About 100 people gathered at the Central Methodist Church on Saturday morning to consider how state capture has been affecting their lives.

The forum was organised by commuter activist group #UniteBehind, according to a GroundUp report.

Activists representing many organisations, including Reclaim the City, Ndifuna Ukwazi, Right2Know, and Sonke Gender Justice, suggested actions to answer the forum’s key question: “How do we fight the state capture fightback?”

In the wake of the deployment of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to the Cape Flats, the participants also discussed whether the military can “cure problems caused by poverty”, whether Metrorail can be fixed and the meaning of the state capture commission for most South Africans.

GANG WARS MAP | Who is fighting who in Cape Town’s gang lands

People living on the Cape Flats townships testified about their daily lives. Speaker after speaker described horrible encounters with the army.

Army experiences

Washeem Abrahams and Rayarn Kennis, both 17, jointly described their experiences living in Manenberg.

Kenis said that during apartheid, coloured people were evicted and moved to underdeveloped “ghettos” like Manenberg.

Because of a lack of resources, people formed gangs and started fighting for power and belittling the larger community.

Gangs then started to make decisions, mostly wrong ones, for the Cape Flats. He said that the government failed to stop the formation of gangs and now they don’t have a solution to gangsterism.

He then criticised the way the SANDF behaved in Manenberg: “They are attacking us while we are chilling with our friends. One of my friends was slapped on the face and the other one was hit by a gun on the head. The soldiers said to my friends they look suspicious,” he said.

Abrahams said: “I am here today, trying to figure out how I can help my community because they are too scared to say what is wrong. Mothers are being terrorised by their own sons. In places like mine, you need to communicate with your neighbours but that is not happening because we don’t trust each other anymore.”

Fredalene Booysen of Sonke Gender Justice said that a week ago someone living three streets away from her in Elsies River was gunned down.

“In many ways the abnormal has become normal in our community,” she said.

She said the army raided a friend’s house in Elsies River while there was no one there. She said they broke down the door. When her friend came home she found the house in a terrible state.

In the Western Cape, there has been a significant reduction in the number of police officers. This has been against a backdrop of allegations of police corruption and the undermining of police watchdog the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, a damning report from an inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha, and a court finding that the allocation of policing in the Western Cape is discriminatory.

#UniteBehind member Zackie Achmat said Metrorail was dysfunctional because of state capture at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) during the Jacob Zuma era. He also criticised the current Public Protector for protecting “Jacob Zuma and his crooks instead of the public”.

But Achmat warned that organisations would not be able to fix Prasa unless they went into the streets and started protesting.

He said that they have been talking about safe trains for women and children for two and a half years.

The next action needs to be sitting on a railway line and demanding a safety plan.

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A policeman and two accomplices accused of robbing supposed clients in a Facebook car sale con are each out on R4 000 bail, North West police said on Saturday.

Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Funani said 45-year-old Taung officer Taolo Maphasane and co-accused Mothusi Khudunyana, also 45, and Matlhoapudi Maboitshega, 63, briefly appeared in the Taung Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of robbery and fraud.

The provincial Commercial Crime Unit apprehended them on Thursday following two months of “intensive investigations”, Funani said.

“It is alleged that, as part of committing the crimes, the police officer and his accomplices would place vehicle sale advertisements on Facebook. Upon responding to the advertisement, potential clients would be told to go to Klerksdorp to view the vehicle.

“As a result and on showing interest, the clients would be requested to either pay cash or deposit money into a bank account. The unsuspecting clients would then be convinced to drive to Taung with the suspects to collect the documents. According to information available at this stage, reports suggest that once in Taung, the clients would be taken to a certain house and robbed of their personal belongings.”

Six cases of robbery and fraud were opened at the Taung police station between May and July.

The case was postponed to August 29.

Acting North West police commissioner Major General Ryno Naidoo said in a statement that members involved in criminal activities “have no place in the organisation and … will be dealt with accordingly”.

