South Africa

PRETORIA - As part of efforts to strengthen bilateral relations between South Africa and China, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula (pictured) has signed a police cooperation agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Chen Zhimin. Mbalula says: "We are going to have very important discussions about public safety and security in our two countries . . . as relations between South African and China are evolving." In a statement, the Ministries outline various ways of consolidating and exchanging intelligence information on drug trafficking, illegal immigration, money laundering, arms smuggling and trafficking of women and children. "We believe that, through the talks, we will be able to work closely within the framework of enhanced policing," says Mbalula in the statement. "This will [assist] in case investigations and the handing over of criminal suspects subject to the laws relating to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and extradition." Chen says that the minutes of the talks include exchange visits of high-level officials and experts as well as promoting friendly communication between the countries' law enforcement authorities. "Both countries shall take within their own territories such measures as may be practical and feasible to ensure that institutions and persons from each country enjoy safety and security to the same extent as the inhabitants of their respective countries," says Chen.

JOHANNESBURG - The Press Ombudsman, who came under fire in an African National Congress (ANC) document as "inherently biased", recently made several rulings in favour of State institutions. While the ruling ANC criticised the role of the Press Ombudsman in a discussion document released, a search by Sapa on the Press Council's website shows that the ombudsman recently made several rulings in favour of government institutions. On June 25, a municipal manager of the Ehlanzeni regional municipality, in the Lowveld, Hugh Mbatha, complained to the Press Ombudsman about a report that he had manipulated a tender, besides other things. The ombudsman dismissed his complaint about two stories, but on a third story, published in the Lowvelder, he found that the newspaper had failed to publish the municipality's official response. The newspaper was reprimanded. In another ruling on the same day, the Press Ombudsman directed the Sunday Times newspaper to publish a retraction and apology regarding a story about the State broadcaster. The SABC's former chief operations officer, Solly Mokoetle, had complained to the Press Ombudsman that a report, headlined ‘Fresh crisis rocks SABC - New board members vow to challenge imposition of CEO', wrongly created the impression that fraud and corruption had been committed. Also on June 25, Die Burger newspaper, in Cape Town, was reprimanded for inaccurate reporting following a complaint to the Press Ombudsman by an official of the Kouga local municipality, Laura-Leigh Randall. The article centred on tendering procedures and the municipality complained that it contained inaccuracies. The Press Ombudsman ruled that the newspaper reported inaccurately and did not afford the municipality enough time to respond.

JOHANNESBURG - Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika will appear in Kabokweni District Court in Mpumalanga with two others to face charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice, the Hawks say. "Two people were arrested in Nelspruit. They will appear with the Sunday Times journalist," Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi says. Wa Afrika was arrested on Wednesday morning in a move that his paper says is "designed to intimidate". "He was arrested by a large number of policemen in an operation, which was clearly designed to intimidate, and I can only conclude that this was the true motive for what took place today," says Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley. Hartley says that wa Afrika is one of the journalists who worked on an article that alleged police commissioner General Bheki Cele had leased new police headquarters for R500-million without following normal tender processes. "I hope, for the sake of our country, that he was not arrested on spurious charges in order to punish him for what he wrote." Congress of the People (Cope) deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa was more outspoken in connecting the article to Wa Afrika's arrest. "This is a deliberate attempt to silence the voice of independent media that reports without fear, favour or prejudice," Shilowa says. "It is not a coincidence that [something so] brutal and unreasonable happens days after the exposure of the questionable deal on Sunday. Furthermore, this takes place amidst the proposed draconian media tribunal, which is aimed at muzzling the media." Hartley says that the paper had assigned Wa Afrika lawyers, who are still attempting to find out what the journalist would be charged with and where he was being held.

JOHANNESBURG - In a world where the line between corporate governance and ethical leadership has become blurred, it is important to revert back to the fundamentals, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe says. Speaking at the Regenesys graduation ceremony, he says that perhaps the best way to balance the cut-throat environment in which "we must thrive in business should always be guided by our conscience", taking into account the abiding interest of humanity and the public good. It follows then, that the safest route to follow for any self-respecting business leadership was to align with the supreme laws of the country. It might not always be easy to do so, but given the impartial credentials of the Constitution, it was not only safe to base business ethics on the constitutional framework, but also a sure way of ensuring that the ethical purview of the operation is just and fair. "This, therefore, calls for business to espouse universal ethical principles that define the best interest in humanity," he says in a speech prepared for delivery at the event. "Universally applicable ethical conception enables us to see life not only through the prism of profit, critical as it is to the survival of business, but also make us understand that, if we destroy the planet through our operations, or unreservedly fleece society, there will be no one to do business with in the near future. "On this account, I would like to appeal to you to mind the results of your intended and unconscious actions." For the sake of posterity, it is important to know one's responsibility in ploughing back to the communities and, crucially, giving back to the planet.

Africa & the world

ABIDJAN - Côte d'Ivoire should be able to hold long overdue presidential elections in October, the electoral commission says, some five years after this was first meant to happen. The statement is the first from the poll body indicating another possible date since a loose March deadline was missed because of political turmoil and violent demonstrations in the world's top cocoa grower. The West African country was split in two by a 2002-2003 war and, though the fighting was short-lived, protracted peace talks and repeatedly delayed polls have crippled a nation once the envy of the region for its booming economy and stable politics. "The central commission of the election commission believes . . . that Ivory Coast should be able to hold a presidential election in October 2010," the poll body says. "However, we note that certain conditions must be met by the government and the technical operators for this deadline to be met," the poll body adds. Numerous poll deadlines have been set and missed, officially due to delays over disarmament of rebels still controlling the north and disagreements over who is eligible to vote. But many accuse President Laurent Gbagbo, who will complete a second five-year mandate, in October, without having had to face re-election, of delaying a poll he fears he may lose. Delays to the polls have deterred investors from returning to the country, and largely put on hold much-needed reforms to the country's cocoa sector, which analysts say is in decline due to neglect during the war and years of political stalemate.

HARARE - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (pictured) has lashed out at Western powers over sanctions imposed on his Zanu-PF party, saying that the European Union (EU) and the US are simply bent on driving him out of power. Addressing thousands of people at the burial of his sister Sabina last week, Mugabe accused his Western opponents of not recognising Zimbabwe as an independent State of native black citizens with rights over its land and other natural economic resources. Brussels and Washington slapped financial sanctions on State firms and travel restrictions on Mugabe and dozens of his associates nearly ten years ago after a violent re-election campaign and at the start of sometimes violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms for black resettlement. Mugabe unleashed another tirade against his critics, saying that they were using sanctions as part of a plot to impose their political will on the Southern African nation. "We say to hell, to hell, to hell with them," he said angrily.