Nigerian Military Plans Joint Operations Against Herdsmen

April 29, 2016
Nigerian Punch

Photo: Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar

Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja

Strong indications emerged on Thursday that the military high command in the country might come up with a joint operation involving the various security agencies against the menace of Fulani herdsmen in the country.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, told our correspondent on Thursday  that the expected operation would not be restricted to a single service of the Armed Forces.

He said that the operation would be similar to the ones formed to battle the insurgency in the North-East, the militancy  in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country.

Abubakar was reacting to the question of what the military would do in view of the recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the military and the police to stop the recurrent killing of hapless villagers by armed Fulani militia.

Buhari‘s directive followed the public outrage that greeted the murder of 50 people at Ukpabi Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Sunday.

The Acting Defence spokesman added that the issue of the threat posed by the herdsmen would be given the deserved attention by the military.

He said that the military would ensure effective compliance with the presidential directive to stop the current killings by the rampaging herdsmen in the country.

“The ideas of joint operation will always be there because it is a common knowledge that it is not a one service business. It must involve all other security agencies.

“Each and every one of us has a role to play: physical security, giving information, synergising with other stakeholders. That is what we are doing in the North-East and the Niger Delta and other parts. It would involve not only the military.

“The current resurgence of this issue of herdsmen is something which must be given a priority now that there is a glaring security threats to lives and property which the Armed Forces and other security agencies cannot close their eyes to.

“All efforts are now on towards ensuring that there is security of lives and property in the general area where such activities of herdsmen are being carried out.

“Just of recent, the President has given us a directive and it is something which we must comply with and in other cases, we deploy our men through operations such as the one against cattle rustling, Operation Sharandaji, which is to ensure that no herdsmen involved in criminal activities are spared.”

Fulani Herdsmen Are Criminals, Says ACF

By George Oji, Chris Njoku, Aza Msue, Justin Tyopuusu an d Emman uel Ezehon
Nigeria National Mirror
April 29, 2016

Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday called on security agents to investigate the involvement of Fulani herdsmen in the recent bloody attacks in some parts of the country. ACF, in a statement by its spokesman, Muhammad Ibrahim, while condemning Monday’s attacks on the Ukpabi Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, said criminals hiding under the guise of Fulani herdsmen to attack innocent people must be brought to book.

ACF further warned that, Nigeria cannot afford to graduate from Boko Haram insurgency to an unwarranted attack by unknown gunmen alleged to be Fulani herdsmen. ACF said: “Criminals hiding under whatever guise and committing heinous crimes against innocent people and the state should be treated as such and in accordance with the law.

“Nigeria cannot afford to graduate from Boko Haram insurgency to an unwarranted attack by unknown gunmen alleged to be Fulani herdsmen.

“The traditional Fulani nomads have coexisted peacefully with their host communities and have been grazing their cattle for decades all over Nigeria without any such attacks. “ACF is therefore disturbed and seriously concern with this recent development.

“It therefore calls upon the security agencies to do a thorough investigation into the identities of the suspected gunmen in order to stop this dangerous generalisation of labeling certain tribe or people of certain faith responsible for these attacks.

“This will cause mistrust and likely incite people of different tribes and faith, who have lived together peacefully for decades to suddenly become enemies of each other.” Reacting to Monday’s attack, Movement for the Actualisation for Sovereign State of Biafra, MOSSOB, yesterday in Owerri warned governors in the south east zone to protect their people as the chief security officers of their respective states.

The organisation said it may no longer watch the genocide against Ndigbo to continue. MOSSOB leader, Chief Uchenna Madu told our correspondent in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that the time has now come for Igbo leaders to convene a crucial meeting over the senseless massacre of their sons and daughters. “We no longer depend on much talking, many people have condemned it, we want kind of action, but we want our Igbo leaders to understand that we are talking about the future of our people, we must do everything possible to make sure we protect our people.

“We advise our political leaders to convene a meeting. The issue here is not about Nigeria interest, the issue is about the Igbo. We in MOSSOB can no longer condole things like this. Even though, we are non violent, we must protect our people with any means at our disposal,” he stated. He described the invasion of by the Fulani herdsmen and killings of the people as genocide, saying it was a reminiscence of what happened during the civil war. “This is exactly what happened before the war; this was how it started before the war. They started killing our people, they are creating fear and jittery on our people so that by the time they will launch a full war, nobody will resist them. This is exactly what they are doing now,” he added. Asked if MOSSOB would launch a reprisal, he said: “We are not armed neither are we violence, we are not running a reprisal, but we are issuing a warning that we are no longer going to fold our hands and watch this kind of thing to happen again.”

The senate devoted its entire plenary session yesterday deliberating on the killings in Enugu State.

The senators resolved to set up a six-member ad hoc committee to investigate the incident. The committee, which has a representative from each of the six geo political zones, is also to proffer solutions to avert any such future occurrence. Membership of the committee, which is headed by Senate Leader, Ali Ndoma include; Senators Ben Murray-Bruce (South south), Mao Ohuabunwa (South east), Abdullahi Adamu (North central), Shehu Sani (North west) and Isiaka Adeleke (South west).

The senators also summoned the Inspector General of Police and Chief of Defence Staff to appear before them to shed more lights on the incident. The resolutions of the senate followed a motion sponsored by Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu East) in whose senatorial deistic the killings took place. Also yesterday, South East Senate Caucus warned of imminent danger and possible attack on the unity of Nigeria if the Federal Government fails to urgently address the Enugu massacres.

Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the senators not only condemned the attack, but also called for a summit of South East and South South governors, members of National and state Houses of Assembly, socio-cultural associations, traditional rulers and major stakeholders immediately. The emergency summit, according to the lawmakers is to review and evaluate the very scary situation and proffer a coordinated response that would ensure the security of lives and properties of their people.

The summit, the caucus said, has become urgently necessary against the background of the ominous silence and apparent indifference of the presidency over the killings in Enugu, some areas in Delta State and many other zones in recent time even when there were obvious intelligence reports. “We can no longer sit and watch while our people are daily slaughtered like fowls without even attracting the cursory routine condemnation by the Presidency. “We are even more appalled that despite the alarm raised by the Uzo Uwani communities of an imminent attack by the Fulani herdsmen and the associated vague assurances by the chairman of Fulani community in Enugu that such attack will not happen, yet the security agencies failed to prevent the attack that happened two days after the alarm.

“It is disheartening what is happening and somebody has to take responsibility. That somebody has to be the institution of the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”the caucus said. In a related development, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Enugu State chapter, rose from an emergency meeting yesterday describing as “barbaric, wicked and inhuman, the attack on the people of Nimbo. In a communiqué issued after the meeting, which was signed by PFN Chairman, Rev. Dr. Goddy Madu and head of security, Apostle Dr. Joseph Ajujungwa, the group said the incessant attack by the herdsmen had become unbearable. PFN slammed the role of security operatives in the whole episode.

It said: “The attack of 25th April 2016 has shown us that the Nigerian police is not dependable and can never be trusted. “The Fulani herdsmen invaded the community with over 500 armed men, who were drawn from both Nassarawa and Kogi states, killing over 50 people in their homes and destroyed some churches and buildings. “This is not the first and the Nigerian police did nothing, rather they filled all the Enugu urban with vehicles that cannot respond to distress calls, but busy collecting N20 and N50 from the keke and motorists.

” The body “declared three days of mourning, with prayer and fasting starting from today to run through Sunday, 1st May, for the blood of the innocent citizens wasted at Uzo Uwani and other places in the east and south.” Meanwhile, death toll in the recent attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen on some communities in Bali and Donga local government areas of Taraba State has risen to 19, local residents told our reporter when he visited the area yesterday. This was even as the number of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Suntai, Sabon-Gida Suntai in Donga and Dan-Anacha in Gassol local government areas have risen to 7,000 from 1,781. Our correspondent reports that 20 villages in Donga Local Government were razed by the herdsmen, while eight were destroyed in Bali Local Government, with the injured receiving treatment at the Donga Cottage hospital, General Hospital, Bali and Santa Maria Catholic hospital Bali.

