Latest news with #SpecialTribunal
TimesLIVE
5 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Special Tribunal stops pension to former Gauteng agriculture head Matilda Gasela
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained an interim order preventing the processing of a R3.3m pension payout to Matilda Matozi Gasela, former Gauteng agriculture, rural development and land reform department head. The order, granted by the Special Tribunal on May 15, also restrained Gasela from accessing or claiming these funds pending finalisation of legal proceedings against her. Gasela assumed office as head of department in December 2018 and is alleged to have played a pivotal role in the mismanagement of a contract involving Enviro Mobi (later known as Groen Mintirho). 'Despite the company's failure to deliver the required vehicles, she authorised further payments and approved a settlement of R6.5m for purported 'storage costs' — an expense not stipulated in the original contract. 'Senior counsel had explicitly advised against this payment, which was later declared to be fruitless and wasteful expenditure,' the SIU said on Friday. Her actions allegedly contravened the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and contributed to the depletion of public funds in what the SIU described as a fraudulent scheme.
The Citizen
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Top 10 stories of the day: Mchunu says no genocide in SA
Here's your daily news update for Friday, 23 May 2025: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories. In the news today, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has sought to debunk the claims of white genocide in South Africa, with the latest crime statistics revealing that two black farm owners were killed. Meanwhile, Sholto Keet, a 44-year-old South African who has lived most of his life in the US, says the grass isn't always greener outside the country. Furthermore, the Special Investigating Unit has secured a preservation order from the Special Tribunal against renowned musician Selaelo Selota. Weather tomorrow: 24 May 2025 The weather service predicts fine and cool to warm conditions across all provinces with no severe weather warnings issued. Full weather forecast here. Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way. Crime stats: Mchunu debunks white genocide, says the two farm owners killed were both black Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has sought to debunk the claims of white genocide in South Africa, with the latest crime statistics revealing that two black farm owners were killed. On Friday, Mchunu released the fourth-quarter crime statistics for the 2024/2025 financial year, covering the period from January to March 2025. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. Picture: Gallo Images He said in the fourth-quarter, six murders on farms were recorded. This included two farm owners, one farm dweller, two farm employees, and one farm manager. 'In principle, we do not categorise people by race, but in the context of claims of genocide of white people, we need to unpack the killings in this category. The two farm owners that were murdered during the fourth quarter were African and not white.' CONTINUE READING: Crime stats: Mchunu debunks white genocide, says the two farm owners killed were both black Life in SA better than US, says disillusioned returning citizen The grass isn't always greener outside the country, according to Sholto Keet, 44, a South African who has lived most of his life in the US. Keet emigrated to the US as a teenager and is looking to return to South Africa after battling with the US system that denied him social security and disability benefits due to his citizenship. A framed photo of Sholto Keet during his time in the US army. Picture: Supplied 'I am currently in Oregon City, but I am in the process of selling my home. I hope to come back this November, which is the best time to sail. I will be bringing my huskies back with me.' CONTINUE READING: Life in SA better than US, says disillusioned returning citizen Thrrr… Phaaa: Musician Selaelo Selota's Mercedes frozen as SIU probes misuse of lottery funds The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has secured a preservation order from the Special Tribunal against renowned musician Selaelo Selota. The order prevents the Thrrr…Phaaa! singer from selling or disposing of a Mercedes-Benz C200 Avantgarde, allegedly purchased with misappropriated funds from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC). Selaelo Selota is being investigated by the SIU. Picture: The funds were meant to build an old-age home and provide elderly care in different provinces. The SIU's investigation found that three Non-Profit Organisation (NPOs); the Matieni Community Centre, Lethabong Old Age Home and War Against Rape and Abuse (WAR RNA) received NLC grants under suspicious circumstances. CONTINUE READING: Thrrr…Phaaa: Musician Selaelo Selota's Mercedes frozen as SIU probes misuse of lottery funds 'I'm no sell-out': Political activist says leaving SA was a last resort Refugee to the United States under the Trump-era Afrikaner resettlement programme, politician Errol Langton, a former organiser for right of centre party the United Independent Movement (UIM) on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, says he's no sell-out for heading to what he believes are greener pastures. Langton was part of the first cohort of 49 asylum seekers who left for the US at the invitation of President Donald Trump. Former politician Errol Langton. Picture: Supplied He said he fought for a better SA until his departure last week as an improved version of the country had not materialised. Langton said the tipping point for him was worsening socioeconomic conditions and 'a lack of accountability'. CONTINUE READING: 'I'm no sell-out': Political activist says leaving SA was a last resort Thousands march against Nsfas in Durban after months of non-payment [VIDEO] Students in KwaZulu-Natal-based staged a protest on Friday demanding that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) pay the money owed to landlords. Some of the students have not received funds from Nsfas for up to five months, meaning they are at risk of losing their accommodation, they can't afford food and their studies have not been paid for. Picture: Gallo Images About 2 000 angry protesters gathered at King Dinuzulu Park and proceeded to Durban City Hall to hand over a memorandum of grievances. Some of the landlords also joined the protest. CONTINUE READING: Thousands march against Nsfas in Durban after months of non-payment [VIDEO] Here are five more stories of the day: Yesterday's News recap READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: Origin of Trump cross video | McKenzie slammed for xenophobia | Tammy Taylor Global loses in court
