Rejected By His Motherland

By Vusi Moloi © 2009


Punishing shackles cut like suicidal
Tracing the cruel ground like sinusoidal
A little boy soldier was arrested
To be tried on evidence untested
They vowed to avenge one of their own
For a crime they couldn't prove against the boy
He cried for help via the syntactic
His motherland was unenthusiastic
She remains disinclined at great distance
Reluctant to heed the cry of the boy
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted

To be detained at Guantanamo
Without trial at Guantanamo
His motherland complied with Guantanamo
Despite torturing the boy at Guantanamo
He cracked under pain for her warm breast
The motherland remained unimpressed
His countrymen label him a terrorist
To remain shackled by a militarist
The moon flickered at his pain
Unable to stomach his suffering
Hereafter to be painfully rejected
By his motherland despite contacted


Contextual Commentary

The moon that lights the sky remains like a watchful eye over the earth below. Her memory, etched in meteoritic stone, transcends time and space to serve as an institutional memory for the children of the stars. The moon goddess who lights up the moon with her fire, uses her gravitational pull to equalize the distribution of the waterways of the land hence when the tide rises all vessels must rise. The sacred heart of the moon is averse to the distinctions that deprive others of the plentiful waterways.
Vusi Moloi, The Indomitable Mongoose, Canada, 2009

Dedication:

This poem is written in tribute to Omar Khadr who was captured as a little boy on July 27 2002 in a compound near the village of Ayub Kheyl in Afghanistan. His country of birth Canada has consistently refused to intervene on behalf of Omar even though other countries have come to the rescue of their own.

Guantanamo Bay Child Soldier CSIS interrogation

Omar Khadr cracking under pain and sobbing uncontrollably while undergoing an intense interrogation by the Canadian Inteligence Security Agency. In this video (released by his defence team) Omar also shows sustained injuries - video from nomoredrugwar of Youtube.

Background

US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler has taken a lot of heat for defending the rights of Omar. Lieutenant-Commander Kuebler has declared his special relationship with the young man saying people should disregard the hurtful comments made by some of the Khadr family members because he believes Omar can go on to lead a productive life in society given a chance. Omar Khadr is accused of throwing a hand grenade that killed US Special Forces soldier Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. No uncontested evidence has been established to support that claim. The Pentagon under President George Bush had based their argument on the fact that Omar was the only one alive when the Christopher Speer assault team stormed the compound after US air strikes had obliterated it in a four hour fire fight. That position has since been discounted by sworn military documents from one soldier (known only as OC-1) who shot Omar twice on the back causing gaping exit wounds on Omar's chest. The soldier testified under oath that there were two people found alive at the compound namely Omar Khadr and another combatant. The second person was shot dead by OC-1.

Lieutenant Commander Kuebler has even suggested that given the nature of the battle Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer may have been killed by “friendly fire” and not by enemy combatants as originally reported by the US authorities a viewpoint now confirmed by some researchers using both medical records and the type of grenade that killed Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. It’s now alleged that the grenade that hit Speer was American. If this is the case then does it mean that Omar Khadr is paying for someone else’s crime?

Kuebler Called the Government's Case

US Navy Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler speaking to reporters - video from omarcanada1 of Youtube



Defence Attorner Dennis Edney

Another great Canadian Mr. Dennis Edney continues to defend Omar in spite of the frustrations that result from attempting to deal with a close-knit organization like the US military authorities where the rules are like a black box that needs special decoding. Mr. Edney has had to wait for four years before being allowed to meet his client in person something that is very torturing to the mind of someone who wants to help others.

Latest Developments

In a latest development the Federal Court of Canada Justice James O’Reilly has ordered the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring Omar Khadr home warning that Canada was implicit in the continued torture of Omar. The Prime Minister swiftly responded by leaving open the option of quashing the court decision via an appeal process. This position is in sharp contrast to what the Prime Minister declared before in a similar case where a Canadian citizen was accused of terrorism by China as follows:

"I think the government of Canada, when a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it's always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that Canadian citizen... That is what we will continue to do.", Prime Minister Harper speaking to reporters in Halifax about China allegedly torturing a Canadian citizen Huseyin Celil.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

South Africa Votes for a Better Life

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The people of South Africa cast their votes today [April 22, 2009] for a new Government to lead them another five years. The iconic legend of Nelson Mandela injected new levels of energy among those waiting in long lines to cast their vote. The President of the African National Congress and the potential President of the Republic of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma enjoyed a cult-like personality when he cast his vote at his home village of Nkandla. Mr. Zuma is a worshipful figure at his home village and has energized people of all backgrounds. He has extended that natural charisma beyond his village to the entire Province of KwaZulu Natal and far and beyond throughout South Africa.

Big Turnout

It is estimated that the voter turnout is nearly 80% (or over 18 million of 23 million registered voters), an unheard of record in Canada. Unlike the Canadians who remain subdued during the polls, the South Africans are both expressive and energized to exercise their right in what is likely to be a new chapter in the great struggle for economic emancipation from the crushing shackles of economic apartheid. People have been economically disenfranchised for fifteen years in what is seemingly an unusual misnomer whereby the African natives make do with a razor thin slice of the cheese pie while the colonial descendents have the entire pie to themselves without any qualms about it. The African natives were disinherited by a system of apartheid that has since mutated into a modern gated system of economic exclusion.


South Africa votes in general election - from itnnews of Youtube

Former Presidents Vote

The former President of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki also cast his vote. Responding to a question about whom he was voting for Mr. Mbeki replied by saying that only God knew. Mr. Mbeki remains the member of the ANC although he didn’t assist his organization during the political campaign despite being expected to do so. In a letter he wrote to the ANC on this question, he was non-committal. On the other hand Mr. Mandela remains a self-declared loyal cadre of the ANC and has come out, despite frail health, to support his party and leverage support for Mr. Zuma boosting the fortunes of the ANC.

Impressive Threat From COPE

Many observers say the ANC, which has ruled South Africa since 1994 is facing an impressive threat from the Congress of the People commonly known as COPE, a political breakaway from the ANC led by the former Defense Minister Mr. Terror Lekota. Mr. Lekota has since lost the leadership contest to the Methodist Minister Hamilton Dandala who largely remains an unknown quantity on the campaign trail. COPE had hoped that Reverend Dandala’s impressive credentials would prove instrumental in setting the leadership of COPE apart from the leadership of Mr. Zuma considering the polygamist way of life of Mr. Zuma. This has not worked as intended largely because Reverend Dandala spent a fair amount of energy on Zuma and the ANC instead of articulating the issues, which voters care about. Moreover some have observed that jumping ship [defecting from the ANC] to form a breakaway party is a historical baggage that voters could use to punish COPE.

In a traditional African society a messenger who is sent out on a mission must report back to the village in order to attract good fortune in existential activities going forward. Political parties that have been formed out of jumping ship have seen their fortunes progressively shrink overtime. The great Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu once observed in his book The Art of War that providence is on the side of big battalions. The ANC, with so many ground troops of volunteers on the ground, is strongly favoured to win big in this election.

Strident Foe of Zuma

Ms. Helen Zille, a strident opponent of Mr. Zuma and the ANC, is a leader of the Democratic Alliance a political party that protects the economic interests of the White South Africans and vehemently defends the apartheid economy which remains a unique feature of what is otherwise a wealthy country. This divisive economy has had the effect of squandering the peace and reconciliation goodwill of the African natives while shredding the fabric of that country’s morals.

Ms. Zille has doggedly pursued, with a one-track mind, the strategy of focusing nefarious attention on Zuma and the ANC as opposed to what the DA would do for the voters. She has even gone to the extent of threatening litigation against Zuma and his defense team and has demanded the resignation of the Chief of the NPA Professor Mokotedi Mpshe S.C.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Vice President Biden Warns Israel Against Attacking Iran - Analysis

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The United States Vice-President Mr. Joe Biden has warned the Jewish State of Israel against attacking Iran. In a clear departure from policy statements of previous US Administrations (criticized by some for bringing disrepute to the United States), Vice-President Biden sounded the warning in a concise statement “I think he (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) would be ill advised to do that”.

Vice-President Biden was responding to a question on national security on Tuesday by the CNN’s veteran Journalist and Host of The Situation Room Wolf Blitzer who con-anchored the show with Gloria Borger. In dissuading Israel from attacking Iran, Vice-President Biden added, “… my level of concern is no different from what it was a year ago.”

Wolf Blitzer’s line of questioning was motivated by an expressed concern that the new Israeli Government, under the hawkish Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors was inexorably intent on striking Iran’s nuclear development facilities. For his part, Prime Minister Netanyahu had made it a cornerstone of his campaign message that he would order military strikes against Iran once voted into power. Mr. Netanyahu was inaugurated as the new Israeli Prime Minister last week.

