I’m sorry, I’ll refund money, Zuma tells South Africans

South African President, Jacob Zuma, has welcomed the court judgement asking him to pay back part of the money spent on upgrading his Nkandla homestead.

Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa

Zuma said in a televised address to the nation on Friday that he was willing to pay back money spent on non-security related upgrades at the house.

The President, in the address, urged “all parties to respect the judgement and will abide by it.”

“Let us use the judgement to build and further strengthen our democracy,” he added.

South Africa’s top court held on Thursday that President Jacob Zuma defied the constitution when he used $15m state funds to renovate his private home and ordered a refund.

The 11 justices of the country’s Constitutional Court had unanimously ruled that the President should reimburse some of the sum spent on the renovations, the amount of which will be determined by the national treasury.

Opposition parties had filed two cases, alleging misuse of public funds over the hefty price tag.

Zuma, therefore, apologised any inconvenience that the prolonged matter might have caused his people, saying, “The matter has caused a lot of frustration and confusion, for which I apologise, on my behalf and on behalf of government.”

A full text of Zuma’s address as reported on News24 read in part, “Yesterday, the Constitutional Court of the Republic, playing this crucial role, issued a judgement on the matter of security upgrades at my private residence in Nkandla.

“I welcome the judgement of the Constitutional Court unreservedly.

“The judgement has underscored the values that underpin our hard- won freedom and democracy, such as the rule of law and the accountability of public office bearers, while also respecting the rights of public office bearers facing scrutiny.

“The judgement has further strengthened our constitutional democracy and should make South Africans proud of their country’s Constitution and its strong and effective institutions.

“This is a ground-breaking judgement with regards to the powers of the Public Protector.

“I have consistently stated that I would pay an amount towards the Nkandla non-security upgrades once this had been determined by the correct authority. The Court has ruled on the matter and has devised a mechanism for such determination by the National Treasury.

“I wish to emphasise that I never knowingly or deliberately set out to violate the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the Republic.”

Denying any involvement in corruption, Zuma said, “The intention was not in pursuit of corrupt ends or to use state resources to unduly benefit me and my family. Hence I have agreed to pay for the identified items once a determination is made.”

I’m sorry, I’ll refund money, Zuma tells South Africans

Court orders Zuma to repay state funds

South Africa’s top court held on Thursday that President Jacob Zuma defied the constitution when he used $15m state funds to renovate his private home and ordered a refund.

The 11 justices of the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the President should reimburse some of the sum spent on the renovations, the amount of which will be determined by the national treasury.

According to CNN, the treasury has 60 days to file a report detailing the amount, and Zuma has 45 days after that to pay the money.

The court said Zuma “failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution, as the supreme law of the land” with regard to the upgrading of his homestead in Nkandla, about 300 miles south-east of Johannesburg.

“The constitution, rule of law and accountability are the sharp and mighty sword ready to chop off the ugly head of impunity,” the court added.

The decision seems to settle the controversy that dates back nearly seven years, when Zuma embarked on the renovations soon after he resumed office for his first term.

The renovations to his home included a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, visitors centre and amphitheatre. Opposition parties filed two cases, alleging misuse of public funds over the hefty price tag.

After the ruling, a statement from the South African government said Zuma “has noted and respects” the judgment.

“The President will reflect on the judgment and its implications on the state and government, and will in consultation with other impacted institutions of state, determine the appropriate action,” the statement added.

The court also found the country’s National Assembly in violation for its actions regarding the investigation of the President.

“The court thus held that the National Assembly’s resolution, based on the minister’s findings exonerating the President from liability, was inconsistent with the Constitution and unlawful,” the ruling summary said.

Court orders Zuma to repay state funds

Mbeki: How Gen Abacha Betrayed Mandela’s Trust

• Says killing of Saro-Wiwa, others led to a drift in Nigerian, S’African relations

Olawale Olaleye

Former South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, monday gave a graphic picture of how Nigeria’s former military head of state, General Sani Abacha, betrayed a solemn undertaking he had with South Africa’s late president, Mr. Nelson Mandela, a development he said led to a drift in the bilateral relations between Nigeria and South Africa.

Sani Abacha

Mbeki, in a piece posted on his Facebook page, titled: “Propaganda and the Pursuit of Hegemonic Goals – The Myanmar and Zimbabwe Experience”, said the Mandela administration was under intense pressure from the international community to support its proposed sanctions on Abacha’s government over alleged rights abuse, but the former South African leader refused to succumb to the pressure.

The pressure, he claimed, came against the backdrop of expectations by the international community that the post-Apartheid South African government under Mandela should have led the campaign for the respect of human rights especially in Africa, adding that Mandela’s first major test was at the 1995 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Auckland, New Zealand.

But Mandela, he said, refused to yield to pressure initially on the grounds that his government had been in talks with Abacha on the release of the late Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni detainees; the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, as well as General Olusegun Obasanjo and the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.

Mbeki, who was clearly alluding to the hypocrisy of the international community on human rights protection, said: “President Mandela resisted all this until news filtered in on the very first day of the CHOGM that the Nigerian government had executed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni colleagues.

“He then immediately joined others to strongly condemn the Abacha government and approved the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth.”

Narrating the story in detail, especially what the events that forced the former South African leader to have a change of heart, Mbeki said after Mandela had personally visited Nigeria in 1994 and engaged Abacha on the matter of the release of Abiola, he (Mbeki) also led a small delegation a year later as a follow up to Madela’s visit.

According to him, “In July 1995, I led a small delegation of our government to Nigeria to meet General Abacha. This time our focus was on the two matters of persuading General Abacha and his government to release the Ogoni leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his co-accused, as well as to release Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’ Adua, who were detained for allegedly having been involved in a planned coup d’etat.

