Opinion: The next steps for Besigye and continued defiance against the Movement!

OPM Press Release 05052016

It’s not easy to give words of advice to the men and woman who are in the line of fire. But we cannot let the Movement and their spin-control run the mill. They are stealing and thieving with massive speed and impunity. They are trying to avoid the weakness of the economy, trying to find new ways of revamping the economy without too much state debt and without loving donor direct aid. They still have the military and equipment served from loyal allies in the United States, if that will happen under Trump and it has happen under Bush/Obama is not easy to know; certainly U.S. will still let other brigades do the dirt they don’t want to do themselves.

The ones who toll with the problems are Dr. Kizza Besigye and his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), they work for a peaceful transition in Uganda from the militarized politics of the President Museveni’s Movement. So with this in mind, after a year of issues, a year of tribulations, arrests, detained and charges of treason against the government; the political change is still in the wind. Besigye had deserved a better start and a fresher place as he is still monitored and still has Police following all movement done by the man. The same with his party who cannot hold meetings and public consultations without police taking stereo equipment, arrests or intimidation of citizens who shows up or just happen to be around.

Besigye had started the Campaign of Defiance under the Election Road Map for the General Election of 2016. So in 2015 it was started and has been put under fire from the Resistance Movement, an ironic problem for a draconian and tyrant regime who cannot really be democratic as they tries to silence or get rid of the worst opponents. Besigye is only kept because of known place and international scrutiny of they try to attack him too much.

FDC Besigye 05.04.2016

First Step – Defy with actions:

Besigye should continue and with more force, use more than just words and get the FDC to actually take a stronger stand against the ones that supports the regime. The Mafia regime or junta government, which he has described the Movement so many times. If FDC wants to be fair and wants to defy the Movement, they should suspend themselves first from Parliament. It is risky, but would be a grandeur position to take away the Shadow Government and the legitimacy of the current government.

TDA Kizza Besigye 261015

Second Step – Defy with dialogue with other opposition:

Secondly the FDC should be in talks with Democratic Party and other smaller parties that are not involved directly in the Movement regime, as they can try to weaken and strengthen the other voices. As Besigye have already done with his friendship with Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and Gen. David Sejusa. FDC needs to be connected with people of stature like Norbert Mao and others, who are real opposition to Museveni. Not talk to Jimmy Akena or others who just uses their parties as fronts of beacon of democracy, instead of actually challenging the Movement.

Kale Kayihura Choose Peace

Third Step – Defy the Courts like IGP Kayihura:

Just as IGP Kale Kayihura defied his own court-orders, the same should Besigye himself start to do in 2017, to show that he doesn’t respect the unlawful character of the regime; as the peaceful acts of showing up for treason charge that continue running into oblivion. Time to just say it is a kangaroo court and is only doing it to silence his voice. Therefore not showing up and instead continue to travel around the country to meet and greet party officials and locals to prove the value of building institution over being a sole candidate in Museveni and the NRM.

Times is a wasting, it’s hard to do stuff when you’re behind bars or at court, it’s hard to always move when the Police Force and other Security Organizations follow your every step.

NRM to Daily Monitor 09.02.2016

Fourth Step – Hurt the pocket of the Government:

Certainly the Defiance needs to be hurting the regime. Try to stop the foreign exchange rates, the taxation and the revenue of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), even the business that is inter-connected with the Movement. As much as it should stop the state owned businesses that is being used by the Movement. Museveni would hate that he couldn’t misuse the profits of needed businesses, the ones that are owned by investors who are supplying him funds to pay Special Force Command and other militarized outfits that keeps him as the Executive.

If the Besigye and his folks stood behind and hurt the pocket and legitimacy, not in words only, but also actions that could move the regime and also create a vacuum that Museveni and his movement couldn’t control. The ripple effect and the true hurt would be shown. Especially with the knowledge, that the Election already hurt the economy with massive effect. So if they continue pounding on it took out the cash out of the Museveni owned banks and stopped profits to companies that the Museveni clan partly own. Than the Movement and family would feel the pinch.

Defying the state institutions and the government procedures, stop respecting the Police and Courts, stop listening to the draconian laws and also stop the funding of taxes and funds to directly keep the Movement alive. Something that would really hurt Museveni and his elite; this would really make it hard for the Movement to continue to use Police Force and use the state to gain wealth.