Village head of Bornon Kurku, one of the villages affected in the attack, Zaki Oragbai said six corpses were recovered by the villagers three days after the attack, bringing the death toll to 19. He said the attackers injured dozens of people, who are receiving treatment in various hospitals, destroyed food items and set their houses ablaze in the pre dawn attack.

Camp leader of Nongosho Primary School in Dan-Anacha, Mr. Torkula Dooior lamenting the challenges facing the people said they have not received any relief material from government and appealed to relevant agencies of government to come to their aid. He noted that the main challenge facing the people was food and water, adding that many women and children were the most affected as the men go out in search of what to eat.

“Though government has deployed security, they are complaining of fuel to patrol the area, which has further compounded the problem as the attackers are laying siege on our displaced homes and farmland,” he said.

Outrage in Nigerian Senate Over Herdsmen Killings

By Onyedi Ojiabor,
Abujaon
The Nation, Nigeria
April 29, 2016

Angry senators yesterday raised an ad-hoc six-man panel to conduct a public hearing next week on the killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The decision was taken after an emotional debate of Monday’s killings in an Enugu community by the herdsmen.

The committee is expected to proffer solutions to the herdsmen’s problems.

Members of the committee are: Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (North East), Senator Shehu Sani (North West), Senator Isiaka Adeleke (South West), Senator Mao Ohuabunwa (South East), Senator Ben Bruce Murray (South South) and Senator Abdullahi Adamu (North Central).

The lawmakers also resolved to invite security chiefs to brief the Senate on the movement of fleeing terrorists to ensure that measures are put in place to forestall a spread of terrorism

They observed a minute silence in memory of those who were killed in the attacks in Nimbo community in Enugu and urged the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) and other relevant agencies to urgently dispatch relief materials to Nimbo community and other neighbouring communities to ameliorate the living conditions of the victims of the attack who have become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The Senate also urged security agencies to improve their intelligence gathering capabilities and be proactive rather than reactive threats to internal security.

The resolutions and expression f anger followed a motion on “The gory massacre of the people of Nimbo community in Uzo Uwani Local Government of Enugu State.” Sponsored by Senator Chukwuka Utazi, (Enugu North).

Senator Utazi in his lead debate noted that around 4am on Monday, 25th April 2016, Fulani cattle herdsmen in their numbers, armed with sophisticated weapons, invaded Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani LGA, Enugu State while the villagers were asleep.

He listed Nimbo Ngwoko, Ugwuijoro, Kkwuru, Ebor, Enugu Nimbo, Umuome and Ugwuachara as the place the herdsmen attacked.

He lamented that the rampaging herdsmen, who entered the areas through the border with Kogi State, unleashed unspeakable mayhem on the community, shooting, hacking and slitting the throats of unsuspecting residents of the village and trouched buildings.

Uzazi added that “following this orgy of killings by the herdsmen, about 38 people were gruesomely murdered, over 100 persons sustained varying degrees of injury, many fatally.”

The lawmaker, who said there is ongoing intensive search to recover more bodies or account for missing persons, noted that many domestic livestock were slaughtered while countless number of houses and other property were razed.

He said two churches – Christ Holy Church of Nigeria and Parish House of St. Mary Catholic Church – in the community were torched.

Utazi catalogued incidents of Fulani herdsmen attacks in parts of the country and insisted that something should be done.

At the end of the debate, 20 Senators, contributed expressing their frustration over the handling of the issue.

Senator Murray-Bruce (Bayelsa East) said: “They (herdsmen) are a deadly force; they have turned Nigeria into a very dangerous country. They have been going around killing, raping, maiming innocent people and destroying property. They have killed more people in Nigeria on an annual basis than Boko Haram.

 ”My problem right now is when regular people start retaliating. That day is here and that day is now. The civil war was fought in a conventional passion, one army facing another army, now you are going to have a guerilla warfare. It is not a war anybody can win; it will cause a destruction of Nigeria.

As far as I am concerned you need a license to own a gun. Nobody has a right to own a gun without a gun certainly outside the theatre of war. ”

Senator Godswill Akpabio said the Senate is playing politics by saying that the herdsmen are not Nigerians.

Akpabio wondered how non-Nigerians entered the country with sophisticated weapons to kill, main and rape warning the country cannot survive a second civil war.\

Senator Gilbert Nnaji (Enugu East) said there should have been massive reprisal in Enugu but for the prompt action of security agencies.

Senator Nnaji said the Nimbo attacks should be taken as an eye opener for the government to tackle the problem headlong.

He also prayed the Senate to come up with stringent measures to tackle the issue in the interest of the country.

Senate Chief Whip Olusola Adeyeye said what is happening is grave and should be halted immediately before it gets out of hand.

Adeyeye lamented that “Nigeria has got to where we were before the Biafran war.”

He noted that the idea of state police has become even more urgent than it was before and should be considered.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided, said, “We have said so much regarding this very matter. We have to do this because to the ordinary people of Nigeria, what they know is that we are all in government. There is no difference between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. So, we are all held responsible in issues such as these.

“I believe it is important that while the Executive is also making efforts, as parliamentarians, we must be seen to be doing something because the people see all of us as being part of government. We must show some sensibility in matters concerning our people. There are too many men and women in Nigeria today who are frustrated by economic realities and they will make themselves available for any possible mishap that this will give rise to.

“I believe that the earlier we nip this on the bud, the better for all of us. We want a very peaceful country and we will need to work towards that. And as leaders, we must be held responsible if there is breakdown of law and order because the primary purpose of government is the protection of lives and properties of the ordinary people. We must be able to come up with immediate approach to this problem, mid-term and long-term solutions so that people will see that we are interested in their welfare.”

Nigeria, Death and the Herdsmen

By Editorial Board
Nigerian Guardian
28 April 2016

With the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers across the country, Nigeria appears headed for another crisis, this time on too many fronts and with such devastating effect as could engulf the whole nation. The recent massacre in Agatu in Benue State and killings in Gassaka and Bali local government areas of Taraba State coupled with the earlier kidnap of a former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae as well as the killing of one of his security guards by herdsmen upped the anxiety. Two days ago in Nimbo, Enugu State, 46 persons at the last count were butchered by the herdsmen. Now, the whole nation is in tears. Indeed, the matter has become such as can threaten the corporate entity called Nigeria. And if there is any time when President Muhammadu Buhari would ever be called upon to see this as a national emergency, it is now.

So many temporary solutions, including laws, are already being proposed. It is important to note from the beginning that a bill entitled: ‘An Act to Provide for the Establishment of The National Grazing Reserve (Establishment and Development) Commission for the Preservation and Control of National Grazing Reserves and Stock Routes and Other Matters Connected Therewith’ sponsored by Hajiya Zainab Kure, who represented Niger South constituency of Niger State in the Seventh Assembly is not before the National Assembly. Given its odious content bordering on internal colonisation, it was dead on arrival and did not see the light of the day as it was resisted by the former House of Representatives.

The one being proposed by Hon. Dickson Tarkighir from Benue is on ranching and yet to be presented to the House. Its objectives among others include “to alter our husbandry practices towards cattle to ensure more productivity and profitability of cattle business as well as lead to trading in the cattle exports markets with a view to improving on the country’s trade balance; boost the beef industry and contribute to diversifying our economy while also halting the clashes between our farmers and our herders.” The bill entitled, “An Act To Create a Department of Cattle Ranches under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture or Any Such Ministry Overseeing the Production And Rearing of Livestock Including Cattle and For Other Matters Related Thereto, 2015”, specifically wants “The Creation of a Department of Cattle Ranches Under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture or any such ministry overseeing the production and rearing of livestock including Cattle.”

The Department of Cattle Ranches shall perform functions which among others include to “Facilitate and or sanction the lease or sale of land by persons, communities, Local, State and Federal Governments for the purpose of Cattle ranches and inspect the establishment of ranches; register and issue ranching permits to all cattle ranches.” The bill, by no means empowers the Federal Government to alienate land by fiat for herdsmen. Happily enough, some state leaders like Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State have kicked against any such grazing zone law, saying it would contradict the Land Use Act.

