sa Business Club

R20,000 fine each for Reitz four

The University of Free State students known as the "Reitz four" were sentenced to a R20,000 fine or 12 months imprisonment in the on Friday. The four filmed a humiliating initiation-type ceremony of black workers in 2007

RC Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and Danie Grobler last Tuesday pleaded guilty to a charge of crimen injuria.

The charges relate to their humiliating five black workers in an initiation-type ceremony in 2007, which they filmed while living at the University of the Free State's now-closed Reitz men's residence.

The defence counsel of the former students asked the court after sentencing for a deferred fine order.

Counsel Christo Dippenaar asked the court if the students could pay off the fine over a certain period.
 
Bloemfontein Chief Magistrate Mziwonke Hinxa Hinxa later upheld the application, after consultations between the parties, and held that R5000 should be paid on Friday.

Thereafter, the men could pay the fine in instalments of R1250 a month for 12 months starting from September 1, 2010.

Hinxa sentenced the four young men to a further six months imprisonment wholly suspended for  five years on certain conditions.

These conditions include any conviction of crimen injuria or a verdict in relation to unfair discrimination against anybody.

Delivering judgment, Hinxa said the whole case was dominated by a negative racial tension.

"It was a racially motivated crime of crimen injuria, no doubt."

He said black people were targeted for a task, which was admitted by the students.

Hinxa said the men lost their moral compass in the process of making the video, which was a protest and "resistance" to integration. This could not go unchecked. Sapa

Read Reitz Four reactions: Was it right to drop charges? and Reitz Four won't apologize
 

Minister wants porn law fast-tracked

SA's Deputy Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba intends to fast-track the passage of a yet-to-be drafted law that will compel internet service providers to filter content to ensure it does not contain any pornography

The Film and Publication Board (FPB) held a symposium this week to look at ways of protecting children from pornography.

"Despite recent amendments of the law and other efforts to stop the devastating effect on children of their access to pornography, it's not enough," FPB legal affairs manager Dumisani Rorwana said in a statement on Thursday.

"The law as it stands is not working, so we've no choice but to take it to the next level."

Technology had advanced to a point where internet service providers (ISPs) would be able to filter out around 95% of the content in a "highly cost-effective way", he said.

Similar programmes to safeguard children from pornography were currently in place in China, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

"We expect resistance from those who claim the freedom to access pornography as a fundamental right," Rorwana said.

"However, it is well established in legal circles that the rights of children are paramount. By comparison, viewing pornography remains a peripheral right."

Gigaba would now meet with his counterparts at Cabinet level to determine where the bill would best fit.

The symposium also agreed on the need to block certain gaps in the broadcasters' code that had seen instances of "unsuitable content being aired during the past few months going unpunished", Rorwana said. Sapa

Read 41 000 against pornography channel and The face of reality: Homosexuality in Africa

Cosatu unions to go on strike

Public service unions affiliated to the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) have resolved to go on strike over wages. Schools, home affairs offices, hospitals, traffic offices and SA's ports of entry will be affected by the strike

"The unions met today [Wednesday]... we have now come to a firm conclusion to go on strike," Fikile Majola, general secretary of the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

"We will serve government with a notice to strike today."

The unions, representing 56 percent of the 1.3 million public sector employees, included Nehawu, the SA Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, the SA National Defence Union, the SA Medical Association, the SA State and Allied Workers Union and the Public and Allied Workers Union of SA.

The unions rejected the state's offer of a 6.5 percent wage increase, demanding 8.6 percent and a R1000 housing subsidy.

The state showed no willingness to move from the 6.5 percent wage increase, R620 housing subsidy and the implementation date of July 1, said Majola.

The unions had initially demanded an 11 percent salary increase across the board and R1650 housing subsidy backdated to April 1.

"During the negotiations our members were reading daily of government's wasteful expenditure on cars, hotels, parties and World Cup tickets, amounting to millions of rands.

"This was sending a wrong message because we were told that there was no money."

The unions appreciated the country's economic difficulties and had a lot of patience during the wage negotiations.

"We have done our utmost best to avoid going on strike, even revising our earlier demand.

"We have reached a point where we feel we want to go on a full-blown strike," said Majola.

He said the impact of a public service strike was unlike any other strike because it affected everyone, especially the poor and most vulnerable, who were sorely dependant on government services for their daily survival.

"All government departments, including schools, home affairs offices, hospitals, traffic offices and the country's ports of entry, will be affected by the strike."

Teachers to participate in strike
Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said his union, representing 250,000 teachers, would participate in the strike regardless of its timing.

"We understand that schools were closed for some five weeks for the June holidays and the World Cup, but we have no choice. This is our last resort.

"There is no correct time to go on strike, even if it was in the beginning of the year it still would have impacted on the year-end results," said Maluleke.

Majola said Cosatu had not asked for a political intervention from the ruling ANC on the deadlock.

"We are not going to ask the ANC to intervene but their intervention would be welcomed."

He said the planned strike would be "worse than the 2007 public servants' strike which was arguably the biggest ever in the sector".
The unions committed to ensuring discipline and a peaceful strike action. Sapa

Read SA loses another 61 000 jobs and An alternative World Cup for all

SA falling behind rest of continent

South Africa is falling behind the rest of Africa in education and skills development, an economist said on Thursday, explaining that South Africa's role on the continent has declined

"SA's role in Africa has declined significantly over the last 15 years," Dr Azar Jammine of Econometrix told a joint World Bank and department of trade and industry briefing in Benoni, east of Johannesburg.

"We've followed the world, but not Africa when it comes to growth.

"A recent African Union study showed that we were bottom of the list in numeracy and literacy compared with other African countries."
This, Jammine said, was eroding the country's competitive ability.

A lot of power in the country was concentrated in organized labour movements and this made business unwilling to take on more workers.

"Look at the Quarterly Labour Force Survey that came out on Tuesday. We are producing fewer and fewer new jobs and this to me is a crisis situation. We have to ask why we are not creating jobs in spite of economic growth."

Far too much power lay in the so-called "golden triangle" consisting of the government and parastatals, the labour movements and big business.

"South Africa pays mere lip service to small enterprises and having most of the power in the golden triangle means the country doesn't have the resilience it ought to have."

Breaking up the monopoly
Jammine said in the rest of Africa, the role of governments was becoming smaller and small business was allowed to thrive.

"Instead South Africa sees more leadership by government."

Fortunately the private sector was thriving as skills had migrated there from the public sector.

"But this is not enough as there is not sufficient small business activity."

The country did not encourage people to work for themselves.

"Thriving small businesses actually create more jobs than bigger business."

Jammine said only two out of five adults were working and discouraged work seekers had increased over the past two years, much of this due to a lack of education.

"Our education system is at the heart of unemployment... in fact you can see how close unemployment and qualifications are linked, as the degreed have a much lower level of unemployment."

Whites had a higher level of education and therefore higher levels of employment, creating a "hugely skewed" income distribution which contributed towards crime."

While the average age of the country's civil engineers was 53, the average age of artisans was 55.

"This shows the danger that most of the people available to transfer skills are getting older and older and there won't be sufficient mentoring."

The worst examples of this could be seen at local government level.

"The SA Local Government Association has found that a third of councillors need adult education and training, and so there is an inability to deliver on services."

According to Jammine the solution to the economy's problems would be education and skills training and the breaking up of the monopoly enjoyed by government, trade unions and big business.

"This would free up the economy and get more people involved." Sapa

Read US to fund increased African troops in Somalia and Obama warms of terrorism hitting Africa

Tiger found in the woods

A jubilant Goosey Fernandes, owner of Panjo the hand-reared tiger who was found on Wednesday night after going walkabout, celebrated by opening a bottle of whiskey for himself, and a bottle of milk for his beloved animal

"When I called out to him, he came straight towards me, put his head on my shoulder and purred," Fernandes told Sapa over the phone.

"And he carried on purring all the way back, this is how I communicate with him, we understand each other...everyone is now having a whiskey at home, we are ecstatic and relieved."

Fernando said the party would continue till Thursday.

Panjo was found in the bushes near Verena, Mpumalanga, at around 8pm on Wednesday.

A frantic search began for the majestic animal after he jumped out of his owners' bakkie in Delmas on Monday evening. Sapa

Read Tiger on the loose in Mpumalanga and see Video of whale breaching onto yacht

A royal flush: SA loses six monarchies

President Jacob Zuma has asked traditional communities to lose their kings and queens after a traditional leadership commission said that the royals were appointed as part of apartheid's policies

President Jacob Zuma has asked traditional communities to embark on a path of "acceptance, healing and reconciliation" after a recommendation by a traditional leadership commission that South Africa lose six of its kings and queens.

Zuma, who was announcing the findings of the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, said it was essential that the six king and queenships come to an end in order to "correct the wrongs of the past".

"The apartheid regime created its own traditional leadership at the expense of authentic leadership in some communities," Zuma said at a press conference in Pretoria.

"It was how those in charge divided and disunited people. All we are doing is correcting the wrongs of the past."

The commission, established by then President Thabo Mbeki in 2004 to resolve disputes on "paramountcies and chieftaincy", concluded that South Africa has only seven legitimate kingships and recommended that the others lose their status on the death of the current incumbents.

The seven that are recognised are the AbaThembu, the AmaXhosa and the AmaMpondo in the Eastern Cape, the AmaZulu in KwaZulu-Natal, the BaPedi ba Maroteng and the VhaVenda in Limpopo and the AmaNdebele in Mpumalanga.

The paramountcies that are not recognised are the Batlokwa ba Mota and the Kakwena baMopeli in the Free State, the AmaRharbabe, the Amampondo ase-Nyandeni and the AbaThembu base-Rhode the in the Eastern in Cape and the Ndundza Mabhoko in Mpumalanga.

"We urge all communities to accept the findings in the spirit of correcting the wrongs of the past as part of the country's nation building efforts," Zuma said.

"It enabled us to restore dignity to the institution of traditional leadership.

"The findings must help all affected communities to begin the path of acceptance, healing and reconciliation."

The commission will next make findings and recommendations on the next layer of traditional leadership - the principal traditional leadership, senior traditional leadership and headmanship. Sapa

Read US to fund increased African troops in Somalia and The face of reality: Homosexuality in Africa

Cash seized at Heathrow may be returned

One of South Africa's richest men, Christo Wiese, may get his UK600,000 (about R7 million) back, after the cash was confiscated at Heathrow airport in London last year, a UK official said on Wednesday

Wiese, who is the chairman of Shoprite, was carrying the money from London to Luxembourg when it was seized at Heathrow.

"If the UK Border Agency does not suspect it is the proceeds of crime, then the money will be returned," UK Home Office spokesman Polo Guilbert-Wright said on Wednesday.

"UK Border Agency officers have powers to detain any amount of cash that is declared or that they suspect is the proceeds of crime using powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002."

This applied to travellers departing or arriving from European Union (EU) and non-EU destinations.

Earlier this week, Wiese, who is the chairman of Shoprite, told Sapa that he was carrying the money from his safety deposit box in London to his safety deposit box in Luxembourg and that both countries were EU members.

MoneyWeb reported this week that UK customs had confiscated the money from Wiese in April 2009.

He said the matter was in the hands of his UK lawyers and that a hearing regarding the refund of his money would take place in November.

"I was taking the money to Luxembourg, as I wanted to start trading again after the banking crisis," Wiese said.

"If I had the money in a bank it could have been transferred," he added.

Wiese said the matter was "a bureaucratic bungle" and that customs had given him no reason for the seizure of his funds.

"But my lawyers don't want me to conduct a hearing in the media," Wiese said.

Asked if it was prudent to carry such large sums of cash about, Wiese explained that he was used to dealing with big amounts of money because, thirty years ago, he had worked in the diamond business.

