ANC Not Corrupt says Zuma

South Africans should stop calling the ANC corrupt because that was simply not true, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday. Zuma was addressing a rally organised by the SA Unemployed Workers Union (Sauwu) in East London, the Weekend Post reported.       

"People are saying this but it is untrue," he told a packed house at the Orient Theatre. The President also criticised people who said South Africa's poverty and wealth gap had widened since the ruling party took over in 1994.

"No one in the country knew how big the gap was before 1994 ... we discovered it, so how can they say something else," he said. However, Zuma said the gap had decreased through grants and black economic empowerment.

"Fifteen million people have been taken out of poverty ... so it is not true."

But, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University political analyst Jolene Steyn-Kotze said Zuma's statement was more of an opinion. She said comparisons needed to be made between 2001, 2004 and 2012 to get an accurate picture or where the country was in terms of the income gap and inequality.

"My suspicion is that the gap has actually increased and not lessened," she said. "A small percent of people control the wealth globally. South Africa cannot be an exception to that."

The transparency index, which measures corruption across the world, shows that corruption in South Africa is in fact growing

She made an example of Marikana where the income gap between the management and miners was big. Regarding Zuma's statements that the ANC was not corrupt, she said the party was well aware that the general elections were coming up and Zuma wanted to win favour with the workers.

"The transparency index, which measures corruption across the world, shows that corruption in South Africa is in fact growing and that we are actually close to Zimbabwe in terms of the State corruption. Since Zuma has taken power, the corruption index has increased."

UDM provincial chairperson Mongameli Bobani said the party was wondering what the basis of Zuma's statement on the wealth discrepancy was.

"Everyone, including the workers, knows that the gap is far too big ... if the President is promoting that the gap is not big then the UDM has a problem with that. We feel that the President is undermining the living conditions of South Africa. People in South Africa are becoming more and more poor and the rich are becoming richer."

Meanwhile, Zuma also used the rally to announce the creation of an extended Community Works Programme in the province.

"Through this 600 people will get work," he said. Zuma said Bizana, Port St Johns, Coffee Bay, Mthatha Mouth, Hamburg, Hole-in-the-Wall and Kidds Beach would benefit from the extended programme.

"The Community Works Programme has been designed to create a safety net for the unemployed workers."

He said members of Sauwu would benefit directly from the projects and that by 2013, 3500 people would be registered with the programme. The jobs, through the programme, would include tourism officials and coastal rangers. The coastal rangers would be trained in areas such as life-saving and public safety.

"This is for the people. But we might not be able to do everything in one day," Zuma said. Attending the event, Onela Mbatjoti, 25, said Zuma deserved his Nkandla homestead in KwaZula-Natal because he worked hard for it.

 

Saturday-3rd of November 2012

1Time passengers left stranded

 Hundreds of passengers have been left stranded after low cost airline 1-Time was grounded.Many peoplehave been forced to make expensive alternative arrangements to reach their destinations.All theairline'sflights were grounded yesterday after the airline liquidated yesterday.It has bee saidthat the airline ows various Institutuions including the Airports Company of South Africa,(ACSA) around R350 MILLION.The airlines last flightwas at15:00pm yesterday afternon. 

 

ACSA says that they have been contacting passengers booked on 1-Time flights  to help them make alternative arrangements.It says that the decision by 1-Time airline to file for liquidation andground all it'sflights was sadand regrettable.

 

Yesterday Nedbank said that Cardholders that purchased tickets frrom 1-Time using a credit card branded with a Visa,Mastercard,or an American Express Logo may contact their issuing bank for what is known as a chargeback.

 

A chargeback is a reversal of a transaction because the goods or services were not provided by the merchant.Cardholders should raise a chargeback within 60 days to allow enough time for Nedbank to validate the chargeback before we submit it to the aquirer.

 

DISCOUNTED FLIGHTS

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said that South African Airways (SAA) must offer discounted flights to the stranded 1-Time passengers.As the long-time beneficiary of generous government support... SAA should do everything it can to assist 1Time passengers, and we strongly encourage them to offer discounted flight options to stranded 1Time travellers," DA MP Natasha Michael said in a statement.

 

Shesaid the liquidation proved that Private Airlines could not compete with their State-Funded counterparts."Does every privately funded domestic airline have to shut down before government admits that the funding model for the national carrier is killing the aviation industry?" Michael asked.

Comair chief executive Erik Venter said 10 out of 11 private airlines launched in South Africa since the industry was deregulated in 1991 had failed. "Due to the less efficient fleet it operated, the ultimate closure of 1Time was inevitable," he said in a statement.

"However, we are certain that in the absence of State-subsidised Mango, 1Time would have made adequate profits to upgrade its fleet and be sustainable over the long term."

He said Comair would have to put up resistance to "unfair competition" from SAA and Mango. "This is not new to us... we have been dealing with this for most of our history."

Mango chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout said the airline regretted the liquidation. "While we may have been competitors, the liquidation of 1Time is not good news. Not only does it impact the families of employees but also thousands of people with confirmed travel across the country and the aviation sector as a whole," Bezuidenhout said.

"Everyone at Mango's hearts go out to our friends and industry colleagues at 1Time." - Additional reporting by Sapa

Saturday-3RD Of November 2012

Still No Sign Of Missing SA Aircraft

There is still no sign of a South African registered light aircraft which in turn went missing on Tuesday over Mozambique.The Missing Aircraft being a Baron 58,was said to be carrying two people thought to to be South Africans .Rescue teams continued the search operations yesterday after suspending them due to the complications to a heavy thunderstorm that took place.When the Aircraft took off from Lilongwe Airport in Malawi en route to Lanseria Airport,Northwest Of Johannesburg the plane began to experience engine difficulties in Mozambique and the pilot rerouted to Beira where he never arrived.Chief of the Aeronautical Rescue Centre situated in Johanesburg Santjie White stipulated that a heavy storm halted Search Operations .Personnel will continue with the search today .

The Mozambique Civil Aviation Agency could not say whether those on board were South Africans.It says the olane did NOT send out a distress signal and no sign of it's wreckage has been found.

Friday-2nd Of November

Police Officers Implicated In Prison Truck Blast

An Undertermined number of police officers have been implicated in the Johannesburg prision truck explosion in which tree people have been declared as dead and another 15 others wounded.The Independent Police Investigative Directorate saysthat the probe  into this incident has indicated that police might have helped the prisioners escape.Just Last month an explosive detonated in yet another prision truck taking a mass of 36 awaiting -trial prisoners from the Randburg Magistrates Court to the Johannesburg Central Prision.

 

It was said that two prisoners had tried to escape but police hadmanged to recapture them.At the end of the day 4 suspects were arrested over the incident .A joint investigation of the IPID has undercovered that some police officers may be implicated due to the smugglingof explosivesand arrests are 'probable'.

 

Following the blast that took place nine prisoners were escorted back to Johannesburg Central Prision after being treated for their injuries that they had encountered during the explosion in the truck.Police said that five men who were in the vchicle at the time of the incident are still in hospital and one is still in a critical condition.Congress Of The People better known as COPE ,spokesperson On Correctional Services Dennis Bloem has called for an independent investigation into the explosion.

 

Bloem said " This incident is totally unexceptable " and COPE is calling for an inquiry into this situation.either by a Magistrates or a senior council because Correctional Services and Police can't be trusted.Bloem also said that people have died in the incident and the case should be treated as a serious mater and not as if nothing had happened.

 

Friday-2nd Of Novemember

Unemployment On The Rise

 Every Country has it's own prominent problems and it is unfortunate that it is that of the unemployment line in South Africa,it has been said today that the number of unemployed people has increased by 4.4% or 197 000 between the second and third quarter of this year according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey published by Statistics South Africa.

The unemployment Rate its self has increased by 0.6 of a percentage point from 24.9% to 25.5% over the same period .The Free State remains the province with yet the highest unemployment rate sitting at a total of 32%.

However at the same time that this had happened there was also a increase of 198 000 persons in the number of unemployed people driven mainly by new job opportunities in the public sector. All sectors of the economy except private households experienced growth in employment numbers .Employment in the private household sector dropped by 2.5% or 29 000 in the third quarter.

The number of unemployed people in South Africa now stands at a staggering  4.7 million,the highest number of unemployment ever to been seen in South Africa since the first quarter in 2008.

It has been said that 60% of the people who are unemployed DO NOT have a matric certificate and that their prospects of getting a job are becoming worse by the day.

All we can do is hope that this is yet just another statistic.