Besigye can continue to talk peaceful transition and I respect that. This sort of acts is not easy. They are hard and costly. Many will be arrested, many more detained, more torture and more innocent dying, but there been so much over 30 years that the defiance campaign has to take it to the next level. Show disrespect, let the government lose its value and show the world that the ones behind Besigye don’t see Museveni as their President. Museveni is just a citizen, not an Executive, as he wasn’t really elected to be so; he coup d’état again when he got sworn-in on the 12th May of 2016.

Time for acts, not talk, time for really defying the government and use the power of the people. Time to use the popularity and risk being harassed, as if you don’t than the Police will continue as they do; business as usual and also target the FDC as much as possible without it costing much for the illegitimate government it is. The illegal detained and the illegal arrests cannot be sustained, as much as the house arrests and unlawful behaviour of the Police towards the FDC is unbearable. This is not militant; it is fighting for a just cause. The real freedom and liberty, not to talk about a real legitimate government who represent the citizens of Uganda! Not a government representing Museveni and only his vision. Peace.

Remembering Madiba: Let Us Continue Building a United South Africa, Message from President Jacob Zuma (05.12.2016)

Mandela Quote

Today, on the anniversary of Madiba’s sad passing, let us recommit ourselves to unity, and to working together to build our country, regardless of whatever political differences we may have.

PRETORIA, South Africa, December 5, 2016 – On this day in 2013, the first President of a free and democratic South Africa, President Nelson Mandela passed on, leaving behind a rich legacy of building a dynamic young nation, from the ashes of apartheid.

President Mandela taught us to unite and to love and respect one another as South Africans. He also taught us to build friendly relations with our neighbours and the international community as a whole.

A lot of good work has been done towards building a truly united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. The road ahead remains long and full of challenges given the unending economic slowdown globally and locally and the need to continue building a better life for and with our people. There is indeed a lot more hard work to be done, as we move towards the ideal society he envisaged when he said let there be bread, water and salt for all.

Today, on the anniversary of Madiba’s sad passing, let us recommit ourselves to unity, and to working together to build our country, regardless of whatever political differences we may have. Let us work harder than ever, to make South Africa a success story that generations to come will be proud of.

[Wish I had a bigger Microphone] The World right now is too Bloody…

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There aren’t only murders and mysteries on the telly, its real life and not fiction as the Syrian civil war continues rapidly without whomever force and whomever ally around Aleppo or other check-points where the Presidents force, rebels or ISIS are shooting. The bullets don’t have names, but the men and woman on the side-line and at the battle who dies does; the men and woman who loses their life for themselves or a Nobel-cause.

As much as there are forces battling inside the Iraq nation as Government Forces are attacking together with American soldiers ISIS stronghold around Mosul. There are continued fighting inside of Afghanistan. Still battles between civilians and the Indian Army inside the Kashmir state that has issues there and on the Pakistan side of Kashmir. The long battle for freedom or justice, as the Kurds are battling for in Syria, Turkey and in Iraq; being the minority in the middle of the civil war in Syria and Iraq.

That is just some places, as the deteriorating state of affairs are attacking all sort of freedoms inside Ethiopia, as the army and Aghazi squad are killing and harassing the people’s in Amhara and Oromia states. Together with the arrests of bloggers, silencing media outlets, and detaining demonstrators, burning the homes of people and inflicting violence on the citizens. This state of emergency is used as a useful tool to oppress, silence and make sure the violence and killings doesn’t get out; while the Central Government works to find reasons and solutions to ways of total control of minds and bodies in the states of demonstrations against the Addis Ababa regime.

In Burundi the central government are using the Police and army, together with the Imbonerakure that are detaining, harassing, killing and torturing civilians, silencing the opposition and the ones not loyal to the  President Pierre Nkurunziza narrative of keeping power by any means. The Burundian Government has claimed that the Rwandan Government has created armies and guerrillas that wished for a coup d’état against the Nkurunziza regime. Therefore the fleeing civilians are in the wind as the Rwandan government has been wonder for a spell, if they would banish the Burundian refugees a place in the country.

FARDC Beni May 2016

While in the Democratic Republic of Congo, several guerrillas are still running wild, burning and killing villagers in the States of North and South Kivu, Katanga and so on. Where the foreign based groups that have been started in Rwanda and Uganda, continues to battle the locals for the valuable minerals; as even today a former M23 Commander Sultani Makenga who been in Uganda has crossed with a militarized group, surely from Kisoro as before to cause more havoc in the Kivu’s. The ADF-NALU, Mayi-Mayi and others doesn’t create enough death and crimes against humanity already, as the MONUSCO and FARDC haven’t the ability or will to silence them.

