PAGE 4 Friday, 28 October 2011

Politics

Fatigue takes toll in Jujus march

I hope my involvement in this march will make it possible for me to get a house. We are not supporting Malema here, we are taking part in a march to bring changes in our country
Luzuko Pongoma and Sapa ANC Youth League president Julius Malema handed a memorandum of grievances to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) yesterday. the people who are stealing our wealth must come on stage, Malema said from the back of a truck converted into a stage outside the JSE in Sandton. Down with white capital monopoly, he chanted. the crowd chanted Juju, Juju. An official from the JSE received the memorandum from Malema at 5.15pm. thank you for the opportunity. We will take your demands to the executive, he said. this upset the crowd who started singing Dubulibhunu (shoot the boer), which has been declared hate speech by a court. our demands are clear and they must respond as soon as possible, Malema said. We have come peacefully and we hope they can respect that. Malema said the crowd of thousands would rest for about an hour before continuing their trek to Pretoria. From here we are going to Pretoria. Every 10km we are going to stop and rest, he said. thandi Maseko, 50, from thembelihle south of Johannesburg, said she had been waiting at the JSE since the morning after travelling there by bus. She has lived in a shack for five years and has lived in thembelihle for 21 years. I hope my involvement in this march will make it possible for me to get a house. We are not supporting Malema here, we are taking part in a march to bring changes in our country. She said she would travel to Pretoria by bus to join the rest of the marchers. Malema visited thembelihle last week to drum up support for

WELL DISCIPLINED: ANC Youth League members listen to speeches.

PUBLIC OPINION: ANC Youth League supporters wave placards during the march. THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES: ANC Youth League president Julius Malema addressing his supporters during the economic freedom march in Sandton yesterday. Pictures: THEMBA MASEKO the economic freedom march. Some marchers vowed to walk to Pretoria, while others said they were too tired. I cant, Im too tired, said a man wearing an ANC hat and an ANC fleece blanket around his neck. the plan was to walk to Pretoria, about 50km from Johannesburg, where a night vigil was expected to be held at the union Buildings. Fears of a repeat of possible chaos and violence during the march came to naught. Apart from a scuffle between one of Malemas bodyguards and a group of protesters, who claimed he had shoved them, there were no reports of crowd trouble. Protesters heeded Malemas advice for them to remain disciplined. the only evidence of their presence after they had left were empty plastic water containers. once the marchers approached Rosebank fatigue took its toll. Some of the protesters were seen limping along Rivonia Road. others, clearly in distress, removed their shoes. Many others hitched rides from passing motorists. At least two people collapsed. Contrary to earlier reports that marchers intended to walk all the way to Pretoria, buses were available to ferry them to the capital city. they were expected to hold an all-night vigil at the Caledonian Stadium in Pretoria ahead of a march to the union Buildings planned for today. luzukop@thenewage.co.za

ON THEIR WAY: ANC Youth League marches to Chamber of Mines City Centre and to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Workers sent home as court orders Port St Johns municipality to close

Mawande Jack MuNICIPAL functions in the Port St Johns municipality have been brought to a halt after the cash-strapped local authority was closed down by the Mthatha high Court earlier this week. this followed a court application brought by one of the service providers, the South African Coast Guards, which looks after the coastal area, to order the municipality to pay the more than R10m owed to it. however, the municipality failed to pay the R10.9m and the sheriff of the court closed down the municipal offices on Monday as ordered by the court. Port St Johns used to thrive under the homeland government of Kaiser Matanzima. It was famous for its beaches. these remain neglected since the new democratic government came to power in 1994. the areas First Beach and Second Beach, as they were famously known, used to attract both international and national tourists. Mayor Mnyamezeli Mangqo confirmed the municipal offices had been closed and staff forced to stay at home. mawandej@thenewage. co.za

