COMMENT - Maria Ramos is married to
Trevor Manuel, former South African Finance Minister, and today working for the Rothschild Group, Rothschild South Africa and it's client Old Mutual.
Nicky Oppenheimer: South Africa’s richest man, reportedly donated R10 million to the leadership bid.
Raymond Ackerman: The owner of Pick n Pay is said to have dropped a cool R1 million into the funding pool.
Maria Ramos: The ex-ABSA CEO and PIC executive allegedly gave R1 million to the campaign.
Johnny Copelyn: CR17 can thank the owner of the news network eNCA for a R2 million donation.
An anonymous donor: Apparently, one unnamed benefactor pumped R120 million into Cyril’s campaign. Yikes.
(THE SOUTH AFRICAN) CR17 donors revealed: EFF pile in on Ramaphosa and his millionaire funders
It's a disastrous day for Cyril Ramaphosa, as his supposedly dirty laundry gets aired. The EFF have been highly critical of his CR17 funders on Sunday.
Tom Head
by Tom Head 2019-08-11 14:06in News
During Cyril Ramaphosa’s hour of misery, the EFF have arrived in a timely fashion. His CR17 campaign – which earned him the right to lead the ANC and eventually become president – has been the subject of intense scrutiny from Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who is now being accused of illegally obtaining the information.
CR17 donors revealed by the media
In a statement made late on Saturday, the presidency said Ramaphosa had been made aware that confidential banking information of his campaign contributors had been leaked to the media. It’s understood the head of state will seek court action to investigate how Mkhwebane managed to get inside the bank accounts belonging to the president:
“The information, supposedly held only by the Public Protector, includes bank statements of third parties, which record private transactions and which are strictly confidential. This amounts to a violation of the constitutionally enshrined right to privacy. Neither the President nor the campaign has done anything wrong, ethically or legally.”
Statement from the office of Cyril Ramaphosa
Who funded Cyril Ramaphosa and his CR17 campaign?
Ramaphosa was boosted by a victory in court against Busisiwe Mkhwebane last week, regarding the recommended remedial action against Pravin Gordhan. However, his joy seems to have been short-lived, as some rather conspicuous names have been linked to CR17 through a Sunday Independent report. These include:
Nicky Oppenheimer: South Africa’s richest man, reportedly donated R10 million to the leadership bid.
Raymond Ackerman: The owner of Pick n Pay is said to have dropped a cool R1 million into the funding pool.
Maria Ramos: The ex-ABSA CEO and PIC executive allegedly gave R1 million to the campaign.
Johnny Copelyn: CR17 can thank the owner of the news network eNCA for a R2 million donation.
An anonymous donor: Apparently, one unnamed benefactor pumped R120 million into Cyril’s campaign. Yikes.
ABSA Nation Building put R10 million towards CR17, and two Eskom executives – one past and one present – put a combined R1.8 million into Ramaphosa leadership campaign. Andre Crawford-Brunt, a board member of Sygnia, was also a big backer – he put R2 million into the kitty.
Needless to say, the lavish funding hasn’t escaped the attention of the EFF. The red berets have been utilising their Twitter platform to nail Cyril Ramaphosa and his friends in high places. Party Deputy President Floyd Shivambu said that the leaked information proved Ramaphosa was nothing more than a ‘puppet’ for outside influences.
“None of the funders look like the majority of members of the party they hypnotized through cash. Clearly, the white capitalist establishment has rented a president to the erstwhile liberation movement. And most definitely, this is no free later lunch!”
Floyd Shivambu
Meanwhile, EFF Spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi lambasted Cyril and his donor lists through a series of Tweets, hammering the president for showing that he holds “zero integrity” in his current position.
Labels: CORRUPTION, CR17, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
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(BFLF) Ramaphosa is illegitimate President, he must go!
POSTED ON AUGUST 5, 2019 BY BLACK FIRST LAND FIRST
Ramaphosa is illegitimate President, he must go!
