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Wednesday 01 July 2009
Contents
1 Workplace. 1
1 POPCRU; 2 RACISM; 3 SAMA; 4 NUM; 5 NUM; 6 SADTU; 7 State hospital; 8 Doctors threatts; 9 SADTU.. 1
1.1 Mapisa-Nqakula on collision path with union. 1
1.2 DHL bosses accused of racism.. 2
1.3 Striking doctors must now respond to final pay offer. 3
1.4 NUM seeks slice of hike cake. 4
1.5 NUM sees room for trade-offs in Angloplat wage talks 2. 4
1.6 SADTU sets out latest OSD demands. 5
1.7 Bay health services under pressure as strike drags on. 6
2.8 Doctors threaten to shut down hospital 8
2.9 Teachers threaten to go on strike today. 8
2 South Africa. 9
1 ANC; 2 CWU; 3 Blade Nzimande; 4 COSATU; 5 SACP-COSATU; 6 ANC.. 9
2.1 ANC indaba to size up. 9
2.2 We've got rotters here: SABC boss. 10
2.3 Education for all, says Nzimande. 10
2.4 The strange politics of the tripartite alliance. 11
2.5 SACP and Cosatu are just tinkering on the margins. 12
2.6 ANC calls for Durban bus resolution. 14
3 International 15
1 Oversees; 2 ZIM.. 15
3.1 KZN applies for overseas doctors. 15
3.2 MDC denies collapse. 15
1 Workplace
1 POPCRU; 2 RACISM; 3 SAMA; 4 NUM; 5 NUM; 6 SADTU; 7 State hospital; 8 Doctors threatts; 9 SADTU
1.1 Mapisa-Nqakula on collision path with union
Anna Majavu - 01 July 2009
CORRECTIONAL Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula is headed for a clash with police and prisons union Popcru after telling Parliament yesterday that she is going to do away with weekend overtime pay for prison officials.
Announcing that her department would be moving from a "five day establishment" to a "seven day establishment" today , Mapisa- Nqakula said: "We believe we can make savings because we will not have to pay extra for that."
She said the overexpenditure that had led the department to run at a R500million loss this year was "mainly caused by weekend overtime claims".
She said the overtime claims were consuming huge amounts.
But Popcru spokesperson Benzi Ka-Soko said while the union had agreed that members would work on weekends, it would not save money because the agreement was to include overtime pay in new basic salaries.
"Members have already made use of this overtime to buy houses," he said. "If it is taken away willy-nilly people are going to suffer.
"We agreed that the seven-day establishment should not leave members worse off and we are going to watch them under a microscope to see that implementation is according to the agreement."
Meanwhile, Mapisa-Nqakula has put the building of five new private prisons on hold, pending a review of whether or not private companies can effectively manage prisons.
"The government should own the operations and programmes in prisons," she said.
"So if people feel the rehabilitation programmes are not the best the government should take responsibility."
She said if prisons were to be run by private companies and the government had a "hands off approach" it would not know what was happening at such facilities.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026576
1.2 DHL bosses accused of racism
Frank Maponya - 01 July 2009
WORKERS at courier company DHL have accused their white colleagues and management of racial discrimination.
The workers said the Polokwane management practised discrimination and is against employees joining unions.
Some of the workers, who spoke to Sowetan on condition of anonymity, said yesterday they were called names including the "k" word.
They said a manager (whose name is known to Sowetan) had been doing as he pleased since joining the company in March last year.
About 30 workers said management comprised only white people who are "racist" towards them.
"The problem is that management does not want to engage its employees on matters that concern their work and it makes us feel unwelcome," one employee said.
The workers said the manager told them the company's head office in Heidelberg had given him permission to fire anyone he wanted to.
"We have been subjected to insults and find it difficult to cope with the situation," another employee said. "Head office is doing nothing to assist us."
He said five people had allegedly been fired after unsubstantiated allegations had been made against them.
All those fired had not received their payments.
The first person was fired in January and is still waiting for his pay. Another was fired on Monday after being accused of being involved with criminals.
"What normally happens is that the manager fabricates stories if he no longer wants an employee," the worker said.
"That gives him an excuse to to fire the employee."
The workers said they were considering taking the matter up with their legal representatives.
Attempts to get comment from DHL in Polokwane drew a blank yesterday.
But the company's human resources manager, Nicolene Davel, speaking from the firm's head office, said yesterday that there were procedures to be followed by the employees instead of going to the media.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026473
1.3 Striking doctors must now respond to final pay offer
Zinhle Mapumulo - 01 July 2009
THE government says it has signed its "final offer" on the occupation-specific dispensation for public service doctors - and that unions have two weeks to accept or reject its offer.
The Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council, which was negotiating on behalf of doctors, said the ball was now in the court of the unions.
"The government is sticking to the revised offer tabled on Wednesday last week.
"Unions are now tasked with informing their members about the final offer. They have about two weeks to decide on whether they accept it or not," said Mpumelelo Sibiya, the council's secretary-general.
The government offered interns salary increases of between 31percent and 53percent. Doctors doing community service will receive 9,8percent to 18,9percent. Registrars' salaries will go up by between 18,3percent and 60,1percent, while principal specialists will get 25,1percent and chief specialists 29percent, respectively.
The South African Medical Association (Sama), one of the unions representing doctors, has said it might accept the offer but would have to allow its members to decide.
Sama's Norman Mabasa said: "The only thing that is left is for us to report back to our members today. We are hoping they will accept the offer and return to work."
The South African Registrars' Association, which organised the wildcat strikes, preferred not to comment at the end of the marathon negotiations yesterday.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026616
1.4 NUM seeks slice of hike cake
Kea' Modimoeng - 01 July 2009
NATIONAL Union of Mineworkers members at Eskom want to cash in on the power utility's tariff boost.
The union rejected Eskom's "final offer" of 8 percent in the current wage negotiations.
Initially, NUM tabled a 15percent demand, which it later reduced to 14percent, "whilst the power utility refused to budge", the union said yesterday.
NUM, together with Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, has asked the power utility to provide information on the wage bill for both the bargaining unit employees and top management bands, the new proposed structure, and the impact of the R60000 housing allowance offered to professional management staff.
NUM negotiator at Eskom Paris Mashego said: "Workers need the 14percent to be able to afford the exorbitant price of electricity.
"You cannot get a tariff increment of 31,33percent and refuse workers an increment that should enable them to afford your high prices."
Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said: "Eskom takes note of NUM's position, and we still believe that the process will be resolved constructively in due course."
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026568
1.5 NUM sees room for trade-offs in Angloplat wage talks 2
JOHANNESBURG - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday said there was room for it to offer some trade-offs in its wage negotiations with platinum major Anglo Platinum (Angloplat).
"We have seen a willingness to negotiate in good faith on the part of Angloplat," commented NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
He said that the union had demanded an increase in basic wages for underground workers to R4 500, while the miner had moved to offer R4 400.
Angloplat had also offered an increase in the basic wage for surface workers to R4 000, while the union expected this to be R4 200, said Seshoka.
However, Seshoka noted that the exact trade-offs the union would make had not yet been identified.
Further, the NUM also called for a "significant increase" in the overall increase in basic wages, in percentage terms. The platinum-miner's latest offer was 6,5%, below the consumer price inflation, which now stood at 8%.
The union had initially demanded a 15% increase, similar to the increases it, and other labour unions, were demanding from the coal and gold sectors.
The negotiations in South Africa's gold sector was currently in a facilitation process at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, after talks had deadlocked over a 7% offer from gold companies.
Negotiations in the coal sector were continuing with the parties expected to meet again on Tuesday
http://www.financial24.org/commodities/num-sees-room-for-trade-offs-i...
1.6 SADTU sets out latest OSD demands
SADTU30 - June 2009
Teachers union gives govt until the close of business Tuesday, June 30 2009
Labour tabled their revised and costed offer on Friday, 26 June 2009 and engaged their Employer until late in the night. The Employer [government] then indicated that they would be seeking mandate on the revised demand from labour. The Employer then came back on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 with the same position as of Friday. Labour is therefore of the view that the Employer is not serious about addressing the outstanding issues of the OSD as raised by Labour, despite the deadline of the 30 June 2009.
Labour therefore reiterates their position as outlined below:
Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD)
This is outstanding business arising out of the agreement reached in the PSCBC in 2007 to end the public service strike, with the implementation of OSD.
SADTU sees the culmination of the OSD talks as a contribution to the objective of attracting and retaining professionals in the public service; this within the broader context of service delivery in a developmental state.
SADTU's OSD demands have been reformulated as follows:
A basic entry-level salary of R180,000 pa for newly qualified teachers, to be implemented over period of four years.
Salary progression for 2007/8 and 2008/9 to be paid by 1 July 2009
Accelerated pay progression to be brought forward to 1 July 2010and 2012
One notch (1%) to be paid for every three years in respect of recognition of experience (We have moved from 2 notches for one year of service rendered)
All educators below REQV 13 to be paid at the level of REQV 13 after implementation of a streamlined RPL system (recognition of prior learning for salary purposes)
Senior and master teachers to be accelerated by additional six notches.