Israel’s Nuclear Power

The incoming Prime Minister Netahanyu has characterized Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat to the Jewish state and has vowed never to tolerate a nuclear Iran even though Israel is a nuclear power in the region and has previously collaborated with apartheid South Africa in the Project Phenix in exchange for uranium (despite the United Nations Security Council Resolution 418) which resulted in the explosion of two nuclear bombs on the Antarctica on September 22 1979 near South Africa’s Prince Edward Island an event registered by the US satellite Vela 6911. South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Azis Pahad later confirmed the historic incident in his interview with the Jewish newspaper Haaretz twenty years later. The American Embassy in Pretoria also confirmed the event as well as the retired Central Intelligence Agency Chief Officer Mr. Tyler Drumheller who provides more details in his book On The Brink. Mr. Drumheller lived in South Africa in the 1980s.

Eisenhower Pioneered Iran’s Nuclear Program

The interesting thing is that the US Government of President Dwight Eisenhower pioneered Iran’s nuclear program after the President had delivered his historic speech at the United Nations on December 8 1953 when he spoke about Atoms for Peace which philosophically laid out a strategy for the peaceful use of nuclear technology. A nuclear agreement was signed between Iran and the US in 1957 towards this goal. Iran received a lot of assistance from the US and other European countries as a result. Iran fell out of favour with the US when the Shah, who had signed the nuclear agreements fled for exile on January 16 1979 and his loyalist forces were subdued on February 11 by the forces loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who became the Supreme Leader of Iran under the new Iranian Revolution.

US Change of Strategic Direction

Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that a military strike against suspected facilities of Iran’s nuclear program would set it back by a number of years during which time other punitive actions against Iran would combine to deal a final death blow to the nuclear program. The problem with this approach is that the geo-political strategy may have changed and unless Prime Minister Netanyahu changes with it, he might find himself on a collision course against the steamroller of a new US policy. Should this be the case, then the words spoken by the former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice last year about the permanence (or impermanence) of relations become a case in point.

The former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice once made an astute observation “The United States believes there is no permanent enemies so it is possible for it to have better relations with countries like Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea”. She was in fact invoking the philosophical principle of a great British Prime Minister of Irish descent Lord Henry John Temple who once said “Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”

An indication of change of direction can be partially deduced from President Obama’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Professor Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke has hired an internationally acclaimed Iranian nuclear expert Dr. Vali Nasr as part of his team. Another special advisor to Secretary of State Clinton on the Middle East Dennis Ross has hired an Iranian expert Dr. Ray Takeyh. This seemingly underscores the importance of amicably settling the question of Iran in a credible fashion.

An interesting fact is that the current Iranian nuclear project Busher is permitted under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory (Israel is not) and the main concern of the US is that it should not be used for secret development of weapons. This precondition would not be too hard to satisfy should Iran decide to cooperate with the US. There are already signs of a change of direction from snippets when President Obama recently said that Iran must choose between nuclear weapons or nuclear power. This could possibly mean that if Iran guaranteed the non-military use of nuclear technology they would be allowed to go ahead with the nuclear program. Moreover, Iran has more to offer to the US than Israel in terms of natural resources. An alliance with Iran would not be an expense as is the case with Israel but rather a rich investment with many returns.

Could Obama be resuscitating President Eisenhower’s nuclear program with Iran? This may not be related but we know that one of the staunch supporters of President Obama’s election campaign was Suzan Eisenhower (granddaughter of President Eisenhower) and I recall her defending him in a very powerful way during Larry King Live on CNN last year. She absolutely adores President Obama and was one of his early adopters.


The Fundamentals of US-Israeli Relations

The fundamental equation of the relations between US and Israel is premised on a strategic alliance for purposes of advancing the strategic interests of the superior power USA in the Middle East in exchange for guaranteeing the security of Israel. From a business analysis point of view, Israel is an expense to the US given the billions of dollars it receives in foreign aid in lump sums each year from American taxpayers. Sometimes the US Treasury goes into deficit in order to write that big fat cheque to the Jewish state. The only benefit in return, is the surrogate role, which Israel plays in the Middle East on behalf of the US. The parameters of this role are rooted on the ground and not on the abstract. Should the pendulum of US interests change there is a risk that the new Government of Prime Minister Netanyahu might be out of step with the instantaneous changes on the ground effectively spelling its own demise. These things happen and they are a fact of life. Where is Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milošević? Where is Iraq of Saddam Hussein? Where is Czechoslovakia of Vaclav Have? The list is endless. It would be very hard for Israel to make a business case that justifies pursuing actions that are contrary to the interests of the USA unless the Jewish state decides to go it alone without US support.


Can Israel Go it Alone?

