COSATU Media Monitor Monday 28 July 2008

[Brian Sokutu]

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COSATU Media Monitor   Home Page in Google Groups: “COSATU Daily News”   Published by the Congress of South African Trade Unions 1 Leyds Street, Braamfontein   Compiled: BRIAN SOKUTU br...@cosatu.org.za     Tel.         011 339 4911 Fax.         086 603 9667   Spokesperson: Patrick Craven, pat...@cosatu.org.za   Subscribe for Media releases at: “COSATU Press” (Google)

COSATU Media Monitor

 

A digest of media reports - not the views of COSATU

                   Monday 28 July 2008

 

CONTENTS

 

1. Alliance politics

1.1. We are no toothless bulldog, says HRC

1.2. HRC kowtows to ANC and should be closed down

1.3. Back to school, bypassing reality

1.4. Vavi may find Manto’s nuts hard to crack

1.5. Zuma’s charm not so offensive to poverty-stricken Afrikaners

1.6. Zuma: I only want one term

1.7. IFP pins its hopes on a woman

1.8. Premier Brown stirs things up

1.9. ANC delegates forced to cough up for Zuma’s defence

1.10. Mbeki says S.Africa to maintain inflation targeting

1.11. South Africa: Editors Oppose Statutory Media Tribunal

1.12. ANC fails the people

1.13. Will ANC body parts fit?

1.14. Zuma has no proof of political conspiracy

1.15. Zuma to ‘decentralise’ power

1.16. All eyes on Sogoni, sweeping changes to region‘s cabinet

1.17. Ramatlakane urged to resign over ‘improperly enriched‘ finding

1.18. Sanco branch calls for poll boycott

1.19. Zuma urges balance between left and right

1.20. Call for business to back Zuma

1.21. ANC descends into tribalism

1.22. SA to maintain inflation targeting – Mbeki

1.23. Party fired premiers, says Mbeki  

1.24. Neither side can claim to be clean in Rasool saga 

1.25. Mbeki’s got it just right

1.26. South Africa: Fury as Mbeki Defends Inflation Target, Surplus

 

2. Workers’ issues

2.1. Concerns ahead of 2008 matric exams

2.2. Minister accused of being racist

 

3. Zimbabwe

3.1. Mbeki, Zim’s saviour: Sarkozy

 

 

1.   Alliance politics

 

 1.1. We are no toothless bulldog, says HRC

 

 

Maureen Isaacson, IOL, 27 July 2008
 

 

 

Who's sorry now? No apologies are forthcoming, except from those who should be eliciting them.

Last week, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) exonerated Zwelinzima Vavi, the Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary.

The HRC found his exhor-tation to his comrades to "shoot and kill" for the ANC president Jacob Zuma unacceptable.

It urged him to retract his statement. On Tuesday, flanked by four high-ranking lieutenants, he came forward and read from a 14-page document, which was discussed for five hours. From what I gather the lieutenants were more reluctant than Vavi to allow his rehabilitation.

Vavi did not say "the three little words" that Tseliso Thipanyane, the CEO of the HRC, says South Africa wants. Vavi said he regretted using the words "shoot to kill".

 

The HRC has been branded a toothless bulldog.

Of course, says Thipan-yane, it was "a huge temptation to make an example of Vavi after the flak we took for (exonerating) Julius Malema, the ANC Youth League president".

As the story unravels at Thipanyane's office in Houghton, Johannesburg, he says that after the HRC objected to Malema's "kill for Zuma" statement, "Mr Malema did not say he is sorry, but we acknowledge that he accepts the criticisms for using those words and will not use the word 'kill' again and requests South Africans to uphold the Constitution. What should we do with a man like that? Throw him in jail? Now we are a toothless bulldog?"

Thipanyane is fed up with the media's "selective reporting".

In 2000 the Equality Act was passed, prohibiting the use of words that incite violence and hatred. When a complaint was made to the HRC against Peter Mokaba (the ANC Youth League president) for his "kill the boer" statement, the commission decided those words were unacceptable and the ANC announced that they were no longer included in the party's vocabulary.

When 2010 soccer chief Irvin Khoza recently called a black journalist "a k****r", he made a public apology on the commission's instigation.

Thipanyane, from Witsieshoek in the Free State, still refers to himself as the son of a preacher; the implication is that he has a spiritual perspective.

He says: "This week it would have been very easy to say, Mister Vavi, we are going to court. We would have been instant heroes in some quarters but would we be heroes to those who read Vavi's document? People don't realise how much pressure Vavi and Malema put the ANC under. Some may think we lost. But the country has won, because nobody will say 'I will shoot and kill for Zuma' again because we will take that person to court."

Why wait, I ask. Already Malema has threatened to "eliminate" the opposition. He has said Zuma will rule the country from prison if needs be. Thipanyane has the answer. "As far as we are concerned, the chapter is closed."

Before the Malema issue was resolved, Thipanyane said on radio that Malema was "mad", and that Malema was surely not sober when he made his comments. He apologised to Malema but not before telling him that several MPs agreed that he was in fact mad.

Last year, Kader Asmal, as chairman of the ad hoc committee on review of state institutions supporting constitutional democracy and the Public Service Commission, wrote a report on the HRC for Parliament.

Asmal says the commission "came out very well". Asmal, who has now launched his own rights body, says the HRC "is not sufficiently daring and is too closely linked to establishment".

The HRC, which receives its funding from the government, is under-resourced by at least R9 million. The 150-strong commission has a budget of R60m for this financial year.

It does not have the means to follow through the 10 000 complaints it receives annually.

Thipanyane chooses to focus on the positives: its "bravery", for instance, in its finding on the Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ), which refused entry to white journalists at a meeting addressed by Zuma.

It found the FBJ "was acting outside of the param-eters of the Equality Act, which provides that the exclusion of people on the basis of race is prohibited".

Although Thipanyane says the HRC commissioners could not lose their jobs for taking on high-ranking ANC officials, "South Africans fail to appreciate the stakes at risk on those matters".

The HRC is not a court of law but has the power to subpoena people and take them to court. What it can do, too, is make mistakes and Thipanyane says that nobody can sue the commission for these, unless these mistakes are found to be malicious.

Tell us about the mistakes, I say. As dozens of undocumented foreign nationals camp outside Lindela Repatriation Centre, in the latest crisis involving the victims of May's xenophobia attacks, Amnesty International makes its voice heard. Where is the HRC in all of this?

Thipanyane says Jody Kollapen, the HRC's chief commissioner, is meeting people from the UN and Home Affairs about the issue.

"When xenophobic violence broke out we were the first people to accuse government of not having done enough.

"When Cosatu called Judge Hilary Squires a Rhodesian, we condemned this as we condemned the behaviour of Zuma supporters at his rape trial."

Where has the commission gone wrong, I ask. Prominent people who are able to defend themselves should not be receiving the HRC's attention, says Thipanyane.

He says there is to be an increased focus on crime, the private sector and a greater follow- through of cases.

He says that 13 years down the line, the HRC "could have done more about Zimbabwe". These, he admits, are but a few failings of the body that has been caricatured as an ANC lackey and a servant of the bourgeoisie.

How are you going to stand up for yourselves, I ask.

We are standing up quite well, he says.

"Our public hearings on poverty, the farming community, housing, education and health are forgotten. We have taken the justice department to court because court buildings are not wheelchair-friendly and we won.

"Before the Malema case, the commission subpoenaed the ministers of minerals and energy, environmental affairs and land affairs following a complaint in the Eastern Cape - the government was considering granting a mining licence to an Australian company without consulting anybody. Does this make us a toothless bulldog?"

 

 

OPINION

 

 1.2. HRC kowtows to ANC and should be closed down

 

 

Willem van den Berg, The Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

 have a few issues to raise with that ANC lapdog and toothless organisation, the Human Rights Commission. But, as before, I expect it to simply ignore these issues.

 

Julius Malema, Zwelinzima Vavi and, previously, Peter Mokaba, have proved that the HRC has no integrity left and has become irrelevant.

 

The Malema and Vavi gang has already assured us spitefully that they will continue to use synonyms for “kill” to get Jacob Zuma elected.

 

Does this imply that ordinary citizens may now “protect” their lives, limbs and property with equal vigour and finality, or would that impact too much on the basic human rights of the gang’s criminal supporters?

 

Our media provides constant proof that this government has not, cannot and will not protect our basic human rights properly.

 

It therefore seems expedient to attract foreign awareness and to invite outside intervention to try to restore order and protect basic human rights in South Africa.

 

Close the HRC down and stop it from wasting any more of the taxpayers’ money.

As with safety and security, health and education, we can’t rely on our government and will now have to enlist effective support elsewhere.

 

The problem is very serious when you realise that we have already reached a stage where only desperate and fierce political resistance might save what we have lost.

 

 

 

OPINION

 

1.3. Back to school, bypassing reality

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Donaldson, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

 

Once again to Mahogany Ridge, where we have gathered in an excited huddle to discuss the “full-time political school” that the ANC and its alliance partners will be setting up to develop and train its cadres.

 

The school, according to David Makhura, the party’s Gauteng secretary, would be up and running by January next year — which, effectively, is about 15 years too late for Julius Malema, the struggle’s special-needs child.

 

Surely the most obdurately gormless president in the history of the ANC Youth League, young Julius continues to astound with his stubborn resistance to reason.

 

He remains absolutely convinced that were Jacob Zuma to be jailed on corruption charges, he would still head up the party in its election campaign next year.

 

“If you arrest him, he will lead us from prison,” was how he put it. “The president in orange.” (Once it was the Purple that would govern. But now the House of Orange?)

 

Bashing judges here and there with a mania akin to sexual frenzy, Malema threatened to unleash a wave of “militancy” upon the populace should the authorities proceed with their prosecution of Mr Love Pants.

 

“Idiocy”, more like.

 

But even so, there is some doubt as to whether a dozen or so years of rolling Plasticine worms at the ANC school would have been of much use to the dear boy.

