[Debate] (Fwd) ANCorruption: KZN factionalism, 'sick' Selebi,

[Patrick Bond]

  Darkness visible in JZ's kingdom by the sea

20 Jul 2012 08:40 - Niren Tolsi <http://mg.co.za/author/niren-tolsi>

With the African National Congress beset by factionalism, is the 
province still 100% Jacob Zuma? Niren Tolsi investigates.


    *Our Coverage*

  * Assassinated KZN chief whip a savvy 'fixer'
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-07-05-assassinated-chief-whip-a-savvy-fixer>
  * ANC leaders linked to KZN scam
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-06-21-s-linked-to-kzn-scam>


      More Coverage

  * KZN ANC: Don't use songs and shirts for lobbying
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-06-18-kzn-anc-dont-use-songs-and-shirts-for-lobbying>
  * Mkhize to stay on as ANC's top man in KZN
    <http://mg.co.za/article/2012-05-12-mkhize-to-stay-on-as-ancs-top-man-in-kzn>

"Wherever I go I carry a gun these days," a longtime ANC member from the 
eThekwini region in KwaZulu-Natal said, "not because I am afraid of 
thugs or political opposition, but because I am afraid of my own."

That ANC comrades in the province are packing heat to defend themselves 
against their "own" indicates that the political temperature has reached 
boiling point: there have been three assassinations, allegedly 
political, in the province in just more than a year and a half, which 
debunks the notion that politics in the region is homogenous.

Several provincial ANC members said the political landscape was just a 
few bullets and funerals away from "Mpumalangaisation", a reference to 
the province where political murders are nearly as commonplace as potholes.

With the exception of Ugu district municipality chief whip Wandile 
Mkhize, who was murdered outside his home on the South Coast two weeks 
ago, the other two murders, of eThekwini ANC regional secretary Sbu 
Sibiya and regional executive committee member and city councillor 
Wiseman Mshibe, have taken place in Durban.

The eThekwini region of the ANC, it is commonly held, is the tail that 
wags the KwaZulu-Natal dog. It is so strong numerically and financially 
that it dominates provincial politics and has pull when presidents are 
installed at national level -- as it did at the ANC's elective 
conference in Polokwane in 2007 when Jacob Zuma was elected party president.

With an audited 103 branches in good standing at the time of the ANC's 
policy conference in Midrand last month -- the largest region in South 
Africa in terms of membership -- it would appear to be in a position to 
do so again at the elective conference in Mangaung in December.

But the state of the party at a regional level suggests there are 
serious fractures stemming from the consolidation of grassroots support 
bases and access to the eThekwini municipality's resources and 
contracts. These are threatening to break the political edifice -- the 
hegemony -- that helped to install Zuma as ANC president.

Fifteen sources, including municipal employees and ANC members from all 
its structures, spoke on condition of anonymity, either for fear of 
persecution or not wanting to be seen to be breaking ANC protocol.

*The importance of eThekwini*
According to many of them, competing factions have emerged since the 
death of former regional chairperson John Mchunu in 2010. It has meant 
that the focus of ANC members has shifted away from mobilisation and 
lobbying in the region and also more widely to the consolidation of 
personal or factional power in Durban.

Mchunu was larger than life and dominated regional politics, although 
his reach extended much further to the rest of the country.

A close Mchunu associate recalled the strongman's role in the movement 
that resuscitated Zuma's political life after he was sacked as deputy 
president of the country in 2005.

"John was a tireless mobiliser and strategist who came from the 
grassroots and held that mass support ... "I still remember sitting with 
John and he would have a piece of paper with a list of regions across 
the country and he would be going through them one by one, deciding 
which ones he would need to visit and lobby and which ones had already 
decided to back Zuma against [then-ANC president Thabo] Mbeki at Polokwane."

According to the source, Mchunu ushered in a new dynamic in internal ANC 
politics: "The realisation at Polokwane was that power actually resides 
in regions, not the provinces. The media were saying that Mbeki had 
support from six of the nine provinces, but the secret -- and this was 
down to John's work -- was that Zuma had the regions."