Black First Land First (BLF) calls on the African National Congress (ANC) to immediately suspend Cyril Ramaphosa as its President and remove him as President of the country.
The leaked emails have not been denied and show beyond reasonable doubt that Ramaphosa is compromised, conflicted, and corrupt. Worse still he is beholden to white monopoly capital (WMC) in that he is bought by it. It is also clear that Ramaphosa is protected by the WMC judiciary. The consequences of this reality is that there shall be no meaningful change in the lives of our people.
The #RamaphosaLeaks show that:
1. Ramaphosa lied to parliament and the nation.
2. Ramaphosa is corrupt.
3. Ramaphosa conspired with WMC to buy the presidency of the ANC in the December 2017 NASREC conference.
4. Ramaphosa is a captured President by Stellenbosch and London.
5. Ramaphosa has already given the country to his handlers.
6. Ramaphosa is protected by the WMC media.
7. Pravin Gordhan is central to the conspiracy to buy the ANC conference with money from Stellenbosch and London.
8. Ramaphosa is an illegitimate President.
BLF is clear! Ramaphosa must go!!!
Right now no women or men of integrity have emerged from within the ANC with the moral rectitude to call for Ramaphosa to go. Even the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) people are silent!
THIS IS A DISGRACE!!!
Again, BLF is clear! Ramaphosa must go! He said he is fighting corruption, whilst being the most corrupt!
Issued by Black First Land First, National Coordinating Committee of (BLF NCC)
5 August 2019
Contact Details
Black First Land First Mail: blackfirstlandfirst@gmail.com
Zanele Lwana
(BLF Deputy President)
Cell: +27 79 986 7225
Labels: BFLF, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, ZANELE LWANA
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COMMENT - The West continuously undermines democracy by installing or promoting neoliberal corporatists or representatives of the old colonial class in disguise, even through the Liberation Movements. That's why they're so enthusiastic about the new leaders of the ANC and ZANU-PF. Donald Trump literally announced the installation of a new President in Venezuela on twitter. For democracy to rule, the people must have their own unbought, uncompromised candidates. Or there has to be direct democracy - bypass the politicians altogether. - MrK
(BLACK OPINION SA) Apartheid spy, Cyril Ramaphosa, must go!
By admin Posted in Featured News Posted on February 14, 2019
By Andile Mngxitama
The nation must thank Cope leader, Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, for speaking the truth yesterday at the SONA debate. Throughout history, there has been a lot of speculation about Cyril Ramaphosa being an apartheid agent. Now Lekota has finally spoken out. The three minutes Lekota was on the podium was worth a thousands minutes. Lekota spoke directly when most of the opposition have been subdued since the State of the Nation Address.
For this, Terror Lekota is the undisputed hero of the SONA Debate.
The history of Ramaphosa and white monopoly capital is well documented and he is proud of it. Ramaphosa was raised and taken care of by the criminal Oppenheimer family. This is the family which benefited immensely from apartheid and its disastrous migrant labour system. At one stage, the family owned most of the economy of South Africa. The Oppenheimer family are heirs of the bloody loot of Cecil John Rhodes. They are the owners of the global giant Anglo American.
When student leaders where facing multiple detentions, torture and death in the 1970s, Ramaphosa was being protected and funded by the criminal Oppenheimer family. His schooling was paid for by them. When they were satisfied that he could serve them, they made him start a trade union in their mines with the view of controlling the workers. That’s how National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was formed.
Ramaphosa was mentored to be a stooge of white monopoly capital. It is therefore not surprising at all that he is also an agent of the apartheid regime. These revelations by Lekota raise too many questions. Since Ramaphosa was close to the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) of Steve Biko, we are left to wonder if he had any hand in the assassinations of the prominent BCM leaders like Abram Onkgopotse Tiro, Mapetla Mohapi, Mthuli ka Shezi and Steve Biko himself.
Ramaphosa was being taken care off by the same people who worked tirelessly to eliminate the BCM. Did he help the apartheid regime destroy the BCM?
