Second Take: Platinum’s decentralised bargaining system:
'via Blog this'
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
SA drug mule facing death penalty
SA drug mule facing death penalty: A young Kroonstad woman is facing the death penalty in Indonesia after she was caught with 6kg of crystal meth or tik at the international airport in Manado.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
South Africa's Shoprite To Invest R1.7 Billion IN nigeria
Shoprite to invest R1.7bn in Nigeria
Comment on this story
Independent Newspapers.
Shoprite in Southgate in Gauteng. Photo: Leon Nicholas.
South Africa's Shoprite plants to spend up to 1.7 billion rand ($205 million) on securing new locations in Nigeria, its chief executive said on Tuesday, as Africa's top retailer ramps up sub-Saharan expansion.
Whitey Basson made the comment following the release of the company's full-year results. Shares of Shoprite were up nearly 2 percent at 159.34 rand at 12:26 SA time. - Reuters
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Finally Some Serious Corruption Arrests In South Africa
Kaizer Chiefs boss held for tender fraud
INLSA
Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung, left, and a fellow Lefika Emerging Equity (Pty) Ltd executive were arrested for allegedly submitting false documents to secure a tender for the Mbombela World Cup stadium. They were due to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court.
A fraudulent tax certificate used to secure a tender for the controversial construction of Mpumalanga’s Mbombela stadium has led to Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung being arrested by the Hawks.
Two independent sources confirmed to The Star that the man who left Kaizer Chiefs fans seething over utterances that he would never relinquish his position as club manager as he was not elected but born into the family business was arrested at the club’s headquarters in Naturena, south of Joburg, on Wednesday.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela would not reveal the names of the two men arrested, but confirmed that they had arrested directors of Lefika Emerging Equity (Pty) Ltd – a company that allegedly fraudulently secured a tender to build the R1.2 billion 2010 World Cup stadium.
He said one of the men was arrested in Naturena around 10am and the other in Cape Town.
Motaung is the company director, while Chris Grib, who was arrested in Cape Town on Wednesday, is the CEO. A third man is still on the run.
According to company registration records, the third man listed as director of the company is Herbert Theledi.
“I can confirm that we [Hawks and Sars] arrested two gentlemen for fraud, forgery and theft about three hours ago in relation to allegations that Lefika submitted false SA Revenue Service documents to apply for a tender to build the Mbombela stadium. They are being transported to Nelspruit and will appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court tomorrow [on Thursday],” said Polela.
Kaizer Chiefs have vehemently denied Motaung’s arrest.
“Bobby has not been arrested… I have consulted with my principals and that’s the first thing I asked from the security; they said they didn’t see any Hawks entering the premises,” club spokesman Vina Maphosa said on Wednesday.
But impeccable sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Star that Motaung and Grib were the two unnamed men picked up by the Hawks.
Polela said Lefika had submitted fraudulent documents purportedly coming from Sars when it successfully tendered for the contract to design the stadium.
He said the Hawks had “unravelled the entire bidding process and interviewed officials and the losing bidders to find out where corruption happened and who was involved”.
Polela said the arrests were the culmination of the first phase of an ongoing investigation.
The construction of the 41 000-seater venue was marred by allegations of tender fraud, corruption and wrongdoing. The local community complained they had been forced out of their land without any compensation, with two schools demolished to make way for the stadium.
Former Mbombela municipality Speaker Jimmy Mohlala, who blew the whistle on the deal, was gunned down in January 2009. He had publicly accused Lefika, other companies and individuals of tender corruption a year earlier.
Mohlala claimed to have evidence that Lefika forged a government document and committed bank fraud to win the contract.
He alleged that the then-Mbombela municipal manager had connived with stadium contractors to steal public money. He also alleged there had been corruption relating to housing.
Mohlala was told by the ANC’s leaders for the Ehlanzeni region to resign, but he refused. Mohlala threatened to file criminal complaints, but was shot dead at his home in Kanyamazane on January 4, 2009, before he could do so.
The housing corruption allegations led to the manager being hauled before a disciplinary hearing. He was found guilty and sacked in March 2009.
