ANC Funding Western Cape Farm Strikes

 (Excerpts from Politicsweb)

ANC gives R4,1 million to Black Association of Wine and Spirits Industry (BAWSI) ahead of Western Cape Farm Strikes 

Statement issued by Annette Steyn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, April 24 2013

In a parliamentary reply to my question, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, has revealed that her department paid R4.1 million to the Black Association of Wine and Spirits Industry (BAWSI).

BAWSI -the farmworker union -had been at the forefront of the violent unrest in the farming regions of the Western Cape.  

In fact, Nosey Pieterse - the union's secretary -had even thanked Minister Joemat-Pettersson for the funding on his blog. 

It is clear from the reply that this funding was given to BAWSI on 8 October 2012, just before the farm strikes began across the province.

This amount of money, coupled with the timing of the transfer, brings into question whether the Department of Agriculture helped fund the farm strikes in the Western Cape.

In the interests of upholding the rule of law and the Constitution, this must be investigated as soon as possible.

UK Terminates Financial Aid to South Africa

(Article from allAfrica.com)

Issued by: Department of International Relations and Cooperation

The South African government has noted with regret the unilateral announcement by the government of the United Kingdom regarding the termination of the Official Development Aid to South Africa as from the year 2015.

This is such a major decision with far reaching implications on the projects that are currently running and it is tantamount to redefining our relationship.

Ordinarily, the UK government should have informed the government of South Africa through official diplomatic channels of their intentions and allowed for proper consultations to take place, and the modalities of the announcement agreed on.

We have a SA/UK Bilateral Forum which is scheduled for some time this year and the review of the SA/UK strategy which includes the ODA, would take place there and decisions about how to move forward were expected to be discussed in that forum.

This unilateral announcement no doubt will affect how our bilateral relations going forward will be conducted.

We are however looking forward to the SA/UK bilateral forum later this year to clear up this matter among others.