“WATCH | 'We're not doing anarchy' - Wits SRC president says as students try bring down Joburg statue” - https://youtu.be/UkJQ829TcsQ

“Watch: Students attempt to tear down ‘colonial statue’ during Wits protests”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/watch-wits-protests-tear-down-statue-where-which-gold-mining-video/

The Wits protests are taking a controversial turn, after a group of students attempted to tear down a gold mining statue on Friday afternoon.

Students taking part in the Wits protests set their sights on a statue near the university campus in Johannesburg on Friday. A group of youngsters gathered to tear down The Miners’ Monument at the top of de Korte street, with demonstrators telling the press that this act of destruction was a symbolic gesture to ‘decolonise education’.

There was also an attempt to set the statue on fire, as ropes were placed around the necks of the men immortalised by the monument. The statue was initially erected to tribute to the gold mining community, who worked in horrendous conditions during the time of colonial rule. The students, however, were unable to knock down the structure.

The removal of statues has become a very thorny subject across the globe. Protests in the US and UK have recently seen problematic figures toppled from their plinths. The argument against these acts of civil disobedience is that they are essentially ‘trying to whitewash history’, whereas those involved believe some monuments ‘are glorifying injustice’.

The unsuccessful targeting of The Miners’ Monument is likely to raise questions, however. The statue is a tribute to the miners and their perseverance. However – whatever side of the fence you’re on – one thing that is not up for debate, is that these students involved in the Wits protests are hellbent on securing meaningful change.

A leading student union has sent a list of demands to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, giving him a deadline of 17:00 to agree with the proposals. A failure to do so, they warn, will result in a ‘national university shutdown’ on Monday.

“Vaccine row: Why South Africa may soon find itself in Joe Biden’s bad books”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-africa-vaccine-row-joe-biden/

A diplomatic row might be brewing between South Africa and the USA, after pharmaceutical giants asked Joe Biden to intervene on a vaccine patent debate.

A row over intellectual property patents for COVID-19 vaccines across the globe is threatening to drive a wedge between the USA and South Africa. Pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA has sent a letter to President Joe Biden himself this week, pleading with the senior Democrat to oppose any removal of ‘copyright protections’ on the life-saving jabs.

The letter comes with some serious backing: The CEOs of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson have all signed the document, as they fight for the right to protect their patents. The argument, however, is opposed by the ANC government: Trade officials from South Africa have joined forces with India, to relax copyright laws on vaccine compositions.

SA is of the belief that the global response to the pandemic ‘is being hindered’ by these protections. Without a free exchange of information, our representatives have argued, the supply of vaccines will be limited.

But PhRMA is seething with this waiver application. In their letter to Joe Biden, the group slams South Africa in particular for presenting their arguments ‘without any evidence’ – and POTUS is likely to side with his domestic experts:

“Unfortunately, in October, India and South Africa formally proposed for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to suspend critical intellectual property provisions of the Agreement. This includes the protection of copyrights, industrial designs, and patents on any COVID-19 innovation – until widespread vaccination is in place globally.”

“In requesting the waiver, India and South Africa argued without evidence that intellectual property is hindering the global response to the pandemic and that the waiver would help scale up research, development, manufacturing, and supply of needed products. We oppose this waiver, and ask the Biden Administration to do the same to protect intellectual property.”

The major vaccine manufacturers – who have achieved something of a miracle to provide COVID-19 jabs at such a rapid pace – also explained that protections on intellectual property do much more to help scale-up production than they do to slow it down. Now this scathing letter has landed on Joe Biden’s desk, a diplomatic row looms over the horizon.

“Intellectual property protections have been essential not only to speed the research and development of new treatments and vaccines, but also to facilitate sharing of technology and information to scale up vaccine manufacturing to meet global needs. Eliminating those protections would undermine the global response to the pandemic.”

“Wits University: Student debt is a global “crisis” says vice chancellor”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/wits-university-student-debt-is-a-global-crisis-says-vice-chancellor/. Below are a few excerpts.

