No comment: MP Lindiwe Mazibuko spears Zuma in Parliament

"The president's attention has been diverted from his duties.

Energy spent on organizing a march to an art gallery and a legal

challenge to a work of satire has distracted from the serious work of

government. Representatives of the ANC and some of its ministers are

attempting to close down the space for freedom of expression through

bullying and intimidation."



--MP Lindiwe Mazibuko, 32

Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party Caucus Leader

To Jacob Zuma, 70, sitting in Parliament

Cape Town, South Africa

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

PHOTO CREDIT: The New Age (SA)

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Doozy Wednesday in National Assembly: Opposition boycotts closed-session interpellation of Defense and Interior Ministers over alleged secret accords with Rwanda

Wednesdays are usually devoted to current affairs issues in the

National Assembly.





Ordinarily, those Wedneday sessions are dull affairs where one MP

after another would take to the floor to deliver long-winded

monologues--no doubt to impress, surely not other fellow MPs who then

take that opportunity to talk on their mobile phones or flick through

their newspapers; but most certainly viewers of RTNC-3, the

parliamentary TV channel that carries live sessions of both houses of

Parliament.





But this Wednesday, May 30, was different, as for the first time two

important cabinet members of the new government were interpellated by

the opposition.





The two ministers interpellated are government heavyweights whose

purview is the country's critical security sectors: 1) Deputy Prime

Minister and Defense Minister Alexandre Luba Ntambo; and 2) Interior

and Security Minister Richard Muyej.





Two vocal opposition MPs had lodged the "oral questions with debate"

to the ministers:





1) Former Kinshasa provincial MP and current national MP Martin

Fayulu, leader of the party ECIDé (Engagement pour la Citoyenneté et

le Développement); and





2) South-Kivu MP Jemsi Mulengwa of PANADER (Parti National pour la

Démocratie et la République).





Deputy Premier Alexandre Luba Ntambo had to explain the nature of the

alleged recent secret security accord the DRC government entered into

with its Rwandan counterpart, without first informing the National

Assembly; whereas Interior Minister Richard Muyej had to respond to

questions over insecurity in South-Kivu Province, particularly around

the locality of Fizi.





But shortly after opening the plenary session, with the two cabinet

ministers in attendance, Speaker Aubin Minaku, invoking Article 60 of

the Rules and Regulations of the National Assembly, ruled that, given

the sensitive and classified nature of the issues, the debate had to

be carried out behind closed doors.





This ruling didn't sit well with opposition MPs--especially with the

two MPs who had fielded the oral questions.





Claiming that not the Speaker alone but all the MPs present could

decide on holding a closed-door plenary session, and accusing the

parliamentary majority and the government of dissembling about the

alleged security treaty with Rwanda, opposition MPs stormed out of the

National Assembly.





Paradoxically, Deputy Premier Alexandre Luba Ntambo and Interior

Minister Richard Muyej made their responses in a closed-door session

in the absence of the authors of the oral questions.





Talking to the press outside the Congress Hall of the National

Assembly, MP Martin Fayulu charged:





"It's a move against the Constitution and against the rules and

regulations [of the National Assembly]. The Speaker of the Assembly

can't decree a closed-door session. It's the plenary session that

should do it. The minister [of defense] had signed accords in Rwanda

without informing the Parliament."





Well, the second paragraph of Article 60 the rules and regulations

merely states:





"Sessions of National Assembly are public except if, exceptionally, a

closed-door session is pronounced."





As nothing in that title clearly identifies who should "pronounce" the

necessity of a close-door session, Speaker Minaku rightly assumed it

was his privilege to do so.





MPs have only themselves to blame for this gaping loophole in the

rules and regulations of the National Assembly.





Kinois in the streets and sidewalk bars were outraged and were fuming

yesterday afternoon over Speaker Minaku's procedural gimmick that

prevented them from witnessing their hero Fayulu embarrass two

cabinet ministers in what had been billed by the opposition all along

the previous days as a live TV event.





Most Kinois I spoke to claimed that Congolese leaders were a bunch of

dissemblers in cahoots with Rwanda and Ntaganga.