The Citizen
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
SIU is not done with NLC yet, as more corruption allegations emerge
The SIU is on phase three of its investigations, scheduled to be completed by 31 December 2025. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says its work at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) is not yet done. SIU head Andy Mothibi on Tuesday briefed the standing committee on public accounts on the investigation into the NLC. In November 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the SIU to investigate the NLC and recover any losses. ALSO READ: NLC rolls out lifestyle audits, anti-fraud initiatives 'to rebuild trust' The SIU divided its investigations into three phases. The estimated value of the matters investigated in the first and second phases is R279.7 million and R246.6 million, respectively. The SIU has completed investigations in these phases. Phase three, which is ongoing, has an estimated value of R905.9 million. It has an estimated date of completion of 31 December 2025. The value of contracts under investigation with potential civil litigation is about R2 billion. However, the SIU has recovered only R9.5 million of this. ALSO READ: NLC heist: SIU almost done with second phase of R1.4bn NLC corruption probe The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has issued preservation orders amounting to R78.2 million, while the Special Tribunal's preservation orders stand at R37.3 million. At least R6.3 million in pension has been frozen. SIU probe into NLC According to Mothibi, between 2020 and 2024, 22 individuals and entities were referred to the NPA for criminal prosecution related to fraud, corruption and money laundering. At least 15 persons have been identified as alleged key players in the NLC corruption, including the former board chair, Alfred Nevhutanda, who has approached the courts in an attempt to get the SIU off his back and former chief operations officer Phillemon Letwaba, who is challenging the constitutionality of the Special Tribunal's preservation order against him. ALSO READ: NLC spends over R8 million on suspended employees facing disciplinary action According to the SIU, the key players were allegedly able to access NLC funds due to inadequate project management, a lack of monitoring and evaluation, ineffective project auditing techniques, general maladministration in the approval of the grants and corrupt elements. Seven directors and 14 companies have been referred to the CIPC for being placed on the delinquency list and for being barred from registering companies with the CIPC in the future. But the SIU is not done with the NLC yet. Mothibi told parliament the unit has drafted a motivation for a proclamation after receiving several procurement allegations The motivation will be submitted to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for further processing. The SIU has also submitted the first Presidential progress report to the Presidency. NOW READ: Accounting firms compiled fraudulent financial statements for NPOs – SIU on NLC corruption
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
EU and UK call on Russia to show its readiness for peace in Ukraine at joint summit
During their first bilateral summit after Brexit, the EU and the UK have called on Russia to fully and unconditionally cease fire in Ukraine. Source: European Pravda with reference to a joint statement following the EU-UK Leaders Summit 2025 Details: In the statement, the leaders of the UK and the EU reaffirmed their strong condemnation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and confirmed their firm and unwavering support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. Quote: "We also reconfirmed our unwavering commitment to providing continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed." Details: The leaders also called for a complete and unconditional ceasefire and meaningful negotiations for genuine peace aimed at ending the war and restoring comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Quote: "As in the past, it is now for Russia to show its willingness to achieve peace." More details: The leaders also reaffirmed their readiness to continue exerting pressure on Russia, including by maintaining sanctions and taking measures to prevent their circumvention, sectoral measures, and oil price restrictions, as well as by ensuring that Russian sovereign assets remain frozen until Russia ends its war against Ukraine and makes reparation for the damage caused by that war. Quote: "We are committed to ensuring full accountability for war crimes and other serious crimes committed in connection with Russia's war of aggression, including by the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine." More details: In addition, the EU and the UK expressed their support for the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, mentioning in this context the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Italy in July 2025. Background: Earlier in the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa arrived in London for the first UK-EU summit. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Will we ever see despots like Putin in court? It's unlikely – and that's the west's fault too