Students owe Wits University almost R1 billion in historical debt according to vice-chancellor and principal Professor Zeblon Vilakazi

“The issue of student funding is a national, system-wide issue, which Wits cannot solve alone,” Vilakazi said.

“The state and other social actors have a critical role to play in resolving this crisis. We need an urgent national debate on this crisis and our students need long-term, definitive solutions to funding higher education,” he said.

Vilakazi said it was “worrying” that Wits University’s student debt had risen to approximately R1 billion, which was more than double the R450 million it was owed in 2017.

“The higher education crisis has been here for decades and this is not a South African problem, this is a global problem. Student debt in US is about 2 trillion USD,” he said.

Vilakazi also clarified issues related to registration and the 2021 academic year; student support; engagement with the SRC; the provision of financial aid, scholarships and bursaries and concessions made to enable students to access higher education.

“It is not true that Wits has excluded 6 000- 8 000 students. This number refers to all the students who owe Wits money over the last seven years, including some of whom have dropped out and others who have been academically excluded for failing multiple times, and who have lost their bursaries as a result,” Vilakazi said.

He said about 1 200 students had requested financial assistance from the Wits Hardship Fund in 2021 and Wits University had already assisted 750 of these students.

He added that Wits University had registered 95% of its 2021 student cohort (35 841) out of about 37 500 students, including most first year students. There are still two postgraduate intakes in July and September.

“State Security | Investigators barred from SSA HQ”- https://youtu.be/HIbx-VVgFBY

“The Investigating Directorate tried to execute a search and seizure warrant at the State Security Agency’s Pretoria East facility yesterday, over alleged corruption. But they were denied entry despite being accompanied by officials from the Inspector General for Intelligence.”

“Feiteblad: Apartheid in syfers (Fact Sheet: Apartheid in numbers)”- https://youtu.be/9MYEJXG0eEY

With English subtitles

“We are LAWLESS! South Africa!! WAKE UP!”- https://youtu.be/Dq5A-_ovsM0

“Drug bust: K9 service dog sniffs out crystal meth worth R6.5m”- https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/drug-bust-k9-service-dog-crystal-meth/. Below are a few excerpts.

A K9 service dog named Buddy located concealed crystal meth with an estimated street value of R6.5 million in the Westrand, The shipment was destined for Australia.

The Gauteng Provincial Organised Crime Investigations: Narcotics Unit and members of the West Rand K9 teamed up on Thursday evening, 11 March 2021.

According to Captain Kay Makhubele, the team received “operationalised information on suspected shipment of drugs destined for Australia and activated the K9 service dog, Buddy.

Buddy and his multi-disciplinary team of humans was able to intercept the consignment before it could be shipped to Australia and arrested four suspects.

“The sniffer dog reacted positively to the contents of the consignment of drugs. Further investigation confirmed that the statue contained 22kg of concealed crystal-meth drugs”.

“2 Cross-border drug traffickers arrested with R2.8 mil worth of heroin”- https://southafricatoday.net/south-africa-news/mpumalanga/2-cross-border-drug-traffickers-arrested-with-r2-8-mil-worth-of-heroin/

Two alleged drug traffickers, aged 41 and 47, are expected to appear in the Barberton Magistrate’s Court after they were arrested by members of the White River Dog Unit assisted by members of the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation and Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) at Nkomazi toll plaza on Thursday, 11 March 2021.

The team acted on information that was received about a blue Ford Ranger that was reportedly transporting drugs from Mozambique to Gauteng. The identified vehicle was stopped and searched. Drugs believed to be heroin valued at just over R2.8 million were found hidden inside a door panel and the spare wheel.

The Mpumalanga Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team has been entrusted with the docket to conduct an in-depth further investigation.

>>13284386 - video embedded [https://youtu.be/IwKtMBQ25_U]

“Bill Gates the ‘one-man state’ and how medical philanthropy is hijacked”- https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/bill-gates-the-one-man-state-and-how-medical-philanthropy-is-hijacked/. This article also discuss it, below are a few excerpts.