There are also questions about how Ramaphosa replaced both Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma from the center of the negotiations process in the 1990s. There is evidence that the removal of the two was instigated by the apartheid regime and white monopoly capital. Putting Ramaphosa as head of the negotiations ensured that the apartheid regime was basically negotiating with itself. This explains the sell-out settlement that is codified in Section 25 of the Constitution which legitimizes land theft. It was a gift from Ramaphosa, the apartheid agent.
South Africa cannot be ruled by someone who is linked to the apartheid regime and white monopoly capital. Ramaphosa is a sell-out.
Black First Land First (BLF) demands the following:
1. Ramaphosa must resign as state President now!
2. If he doesn’t resign, the African National Congress (ANC) must recall him.
3. He must apologize to the nation for collaborating with the enemy during apartheid.
4. A Commission of inquiry into the claims that Ramaphosa was an apartheid agent be set up.
Furthermore, we ask President Jacob Zuma to release his intelligence report on Ramaphosa’s link to the apartheid regime and white monopoly capital.
BLF will make sure Ramaphosa is removed from the Presidency. Already, we can see that every decision he has made since becoming president is calculated to serve white interests. He has already given white monopoly capital the gift of R1.4 trillion under the guise of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). He has removed and persecuted all the radical economic transformation (RET) leadership core. He is en route to giving the oil discovered recently to whites. Plans are afoot to sell state owned entities to white monopoly capital, starting with Eskom.
The Marikana massacre was not an accident. Ramaphosa operates like an apartheid agent – he doesn’t care for black lives. No serious nation can allow itself to be ruled by agents of its oppressors. Ramaphosa must go!
No related posts.
Labels: ANC, APARTHEID, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, MOSIUOA TERROR LEKOTA, NICKY OPPENHEIMER, STEVE BIKO
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COMMENT - Land has to be redistributed to get the South African economy going in a way that is meaningful to the people who live in it. - MrK
(FIN24 SA) Michael Bloomberg tells SA: Inaction on inequality could lead to uprising
Mar 08 2018 10:56 Carin Smith
The 8 billionaires who own the same wealth as 3.6bn people
Cape Town - "Income inequality is a problem. If you don’t do something about it, they will set up the guillotines. Marie Antoinette's life did not end well."
That's what Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and regarded as one of the richest people in the world, told a Cape Town audience on Wednesday during an an event with the theme "The Future of South Africa", hosted by Bloomberg LP.
"People take money from the rich and give it to poor for selfish reasons. We don’t want them to set up guillotines, but people want jobs. It is about self-esteem," he said.
Bloomberg, the former Mayor of New York, said the three biggest things people worry about in the world at the moment are climate change, then a possible nuclear war and then technology replacing jobs, according to Michael Bloomberg.
"How do you create jobs in a world where it is easy to automate jobs which are easy to train people for? The future is scary and people worry that something will be automated and take their jobs."
READ: The 8 billionaires who own the same wealth as 3.6bn people
Growing employment
Investec Group CEO Stephen Koseff said during a panel discussion at the event that one "can get frightened when listening to Julius Malema talking to 80 000 people in a stadium".
He said it is very important for business to help uplift communities so people can get to the point of looking after themselves. This would reduce social grants.
"Growing the employment base is critical. Reducing poverty is key," said Koseff. Yet, he pointed out that there will always be some form of inequality as one will always have some people doing better than others.
Richard Brasher, CEO of Pick n Pay, said during the panel discussion at the event that, "if the youth has the will, industry can give them skills. They must, however, know that they need to work hard and be disciplined and then they need an opportunity.
READ: Youth vulnerable as unemployment stays at highest rate since 2003
Multiple approach
Magda Wierzycka, CEO at Sygnia asset management, said during the panel discussion that there must be a multiple approach to SA's economic growth.
"Business and government need to come to the party. Don’t rely on the international community. For instance, a lot of money can be deployed in infrastructure programmes," she said.
"Make a law, for instance that 5% of pension fund investments must be in infrastructure. That should accellerate deploying money already in the country into projects that create jobs. I think with the new optimism in the country people will be more willing to do this."
