South Africa Today

Aircraft crashes into Jhb house
07/03/2008 12:57 - (SA)

The crashed micro light next to the house it smashed into. (Nick Dollman, Netcare 911)

Johannesburg - A light aircraft crashed into a house filled with people near Honeydew early on Friday morning, injuring the pilot and his wife.

SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesperson, Phindiwe Gwebu, said that the cause of the crash had not yet been determined.

“Our investigators are still looking into the matter,” she told News24 on Friday.

Several privately-owned micro light planes were preparing for a trip when the crash occurred at about 07:00, according to Netcare 011 spokesperson, Nick Dollman.

“It ran out of runway and hit a fence before colliding into the store room side of a building that houses several people,” said Dollman.

None of the people in the house were hurt.

The pilot however had a head injury and serious injuries to his legs as well as several possible fractures.

His wife fractured her ankle and injured her hand.

The plane was taking off from a runway in Rietfontein next to Beyers Naude Drive near Honeydew.

Gwebu said the airfield was privately owned, but could not confirm who it belonged to. The house was about 20m away from the runway.

The pilot and his wife, whose names have not been released, were rushed to the Netcare Krugersdorp Hospital for further assessment and treatment.

Gwebu said the CAA will continue its investigations into the crash, which could take three months to complete.

Zuma ‘a political polygamist’
07/03/2008 12:57 - (SA)

Cape Town - ANC President Jacob Zuma is a “political polygamist” elected for his lack of leadership, according to Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille.

Writing in her weekly newsletter on the DA website on Friday, she said a good leader led by example, setting the bar himself.

“On this count, Zuma is quite obviously flawed,” she said.

A good leader was also not afraid to take unpopular decisions if he believed they were right, because he had a clear vision of how things should be.

“And this is where Jacob Zuma really falls short. He has no vision. In his words he is just ‘a loyal ANC cadre’ implementing what he claims is ‘party policy’.

“This is a leadership cop-out if there ever was one, especially in a party that is still a ‘broad church’ with widely divergent policy approaches,” Zille said.

‘Political brides’

In the absence of any clear vision of his own, Zuma was incapable of taking a firm and independent stand on issues, or giving direction to his followers, let alone the country.

“Instead he simply bends in the direction of whoever he is courting at that moment. He is best described as a political polygamist, trying to satisfy many different political brides simultaneously,” she said.

The most obvious example was when Zuma, in a recent interview with the Financial Mail, called for greater labour market flexibility on the grounds that tight labour laws were “counting out the poorest of the poor” from the job market.

Business was impressed, and so were those who believed rigid labour legislation stifled investment and job creation.

“But it was short-lived - hell hath no fury like a senior political bride scorned,” Zille said.

When confronted by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), Zuma quickly changed his mind, saying he would be prepared to lay down his life in defence of the current labour market regime.

Contradictory statements

“This about-face was not enough for Cosatu, who are clearly anxious about Zuma’s flip-flopping.”

Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi declared Zuma had agreed his “phrasing and packaging” had caused him to be misunderstood.

In the same interview with the Financial Mail, it was reported that Zuma had spoken positively about inflation-targeting.

This contradicted his statements after Polokwane that this policy was problematic.

“And it is not just on the economy that Zuma says whatever will please the audience he is addressing. The problem goes far deeper than that.

“Zuma’s flip-floppery also extends to his own questionable personal conduct.”

Clear and consistent

Despite loudly and repeatedly demanding his “day in court” to prove his innocence on charges of bribe-taking, Zuma had done everything possible to avoid it, Zille said.

One did not need to be an intellectual to be a good leader.

One needed a vision, to stick to principles, and to be bold enough to take a clear and consistent stance on an issue.

Zuma was not elected ANC leader because he showed any of these qualities.

“He was elected because a powerful populist/leftist lobby in the party saw in Zuma their opportunity to get rid of (President Thabo) Mbeki’s economic centrism and his tendency to centralise power.

“In fact, the ANC populists elected Zuma precisely because of his lack of leadership. They believe this will enable them to manipulate him,” she said.

What they did not understand was that an easily manipulated leader was open to all offers, and often sold to the highest bidder.

Pulled in different directions

Zuma’s honeymoon with his senior political brides, Cosatu and the SA Communist Party, was already running into trouble.

Now that he had ascended to power in the ANC he would increasingly realise how important other interest groups were to him and to the country if we wanted to make progress.

If he become President, and failed to develop any clear vision of where he was leading the country, he would be pulled in every direction by jealous suitors and end up going nowhere.

“That is the price of political polygamy: It is impossible to satisfy all your brides at once.

“They all have different needs which are often diametrically opposed. Flip-floppery may get you out of a corner a few times, but it will not work once the honeymoon is over,” Zille said.

Truck hijacker held after crash
07/03/2008 16:07 - (SA)

Johannesburg - One man was arrested after a hijacked truck hit a police car before overturning at the Buccleuch interchange on Friday, Johannesburg police said.