Nevertheless, there are still fundamental issues that the killings by the herdsmen raise and which must be addressed immediately. Given the sadistic patterns of killings by the herdsmen, not a few believe that there is something more sinister going on than mere clashes between farmers and cattle rearers. Fears are already being nursed that it might be a guise for insurgents bent on destabilising the country. And the resort to the use of sophisticated arms by the herdsmen in various parts of the country, especially in the South and Middle Belt calls for introspection and a need to act fast.

There is also a dimension of perceived government complicity occasioned by its disturbing silence in the face of killings as well as attempts by its functionaries to downplay the patterned mayhem inflicted by the “herdsmen” on Nigerians. When Agatu killings in Benue took place, the Federal Government and its leadership said little and upon public outrage belatedly ordered a probe. For example, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau even blamed social media users for aggravating the herdsmen/farmers’ conflicts while the Director of the DSS, sought to present the herdsmen as the victims, ignoring obvious and cumulative atrocious acts they had perpetrated. And today, a global terrorism index has named the herdsmen as the fifth deadliest terror group in the world.

A more sinister twist is that the Federal Government may be set to resuscitate the grazing reserve bill by other means. The president’s instruction to the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh to set up 50, 000 hectares of grazing reserves within six months, first in the north, before moving to the south is indicative. It is in fact akin to sections 21 (1) (2) of the old grazing bill which would have given power to a National Grazing Commission to acquire lands for grazing reserves and stock routes.

The desire of the herdsmen to have boundless access to grazing fields across Nigeria is certainly unacceptable. The Federal Government must be told in clear terms that it has no power to alienate lands from the people, for state governments hold land in trust for the people. The point should also be made that cattle herding business is a private enterprise. The so-called nomads are mere individuals in the employ of big cattle owners. Need it be said that contemporary cattle business is done through ranching. Besides, Nigeria is a federal state and not a garrisoned centralised government to be ruled at the whims and caprices of a particular group. Any such move would only raise further tension in the polity and create an all-round instability.

The continuing invasion of the farmers’ land, however, may soon lead to famine while the unending kidnapping, raping and killings by the same herdsmen may result in a backlash of catastrophic dimensions. Indeed, with the influx of riffle-wielding herdsmen traversing the length and breadth of the country and the carnage they are inflicting on the nation, there is a basis for comparison with the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur. A statement made by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu that the southward movement of the herdsmen is as a result of desertification makes it more compelling for Nigerians to appreciate the gravity of the looming crisis and learn the right lessons.

Drought had induced northern Arabs and those from the Chad into Darfur where they sought to displace indigenous southern ethnic groups like the Fur, Masalit and Daju and this led to a series of conflicts in the southern part of Sudan. The Arab government in Khartoum, however, intervened on behalf of the Arab migrants in Darfur through land acquisition and arming of the Janjaweed bandits in ways that undermined the local people. The response of the indigenous groups was to seek self-determination with the formation of armed groups like Sudan Liberation Army/ Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Such impunity as the so-called herdsmen are perpetrating in Nigeria today by wielding automatic weapons and the magnitude of their violent activities without intervention from any arm of security forces, once again, smack of official complicity.

Meanwhile, the country is not short of examples or experience in dealing with the current conflict. The eastern regional government of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1951 asked a Scottish rancher to establish the Obudu Cattle Ranch for regional self-sufficiency. This was, of course, aborted by a disoriented ruling clique. Similarly, the government of Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia in the Mid-Western State also established a ranch in Ubiaja and the outcome was the same: it was abandoned.

Today, a few things can still be done. One is the establishment of commercial ranches by businessmen. Argentina, Uruguay and Australia provide excellent lessons in this kind of ranching. State government can support this in their respective states and of course encourage livestock or animal husbandry as part of agriculture. This position even gained support in the 2014 National Conference. For it can create an economy of grass sellers and cattle buyers and such ranches can also free the youths from their nomadic life and provide opportunity for formal education.

Rightly or wrongly, there is already a growing perception of a hidden agenda that borders on territorial conquest and faith imposition. This is not allayed by widespread killing, kidnapping and raping being perpetrated. Suffice to say that to take land from one people and give to another is a recipe for chaos. Land does not belong to government per se, but it is held in trust for the people. Over the ongoing crisis of herdsmen, the present government needs to tread softly and listen to the voice of reason to avoid a crisis that may well be Nigeria’s greatest undoing.

Buhari Orders CDS, IGP to Go After Herders Committing Crimes

By Isiaka Wakili & Ismail Mudashir
Nigeria Daily Trust
Apr 28 2016 5:00AM

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday ordered the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Abayomi Olonishakin and the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to go after the herdsmen who are killing people in several parts of the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said in a statement yesterday that Buhari, while giving the directive, urged all Nigerians to remain calm.

The president also assured of his administration’s readiness to deploy all required personnel and resources to remove this new threat to the collective security of the nation.

Shehu said following continuing reports of those attacks, particularly Monday’s attack at Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu State, Buhari reassured all Nigerians of his government’s commitment to ensuring the safety of lives and property in all parts of Nigeria.

The presidential spokesman said Buhari unreservedly condemned the attack on Ukpabi Nimbo and other such acts of extreme violence in other states of the federation.

He said the Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security agencies, acting on the president’s directive, were already taking urgent steps to fully investigate the attacks, apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

According to him, ending the recent upsurge of attacks on communities by herdsmen reportedly armed with sophisticated weapons is now a priority on Buhari administration’s agenda for enhanced national security.

“The armed forces and police have clear instructions to take all necessary actions to stop the carnage,” Shehu said.

He said in keeping with Buhari’s directive, the Inspector-General of Police, the General Officer Commanding the 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army and the Director of the Department of State Security in Enugu State had visited Ukapbi Nimbo to personally oversee investigations into the attack on the community and ongoing efforts to apprehend the culprits.

He said Buhari was scheduled to meet with  Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi later yesterday to receive further details on the attack and discuss additional measures to forestall similar attacks and restore public confidence.

The president’s directive was also re-echoed at a public presentation of the book: “Who will Love my Country: Ideas for Building the Nigeria of Our dreams,” authored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, also asked the security Chiefs to secure areas where the killer herders are operating.

Represented by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the president said the government would not allow the attacks to continue.

He said the 2016 budget was designed to bring Nigerians out of poverty.

He commended Ekweremadu, for investing his time and energy to write the book, “which is a wake up call and thought provoking.”

In his remarks, Former Head of State,  retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon, condemned the herders’ attacks, saying, “Definitely neither insurgency nor  herdsmen’s menace will divide us because with the help of God, cooperation of the citizenry and the gallant security forces,  we shall soon conquer.

“Many years back we fought a war to remain a united, indivisible nation,  this was because we believed and still believe that what binds us together is far greater than what divides us. There is no denying the fact that Nigeria is stronger together and that the future remains very bright. Let us continue to move together as one,” he said.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, said corruption remained the obstacle to the socio-economic development of the country. The emir who was represented by the Magajin Garin Kano, Alhaji Nasir Inuwa Wada said all previous efforts to fight corruption lacked political will.

Earlier in his address, Ekweremadu  had urged Nigerian leaders to govern effectively and use power wisely, saying that was the only way to safeguard the citizens’ interest.

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/buhari-orders-cds-igp-to-go-after-killer-herders/144457.html#kFWx4WajqV67kqpU.99

COSATU Ready for International Worker’s Day

25 April 2016

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is calling on its members and all workers in the country to come out with their families to celebrate the International Worker’s Day on the 1st of May. This Mayday workers celebration is being held this year under the theme; “Celebrating 30 Years and defending Collective Bargaining, Workers Jobs and Rights”.

The federation is geared up and ready for this coming workers holiday and will be convening a series of activities all around the country to celebrate this crucial holiday. Workers should use this May Day to reflect and remember the victims of the Bethlehem bus crash, where 53 COSATU members perished on their way to QwaQwa, when their bus drove into a dam near Bethlehem, Free State on the ,1st of May 2003. This terrible accident lies at the heart of the federation’s decision to decentralize May Day events because, we do not want workers to travel long distances. We also extend our condolences to the families our ANC Ekurhuleni comrades, who passed away in an accident on their way back from the ANC Manifesto launch in Port Elizabeth. We wish all the injured a speedy recovery.