Bernardi’s problem now is that they definitely are not philanthropic. The politics of global domination have overtaken the basic caring objectives, and sovereign nations have enabled the transfer of political power into the hands of a small number of corrupt and unelected oligarchs. He homes in on ‘the grand-daddy of them all’, the World Economic Forum.

All this makes me feel a bit uneasy, because these supra-national institutions are based in and around Geneva, in my own country of residence, Switzerland, where they enjoy a plethora of legal and financial advantages.

My unease is shared by the New Swiss Journal (NSJ), a Right-wing publication which has decried what it considers to be the questionable nature of links between the federal health authorities and the World Health Organisation.

It goes further and uncovers a disturbing link with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, via the Geneva-based organisation Gavi Alliance, previously called the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, a public-private global health partnership which aims to increase access to immunisation in poor countries. It brings together governments, the WHO, the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, commercial and civil institutions, and the Gates Foundation.

Gavi has been criticised for giving private donors more unilateral power to decide on global health goals, prioritising new, expensive vaccines, spending too much on subsidies to large, profitable pharmaceutical companies, and having vaccine manufacturers on its governance board. It has been described as business-oriented and technology-focused, and even termed the ‘Gates approach’.

The article ends with a quote from Gates about the Gavi link: ‘The best investment we’ve ever made.’

Gavi became an independent international institution in 2009, and enjoys privileges and immunities similar to those enjoyed by other intergovernmental organisations in Switzerland.

According to the NSJ: ‘Swiss authorities are not allowed to enter Gavi’s premises and employees enjoy immunity from arrest. All documents and media are inviolable. Assets are immune from requisition, seizure or expropriation or any other governmental restraint. Balances, income, assets are exempt from all taxes.

‘Gavi Alliance has the right to send and receive correspondence by courier and enjoys privileges and immunities as with diplomatic couriers and diplomatic courier baggage.’

This is confirmed in the official documentation published by the Swiss Confederation.

For the NSJ, recent financial contracts between Gavi and the federal authorities are at less than arm’s length: ‘On behalf of Switzerland, President Simonetta Sommaruga has pledged 30million Swiss francs to the Bill Gates vaccination alliance Gavi.

‘For its part, the Gavi vaccination alliance has made a donation of 900,000 Swiss francs to the federal agency Swissmedic, the Swiss regulatory and supervisory authority, and which is also responsible for the approval of dubious PCR tests in Switzerland.’

The NSJ’s basic criticism is that Gates’s tentacles are reaching into the heart of the Swiss administration and influencing public health decision-making on the strength of financial muscle and political connections with the World Economic Forum.

>>13284386

Grant Agreement between Swissmedic and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationat https://www.swissmedic.ch/dam/swissmedic/de/dokumente/stab/networking/grant_agreement_swissmedic_bill_melinda_gates_foundation.pdf.download.pdf/Grant%20Agreement%20between%20Swissmedic%20and%20the%20Bill%20&%20Melinda%20Gates%20Foundation_2020_2023.pdf or attached. Below are a few excerpts.

“Charitable Purpose”; To contribute expertise and know-how in building the capacity of continental frameworks, RECs and NRAs in Africa.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed January 24, 2020

Swissmedic signed February 3, 2020

Indeminification

If the Project involves clinical trials, trials involving human subjects, post-approval studies, field trials involving genetically modified organisms, experimental medicine, or the provision of medical/health services ("Indemnified Activities"), You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Foundation and its trustees, employees, and agents ("Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all demands, claims, actions, suits, losses, damages (including property damage, bodily injury, and wrongful death), arbitration and legal proceedings, judgments, settlements, or costs or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses) (collectively, "Claims") arising out of or relating to the acts or omissions, actual or alleged, of You or Your employees, subgrantees, subcontractors, contingent workers, agents, and affiliates with respect to the Indemnified Activities. You agree that any activities by the Foundation in connection with the Project, such as its review or proposal of suggested modifications to the Project, will not modify or waive the Foundation's rights under this paragraph. An Indemnified Party may, at its own expense, employ separate counsel to monitor and participate in the defense of any Claim. Your indemnification obligations are limited to the extent permitted or precluded under applicable federal, state or local laws, including federal or state tort claims acts, the Federal Anti-Deficiency Act, state governmental immunity acts, or state constitutions. Nothing in this Agreement will constitute an express or implied waiver of Your governmental and sovereign immunities, if any.

