The so-called Forces of Change...

An interesting piece on the Mail and Guardian website last night touched on the impact of a website called the Forces of Change – www.forcesofchange.co.za – a website that was recently established to propagate reasons for a change in leadership at the 53^rd national conference of the ANC. The website is clearly against Zuma and its preferred candidates are Kgalema Motlanthe for president, with Matthews Phosa as his deputy. Despite its best efforts to derail the presidency through distribution of its propaganda, it looks as though the movement has been quashed by the announcement of Zuma’s victory over Motlanthe.

Interestingly at the same time as the article’s publication, I was contacted by a concerned reader of my blog who it appears has done some fascinating research around the website, detailed below.

The IP address is owned by a US-registered internet service provider - Linode LLC - and belongs to their London hosting centre. This domain is the only domain hosted on this IP address indicating that a specific hosting package was purchased for this domain. The only piece of legitimate information in the registration details for the domain www.forcesofchange.co.za is the email address theforcesofchange@gmail.com.

The email address theforcesofchange@gmail.com is also associated with the registration details of one other domain, namely www.saveanc.co.za. This domain was registered on 9 November 2012 and the other registration details are also clearly invalid.

The domain www.saveanc.co.za points to the IP address 72.8.150.24, which is owned by the US internet service provider Staminus Communications. The IP address belongs to their hosting centre in Fullerton, California, United States. There are 316 unrelated domains also hosted on this IP address. This suggests that the IP address is part of a shared website hosting provider and no further identifiable information is available.

The parties behind the two domains have made a concerted effort to hide their true identities by entering invalid registration details and both domains are supported by an anonymising service, Afraid (www.afraid.org).

Mail and Guardian article: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-12-17-why-you-shouldnt-vote-for-jz

Fundamental police failures to blame for Marikana massacre

A police expert who testified at the Lonmin mine enquiry has blamed weakness in the police force for the deaths of the 34 miners on strike on 16 August this year. The scale of the police operation meant that communications breakdowns became rife and individual groups of police were operating without a collective or known objective.

Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201212140750.html?viewall=1 

Top ANC nominees - Mangaung

Ahead of the decisive Mangaung conference, it is clear that there are several nominees in the running so far. Serving president Jacob Zuma will face a hard task to stay in his seat after a tough year in politics; Cyril Ramaphosa, the ex-politician turned businessman is looking for a return to the political sphere; Gwede Mantashe is the current ANC secretary-general and a former trade unionist; Jessie Duarte, currently a member of the ANC’s communications team, is a former apartheid activist and was a special advisor to Nelson Mandela; Baleka Mbete is the party chairwoman of the ANC, ex-speaker of the National Assembly and ex-deputy president of South Africa in 2008; Zweli Mkhize, the popular premier  of the KZN and free state regions; Kgalema Motlanthe is the deputy president and announced he would challenge Zuma for his seat recently; Tokyo Sexwale is a business pro and also an experienced politician; and Matthews Phosa who is the ANC treasurer general and nominee for deputy president by the ANC’s Limpopo and Western Cape regions.

Original link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201212140325.html?viewall=1

E-tolls get green light

A court bid to scrap the e-tolling project has failed due to “a lack of efficient public participation”. The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) had campaigned in a vocal manner and accused SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) of keeping the public in the dark and intentionally being dishonest about the process of implementation but the case was ultimately lost over a three day battle in court.

Original link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201212130889.html

Last chance for Julius Malema

If Julius Malema wants to see out the remainder of his career in politics, then the conference at Mangaung is his last possible hope of seeing this achieved. The chances of that happening are however very slim; despite attempts from his supporters to put the issue of his expulsion on the agenda at Mangaung, it is likely that it will not even be discussed, especially after Zuma’s comments recently to the press that he is out of the party and that “it’s not an issue”. And if it is discussed, what hope does the man have while he faces literally dozens of charges that include money laundering, fraud and corruption? Is that the kind of politician the South African public want to see in power?

Original link: http://www.iol.co.za/news/special-features/malema-s-future-uncertain-1.1440480#.UMnuuuQyJF8

New probe ordered into 1986 Samora Michel plane crash

The South African police have initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 1986 plane crash that killed Mozambican leader Samora Michel after an informant came forward to claim that South African apartheid-era officials engineered the crash. President Zuma has personally sanctioned the investigation after strong evidence, including documents, photographs and voice recordings, pointed to foul play. The original diagnosis from a South African judge, assisted by UK and US “experts”, was that the plane’s crew were partly responsible through negligence. However, Soviet experts working with the Mozambican authorities ruled that the crash was caused by the crew being misled by signals from a decoy navigation beacon that transmitted more strongly than the beacon at the airport in Mozambique's capital, Maputo…

Original link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20694109

SADC to send troops to DR Congo

The Southern African Development Community has pledged 4,000 troops as a neutral force to be deployed in DR Congo in order to tackle the rebellion. Under the arrangement, Tanzania will send 800 troops and the SADC will supply a standby brigade of around 3,000 troops mid-way through December.

Original link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201212100110.html