Xoliswa Sibeko. The M&G is in possession of the document, which states: "A possibility exists that the bid, of which particulars appear below, may not be disposed of before expiry of the current validity period."
Companies are then asked whether they are willing to "hold" their bids for a further period of time. Amendments may be made to bids, but the department reserves its right to "ignore your bid".
The M&G believes four companies -- Bosasa Operations, C3 Catering, Independent Site Services and Ukweza Catering -- were shortlisted and requested to present their proposals to the department at the beginning of November. None of the country's major catering firms, including Fedics, the Compass group and Royal Sechaba, made the cut.
Another oddity in the case is Balfour's presence at the opening of the tender box in late September after he was re-appointed minister by President Kgalema Motlanthe.
According to two sources who attended the gathering Balfour said: "I'm the new minister in this department. I was gone for two days. I got reappointed. This is my department and I decide what happens in my department."
The M&G was reliably told that the SIU executed search and seizure operations at Bosasa's Krugersdorp premises in early December and also raided the Centurion home of the suspended regional commissioner for North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, Patrick Gillingham, towards the end of year.
Gillingham is the department's former chief financial officer and is seen as a close ally of Balfour. He was moved to a position of regional commissioner in 2007 after Beeld revealed that he was managing the department's annual R9-billion budget with only a matric certificate. Petersen suspended Gillingham in September last year after receiving a preliminary report from the SIU implicating Gillingham as a "key role player" in "serious tender irregularities".
But Petersen was swapped with Sibeko, then director general of sport, two months later, after Deputy President Baleka Mbete signed a presidential minute giving effect to the change.
Petersen's removal from the prisons department was slammed by NGOs working in the sector and opposition parties who hailed him as a corruption-buster and inspirational leader.
The re-awarding of the catering tender to Bosasa threatens to lead to a massive standoff between Balfour and Parliament's portfolio committee, which, according to committee chair Dennis Bloem (ANC), will discuss the contract "as a matter of urgency".
DA spokesperson on correctional services James Selfe last year released documentation that showed Bosasa was not the lowest bidder for the catering contract in 2004. Royal Sechaba tendered for R205-million a year, while Bosasa got the contract on their bid of R240-million a year.
The department's spokesperson, Manelisi Wolela, defended the tender process, saying it was handled "clinically and appropriately ... in terms of the constitutional principles of fairness and competitiveness".
Schabir Shaik has received a R5-million windfall from the state in terms of a "secret" agreement signed late in 2008 between his lawyer and the government.
In what is believed to be an unprecedented move, the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) has agreed to split the interest on Shaik's ill-gotten gains.
Shaik is serving a 15-year sentence for his corrupt relationship with Jacob Zuma.
The Star has also established that Zuma's ex-financial adviser has not given up his fight to get back the R34-million confiscated from him and his Nkobi group of companies.
It emerged in papers filed with the Durban High Court this week that Shaik has applied to President Kgalema Motlanthe for the "reprieve and remission of the confiscated amounts".
A decision on this is still pending, it is stated.
The Durban court papers reveal a settlement agreement signed by Shaik's lawyer, Reeves Parsee, and the NDPP, which settles a dispute over who is entitled to the interest on the seized R34-million that accrued while Shaik launched various court challenges to the confiscation order.
With about R14-million interest at stake, the row was headed to court.
But late in 2008, in terms of a negotiated settlement, made an order of court, the parties agreed to split the interest, giving Shaik R5-million in cash.
This was after the state deducted about R2-million that Shaik had been advanced to pay for his two unsuccessful legal bids to overturn the asset forfeiture order.
While the agreement was not stamped "confidential", one of its terms was that it was to be kept secret, with "no public announcements" without the prior written approval of the other party.
However, the agreement was attached to a report recently submitted to the court by Trevor White, the curator tasked by the court to administer and oversee the forfeiture to the state of about R34-million that Judge Hilary Squires found to be the profit from his corrupt relationship with Zuma.
The money has been gaining interest since January 2006 while Shaik unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the forfeiture order in both the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.
In terms of the deal struck with the NDPP, Shaik agreed to pay the money back if his court attempts were unsuccessful.
In return for the cash to pay for lawyers, Shaik put up his CellSaf shares as security.
According to White's report, these shares have been given back to him, and the legal fees have been deducted from his half of the R14-million interest, leaving him with R5-million, which was paid into his attorney's account last month.
White said this left R41-million in the account, which would be paid into the criminal asset recovery account once his fees and costs had been approved and deducted.
The attached settlement agreement notes, however, that in the event of Shaik's application to the president succeeding entirely or partially, he reserved his right to reclaim the entire amount.
DA poses tough questions
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned by newspaper reports indicating that a secret deal has been concluded to pay a sum of R5 million to convicted fraudster and Arms Deals conspirator Schabir Shaik. The DA believes that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) needs to make it expressly clear why such a deal was concluded, how it serves the interests of justice, why it was conducted in secrecy, and upon what basis the NPA decided to conclude a negotiated settlement rather than allow the matter to be determined in court.