 

Wasted as though these years may well have been, I suspect that they would have been, on the whole, rather happy ones. We can easily imagine his buxom teachers having to wipe the drool from his chin, particularly during story-time sessions, when young Julius would fall out of his chair thrilling to the tales of Msholozi’s exploits in the trouser department.

 

But enough fantasy stuff.

 

What, I hear you ask, gentle reader, are they going to be teaching at this academy?

What awaits tomorrow’s leaders as they creep like snails with their satchels and shining morning faces unwillingly to school?

 

We can guess.

 

For a start, no multiple-choice questions. The ANC of today appears not to believe in that sort of democracy.

 

This may make exams seem a little more difficult.

 

For example, it is perhaps easy to answer the question “What does ‘eliminate’ mean?” when presented with the following possibilities: “(a) Kill; (b) Destroy; (c) Bury alive; (d) All of the above; or (e) None of the above — especially if that’s the Human Rights Commission getting all counter-revolutionary on your arse.”

 

Without these choices, a young cadre would probably struggle with the question.

 

However, as a glamorous novelist who drinks at the Ridge from time to time has pointed out, noone would ever be allowed to fail.

 

“The school would simply ‘defer their success’,” she explained.

 

“Like Thabo Mbeki. He’s certainly deferred his success. People who do not toe the party line would, of course, defer their success for a fairly long time.”

 

And, of course, too much schooling and not enough play make young Bongani a very dull comrade indeed.

 

Which is why, after lessons, pupils can repair to the playing fields where Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima “Nutcracker” Vavi will be putting them through their paces with some extra-mural martial arts activities.

Vavi will be keen to show the youngsters his special testicle-crushing move — the one he this week threatened to employ on the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, and his colleagues in the cabinet should they not toe the line.

 

As he put it: “Sizoni bamba kuleyo ndawo.” Which means “We’ll grab you by that place.”

In other words, success will be deferred — permanently and most pronto.

 

 

OPINION

 

1.4. Vavi may find Manto’s nuts hard to crack

 

 

Sis Beatrice, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

I see from news reports that the Cosatu top chap, Zwelinzima Vavi, has threatened to grab the family jewels of the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, and several of his colleagues in the cabinet should they continue to behave in a manner that does not please the president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, and his acolytes.

 

This poses a few problems. I have heard that it would take more than the crushing of his manhood to unsettle the finance minister, who, after all, was raised in the hurly-burly of the Cape Flats. But what about his female colleagues?

 

How would Vavi crush health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s nuts? What about deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka? And foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma? How would Vavi crush their testicles? I think we should be told.

 

Acton

 

Very, very carefully. Especially as far as the health minister is concerned. She is lethal when it comes to self-defence, and can hit a man between the eyes with an empty bottle tossed from 40 paces. Stay away from the foreign affairs minister. Nothing can hurt her. Not rocks, not guns, not bombs.

 

As for the finance minister, it is rumoured that his jewels are, in fact, made of tempered steel. He is impervious to pain down there. One possible way to get to him, though, is to make fun of his socks. These are usually of the cheap and furry variety.

 

1.5. Zuma’s charm not so offensive to poverty-stricken Afrikaners

 

To poor whites ignored by Mbeki, Zuma cuts an engaging and sympathetic figure

 

 

 

S’thembiso Msomi, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

 

Officially, this was no election campaign meeting. But everything during ANC president Jacob Zuma’s return visit to this empoverished white community of Bethlehem, Pretoria West, proved otherwise.

 

There was the usual bussing-in of the poor from neighbouring settlements; the customary walkabout to show concern for the wellbeing of the locals and, of course, promises of improved service delivery.

Zuma even made fun of his inability to speak proper Afrikaans and joked about how this had been a problem when he was still on Robben Island as a political prisoner.

 

“I was with a gentleman from Cape Town; his name was Russel Mbani. We were making noise and in prison and we were not supposed to make noise.

 

“The warder opened up and posed a question... ‘Wie maak rass hierso?’ And this gentleman stood up and said, ‘I am Russel, sir,’” he said.

 

The trick worked, because his audience thereafter seemed okay with him addressing them in English.

There was even an odd election campaign T-shirt. No, it was no “100% Zuma” shirt. It was a white T-shirt with a huge picture of a smiling US presidential candidate Barack Obama. The words “Vote Obama” were written in bold letters underneath an American flag.

 

It would be stretching it to assume that the young black man who wore the T-shirt associates the ANC leader’s cause with that of the US presidential hopeful. But there can be no doubt that, like Obama — although not as successful or convincing, part of Zuma’s election strategy is to portray himself as a leader who would return “the rainbow nation” to its non-racial path to nation-building.

 

Since his election as ANC president in December last year, Zuma has been on a charm offensive trying to convince a sceptical South Africa and the world about his suitability for the country’s presidency.

He has had his hits and misses. But one area where he seems to be making serious in-roads is in the Afrikaner community — especially among that community’s poor who feel left out in the post-1994 South Africa.

 

Staff at Luthuli House say Zuma’s office is inundated with requests from various Afrikaner organisations for him to address their meetings.

 

Even the Freedom Front Plus, which under normal circumstances should treat Zuma’s ANC with suspicion, as it is an opposition party, has made an extra-ordinary request for him to officially open its national conference next month.

 

There are a number of personalities, who Zuma calls “my friends”, who have played crucial roles in linking him up with the Afrikaner community.

 

Chief among these is Liesl Gottert, the media specialist with alleged links to the apartheid-era military intelligence.

 

Zuma brought her along to his Bethlehem meeting and spent some time explaining to his audience about her role in maintaining his contact with the community.

 

Through her, Zuma has developed strong ties to trade union Solidarity — which has shot to prominence in post-apartheid South Africa mainly due to its dogged opposition to the manner in which affirmative action and black economic empowerment has been applied.

 

Solidarity deputy secretary Dirk Hermann credits Zuma for giving Afrikaners, especially the poor and working class, a hearing.

 

“Zuma is much more accessible than President Thabo Mbeki. He gives us the sense that all have a place here,” Hermann said.

 

Hermann blames Mbeki’s famous “two-nations” thesis — in which he said South Africa was a country made up of a white and rich nation as well as a black and largely poor nation — as a major contributing factor to whites feeling alienated in the new South Africa.

 

“There was no place for white poverty in his two-nation speeches,” Hermann said.

But why do they think Zuma would be any different if he takes over as president?

 

“He has shown a lot of understanding. He is willing to listen. Even his visit here today, we did not invite him. He is the one who said he wanted to come back because he had promised to return to the area during his previous visit. That is why we believe that he is sincere,” said Hermann.

 

Zuma, for his part, says he has been “itching to interact” with the Afrikaner community for years.

“I have been feeling there was a need to interact because since 1994 or so there has been a bit of uneasiness, suspicion, uncertainties — and there are policies that some people are not happy about. I have been itching to interact as much as possible,” he told his audience of about 1000 poor whites who had gathered to listen to him.

 

During their campaign against Mbeki’s bid for a third-term as ANC president, Zuma supporters had “back to basics” as one of their important mottos.

 

They promised to take the ANC and South Africa “back” to the nation-building agenda that they claim had faltered during Mbeki’s “African nationalist” agenda which had apparently made whites feel excluded.

 

Zuma clearly had the same message for his audience on Thursday: “Every South African has a right to the services of the country, every South African. There is no South African who must be excluded so, therefore, don’t feel you don’t have a right to raise issues,” he said.

 

By visiting such areas as Bethlehem and meeting Afrikaner musicians, politicians and academics, he is carving for himself a role of a unifier, a post-Mbeki nation-builder.

 

“Afrikaners have played a very specific role in shaping the history of this country. Whether … people like it or not, that is part of the history of this country. From the days of the Great Trek to the South African War — the Anglo Boer War; to the formation of Euro South Africa; to the days of apartheid; the days of negotiations and now.

 

“They are an important group to interact with. Not that other groups are not important. But they have a very specific historic (role)...

 

“We therefore feel it is important to interact with them, politically speaking, to help bring harmony, peace and stability in this country,” he said.

 

In his campaign, Zuma is also carefully cultivating an image for himself as a leader who can get things done.

 

When the Bethlehem community complained to him about having no access to social grants, toilets and electricity, Zuma decided to return to the community with the government in tow.

 

As he addressed the meeting, hundreds of destitute whites were busy outside the marquee registering for various social grants.

Social development minister Zola Skweyiya had to leave the important cabinet lekgotla in the city to come and field questions from Zuma’s audience about service delivery.

 

So too was Tshwane mayor Gwen Ramakgopa brought along.

 

But Zuma’s efforts at portraying himself as a nation-building statesman continue to be undermined by the many question marks relating to his upcoming corruption trial as well as the reckless utterances of his most ardent backers in the ANC alliance, notably ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

 

 

1.6. Zuma: I only want one term

 

 

 

 

 

Moshoeshoe Monare, IOL, 2008

If Jacob Zuma becomes the country's president in 2009, he will choose to serve one term only, decentralise presidential powers and introduce "effective management" by firing incompetent officials.

In a wide-ranging interview, Zuma said the ANC's bitter succession struggle between him and Thabo Mbeki had provided some lessons.

Two ways of managing the succession would be for a leader to openly indicate when he intended to step down; and to avoid centralising power in the presidency, said Zuma.

"I would prefer to leave after one term. Even if it is not one term, I think in the second term I should be able to begin the process of winding down. I would allow open debate, not make people guess what is going to happen in terms of succession.

 

"This would allow the organisation to indicate what it wants. But if it was me deciding, if the ANC had made me president of the country (I would prefer one term)."

Zuma said the succession battle had been a lesson for the ANC.

"But that also comes down to the maturity of the leadership. How do you lead the ANC, how do you make the movement operate cohesively?"

On the subject of centralising power, Zuma said under him the ANC leadership - not the individual president - would take decisions.

"Once you allow that tendency (of centralising power) you are in danger that the people will not be able to defend their democracy (or) defend their power. And I've been warning we should be wary of this, it is a dangerous thing."

Zuma wants to end the slow pace of delivery.

"If somebody is failing to do his or her work then they must not be kept there," he said.

"One of the things I would want to be able to do in government is to find a way of shortening the time of (service) delivery. It makes me sick when something that could be done in two or three weeks is done in two or three months."

Zuma strongly criticised provincial and departmental budget rollovers, blaming them on ineffective management.

"If in one year there are rollovers, you must find exactly why. Once you have diagnosed the problem, remedy it. It's a question of effective management."

He believed in a system of critical peer review among Cabinet ministers to avoid turf jealousies.

"If there is a lack of performance we must be able to discuss it there."

Tender processes needed to be reviewed to end corruption.

"We've got to accept that tenders have caused a problem."

He also believed a law should be introduced regulating the cooling-off period former civil servants or politicians should face before they can take a private-sector job.

The ANC had failed for years to enact a law that regulates the post-employment period to avoid conflicts of interest.

Referring to relationships with other African countries, Zuma said: "Parties must interact and begin to influence how the big men in Africa are dealt with at a political level."

He reiterated his strong criticism of Zanu-PF.

"We couldn't keep quiet, because we did not agree with the kind of things that were happening, and we will continue to do so."

Zuma refused to discuss questions relating to the arms deal because of his pending court case.

 

1.7. IFP pins its hopes on a woman

 

 

Nomfundo Mcetywa, IOL, 27 July 2008

The IFP is chasing victory in KwaZulu-Natal in next year's election and believes Zanele Magwaza-Msibi has what it takes to beat the ANC's likely candidate, Zweli Mkhize.

Magwaza-Msibi believes the ANC is spending too much public money on extravagant parties where it makes "pie in the sky" promises, but fails to deliver.

She is Zululand's district mayor and IFP national chairperson.

She was nominated by the party's national executive committee last week as its preferred first citizen for the province, ahead of heavyweights such as secretary-general Musa Zondi and former premier Lionel Mtshali.

Her brief is to out-muscle the ANC in next year's election and regain control of the province.

 

The ANC is aiming for 60 percent of the provincial vote and will start its campaign next month.

Political analysts have hailed Magwaza-Msibi's nomination, describing it as the start of a radical makeover in a traditionally male-dominated party.

They said her charisma would woo voters, but they did not believe she had the political clout or administrative experience to match Mkhize.

In terms of policy direction, Mkhize and Magwaza-Msibi speak the same language.

Mkhize told the Sunday Tribune last month that he wanted to focus on rural family issues, unemployment, health, education, crime and economic development.

Although Magwaza-Msibi would not comment on her chances as a premiership candidate, she was, however, critical of how the ANC had governed the province.

"The ANC has failed this province. We have many of our youth unemployed and vulnerable to diseases such as HIV/Aids.

"Instead of tackling these challenges, the ANC holds functions almost every week where they make empty promises and give people food parcels without any service delivery.

"Yes, these food parcels do help people for a short while, but no one can live on hand-outs. You have to equip people with skills and resources to make a living on their own, or develop the local economy to create jobs," said Magwaza-Msibi,

She said she had already bought 40 tractors in her municipality, which helped people make a living from farming.

Ownership

"People have got to learn to produce food from their own backyards to curb hunger in the face of escalating food prices. As a government we have to focus on this.

"People must feel they own government and are part of every decision made by government," said Magwaza-Msibi.

"We also have to focus on improving our health and education services. Crime in schools still remains our biggest challenge as it hampers the children's education," she said.

Political analyst Kiru Naidoo said the decision to have Magwaza-Msibi lead the IFP campaign could bring a "turnaround in fortunes" for a party which not long ago was described as being dead and buried politically.

New blood

"She emerges as new blood and it could also be the beginning of the IFP shaking off its strong patriarchal and traditionalist image.

"In terms of experience, she has been groomed in brass knuckles politics and will find the difficult terrain of KwaZulu-Natal easy going," said Naidoo.

Counting in Magwaza-Msibi's favour is the fact that for the past six years her municipality has received unqualified reports from the auditor-general for good financial management.

In 2006, the Zululand district municipality received an award from the provincial department of local government for being the best municipality in terms of service delivery.

"She has run a tight ship as mayor but that is nothing when compared to the task of running the province," said Naidoo.

"Mkhize has a solid track record, and he has performed at a high level in government, where he has notched up experience that Magwaza has not been able to enjoy.

"She might have experience and a good track record but she is miles behind Mkhize," said Naidoo.

University of KwaZulu-Natal-based political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said the IFP could also attract women voters, who would identify with Magwaza-Msibi.

"In putting Magwaza-Msibi forward, the IFP is moving with the times and taking the issue of gender equality seriously. She will also attract younger voters and your urban woman as she is a typically modern woman.

"This would put an end to the image of the IFP being a party of old traditionalists," said Ndlovu.

Ndlovu was, however, critical of Magwaza-Msibi's tendency to be IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi's praise singer and said she needed to show her leadership capabilities by articulating what she stood for.

 

 

1.8. Premier Brown stirs things up

 

 

Lynnette Johns, IOL, 27 July 2008
   

 

New Western Cape premier Lynne Brown is expected to make radical changes when she announces her cabinet early this week.

The only members who will stay in their jobs are Education MEC Cameron Dugmore - a supporter of her predecessor Ebrahim Rasool - and Agriculture MEC Cobus Dowry.

It was widely speculated Brown would not only reshuffle the cabinet and appoint two new people in vacancies created by the resignation of Rasool and Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Tasneem Essop, but that she would also show a number of MECs the door.

At her swearing-in as premier, Brown paid homage to Rasool, saying she was taking over a government in relatively good working order and would work on the principle "if it isn't broken, don't fix it".

 

She also said she would be guided by the ANC in leading the provincial government.

As expected, Community Safety and Security MEC Leonard Ramatlakane and Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi get the axe, and will, in all likelihood, become backbenchers in he provincial legislature.

Surprisingly, Rasool ally Marius Fransman stays in the cabinet, moving from Transport and Public Works to Social Development, a much smaller portfolio.

New faces in the cabinet include members of the provincial legislature - chairperson of the community safety standing committee Zodwa Magwaza and chairman of the economic standing committee Garth Strachan take over the ministerial portfolios in the same areas.

Former MECs Patrick McKenzie and Joyce Witbooi return to the cabinet.

McKenzie is in charge of Transport and Public Works and Witbooi goes to Cultural Affairs and Sport.

Whitey Jacobs moves from Cultural Affairs and Sport to Health, while Health MEC Pierre Uys takes over Essop's post.

Koleka Mqulwana moves from Social Development to Local Government and Housing.

ANC sources say Yusuf Gabru declined an offer of the education MEC's job.

Max Ozinsky will remain as the chief whip in the legislature.

 

1.9. ANC delegates forced to cough up for Zuma’s defence

 

 

Charles Molele, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

A day after being re-elected for a third term as Free State ANC chairman, Ace Magashule demonstrated his true colours as “a dictator of the province” when he openly coerced ANC members in the province to donate vast amounts of money to bankroll ANC president Jacob Zuma.

 

On Friday, municipal managers, mayors, MECs and local businessmen were forced to make pledges of tens of thousands of rands in response to Magashule’s bid to curry favour with Zuma.

 

Donations were also made by provincial leaders of Cosatu, Sanco, Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veteran’s Association, taxi organisation Santaco, black commerce federation Nafcoc and the SACP.

 

Zuma received R52000 in cash and R1.4-million in pledges. The R52000 in cash was put in a black leather bag and presented to him by ANC provincial treasurer Mxolisi Dukwana.

 

Embarrassed ANC national executive committee member Jeff Radebe and NEC co-ordinator for the Free State Susan Shabangu watched uncomfortably as Magashule called people by name from the floor to fork out money for the “unemployed” Zuma, who faced a monumental legal battle with the National Prosecuting Authority in his fraud and corruption case, due to be heard by the Pietermaritzburg High Court next month.

 

While Free State businessmen, ANC branches and ANC members in senior provincial government positions pledged thousands of rands, former ANC Free State deputy chairman Pat Matosa initially resisted Magashule’s coercion, but even he, though reluctantly, donated R100.

 

Approached for comment, Magashule denied he was buying political influence.

 

“It is our duty to support the ANC president, both morally and financially,” said Magashule.

His re-election at the ANC’s provincial conference has made him an indisputable leader of the ruling party in the Free State and puts him in a favourable position to become premier, after being overlooked for the top job since 1999.

 

He is the only ANC chairman to have served for such a long time.

 

Delegates at the conference erupted into pro-Magashule songs, clapped their hands and blew whistles when his nomination by 300 branches for the chairmanship position was announced on Thursday.

Zuma refused to say whether Luthuli House would finally appoint Magashule as premier, saying the ruling party always listened to its membership. However, said Zuma, the final decision rested with the ANC.

 

The conference was held in Magashule’s home town of Parys.

 

 

1.10. Mbeki says S.Africa to maintain inflation targeting

 

 

 

Reuters, 27 July 2008

 

 

 

PRETORIA, July 27 (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that his government had not discussed making changes to inflation targeting or its policy of running budget surpluses.

 

"There has not been any view in government that we need to change that ... targeting," Mbeki said in Pretoria.

 

He added that his government, under pressure to shield the poor and workers from a sharp rise in food and fuel prices and the impact of rising interest rates, said there was no need to move away from the policy of running budget surpluses.

 

Inflation has jumped out of the South African Reserve Bank's 3 to 6 percent target band, currently hovering near 11 percent. The central bank has responded with a string of interest rate hikes.

 

The rate hikes, however, have angered trade unions, who say the poor and workers are bearing the brunt of the pain. The powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions has launched a series of protests throughout the country.

