disturbances in the philippines have become more extreme over the last few years because of climate change. and that's raising concern among many that they could become victims to an endless cycle of loss and despair. jim duggan al-jazeera result province northern philippines. in turkmenistan, a rather unusual statue has been unveiled, the huge golden star sculpture of the country's beloved dog, now overlooks one of the country's busiest road since accompanied by a screen that shows the central asian shepherd dog in action. reminder of our top stories, u.s. president, doll trump has admitted the team may not be leading the country's next administration . he was speaking publicly for the 1st time since joe biden was named, president elect. trump said millions of doses of

a coronavirus vaccine will be available to american soon. well, during his press conference told trump updated americans on his response to the pandemic. according to some estimates, a national lockdown course $50000000000.00 a day and hundreds of thousands of jobs every single day. ideally, we won't go to a lot. i will not go, this administration will not be going to a lockdown. hopefully the, the, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administrator will be, i guess time will tell, but i can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown. meanwhile, the state of north carolina has not been called for trump, but georgia is continuing its hand tally of ballots cast for the presidential election. georgia's secretary of state says the votes must be audited as joe biden is only in the lead margin by those already secured the presidency without counting georgia's electoral college votes. the united nations says it's concerned war crimes may have been committed in ethiopia's, northern to grey region,

where government troops are battling local fighters. the 10 day conflict has already killed hundreds of people. thousands have fled to sudan. a 30 year ceasefire in iraq is volatile. western sahara region could be in jeopardy. morocco says a pro independence group had blocked a main road and the army has moved in to stop them. the policy for say, morocco has ignited war? as of a john as enforced a curfew in areas that it's captured in the corner, it comes ahead of our media's handover, of land to us, or by chance scores of ethnic armenians have begun fleeing the areas that will be handed over some of set fire to their former homes. of course, those are the news headlines are back with more news in half an hour here on the next it's inside story. do stay with us.

one of the most powerful officials in south africa's ruling party, charged with corruption. critics say the case is politically motivated, the government insists it's part of the president's promise to root out ground. so will he be able to clean up the government? this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program, fraud and corruption. those are the charges facing the a.n.c. secretary general emotionally, who appeared in court on friday. the case centers around a scandal about 6 years ago when he was the head of free state,

millions of dollars allocated to remove us best of us from homes went missing. my gosh, will they denies any wrongdoing? he's the most senior a.n.c. official to face prosecution since the president took office. has promised to stamp out graft in the party and government. but he's accused of making this case personal because my chalet is an a.n.c. heavyweight. and from a rival faction, it's the latest incident to expose divisions within the party as you see it. as for me, the miller was at the courthouse in bloemfontein. about 5 years ago, the governments of the free state province, which was run by then premier a smog issue and awarded a contract to a company to identify homes with moves made from a space to sheeting this case. this is making people ill and was supposed to be removed and the rooms replaced. it appears that of the $15000000.00 paid for the work. just a 10th of that was actually used to do the work, but none of the replaced. instead, millions of dollars was looted. it's alleged that instructions for payment to this

company and its sub contractors came from the office of a small fish. and that he may have talkative close to a $1000000.00 being tranche of fraud and corruption. he's released on bail and will again appear in court next year. well, this may be the 1st time that the secretary general of the a.n.c. has been traunch, but it's certainly not the 1st time. he's been linked to corruption scandals in this province. that people have turned out to the grass roots courts to show them some old form a prima mother, sheila, the charges against him. after half an hour that was done, her side of it was described by people in this was some of those side of him was right at the start was also

party games was something that i had to cause further division within an already divided a and a party that's already in crisis for them alone for inside story with us. all right, listen to this, our panel in pretoria. somewhat though duffy caney, an independent political and policy analyst affiliated with the university of south africa. and in johannesburg, david lewis, executive director, director at corruption watch which encourages public participation in combating graft. welcome to you both. some of those. let me start with you. how powerful is ace micah? surely. and how significant is it that a case has been brought against him? he's quite a powerful figure in the sense that he was elected to become the sole attorney general of the ruling party,