It’s inconceivable that the Jewish State could survive without the material support of the USA. Moreover, the timing is presently not right because the urgencies of the economic slowdown inside the US are forcing a review of relations and strategic directions. There was even an unusual case of a GM CEO Rick Wagoner being fired by President Obama. Who would have predicted? Wagoner didn’t see it coming. It would be impossible to go it alone considering that the whole design of the alliance between Israel and US is like an NGO project where a proposal is put forward and if the funder thinks it’s a worthy cause, money comes flowing like milk from a cow udder. What happens when the cow’s udder shuts down? One could be sucking from an udder of a dead cow without knowing it. What happens then (as per an NGO analogy) when the funder no longer thinks it’s a good cause?


Two State Solution

Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to do away with a two state solution, which was laid out in the Annapolis Conference on November 27, 2007 in Maryland. The consensus solution, as organized, architected and envisioned by a US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice, calls for a real sovereign State of Palestine. The watered down version of the Two State Solution desired by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key advisors removes sovereignty from the equation reducing the Palestinian State to an apartheid-era Bantustan homeland since the sovereign functions such as imports and others would be vested with the Jewish State.

Another legal problem facing Prime Netanyahu is that the Obama Administration expects the Jewish State to honour its legal obligations as ratified in the Annapolis Conference and President Obama has signaled his commitment in that direction. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has told the Jewish state that it is in its best interest to accept a Two-State Solution. Already some Jewish observers are reading the writings on the wall whereby a clash of strongly held ideas between Israel and US could lead to the end of Israel as we know it. The Palestinians are the most brutally oppressed human beings on the planet and this may very well have reached a point of saturation with President Obama. He obviously believes that Dr. Condoleezza Rice fashioned a credible framework and wants to build on that.

Jewish Settlements in the West Bank

President Obama has indicated that he is not going to accept any further building of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land a position reinforced by US Secretary of State Clinton who has reminded the Jewish state of its international obligations. This puts Prime Minister Netanyahu on a collision course with the Obama Administration since Prime Minister Netanyahu is not averse to the expansion of Jewish settlements. It’s currently estimated that there are more than 500,000 illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in violation of international law. Almost half of these are the direct result of taking land away from the poor Palestinians by the Jewish authorities in favour of the Jewish settlers. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has already made strong statements with respect to the Jewish state’s legal obligations.

Unilateral Military Action Against Iran

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to successfully carry out a military strike of this complex nature without the material and tactical support of the US. In fact President Bush flatly rejected the requests of the Jewish state to attack Iran last year because the US was not willing to provide refueling, airspace and the bunker busting weaponry according to a published report of the New York Times of January 11 2009. Without these three, Prime Minister Netanyahu would be creating a situation that might wind up causing an irreparable damage with respect to the relations between the two countries in which the Jewish state is a junior partner. Prime Minister Netanyahu has referred to the strident tirades of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as evidence that Iran posed an existential threat against the Jewish state. It’s of the essence to take a page from a warrior princess Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Interestingly, Dr. Condoleezza Rice once observed that they needed to take him [President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] at his word but watch his actions, in an interview with Journalist Glenn Beck. This implies that the US does not believe Iran poses a viable threat with its nuclear program hence Israeli’s request for assistance in attacking Iran was turned down, effectively nullifying any argument based on these strident tirades. Better reasons will have to be advanced in order to persuade the US authorities.

In fact the experts say that it was on the advice of the Defense Secretary Robert Gates that President Bush rejected the request from the Jewish state. This would explain why President Obama decided to keep Robert Gates because he is more familiar with the fluid dynamics and intricacies of the situation on the ground and maintains a good rapport with his commanders. Military commanders on the ground like the respected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen have already warned against attacking Iran saying it would further destabilize what is already an unstable region. It can be deduced from here that any strike against Iran is potentially hurtful to the US interests something the Obama Administration will not tolerate.

History Lessons

Risking a strategic alliance with the world’s superpower on the need to carry out a preemptive strike against some potential threat weakens the fundamentals of self-preservation and puts at peril the very survival whose objective it’s to safeguard. Since 1945 there have been many holocausts that have neither been addressed nor recompensed an observable fact that has the effect of chipping away at the core ingredients of compassion without which it’s impossible to facilitate the mobilization of strategic alliances in the first place. History is full of many such examples and to avoid another holocaust requires that people form alliances with others so that in the process of advancing other’s interests they are effectively advancing and strengthening their own survival interests.

Conclusion

As an African shepherd boy, I once caught a frog and put it inside ibhodo (a three legged African cast iron pot) and poured cold water in it. I then placed ibhodo on the fire. My reasonable expectation was that the frog would jump out once the water heated. To my amazement, the frog stayed there despite the rising temperatures. By the time everything was said and done, the frog had cooked in the African pot. I drew a harsh lesson from this experimental observation that the inability to detect small changes and act accordingly poses an existential threat against an organism. It’s prudent to put our ear to the ground and listen to the subtle changes and act accordingly.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet.