 

The action will culminate in a national strike next month. (Reporting by Paul Simao, editing by Will Waterman)

 

 

1.11. South Africa: Editors Oppose Statutory Media Tribunal

 

 

 

 

SANEF, 27 July 2008

 

The South African National Editor's Forum (SANEF) at its annual AGM in Johannesburg on 26-27 July 2008 restated its firm opposition to any attempt by the government to control the media, such as the African National Congress' proposed statutory media tribunal.

 

It pointed out that the industry's editorial self-regulatory system, the Press Council with its Press Ombudsman and Appeals Panel, dealt effectively with public complaints in the way similar institutions acted in 60 democracies throughout the world.

 

Sanef reiterated that such steps would restrict media freedom and contravene freedom of expression rights in the Constitution.

 

Members re-committed themselves to improving standards of journalism and enforcing the Press Council's Press Code of Conduct. Members reiterated their unwavering support for the media's Constitutional rights and the importance of upholding them in South Africa's democracy.

 

Sanef members expressed their concerns about unsubstantiated complaints by senior ANC members about the Press Council as well as attempts to discredit the judiciary, which acted as a bulwark against the erosion of Constitutional rights.

 

Members also deplored the increasing attempts by government to exercise control over the media through legislation such as the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, the Protection of Information Bill and the National Key Points Act. Particular criticism was raised around a draft Bill designed to dissolve the board of the SA Broadcasting Corporation, which it was felt would result in politicians gaining unacceptable powers over the public service broadcaster. Sanef noted that the crisis at the SABC was a result of political interference in the selection of SABC board members.

 

Sanef expressed solidarity with and noted its deep concern at the continued detention without trial of journalists in several African countries, such as Eritrea, and also the continued harassment of journalists in many countries including Zimbabwe and Somalia. It called for the release of all journalists and urged the African Union to plead for the unconditional release of journalists in line with the spirit of transparency and accountability enshrined in Nepad.

 

At a prestigious function last night, veteran journalist Max du Preez was the winner of the 2008 Nat Nakasa Award for courageous journalism.

 

 

1.12. ANC fails the people

 

 

 

Jackie Mapiloko, Sabelo Ndlangisa and Piet Rampedi, City Press, 27 July 2008

 

 

WHILE ANC leaders dither and their open warfare for personal power dominates the media, it is ordinary people who are bearing the brunt of poor service delivery throughout the country.

 

Thousands live a life of indignity in shacks because their RDP houses have not been completed.

A City Press investigation has found that despite R2 billion being set aside three years ago to finish building houses, more than 60 000 of those on which construction had started had not been completed.

 

Despite Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu setting a deadline for developers to complete projects abandoned since 1994, five of the nine provinces failed to meet the March 2005 cut-off date.

 

KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng made the deadline, but Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape are yet to finish more than 60 000 incomplete houses.

 

Josephine Manyama, of Extension 44 outside Polokwane, has been living in hope that the foundation slabs laid down in her backyard will eventually become a house.

 

Manyama, who has lived in a shack for the past six years, was overjoyed when developers put a foundation down in her yard in 2005.

 

Her hopes and dreams of moving out of the shack into a house were shortlived, however, because the developer disappeared without any more work being done on the house.

 

Manyama is still sharing her rickety one-roomed shack with her family of five, and she does not know the contractor’s whereabouts.

 

“My shack is collapsing, as you can see. We don’t sleep on rainy days or when it is windy,” she says.

It is not just the housing sector that is failing citizens. Many people have no access to health services – including ambulances.

 

The country’s emergency services are in crisis, with the majority of provinces canvassed by City Press admitting that their ambulances cannot service communities properly.

 

Provinces also do not have the staff or equipment to kit out the ambulances they do have.

Limpopo, for example, operates with just 25% of the paramedical staff and ambulances it needs.

 

The situation is not much better in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, North West and Gauteng.

Residents, especially those who live in remote areas, tell horror stories about ambulances that do not arrive.

 

  Lufuno Mulamu delivered a baby in the back of a bakkie because an ambulance failed to arrive. The baby died.

 

  In early labour, Andiswa Ndindibala had to walk for two hours down a rocky mountain road to get to a taxi that would drop her at a place where an ambulance could pick her up.

Political analyst Lesiba Teffo, of the University of Limpopo, says service delivery has long been neglected because of infighting among ANC members.

 

“They have been fighting all along and neglecting service delivery, and their fights have to do with removing others from power in order to occupy those positions and access tenders, contracts and jobs.

“So they spend their time on their skirmishes, to the point that they have had little time even to spend their budgets,” said Teffo.

 

ANC president Jacob Zuma warned on Friday that open hostility between ANC members, and the character assassinations which accompany the pursuit of positions, were the signs of “ill health of the organisation”.

 

Zuma, speaking at an ANC conference in Free State, also said using money to buy votes – one way to dislodge the competition from office – “not only slowly erodes (harms) the ANC; it kills it”.

 

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said a few weeks ago that the infighting was likely to continue for a while as members contested provincial leadership positions.

 

Teffo points out that for as long as the state’s politicians’ eyes are set on positions, citizens such as Lufuno and Manyama will have to wait for the essential services that are already overdue to them.

 

 

1.13. Will ANC body parts fit?
    

 

As the party strips President Thabo Mbeki of his powers to rule and goes about dislodging his supporters from the provinces, many in the Zuma camp are jostling for positions

 

 Makhudu Sefara, City Press, 27 July 2008

 

 

IT was shortly before the lunch break in an auditorium at the University of Venda in Thohoyandou when ANC Youth League president Julius Malema reached for the microphone.

 

He spoke slowly, with emphasis, and one hand punching the air. “In Polokwane,” he said, “we removed the head (a reference to President Thabo Mbeki), now we must remove the body (a reference to Premier Sello Moloto).” The point was that the ANC needed to purge itself of those considered non-supporters of Zuma.

 

The “removal” Malema talked about was the democratic process of replacing one candidate with another through the ballot.

 

This week, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe confirmed that the ANC had removed Nosimo Balindlela and Ebrahim Rasool as premiers of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape respectively. In so doing, Mantashe not only usurped the powers conferred on the executive arm of government by the Constitution, but helped to further blur the lines between party and state.

 

Political analyst Adam Habib says the powerlessness that Mbeki experiences now should not cause much confusion because even he is a deployee of the party. “The question is how do you manage tensions? If Luthuli House and the Union Buildings give you two different mandates, that’s what needs to be managed.”

 

The effect of the communication from the ANC that the premiers have been sacked for poor performance and involvement in faction fighting could be that nobody must pay attention to anything Mbeki has to say – he may just as well call it a day.

 

Mantashe is the new employer and the person who will fire you if you underperform or engage in behaviour that goes against ANC expectations.

 

An ANC source said: “The Union Buildings may as well move to Luthuli House. Mbeki has been stripped to his barest. As Zuma told us, Mbeki is now a real lame duck without real powers.”

 

The threat to “underperforming” ministers by Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi during the federation’s strike on Wednesday to “remove” ministers who underperform, including a direct threat to finance minister Trevor Manuel may, given Mantashe’s actions, be an ominous indicator of things to come.

 

Political analyst Lesiba Teffo says the intensity of the battles within the ANC and the “triumphalist attitude” by the victors of Polokwane that has taken root, will make unity difficult to attain later.

“The desire and zeal for power inflicts so much harm, I doubt if they will ever achieve the unity of yesteryear we saw in the party,” notes Teffo.

 

Within the party, the “removal” of parts of the “body” is in full swing. KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele saw it coming early on and decided not to make himself available for the provincial chairpersonship of the party.

 

North West Premier Edna Molewa fought to the last minute but decided to step down before being humiliated. Moloto was beaten; Rasool has been given the clearest indication that he is not to be the face of the ANC going forward; and, this weekend, the Zuma group in the Free State was returned to office without much hassle.

 

The onslaught on remnants of Mbeki’s rule communicates the Zuma group’s unbridled commitment to take total control of the party or, in Malema’s language, to remove all the body parts that do not fit the new head.

 

In the midst of the hype, what is not communicated is that those who are united in removing remnants of Mbeki’s rule are themselves not united on who will fill the void.

 

While publicly many agree that Zuma will be the face of the ANC election campaign next year – despite his troubles with the law and his sense of judgment being called into question – others privately express the hope that Kgalema Motlanthe will succeed Mbeki. Others even say treasurer-general Mathews Phosa could do so as well.

 

In the provinces, some explain Angie Motshekga’s decision to contest the ANC Women’s League presidency as an attempt to bolster her chances against Paul Mashatile for the post of the premier of Gauteng.

 

Having lost the ANC chairpersonship to Mashatile in Gauteng ahead of the Polokwane conference, but emerging from Polokwane as a national executive committee member and also a member of the all-powerful national working committee of the ANC, Motshekga only needed to annex the position of ANCWL president to eliminate any doubt that, in the ANC, she is more senior than Mashatile.

 

And, if the party were to deploy her in Gauteng as she reportedly wishes, it would then become clear even to Mashatile supporters that she was deserving of premiership, despite his chairpersonship in the province.

 

In Limpopo, the ANC Youth League has put up a spirited campaign for Cassel Mathale – but supporters of Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, a member of the NEC and the NWC, have also intimated her interest in the position.

 

Nkoana-Mashabane and Mathale are both considered Zuma supporters. Nkoana-Mashabane withdrew from the Limpopo chairpersonship contest simply because this would have divided the Zuma vote in the province in favour of Moloto – who eventually was trounced by Mathale by about 200 votes.

Those close to her said at the Thohoyandou conference that it would be better for Moloto to win over Mathale because this would place her in a better position to become premier than if Mathale was the provincial chairperson. Even a call by Mathale supporters to forward his name only to Luthuli House as a possible premier after next year’ s elections, was seen as an attempt to “remove any possibility of Nkoana-Mashabane becoming premier,” said a senior Limpopo bureaucrat.