“We met General Abacha at 02.00 hrs at his offices. Having heard us out, he told us that he would reflect on what we had said and would respond to us before we left Nigeria.

“A day or so later, then Chief of Defence Staff and effective deputy to Abacha, Lt.-Gen. Oladipo Diya, invited us to lunch. During this lunch he gave us General Abacha’s response to the issues we had raised.

“This response was that with regard to the matter of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-accused, Gen Abacha could not intervene to stop a legal judicial process, which involved murder charges.

“However, if the accused were to be found guilty and sentenced to death, he would use his prerogative as head of state to reprieve the accused so that they would not be executed.

“Gen. Diya also reported that Gen. Abacha had said there was a military tribunal which was considering the matter relating to Generals Obasanjo and Yar’Adua.

“It was necessary that he should allow the tribunal to complete its work. His view was that the tribunal would recommend the release of the two Generals, failing which he would again intervene to release them.

“After asking Gen. Diya to convey our thanks to Gen. Abacha for the commitments he had made, we suggested to him that it would be best that the Nigerian government makes the necessary announcements when the time came, rather than that we should do this.

“Diya agreed to this and said that Gen. Abacha would issue the necessary orders at the appropriate moments.

“Our delegation still had a small challenge to address. We had travelled from South Africa with a journalist. Treated by our Nigerian hosts as a member of our delegation; she was present at the lunch, where Gen. Diya gave us Gen. Abacha’s response.

“She therefore had a real ‘scoop’! Together with her we agreed that if she were to publish what we had been told by Gen. Diya, the likelihood was that not only would the Nigerians deny the story, but this would also inevitably condemn Ken Saro-Wiwa and others and Generals Obasanjo and Yar’Adua to death.

“A principled person, she kept her word not to publish her ‘scoop’, convinced as all of us were that Gen. Abacha had made a commitment to President Mandela and South Africa, which he would honour.

“It was with this knowledge that President Mandela left South Africa to attend the New Zealand CHOGM meeting.”

Mbeki further disclosed that when Saro-Wiwa and others were executed, Mandela was truly surprised and genuinely outraged that Abacha had evidently so easily betrayed his solemn undertaking to him to keep them alive.

“Undoubtedly our government drew its own conclusions from this painful experience with regard to the complexities of the construction of inter-state relations, including as this relates to the effective promotion of human rights,” he said.

Mbeki: How Gen Abacha Betrayed Mandela’s Trust

South Africa: Jacob Zuma Is a Dangerous Man (and We Are in Trouble)

There is a lot of screaming on social media over #ZumaMustFall. But if we are really serious about building a better, stronger society, it will take a lot more than removing a president, or chasing hashtags or holding new elections.Richard Pithouse explores.

Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa

Jacob Zuma is a dangerous man. The relation to the political for which he has come to stand is seriously corrosive. It means a politics of chauvinism. It means the capture of the state by predatory forces. It means economic decline – a decline that will impose the worst suffering on the worst off. It means the decline of the institutions through which democratic promise is realised. It means the repression of independent political forces and experiments. It means, in its materiality, rubber bullets and water cannons. It means torture and, from Durban to Marikana, a return to the use of murder as a tool of social control. It means a future that looks more like Mexico, or Turkey, or Russia – and, along with material and political crisis, living within the sense of rot and decay written into so many of the novels of the post colony.

It is true that on the grand stage of history Zuma’s flaws are trivial in relation to older and broader social and economic forces. But that observation doesn’t change the fact that the state is a central actor in society and what the state does, and how it does it, is of vital import. When the deep state is constituted around patronage and authoritarianism effective social projects, and especially democratising social projects, become very difficult. When the deep state attains sufficient power it can place real limits on what can be changed by elections, and even – as in Egypt – some kinds of revolutions.

Invested in the rot

The state, we must not forget, can attain its own set of interests. If the rot that has come to be associated with Zuma continues to spread through the state and the ruling party the prospects for any reform within the party, or for another party to use the state for social purposes, or for popular organisation to discipline and direct the state from below, will become ever more slim. For these reasons the fact that Zuma has been weakened is a good thing in so far as it is a set back to the subordination of the state to an increasingly predatory and authoritarian project.

We’ll have to see how Zuma’s overreach, and the consequent damage to his authority and power, plays out in the coming weeks and months. If there is, as it seems at the moment, some possibility of an opening all kinds of forces – forces within the party and forces in wider society, and internationally, will seek to exploit it.

 We must not forget that there is a large constituency within and around the ANC that is invested in the rot with which Zuma’s name is now indelibly associated. This constituency may not have moral authority in society but it has real power in the ruling party, particularly in some municipalities and provinces – as well as the Youth League, the Women’s League and the Premier League. It should not be taken lightly.

There is also a powerful bloc that, in the name of economic rationality, will seek to affirm itself as universal reason, as the general interest, in order to disguise its own long predation on society as a whole. This is emphatically not innocent of race. On the contrary it frequently ties local racism to forces with a global reach. White racism in South Africa often sees the logic of claims about economic necessity (real and imagined) – the authority of markets, investors etc – as the ultimate guarantor of its interests. Forces with a global reach often seek alliances with local elites for their own purposes. This is often (e.g. as in Bolvia, Haiti etc) raced. These forces have real power.

 There’s a lot of monomania about on social media – people pursuing one concern to the exclusion of all others. If some of us follow some concerns as far as we can it can certainly enrich the conversation and, one hopes, at some point, practice too. We often have much to learn from people that think through one furrow, and do so day after day.

