Monday 21 December – DAILY NEWS SUMMARY
Pretoria News (www.pretorianews.co.za) Page 1 – Mkhize: stay home this Christmas
The Star (www.iol.co.za)
Page 1 – CR17 donor faces apartheid-era crimes
Citizen (www.citizen.co.za)
Page 2 – Mkhize ‘blocks’ racial report Page 9 – ‘Other’ Kim wants resort
Mkhize: stay home this Christmas
DECEMBER holidays are usually a time for people to unwind by spending time with family and friends or attending big concerts and parties.
Now, with the announcement by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize last week that health-care workers are seeing a new variant of Covid-19 during the second wave, the government has asked people to rather stay home and not attend super-
spreader events.
Mkhize announced that the new varient seen by health-care workers during the second wave of the pandemic was more prevalent in young people and spread faster.
Mkhize said: “It cannot be that our youth must adhere to life-saving measures only after being policed to do so. We therefore call on parents, caregivers and youth to understand that it's now not just a matter of thinking about others, or even about yourself, and therefore you yourself are equally at risk of dying of Covid-19.”
Some of the gatherings that have led to super-spreader fallout include a Matric Rage event held in KwaZulu-Natal that led to more than 1 000 infections, and a party at the Tin Roof Club in Cape Town, where over 60 learners contracted the disease.
This weekend the number of new reported cases breached the 10 000 mark.
Gauteng MEC for Sports Mbali Hlophe has called on event organisers to be responsible and ensure they don’t host super-spreader events.
Hlophe said: “The festive period is mainly a time to rest and reconnect with family; it would be sad to have to bury any family member due to negligence regarding this second wave. So we call on all event organisers, especially within the arts and sport sector, to consider the lives of our elderly and those with comorbidities by not
organising mass events this festive season which fall outside the Covid-19 restrictions as announced.
“Although stats show that this second wave-strand of the virus also affects younger people, our elderly are still highly at risk and vulnerable. As those who attend these events will transmit the virus to them upon their return home to be with families, it is therefore in our collective interest to protect each other.”
Hlophe advised communities to put on hold any sporting events that usually attract large crowds until the pandemic is over.
“These festive games as well as many great indoor and outdoor events usually add colour to the December break in the province but due to the spread of Covid-19 it would be irresponsible and insensitive to go ahead with them.
We call on all the citizens of the province to please put lives first this festive season and stay home with their families.
CR17 donor faces apartheid-era crimes
■ Ekon probed for graft ■ Foreign exchange transactions, smuggling gold
PAUL EKON, one of the funders of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, may soon be in the sights of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for apartheid- era financial crimes.
It appears that Ekon was one of the individuals the South African Reserve Bank was protecting from scrutiny by the SA African History Archives (Saha), which is
supported by Open Secrets, a non-profit research group headed by Hennie van Vuuren.
Ekon, who was previously under investigation for the smuggling of millions of rand worth of gold out of South Africa, has previously claimed to be linked to former president Thabo Mbeki.
He featured on the list of funders who secretly supported the CR17 campaign.
The funders paid hundreds of millions of rand into the trust account of Joburg law firm, Edelstein Farber Grobler and Linkd Environmental Services.
To date, Ramaphosa has failed to indicate what environmental services he required in the CR17 campaign but confirmed that between December 2016 and February last year, an amount of R308900000 was paid into the Linkd account.
Ekon, who is based in London, was openly asking for funding for the CR17
campaign in the UK. It was not known how much money he received from funders but, according to the leaked CR17 documentation, the contribution ran into millions of rand.
PAUL EKON, one of the funders of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, may soon be in the sights of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for apartheid- era financial crimes.
It appears that Ekon was one of the individuals the South African Reserve Bank was protecting from scrutiny by the SA African History Archives (Saha), which is
supported by Open Secrets, a non-profit research group headed by Hennie van Vuuren.
Ekon, who was previously under investigation for the smuggling of millions of rand worth of gold out of South Africa, has previously claimed to be linked to former president Thabo Mbeki.
He featured on the list of funders who secretly supported the CR17 campaign.
The funders paid hundreds of millions of rand into the trust account of Joburg law firm, Edelstein Farber Grobler and Linkd Environmental Services.
To date, Ramaphosa has failed to indicate what environmental services he required in the CR17 campaign but confirmed that between December 2016 and February last year, an amount of R308900000 was paid into the Linkd account.
Ekon, who is based in London, was openly asking for funding for the CR17
campaign in the UK. It was not known how much money he received from funders but, according to the leaked CR17 documentation, the contribution ran into millions of rand.
