JOHANNESBURG – About 30-million South African identity numbers and other personal and financial information has been hacked and leaked on the internet.

This is considered to be the country’s biggest data breach.

It was uncovered by Troy Hunt, a Microsoft regional director.

The data dump of about 27 gigabytes contains a wide range of sensitive information.

It includes ID numbers, personal income, age, employment history, company directorships, race group and even previous addresses.

eNCA

JOHANNESBURG – President Jacob Zuma has appointed permanent members to the board of the SABC for the next five years.

Zuma appointed Bongumusa Makhathini as chairperson and Febe Potgieter-Gqubule as deputy chairperson.

The other members are: Krish Naidoo, Khanyisile Kweyama, John Matisonn, Mathatha Tsedu, Rachel Kalidass, Michael Markovitz, Victor Rambau, Dinkwanyane Mohuba and Jack Phalane.

READ: Zuma faces legal action if he fails to appoint SABC board

The appointment comes a day after two organisations, Media Monitoring Africa and Support Public Broadcasting Coalition filed a joint urgent application demanding Zuma appoint the board.

They had threatened that should the president fail to comply with their demand, they will have no choice but to take him to court because the delay was exacerbating problems at the public broadcaster.

eNCA

2017-10-17 08:22

The citizens of South Africa cannot but believe that their president is regarded as above the law.

This weakens the very heart of our Constitution – the rule of law. It strengthens the culture of impunity in the country and undermines the legitimacy of the state.

The governing ANC should not be allowed to shrug the shoulders and say that it is a private legal matter. Jacob Zuma is an ANC deployee who serves at the behest of the party.

But the judiciary and the broader legal profession should also start an urgent conversation on how the president of the country has made a mockery of the criminal justice system.

The Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision last week that the criminal charges against Zuma should be reinstated was met with an overwhelming “oh well, we know he’s going to get away with it” from the public.

The irony of course is that Zuma is possibly guilty of much more serious crimes of corruption, fraud and money laundering than the few million rand involved in his relationship with convicted fraudster Schabir “Lazarus” Shaik.

The last five or so years we have been calculating state corruption in billions rather than the millions during the Mbeki era.

Zuma has been dodging the courts for more than a decade.

Shaik was brought to court as far back as October 2004 for his part in the corrupt relationship he had with Zuma. President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as his deputy in June 2005 and the charges against Zuma were withdrawn in April 2009 – wrongfully so according to two court findings.

It is true that others with unlimited sources for legal costs (in Zuma’s case, our taxpayers’ money) have also played this so-called Stalingrad game with justice, but this man only succeeds, and succeeds for much longer, because he has political power, power the voters entrusted to him.

All of us witness this outrage dragging on and on, but we are powerless to do anything about it.

This past weekend we had to read that the case could be dragged out for four or more years if Zuma, his lawyers and his lapdogs in the prosecuting authority have their way – or be scrapped altogether.

We dare not allow this.

The independence of our judiciary and the professionalism of our courts are almost all that stand between us and anarchy in 2017.

South Africa cannot afford one individual to show a fat middle finger to these institutions and get away with it.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and his brothers and sisters on the bench in all our higher courts should focus their minds on this problem. It is with them that Zuma is playing cat and mouse; it is their credibility he is trampling on.

I’m not clear on what Mogoeng can do within the narrow confines of legal etiquette, but it is a fact that as chief justice he is the primary guardian of the credibility and prestige of the judiciary.

Apart from the fact that the accused is the head of state, this is not just another criminal case: there is strong prima facie evidence that Zuma had a corrupt relationship with Shaik, evidence that has been accepted by three courts.

Zuma is behaving like Grace Mugabe who brutally assaulted a South African citizen in South Africa while on a private visit and got away with it.

But there is no provision for any immunity for Zuma, and South Africa is not Zimbabwe.

There would not have been a problem at all if we had a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that had not been captured by the Zuma inner circle.

The head of this authority, Shaun Abrahams, should be the immediate target of relentless civil society pressure.

We should do our outmost to force him (and hope that some in his office will support this) to hear Zuma’s arguments around the prosecution within days rather than months. (I hope Abrahams realises that Zuma has no legal right to make this presentation to the NPA, that he is actually just doing Zuma a favour seldom if ever accorded to others.)

If Abrahams then decides not to prosecute, the decision should be taken to court as soon as possible and Mogoeng should realise that it won’t be acceptable that we wait several months for this to get on the court roll.

If Zuma succeeds in taking his case to the Constitutional Court, it should get preference over all other cases.

If the decision is to prosecute, the earliest possible date for the hearing should be set.

Through its inaction, the judiciary runs the risk of being viewed by the citizenry as condoning Zuma’s efforts to avoid justice.

The ANC, including those presidential candidates who now criticise him but shielded him for years, cannot simply wash their hands of Zuma’s dangerous legal games. To still say “let the law run its course” is an insult to our Constitution and all of us.