  According to Mchunu's confidantes, as regional secretary and later as 
chairperson he became a Chicago-mob kind of character, establishing a 
system of economic and political patronage in local politics. 
Historically, the municipality has had a large operating budget, which, 
in this financial year, is nearly R31.5-billion.

City contracts, ranging from the building of low-cost housing to waste 
collection, were awarded to influential business associates, who would 
channel money back to the ANC for its operations, or to small and 
medium-sized businesses connected to the ANC at ward level. These were 
an extension of the system of patronage, which created jobs to establish 
voting banks in the city for the ANC.

According to shack-dweller movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, even the 
clearing of rubbish in informal settlements was politicised and the jobs 
went to card-carrying ANC members. Mchunu's political manoeuvring led to 
a conflation of city and party at regional level, and the mayor's 
position was reduced to a ceremonial one. No important decisions, 
particularly involving tenders, were taken without Mchunu's input, city 
and party sources said.

"If you needed a decision taken, you just went to John or Bheki Cele 
[regional chairperson when Mchunu was secretary] and they were 
decisive," said a municipal insider, who intimated that this kind of 
political leadership was now missing in the city.

Mchunu's largesse led to the rise of several businesspeople "favoured" 
by the city, including "Prince" Sifiso Zulu and the Mpisanes -- Shauwn 
and Sbu (a former metro policeman), a "bling" couple who are facing more 
than 100 counts of fraud and tax evasion.

Under Mchunu (and Cele's political figurehead), eThekwini's influence 
extended far into the province. According to the sources, the eThekwini 
region funded the conferences of other, poorer regions in  KwaZulu-Natal.

"The Bantustan of eThekwini effectively controlled the province," one 
former regional leader said wryly -- the region was in a much better 
financial position than the rest of the province, thus holding greater 
political sway.

*Durban diminishing*
This appeared to have upset the provincial leadership, which tried to 
reassert it authority during the lead up to, and over the outcome at, 
March's regional conference, according to the sources.

There have been widespread allegations of smear campaigns and the buying 
of votes in the battles for regional leadership.

Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who was finally elected as chairperson, 
is considered to be close to provincial Premier Zweli Mkhize. The rest 
of the top five appears to be a compromise between Mkhize supporters and 
factions from Mchunu's splintering political edifice, according to ANC 
sources.

Of these, current regional treasurer Zandile Gumede and municipal 
housing committee chairperson Nigel Gumede have emerged as the most 
powerful, but neither appears to command the hegemonic grassroots 
support at branch level that Mchunu did.

According to sources, factions are emerging in eThekwini that were born 
out of resentment at having been barred from the patronage because of 
Mchunu's manoeuvring. Cleansing the municipality of his legacy is well 
under way and allegations are being made that the damaging Manase report 
into corruption and maladministration in the municipality is being used 
selectively to pursue those connected with the deceased power broker.

eThekwini's influence in the provincial executive committee has also 
been reduced since the provincial general conference in May. Of the 25 
officials directly elected to the committee, eThekwini previously 
provided about 15. But after May's provincial conference, this was 
reduced to about eight, according to an ANC source.

*The structural problem*
Although current regional leaders such as eThekwini secretary Bheki 
Ntshangase are quick to say that the ANC is bigger than one person, 
Mchunu's omnipresence still appears to permeate the region's politics.

With Cele busy as chairperson and an ANC national executive committee 
member, and with his day-to-day job as provincial safety and transport 
minister, Mchunu could consolidate the administrative and political role 
of the regional secretary to become the centre of power in eThekwini.

In 2008, Mchunu took over from Cele as regional chairperson and Sibiya, 
who was assassinated in September last year, became the regional secretary.

According to ANC sources, Sibiya had prepared himself to take over 
Mchunu's role as the power ruling the eThekwini region and municipality. 
But it did not happen.

According to a source who worked closely with Mchunu, it was linked to 
Mchunu's political history: he was a former Inkatha Freedom Party 
warlord from Mpendle, who joined the ANC in the early 1990s.

"In the IFP there is no democracy, so when John had built that power 
there was no way he was going to let it go," said the source.

Mchunu died of pneumonia in October 2010, but when the news broke of 
Sibiya's murder a year later, rumours circulated that it was linked to 
his attempts to assert the power of the regional secretary entrenched by 
his predecessor.

