The DA’s federal council has decided to ditch black economic empowerment, claiming the policy is simply “just not working.”
The party’s head of policy Gwen Ngwenya confirmed to News24 that the DA’s highest policy decision making body resolved the decision in July, instead opting to seek a broader economic empowerment framework.
The DA has previously thrown its weight behind the idea of BEE but claimed it only unlocked economic opportunities for politically connected blacks and that the way in which it was being implemented was not sustainable.
BEE has also been a source of fierce contestation within the party. It resulted in a spat between former party leader Helen Zille and former DA parliamentary caucus leader Lindiwe Mazibuko. Mazibuko was accused by Zille of failing to ensure the opposition properly interrogated and responded to new legislation on BEE and employment equity before backing it. It is also widely believed this was one of the reasons why Mazibuko quit politics.
“There is a very real commitment to black empowerment, but we recognise that triple BEE has not worked,” said Ngwenya.
She said the party was still working its way towards its new “broad economic empowerment framework,” but was confident about what elements needed to be included.
“Getting people into jobs, making sure they have the skills to earn a higher income when they are in the jobs – and therefore be able to put more of their income towards investment – that is the way to accumulate the kind of wealth that turns into intergenerational prosperity and BEE has not done that and will not do that,” explained Ngwenya.
Political parties are attempting to sharpen their positions on issues ahead of next year’s national elections, with the ANC coming out this week saying it will push for a constitutional amendment on land. Ngwenya confirmed the economic decision by the DA is similar, as the country’s main opposition decides what it can offer South Africans.
“This is the period when political parties should be looking to review their offers to South Africans,” said Ngwenya.
Opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa says the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s “scandal of releasing fake results is regrettable”, after he lost to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the just ended presidential elections.
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The streets of Zimbabwe’s capital are quiet with a heavy presence of military and police after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of Monday’s election.
While the vote was peaceful, a military crackdown on protesting opposition supporters on Wednesday has left a chill.
Soldiers in the hours ahead of the announcement told people to clear the centre of Harare.A few Mnangagwa supporters are noisily celebrating near the entrance to the conference center where results were announced.
Charity Manyeruke, who teaches political science at the University of Zimbabwe, says she is delighted.
“There is continuity, stability,” she says. “Zimbabwe is poised for nation-building.”
Meanwhile the chair of the opposition MDC party, Morgen Komichi, is calling the elections “fraudulent” and says they will challenge the results in the courts. – AP
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the chairperson of SADC, has called and congratulated Emmerson Mnangagwa on his election as president of Zimbabwe, following elections which were held on Monday.
“President Ramaphosa has appealed to all political leaders and the people of Zimbabwe to accept the outcome of the election and should they have challenges, they must follow legal remedies provided for in the Constitution and electoral law”, the Presidency said in a statement issued on Friday morning.
AFP reported that Zimbabwe’s electoral commission declared Mnangagwa the winner with 50.8% of the vote – avoiding a run-off by the narrowest of margins.
During his call to Mnangagwa, Ramaphosa expressed his concern about the violence that occurred on Wednesday in which six people were killed.
He conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured speedy recovery.
The president, however, congratulated the people of Zimbabwe for conducting a peaceful election, as declared by the SADC Election Observation Mission and other election observer missions.
“President Ramaphosa concluded his phone call by expressing his commitment to working closely with the president elect, Mr Mnangagwa to enhance the historical, political and fraternal relations which exist between South Africa and Zimbabwe, with particular emphasis on strengthening economic cooperation in priority areas as mutually identified by the two countries”, the Presidency said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived at the Union Buildings during the late hours of Wednesday to accept a memorandum from #TotalShutDown protesters who had marched to the buildings against gender-based violence.
With him were his security advisor Charles Nqakula, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Minister of Police Bheki Cele, as well as other senior government leaders.
The president started by apologising to the group of marchers for having arrived so late to receive the memorandum.
This, after the marchers turned away Minister of Higher Education and Training Naledi Pandor – who the president had sent to collect the memorandum on his behalf.
“Minister Naledi Pandor is sensitive to the issues being raised here. I had asked her to receive the memo on my behalf and when I saw that this was not satisfactory, I made it a point that I come and offer my apology. I’m here not only to receive the memo, but out of respect.”
Ramaphosa listened attentively as the marchers read out their demands, word for word.
After the demands were read out, the president apologised for the way the police treated the marchers when they tried to remove them from the Union Buildings. He promised that the police would be dealt with “because not only is it the first day of #WomensMonth, but it is unacceptable for officers of the law to deal with women in the way that you describe”.
“As president, I have deep respect for the women of our country and I want to listen to the issues you raise. Not only should you be respected as women because you are in the majority, you deserve respect because you are human beings.”