She said a sound process and system are needed and the confidence that money invested will not be wasted or stolen.
She would also like to see SA give tax breaks to lure international technology firms to come here.
"Make it easy to import skills to the country. These skilled people can be used to train our own youth," she said.
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Labels: BLOOMBERG, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, NEOLIBERALISM
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Zuma secures huge ANC leadership victory
18/12/2012 00:00:00
by AFP
SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma scored a thumping victory in the ANC leadership contest on Tuesday, opening the way for him to lead the country until 2019.
Zuma won the backing of 75.1% of the 3 977 ANC voting delegates at the national elective conference in Mangaung, making him the odds-on favourite to retain the presidency after 2014 general elections.
Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa won the deputy presidency of the party with 76.4% of the vote in a three-way race, beating Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and setting him up to become Zuma's potential eventual successor and country president.
The vote took place despite the conference being threatened by rightwing extremists.
Police said four men plotted to kill Zuma, Motlanthe, government ministers and senior party officials. The men were charged with treason and terrorism.
Inside the conference there were also plots and intrigue.
Zuma had faced an embarrassing, if lacklustre, leadership challenge from his deputy, Motlanthe, who won 991 of the votes.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and chairperson Baleka Mbete were re-elected to their positions, with newcomers being deputy secretary general Jesse Duarte and treasurer general Zweli Mkhize, who is also the premier of Zuma's home province KwaZulu-Natal.
The scale of Zuma's victory, dubbed a "Zumanami," will take some of the heat of the embattled president.
But after three crisis-marked years in power, Zuma faces a tough slog ahead.
He will have to work hard to win back South African voters, who increasingly see the ANC as out of touch, incompetent and corrupt.
Zuma's poll numbers have steadily eroded amid a series of scandals.
Criticism of his administration reached a crescendo earlier this year when police killed 34 striking miners in one day and it emerged that around R200m of taxpayers' money had been used to refurbish his private home.
A TNS South Africa poll released on Monday showed Motlanthe's approval ratings at 70%, while Zuma polled 52% - less than the ANC's total at the last elections.
Despite public anger at the state of the country, the ANC is likely to romp home in 2014.
The ANC has consistently received around two thirds of the vote in previous elections since the end of apartheid.
But a poor showing could exacerbate divisions within the ANC.
With the opposition Democratic Alliance gaining traction in their personalised attacks on Zuma, the ANC could face a tough scrap to retain control of provinces like Gauteng.
Zuma will also face an uphill struggle to correct the course of the ailing South African economy.
Unemployment remains stuck around 25% and the economy is growing at its slowest rate in three years.
Meanwhile crucial sectors like mining have been hobbled by strikes over low wages and are struggling to modernise and reduce reliance on masses of cheap labour.
Credit ratings agencies have warned that further rating downgrades will come if the conference does not see the ANC change course.
Opening the five-day meeting Zuma tried to reassure investors that he does not back calls for mass nationalisations and that the country is not "falling apart".
The election of Ramaphosa as deputy head of the party - putting him firmly in line to become deputy president - may also assuage industry's fears.
"We are somewhat sceptical of the impact Ramaphosa can make though the market may interpret him, plus Zuma backing the National Development Plan as being a real positive," said Peter Attard Montalto, an analyst with Japanese bank Nomura.
"What we may have here then is a positive PR boost plus another investor friendly voice in cabinet but little real change on the ground and in action."
For Motlanthe the outlook seems bleak.
He ran a largely silent campaign that has sometimes appeared more like a protest than a real run at the top office in the country. Defeat leaves him in the political wilderness, with uncertainty even he will remain as the country's deputy president.
Labels: ANC, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JACOB ZUMA, KGALEMA MOTLANTHE
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Malema: Miners were killed to protect Cyril Ramaphosa shares
18 Aug 2012 15:56 - Sapa
Addressing Lonmin miners, Malema has called for Zuma and Mthethwa to resign, and claimed police were protecting the interests of Cyril Ramaphosa.
