INTERNATIONAL: News from South Africa - Page 9 - Stormfront
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07-09-2005, 06:35 PM #81
Het SA ook 'n rol gespeel?
Die vader van die Suid-Afrikaanse atoombom, dr. Ampie Roux, het hom in 1978 bereid verklaar om kundigheid aan "enige land" te verskaf wat daarom vra.
Roux, destyds voorsitter van die Atoomenergie-korporasie (AEK), het dié mededeling in sy kantoor by Pelindaba aan 'n middelvlak-amptenaar van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering gedoen. Die amptenaar is kort tevore deur 'n tussenganger genader met 'n versoek om hulp met die ontwikkeling van kernwapens.
Tydens 'n tweede ontmoeting met die tussenganger, mnr. Issa Nakleh, wat jare lank die Palestynse verteenwoordiger in die Verenigde Nasies was, het dit aan die lig gekom dat dit Pakistan was wat hulp wou hê met die ontwikkeling van kernwapens.
Op 'n opvolgbesoek later in 1978 het Roux die amptenaar meegedeel dat hy geen besware het om kundigheid aan Pakistan te verskaf nie.
Suid-Afrika was destyds die josie in vir die Weste nadat pres. Jimmy Carter die uitvoer van geelkoek, 'n verwerkte vorm van uraan waaruit verrykte uraan ontwikkel word, verbied het.
Roux het gesê die Weste "kan na die hel gaan" omdat hy Suid-Afrika nie wou help nie.
Die amptenaar het met Rapport in verbinding getree ná 'n berig op 1 Mei onder die opskrif "Kernwapenvinger wys na SA - Tegnologie het dalk deurgesypel na 'skurk'-lande".
Die moontlikheid van 'n Suid-Afrikaanse verbintenis met die verspreiding van kernwapentegnologie is juis nou onder die vergrootglas in die vervolging van mnre. Daniel Geiges (66) en Gerhard Wisser (65), 'n Switser en 'n Duitser met permanente Suid-Afrikaanse verblyfreg, op aanklag dat hulle kerntoerusting aan Libië verskaf het.
Geiges en Wisser se Randburgse ingenieursfirma, Krisch Engineering, was 'n belangrike verskaffer aan die destydse Suid-Afrikaanse kernwapenprogram.
Luidens die klagstaat het die maatskappy in die 1980's 'n pypstelsel aan Pakistan en vloeimetereenhede aan Indië, albei vir die ontwikkeling van kernwapens, verskaf.
Hoewel die aanklagte teen Wisser en Geiges veral wentel rondom hul verbintenis met die kernsmokkelnetwerk van die Pakistanse kernwetenskaplike dr. A.Q. Khan, dui die klagstaat op veel vroeër skakeling tussen Suid-Afrikaners en Indië en Pakistan.
Het Suid-Afrika dalk 'n wesenlike rol gespeel in 'n tweede "golf" kernproliferasie in die 1970's en 1980's?
Tot dusver is dit onseker of die voelers wat na Roux uitgesteek is tot formele hulp aan Pakistan en Indië gelei het - en of die Suid-Afrikaanse regering bewus was van die hulp wat Krisch na bewering aan die twee lande verskaf het.
Wisser en Geiger se komende verhoor kan help om antwoorde op hierdie tergende vraag te verskaf.
07-09-2005, 06:42 PM #82
Ondersoek gaan voort, ondanks moord
Die bedrogondersoek na die sowat R38 miljoen wat oud-offisiere van die weermag glo by Apbco Lewensversekeraars belê het, gaan voort ondanks die moord op die forensiese ouditeur, wat aanvanklik deur die staat aangestel is om die ondersoek te doen.
Adv. Glynnis Breytenbach, adjunkdirekteur van die gespesialiseerde handelsmisdaadeenheid in Pretoria, sê die dood van mnr. Nico Visser (45), forensiese ouditeur van Krugersdorp, in Desember verlede jaar was aanvanklik 'n geweldige terugslag vir die Apbco-ondersoek.