"But I'm positive that I'll get the money back," he said.

He confirmed that he was never arrested.

"They told me I could go, as long as I left the money." Sapa

Read SAA air hostess caught with drugs in London and UK fugitive lived high life in SA

South Africa Day 2010 at Horshum RFU

The third South Africa Day at the Horsham RFUClub was held on Saturday, in "glorious weather." Boerewors, koeksusters and traditional South African music was enjoyed by all...as was the sunshine!

The South Africa Day at the Horsham RUFC in West Sussex was held in gorgeous sunshine at the club on Saturday 24 July and the turnout (despite the advertising poster fracas they had with the Horsham District Council), exceeded their estimates of 600 when about 750 people attended the SA Day 2010 to sample traditional boerewors and steak rolls, pap en sous, biltong,koeksisters and of course... melk tert.

US to fund increased African troops in Somalia

African leaders are pledging thousands of new troops for Somalia to fight al-Qaida-linked militants responsible for the twin World Cup bombings that killed 76 people, and the U.S. says it will help bankroll the military campaign

African leaders and U.S. officials called for stepped-up efforts in Somalia as an African Union summit concluded Tuesday.

The summit opened only days after the July 11 bombings in Kampala, an attack that prompted Uganda's president to call for Africa to band together against Somalia's militants.

Al-Shabab, Somalia's most-feared militant group, claimed responsibility for bombing two sites where people were watching the World Cup final game on television, and said the blasts were in retaliation for civilian deaths caused by African Union troops in Mogadishu.

They also have vowed to attack Burundi, the other African country that has been providing troops to the AU.

At the summit, Africa's leaders voted to immediately dispatch 2,000 more Ugandan and Burundian troops to the African Union mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, boosting levels from 6,000 to the maximum mandate of 8,000.

The AU has commitments of 4,000 troops - 2,000 from IGAD, a bloc of East African nations, and one battalion each from both Guinea and Djibouti, AU commission chairman Jean Ping said at the summit's closing news conference.

The AU is considering a request to raise the ceiling number for the total number of troops, he said, without giving a figure for the rise.

“Capabilities to carry out attacks in the United States"
America's top official for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson, said that with a stronger AU force the African Union force could defeat al-Shabab, which intelligence officials say has been bolstered by foreign fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We believe that it is necessary to have more troops on the ground and we in Washington have committed ourselves to support additional troops on the ground in the same fashion that we have supported the existing Burundi and Ugandan troops," Carson said Monday.

Since 2007, the U.S. has given training, logistical support and equipment worth more than $176 million to AMISOM, and Carson has promised additional resources to Burundian and Ugandan troops without giving a precise figure.

The U.S. call for more troops comes as members of Congress are taking an increasing interest in the violent Horn of Africa nation, the site of a failed early 1990s U.S. deployment that ended shortly after the military battle chronicled in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down."

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, 13 House Democrats compared the situation with al-Shabab in Somalia to the Taliban's in Afghanistan when it allowed sanctuary for al-Qaida to plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"Al-Shabab-controlled territory in Somalia is becoming a safe haven for terrorists from around the world," the 13 members said.

"The United States must not sit back. ... Extremists in Somalia have already made clear their intentions to harm us, and if they have not done so already, they will soon seek capabilities to carry out attacks in the United States," they said. Sapa

Read Obama warms of terrorism hitting Africa and Terrorist attacks kill 64 in Uganda

FIFA official shot in Sandton

The chief financial officer for Fifa's SA local organizing committee was shot outside his home in Sandton, Johannesburg, The Star newspaper reported on Wednesday

Farouk Seedat, 52, was rushed to hospital after being attacked by gunmen outside his home around 10am on Tuesday.

It was not yet clear whether anything had been taken from him during the incident, but police spokeswoman Kym Cloete said that an attempted murder and house robbery case had been opened.

A spokeswoman for a hospital where Seedat was admitted said that he was in a stable condition, the newspaper report said.

Police were following leads on the whereabouts of the gunmen who shot him. Sapa

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