TIMES SELECT TODAY | It beggars belief: the truth about Ace | No-homework school probed | Tom Eaton

12 September 2018 - 05:00
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What did the ANC think would happen when it elected one of the principal enablers of state capture to run the organisation?

The organisation is now in a tangle to explain what its secretary-general, Ace Magashule, was doing with former president Jacob Zuma and former North West premier Supra Mahumapelo at a clandestine meeting in Durban last week.

Did the ANC really believe that, after being a facilitator of the Gupta looting spree, Magashule would suddenly change sides in the glow of the New Dawn and abandon Zuma and the Guptas?

Magashule himself proclaimed in Pietermaritzburg in January that “the ANC that we know” would return after five years – meaning that the organisation in its current form was alien. 

A Cape Town primary school that shot to prominence when it scrapped homework is under investigation after “numerous” complaints from parents.

The principal of Sun Valley Primary in Fish Hoek, who has been widely lauded for his innovative educational approach, is also being investigated for allegedly failing to declare his earnings as CEO of a private school and as a lecturer who travels internationally.

Gavin Keller, 59, told Times Select last week the salary he received from Silvermine Academy, a non-profit high school that runs many of its activities on Sun Valley premises, and honorariums for speaking engagements were declared on so-called RWOPS (remunerative work outside public service) forms. This was confirmed by Jayd MacDonald, director of finance and administration at Sun Valley.

But Western Cape education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said in a written reply to questions from Times Select: “We could not find any records of an application from Mr Keller for RWOPS. The information has been provided to the district for further enquiry.”

The Sunday Times report alleging that Jacob Zuma and his henchpuppets are plotting to unseat Cyril Ramaphosa was upsetting. But let’s try and be compassionate: if you were unemployable, probably in debt to Russian poisoning experts, and had no concept of how to make money other than being handed it, what would you do?

According to the weekend paper, Zuma attended meetings with die-hard allies at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks and the Maharani Hotel on Durban’s beachfront, prompting fears that he is trying to stage a comeback.

This sounds plausible, but given what we know about Zuma and his ilk, I think we need to consider other, more pathetic, possibilities.

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