"Dit het onder meer veroorsaak dat die staat gesukkel het om dokumente en bewysstukke van Apbco Lewensversekeraars in die hande te kry waarmee Visser, as deel van sy ondersoek, besig was, " sê Breytenbach.
Intussen is 'n nuwe forensiese ouditeur en ondersoekbeampte aangestel om die ondersoek, waarin meer as veertig oudoffisiere klaers is, af te handel.
Onder die oudoffisiere is 21 voormalige generaals en admiraals, 5 vlootkapteins, 7 kolonels en 7 ander senior staatsamptenare, waaronder 'n oudlanddros.
"Ek hoop dat die ondersoek voor einde vanjaar afgehandel sal wees, maar kan geen waarborge gee nie. Sodra die ondersoek voltooi is, sal die staat wéér vervolging op aanklagte van bedrog, oortredings van die Bankwet, die Maatskappyewet en die Belastingwet oorweeg," sê Breytenbach.
Sy bevestig dat daar intussen nog geen spoor gekry kon word van die R38 miljoen wat na bewering in Apbco Lewensversekeraars belê is nie.
Die staat beweer dié geld is sonder die toestemming van die oudoffisiere in hoërisikobeleggings belê.
Een van die klaers in die saak, brig.genl. Roelf Strydom, 'n gewese bevelvoerder van die Suid-Afrikaanse Geneeskundige Diens-akademie, is in 2003 dood sonder dat hy 'n sent van sy pakketgeld gesien het. Hy en sy vrou, Doris, moes ná die Apbco-fiasko koeksisters bak om hul inkomste aan te vul.
Skoutadm. Steve du Toit, afgetrede personeelhoof van die vloot en 'n voormalige bevelvoerder van die duikboot Maria van Riebeeck, het glo meer as R2 miljoen verloor.
Die staat het in Augustus 2003 die saak teen mnre. Petrus Gideon Albertus (Elbie) Basson van Kaapstad, Theo Otto van Port Elizabeth en Pieter van Kraayenburg van Pretoria - almal voormalige werknemers van Apbco Lewensversekeraars - teruggetrek hangende die afhandeling van die ondersoek.
Otto is die seun van lt.genl. Reg Otto, voormalige hoof van die leër.
Basson, 'n gewese direkteur van Apbco Lewensversekeraars, het uit Apbco Lewensversekeraars se diens bedank nadat beweerde onreëlmatighede in Mei 2000 in 'n interne oudit aan die lig gekom het.
Visser, 'n pa van drie, het in die ses maande voor sy dood doodsdreigemente ontvang terwyl hy besig was met die Apbco-ondersoek. Sy lyk is in Desember verlede jaar in vreemde omstandighede in sy motor op die N1-hoofweg aan die Vaal-Rand gevind. Hy is in die sy geskiet en is dood agter die stuur van sy motor gevind.
Die motor het nog geluier waar dit vermoedelik teen 'n betonbrug gebots het.
Visser het twaalf uur voor sy dood sy testament, 'n afskrif van sy lewensversekeringspolis, sy selfoon, skeermes, tandeborsel en klere by sy ma in Senekal in die Vrystaat agtergelaat.
Volgens sy vrou, Ria, was hy gespanne voordat hy Senekal toe gery het.
Insp. J.J. Pretorius, ondersoekbeampte van die speurtak in Barrage in die Vaal-Rand, sê nog niemand is weens die moord in hegtenis geneem nie.
Mense met inligting oor die moord word gevra om Pretorius te bel by 073-175-0266.
07-09-2005, 06:47 PM #83
Tim du Plessis: 'n Siek politieke kultuur in ANC
Mnr. Kgalema Motlanthe, sekretaris-generaal van die ANC, is die afgelope week wyd geprys oor sy reguitpraat-verslag oor die treurige toestand waarin die regerende party hom bevind.
Die party is verrot van binne weens faksievorming, takke wat in 'n ellendige toestand is en lede wat glo 'n ANC-lidmaatskapkaart is 'n paspoort tot selfverryking en toegang tot openbare hulpbronne, het Motlanthe geskryf.
