WANTS EXPANDED POWERS: Embattled South Africa president Jacob Zuma
South African President Jacob Zuma survived a rebellion in his own African National Congress, his spokesman said Tuesday, after discussions over his future in the party’s top decision-making panel dragged on for three days.
“He is the president, yes. Of both the ANC and the country,” said Mr. Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga. The three-day meeting of the ANC’s National Executive Committee presented the biggest challenge yet to Mr. Zuma’s seven-year presidency. Tweets by participants in the meeting, which ended late Monday, and local media reports suggested members of the 86-person NEC were taking turns speaking out in favor or against the president staying in office.
Several newspapers reported that at least three members of Mr. Zuma’s cabinet had supported holding a no-confidence motion against him. Spokesmen for the ministers either declined to comment or couldn’t be reached.
The ANC has said that it will hold a news conference later Tuesday, which is expected to chart out the way forward for the president and the party ahead of 2019 general elections.
The ANC is scheduled to hold its main congress in late 2017, which would be a natural moment for slotting in not only a new party leader but also a new president ahead of the national vote. One option would be to bring forward those deliberations.
Some analysts speculated that the failed insurgency against Mr. Zuma could herald a shake-up in South Africa’s cabinet, with those who spoke out against the president being replaced by loyalists.
“It is possible that the President will consider a cabinet reshuffle, or even that ministers will resign en masse,” South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank said in a research note.
The focus here will be on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who is seen as one of the of the voices most critical of the president—although he wasn’t reported to be one of the ministers to have actively pushed for Mr. Zuma’s ouster at the NEC meeting. Both Messrs. Gordhan and Zuma have said they are working together to improve South Africa’s economy.
Other commentators said they expected that Mr. Zuma’s weakened state would require him to keep opponents on board.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is expected to release its review of South Africa’s credit worthiness Friday. The agency, which has South Africa just one notch above junk with a negative outlook, has previously warned about the risks to the economy from the political turmoil.
The 74-year-old Mr. Zuma, who was on his way Tuesday to attend the funeral of Fidel Castro in Cuba, has been met by an accelerating onslaught of corruption allegations, along with criticism of his handling of the economy and the ANC’s poor performance in August’s local elections.
In March, South Africa’s highest court found he had violated the Constitution by refusing to repay taxpayer money used to remodel his private home. Mr. Zuma has since repaid some of the funds.
A month later, another court ruled that a 2009 decision to drop corruption charges against Mr. Zuma was ‘irrational’ and should be reviewed. The president has denied any wrongdoing.
The biggest setback for Mr. Zuma came this month, when an official report from the country’s top corruption watchdog said there were ‘worrying’ indications that he allowed a family of rich businessmen to direct cabinet appointments and gain overly generous state contracts.
Mr. Zuma on Friday said he would go to court to challenge the report.
A model walks the runway at the David Tlale fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2014 at The Pavilion at Lincoln Center on February 9, 2014 in New York City.
Renowned South African designer David Tlale will headline a fashion showcase at the annual Abryanz Style and Fashion Awards.
Tlale, a Ciroc brand ambassador for South Africa will be in good company as ASFA organiser Brian Ahumuza was recently named Ciroc brand ambassador for Uganda.
Designer David Tlale with male supermodel Tyson Beckford.
Tlale’s rise to the top begun in 2002, when he was a semi-finalist at the South African Fashion Week Elle New Talent Show Competition.
Designer David Tlale walks the runway during the Arise: African Promise Collective Spring 2010 show during New York Fashion Week, September 11, 2009. REUTERS/Eric Thayer (UNITED STATES FASHION) – RTR27QES
In 2003, he went on to launch his label. In 2007, Tlale was one of four young South African Fashion designers selected to present a showcase his Collection during/around Paris Couture week.
The Fashion magnet was also afforded an opportunity to design and produce South African Express Airline’s uniform.
In 2009, Tlale won ‘Designer of the Year” for his debut spring/summer 2010 Ready-to-Wear Collection at the Africa Fashion Week awards hosted by international super model Alek Week.
The African Fashion International award afforded Tlale the opportunity to debut his label at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York Spring / Summer 2010, along with three other African designers.
