FRIDAY, 7 June 2002 : na020607

HEADLINES

A. AFRICAN MIRROR : Burundi Hutus mortar capital’s city centre.

C. COLONIAL TIMES : Debt relief not so attractive after all.

D. RAINBOW REPORT : Bacher jeered.

E. TERROR TRAIL : Rape on campus.

F. SA GULAG : Modem access in prison.

H. EMPOVERNMENT GAZETTE : Rand stops improving.

J. CHRISTIAN BRIEF : Italian author reveals anti-Christian persecution.

K. APARTHEID LOG : Israelis storm into Arafat’s compound.

L. NWO DIARY : New el Qaeda attacks planned?

M. FROM THE GLORIOUS DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF TRANSFORMANIA:

Holy Nelson on Comrade Basset-Hound…

A. AFRICAN MIRROR

LAGOS. A Nigerian appeals court in the northwestern town of Funtua has stayed the execution of a black woman, sentenced by a Muslim court to death by stoning for adultery, in order for her to be able to wean her baby, her lawyers said earlier this week. "The ruling means that nothing will happen to Amina Kurami regarding the execution of the death sentence on her until she has weaned her baby by 2004," Kurami's lawyer Hawa Ibrahim said.

Kurami is the second woman to be sentenced to death after bearing a child out of marriage since 2000, when more than a dozen states in the predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria adopted strict Islamic Sharia law. In March, an appeals court reversed a similar sentence on Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu after worldwide pleas for clemency and a warning from President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigeria faced international isolation over the case. The adoption of Sharia, which punishes theft by amputating hands, has stoked violence between Muslims and Christians in Africa's most populous state. More than 3 000 people have been killed over the issue, but provincial Muslim governments are determined to push the brutal and primitive Sharia laws through.

BUJUMBURA. The mainly Muslim central district in the centre of Burundi's capital was hit by a Katyusha rocket fired from a small motor boat by Hutu rebels on Lake Tanganyika, and six people were wounded during the attack, which included mortar fire lasting for almost two hours. Residents said most of the wounded were market porters sleeping in the open air in a courtyard. Civilians have born the brunt of Burundi's civil war, which pits Hutu terrorist groups against the Tutsi-led army and has continued for almost nine years.

As usual, the Battalion-size Azanian (New SA) so-called protection force has not even featured in the latest attack, although it is based in Bujumbura itself... A few hours earlier, a battle between government troops and rebels in northern Bujumbura and the surrounding hills forced residents in Kamenge suburb to flee to safer districts of the capital.

BULAWAYO. Six members of the state-funded Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association (ZLWVA) have been acquitted on Thursday of the abduction and murder of an official of the political opposition. Patrick Nabanyama, an MDC polling agent, was abducted from his Bulawayo home before the June 2000 parliamentary elections, and was never seen again. Bulawayo High Court judge Lawrence Kamacha ruled that there was insufficient evidence...

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) deplored the outcome as a travesty of justice, and alleged that the state had deliberately botched the investigation to protect pro-Mugabe militants. Mugabe initially granted amnesty to the other persons accused of the Nabanyama abduction, but the six were finally brought to court this year. International human rights groups voiced grave anxiety about the case over the past two years.

Altogether, about 200 opposition supporters and 11 white farmers have been murdered in Zimbabwe by state-supported mobs. None of those accused of these crimes have faced any punishment so far...

HARARE. The head of the Zimbabwean independent Law Society and his deputy, charged with trying to topple the government, have walked freely out of court. However, about 50 lawyers, who had gathered in the court, were stunned by Judge Paddington Garwe, the head judge in the Harare High Court, saying that police 'had sufficient grounds' when they arrested Sternford Moyo, president of the lawyers' group, and secretary Wilbert Mapombere, a former magistrate, on charges of subversion and incitement to violence on Monday. Under Zimbabwean law, Moyo and Mapombere would have to be taken to a lower court for a remand hearing within 48 hours of their arrests, - but that deadline expired minutes after Garwe's ruling. "You are free to go," their lawyer Joseph Mafusire said. "There appears to be no intention to hold you further."

Tawanda Hondora, a spokesperson for the independent Lawyers for Human Rights, described the hearing as "farcical" and "a gross misapplication of the law."

"We are outraged. The charges against two eminent lawyers are malicious and trumped up" in an attempt to intimidate lawyers who have criticised state intimidation of the judiciary and judicial bias for the ruling party, he said.

CHINHOYI. Six of the 24 white farmers accused of public violence after clashes with state-sponsored land invaders have been acquitted by a Zimbabwean magistrate. The fate of the remaining 18 is still undecided. The farmers were initially arrested after rushing to the aid of a fellow-farmer, who was being assaulted by an armed black mob. The attack happened at the height of the ruling Zanu-PF's land grab campaign, when its security forces were orchestrating country-wide farm invasions and intimidation to eliminate any resistance to the Regime's expropriation of white farmland.