In South Sudan, the internal battle that started in July 2016, the resurgence of skirmishes between the SPLA/M and the SPLM/A-IO who are the TGNU and the Opposition party, which is the armies for President Salva Kiir and his former First Vice-President Riek Machar. That has since July battled each other with forces, in Western Bahr El Ghazal State, Equatoria State and Upper Nile State. There been fighting between the two in other states, but just show how big and powerful the forces are. The South Sudanese civilians are the losers who flees to Ethiopia, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo, even in Congo because the Opposition we’re there has been asked to leave to other destinations. Therefore the internal power-struggle those fear of genocide, as still creating implications inside other nations.

In Somalia the Al-Shabab, the different state continues to have infighting together with the AMISOM mission. The running battles for land between Galdumug Interim Administration and the Puntland Government inside the Federal Republic of Somalia. Doesn’t really help for a peaceful session and making dialogue in the war-torn nation where Piracy and Khat been the ways of securing funds for ammunition and AKs, not for building a state and security.

eritrean_troops_control_ministry

Eritrea is closed and the continuation of the flow of refugees, as the internal controlling central government that forces the freedoms and liberties, as the men and woman does what they can to even enter Ethiopia, where they are badly treated. Eritrean reports are staggering as they are even supporting internal guerrillas in Ethiopia and Djibouti to unsettle their neighbours.

There are wars and running battles between government forces and rebels in Central African Republic, Mali, Mozambique and so on. This is happening in silence and without little flash, even as the ones are guerrillas like Boko Haram that are going in between Nigeria and Cameroon, to stop the Government from functioning and spreading fear of locals.

What is worrying how these actions continues, and how there are other I could mention, the issues in Libya, the Algerian complex and the Western Sahara colony of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Peace Ethiopia

The death that dies in silence, in the midst of homes, villages where their families have been living for decades, while big-men fight like two elephants; the grass get hurt, but the big-men be fine. The same is with all of these civil wars, the civilians are dying, the societies are deteriorating, the central government are controlled by little amount of people instead of procedure and rule of law.

The worry is how it becomes pro-longed, how the innocent dies and the power-hungry survive and the lucky get refugee somewhere else in uncertainty, like for how long can they stay, as been seen with the Kenyan Government work to get rid of Somali refugees in Dadaab Refugee camp during this calendar year, while the Somalian Federation if far from peaceful. Even as the Ethiopian troops has went home again surely to use their knowledge to chop heads in Amhara and Oromia. That is what they do now, they just doesn’t want people to know about it.

We shouldn’t allow this actions to happen, this killings, this violence and the silence of freedom, liberty and justice to our fellow peers, we should act upon it, question our power-to-be and the men who rules over these armies, the ones creating the havoc and the ones who are behind the crimes against humanity. Those are the ones that earning money on the wars and the ones that doesn’t want the words on the acts; those are the worst ones in it all as they are accomplices to destruction of lives and societies as we speak. Peace.

Statement Delivered by Amanuel Giorgio Charge d’Affaires Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations during the UN Security Council discussion on the situation in Somalia (10.11.2016)

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Statement by H.E. Mohammed Siad Doualeh, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Djibouti to the United Nations: Before the Security Council on the Situation in Somalia (10.11.2016)

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Eritrea: UNSC Monitoring Report proves clear evidence of continued support of Armed Opposition-Groups in Ethiopia and Djibouti

unsc-letter-31-10-2016

I had to write about this today, for the simple reason apologists who has defended Eritrea and attacked the Monitoring Report from the United Nations Security Council Monitoring Team for the UN following the resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009). This is after the proof before of violations on Human Rights and crimes against Humanity in the Republic of Eritrea. Together with controlled Centralized Government under the President Isias Afweki, who has showed he doesn’t care about accountability and transparency as he controls all economy. There are reports of no-budget for the state for years.

So the Asmara Government and their apologist, if you want my support at all; please drop something worthwhile, your silence and attacks on multi-national institutions make you sound whiny and not smart. Just like the ones fighting against the sanctions because of no-connections over the last three monitoring periods between Eritrea and Al-Shabaab, but still… they are supporting other military groups, who are training and getting help in Eritrean territory. That should silence the ones who wants to defend the Asmara regime. Here are the important pieces of the UNSC Monitoring Report of 31st October 2016!

