2015

7/21/2019 2015

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6 CITYPRESS,27 DECEMBER, 2015

news

CITYPRESS,27 DECEMBER, 2015 7

news

We were riveted...

We told you so...

By the saga going on at the Hawks.Independent Police Investigative Directorate(Ipid) head Robert McBride came out insupport of suspended Hawks head AnwaDramat and Gauteng Hawks boss ShadrackSibiya over their alleged role in the illegalrenditions of five Zimbabweans into the armsof their police. After a soap opera to rival Daysof our Lives, Dramat was eventually cannedafter not putting up much of a fight, Sibiya losthis disciplinary case and his job, but McBrideultimately won at the Constitutional Courtagainst Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko, whohad suspended him

The police soap opera continued with theappointment of Major General MthandazoNtlemeza as head of the Hawks.  He wasdescribed by Judge Elias Matojane of theNorth Gauteng High Court as “biased anddishonest”. A good choice? Maybe not

When Oscar Pistorius started his year offin jail and was due for release in August.After Justice and Correctional ServicesMinister Michael Masutha intervened, he waseventually released into house (read mansion)arrest in October. Then the Supreme Court ofAppeal overturned Judge Thokozile Masipa’sculpable homicide ruling and found Pistoriusguilty of murder. The disgraced Olympian willnow appeal to the Constitutional Court. Willhe go back to jail? We don’t know, but he’slucky to be spending Christmas at home withUncle Arnold

When in May, police commissionerGeneral Riah Phiyega told President JacobZuma she would refuse to quit. Eventually,Zuma suspended her after instituting a boardof inquiry into her fitness to hold office, whichhas yet to sit.Western Cape police commissionerArno Lamoer was suspended and appearedin court charged with 109 counts ofracketeering after he and three senior copsaccepted bribes and gifts worth R1.6 millionfrom Cape Town businessman MohamedSalim Dawjee

By the war at the SA Revenue Service (Sars),with the new leadership suing formeracting commissioner Ivan Pillay  forR110 million. Sars asked its formercommissioner and now Finance MinisterPravin Gordhan to testify against his formercolleagues. Sars then brought out threereports against them – two of which featuredno interviews with Pillay and his crew. Thewar is not over yet...

At the revelations contained in the so-calledspy cables, which detailed some of thegoings-on in the South African intelligencecommunity and had spies running for cover.We found out that our spooks had beenmonitoring the WhiteWidow, SamanthaLewthwaite, for a yearbefore the WestgateMall attack happenedin Nairobi, that Iranianfront companies wereoperating on our shores,and state laptopswere being stolen forthe information theycontained

When the #RhodesMustFall movementbegan at the University of Cape Townafter student leader Chumani Maxweleflung poo at a statue of old Cecil John. Theoffending statue was eventually removed,but not before student protests againstcolonialism and its vestiges broke outcountrywide

By #FeesMustFall, a massive studentmovement countrywide, which forcedgovernment and universities to suspendfee hikes for next year after protests fromParliament to Potch. The students, with fewexceptions, protested peacefully and withdignity, and government was forced to listen.A new generation of leaders was forged

When US Attorney General Loretta Lynchcharged nine Fifa officials with corruptionin a scandal that has continued to rock theworld football body. Her 167-page indictmentrevealed that co-conspirators 16 and 17 wereSouth African officials who facilitated a $10million payment to the then president of theConfederation of North, Central Americanand Caribbean Association Football, JackWarner, for the “African Diaspora”, allegedlya disguised bribe for his vote for South Africato host the World Cup in 2010

When retired Judge Ian Farlam  releasedthe report of his inquiry into the Marikanamassacre in which he found that police hadlied, Phiyega was a bad witness, and mininghouse Lonmin failed to build proper housingfor its employees, which fuelled the tensions

When armed Islamic State gunmen attackedthe Bataclan theatre and cafés in Paris , killing130 people and injuring more than 80 in the worstconcerted terror attack on European soil. This tookplace in the same year 11 car toonists at satiricalFrench magazine Charlie Hebdo were killed bytwo brothers affiliated to al-Qaeda in Yemen.The magazine had carried cartoons depicting theProphet Muhammad

Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj,

who quit his job this year. We miss his“clarification” of his boss’ comments and hisinsistence that Zuma was quoted out of context

By the discovery of Homo naledi in a deep cave in theCradle of Humankind  by accountant and caver Steven Tucker.Archaeologists from Wits University, led by  Professor LeeBurger, had the world enthralled at the news of a new humanancestor

We fumed...At the goings-on at Eskom, which announced massiveload shedding after spending billions on diesel to runturbines to keep the lights on. After dark mutterings ofan impending two-week nationwide blackout, then CEOTshediso Matona and some of his management teamwere suspended and later left.  Brian Molefe  took over,which many now consider one of government’s bestdecisions of the year. No load shedding for months! Whowould have thought?

When President Zuma suspended thennational director of public prosecutionsMxolisi Nxasana, who appeared to bedoing a good job. After the i nquiry intohis fitness to hold office was aborted atthe last minute, Nxasana quit and thepresident gave him a R17 million goldenhandshake

When we discovered that then Passenger Rail Agency of SA(Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana and his PhD-less chief engineerDaniel Mthimkhulu spent R600 million on Spanish trains thatcould only run between Kimberley and Port Elizabeth. Theywere too high for the rest of the country’s rail network. NowPrasa board chair Popo Molefe is trying to get their money backfrom middleman Swifambo Rail Leasing, whose boss, AuswellMashaba, bought a game farm for R27 million cash just daysafter being paid. Nice work if you can get it

During the opening of Parliament this year whenthe State Security Agency jammed the cellphonesignal in the House and then later said it didit to enforce a no-fly zone above the building.WTF? And then we fumed even more whenpresidential protection officers and burly riotcops in white shirts  threw out the EconomicFreedom Fighters after they interruptedPresident Zuma’s state of the nation address,demanding that he #PayBackTheMoney. Fewpeople, except for the ANC, remained to listen tothe president speak after that

When government letSudanese president Omaral-Bashir leave the countrydespite a court order that

he be arrested in line with awarrant issued for him by theInternational Criminal Court.Al-Bashir remains wanted forcrimes against humanity

When Ipid gave DeputyPolice Minister MaggieSotyu’s daughter, Boniwe,the plum job of deputydirector of investigationsin the Free State withouther having the rightqualifications. She was giventhe job over a candidate with22 years of experience. Whatfollowed was a witch-huntby Ipid, which suspendedmany officials it believedleaked the information toCity Press

When the SA Rugby Unionpicked a mostly white team forthe rugby World Cup in England

When President Zumafired Nhlanhla Neneas finance minister,replaced him with no-name-brand Des vanRooyen, only to replaceVan Rooyen with PravinGordhan – all in five days.No man. This is no way torun a country

We were horrified...

By the Cape Town fires  thatburnt houses and vast swathesof the city for a week. It’s stillnot known what started theblaze

At the unfolding jobs bloodbath this year, with AngloAmerican announcing it wasdowngrading its operations inSA at a cost of 50 000 jobs. CityPress reported in August that23 000 people had been givennotice that they were about to losetheir jobs between April and June

At the goings-on at SAA. First City Press reportedthat chairperson Dudu Myeni, in her capacityas the head of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, wasselling face time with the prez. And then therewas the R6 billion Airbus deal that Treasury saidwas unaffordable, which she wanted to go aheadwith anyway through some mystery companyplaying middleman. This is an airline, not a two-bitbusiness. Run it properly!

At the Syrian refugee crisis that sawhundreds of thousands of peopletrying to flee to Europe. What r eallyshocked us was the photographof three-year-old Aylan Kurdi’sbody washed up on a Turkish beach.He drowned trying to get to Greecealongside five-year-old brother Galipand their mother, Rehan

By the case of PeterFrederiksen, theDanish man who ison trial for allegedlymutilating women’sgenitals and keepingtheir body partsin his freezer inBloemfontein.

We said farewell to...

Formernational policecommissioner

Jackie Selebi, who succumbed tokidney failure early this year

We grieved...