Returning to the bigger picture, apparently Dhlomo has chaired only one 
meeting in the region since assuming his post and there are rumours that 
a motion of no confidence and the possibility of recalling him are being 
considered by factions opposed to his leadership. He is seen as Mkhize's 
point man in the region with no real grassroots support.

*100% JZ at Mangaung*
Following its regional conference in March, eThekwini came out publicly 
in support of Zuma's bid for a second term, despite the party having 
banned proclamations until October.

But on a regional level the party is in apparent disarray -- factions 
are competing to consolidate support and gain access to municipal coffers.

The region is also bereft of a strategist in the Mchunu mould, according 
to party insiders. This begs the question: What about the homogenous 
support that the region, and province, provided to Zuma between 2005 and 
2007, which catapulted him to the ANC presidency in Polokwane and to the 
first-citizen position in 2009?

Insiders say that support for Zuma remains solid in the region, but the 
fractures caused by the internecine squabbles in the party could be 
exploited because of unhappiness over the expediency with which the 
president uses and discards allies.

One source used an old Zulu proverb, Umbeki weakosi akabusi (the 
kingmaker will never be king), to encapsulate Zuma's approach to those 
who carried him to power.

Some of those who assisted in the Zuma project feel they have not been 
properly rewarded and are unhappy, and others feel that the president 
has not backed them adequately. One source referred to the case of 
former police commissioner Cele, who was sacked by Zuma, as an example 
of the president's indifferent approach to his backers. Cele is popular 
in KwaZulu-Natal and sources said his popularity would play a 
significant role at Mangaung.

According to one source, Zuma "acts like a king, not a president". He 
compared him with the Zulu monarch Shaka, who ensured that there were no 
male heirs to threaten his kingship. Likewise, Zuma surrounded himself 
with people and advisers who posed no threat.

Whether these fault lines will be bridged and the dissatisfaction with 
Zuma staunched, only time will tell. As one source said: "It's five 
months to Mangaung and in politics that is a very long time."

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    *The provincial players behind the Zunami*

In the build-up to the ANC's 2007 elective conference, eThekwini 
regional secretary John Mchunu provided the muscle that mobilised the 
region and fed into the "Zunami" of support for Jacob Zuma in ANC and 
tripartite structures around the country.

But there were several other key players and power bases that carried 
Zuma to the ANC presidency -- support that, particularly in the year 
following Zuma's sacking as deputy president, proved vital to his 
political survival.

*Senzo Mchunu:* Not related to John Mchunu, but his political soul 
brother as a strategist and mobiliser. The then ANC KwaZulu-Natal 
secretary was tireless in mobilisation at provincial level and his 
building of a pro-Zuma consensus with other provinces on the road to 
Polokwane. But it is understood that the current MEC's relationship with 
the provincial chairperson and premier, Zweli Mkhize, has cooled recently.

*The KwaZulu-Natal cabal:* It includes Mkhize, who was fingered in 
Richard Mdluli's intelligence report as being supportive of the bid to 
remove Zuma at Mangaung. He has since publicly denied this and 
reaffirmed his support for the president. But it is understood that 
their relationship has also cooled.

*Nathi Mthethwa:* The current police minister ran the policy schools and 
discussions that took place in KwaZulu-Natal in the build-up to 
Polokwane. He was instrumental in hammering out a policy consensus that 
rejected documents such as "Through the Eye of the Needle", which was 
considered a proxy rejection of then-ANC president Thabo Mbeki. It has 
been suggested that the manner in which these discussions were held 
contributed to the narrow, sometimes intolerant, manner in which policy 
and politics in the province are often discussed.

Other influential provincial politicians included Bheki Cele, 
then-eThekwini regional chairperson, Cosatu's Zet Luzipho and the South 
African Communist Party's Themba Mthembu.

*The "real" ANC Youth League:* Although erstwhile league president 
Julius Malema has often trumpeted his role in installing Zuma as ANC 
president, the truth is the real slog was done by the leadership that 
preceded his. The hard-working young lions at that time included 
then-president Fikile Mbalula (now sports minister and considered the 
public point man in the bid to replace Zuma as ANC president), secretary 
general Sihle Zikalala (currently ANC provincial secretary) and 
then-league spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.