“SAPS Forensic Fracas | Carte Blanche | M-Net”- https://youtu.be/2Ntw5lmLwmA

“It’s a dispute over payment for computer software that the South African Police Service acknowledges is crucial to the running of the criminal justice system. A dispute that has gone on for years and has seen the courts rule against the state nine times. Now, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police has instructed the police and State Information Agency to settle their fight with the company in question to enable the Property Control and Exhibit Management system to function. And yet the SAPS continues to refuse to pay for the system that tracks 8 million exhibits from the Forensic Science Laboratory to the courts. The system has been switched off since June last year. Carte Blanche investigates how this untenable situation came about and how it affects the criminal justice system.”

“Mozambique Terror Attack | 1/1/ Around 180 people trapped in hotel”- https://youtu.be/fefiJIkoQpk

“As the stand-off between Isis-linked militants and Mozambican forces continues, News24 is reporting that President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend an urgent meeting on the crisis.”

“Multiple people trapped in Mozambique hotel after militant attack” - https://www.dw.com/en/multiple-people-trapped-in-mozambique-hotel-after-militant-attack/a-57022393

As militants launched an attack on Mozambique's Palma, workers are seeking refuge at the Amarula hotel. An operation is underway to rescue the workers, said the government.

More than 180 people are trapped inside a hotel in a town in northern Mozambique, as it has been under siege by insurgents for the last three days. Those trapped include expatriate workers.

Militants launched an attack on Wednesday afternoon, forcing locals to flee into surrounding forest areas.

The attacks occurred after French energy giant Total announced that work would gradually resume at the liquified natural gas project. Total is the principal investor in the region, with other firms such as ExxonMobil also involved in the area.

Some people have reportedly been killed, according to witnesses and rights groups, after the attack in Palma near a liquified natural gas site in Cabo Delgado province. Workers from the LNG site sought refuge in a local hotel. The military was trying to airlift workers from the hotel.

"Almost the entire town was destroyed. Many people are dead. As locals fled to the bush, workers from LNG companies, including foreigners, took refuge in hotel Amarula where they are waiting to be rescued," a worker told the AFP news agency, on the condition of anonymity.

An unverified video on social media showed an unidentified man filmed the hotel lobby showing several people milling around the patio. He described the situation in Palma as "critical" and added, "We don't know if we will be rescued."

He said the hotel had run out of food but still had water. The buzzing of a chopper could be heard in the background.

Rights group Human Rights Watch said on Friday, "Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they saw bodies on the streets and residents fleeing after the Al-Shabab fighters fired indiscriminately at people and buildings."

Palma had largely been cut off from the rest of the province, as insurgents made road travel unsafe, leaving only the airport and seaport as modes of transport.

Militants affiliated with the so-called Islamic State group have attacked several towns and villages in the region, causing nearly 700,000 to flee their homes.

“Mozambique Terror Attack | 1\2| Around 180 people trapped in hotel”- https://youtu.be/yhTrPoOywHw

“Department of International Relations has announced that government is sending staff to Mozambique”- https://youtu.be/jC9v2xzz3hc

“The Department of International Relations has announced that government is sending additional staff to Mozambique in the wake of attacks in the country. This follows reports that at least one South African has been killed after jihadist insurgents reportedly took hold of a hotel in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. Several other foreigners have also been killed in the stand-off.”