which is akin to being and minister to and political c.e.o. of the ruling party. so to that extend years the luck to toot. to move around on full time basis, mobilizing at the same time, you is also very much linked to the former president, jacob zuma. we still agree by many things which are taking place within the a.n.c. . and he believes he's also a victim, or all of you know, much of nations within the new a.n.c. leadership. a.n.c. is a deeply divided organisation almost equal ups. so the battle for the soul of the in c. will be afforded all over those. that's why i tend to have a sense of conspiracy whenever there is a move. and it also represents the pleasure of prospective speaker who was. 'd a smart arse, surely, or is there one person who presents himself as that we present that you call

it your logical. so don't even see who will implement there is a lucian's of the n.c. on the other side. president, several of them up was a promise to fight corruption and a renewal of the a.n.c. and grow the economy. david from your vantage point, what are the political ramifications of all of this? well, i think there are very profound to know the a.n.c. is at the core of our corruption problem and toll the divisions in the entier sorted out. and i don't hold out much hope for the 2 factions to continue living in the same party. but i'm told they are there this, the factional fighting sorted out. we're not going to conquer corruption. and one of the reasons why it factional fight lost her to the extent that they have and why

corrupt people feel so comfortable in the n c is that the leaders have had to effectively been exempt from their attention of the law enforcement agencies. and the fact that you know, one of the 2 most powerful leaders in the n c, one of the 2 my senior leaders in the sea has now been arrested. and charged suggests that we might be approaching the point of no return between these 2 factions. and what is going to be interesting to see is how the a.n.c. reacts in the short term to the arrest and prosecution of, of, of the secretary general. because they're bound by a resolution to he is bound by read his resolution of the end,

see it their last conference to step down from his position. but i somehow don't see that happening without huge pressure from the other side. and i'm not sure that they will have the courage to do that. some of those will this case against a smoker, surely benefit president obama pose a. will it make it easier for him to impose his will on such a divided ruling party? not immediately, the 1st thing we can expect is a perfect english and also is very strong in the mid term conference next year. so it is in that way. what i would use at the same time was a monster that is not to indict feeling in any of the criminal investigations of court option. and that it doesn't really care whether it is

a person from use faction or person from another faction who is involved as long as corruption is being fought. it might just be that their faction is facing, might be weakened by the law and prosecutions rather than in the battle of politics within the a.n.c. . so david, there are those who say that this case has nothing to do with corruption, that it's purely politically driven. what do you say? absolute nonsense. you know, obviously obviously there are, there are protests possible motives for politically driving this case. although i really don't believe that that rahm opposes doing that. you know, they could've charged with several corruption cases. quite

frankly. i mean he was very involved in the infamous stina dairy case and he's how do i say this? he has been mentioned in corruption issues for a very long time in the free state government, which he headed for a very long time. the tory asli in a corrupt government, and it's often been said about the free said government is that nothing happened in the free state without without a smug, prior knowledge and consent. so i don't believe that it has any validity whatsoever. the notion that this is purely politically driven and there's nothing to do with corruption, i believe is no credibility whatsoever. so my daughter, you know, this case stems from a smoker shoelace alleged role in a 15 $1000000.00 contract to find and remove as best as from homes in disadvantaged

neighborhoods in the free state province. could you tell us more about how that played out? i wonder how much there was money assigned for the removal of stores because of concerns and not all good businessmen who is politically connected and most of those of us moved. and this businessman has also confirmed in this under commission into the state. he donated part of the money in seed sold, gave some individuals and friends some of the money. so that is the ground to this particular issue. but as was mentioned by my colleague, there are several other cases we need to it from within the province

of 3 states and across the country up front to speak. you, david, how much outrage is there in south africa amongst the public when it comes to these allegations of corruption and the corruption cases? i think there's considerable outrage, you know, al, all model is to ask the public to, to furnish us with reports of corruption which they are doing great numbers. and we have a lot of contact with communities as well with very oppressed communities, very disadvantaged communities. and the best thing that is how that has got going for it is that the public have not accepted that corruption is something that they can do. nothing about, you know, insert some countries that is indeed so, but not in south africa. and it's what i say it's out best. our