President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa must resign following the death of mineworkers at Lonmin's Marikana operations, in the North West, expelled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema said on Saturday.
"President Zuma decided over the massacre of our people, he must step down."
Malema was speaking in Wonderkop where around 34 people were killed in a clash between police on Thursday.
He said Mthethwa must also resign because the police shot people under his command.
"He must resign because he failed in executing his duties."
Malema told the crowd that the police were supposed to protect them and not kill them.
"It has never happened before that so many people were killed in a single day and it became normal," he said.
Malema, who pledged his support for the striking mineworkers urged them not to retreat and to stand firm on their demand for a R12 500 salary.
Not a president
He said the reason the police shot at the people was because they were protecting the interest of ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member, Cyril Ramaphosa, who, he alleged, owned shares in Lonmin.
"Lonmin had a high political connection that is why our people were killed. They were killed to protect the shares of Cyril Ramaphosa," he said.
He told the gathering that it was amazing that Ramaphosa was able to buy a buffalo for R18-million but could not pay them the R12 500 they were demanding.
Earlier today, the Shanduka Group, which was formed by Cyril Ramaphosa, pledged R2-million for the burial of scores of people killed in the Lonmin clashes.
Malema said one reason why he called for the resignation of President Zuma was that he failed in his duty to protect the citizens of the country.
"When you were killed, Zuma was still in the country. He decided to go to Maputo, Mozambique and once he was there he was advised that he made a wrong decision. That is why he returned to the country yesterday [Friday]."
He told the crowd that if they were asked who is the president of the country, they should say they do not have a president.
"I don't have a president. Zuma is not a president."
He called on the mineworkers to form a militant union that would represent their interests.
He said that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was no longer a union that represented the interests of the workers but was interested in making more money.
"NUM is not a union, it's a company. They hold shares in mining companies, that is why when there are problems in the mines they are the first to sell out the workers."
The crowd dispersed peacefully after Malema's address.
A total of 34 people were killed in a shootout that erupted near the mine when police tried to disperse striking miners.
More than 78 people were injured. Another 10 people had by then been killed in the violent protests at the mine over the past week. Sapa.
Labels: CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JACOB ZUMA, JULIUS MALEMA, MINING, NUM (SA)
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Malema at Marikana: 'Many will die'
18 Aug 2012 20:21 - Phillip De Wet
Julius Malema has told striking Marikana mine workers that they should die for their cause, and urged other mineworkers to join them. Julius Malema wasn't pulling punches, when he spoke to several thousand Marikana mineworkers on Saturday. President Jacob Zuma should step down, he said, as should Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
ANC National Executive Committee member Cyril Ramaphosa came in for a drubbing as well – with the implication that he was partially responsible for the deaths of the strikers killed this week. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were sellouts, he said, and police had no excuse for using live ammunition.
And he was clear on what should happen next.
"You must never retreat, even in the face of death," he told the gathering, not far from the koppie where 34 had died only days before.
"Many people will die as we struggle for economic freedom." He called on other miners, especially in the surrounding area, to join in solidarity strikes (warning that they could be the next to die if they don't) and told the Marikana group that their calls for wage increases from around R5 000 a month to R12 500, were fully legitimate.
And although he did not endorse new union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), in so many words, he had nothing but scorn for the NUM.
"NUM is a former union… From a militant union… We want leaders who will not sell you out," Malema said.
Anti-Zuma politicking
Police, Malema said, should not have had automatic weapons on the scene of the protest on Thursday afternoon, when 34 people were killed.
And even if strikers did fire at the police first, the police should not have fired back.
He dismissed outright any suggestion that the police had acted in self-defence and had reason to fear the armed workers, saying the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) had marched with similar weapons for years without getting shot.
But it was to Jacob Zuma that he returned time and time again. Zuma, Malema said, had told police to use maximum force. "From today, when asked 'who is your president', you must say 'I don't have a president'," he urged the group.
The speech was well received, even though Malema spoke mostly in English, and members of the crowd subsequently said they largely agreed with his sentiments, though some were weary of his anti-Zuma stance as politicking.
