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Thread: The political conspiracy defence

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    The political conspiracy defence

    Inspired by Jacob Zuma's recent success with this strategy, no doubt we'll see more of the political conspiracy defence.
    The Travelgate investigation had been designed to destroy the reputations of certain politicians, one of the four travel agents facing charges has claimed.

    Estelle Aggujaro made the allegation in an affidavit submitted to the Cape High Court on Tuesday as part of her bid for a formal investigation into the reasons for the repeated postponements of the case.

    She said the Scorpions had targeted "political opponents" in the case, and that their investigation had been intended to destroy "the reputation and political role playing ability" of certain MPs.

    "Most of the MPs listed [by the Scorpions] were from the ruling party [African National Congress], and those investigated from the DA [Democratic Alliance] were MPs who were intending to cross the floor."

    A total of 29 MPs, most of them from the ANC, have already been sentenced in terms of plea agreements with the Scorpions. Only one, chief whip Mnyamezeli Booi, is still contesting the fraud charges.

    Aggujaro also claimed her travel agency had offered services to ministers in former president Thabo Mbeki's Cabinet, and though she faced prosecution, those VIPs were not even charged.

    Aggujaro was arrested in July 2004, when she was sole director of the now-defunct ITC Travel.

    She said that since then she had been unemployable in the travel industry.

    "My health has suffered as a result of the trauma and stress related to this case, as I suffer from depression as [a] result of ... being unable to prove my innocence," she said.

    "Clearly this matter cannot proceed like this with constant postponements."

    An appropriate order for the court to make would be to strike the case from the roll, she said.

    Her application was made in terms of Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows a court to investigate any delay "which appears to the court to be unreasonable" and which could prejudice the prosecution or the accused.
    full story from M&G here

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    I honestly think that that the Scorpions followed the money trail because any investigation is based on facts. So I cannot say if the Scorpions where part of a conspiracy or not but the fact is that they where decommissioned. The question remains however and that is; Why is there still inconsistencies when it comes to government funding? If they are innocent then why not ask for Interpol or some fancy agency to come and investigate. After all they are innocent... so what is the problem?

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    If you're going to take the allegation seriously, the interesting part is her underlying implication that either the DA or past apartheid operatives had a hand in steering this. That Thabo or the ANC might have had a hand in this, particularly to protect "VIPs" from prosecution, would not be that surprising in light of recent developments.

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    Corruption sounds sinister and always complicated. But really it is not. First of you identify power players. Only people with real power can do things like decommission Intelligence Agencies. Only real power has access to the countries funds and above all only a few can twist the outcome of investigations and court rulings as well as large contracts being assigned.

    The VIP ring as we know it does exist and yes they will do whatever is needed to protect themselves. If anything we now see how the gears of democracy are really slowly slipping because we as a people no longer have a voice... Justice is dead and the prove is found in our criminal systems, police, hospitals, unlawful arrests and violent crime is all connected to an intellectually poor mismanage government.

    We need a new government and we need change fast... because if you look at the local picture then we are becoming a second Zimbabwe... Right now if you are to make a list of Zimbabwe’s fall and you make a list of what is happening in South Africa at this moment you will find the similarities are really scary. But go and make that list...

    Trust me, forget conspiracy... we are in deep sh!t right now and our government must take responsibility however they do not... So where does that leave us... And more importantly what is the massage we as a people are getting from our leaders ?

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    The JSC enquiry into Judge President John Hlophe seems to be headed in a similar direction.
    Lawyers for embattled Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe will argue not only that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is biased against their client but that its inquiry is illegally constituted. Seeking an interdict against the inquiry, Hlophe's team will use an opinion the JSC itself commissioned on who must be present at its hearings.

    In a further development, the JSC has now admitted that it discussed the possibility that its membership might change under a Zuma administration and considered problems this could cause for its ongoing inquiry into Hlophe.

    But, confirming these discussions, JSC spokesperson Marumo Moerane told the Mail & Guardian that the JSC's deliberation on these two issues did not "influence the majority" in arriving at its decision not to grant Hlophe a postponement. "They had nothing to do with the reasoning of the majority," he said.

    On Wednesday Hlophe's lawyers sent a letter to the JSC declining to participate in "unlawful proceedings" and confirmed that they would be bringing an urgent court application to interdict hearings into their client.
    full story from M&G here
    I think it is safe to say justice is under siege regardless of who is right in this matter.

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