2018-06-04 08:55

Sello Hatang

Visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka the Lynching Memorial) in Montgomery, Alabama last week left me emotionally numb.

I was made numb not only because of past injustices and imagining the terror felt by the many victims of lynching and their families who knew that once accused, they faced an almost certain death. My numbness came from knowing that the past continues to haunt us in new forms of terror:

Targeted police killings of black people;

slavery in Libya and other places;

women dying at the hands of their partners;

rape;

human trafficking;

violent crime; etc.

The visit left me devastated, raw and feeling discouraged knowing all the woundedness we are suffering from as a people. Woundedness that’s hardly acknowledged by the perpetrators! Maybe it’s not for them to acknowledge that pain but for the victims to keep fighting for a more equal and just world, and the rule of law.

Speaking to American social justice activist Bryan Stevenson reminded me that we cannot afford to stay numb forever. He reminded me that we must all play our part to help society reckon with this difficult past. We must turn into partners who want to see justice realised for old and new victims of all forms of terror.

You can choose to look the other way, to hope that victims will come right without lending a helping hand, without sacrifice. You can choose to be an armchair critic who sees everything wrong with all the efforts of others. A critic who finds others falling short yet doesn’t get involved to help them fulfil their mission in life.

I choose to get my hands dirty. To help in any way possible to lift the heavy burden of poverty and inequality from the shoulders of the poor and vulnerable. I choose to keep dreaming.

Dreaming of a country free of the pit latrines that can kill another Michael Komape and Lumka Mketwa.

Dreaming of a country in which Palesa Madiba could have completed her degree at the University of Johannesburg.

Dreaming of a country in which Karabo Mokoena is still alive and free of punches from her partner.

Dreaming of a country in which Andries Tatane is receiving the basic services he needed in his community.

I am a dreamer! I dream of a country that fully supports the rights of the LGBTI community without fear of death and mockery.

I dream of health workers fighting for their right to fair wages whilst respecting the rights of patients to receive care.

I dream of the disabled being fully supported and accommodated in their daily lives.

These names and stories remind me that hope is not enough without hard work.

Courage and bravery are not enough without thoughtfulness and help from others. Solidarity remains key to changing our society.

We all have a role to play. Victims of injustice do not have the time to wait.

#GetYourHandsDirty

#PlayYourPart

#BuildACountryOfYourDreams

– Hatang is Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

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GUATEMALA CITY – Videos and pictures have shown the devastation caused by the most violent eruption of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano in more than four decades.

An estimated 25 people, including at least three children, were killed and nearly 300 injured on Sunday, officials said. 

READ: Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupts, several killed, hundreds injured

Volcan de Fuego, whose name means “Volcano of Fire”, spewed an eigth-kilometre stream of red-hot lava and belched a thick plume of black smoke and ash that rained onto the capital and other regions.

The charred bodies of victims laid on the steaming, ashen remnants of a pyroclastic flow as rescuers attended to badly injured victims in the aftermath of the eruption.

It was the 3,763-metre volcano’s second eruption this year.

“It’s a river of lava that overflowed its banks and affected the El Rodeo village. There are injured, burned and dead people,” Sergio Cabanas, the general secretary of Guatemala’s CONRED national disaster management agency, said on the radio.

FILE: A soldier carries a child covered with ash after Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupted violently in El Rodeo, Guatemala 3 June 2018. Credit: REUTERS/ Fabricio Alonzo

CONRED said the number of dead had risen to 25, from an earlier estimate of seven, including a CONRED employee. Some 3,100 people have been evacuated from the area.

Officials said the dead were so far all concentrated in three towns: El Rodeo, Alotenango and San Miguel los Lotes.

Rescue operations were suspended until 5:00 A.M. (1100 GMT) due to dangerous conditions and inclement weather, said Cecilio Chacaj, a spokesman for the municipal firefighters’ department.

FILE: A soldier takes a rescued child covered with ash to a hospital after Fuego volcano erupted violently in El Rodeo, Guatemala June 3, 2018. Credit: REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

Dozens of videos appeared on social media and Guatemalan TV showing the extent of the devastation.

One video published by news outlet Telediario, purportedly taken in the El Rodeo village, showed three bodies strewn atop the remnants of the flow as rescuers arrived to attend to an elderly man caked from head to toe in ash and mud.

“Unfortunately El Rodeo was buried and we haven’t been able to reach the La Libertad village because of the lava and maybe there are people that died there too,” said CONRED’s Cabanas.