The manager went to the labour court in a bid to overturn his dismisssal. City Press reported – and well-placed ANC sources have confirmed – that the party’s Ehlanzeni leaders instructed party councillors to reach a settlement out of court. The manager was paid R1.5 million in settlement, with the municipality saying it was necessary to do this in order to avoid incurring about R13m in legal fees.
Mohlala’s killer or killers have yet to face the law. Charges against five men arrested after his death were dropped in January.
Police later arrested a Mozambican man, known as Josh, who, it is understood, alleged in an affidavit that a senior ANC politician and a personality in soccer circles had been involved in Mohlala’s death.
At the time, Mpumalanga police questioned him, but later released him, saying they lacked evidence to link him to the crime.
Deadly business ‘exposed’
A Mozambican man known as Josh made sensational claims in an affidavit that a senior ANC politician and a personality in soccer circles were involved in former Mbombela Speaker Jimmy Mohlala’s death.
He also claimed he was hired by Mpumalanga government officials and the soccer boss to work as a cleaner from 2000 until 2009 so that he could eliminate his handlers’ political and business opponents.
The Mozambican’s affidavit claimed he planted drugs in councillor Isaiah Khoza’s house; poisoned former ANC Youth League provincial leader James Nkambule; and tried to kill former Gert Sibande mayor Andries Gamede, standing committee on public accounts chairman Fish Mahlalela and Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo.
Although the Mbombela municipality reportedly ordered several audits after uncovering dubious transactions involving taxpayers’ money, no arrests had ever been made in relation to the alleged stadium corruption until now.
omphitlhetse.mooki@inl.co.za
piet.rampedi@inl.co.za
The Star
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Nelson Mandela's Grandson Suffers A Personal Scandal
Nelson Mandela's grandson humiliated in love triangle scandal with French bride he broke the law to marry
By Dan Newling
UPDATED: 17:48 GMT, 14 August 2012
UPDATED: 17:48 GMT, 14 August 2012
Mandla Mandela's wife has left him after the South African political chief discovered that the couple's baby son was born to one of his own brothers
Nelson Mandela's grandson and political heir has been embroiled in a love triangle scandal involving his second wife.
The relationship started badly enough when Mandla Mandela, 38, was accused of bigamy when he wed French teenager Anais Grimaud while still married to his first wife.
Now the Frenchwoman has left him after the South African political chief discovered that the couple's baby son was born to one of his own brothers.
The cuckold scandal is just the latest in a series of controversies involving Mandla Mandela, whom Nelson Mandela anointed as his political heir.
As well as being a South African MP, Mandla Mandela is a chief in the important Thembu tribe and handles much of Nelson Mandela's legacy.
More significant, however, is that as grandson of the universally respected 94-year-old he is the public face of the Mandela family.
The 38-year-old politics graduate married his first wife, Tanda Mabunu-Mandela, at a traditional ceremony in 2004.
Six years later he married Mme Grimaud, who is from the island of Reunion, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean.
On marriage Madame Grimaud gained the tribal name Nkosikazi Nobubele Mandela.
The couple's son was born in September last year and was named Qheya by Nelson Mandela himself.
The marriage was marred however, by the fact that at the time they tied the knot Mandla remained officially married to his first wife.
Ms Mabunu-Mandela fought the Grimaud marriage in the law courts and it was last year declared unlawful.
Mandla's personal affairs became even more complicated last Christmas when he reportedly married a Swazi princess, Nodiyala Mbali Makhathini.
Until now both she and Madame Grimaud appeared to have been happy with this polygamous arrangement, although its precise legal status is unclear.
Happy arrival: Anais Grimaud and Mandla Mandela present 'their' son Qheya to Nelson Mandela last year. It has now been revealed that the son is not Mandla's - but one of his brothers'
Marriages: Mandela with his first wife Tando Mabunu Mandela, left, and right, with his second wife, French beauty Anais Grimaud
Mandla Mandela is thought to be Nelson Mandela's preferred choice as his political successor
Today, however, a statement issued on behalf of the politician revealed details of the explosive end to the Grimaud marriage.
'The Mandela family has sent my wife Nkosikazi Nobubele Mandela (nee Anais Grimaud) back to her home after it was discovered she has been having an affair with one of my brothers', the statement read.