Inspector Julie Claassen said the truck was hijacked on the M1 at the Grayston offramp at about 03:30.

“The suspects pulled the driver out of truck and drove off. Police saw what was happening and called for back-up.”

Claassen said ten police cars were involved in the chase.

She said the hijackers tried to push one of the police vehicles off the road and during the attempt, drove into a police vehicle with three occupants.

Another car was also bumped.

The police car sustained severe side and frontal damage.

Claassen said police in another vehicle started shooting at the wheels of the truck and it overturned at the Buccleuch interchange.

“A 33-year-old man was arrested and police are still searching for the other man who is still at large.”

The truck was transporting food valued at R200 000 to a Woolworths branch in Benmore.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman said the three injured police officers were taken to Sunninghill Hospital.

“Two were in a serious condition and the driver who sustained critical head and chest injuries was placed on to emergency life support.”

The split from the M1 to the N3 towards Germiston was closed and traffic in the area was severely affected.

Shrinks ask for more time
07/03/2008 18:33 - (SA)

Pretoria - Psychiatrists need more time to evaluate a man accused of murdering his wife with an axe and burying her in another person’s grave, the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday.

Godfrey Macheke, 37, of Soshanguve, was last month sent to Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital after a district surgeon recommended he be evaluated to see if he was mentally fit to stand trial.

He was arrested in January 2007 after his sister-in-law reported his 32-year-old wife Margaret missing.

Police then allegedly found bloodstains in Macheke’s vehicle.

He reportedly confessed that he had murdered his wife with an axe and buried her in someone else’s grave in Winterveld in December 2006.

The grave was dug up and Macheke was charged with kidnapping and murder.

He was denied bail. Because Weskoppies did not have a bed available, was admitted there only in February this year for 30 days of observation.

The 30 days were over by Friday, but the court heard that Macheke had not been evaluated by all the doctors required.

Another two weeks were needed for that.

The case was postponed to March 26 for the Weskoppies report.

Reptiles abandoned at OR Tambo
07/03/2008 20:05 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Three animal transport crates containing endangered reptiles were found abandoned at Oliver Tambo Airport, the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said on Friday.

NSPCA’s National Inspector Alistair Sinclair said the organisation arrived at Oliver Tambo on Thursday after a tip-off and found five crates that were emanating a “nauseating stench”.

Two of the crates, that were destined for Spain, were returned to Madagascar because the transporting agent had not paid the duties.

The three remaining crates, destined for the Czech Republic, were taken to the Johannesburg Zoo and unpacked.

Sinclair said the crates contained “hundreds” of snakes, geckos, lizards, chameleons and arthropods, contrary to the consignment listing lizards and frogs.

He estimated that about 10 to 15% of the animals had died during the five to six days they had been in the crates and he expected more to die of dehydration during the following days.

Sinclair said the incident “again” proved that animal welfare concerns were not adequately addressed by the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA).

“The crates [that were returned to Madagascar] had been there for 12 to 14 days and nobody was bothered that these animals would eventually die,” he said.

He said this was just one example of many where animals were treated as part of the cargo.

“We have to wait for someone at the airport to contact us. We can’t go in as we like because ACSA requires each inspector to have a R387 permit when he goes into the warehouse.

“If we could go in as we liked, many of these incidents could be prevented.”

‘This must never happen again’
07/03/2008 21:01 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Dozens of prominent South Africans have signed a statement condemning a racist video which surfaced at the Free State University earlier this month.

The list of 81 signatories includes renowned authors Nadine Gordimer and Andre P Brink, journalists John Perlman and Max du Preez, retired judge Arthur Chaskalson, cartoonist Zapiro, and academic Phillip Tobias.

Their statement on Friday said of the filmmakers: “They have dehumanised themselves by their own disgusting acts of inhumanity.”

The video, which has sparked a national outcry, features black university employees on their knees eating food which had apparently been urinated on by a white student.

It depicts a mock initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities and refers openly to the university’s integration policy for campus residences announced in 2007.

The four students who shot the video are to face disciplinary charges, and a criminal investigation into their actions is underway.

In their statement, the prominent personalities said it was not enough to deplore the video privately.

“It is vital to our shared humanity that South Africans of whatever race, colour, class and political affiliation, speak out in revulsion of this violation of our constitution which demands that respect be accorded to every individual, affirming the inherent dignity of all of us.”

The perpetrators should face the truth and confront the enormity of what they had done.

“And we must ask ourselves why this has happened and what must be done to redress the harm and to ensure that such unspeakably damaging acts never happen again,” read the statement.

Zim faces ‘Kenya-like’ violence
07/03/2008 20:35 - (SA)

Pretoria - An outbreak of violence in Zimbabwe is a possibility if the current situation in that country does not change, angry protesters said on Friday in Pretoria.

“If things don’t change, don’t be alarmed of a situation like [that] of Kenya,” said Vice Chairman of the Zimbabwean Civic Society Sox Shitohwero.