"They're mocking residents of the republic big time," one woman

exclaimed. "They are Rwanda's accomplices in the plunder of our

mineral resources."





Her boyfriend mocked the preposterous idea of holding a closed-door

session on classified matters "with five hundred Congolese big mouths

in attendance."





"I could've believed Minaku's explanation if it was a small committee

hearing," he added. "Not with the full house. He's a liar! He thinks

we're his gullible fools!"

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KEITH HARMON SNOW's name is being used by a Filipino scammer in "Friend Stranded in Foreign Country Scam Emails"

Keith Harmon Snow, a prolific American "Africanist" blogger, is the

latest victim of "Friend Stranded in Foreign Country Scam Emails"

originating in the Philippines.





(Are Nigerian con artists now operating from the Philippines?)





I don't know whether this scammer got into one of Snow's email

accounts (by phisting) or just stumbled upon his name, which is about

everywhere on the Internet on matters relating to Africa--and

particularly the African Great Lakes Region and East africa.





I think this scammer might have gotten into Snow's account, for how

would he pick me out as his sucker? (I've exchanged tons of emails

with Keith Harmon Snow over the years, though I never met him in

person.)





Or this crook, who is mass emailing to an "undisclosed number of

recipients," just hit my email address at random?





So, Keith, if you are reading this, maybe you'd what to do with this low-life.





Anyway, below is my exchange with the Filipino crook otherwise

identified as: alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com





(Initiating this kind of exchange as I did is in itself a big mistake,

as debunkers of Internet scams would tell you, for it can lead to your

account being hacked into. But Keith is my buddy and I couldn't just

let this pass without leading on this crook before crushing him. And I

barely ever use my AOL email account. Besides, as the leitmotiv in The

Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night claims, if this meaningless

tale were to be written with a needle in the corner of the eye, it'd

still serve as a warning to the circumspect.)





***



Subject: Emergency help please; It's very urgent





Date: Sun 27/5/2012 11:45PM





From: Keith Harmon Snow <alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com>





Reply to: alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com





To: undisclosed-recipients:;







How are you? I hope all is well. I'm writing to ask you for a favor.

I'm presently in Philippinesbut I'm in a fix; I was mugged and lost my

money & cards. Would have called but I lost my mobile phone in the

course of this attack. I'm so glad I wasn't hurt. Can you please

assists me with some money[ $3100] or any amount you can afford. I'll

pay you back the money immediately I return back home next weekend.

Kindly let me know if you would be able help me with this or any

amount you can afford to lend me. I'll forward you the transfer

details upon your response. Thank you very much for your effort.

Looking forward to read from you.

Thanks,

Keith Harmon Snow.



*



My reply:





So where are you exactly? Manilla? Mindanao? And how would I send you the money?





*





The Filipino Scammer:





Re: thanks a lot; transfer details





Thank you so much for the quick response and eager to help me out. I'm

so grateful and reallyappreciate your concern. In fact, It was a bad

experience but I'm so glad I wasn't hurt. I'll be so happy to accept

any amount you could afford to lend me and I'll definitely refund you

back upon my arrival next weekend.

I've been to the nearest bank just to find out the fastest and easiest

way for me to receive money; so the Western Union Money Transfer

Service or the Money Gram Service will be easier and faster since I

can not use my personal account now. So you can make the transfer

using my name below at any western union money transfer office/outlet.

The Western union money transfer offices/outlet are usually at the

post office or any banks. You can also go to the Western union money

transfer website [ www.westernunion.com ] to find and locate a

Western union agent/office. So you can go to the western union office

with cash and make the transfer on my name.

Below are the details you will need to complete the "Sending Form" at

the western union office. Kindly help me out with the transfer as soon

as you can.

Name: Keith Harmon Snow

Address: 26 Kamias Rd Quezon City, National Capital Region

Country : Philippines.