best hope for tackling corruption is the fact that there is cause to newt outrage, as was exhibited recently when, when fans meant to provide protective personal equipment for doctors and nurses and other hospital personnel was looted. and the public were outraged, you know, i would have thought by now they would have gotten used to it, but they're not. and, and, and long may that continue some of the that, what is the public sentiment right now when it comes to this case against a smoker? surely, how are people reacting in the country? the general morgan, the country, is that they do not care which faction is affected, which politician, these are folks that they want some consequence money chairman and they want accountability, they want people involved in corruption to be taken to task,

especially now that they have yellow face their call ups of state owned companies, the deficits that we have as well as the head cases that is the raising and the imposition of further levies on people to pay. now they are making the connection that if they look the other way, or if they leave things to just a few or n.g.o.s, then they are going to pay the price. they are beginning to see things in that fail over some of the stupid companies that they have not seen before. they're taken for granted. it is where you are beginning to see the rise of citizenship. which other ways we have not seen in a long walk. david, have there been other officials, arrested or properties seized in relation to this, especially those from movable contract that in the news because of the casing is as michael surely. yes, i think somebody thought of might know this more accurately,

but i think that 6 or 7 people were arrested several weeks ago, including the, the business man who owns the firm that was meant to actually remove their space to this. and number of other government officials, i'm not certain where the property has been seized already, but i think that it has been i seem to recollect in the case of the businessman about 35 luxury cars who are seized. but speaking to correction, david i'm, i think it has, i think the acid seizure and freezing of assets has preceded already. and in fact, ace not surely will appear in court, i think on the 19th of february with those others who have already been charged. some of those by and large, how does the public feel when it comes to the judicial system in south africa?

do they have faith in it? they either strong faith in the judicial system because when the legislature was failing to account or to hold political leaders like the previous president to account, they were able to are raised with all creation and shows some degree of independence and of cause. when the executive itself was involved, they have shown an amazing level of independence of cause. we should not take it out that there is still a corner for further transformation of the we do show itself. because others are making claims that because it is not transformed. it tends to look into the public sector court option, but look the other way when you have multiple billions such as the one of stone of

weeds is a private part of sion which is the one including the construction companies that seem to assume some money through collusion during the world cup, so that in itself is still an issue that is being raised and at times it's been working weaponized and politicized. david, do you believe this case will bolster people's faith in the judicial system? i mean, will there be a sense that perhaps a corner has been turned here that this is maybe a big step forward? i think it will. i mean, it's not the judicial systems or the judiciary's reputation that is at stake here, and that needs bolstering its the prosecutorial authority, which was notoriously corrupted under the xoom regime. and that's why i think this is not likely to be any interference in this case because you know, truly the whole walk of the,

of the zuma administration was the extent to which the independence of the, of,, than n.p.a. the national prosecuting authority was eliminated. and if it bolsters, if this case bolsters the credibility of anyone, it will be that of the national prosecuting authority. but what the national prosecuting authority has to show is not only independence in prosecuting this case, but also competence it prosecuting this case. and under both their independence and they competency was massively eroded and they are the ones who truly stand to lose or gain reputation. by this case, not so much the judiciary, some of the president around oppose a promise to tackle corruption. he has an anti-corruption agenda, has he been doing that? has he been following through on his promises and if so, has he been effective?

well, i do think that there were signs of frustration from the public. seeing that the wheels were turning very slow. and he seemed to justify that by saying he's still building the capacity of the prosecuting body, the capacity of the investigations, and also dealing, frankly, speaking with and doing that. i mean of political deployments in some of these entities which are quite crucial in any successful. you know, crime intelligence as well as the general administration of justice. david, let me ask you since he was elected, what kind of steps has president obama opposed to taken to sideline supporters of former president zuma? well, he certainly, he certainly howard's own poff. you know, there are, you know, there are

a range of policy measures that have been taken. you know, for example, the new, clear, the xoom is a desire to build a whole bunch of nuclear power plants in south africa has been taken off the agenda . and that has to be a very big payday for the zoom and the and the gupta's. but you know, in tackling corruption, i think he's, he's parted company with zuma and he has his riled xoom that in appointing, a generally competent and oddest people to be there on the boards and in the executive suites of our state owned enterprises. to putting competent and independent people in charge of the prosecuting authority and most of the

