D-DAY FOR CALLAND ON FARMGATE PANEL
NATIONAL Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is expected to announce by no later than today whether UCT Professor Richard Calland will be replaced on the three-member panel established to determine whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer in respect of the Phala Phala farm theft scandal.
This emerged when she briefed the programme committee on legal advice she had obtained following objections from the DA and the EFF on Calland's inclusion in the panel.
The parties say Calland had repeatedly and openly declared his support for Ramaphosa through a series of tweets, including ones in which he praised Ramaphosa for showing up at the hotly contested KwaZulu-Natal elective conference, where he wrote: “Credit to @ CyrilRamaphosa for going there and not chickening out.
“Exposes them for the ill-disciplined, sell-out, counter-revolutionary rabble they are.”
“@CyrilRamaphosa is much more compelling. He is looking them in the eye and calling their bluff.”
He also shared his views on the Farmgate scandal he was chosen to probe when commenting on Ramaphosa's refusal to answer questions on it in Parliament: “It's a tactical blunder of note. @CyrilRamaphosa will be hoist (sic) by his own process petard in this case. It just looks shady; like he has something significant to hide. It looks weak.”
Mapisa-Nqakula said due diligence had been conducted before the appointment of Calland, retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, and former Gauteng Division high court judge Thokozile Masipa to the panel.
“It was just unfortunate that the team from Parliament did not pick up this particular challenge raised by the EFF and the DA.
“In fact, the issue at hand with regard
His grandfather in 1822 was Samuel Dudley, the lawyer who dealt with Imam Haron’s family.
“My family has experienced two acts of forced removal under group areas. The continued stay of the Dudley family in 62 Palmboom Rd Newlands was squashed in 1961. My grandparents were nearly 70 years of age in 1961. About 50 years ago my parents and our family of 3 were evicted from 22 York Street Claremont. These events span virtually my whole life and have shaped my person and path in life. I am part of the 1976 generation that planted seeds of change,” he said.
Event organiser Salegga Mustapha said the day will educate many of their descendants about their roots.
The morning walk will commence at the St. Saviours Anglican Church at 9am on the corner of Main Road and Bowwood Road then proceed to the Claremont Gardens to listen to various speakers about social, cultural and environmental history.
It will be followed by the launch of the Newlands /Claremont Heritage, Environmental Justice and Restitution Society (NCHERS).