We believe that the agreement, if these reports are accurate, is outrageous and makes a mockery out of our justice system. It seems patently obvious that if an initial sum is forfeited, then any subsequent earnings on that amount ought to be forfeited too.
It is worth bearing in mind, too, that the sum of money in question is interest accrued on transactions right at the heart of the Arms Deal controversy. The initial figure of approximately R34.5 million reportedly included:
* The R250 000 bribe paid by Thales into Shaik’s Kobitech account, disguised as a so-called “service provider agreement”, but ostensibly intended for Jacob Zuma.
* R21 million shares in African Defence Systems (ADS) - the company that won the tender to supply Arms Deal corvettes with information management systems.
* ADS dividends valued at R12.7m.
* R500 000 received by Nkobi Investments for the sale of its shares in Thint Holdings to Thales.
It is utterly unacceptable that Shaik should now be allowed to profit from allegedly corrupt transactions. The DA will pose parliamentary questions to the Minister of Justice on this matter at the first available opportunity.
The ANC has defended Youth League leader and prominent academic Julius Malema, saying his latest outburst in which he accused rival party COPE of being a Western puppet like Zimbabwe's opposition party, is not evidence that he is severely retarded but was instead inspired by his current favourite toy: a Wild West-themed puppet show.
Malema was widely quoted in the national media yesterday as saying that COPE was being funded by "imperialists" who wanted to "micro-manage Africa" and "take over and exploit our mineral resources", and that they were "no different from the MDC".
Asked whether it might not be a good idea for imperialists to micro-manage South Africa, given that the ANC seemed to have no interest in managing it on either a micro- or a macro-scale, Malema excused himself, saying it was time for his pink milk and a nap.
This morning the ANC has defended Malema's apparent echoing of Robert Mugabe's paranoid rhetoric.
Speaking to journalists inside the Snuki Zikalala Friends of Bulgaria Memorial Sauna, ANC spokesman Trepan Phosa denied that Malema was severely retarded.
"One of three things has caused our Young Lion to compare COPE to the MDC and to thereby imply that the ANC is like the Zanu-PF," he said.
"Either he is severely retarded, or he is a paranoid racist seeking to perpetuate Africa's death-spiral of endlessly blaming invisible enemies in the West, or he has been misunderstood."
He said that the first option was "ludicrous", given the speed with which Malema read Archie comics during policy meetings and the ease with which he has picked up populist rabble-rousing rhetoric about scapegoats and violence.
"He's also not a paranoid racist blaming the West for all the ills of Africa. On the contrary, he has a very clear and pragmatic idea of who is responsible: witches and evil magic frogs.
"Clearly, then, there has been a misunderstanding."
He said that Malema was "somewhat obsessed" with Western puppets since being given a Wild West-themed puppet show a month ago.
"It's really quite lovely," said Phosa. "It's got cowboys and Indians, background scenery, everything."
"He's always asking us to come and watch his plays, but we don't because he's quite bad. He moves his lips when he does the voices. Although come to think of it he moves his lips when he reads his Archie comics, so maybe he can't help it."
He added that people should expect sporadic outbursts about Western puppets from Malema.
"It's really all that's on his mind at the moment. Literally.
"Perhaps when he gets a new toy he'll make some different allegations. But for now South Africans need to respect Comrade Malema's lifestyle choices, and stop being so mean to him."
He asked the media to give Malema his privacy as he was having pink milk until noon, after which it was naptime.
Source: www.hayibo.com
Belinda Scott, an ANC member of the provincial legislature in KwaZulu-Natal, has become the latest victim of armed robberies that have also hit other high-profile people in the province.
Guests, including visitors from Canada, were robbed during Scott's wedding on Saturday.
The groom and his family from Canada were accosted and robbed during the wedding ceremony at Scott's house in Pinetown's Kloof suburb.
As the ANC we believe that no citizen should have to undergo such a harrowing experience. We call for police to act speedily in apprehending the perpetrators who robbed and attacked Scott," spokesperson Nonfundo Mcetywa said on Wednesday.
The five men entered Scott's home during her wedding reception and held guests at gunpoint. They demanded cash, cellphones, jewellery and handbags. The robbers ransacked the house and took a hi-fi system, two TV sets and other electrical appliances during the incident.
"We have appointed a provincial task team because this is a very high-profile case," he said.
The armed robbers also stole wedding gifts and a car that had been hired for the wedding. The men drove away in a Volvo Coupe and VW Polo Playa they found at Scott's house.
As many as 700 pupils who sat the 2008 matric exams may have cheated, Parliament's education select committee heard on Wednesday.
Now that schools had reopened around the country these cases were being investigated, education department deputy Director-General Penny Vinjevold told members.
Briefing the committee on the latest matric results, she said although there were far fewer problems with the examination compared to previous years, of the problems in 2008, "by far the majority are where we suspect there might have been some irregularity".
Certain "irregularities" had been spotted by invigilators.
"In some cases the teacher catches a learner with a piece of paper on them. Now they're not allowed to take a piece of paper [into the exam]. Or [the teacher] catches the learner with a cellphone on them. You are not allowed to take a cellphone into an exam.
