Progress Against Corruption: Zuma, Speaker, Jooste; Bizarre obsession in Hermanus and London; Meta’s SA Election Guardrails; Fentanyl politics
Linda van Tilburg
Deputy-Editor:National Security News/ Editorial Contributor: Biznews/ MSc LSE
Dear Reader,
It has been a weird old week, but you get the idea that we may be finding ourselves at a crossroads and that the winds of justice against corruption, long dormant in South Africa, are beginning to gain pace.
South Africa's 'not-so-honourable' Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula's is trying to avoid being arrested on corruption charges. Zuma's second attempt to remove the prosecutor in his arms deal corruption case against him has been dismissed. In a twist of Shakespearean tragedy, former Steinhoff CEO Marcus Jooste was handed out a whopping fine, but evaded the ignominy of an orange oniesie only by meeting a self-inflicted end. Will Zuma finally have that day in court that he says he wants after almost two decades, remains to be seen, but a date has been set in May for a pre-trial.
In election news, META the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp said it was working with the Independent Electoral Commission in South Africa to ensure their platforms are not used as tools of misinformation during the May 29 elections in South Africa. Other social media platforms are also working with the IEC, while X (Twitter) remains a holdout: Its platform is still hosting a fake video that was watched by 155,000 people of US Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump endorsing the MK Party.
We cast a critical eye on the evangelists “anointing” Donald Trump, a stark reminder of the perils of intertwining religion and politics. We also delve into the shadowy world of fentanyl politics, a deadly game that has claimed over 270,000 lives in the US since the pandemic’s onset.
And finally, we explore the public’s unsettling fascination with the circumstances of Jooste’s death and the trolling of Princess Kate.
Happy reading!
IMMINENT ARREST OF SOUTH AFRICAN SPEAKER
Trying to avoid arrest: Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is seeking an order interdicting the Investigating Directorate from arresting her following allegations of corruption by a former contractor for the South African National Defence Force. The National Prosecuting Administration has indicated that it will oppose her urgent appeal.
Allow due process: That is the reaction of the ANC whenever one of their senior leaders is investigated for corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on opposition parties to allow due processes to be followed on the issue of National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula. The delicate issue of another senior ANC leader being accused of receiving handouts. Her Johannesburg home was raided by the Investigating Directorate this week following allegations of soliciting R2.3 million from a contractor during her tenure as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans. Mapisa-Nqakula maintains her innocence, adding that she had nothing to hide and was cooperating with the investigation.
Does anybody in the ANC ever resign after corruption charges? It does not seem like it, the Speaker will be on 'special leave.' Despite the fact that she is supposed to "uphold the dignity and good name of the House," there is no indication that the ANC will get rid of her.
Opposition parties baying for her blood: The Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, Siviwe Gwarube said the continued presence of Mapisa-Nqakula undermines the integrity of Parliament.
Cabinet of Most Wanted List: John Steenhuisen the DA leader called out Mr Ramaphosa for his failure to implement lifestyle audits of his cabinet which he says facilitated the alleged corruption by the Speaker.
WILL TEFLON ZUMA FINALLY STAND TRIAL FOR ARMS DEAL
Stalingrad over or postponed? Former President Jacob Zuma lost his second bid to privately prosecute state advocate Billy Downer and journalist Karen Maughan. The judge said he would provide the reasons for his judgement "at the end of the trial." Maughan says the judgements open the way to finally prosecute Zuma for the arms deal corruption case against him.
Will Zuma and Thales finally go to trial after two decades? A date has been set for a pre-trial conference on 17 May. Zuma's lawyer, adv Dali Mpofu has however indicated that he had requested the reasons for Zuma's second bid not succeeding and is likely to try to again interfere with the course of justice. Zuma has for years used Stalingrad tactics, ill health and an undisclosed medical condition to delay court proceedings and to face criminal prosecution in this case.
LONG ARM OF THE LAW STOPPED BY MARCUS JOOSTE SUICIDE
R475 million fine: South Africa's financial regulator has levied a record fine for an individual against Markus Jooste, the former Chief Executive of Steinhoff seven years after it came to light that Jooste and his former European finance chief, Dirk Schreiber were responsible for publishing deceptive statements about the company's financial position from 2014 to 2017. It led to a near-collapse of Steinhoff with R200 billion of investors' money wiped out.
Justice was closing in: During a Biznews conference, businessman Christo Wiese who took a huge knock from Steinhoff's fall in grace, said he was frustrated that justice did not prevail. But, days later Jooste received a record fine, was facing imminent arrest, and then took his own life in Hermanus.