“Calls for the dissolution of ANC NEC” from Retired SANDF General/chief of military intelligence/MK- https://youtu.be/2zgByCjDHrA

“Retired General of the SADF, chief of military intelligence and former member of uMkhonto weSizwe [MK] High Command, Maomela Mojo Motau led some ANC members to present a letter of demand at the ANC NEC meeting held this weekend. The group is calling for the ANC NEC to go. The ANC's virtual NEC meeting will end on Sunday following discussions on the party's Integrity Commission set to top the agenda.”

0:43 – “We wanted to say to the ANC. We are aware that they take instructions from white monopoly capital. We wanted to tell the ANC that some of them are today defending neocolonialism because they benefit… The human rights they reserve to us is unemployment, lack of education, poverty and hunger.”

>>13329752

That will be fine.

>>13310886

The full speech of Retired SANDF General/chief of military intelligence/MKcan be found at https://youtu.be/nMnqF5YSt8M (embedded).

Noteworthy statements;

1:36 – “In the African National Congress there are never moderates, Nelson Mandela was not a moderate, Oliver Thambo was not a moderate. There was never a moderate in the ANC but we know who are the moderates. The moderates are the people who would have sent inside the African National Congress to destroy it… And we say, they shall never destroy the African National Congress.”

2:25 – “We will not hand over the African National Congress to white monopoly capital.”

3:03 – “We are aware as the NEC is meeting now, they are already implementing the instructions which they got in the past week. We know where they met, who gave them instructions that they want the ANC of Oliver Thambo finished this weekend… Let them do something stupid and try to expel the comrades who represent Oliver Thambo. We will show them… We will expel them.”

3:57 – “We cannot hand over the African National Congress to their masters. We can’t do that.”

4:07 – “Our enemies are at war. Our enemies have launched an offensive against us. We need to go out from this today and tell our people that together we are united not divided by small legal things. United because our enemy is united.”

4:45 – “We are going to expose those agents of the Apartheid regime because they think we do not know them. We know them… We are going to start exposing.”

5:11 – “We need to be ready to fight. It is not going to be easy to fight, it is going to be difficult. It will need men and women of determination… and I therefore call on all of you to go out mobilize our people behind the real African National Congress. The real African National Congress which is led by Jacob Zuma.”

7:12 – “They value more about a constitution more than our people.”

Then Ramaphosa announced the following;

“Don't even try defying: Ramaphosa, supporters give Magashule 30 days to go” - https://www.polity.org.za/article/dont-even-try-defying-ramaphosa-supporters-give-magashule-30-days-to-go-2021-03-30

African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule and his supporters should "not even try" to defy an ANC national executive committee (NEC) decision giving him 30 days to vacate his office pending the outcome of the criminal charges against him.

Party insiders said President Cyril Ramaphosa was clear and unambiguous that the party decision will not change and anticipated an attempt by Magashule and his ilk to attempt to mobilise against the NEC decision.

In his closing statement of the ANC's NEC meeting on Monday, Ramaphosa made it clear that the NEC decision would not change: all those criminally charged will have the next month to step aside or face suspension from the party.

"The 30-day period will be used to enable the implementation of the decision in line with the guidelines and this is not for the review of the decision," the president said.

“The TERROR in White River [Police Station].”- https://youtu.be/qfxalMgw5XQ

“Opposition parties demand IPID investigate White River SAPS members” - https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/white-river-police-station-assault-mpumalanga-saps-station-look-on-man-beaten-da-ff-plus/

Following the emergence of shocking footage circulating on social media in which a Mpumalanga farmer is seen being brutally assaulted after seeking refuge at the White River Police station, South Africa’s opposition parties have demanded an urgent and immediate investigation be launched by Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

Jordaan could only gather video evidence as her fiancé (whose name has only been referenced as “Barend” in her statement posted on Facebook) was savagely beaten by the group of men he had earlier tried to seek refuge from, with uniformed officers merely standing by as the violence unfolded.