"We then immediately declare an investigation.
Child caught with a cellphone
"Now, we don't say the child has cheated because we first have to look at the piece of paper [and] we have to see whether the cellphone was used.
"I must emphasise that of the 556 000 learners who wrote [the examinations], we're talking about a small number, in the order of 700 cases."
The schools reported these cases and the department then investigated.
"Obviously some learners bring lawyers, others want a proper investigation. We can't investigate these cases... until the schools re-open."
Other irregularities were picked up at the marking centres.
"A marker will come across a scene where on 10 or 20 scripts the answers are the same. Then they investigate to see if there's any possibility that there was copying here, or there was a teaching inconsistency. This requires careful investigation."
Robben Island Museum management has denied allegations that there have been "unprecedented levels of theft" on the island in the past 13 months, and has also denied claims that security personnel who were fired for apparently being involved in some thefts may be reinstated if the island's executives have their way.
A former political prisoner, who now works for the museum, told the Cape Times that "computers, DVDs, TVs, fridges, mini-stoves, bed linen, video cameras... Robben Island merchandise and some other stuff" had been stolen from the island over the past year.
But the Robben Island Museum Council's acting chairperson, Seelan Naidoo, says the island does "not have a problem with crime" apart from "a small number of petty thefts".
Naidoo also denied that the company that is now responsible for security on the island was told to rehire staff who had been fired.
The ex-political prisoner, who asked to remain anonymous, said the island should be forced to explain "why they recommended that the security personnel who have mainly been fingered for this unprecedented theft should be rehired by (the new security company)".
Naidoo said the contract of the current security providers, SIDAS, had "run its course" and Group4Securicor had been appointed to do the job "after a tender process".
"Group4 has not been told to rehire any staff. We asked them to consider taking on some of the SIDAS staff who may end up out of work, and they pointed out that it would be best if they brought in new people."
"In general, we do not have a problem with crime on the island (apart from a small number of petty thefts). Nevertheless, there is always room for improvement and we plan to upgrade our security systems on the island," Naidoo said.
He said that in November last year "some crockery and minor appliances" were stolen from an unlocked cupboard in the island's mess storeroom.
In a separate incident, Naidoo said, a former island resident alleged that some items had been stolen from the house he occupied.
"However, there were no signs of a break-in."
Three incidents of poaching at the island had also been reported during his tenure, Naidoo said.
Meanwhile, at least two of the three senior Robben Island Museum Council executives suspended last year for allegedly mismanaging funds may know their fate by the middle of next month.
The council is due to meet in mid-February, said Naidoo, and it is hoped that the outcome of disciplinary hearings involving chief executive Paul Langa and Lesetja Nash Masekwameng can be tabled then.
Langa, Masekwameng and chief operations officer Denmark Tungwana were suspended on July 25.
Council chairperson Naledi Tsiki said after the three had been suspended that they faced charges related to "gross negligence and mismanagement".
On Wednesday, Naidoo said none of the disciplinary hearings had been finalised yet. Finalisation entailed the tabling of the hearings' outcomes at a council meeting and "some kind of formal decision in response".
"Our next council meeting is planned for mid-February and we hope that, at least, the Paul Langa and Nash Masekwameng matters will have reached the point at which they can be tabled and decided upon," Naidoo said.
No other Robben Island Museum staff had been implicated during the hearings.
Three Robben Island leaders suspended
Who is stealing from Robben Island?
No laughing matter
This is exactly what
And we at The Daily Nigger also told everyone that this guy probably won’t even make it to the Oval Office, and then look what happened. He screwed up the oath of office by starting to repeat after Chief Justice Roberts before he could finish the first sentence. And then this tripped up Roberts who screwed up the next sentence, which Obama screwed up even further. The bottom line is that this guy Obama is a total loser who can’t even repeat the oath of office correctly. And yet people said that Bush was a screw up. How dare they even say a word about him ever again. At least Bush could recite the oath of office.
As far as we are concerned, Obama is still not the president because he couldn’t recite the oath properly. I guess the mainstream media’s handlers forget to teach him about oath-taking. Whoops!
Posted in Free Speech
South African Airways cabin crew have been arrested after cannabis worth about £150,000 was found in baggage arriving at Heathrow.
Fifty kilos (110lb) of the drug were discovered on a flight that came in from Johannesburg, a spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said.
Fifteen members of staff were taken into custody after the seizure by officers from the UK Border Agency.
The drugs were discovered in three pieces of baggage, the spokesman said.
The flight arrived at the London airport at 8am.
Those held were both flight crew and cabin crew.
HMRC spokesman Bob Gaiger said: "Those arrested are now being held in custody and will be interviewed by HMRC investigation officers.
"HMRC, together with UKBA (UK Border Agency), play a vital role in the fight to prevent illegal drugs from entering the UK and in protecting our communities from the violence and corruption that always accompany this hideous trade."
Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to drugs smuggling should call a 24-hour customs hotline on 0800 59 5000.
Update 24/01/2009 - Cartel link to SAA drug bust
29/01/2009 - SAA security firm's ANC links