Dapper inderdaad. En erg onthutsend. Hy betreur die verdwyning van die ANC se "revolusionêre moraliteit" - daardie waardesisteem wat gemaak het dat die strydrosse van weleer geveg het vir die hoë ideaal van swart bevryding sonder om een keer te dink watter materiële voordeel daar vir hulle sou wees.
Ondanks al dié raak diagnoses en die nostalgie oor die ANC van weleer, is daar een groot gat in die Motlanthe-verslag: nêrens word gevra hoe dit dan gekom het dat die ANC verander het van 'n beweging van begeesterde idealiste in wat dit vandag is nie - 'n voerkraal waar gestoei en geknoei word om 'n snoet in die trog te kry.
Wat is die oorsaak van dié "kanker" (Motlanthe se woord) wat besig is om die ANC van binne te vreet?
Daar is net een verklaring waarom daar weggeskram word van dié kernvraag: die waarheid dat die ANC sélf verantwoordelik is, maak te seer.
Niemand dra méér skuld aan die twyfelagtige politieke kultuur wat tans in die ANC heers as die ANC self nie, bepaald die leiers wat die beweging sedert 1994 lei.
'n Paar voorbeelde. As eertydse minister van gesondheid smyt dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma R14 miljoen se belastinggeld in die water in die Sarafina-debakel - die destydse regering se antwoord op die vigspandemie.
Sy word nie tot verantwoording geroep nie, oudpres. Nelson Mandela verdedig haar trouens en sê: "Sy is 'n goeie vrou."
Reël 1 van die ANC se politieke handleiding is gevorm: maak nie saak of jy onbekwaam is of droogmaak nie, jou getrouheid aan die ANC en jou rol in die struggle weeg swaarder as enigiets anders.
Die tweede oorsaak van die kanker in die ANC se politieke kultuur is die verpestelike neiging in die organisasie om ras raak te sien in alles. As 'n beskuldiging na die ANC se kant toe kom, is die refleks om eers na die aantyger se ras te kyk en dan na die aard en inhoud van die aanklag.
Só het reël 2 van die ANC se ontluikende politieke kultuur tot stand gekom: as 'n "wit" koerant, 'n "wit" opposisieparty of 'n wit amptenaar 'n onreg of 'n wandaad uitwys, trek die ANC-leiding sommer by voorbaat die fluweelhandskoene aan.
Die argument het só gegaan: ongeag die erns van die vergryp, dit kan nie so erg wees as die aanklag van wittes kom nie. Die Afrika-manier van doen is mos vreemd vir hulle, hulle is nog kwaad omdat hulle die mag verloor het en is bevooroordeeld oor swart mense se vermoë om te bestuur en te regeer.
Wat is die gedrag wat ANC-mense hieruit aangeleer het? Een: lidmaatskap van die ANC is belangriker as verdienste en integriteit. Twee: solank dit wittes is wat die fluitjie blaas, het ek niks te vrees nie.
Op hierdie laaste punt het dr. Mamphela Ramphele, voormalige rektor van Ikeys en eertydse geesgenoot van Steve Biko, 'n paar weke gelede 'n kragtige punt gestel: die meeste wetenskaplike bevindings word deur wit mans gemaak, het sy gesê.
Of dit goed of sleg is, is nie ter sake nie. Die vraag is of daardie bevindings gë?gnoreer kan word bloot omdat die makers daarvan wit mans is. Sou iemand in die ANC dit raak gelees het?
Die derde oorsaak van die kanker wat die ANC van binne vreet, is die ding dat sowat alles geregverdig kan word omdat die struggle edel was en apartheid boos. Sonder skakerings by enigeen van die twee.
Daar is meriete in die argument dat omdat swart mense in die verlede weerhou is van geleenthede en toegang, daar nou 'n spesiale dispensasie van versnelling vir hulle moet wees. Maar die ANC het hierdie ding te ver gevoer.
Wat veronderstel was om tydelike maatreëls te wees om 'n proses van regskikking te begin, het 'n ideologie geword. En soos met alle ideologieë gebeur, tree opportuniste na vore wat dinge te ver voer. En dis waarvoor Motlanthe nou geskrik het.