It's tempting to hope the establishment last week of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, to give its full name, will lead to the speedy trial and indefinite incarceration of Vladimir Putin and senior Russian leaders. After all, the new court is backed by about 40 countries, including the UK, plus the EU and Council of Europe. And only fools like Donald Trump are confused about who the aggressor is in this conflict. Sadly, this appealing notion has scant basis in reality. Ducking peace talks and dodging responsibility for the war he started, a smirking Putin manspreads smugly in the safety of the Kremlin. He also hides behind the outdated convention that serving heads of state enjoy legal immunity. The bottom line is unchanging: Russia will ignore the new tribunal, just as it ignores arrest warrants for Putin over alleged war crimes brought by the international criminal court (ICC). This lawless state of affairs is intolerable. So why is it tolerated? While the Ukraine tribunal sets no time limit on punishing aggression, other factors help Putin to evade justice. One is that autocratic allies like China's Xi Jinping, rightwing extremists like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and powerful states like the US also reject international jurisdiction, fearing it may constrain or ensnare them. Netanyahu is another unrepentant ICC indictee who, like Putin, remains at large. International law – comprising UN-endorsed rules, treaties, conventions and standards – is the foundation stone of the post-1945 global order. It assumes ever greater importance as the world grows more disordered. Yet everywhere, or so it seems, its principles, tenets, institutions and practitioners are challenged, flouted and undermined by politicians and governments whose duty is to uphold it. Whatever consensus previously existed is collapsing. The days when nations could sit down together and agree the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as in 1948, are over. Even then, the declaration wasn't truly universal, in that only a minority of the world's countries – 48 UN member states – backed it. Now a majority blatantly ignores it. Special tribunals have successfully prosecuted war crimes in 1945 – the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders – and in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. But it is a typically convoluted, costly and slow-moving process. Tribunals suffer similar problems to the ICC and the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague (the UN 'world court') – namely, fracturing support among influential states led by authoritarian, anti-democratic figures. Such explanations and excuses are no comfort to bombed and starving residents of Gaza, who, according to the UN's aid chief, Tom Fletcher, face an incipient genocide. He urged the UN security council to intervene immediately. The 'corrosive and infectious' degradation of international humanitarian law in Gaza was undermining decades of progress on civilian protection, Fletcher said. 'Humanity, the law, and reason must prevail.' Few beyond Israel will doubt the justice of his plea. But the unreformed security council, guardian of the UN charter and the Geneva conventions governing the 'laws of war', is chronically divided on this and other major global issues. Its ineffectiveness exacerbates the crisis in international law enforcement. It's pointless seeking justice there. Similarly, South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ is groundbreaking – but may take years to be resolved, if it ever is. ICC investigations have not, and will not, save desperate people in Myanmar, Afghanistan or Sudan from prolonged additional suffering. Welcome though it is, the Ukraine tribunal risks becoming a fig leaf for the collective failure to swiftly halt an indisputably illegal war. Legal redress may be sought in other ways, through so-called hybrid courts (as in Sierra Leone and Cambodia), or via national courts that assume 'universal jurisdiction'. French and German courts, for example, have prosecuted former Syrian regime torturers, on the principle that such crimes harm the international order. This approach is underpinned by the UN's 2005 'responsibility to protect' doctrine, which requires states to act to prevent mass atrocity crimes. Trouble is, most states neglect most such responsibilities most of the time. Worse still, as Amnesty International's annual report, published last month, notes, some governments 'actively undermine' the quest for international justice. Trump, a serial lawbreaker and convicted felon, has pilloried the ICC and sanctioned its officials. Hungary hosted Netanyahu in April when, in all honour, it should have arrested him. Countries in the global south felt it necessary to create the Hague Group this year to protect the ICJ and ICC against arbitrary assaults on their authority. Defiance of international law grows fiercer as demands to observe it intensify. Dictators and authoritarian regimes rarely stick to the rules. Yet democratic states such as Britain and the US, which should set an example, often do the opposite – most notoriously with the precedent-setting, illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq. The UK is arguing in court that supplying Israel with components for combat jets used in Gaza is acceptable because, it claims, there's no proof that genocide is occurring there. Such shameless sophistry ignores Britain's unambiguous legal obligation, under the genocide convention, to prevent and pre-empt genocide – not hang about until it has already happened. It's not all downhill. Significant victories have been won. Putin and Netanyahu were indicted. Public awareness of war crimes and crimes against humanity is rising. Other transgressors face a reckoning, sooner or later. Perhaps Ukraine really will obtain justice. For this epic struggle is raging everywhere, reflecting contested, transformational shifts in the global order and balance of power. Put simply, it's a struggle to do what's right. At its heart lies not criminal wrongdoing but huge moral confusion among political leaders, their generals and followers. Without respect for law, human societies, however configured, cannot succeed. Peaceful coexistence ceases. All values, all security are lost. What's left is the law of the jungle. Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator
