Day 6 of Agrizzi’s testimony has commenced. The day has started off with some light humour:
Advocate Pretorius accidentally refers to witness Angelo Agrizzi as “Mr Gillingham”.
Agrizzi: You can call me anything, even Nandos, but not Gillingham. Or Watson.
But we soon get back to business, now dealing with evidence in relation to the SIU report which was released following an investigation into Bosasa.
Only certain parts of the report will be dealt with.
Composite Business Cycle Indicators
Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late on Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country’s economic crisis and crackdown.
Mnangagwa was welcomed at Harare International Airport by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, former army commander who was in charge during the president’s week-long absence and when the government launched a widespread clampdown in which 12 people were killed, more shot by troops and others dragged from their homes and beaten, according to human rights groups.
Mnangagwa hugged Chiwenga and chatted with him on the runway for 15 minutes. The president then told state broadcasting that his trip to Russia and Kazakhstan was fruitful and will benefit Zimbabwe in the long run. During his trip Mnangagwa met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him for a loan.
Earlier on Monday the government intensified its crackdown on dissent by charging the leader of the country’s largest labor organisation with subversion, as the courts ruled that the shutdown of the internet was illegal.
Zimbabwe police arrested Japhet Moyo, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and charged him with subversion for his role in organizing last week’s national strike.
The arrest and Mnangagwa’s return come after a week of turmoil. During the strike, some people went onto the streets to protest the government’s drastic increase in fuel prices. The government said the demonstrations degenerated into riots, prompting it to launch a sweeping wave of repression. Security forces opened fire on crowds, wounding many bystanders, and went house to house in some neighborhoods, beating up many men, according to witnesses.
‘We just don’t have that kind of money’
The government also imposed an internet blackout across the country. On Monday Zimbabwe’s High Court ordered the government to restore full internet to the country.
The shutdown of the internet was illegal because the Minister of State for Security, who ordered the internet closure, does not have powers to issue such a directive, said the court ruling.
Only President Emmerson Mnangagwa has the authority to make such an order, said the court. Over the weekend the government restored partial internet access, but kept a blackout on social media apps like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter. The government alleges the internet has been used to organise violent demonstrations.
Zimbabwe’s capital gingerly recovered from the week of tumult on Monday. Most shops and businesses reopened, although many people are stocking up on food items in case of further unrest.
Indicating the severity of Zimbabwe’s economic problems, South Africa confirmed that it turned down Mnangagwa’s request for a loan of $1.2 billion recently. “We just don’t have that kind of money,” South African treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane told the broadcaster, eNCA.
Activist and pastor Evan Mawarire has been jailed since Wednesday and has been charged with subversion against the government for which he faces 20 years in jail if convicted. Mawarire had used social media to support peaceful protests against the fuel price increases. The case against Mawarire is a “travesty of justice” said his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa. His application to be released on bail will be heard on Jan. 23.
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In the widespread crackdown, about two-thirds of the more than 600 people who were arrested have been denied bail, said Mtetwa.
When Mnangagwa tweeted on Sunday that he would cut short his European trip and to come back to Zimbabwe, he didn’t mention the violence, saying only that he is returning “in light of the economic situation.” He said his first priority “is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again.”
At Davos, he planned to appeal for foreign investment and loans, but the visit had been expected to be a challenge. His Davos visit a year ago came shortly after he took over from longtime, repressive leader Robert Mugabe, a move cheered by Zimbabweans and the international community.
But Mnangagwa has faced a year of troubles in which his administration failed to improve the collapsed economy, narrowly won a disputed election and violently put down anti-government protests.
The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference last week lamented the government’s “intolerant handling of dissent” and its failure to halt economic collapse, concluding that “our country is going through one of the most trying periods in its history”.
Suspended Deputy National Director for Public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba says she is willing to appear before the Zondo commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture should she be given a chance to do so.
Jiba was placed on suspension last year by President Cyril Ramaphosa along with the special director of public prosecutions, Lawrence Mrwebi.
She says provided that her appearance at the Zondo Commission does not conflict with the Justice Yvonne Mokgoro inquiry, which is looking into her fitness to hold office, she is keen to give her side of the story.
During his testimony at the state capture commission last week former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi testified that Jiba received at least R100 000 and Mrwebi R10 000 to kill an ongoing corruption probe by the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks.
READ: ‘She has not received any money’ – Jiba’s lawyer at fitness inquiry
Jiba’s attorney, Zola Majavu, told News24 that his client denied receiving any money.
“She has stated it categorically…and she will at the right time go to the relevant forum where these allegations were made and then have her say there.
“She has no difficulty going there,” Majavu said.
Lawyer pleased with Mokgoro inquiry
Majavu, however, conceded that Jiba was informed that she may be implicated by a witness at the Zondo commission by the commission’s investigators, but was not told about the extent of the implication.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Agrizzi to implicate Zuma, Jiba in Bosasa scandal
Jiba is set to come before the commission on February 6, and has indicated that she will not talk to the media about the matter until then.
Majavu said that his team was pleased with the direction which the Mokgoro inquiry was taking.
“Fortunately the inquiry investigators do provide us with statements of various witnesses in advance, so that we understand what it is that they are going to say,” said Majavu.
Majavu said they allowed both his and Mrwebi’s teams to be ready to cross-examine witnesses.
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Record of proceedings of the Financial Markets Liaison Group meeting held at the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria on 31 October 2018
The DA plans to approach the International Criminal Court (ICC) if President Cyril Ramaphosa fails to intervene directly to stop the “ongoing human rights violations” on Zimbabweans, allegedly by president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
“If Rampaphosa fails to intervene and advise Mnangagwa to stop the military clampdown on civilians, the DA will be left with no option but to approach the ICC to consider a preliminary investigation into these violations as outlined in the Rome Statute,” said Stevens Mokgalapa, the party’s spokesperson on International Relations and Co-operation.
“The ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor is empowered by the Rome Statute to ‘…determine whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes of sufficient gravity falling within the ICC’s jurisdiction, whether there are genuine national proceedings, and whether opening an investigation would serve the interests of justice and of the victims’.”
Mokgalapa said the DA strongly believed that the human rights crisis currently existing in Zimbabwe was of sufficient gravity to warrant an ICC investigation “because, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, at least 12 people have been killed, 78 shot at and 240 faced ‘assault, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment’.”
There has been a violent crackdown on protests that began last Monday in Zimbabwe after the government more than doubled fuel prices.
The DA claimed Ramaphosa and his government “seemed intent on sitting on their hands over the Zimbabwe crisis in much the same manner as (former president) Thabo Mbeki’s failed diplomacy”.
“In 2008, people were attacked and murdered with impunity in another state sanctioned military clampdown targeting innocent civilians after a disputed election.
Mbeki’s silence only served to worsen the human rights climate in Zimbabwe and led to a collapse of the economy, whose consequences are still being felt to this day with thousands of Zimbabweans flocking to South Africa to seek economic refugee,” he said.
Mokgalapa said the DA would not stand by while Ramaphosa repeated a “Quiet Diplomacy 2.0” strategy that was sure to produce the same results as “Mbeki’s ill-thought foreign policy”.
“Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s claim that the internet shutdown in Zimbabwe, which was implemented by their government after protests broke out over fuel increase early this week, was an internal matter, fails to appreciate that the blackout was used as a cover to unleash the military in residential areas to beat, torture and kill innocent civilians,” he said.
He said like the ANC, the ZANU-PF government was quite simply the same bus filled with empty promises being driven by a different driver who has no power to steer the party in the right direction.
“The very same people who terrorised Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe are still in charge under Mnangagwa. The people of Zimbabwe were promised a new dawn when Mugabe was ousted, much like South Africa when Jacob Zuma stepped down. Both have proven to be myths,” said Mokgalapa.
He claimed that the era of comradeship between Ramaphosa’s ANC government and Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF government, while human rights were being trampled on with impunity, was over.
“President Rampahosa is faced with an easy choice, either he intervenes to stop civilian abuse by the military in Zimbabwe or his government will be one of the parties that will answer to the ICC on why they failed to act to stop the human rights violations.
Ndivhuwo Mabaya, spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said minister Sisulu had received a briefing on Sunday morning on the developments in Zimbabwe.
“On the Zimbabwe protests and efforts to address economic challenges, the Minister has noted that protests in Zimbabwe have calmed down and life in the streets of Zimbabwe is returning to normal,” Mabaya said in a statement.
Sisulu also received a briefing from the South African ambassador to Zimbabwe Mphakama Mbethe on the economic situation in the country, according to Mabaya.
“Minister Sisulu indicated that the South African government was working with the Zimbabwean government in finding a short and long-term solution to the economic situation. The Minister added that if the situation is not attended to, the current economic challenges can derail the political and economic progress the country has made since the election of the new president,” said Mabaya.
Mnangagwa tweeted on Sunday: “In light of the economic situation, I will be returning home after a highly productive week of bilateral trade and investment meetings. We will be ably represented in Davos by Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube. The first priority is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again.”
ANC veteran Dumisani Kumalo has died “peacefully” at his home, the party said on Sunday evening.
Kumalo, 71, was first deployed to the United Nations in 1999 and returned home a decade later following the country’s successful tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, said the ANC in a statement.
The ANC said Kumalo served the country “diligently” as the country’s diplomat to the United Nations (UN).