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Arms to Eritrea countering the Arms Embargo:

Military equipment has also been transferred onto Eritrean territory. The Monitoring Group analysed satellite imagery captured between April and May 2016, which shows the presence of tanks and artillery, including what appear to be AMX Leclerc main battle tanks, G6 self-propelled howitzers and BMP-3 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles (see annex 4). By September 2016, according to satellite data analysis, most of the vehicles appeared to have vacated the airport compound” (…) “If the range of support provided by Eritrea to the regional coalition, including as described above, constitutes either a direct or an indirect transfer of prohibited material to or from Eritrea or an exchange of military assistance, it would be a violation of the arms embargo. It could be reasonably determined, for example, that Member State support for the construction of permanent military installations in Eritrea constitutes the provision of technical assistance, training, financial and other assistance relating to military activities” (…) “It was claimed that the trainers had been housed at government villas near the Alla Scala Hotel in Asmara. It was also asserted that this was the second team of Ukrainian experts to arrive in Eritrea during the year; the first group, according to the article, had arrived in Asmara in February 2016 and been given training on the maintenance of old — and the installation of new — radar equipment” (UNSC, P: 11, 13, 2016).

Supporting Military Groups:

“For its third concurrent mandate, the Monitoring Group has found no firm evidence of Eritrean support for the Somali Islamist group Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujaahidiin. The Group has, however, continued to find consistent evidence of Eritrean support for armed groups operating in both Ethiopia and Djibouti. It is clear that Eritrea continues to harbour anti-Ethiopian armed groups, including the newly remodelled Patriotic Ginbot” (UNSC, P: 3, 2016).

Tigray People’s Democratic Movement:

“The defection of the former Chair of TPDM, Mola Asgedom, along with an unconfirmed number of fighters loyal to him, had a significant impact on the capacity of TPDM fighters remaining in Eritrea to conduct attacks against Ethiopian interests. Reports received by the Group indicate that TPDM is growing increasingly fragmented. On 6 August 2016, the Group interviewed Mola Asgedom in Addis Ababa” (…) “He said that he had been promoted to Chair of TPDM in 2008 and since conducted attacks against the Ethiopian armed forces in the Tigray and Afar regions of northern Ethiopia. He discussed the support provided by Colonel Fitsum Yishak, also known as “Lenin”, including the planning of operations, the monthly provision of ERN 450,000 (approximately $30,000 at the official exchange rate as at September 2016) and the supply of weapons. He also claimed to have engaged with Brigadier General Abraha Kassa during his tenure as Chair. He claimed that, while he was Chair, TPDM had had offices in Asmara, Dekemhare, Massawa and Teseney and units in most border towns”  (UNSC P: 15-16, 2016).

Ginbot Sabat:

Ginbot Sebat has since merged with the Patriotic Front to establish the Patriotic Ginbot , with Berhanu Nega as its Chair, and on 11 August 2016 was understood to have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Oromo Democratic Front” (…) “Ginbot Sebat claimed responsibility for an attack in which 20 Ethiopian soldiers were killed in Arba Minch, southern Ethiopia, in May 2016, demonstrating the group’s ability to conduct attacks well beyond the contested border regions. The Ethiopian authorities were swift to discredit the claims, however, announcing that their counter-terrorism units had foiled the attack and captured those who surrendered” (UNSC, P:17-18, 2016).

Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy:

“On 25 March 2016, multiple media agencies published a resolution following the first congress of the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, held in Asmara, incorporating the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement, the Gambela People’s Liberation Movement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Sidama National Liberation Front. According to the resolution, “the alliance is determined to uproot the current oppressive minority regime in order to safeguard and advance peoples’ rights to exercising genuine self-determination” (UNSC, P: 19, 2016).

Front pour la restauration de l’unité et de la démocratie:

“the Group asserted that Eritrea had offered bases, training, arms and equipment to an armed group associated with elements of the splintered Djiboutian opposition Front pour la restauration de l’unité et de la démocratie (FRUD), FRUD-Combattant (FRUD-C) or FRUD-Armé, since 2008” (…) “FRUD has publicly claimed responsibility for attacks on Djiboutian soil during the current mandate. On 6 February, two Djiboutian gendarmes, Zakaria Ismail and Mossa Bahdon Farah, were killed in a shoot-out on Lake Assal with armed elements who, according to a press release from the Ministry of the Interior, had come from across the border in Eritrea” (…) “On 1 October 2015, the leader of FRUD, Mohamed Kadamy, issued a press statement from Geneva in which he announced the group’s responsibility for the burning of three vehicles at Marawaleh in Tadjourah on 30 September 2015. The vehicles belonged to the construction company building the Tadjourah/Randa/Balho road. He claimed that the vehicles had been used to provide logistical support for an “offensive by the government army” between 11 and 13 September 2015 that had seen attacks on civilians, but that FRUD had repulsed. He sent a message to the company stating that FRUD would not permit the company to assist the army in the future”  (UNSC, P: 20-21, 2016).