important policing agency, he set up a special unit of the national prosecuting authority whose remit is, is focused on state capture cases emanating from the state capture area. the area of the xoom administration. so he's done, he's done a fair amount. you know, as i said, as i think i might have said earlier that he's been a far more impressive and resolute leader of the state. then he has been leader of, the a.n.c. and i think, you know, the simple reason for that is that i think the public supports him in great numbers, but in the, in the end see support it for him on the one hand and that magnus, surely. zuma faction, on the other hand, is very, very, equally divided. in fact, it might even, the small majority may even risk with zuma muggers. surely,

david, you know, how worried are officials now in south africa? i mean, do you believe that we're going to be seeing more corruption cases being brought against more officials going forward? yeah, you know, you know, if you know, if the mug shoot izumo faction they call it's very easily, very early and succeed in doing what would be targeting a major opposition, namely the n.p.a. and the hawks who are the principal investigating body. then then we'll see we'll see considerable conflict so much in august president rama post said that a.n.c. . 'd officials must take leave from their positions if they are charged with corruption and that they must resign if they are convicted. has that policy been

applied at all thus far? it has been up for members who are in the us. but so far, the national level with roman and cases it has never been up late. and it looks like now this even though we treat from it because they're saying their lawyers because of the legal challenges of police in some way. it during that year ational trial and that in itself we wouldn't expect these markets to lower the circuit of joe di genova to step aside and years. so it's that much that you would not step on site at this particular moment. so the sim to retreat from that except for those that have been exercised on more locals. it has applied to people somewhat sort of lower on the, on the totem pole,

who have been removed or persuaded to step out. but it has not applied to people of any seniority, whatsoever. there is that the moment a sitting a p.c. who was previously and assume that the minister of intelligence or state security has been charged with bribery while he was a parliamentarian and very serious bribery. and he remains in parliament and he's not, he's not nearly as big a deal as a, although quite, you know, quite high profile and thoughtful. and if he can't be, if he can't be removed from his position, i can't see how they get it due to run out to make sure they're all right. we've run out of times, we're going to have to leave it there. thanks so much to all our guests. david lewis and some adored. i think amy and thank you too for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website,

al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash a.j. inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle is at a.j. inside story from him, how much of rome and a whole team here. i found out the latest news for joe biden and family therapist. the path ahead is as steep and as difficult as giving the incoming administration in u.s. history with details coverage this week on the dispute that is helping to run to

support base afloat. the french and the turks leaders from around the world. many syrians live in this impoverished neighborhoods next to the 4th, where some of them used to work food for celebration, food for reconciliation and food from ancient civilizations. al-jazeera wild goes on a mouthwatering hungry jenny from spain to the middle east, to discover the hidden history behind some of the region's best loved dishes. savoring the past on al-jazeera. decades ago, manila was called the pearl of the orient. the manila metropolitan theater was once a testament to the city's grandeur, but decades later, the theater has become

a symbol of money. now the philippine government is changing the government buildings. the universities and monasteries were just some of the many structures that were destroyed in manila, drawing world war 2. but rebuilding a life and a city from scratch has proven difficult. and some experts say manila has never truly recovered. what's most important to me is talking to people, understanding what they're going through here and i just, we believe everyone has a story worth hearing. one of the most wanted men on the planet, the mastermind of a $4500000000.00 fraud. and want to put him in jail, but you cannot help being pressed, reveals never before heard recordings implicating some of the world's most powerful players. everyone would benefit by the abuse of power and corruption,

jolo, a fugitive from a just, you know, world the what you all just there with means the whole robin in doha, in mind of all top stories. u.s. president donald trump has admitted that he may not be leading the country's next administration. and he was speaking publicly for the 1st time since joe biden was named president elect. until now, trying to pass a large voter fraud and claimed without have a chance to have won the presidential election. according to some estimates, a national lockdown course $50000000000.00 a day and hundreds of thousands of jobs every single day. ideally, we won't go to a lockdown. i will not go, this administration will not be going to a lockdown. hopefully the.