Hemp & Housing Sodomy

Date: 20 Jun 2003
Title: ECape correctional services commissioner dismissed for fraud

By Richard Mantu, tel: (012) 314-2419
The correctional services department has dismissed the Eastern Cape Commissioner Raphepheng Mataka, for defrauding the department of about R34 000.

Mr Mataka was found guilty by a disciplinary hearing yesterday after allegations of fraud surfaced during the tenure of the Jali Commission of inquiry into prison corruption in the Eastern Cape.

Thoabala was also found guilty on an extra charge of trading in dagga and unauthorised possession of government property. SODOMY!

Case against Mamase couple is postponed for more probes
18 April 2005

By Sam Mkokeli, Deputy Political Editor

East London – The fraud case against former agriculture MEC Max Mamase and his wife, housing and local government MEC Neo Moerane-Mamase, has been postponed to June 10 at the magistrate’s court here to allow for further investigations.

The two are charged with fraud relating to accepting kickbacks in the form of two bond payments towards their R2,7-million Bonnie Doon mansion in East London.

They were both arrested by the Joint Anti-Corruption Task Team in March after eight months of investigations after Max Mamase approved a controversial empowerment deal for farm workers in Addo.

A bundle of nine citrus farms was sold to Bhisho by Cape Town property magnate and farmer Norman Benjamin for R15,6-million for Bhisho to hand over to about 40 farm workers as part of a Black Economic Empowerment initiative.

http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2005/04/18/news/n09_18042005.htm

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:08 pm Post subject: Eastern Cape Agrarian & Housing System Failure South Africa plans to grow hemp commercially to help impoverished rural people even though the plant is illegal, a provincial agriculture minister said Wednesday. The Eastern Cape province has been granted a special license to start growing hemp, which is forbidden in the rest of the country because it falls under legislation governing marijuana. The province's agriculture minister, Max Mamase, said a small pilot project of four sites totaling about 10 acres of hemp had proved its viability. Cannabis Sativa `Hemp' is ideal for the Eastern Cape given the levels of poverty there and the level of subsistence agriculture. If we bring in hemp it will change the method of production on communal farms,'' Mamase told Reuters. Speaking on the sidelines of an agri-business conference near Johannesburg, Mamase said he expected hemp to be legalized within three years. The national departments of agriculture, health and environmental affairs are working on new legislation. Marijuana, which looks nearly identical to hemp, is widely grown in South Africa's rural areas and provides many families in remote areas an important additional income. Johannesburg (Reuters) Published: Wednesday, June 21 © 2000 Mercury Center. R1m grant for pilot hemp project By Eric Naki, Political Correspondent BISHO -- A sum of R1million has been secured from the national Agriculture Department to start a pilot project at the Döhne Agriculture Research Institute near Stutterheim in the production of hemp in the Eastern Cape. This was announced yesterday by Agriculture and Land Affairs MEC Max Mamase in the legislature. Mamase said the planting of hemp would start next April. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is expected to undertake testing in preparation for full- scale hemp production. The next "window period" is between 2000 and 2001 should the test results prove to be favourable. Mamase said at present one of the barriers to hemp production on a large scale was the existing legislation which had to be changed to enable the crop to be grown. It is estimated that to undertake the farming of hemp from the agronomic trial to the actual planting of the first crops on a commercially viable scale would require an investment of R3 million. Mamase stressed that state funding was important to kick-start the project, saying the Eastern Cape government should allocate funds for the project. Three provincial government departments -- Agriculture, Health and Safety and Security -- and private sector institutions, including the CSIR and the Agricultural Research Council, were to co-operate to ensure aggressive promotion and production of hemp in the Eastern Cape and to ensure understanding and knowledge of the crop's tremendous export potential. Mamase said a blanket permit for the province to undertake the agronomic trial would be applied for from the Health Department and the former Ciskei and Transkei regions would be targeted for hemp production. The private sector would also be allowed to apply for a permit for the trials. http://www.dispatch.co.za/1999/04/15/easterncape/HEMP.HTM

Farming project gets financial boost

01 Apr 2004 - The Eastern Cape government has allocated an initial R5 million to Uvimba Bank to expedite the implementation of the Sugar Beet Project in the province's mid-Karoo region. The move forms part of support extended to ongoing major projects set to advance th...

Spoornet donates R500 000 towards poverty alleviation

27 Aug 2003 - King Williams Town - Rail operator Spoornet has donated R500 000 towards an agriculture project, aimed at alleviating poverty communities here. Agriculture minister Max Mamase received the donation during the launch of Gwebindlala the agricultural project...