copy-of-an-eritrean-issued-visa-to-yussuf-mohamed-hussein

My 2 Cents:

If this wasn’t interesting, wasn’t giving you insights into structures that Eritrea supports and how they deal with neighbours, show with the support of military groups that creates havoc in Ethiopia and Djibouti. Something that apparently is wished from the Asmara Government… So the Eritrean if they harbour these sorts of military groups that attacks neighbour countries and oppose their regimes.

Eritrea cannot run away from this and also the apologist who tries to defend the Asmara Government… and at this point that is vicious with their track-record, little or non-existing accountability, transparency and massive overload of human rights violations and crimes against humanity. That has come out before and showed by the evidence and records of the diaspora as the Eritrean doesn’t want internal interference. Something they fear. Peace.

Reference:

United Nations Security Council – ‘Letter dated 7 October 2016 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea addressed to the President of the Security Council’ (31.10.2016) – S/2016/920

South Africa: Time to account for crippling the state (01.11.2016)

Mandela Quote

South African citizens across the land are speaking out and taking action to express their dissatisfaction. The Nelson Mandela Foundation supports the demand to hold to account those responsible for compromising our democratic state and looting its resources.

Twenty years since Nelson Mandela signed South Africa’s Constitution into law and as the third anniversary of his passing approaches, it is painful for us at the Nelson Mandela Foundation to bear witness to the wheels coming off the vehicle of our state.

We have seen a weakening of critical institutions such as the South African Revenue Service, the National Prosecuting Authority and law enforcement bodies due to political meddling for private interests.

We are reaping the results of a political trend of personalising matters of state around a single individual leader. This in a constitutional democracy is to be deplored.

The ability and commitment of the Head of State to be a ‘constitutional being’, is one of the wheels of our state. The unanimous judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Republic in the matter of President Zuma and the use of state resources on a private residence was one such test. It is increasingly a national consensus that he has failed the test.

As this particular wheel rolls away, other critical institutions of state break off to follow it. The legislative, business, and public service sectors of the country are severely affected, compromising the ability of the state to serve the people. A battle now rages to keep SARS attached to the vehicle of state. What public discourse has described as ‘state capture’ by private and political interests is, we believe, a real threat to the Republic.

Another wheel is an accessible and well-functioning education system. Arguably this wheel has never been fully attached, but the failures of the last two decades threaten that it rolls away. Schools, in our view, particularly those in townships and rural areas, have largely been captured to political interests and have deteriorated to unimaginable levels. And now universities are being brought to their knees as they lurch from crisis to crisis while a semblance of normality is enforced under what are effectively states of emergency. This is not sustainable for any education system. The potential collapse of universities will damage our democracy to its core.

We call on the governing party to take the steps necessary to ensure that the vehicle of state be protected and placed in safe and capable hands. And we join the call for a national convention of stakeholders to begin to reimagine South Africa’s future beyond the unsustainable stresses of the moment.

Written Press Statement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Eritrea: UN Commission has urged referral to the International Criminal Court (28.10.2016)

Eritrea 25yrs

The Commission has concluded that the Government of Eritrea has neither the political will nor the institutional capacity to prosecute the crimes we have documented.

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 28, 2016 – States must heed the pleas of countless victims of crimes against humanity for justice and accountability, Sheila Keetharuth of the former UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea urged the UN General Assembly today. The Commission has recommended that the situation in Eritrea be referred to the International Criminal Court.

Speaking for the Commission of Inquiry, Keetharuth, who is also UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, highlighted the Commission’s clear findings that crimes against humanity have been committed since 1991 by Eritrean officials, adding that such a dire assessment left no room for “business as usual” in the international community’s engagement with the Government of Eritrea.

“The crimes of enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder have been committed as part of a widespread and systematic campaign against the civilian population. The aim of the campaign has been to maintain control over the population and perpetuate the leadership’s rule in Eritrea,” Keetharuth told the UN General Assembly.