Address By ANC President Jacob Zuma After The Formal Withdrawal of Charges By The Durban High Court

By Jacob Zuma, 7 Apr 2009


The decision of the NPA to drop charges against the ANC President Mr. Jacob Zuma was ratified by the Durban High Court Yesterday in South Africa's Province of KwaZulu Natal. Shortly afterward, Mr. Zuma made his acceptance speech. Following is the transcript of the speech. A link to the ANC website appears at the end of this speech.

Today the Durban High Court withdrew the indictment against me following the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority not to prosecute.

This marks the end of a long and painful period. The investigation has brought untold pressure on the entire Zuma family especially my children and relatives.

We have been sustained throughout this by the unwavering support of comrades, friends and scores of well wishers nationally and internationally.

We thank all of them for believing in my innocence, my assertions of a political conspiracy and of being a victim of a systematic abuse of power.

I do not regard myself as being above the law and I believe that no public representative should be beyond scrutiny. That is why throughout the eight-year period, I did not use my position to interfere with the due process of the law.

I have always been ready to co-operate with the NPA and have presented myself in courts whenever needed.

My quarrel with the NPA was on the methods and the motives of the investigation. The probe was supported by a vicious media campaign designed to find me guilty in the court of public opinion.

In addition to routine media leaks, the infamous off the record briefing by the then National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka contravened the fundamental principle that individuals are innocent until or unless found guilty.

It is in this briefing where he showed his real motives and said he wants to try me in the court of public opinion and was asking the editors present to help him. This was the beginning of the abuse of power.

The actions of the NPA, which fuelled my view that there was more to the investigation than pure legal matters included the following amongst others:

(a.) The decision by Bulelani Ngcuka not to prosecute in 2003 saying the case was not winnable in court, but choosing to announce this publicly in order to leave a cloud of guilt, further confirmed what he had said in the off the record briefing. There was a clear agenda so that I should remain guilty forever.

There never was a case against me. We have now discovered that Ngcuka continued to manipulate and abuse the investigation process long after he resigned as head of the NPA. The agenda was clearly to improve the chances of his preferred candidate for leadership of the ANC, assisted by the head of the Directorate of Special Operations, Leonard McCarthy.

(b.) The subsequent decisions to prosecute by Vusi Pikoli and Mokotedi Mpshe. No reasons have ever been given as to why the decision of Ngcuka was reversed.

We are pleased that it is now finally clear why these decisions were taken. The reasons were political and manipulative.

(c.) I was alarmed by the failure by the then Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and that of the Head of the NPA to co-operate with the Public Protector in his investigations arising out of my complaint in 2003, that my rights had been violated by the NPA.

My assertion was confirmed by the Public Protector, but his report was subjected to ridicule by Bulelani Ngcuka and Penuell Maduna, and its recommendations were never acted upon.
Nobody defended the Public Protector. We will need to look into how we avoid this in future, as our Chapter 9 Constitutional institutions cannot be effective if they are not protected from abuse.

We were yet again shocked by the initiation and involvement of the NPA in the procurement of the Browse Mole document.

The document accuses me of a conspiracy which was a threat to "the sovereignty and integrity of the South African State".

It also made very serious unfounded allegations about the Angolan President His Excellency Eduardo Dos Santos and Libyan leader His Excellency Muammar Qaddafi.

We were also suspicious of the excessive use of monetary resources to drive the investigation both locally and abroad. Also alarming was the political nature of the meetings held by the NPA to discuss the ANC’s resolutions taken at its policy conference regarding its future and initiatives to counter such.


We were also startled by the fact that in 2005, the NPA instituted charges first, and then later raided my properties, former offices and those of my lawyers, an indication that they charged first and looked for evidence later. This was a sign of desperation and I had to seek relief from the courts to protect my rights.

Most importantly, we were concerned about the failure of Government to respond decisively to a series of recommendations by Parliament. We have always said that we believe our democratic institutions including Parliament are strong and sound, we still believe this to be the case.
However, something clearly needs to be done to make them more effective in their oversight role, to correct abuses and to protect human rights as enshrined in the Constitution. Also, we need to ensure that none of the institutions we create become so powerful that neither Parliament, the Executive nor the Judiciary can address their excesses and abuse of power and protect the public.

The issue of the Browse Mole report was a classic case of dirty tricks by the DSO.

Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence concluded that the Scorpions were involved in several illegal activities including intelligence gathering without a legal mandate.

