minister – praag.org

Getting paid for doing nothing

A former director of the water affairs department has been drawing a R3 million salary following his suspension two years ago, the Sunday Independent reported.

Maxwell Sirenya clashed with the then water affairs minister Edna Molewa over a R419 million tender in 2013, according to the newspaper.

The information technology contract for Business Connexion pitted Molewa and former public administration minister Lindiwe Sisulu against each other, with Serenya in the middle.

According to the newspaper, Molewa and Sisulu clashed over whether Molewa was right in invoking the law to award the tender to Business Connexion.

“It started in February 2013. I am not at work. I am at home, I am being paid for doing nothing,” Serenya was quoted as saying.

His case was not unique and many director generals have found themselves in a similar situation, he told the publication.

Mokonyane’s chief of staff Collin Pitso told the newspaper that the matter was close to being settled.

British minister resigns over Gaza

A Foreign Office minister has resigned from the Conservative government in Britain, saying its policy on the crisis in Gaza is “morally indefensible”.

Baroness Warsi wrote on her Twitter feed that she was leaving with “deep regret”.

Lady Warsi, who was previously chairman of the Conservative Party, became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010.

The prime minister thanked her for her “excellent work”, adding that he wanted an “unconditional ceasefire” in Gaza.

Labour backed Lady Warsi’s comments, but Chancellor George Osborne called her resignation “disappointing and frankly unnecessary”.

Lady Warsi grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and worked as a solicitor before entering politics. She was demoted from the cabinet to a middle-ranking Foreign Office post in 2012, being made minister for faith and communities at the same time.

She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza.”

Several backbench Conservative MPs have called on Mr Cameron to take a more robust line with Israel amid concerns its actions in Gaza are “disproportionate”.

Source: BBC

Kasrils papers find a home at Wits University

Rare and historical material belonging prominent political figure Ronnie Kasrils, gathered during the liberation struggle and the transition to a democratic South Africa, will be handed over into the custody of Wits University tomorrow.

Kasrils was a member of the African National Congress (ANC), Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and secretary of the Congress of Democrats in the early 1960s. He was involved in MK military operations, and served as Deputy Minister of Defence from 1994 to 1999. Kasrils was also appointed Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry from 1999 to 2004; and Minister of Intelligence Services from 2004 to 2008.

The depositing of Kasrils’ annals to Wits University’s Historical Papers Research Archive will be marked with a seminar reflecting on the struggle veteran’s decision to deposit the documents and engage him on his personal narrative, and the current political era. The media is invited to the function taking place on Thursday, 20 June 2013 at 18:00 at the Wits Club, West Campus, Wits University. RSVP: buhle.zuma@wits.ac.za.

On display will be some of the exceptionally rare and unique items such as:

· Kasrils’ introduction to Marxism and his MK note books from the Soviet Union (Odessa)

· Lecture notes given in Angolan (including Quibaxe) camps in 1977 and 1978, including recordings of some of the lectures and class discussions

· Recordings of camp concerts and celebrations with live commentary and interviews

· The 1986 MPLA/FAPLA-MK Intelligence Agreement signed by the presidents of the two organisations, Oliver Tambo and José Dos Santos; Kasrils (as MK Military Intelligence Chief) and his Angolan counterpart

· Letters to his wife Eleanor from the Angolan camp

· Ronnie’s Apartheid surveillance file No. 1032 relating to his political activities from 1961-1990

· Financial documents for operations, underground cadres and Self Defence Units during Operation Vula.

A revised edition of Kasrils’ book Armed and Dangerous will also be on sale.

The Historical Papers Research Archive at Wits University was established in 1966. It is one of the largest and most comprehensive independent archives in Southern Africa housing over 3300 collections of historical, political and cultural importance, encompassing the mid-17th Century to the present.

Buhle Zuma

Communications Officer

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Tel: 011 717 1018

Fax: 086 5533 092

E-mail: buhle.zuma@wits.ac.za

EE accuses South African minister of ‘attack on non-racism’

Equal Education (EE) has issued the following media release:

Equal Education (EE) notes with shock and disappointment the statement released by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) headed “Equal Education is disingenuous: Minister Motshekga”.

Every factual claim about the process needed for the finalisation of Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure is wrong and misleading. EE will issue a full statement explaining this in due course, but it is all explained in this relatively short affidavit:

It was on the basis of this affidavit that Judge Dukada of the Bhisho High Court decided that the matter is urgent, and is to be heard on 11 July 2013.

But the most unfortunate part of the DBE’s statement reads as follows:

“It is interesting to note the sudden interest that Equal Education is taking in the education of the African child. Suddenly the NGO knows all about the challenges that African children face against the privileges they have enjoyed.