“Men must demonstrate that they respect, honour and support women. We must intensify the campaign against gender-based violence. Today’s demonstration must make a huge contribution to raising the level of consciousness amongst all of us.”
The president, who said he would look into what protesters’ asked for “very, very carefully”, promised a gender summit, which was one of the demands made.
Earlier on Wednesday, police and protesters taking part in the #TotalShutDown march clashed in Tshwane after officers forcibly tried to remove marchers blocking the road in front of the main entrance to the Union Buildings.
A group of about 20 protesters had blocked the road, demanding to see the president.
About 2 000 women marched to the Union Buildings to protest against oppression, gender inequality and gender-based violence.
After the meeting with Ramaphosa, the government issued a statement thanking those who march to the Union Buildings.
“As government we wish to reiterate our full support to all the initiatives that seek to highlight the violence against women and children,” the statement read.
The apparent gunman believed to have wounded alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen at a Cape Town mall on Wednesday was killed when the firearm he was using jammed, sources have said.
This, they say, likely prevented Booysen from being further wounded.
A bullet struck Booysen in one of his arms, while the man believed to have shot Booysen was struck in the head.
He appeared to have been shot inside a restaurant, the Spur, in a mall in Kuils River.
A photograph of the man who had a bullet wound to the head, which News24 has seen, shows him on his back, with his eyes closed as paramedics tend to him. Blood spatters are near his head on the restaurant floor.
News24 understands a relative of Booysen’s was temporarily held in custody on Wednesday in relation to a firearm, but this relative was later released.
Firearms which were also seized after the shooting were returned.
Booysen’s relative released after arrest, seized firearms returned
Lawyer Bruce Hendricks, acting on behalf of Booysen, confirmed to News24 late on Wednesday that the relative was arrested at the hospital where Booysen was being treated, along with a second person.
Hendricks confirmed she was released and that firearms, belonging to Booysen’s relatives, were returned after being seized by Hawks officers.
The shooting marks the sixth time Booysen has been targeted in roughly a year.
He was previously shot at five times and in two incidents, he was wounded.
Murder may lead to mastermind behind attacks
News24 understands that some believe the murder of the apparent gunman may point fingers at who has been ordering the attacks on Booysen.
Some believe the man who was killed may have links to the 28s gang, however, this claim was not officially provided.
It is understood he may also have had links to the Hard Livings gang.
In October last year, Booysen was wounded inside the Cape Town International Airport and a second man was also struck by a stray bullet.
At the time, sources said it may have been retaliation for the shooting at Cubana in Plein Street, Stellenbosch, which happened days earlier.
Alleged 28s links
Donovan Jacobs, who sources identified as a 28s gang member, was killed in the Stellenbosch incident, as was Nicole Muller, 30, a Kuils River mother of two young boys, who was at the club to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday.
Sources said Jacobs had been the target of that shooting and that Booysen was shot on Wednesday morning in retaliation for this incident.
In June, during an exclusive interview with News24, Booysen referred to the airport shooting, saying he had been wounded five times in a national keypoint, yet no arrests were made.
The night after this shooting, there was a skirmish at the medical facility he was being treated at.
Some sources had said that two men were trying to get to someone close to Booysen.
Start of the spate of attacks
The spate of shootings on Booysen started on May 8, 2017.
He had been wounded in the neck while on his way to extend his condolences to the family of Deon Williams, who had been shot dead that same day near Elsies River.
Booysen said he had worked in the area about two decades earlier, knew Williams’ family, and had been on the way to extend his condolences to them when he was wounded.
Nightclub security saga
This attack came two months after an auction in Parow which marked the start of a massive nightclub security takeover in Cape Town which has resulted in violence.
Suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack allegedly headed up the takeover – it previously emerged in a court case that Modack wanted to wrestle power in the nightclub security scene from a more established grouping. This grouping allegedly consisted of members including Booysen, as well as businessman Mark Lifman and Andre Naude.
Modack, as well as Colin Booysen – who is Jerome Booysen’s brother – Jacques Cronje, Ashley Fields, and Carl Lakay, were arrested in December 2017 and face extortion charges relating to nightclub security.
They are to go on trial.
Previously, during their bail application in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, Colin Booysen’s lawyer Bruce Hendricks claimed that Lifman controlled certain police officers.
It also emerged that Modack claimed that Major General Jeremy Vearey, who heads up the detectives in the Western Cape and who was instrumental in Modack’s arrest, was on the police’s payroll.
In June, when talking to News24, Booysen said he was not interested in gangsterism.
“Where the people come on with this gangsterism and gangster stuff, they must come and prove it to me because maybe I don’t have a lot of friends in the police and that’s why they can point fingers because they [are] pointing the finger away from them,” he said.
