The Week That Was

Gerald Potash,

Hello again,

As you can imagine the judgement in the appeal case of Cyril Ramaphosa to his possible interrogation for impeachment dominated the front pages of all our newspapers this week. Ramaphosa won his delay to stay the impeachment proceedings narrowly, with one of the three judges saying not only he has a weak case but also that he should personally pay costs for this application. The two other judges, in differing judgements allowed him his request for temporary relief until after his appeal against the section 89 impeachment hearing is heard. Commenting on the judgement Die Burger on the weekend said on their front page that not all is lost. The impeachment committee can still go on with its work of appointing evidence leaders and other administrative preparations but Cyril cannot yet be called to publically give evidence in the Phala Phala hearing until his application against the section 89 is finalised. That should be in early September. 

The ATM Party has disagreed with the judgement and has made an urgent appeal to the Constitutional Court to have the judgement overturned. Yesterday the EFF joined with the ATM to have the judgement overturned. They believe the temporary relief granted Ramaphosa weakens Parliament’s oversight powers.

What is apparent from all this is that Ramaphosa is desperately trying to avoid any kind of accountability. This is ANC leadership in action!

This cartoon is from DavidDToons in the Daily Friend this week:

More front page news this week was all about Andria Johnson. She is (or was until yesterday) head of  IDAC (Investigative Directorate Against Crime), an Advocate found to be a liar, under oath nogal, at the Madlanga Commission. Her interrogation at the Commission was embarrassing. The Sowetan newspaper called her performance shameful. She was seen to be weak and ineffectual, not the hard-nosed lady she purported to be. 

IDAC was established in 2020 to fight corruption and is incorporated in the NPA. Johnson not only suddenly fell “dangerously ill” on the day before she was to appear before the Commission, when she was hospitalised, but recovered miraculously to be able to appear this past week. She has been unrelentingly grilled and it’s not surprising she has resigned. If she hadn’t she would have had to be fired. There have been allegations of her relationship with disgraced Major-General Feroz Kahn of the police with regard to assisting him in shady matters and for the action taken against top-cop and the humiliation of Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo (head of crime intelligence at the Police) which was based on hearsay and untrue allegations. Khumalo has now been reinstated into his position.

IDAC has been severely criticised for its frustratingly slow progress with regard to prosecutions but it is an important body and should not be terminated like the Scorpions. Rather IDAC’s leadership should be replaced with stable reliable leadership to continue the important fight against corruption.

Mind you, Paul Hoffman SC, of Accountability Now thinks IDAC should be closed down altogether because it does not have the qualities required of it by the rulings of the Constitutional Court as very clearly spelled out in the Glenister Case judgement.

Then suddenly on Sunday evening  Andrea Johnson resigned from her post. I wonder why?

Derrick Nesbitt in the Herald earlier this week got this one just right:

Corné Mulder, leader of the Freedom Front  Plus, believes the ANC’s foreign policy towards the US must change. He believes SA continues to provoke the US.

So I was pleased to read in Die Papier how warmly our new Ambassador to the United States, Roelf Meyer was received. Apparently Ernie Els phoned Donald Trump before the meeting and told him all about Roelf and what an important role he had played in ending Apartheid. Meyer was also very clear  that he is in the US to improve our relations with America.

In the meanwhile another group of white Afrikaans South Africans have this week emigrated to America under Trump’s protective umbrella.

Ghana has threatened to take SA to the African Union over the treatment of their citizens here.

The New York Times on Monday carried a story about how African countries, (Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi & Nigeria) have organised repatriation efforts to help escape the SAn xenophobic violence. It is a scary story of brutal intimidation of undocumented foreigners or even documented ones. While SA has the largest economy in Africa the locals rant that the immigrants are taking their jobs. Our unemployment rates remains at well over 30%.

The EFF had a big get-together this past weekend in the Thoyohandou Stadium, in Limpopo. Julius Malema spoke to his  followers and told them what they wanted to hear. The abandoned land, the abandoned buildings will be taken given to you, the people. They cheered. He said he will expropriate and give the poor the land they always wanted. Malema also promised free water and electricity for all social grant beneficiaries and the unemployed. If I was part of that crowd I would also have cheered.

What else caught my eye in the press this week was the interim preservation order obtained against Lucky Montana’s two properties. The SIU (Special Investigation Unit) quietly attached these properties valued at over R15 million so that Montana could not get rid of them while their investigation of corruption continues. Lucky Montana is a big shot. He was CEO of PRASA , the Passenger Rail Agency of SA. When SA won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup in SA over R5 billion was spent on contracts by PRASA to improve rail services. After due investigation Montana on his income could not have paid for these properties say the SIU.   The trough is close when you are a cadre. 

Michael Bagraim, DA spokesman on Labour has advised that they will challenge the draft Employment Equity Code as recently published in the Government Gazette. It targets white males and makes it difficult to employ any one other than a black, coloured, women or persons with disabilities. Bagraim said that hiring decisions should be based on skills, merits and needs.

If you want access to the mayor of Johannesburg, Dado Morero you may want to sit at his table when the ANC gets its fund-collecting dinner  going. To secure your table you will have to pay the Party R500,000.00. That’s a little over $30,000.00. Not cheap. It costs a little less to get a table with city councillors or even Deputy Ministers. That is almost a bargain at only R300,000.00

The coach was on the couch with me on Saturday to watch our neighbours, Boland, pulverise us Stormersn on the rugby field in Wellington in a Currie Cup engagement. The WP team shouldn’t be called the Stormers. Without our stars in the team we are simply not the same as our usual team. In this competition only players living in the province are qualified to play for their local team.

As always,

Gerald