Pres. Thabo Mbeki se afdanking van mnr. Jacob Zuma was 'n belangrike eerste teengif vir die "kanker" in die ANC. Maar weens die emosie van die Zuma-kwessie kon dit nie gekonsolideer word op voorverlede week se vergadering van die ANC se nasionale hoofraad nie.
Maar dit sal op die agenda moet bly, indien nie in die Mbeki-era nie, dan beslis wanneer sy opvolger oorneem. Die etos van die "bevrydingsbeweging" sal eenvoudig moet wyk voor die dissipline van 'n moderne politieke party.
Want die pad waarop die ANC nou is - en waaroor Motlanthe en bes moontlik Mbeki en die ander moderniseerders in die ANC so bekommerd is, het net een eindbestemming.
07-09-2005, 06:56 PM #84
'Municipal strike will affect major cities'
Next Tuesday's municipal workers' strike is expected to affect all major cities, say unions.
The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) said they had arranged 60 marches in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and in small towns such as Delmas, Welkom and Kuruman, in which as many as 200,000 disgruntled workers could participate.
The one-day strike comes after a deadlock in wage negotiations with their employer body, the SA Local Government Association (Salga), last month.
The unions are demanding a nine percent across the board increase and a minimum wage of R3000. The current minimum is R2500 a month.
"This demand is both reasonable and fair and in line with the provision of the Freedom Charter that states that workers should receive a living wage," the unions said in a joint statement.
Samwu secretary general Roger Ronnie said that Salga was offering the unions an increase of six percent across the board and 0.5 percent plus CPIX (consumer inflation less mortgage rate) for the following year.
"This offer constitutes a negative increase, considering the high cost of fuel and transport, that house prices have increased on average of 32 percent in the past 18 months and that medical expenses have increased by 8.4 percent."
He said Salga's offer "seeks to condemn thousands of lives to abject poverty".
Members were currently being balloted and should there be no action from the government after the strike, further action would be considered.
07-10-2005, 07:42 AM #85
Police officer held at gunpoint
Johannesburg - A Johannesburg motorist risked his life on Sunday to rescue a metro police officer held at gunpoint on the M2 East near Cleveland.
The officer refused, grabbed the firearm from the gunman and started wrestling with him. It was at that point that the 35-year-old motorist stopped to help.
He got out of his car, pointed his Colt .45 firearm at the gunman and ordered him to drop his gun. The gunman refused and the motorist shot him twice, wounding him in the hip, said Minnaar.
07-10-2005, 07:44 AM #86
'Stop Mbeki' - ANCYL
Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) is vehemently opposed to President Thabo Mbeki standing for a third term as party leader, saying the move would develop two centres of power that would create "fertile ground for conflicts of unimaginable proportions".
A document outlining the campaign and the league's reasons for opposing such a move, is to be released next week.
City Press has a leaked copy of the document, entitled "Two Centres of Power Not a Solution to Our Challenges", which was drawn up by ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula and league spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
The league's statements could place it at odds with more senior structures and people within the movement.
The document, which comes less than a week after Mbeki said he would be available to stand as ANC leader in 2007 if nominated, states that such a situation, which would pit Mbeki against former deputy president Jacob Zuma, was "untenable" and "a recipe for disaster".
Mbeki said in a SABC television interview last weekend that he might consider running for the ANC presidency in 2007.
"If they (the branches) said: 'Well we want you to continue.' Then it's fine. It depends.
"Two-and-a half-years is a long way ahead. I might be too tired by then," Mbeki said.
Although the country's constitution limits the presidency to two terms, the ANC's constitution has no limitation clause on the number of terms its president may serve.
Senior ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama told City Press that Mbeki could not be prevented from making himself available for the party presidency again.
"It is the will of the people based on the challenges of the national democratic revolution of the country that should be considered.
"If ANC members feel they need to go that route (choosing Mbeki), then the people would have spoken," he said. Ngonyama also dismissed the concerns over the "two centres of power".
