The path to court: Zuma and the arms deal

Yahoo – AFP, April 6, 2018

South Africa's National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams, pictured,
said there were 'reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution of Mr Zuma'
(AFP Photo/WIKUS DE WET)

Johannesburg (AFP) - Here is a timeline of major events in the corruption charges against South African former president Jacob Zuma:

Red flag

- November 1998: The cabinet approves an arms deal at a price tag of $2.5 billion. On the same day Zuma, then a provincial minister, meets with his personal financial advisor Schabir Shaik and an official from French arms dealer Thomson-CSF. The auditor-general soon raises a red flag over the deal as "high-risk".

- June 1999: Thabo Mbeki is elected president of South Africa with Jacob Zuma as his deputy.

- September 1999: An opposition lawmaker Patricia de Lille alerts parliament that the arms deal could be graft-ridden and calls for an inquiry.

- December 1999: Finance Minister Trevor Manuel seals the deal at 29.9 billion rand.

- February 2000: The serious economic crimes offences police unit known as the Scorpions launch investigations.

- October 2004: Trial of Zuma's adviser Shaik opens.

President Zuma

- June 2005: Shaik is convicted and jailed for 15 years for fraud and corruption. Four years later he is released on medical parole in 2009, the year Zuma becomes president.

Zuma is accused in court of having had a "generally corrupt" relationship with Shaik. Mbeki fires him as deputy president.

Zuma was forced to resign as South African president by his party in the wake of

mounting corruption scandals (AFP Photo/MUJAHID SAFODIEN)

- December 2007: Zuma is elected president of the ruling African National Congress party. Ten days later Zuma is slapped with fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering charges.

- April 2009: Acting chief prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe withdraws charges against Zuma based on the phone conversation of the so-called "spy tapes" that suggest the charges were politically motivated.

- May 2009: Zuma is sworn in as South Africa's president.

Mounting scandal

- April 2016: The inquiry clears all government officials of corruption over the arms deal. But days later, the High Court in Pretoria rules that the 2009 decision to drop the charges was "irrational" and that charges must be reinstated.

- October 2017: The Supreme Court of Appeal rules that Zuma is liable for prosecution.

- February 2018: Zuma is forced to resign as South African president by his party in the wake of mounting corruption scandals.

- March 2018: Prosecutors decide he should face 12 counts of fraud, two of corruption, one of racketeering and one of money laundering.

- April 2018: Zuma appears in Durban High Court for preliminary hearing, with the case adjourned until June 8.

S.Africa looks to strip Gupta brother's residency

Yahoo – AFP, March 11, 2018

In February, South African police raided properties belonging to the Gupta
family in Johannesburg as part of a graft probe (AFP Photo/WIKUS DE WET)

Johannesburg (AFP) - South Africa has launched proceedings to strip the permanent residency status of one of the lynchpins of a controversial Indian business family accused of corruption, an official said on Sunday.

Ajay Gupta, a fugitive sought by police over alleged graft, now faces the prospect of losing access to banking facilities as well as his South African identity papers if his residency is rescinded.

Ajay is one of three Indian-born Gupta brothers who are among South Africa's richest people who are now being investigated by police over corruption allegations. The country's graft watchdog has also accused them of having improper links to former president Jacob Zuma.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has discussed the "the possibility of revoking Ajay's residency" with President Cyril Ramaphosa, his spokesman told AFP.

"Since then, he has instructed the director-general of home affairs to investigate the legal environment for that to happen," Mayihlome Tshwete told AFP.

Gigaba has had a torrid week after insisting that Ajay's brother Atul was not a South African citizen, only to be contradicted by the election commission which confirmed he was a citizen who was listed on the electoral register.

Gigaba then skipped a sitting of parliament on Wednesday at which he had been due to answer MPs' questions, citing illness.

South Africa has launched several investigations into the Guptas and Indian tax officials this week raided several properties belonging to the brothers in their former hometown as part of a money-laundering probe.

Last month, South African authorities raided Gupta properties in Johannesburg as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged graft.

Ajay was declared a "fugitive from justice" by police after failing to respond to a summons.

Thirteen other people are facing charges linked to allegations that the Guptas embezzled millions of dollars of public money meant for poor South African dairy farmers.

They are also accused of receiving highly-favourable government contracts during Zuma's presidency.

Led by Atul, the family arrived in South Africa in 1993 as white-minority apartheid rule crumbled, a year before Nelson Mandela won the country's first democratic elections.

Related Article:

PR firm Bell Pottinger seeks rescue after South Africa scandal

PR firm Bell Pottinger seeks rescue after South Africa scandal

Yahoo – AFP, Kenza BRYAN, September 8, 2017

British public relations firm Bell Pottinger was accused of orchestrating a
racially-charged campaign on behalf of the controversial Gupta family in South
Africa (AFP Photo/Rodger BOSCH)

London (AFP) - British public relations firm Bell Pottinger, accused of stirring racial tension in South Africa, faces administration to save it from collapse, a company source said Friday.

"We may well be in administration by Monday," the source told AFP, in reference to the process whereby a troubled firm calls upon independent expert financial help in a bid to remain operational.

In a chaotic week, major clients including banking giant HSBC and telecommunications group TalkTalk have axed ties with Bell Pottinger after it was accused of orchestrating a racially-charged campaign on behalf of the controversial Gupta family in South Africa.

Other fleeing customers include construction company Carillion, financial services firm Investec and luxury goods maker Richemont, according to media reports.

Britain's Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) trade body expelled Bell Pottinger on Tuesday over a campaign deemed "likely to inflame racial discord".

'White monopoly capital'

"White monopoly capital" was one of the slogans Bell Pottinger used on behalf of Oakbay Capital, an investment holding company run by the Indian Gupta family.

The Twitter hashtag #whitemonopolycapital is used by supporters of South Africa's ruling Zuma family, which has controversial ties to the Guptas, to discredit opponents.

The British PR giant deliberately created a narrative of "economic apartheid" to defend the Guptas, according to an independent report, which was conducted by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and published on Monday.

By Thursday, Bell Pottinger chairman Mark Smith told a staff meeting at the PR firm's headquarters in Holborn, central London, that it was likely to go into administration.

Accountancy firm BDO has been hired to look at options including a possible sale.

Various media reported that Bell Pottinger's Asian division will separate from its parent group and rebrand under the name Klareco Communications.

The group's second biggest shareholder, advertising firm Chime, has meanwhile written off its investment and handed back its 27-percent stake.

Nevertheless, Bell Pottinger is still "considering all the options", according to an official spokesman.

The group has pledged to introduce a more formal review of client work to help "identify high-risk clients and high-risk mandates", as well as redeveloping its corporate policies, including for social media, and establishing a new ethics committee.

'Fall from grace'

Bell Pottinger was created in 1987 by Tim Bell, one of Margaret Thatcher's foremost PR advisers, and is well known in the UK for its links to the world of politics and business.

British peers were informed on Thursday that the government has no power to remove the firm from its register of lobbyists.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Conservative Party frontbencher Lord Young said that while the company had acted "unprofessionally and unethically" in South Africa, the only way it could be struck off was if it ceased its public relations business.

He also said that the scandal has had "a very damaging impact" on the Britain's reputation in South Africa.

AFP's source said Friday that they were still "hopeful" about the company's situation, adding that the international response to the scandal in their view had been "out of proportion".

Bell Pottinger accused of 'racial' South Africa PR campaign

Yahoo – AFP, September 5, 2017

British public relations firm Bell Pottinger was expelled from a trade body over
 a controversial campaign in South Africa that was found "likely to inflame racial
discord" (AFP Photo/RODGER BOSCH)

London (AFP) - British public relations firm Bell Pottinger was expelled from a trade body Tuesday over a controversial campaign in South Africa that was found "likely to inflame racial discord".

The decision by the Britain-based Public Relations and Communications Associations (PRCA) comes after Bell Pottinger ran a campaign which included the phrase "white monopoly capital".

The campaign was carried out on behalf of Oakbay Capital, a company run by the wealthy Gupta family, who are accused of wielding undue influence over the South African government.

A PRCA committee set up to investigate said the British firm's work was "likely to inflame racial discord in South Africa and appears to have done exactly that".

"Bell Pottinger have stirred up racial tensions in South Africa, they haven't been honest with the public," PRCA director general Francis Ingham told AFP.

"Bell Pottinger pitted white people against black people and those who possess goods to those who don't possess much."

Ingham cast doubt on whether the high-profile company would survive, adding that "Bell Pottinger is going to have to prove that it has changed, and changed fundamentally."

S.Africa's 'fragile race relations'

Bell Pottinger co-founder Tim Bell told the BBC on Monday that the scandal "almost certainly" signalled the end for the firm.

"I think it probably is getting near the end, you can try and rescue it but it won't be very successful," Bell told the BBC's Newsnight programme.

"I don't take any responsibility... I resigned from the company in August last year, I published my resignation and I said one of the reasons I was leaving was because of the Gupta account," he said.

South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which lodged the complaint with the PRCA, hailed Bell Pottinger's expulsion.

"It will take our country years to rebuild our severely fragile race relations, which Bell Pottinger, the Guptas and (South African President Jacob) Zuma sought to exploit for their own financial gains," it said.

The DA previously accused Bell Pottinger -- which was tasked with defending the Guptas' reputation -- of having run a "campaign to divide South Africa along the lines of race".

President Zuma is accused of unfairly granting lucrative government contracts to the Guptas and even taking orders from them over ministerial appointments.

The DA party hopes to make major gains against Zuma's ANC party, which was led to power in 1994 by Nelson Mandela, at 2019 elections.

On Sunday, Bell Pottinger's chief executive James Henderson resigned.

"There were warning signs that I should have heeded. Therefore I must take responsibility," he said.

An independent report conducted by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills released on Monday found senior management at fault for failing to put in place adequate policies.

British PR firm Bell Pottinger seeks rescue after South Africa scandal - @KenzaBryan reports https://t.co/T6O0AAnzsd #BellPottinger pic.twitter.com/FU9vLm51ux

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 8, 2017

CIA spy tip-off led to arrest of Mandela: report

Yahoo – AFP, May 15, 2016

Nelson Mandela was eventually freed from prison in 1990 and went on to
become South Africa's president between 1994 and 1999 before dying in 2013
aged 95 (AFP Photo/Trevor Samson)

London (AFP) - A tip from a CIA spy to authorities in apartheid-era South Africa led to Nelson Mandela's arrest, beginning the leader's 27 years behind bars, a report said on Sunday.

Donald Rickard, a former US vice-consul in Durban and CIA operative, told British film director John Irvin that he had been involved in Mandela's arrest in 1962 which was seen as necessary because the Americans believed he was "completely under the control of the Soviet Union", the report in The Sunday Times newspaper said.

"He could have incited a war in South Africa, the United States would have to get involved, grudgingly, and things could have gone to hell," Rickard said.

"We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it."

Irvin's new film "Mandela's Gun", about the months before the anti-apartheid leader's arrest, is due to be screened at the Cannes film festival this week.

Palestinians take part in ceremony to unveil a sculpture of the first 

democratically elected South African president and anti apartheid leader 

Nelson Mandela, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, April 26, 2016. 

Palestinians honored Mandela unveiling his statue on a square in Ramallah, 

on South Africa's Freedom Day that is observed annually to commemorate the 

first post apartheid elections held on April 27, 1994. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Mandela was eventually freed from prison in 1990 and went on to become South Africa's president between 1994 and 1999 before dying in 2013 aged 95.

Zizi Kodwa, national spokesman of Mandela's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, called the revelation "a serious indictment".

"We always knew there was always collaboration between some Western countries and the apartheid regime," he told AFP.

He claimed that though the incident happened decades ago, the CIA was still interfering in South African politics.

"We have recently observed that there are efforts to undermine the democratically elected ANC government," he alleged. "They never stopped operating here."

"It is still happening now -- the CIA is still collaborating with those who want regime change."

Rickard, who was reportedly employed by the CIA until 1978, died in March, two weeks after talking to Irvin in the US.

The CIA declined to comment.

Related Article:

Former diplomat admits CIA involvement in Nelson Mandela arrest

Thousands march against corruption in S.Africa

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Oct 2015

A member of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)

 waves a baton during an anti-corruption rally in Johannesburg, on October 14, 

2015 (AFP Photo/Gianluigi Guercia)

Johannesburg (AFP) - Several thousand demonstrators marched through Johannesburg on Wednesday to protest against government corruption as public anger builds over South Africa's weakening economy.

The rally was led by the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), which has become a powerful voice of opposition to President Jacob Zuma and the ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) party.

Banners held by demonstrators read "Away with corruption. Away with Zuma government" and "Corruption taxes the poor. We say tax the rich."

"We see a very direct relationship between corruption and the state of our economy, which results in us losing jobs in the thousands," Zwelinzima Vavi, one of the organisers, told cheering crowds.

"Thirteen million people go to bed every night without anything to eat, while 50 percent of workers are earning below the poverty line. We have had enough."

According to the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts, economic growth will fall to just 1.4 percent this year in South Africa and will decline again next year.

A tumbling rand and unreliable electricity supplies have added to the country's woes, with business confidence now at its lowest level since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Zuma's private residence has become a symbol of alleged government misspending after $24 million (21 million euros) was used on "security" improvements to the sprawling homestead.

"Zuma has brought a culture of corruption into this country," Enoch Mthembu, a 50-year-old unemployed man from KwaZulu-Natal province, told AFP at the march.

Several thousand demonstrators hold an anti-corruption rally in Johannesburg, 

on October 14, 2015 (AFP Photo/Gianluigi Guercia)

"We used to think he is the guy who would liberate us, the poor. But he decided to become a thief."

Zuma led the ANC to an easy victory in last year's general election, but could face defeats in several cities at municipal elections in 2016.

Last week, he admitted that the party was seen as having a corruption problem and was losing support after being in power since 1994.

The ANC is due to choose a new leader in 2017, with the battle likely to be between deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and Zuma's ex-wife and current African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Two weeks ago another march in nearby Pretoria also attracted thousands of marchers in what civil society activists hoped would develop into a broad-based campaign against corruption.

S.Africa's richest man to give away half his fortune

Yahoo – AFP, Gianluigi Guercia, 30 January 2013

South African businessman Patrice Motsepe on May 07, 2008 in Sandton. 

Billionaire Motsepe announced Monday he would give half his family's fortune

to a charity, matching a pledge made by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe announced Monday he would give half his family's fortune to a charity, matching a pledge made by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

"This is to be used during his lifetime and beyond... to improve the lifestyles, and living conditions, of poor, disabled, unemployed, women, youth, workers and marginalised South Africans," his wife Precious Motsepe said.

The mining tycoon becomes the first African to join the Giving Pledge, which challenges the world's wealthiest to give 50 percent or more of their fortune to charity.

Since Microsoft mogul Gates and investment guru Buffett launched the Pledge in 2010, more than 70 billionaires have joined.

Motsepe owns mining company African Rainbow Minerals and is Africa's eighth richest person with a fortune of $2.65 billion (1.96 billion euros), according to Forbes magazine.

His announcement, two days after his 51st birthday, makes him part of an illustrious club that includes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore.

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Africa is becoming more peaceful, despite the war in Mali


"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“…  Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …”

Africa's first fact-checking website launches in S.Africa

Google – AFP, 1 November 2012 

The launch of www.Africacheck.org at the University of the Witwatersrand (AFP)

JOHANNESBURG — Africa's first fact-checking website launched Wednesday in South Africa, a project devised by the AFP Foundation and run in partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand to hold the country's leaders accountable.

"The website is Africa's first website dedicated to fact checking, to promoting ideas of verification and accuracy in the public debate," said Anton Harber, head of the journalism department at Wits -- one of the continent's most prestigious universities -- at the unveiling of the www.Africacheck.org site.

L-R: Africa Check editor Ruth Becker,

 Professor Anton Harber and AFP's

Christophe Beaudufe (AFP)

The site's founders aim to eventually roll it out in other African countries to give the public, and especially journalists, a fact-checking network spanning a continent where accessing public data is often a process riddled with obstacles.

Modelled on similar sites in the United States and Europe -- and working under the tagline "Sorting fact from fiction" -- Africa Check's aim is to hold politicians, journalists and experts to their word.

"We will quite simply follow things that are said in the public arena by politicians or by other media or by experts, and where we think they need checking, we will verify them and we will publish what we find, to say this was true, this was not true, or it was disputed and here's how you understand the nature of that dispute," Harber said.

"In South Africa it can be difficult," he added.

"Although we have a constitution and laws about transparency and openness and making public data available to the public, in practice it is not always easy to get the information. There's not necessarily a culture of openness in a lot of government departments."

The AFP Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting and teaching journalism worldwide, "is proud to support the Africa Check project, the first of its kind in Africa," its director Robert Holloway said in a statement.

"This project aims at promoting transparency and good governance in South Africa and we hope later to repeat it in other countries."

The site is currently managed by project staff at the Johannesburg university, but it aims to become a forum for interactive contributions by South African journalists.

Speaking earlier this year, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "I salute the work of Africa Check as an important initiative engaging with journalists and citizens across the continent to raise the level of public debate."

www.Africacheck.org

Chevron, Shell, Total, BP face S.African price-fixing charge

Yahoo - AFP, 24 October 2012

Subsidiaries of global oil majors Chevron, Shell, Total and BP were on Wednesday referred to South Africa's top anti-trust body on accusations that they colluded to rig consumer prices since the 1980s, with a recommendation that the firms face massive fines.

Following "wide ranging investigations" since 2009, the Competition Commission said it had uncovered "collusive conduct" that stretched back decades, and had referred the case to the Competition Tribunal for judgement.

The commission recommended that each company be fined 10 percent of total turnover from their South African business for the last financial year.

"The investigation revealed collusive conduct through extensive exchanges of commercially sensitive information by the respondent oil companies," the commission said.

The information was said to include detailed monthly sales figures and collusion to influence the regulatory environment.

"The oil companies intended, inter alia through the information exchange, to protect historically high profit margins."

Sasoil and Engen were also accused of price fixing.

South African campaigners unite against secrecy bill

JM Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer among those who say bill is country's first attack on democracy since apartheid ended

guardian.co.uk, Stewart Maclean and David Smith in Johannesburg, Wednesday 6 June 2012

Nadine Gordimer: 'The intention of the bill is to aid the government in the
cover up of corruption.' Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

Secrecy laws planned for South Africa fundamentally threaten free speech and investigative journalism, and could have a chilling effect on the rest of Africa, a united front of human rights lawyers, newspaper editors and Nobel prize-winning writers have warned in interviews with the Guardian.

The protection of state information bill – dubbed the "secrecy bill" – envisages draconian penalties of up to 25 years in prison for whistleblowers and journalists who possess, leak or publish state secrets. It has been described as the first piece of legislation since the end of apartheid in 1994 to undermine South Africa's democracy.

Opponents of the bill fear that, with South Africa often regarded as a beacon of democracy and freedom on the continent, it could be used as an excuse by repressive African regimes for renewed crackdowns on journalists and activists.

Among those to attack the proposed legislation is JM Coetzee, the Nobel laureate and double Booker prize winner, making a rare public intervention.

"The legislation is transparently intended to make life difficult for pesky investigative journalists, and generally to save incompetent or corrupt bureaucrats from being embarrassed," Coetzee, born in Cape Town but now resident in Australia, said in an email. "Its sponsors have very likely been emboldened by the push that has taken place all over the western world since 2001 to erect a wall of secrecy around the more dubious actions of the state, and to make it a crime to breach that wall."

Coetzee joins fellow Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer in calling global attention to measures they believe are calculated to help the government conceal evidence of corruption. Gordimer, whose books were banned under white minority rule, said: "It is quite obvious why this bill has come about – the government is making no attempt to hide the truth that its intention is to aid the cover-up of corruption.

"I wrote during the apartheid regime and I fought against the apartheid regime. Three of my books were banned. What we are doing now is going back to apartheid censorship under a new guise."

Today, South Africa boasts arguably the freest press in Africa, with no shortage of revelations about shady deals or satirical cartoons lampooning politicians' foibles. Freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and other media, has been protected under the constitution. But opponents of the bill believe the gains of the past 18 years are under threat and warn that the rest of the continent is watching. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, journalists continue to be harassed and arrested, while state broadcasters remain firmly under President Robert Mugabe's control.

Andrew Feinstein, a former African National Congress (ANC) MP whose exposure of a corrupt multibillion-pound arms deal might have resulted in his prosecution under the new laws, said: "I think that if this democracy continues to weaken – and I believe it has over the past few years – there is no doubt that that has a knock-on effect, because I think for many countries in Africa the comparison is always made with South Africa as this bright shining star of democracy. If that comparison no longer holds, it lets a lot of other countries off the hook in many ways."

Nic Dawes, editor of South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper, said: "We're already hearing from people elsewhere on the continent that their politicians and government officials are saying to them: 'You see, they're even doing this in South Africa, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be doing it here.'

"That's one of the most dangerous things about the bill: the excuse it will give to other countries elsewhere in the region, that had been opening up, to begin to tip in the other direction. It's really very disturbing."

South Africa, in turn, is feeling the repercussions of the phone hacking saga and debate over press regulation in Britain, Dawes added. "Almost every time that I have a discussion with someone about either the protection of state information bill or the ANC's proposals for statutory media regulation, the British phone hacking scandal is brought up as an example of why these kinds of moves are necessary."

The governing ANC defends the bill as a necessary update to laws made 30 year ago during apartheid. The party claims it will tighten national security and is not aimed at the media. The bill is under review by South Africa's parliament and, following pressure from activists, has already been subject to many revisions.

But hopes of a climbdown on the bill were dashed on Wednesday when the state security department rejected amendments proposed by the ANC. Dennis Dlomo, the department's acting director general, rejected calls to limit the power of the ministry to delegate classification powers, reduce penalties and limit the heavy onus placed on the accused.

Dlomo also shrugged off pressure from campaigners to include a public interest defence clause, saying: "They want a post-disclosure test of public interest. We want a pre-disclosure test. The last point on this is really simple. What if a whistleblower gives away top secret, legitimately classified information?"

In response Alf Lees, an MP for the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, asked: "The department surely does not want to create the impression that it wishes to protect alleged criminals or punish those who earnestly expose corrupt and criminal behaviour?"

Keeping up pressure for reform is vital, according the civil society alliance Right2Know, which has organised protests against the bill. Murray Hunter, one of its coordinators, said: "The secrecy bill has united people across the boundaries of space, race, class and ideology – from leafy suburbs to townships and informal settlements, shop floors and office blocks, university campuses and old-age homes. We can't stop pushing now; in fact, now's the time to start."

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Outcry Against Banking Practices with Michael Tellinger

(www.abndigital.com)

Author, researcher and scientist, Michael Tellinger has just filed his 1,100 page notice of motion against Standard Bank in the Constitutional Court, accusing the bank of "unlawful and unconstitutional activity". He also served the notice on the Reserve Bank and the Minister of Finance. Michael Tellinger joins ABN's Samantha Loring in studio to give us more details.

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