Shitohwero was speaking outside the Zimbabwean High Commission where protesters delivered a memorandum calling for free and fair elections.

Elections are expected to take place in Zimbabwe on March 29.

However, the approximately 300 protesters were angered after no one from the commission came out to receive the memorandum.

The protesters, some Zimbabwean nationals, as well as members of the SA Communist Party (SACP) threw their placards and pieces of paper on the pavement outside the commission.

Earlier on Friday, protesters handed over memoranda to the Kenyan and Swazi High Commissions.

The march was organised by the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).

The protesters called for the return of all Swazi exiles and that international observers be allowed to monitor the election in Zimbabwe.

The group called on the Kenyan government to allow for political, economic and social transformation within the country.

Zuma: Mbeki has no authority
07/03/2008 20:05 - (SA)

Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki can no longer govern effectively after losing the leadership of the country’s ruling party, ANC leader Jacob Zuma was quoted as saying on Friday.

In an unusually strong and direct attack on Mbeki, Zuma said power was firmly concentrated in the hands of the African National Congress, suggesting the president’s authority had slipped away.

“… if he’s not part of the ANC leadership, he doesn’t have authority. You can’t even take serious decisions in terms of governance,” he said in an interview with London’s Financial Times published on the newspaper’s website.

Zuma is a populist with backing from left-leaning unions who has promised investors he would not stray from pro-business policies that Mbeki has pursued to keep an economic boom going. The ANC leader says those are party policies.

Zuma still faces trial in August on money-laundering and racketeering charges.

The rivalry between Zuma and Mbeki has plunged the ANC into the worst internal crisis in its history, creating two centres of power between the government and the ANC.

Asked if Mbeki and most government ministers had a “straitjacket” around them, Zuma said: “The president himself and the ministers’ term have to come to an end, and therefore that in itself tells you more where the power lies.

“Because you couldn’t say there is another power somewhere. In other words, the ANC has to make a decision of the kind of situation that is going to come thereafter.”

While Mbeki appears to be keeping a low profile these days, Zuma acts like the man who will rule South Africa, despite the prospect of being imprisoned if he loses the court case.

Zuma has been meeting businessmen, and publicly addressing some of the country’s most sensitive issues. On Thursday he told South Africa’s traditionally white trade union that the minority should not feel threatened.

Marion Jones begins jail term
08/03/2008 08:20 - (SA)

Los Angeles - Olympic superstar Marion Jones on Friday began a six-month jail sentence for lying about her steroid use, a punishment likely to grab the attention of baseball home run king Barry Bonds.

Jones, 32, reported to the Federal Medical Centre-Carswell, a correctional facility in Fort Worth, Texas, US Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Traci Billingsley said.

Her incarceration demonstrated the increasing role of government authorities in tackling doping, an issue once left to sports officials.

Like Jones, Bonds is facing perjury charges that stem from the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens is also now the target of a perjury probe, after members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned whether he lied under oath when he denied using performance enhancing drugs during a Congressional hearing.

The high profile cases - news of Jones’s arrival at prison was broken by the People.com celebrity news website - come amid calls from some lawmakers to tackle doping in sports with legislation.

Athletics officials were never able to prove doping allegations against Jones, which she vehemently denied for years and boasted that her clean drug tests proved her innocence.

But when faced with charges of lying to federal agents about taking steroids and about her role in a check fraud scheme, Jones made a tearful confession last October.

She admitted she used BALCO’s designer steroid THG from September of 2000 to July of 2001 and was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation.

Her request to be spared jail time for the sake of her two young sons went unheeded by US District Court Judge Kenneth Karas, who said she had not made “a momentary lapse in judgment, a one-time mistake, but instead a repetition in an attempt to break the law.”

‘Houses for pals dangerous’

06/03/2008 18:31 - (SA)

Cape Town - The lesson of the controversial N2 Gateway project was that a policy of houses for pals was dangerous, said Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille on Thursday.

It was “simply not feasible”, in the context of a city waiting list of more than 400 000 extremely poor families, to start pumping billions of rands of state subsidies into middle-class housing for a small elite.

Zille was addressing a special council meeting on the situation in Delft, where local backyard dwellers illegally occupied homes meant for shack dwellers displaced in the Gateway project.

She said the people still living in shacks were angry because, instead of getting the houses promised to them, they were being forced to make way for homes they could not afford.

“Let me be quite plain, Speaker, it is the ANC’s racist and elitist housing policy that lies at the root of this crisis,” said Zille.

Conflict ahead

“The real lesson we need to learn is that the policy of houses for pals, just like the policy of jobs for pals, is dangerous and detrimental to our nation.

“Unfortunately, I doubt that such a lesson will sink in.”

Community conflict about the project would probably continue in the months and years ahead.

The Gateway project is being run by state-owned property developer Thubelisha Homes, rather than the city.

The illegal occupants of the newly-built Delft housing were evicted last month, after a High Court order.

Many of them are now living in makeshift shelters in the open in the same area.