2005-11-04,+COSATU,+Zuma,+Charges,+by+Notyhawa,+Gordin



=**Cosatu is still dedicated to the workers' class struggle**=


 * The Star, Johannesburg, Letters, November 3, 2005**

Stan Sigotyana, in his letter "Cosatu's political interests are sidelining workers' rights" (The Star, November 1) seems to have been asleep for the better part of this year and has just woken up to realise the present state of affairs in regard to the trial of Jacob Zuma.

Wake up and update yourself with the latest developments.

Were you asleep when we went on a national strike on June 27 against job losses and continuous poverty?

Were you asleep when, in every province, from October 3 to 24, we took the same campaign of defending our members's jobs to the streets?

Were we not "concentrating on the working class struggle" as you wish us to do?

We are therefore not forgetting that unemployment, mass retrenchments and privatisation of essential services are the main problems affecting the majority of the working class.

What makes us different from the likes of Azapo is that we do not write articles from the comfort zone of being spectators, but we go to the streets and fight against these social ills.

We refuse to be armchair critics, but full-time participants in the workers' struggles in shaping the future of our country.

Secondly, Cosatu's support of the deputy president of the ANC is an immaterial, impertinent and irrelevant point to raise now.

Every reasonable citizen, including the Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, has conceded that the Scorpions have used underhand tactics and draconian measures in dealing with the Zuma case, especially during the raids of August 18 this year.

The SA Law Society, the Black Lawyers Association, the Bar Council of SA Advocates and the SA Lawyers for Human Rights have all expressed the view that the conduct of the Scorpions has tarnished the possibility of the ANC deputy president's right to a fair trial.

Who will keep quiet under these circumstances? Only the likes of Azapo.

It is not only Cosatu, but all its alliance partners (ANC/SACP/Sanco) who support Jacob Zuma.

Please, do not sell out the working class and the poor people of our country. Indeed, we are not surprised when other parties argue as you do, but not Azapo - unless it has now joined forces with the counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the workers.

When the constitution of our country, the rights we fought for, and the democratic institutions we have created, are being abused in selfish political agendas, we shall not fold our arms and keep quiet. If such cowardly conduct of keeping quiet suits Azapo, that is their own baby. They should not expect us to do the same.


 * Paul Notyhawa**


 * Spokesperson, Congress of South African Trade Unions, Braamfontein, Johannesburg**


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2977957&fSectionId=228&fSetId=505**

=**Zuma charge sheet may include French company**=


 * The Star, Johannesburg, November 3, 2005**


 * By Jeremy Gordin**

Speculation is rife that giant French arms and electronics dealer Thales, known in South Africa as Thint, may be charged tomorrow alongside Jacob Zuma.

This emerged yesterday following the announcement that delivery of the indictment against the former deputy president has been postponed until tomorrow.

In terms of the agreement with the defence team of the ANC deputy, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was supposed to have handed in the indictment, albeit in a provisional form, by yesterday.

NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi refused to discuss any aspect of the indictment.

But, according to certain defence attorneys, there have been definite indications that Thint may appear in the stand beside Zuma at his trial in July next year.

The French arms dealer, which was at one time in partnership with Zuma's former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, and won one of the tenders for combat suites in the multibillion-rand arms deal, was originally charged, along with Shaik and his companies, with corruption.

But following a bargain struck before Shaik's trial by former justice minister Penuell Maduna, then NPA chief Bulelani Ngcuka and Thint's attorneys, the French arms company was not charged.

Maduna and Ngcuka agreed to drop the charge against Thint in return for an affidavit from its former South African representative, Alain Thetard, regarding a fax dealing with a request by Shaik that Zuma be paid for his "assistance" in quashing investigations into the arms deal.

In Shaik's trial, Judge Hilary Squires found that Shaik had indeed made such a request, and the judge said it seemed clear from the evidence that Zuma had been party to the events.

None of Thint's legal team is willing to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, at Zuma's last appearance in the Durban Magistrate's Court, on October 11, on two charges of corruption, regional magistrate Bilkesh Asmal heard that the NPA, represented by Billy Downer SC, and the defence, headed by Kessie Naidu SC, had agreed on two issues: that Zuma would reappear on November 12 and that on November 2 his defence team would be given a provisional indictment against him.

But yesterday, Zuma's attorney, Michael Hulley, confirmed that the NPA had requested to be allowed until tomorrow to deliver the indictment.

"The NPA has experienced some logistical problems, which prima facie seem perfectly reasonable, so we agreed that Friday will be the day," Hulley said.

Nkosi confirmed the agreement on a two-day extension but would not be drawn on how many charges Zuma would face.


 * jgo@star.co.za

From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=128&fArticleId=2978274**