“Forced into exile for his anti-apartheid activities and while on asylum in the United States, he continued his political activity as a project director at the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) and its sister organisation, the Africa Fund from 1979 to 1997, playing a key role in the mobilisation of American sanctions against the racist apartheid regime. Kumalo’s actions culminated in the racist regime being hauled to the UN Security Council in the 80s,” the party said.
Kumalo distinguished himself as a diplomat par excellence when the consolidation of the African Agenda found expression in the multilateral sphere which entailed a report on how the UN could assist the African continent in the resolution of conflicts, the ANC said.
“The ANC dips its revolutionary flag and extends its condolences to the family, friends, as well as to his fellow comrades in the struggle for liberation of the oppressed,” the ANC said.
There might be a happy ending for the newborn baby boy found abandoned on the side of the road in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal.
The baby was rescued from a dust bin in Olive Road in Everest Heights by Reaction Unit South Africa on Monday afternoon.
The baby boy who is yet to be named was wrapped in a denim cloth. His umbilical cord and placenta were still attached.
Paramedics stabilised the one-day-old before transporting him to hospital.
Reaction Unit South Africa said it has received about 500 enquiries regarding the well-being and adoption of the baby.
“People have contacted me from across the globe. So far we have had approximately 500 telephonic and social media enquiries from people who want to adopt the baby,” Prem Balram, director at Reaction Unit South Africa said.
“I have been informing them that they need to contact a reputable adoption agency or a social worker,” he said.
Balram emphasised that he could not confirm if the baby was up for adoption, or assist in the process.
He said the baby was recovering from an infection in the paediatric ward at Osindisweni Hospital.
“He’s healthy.”
‘It is my baby’
Balram said his unit was alerted about the baby after a scrap collector heard him crying and told a passer-by, who then called the reaction unit.
“When I got to the scene, the paramedics had taken the baby out of the bin bag,” he said.
After a brief investigation of the surroundings and with the help of the community, Balram said they managed to identify the mother.
“The woman eventually told us ‘it is my baby’,” he told News24.
“She told us that she had given birth in the bathroom around 12:30, while her kids were at school. She then put the baby in a bin bag and knotted it,” he said.
Balram added that the woman said she put the bag in the bin on the side of the road 30 minutes before the rubbish truck would have passed by.
“If I was there 25 minutes later, the baby would have been crushed to death,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed that a 31-year-old woman had been arrested and a case of child abandonment was opened for investigation.
She appeared in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and was granted bail of R1 000.
Adoption process
Director at Abba Adoption Katinka Pieterse said there was more to the adoption process than people realised and warned that potential parents should not make the decision lightly.
She highlighted three important processes before a child can be adopted.
The body of 24-year-old Mmatholo Mogafe has been identified after her remains washed up in Mozambique on Saturday, her family has confirmed.
The air traffic controller from Groblersdal had been one of four South Africans who had gone missing on Monday.
They were part of a group of eight – aged between 20 and 29 – who had travelled to Mozambique to celebrate Mogafe’s birthday.
Lesego Matsepe, David Kaise, Gregory Mfune, Mogafe and her sister Basetsana had taken a boat trip to Portuguese Island and on Monday stopped at Inhaca Island.
The five went swimming, but were swept away from shore by a strong current. Only Basetsana managed to make it safely back to shore.
Mogafe’s uncle Bongani Diako, who is currently in Mozambique, said the family was relieved to have found Mmatholo’s body.
“We have the opportunity to at least bury her and find closure,” Diako said.
The first body was recovered on Thursday, while two others were located on Friday.
Kenny Mathivha, spokesperson for Limpopo premier Chupu Stanley Mathabatha who reportedly this week sent a delegation to assist the families, said the four’s remains would be repatriated back to SA by Monday with the assistance of the Department of International Relations.
“The four survivors are also on the way back home, except one who came back two days ago for medical attention,” Mathivha said in a statement.
“The premier has already set up a special team that visited the families’ homes in Groblersdal on Friday. The team consisted of social workers and psychologists assisting with all trauma accompanied by this disaster. The province is also in communication with the Free State administration were the other two deceased came from.”
2019-01-18 10:02
Former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi continues testifying before the commission of inquiry into state capture following an unexpected postponement due to safety and security concerns.
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PP: Do you know whether the MEC and Mr Syvion Dlamini had any connection to a particular political party?
AA: Yes.
RZ: Which party?
AA: Do I have to say it?
RZ: What is your answer?
AA: It was the ruling party, Chair.
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RZ: You mentioned electioneering….
AA: Yes, I believe it was regional elections…
RZ: Any specific party?
AA: Yes, one in particular.
PP: Let’s understand the scheme. To describe the process of cash generation. A youth development centre being run and facilitated by Bosasa. They say to Bosasa, we need a software programme.
PP: Bosasa then supplies the software programme, at no cost.
AA: The department of social development would pay Bosasa for that software.
