DJ Gareth Cliff and government spokesman in #Sona2015 Twitter war

Mayihlome Tshwete
Image by: Pic: KARL ROGERS © Business Day Wanted

Gareth Cliff. 
Image by: Photo: Waldo Swiegers. (C) Sunday Times.

The build-up to the State of the Nation Address didn't only bring out the ugly within the EFF, and rival parties against President Jacob Zuma. There was also a brutal twar between Gareth Cliff and Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete minutes before Zuma stepped up to deliver his speech. 

It all began when Cliff, whose comments have ruffled many a feather, took on Tshwete (another who's adept at slugging it out on the microblogging site), who had said, "It's about time we start behaving like we govern this country, being nice and liberal hasn't worked".

Cliff replied, calling him an "underachiever", and wondering why he was feeling "more entitled than usual today".

Twitter timelines quickly resembled an abattoir, as neither wanted to surrender.

This is how it played out:

• @MTshwete: "@GarethCliff entitlement is what happens when a minority believes their pleasures outweighs the grievances of the masses".

• @GarethCliff: "@MTshwete I don't know if your opinion is representative of anyone but yourself. I speak for neither a majority nor minority".

• @GarethCliff: "@MTshwete and by the way... Belonging to the ANC political elite does mean you're in a minority, and oligarchy".

• @MTshwete: "@GarethCliff I would swap that any day with your economic of privilege of generations who benefitted from crimes against humanity".

• @GarethCliff:" @MTshwete I wouldn't".

• @MTshwete: "@GarethCliff we want what you have, economic freedom. Then we can go around celebrating people's deaths".

• @GarethCliff: "@MTshwete There's a lot I have that you want, and surprisingly little of it is material. Don't be so insecure publicly, it's undignified".

• @MTshwete: "@GarethCliff :) I am grossly insecure, financially & otherwise, & it's mostly because people like u perpetuate the racism of your fathers".

• @MTshwete: "@GarethCliff how Africans achieve whatever they achieve don't sit there waiting your approval . Stop being an authority on these issues".

When other users chipped in and told the pair to "tolerate" each other, Tshwete said "we have, he [Cliff] hasn't"

EFF's Shivambu says: Next time we will be armed

(Greg Nicolson via Twitter)

Economic Freedom Fighters MP Floyd Shivambu on Thursday evening warned the EFF will be armed the next time parliamentary protection officers confront them.

"They obviously manhandled all of us. Next time, we will be armed," he said as he walked to the steps of the National Assembly in the rain.

He joined a group of EFF MPs and supporters dancing and chanting "pay back the money".

EFF leader Julius Malema and some of his MPs had earlier interrupted President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address to Parliament.

After being repeatedly asked to leave the House, they were eventually removed by security officers.

Malema told journalists: "We have got it on good authority that those were the presidential protection unit. We are not going anywhere. We are part of their Parliament."

He accused government of responding to political issues not with "political answers but security apparatus".

National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise explained the presiding officers had a right to call in security.

Fist fights broke out between EFF MPs and parliamentary officers, both in the Chamber and outside in the corridor.

The EFF's hard hats flew across the benches as the MPs were removed.

"They started with [Godrich Gardee]. They hit him first," said EFF Western Cape chairperson Bernard Joseph.

EFF MP Emmanuel Mtileni said officers manhandled him.

"They grabbed me, they even moered [hit] me," he said, pointing to his cheekbone.

Officers dragged the MPs towards the Old Assembly and linked hands to bar journalists from going down the stairs.

Mtileni remonstrated with riot police, saying "How can you do that to us? Zuma stole your money too. How can you hit us?"

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said he was grabbed by the throat.

"I don't know whether they choked me but they cut my voice for a while," he said.

According to Ndlozi, some of his colleagues were injured.

Foreigners won't be allowed to own South African land - they can lease it

(Shutterstock)

Foreign nationals will not be allowed to own land in South Africa, but will be for long term lease, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

In his State of the Nation address he said a bill in this regard will be submitted this year.

On land reform he said more than 36 00 land claims have been launched nationally and the cut off date is 2019.

"We are also exploring the 50-50 policy framework on rights for people who live and work on farms."

Zuma said 50 farming enterprises will be identified as pilot projects.

"In terms of our new proposed laws, a ceiling will be set on 12 000 hectares.

In future foreigners "will not be able to own land in South Africa" but could lease it, Zuma said.

Although this policy position has been mulled over by the ruling party, it was widely expected until tonight that foreigners would be restricted only.

The ANC recent suggested - through its secretary general Gwede Mantashe - the local farmers would be restricted to 12 000 hectare farm holdings, but the abolition of foreign land ownership in future was a surprise announcement.

Zuma also said the office of the Valuer General would be up and running in the year ahead. This would mark the end to the "willing-buyer, willing-seller" process of land reform.

The office would be involved in valuing land for expropriation from farmers, it is envisaged, although Zuma did not go into details in his state of the nation speech.

Ebola cases on the rise for 2nd month - World Health Organization

(File: Sapa)

The number of new Ebola cases in West Africa rose for the second week running after a previous falls, including a "sharp increase" in Guinea, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

Nearly 9 000 people have died from the epidemic, the WHO said while admitting that it was impossible to give a precise number as the outcomes of some cases remained unknown.

