Theleak-SA

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to resuscitate the country’s ailing economy while implementing the ruling party's policies on free education and radical economic transformation.

In his maiden January 8 statement at East London's Absa stadium on Saturday, Ramaphosa attempted to reassure investors by painting a picture perfect South Africa under his rule.

He said the party required a programme of fundamental and radical change.

"We are going to restore our focus on building an economy in which all South Africans can flourish. An economy which benefits the people of our country as a whole rather than just to benefit a few privileged individuals and families in our country."

He added that the party wanted an open and diverse economy that will provide opportunities for all, especially young people and women.

This economy he said, would welcome investment.

"We must not have an economy that discourages and chases away investors from investing in South Africa."

He invited all investors from all over the world to come to South Africa to invest so that the country's economy could grow "so that we can create jobs, so that we can end poverty, so that we can reduce inequality," he added.

South Africa's status has suffered one downgrade after another by ratings agencies.

The country has also been under great strain with expected growth for the year at less than 2% due to recent political uncertainty in the ANC.

President Jacob Zuma's cabinet reshuffles have also fuelled the fire putting investor confidence in the country at an all-time low since the party took over in 1994.

Ramaphosa who now takes over from Zuma as party president will have to clean up the economy.

He was the preferred candidate of business with markets responding positively to him during his campaign and victory in December at the ANC elective conference against former African Union commission chair Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

However, Ramaphosa's business acumen will be challenged during his term as president of the ruling party.

He is tasked with implementing Zuma's fee-free education proclamation, radical economic transformation as well as land redistribution without compensation.

Attempting to ease investor confidence, Ramaphosa said land will be redistributed while meeting the constitutional requirement of redress.

He added that the party would ensure that fee-free higher education for those families earning less than R350 000 would be implemented in a gradual process.

"As we accumulate more and more money, as we mobilise resources. We are going to realise this historic objective."

The rand weakened in midday trade yesterday to its worst in nearly three weeks after the ANC said an early exit for President Jacob Zuma had not been discussed at a party meeting.

Initially hit by softening demand for emerging market assets as global bond yields picked up, the rand’s losses accelerated to a session-low R12.55 shortly after the ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule told reporters Zuma’s removal was not on the agenda of a meeting of the party’s top decision-making body.

At 1pm the rand was 1.4% weaker at R12.5075 to the dollar, slightly better than the slide to its weakest level since December26.

By 5pm, the rand had recovered somewhat, bidding at R12.4529 to the greenback, but 2.73c softer than at the same time on Tuesday.

The rand has swung between R12.2275 and the upper R12.50s for the first two weeks of the year, pushed and pulled by mostly rumour-fuelled bets of a Zuma resignation before his term ends next year.

“The rand, and markets generally, at the moment have been very headline driven. And the ANC meeting only ends tomorrow so there will be more headlines and that means rand volatility should continue,” said trader at RMB, Jim Bryson.

“It’s really difficult to call, it needs to close above (R)12.52 to get out of these ranges, but a test of around (R)12.20 cannot be totally discounted,” Bryson said.

The rand has rallied since mid-December, supported by investors’ hopes that the newly elected leader ANC head Cyril Ramaphosa would push through business-friendly policies.

The rally has since stalled, with signs of higher rates in the US shifting some of the focus back to fundamentals, although analysts said a decision on Zuma remained the main swing factor.

“He (Ramaphosa) is likely to do everything in his power to reduce Zuma’s influence and to facilitate a rapid end to his time in power. That is rand positive,” said analyst at Frankfurt-based Commerzbank, Elisabeth Andreae.

Meanwhile, in equities, the benchmark JSE Top40 index slipped 0.03% to 53167.96 points while the broader all share index declined 0.22% to close at 59979.63 points.

Cape Town – The DA’s Cape Metro executive has decided to recommend to its higher bosses that Patricia De Lille be removed as the mayor of the City of Cape Town.

Grant Twigg, DA metro leader, said: “Patricia De Lille has lost the confidence of the Metro Executive, the relevant political authority. We are of the view that the City of Cape Town requires stability, unity and functionality – which we believe she cannot deliver.”

“I communicated our recommendations to party leadership and trust they will act swiftly in the best interests of the organization. All public representatives are accountable to its party and voters, and as party leadership we need to ensure that all deployees are acting in the best interests of voters as well as the organization, and not themselves. The metro executive has not taken these decisions lightly but after careful consideration and deliberation,” Twigg said.

He also said the DA caucus will not support De Lille’s proposed drought levy.

Speculation has been rife that De Lille will be axed following two investigations and several allegations of corruptions which De Lille has all denied.

De Lille told the Cape Argus that she will be taking legal action against the DA should they decide on removing her.

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The EFF has fired six of its councillors in the Mogale City council for voting with the ANC.

The EFF’s Central Command Team took this decision after they met on Saturday after the completion of a disciplinary process.