COSATU’s National May Day event will be held at Moretele Park in Mamelodi in Tshwane and it will be addressed by the following alliance leadership: COSATU - Comrade Sidumo Dlamini (President) ANC - Comrade Jacob Zuma (President), SACP - Comrade Blade Nzimande (General Secretary) and SANCO - Comrade Richard Mdakane (President). There will be other rallies in all of our provinces, and we urge our members to come out in numbers.

Workers should use this period to reflect on their past victories and also get ready for the struggles that lie ahead. This day was never given on a silver platter to workers and it is a living proof that workers struggles can produce tangible rights for workers if they are united. We look back with pride, when we remember that this is day that was seized by workers, students and communities in 1986, when the apartheid regime did not want to recognise it.

Today, we have seen parliament signing into law the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Act, which will see funds channelled to workers by increasing UIF benefits from 8 months to 12 months, increasing maternity leave payments from 54% of income to 66%, including mothers ,who had miscarriages and still-born’s under maternity leave. This new law will also cover benefits for domestic workers.

In our fight against Labour Brokers, we forced government to change the law to protect the vulnerable workers by insisting that they have to be permanently employed after working for three months. We are continuing with this campaign though because we want the total banning of labour brokers.

Recently, through our united struggles, we have forced government to stop the Provident Fund Reforms. The changes will now allow workers to withdraw a lump sum of their monies when retiring. The White Paper on the National Health Insurance is out and there is a commitment to release the Comprehensive Social Security paper. Government is fully behind the introduction of a legislated National Minimum Wage. We now have a State Pharmaceutical company, Ketlaphela, and government has done an excellent job to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis. We now have a right to strike, right to bargain and also we have access to electricity, water, sanitation and other basic necessities.

These are just some of the victories that we have achieved but the struggle still continues and there are bigger battles ahead. The global economic downturn has seen workers losing their jobs at a frightening rate and most of them are struggling to put food on the table.Workers continue to be subjected to low wages and low pensions and there is also a concerted effort to undermine social security.

It is deeply disquieting to see that the economic growth has fallen from 1.5% (2014) to 1.3% (2015) and this year it is expected to be at 0.9%. This is below the international average and the working class is paying a heavy price. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Survey out of the 36 million people in the working-age population, 24.5% are officially unemployed as at the end of last year.

This is happening at the same time the National Treasury under Minister Pravin Gordhan has been forcefully implementing policies that are geared at pleasing big business and sovereign rating agencies. This behaviour fits well with an international trend in which government policies bolsters the ideological existence of capitalism; whilst at the same time heightening an offensive by shifting the burden of the economic crisis on to the working class.

It is for this reason that in this May Day, we will be placing a clear demand for a new approach in reforming the country’s economy. We are also reiterating our call for a jobs summit to discuss the ongoing retrenchments and unemployment. The time has arrived for workers to unite and push back against the reckless policies and activities of financial institutions, which have given rise to poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Unity of COSATU

We are forging ahead on the path of the mandate given to us by the 12th National Congress to deepen and consolidate the unity and cohesion of the federation, based on an understanding that COSATU’s unity is sacrosanct. We have engaged and spoken to all our unions and all of them have committed to work for the unity of the federation. There is acceptance that unity of the federation does not mean absence of differences and that achieving unity will not be an event but a process. There is also acceptance that COSATU founding principles must be defended and that decisions taken by our constitutional structures are binding and must be respected by all.

We reiterate our call for the workers to close ranks and defend the federation from its enemies. We are clear that monopoly capital remains our number one enemy; but we also know that a tiny minority of discredited and expelled former COSATU leaders have since declared themselves the enemies of the federation. They meet in dark corners with racists unions such as Solidarity, and the DA, EFF to plot against COSATU.

We have also noted that they are planning to form a new federation and that they have been trying to divide our unions. We are not threatened by these discredited and expelled former leaders because we know them. They can never build anything because they have versatility of convictions and also do not want to be led. They have no time for democratic centralism and they only are there to look after their interests.

We are ready to defend COSATU and we caution them that wishful thinking will not be enough to kill this worker’s federation. We also want to remind them that this is not a new or a novel idea, because 31 years ago, when COSATU was launched, the same people, who fund them today, tried to launch a new federation in the shape of UWUSA but failed miserably.

This 2016 May Day events will be held in the context of an increasingly aggressive posture on the part of western imperialism around the world; especially towards the BRICS block. These countries have presented themselves as an alternative engine of growth and development for the world economy and as an anti –thesis to the USA and European based growth and development models. However, even these inspiring developments are currently being threatened by counter revolution and are facing aggressive imperialist schemes to roll them back. We note with admiration the indomitable resolve of the workers of South America in their resistance and in defence of their gains. As ever, we pledge solidarity with them!

Alliance

COSATU is also reiterating its call for a united and functioning alliance. To build a functioning Alliance, we need to courageously fight corruption, elitism, bureaucracy, factionalism, gate keeping and favouritism in the alliance structures. We need to enforce in practice that the Alliance is made of equal partners and that there is no junior partner in the Alliance.

We need to ensure that people do not use their power and positions in our movement, to advance their own personal or factional interests. We have to reintroduce the culture of organisational discipline. COSATU is adamant that the Alliance remains the only vehicle available to the workers to advance a second more radical phase of our National Democratic Revolution. We all need to defend its unity and ensure that its programmes are taken forward. We congratulate the workers and communities in KZN for a successful COSATU/ SACP march that was held in the province this last Saturday.

ANC and the 2016 Local government Elections

The federation is happy with the ANC Manifesto and as per our 12th National Congress resolution the municipal elections campaign will be an integral part of our 2016 programme of action.

Amongst others, the manifesto makes the following commitments which address many of the issues we have raised and those which directly respond to the plight of the working class communities:

a) On Outsourcing: Ensuring that municipal services remain the core function of municipalities. Discouraging municipalities from outsourcing the basic services they are able to render themselves. Building delivery capacity in municipalities with a view to reducing outsourcing of municipal services.
b) On accessibility and accountability: Improve accessibility and accountability of ANC councillors through regular report back and feedback meetings in communities. Councillors will sign performance and accountability agreements
c) On Local Procurement: Promoting local procurement of goods and services to increase local production of goods.
d) On employment : it priotises the Promotion of Youth Employment
e) On crime and corruption: it commits to intensify the fight against fraud and corruption in local government by mobilising communities to play an active role in fighting fraud and corruption.
We call on our members to campaign for the ANC to ensure that it gets a decisive election victory in the upcoming elections on the 3rd August 2016. We reiterate our message that, we will also not support candidates, who have not been endorsed by communities, including those implicated in corruption and criminal activities. To defend the ANC and the revolution, we need to ensure that the ANC wins decisively in the local government elections.

We have every confidence in the ANC as the leader of the alliance that it will provide the necessary leadership to fix what is wrong with itself and its government. We call on ANC leaders to foster unity and act in the interests of the ANC. They should not allow the upcoming 54th National Conference to distract them from the urgent priorities of the movement.

Taking forward our 12th National Congress Campaigns

This May Day also heralds the reaffirmation and the intensification of our campaigns. We are ready to strengthen our campaigning capacity so as to ensure that we rollout and win the following campaigns this year:

1) We want the immediate introduction of a legislated National Minimum Wage (NMW).
2) We want the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI). We are tired of the greedy medical aid schemes and the greedy private healthcare industry that has been victimising South Africans through high prices.
3) We want the amendment of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) in order to Ban Labour Brokers.
4) We want government to do away with Youth Wage Subsidy because it is not working. We demand that government do away with this system and invest in education, skills development and training.
5) We want the decimation of the scourge of Racism in all its forms. We will campaign for more stringent methods to be adopted to fight it.
6) We shall continue to fight to stop the unilateral Provident Fund Reforms and demand the introduction of a Comprehensive Social Security system.
7) We will campaign for the nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank and we find it horrifying that the SARB has outsourced one of its core functions, the printing of money to European countries. Money supply cannot be outsourced by any self respecting economy and we demand the immediate in sourcing of this core function of the Reserve Bank.
8) We want the total Scrapping of E Tolls and the introduction of an affordable, safe and reliable integrated Public Transport System
9) We will campaign for the creation of decent jobs; oppose the ongoing Job losses and Retrenchments. We reiterate our call for a jobs summit.

