ANC officially asks Mbeki to go and hand over Inkwazi's keys

President Thabo Mbeki has officially been asked by the ANC to resign as head of state, and to hand over the keys to the presidential luxury jet Inkwazi, a member of the ruling party's leadership confirmed on Saturday.

The decision will see several key govenrment excutives also resign inculding Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. All further 'vacations/business trips/ crane inspections' are suspended.

It is understood that parliament will reconvene next week to formalise the process. Those involved in travelgate will be informed of availability of the Inkwazi.

Denzil Taylor, spokesperson for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Saturday morning that should parliament reconvene she would step down. - IOL - LOL

Flying Mampara of the week

Small man, big irony

One minute he’s the big hero, the great Zimbabwean peacebroker, the next he’s the Sprite Zero getting a huge rebuke from Pietermaritzburg High Court judge Chris Nicholson, who ruled that our Mampara and his chums in government had, in effect, breached the constitution.

What it amounts to is this: a court has ruled that the little imp, the world’s smallest president, used his position to interfere in the decision to prosecute Jacob Zuma to gain advantage in the struggle for the presidency of the ANC.

In so doing, Mr Air Miles has severely compromised the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority.

Not only is this a disgusting abuse of power, but it virtually ensures that Stalin Lite’s successor next year will be Zuma. - The Times

Gravy plane mentality

Hard-pressed taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for jet-setting politicians who jump at every chance to travel overseas, usually flying first or business class.

Shaun Byneveldt, an ANC member and the speaker of the Western Cape provincial parliament, is believed to have travelled to about 51 countries since he took up his position four years ago, taking family members with him on some trips.

One source said Byneveldt was "forever travelling", and appeared to spend more time out of the country than at work.

"He merrily travels all over the world and, being the speaker, he doesn't need permission from anyone," said the source.

He said a colleague had even joked with Byneveldt at a recent meeting about when he was planning to visit his 52nd country.

The source added that Byneveldt never produced a report afterwards and just appeared to travel "for the sake of it".

"It is a legitimate perk, but questions do need to be asked about what value he brings back."

Weekend Argus put several questions to Byneveldt about his trips:

How many overseas trips were at taxpayers' expense? How many days have you spent out of the office on these trips since you became speaker? What has been the total cost to the taxpayer a) in terms of your own expenses and b) the total cost of the trip to the taxpayer of the entire delegation that accompanied you in each of the past four years? How many people accompanied you on these trips in total? Have family members ever accompanied you and, if so, who has paid their expenses? Could you please also supply details of each trip with regard to the specific benefits that flowed to the taxpayers whose money was used to fund these trips. Byneveldt was given nearly a week to respond, but his office supplied only this statement: "The Western Cape provincial parliament and the office of the speaker in particular hereby reserve the right to respond fully to all and/or any matter raised in your aforesaid e-mail when adequate opportunity to do so avails itself, save to place on record, at this juncture, that the information that you rely on, in a variety of material respects, is incorrect." Members of the DA were also reluctant to comment. One source said it wasn't appropriate to question the speaker. He added that the delegates who accompanied Byneveldt were usually from various parties so no one wanted to rock the boat. Several years ago the DA hit out at what it called the "gravy plane mentality", referring to politicians flying business class instead of economy, which cost the taxpayer millions of rands. At the time Ebrahim Rasool, then premier, said he and his MECs were entitled to first-class flights, yet they chose the cheaper business class.

- Cape Argus

Mampara of the week

Thabo Mbeki: Executive Flying-blanch

The view from behind the smoked windows of his speeding car or the porthole of his flying bedroom has long been different to that held by ordinary people, but all we can think after the antics of the past week is that President Thabo Mbeki really is from another planet.

HIV/Aids, rampant rape, child murders, unemployment, kleptomanic Health ministers and bent police chiefs don’t exist where he comes from. “Virus? What virus?” he said, even as a loyal adviser died rather than take the antiretrovirals publicly derided by his boss.

The many meetings at which the chief prosecutor tried to tell him that the top cop was a crook, and his tacky talks with European arms merchants, were too mundane to burden his memory.

Of course, the race for the party presidency was beneath the dignity of our otherworldly leader, too.

But when he flies to Harare to be humiliated again by sulky Bob; when we see him on television stroking the hand of the last mad dictator and smiling into the cameras: “Crisis, what crisis?”; when he calls an election marred by broken heads, shattered limbs and bleeding faces “normal”; when he takes our common national pride to New York to chair the UN Security Council and forgets to mention Zimbabwe as an African challenge; when he tells the world’s press he can’t imagine where they got the idea he had ever denied the Zimbabwean crisis; when he makes us fools together on the world stage, then, at last, we must reluctantly conclude that the President of South Africa is a Mampara. - The Sunday Times

ZuMauritius

got to fly...

Presidential hopeful Jacob Zuma has travelled more than 3 000km to wage a fresh legal battle against his prosecution for corruption.

The Star can confirm that Zuma on Thursday served notice on the Mauritian Supreme Court, asking for the right to stop 13 documents - described by the state as "damning" evidence of corruption against him and French arms company Thint - from being handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

But Zuma's application, which has been scheduled to be heard next week, is expected to be greeted by fierce opposition from the Mauritian Attorney-General's office, which has also signalled its opposition to Thint's bid to intervene in the progress of the request...

According to the state, the diary details a March 2000 meeting which ended with an agreement on a R500 000-a-year bribe for Zuma from Thint in exchange for Zuma's protection from a potentially damaging arms-deal inquiry... The Star