The General Council of the Bar of South Africa (GCB) has approached the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling in favour of deputy prosecutions boss Nomgcobo Jiba and her colleague, Lawrence Mrwebi.
The SCA overturned a ruling of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that Jiba and Mrwebi be struck from the roll of advocates.
In papers filed on Tuesday, chairperson of the GCB advocate Craig Watt-Pringle SC said he believed there were “reasonable prospects of success in an appeal”.
He said four judges had found that striking off orders should be made in the circumstances of the case and three disagreed.
“The application by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa is to request the court by the custos morum (ethical standards) of the profession to use its disciplinary power over an officer of the court who has misconducted him or herself.”
Watt-Pringle said the GCB’s role was to bring the evidence of a practitioner’s misconduct to the attention of the court for the latter to exercise its disciplinary powers.
He said the GCB acted in the interest of the court, the profession and the public.
Richard Mdluli case
Jiba was acting National Director of Public Prosecution (NDPP) from December 28, 2011, until August 30, 2013.
Watt-Pringle said most of the events that formed the subject of the application occurred shortly before and during her term as acting NDPP.
He said the complaints against Jiba arose from three cases. One of the cases involved the pair’s decision to drop charges against former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli, who faced several charges.
In the majority judgment, the SCA said that when the High Court gave its ruling, it described Mdluli and detailed his personality.
It also characterised him in an “egregious manner, as if he was already convicted of the allegations against him”.
“This characterisation, in my view, negatively influenced the court a quo’s evaluation of the way Jiba and Mrwebi handled the Mdluli case,” Appeal Court Judge Jeremiah Shongwe said.
Shongwe added that the High Court had referred to a letter by Mdluli to former president Jacob Zuma, the Minister of Safety and Security and commissioner of police which stated that the charges brought against him were a conspiracy.
He said he was unable to “glean the relevance of quoting from the said letter”. He also added that the letter was “far-fetched and did not establish whether Jiba was not fit and proper to practise as an advocate”.
The conduct of advocates
However, Watt-Pringle said in his application to the Constitutional Court that the letter in question was from Mdluli to Zuma.
He said it was not suggested that the letter “established whether Jiba was fit and proper person to practice as an advocate”, but that it was a letter in which Mdluli had promised to support the election of Zuma as president in 2012 in a “most inappropriate fashion”.
He said Mrwebi withdrew the serious criminal charges against Mdluli and Jiba allowed this to happen under her watch.
“I submit further that this is a matter of general public importance which ought to be considered by this court,” said Watt-Pringle.
“It involves the conduct of advocates holding very senior positions in the NPA, including the conduct of the acting national director of public prosecutions, and whether they are qualified to remain in such positions.
“I therefore respectfully submit that it is in the interest of justice that leave to appeal be granted,” he submitted.
Should leave to appeal be granted, the Bar wanted the appeal to be upheld with costs, including costs of two counsel, he said.
The Bar previously said that the decision on whether it should appeal the judgment was “extensively debated”.
It said the matter was put to the vote and 18 members voted in favour of applying for leave to appeal.
Twelve members voted against applying for leave to appeal and two members abstained.
Jiba, who initially asked to be placed on special leave, pending the SCA ruling, returned to work this month.
‘Not fit and proper’
Jiba’s lawyer Zola Majavu told News24 last week that he did not receive any instructions for her to be placed on special leave again.
“Until we are served with an application, we are constrained to comment. Such an appeal will in any event not affect her employment status with the NPA,” he said at the time.
Majavu had initially written to the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams to request that Jiba be allowed to resume her duties at the NPA.
He indicated that Jiba intended to fight the GCB’s application for leave to appeal the ruling.
Jiba and Mrwebi were struck from the roll of advocates on September 15, 2016, after Judge Francis Legodi in the North Gauteng High Court agreed with the GCB that they were “not fit and proper” to be advocates.
The case went to the SCA in Bloemfontein and the Appeal Court ruled in favour of Jiba and Mrwebi.
The judgment was split among five judges – three ruled in favour of Jiba and Mrwebi and the others disagreed and gave a dissenting judgment.
In the majority judgment, authored by Shongwe, the SCA found that the GCB could not establish any misconduct on Jiba’s part.
Turning to Mrwebi, he found that he “genuinely, did not comprehend what the concept ‘in consultation’ meant”. However, the concessions he made under cross-examination indicated that he was at most, confused.
“As regards to Mrwebi, I am of the considered view that the court a quo treated him harshly. Mrwebi, notwithstanding his misconduct, did not personally gain anything from his actions.
“His failure to comprehend the concept of ‘in consultation’, in my view should perhaps be attributed to his incompetence or naivety rather than his honesty and lack thereof.”