*The divided reds:* Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and his 
SACP counterpart Blade Nzimande both had very real hopes for a greater 
role for the left in a potential Zuma government. Nzimande appears happy 
with his leadership, Vavi palpably less so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    *Buying votes is big business*

Dispensing contracts and patronage that flow from the municipality's 
coffers and entrench ward support and voting banks in the city come 
election time have, according to one city source, "seen the emergence of 
many small businessmen".

It has also given rise to mega-rich businesspeople unafraid to flaunt 
their luxury cars and shoes that cost more than the monthly take-home 
salary of a municipal worker.

Sbu and Shauwn Mpisane: Shauwn is facing more than 100 charges of fraud 
and tax evasion involving more than R5-million. Her company, Zikhulise 
Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, has been the beneficiary of several 
multimillion-rand contracts with the city. The company saw an increase 
in sales from R34-million in 2007 to R120-million a year later.

A March 2011 forensic report, compiled by auditors Ngubane & Company, 
recommended that an investigation be launched into the awarding of 
tenders to the company and 34 other contractors.

The report investigated R3.5-billion worth of contracts awarded by the 
municipality over 10 years.

The Mpisanes are unabashed fans of luxury brands such as Rolls Royce, 
Lamborghini and Christian Louboutin shoes.

Jay Singh: It was revealed this week that the controversial 
businessperson, who is considered to have run the city's bus service 
into the ground following its privatisation -- before selling it back to 
the city at a healthy mark-up -- is still benefiting from city contracts.

Gralio Precast: Criticised by opposition party members for shoddy work 
on RDP homes, it recently won a R22-million tender to lay access roads 
and provide bulk water for the city's latest housing development, Cornubia.

The company was also awarded a R72-million tender to provide engineering 
services and top structures for 486 units in Cornubia.

Earlier this year, a Jay Singh-linked construction company was 
criticised in the Manase report for alleged irregular spending on two 
other housing projects. Singh was convicted of bribing a city official 
to turn a blind eye to substandard work. //

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    *The ANC responds*

ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala, responding to claims that the 
current eThekwini regional executive committee was a result of the 
provincial leadership's attempt to reassert its authority over the 
province, said: "The province has no control over the eThekwini region 
and its leadership is not a clone of the provincial leadership."

Zikalala said the eThekwini region was, however, "stabilising" after 
months of disharmony and that "factionalism was being dealt with within 
the party ... Uniting the province is an ongoing process."

The recent political murders in the province were cause for "serious 
concern" and although he did not want to pre-empt investigations or 
speculate about what, or who, was behind the murders, he believed that 
political education was "very important" for the ANC to maintain harmony.


***

Selebi paroled on medical grounds
20 Jul 2012 19:14 - Faranaaz Parker

The reaction to the parole ruling of Jackie Selebi has shown the shadow 
of Schabir Shaik is still haunting South Africa's medical parole procedure.
Our Coverage

     Remission of prison sentences a 'red herring'

More Coverage

     Jackie Selebi to be released from prison today
     Jackie Selebi still getting pension and medical aid
     It's back to hospital for Selebi

Click here to find out more!

Selebi was paroled on Friday, after serving only two years of his 
15-year jail sentence for corruption. The disgraced former police chief, 
who has final stage renal failure and requires dialysis, is gravely ill 
but he has by no means been "sent home to die", as some have claimed.

James Smalberger, chief deputy commissioner for corrections said Selebi 
had been released in terms of section 79.1 (a) of the Correctional 
Matters Amendment Act.

"The expectation or requirement is not like the previous act, that you 
need to die tomorrow," said Smalberger.

The Act states that a prisoner may be considered for medical parole if 
he or she is "terminally ill or physically incapacitated as a result of 
injury, disease or illness, so as to severely limit daily activity or 
inmate self-care".

Selebi falls into the latter category.

Although medical parole may be cancelled under certain conditions, an 
improvement in health is not one of these conditions.