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Ace Magashule should look in the mirror if he wants to see a charlatan, opposition party Cope advised the ANC secretary general following his attack on ANC NEC member Derek Hanekom.

After EFF leader Julius Malema publicly stated that Hanekom had met with his party to discuss removing former president Jacob Zuma through a motion of no confidence, and Hanekom confirmed that he had met with EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee, Magashule released a no-holds-barred press release on behalf of the ANC late on Wednesday evening.

In the press release, he referred to Hanekom as an “EFF sleeper” and a “charlatan”. 

Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem on Friday said in a statement that the party regarded Hanekom as a patriotic South African who put the interest of the country first, above party interests.

“It was not only Hanekom who was concerned about what was happening in our country. All of us were involved in talks with different political parties and civil society organisations, because the country was captured by the Guptas. Zuma had handed power over to this family,” Bloem said. 

“We, as a party, condemn the irresponsible and recklessness (sic) attacks on Hanekom by the ANC secretary general Ace Magashule. 

“Magashule should look in the mirror and he will see a true charlatan. He must also look around him and he will realise that he is surrounded by a bunch of charlatans.”

Hanekom, then still serving in Zuma’s Cabinet, was one of the first ANC NEC members to openly challenge the president when, in November 2016, he brought a motion of no confidence in Zuma to the ANC NEC – to remove Zuma as the country’s president, not the ANC’s president. The motion didn’t succeed.

Hanekom is an ally of State Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, who has been the subject of attacks from the EFF since late last year. 

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The personal assistant of acting eThekwini Mayor Fawzia Peer was rushed to hospital on Thursday after apparently consuming water and falling ill.

Peer told News24 on Thursday that she had heard from staff that her assistant had collapsed after drinking water.

“Yes, that is what I am hearing.

“I am also hearing that she was not well since the morning. There are all sorts of stories. I do not know what is true,” Peer told News24.

Her assistant, Hazel Pillay, was taken to hospital via ambulance earlier in the day after collapsing in the office, the Sunday Tribune and TimesLive reported.

Pillay’s illness comes a day after Peer received the results of tests conducted on drinking water she consumed during a council meeting last month. Peer herself feared she was the target of poisoning after complaining that the water smelt of paraffin.

“The speaker sent an email saying it is clear.”

Peer was however sceptical of the results.

“I am not sure how it is clear when four other people smelt it at the meeting and said it smelt like paraffin. The chief whip was sitting next to me, asked me to spit it out because the smell was so bad. At that point, I had already taken a gulp in.”

She said she would not comment on Pillay’s illness.

“I am not going to say much about this because I haven’t spoke to her and I don’t know what really happened.”

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A much-needed dialogue on the practicalities of job creation was hosted recently by Sanlam in collaboration with the iMadiba Project. One of the panelists at the debate entitled ‘Macro conversations in micro spaces’, was Gugu Mjadu – spokesperson for the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards sponsored by Sanlam and Business Partners – who said not every business idea will be a unicorn like Facebook. But every idea can make a difference. It comes down to spotting local challenges and turning these into opportunities that provide real-world solves to South Africans.

Panelist Zuko Tisani, General Partner at Opus Ventures and owner of Legazy Technology Conferencing (which has sponsored over 80 start-ups), agreed, adding that one of the big issues is that entrepreneurs don’t create South African solutions for South African problems, “We need to take off our business hats and put on our problem-solving hats. Who are we solving a problem for and why? Entrepreneurs must problem-solve for key elements in our unique ecosystem, rather than mimicking Facebook or Uber.”

Here are some of the key takeaways for stakeholders – parents, government, corporates, SMMEs and individual South Africans – on how to redefine entrepreneurship to unleash the full might of SMMEs. Panelists included Mjadu and Tisane, as well as Vere Shaba, founder and director of Shaba Africa, a 100% black-owned consulting firm; and 30-year-old university lecturer in molecular medicine Thulile Khanyile, co-founder and chief operations officer at Nka’Thuto Education Propeller – a non-profit organisation.