 

Collins Chabane, who received more of the votes (2 043) than anybody from Limpopo at the Polokwane conference, sees himself as a national leader, and above the battles for provincial supremacy.

Should the Nkoana-Mashabane/Mathale battle for premiership get out of hand, Joe Phaahla, a veteran of the movement who recently resigned as chief executive of the Sports Commission, is better positioned to take over as a neutral candidate within the Zuma camp.

 

The Free State province has been Zuma territory for some time, given Mbeki’s insistence on ignoring provincial strongman Ace Magashule for the post of premier. The Mbeki group, even ahead of the Polokwane conference, did not manage to make any real headway.

 

But, within the Zuma camp, the story is told of how Magashule told his comrades to push for his inclusion in the NEC, where he landed on position 14 after garnering a respectable 2 121 votes. “He told comrades that if they pushed him seriously into the NEC, it would become clear he was more of a national than a provincial leader. This would mean he would vacate the chairperson’s post after Polokwane – a decision other members of the Zuma camp accuse him of reneging on,” said a Bloemfontein-based source.

 

The source said Magashule was bothered by the fact that if he did not make it to the NWC he could, if unlucky, end up as a deputy minister – something he dreaded. So, said the source, it was now safer for Magashule to remain as provincial chairperson because it was better for him to become a premier than to take a chance and perhaps end up as a deputy minister elsewhere.

 

When other members of the Zuma camp who were bothered by Magashule’s perceived insincerity started putting up a fight, it was too late. Even the decision to go to court to fight Magashule’s tricks was rushed and poorly implemented, so the court threw it out.

 

Similar battles have been replicated in the Western Cape, where Mcebisi Skwatsha has effectively tried every trick in the book to become provincial chairperson – but still ended up with only a third of the support in the province.

 

Other than dealing with Rasool, people in the Western Cape mention MP Lerumo Kalako as a “potential within the Zuma group” who could take over as premier after Lynne Brown has delivered the Western Cape to the ANC.

 

In Malema’s language, one could say the “body” parts are being assembled before the new head, Zuma, is installed after the election next year – if the National Prosecuting Authority does not get its way, of course.

 

As Rasool and Balindlela bow out, and Mbeki mulls over the powerlessness of his last days at Mahlamba Ndlopfu, a quiet storm is raging within the Zuma camp as to who is more qualified or better positioned to fill the void created by the “removals” of which Malema spoke.

 

 

1.14. Zuma has no proof of political conspiracy
    

 

Jackie Mapiloko and Dumisane Lubisi, City Press, 27 July 2008

 

 

ANC president Jacob Zuma has finally admitted he does not have any evidence to prove the claim of political conspiracy which he and his supporters have been making for the past three years.

Shortly after Zuma was charged with fraud and corruption in 2005, his supporters claimed that President Thabo Mbeki was behind the charges in an attempt to prevent Zuma from succeeding him.

Zuma also accused some ANC members, whom he never named, of being part of the plot. He also promised to talk about the conspiracy once his fraud and corruption case had been finalised.

 

He repeated the same claims in papers filed at his many court applications, both in South Africa and in Mauritius this year.

 

But this week Zuma, in papers filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, admitted that he cannot provide any evidence to prove his claims of political conspiracy.

 

He approached the court last month to have charges against him withdrawn, claiming they were unconstitutional and unfair. He also alluded to the charges being meant to stop him from becoming the country’s next president in 2009.

 

Scorpions investigator Johan du Plooy, however, in response to Zuma’s claims, labelled the allegations as “scandalous, unfounded and vexatious”.

 

Zuma conceded he did not have the evidence required to prove his allegations, but said he nevertheless had the right to make the claims due to continuing victimisation fuelled by political motives.

 

“The state might not like such criticism, but it is one that I have a right to assert. I have consistently asserted it and the state has consistently denied these allegations. It is in the nature of the arguments I raise surrounding the motives behind my prosecution that the evidence required to prove those allegations will not readily be available,” Zuma said.

 

He further argued that it was unwarranted and prejudicial for the state to continue to bring up his previous conspiracy complaints against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

 

“My allegations, which are said to be unsubstantiated and critical of state officials, tend to suggest an undesirable pattern and course of conduct by me and my legal team.”

 

Zuma asked the court to remove Du Plooy’s statement that claims of political motive had become an improper and constant feature of his court battles with the state.

 

In Mauritius Zuma made the same claims when he tried to stop the NPA from obtaining 13 original documents to use in his trial.

 

The documents, held by Mauritian authorities, include the diary of French arms company Thint’s former chief executive for Africa, Alain Thetard. Zuma lost the application last month.

 

Zuma claimed that Mbeki and suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli had co-ordinated his dismissal as the country’s deputy president and subsequent charges in 2005.

 

Mbeki and Pikoli denied the claims and said they had arrived at their decisions independently of each other. “Needless to say, I have difficulty in believing this to be the truth,” he said in Mauritius.

 

In 2005 the ANC’s national executive committee of the time also rejected claims by Zuma supporters that Mbeki was behind a conspiracy to prevent Zuma from becoming the party’s leader.

 

Next week Zuma’s and the NPA’s legal teams will argue in the Pietermaritzburg court over his application for withdrawal of the charges.

 

 

 

1.15. Zuma to ‘decentralise’ power

 

 

 

 

Sapa-AFP, 27 July 2008

 

 

African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma, soon to stand trial on corruption charges, says he would "decentralise" power if elected South Africa’s next president, the Sunday Independent has reported.

 

Politicians and the COSATU labour federation have accused President Thabo Mbeki, who has been in office since 1999, for centralising power in the presidency.

 

"Once you allow that tendency (of centralising power) you are in danger that the people will not be able to defend their democracy (or) defend their power," Zuma was quoted as telling the newspaper in an interview.

 

"We must never allow it, it is a dangerous thing," he said, adding that under his rule, the ANC leadership - not him personally - would take decisions on state matters.

 

Zuma - whose trial on 16 charges ranging from money-laundering to racketeering is to begin next week - added he would prefer to serve only one term in office, and that he would fire incompetent officials.

Zuma, 66, who toppled Mbeki as ANC leader at a party conference last December, was sacked by Mbeki as deputy head of state in 2005 after his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was handed a 15-year sentence for bribery.

 

Initial corruption allegations against Zuma were struck off the roll in 2006 by a judge who told prosecutors their case was a disaster. The charges were reinstated, however, shortly after Zuma became ANC leader.

 

 

1.16. All eyes on Sogoni, sweeping changes to region‘s cabinet

 

 

 

 

Patrick Cull, The Herald online, 28 July 2008

 

 

 

WITH Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela announcing her resignation at the end of last week and Mbulelo Sogoni named as her successor, the spotlight now falls on changes to the provincial cabinet.

Sogoni will hold the position of premier until next April‘s election.

 

He takes over on Friday, when he is expected to be sworn in and announce changes that have been the subject of intense speculation.

 

It is believed Finance MEC Billy Nel will be one to face the axe with Phumulo Masualle named to replace him and also take control of economic development and environment affairs that was headed by Sogoni. Masualle, national treasurer of the SACP, is a former roads and public works MEC.

 

Health MEC Nomsa Jajula is also expected to be redeployed and replaced by Pemmy Majodina with Education MEC Johnny Makgato making way for Mahlubandile Qwase.

 

Another expected change will see deputy speaker Gloria Barry assume control of roads and transport from Thobile Mhlahlo who will retain safety and liaison. There has also been speculation that other MECs will be moved to different departments in order to enhance service delivery in the province described by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe as “dismal”.

 

Mantashe said on Friday the decision to replace Balindlela had been taken after the ANC had examined the situation in the Eastern Cape and felt it needed to intervene.

 

“After looking at the Eastern Cape we felt we needed to intervene and people needed to be redeployed,” he said, adding Sogoni would be premier until next year‘s elections. “The task of Sogoni is to appoint a cabinet and identify suitable people for positions, look into the administration of the province and to identify programmes that need to be priorities.”

 

Balindlela bowed out gracefully on Friday after just over four years at the helm stating that “as a loyal ANC member I agreed to resign in the spirit of our forefathers”, adding that she had “no regret and I am not bitter”.

 

“I am happy that I am going out of this position with a very clean heart. I am happy and thankful to God that indeed I have not stolen any money and not robbed any person.”

 

Balindlela was not, however, happy with the manner in which her departure was handled, saying information had been leaked to the press with no attempt to actually call and inform her, adding that it had been “very difficult”.

 

“I have always felt there was not enough opportunity granted to me to state my case.”

Mantashe said no decision had yet been taken as to Balindlela‘s future, adding she could remain in the Bhisho legislature or be redeployed to national parliament.

 

 

1.17. Ramatlakane urged to resign over ‘improperly enriched‘ finding

 

 

 

 

Janine Oelofse, The Herald online, 28 July 2008

 

 

THE DA says resignation is “the only honourable option available” to Western Cape Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane after the tabling of the auditor general‘s investigation of his department.

Speculation has been rife that a number of provincial parliamentarians close to axed Premier Ebrahim Rasool will resign and Western Cape speaker Shaun Byneveldt has already confirmed the resignation of Environment, Planning and Economic Development MEC Tasneem Essop. He could not confirm that Ramatlakane would resign.

 

When Rasool was replaced by Lynne Brown last Friday, the DA called for the resignations of Essop, Ramatlakane, Education MEC Cameron Dugmore and Local Government MEC Richard Dyantyi.

DA MPL Robin Carlisle said at the weekend that a report tabled in the provincial legislature by the auditor general late last week had confirmed all the party‘s serious concerns about Ramatlakane and his department over the past five years.

 

“The (MEC) and at least one of his consultants have been significantly and improperly enriched.”

One of the aspects investigated was security additions to Ramatlkane‘s home costing more than R362000.

 

The report investigated allegations that R77125,45 was paid to a building contractor for work not related to the security enhancements. Ramatlakane paid back R70000 without interest.

