millions of people around the world are celebrating the hindu festival of lights. the golden temple in india's punjab province was illuminated for the valley celebrations and scaled back this year because of the coronavirus pandemic in new york state. the empire state building was lit orange to mark the celebration, and the tates britain museum was transformed into an os installation. it's good to be with us. hello, adrian finnegan, here in doha. the headlines on al-jazeera forces in the to grey region of ethiopia have confirmed that they did launch an attack on a military base that sparked a federal government offensive thousands of people fleeing the fighting has been reports of rocket attacks at a massacre of civilians, mohamed atta reports from the city of goma, they say,

by every measure, because from that time the prime minister has accused the p.l.o. that they have cut it out. talk of the bill. they have loudly reject the box statement saying they did not carry out the attack. and i'm accused, but if you have been defense forces all firing bullets. now with, a mission from sickle today in the air hierarchy, visual of the p.l.o., it's still there. you know, i'm in doubt that it will cut it out. saturday is the final day for ethnic armenians to leave areas of makoto color back. that will be handed over to azerbaijan. some people set fire to the homes as they left. the 1st hand is expected to happen on sunday. the u.s. president donald trump, has admitted that he may not be leading the country's next administration. it's the closest he's come to,

acknowledging that joe biden will succeed him. trump was speaking publicly for the 1st time since biden was named, president elect. italy is reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases. since the pandemic began, the health ministry registered almost 41000 infections and 550 deaths. in 24 hours . iran has denied reports that one of al qaida is top leaders was killed on its soil. a new york times report says that al qaeda 2nd in command was killed in teheran. in august he was accused of helping to mastermind the 9 $198.00 bombings of 2. u.s. embassies in africa. rival and factions in libya have agreed to hold nationwide elections in december of next year. there's the headlines, more news for you after inside story. next.

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 graft. 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. i guess really 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 surely 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 smuggler, awarded a contract to a company to identify homes with moves made from as best, a sheeting, there's based as 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 rules 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 smuggler. and that he may have talkative, close to a $1000000.00, has been tranche of fraud and corruption. he's released on bail and will again appear in court next year. others may be the 1st time that the secretary general of the a.n.c. has been tried, but it's certainly not the 1st time. he's been linked to corruption scandals in this province. some people have come down to the streets. kids are so full of prima mother. she lives charges against him and i'm stunned. i have a side of him was far from my feet from the come across our side of him and i was right beside the result of our few

games something that i had to cause further division within the no, ready to lawyer good day and a party that spirity in crisis for them alone put inside story. all right, listen, reduce our panel in pretoria. somewhat though the fi 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 2nd attorney general of the ruling party,

which is akin to being and minister to and political c.e.o. of the ruling party. so true that extern da has the luck to toot, to move around on full time basis, mobilizing, at the same time used 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 house. 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 clash of prospectives because. 'd a smart arse, sure lawyer is the one person who presents himself as that we present that you call

it your logical side of the ear and 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 the 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, you know, the a.n.c. is at the core of our corruption problem and toll the division is in the n.t. a sorted out. and i don't hold out much hope for the 2 factions to continue living in the same party. but i am told they are there this, the factional fighting sorted out, we are not going to conquer corruption. and one of the reasons why the 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 headed to effectively been exempt from that their attention of the law enforcement agencies. and the fact that you know, one of the 2 most powerful leaders in the n c went over to my senior leaders in the n c. 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 if their last

conference to step down from his position that 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 smuggler, surely benefit president obama poza. 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 is involved as long as corruption is being fought. it might just be that there 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 rome 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. 'd 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? one of the there was money assigned for the removal of stores because of concerns. and it was all good businessmen who is politically connected and most of those of us were removed. and this businessman has also confirmed in this under commission into the studio. he donated part of the money in seed sole, gave some individuals and frozen 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 might need to it from within the province

of 3 states and across the country up front to speak. 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 is considerable outrage. you know, i'll all model this 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, where 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 is a folk to it, they want some consequence money from and they want accountability,

they want people involved in corruption to be taken to task, especially now that they have yellow they call ups of state owned companies, the deficits that we have as well as the debt crisis 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 the failure of 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 active 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 case against michael? surely. yes, i think somebody thought of my 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 spaces. 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 where seized but speaking to correction, david i'm, i think it has, i think as a 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 to their location 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 core luzhin 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, 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 that it's 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 boasters, 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 have 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 pose a taken to sideline supporters of former president zuma where he certainly he certainly how design 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 zoom that in appointing a generally competent and artist 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 who's 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, it, you know, if the mug shoot is in the faction they call, it's very easy, 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. 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 not members who are in the us, but so far as a 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 the eurasian trial and that in itself we wouldn't expect these markets to lead the secretary general to step aside and years so it might say that you will not step on site at this particular moment. so this seem to be a 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 surely, although quite, you know, quite high profile and powerful. 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 of the other few caney. 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 how much of rome and a whole team here. i found out when the music breaks are thrown, when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told, that's why they have increased testing in areas with a high infection rate, with exclusive interviews and in-depth reports,

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restrictions. scientists warn of a 2nd wave of infections in the last few days going in front of the name of god, and many feel the economy is be prioritised about for human life until fall of people getting the focus on belt here because i can put at length in places we bring you the latest developments from across the globe coronavirus fund, then a special coverage on a now all jews, or where ever you talk to elders, there are winners realistically. how can you do it? institutionalize corruption and disk countries. we listen,

if this breaks up and real conflict between august on and india, this has implications for the rest of the world. we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter. 1200 hours g.m.t. on 0. i'm come all santa maria and these are the headlines. fighting in ethiopia's northern region is escalating. there are reports of rockets hitting civilian areas and growing concerns about ethnic cleansing, the country's human rights commission is sending a team to investigate reports of massacres in my car. amnesty international says it is likely hundreds of civilians were stabbed to death in the morgan. is this report from other, if near the sudan, ethiopia border more ethiopian refugees arrive at medina to many a into a damned good lot of state. they're fleeing fighting in ethiopia. stick.