
ANC won't do away with B-BBEE
It says while BEE implementation is under review, there is no intention to abandon the policy.
READ | Discussing BBBEE redress policies effect on the economy
The ANC NEC is meeting in Germiston, four months after its last meeting.
The Committee also resolved to continue efforts to mend relations between Pretoria and Washington.
eNCA's Moloko Moloto reports.
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The Citizen
37 minutes ago
- The Citizen
Joburg's cure: Place the city under administration
The only way to begin to remove corruption from Joburg is to vote the ANC out. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's threat to cut national government funding for Joburg unless the city cleans up its finances is no solution. Nor would placing South Africa's biggest, richest city under administration be the answer. But these could be stop-gap measures. Mayor Dada Morero is under pressure, not only from residents, but also from national and provincial government, opposition parties and rivals within the ANC. The minority parties in his government of local unity are demanding that disastrous former mayor Thapelo Amad become finance MMC. Can you imagine? Five months ago, Cyril Ramaphosa established a presidential Johannesburg working group to 'strengthen governance and financial sustainability' and improve service delivery. Two months ago, Morero announced a 'bomb squad', borrowing from the Springbok rugby tactic of bringing on high-impact players to ensure success. The role of Morero's bomb squad is less clear than that of Ramaphosa's presidential working group. Neither has authority to spend ratepayers' money or give instructions to Joburg officials. ALSO READ: No budget, no bridge, no answers from JRA In rugby, bomb squad members replace teammates on the field. Not so with Morero's squad. Players stay on. Field gets crowded. The bomb squad and the presidential working group have been bypassing elected ward councillors and engaging with residents' associations and other stakeholders. It's an odd set-up whose legality and effectiveness remain under scrutiny. Trying to get things done for my community, I have reached out to the bomb squad for help with fixing the Blue Bridge across the Braamfontein Spruit. Since this bridge was damaged during March storms, I have used formal correspondence, council questions, a petition, posters, information tables and face-to-face encounters, including with a recently removed MMC. None of these was fruitful. However, a bomb squad member with engineering and executive background seems to have broken the logjam. I'm optimistic. If the Blue Bridge is fixed after bomb squad prompting, it will be a win for Morero's team. ALSO READ: Now we wait for accountability, Mr Mayor To his credit, Morero has also in recent weeks been visible in trying to ensure that our rates-rich, chronically underserviced region B receives overdue attention. However, none of this will spare him the harsh Treasury spotlight accompanying Godongwana's warning letter. We are told there is a mayoral response but it's difficult to imagine a convincing comeback from: '… The municipality closed the 2023-24 annual financial year with a cumulative consolidated figure of R1 450 589 242 in unauthorised expenditure, R22 231 361 642 in irregular expenditure and R705 408 949 in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. 'The 2023-24 audited annual financial statements also show that there has been little to no action taken by the municipality to address this.' What auditors call unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure may include corruption. There is massive corruption in Joburg. That's the core issue. We have yet to see if the bomb squad or presidential working group have the gumption to tackle corruption, the glue that binds the ANC. Whistle-blowers are endangered. The Sunday Times says at least 148 local officials have been assassinated countrywide since 2018. The only way to begin to remove corruption from Joburg is to vote the ANC out. Dissolve council, place Joburg under administration. Hold elections in 90 days. Let a fresh council begin to fix Joburg. NOW READ: When politicians and criminals blur lines


The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
Thin (blue) line of policing
With rising crime and falling arrests, experts say political interference has gutted effective policing in South Africa. South Africa's police serves the ANC insiders, not the people – and a politicised leadership has effectively stopped policing various categories of crime, including fraud, corruption, and certain types of theft involving politically connected people, two researchers have warned. Writing in The Conversation, University of Pretoria Prof Ivor Chipkin said collaborative research he has done with Jelena Vidojević, cofounder of the New South Institute, has made it 'clear that elite contestation in the ANC is intensifying'. Chipkin detailed how 'police resources were redirected as weapons of elite competition, pursuing political enemies and protecting allies in the ruling party'. Police a tool for ANC insiders – researchers He added: 'As the ability of some political elites to access state resources through the party declines, some are linked with organised criminal networks. 'Organised crime has been on the edges of South African politics. It now risks taking a more central role.' ALSO READ: Parties question ANC MP's election in Mkhwanazi ad hoc committee, logistics concerns raised In this environment, 'the police service will often be the thin (blue) line between multiparty contestation according to constitutional rules and the criminalisation of politics in South Africa'. Large organisational changes within the police vividly illustrate this shift away from its core function. The visible policing programme was meant to meant to deter crime through patrols, checkpoints and roadblocks. Steady decline in resource allocation But, instead, there was a steady decline in resource allocation. Employee numbers dropped between 2015 and 2021. Detective services and crime intelligence also experienced such declines. ALSO READ: Femicide horror as EC man kills wife and ex-girlfriend Conversely, employee numbers in the protection and security services programme, responsible for providing bodyguards to politicians, increased sharply between 2014 and 2016. This reorientation of resources coincided with a rise in crime across the country, a decline in arrests by 24.5%, and a drop in the police's efficacy in solving crimes. Chipkin said if the claims made last month by KwaZulu-Natal high police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi – which implicated the 'on leave' police minister Senzo Mchunu, together with the deputy national commissioner for crime detection, Lieut-General Shadrack Sibiya, in a scheme to close down investigations into political assassinations in the province – were true, then 'political policing remains entrenched'. Mkhwanazi-Mchunu debacle The appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa of Firoz Cachalia – a long-serving ANC loyalist – as the acting police minister, 'raises serious questions'. He wrote: 'If the core problem with the police is that it has become embroiled in ANC internal politics, having an ANC insider head the department of police (even if only on an acting basis) threatens to only compound the problem.' ALSO READ: Four alleged criminals shot during foiled Randfontein robbery South Africans have already witnessed a long and expensive judicial inquiry into state capture. And despite extensive evidence of police failure to pursue politically sensitive investigations, nothing concrete has come of it. 'How likely is it that this new initiative will be any different, especially if those investigating it and presiding over key institutions are themselves ANC insiders?' Chipkin observed that 'the ability of internal party structures to manage gatekeeping is declining. Many of the people involved are indifferent or even hostile to South Africa's democratic and constitutional order.' 'Depoliticise the police service' What is needed, he suggested, was 'to depoliticise the police service and redirect its attention and activities towards crime and emergencies. A crucial first step is to reconsider the appointment processes for the national police commissioner and other managers'. 'Under the current system, the president has sole discretion. This bakes party-political considerations into the decision-making process.' ALSO READ: Malema declines nomination to chair ad hoc committee probing Mkhwanazi's claims His sombre conclusion: 'Without structural changes, genuine democratic policing will be an elusive ideal.'


The Citizen
2 hours ago
- The Citizen
Bring order to law and order
Researchers have made some sobering observations about just how bad political interference in policing has become. While there is still a long way to go before the claims made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi are verified, he has opened the eyes of South Africans to how the world works under the ANC. That reality is that the South African Police Service serves and protects the ANC – or, more correctly, it protects one faction against the other in the ongoing and increasingly nasty fights within the party to get close to the feeding trough. Researchers Ivor Chipkin and Jelena Vidojević make some sobering observations today about just how bad it has become. Many of us have suspected this for a long time, but Mkhwanazi's accusations – about the involvement of top political figures in the world of organised crime – have focused our attention. The researchers say the police leadership has effectively stopped policing certain categories of crime – the ones their political comrades are involved in. Police resources are also being 'actively redirected as weapons of elite competition, pursuing political enemies and protecting allies within the ruling party'. ALSO READ: Malema declines nomination to chair ad hoc committee probing Mkhwanazi's claims While on-the-ground policing has been reduced, VIP protection has ballooned, indicating the level that the ANC's bigwigs believe they are threatened. The appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa of Firoz Cachalia – a long-serving ANC loyalist – as the acting minister of police, they say, 'raises serious questions'. Chipkin notes: 'If the core problem with the police is that it has become embroiled in ANC internal politics, having an ANC insider head the department of police (even if only on an acting basis) threatens to compound the problem.' Ramaphosa needs to implement changes – and quickly. All police appointments need to be overseen by an independent body, including the minister at the top. We have to bring order to law and order.