“The Commission has concluded that the Government of Eritrea has neither the political will nor the institutional capacity to prosecute the crimes we have documented. The Commission therefore recommends that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Eritrea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and that the African Union establish an accountability mechanism.”

“My plea to you, Excellencies, on behalf of the three members of the former Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, Mike Smith, Victor Dankwa and myself, is for you to pay heed to voices of victims of crimes against humanity in Eritrea.”

Keetharuth said the Commission had found that there was no material change in the country that could potentially have a positive effect on the situation of human rights.

“There is still no constitution, no parliament where laws are discussed, enacted, and where questions of national importance are debated; indefinite national service persists, with its adverse impacts on individual rights; there is no free press and no NGOs, except for Government-sponsored ones. The population lives in fear and the Government still controls their daily life, making the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all Eritreans a remote possibility,” she said.

She noted that while several foreign delegations, journalists and others had been invited to visit Eritrea over the past year, the rampant human rights violations taking place in isolated locations and detention facilities were not apparent to the casual visitor.

Keetharuth noted that Eritreans were among the largest numbers of African nationals seeking asylum in Europe and that the overall recognition rate for Eritrean asylum seekers in European countries remained high.

“The findings of the Commission underscore that it is not safe to forcibly return those who have left Eritrea. The Commission, in its first report, documented that individuals forcibly repatriated, with a few exceptions, have been arrested, detained and subjected to ill-treatment and torture,” she said.

“I appeal to Member States to grant Eritreans access to their territory and asylum procedures. I strongly reiterate my call to protect all Eritrean asylum-seekers from refoulement and to refrain from any forced repatriation to Eritrea or to third countries where they may still be at risk or unwelcomed.”

RSA: Oakbay Responds to Application by Minister of Finance (19.10.2016)

Pravin Gordhan Rescue

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, October 19, 2016 Yesterday afternoon, van Der Merwe Associates (“VDMA”) notified the Minister of Finance’s attorneys of their client’s (the Oakbay Group of companies) (www.OakbayInvestments.co.za) intention to oppose the application issued under case number 80978/16 on 14 October 2016 – unless the Minister of Finance withdraws the application and tenders costs by this afternoon – Wednesday 19 October.

VDMA’s letter noted that the Minister of Finance’s affidavit implicated its clients in inappropriate and unlawful conduct. The affidavit also insinuated that VDMA’s clients would “expose the fiscus not only to loss of tax revenue but also put the burden of mining rehabilitation on the fiscus.” which VDMA noted was “uncalled for, malicious and nothing but vexatious.”

VDMA’s client disproved this earlier this week with evidence of the transfer of the Optimum Rehabilitation Trust Fund from Standard Bank to Bank of Baroda, which followed a request by Advocate Thuli Madonsela on 4 October 2016.

VDMA advised its client to oppose the Minister of Finance’s application, obtain all the necessary information from the relevant role players and ask for punitive costs order against dismissal of the application.

VDMA’s letter also stated that the Minister of Finance’s letter has been launched with the financial resources of the tax payer. VDMA’s client does not dispute that Minister of Finance’s is not by law compelled or obliged to intervene in the relationship between VDMA’s clients and the commercial banks. However, VDMA noted that to spend tax payers’ money in “a reckless and inappropriate manner” would constitute a contravention of the provisions of the Public Management Act, No.1 of 1999 – which would warrant “further action against those officials responsible for same.”

Furthermore, VDMA noted that:

“In order that we do not expose the fiscus unnecessarily to costs we propose that the application be withdrawn” – that the Minister of Finance’s application is withdrawn and that the Minister of Finance’s tenders VDMA’s client’s costs, before close of business on 19 October 2016.

VDMA reiterated that the purpose of its letter was to offer the Minister of Finance the opportunity to save taxpayers money.

VDMA also noted that its clients “would like” to put their formal version before court since the Minister of Finance has chosen that forum, so if the application is not withdrawn then “the matter must proceed and we will gladly do the necessary in order to restore the misrepresentation created by the papers.”

VDMA concluded its letter by noting that the Minister of Finance had made “defamatory and untrue remarks towards members of the Gupta Family by insinuating that they have been involved in inappropriate conduct” and that “their rights remain strictly reserved.”

This morning, attorneys for the Minister of Finance declined the offer to withdraw the application and tender COSTs.

RSA: The State Versus Oupa Magashula, Visvanathan (Ivan) Pillay and Pravin Gordhan (17.10.2016)

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