Issued by COSATU

Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Mobile: 082 558 5962 - 060 975 6794
E-Mail: sizwe@cosatu.org.za

- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11601#sthash.noKp67v7.dpuf

Tough and Decisive Action is Needed to Ensure That Companies and Institutions Comply With the Country's Employment Equity Laws

26 April 2016

COSATU is disappointed but not shocked by the intolerable and depressing report released by the Commission for Employment Equity that shows that two decades after our democratic breakthrough, white people and males in particular occupy 68% of top management positions, while blacks only occupy 14,3% in the workplace. We are not shocked by this, as COSATU, because we have seen the open defiance and stubborn resistance by corporate South Africa and other various institutions to transformation in this country. From big business, to universities and other many sectors, there is open resistance to transformation.

South African companies and institutions have proven that they have no appreciation or simply do not care about the historical realities that have lead us to embark on a transformation journey. They are flatly refusing to abandon their old practices and are not prepared to reform the structure of the apartheid labour market.

Lately some of these companies and institutions through their funded proxies have been pushing back and trying to erode even the minimal gains that have been made. COSATU believes that we will not see any change unless we have an activist government that is prepared to impose virtue by legal force in this country.

This failure to transform the labour market can be seen in the existing inequalities in South Africa, where millions of ordinary workers are still victims of the inherited apartheid-era wage structure.

The enactment of the Employment Equity Amendment Act 2013, which came into effect on two years ago, has not done much to convince these companies or institutions to embrace the principle of employment equity and affirmative action, in order to redress the racial, gender and other injustices inherited from our past.

These amendments to the Act were meant to help expedite the transformation of the labour market and to ensure full participation of all South Africans in the economy of this country. Even an increase in the fines for employers who fail to prepare or implement an Employment Equity Plan has not shaken these institutions and companies.

COSATU feels that the Department of Labour and its inspectors must share the responsibility for failing to enforce the existing laws. We expect that the recent threats by the minister to be followed up by some action from her department this time around. Without any strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in place, we should no longer be shocked by these statistics. What is needed are not public condemnations but decisive action to force these companies to comply.

Issued by COSATU

Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017

P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Mobile: 082 558 5962 - 060 975 6794
E-Mail: sizwe@cosatu.org.za

Protect South Africa From Anarchists‚ Says Zuma at Official Freedom Day Celebrations in Limpopo

TMG Digital
27 April, 2016 13:46

President Jacob Zuma‚ in a Freedom Day message on Wednesday‚ called on the nation to safeguard the country against anarchists who were trying to undermine its hard-fought-for freedom and democracy through violence.

Speaking at Giyani in Limpopo‚ Zuma said that freedom had not come free. It had been hard fought for and many lives had been lost in attaining it.

“We therefore have the collective responsibility to defend it as South Africans with the same vigour as when we fought for it. We must unite and not allow anything to threaten the freedom and democracy we fought so hard for.

“This means we must stop actions that undermine our hard won freedom such as engaging in violence‚” he stated. “For example‚ when people are angry‚ there is no reason for them to burn factories as it happened in kwaSithebe in kwaZulu-Natal recently.

"How do we call for job creation and then burn the very factories that are supposed to provide jobs?

“Schools‚ trains‚ libraries‚ clinics are all built to provide services and a better life. We must guard and protect these facilities in our communities. It is shocking that some people destroy these facilities so easily‚” Zuma added.

He said such destructive elements should be reported to the police and that South Africans should work together to build better communities “where all guard jealously all facilities that are built to make our lives better”.

“People should protest peacefully and with dignity‚ in the democratic South Africa. We should isolate all those who promote violence and anarchy‚” the president said.

He added: “We know that some within our communities believe such violence will make them popular and try to use anarchy to build their political careers.

"Let us not allow this to happen in our name. We worked hard to build this country as millions of South Africans. It must not be destroyed by anarchists who have no interest in our well being.”

13 Year-Old Shot by Police in East Baltimore

Tim Prudente , Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton
The Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore police detective shot a boy in East Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon who he wrongly believed was carrying a semiautomatic pistol, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said.

The boy suffered what police called non-life-threatening injuries to a "lower extremity," Davis said. The weapon turned out to be spring-air-powered BB gun — not a real firearm.

The boy's mother identified him as 14-year-old Dedric Colvin, an eighth-grader at City Springs Middle School. Volanda Young said her son was shot once in the shoulder and once in the leg.

The incident came on the day city officials marked the one-year anniversary of the Freddie Gray riots.

Davis said two plainclothes detectives assigned to the Police Department's intelligence section were driving in the 1100 block of E. Baltimore St. shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday when they spotted the boy with what appeared to be a firearm.

Two Baltimore police detectives saw a 13-year-old boy holding a "replica" weapon that looked very realistic, according to Baltimore Commissioner Kevin Davis, and gave chase. The boy was wounded when one of the detectives opened fire. His injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.

The detectives got out of their vehicle, identified themselves as officers and told him to stop, Davis said. The boy began running, the officers gave chase for about 150 yards, and one detective shot the boy, Davis said.

Young said she was home Wednesday afternoon when an older son came banging on the front door.

"Ma," Alvin Colvin said. "The police shot Dedric."

Young said she ran outside to find the boy bleeding in a side street near a basketball court.

"All I could see was blood," she said. "I was screaming."

Police did not release the boy's name. They said he was 13.

They did release a photograph of the gun they said he was carrying. It appeared to show a Daisy brand PowerLine Model 340 spring-air pistol.

After decades in law enforcement, Davis said, he might have mistaken it for a firearm.

"I looked at it myself today, I stood right over top of it, I put my own eyes on it," he said. "It's an absolute, identical replica semiautomatic pistol. Those police officers had no way of knowing that it was not, in fact, an actual firearm. It looks like a firearm."

Blood was visible outside the McKim Community Center and basketball courts Wednesday evening near the intersection of Aisquith and East Baltimore streets.

The detectives were not injured, Davis said. Police did not release their names.

Dedric was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Young said she pleaded with police: "Is my son alive?"

She said she was leaving to call the hospital when officers handcuffed her and put her in a police car.

"It was humiliating," she said.

She said she was taken to a police station and asked questions. At one point, she said, she was put in a cell. She said officers told her she was being belligerent.

After two hours, she estimated, she was driven to the hospital: "I begged them to take me."

She spoke in her home Wednesday evening. A medal that Dedric earned in the Baltimore Urban Debate League hangs on a trophy in the living room.

"He gets good grades. My son is a good kid," Young said. "I know he was scared. They shot at him while he was fleeing."

She said she didn't know where he got the BB gun.

The incident recalled the death of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was shot by a police officer in November 2014 after he brandished a toy gun in a public park. The City of Cleveland agreed this week to pay $6 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by Rice's family.

The heavy police presence Wednesday drew neighbors to the scene. Some milled around, condemning what they described as more police brutality in the city.

Some noted that the shooting occurred on the day that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was hosting a "reconciliation" event in West Baltimore to mark the one-year anniversary of the riots that erupted on the day Gray was buried.

The 25-year-old Baltimore man died after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in police custody. Six officers have been charged in Gray's arrest and death; all have pleaded not guilty.

Davis said the anniversary was "not lost" on him, either.

"The job of police officers here and elsewhere goes on," he said. "Police officers don't take days off. We're constantly tasked with responding to the concerns of the community. Public safety never takes a day off."

He noted a recent spike in homicides and nonfatal shootings in the city, and said officers are expected to confront people they believe are armed.

"The last 24, 48 hours, we've had a significant spate of gun violence and homicides and nonfatal shootings in our city, so our police officers were doing exactly what we have asked them to do," he said.