'I confirm this affair resulted in a son that Nkosikazi Nobubele gave birth to in 2011. I can also confirm DNA tests conducted have confirmed the child is not mine.
Mandela and grandson Mandla attend a memorial service for Mandela's son (and Mandla's father) Makgatho Mandela, who died of an Aids-related illness in 2005
'The revelation of this affair has come as a shock to me and the rest of my family. It has been made more painful because it is my own brother who is at the centre of the crisis.'
The statement did not identify which of Mandla Mandela's three brothers is the father.
Mandla is the oldest, born in 1974, followed by Ndaba (1983), Mbusu (1991) and Andile (1993).
Ndaba Mandela was quoted in The Sowetan as saying the child was not his, adding: 'Nobody knows who the father is, but I can confidently confirm that it was not me.
'Mandla told me that he was not the father. She [Grimaud] left because of their problems, the child's paternity was probably one of the main reasons. I have never touched her in a physical or sexual way.'
Mandla is the first son of Makgatho Lewanika Mandela, an attorney who died of Aids in 2005. His second wife, Hi Zondi Mandela, died in 2003 and, at first, her cause of death was given as pneumonia.
After Makgatho's death, Mandla announced that her pneumonia had been a complication of ther HIV virus.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
A Peace Corps Volunteer Molests Children In Africa
Volunteer a ‘menace to society’
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Jesse Osmun, a former Peace Corps volunteer was arrested and charged with sexually abusing children under six while working at a preschool in South Africa in 2010, US officials said.
KwaZulu-natal - Jesse Osmun, a US Peace Corps volunteer who sexually abused five young KwaZulu-Natal girls, was a “menace to normal society” and should be jailed for the rest of his days.
This is the crux of a letter written by Joan Dutton, head of the Umvoti Aids Centre in Greytown which will be read out in a US court when Osmun is sentenced in October.
“I have never met a person who has behaved like Jesse. I feel strongly that Jesse came to the Peace Corps and South Africa with one view in mind: to abuse little girls,” Dutton writes. “This is such a shocking realisation that neither the experienced Peace Corps, nor us, had ever had such thoughts in our minds.”
Osmun was on assignment at the Greytown centre last year when he abused five girls aged, between three and five years old. He was thrown out of the centre and sent back to the US where authorities brought charges against him.
In June this year he pleaded guilty to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with children.
American prosecutors have asked Dutton to write a letter – in aggravation of sentence – to the judge who will sentence Osmun, outlining how the centre was affected by the abuse.
In the letter, Dutton gives US authorities a snapshot of the issues facing the local community, saying that in addition to the Aids epidemic, the Umvoti area where the centre is located has a 61 percent unemployment rate, and that 80 percent of people live in rural areas. She said 44 percent of children there were orphans.
“Our greatest task has been our children who are the ones that feel the greatest pain. To this end we have developed a crèche for those little ones [younger than six years] who are infected or affected by the Aids pandemic. This crèche is their safe haven where they are loved, cared for and feel special, as they get little of the essentials that a child’s progress needs in their home environment,” she said.
“The crèche has 52 little ones every day. All are younger than five years old, and are neglected pre-schoolers whom we cherish. None of them wants to go home in the afternoon because at the centre they feel secure, loved and cared for. This is one of our main goals as we nurture these little ones so that they can be given what all children should have, in order for them to grow into valuable members of our society.”
Dutton said that they were shocked when six months after welcoming Osmun into their crèche, he was caught abusing their children.
“Jesse had done his research well as all the children have files, and he singled out those that were most vulnerable who would do anything for a sweet,” she said. “These children have so little, but Jesse has taken the very fundamentals of their lives away. Can they ever grow up as normal people?”
According to an agreement reached at Osmun’s last court hearing on Thursday last week, about R240 000, donated in part by the US government and Osmun’s family, will be paid into a trust account for the children.
However, Dutton says in her letter that it would be difficult to wipe away the pain Osmun caused.