 

The AG also looked at payments of R529696 by the community safety department for services for which no original invoices could be found and that the services of three senior consultants were used without the proper procurement policy being followed.

 

Brown, who was sworn in during a special sitting of the provincial legislature last Friday, ruled out any drastic changes in the provincial government under her leadership, saying the “do not fix that which is not broken” principle would underpin her tenure.

 

She paid tribute to Rasool, saying he had worked hard and had shown leadership and vision.

Rasool, who had been accused of creating divisions within the ANC, was not present at the function.

While the DA welcomed Brown‘s appointment, it objected to the procedure followed.

 

“In terms of the constitution, (a premier is elected) by the provincial parliament and not simply announced by the majority party,” Western Cape leader Theuns Botha said. Additional reporting by Sapa

 

 

1.18. Sanco branch calls for poll boycott

 

 

 

 

Janine Oelofse, The Herald online, 28 July 2008

THE Southern Cape branch of the South African National Civics body has called for a boycott of next year‘s elections following a community meeting in KwaNokuthula outside Plettenberg Bay yesterday.

Regional organiser William Busaku said about 600 people packed into the KwaNokuthula sports stadium and gave him a mandate to speak to other towns in the province about boycotting the provincial and national poll.

 

He said residents were dissatisfied with slow housing delivery, alleged government corruption and the fact that the ANC had appointed Lulama Mvimbi as mayor of Bitou.

 

The Southern Cape Sanco branch has been at loggerheads with its Western Cape head office over a number of issues in Bitou over the past two years.

 

“We are starting by engaging the rest of Plettenberg Bay, including the communities of Bossiesgif/Qolweni and New Horizons. From there I will be speaking to residents in Knysna, Mossel Bay and even inland to the Robertson area to boycott the election,” Busaku said.

 

He added that the boycott campaign would be officially launched on September 27 in KwaNokuthula, the same day Sanco planned to launch a memorial trust for Someleze Gobo. The baby girl was shot in the head during unrest last August.

 

 

1.19. Zuma urges balance between left and right

 

 

 

 

Bob Kernohan, The Herald online, 28 July 2008

 

 

ANC president Jacob Zuma appealed to both the “left” and the “right” in the ruling party and in the tripartite alliance to retain the balance that had resulted in the success of democracy and continued economic growth.

 

He was speaking at a celebration to mark the 87th anniversary of the formation of the SA Communist Party (SACP) at the weekend. A seat at the sponsored dinner at a Port Elizabeth beachfront hotel cost Eastern Cape business people and companies up to R2000 a head, with the proceeds going towards SACP funds.

 

Zuma – who later had his photograph taken with some guests as part of the fundraiser – said it was uniquely South African that business people would sit together with SACP and trade union representatives at a fundraiser for a communist party.

 

The 120 guests were mainly from the small, micro and medium business sectors, but a few representatives of major companies were present.

 

In his 45-minute speech, Zuma said there had been “speculation, perspectives, opinions and views from all angles” since the Polokwane conference, much of it “way off the mark” in reporting disunity.

 

But the ANC had “emerged united behind the leadership that was democratically elected”, had a common programme of action and goals, and shared the same objectives.

 

“The ANC is in good hands, as the leadership collective is made up of tried and tested cadres of the movement. It is united and strong. It is ready for the elections next year. Our country is also in good hands – run by competent cadres deployed by our movement in government.”

 

To loud applause, Zuma said the ANC was determined not just to win the next election, but to win with “an overwhelming majority”, despite the reports of disunity within the party. However, a little later he did say the ANC would have to tackle “factionalism and other negative tendencies nationally” in the months leading up to the election.

 

Zuma said all three partners in the alliance were important and represented a wide range of views.

“In some cases, countries which do not have an alliance like ours move to the extreme right – and that can be dangerous. In other countries, the move is to the left. A country needs a balance and we have that through the alliance.”

 

Overall, the right and the left provided “healthy contradictions”, resulting in a balance being achieved.

Ultimately, Zuma said, he would like to see free education for all right up to degree level at university.

 

 

1.20. Call for business to back Zuma

 

 

The Star, 28 July 2008

 

 

Business people should not be ashamed to financially support ANC President Jacob Zuma and the party, but should do so with "no strings attached", ANC national executive committee member Ace Magashule said on Sunday.

The re-elected Free State provincial chairperson was speaking after business people and ANC members had donated and pledged more than R1,4-million to Zuma on Friday.

Zuma left the conference with R52 000 in hard cash - carried in a black conference bag.

Zuma said the money would go towards legal fees in his ongoing fight with the National Prosecuting Authority.

Addressing the last day of the provincial conference in Parys on Sunday, Magashule said there was nothing wrong with business people backing the ANC.

"We hope anybody who donated (did so) with no strings attached… anybody who donated did so to assist the ANC," he said.

There was nothing sinister with the ANC reaping the "gains of the revolution", he said, adding that the National Party government was sustained through support from "white business" during apartheid.

Zuma, said Magashule, should be supported in every way - even by transporting supporters to the Pietermaritzburg high court on his appearance on August 4.

"That is what you do to your president, he must be supported by his organisation. Don't feel guilty by supporting Zuma … He is president of the ANC and president of the masses of our people," said Magashule.

Magashule made even more controversial comments when he defended the "deployment" of ANC people into key government positions. "Show me any government in the world that doesn't deploy people who understand it when it takes power.

"When Helen Zille took over in Cape Town she removed the municipal manager. What is wrong with deploying cadres who understand the party's policy?" asked Magashule.

 

 

 

1.21. ANC descends into tribalism

 

Call for Tsongas to exercise control over ‘inferior tribes’

 

 

 

 

Justice Malala, The Times, 28 July 2008

 

Top officials being stabbed by rank-and-file members … leaders fighting over tenders and empowerment deals — it’s just more confirmation that the ANC is deeply divided by greed and factionalism.

Now the party that was once united by the ideal of fighting and defeating all forms of tribalism is wracked by this evil.

 

Last week, at the party’s provincial conference in Limpopo, delegates were not focused on anti- poverty campaigns. They were obsessing over a document — distributed to all the delegates anonymously before and during the conference — that announced that the time of the Tsonga (commonly referred to as the Shangaan) people had now arrived. The battle for the leadership of the province was between Cassel Mathale (Tsonga) and Sello Moloto (Pedi).

 

The document is not just a new low in ANC politics, it re-opens a dangerous, backward and scary chapter in our politics.

 

The founders of the ANC, who explicitly set out to stamp out tribalism a hundred years ago, would be shocked by this development.

 

The document, which is written through a tribal prism that grabs any success by a Tsonga speaker to buttress its points, is not an official party document.

 

But like the Aids-denialist tome written by President Thabo Mbeki in 2000, it is being handed on from comrade to comrade in Limpopo and is being discussed intensely.

 

It denigrates the Pedi, takes swipes at successive Pedi premiers and other ANC leaders, and concludes in true chauvinistic style that the Tsonga are superior while referring to others as scum and inferior.

 

The document reads: “The Great King Soshangane was not leading a tribe but a nation. Throughout history our nation has been looked down upon by mere tribes. An example is the Lobedu clan, which up to today does not allow our subjects to enter their “royal” house. Another example is the Pedi tribe, which all along has been referring derogatorily to our subjects as makwapa [sub-human]. The time for redress is now.”

 

It goes on to allege that Tsonga- speaking people had ascended to the heights of the civil service in Limpopo and were now poised to take over politically.

 

“For the coming provincial conference we have tried and tested patriotic sons of Soshangane who have demonstrated their unflinching commitment to the empowerment of our great nation.

 

“We don’t have any doubt that as chairperson and secretary [referring to Mathale and Joe Maswanganyi] they will catapult our nation to the ultimate position of power.

 

“Our own was made premier of Gauteng after the dismal failure of a Pedi and an inferior Lobedu subject. The successes of Gauteng since then are immeasurable. This is proof to the world … of the capability of the Tsonga nation. This is the one nation that should be given absolute chance to take decisions on behalf of all inferior tribes, especially the Pedi.

 

“This then brings the relevance of the sixth provincial conference of the ANC in Limpopo to the picture. Since the advent of democracy, Limpopo has been having Pedi chairpersons who were also premiers. The exception is when our own George Mashamba surprised Ngoako Ramatlhodi at Tivhumbeni.

 

“The surprise was short-lived as the contest was due to differences among the Pedi. Those who advised Comrade George to contest did not have the interests of the Tsonga nation at heart.”

 

The document goes on to describe how an alleged Tsonga faction aligned itself to Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe (ANC president and deputy president) to ensure victory for its delegates at the provincial conference.

 

“The plan is simple. The premiership of the province should be in the hands of the descendants of Soshangane for two decades.

“The incoming chairperson should serve his two terms after which he will be succeeded by the incoming secretary who should also serve his two terms. Only then can we consider offering the prize to our inferiors but being in control of the organisation.

 

“This paper is meant for the eyes of the descendants of Soshangane alone and only those who fall within the category of Mavulandlela! [Pioneers]. Any disclosure will be viewed as treason against the great nation, and there is only one punishment fit for that deed: death!”

 

This, then, is the ANC, the African continent’s leading and oldest liberation movement.

 

 

 

1.22. SA to maintain inflation targeting – Mbeki

 

No need to move away from the policy of running budget surpluses.

 

 

 

 

Reuters, 28 July 2008

 

 

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday that his government had not discussed making changes to inflation targeting or its policy of running budget surpluses.

 

"There has not been any view in government that we need to change that ... targeting," Mbeki said in Pretoria.

 

He added that his government, under pressure to shield the poor and workers from a sharp rise in food and fuel prices and the impact of rising interest rates, said there was no need to move away from the policy of running budget surpluses.

 

Inflation has jumped out of the South African Reserve Bank's 3 to 6 percent target band, currently hovering near 11 percent. The central bank has responded with a string of interest rate hikes.