MASERU. Lesotho's opposition Basotho National Party (BNP) has said that it had decided to seek court intervention since the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had failed to respond to correspondence on their request for a forensic audit of the result of the recent general elections. The BNP has engaged a South African forensic consultant to analyse the alleged irregularities and to advise the BNP on its course of action. BNP leader Major General Metsing Lekhanya said: "It was with great sadness that the BNP saw the results of the general elections bearing the same pattern as the disputed 1998 election in the form of a uniform pattern of victory margin."

Like most other African 'elections', the Lesotho election was won by the ruling party with a huge majority, and allegations of vote-rigging and -fraud have been made by independent observers. Observers from neighbouring black African states, which a few years ago sent in troops to prop up the ruling Regime, declared the elections 'free and fair'...

While the BNP is disputing the credibility of the elections in the high court, the party's 21 MPs, who were allocated compensatory seats under the proportional representation system, would take their seats in the National Assembly when parliament opened. The BNP said it would do so without prejudicing the court petition.

C. COLONIAL TIMES

LONDON. Media reports suggesting that the United Kingdom was planning to recruit police officers from South Africa have been suddenly denied by both the British police and the British High Commission in Pretoria. Spokesperson for the British High Commission, Nick Sheppard, in a statement said it was incorrect that the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) intended to recruit police officers from South Africa and other Commonwealth countries. A London newspaper had reported that Scotland Yard would recruit black and Asian police officers from South Africa and other Commonwealth countries, - setting off a frenzied rush for visa's among many South African policemen desperate to get out of the wonderfully 'transformed' New SA (Azania)...

DURBAN. Azanian (New SA) Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has admitted to delegates at the Africa Economic Summit in Durban that a key issue for Nepad, the latest African revival initiative, was how to persuade Africans to invest money in their own countries. In 1990, Africans held a staggering US$360 billion, or 40% of their savings, abroad - a ratio which was unlikely to have improved in the past decade, Manuel said. Manuel also acknowledged that it would be tough to persuade every African country to submit to a process of "peer review" on sound political governance - keeping their side of the bargain to boost investment flows. Black African leaders, under Nepad, have pledged to fix regional conflicts, promote good governance and fight epidemics they say could scuttle their plan to help Africa stand on its own feet. So far, none of these pre-conditions set by the powers of the world have been met, and cynical observers are sceptical about the chances that they will be met any time soon...

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa said Africans were tired of rhetoric from their leaders and wanted Nepad to be transformed into real implementable projects that ordinary people could identify with. "The complaints (by business) are that roads, railways, telecommunications, ports don't work and so it's not easy to do or improve business..." Under black rule, the efficient colonial infrastructure in most African states has declined to the point of total collapse.

Meanwhile, a European delegate has had other delegates choke on their five-star snacks by saying that black empowerment has been proved to be a total failure… African representatives immediately defended their policy of racial discrimination in favour of blacks, - but some businessmen pointed out that what was said by the European was only stating the obvious, and that South African business- and industry leaders, for example, have long ago realised this and started to recruit on merit wherever the state's discriminatory legislation leaves a gap to do this.

D. RAINBOW REPORT

Some of the ruling ANC/Communist Regime's top apparatchiks and sports commissars, like Ali Bacher, who ignored warnings that they were less than welcome at former cricket captain Hansie Cronje's funeral, were snubbed and, in one case, even shouted at. In front of all the invited guests at the widely-publicised funeral, a woman told Bacher in no uncertain terms what she thought of him and his cohorts of the so-called United Cricket Board. Cronje was banned from competitive cricket after having been caught out at match-fixing, but Bacher's allegedly hypocritical and slimy behaviour during the scandal is reportedly still rankling with many of Cronje's supporters, including his own father, who initially tried to bar UCB officials from the funeral.

Cape Town Mayor Gerald Morkel and former Western Cape MEC for finance Leon Markovitz have rubbished German crook Jürgen Harksen, calling him 'a confidence trickster who made a nuisance of himself by besieging them with cellphone calls and SMS messages'. The DA politicians have come under pressure through Harksen's

revelations of hundreds of thousands of Rands allegedly paid in to party and personal accounts in return for favours. The Desai Commission, where Harksen was given his grand-stand opportunity to embarrass the opposition, is controlled by the ruling ANC/Communist Regime, which is eager to destroy the DA's power base in the Western Cape.

Winnie Mandela, divorced wife of first Azanian President Nelson Mandela, has intervened in the clash between the ruling ANC/Communist Regime and the black Congress of SA Students in Johannesburg. Cosas is being penalised by the Regime for attacking helpless civilians and trashing businesses during a protest march, - an old ANC/Communist tradition, which, now that the ANC is in power, is costing it financial and other support. Mandela, honorary president of Cosas, said she is, quote, trying to defuse the situation as a concerned mother and grandmother who humbly seeks to rectify the unfortunate prevailing atmosphere, unquote, - but analysts have pointed out that as the recognised leader of the radical wing within the ruling alliance she has to stand by her 'shock troops'.

The ANC Youth League will no longer be able to use the world-famous Soweto uprising picture of Hector Peterson, which has been the main propaganda tool of the ANC/Communist alliance for decades. The photographer, who was recently awarded copyright on it, says the ANC will now have to pay for it....

The Azanian (New SA) national council of provinces (NCOP) has approved draft legislation aimed at greater state control of the media. Propagated by the ruling ANC/Communist Regime as, quote, redressing South Africa's skewed information and media landscape, unquote, the co-called Media Development and Diversity Agency Bill 'empowers' the state to interfere in the normal workings of a free press by using taxpayers' money to finance selected media.

Trying to defend the bill, ANC/Communist 'Minister in the Presidency' Essop Pahad said, quote, (the bill's) focus rather is on addressing and reducing the barriers to participation in the media that have stood in the way of the previously disadvantaged sections of our society, unquote. He told the NCOP that 'while some progress had been made in changing the media industry since the achievement of democracy', "it is only a very small beginning compared with what is needed"...

In terms of a package of bills approved by the ANC's national working committee, which is being processed in the Azanian (New SA) Parliament, MPs, MPLs and municipal councillors will this year be free to defect without losing their seats and without worrying about taking 10 percent of their colleagues along with them. The ruling ANC/Communist Alliance has acknowledged that this piece of legislation is being pushed through for political expediency, engineered to enable it to deal with 'the DA problem'. After the NNP's decision to crawl into bed with the ruling ANC, many representatives were prevented from crossing over by existing legislation, which forbids crossing the floor, so that parties like the ruling ANC/Communist alliance can at all times keep its members in check. However, future crossings after the transitional period will be more difficult and will include a 10 percent threshold, thereby to a large degree restoring the status quo ante.

Azanian (New SA) provincial education MEC for Gauteng, Ignatius Jacobs, has again given notice of his intention to close down all state pre-primary schools in the province. Jacobs has gone on record saying that the reason for the intended closure is the fact that the present system of pre-primary schools, being situated in traditionally white areas, caters mainly for white children...

A report handed to 'Mpumalanga' provincial education MEC Craig Padayachee has admitted that poor discipline and absenteeism among teachers and pupils and failure to honour allotted periods are responsible for last year's poor matric results in black schools. Factors cited as reasons for last year's poor results included: "Ill-disciplined" pupils, gangsterism, late-coming, failure to return textbooks and do homework. As is usual, social and environment factors such as poverty, starvation, lack of electricity, absence of parents, influence of criminal elements, and living in informal settlements are held up as excuses for the situation. Interestingly, though, 'pregnancy of learners' has been mentioned in the report as one of the, quote, restricting factors, unquote...

A senior official in 'Limpopo's' Tender Board has been suspended for allegedly masterminding a scam to rip-off successful tender applicants. ANC/Communist Finance MEC Thaba Mufamadi refused to name the official, who allegedly exhorted bribes of up to R21 000 from tenderers by promising to "assist" their bids. This has led to speculation that the ruling Regime is trying to cover up the fact that he is black, and that the reason for the rampaging corruption is to be found in the 'fast-track transformation' of the civil service, with experienced and relatively incorruptible whites being replaced by blacks.

At the 'transforming' University of Potchefstroom, condoms will in future be available on request. "Condoms will have to be made available ... in a controlled fashion," the policy states. The free distribution of condoms forms part of the university's new HIV/Aids policy, which is being pushed through under the guidance of the new white rector, whose appointment is widely ascribed to the ruling ANC/Communist Regime's determination to gain direct control of all formerly white, Boer universities.

E. TERROR TRAIL

A 50-year-old member of the Air Force of Hoedspruit has been murdered by armed black robbers, when he happened to drive past the scene of a cash-in-transit robbery. The as yet unnamed white man apparently tried to phone for help, when one of the blacks stepped closer and callously shot him dead.

Elsewhere, a 67-year-old white farmer, Laurence Valentine Winter, was shot in the leg by black thieves, whom he had caught stealing on his farm. After seven hours of lying there bleeding, he was finally found by his wife.

White female students at the University of Pretoria are reportedly scared and intimidated by the continuing spate of rapes and assaults by black 'students' and 'workers' in Pretoria, and even on campus itself. Allegations have been made that 16 white women have been raped and accosted in broad daylight recently. Most incidents allegedly took place near the hostels Madelief, Magrietjie, Asterhof and Erika.