"On 11 July 2017, six EFF councillors contravened the EFF decision not to attend the Mogale City Budget-vote council meeting in which the ANC needed its budget to be passed. These councillors not only helped for a council meeting quorum to be constituted, they also voted in favour of the proposed ANC budget," said EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in a statement.

"The organisation took exception to this conduct as it returned the public purse in the hands of the ANC. This is the same ANC that the people of Mogale City removed from the government following the 2016 local government elections outcomes. It is the same ANC that has been looting the public purse since 1994 to the exclusion and marginalisation of our people."

According to Ndlozi, the mandate not to vote with the ANC is consistent with the "non-negotiable cardinal pillar number seven" – their policy position to fight corruption.  

"Thus these six councillors, namely Ms Nhlanhla Shilubane, Ms Nomonde Nkatu, Ms Lemogang Modisane, Mr Eric Baloyi, Mr Edward Motsitsi and Mr Simanga Mkhumbeni, essentially betrayed our revolutionary tenet. Accordingly they have been expelled," said Ndlozi.

He said the EFF Central Command Team confirmed the sentence the party’s National Disciplinary Committee, as required by the EFF’s code of conduct. 

"The six EFF councillors have the right to appeal, however, the expulsion sentence is in effect even when under appeal. The EFF will communicate with the Mogale City Municipal Manager so as to declare the six vacancies and so that the EFF can replace all the six councillors," said Ndlozi.

The EFF obtained nine seats in the Mogale municipal council, which has 77 seats, of which the ANC occupies 38. All nine EFF seats were obtained through the proportional party list, so the expulsion of the six councillors would not require by-elections.

On Sunday, ANC presidential hopeful and Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, wrote a letter to fellow ANC member Derek Hanekom and to the acting ANC disciplinary committee chairman asking them to consider disciplinary charges against ministers who were exposed in the leaked Gupta e-mails.

Sisulu did not divulge to Independent Media the contents of her letters but she confirmed writing them: “I have written letters to Derek Hanekom and the acting chair of the disciplinary committee.”

She made her intentions known when she addressed a banquet in memory of ANC struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, hosted in Joburg on Sunday by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. Hanekom is the chairperson of the foundation.

In her address, Sisulu accused ANC members with Gupta links of being responsible for the low turnout of voters to the polls in the August 3 national municipal elections last year, leading to the ANC’s loss of three metropolitan municipalities of Joburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.

This comes after political parties and civil society organisations had laid criminal charges against those allegedly implicated in state capture. So far, police have yet to act against those implicated. Sisulu’s calls also come as the country awaits the outcome of a full bench of the High Court in Pretoria on an application to force Zuma to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.

On July 4, the DA’s David Maynier laid criminal charges against Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, Atul Gupta, Ajay Gupta, Rajesh Gupta, Ronica Raghavan and Kamal Vasram at a Cape Town police station.

The charges included racketeering, money laundering, assisting another to benefit from the proceeds of unlawful activities, and acquiring, possessing or using the proceeds of unlawful activities in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act; and submitting false or untrue tax returns.

The charges follow reports that public funds were allegedly laundered through a complex web of front companies, and used to pay for Vega Gupta and Aakash Jahajgarhia’s wedding at Sun City in 2013. Public funds were reportedly laundered from a Free State dairy farm project via Dubai to pay for the extravagant wedding while Zwane was Free State MEC for agriculture.

At the time, Maynier said the fact that public funds, meant to assist the poor, were allegedly used for the Guptas' wedding was "grotesque".

Johannesburg - African National Congress MP Makhosi Khoza on Friday, said that she would not be attending her disciplinary hearing on Sunday, after the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled that the party's provincial leadership was invalid.

"For that reason alone, apart from the other material flaws in the disciplinary process initiated against me, the rescheduled disciplinary hearing is a nullity and cannot be proceeded with. Any conduct to the contrary will, at the very least, be in constructive contempt of the judgment and unlawful," she wrote in a letter on Friday night.

"It follows as a matter of course that any potential disciplinary steps to be taken, could only be decided upon by a newly elected [Provincial Executive Committee] PEC, after a constitutionally compliant Provincial Elective Conference has taken place and new Provincial Office Bearers have been duly elected."

Khoza addressed her letter to the the presenter of the ANC KZN's disciplinary committee, Ravi Pillay; to ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe; ANC chief whip, Jackson Mthembu; and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete.

On September 12, the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled that the KwaZulu-Natal provincial ANC elective conference in November 2015 was unlawful. In that conference, then ANC chairperson, Senzo Mchunu, was defeated by then provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala and it paved the way for Mchunu’s subsequent removal as KZN Premier in 2016.  Some MECs were also removed along with Mchunu in what was seen as purge. 

Judge Jerome Dube set aside the conference and its outcomes and ordered Zikalala to pay the costs. 