The Committee made several recommendations which should have made analysts, media and monitoring groups realise that something was seriously wrong at the NPA.

These included amongst others the following:
· That the executive authority take appropriate action against the head of the DSO, Mr McCarthy and all the officials who were involved in the production of the Browse Mole Report;
· That Government must conduct a comprehensive review of the DSO, giving urgent attention to the manner in which the DSO is currently operating.

All said and done, let me emphasise that my conscience is clear. I have not committed any crime against the State or the people of South Africa. I had no difficulty with responding to the charges as I knew they were baseless. I sought legal remedies in the courts simply because I felt my rights were being violated for reasons that appeared very suspicious. And I have clearly been vindicated.

WAY FORWARD

The conclusion of this divisive and painful episode provides lessons for us in many ways. The parliamentary oversight role needs to be strengthened. When Parliament or any of our Chapter 9 institutions recommend certain actions to protect individuals whose rights are being violated, it is a travesty of justice for that to be totally ignored by the Executive.

In the task we have set ourselves to transform our criminal justice system; we have to promote and reinforce the independence of our law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.

We are noticing a worrying new trend of political parties that want to interfere with the work of our law enforcement agencies in a desperate bid to win votes for the coming election. They are playing a mischievous game. The NPA needs to be allowed a period of healing and refocusing.

We must clearly strive for a public service in which officials serve the people and not individuals with ulterior motives no matter how powerful they are.

The NPA decision and reasons given also reaffirmed portions of the Nicholson judgement without any shadow of doubt. The NPA itself admitted that there was manipulation and abuse of power

It must be emphasised that this debacle has confirmed that our democracy is strong and our people are very mature politically. Over an eight-year period, our country proved that disagreements can be managed legally and politically and this matter did not spark off violence despite generating intense emotions. There can be no doubt that peace and stability are a certainty at all times in our country, even when we have intense political disagreements.

We also need to develop vigilance and inculcate a culture of promoting adherence to human rights regardless of who the victim is. We have found that some media institutions and certain think tanks became willing and active participants in the conspiracy, simply because they disliked the individual being targeted.

That is regrettable as the fourth estate should actually assist us to expose abuses of power. Our country has gone through a very painful and divisive period, and it is a time for healing and unity.

I would not wish for any South African to go through what I went through over the last eight years. Retribution will not take us anywhere. Now is the time for us to focus on improving people’s lives. We want to put this episode behind us and focus on our priorities; education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and creating decent jobs despite the global economic meltdown.

Most importantly, all citizens must remain vigilant against any abuse of power. We can prevent it if we work together. Let me take this opportunity to thank the ANC and the Alliance, my legal team for their sterling work, religious and traditional leaders and ordinary South Africans who supported me throughout this ordeal. They all demonstrated that they were and are defenders and guarantors of our democracy.

They have been vindicated by the NPA statement that:”In the light of the above, I have come to the difficult conclusion that it is neither possible nor desirable for the NPA to continue with the prosecution of Mr Zuma’’.

I thank you

Visit The ANC Website For Learn More

Msholozi Shrugs Off the Sting of the Scorpions – Part II

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

Msholozi Shrugs Off the Sting of the Scorpions – Part I

The Great Msholozi - Poetic Tribute To Jacob Zuma

The ruling President of the African National Congress Mr. Jacob Zuma has permanently shrugged off the many deep stings of the Scorpions clearing the way for him to become the next President of the Republic of South Africa when his political party wins the elections on April 22nd of this year. Announcing the dropping of the corruption, racketeering and other charges against Zuma, the Head of the National Prosecuting Agency Advocate S.C. and former University Professor Mr. Mokotedi Mpshe cited abuse of the legal instruments and political interference as the basis for quashing the case once and for all. This landmark decision has sparked wild celebrations in the country as this takes them a step closer to having someone who is committed to advancing and safeguarding their economic interests.

Extremely Serious Allegations

Professor Mpshe pointed out in the prepared statement “We have come across information about collusion between the former heads of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) and NPA to manipulate the prosecutorial process before and after Polokwane elections. We regarded these allegations as extremely serious and set out to investigate them as fully as possible within the limited time at our disposal.”

Main Actor of Political Interference

The featured figure in the abuse of the legal apparatus to vilify and politically bury Mr. Zuma and his political future is the Chief Investigator Leonard McCarthy of the Scorpions together with others. In fact Mr. McCarthy is recorded as pledging his loyalty to the former President Mr. Thabo Mbeki and doing whatever it takes to politically terminate Mr. Zuma. Interestingly, the taping of the conversations occurred, not as a result of Zuma’s corruption investigation but rather as the result of the investigation of the Browse Mole Report which was later established by the authorities to be the work of the apartheid-era security establishment designed to inflict divisive blows against the ANC.