It’s time to draw a very clear line in the sand.

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. 

Durban – Former finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his “crew of smurfs” have been on a tour of insulting and degrading ANC leaders, President Jacob Zuma’s son Edward Zuma said in an open letter.

Zuma on Sunday said he would have to go against the “factional notion” of respecting one’s leaders, claiming it was being used to gag people like himself.

In the long-winded letter, Edward suggested that ANC members Mcebisi Jonas, Derek Hanekom and Gordhan have sold out black people.

‘Propaganda funded by Johann Rupert’

“This I say because as they serve in senior structures of the ANC, it’s something that one would expect last from them as they have been able to lie and manipulate our masses to believe their nonsense and propaganda which is funded by Johann Rupert and all those that made some of our leaders who today are able to call the youth of this country stupid,” he wrote.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was recently quoted in media reports saying, “we don’t want youthful leaders who are stupid” while speaking at an ANCYL event in Hillbrow.

Zuma asked in the letter:

“How do you tell white monopoly capital that demanding our land is crazy? How do you want to measure us with the west when you were part of decision making on the establishment of BRICS vs the dictatorial tendencies of the western countries?

“Why does Pravin say South Africans aren’t clever enough to lead and rule this country when he himself is a Member of Parliament, so why not resign in protest?”

Edward said while “white monopoly capital” continued to say the ANC was crazy to even discuss land expropriation without compensation, Gordhan, he claimed, continued to defend them.

“Pravin is claiming to be a super and can’t do without individual as he is being used by the whites who clearly want the economy to remain in their hand by hook or crook.

“They are continuing to steal from the PIC [Public Investment Corporation] and many more state and private institutions which goes undetected because it’s not black people e.g. KPMG and all these white owned companies that have been given workers funds through the PIC, hence this fight and anger when the Minister of Finance [Malusi Gigaba] wants to probe them through a forensic,” he said.

He challenged Gordhan “and his crew of smurfs” to encourage Gigaba to proceed with the forensic investigation.

“As for Pravin I know and understand that he will never say anything as this is something close to his private purse since we all know he is a pharmacist and as he stated that such institutions need those that are suitable and speak to what is really the language in this country’s economy.

“But again I will not expect him Pravin to succumb to my assertion as his bread is buttered by white monopoly capital and he has become their darling.”

He said the country would survive with or without Gordhan.

“Whoever misled you by telling you that you are indispensable really doesn’t like you mkhulu [grandfather].”

Gordhan told News24 on Sunday evening that he hasn’t seen the letter, “so I won’t be able to comment”.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

News24 (@News24) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from News24 (@News24). News24 is Southern Africa and Africa’s premier online news resource reaching over 2.3 million local users each month.

Cape Town – A farmer was shot dead by gunmen while defending his family and guests, most of whom were teenage girls, at a farm near Philadelphia in the Western Cape, police have said.

The man was shot dead when he approached four-balaclava wearing suspects who had entered his family’s house where they were having a birthday party, Captain FC van Wyk said on Sunday.

“The owner approached the suspects and they shot him. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died due to injuries sustained,” said Van Wyk.

He said the suspects fled the scene on foot afterwards. The incident took place at about 00:20 on Saturday morning.

“A murder case has been registered for investigation,” he said.

The man’s brother-in-law, Rowan Philp identified the deceased as Mark Fagan.

Mark’s wife Jo, who was at the party, said several parents of the guests have sent messages on WhatsApp to thank Mark for saving their daughters’ lives.

Philp told News24 via email that Fagan saved the lives of nine girls and two women – his sister Jo and the mother of a birthday girl, from five, not four men.

He said they were having a slumber party on Friday.

Petting zoo

“Mark gave his own life to save the lives of nine girls and women. It’s unthinkable to consider what would have happened, had he not been able to chase the five armed men out of the house – men who had actually staked out a teenage slumber party and invaded with the full intention of tormenting these children.”

He said Fagan founded and ran a unique mobile petting zoo for kids’ birthdays.

“He was a strong and kind man who made our family incredibly happy. We will miss him terribly,” he said.

Philp said at least one of the girls was assaulted and hurt in the leg.

“Mark’s 14-year-old daughter jumped on top of a friend to protect her. The gang fired a shot that narrowly missed them,” he said.

He described Fagan’s action as heroic.

Philp said Philadelphia police apparently found that the English-speaking-gang had stalked out the house for most of the day, “having stolen liquor [Bacardi rum] and children’s sweets from the house earlier, and consumed them in the bushes while they waited”.

The Dassenberg neighbourhood watch and surrounding neighbours responded well, and very fast. They were raising money for a night vision aerial drone, and also want police to patrol the area, he said.

Van Wyk said anyone with information about the shooting incident is requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.

KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.

– FOLLOW News24 on Twitter

News24 (@News24) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from News24 (@News24). News24 is Southern Africa and Africa’s premier online news resource reaching over 2.3 million local users each month.