South African fashion icon David Tlale
He also showcased during the FIFA World Cup tournament at Africa Fashion Week 2010, earning him the title ‘King of Fashion in SA’ by the South African press.
In 2011, he closed the iconic ‘Nelson Mandela Bridge’ in Johannesburg presenting a showcase the featured 92 models including popular South African celebrities, sports personalities and musicians walking this remarkable runway to celebrate Mandela’s 92nd birthday.
David Tlale will be the headline Fashion Designer, at the Ciroc sponsored ASFAs on December 9, at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
AGREED OF FORCE DEPLOYMENT: South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Hailemariam Desalegn, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir Monday said he accepted the deployment of the regional protection force because he has received numerous assurances of support and cooperation from the United Nations and regional leaders.
The president also disclosed he received assurances from regional leaders that the force would never take unilateral decisions.
“Many leaders from the region have been calling and asked me to accept on behalf of the people of South Sudan the deployment of the regional protection force. I told them this is not a personal thing for me to just decide. I said I will consult with the people. And so we did this with the stakeholders,” Kiir said.
He added that his first deputy Taban Deng Gai who leads a splinter faction of the SPLM-IO and his team consulted among themselves and they agreed that this should be taken to the cabinet where a formal decision was taken to accept the 4000 strong force on Friday.
The head of state was speaking to some members of the Dinka Council of Elders who visited him at his residence to congratulate him on the acceptance of the deployment of the regional protection force and for a successful foreign trip to Equatorial Guinea for Arab- Africa summit.
President Kiir, according to one of his top aides, also requested them to campaign for peace and reconciliation in the country, saying war does not resolve differences. He further declared his personal commitment to end the conflict.
“We have accepted the deployment of the regional protection force because of peace. We need our people to return to their homes and resume their normal lives. If this force will play a positive role, then let them come,” said president Kiir according to one of his top aides.
The South Sudanese government initially rejected the deployment of troops from countries sharing immediate borders with the young nation saying “they have interests in the country.”
But after a visit of the Ethiopian Prime Hailemariam Desalegn, at the end of October 2016, Juba said it accepts the participation of the Ethiopian troops in the regional force and said they signed a security agreement to stop hosting armed opposition groups in their respective countries.
UN Special Representative to Somalia Michael Keating
Presidential elections in Somalia are expected to be postponed to December following the failure to meet deadlines for the Lower House elections in regional states.
According to Michael Keating, the UN Special Representative to Somalia, the presidential elections earlier scheduled for tomorrow, November 30, could be postponed to next month, as the parliamentary elections are still in progress in various regions in Somalia.
He added the elected lawmakers could then vote for the new Somali President mid next month.
About 50-percent of the parliamentary elections are complete, whereas country’s electoral and dispute bodies said they will carry out investigations into allegations of corruption, irregularities and intimidation that could result in the nullification of results of seats won in rigged elections.
This is the fourth time the election is being delayed, as the Somali leader’s term ended on September 10.
In the past the International community has urged Somali leaders to implement the electoral process.
South Sudanese authorities Monday barred the ceasefire monitoring team from reaching Yei to assess the security situation in the troubled Central Equatoria region .
In a statement, the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) said one of its teams was ‘denied freedom of movement while trying to reach Yei to conduct an assessment of the area and carry out its mandated activities’.
The ceasefire monitoring mechanism said they got the green light from all the concerned authorities including the Joint Military Ceasefire Commission since early this month.
“However when the MVT began their journey from Juba this morning they were stopped at a check point on the outskirts of the city and told they would not be allowed pass beyond that point,” said the statement.
The ceasefire mechanism called on the Transitional Government of National Unity to intervene to ensure that its teams can visit Yei.
” The CTSAMM would like to reiterate that it has a legal right to be present in South Sudan as stipulated in Chapter II of the ARCSS, and condemns, in the strongest terms, the denial of freedom of movement for the CTSAMM MVTs,” said the statement.
In line with the peace agreement, the CTSAMM is tasked with the monitoring of the implementation of the Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements (PCTSA).
Since last summer, different reports emerged from areas in Yei speaking about attacks by armed opposition elements in the area who are described as ‘terrorists’ or ‘anti-peace elements’ by the local authorities. Other reports also cited violent counterinsurgency operations by the government army in the area.