1. We need to teach children to think entrepreneurially: Khanyile – whose Nka’Thuto organisation encourages young people to innovate solutions to real-world issues and then create business plans around these – said children are malleable and can be taught to be entrepreneurial. “Our programme is a longitudinal study on the conditioning of the mind and in the last three years, we’ve seen children behave like businesspeople; creating names for their businesses, designs, etc. – they reach the end of our programme and they are entrepreneurs. We’ve seen the mindset change. They’re happy to think about the prospect of being their own bosses and growing the communities where they are based.”
2. We need a revitalised, reconfigured curriculum: Tisane said that our current education system doesn’t empower kids to reach the fullness of their creativity because they’re lacking the skills to support that creativity. His hope is that Ramaphosa’s promise to introduce coding and design-thinking will give young people the independence to develop their ideas. He adds it’s not a future need – it’s something we must prioritise now. Improved financial literacy is also a must.
3. We should take advantage of emerging sectors: Shaba stressed that the green economy has the potential to create millions of jobs for unskilled and skilled youth. She said there’s an opportunity to marry indigenous knowledge systems with technological advancements, “Think about rammed earth – aka clay. We’ve all used it and we know it’s sustainable with insulating properties, but how do we merge the material with technology and scale it up in South Africa’s green economy?”
4. We need to contextualise our business environments:. All panelists agreed that too much focus is often placed on how young people must adapt for the world of work, not how the working world should change to accommodate young people. The same goes for universities. Shaba shared that she only got into green building because of international exposure after graduating, “I started asking questions about the way I was taught. I wasn’t taught to digitise solutions or design with sustainability in mind.”
5. We need more universities of technology: Shaba also stressed the importance of alternative tertiary education institutions and how we need to make certifications more condensed and practical. Tisane added that the digital economy will be the economy, so we need to emulate success stories like Paris’ Tech Campus Station F, which brings together product developers, venture capitalists and residents in one shared space.
6. We need to learn to negotiate: Khanyile emphasised the importance of finding a common language (corporate speak is different to government jargon, for example), bringing walls down and learning to negotiate. “School doesn’t teach us to negotiate but we negotiate every day! We need to learn to listen to what the other person wants.”
7. We need a coordinated effort: Mjadu said that she’s hopeful the introduction of a minister specialising in youth concerns will help coordinate all the efforts to empower young people. “We need updated national policy and a clear vision of what South Africa needs to do for young people to go further.” She added that we need more data on what’s relevant and empowering to small businesses.
8. We need more microfinancing: Mjadu noted the importance of microfinancing in the informal sector, especially. Additionally, she spoke about market access and the challenge for vendors who rely on cash at a time when most people want to swipe.
9. We need space and access: Shaba said she’s astounded we can send man to the moon, but we don’t yet have WiFi access across Africa. “Access to the market is the biggest thing SMEs need.” Tisane also stressed the importance of places for SMEs to congregate without paying exorbitant rental fees. “We need free space for SMEs to come in, collaborate, build and deploy.”
10. We need entrepreneurs to speak up: Khanyile said she wants to see an entrepreneurial toolkit being developed for start-ups in every phase of their development journey. She stressed a one-size-fits-all solution won’t work and said it’s up to entrepreneurs to articulate what they need. Mdaju added, “Who is the actual voice of small business? We need this voice so we can coordinate all the efforts and hear from business owners about what they really need.”

    As a final note, Tisane said entrepreneurs need to focus on the customer, not where to get money. “What minimal viable product prototypes can you take to market as quickly as possible?” He noted microlending can provide small, starter capital for ‘starter ideas’ which will help move entrepreneurs on to ‘bigger ideas’. And, it’s important that successful entrepreneurs give a leg up to those just entering the engine room of the economy.

    Listen to the Macro conversations in micro spaces podcast on job creation on 702.