Since Sunday night, nine people in the city have been killed and seven others injured in shootings. The city has seen 360 homicides in the past 12 months.

Davis said the circumstances around the boy's shooting — including whether he aimed the BB gun at the detectives, how far they were from the boy when he was shot, and how many times the detective fired — would all be investigated by the department's Special Investigations Response Team.

"Investigating police-involved shootings is a sacred obligation to this police department," he said. "We're going to get it right."

He also said that he had "no reason to believe that these officers acted inappropriately whatsoever at this moment."

"They got out of their car and they engaged a person who had what looked like a gun in his hand, he said. "I mean, come on. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what cops do.

"When he ran — and the foot chase was a good 150 or so yards, he rounded a corner, kept running — he had every opportunity to drop the gun, had every opportunity to stop, put his hands in the air, comply with the instructions of the police officers."

Davis said the boy's mother was taken in for questioning. Davis said the mother indicated to police that she knew her son had the BB gun.

Davis said people often commit crimes in Baltimore with replica guns — "It happens all the time" — and police take the items seriously.

Daisy describes the Powerline 340 pistol as "a spring-air pistol that features a 200-shot BB reservoir with a 13-shot Speedload Clip."

"For hours of fun on the range and basic training for pistol shooters, Daisy's PowerLine Model 340 pistol is appropriate for adults and those ages 16 and older with adult supervision," the company says on its website.

In a video taken at the scene and obtained by The Baltimore Sun, Maj. Deron Garrity is seen speaking to Alvin Colvin.

Garrity tells the brother the boy had a gun that looked real.

"No cop wants to shoot anybody," Garrity says. "Nobody. But if somebody's got a gun, how am I supposed to tell these officers, 'Hey, make sure that he shoots you first, and then you can do it?'"

"But if he not pointing it at police, why do they got the right to shoot?" the young man asks.

"He did," Garrity says.

Davis said officers have a dangerous and difficult job.

"No police officer in Baltimore wants to shoot a 13-year-old, but police officers here and elsewhere are charged by us, by our community, with going after bad guys with guns," he said. "We can't allow someone to walk down the street in broad daylight anywhere in Baltimore with what looks to be a semiautomatic pistol in their hand."

Three of the nine people killed in the city since Sunday died Tuesday night, police said.

Asia Brockington, 24, was planning her wedding in June to Taylor Owings.

Their daughter was to be a flower girl. Dancing would be in Freedom Hall of Northeast Baltimore. They paid the deposit on the hall three days ago.

Brockington was killed Tuesday night while she and Owings took out the trash at their home near Patterson Park, Owings said.

"Some dude walked up, said 'Don't move,'" Owings said Wednesday in a home crowded with grieving family. "He shot her. He shot her. ... I saw her take her last breath."

Baltimore Sun reporter Jessica Anderson contributed to this article.

University Student Killed by Government Supporters in Khartoum

April 27, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - One student was killed and three others injured Wednesday in violent clashes between government and opposition supporters at Omdurman Ahlia University (OAU), the second such incident in two weeks.

Last week, a student was killed and more than twenty others injured in bloody clashes among students at the University of Kordofan, 588 km south west of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Violent clashes erupted on Wednesday at the OAU between students affiliated with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and those belonging to the opposition leading to the intervention of the police.

Mohamed al-Sadiq Tambash, 20 years old, a sophomore student at the Faculty of Arts was killed in the clashes.

According to the medical report seen by Sudan Tribune, Tambash, who is the son of a famous football player, was shot in the left side of the chest adjacent to the heart.

Eyewitnesses said the victim was shot during a political forum organized by the Nuba Mountain Students’ Association at OAU, pointing that the NCP affiliates attacked the attendees wounding three students.

It is worth to mention that the killing of the student last week has triggered a series of protests at several Sudanese universities.

Also, violent confrontations between University of Khartoum students and the police have been ongoing since two weeks following press reports about government intentions to transfer the university from its location and to lease out its former premises for tourism purposes.

CALLS FOR POPULAR UPRISING

Meanwhile, the opposition parties have called on the Sudanese people to take to streets to protest against the continued targeting of university students.

In a press statement extended to Sudan Tribune Wednesday, the secretary general of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP) Sara Nugud Allah said the funeral of Tambash must be turned into a spark to trigger the popular uprising to restore rights of the Sudanese people.

For its part, the opposition umbrella National Consensus Forces (NCF) called on the Sudanese people to rise up against the killers and make the funeral of the slain student a turning point in the political scene.

It urged leaders of the political parties, lawyers, medical doctors and university professors to participate in the funeral, saying that Khartoum and the various states must become a “boiling cauldron beneath the feet of the tyrant”.

Also, the opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) called on the Sudanese people to resist the regime, urging women and men to take to streets to overthrow the tyranny and open the doors for freedom and peace.

(ST)

Machar Consults With Political Bureau Over Ministerial Positions

April 27, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s newly sworn in first vice president, Riek Machar, has consulted with his senior officials in Juba on the expected formation of the long-awaited transitional government of national unity (TGoNU) with President Salva Kiir, his press secretary has confirmed.

James Gatdet Dak told Sudan Tribune that a consultative meeting of the political bureau of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) took place on Wednesday in Juba.

“First Vice President, His Excellency Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, has consulted with the membership of the SPLM-IO’s political bureau on Wednesday. This is on the formation of the transitional government of national unity which is expected to happen on Thursday,” Dak said.

He said Machar is expected to submit to President Kiir names of the nominees who will be appointed to the ministerial positions.

The opposition faction will nominate 10 officials to the ministerial posts. President Kiir’s faction of the new cabinet will have 16 ministers, other political parties (OPPS) will take 2 and former detainees (FDs) will take 2.

The cabinet will have a total number of 30 national ministers and a number of deputies.

Dak said the new cabinet is expected to be appointed on Thursday and convene their first meeting on Friday.

Several current ministers of the cabinet who constitute President Kiir’s faction are expected to lose their ministerial positions to the three opposition factions of the SPLM-IO, SPLM-FDs and OPPs.

IDPS TO WAIT IN POCs

He also said Machar has called on the internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in the United Nations protection of civilians (POCs) sites in Juba not to come out until the new government works out plans and programmes for their return to places of origin.

Majority of their houses, Dak said, have been illegally occupied by “house grabbers” and this needed careful handling so as to avoid conflicts.

(ST)

Machar Sworn-in as South Sudan’s First Vice-President

April 26, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition leader, Riek Machar, has been sworn in as First Vice-President shortly after his arrival in the country’s national capital, Juba, on Tuesday, 26 April, 2016, two years after fleeing the city on 15 December 2013.

Machar’s plane touched down in Juba at about 3:45pm. The top opposition leader who chairs the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) was received by several of his senior officials and a number of government ministers.

Machar, dressed in African fashion, from the airport drove straight to the Presidential Palace (J1) where President Salva Kiir, his main rival, but peace partner, was waiting for him. He immediately took oath of office as first vice president of the world’s youngest nation before President Kiir. This is expected to be followed by formation of transitional government of national unity in the next few days.

A former vice-president since year 2005 when South Sudan became a semi-autonomous government following signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with Sudanese President Omer el Bashir, Machar was sacked by President Salva Kiir two and a half years later after South Sudan became an independent nation.

He and President Kiir fell out over the future of the ruling SPLM party and its leadership as well as over affairs of the government. This subsequently resulted to clashes between their presidential guards on Sunday, 15 December 2013, splitting between loyalists of Kiir’s Dinka and Machar’s Nuer ethnic groups.

President Kiir then accused Machar of allegedly planning a coup, which the latter said was a false claim, further accusing the former of allegedly stage-managing a coup in order to silence voices of opponents.

Machar after the clashes and successful escape to the bushes formed what he said was a “resistance movement” some weeks later to fight a “dictator” who massacred “thousands of civilians” in the capital, particularly targeting an ethnic Nuer community from which he hails.

A war raged on for two years, spreading to some other states, particularly in Machar’s home region of Upper Nile. Skirmishes also occurred in the other two regions of Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria.