Earlier, the pair had allegedly been surrounded by several vehicles and threatened with a firearm after they had recorded a motorcade driving recklessly on the R40 near White River.

Thereafter, a heated argument ensued between the two parties before Jordaan and her fiancé were followed to the the police station by the men in the motorcade,

“Instead of being met by protection from SAPS officers, they were instead told to handover their phones while the men from the motorcade proceeded to attack Jordaan’s fiancé,” said the DA’s Andrew Whitfield.

Whitfield said that Jordaan’s allegations that one of the men from the motorcade had detailed information about both her and her fiancé -including where they lived – is cause for serious concern about. Jordaan also claimed that the men bragged that they have connections to members within SAPS as well as judges.

“This raises serious questions about who these men are and what, if any, security clearance they may have. The fact that the perpetrators of the assault felt safe enough to commit these crimes inside a police station while the victims of the assault feared for their lives highlights the crisis within the SAPS,” he said.

>>13331531

>the men bragged that they have connections to members within SAPS as well as judges.

Is this the same reason why terrorists are not prosecuted in SA?

“Kliprivier kidnapping cell was funding Islamic State terrorism, say sources”dated 2020-07-03 at https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/kliprivier-kidnapping-cell-was-funding-islamic-state-terrorism-say-sources/ar-BB17llbu. Below are a few excerpts.

The police raid and arrest of an alleged kidnapping syndicate in a Kliprivier house south of Johannesburg has been described by South African authorities as “one of the biggest breakthroughs we have had in our investigations of international terrorism in South Africa”.

Apart from kidnapping, the five foreign nationals are being investigated for links to the Islamic State (IS) fundamentalist group, security sources have revealed.

Security services seem to have been jolted into action by the threats that Islamic State issued on one of its websites earlier this month to retaliate against South Africa if it provided military support to Mozambique to help it fight an insurgency by an Islamic State-affiliated group in the country’s Cabo Delgado province.

Security sources told Daily Maverick the five suspects, including a Somali and an Ethiopian, are linked to the case in KwaZulu-Natal where Farhad Hoomer and 11 other men, including foreigners, were charged with terrorism, murder, attempted murder, extortion and arson in 2018. The charges arose from a fatal attack on a Verulam mosque and the setting off of cellphone-triggered pipe-bombs there and across Durban.

On July 13 this year, a Verulam magistrate struck the Hoomer case off the roll when he refused to grant the prosecution another postponement for further investigations. The magistrate deemed the prosecutor had not offered good reasons for further delay. However, the prosecutor said then he intended to reinstate the charges.

Security sources told Daily Maverick that one of the men who had been released when the Hoomer case was thrown out was among those arrested at the Kliprivier house last Thursday. And they said a State witness in the Hoomer case had given police evidence about how the KwaZulu-Natal cell was linked to one in Johannesburg.

Kidnapping and extortion for money were part of the modus operandi of both the Durban and Johannesburg groups, sources told Daily Maverick. The police affidavit in the Hoomer case said the group extorted money from Durban businesses to fund their efforts.

Some security analysts believe the Kliprivier group was only involved in raising finances, mainly through kidnapping and perhaps extortion, for terrorist operations elsewhere, including in Mozambique.

News24 reported that the five men were “linked to an international kidnapping and extremism syndicate”.

Daily Maverick has learned that several accomplices of suspects in terrorism cases being investigated in South Africa have crossed the border to join the Islamic State-linked insurgency in Mozambique.

And they said the Del Vecchio case was also receiving renewed attention. South Africans Sayfudeen Del Vecchio, 38, his wife Fatima Patel, 27, and Malawian Ahmad Mussa are charged with murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and theft. The charges mainly arise from the murder of two elderly botanists, Rob and Rachel Saunders in KwaZulu-Natal in February 2018. IS material was found in Del Vecchio and Patel’s home near Mtunzini and other evidence has also been found linking them to the international terrorist group, including collaboration with IS individuals in the Netherlands and Somalia.