 

The rate hikes, however, have angered trade unions, who say the poor and workers are bearing the brunt of the pain. The powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions has launched a series of protests throughout the country.

 

The action will culminate in a national strike next month.

 

1.23. Party fired premiers, says Mbeki  

 

Wilson Johwa and Karima Brown, Business Day, 28 July 2008

 

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki yesterday broke his silence on the African National Congress (ANC) decision to axe Ebrahim Rasool and Nosimo Balindlela as provincial premiers.

Speaking after the cabinet’s three-day midyear lekgotla, Mbeki told journalists in Pretoria that the decision to fire the two was not a decision taken by the “executive in government”.

Responding to a question on why there was a need to remove two party premiers from office if the government’s policies were unlikely to change next year when his time in office comes to an end, Mbeki said: “With regard to the question why were the changes made, you’d have to ask the ANC that.”

However, Mbeki said the government’s programme of action would remain intact and was unlikely to be affected by changes in leadership in Western and Eastern Cape.

“I would hope that whatever administrations are set up in those two provinces would catch up. In any case, they inherit ongoing work in the provinces,” he said.

Mbeki said the government remained committed to its mandate in what remained of its time in office before next year’s elections. Both the ANC and the government have been trying to allay fears that there will be major policy changes when the new crop of ANC leaders takes office in the event that the party wins at the polls next year.

Much has been made of Mbeki’s lame duck presidency since he lost the party leadership to Jacob Zuma in December. Mbeki’s candid comment is the first public admission that he has had to take his cue from the party on key matters of governance. The ANC leadership, for its part, was also at pains to manage the fallout as a result of the two centres of power and stressed that it did not want to micro-manage the executive.

“The president of the ANC and the secretary-general came to see me before the last meeting of the national executive committee of the ANC to tell me what visits the national working committee had been making to the provinces as well as officials, and what they were going to present to the NEC,” Mbeki said.

While Rasool has already been replaced by Lynne Brown in Western Cape, Balindlela will make way for Mbulelo Sogoni, the premier-elect in Eastern Cape. Sogoni will be sworn in this week when Balindlela returns from her trip to China. Underperformance was cited as one of the key reasons why Balindlela got the chop, although there were suggestions that she was punished for backing Mbeki’s third-term bid for the ANC presidency.

Eastern Cape has been under the spotlight for poor service delivery in at least four areas: education, health, public works and the treasury.

Mbeki told journalists the cabinet lekgotla discussed ways of ironing out intergovernmental relations with the aim of speeding up delivery at all levels of government, including the provinces. He admitted that the interaction between the national and provincial governments was an ongoing challenge.

Mbeki said the lekgotla discussed a review process for institutional reform and other interventions to improve the effectiveness of the system of government across all three spheres of government. He dismissed suggestions that the review would be about reducing the number of provinces, saying it was about sorting out problems of “concurrency”.

But sorting out the relationship could suggest far-reaching change.

“As the executive, we have been very reluctant to intervene in ways that need us to change the constitution,” Mbeki said.

 

 

1. 24. Neither side can claim to be clean in Rasool saga 

 

Dave Marrs, Business Day, 28 July 2008

 

 

 

OUSTED Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool is feeling a little hard done by, judging from his complaint that a “dirty tricks campaign” is being waged against him. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s right. Low blows have become the norm in Western Cape politics, and his rivals in the provincial African National Congress (ANC) are undeniably tricky characters.

 

But it’s hard to feel much sympathy for Rasool, even if a gentlemen’s agreement he reached with the ANC leadership behind the scenes before he agreed to resign is not being honoured by everyone in the party.

 

The old adage, “live by the sword, die by the sword”, springs to mind. Rasool will argue that all is fair in love and politics and that he did nothing illegal, but the manner in which the province he led set about trying to bring down the coalition governing Cape Town falls squarely within any reasonable definition of “dirty tricks”.

 

Like President Thabo Mbeki, the man who appointed him and whose endorsement turned out to be the kiss of death, Rasool has had no compunction about using his powers (in his case as premier) to benefit the ruling party or bolster his position within it, or about using state institutions as blunt weapons with which to batter opponents.

 

The Erasmus inquiry into alleged spying in the Cape Town city council was the final straw, but there were many other instances where he rode roughshod over the spirit, if not the letter, of our constitutional democracy. Neither he nor the ANC seem to grasp that the premier is obliged to serve with the best interests of all the province’s residents in mind, not just those who voted for the ANC.

 

The main gripe Rasool seems to have with the ANC now is that it is failing to keep its promise that he would not be singled out as the scapegoat for the factional fighting that has done so much damage to the party’s election prospects in recent years. In particular, a seven-page document has been circulating unofficially within the ANC listing the reasons Rasool had to go. Some are legitimate — especially his persistent refusal to take action against safety and security MEC Leonard Ramatlakane despite prima facie evidence of financial shenanigans — while others look like a stitch-up.

 

But the document raises the following question: why is the ANC acting only now, if Rasool has been a rotten apple all this time? And Rasool’s response is just as problematic. He is muttering darkly about “speaking the truth about who was corrupt in government” if he continues to come under attack, which presumably means he hasn’t been telling the truth up to now. Perhaps the Scorpions should invite him over for a cup of tea.

 

So far, Rasool has indeed had all of the provincial ANC’s shabby baggage dumped on his shoulders, while the opposing faction — led by provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha, ably supported by deputy Max Ozinsky, among others — is smugly positioning itself to enjoy the spoils in terms of party and government jobs. But as much as they may be loving Rasool’s downfall as premier, their plan can’t really be said to have come together unless they continue to dominate the party’s provincial structures. And, of course, the ANC will have to win next year’s election.

 

Replacement Premier Lynne Brown has proved herself a capable enough leader and administrator, but she is not the power-broker in the province and she will struggle to keep a lid on things if those Western Cape ANC branches that support Mbeki and Rasool — the majority before Polokwane just seven months ago — put the (figurative) knife into Skwatsha at the provincial conference next month.

 

Whichever ANC faction triumphs, it is likely to be a narrow and divisive victory, which does not augur well for party unity during the electoral campaign. The coloured vote is key in Western Cape, and there have been signs for some time that the Independent Democrats and the Democratic Alliance have been benefiting from rising coloured, and Muslim, disenchantment with the ANC. Shafting Rasool won’t help matters.

·  Marrs is Cape editor.

 

 

1.25. Mbeki’s got it just right

 

But economists persist with awkward questions

 

 

Brendan Boyle, The Times, 28 July 2008

 

 

President Thabo Mbeki ignored the economic policy debate raging within his ruling alliance yesterday and insisted that all his policies were correct.

 

Briefing reporters on the cabinet’s mid-year lekgotla (workshop), he said inflation targeting and the policy of maintaining a budget surplus were correct and would stay.

 

He said South Africa was on track to meet the UN’s millennium development goal of halving poverty and unemployment from 2000 levels by 2014.

 

“Even despite the slowdown in the global and domestic economies, we still have the capacity to generate the resources to sustain the broad direction that we have taken over the last 14 years,” he said.

Mbeki’s speaking notes included the observation that South Africa was on track to meet the millennium goals, but added: “Although the economy is succeeding in creating jobs, this jobs growth has not been at the required levels to reduce the rate of unemployment.

 

“There are two measures required to reach employment and growth goals — GDP growth must be closer to 7 percent and exports must grow three times faster in order to raise employment levels by 5 percent.”

“There hasn’t been any view within the government that we needed to change that inflation targeting and indeed no discussion with regard to the positions that had been taken with regard to the management of public finances relating, for instance, to the matter of surpluses,” he said.

 

Mbeki did not explain how he expected to return to average growth of 7 percent when domestic and international agencies are forecasting growth in the region of 3 percent to 3.5 percent this year and in 2009.

 

Devoting most of his briefing to economic issues, he said the government had made good progress on the 24 “apex priorities” he announced in January.

 

He said import duties on raw materials for metals fabrication had been reduced and that a policy on aluminium tariffs would be released by the end of the year.

 

He said a new motor industries incentive programme would be released next month.

 

New import duties for the chemical, plastics and pharmaceutical industries had been finalised and would be published later this year, he said.

 

Mbeki said a draft framework for a national food control agency would be released for public comment soon, but he gave no details of what the agency would do.

 

“Extensive progress is being made in many of the interventions that are necessary to ensure that our economy continues to grow,” he said.

 

1.26. South Africa: Fury as Mbeki Defends Inflation Target, Surplus

 

 

 

Karima Brown and Wilson Johwa, Business Day, 28 July 2008

 

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki yesterday strongly defended his administration's economic policies, crediting SA's budget surplus and inflation targeting with having "cushioned" the economy from the worst of the turbulence that has caused havoc around the world.

 

Addressing a media briefing at the end of a three-day cabinet lekgotla yesterday, Mbeki stood firm on inflation targeting. He said the lekgotla had not discussed any need to change or adapt SA's macroeconomic stance on inflation targeting or the budget surplus.

 

 "Indeed, that has helped us in this situation of turbulence in terms of the financial markets globally ... that has enabled us to cushion the country using that particular system of budgeting."

Uncertainty over the future direction of SA's economic policy is seen as one of the main challenges for SA's economy as the Mbeki era draws to a close.

 

Mbeki also set out a raft of measures to bolster delivery, combat poverty and promote economic development in what remains of his term in office.

 

His comments on the economy immediately raised the hackles of the ruling party's left allies -- the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). They accused him of trying to narrow the scope for policy change the allies want to see introduced with a new government headed by African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma, when Mbeki's second term ends after elections next year.

In particular, the Presidency's decision to initiate a "scenario-planning process" to "help the country anticipate and plan better for 2015" raised eyebrows for its reach into a future of which Mbeki will not be part.