On November 12, Adama Dieng, UN special adviser on prevention of genocide, called to probe the human rights violations in Yei, stressing the gravity of the situation there ‘merits immediate intervention – a full scale fact-finding investigation and enhanced humanitarian support’.
Also, Dieng mentioned reports about the expulsion of farmers from their agricultural plots into Yei town.
“These farmers have lost their homes and belongings, livestock and land. Property has been looted and villages have been burned,” he said.
DEFIANT: President Museveni's critic Alice Ruhindi, who is also an in-law to former Prime Minister and presidential candidate John Patrick Amama Mbabazi.
President Yoweri Museveni has left the country for South Africa for a two-day working visit, where is set to meet his counterpart Jacob Zuma.
“I have left for South Africa on a two-day working visit. I will hold bilateral talks with His Excellency Jacob Zuma @SAPresident,” the President tweeted Monday.
The President’s visit comes in the wake of chaos that has engulfed Kasese town over the last few days, leaving over 60 people dead and the King of the Rwenzururu Kingdom Charles Wesley Mumbere arrested.
The President’s tweet elicited some negative comments, and one of the people to respond to it is Alice Ruhindi, an in-law to the former Prime Minister and presidential candidate, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi.
In her ‘response’, Ms Ruhindi a younger sister to Mbabazi’s wife, and National Resistance Movement (NRM) government critic, advised the President not to return to Uganda but instead seek asylum in South Africa.
‘Please don’t come back. Seek asylum in SA,’ Ms Ruhindi, a known critic of the President ever since he fell out with her in-law, wrote.
Meanwhile, Ms Ruhindi is not the only person to have had such a response. There are others with similar responses on their social media platforms.
Rasta Magt Afidhu …People of Kasese need your presence in the country and you are busy moving around!! There is nothing productive in those “BILATERAL TALKS” even if you secure some deal, your greedy corrupt MPs will swindle every deal in their favour. So come back and settle your people first.
'DROP TERRORISM CHARGES CPJ IMPLORES UGANDA GOVERNMENT': Renowned TV Anchor Joy Doreen Biira who was arrested by police yesterday.
Journalist Joy Doreen Biira has been charged with abetting terrorism.
However, after being charged and she has been released with four others on police bond.
Earlier, KTN Television, current employers, of Joy Doreen Biira and one of the biggest stations in Kenya has vowed to fight what it has called violations of journalists’ rights.
“We must stand up against dictatorship and journalists’ violation #FreeJoyDoreen,” the station tweeted today.
“It’s so sad what I’ve witnessed today with my own eyes — part of the palace of the kingdom I’m from, the Rwenzururu Kingdom, burning down. It felt like watching your heritage deplete before my eyes…..” KTN journalist, Doreen Biira wrote on Facebook yesterday, reacting to the invasion of the Rwenzururu palace that left over 60 dead. Ms Biira posted and it is what has earned her to coolers curtsey of both Uganda police and the army.
Charge sheet
In addition to the post, she shared with her followers photographs of some of what she had seen and this brought her on collision with security.
Journalist Joy Doreen Biira at the police station in Kasese earlier today. Ms Biira has not yet been released despite assurances by AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi that she would be released on bail.
KTN Television, current employers, of Joy Doreen Biira and one of the biggest stations in Kenya has vowed to fight what it has called violations of journalists’ rights.
“We must stand up against dictatorship and journalists’ violation #FreeJoyDoreen,” the station tweeted today.
“It’s so sad what I’ve witnessed today with my own eyes — part of the palace of the kingdom I’m from, the Rwenzururu Kingdom, burning down. It felt like watching your heritage deplete before my eyes…..” KTN journalist, Doreen Biira wrote on Facebook yesterday, reacting to the invasion of the Rwenzururu palace that left over 60 dead. Ms Biira posted and it is what has earned her to coolers curtsey of both Uganda police and the army
In addition to the post, she shared with her followers photographs of some of what she had seen and this brought her on collision with security.
She was arrested last night together with five others including her fiancé who she had just introduced to the family in a traditional ceremony. Despite earlier promise to release her by police, she is still under detention at Kasese Police station.