“To suddenly see a group of white adults organizing black African children with half-truths can only be opportunistic, patronizing and simply dishonest to say the least.”

As it happens the majority of EE’s leadership went to the very township and rural schools we are fighting to fix. A link to EE’s National Council, of which I am chair, can be found here:

www.equaleducation.org.za/page/national-council. At the same time EE consists of people of every background and we are very proud of this. Any person who commits themself to advancing the daily struggles of poor and working class youth is welcome in EE. That these values exist is something that those responsible for education should celebrate, not attack.

The DBE’s statement is a very serious attack on non-racism, the Constitution and the legacy of Nelson Mandela. That it appears on a government letterhead is shocking. Cabinet will surely be concerned about this.

The statement is issued in the name of Minister Motshekga. We urge the Minister to urgently clarify whether she in fact wrote or had sight of the statement. We would like to give the Minister an opportunity to distance herself from such appalling racism, to retract the statement and to offer an apology to Equal Education.

EE has always engaged with the Minister in a robust but respectful way.

We are not and have never been at war with her personally. EE is currently campaigning for Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure.

These regulations will create a binding standard to ensure that every school meets an acceptable standard of infrastructure.

In November 2012 Minister Motshekga signed a settlement agreement in which she committed to consult fully and publish binding school infrastructure regulations by 15 May 2013. EE extended this deadline to 15 June to accommodate the Minister. Now, in breach of this settlement agreement, she has requested another six months to accomplish what she agreed would take place between November 2012 and May 2013. After four years of delays EE’s membership cannot accept this.

The point of Norms and Standards is to empower the Minister, communities and civil society to hold provinces and private companies accountable for fixing our schools. We need the Minister to comply with her obligations and to work with us so that we can make progress for the poor and working class, predominantly black, children of South Africa.

Issued by Yoliswa Dwane: Chairperson of Equal Education (18 June 2013)

Joemat-Pettersson denies kickbacks over game-farm sale

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has refuted a media report that she received kickbacks, her office said on Monday.

The allegations in the Sunday Times that Joemat-Pettersson benefited from a game-farm sale were “unsubstantiated and regrettable”, her spokeswoman Palesa Mokomele said in a statement.

“Those who know Minister Joemat-Pettersson know her to be a people orientated leader who consistently serves others and strives for the development of rural women and rural communities,” Mokomele said.

“The said farm was for the benefit of rural women through skills development and employment creation.”

The Sunday Times reported that Joemat-Pettersson was being investigated for allegedly taking a kickback for arranging the purchase of a R18 million game farm for disadvantaged women.

According to the report, she was allegedly paid R100,000 in 2006 for her efforts in closing the purchase of Sunset Game Lodge, outside Douglas, while she was MEC in the Northern Cape.

Joemat-Pettersson and the lawyer who facilitated the deal, Monica du Toit, are the focus of an investigation by the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Special Investigation Unit, the Sunday Times reported.

Mokomele said Joemat-Pettersson would fully co-operate with any investigation into the matter.

“The minister will request that both the Parliamentary Ethics Committee and the African National Congress’s integrity committee investigate all allegations levelled against her and her conduct,” said Mokomele. – Sapa

ANC Women’s League to approach Equality Court over ‘Angie’s panties’

angie_panty — The protest image in question

The ANC Women’s League intends approaching the Equality Court after protesting teachers displayed a pair of panties they said belonged to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.

“The [African National Congress’s Women’s League] noted with dismay disturbing media reports about some Sadtu members publicly displaying a piece of underwear attributed to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga during last week’s protest march,” Limpopo ANCWL secretary Maleke Mokganyetsi said in a statement.

“They must face the full wrath of our criminal justice system.”

Describing the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union as “counter-revolutionary”, Mokganyetsi said protesters who displayed the panties in Pretoria on Wednesday had to be condemned.

“We refer to the short-sightedness and stupidity of a female-dominated union that humiliates and suppresses other women.”

The Sadtu protest was a call for the resignation of Motshekga and her director general Bobby Soobrayan.

A photograph of the large panties shows them being stretched across a piece of wire. The slogan “Puluma ya Angie” is written in black pen across its front.

“We are very much disappointed in those who are suppose to teach our children about sexual violence and gender discrimination, but opt to promote it in our streets,” said Mokganyetsi.

Sadtu spokesman Mugwena Maluleke said earlier this week the union was non-sexist and promoted equality.

“We therefore cannot condone such an act,” Maluleke said. – SAPA