All but 15 of the fatalities have happened in the worst-affected West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

In the week up to 8 February a total of 144 new cases were registered, compared to 124 the previous week.

"Guinea reported a sharp increase in incidence, with 65 new confirmed cases compared with 39 the week before," the WHO said in its report.

Transmission also remains "widespread" in Sierra Leone, which reported 76 new confirmed cases.

Liberia again reported a low number of new confirmed cases, just three over the week in question.

Last week Britain's Wellcome Trust said that clinical trials it was funding for a new Ebola treatment in Liberia had been halted due to the fall in new cases.

Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to man, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting.

People caring for the sick or handling corpses are at highest risk, and the disease is best contained by limiting exposure through patient isolation and safe burials.

A drop in new cases in recent weeks had given rise to optimism that the worst was over, before the WHO last week reported the first rise for 2015 in the weekly number of cases in all three countries.

"The spike in cases in Guinea and continued widespread transmission in Sierra Leone underline the considerable challenges that must still be overcome to get to zero cases," the WHO said in its latest report.

"The infrastructure, systems, and people needed to end the epidemic are now in place; response measures must now be fully implemented," it added.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on Wednesday denounced a series of violent attacks on its volunteers battling the deadly Ebola epidemic in Guinea.

The world's largest humanitarian network said the latest case involved two burial workers who were beaten up on Sunday by a mob in the western town of Forecariah.

BOBBY BROWN HAS BEEN TOLD TO PULL THE PLUG to allow his little girl to go and be with The Lord.

After a terrible few days for the Brown family, it is reported that there is not much left to do to save the life of Bobbi Kristina. 

According to TMZ, the doctors at Emory University Hospital told her father Bobby Brown it’s time to end life support and it is up to Brown when he wants to do so. 

The 21-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown has been in a medically induced coma since Saturday (Jan. 31), when she was found unconscious in her bathtub. 

Making today’s news even more upsetting -- today is Brown’s birthday. TMZ reports he does not want to make the decision until after the weekend, as he is still hopeful she can pull through. 

Our prayers are with the Brown family at this terrible time.

'Who made Thuli God?' Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development John Jeffery has slammed what he said was an attempt to turn the office of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela into a quasi-judicial body with immense powers.

"Surely the public protector is not a quasi-judicial body," he said. "[Her] powers are to investigate, and make findings and recommendations, and put them into the public domain. It is in the public domain that the action must be taken."

Speaking during a debate on Madonsela's powers hosted by the Law Society of SA at the University of Pretoria yesterday, Jeffery argued that the public protector would wield too much power if her findings were to be binding.

"[Madonsela] is essentially an investigator, prosecutor and judge all rolled into one. That is quite unheard of in our law.

"If [her] findings are binding, maybe we need to do away with a lot of the courts," he said.

Jeffery said he was surprised that there had been no debate on the powers of the public protector until the release of Madonsela's findings on the R246-million "security upgrading" of President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead with public money.

He said Madonsela's predecessor, Selby Baqwa, had said that the Chapter 9 institution's findings were not legally binding.

With the exception of Madonsela, the panellists in the debate - retired Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob, Wits School of Law deputy head Mtende Mhango and the executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution, Lawson Naidoo - agreed that the public protector's findings were not legally binding.

Madonsela argued that a public protector's findings were binding - unless set aside by a court of law. The courts' duty, as was the protector's, was to the constitution, she said.

Yacoob qualified his opinion by saying that, although Madonsela's findings were not legally binding, the state was bound by the constitution to assist and protect Chapter 9 institutions.

"These institutions are not accountable to the government, as much as the government might wish it to were so; they are accountable to parliament and only to parliament," he said.

Naidoo said the country would be on "a slippery slope" if the executive ignored Madonsela's findings.

SOUTH AFRICA – We are receiving reports that talented South African music producer Bojo Mujo has died. He is best know for hits like Summer Rain, Hlonolofatsa and Thando Lwami among many others.

Bojo Mujo

His death comes as a double blow to the South African entertainment industry coming on the same day as the death of Zimbabwe born SABC Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere.

“He passed peacefully at Pretoria 5h00 AM after a short illness surrounded by family… Bojo Mujo’s first love was to make people dance. Although he is no longer with us, his music will live among his fans forever (sic),” his manager Sello Lehlake said.

Although Bojo Mujo’s music was widely consumed in townships and rural areas, his talent was seldom recognized especially in the mainstream media. But that seemed not to bother the multi-platinum seller.

“It does not bother me. Because I am not famous I have the freedom to go wherever I want. I get recognition through my sales and gigs. Fame means I can be in bad mood when I’m in public,” he told Tonight in 2009.

Just where did Bojo Mujo, aka Jack Lehlake, get his name from?

“In the Antonio Banderas film, Desperado, the baddie who turned out to be Antonio’s brother was named Bucho. I wanted the mojo that Bucho had and thought to myself that I was going to use that guy’s name in the future,” he said in a 2009 interview.

“In 2001, when I first became serious about recording music, I went under the name Bujo Mojo, but everyone got it wrong. They called me Bojo Mujo so I just stuck with it.”