Earlier in the day there was some hope of releasing her when the Flying squad police took her to her parents for a house search, though after the search, she was returned to the station where she is still under detention.
“Thing is men have been killed. Not just men but possibly bread winners of families from both sides – the army and the royal guards. Importantly I have watched part of my heritage burn up in flames from nearby…..” she added.
The ongoing violence in Kasese and the attendant behavior of Rwenzururu King Charles Wesley Mumbere has re-ignited debate on the relationship between Uganda’s royalty and the Executive led by President Yoweri Museveni.
It is important to note that since Independence in 1962, the monarchs in Uganda have had a not-so-cordial relationship with the central government, the climax of this antipathy resulting in the attack on Mengo on April 24, 1966 that led to Kabaka Edward Mutesa of Buganda being deposed (Uganda Crisis) and the subsequent abolishment of the kingdoms by then President Apollo Milton Obote in 1967. Other kingdoms affected by Obote’s directive included Ankole under Omugabe Charles Gasyonga, Bunyoro-Kitara under Omukama Tito Winyi Gafabusa IV, Toro under Omukama David Mathew Patrick Olimi Kaboyo VII and Busoga under Kyabazinga Wilberforce Kadhumbula Nadiope, Uganda’s first Vice President under Obote from 1962 to 1966.
Yoweri Museveni who has persistently blamed Obote for abolishing kingdoms is now faced with the same problems of traditional institutions.
Partly because of his recalcitrant character and loose oversight over the army, Obote was deposed by Colonel Idi Amin Dada, a former Army Commander of the Uganda Army. However, much as Amin did all in his power to appease Ugandans during his early days at the helm of government, he did not pretend about monarchism and conspicuously refused to reinstate the kingdoms during his 8-year rule between January 1971 and April 1978 that was characterized by brutality. And when the Tanzanians and a few Ugandan exiles finally drove Amin out of Kampala, the two subsequent short-lived governments under Yusuf Kironde Lule, a former pro-monarchist, a Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, a former adherent to republicanism and both Baganda, turned a ‘deaf ear’ to calls for the reinstatement of Kingdoms. Indeed, it was Binaisa who, while serving as Attorney General, drafted the ‘pigeon-hole Constitution’ of 1967 that abolished the kingdoms.
Then enter Obote II under the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) in December 1980, and there was no talk whatsoever about the reinstatement of the kingdoms for all the five years Obote was in power. This was not surprising as he was the one responsible for their abolition in 1967.
However, the fire for regal reinstatement in Uganda received a boost with the assumption of power in 1986 by the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A). According to reports, many Baganda decided to support the bush war against Obote on the understanding that on attainment of power, the NRM/A would restore the Buganda kingdom. In his submissions on the ‘Buganda Question’ one of the pro-Buganda advocates, NRM/A veteran and Minister without Portfolio Hajji Abdul Nadduli, has attested to this development. He is nonetheless not a lone voice as Presidential Advisor John Nagenda, one of the instrumental personalities that introduced then Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi to the NRM/A will tell you.
And so it was in 1993 that NRM/A Chairman Yoweri Museveni convened a High Command meeting in Gulu in 1993, and introduced the subject of the return of kingdoms in Uganda, otherwise known as the Restoration and Restitution of the Kingdoms 1993 Bill. At the time, the move elicited some opposition and the notable voices included among others then Brigadier David Tinyefuza (now General Sejusa); then NRM/A Chief Political Commissar Lieutenant Colonel Dr Kizza Besigye, then Presidential Private Secretary (PPS) Lt. Col. Serwanga Lwanga and former pro-monarchist, the late AlHajji Abubaker Kayama Mayanja who, even at one time reportedly asserted that the Baganda had sold then ‘Republic House’, the former seat of the Buganda Kingdom that was called Bulange.
Milton Obote, turned Uganda into a republic before abolishing kingdoms.
But despite all the said protestations, the NRA High Command okayed the restitution of the kingdoms, and their position was reinforced when the 1995 Constitution fully recognized the kingdoms and the ‘powers of their Kings’. However, under the new law there was a catchphrase; cultural leaders as they were called then were not to indulge in politics; they were to remain apolitical!