 But if our concern is to build a better society there has to be some sort of attempt to create the possibility to think all kinds of things together – race and class and gender; economy and society; history, the present and the future; the global and the national etc, etc.

There’s also a lot of political comment on social media that is not rooted in participation in actually existing struggles and attempts to build forms of counter-power. This is not always a problem. Ideas come from all kinds of quarters, and anything that can enrich the debate is to be welcomed. But if we are serious about building and sustaining new political forces, the sort of political forces with the resilience to weather the inevitable reaction from the predatory forces within the ANC, and the alliance between local racism and global forces, there has to be some attempt to think from within struggle.

Racism does not wait

Around the world one of the great strengths of politics largely constituted via social media has been the speed within which it can move. But its great weakness has been the lack of the sort of material organisation that can hold a line over the long haul. We don’t have anything like the sort of sustained popular organisation that has been present in, say, Haiti, Bolivia or Venezuela in recent years and yet the fate of the political experiments in these countries shows just how hard the road out of orthodoxy is. The question of organisation has to be taken very, very seriously.

In the absence of a reaching towards a synthetic understanding of the various kinds of monomania that seems to rhyme with aspects of the logic of social media it becomes difficult to think holistically. The absence of political thinking that is not grounded in real participation in real struggles, something that also seems to rhyme with aspects of the logic of social media, restricts our ability to dig in for the long haul and build sustained and strong countervailing social forces.

Politics, as an intervention into the present, an intervention to the field of power, requires real attentiveness to reality in its complexity and fullness – and the spreading fractures and dynamic forces that render it unstable. It is the art of expanding the possible as well as the art of seizing the possible. It has to become, if it is to be effective, a popular practice rooted in real communities of struggle.

It is not about disavowing reality in the name of a pure politics to come, or a redemptive moment to come. Capital does not wait. Racism does not wait. The predatory forces in the ANC and the state don’t wait.

It is usually the best organised forces that make the best use of a political opening. It is only in exceptional cases that the forces that are best organised are those that seek to bend the arc of history towards justice. There is always an imperative to organise, to build forms of democratic popular power, and to make alliances across multiple sites of struggle with the objective of building democratizing forms of popular power that can intervene in the social logic of society and strive to subordinate state and capital to the interests of society. But that imperative is now more urgent than it was last week.

Richard Pithouse is an academic based in Grahamstown

South Africa: Jacob Zuma Is a Dangerous Man (and We Are in Trouble)

Union condemns killing of Nigerian housewife in South Africa

Nigeria Union in South Africa has condemned the killing of a 34 year old housewife, Mrs Christiana Onyeka, by unknown gunmen on Dec. 3.

Onyeka, a mother of four and native of Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra, was killed in her husband`s office in Midrand, near Johannesburg.

Mr Ikechukwu Ayene, the President of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Midrand, South Africa, on Saturday that it had reported the incident to the South African police and Nigerian mission.

“The unjust killing of Nigerians in South Africa is becoming alarming.

“We are worried that after reporting such killings to the police, we do not get the desired results. Most cases of Nigerian victims of murder are either abandoned or inconclusive,“ he said.

Anyene said that the situation had become so bad because more women were getting killed.

“ Nigerian communities in South Africa are devastated by this gruesome murder. Mrs Oyeka was a hard working housewife, dedicated to the success of her husband`s business and welfare of Nigerians in South Africa,“ he said.

Mrs Uzor Ekesi, the President, Nigerian Women Association, South Africa, decried the killing of Onyeka by unknown gunmen.

“ The killing came to us as a big shock. We are scared and confused because women are now being killed.

“ Nigerians, especially women, condemn this act and call for urgent action to stop further killings,“ she said.

She said that Onyeka was an active and dedicated member of the association.

A patron of the association, Mrs Grace Aniegboka said that Nigerian women had embarked on a seven day fasting and prayer session to seek divine intervention on the incident.

“ Our reaction has been that of shock and disbelief. We pray God not to allow this incident or killing of Nigerians happen again,“ she said.

Christiana`s husband, Chief Onyekachi Onyeka, also the President of Anambra State Associations in South Africa, said he was still in shock and could not speak

Union condemns killing of Nigerian housewife in South Africa

Buhari, Chinese leader to discuss railway, power projects in South Africa

President Muhammadu Buhari will be in South Africa , Thursday to participate in the Forum on China/Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) taking place in Johannesburg, December 4-5, 2015.At this forum President Buhari will follow up his meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping which took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in November in New York.

General Buhari

President Buhari had indicated to Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader at the bilateral meeting in New York that he wanted China to re-commence stalled rail projects under new terms that would see China providing nearly all the financing required.

Of particular interest is the coastal railway project stretching for 1402 kilometers linking Lagos in the West with Calabar in the East; a project that is expected to be financed with 12 billion U.S Dollars Chinese loan and which will create about 200,000 jobs.

Another rail project that will be up for renegotiation is the $8.3bn Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project, of which only a segment, Kaduna-Abuja has reached completion stage.

President Buhari is also expected to discuss ways of removing all obstacles in the way of the 3,050 MW Mambila Power Station, considered a strategic project which was conceived in 1982 but has not taken off.

The Chinese President had informed President Buhari of thewillingness of his country to finance the whole project through a special loan agreement.

The President, who will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema; Minister of Transportation, Chubuike Amaechi; and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, will return to Abuja on Saturday, December 5.

Buhari, Chinese leader to discuss railway, power projects in South Africa

Four Nigerian projects includes in expanded shortlist for the Triggerfish Story Lab

Triggerfish Animation Studios has shortlisted 23 features and 12 TV series for the inaugural Triggerfish Story Lab, out of a whopping 1 378 entries from 30 countries across Africa.