Professor Mpshe reports that his officials contacted the former Chief Investigator Mr. Leonard McCarthy but he never responded to the repeated calls of the NPA. The NPA has since instructed the Inspector-General of the Intelligence to investigate the abuse of the state organs for political purposes and undermining South Africa’s system of justice.

The Black Art of Justice Balancing

We reported in the previous article Msholozi Shrugs Off the Sting of the Scorpions – Part I that the Petermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson had thrown out the case against Zuma because it had been tainted by political interference and failure to follow procedure. South Africa’s Supreme Court subsequently reversed that decision. That didn’t come as a surprise because South Africa’s Supreme Court is predicated upon an extremely complex system of balancing the interests of the public with respect to the interests of the private where public interest does not necessarily override private interest supposedly in line with South Africa’s constitution.

This intricate principle (a black art in itself) was first revealed to this writer by South Africa’s Supreme Court Judge when he spoke in Toronto after this writer pressed him for clarification on this puzzling legal formulation. Under the balancing act of the Supreme Court Judges (my paraphrasing), an African native, who is a victim of a ruthless crime by a colonial descendent, could see his or her sense of justice robbed when that perpetrator walks away while an African native accused of wrongdoing (rightly or wrongly) is most certain to face the full might of the law. This has happened and continues to happen in a variety of cases and in this case Mr. Zuma was a victim of that line of judicial thinking which (in the majority of cases) treats an African descendent in accordance with an unwritten rule of presumption of guilt before such a determination is made by a competent court of law.

The Supreme Court Judges of Bloemfontein appear to have followed this principle. Normally, judges don’t like to have their verdicts overturned and this explains their very judicious and meticulous behaviour in formulating their verdicts but the Supreme Court Judges acted like the old apartheid Judges who consistently found it easier to pass a verdict of guilty of wrongdoing to an African descendent before considering material evidence to the contrary.

Overzealous Figures and Anti-Zuma Sentiment

The Scorpions agency, now scrapped, was an elite law enforcement agency with both investigative and prosecutorial functions put together. The unintended outcome of such a coupled structure was the eventual undermining of the autonomy of the investigative organs on the one hand and the objectivity of the prosecutorial process on the other.

Most targets of the Scorpions were African descendents. With overzealous figures like Chief Prosecutor Advocate Billy Downer SC and Chief Investigator Leonard McCarthy driven by an anti-Zuma sentiment, there was no feedback mechanism that allowed for a fresh look at Zuma’s case. The English tell us that justice delayed is justice denied but that principle rarely applies to the non-English because Zuma had been hounded for more than eight years without any credible and verifiable evidence against him and yet this triggered no cause for pause.

Moreover, the Scorpions were allegedly found to have undermined the sovereignty of the South African government by making contractual agreements with foreign agencies without the prior knowledge or authorization of the Minister of Justice. This is what broke the camel’s back since it finally led to the demise of the Scorpions and saw their functions absorbed by the South African Police Services.

Conclusion

The economically oppressed masses of South Africa have taken to the streets to chant jubilant and liberation songs for their leader who is now confirmed to be the next President of the Republic of South Africa should the ANC win the elections as they are projected to win. The disinherited mothers and their children feel a sense of optimism since Zuma has vowed to improve delivery of services and tackle the extremely small white minority who hold a monopolistic stranglehold on the economic pie while the African mothers and their children have to make do with an extremely thin slice of the pie.

About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.

Winnie Mandela’s Comeback

By Vusi Moloi © 2009

The celebrated African icon and mother of South African liberation struggle Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has topped the list of the ANC to contest that country’s general election scheduled for April 22 of this year. This represents an unheard of comeback for someone who was silenced, vilified and written off by the white establishment for so long. Now the mother of South African freedom can be silenced no longer. She is dusting off her tools of the trade to advance the interests and wishes of the economically oppressed majority of South Africa.

South Africa’s General Elections

South Africa is going to the polls to elect a new government and consequently a new President. This is the fourth election since the African natives smashed the chains of ruthless apartheid in 1994 under the perpetual legend Nelson Mandela. It has been a long and arduous road for Ms. Madikizela-Mandela given the vicissitudes she has had to endure from those who sought to punish her for her uncompromising role in the fight against apartheid.

Despite South Africa setting itself apart as a model of peace and reconciliation, the credibility of that status is fast eroding under the new system of economic apartheid where the colonial descendents enjoy a larger share of the mainstay of the economy (inherited under apartheid) while the African natives continue to be crushed by economic disenfranchisement (also inherited under apartheid). This system, which disinherits the African natives, was buttressed under the peace and reconciliation in which the African natives forgave those who destroyed their lives in exchange for nothing by way of reparations. South Africa’s white establishment appears satisfied with this system that denies economic justice to the African natives and this is demonstrated by the consistent defense of the white privileges at the back of the African natives.

The Unbought/Unsold Madikizela-Mandela

True to her deep seated love for her people, the unbought and unsold Madikizela-Mandela has entered the hotly contested race under the unconquerable and formidable leadership of the ANC President Mr. Jacob Zuma who added her to the ANC list of those headed for Parliament should the ANC win the elections in spite of the rumblings of the white establishment.

The Forces of Reaction

The forces of reaction are not taking her comeback kindly. South Africa’s machinery of the white establishment has gone into high gear on a collision course against the wishes of that country’s majority by seeking to block Madikizela-Mandela’s desire to serve the economically disenfranchised majority of the land as a member of parliament. The legal experts as well as the Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Court all agree that Madikizela-Mandela is legally qualified to stand for elections. This is, however, not enough to stop the forces of reaction against Madikizela-Mandela. It’s interesting to note that the white establishment will attempt to block someone who is sent by the majority to serve their interests while they [the white establishment] defend and protect a small minority of 50 000 white farmers who hold a stranglehold on more than 80% of the food producing land despite the African mothers and their children scratching for food on the garbage dumps and eventually succumbing under the death blows of such a harsh struggle for existence.

Why Is The White Establishment Afraid of Winnie?

Why is South Africa’s white establishment so afraid of Winnie? If you have read the previous articles of The White Establishment Part I, Part II and Part III, you will know that the English created a system of racial capitalism, which required a master servant relationship. The modus operandi of this system is to serve the economic interests of the English masters at the back of the expendable non-English. Today’s master servant relationships are not as clear cut as they were in the past but using modern psychic tools of obfuscation, ambiguity and voodoo economics, the English continue that system of master servant relationships with the sophistication that bamboozles, confuses and at the same time endears the non-English.

Most people would be ok with such a system because it has a very nice cosmetic interface and unless you want to get under the hood to unravel its subtleties, you should be content with your station in life. After all, it’s a black art to look under the hood. Right? Wrong! How can you be content when your people are being daily crushed by a system of economic apartheid?

A celebrated Afrikaans poet Nicolaas Petrus Van Wyk Louw (awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold by the South African Government) wrote a powerful epic poem Raka. In Raka, Van Wyk Louw tells a story of an African hero who battles a grotesque beast bent on a deliberate mission to subjugate and disinherit his people. When people display an unquestioning obedience to Raka (because of fear of reprisal), Raka smiles at them and people consequently develop a warm and fuzzy feeling. The one who questions and challenges Raka becomes exposed to the full might of its raw crushing power. This is the case in point. Winnie Mandela is an intellectual threat to the white establishment because she brings deadly weapons to the situation of political discourse such as superior brainpower, oratory, analysis, and unbought commitment to the cause of the economically disenfranchised people of South Africa.


Conclusion

As the April 22nd elections draw nigh, Winnie is determined to serve her people in order to bring to life and fulfill Nelson Mandela’s stated purpose “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.” That oppression is already happening on the economic front and unless a formidable leader like the daughter of the highly regarded Madikizela together with the unconquerable Msholozi takes the stand, Mandela’s words will never be fulfilled.

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About the Author

A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, Zulumathabo on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.

Tutu has gone overboard in slamming party – Asmal

By Anna Majavu

This article was first published in the Sowetan Newspaper on April 3, 2009. See link below on accessing the Sowetan website.

ANC stalwart and former cabinet minister Kader Asmal says Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu “has gone over the top” in his criticism of the ruling party.

Asmal said from his hospital bed in Cape Town yesterday that while he empathised with Tutu’s concerns, he felt the cleric had gone overboard in his criticism.

“It is always correct to ask a mass movement what it stands for, particularly one that has meant so much to South Africa,” he said.

He said the ANC must rid itself of the “selfishness, self-aggrandisement and attempts to obtain power by all means and go back to the value system that drove us in the liberation struggle”.

But despite this, he said he would never make such “over the top statements like Tutu”.

In his recent attack on the ANC during a TV interview, Tutu reminded the party’s leaders that they had power but were not God.


Tutu was responding to the government’s decision not to allow Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to attend a peace conference in South Africa.

Tutu also said he was not looking forward to having ANC president Jacob Zuma as the country’s next president.


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