South African ruling party in crisis talks over Zuma scandal

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Mon Apr 4, 2016 10:48am EDT

South African ruling party in crisis talks over Zuma scandal

JOHANNESBURG | BY STELLA MAPENZAUSWA

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party held crisis talks on Monday to discuss the fallout from a court ruling last week that President Jacob Zuma flouted the Constitution, triggering calls for him to resign.

The ANC backed Zuma, 73, after the Constitutional Court rebuked him for ignoring Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's order that he pay back some of the $16 million spent on upgrading his private Nkandla home.

But the scandal, one of several which have dogged Zuma over the past decade, could strain relations between the ANC and its allies the South African Communist Party (SACP) and labor federation COSATU, which have helped it to retain power since the fall of apartheid in 1994.

ANC officials declined to give details of Monday's meeting by the party's national working committee, which follows that of the ANC's top six leaders on Friday. The ANC could issue a statement later on Monday, a spokeswoman said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-zuma-idUSKCN0X11A0

[BlueMTexpat]

1. As well they should be.

They have grown away from their roots as a party to which Mandela would be proud to belong.

[bemildred]

2. Africa loses more money to illicit financial flows than it receives in foreign aid

A huge trove of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that’s a major player in offshore tax havens has revealed the secret companies controlled by members of the African elite, from Kenya’s deputy chief of justice and Rwanda’s former intelligence chief to the son of former United Nations general secretary Kofi Annan.

Every year, Africa loses between $30 and $60 billion to illicit financial flows (pdf, p. 34), according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). A “major enabler” of these flows, UNECA says, are offshore tax havens like Panama, the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, and other jurisdictions that happen to feature prominently in the “Panama Papers” leak.

There are legitimate uses for privacy-shielding offshore companies, and the firm from which the leak sprung, Mossack Fonseca, says it has operated “beyond reproach in our home country and in other jurisdictions where we have operations.”

http://qz.com/653937/africa-loses-more-money-to-illicit-financial-flows-than-it-receives-in-foreign-aid/