Okarafor

Established in 1996, Triggerfish Animation Studios is a Cape Town-based film and entertainment company. The studio has produced two feature films: Adventures in Zambezia (2012), starring Jeremy Suarez, Abigail Breslin and Samuel L. Jackson, and Khumba (2013), starring Jake T. Austin, AnnaSophia Robb and Liam Neeson. The two movies are among the top five highest-grossing South African films of all time.

Triggerfish had planned to announce a shortlist of 10 features and 10 TV series, but increased this after being pleasantly surprised by both the quantity and quality of the entrants.

“These are stories that have a distinct voice and capture the humour, heart and global appeal that we are looking for,” says Anthony Silverston, head of development at Triggerfish.

Alongside a wealth of emerging talent, the shortlist includes top African creatives like Nnedi Okorafor, a World Fantasy Award winning novelist; Charlie Human, whose debut novel Apocalypse Now is currently being adapted by District 9’s Terri Tanchel; award-winning picture book author Alex Latimer; and multi-award-winning directors Donovan Marsh, Hanneke Schutte, Jenna Bass and Wanuri Kahui.

The shortlisted feature film entries are:

The Big Wild (Ian Pugh)

Born Flea (Andrew Phillips)

Bru and Boegie (Mike Scott)

The Camel Racer (Wanuri Kahui and Nnedi Okorafor)

The Crash (Julia Smuts Louw)

Dropped (Ian Tucker)

Elliot’s Journey (Judy Kibinge)

Fish Out of Water (Matthys Boshoff and Carina Stander)

The Legend of the Rain Queen (Hanneke Schutte)

The Life Factory (Howard James Fyvie)

Lights (Kay Carmichael)

The Little Five (Alex Latimer)

The Loneliest Satellite (Charlie Human)

Make Believe Maya (Nimrod Geva)

The Makers (Sheldon Bengston)

Molly and the Quarks (Donovan Marsh)

Mumbo Jumbo Bambinos (Mbuso Thulani Shiburi)

Paris in Africa (Yolanda Makalaza)

Paradox City (Greig Cameron)

True Colours (Bernard Bruwer)

The Wild Waste (Naseem Hoosen)

Witches Way (Jenna Bass and Chinelo Unwualo)

Zahrah the Windseeker (Wanuri Kahui and Nnedi Okorafor)

The shortlisted TV series are:

Chicken Core (Shina Ajulo)

Folklore (Andile Ngcizela)

Gullivan’s Loft (Jenny Verwoerd and Stephen van Wyk)

Herbert Smelly Pants (Denzil Lewis)

KC’s Super 4 (Malenga Mulendema)

Matchbox Monsters (Sue-Mari L. Sauer)

Ninja Princess (Marc Dey)

Onion Boy (Sarah Scrimgeour)

Sam and Sbu (Lori Reardon and John Reardon)

Sophie the Giantslayer (Kay Carmichael)

Uncanny Valley (Nicholas Rix and Moray Rhoda)

Wormholes (Lucy Heavens)

“It was great to see that 40% of our entries were by female writers, and there were a number of promising young writers as well as established authors and filmmakers, which made our final decisions very, very tough,” says Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest. “Ultimately, the huge response that we received shows that there is a great desire for more African stories to be told, and we hope that the Triggerfish Story Lab will be able to kick-start this process.”

The shortlisted entries will attend workshops in Cape Town in November with leading Hollywood script consultant Pilar Alessandra, author of The Coffee Break Screenwriter, and Orion Ross, Vice President of Content – Animation, Digital and Acquisitions Disney Channels EMEA.

They will then make their final pitches to an expert panel that includes Peter Lord, the British director of international blockbusters like Chicken Run and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists; Hollywood writers Kiel Murray (Cars) and Jonathan Roberts (The Lion King); and a panel of development executives from both the London and Los Angeles offices of The Walt Disney Company, as well as South African storyteller Gcina Mhlope, comedian David Kau, screenwriter Paul Ian Johnson, and Triggerfish’s development team of Anthony Silverston, Wayne Thornley and Raffaella Delle Donne.

In December 2015, Triggerfish will announce the final Story Lab participants, who will start the new year with a two week immersion trip, including mentoring from key studio and television executives, at Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California.

Triggerfish will be investing up to R44m over the next three years in The Story Lab, which was established with the support of The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and The Walt Disney Company.

The development process can take a number of years. For each phase of development, Triggerfish will provide financial support, workspace, and expert guidance by internal and international consultants and mentors, as well as a route to market through top-tier relationships with leading Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor.

Animation has proven to be a successful medium for South African films to travel internationally, with Triggerfish’s films Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba being distributed in over 150 countries and dubbed into over 27 languages.

Triggerfish is hosting a public workshop with Pilar Alessandra on 2 November 2015 at AFDA Cape Town. Tickets are available for R290 per person on Quicket:

http://www.quicket.co.za/events/12246-triggerfish-story-lab-workshop-master-class-with-pilar-alessandra/#/.

For more information, keep an eye on http://triggerfishstudios.com.

Four Nigerian projects includes in expanded shortlist for the Triggerfish Story Lab

No information on reported release of $15m arms fund - South Africa Envoy

The South African Ambassador to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, on Wednesday said there was no information on the reported release of $15m arms funds that was confiscated from the Federal Government in 2014.

South African Ambassador to Nigeria Lulu Mnguni

There had been reports that the money had been released to Nigeria, but the envoy stated that he had yet to get any brief on the issue from his government.

