“Paul Ngobeni is a fugitive from justice”

Politicsweb.co.za
13 September 2009

Connecticut authorities confirm that Lindiwe Sisulu’s legal advisor is a wanted man

JOHANNESBURG – Authorities in the state of Connecticut, USA, have confirmed that Paul Ngobeni, the new legal advisor to Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, is a fugitive from justice.

In response to a query from Politicsweb Mark A. Dupuis, Communications Officer for the Division of Criminal Justice, State of Connecticut confirmed that “The status of the case remains unchanged, the charges are pending and Paul Ngobeni is a fugitive from justice in the State of Connecticut.”

Ngobeni is currently facing a series of criminal charges in Connecticut. These are of forgery in the 3rd degree, larceny in the 4th degree, larceny in the 3rd degree and larceny in the 6th degree. In November 2007 Robaina, J granted Ngobeni’s motion to dismiss one charge, that of “practice of law by a person not an attorney.” However, Ngobeni’s motion to have the other charges dismissed was denied by the court.

A response to a petition to the Minister of Police

If you feel this information is valuable, please pass it on.

I am a DA Councillor in the eThekwini Municipality (Durban). As Councillors we have no mandate or power to influence crime fighting but we do have a responsibility to mobilise our residents to ensure they participate in eradicating crime in their areas.

I would like to suggest to everyone that if you really do want to “take our country back” (from criminals) then you need to do more than sent a petition to the Minister of Police. The true commitment of the ANC government to the fight against crime is questionable and thus petitions are more than likely going to fall on deaf ears. Instead, as communities, we must thus work hand-in-hand with the police to ensure they do their jobs effectively.

Mismanagement of abalone fishery continues

Statement by Gareth Morgan MP, Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs.

A reply to a DA parliamentary question has revealed that Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) condoned the overfishing by many abalone rights holders on the eve of the closure of this fishery in February 2008. The total allowable catch for this period was exceeded by over 5000kg, with some fishers overfishing to levels that exceeded the individual annual quota of the average abalone fisher. This is yet another example of the severe mismanagement that this fishery has been subjected to by MCM.

BloemWater CEO suspended – investigation must follow

July 24, 2009

Statement by Gareth Morgan MP, Shadow Minister of Wate and Environmental Affairs

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the suspension of the CEO of BloemWater, Ms. Nolene Morris. It has been reported on OFM that Morris has been suspended for among other things the alleged intimidation of employees, the manipulation of procedures and the misuse of company vehicles. A disciplinary panel must be instituted by the Board of BloemWater to fully investigate the allegations and to determine whether Ms Morris is fit to hold this critical post. The Chairman of the Board should then report back to the portfolio committee of Water and Environmental Affairs at the earliest possible convenience. The committee has in recent weeks been very preoccupied by problems and challenges faced by the 14 Water Boards of South Africa, of which BloemWater is one.

Provinces should be strengthened not weakened

By: John Steenhuisen MPL (DA)

Co-operative governance minister, Sicelo Shiceka, has recently re-ignited the debate on the future of the provinces in our country. Citing poor delivery and high costs Shiceka has, for the first time put on the table the option of scrapping the provincial sphere of government altogether. It is no secret that the ANC has been lukewarm about the provinces ever since the constitutional negotiations. They would far prefer to see a highly centralized state where all planning and decision-making for every square inch of South Africa is done at a national level, this is also the driving force behind the Constitution 17th Amendment Bill. The constitutional implications alone of the latest proposal to scrap the provincial sphere are most worrying. The pseudo-federal provision for provinces in our constitution is an underpinning principle. To remove the provincial sphere on an ideological or partisan populist whim could have profoundly undesirable implications for our constitution and the future development of government and democracy in our country.

ANC bumps DA out of JSC

By Political Bureau

With the impending appointment of Constitutional Court judges likely to test the uneasy relationship between politicians and the judiciary, the ANC has sparked a row by replacing the only opposition National Council of Provinces MP on the Judicial Service Commission with one of its members.

The Democratic Alliance says the move is “absolutely unacceptable”.

The convention of multi-party democracy and representativity had been broken and the ANC had used its majority position to abuse the constitution by replacing the DA’s Darryl Worth with an ANC member, the DA’s leaders in Parliament and the NCOP, Athol Trollip and Watty Watson respectively, said in a statement.

Hlophe calls for Africanisation of SA law

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA Jul 10 2009 09:42

South Africa’s mix of English and Dutch law needs to be “Africanised” to make it more relevant, Cape Judge President John Hlophe said in Durban on Thursday night.

“I believe that people need law that embodies their own culture and their values. We need to Africanise our law and make it relevant to the masses. There is a huge void in our legal system,” he told a symposium organised by the Progressive Professional Network.

No competition in the banking industry!

The way banks conduct themselves here in South Africa leads me to believe there is no fear that the consumer can go to another bank and get a better deal. Hence no competition in the banking industry.

Banks here in South Africa charge the consumer fees on every little item. You are charged if you use your ATM card at an ATM, if you use your debit card at a POS, you are charged a fee on every transaction in your bank account, they even charge you around R6 if you setup a direct debit to pay a creditor every month. The craziest thing I have ever heard is that they charge you to deposit money into your account, and they charge even more if that deposit is cash, where is the incentive for anyone with a CASH business to deposit their daily earnings in the bank.

DA Wins big in KZN By-Elections

Despite what seems to be a low turnout with most people not even knowing that there was an election on Wednesday, the DA blew them away.

Unofficial results on the KZN By-Elections held on June 24th, 2009 are as follows:

• Pietermaritzburg with 90%

• Umhlanga with 91.4%

• Westville / Pinetown with 83.5%

• Durban North with 75% of the votes

Well done Warwick Chapman and the DA for your double digit wins in PMB, Umhlanga, Dbn North, Westville / Pinetown. You are going to make a great councilor Warwick.

Moeletsi Mbeki: Black empowerment has failed

REBECCA HARRISON | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 19 2009 16:44

South Africa should scrap its drive to give black people a slice of the white-dominated economy because it stifles growth and spurs corruption, the brother of the country’s former president said on Friday.

Political commentator, entrepreneur, journalist and critic of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Moeletsi Mbeki believes the affirmative action policies championed by his brother Thabo have entrenched the rich-poor divide in Africa’s biggest economy and could lead to an explosion of violence.

MOELETSI MBEKI

“If you made me president of South Africa, the first thing I would do would be to scrap everything to do with black economic empowerment [BEE],” Mbeki told Reuters in an interview following the publication of his book on economic policy in Africa, Architects of Poverty.

“If we keep going with these policies, the question is what will collapse first, BEE or the economy, or the country?”

As part of a push to right the wrongs of apartheid and give blacks a stake of the economy, South Africa requires firms to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement.