Political assasinations and the "party"

**curious george** · 09-02-2018, 10:15

Originally Posted by curious george

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/arti.../#.Wn1UkLiddOc

Basically for the purposes of this thread,the allegation is that paid cops are used as party assassins?

Without whistle-blowers, the scandal of the Guptas and the Vrede dairy farm would never have come to light. But one whistle-blower, Moses Chaka, appears to have paid with his life. Another, Doctor Radebe, suffered ostracism, threats and shots allegedly fired at his vehicle by police. In both cases, the investigations have ground to a halt. Tabelo Timse of AMABHUNGANE reports.

Moses Chaka, an auditor in the Free State department of agriculture, was investigating provincial projects, including the controversial Gupta-linked Vrede dairy farm, when he was hijacked and deliberately maimed in February 2013. He died after three agonising months in hospital.

Five years later his murder remains a mystery and his case has been referred to an inquest court after the police failed to make progress in the investigation.

In the second case, in June 2014 Doctor Radebe was driving through the gate of his house late one evening when police allegedly fired three bullets at his car and drove off.

Radebe is a former councillor in Vrede who first blew the whistle on the controversial dairy project.

Radebe claims he was also physically assaulted on more than one occasion by the project’s supporters and labelled an “enemy of employment” in Vrede.

The cases involving him have never been properly investigated, he says.

Now Radebe and the Chaka family are hoping that the developments around the Vrede scheme will bring fresh impetus and evidence to their cases.

Last month the Hawks raided Free State premier Ace Magashule’s office and the provincial department of agriculture, seizing documents and computers relating to the Vrede project.

The swoop followed a Free State High Court order to freeze assets amounting to R220-million‚ including Krynaauwslust farm in Vrede, where the project was situated.

Atul Gupta is one of the individuals affected by the order. The court papers contain allegations that R10-million of the funds paid to Estina – the Gupta front company purporting to run the dairy farm – was paid into Atul’s personal bank account.

The National Prosecuting Authority’s asset forfeiture unit told the court that most of the R220-million given to Estina for the project was siphoned off to other Gupta entities.

In June last year #GuptaLeaks reported that R30-million of the Estina cash went towards paying for the Guptas’ Sun City lavish wedding extravaganza.

In the early hours of February 22 2013, Moses Chaka was hijacked, brutally assaulted and left for dead.

Five years after his subsequent death in hospital, his family are still in the dark.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele told amaBhungane the case was referred to an inquest court in July last year:

“It came back with some further investigations to be conducted, and again this week it came back with requests from the court for some statements to be obtained as part of further investigations,” Makhele said.

But the family say they were not informed about the inquest until amaBhungane gave them the news last week.

Chaka’s 70-year-old father, David, said the family was unaware of the latest developments in the case.

Makhele claimed the investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Khaile Mathibe, had been in touch with Chaka’s former girlfriend.

“Even a week back she was engaged (by Mathibe), as the investigating officer was looking for some documents to assist him in this investigation,” he said.

However, David Chaka told amaBhungane he did not understand why Mathibe was speaking to his son’s girlfriend and excluding the family.

“What kinds of documents would he still be looking for? He has been on this case for five years,” Chaka said. “He was communicating with us from the beginning. We were the ones who went to his flat and collected his belongings. Why would he update the girlfriend and not me, his father?”

At the time of his death Chaka was the Free State department of agriculture’s chief auditor, and was investigating the department’s Mohoma-Mobung project, which included the dairy farm.

According to a 2013 News24 report, Chaka raised the ire of senior officials when he asked questions about the allocation of millions of rands for controversial government projects.

Known for his tough anti-corruption stance, in 2012 Chaka was given credit for his efforts to restore financial order at the Setsoto municipality, which came under the spotlight after the death of service delivery activist Andries Tatane a year earlier.

Chaka was the municipal audit committee chairperson, responsible for helping restore fiscal discipline. Asked by the former Free State MEC for co-operative governance, Mamiki Qabathe, to probe the municipality’s affairs, he produced a damning forensic report.

He then took up employment at the department of agriculture in late 2012.

Mosebenzi Zwane, then the Free State MEC for agriculture, drove the provincial government to adopt the Vrede project in June 2012.

In October that year, the Guptas took him and his gospel choir on an all-expenses-paid Indian tour.

In December that year the Guptas’ front company, Estina, obtained a rent-free 99-year lease on the 4,400-hectare Krynaauwslust farm outside Vrede, Zwane’s home town.

amaBhungane visited Chaka’s family in Mafikeng in 2014 and spoke to his father David Chaka, who expressed disappointment over how the police had handled the case.

Four years later, little seems to have changed.

Last week he told amaBhungane: “At the beginning the investigator was so promising, and he used to keep contact with us, updating us on the things he is discovering.

“He seemed like someone who knows his job, but as time went on we started not hearing or receiving any update, like someone was tipped off or threatened.

“When we called him, he kept telling us this case is complicated. It’s more than three years that we haven't heard anything,” Chaka said.

amaBhungane’s 2014 visit came after several tip-offs that there was a possible link between the Vrede dairy farm project and Chaka’s murder.

According to a statement in the docket that David Chaka has read, a witness said he had seen his son being dragged down the road tied to a bakkie – his own Corsa van – with his hands bound at around 3am.

At about 7am Chaka knocked on the door of a nearby house. The person who opened the door recognised him as the man that the bakkie had dragged down the street, and called the police.

In 2014 Chaka's father restated what he could remember from the person’s statement: “He (Moses) was full of blood and had no shirt on; police came to that house and took him to the police station and my son told the officers that he was hijacked by two Sotho-speaking men. He had bruises on the side of his stomach and right arm. Police then took him to hospital,” he said.

A case of hijacking was opened at Parkweg police station on the same night.

Chaka died three months later, on May 18 2013, apparently from continued bleeding.

According to a News24 report, a hospital employee with knowledge of his injuries said they “were indicative of torture”.

David Chaka recalled that the docket indicated that his son had received a phone call at 2am and that he was believed to have gone out to meet a mysterious person.

The father told us in 2014: “His cellphone was never found and we were told that a court order to get his phone records was being processed.

“When we inquired about progress in the case, we were told police managed to track down the last number Moses called, but that the person denied knowing my son. At that stage the police claimed they didn't have the cell records, so how they tracked this guy down I don't know,’ Chaka said.

“The police were also supposed to get CCTV footage from the places David was seen at that night, but we never heard anything about progress in this matter.”

The second case was that of Doctor Radebe, a DA councillor in 2012 at the Phumelela municipality, incorporating Vrede, when the idea of a dairy project was mooted.

“From the get-go I knew something was amiss,” Radebe said last week. “Estina’s presentation did not make any sense and it was rushed, so we couldn’t even ask questions.”

His troubles started when he tried to get details of the project on several occasions. “When we started to see the Gupta brothers in tow, my suspicions were confirmed that this project would be a disaster,” said Radebe.

Radebe became a vocal critic of the dairy farm, but after his name appeared in a newspaper report he says supporters of the project began taunting him.

He said he noticed a pattern that whenever an article was published exposing the project, strange things would happen to him.

“I was labelled the enemy of job creation and physically assaulted on several occasions by the members of ANC. When I went to the local police station, I was told I should go Bethlehem, as this was a political incident,” said Radebe.

In 2013, he said he received a call from someone who claimed to be from Premier Ace Magashule’s office and said he was investigating the dairy project after media reports.

“I met this person and I told him all my suspicions about the project. He took notes and seemed to be genuinely interested in what I was saying.

“However, at the end of the interview this person asked me if I knew anything about Moses Chaka’s murder and I said I hadn’t I read about it in the newspapers. This guy then warned me that I should be careful and always look over my shoulder,” said Radebe.

He took the “warning” as a threat and stopped the interview.

The following day the same man called him: “He said he was at Magashule’s office and was putting me on loudspeaker to confirm that he indeed spoke to me. After the phone call I did my own investigation and found out this guy was from state intelligence,” Radebe said.

Magashule’s spokesperson Tiisetso Makhele said Magashule denied sending an intelligence operative to confront Radebe or anyone else.

“This is a fabrication and the Premier rejects these distortions with the contempt they deserve,” Makhele said.

Radebe also alleges that in late 2013 he attended a funeral where Magashule was among the speakers: “I remember in his speech he said that there was only one person in this town who was against the project and that person will not stop it. Everyone looked at me and I left.

“From then onwards I stopped going to public events. I became an outsider.”

Makhele disputed these allegations, saying: “The Premier does not know the Radebe mentioned in your inquiry, neither does the Premier know about the funeral where the alleged 'intimidation' was made ...

“Why has he waited so many years before lodging his complaint against the Premier, especially because he was intimidated? Why did he not approach the authorities?”

Finally, Radebe claims that in June 2014, police fired live ammunition at his car without provocation. He says he believes the incident was linked to his stance on the dairy project, because one of the police officers was the member of the ANC Youth League.

“I was driving home one night and noticed a police car following me… When I got to the gate I noticed the police van had stopped behind me. Two officers got out and asked me why I didn’t stop when they asked me to.

“When I asked if I had disobeyed their instructions and why they didn’t put their blue lights on, they told me the sirens were not working. The next thing I knew one of them shot at my car three times and then they left.

“I went to the police station to open a case and they referred me to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. I opened a case with (the directorate), but till this day I haven’t received a call from them.”

Radebe said he kept on raising questions and awareness about the project because it was the right thing to do.

“Seeing the latest developments round this project I feel vindicated, because for many years I lived in fear.”

The Public Protector, Busi Mkhwabane, is also investigating the Vrede project, but there are allegations that her office is delaying the release of the report.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) lodged a complaint in 2013.

Spokesperson for the office Cleo Mosana said the “report is at final stages, though we have not received input of beneficiaries, as promised by the DA”.

DA provincial leader Roy Jankielsohn denied that additional information was outstanding. “I submitted everything I have on this project, even the beneficiary list and contact numbers. I have made it clear on several occasions that there is no additional information.

“I know for a fact the report is done and waiting for a signature (of the Public Protector). She must just sign and release it.”

Jankielsohn said the report was supposed to have been released last year June, but he was told that input from the implicated parties was outstanding.
“Now she is blaming the DA. She is just passing the buck and using delaying tactics. As a complainant I am beginning to wonder what her motives are and whose interests she is serving,” Jankielsohn said. DM

**curious george** · 15-02-2018, 15:26

Follow up article:

https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics...military-base/

**curious george** · 20-02-2018, 10:51

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...house-13377701

**kakuli** · 20-02-2018, 11:01

Well kept lawn I see, Just think of having this monstrosity built next to you

**Maroelas** · 26-02-2018, 22:33

Due to to political killings, KZN has had the most by-elections in SA

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...n-sa-20180226?

shared via @News24

**curious george** · 07-03-2018, 10:12

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...-home-13629798

Depoutch Elese was a controversial figure in Crossroads, and had one point been accused of being a "warlord" by his opponents. Picture: Facebook

Cape Town - The ANC confirmed on Tuesday evening that one of its provincial executive committee members, and a former City of Cape Town councillor, Elese Depouche died after he was shot at his home in Crossroads.

Depouche was axed as a councillor in 2015 after he was found guilty for a January 2013 incident in which he pointed a firearm at an elderly resident of Nyanga.

Read: Councillor removed for pointing gun

Ahead of the ANC’s provincial general council to confirm delegates to the party’s December elective conference in Soweto last year, Depouche had been one of the members protesting against the “exclusion” of several branches by the party’s Dullah Omar (Cape Town metro) leadership who were supporting former presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The former councillor had been a controversial figure in Crossroads where many residents blamed him for intimidating opponents at a stalled housing development - Boys Town - which has been the subject of protests over the allocation of houses.

Although the circumstances around his death are unknown, ANC deputy provincial secretary Thandi Manikivana confirmed that Depouche had been shot dead while entering the garage of his house.

Political Bureau

**curious george** · 09-03-2018, 20:41

Guess its more difficult to arrange a car crash in a prison cell...

(This dude went from constable to capt in a day,political loose ends n all that.At one stage in charge of the state's efforts against cit gangs.)

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/N...rison-20180309

Pretoria – Former crime intelligence officer Morris "Captain KGB" Tshabalala allegedly poisoned himself on Friday afternoon while detained at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria.

A source close to the Tshabalala investigation told News24 that Tshabalala poisoned himself after hearing that his parole was revoked and that he was now a sentenced prisoner.

READ: SAPS fires 'Captain KGB' Morris Tshabalala

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesperson Moses Dlamini confirmed that he received reports that Tshabalala had poisoned himself and that the directorate had sent a team to the prison to investigate.

Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed that Tshabalala had to be treated by the prison's medical personnel after reporting that he was not feeling well.

"The inmate was stabilised and subsequently transferred to an outside facility for further medical examination," said Nxumalo.

Difficulty securing evidence

Last week, Tshabalala lodged a fresh bail application, based on new facts, in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria after his first bail application, in the same court, was dismissed in January.

His lawyer, Advocate Annelene Van den Heever, told the court that it was their intention to proceed with the bail application. However, due to the "contentious" nature of the case, they ran into difficulty securing evidence.

Van den Heever also asked the court to assist it by subpoenaing certain witnesses and prosecutor Chris Smith agreed to assist.

In January, Magistrate Nicola Setshoege dismissed Tshabalala's first bail application, finding that he had failed to prove that it would be in the interest of justice for the court to release him.

Setshoege said the fact that "Captain KGB" had failed to report to serve a prison sentence, after his appeal against an armed robbery conviction was dismissed in 1994, was proof of this.

While evading a prison sentence for more than 15 years, Tshabalala joined the South African Police Service and failed to disclose his previous conviction, the magistrate added.

Continued to receive salary

"There cannot be any guarantee that any bail condition can be effectively monitored."
Tshabalala claimed that he did not knowingly or intentionally evade his 10-year prison sentence and explained that his legal representatives at the time had told him his appeal had been successful.

But, according to IPID, Tshabalala never reported to serve his prison sentence and was on the run. He then joined the police, working for crime intelligence until he was rearrested in 2013.

According to the State, after Tshabalala was rearrested, he was dismissed from the police and spent two and a half years in prison while allegedly still receiving a salary from crime intelligence.

"Information received from sources is that he continued to receive a salary," Smith told the court during the first bail application.
After he was released, he was re-enlisted in the police service, before resigning to become an undercover agent for crime intelligence, according to IPID.

Fraud charges

However, police have dismissed these claims by IPID. Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo previously told News24 that Tshabalala has not been on their system or payroll since he was dismissed in 2013.

Tshabalala has been charged with fraud, theft and corruption; which relates to the submission of alleged fraudulent invoices to the tune of R563 005, sourced for blinds and curtains for safe houses in Pretoria.

The invoices were submitted by Tshabalala and authorised by a major general, and the sum was paid out in cash.

IPID alleges that Tshabalala sourced a quote from Umwezo Wethu Promotions CC for R270 000, but requested R478 900 to be paid to him from the crime intelligence secret service account.

He allegedly pocketed R208 900, and then received an additional R50 000 as a kickback from Umwezo Wethu Promotions.

In another transaction, he allegedly requested R85 105 from crime intelligence, but only paid the same company R39 500, pocketing R45 605.

During Tshabalala's first bail application, it was also revealed that he is being investigated for a R50m budget allocated to him during the ANC's 2012 elective conference in Mangaung, that "was not properly accounted for".

According to an affidavit by IPID national head of investigations Matthews Sesoko, Tshabalala was appointed as the head of an operation named Rapid Deployment Intelligence. The operation was established to conduct intelligence work for the ANC's 53rd conference which was held in Mangaung.

His second bail application is supposed to be heard on March 14.

**curious george** · 10-03-2018, 22:04

http://ewn.co.za/2018/03/10/anc-kzn-...sidents-killed

**curious george** · 22-03-2018, 15:03

https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics...ble-condition/

**curious george** · 15-05-2018, 22:40

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/sou...in-parliament/

DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard claimed in parliament on Tuesday that former president Jacob Zuma and other top ANC politicians had taken out a hit on former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen.

Kohler-Barnard, the DA's shadow police minister, made the shocking claim during the police ministry’s budget debate.

She [Kohler-Barnard] mentioned three sources and I am aware of four, and they are all impeccable.

Among the alleged co-conspirators, she said, were KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma; KwaZulu-Natal MEC for economic development, and environmental affairs Sihle Zikalala; and former South African Airways board chairperson Dudu Myeni.
They had met hitmen outside Durban, she claimed.

“So great is the fear of General Booysen that a hit has allegedly been taken out on him,” she said.

“There is confirmation from three independent and reliable sources that MK [Umkhonto weSizwe] veterans from Cornubia near Phoenix in KwaZulu-Natal have been taken on to do the job after meetings with none other than Jacob Zuma, Super Zuma and Sihle Zikalala,” Kohler-Barnard said.

“Dudu Myeni is also implicated after meetings with the vets. Indeed, if General Booysen so much as stubs his toe, we’ll know where to look.”

Booysen, speaking to TimesLIVE, confirmed he was aware of a hit placed on his life.
“She [Kohler-Barnard] mentioned three sources and I am aware of four, and they are all impeccable. It [the alleged hit] first came to my notice about a month ago when I was contacted by someone from KwaZulu-Natal who tipped me off,” he said on Tuesday evening.
“Although I was careful, I didn’t act on it officially. Then two weeks ago I received another call.”

He said his concerns had been heightened because his sources were independent of each other and moved in different circles.

“Last week I met a third source at my office and he told me that the same trio wanted to have me killed, and he was very concerned. On the same day another source of mine in Mpumalanga told me he needed to see me urgently. I met him at the airport and he revealed the exact same story.

“Normally when it comes from one place you need to be careful, but this has come from four sources, each independent of each other. I have not yet taken this to the police [because] I don’t want to expose my contacts. I am watching my back,” said Booysen.

Contacted on Tuesday, Super Zuma dismissed the allegations as nonsense.
“That is rubbish … no such meeting has taken place. I have never even met Johan Booysen and as such I should not have to respond to nonsense,” he said.

Jacob Zuma’s spokesman, Vukile Mathabela, said he was unaware of the allegations but would respond later.

Zikalala told TimesLIVE: "I wish to be clear, I know nothing about that. I have never been part of such a meeting. At no point I have been in a discussion of that nature."

Myeni said via text message that she would consider taking legal action.

"I am on sick leave. Please send me [an] email with questions and documents, dates and venue of meetings referred to suggesting what you have said. I will seek legal advice as it is very defamatory especially hearing names I don't even know," she said.

This story was updated to include Zikalala's and Myeni's comments.