Impunity for white-collar crime: Jooste was seen as the poster boy for white-collar impunity, but the long arm of the law did finally get to him.
META WORKS WITH IEC TO COMBAT FAKE NEWS IN ELECTION
Putting AI guardrails in place: The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is working with the Independent Electoral Commission to ensure its platforms are not used as tools of misinformation during the 29 May elections in South Africa. Meta President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg who is a former UK opposition leader told Business Times that Meta has spent a “significant amount of training with the Electoral Commission, including how they should use their WhatsApp bot to communicate with South Africans and give reliable information about the elections. But also with the parties and with committees in parliament. We’ve done a number of briefings on our election preparedness and explained to them how our tools work.”
No society disruption (yet): One of the biggest concerns is the use of AI to create deep-fake videos or pictures, but Clegg indicated that they are doing a lot of partnership work on AI and although there has been the use of AI tools, it is not the society-wide disruption that they have feared.
?X (TWITTER) IS NOT PART OF THE AGREEMENT
The Electoral Commission (IEC) partnered with several social media giants? to combat disinformation ahead of South Africa’s elections, which includes Meta, Google, TikTok and the non-profit organisation Media Monitoring Africa. It does not include X (Twitter).
领英推荐
Musk’s view on hate speech: Although X does remove some content, the Owner of Twitter, Elon Musk told CNN in an interview that moderating hate speech is “censorship.”?
Video of Trump endorsing MK: A fake video, not a great quality fake to be fair, of Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump endorsing the uMkhonto we Sizwe Party in South Africa was posted by former president Jacob Zuma's daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, is still up on X.
CHALLENGE FOR RESEARCHERS TO TRACK OF MISINFORMATION
Difficulty in accessing data: Two researchers from South Africa, Vukosi Marivate and Seani Ranaga say it is a challenge monitoring social media to spot misinformation due to “major changes in how we can access data from social media platforms.”? They say the changes have been driven by new business models including the monetisation of Large Language models, which led platforms to start charging for data access. These changes they say affect researchers.? Added to this the “tools available for analysing social media data have become less functional, they say.?
BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL IN THE US - HUH?
Trump’s evangelical supporters: When churches start seeing the hand of God in an election, you know that you can definitely not take them seriously. Evangelical preachers have ‘anointed’ US President Trump according to Reuters.
So, what about Trump's divorces, sexual misconduct? Despite the evidence of Trump’s adultery and sexual misconduct charges, the evangelical churches are pressing a message of Biblical proportions. The US Presidential race is a fight for America’s soul, and a persecuted Trump has God’s protection. Can I add: “God help us!”
THE POLITICS OF FENTANYL
End the scrouge: ?From the start of the pandemic to October 2023, about 270,000 people died from an overdose of synthetic opioid, according to data from the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention in the US. Voters in the US regard ending the scourge as a high priority especially for those in swing states with voters telling Bloomberg in eight out of ten swing states that fentanyl misuse is a more important issue than abortion, climate change and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.?
10-15 grains is lethal: To get an idea of how lethal the drug is, here is a breakdown from Bloomberg.?2 mg of fentanyl, the equivalent of 10-15 grains of table salt is lethal. A kilogram is enough to kill 500,000 people.
A weird week of obsession
Kwaaiwater Beach: I don't understand why the residents of London gathered to witness the gruesome beheading of people at the Tower of London, and I don't get why people would want to go and see where Jooste committed suicide but that is what some of the residents did, they walked to Kwaaiwater beach in Hermanus and filmed themselves. Zelda le Grange shares my feelings on this demand for photographs.
HAS KATE'S VIDEO STOPPED THE TROLLS?
Kate shusses bizzare theories: When Princess Kate was not seen in public since Christmas, the most ludicrous theories have found fertile ground on social media. This and a subsequent photoshop edit on Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom forced her to come out and announce that she has cancer. What you saw was an ill, pale woman, royal or not forced to get out of bed to 'Please Explain.'
Are we happy now? The Washington Post has delved into the question of "Are we now all happy?" and has come to the conclusion that there is already some back paddling with comments that Princess Kate should have come clean earlier. While some of the trolls on social media said they were sorry, they did not take down the posts.
Bizarre stories continue: But, The Daily Mail in London, I should add it is a tabloid, reports that some trolls are circulating stories that Kate's brave video was AI-generated.
Why do they continue? Because they make money from it. Even some of the trolls who have admitted they may have gone overboard on social media about the ridiculous conspiracy theory about Kate are not deleting their content. Here Stuff describes how trolls make money from hate speech.
I’ll be taking a breather this Easter weekend. Here’s wishing you a peaceful and blessed one!