"If he recovers, the family will be happy," he said. "Let's hope that 
all those who are released at least find themselves recovering to a 
stage where they can have a decent [quality of] life."

Selebi was one of six offenders released on medical parole by a new 
medical parole advisory board, which was set up to address what the 
department calls the "inconsistent implementation" of medical parole 
procedures.

The medical parole system was criticised after convicted fraudster 
Schabir Shaik, the former financial advisor of President Jacob Zuma, was 
released in 2010. Shaik was released on the bases of a report to the 
parole board, drawn up by a correctional services doctor, which showed 
he was in end stage multiple organ failure and terminal illness.  But 
its accuracy was later called into question. The doctor did not examine 
Shaik herself but based her findings on recommendations of Shaik's 
private doctors.

Months later, a seemingly healthy Shaik was seen driving himself around 
Durban, got into a physical altercation with a congregant at the local 
mosque, and allegedly assaulted a reporter who interrupted his game of 
golf.

The Act was overhauled last year to standardise the process and make it 
more transparent. Under the new rules the treating doctor assesses the 
inmate and makes a recommendation to the medical parole advisory board, 
which assess the evidence independently. The board may call for 
additional information and test results, and visits the inmate in person 
to assess their health before providing an independent report to the 
parole board.

Dr Marna Stoltz, a member of the board and a senior member of the South 
African Medical Association, said the board had found that Selebi was 
"really ill" and that she had no doubts about whether he should have 
been released.

"His disease is not reversible. If you're diagnosed with end stage renal 
failure, 85% of those patients die within five years," she said.

Dr Sagren Naidoo, a nephrologist and senior consultant at Charlotte 
Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, said patients in end-stage renal 
failure could remain on dialysis for four to six years, provided there 
are no complications.

Although the illness need not be debilitating if treated properly, it 
requires constant care. Some patients are required to go to hospital two 
to three times a week to receive four-hour long dialysis sessions, while 
others, like Selebi, are taught to perform the procedure themselves at 
home. This takes half an hour to forty minutes and must be repeated four 
times a day. Selebi  is currently in care at the Steve Biko Academic 
Hospital and it's unclear when exactly he will be released. Smalberger 
said he would be transferred to the community corrections system, which 
would decide the conditions of his release.

In keeping with the regulations of the Correctional Services Act, Selebi 
will be subject to supervision and will be placed under house arrest 
until he completes his sentence.

Opposition parties still sceptical
The Democratic Alliance's spokesperson for correctional services James 
Selfe called on Minister Sibusiso Ndebele to give the public assurances 
correct procedure has been followed.

"Given the huge degree of public scepticism about medical parole, it is 
essential that the government comes entirely clean about Mr Selebi's 
medical condition and the procedure that was followed in determining 
that he is indeed terminally ill. There cannot be one law for the 
politically connected and another for the rest of us," he said.

Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said that the anger over Shaik's 
release was precisely why the public needed further clarification on 
Selebi's case.

"The Schabir Shaik case has made it more difficult for anybody else who 
may be genuinely sick to be released on medical grounds," he said.

Craven said that if Selebi is genuinely sick then his release was 
reasonable and humane.

The ANC welcomed the decision and said it was satisfied that the parole 
was granted on merit.

"Those who are doubtful about the correctness of the decision to release 
Selebi on medical grounds can indeed access the records of the medical 
parole board," it said.

But Clare Ballard, an attorney at the Civil Society Prison Reform 
Initiative, said that while the medical parole advisory board had 
brought an element of transparency to the medical parole process, the 
case highlights the problem of inequality that exists in access to 
healthcare among prison inmates

Ballard said that while people like Shaik and Selebi can afford private 
doctors to assess their health and argue their case for parole, poor 
prisoners who are genuinely sick have to rely on state doctors who 
overworked.

"It raises questions about whether genuinely sick prisoners are getting 
the kind of treatment that high profile people are," she said. "My 
concern is that their cases aren't being heard in the same way simply 
because they don't have the same kind of money."

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.fahamu.org/pipermail/debate-list/attachments/20120723/fbc43eb7/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 145864 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.fahamu.org/pipermail/debate-list/attachments/20120723/fbc43eb7/attachment-0001.jpeg