In her letter on Friday, Khoza said that she would deal with her defence at an appropriate time.

"Accordingly it is clear that the invalid disciplinary hearing against me cannot be proceeded with, and that my attendance at such void process is unnecessary. All my rights remain reserved, including seeking such urgent declaratory relief as may be necessary to protect my rights to the fullest," she said.

On September 10, Khoza's disciplinary hearing was postponed to September 17, ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesman Mdumiseni Ntuli after Khoza’s attorney Smanga Sithini asked for more time to prepare his case. Sithini arrived at the headquarters 45 minutes after proceedings were set to start at 9am on Sunday morning.

Khoza was charged in July for, among other things, ill discipline, failing to comply with ANC policy, provoking division, and bringing the party into disrepute, with all but one of these relating to posts she made on her Facebook page.
 
She has been a vehement critic of President Jacob Zuma and his fitness to lead the ANC. Her provocative behaviour has earned Khoza many critics but has also seen her garner a large and sympathetic group of supporters.
 
Khoza says she has received death threats as a result of her statements and that the life of her daughter has also been threatened. Her attorney Smanga Sithini told the committee that Khoza was not in the province and when she met him on Saturday night she said new threats had surfaced. 

On Friday, Police minister Fikile Mbalula said that police had identified a 17-year-old Gugulethu girl as the person sending threatening messages to Khoza and several ministers.

He said that a link had been established between the young woman and the Democratic Alliance (DA) based on “information posted on social networks”, but added that police had not found any official proof that the girl was a member of the DA.

Describing the girl as a “troubled minor”, Mbalula said that investigations included interviewing the girl’s parents, social workers, occupational therapists from the place of safety where the girl was kept and others who had succumbed to her offences.
 
The young woman had also threatened “about seven people” who were members of the National Assembly, he said, including Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo and Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini.

Cape Town - How R14 million was loaded onto the meal card of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) student Sibongile Mani remains a mystery, with the university, financial aid and the vendor responsible for making the payment refusing to accept responsibility.

On Wednesday, Parliament’s higher education portfolio committee was briefed by WSU, payment company Intellimali and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Mani sparked a storm after it was discovered she had blown more than R800 000 of the R14m erroneously loaded onto her card instead of the monthly R1 400 allowance in June.

Intellimali has since instituted a forensic investigation and lodged a criminal case with the SAPS.

It has repaid WSU the money spent by Mani.

Briefing the committee, WSU vice-chancellor Rob Midgley described the overpayment as “extraordinary” and said it had caused enormous reputational damage.

“This has been a massive wake-up call to everyone. The institution has seriously suffered as a result.”

He said WSU was in support of any process to investigate the matter.

“We are not suspecting rogue behaviour from our staff members,” Midgley added.

He said a spreadsheet of amounts due to students had been sent to Intellimali.

Midgley maintained it was accurate, with the names of more than 14 000 students, including Mani’s.

“We have no reason to doubt the integrity of our system,” he said.

The error was picked up by the university’s system of reconciliation of the distribution of student funds on its campuses.

“There was a delay in reconciliation; we were handing over from campus to institutional-based systems when we picked up the discrepancy.”

NSFAS also distanced itself from the error. Intellimali chief executive Michael Ansell said the spreadsheet file was processed correctly and no error report was registered after the money was uploaded. 

“There was no oversight, no error or negligence,” he said.

He added that the system feedback had confirmed Mani had received her R1 400 monthly allowance, but told how she had checked her balance several times before her spending spree. 

“We have all records on her spending until we deactivated the card.

Julius Malema EFF leader  is set to graduate with a BA Honours Degree in Philosophy with Unisa on Wednesday, his party announced on Tuesday.

"We are proud of this achievement as it impresses upon all to value education," EFF spokesman Mbuyseni Ndlozi said on Tuesday.

"With all the pressures of serving our people in the EFF, Parliament and Africa, the CIC Julius Malema still made time to improve his education. We say this with the full knowledge that fees remain the biggest stumbling block for many to access education. To that end, the qualifications of the CIC must be proof that those who demand the end to fees in universities do so because they are indeed academically deserving," Ndlozi said.

Early on in his political career, the former ANC Youth League president’s matric results came under the spotlight when an emailed list did the rounds showing that he had only achieved an H in maths and a G in woodwork, both on the Standard Grade (SG).

At the time the ANCYL branded the emailed list as a “faked” attempt to discredit their leader, but a senior source at the department of education confirmed that the digital copy of Malema's results was “genuine”.

The email also revealed that Malema, 27, passed matric with Es in Sepedi HG and second language Afrikaans HG, an F in geography HG, D in history SG and a C in second language English HG, the latter being his highest mark.

Malema graduated with a  Bachelor of Arts degree in 2016.

He will be formally awarded his BA honours degree during a graduation ceremony on Wednesday evening.