The two rival parties together with other stakeholders in the conflict, however, signed a peace agreement which called for political and institutional reforms in the country.

The rebel leader was airlifted to Juba from his headquarters of Pagak via Gambella airport in Ethiopia by a United Nations plane, 8 months after signing the IGAD-sponsored peace agreement on 17 August 2015.

In accordance with the peace agreement, the opposition leader, who becomes first vice president in the power sharing deal, will also be the commander-in-chief of a separate army and police of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), with separate structures from the other co-army and police commanded by President Kiir.

The two rival national armies and police forces will however reunify during the transitional period after achieving security sector reforms laid out in the peace agreement.

The transitional government will run the country for 30 months from formation until elections are conducted at the end of the interim period.

The opposition leader in a statement to reporters at the Juba airport upon arrival said the priorities were to tackle insecurity and restore stability, revive the country’s economy and address humanitarian concerns.

(ST)

We’ll Rule Until Jesus Comes, Says ANC

April 28, 2016

CAPE TOWN. — The ANC has said it will rule until Jesus comes, but for a large part of the #ZumaMustFall march in Cape Town, it seemed Jesus should come sooner to get President Jacob Zuma to resign.

Following the success of last year’s #ZumaMustFall march, which many derided for being a long walk to a picnic, around 2 000 people marched through the city’s CBD on the 22nd anniversary of Freedom Day to call for the president to either resign or be recalled by the ANC.

The front ranks were filled with people carrying posters saying “SA needs Jesus”, a banner saying “The blood of the Lamb” and “All things rise and fall on leaders” while they sang Christian worship songs arranged to Soca music.

The rear guard was more direct, chanting “Zuma must fall” and carrying posters with that call printed in huge letters.

Another read, “To our ANC leaders: There comes a time when inaction makes you guilty — that time is now! Please recall Mr Jacob Zuma” while another was more brief: “Zoom Zoom must go”.

Richard Verreynne, chairperson of the Evangelical Alliance of SA, started the speeches outside parliament by running through complaints about President Zuma — from the recent Constitutional Court finding, to the high unemployment rate in the country.

“He is a president of impunity,” he said to cheers. “We have become a country in permanent crisis.”

Another supporter of the call, Brutus Malada, said, “Stand up and protect the future of this country. If this government, if this ANC, cannot act against Jacob Zuma today, you must be worried as South Africans.” — News24.

Hawks to Probe Malema

April 27, 2016

CAPE TOWN. — South Africa’s specialised crime-fighting unit, the Hawks, are set to investigate criminal charges against Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko said yesterday.

Briefing journalists in Parliament, along with police top brass, Nhleko said Malema’s comment on Al Jazeera at the weekend that the South African government would be removed by the “barrel of a gun” by the opposition once its patience had run out was “reckless”, “inflammatory”, and had the potential of “plunging the country into chaos”.

“The matter is now being investigated by the Hawks,” he said.

The charges against Malema were laid at the Hillbrow police station by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

“A due process of investigation is to follow,” Nhleko said.

“We need to show responsibility and we need to refrain from using genuine grievances that are afflicting various communties to drive narrow political agendas that have potential to destabalise the country.”

The ANC on Monday opened a case of treason against Malema.

The move is over his threat to remove the South African government “through the barrel of a gun”.

“The threat to remove a lawfully, democratically-elected leader through an undemocratic process is against the law and the Constitution.

We call on South African Police Service to investigate a charge of high treason,” ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told News24, a local news outlet.

He said the ruling party was doing this for all South Africans as well as to defend and protect the country’s hard-won democracy and freedom.

Also on Monday, the ANC issued a statement, voicing “extreme concern” over Malema’s remarks.

“These remarks are a call to violence, inflammatory, treasonable and seditious and should be treated with extreme seriousness,” said the statement.

Malema’s utterances “also are in clear violation of the Electoral Code and the Charter on Elections Ethics signed by a number of political parties — including EFF, last week”, it said.

In signing the Charter, political parties committed themselves to upholding and promoting Constitutional values, alongside the Elections Code in the run-up to the August 3 local government elections.

“These reckless utterances display a shocking lack of judgment on the part of the leadership of the EFF who have a duty, together with all political parties, to ensure their membership abides with the laws of the land. The remarks made by Mr Malema are a clear incitement to people to commit acts of violence, which is against the laws of the Republic,” said the ANC. — African News Agency/Xinhua.

Zanu-PF Scoffs at ‘Succession Plot’ Reports

April 28, 2016
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter

Zanu-PF has dismissed as “utter rubbis” reports in some sections of the private media that party members were making manoeuvres to stampede President Mugabe from power before the end of his term of office.

The party’s provincial structures on Tuesday reacted angrily to the reports and reaffirmed unconditional support for the President, saying the media were fomenting non-existent divisions in the party.

This followed a litany of concocted stories by the private media projecting alleged deep-rooted divisions in the party based on factional and succession lines.

The stories alleged that some senior Zanu-PF officials did not want President Mugabe to finish his current term of office though voted for in the 2013 harmonised elections.

In separate interviews, Zanu-PF provincial chairpersons said the stories, which were always confirmed by faceless sources, were a creation of the media in a foiled bid to destabilise the party.

One such story was published by the Daily News on Tuesday claiming that Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa wanted to force President Mugabe to retire before the end of his current term, which expires in 2018.

Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Cde Dickson Mafios (pictured) said: “We do not know where that speculation is coming from and we do not run the party through the media.

“We have taken a resolution that our candidate for 2018 is President Mugabe and why should people talk about succession when his term of office is still running?

“We cannot talk about the wishful thinking of the media because our President was endorsed by thousands of Zimbabweans who voted for him in 2013. That position was further endorsed by our Congress and by our annual National People’s Conferences. There is no way the party can be directed by the media to deviate from its resolutions.”

Cde Mafios said instead of being obsessed with succession issues, the media should direct its efforts towards development.

He said the picture portrayed by the media was not good for prospective investors.

“Unless the media wants to cause political upheavals in the country, this kind of reportage is not good,” he said.

“We have other things to concentrate on rather than succession.”

In Harare, provincial chairman Cde Charles Tawengwa said: “It’s hallucination of the media. The President was endorsed long back and I do not know where that is coming from.”

Mashonaland West provincial chairman Cde Ephraim Chengeta said they stood by their endorsement of President Mugabe as the party’s sole candidate for 2018 national elections and 2019 party Congress.

“In any case, the President’s support is actually growing in our province. Reports of divisions and other unsubstantiated things in the party are mere talk by the media that should not be taken seriously.

“You will see at the upcoming one million men march that President Mugabe is a darling of the people and as a province we are mobilising massively for that event,” he said

Cde Bernard Makokove, who is the ruling party’s Mashonaland East acting provincial chair, said: “There is no change to our Congress resolution. As a province we do not have any talk about succession and we are solidly behind our President and First Secretary.”

Masvingo acting provincial chair Cde Amasa Nhenjana said: “Some of these newspapers want to create fictitious divisions in the party and we are not going to be moved by that. President Mugabe commands great support and thinking of dislodging him will be a matter of wasting time.”

Zimbabwe Government Revives May Day Commemorations

April 28, 2016
Felex Share Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe Herald

Government will this year revive Workers’ Day commemorations amid indications that it is organising events bringing together trade unions and their members countrywide. Workers’ Day is celebrated on May 1 the world over.

The day had lost lustre over the years in Zimbabwe, with a few people attending the commemorations due to politicisation of trade unionism.

The country’s two largest workers representatives, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions have aligned themselves to the two main political parties — Zanu-PF and MDC-T.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira yesterday said Government sought to re-establish links with workers by bringing them together to better appreciate their concerns.

She said a number of Cabinet ministers would take part in this year’s commemorations to hear for themselves workers’ grievances.

“Government wants the best for the workers and we are going back to the old days when Government used to organise the Workers’ Day,” she said.

“We are going to have a big gathering for the workers and they will dominate the proceedings, presenting their grievances.

“We also want to see which sectors are not being paid and there will be Ministers listening to the challenges faced by the workers. We will give every union the platform. In short, Government is re-establishing links with the workers.”

The celebrations have provisionally been slated for Rufaro Stadium in Harare.

Minister Mupfumira said genuine trade unions should be apolitical.

“We are in the process of finalising further labour reforms and I need them all and every worker is invited,” she said.

“Some people purporting to represent them are not talking to them and this is their chance to be heard. We want to celebrate the worker whom we are saying should find a voice.”

ZFTU secretary general, Mr Kennias Shamuyarira, welcomed the development saying it was agreed on three months ago.

“It is something we are aware of,” he said. “We agreed, together with the ZCTU, that it is noble that as workers, we should converge as we have one common agenda and destiny. The same concerns that befall ZFTU are the same that befall ZCTU. We are looking forward to such a day. Our mandate comes from the workers who are the stockholders of the labour centres.”

He added: “The Minister must see all the workers across the divide and address them. Whether we are in attendance as leaders is something else but the workers must be addressed and get Government position, at the same time airing their grievances. This is a past practice that had been negated to the backburner. Since Independence Government used to call all the workers and declare the minimum wages, it was the job of the Minister, which to us is very paramount. It is only Zimbabwe that does not have a national minimum wage. This has caused haphazard salary scales across the industrial spectrum in our country because we do not have a working a yardstick.”

Mr Shamuyarira said the National Employment Councils, which were setting the minimum wage, were not uniform.

“There are elitists, capitalists, liberals, revolutionaries in them and it is a free for all,” he said.

“And this is the starting point to get back to normal. We are working with progressive unions to ensure the Minister addresses the workers and she must bring with her Cabinet Ministers to hear workers speak.”

ZCTU secretary general, Mr Japhet Moyo, said they had already made plans to have their main commemorations at Gwanzura Stadium.

“We are at an advanced stage and we have a programme which we cannot now abandon at this stage,” he said.

“They (Government) cannot be responsible for our own activity. We always invite the Minister of Labour to give a keynote address. It is only last year that the Minister of Labour did not turn up.”

Missing $15 Billion Looters Face Probe in Zimbabwe

April 28, 2016
Bulawayo Bureau
Zimbabwe Herald

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said Government had launched a forensic audit of seven firms that operated in the Chiadzwa diamond fields amid suspicion that the country could have lost $15 billion through leakages.

President Mugabe in February said Government had not received meaningful returns from Chiadzwa diamond fields and that private companies mining could have robbed the State.

The President said less than $2 billion was remitted from diamond proceeds and those seconded by Government to work with private miners had failed to account for the gems.

“We’ve not received much from the diamond industry at all. I don’t think we’ve exceeded $2 billion, yet we think more than $15 billion has been earned,” President Mugabe said in an interview on the occasion of his birthday.

Speaking during a Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Business Conference plenary in response to a question, VP Mnangagwa said: “You said there was $15 billion stolen. What it then says is that there’s an investigation, where there’s investigation there’s an allegation, and where there’s an allegation there’s a prima facie case, there’s a possibility that the thing happened.

“You properly said there is $15 billion which is being investigated, which means the issue of $15 billion is under investigation, using your own terms, to establish whether it actually happened and if it did, that is corruption.”

He added: “And up to now, that hasn’t been concluded. There were something like seven companies and each company will be subjected to a forensic audit to establish during the past five or six years, what it did. A forensic audit on each company will be done.

“A forensic audit has been instituted against all the seven companies. They will be audited to discover whether this happened or not, and those who will be found through the forensic audit will account for the resource they have stolen from this country, that becomes a fact. That is the essence about the $15 billion question.” VP Mnangagwa told the same forum that all Zimbabweans should join in the fight against corruption and not just talk about it.

He was responding to Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) board member, Mr Nelson Matongorere, who said the VP had not spoken about corruption in his keynote address.

“I understand the question on corruption has come from Zimra and I think my brother, if the people seated here are honest with you, during tea time, they will discuss with you the corruption perception about Zimra,” chuckled VP Mnangagwa.

He said Matongorere’s comment created a perception that Government could be involved in corruption.

“I don’t dispute it, but you’re excluding the private sector. My view is that corruption wherever it raises its ugly head must be fought and not talked about. We must cease talking about corruption but fight corruption.

“We want to hear ministers here with me, including myself, permanent secretaries, directors in the Government, whenever they have an opportunity, they should talk about the fight against corruption.

“I would like also to say captains of industry, whenever they have an opportunity, to talk to their companies and the people, they should fight corruption, not only speak against it but fight it.”

VP Mnangagwa said if all Zimbabweans took a stand against corruption, the scourge would be wiped out.

“Yes, we had an anti-corruption commission which we have dissolved because we now needed another team or commission to investigate the commissioners that are leaving. We instituted another one two months ago and I believe their focus is fighting it (corruption) and we shall continue to monitor whether they continue fighting it,” he said.

“Let it not be a duty of Government alone, but let it be a duty for all of us who love our country to expose corruption wherever we see it, wherever we hear about it, let’s fight it.”

“So my brother from Zimra, perhaps you’re not very sociable otherwise you’ll be hearing what the people have to say about Zimra. I have no evidence, but I hear about those things so it’s good that you raised this issue.”


EDITORIAL COMMENT: Let’s do more to attract investors

April 28, 2016
Opinion & Analysis

Zimbabwe has recorded a number of achievements in the process of reforming the doing business environment, but still requires more support to achieve notable success.

With more support from Zimbabweans local and abroad, co-operating partners, international financial institutions and development partners, more gains could be realised.

There have been notable achievements under various initiatives. The first 100 days that were launched in September 2015 with the support of the World Bank Group have laid the foundation for attracting sustainable and mutually beneficial foreign direct investment.

The achievements under the first 100 days include drafting of principles of more than eight pieces of legislation, by-laws and regulations while various processes within Government ministries, departments and agencies were streamlined.

Furthermore, proposed amendments made to the Companies Act, Shop Licence Act, Town and Country Planning Act, are some of the notable achievements while new Bills have been drafted on Insolvency (which seeks to promote a culture of corporate rescue to preserve jobs in companies that are viable, though experiencing challenges); Movable Property and Securities Interest (which seek to permit responsible lenders to lend against movable assets as collateral thereby improving access to finance for SMEs in particular); and the Commercial Court (which will permit expeditious settlement of commercial disputes through accelerated processes).

Another highlight was the consolidation of the process to pay taxes at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) by Zimdef and NSSA through the adoption of a single Window Tax Payment System to reduce time taken in making payment at various agencies.

As a result, a number of targets were achieved in various thematic areas, for example the number of days it takes to process the requirements of starting a business was significantly reduced from 90 days to 30 days.

Regarding Construction Permits, the days were reduced from 448 days to 120 days and Property registration now takes 14 days instead of the previous 36 days. Time taken to pay taxes was also reduced from 242 hours to 160 hours.

The amount of work that has been put into improving the doing business environment is encouraging. But to carry forward the work, Zimbabwe needs all the support she can get from all and sundry. Development partners, IFIs, investors and political players should come to the party.

We are pleased to note that the World Bank is working with Government on the doing business initiatives.

Again, we are encouraged that the International Monetary Fund board will consider the fund’s mission report next week. We know that the mission said Zimbabwe had met its quantitative and qualitative targets under the Staff Monitored Programme and Article IV consultations. We expect the IMF board to adopt the report.

If the IMF board adopts the fund’s mission report at its May 2 sitting, as Government expects, it will give impetus for the country’s debt resolution strategy.

This will set Zimbabwe on the path to formally rejoin the international funders. We are at a critical stage where we need to harness and garner all the support we so need.

No individual or nation can survive in isolation. We need the world and the world needs us. But we also have to do our part for the world to move with us.

Policy coherence and clarity is key at this stage. The fact that the IMF board is discussing a report about us attracts more eyes on us. This therefore requires that we conduct our business with integrity and honour.

But while we endeavour to attract international support, we have not stopped improving our environment.

In that regard, Government is aiming to reduce the period it takes to register a company to 15 days from the current 30 days.