‘I think they were buried’

In another video, a visibly exhausted woman, her face blackened from ash, said she had narrowly escaped as lava poured through corn fields.

“Not everyone escaped, I think they were buried,” Consuelo Hernandez told news outlet Diario de Centroamerica.

FILE: A woman covered with ash and burn wounds on her legs is taken to hospital after Fuego volcano erupted violently, in El Rodeo, Guatemala 3 June 2018. Credit: REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

Steaming lava flowed down the streets of a village as emergency crews entered homes in search of trapped residents, another video on a different media outlet showed.

President Jimmy Morales said he had convened his ministers and was considering declaring a state of emergency in the departments of Chimaltenango, Escuintla and Sacatepequez.

The eruption forced Guatemala City’s La Aurora international airport to shut down its only runway due to the presence of volcanic ash and to guarantee passenger and aircraft safety, Guatemala’s civil aviation authority said on Twitter.

FILE: Soldiers sweep the ash covered tarmac at La Aurora International Airport after Fuego volcano erupted violently, in Guatemala City, Guatemala 3 June 2018. Credit: REUTERS/Luis Vargas

The volcano is some 40 km southwest of the capital, Guatemala City, and is close to the colonial city of Antigua, which is popular with tourists and is known for its coffee plantations.

Workers and guests were evacuated from La Reunion golf club near Antigua as a black cloud of ash rose from just beyond the club’s limits. The lava river was running on the other side of the volcano.

Officials said the volcanic eruption still presented a danger and could cause more mud and pyroclastic flows.

FILE: Police officers wearing face masks guard the area after Fuego volcano erupted violently in El Rodeo, Guatemala, 3 June 2018. Credit: REUTERS/Fabricio Alonzo

“Temperatures in the pyroclastic flow can exceed 700 degrees (Celsius) and volcanic ash can rain down on a 15-km radius. That could cause more mudflows and nearby rivers to burst their banks,” said Eddy Sanchez, director of Guatemala’s seismological, volcanic and meteorological institute.

The huge plumes of smoke that could be seen from various parts of the country and the ash that fell in four of Guatemala’s departments caused alarm among residents.

David de Leon, a CONRED spokesman, said a change in wind was to blame for the volcanic ash falling on parts of the capital.

Reuters

Former president Jacob Zuma may have departed from the national stage, but he continues to cause ructions in the SA Communist Party (SACP).

One of the party leaders, Themba Mthembu, landed in hot water for inviting Zuma to a government event. City Press has learnt that Mthembu, the ANC KwaZulu-Natal secretary and agriculture MEC, had to account to the SACP central committee – the highest decision-making structure between congresses – on how he invited Zuma to the legislature for his budget speech, a move which the party feels has “embarrassed and undermined it”.

The matter was also raised at the party’s politburo meeting on Monday.

Party boss Blade Nzimande is under pressure to act on Mthembu or risk being seen as applying kid gloves to the KZN leader, who is seen as one of his “strong men”.

The presence of Zuma at Mthembu’s budget speech led to claims that Mthembu was conniving with the Zuma faction and that ahead of the Nasrec conference last year he had nailed his colours to that faction, which supported Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ).

“It has always been known that Mthembu worked, albeit clandestinely before ANC Nasrec conference, with NDZ caucuses and that he continued to have warm relations with them in the province as both the MEC for agriculture and as an alliance provincial leader. The recent special invitation of former president Zuma to his budget policy speech event was the last straw for the party; it embarrassed it,” said an insider.

Another said Mthembu was doing this “to save his government career”.

“He has calculated that the [Sihle] Zikalala faction will win the conference and the general elections are next year, so he wants to be reconsidered for the MEC post. Most of us in the party, including the Cyril Ramaphosa side, have been left wondering about his overt betrayal for narrow deployment accommodation.”

However, Mthembu has rubbished suggestions of being a Zuma lackey. He further denied being desperate to remain in government, saying his deployment was discussed and approved by headquarters.

Mthembu insisted he did not personally invite Zuma, saying that the invite from his office was meant for the former first lady Sizakele MaKhumalo Zuma. When the confirmation came back with Zuma’s name, he then directed that the legislature be informed as that had become a protocol issue.

“So on the day of the budget speech again it was confirmed and I wouldn’t have stopped it. I think what is at play here is a build-up to the provincial congress.

“What I want to emphasise is that the party in KZN is an integral component of the party nationally, and we subscribe 100% to the national positions of the party.

“It is unfortunate now that this matter of the department has since been linked to the party. I strongly believe that it is done deliberately. We are aware who is doing it,” asserted Mthembu, who wouldn’t be drawn into mentioning names.