"There are no two centres of power that would be created. There's only one centre of power in the ANC.
"For instance, we have people who are premiers in the provinces and ANC chairpersons who carry out their work." However, the league said "two centres of power" would mean that "at the helm of our government will be someone who may not have consideration of the priorities of policy implementation in the same manner as understood by the president of the ANC".
According to the document, the issue of leadership and the debate about the two centres of power is a debate that must be raised within the structures of the movement and must be engaged robustly.
Kodwa, the league's spokesperson, said: "We need to make sure that whoever is elected in 2007 should become the president of the country in 2009.
"We need to maintain the status quo of having a single president. We need to preserve the position taken at the Mafikeng conference in 1997, which ensured that the president elected became the president of the country in 1999 and 2004."
In the ANCYL document the situation of Mbeki's possible re-election is expressly opposed.
"The argument for the separation of powers must be debated and clarity must be provided whether it is about the organisation or the accommodation of specific individuals.
"We should not craft policies and structures merely to accommodate individuals, no matter how influential and capable those people are, " it said.
The document further states: "The fact of the matter is that Madiba (former president Nelson Mandela) is still respected because he made the honourable decision of stepping down and he let others take up the leadership of our country.
"This is an excellent precedent. Madiba himself had this wisdom that leadership cannot be imposed, by allowing democratic processes to take centre stage.
"The matter about the future of the ANC cannot be left to fate but must be discussed by the structures of the organisation, including the ANCYL.
"This discussion must find expression in the preparations towards the 2007 ANC national conference," the document concluded.
07-10-2005, 07:45 AM #87
'Bombers probably British'
London - The former head of Scotland Yard warned on Sunday that the London bombers were probably British and that there were many people in the country willing to take part in such atrocities.
"The terrorists at the centre of the London bombing this week will almost certainly be British born and bred, brought up here and totally aware of British life and values," Sir John Stevens said in a newspaper column.
He said he had heard suggestions the bombers, who killed at least 50 people and injured some 700 in the Thursday morning rush hour, had come from abroad.
"But that's just dangerous wishful thinking, a damaging illusion," wrote Stevens, who quit his job as Britain's most senior police official early this year, in the News of the World tabloid.
"I'm afraid there's a sufficient number of people in this country willing to be Islamic terrorists that they don't have to be drafted in from abroad," he said.
Stevens said he thought the likely suspects would be "apparently-ordinary British citizens, young men conservatively and cleanly dressed and probably with some higher education.
"Highly computer literate, they will have used the internet to research explosives, chemicals and electronics," he went on.
"They are also willing to kill without mercy - and to take a long time in their planning. They are painstaking, cautious, clever and very sophisticated."
Stevens said that unlike other organised groups like the Irish Republican Army or ETA, the Basque separatists, the bombers could be part of a "number of very loosely linked groups who all follow the Al-Qaeda ideology and who are at different levels of extremism."
"We believe that up to 3 000 British-born or British-based people have passed through Osama bin Laden's training camps over the years," he wrote.
07-10-2005, 07:47 AM #88
Travelgate MPs cry foul
Johannesburg - Some ANC MPs who resigned from the national assembly last month over the "Travelgate" saga, now say they were forced to sign resignation letters.
The MPs say they were made sacrificial lambs because they agreed to enter into a plea bargain with the National Prosecuting Authority, admitting guilt in the abuse of parliamentary travel vouchers.
But the ANC parliamentary caucus says the resignations were voluntary and blames the MPs' claims on "the traumatic situation" they now find themselves in.
Eighteen ANC members who face similar charges have so far not entered into any deal with the state and are likely to keep their seats until their cases are concluded in court. Their next court appearance is in July 2006.
The five "Travelgate" MPs, who vacate their seats at the end of this month, say they only agreed to plea bargain after being advised by the ANC's lawyer, Advocate Seth Nthai, to do so.
Plea bargaining, they believed, would help them avoid prison sentences, thus allowing them to retain their seats.