One of our correspondents had reached out to the envoy last Friday following reports that the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, explored legal and diplomatic channels to effect the release of the money to the Federal Government before he left office on July 13,2015.

The ambassador promised to find out the status of the subject from Pretoria, but when the correspondent contacted him on Monday, he explained that he had yet to get a feedback from the authorities in South Africa.

When Mnguni was again contacted on Wednesday, he said he had no update on the release of the money, adding that he would not be able to speak further on the issue.

He explained that it was not ideal for the Nigerian government to read about the matter in the media without being briefed.

He said, “We have not heard anything (from South Africa), even if we hear anything, we still have to communicate it to the government of Nigeria, we can’t go to the press without talking to the (Nigerian) government. We have to talk first to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also did not have any information on the issue. It’s spokesperson, Ogbole Ahmedu-Ode, said he did not have any update on it.

On his part, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation told one of our correspondents that it had no records that the seized amount has been returned to the government.

The Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, who spoke through his media office said, “The truth is that we don’t have any evidence to that effect and there is nothing here now to show it has been returned.

“In any case, if it’s returned it won’t come to us straight and we won’t know immediately. It will go to the office where the funds was first released before such records get to us.

“So, I advise you check with the agency from where the money was released for the arms acquisition deal.”

The Assets Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority had confiscated the $15m meant for purchase of arms by the FG in two separate tranches of $9.3m and $5.7m.

The first tranche of $9.3m cash was found stashed in three suit cases by two Nigerians and an Israeli at Lanseria Airport, north of Johannesburg in September, 2014 while the second amount was seized three weeks after.

The news of the first transaction sparked anger after it emerged that the private jet involved belonged to the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Oritsejafor, a close ally of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said the plane had been leased to a third party and he could not be blamed for its schedules.

The FG later admitted it was behind the arms deal, claiming it acted out of desperation for arms to defeat the Boko Haram sect.

No information on reported release of $15m arms fund - South Africa Envoy

Buhari hails Jonathan at AU Summit

Abuja –  President Muhammadu Buhari has again acknowledged the role played by former president Goodluck Jonathan in midwifing a peaceful and successful transition programme in the country.

He said this on Sunday in his address to the AU Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“I cannot fail to acknowledge the very positive role played by my predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan, in averting the feared crisis, and in facilitating the peaceful transition of power between the two parties.

President Buhari said his election had been described as historic.

“I agree that it is indeed historic because for the first time in the practice of democracy in my country, an opposition party has defeated the ruling party in a keenly contested election.

“The election was also held against the backdrop of the fears and concerns expressed both in Nigeria and among our international friends abroad and partners that the outcome of the election could spell doom for Nigeria.

“I am glad that even though those fears and concerns were not without basis, the outcome was totally different, to the relief of all of us,’’ he said.

Buhari reiterated that the process, which was adjudged as the fairest and most credible in the history of elections in Nigeria, was midwifed by the dogged and sustained determination of the Nigerian people, and their desire to deepen democracy.

He said the people’s quest was amply supported, and even encouraged by the goodwill of friends and partners in the international community.

“I therefore wish to seize this opportunity to convey my very deep appreciation to all those who contributed to the success of that election. (NAN)

 

Buhari hails Jonathan at AU Summit

South Africa bans Sudan president from leaving over arrest warrant

A South African court on Sunday issued a temporary ban on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir leaving the country after the International Criminal Court called for him to be arrested at a summit in Johannesburg.

Bashir, who is wanted over alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur conflict, mostly travels to countries that have not joined the ICC, but South Africa is a signatory of the court’s statutes.

The Pretoria High Court said in a statement it was “compelling respondents to prevent President Omar Al-Bashir from leaving the country until an order is made in this court”.

The hearing is set to take place later Sunday, the opening day of the African Union summit.

The ruling came after the Southern African Litigation Centre, a legal rights group, launched an urgent court application to force the authorities to arrest Bashir.

Bashir joined a group photograph of leaders at the summit despite the calls for his arrest.

Wearing a blue suit, he stood in the front row for the photograph along with South African host President Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who is the chair of the 54-member group.

Mugabe has previously urged African leaders to pull out of the ICC, which critics accuse of targeting Africa.

The ICC said in a statement from its headquarters in The Hague that it “calls on South Africa… to spare no effort in ensuring the execution of the arrest warrants” against Bashir.

It said South Africa diplomats had been pressed last month to arrest Bashir if he attended the summit, but that they replied they faced “competing obligations” over the issue.

Bashir, 71, seized power in Sudan in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.

“South Africa has an obligation to arrest him,” Johannesburg-based rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba told AFP.

“Failure to do so puts them in the same bracket as other African regimes who have no respect for human rights. It’s actually a test for South Africa.”

Darfur erupted into conflict in 2003 when insurgents mounted a campaign against Bashir’s government, complaining their region was politically and economically marginalised.

– ‘Grave crimes’ –

More than 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and fighting has forced some 2.5 million people to flee their homes, the United Nations says.

Khartoum, however, disputes the figures, estimating the death toll at no more than 10,000.

“Allowing President al-Bashir into South Africa without arresting him would be a major stain on South Africa’s reputation for promoting justice for grave crimes,” said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch.

“South Africa’s legal obligations as an ICC member mean cooperating in al-Bashir’s arrest, not in his travel plans.”

The two days of discussions among the member states had been set to focus on the political unrest in Burundi and the migration crisis across the continent.

 

South Africa bans Sudan president from leaving over arrest warrant

Buhari departs for AU summit

President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Abuja for South Africa on Saturday to attend the 25^th African Union Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The President is scheduled to undertake his first continental assignment since resuming office by chairing a meeting of the Peace and Security Committee of the African Union during the summit.

In a press statement signed by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President: Buhari is expected to hold bilateral talks with other African leaders on the sidelines of the summit to consolidate his ongoing drive to secure Nigeria and Neighbouring Countries from Boko Haram.

“President Buhari is due back in Abuja on Tuesday at the conclusion of the summit which will focus mainly on continental peace and security,” Adesina noted.

Buhari departs for AU summit

Gunmen kill Nigerian businessman in South Africa

A Nigerian businessman based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, 50, was killed on Sunday by gunmen.

The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, on Monday told newsmen in Pretoria, South Africa, that Onyekaozuru was shot by two gunmen.

Nigerians in the Durban Point area built barricades with burning tyres and debris.

‘’ The union has received a report that a Nigerian businessman, Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, was shot in his business premises at 9.00 p.m. yesterday (June 7). ‘’ The report said that the gunmen shot the deceased and escaped in a car.

‘’ The incident has been reported to the police and the Nigerian Consul General in South Africa,’’ he said. Anyene said that the union would work with the consul general and the police to ensure that justice was done in the case.

‘’ Mr Onyekaozuru is the only son of his parents. He is married with three children. ‘’ He is an indigene of Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State,’’ he said.

Anyene also said that the gunmen did not remove anything from the business premises of the deceased. ‘’This is one death too many and we are not happy that a Nigerian has been killed,’’ he said.

 

Gunmen kill Nigerian businessman in South Africa

Stay away from Nigeria, NANS tells Jacob Zuma

The National Association of Nigerian Students has advised South African President, Jacob Zuma, to stay away from the inauguration of the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

The organisation also threatened to storm the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, should Zuma step into the country’s airport.

According to the association, Zuma should keep off as his visit will be an insult to the sensibility of Nigerians over his alleged poor handling of the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other migrant foreigners in South Africa.

A statement by NANS President, Tijani Usman, noted that Zuma’s inability to “apologise to Nigerians like he did to Mozambique”, despite the sacrifices the country made for South Africa, was unfortunate.

He said, “We wish to advise the South African President (Jacob Zuma) to rather stay at home and address burning issues, rather than embarking on a visit that is the least desirable.

“The South African President’s failure to apologise to Nigeria for the losses the country and our citizens incurred during the xenophobic attacks on foreigners leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. There is therefore, no point felicitating with a people who clearly do not matter much to you. President Zuma’s visit will only amount to pretence.”

NANS further restated its earlier position that it will henceforth not hesitate to clamp down on South African investments in the country should any incident of xenophobic attacks recur.

Stay away from Nigeria, NANS tells Jacob Zuma

3,900 migrants, others arrested as South Africa begins crackdown

More than 3,900 people, including 1,650 migrants, have been arrested in South Africa during a police crackdown following April’s deadly xenophobic violence, authorities have said.

“We are satisfied that we have stabilised the situation and further loss of life has been prevented,” the government said in a statement released on Sunday.

“Security agencies continue to work around the clock to protect both foreign nationals and South African citizens against any attacks.”

Some 2,260 South Africans have also been arrested on a variety of charges since the operation began.

“We will, in the next weeks and months, accelerate our efforts to take back public buildings that have been hijacked, either by foreign nationals or by South Africans; rid our townships and villages of drugs… that are destroying the lives of many young people,” the government statement said.

The crackdown came after at least seven people were killed as mobs hunted down migrant workers from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African countries, forcing hundreds of terrified families to abandon their homes.

The arrests of the so-called “illegal” migrants have prompted concerns that the government is fanning xenophobic sentiment, though authorities have denied that the operation targeted foreigners.

In April, authorities launched a joint operation between the police, Ministry of Home Affairs and the army, targeting undocumented foreign nationals across the country. Human Rights groups and activists have described Operation Myala, that has resulted in at least 750 arrests so far, as “state xenophobia”.

The police operation was strongly criticised during a rally on Saturday in a migrant neighbourhood in Johannesburg.

3,900 migrants, others arrested as South Africa begins crackdown

Having Nigerian husbands exposes us to daily discrimination – South African women

It is not a book club, a yoga club or a theatre club, but about 100 South African wives rely on their own social group to meet and share their experience of prejudice for being married to foreigners.

They say that having Nigerian husbands exposes them to daily discrimination, and that they had long predicted the wave of deadly xenophobic violence that has shaken South Africa in recent weeks.

The United Nigerian Wives in South Africa (UNWISA) club was set up two years ago to support wives who tell of being shunned by family and friends for falling in love with Africans from outside South Africa.

The group’s existence underscores the deep-rooted tensions that erupted anew in Johannesburg and Durban this month when mobs of South African men hunted down immigrants, attacking them and destroying their homes and businesses.

At least seven people have been killed in the unrest, and thousands of immigrants — mainly from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique and elsewhere in Africa — were forced to flee their homes and seek safety in makeshift camps.

“We saw this thing coming and that’s why we formed this association,” UNWISA chairwoman Lindwela Uche, 42, told AFP.

“If only they (the authorities) had listened to us… they would have known that there’s a fire burning slowly and they would have seen how to tackle it.”

The group has 100 members on its Facebook forum and also organises picnics, family soccer tournaments and demonstrations against the stigma they endure.

“Being married to a foreigner is very challenging,” Lufuno Orji, a Johannesburg resources consultant whose husband is a Nigerian medical doctor, told AFP.

“You often spend your time defending yourself and then you defend your foreign husband for being himself.”

Attitudes “are negative everywhere we go,” said Thelma Okoro, 37, adding that even wearing traditional Nigerian dress on the street can attract barbed comments.

– Paying a high price –

Daily life for the wives, their husbands and their children includes battling criticism from neighbours, schools, government officials, health workers, taxi drivers and even the police.

Last year Uche’s 13-year-old daughter returned from school complaining that her teacher had told her “not to bring that Nigerian mentality here” after she and classmates were noisy in class.

“We need to be protected, we need our children to be protected… and our husbands to be treated with dignity,” said Uche, who has been married to her husband Cajethan Dennis for 17 years.

Okoro’s eight-year-old daughter gets mocked by schoolmates over her name “Ngozi” which means “blessing” in Igbo but literally translates to “danger” in Zulu.

For Orji, her decision to marry Ogbonnaya has cost her dearly.

“Just before I got wed to my husband, I lost two very best friends of mine. They thought I was out of my mind,” said Orji, who adds that her own family though were “ecstatic” at her choice of husband.

Some of UNWISA members have kept their maiden names because their husbands’ name attract galling remarks.

Okoro, who has been married to Kenneth for 13 years, says she was told off by an official when she tried to apply for free government-issued houses in 2011.

“They told me that I was not entitled because I am married to a foreigner, and that if I wanted a house I must divorce the man first,” she said.

She also cited taking her sick children to hospital, where “the nurses ask ‘why are you giving these people residence papers’ — degrading and discrediting our choices”.

The wives’ club is now looking to widen its reach to South African women married to other foreign nationals after the recent anti-immigrant attacks highlighted many other women going through similar experiences.

One victim, Nokuthula Mabaso, last week told local media she was threatened with rape for dating her Zimbabwean boyfriend Elias Chauke.

“A group of Zulu-speaking men arrived and kicked down the door,” she said.

“They asked me why I dated a foreigner when there were many South African men in the squatter camp and I replied that I love Elias. They then assaulted and robbed me.

“One of them threatened to rape us and was stopped by others.”

The South African government has vowed to tackle xenophobic attacks, while human rights lawyers say women who are unfairly discriminated against should consider legal action.

“Marriage does not infringe your citizenship as a South African,” said Trish Erasmus, of the Pretoria-based Lawyers for Human Rights.

 

Having Nigerian husbands exposes us to daily discrimination – South African women

FG suspends Foreign Affairs Perm Sec Over recall of Nigerian Amb to South Africa

The Federal Government has suspended the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Danjuma Sheni, over the unauthorized recall of the Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa.

A highly placed government official in the Presidency told Vanguard that the president ordered the suspension of the Permanent Secretary Monday Morning and was directed to clarify why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for embarrassing the Nigerian government.

The source who did not want his name in print because he was not authorized to speak on the matter said the president was “livid with anger” when he read about the recall of the Nigerian Charge De Affairs who is also the head of mission without his authorization.

Nigeria presently does not have an ambassador in South Africa.

It is the second time since the appointment of the permanent Secretary, Ambassador Sheni that the Nigerian government would be brought to diplomatic ridicule over poor handling of diplomatic affairs.

In the first instance, the Ministry had claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan spoke with the King of Morocco on Phone, a claim that was denied by the Moroccoan government and later president Jonathan who ordered a full investigation into the matter.

The report of the investigation is still being awaited three weeks to the end of this administration.

The report of the alleged recall of the Nigerian Ambassador to South in the wake of the xenophobic attacks on foreigners and their businesses elicited a strong reaction from the South African government which described the action as “unfortunate”.

But the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati however clarified that the Charge De Affairs of Nigerian Embassy in South Africa has only been invited for “routine consultation”.

 

FG suspends Foreign Affairs Perm Sec Over recall of Nigerian Amb to South Africa

One dead, 240 injured in South Africa commuter train crash

A train guard was killed and 240 people injured Tuesday when two crowded commuter trains collided in Johannesburg, South Africa officials said, adding that emergency teams had cut a woman free from the wreckage.

Both trains were travelling from the capital Pretoria to nearby Johannesburg when one stopped at a station in the suburb of Denver and the other smashed into it shortly after 7:00 am at the height of rush hour.

“Of the injured, two commuters are reported to be critical, 25 suffered serious injuries, and 213 commuters suffered minor injuries,” state railway operator Metrorail said in a statement. The News24 agency had reported that the driver had been killed, but Metrorail said the driver was injured and that a train guard had died.

“Paramedics, along with various services, arrived on the scene and found the wrecked trains blocking the tracks completely,” said Russel Meiring, spokesman for the ER24 paramedic group. “Bent metal and parts of the train had been spread across the scene.”

The trapped woman was transported by helicopter to hospital after being rescued. The last major rail accident in South Africa was in July last year when two trains crashed into each other in the eastern coastal city of Durban, injuring around 80 people.

 

One dead, 240 injured in South Africa commuter train crash

Xenophobic Violence: Why are the citizens not in their countries? – Zuma comes out from closet

President Jacob Zuma on Monday hit out at other African countries after South Africa faced a backlash over the wave of anti-foreigner attacks in the country.

While Zuma condemned the violence, saying immigrants contributed to the South African economy, he also questioned why so many had flocked to South Africa.

“As much as we can have a problem alleged to be xenophobic, our brother countries contributed to this,” he said.

“Why are the citizens not in their countries?”

Earlier in April, mobs in Johannesburg and in the port city of Durban targeted migrants, ransacking their homes and burning shops.

Seven people died and thousands were displaced.

South Africa faced a backlash over the attacks and regional relations have been strained, with Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique organising for some of their fearful citizens to return home.

Nigeria has also recalled its ambassador in Pretoria over the attacks while there have been widespread calls for South African products to be boycotted.

But Zuma went on a counter-offensive Monday, saying his government would strengthen measures to tackle illegal immigration.

“Some of them (immigrants) had very serious allegations against their own countries to explain why they are in South Africa,” Zuma said, speaking on Freedom Day that marks the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

“In fact, some of them warned us that there is almost certainly another wave of refugees coming given the developments in their own countries.

“We have to address the underlying causes of the violence and tensions, which is the legacy of poverty, unemployment and inequality in our country and our continent and the competition for limited resources,” Zuma said.

Many South Africans have blamed the attacks on poverty and a severe jobs shortage in Africa’s second biggest economy. Undocumented immigrants are often accused of accepting work for less pay.

The spate of attacks has revived memories of xenophobic bloodshed in 2008, when 62 people were killed, tarnishing South Africa’s post-apartheid image as a “rainbow nation” of different groups living in harmony.

The South African army was deployed in some of the worst hit areas last week in a bid to crack down on the violence against immigrants.

 

Xenophobic Violence: Why are the citizens not in their countries? – Zuma comes out from closet

South Africa, Nigeria diplomatic row deepens over xenophobic attack

By Ehi Ekhator, Naija Center News

South Africa and Nigeria diplomatic row have deepened as the second largest African nation  described as unfortunate and regrettable, the decision by Nigeria government to recall its ambassador over the attack on Nigerians and other African nations.

South African youths attacked other African nations weeks ago after blaming them for taking their jobs.

Reacting to the Nigeria decision as a means to exploit such a painful episode, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Co-operation points out that “a government resorts to such an extraordinary diplomatic step to express outrage at actions or behaviour of another government.

The statement says South Africa has not blamed Nigeria “for the deaths and more than nine (9) months delay in the repatriation of the bodies of our fallen compatriots” in attacks by Boko Haram militants.

The statement insists that the South African government and citizens have been “decisive and unequivocal in condemning and rejecting the attacks on foreign nationals” and insists that “through our interventions, relative calm and order has been restored”.

On Friday, President Zuma met over 50 leaders of organisations representing foreign nationals in South Africa for talks about how to avert any repeat of the attacks.

Next week, the South African parliament is to be suspended to allow deputies to press the anti-xenophobia message in their home constituencies.

NAIJA CENTER NEWS could recall that the two countries relationship have been hanging over the months when President Zuma went public after seizing a certain amount of money allegedly meant to purchase arms to fight the terrorist group, Boko Hara.

The two countries also crossed path after more than 85 South Africans died in the building collapse of Synagogue of All Nations.

Nigeria has summoned Acting High Commissioner Martin Cobham along with Deputy High Commissioner Uche Ajulu-Okeke. “for consultation” over the “ongoing xenophobia”, Minister of Foreign Affairs Aminu Wali said in a statement carried by media on Saturday.

At least seven people have died over a month of attacks on foreigners and foreign-owned property in South Africa.

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been blamed for sparking the attacks with comments about foreign workers.

Soldiers were deployed to flashpoints last week to prevent more violence.

Some blamed the attacks – which centred on Durban and Johannesburg – on unemployment and poor political leadership.

South Africa, Nigeria diplomatic row deepens over xenophobic attack

Xenophobic attacks: SERAP drags S-Africa to ICC

Lagos — The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, yesterday dragged South Africa before the International Criminal Court, ICC, over xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other foreigners living in the country.

International Criminal Court, ICC

Executive Director of SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, disclosed this in a petition dated April 23, which he addressed to the ICC Prosecutor, Mrs Fatou Bensouda.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government on Wednesday invited the South African High Commissioner in Nigeria, Lulu Louis-Mnguni, over the xenophobia attacks on Nigerians and other blacks residing in the country.

The attacks, which started last week, followed the hate-speech by the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini, that non- indigenes should vacate their country, accusing them of taking up employment opportunities meant for South African nationals.

SERAP, in its statement, said Bensounda should investigate the allegations of hate-speech by Zwelithini, which resulted in the killing of some Nigerians and other African citizens.

It requested her to probe the complicity and negligence of the country’s law enforcement agencies to prevent these crimes against other countries’ civilian population residing in South Africa.

The group also urged her to bring to justice anyone who was found to be responsible for these international crimes prohibited under the Rome Statute of the ICC.

SERAP said it considered the use of hate speech by the Zulu King to promote hatred or incite violence against non-nationals such as Nigerians, particularly in the media, as a clear violation of the provisions of the statute

It said: “Grave statements by political leaders and prominent people that express discrimination and cause violence against non-nationals cannot be justified under any law.”

“This hate-speech generated fear and hatred that created the conditions for violence and discrimination against Nigerians and other African citizens.

“SERAP believes that this has given rise to individual criminal responsibility under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” the group said.

It argued that the statement by the Zulu King amounted to a harmful form of expression which incited or otherwise promoted hatred, discrimination, violence and intolerance.

SERAP said: “We are seriously concerned that crimes against humanity are often accompanied or preceded by the kind of statement made by the Zulu King.

“Once the climate of violence has been created, direct and public incitement to crimes builds on it, exacerbating the situation by further heating up passions and directing South Africans’ hatred toward non-nationals such as Nigerians.

“Hate-speech by King Zulu is legally tied to contemporaneous, large-scale violence and inhumane and discriminatory treatment of Nigerians and other African citizens.”

According to the group, the hate-speech by the king amounts to crime against humanity and has directly contributed to an infringement of the rights to life, equality and non-discrimination of Nigerians and other African citizens.

It said that the South African Government had not demonstrated the political will to bring those suspected to be responsible for crimes under international law to justice.

 

 

Xenophobic attacks: SERAP drags S-Africa to ICC