“We are even aware of the lie that I was advised against inviting the former president. That is a clear demonstration that someone is cooking something.”

Mthembu insisted that the allegations against him were intended to unsettle him ahead of the provincial congress where another contender could be fielded to unseat him, ending his 16-year tenure. The congress is expected to sit in three weeks’ time.

SACP deputy secretary Solly Mapaila confirmed the matter was expected to be discussed at the two-day meeting, where the party will also adopt a document on how it wants the ANC alliance to be reconfigured so that all partners have an equal say on key policy and deployment decisions.

He described the invitation extended to Zuma as a serious miscalculation.

“Comrade Mthembu is here. The provincial executive committee in KZN had a meeting last week, so we expect him to say something to the central committee and obviously we will discuss that.

“What we should say is that we have disassociated ourselves with former president Zuma as the SACP because first he divided the alliance, then divided the ANC itself, divided our country and worked with people who stole the independence of our country,” he said.

JOHANNESBURG – The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has welcomed statistics released by AgriSA this week “confirming that farm murders have decreased to their lowest level in more than 20 years”, but urged authorities not to be complacent.

“The rural safety plan must be effective for violent crimes to be eradicated. The participation of all role-players in our farming communities is critical for the successful implementation of a proactive strategy to prevent farm attacks,” Sanco spokesman Jabu Mahlangu said on Saturday.

Promoting a culture of human rights and ending exploitation and abusive treatment of workers would contribute towards improving safety in farming communities. “Mutual trust and co-operation are key to peaceful and harmonious co-existence,” he said.

The review of the national crime prevention strategy would ensure that resources were allocated where they were needed most. “Partnerships with communities must be strengthened and dysfunctional crime prevention structures revived to tackle violent crimes that are terrorising our communities,” Mahlangu said.

According to a report released by AgriSA on Thursday, farm murders are at their lowest in over 20 years. Farm attacks in 2017/18 reportedly totalled 561 and associated murders 47. 

African News Agency

While the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has ordered members of the controversial Gupta family to return an aircraft to a Canadian bank within five days, it has given them a small reprieve.

The court first wants to determine whether they are able to comply with the order, and if not, why their non-compliance was not willful and in bad faith.

It has therefore suspended its order.

READ: Guptas have 5 days to return plane to Lanseria airport

Earlier on Friday, the court found that Atul Gupta, his wife Chetali, as well as Westdawn and Oakbay Investments had breached a court order that they return the now infamous Bombadier Global 6000 to Export Development Canada (EDC).

In a previous application lodged by EDC and Stoneriver, Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane ordered that the aircraft be delivered to Lanseria airport.

However, the case returned to court for a contempt of court application after the jet was not delivered.

On Friday, Kathree-Setiloane said the court had to weigh up a number of issues arising from the previous application, including whether the orders the court had given in the main application were final or provisional, and whether the Gupta respondents were in breach of the judgment and the order in the main application heard in March this year.

“It is common cause on the papers, that the first three requirements for civil contempt in this application have been satisfied in that the order was granted against the respondents and they were served with it by the applicants’ attorneys,” Kathree-Setiloane said.

“It is also common cause that the respondents have not complied with the order.”

Kathree-Setiloane said the Guptas’ argument that the date of the order became effective after her law clerk sent a revised copy of the judgment a few days later was “ill-founded”.

The judge said the Guptas conceded in their arguments that they hadn’t delivered the aircraft and that they were under no obligation to do so pending the outcome of an application for leave to appeal they had lodged.

“Therefore, from that moment on, the Gupta respondents were wrong in law and their justification for not being in willful non-compliance of the order was no longer available to them, and they were therefore not acting in good faith,” she said.

“But there have been new developments in the matter. It is common cause that on 13 April 2018, the aircraft arrived at Lanseria Airport, was not delivered to the applicants in compliance with the order, and was subsequently seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit…”

Kathree-Setiloane said this gave rise to whether the Guptas were able to comply with the court’s earlier order.

She found that the Guptas were in breach of the order and ruled that they should comply within five days.

However, the court suspended this, pending a determination by the court of whether the Guptas were able to comply with the order, and if not, why their non-compliance was not willful and in bad faith.

Kathree-Setiloane ordered the Guptas to file a supplementary affidavit within 10 days to explain why they were prevented from complying with the court order.

In turn, EDC and Stoneriver have to file an answering affidavit within 10 days after receiving the Guptas’ affidavit.