South Africa, World
While you were sleeping: 23 January 2018
Singh resigns before inquiry, Dlamini batters away at inquiry, and US government shutdown ends.
Tuesday, 23 January 2018
“The wonder is, not that the field of stars is so vast, but that man has measured it.”
Anatole France
STORY OF THE DAY
By PAULI VAN WYK for SCORPIO
Panicked SARS officials compiled a confidential internal report to their managers on the status of one of the biggest tax evasion investigations, just days after journalist Jacques Pauw’s blockbuster book The President’s Keepers hit stores around the country in November. The report’s focus: The curious multibillion-rand and decade-old tax case of the Taiwanese national and Zuma-linked businessman Jen Chih (Robert) Huang, his company Mpisi Trading 74 and an estimated R3-billion owed to SARS. Based on information from the heart of SARS, Scorpio can reveal that Huang attempted to settle his tax affairs for R20-million, that the finalisation of Huang’s case, code-named “Project Nightfury”, seems to have ground to a halt, and that Pauw’s revelations about Huang were spot-on.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Eskom’s suspended CFO Anoj Singh has called it quits. Announcing late on Monday evening that he would resign with immediate effect, Eskom confirmed that he would still testify today in an inquiry. Singh has been accused of illegally awarding contracts to Gupta-linked businesses, while also receiving gifts from the Saxonwold cartel. Nothing quite suggests a guilty conscience like resigning the day before your scheduled inquiry.
Belligerent Dlamini dodges questions at SassaGate Inquiry
Singh was not the only one attempting to deploy flares just before an inquiry. Minister of Social Development and notorious incompetent Bathabile Dlamini insisted on speaking Zulu, appeared openly annoyed at being questioned, and generally had a horrid time at her Monday interview. As is the norm in government, Dlamini took a leaf out of Life Esidimeni’s book and blamed her juniors, throwing Sassa CEO Thokozani Magwaza under the bus.
The US Government went back to work on Monday, voting to end a three-day shutdown. President Donald Trump, whose party controls virtually every wing of government, hailed the end of the shutdown as a victory in his stalemate with Democrats. The latter in turn shot back, accusing Trump of sitting on the sidelines over the weekend, refusing to engage in negotiations. That is golf and cheeseburger time, after all, not negotiation time.
Facebook admits it’s threat to democracy
Facebook conceded on Monday that it, and other social media, formed a threat to democracy. The rampant and uncontrolled spread of fake news, misinformation and general idiocy during the 2016 US election was hailed as a case in point for the danger of an uncontrolled or unfiltered platform like Facebook. The fact that you cannot read this on Facebook in China should be a reasonably good example.
IN NUMBERS
1-1.5
The average amount of snot, in litres, produced by a healthy human daily.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1900 the Battle of Spionkop is fought. This resulted in a resounding British defeat.
There are more museums in the United States than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined.
FEATURED ARTICLES
Op-Ed: Don’t let the City of Cape Town gaslight you — the water crisis is not your fault
BY JASON NORWOOD-YOUNG
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