When in January an estimated  2 000Nigerians were slaughtered  in the northerntown of Baga by Boko Haram militantsin a massacre eyewitnesses described as“indiscriminate killing going on and on”. Themilitants left the dead and injured lying in thestreets, and then burnt the town to the ground

When xenophobic attacks broke out in Soweto  and 120foreign-owned shops were looted in late January. Then,in April, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s comments that“foreigners must go” ignited  a further wave of attackson foreigners in KwaZulu-Natal  and elsewhere inthe country. At least six foreigners were killed, includingMozambican father Emmanuel Sithole, who was knifed todeath in Alexandra. At least his killers were convicted

When much-loved Skwatta KamprapperNkululeko “Flabba”Habediwas murdered by his girlfriend,Sindisiwe Manqele, who stabbed himin the chest with a knife. She wasfound guilty of his murder by theSouth Gauteng High Court and will besentenced in March. For now, she isout on bail

When Top Billing presenterSimba Mhere was killed withhis friend, Kady Shay O’Brien,in a horror car accident onJohannesburg’s M1 highway,allegedly caused by a drunkendriver

When al-Shabaab militantskilled 148 students at the GarissaUniversity College in Kenya andinjured 79 in retribution for Kenya’smilitary presence in Somalia and the“mistreatment” of Muslims in thecountry

We laughed...

When Police Minister NkosinathiNhleko released his report into thewild overspending on supposedsecurity upgrades to PresidentZuma’s Nkandla home, which citedbeam-busting chickens as a securitythreat. What made us giggle the mostthough were his fire pool videosin which officials were at pains todemonstrate why the presidentialswimming pool wasn’t one. Then hetravelled the country trying to convinceeditors to believe his spin

At some of  SABC COO HlaudiMotsoeneng’s comments. One of hisgems this year was that if the mediareported on crime it would encouragepeople to commit crime. About his lackof a matric – which the Public Protectorfound he lied about – he said: “You havetwo kinds of people in this world. You havecertificated people and educated people.You can have many degrees, but also inthat you need a brain.” After an SABCdisciplinary hearing found him not guilty ofall charges, we are not laughing any more

At how DubeTradePort CEOSaxen van Collernot only faked herqualifications toclimb the corporateladder but onceduped one of SouthAfrica’s wealthiestmen, JohannRupert, into givingher a job

At the one about AlexMatsobane, a convictedcriminal, who pitched up atthe Seshego Police Station,told them he’d beensent “from national”, andproceeded to work therefor years without anyoneknowing what he was upto. He did such a good jobhe was even promoted tothe station’s detective unit.He’s now finally in jail

We were agog...

When we learnt that  rapper AKA and DJZinhle were madly in love and having ababy earlier this year … then many happyInstagrams later, they split days after thebaby was born because AKA was alleged tobe in a relationship with TV hottie BonangMatheba. We don’t know, hey?

At the goings-on in the Gigaba household. Neverfar from a headline,  Minister Malusi’s wife Nomacaused an unprecedented outbreak of gossipby taking on alleged nyatsi Buhle Mkhize. TheirInstagram war is now the stuff of legend. As forMinister Malusi, he is #DenyingEverything. Can’tsay we blame him

At the news that First LadyNompumelelo Ntuli-Zumawas allegedly behind a plot topoison her husband. She deniesthis, but iyoh!

We celebrated...

We werefascinated...

When the Ebola viruswas finally broughtunder control and theoutbreak ended in westAfrica after claimingmore than 6 000 lives.A vaccine was developed

that proved successful intrials

When Nigeria went to thepolls this year and powerwas handed peacefully toPresident MuhammaduBuhari from the outgoingGoodluck Jonathan. It wasthe first time there had

been a peaceful transferof power in Africa’s mostpopulous nation

When Trevor Noah  baggedthe top comic job of anchoron The Daily Show, giving ussomething – and someone –to be proud of

When Desmond andLeah Tutu celebratedtheir 60th weddinganniversary in July

When Wayde vanNiekerk won the400m gold medaland Anaso Jobodwanacame third in the200m, after superstarsUsain Bolt and Justin

Gatlin, at the IAAFWorld Championships

That President Zuma’s  guardswere still living in guesthousesin Eshowe because their securityvillage at the president’s privatehome in Nkandla was not furnished

That now National Directorof Public ProsecutionsShaun Abrahams wouldbe the one to take Nxasana’splace. We knew before heknew

Compiled by Nicki Güles   RUDI LOUW, Graphics24