This unforeseen development took the pro-monarchists by surprise, with the Buganda group saying they had been given ‘byoya bya nswa’, literally meaning that little or nothing had been achieved out of the engagement the pro-monarchists had had with the NRM/A government. However, the government insisted that Buganda would get back all its properties, piecemeal, as this would allow for a smooth reclaim without necessarily rocking the political status obtaining in the country then. Both groups were dissatisfied with the offers accorded each other, resulting into lingering questions on the good faith of the negotiators. Further, the lack of appreciation for what was on offer would lead Baganda pro-monarchists officially led by then Katikiro Joseph Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere to advocate for a Federal (Federo) status, while the government through the local government ministry insisted on having a ‘regional tier’ system, hitherto an obscure amalgam of the two political systems.
However, talks about the two political systems stalled when Kabaka Ronald Mutebi appointed diehard monarchist Dan Mulika as the new Katikiro, replacing moderate Mulwanyamuli, a one-time close confidant and Dar es Salaam University Old Boy (OB) of Museveni, who even served as a Special District Administrator (SDA) in the early NRM/A administration. Mengo went cold, so did the Kabaka who, at the time, was also blocked from accessing parts of his kingdom including areas in Buruuli and Kayunga, home to the antagonistic Baruuli and Banyala, respectively. The blame for the woes encircling the Kabaka as an individual and the Buganda kingdom as an institution was laid at the door steps of government and at the time, somewhere in 2009, President Museveni lamented that the Kabaka had even refused to take his calls. Apparently, it is not only Kabaka Mutebi who has refused to take Mr Museveni’s call when there is a stalemate between the traditional leaders and central government and sources say the current standoff between the Rwenzururu King Mumbere and Mr Museveni’s government saw the former at one time refusing to take the President’s successive calls shortly before he was arrested.
President Museveni greeting Buganda king, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi. Kabaka Mutebi was once stopped to travel to Kayunga part of his kingdom.
Meanwhile, in an almost similar protest, in July 2014 Tooro King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru IV started fasting, ostensibly protesting against Mr Museveni’s perceived decisions to create more ‘kingdoms’ out of his kingdom. At the time it is not known whether King oyo alsao rejected taking Mr Museveni’s calls but the then Tooro Prime Minister Steven Kaliba said that the king was ‘disappointed’ by the creation of the Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu and the Obudinghiya of Bwamba, which had ‘divided and weakened the power and supremacy of the Tooro Kingdom’. Mr Kaliba also said that King Oyo was disappointed by the government’s failure to return Tooro Kingdom’s assets.
King Mumbere telling off the police during the earlier violence.
Another interesting tale about Uganda’s hierarchical executive powers and traditional leadership has it that one elderly King from western Uganda allegedly close to the powers that be when he gave a ‘restricted number’ to one of his prominent subjects who had been involved in a land dispute and wanted the standoff resolved in his favour. After placing the call which allegedly rubbed the ‘powerful man’ the wrong way, phone communication between the ‘powerful man’ and the royal was called off indefinitely!
THREATENED TO 'DEAL' WITH HUBBY'S KILLER: Traditional herbalist Mama Fina, widow of slain UPDF officer Major Muhammad Kiggundu.
Major Muhammad Kiggundu and his bodyguard sergeant Steven Mukasa were on Saturday morning shot dead in Masanafu, Kampala.
Maj. Kiggundu was husband to the leader of herbalists in Uganda, Sylvia Namutebi popularly known as Maama Fiina, who has now threatened to deal with those responsible for the death of the deceased Islamic cleric-cum-soldier.
“I will make them (the killers) crawl to me…….” she said and implored police to speed up investigations related to her husband’s death. At the time he met his death, Kiggundu was heading to Pearl FM, where he has been a preacher of Islam.
Meanwhile, speaking in a hoarse voice occasioned by persistent wailing since the demise of her husband, Maama Fiina has promised to take care of her late husband’s family including the children of her co-wives.
Maj. Kiggundu is believed to have left behind over 14 children from different wives though he had none with Mama Fiina.
The couple wedded last year with Mama Fiina, changing her name from Sylvia to Sofie, an Islamic name of the religion which her late husband subscribed to.