Some in the crowd were armed with pangas and spears, and a police helicopter kept a close eye on proceedings initially, but police did not intervene, apart from sending a small delegation to speak to Malema.
Neither Malema nor the police would say what had been discussed, but Malema later told the crowd that he had told the police to stay away because they were not needed.
After the speech, a group of men moved towards the koppie, that has been at the centre of events all week, but soon dispersed.
A group of women gathered at a nearby crossroads to face off to police guarding the Lonmin mine, and demand the release of strikers still being held in custody.
"These police must give us back our men," said one, who declined to give her name. "They're keeping our people in prison so they can't come back and demand their rights."
The miners intend to meet again on Monday, to discuss the strike.
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JULIUS MALEMA, MINING, STRIKE
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Juju allies shut out: Magaqa suspension rattles ANCYL
MICHELLE PIETERSEN & MATUMA LETSOALO Apr 26 2012 00:00
ANC Youth League leaders have questioned the credibility and motives of the party's national disciplinary committee of appeals, chaired by Cyril Ramaphosa, after its decision to suspend the league's secretary general, Sindiso Magaqa, despite his withdrawal of his appeal.
Although the decision to uphold Malema's expulsion was widely expected, the appeal committee's decision to suspend Magaqa for a year has angered a number of youth league members.
Some have pointed out that this was the clearest indication yet that the disciplinary process was politically motivated.
Youth league structures from different provinces indicated that they would defy the ANC's decision on Malema, spokesperson Floyd Shivambu and Magaqa.
Magaqa is regarded as Malema's closest ally in the youth league and as someone who would continue to champion his radical policy proposals and the call for leadership change in the ANC.
[You say radical, I say he is being conservative. - MrK]
During the league's Limpopo provincial conference last weekend, which Malema was barred from attending, Magaqa made a speech condemning the ANC leadership for the state of the party and for persecuting its youth leaders in a bid to silence them.
Since Malema's troubles with the ANC started, Magaqa has continued where Malema left off. Malema and Magaqa used to represent the youth league at ANC national executive committee meetings. His suspension has been interpreted by others as a strategy by the party to force the league to appoint an acting president and secretary general who will represent the league within the party's top structures.
In November last year, the ANC's national disciplinary committee found Magaqa guilty of bringing the party into disrepute for a statement he distributed on behalf of the youth league in which it said Botswana was a puppet regime and it would send a task team to the country. It also called the youth league's former president, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba, a "government flower".
He was sentenced to a year's suspension, suspended for three years, and ordered to make a public apology to Gigaba.
On April 18, Magaqa's legal representatives submitted a letter to the appeals committee notifying it of his intention to withdraw a previous motion to appeal his sentence. The youth league felt it best that Magaqa did not appeal, because it suspected the party would then lobby for a heavier sentence. The league would then run the risk that two of its leaders would be left out in the cold.
Magaqa accepted his sentence, made a public apology and did not appeal. But Ramaphosa on Tuesday announced that the committee had rejected his withdrawal and his suspended sentence and that he would instead be suspended from the ANC for a period of one year. He will also forfeit his position as secretary general. The decision by the appeal committee was final, said Ramaphosa, even though Magaqa was not given an opportunity to defend his position not to appeal his sanction.
The appeal committee dismissed his withdrawal on the basis that:
# Magaqa's legal representatives did not furnish any evidence to it that the condition (an apology to Gigaba) had been complied with.
However, Magaqa's legal representatives countered that the argument did not hold water because there were no preconditions, including that they provide proof of the apology to the appeal committee.
Furthermore, Magaqa's apology was widely reported on the youth league's website and was sent from the ANC's email address.
In addition, had the appeal committee requested evidence of the apology, they would have had no problem abiding by the request.
The appeal committee also said that it was of the view that:
# Magaqa was obliged to "seek and obtain the consent of the respondent [the ANC prosecution] to the withdrawal of the appeal, especially in light of the respondent's argument that the sentence handed to him was too lenient".