Africa on the verge of something big thanks to cloud computing

Scott Smith thERE is a lot of talk about Africa being the next big thing. the next big place to do business; the next place where enthusiasm far outweighs the current pessimism that filters through Europes people and the markets. It was a view shared by many speakers at the two-day tech4Africa conference at theForum in Bryanston, Johannesburg, which opened yesterday. Delegates, innovators and technologists alike listened to the greats of innovation such as herman Chinery-hesse, the man many consider to be the Bill Gates of Africa, who said: the technological wave of and innovative wave of Africa is here and it is now. Chinery-hesse is a renowed Ghanian technology entrepreneur who co-founded the multi-million dollar software company SoFttribe. As a Pan-Africanist, Chineryhesse says: African unity isnt just a philosophy, it unites business and trans-Africa business is where its at, its the holy Grail. only an African can solve African problems. only an African knows how things work here. And Chinery-hesse didnt just meant technologically, he meant the ways of doing things, the way of doing business. But one growing aspect of doing business in Africa that is technologically based is the growing use of the cloud. Something sometimes hard to define, the cloud is essentially a remote base of servers which you outsource your data needs. Companies are using them for computing needs, data storage, content delivery and messaging but it is their elastic capacity and the pay-as-you-go structure that are making them so increasingly attractive to startup companies can avoid high technology costs by using them. Simone Brunozzi, a technological evangelist for Amazon and more specifically cloud computing believes that Africa is, on the verge of something just about to happen and cloud computing is making a lot of that possible. Cloud computing matters to Africa because it allows startups or companies with little budget to be on par with international companies and access the same power that they have. But really, adds Chinery-hesse, the reason cloud computing matters to Africa and the reason it has made his gamut of businesses successful is that is avoids common power outages and overcomes limits to bandwidth. South Africans are all too aware of these limitations and considering that South Africa, along with maybe Kenya, are the only countries on the continent that can boast relatively decent connections, the increasing use of cloud computing is set to kick start some real innovation on the continent. Cloud computing provides mobility and allows entrepreneurs that wouldnt normally have access to such data solutions tto focus on the core part of their business, and that is doing business. With the increasingly availability of these tools, it is the view of both these speakers that Africa is on the verge of something just about to happen. In fact, given the enthusiasm of the attendees of the tech4Africa conference it seems the cream of crop of African talent has shown up and the atmosphere is abuzz with fruitful talk. tech4Africa is on still tomorrow when attendees can hear Vincent Maher, co-founder of Motribe; and Josh Spear, one of the youngest and most respected digital marketing strategists in the world.

New head of police talks the walk

Abram Mashego South Africas new police chief plans to build on the foundation laid by his suspended predecessor, Bheki Cele. Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkwanazi, who was appointed as acting police commissioner earlier in the week, said this at a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday. Mkhwanazi said he was asked to take over in an acting capacity only a few minutes before Zuma announced this to the media. It was an instruction, not a discussion. I dont know what the reasons for my appointment are. I am a police officer commanders get appointed, they do not campaign for posts. Mkhwanazi said he hoped to bring some improvements. I want to add more fuel to police service. I want to increase the speed on what was being done in the police. Giving Cele a vote of confidence he said: No one can dispute the fact that Gen Cele made a significant impact and changes in ensuring that we squeeze the space for criminals to zero. Mkhwanazi had tough words for criminals yesterday. We will meet fire with fire. If that is not clear to anyone, I challenge you to commit crime, he told reporters in Pretoria. I want to take this opportunity to warn the criminals out there that they will not enjoy Diwali, Christmas, New Year or even Easter in this country. Mkhwanazi said the police would continue to carry out their duties with excellence in the fight against crime. President Jacob Zuma has

MEETING FIRE WITH FIRE: Acting police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday. Picture: FATI MOALUSI entrusted myself and the top management with the responsibility of leading the more than 200 000 members of the organisation, he said. My job is to steer the ship in the direction that has been set. Mkhwanazi said he understood what police officers expected from their leadership and would not disappoint them. Ive been an operational member all my life. We would like to assure members of the SA Police Service that the fight against crime will not be compromised. he said he was not worried about how long he would be in the top police job, as former police chief Bheki Cele had not been fired. he challenged those who questioned his credentials and comments that he was not senior enough for the post. the 38-year-old top cop, who rose swiftly through the ranks from Maj-Gen to Lt-Gen within a year, said his appointment will not compromise the fight against crime. I am not a man of many words, I am not even familiar with the media environment, what I know best is fighting crime, he said. Mkwanazi, who joined the police services in 1993, has served as a senior officer managing the Public order Policing unit. he also headed a Special task Force where his duties included counteracting volatile hostage situations. But the South African Police union (Sapu) remains unimpressed. Sapu general secretary oscar Skommere said: In the service, there are people who were more senior than Mkwanazi who the president did not consider. this includes Celes deputy and other provincial commissioners who were higher in rank. Skommere said Mkwanazis promotion from a major-general to lieutenant-general within a day yesterday, was a major blow for the morale of officers who had been in the service for many years without promotion. Mkhwanazi holds a national diploma and a BA degree in policing. he was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg. abramm@thenewage.co.za