 

Among the measures announced by Mbeki were an anti-poverty campaign to be launched next month, a food agency to monitor rising food prices and a task team to implement changes to the criminal justice system. This follows the cabinet's midterm review of the government's performance on its programme of action as outlined by Mbeki's state of the nation speech in February.

 

A draft framework for a proposed National Food Control Agency had been completed and was due for consultation.

 

Cosatu, however, took a dim view of Mbeki's insistence that the economy was on track.

"Government continues to be in denialist mode," said Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini.

 

"The reality is that if there are no economic policy changes we are going to miss our targets. By jumping the gun government seems to suggest that Cosatu has no suggestions and that we cannot contribute to the debate."

 

He said a new food agency would not stop Cosatu's general strike against spiralling food prices.

The SACP welcomed immediate steps to address the food price crisis, but warned the government against coming up with plans that are "at variance" with Polokwane resolutions and those made at an alliance summit held earlier this month .

 

SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande said current economic policies were the reason the government remained unable to deal with the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

 

"We are going to raise these issues at the economic summit," he said. Nzimande criticised the Presidency's scenario-planning process, saying that "long-term planning was the task of the new administration ".

 

"All we want is reports from the outgoing administration ," he said.

 

 

2. Workers’ issues

 

3.1. Concerns ahead of 2008 matric exams

 

 

SABC News, 26 July 2008

 

 

The 2008 matric exams kick off in exactly 100 days. With a new curriculum in place, there is already some anxiety among pupils and educators.

For the first time, everyone will write the same national exam. This will be a massive shift from the past as standard and higher grade papers have been shelved. Now students will be tested equally.

Penny Vinjevold of the education department says there is some anxiety but teachers are now starting to feel comfortable and a survey shows that by far the majority of pupils have textbooks. Thousands of teachers have been trained in the new curriculum but teachers union Sadtu is doubtful.

New curriculum

Sadtu's Thobile Ntola says they have raised the issue of teachers needing to be provided with adequate training for the new curriculum since 1994. Ntola says it has not happened and they don't have any hope of better results based on the new training of teachers.

For some it is not the change in the curriculum. Professor Jonathan Jansen, an education analyst, says: "We can get inside the classroom and insist that teachers teach everyday and that they are tested for their knowledge on the subject matter and then trained accordingly. We are not going to change this problem. Changing the status quo will take some time."

Questions have also been raised on whether matriculants will be challenged sufficiently, and whether such passes will equip them for tertiary education.

 

 

3.2. Minister accused of being racist

 

Workers say Africans being marginalised; not so says the government

 

 

 

Anton Ferreira, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

 

 

A race row has erupted in the Department of Public Service and Administration, with a group of staff accusing minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi of promoting white, Asian and coloured “favourites” at the expense of Africans.

 

About 120 staff — more than a quarter of the total of 400 in the department — submitted a petition earlier this month that charged Fraser-Moleketi with reinforcing “the stereotype that Africans are lazy and incompetent”.

 

Signed by members of the Public Service Association and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the petition described some of her senior officials as racist and said one woman manager had insulted staff by calling them “rats and mice”.

 

A spokesman for the department, Lewis Rabkin — himself named as one of those allegedly “favoured” by the minister — dismissed the petition this week as “without foundation”.

 

“Obviously (the minister) rejects it completely,” said Rabkin, who is manager for strategic support services in the department.

 

Fraser-Moleketi’s director- general, Richard Levin, sent letters to those who signed the petition saying it was “unfortunate” that they had “failed to exercise (their) rights in terms of exhausting the formal processes available to raise complaints and concerns”.

 

Levin warned signatories, who range from clerks to managers, that the petition contained potentially defamatory claims about named officials.

 

“I advise you to withdraw your support for any defamatory statements in the petition to protect you from civil court action,” Levin said in the letters. “Given the circumstances under which this petition was conceived and delivered, the department is left with no option but to reject it.”

 

Rabkin criticised the disgruntled staff for failing to follow correct procedures but said he knew of no officials who were considering suing after being named in the petition.

 

“It has no legal status ... It isn’t an official negotiating document,” he said. “When you have disagreements, we’ve got a workplace bargaining chamber and issues have to be raised there first.”

 

Stuart Marshall, head of Nehawu’s organising service centre, said those who signed the petition were concerned that Fraser-Moleketi was not putting Africans into senior management positions.

 

“The argument is that the minister is attempting to fill those posts, prior to her possibly leaving next year, with favourites of hers,” Marshall said.

 

Fraser-Moleketi is seen as a minister who might not remain in her job once president Thabo Mbeki bows out.

 

The petition demanded that a recent “restructuring” of the department be scrapped “and we revert back to the old structure until the new government takes over in 2009”.

 

“As we move towards the end of the current term of government, certain political loyalists who are mainly coloured, Indian and white are being rewarded with higher posts,” the petition said.

 

“In many instances ethnic Africans do work and when the posts are upgraded they are overlooked in favour of minority groups.”

 

It said there was “clear over-representation of minority groups at senior management level” in the department.

 

“We are of the view that the minister undermines African leadership and that is not consistent with the precepts of the ruling ANC or the mandate given by the constitution,” the petition said.

 

“This has led to a situation where these managers who are part of the favoured grouping treat ethnic Africans as they please.”

 

It said the “marginalisation of ethnic Africans” was creating frustration that had sparked “a recent incident of physical violence”.

 

“This is a sign of an unstable department that resembles a ticking time bomb,” the petition said.

But Rabkin said the authors of the petition were citing incorrect figures in their racial breakdown of senior management posts, and were wrong to refer to “restructuring” in the department.

 

“The exercise conducted was reorganisation where nobody’s job was under threat, nobody’s remuneration and benefits were affected negatively,” he said.

“Consultation with affected units and employees was undertaken by managers ... No employees were promoted or otherwise financially advantaged in this process.”

 

Rabkin said that while Levin was a white male, his deputy directors-general comprised two coloured women, one African woman and an Indian man. Another African woman was serving as an acting deputy director-general.

 

Among chief directors, 13 were African, eight were white, three were Indian and one was coloured.

“The department strives to advance black people — Africans, coloureds and Indians — particularly at management level; women of all races, particularly at management level, and disabled people at all levels,” Rabkin said, adding that Africans, coloureds and Indians accounted for 76% of management posts in the department.

 

He noted that the Employment Equity Act defined blacks as Africans, coloureds and Indians, and it defined the previously disadvantaged as blacks, women and the disabled.

 

 

3. Zimbabwe

 

3.1. Mbeki, Zim’s saviour: Sarkozy

 

AFP, 25 July 2008

 

 

BORDEAUX, France — South Africa and the European Union Friday wrapped up a landmark summit with Brussels solidly backing Pretoria’s mediating role in Zimbabwe as the only way of ending ruinous political chaos.

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy — whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU — showered fulsome praise on South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki on his "bold and courageous" intervention.

 

"We wholeheartedly support the courageous mediation by President Mbeki and back the idea to give him more time," Sarkozy said at a joint news conference after the end of the first EU-South Africa summit, held in the picturesque French city of Bordeaux.

 

"Mbeki’s mediation must be supported," he said, adding: "there is no other way possible now and everyone in Europe agrees on this."

 

But Sarkozy said he would not be talking to Mugabe, "because I judge what he has done very severely."

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the meeting as "a historical moment in the development of our partnership," calling South Africa a leading and respected player on the world stage.

 

The meeting had been overshadowed by the political crisis in Zimbabwe and the diametrically opposed stands of Pretoria and Brussels on ways of resolving the impasse after veteran President Robert Mugabe’s re-election in a one-man run-off following a controversial first round.

 

The EU on Tuesday widened sanctions against Zimbabwe despite a deal brokered by Mbeki between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on talks for a future government.

 

Brussels views Mugabe as a tyrant who has crushed human rights and democracy and led the once-model African economy to ruin burdened with the world’s highest inflation rate.

 

Mbeki, on the other hand, has so far failed to publicly criticise Mugabe, and appears opposed to any attempt to arm-twist the octogenarian leader and to bow to any form of Western pressure.

 

On Friday, Mbeki sought to emphasise that the positions on Zimbabwe were narrowing and said in reply to a question that he had not asked for the new sanctions to be repealed.

 

"All of us agreed that it is important that Zimbabwean political parties should move forward to reach agreement ... on the formation of an inclusive government and a common programme to take Zimbabwe forward.

 

"I think everybody in the world wants this to happen as a matter of urgency," he said. "I really sincerely appreciate the support expressed by President Sarkozy."

 

Mbeki’s 16-month mediation has been slammed by critics as being too soft on Mugabe.

Mbeki sidestepped a question on whether he was seeking a dignified exit for Mugabe, whose status as an African liberation hero is still largely undimmed on the continent.

 

"They (the Zimbabweans) will have to take the decision about who retires when. It’s not something that comes from the mediation," he said.

 

Other key issues include the situation in African flashpoints in Chad and Sudan’s violence-riven Darfur region, the ongoing world trade talks, and the establishment of a free trade area between the EU and South Africa by 2012.

Sarkozy said he was seeking Mbeki’s help in pressuring Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who faces an international arrest warrant for allegedly ordering his forces to annihilate three non-Arab groups in Darfur, masterminding murder, torture, pillaging and using rape to commit genocide.

The summit coincided with an announcement by Zimbabwe’s ruling party that Mugabe’s controversial re-election was a "non-negotiable" issue in ongoing talks with the opposition in South Africa.

The Bordeaux summit saw the signing of a declaration aimed at slashing emission levels by half between now and 2050 to fight climate change.

On trade issues, the other focus of the talks, an irritant is the Economic Partnership Agreement Brussels is negotiating with African states to replace colonial preferential trade agreements.

Pretoria says smaller African economies may be pressured into giving up more for increased market access to the EU.

Bilateral trade between South Africa and the EU has increased more than five-fold between 1994 to 2007 from 56.5 billion rand (7.5 billion dollars, 4.7 billion euros) to 313 billion rand, according to South African figures.