After the transfer, you will have to scan a copyof the receipt to me

or you can just email me back with the following transfer details from

the transfer receipt. 1.*Money Transfer control number (MTCN). 2.*The

full name the sender (Your full name); 3.*The transfer amount ;

Kindly email me back as soon as you receive this email so as to

confirm you receive the transfer details. I will expect your response

soon. Thanks a lot for your effort and kindness,

Thanks,

Keith.





*





My reply:





Keith,

I only got 500 bucks. I checked with the neighborhood Western Union

outlet. They told I'll have to pay at least $20 for money transfer.

So, buddy, you'll get $480. I don't know whether that'd help you out.

But, before I go ahead and transfer the money, could you attach in

reply to this email

a picture of you taken from a mobile phone so that I'd it's really you?





*





The Filipino Scammer:





Re: Re: thanks a lot; transfer details





Yes you can make the transfer. Oh no, this is not a scam. My email

wasn't compromised and I sent you this email myself. I'll try my best

to find an internet cafe to scan and email you a copy of my passport.

Please I really need your help.

Anyway, I can understand your concern and security consciousness but

I'm not going to take your money away. I will definitely refund you

back upon my arrival just as I have explained to you in my previous

mail.

Thanks.



*



My final reply:





Re: Re: Re: thanks a lot for your effort





Fuck you, buddy! I know Keith Harmon Snow and you are no Keith Harmon

Snow. Keith is a prolific writer who writes excellent English. Not

your gibberish. Keith is from a well-to-do family and has good friends

with lots of money. I'm the last person Keith would turn to for money.

Had Keith been in narrow straits as you claim, he'd have walked into

the nearest American consulate or Embassy in Manilla to have things

sorted out! YOU ARE A LOW-LIFE THIEF AND CROOK. BACK OFF, ASSHOLE!!!

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Radio-Trottoir proved true by leaked new classified UN Report: Rwanda's saber rattling in eastern DRC by proxy of warlord Ntaganda

The Congolese grapevine of Radio-Trottoir is once again proved true.





Radio-Trottoir had it, since the new

round of violence broke out in North-Kivu in early May, that Rwanda

was behind Jean-Bosco Ntaganda and his militia.





According to Radio-Trottoir, the Rwandan regime, which once thrived on

the windfall of its bloody experiment in military entrepreneurship on

Congo resources, will forever be a clear and present danger to the

DRC.





Rwanda is being helped in this enterprise, still according to

Radio-Trottoir, by the inane and incoherent security policy of the DRC

government.





Radio-Trottoir points for instance to the fact that that proving

grounds and training centers for artillery, airborne, and commando

regiments shut down more than a decade ago at the fall of Mobutu have

still to be reopened. Moreover, the Congolese Air Force that once

boasted well-trained combat pilots and French Mirage fighter planes is

in a sorry state today.





Radio-Trottoir and some opposition politicians have even gone as far

as to accuse the Congolese government of being in cahoots with Rwanda

and warlord Ntaganda.





Now, a new classified UN report leaked to the BBC and The New York

Times alleges that Rwanda has been arming, recruiting Rwandan citizens

(including kids), training them, and incorporating them into the

militias of the Rwandan-born warlord Ntaganda.





And this destabilization of eastern Congo has been planned and

implemented since February of this year, the classified UN Report

charges.





Last Wednesday, Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo--

uncharacteritically for Congolese officials who are usually fearful of

provoking Rwanda, but still shying away from calling a spade a

spade--said that Ntaganda's militias have a "rear base in a

neighboring country" and called on "all concerned states [in the

region] to avoid" backing up "negative groups."





As per usual, Rwanda has dismissed the UN Report as either "rumors" or

as "false and dangerous claims."





Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo lashed out at the United

Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO),

whose military intelligence helped gather intelligence on Rwandan

involvement for the confidential UN Report.





Said Rwandan Foreign Minister Mushikiwabo:





"This billion-dollar-a-year operation [MONUSCO] makes up one quarter

of the UN's entire peacekeeping budget, and yet it has been a failure

from day one."





Mushikiwabo went on to say:





"Instead of pursuing its mandate to eradicate the FDLR menace and help

stabilize the region, MONUSCO has become a destabilizing influence,

primarily concerned with keeping hold of its bloated budgets and

justifying its ongoing existence. Rwanda has received several refugees

who are severely wounded and traumatized as a result of the UN's

failure to protect civilians in eastern DRC."





Well, heaping insults on MONUSCO won't do. And Louise Mushikiwabo can

continue to scream her denials on behalf of her government till her

voice gets hoarse.





The fact remains, however, that:





1) Rwanda had occupied for 5 long years the very same Congolese

territory where the FDLR still operates today, and "failed to

eradicate the FDLR menace."





Rwanda failed because its occupying focused instead on plundering

mineral and forest resources of the Congo--a plunderous military

entrepreneurship that resulted in the deaths of more than 5 million

Congolese civilians!





2) Already in December 2008, when then Ntaganda's boss, warlord

Laurent Nkunda, with the same militiamen, was putting to fire and

sword the same region, Daily Telegraph war reporter David Blair

uncovered what he called "a long-standing tradition" of Rwanda

recruiting its own "demobilised" soldiers and officers, re-training

and arming them, and having them join Laurent Nkunda's CNDP militias

on Congolese soil.





(See David Blair's article, titled "DR Congo rebels recruited from

Rwanda army," Telegraph, 18/12/2008.)





In the meantime, Radio-Trottoir offers this invaluable piece of

conventional wisdom to the powers that be in the Congo:





Don't blame Rwanda for taking advantage of your own failure to build a

dissuasive army able to ward off Rwanda and its proxies in the Kivus.





As long as Congo will remain THE weakling in the tough neighborhood of

the African Great Lakes region, callous bullies like Rwanda will

continue to trample on its sovereignty!

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No Comment: Jacob Lenin Zuma's Penis victimized by Brett Murray, the Goodman Gallery, Zapiro, City Press, and all White South Africans

Brett Murray

The Spear, 2011

Acrylic on canvas

185 x 140cm

(Credits)

"The portrait depicts me in a manner that suggests I am a philanderer, a womaniser and one with no respect. It is an undignified depiction of my personality and seeks to create doubt about my personality in the eyes of fellow citizens, family, and children." --Jacob Lenin Zuma

 (credits)

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Manichean Yarn: Cabinet submits declarations of assets as National Assembly nips in the bud proposed committee to investigate holdings of former ministers

On Wednesday, May 23, a Manichean yarn unfolded in two institutions in

Kinshasa: the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Assembly.





With much fanfare, Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo and his full

cabinet went to the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ in acronym)--still

standing for the yet to be set up Constitutional Court whose

juridiction is over such matters--to submit sealed envelopes

containing details of their assets and holdings.





This, in compliance with Article 99 of the Constitution of the DRC,

which stipulates that the Head of State and members of government,

within 30 days of taking their oaths of office, have to "submit to the

Constitutional Court a written declaration" of their assets (including

those of their spouses and dependents); failing which, they'd be

"deemed to have resigned from office."





But nowhere in Article 99 is it stipulated that these declarations of

assets have to be published and put on public records.





The CSJ has therefore so far kept to a close reading of Article 99,

interpreting it as a submission in sealed envelopes of the list of

assets of the President and cabinet ministers.





In other words, barring some "Act of God," no citizen or journalist

ever stands a chance of knowing the extent of the assets of cabinet

ministers, let alone those of the Prez.





An intolerable situation that MLC MP Fidèle Babala had vowed to

correct--especially in light of accusations of massive theft hanging

over former PM Adolphe Muzito--by suggesting, at the plenary session

of May 16, the creation of a commission to investigate the assets of

former ministers.





A motion that was nipped in the bud by the majority in the plenary

session of Wednesday, May 23.





Just like the CSJ, the majority argued that the ministers'

declarations of assets are so to speak constitutionally wrought in

secrecy. A false interpretation of the Constitution, as it were.





In any case, Speaker Aubin Minaku advised MP Babala to turn his

request into an oral or written motion to be submitted to the internal

revenue directorate, to whom after all the CSJ sends those sealed

envelopes for safekeeping.





MP Babala is however determined to continue his crusade, promising

he'd soon submit an "oral question with debate to fiscal authorities."

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Radio-Trottoir Feed: Government mocks Residents of the Republic

I'd be exaggerating if I said that the mood is insurrectionary in Kinshasa.





(Though on Monday there were motorized patrols by heavily armed

"robots," as riot cops are dubbed here, after incidents in which

posses of the Drivers' Association of the Congo beat up those of their

members who scabbed, burning their vehicles. And last night, I saw two

UN police trucks on patrol.)





There's definitely no mass movement of outrage able to coalesce into

something akin to the worlwide urban uprisings of Indignados or Occupy

WallStreet and the likes.





But make no mistake. Anger, resentment, and frustration directed at PM

Augustin Matata Ponyo are not only palpable but have also about

reached boiling point among residents of the People's Republic of

Kinshasa ever since Monday one-day strike by public transport

operators.





(The strike so much terrified the powers-that-be that President Joseph

Kabila hastily convened Monday an emergency cabinet meeting where it

was agreed to rid transporters of the daily hassles they face on their

routes. The government also promised to purchase a fleet of buses to

revive two moribund state-owned public transport companies.)





Parts of the deleterious mood in the Congolese capital were captured

in the op-ed published Tuesday, May 22, by the daily Le Potentiel and

titled "Accord de Kigali : des monstrueuses contradictions" [Kigali

Accord: Monstrous Contradictions].





The article excoriates PM Augustin Matata Ponyo whose government, it

charges, is conspiscuously notable for its infirmities and

"monstrous" "inner contradictions."





A government that has turned its own citizens into saps and suckers

it's "mocking" with impunity, the op-ed contends.





Though the piece deals primarily with the two rounds talks held in the

Rwandan cities of Rubavu and Kigali in mid-May between Rwandan and

Congolese governments (meetings about which the government said

nothing to the nation), it also charges the prime minister of dragging

his heels in drafting the budget for the current fiscal year (the

government operates by increments of quarterly interim budgets!), and

of lacking a coherent urban public transportation policy that caused

on Monday a major disruption in the livelihood of millions of Kinois.





The ire of Kinois is further exacerbated by the reappearance on

opposition TV shows of Kinois MP Gérard "Gécoco" Mulumba leveling

renewed charges of theft of public money against former PM Adolphe

Muzito (see also my post of March 15, 2012).





Gécoco is backing his accusations with extensive footage of what he

calls the "sprawling field of mushrooms of villas, office and

apartment buildings" Muzito has purchased or is having built by German

construction teams in Kinshasa and his native Kikwit (Bandundu

Province) with money allegedly stolen from government coffers.





A mockery of citizens that has gone haywire.





No love lost then between the Kinois and Premier Matata--their

newfound whipping boy. (Why they don't go after Matata's boss--the

Prez, that is--is a mystery to me.)





This situation makes for fertile ground for the wildest conspirary theories.





One of those conspiracy theories was mainstreamed by Le Potentiel's

op-ed mentioned above.



This conspiracy theory alleges that Congolese authorities have

themselves been turned into saps and suckers by the Rwandan

government.





Item: Just when the FARDC were in the thick of their

search-and-destroy ops against militiamen led by Jean-Bosco Ntaganda

and his associates, Rwanda twice called security summits to deal with

the FDLR in order to justify yet another intervention in the Congo in

the guise of joint military operations.





These summits were no doubt a Rwandan dilatory move to give much

needed respite to Ntaganda's militiamen and to stymie the momentum of

the FARDC with meaningless talks focusing on the FDLR threat.





A first security meeting was convened on May 12 at Rubavu; and a

second one on May 18-19 in the Rwandan capital.





Never mind if this was the annual 5th Ordinary Session of the Mixed

Commission Rwanda-DRC, a gathering usually held in May.





The narrative of the conspirary theory transmogrifies the Congolese

government into a Janus-faced entity: a spineless government when it

is faced with the Rwandan bully and boogeyman; a callous government

that relentlessly hassles and mocks its own citizens!

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