“In my humble opinion, Jesse is a menace to normal society and I hope he is incarcerated so that he can never again abuse little children,” she said. “I feel that he came to the Peace Corps and ultimately to the Umvoti Aids Centre with the express view of carrying on with his shameful crimes. I am still woken at night with frightening nightmares stemming from what Jesse has done.” - Daily News
Monday, August 13, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
A Huge Investment Scandal in Cape Town
Investors hit by R1.8bn scam
SUPPLIED
File photo: The scandal centres on the financial dealings of Herman Pretorius (pictured) who shot dead his former business partner Julius Williams, then turned the gun on himself.
Cape Town - A new R1.8 billion financial scandal, to rival the Fidentia scam of 2007 and the collapse of Masterbond in 1992, has been blown wide open following the shooting of two businessmen who died in a Foreshore office block last Thursday.
The scandal centres on the financial dealings of Herman Pretorius, who shot dead his former business partner Julius Williams, then turned the gun on himself. The details began emerging when attorney and investor Morné Strydom went to the Western Cape High Court this week to have Pretorius’s Relative Value Arbitrage Fund (RVAF) sequestered – after discovering the fund’s bank accounts were empty when he and others tried to withdraw their investments, valued at about R200 million.
A provisional sequestration order was granted on Wednesday, with an order that a curator be appointed within 48 hours.
In his papers, Strydom says he and several other investors wanted to withdraw their funds in the wake of negative media reports about the fund, and Pretorius’s subsequent death.
But following an emergency meeting with the fund’s only other trustee Eduard Brand after Pretorius’s death, they learnt there was no money in the fund, and no possibility of any future income.
According to an affidavit by Brand, about 3 000 investors, owed about R1.8bn, had invested in Pretorius’s trust, which was managed by his company Abante.
Brand says he has no knowledge where the funds were invested.
Pretorius is listed on Cipro (the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office) as a director or former director of more than 100 companies.
Pretorius shot Williams and himself in the Icon building on the Foreshore on July 26, following a spat over funding of a company called SA SuperAlloys, in which Pretorius had sold priority shares to investors.
It has since emerged that many of Pretorius’s investors were farmers and residents of small Western Cape towns like Porterville and Malmesbury. However, there were also investors from northern areas such as Bloemfontein.
An RVAF client list, attached to court papers and dated 2004, shows around 500 clients with balances ranging from R41 000 to more than R2m, totalling R77m. Other than farmers, the investors include family trusts and several members from the same families.
Pretorius is the biggest investor, with more than R2.4m, but because the list is dated 2004, it is unclear whether he had withdrawn his funds.
Brand says in the affidavit that his work was only administrative, and that he had no knowledge of what Pretorius was doing.
Pretorius would give him the figures for the interest to be paid, which he would then enter into investors’ quarterly statements. Investors were paid 14 to 25 percent interest on their investments.
Brand did not return calls and messages left for him by Weekend Argus this week.
RVAF has been trading since 2004, but Brand appears to have worked alongside Pretorius as trustees of the Trudeaux and the Seca Trusts since at least 2002.
The RVAF trustee agreement, which Brand signed in 2004, and presented in court papers, raises a number of questions. It states that there should be three trustees at all times, although it is apparent that only he and Pretorius ever served.
The matter will be back in court again on September 3.
Meanwhile, Die Burger reported that at Pretorius’s funeral held in Welgemoed this week, his pastor said Pretorius had come to see him about a vision he had, in which he hurt a number of people. - Weekend Argus
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Elena and I Celebrate 12 Years Together!
Today Elena and I celebrate 12 years together. On August 1, 2000 we both were suffering a broken heart because of former loves that did not work out. I logged in to www.kiss,com (now part of www.match.com.) I saw a picture of a very attractive lady standing in a place in Swaziland (next to South Africa) that I knew well. I read her profile with great interest. Everything looked good until she said that she was looking for a man within 50 miles of Buenos Aires. I was sitting 7,000 miles away in San Jose, California. I decided to take a giant chance. I contacted her. We started to chat up to three hours each night on MSN Messenger. When Elena came to San Francisco to meet me in October 2000, I kissed her the first time at the San Francisco International Airport. It was all over. After 18 years of being a divorced man, I had found the right woman. She gave up a great career and assured life in Argentina to come and live with me in California. We have had many hard times and trials. Elena is an incredible lady who has given me the best years of my life. I won the lottery the day I opened up her profile on www.kiss.com.
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