Nthai yesterday confirmed that he had advised the five MPs to plea bargain, after looking at their individual cases, but said the legal process should be seen as separate from the ANC's internal processes in parliament.
ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe last month announced that Mildred Mpaka, Pamela Mnandi, Mavis Magazi, Ruth Bhengu and Rhoda Joemat had quit parliament "as a demonstration of remorse" for their role in the abuse of MPs' travel vouchers.
"The five comrades have apologised profoundly to fellow comrades within both the Parliament and the ANC for the damage this has caused on the reputation of the organisation and the institution," the ANC parliamentary caucus said in a statement issued on the day the resignations were made public.
But this week some of the MPs told City Press that the decision to quit was not their own and that they were instructed to do so by Goniwe and other party leaders in Parliament.
Bhengu, a long-serving MP from KwaZulu-Natal, said she was handed the resignation letter for signing, a day after the ANC parliamentary caucus had announced the resignations.
She said she was surprised by the decision as she was still waiting to appear before the multi-party committee that National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete had said would be formed to look into the issue.
"I had also expected that internal ANC disciplinary hearings would be held before action was taken against us, but that did not happen," she said.
Other MPs said they were told that it was the decision of the party's political committee to allow them to resign. They say they would have not plea bargained had they known that this would lead to them losing their jobs, while those who chose to fight on in court continue to keep their seats.
The MPs say they are unhappy with this decision as, according to the constitution , only those found guilty and sentenced to prison without the option of a fine can be removed from their parliamentary seats.
Each of the five resignation letters reads: "I hereby resign from the National Assembly with effect from August 1" - giving credence to the claim that they were all drafted in one place.
But ANC spokesperson in Parliament, Moloto Mothapo, insisted that the resignations were voluntary.
"In a traumatic situation such as the one faced by the five comrades, there would be a tendency to twist the facts and present things out of context...
"There were productive and fruitful meetings between themselves and the chief whip where these issues were thoroughly discussed.
"The five agreed on their own that it was in the interest of the organisation for them to step down. They then submitted resignation letters to that effect," he said.
The affected MPs say they are unhappy with the manner in which the issue was handled and they are waiting for ANC structures in their respective provinces to take up the issue with party leadership.
07-10-2005, 07:49 AM #89
London-bound plane evacuated
Lisbon - A London-bound plane was evacuated at Lisbon airport because of suspicions over the identity of three passengers found to be holding fake Albanian passports, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Sunday quoting police.
Passengers who had boarded the flight for London with the Portuguese national carrier TAP were evacuated around 20:00 (19:00) on Saturday while police bomb disposal experts combed the aircraft and carried out identity checks.
The three passengers with forged Albanian passports were arrested and the plane was able to take off for London after a delay of more than two hours.
Portuguese police have stepped up airport security since Thursday's bombings on public transport in London which left more than 50 dead and 700 injured.
07-10-2005, 09:01 AM #90
Al-Qaeda 'recruited Britons'
London - A government-prepared dossier says that al-Qaeda is targeting middle-class Britons to join its ranks, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
According to The Sunday Times, the reports by the British home office and foreign office detailed how extremist recruiters were looking to Britain.
The reports were drawn up in the aftermath of the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid, Spain.
Citing a copy of the secret briefing document, the paper reported that Britain could be harbouring thousands of extremists, including homegrown residents who may be linked to Thursday's bombings that killed 49 people and injured 700 more.
"Extremists are known to target schools and colleges where young people may be very inquisitive but less challenging and more susceptible to extremist reason/arguments," the report says, according to the newspaper.
The report goes on to say that the likely targets come in two categories: "well-educated undergraduates with degrees or professional qualifications in engineering or IT (information technology); or underachievers with few or no qualifications and often a criminal background."
The paper reported that the briefing document also said that most British-based terrorists range from foreign nationals who have become naturalised citizens, mostly from northern Africa or the Middle East, to second- and third-generation Britons whose parents and grandparents emigrated from Pakistan or Kashmir.
The document also says that recruiters are using Britain's role in the US-led invasion of Iraq as a way to turn likely recruits toward terrorism.