"The unilateral withdrawal of the appeal would defeat the achievement of justice and prejudice the respondent because, in the view of the [appeals committee], the intention of the second appellant [Magaqa] in withdrawing the appeal was to frustrate the respondent by precluding it from arguing for a possible increase in the sanction," said Ramaphosa.
However, the Mail & Guardian has learnt that Magaqa's legal representatives submitted a letter notifying the ANC prosecution of the withdrawal of the appeal, but the prosecution had not responded and had at no time expressed that it felt prejudiced by the withdrawal.
"And even if the defence had not notified the ANC about the intention to withdraw the appeal, how would the appeals committee know? This proves that the ANC prosecution and the appeals committee communicated, which they were not supposed to do," said one well-placed source.
# The appeals committee also argued that:
The last-minute withdrawal constituted an "abuse of process" and sought only to "prejudice" the ANC prosecution. "Finality of this matter and justice will not be achieved by [Magaqa's] conduct. Consequently, the national disciplinary committee of appeals, in its discretion and in the interest of justice, has decided not to allow the withdrawal of the appeal," said Ramaphosa.
Despite the setback, the league is planning to approach the party's national executive committee to review Ramaphosa's decision.
"We are busy compiling a report to be presented to the committee. We were shocked by the appeals committee's decision, especially on Magaqa. How do you rule on someone who did not appeal? He apologised. No one said he should apologise to the committee. It did not give him a formula of how he should apologise. He apologised publicly. Why pass judgment on him? That is a clear case of abuse of power.
"Now that they realise that dealing with Malema alone is not resolving their problem, they are going for Magaqa. If people have not seen this by now, I don't know," said a senior youth league leader, who was authorised to comment officially.
He said the disciplinary action against Magaqa was similar to that meted out to Shivambu.
"We are shocked that Floyd was given a straight suspension, despite the fact that he was a first offender. Why suspend him for three years while he is a first offender? Floyd is the only one the national disciplinary committee said showed remorse. Why did he not get a suspended sentence?"
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JULIUS MALEMA
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Malema found guilty, suspended from ANC
Posted by By Our reporter at 5 February, at 06 : 47 AM
Julius Malema, the ANC’s outspoken youth league leader, has lost an appeal against his suspension from the party for “sowing divisions” and bringing the ANC into disrepute, and has been told to stand down as president immediately.
Mr Malema was told that his claims of bias by some members of the disciplinary panel which convicted him and suspended him from the party for five years were “naive and ridiculous”.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the business mogul who heads the appeals committee, added that Mr Malema’s claim that the ANC Youth League was independent of the mother party was “absurd in the extreme”.
The decision is a major setback in the career of the young firebrand, who made his name by backing Jacob Zuma in his 2007 battle to unseat President Thabo Mbeki.
More recently, he has made headlines around the world with calls for mine nationalisation and Zimbabwe-style land reform as the solutions to the country’s vast wealth gap.
He was found guilty in November of calling for regime change in neighbouring Botswana; unfavourably comparing President Zuma to Mr Mbeki, and storming into a meeting of senior officials.
He responded by accusing the disciplinary committee that ruled against him as being used to “settle political scores”.
His appeal was dismissed.
Malema fans sang and danced outside.chanting, ”Viva Juju! Viva!” to remark: “There is nothing wrong with what Malema did, he is fighting for us – he is our voice.
“We still want to nationalise the mines, the banks, the land – we want our world back, we want our country back for the blacks,” said one the protesters.
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JULIUS MALEMA
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Malema loses appeal, expelled from ANC
04/02/2012 00:00:00
by Aislinn Laing I telegraph.co.uk
JULIUS Malema, the ANC's outspoken youth league leader, has lost an appeal against his suspension from the party for "sowing divisions" and bringing the ANC into disrepute, and has been told to stand down as president immediately.
Malema was told that his claims of bias by some members of the disciplinary panel which convicted him and suspended him from the party for five years were "naive and ridiculous".