However, the Presidency refuted the link between Ekon and the presidential campaign.
Last night, Presidency spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, said: “The president has never had a conversation with Mr Ekon about CR17.”
In May, the Supreme Court of Appeal found that the decision of the Reserve Bank to refuse access to records after a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act was unlawful and in conflict with the provisions of the relevant laws.
The documents, which have since been disclosed, show corruption, foreign exchange transactions and gold smuggling under apartheid.
The information sought related to individuals such as Ekon, Vito Palazzolo and Wouter Basson.
In September this year, Open Secrets submitted its findings in the form of a dossier to the NPA where the prosecution of the implicated individuals was sought.
The list of those to be investigated and prosecuted included two European banks.
Kredietbank and Quintet Bank are accused of assisting the apartheid regime in illegal transactions.
Sources inside the Hawks have informed The Star that the criminal investigations into Ekon’s role in the smuggling of unwrought gold two decades ago has been reopened.
“We cannot understand how the case never went to court.
“The evidence is there,” a highly-placed source told The Star.
The Hawks were also investigating the relationship between Ekon and the officer in charge of the gold smuggling investigation, retired Colonel Clement Jackson.
Jackson, after taking early retirement from the police, was paid R8 774 747.44 by Brett Kebble during April 2003 to October 2005 for apparently doing investigations for Kebble. It was reported that Ekon and Kebble had a “cosy” relationship.
It appears the CR17 campaign either failed to do a background check on Ekon before they received money from him, which is a contravention of the standard Fica regulations, or knew who he was and had no issue taking his money.
In a series of tweets, Van Vuuren of Open Secrets said the judgment was a victory for openness, over six years in the making.
Mkhize ‘blocks’ racial report
DELAY: FINDINGS ABOUT BLACK DOCS TARGETTED CANNED
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has allegedly blocked the release of the findings of the inquiry into allegations that black and Indian medics were targeted by administrators for fraud investigations and their payments withheld by medical aid schemes.
The allegations of racial profi ling were publicly made by the National Health Care Professionals Association (NHCPA) and Solutionist Thinkers in May last year, which triggered the Council for Medical Schemes’ (CMS) independent Section 59
Investigation Panel inquiry.
The panel, chaired by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, was due to release the report on Reconciliation Day, but was informed that morning Mkhize had raised concerns about the release without him seeing its findings.
“These concerns were apparently also shared by the Council of CMS,” the panel said in a statement.
The panel undertook to brief Mkhize and the Council about the report and the release of the report was subsequently delayed by another two days, to take place on Friday but it was not to happen.
Neither Mkhize, nor the council has been available to meet the panel, despite requests.
On Thursday afternoon, the panel received a letter from the chair of the council, Dr Memela Makiwane, requesting that the release of the report be delayed because “as a governing body of a Section 3A entity, (the council) needs to adhere to certain protocols to comply with requirements of the Executive Authority – The National Department of Health”.
During public hearings held in Pretoria last year, black and Indian medical doctors and therapists told the panel how they were targeted for perceived fraud, incorrect billing and excessive prices to block their payments.
At the heart of their submission was that medical aid schemes demanded proof of consultation, including clinical notes, while their white counterparts were simply required to “verify” a consultation before payments.
Dr Prudence Buthelezi, NHCPA secretary-general, said they were baffled by
Mkhize’s action and can only conclude the minister blocked the release of the report because of its findings.
“It means the panel did find that what we are complaining about is true and now the minister is protecting the private sector.”
Popo Maja of the department of health is yet to respond to questions.
‘Other’ Kim wants resort
Seoul – Pyongyang plans to redevelop its flagship Mount Kumgang tourist complex into an international resort, a year after leader Kim Jong-un ordered South Korean- built buildings there demolished, state media reported yesterday.
The resort – once a prominent symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation – was built by South Korea’s Hyundai Asan on one of the North’s most scenic mountains, drawing hundreds of thousands of Southern visitors.
But last year Kim condemned the development with the South as an eyesore and described facilities there as “shabby” and built like “makeshift tents in a disaster- stricken area or isolation wards”, ordering their removal.
Yesterday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Tok Hun, the North’s premier, stressed “the need to build the tourist area our own way” to turn it into a “cultural resort envied by the whole world”, during his visit to the area.
He also called for pushing ahead to turn the area into a “modern and all-inclusive international tourist” resort.
The complex was once one of the two biggest inter-Korean projects, along with the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex, where Southern companies employed North Korean workers.