Cyril Ramaphosa, the business mogul who heads the appeals committee, added that Malema's claim that the ANC Youth League was independent of the mother party was "absurd in the extreme".
The decision is a major setback in the career of the young firebrand, who made his name by backing Jacob Zuma in his 2007 battle to unseat President Thabo Mbeki.
More recently, he has made headlines around the world with calls for mine nationalisation and Zimbabwe-style land seizures as the solutions to the country's vast wealth gap.
He was found guilty in November of calling for regime change in neighbouring Botswana; unfavourably comparing President Zuma to Mbeki, and storming into a meeting of senior officials.
He responded by accusing the disciplinary committee that ruled against him as being used to "settle political scores".
"(Disciplinary committee chair) Derek Hanekom's dismissive approach to everything the ANC Youth League said shows he had a different agenda to implementing the ANC constitution," he said.
His chances of swaying the appeals committee were slim. Aside from avowed capitalist Ramaphosa, the group includes Trevor Manuel, the former finance minister who has made no secret of his dismay at the calls for mine nationalisation, and Jeff Radebe, the justice minister who was speaking when Malema stormed into the ANC meeting.
Ramaphosa did grant Malema and five of his colleagues suspended with him permission to present mitigating arguments to the disciplinary committee.
But the upholding of the convictions activates a previous, suspended conviction Malema was handed in 2010 for responding to a chiding from President Zuma by complaining that the former president, Thabo Mbeki, had never publicly upbraided him.
That conviction is a suspension from the party for two years, which now comes into effect.
Malema was present in Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters, and met with the appeal committee shortly before the press conference. But he later slipped out of a back door to escape the media scrum.
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While there was no repeat of the violent scenes which marked the beginning of the hearing, when bussed-in supporters of Malema clashed with riot police, a small gaggle of "Juju" – Malema – fans sang and danced outside.
Skhalo Nong, 28, a delivery driver from Katlehong township outside Johannesburg, paused from chants of "Viva Juju! Viva!" to remark: "There is nothing wrong with what Malema did, he is fighting for us – he is our voice.
"We still want to nationalise the mines, the banks, the land – we want our world back, we want our country back for the blacks."
Fiona Forde, author of the recently published Malema biography, An Inconvenient Youth, said Malema's career may not be over yet.
"Ultimately, Julius' fate will be determined by whether Jacob Zuma remains in power past December. If he does not, he might well be brought back into the fold," she said.
Labels: ANC, ANC YOUTH LEAGUE, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, JULIUS MALEMA
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Ramaphosa approached to lead ANC
AFP.
EASTERN CAPE. Billionaire businessman Cyril Ramaphosa has been approached to become the next president of South Africa’s ruling ANC party which chooses its leader later this year, a report said yesterday. Officials from one of the ANC’s most influential branches have earmarked Ramaphosa, the African National Congress’s chief negotiator in the talks which led to the end of apartheid, as a unity candidate amid a bitter stand-off between ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma and incumbent President Thabo Mbeki.
"We have been lobbying Ramaphosa, I must admit," Mlamli Siyakholwa, regional secretary of the O.R. Tambo district in the Eastern Cape told The Sunday Times.
"We feel that with the serious contestation of KwaZulu-Natal strongly in support of Zuma and Eastern Cape strongly in support of Mbeki, the ANC will suffer if either of these two comrades wins," he added.
Ramaphosa’s name has been frequently bandied about as a possible candidate but it is the first time that a party official has acknowledged that he has been approached for the post.
Party tradition prohibits leadership hopefuls from openly campaigning for the job and candidates can only be proposed by branches ahead of a vote among members at a conference in December.
Many analysts believe that Ramaphosa, who has remained tight-lipped about his ambitions, would be the favourite were he to agree to enter the contest for a post which should be the stepping stone to becoming head of state in 2009.
Under the terms of the constitution, Mbeki has to stand down as head of state in 2009 at the end of his second term but he can in theory run again for party president. — AFP.
Labels: ANC, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICA, THE HERALD
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