The employer wants the teachers to pay themselves out of their own savings.
We are giving the employer up until end of business today 30 June 2009 to meet our demands.
SADTU will therefore consult its members on the appropriate action to take if the employer fails to meet our demands.
SADTU is the largest union in the public service with 235,000 members and represents two-thirds of teachers.
Statement issued by the SADTU Secretariat, June 30 2009
1.7 Bay health services under pressure as strike drags on
Mawande Jack - 2009/07/01
ALREADY stretched services at Port Elizabeth's state hospitals have come under more pressure with half the doctors on strike and no end in sight to the dispute.
Doctors at the Port Elizabeth Hospital Complex have refused to return to work, despite the provincial government's threat of an interdict and dismissal should the strike continue.
State hospital doctors are also still on strike in Mthatha, the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga.
Yesterday the KwaZulu Natal Health Department said it had issued 226 letters of dismissal to health workers after they defied a court interdict ordering them to return to work.
About half of the 200 doctors in Port Elizabeth have been on strike since last week, and already overburdened nursing staff have to contend with an increased workload.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) acting secretary Nomonde Poyo said: "There are huge staff shortages and nurses are unable to cope, and (now) they have to assist with work performed by the doctors. Blame should be put entirely on the government for not fulfilling its agreements."
SA Medical Association Port Elizabeth spokesman Dr Megan Peters said a letter had been received from Bhisho with an ultimatum for doctors to return to work by 8am yesterday or face legal action or dismissal.
The doctors had on Friday threatened to intensify the strike at Dora Nginza, Livingstone and Provincial hospitals. Members of the group spent almost the whole day in a meeting to decide on what to do next in light of the department's threats.
Last week Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi unveiled a R1-billion plan to increase medical salaries. But striking doctor Nkuli Dyasi said "on calculation the minister's percentage increases amount to no more than R500".
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said yesterday the department had written warning letters to two doctors - one in Mthatha and one in Port Elizabeth - whom it had identified as "instigators" of the strike in the province.
"We have written to the two instigators of the strike advising them that what they are doing is gross misconduct," he said.
He said the doctors' refusal to return to work meant the department would proceed with legal action for a court interdict to stop the strike.
"We are in the process of getting an interdict at the Port Elizabeth Labour Court," he said. "We wrote a letter to the doctors asking them not to strike, and they didn't respond. Now we are briefing our lawyers and will apply for an interdict soon."
Kupelo said Health MEC Phumulo Masualle came to Port Elizabeth yesterday to meet with the doctors to find a resolution to the standoff.
Meanwhile, the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA) yesterday condemned the doctors' illegal strike, saying it was endangering people's lives.
"Despite numerous warnings from the HPCSA, certain doctors have chosen to act in contravention of the law and continue with their illegal strike action, possibly placing the lives of the public in danger," HPCSA registrar Boyce Mkhize said.
The regulatory body was also considering suspending some of the culprits, de-registering others and preventing them from entering into private practice, he said.
Doctors in KwaZulu Natal have been barred from continuing with the strike after the court granted the Health Department in the province an interdict.
Salary negotiations at the Public Service Bargaining Council resumed in Centurion yesterday after they were suspended on Saturday for parties to consult with their members.
http://www.weekendpost.co.za/article.aspx?id=439522
2.8 Doctors threaten to shut down hospital
By Bonile Ngqiyaza and Karyn Maughan - 30 June 2009
The doctors' strike is likely to spread to Chris Hani Baragwanath on Wednesday as interns at the hospital said they would only perform emergency care.
They also threatened, during a noisy protest outside the hospital, to shut the hospital down if their demands were not met by the Health Department.
The doctors are on strike over the failure of the department to implement a occupational specific dispensation agreed on two years ago. The doctors remain angry about the renewed salary offers of the department.
At Rahima Moosa hospital between 30 and 40 doctors and interns protested outside the mother and child hospital today.
A security guard at the gate said no patients had been turned away, but no members of the public from within the institution said they had been waiting since 6am to be attended to but nobody had given them assistance.
"Health is beyond price", read one of many placards prepared by the medics.
Rahima Moosa in Coronationville is the referral hospital for a large area which includes Diepsloot, Witkoppen and Randburg.
For the full story, read The Star tomorrow.
2.9 Teachers threaten to go on strike today
Nkosana Lekotjolo - Jul 01, 2009
THE SA Democratic Teachers' Union has threatened to go on strike if the government fails to implement the salary increases it demands by today.
Teachers frustrated by wage talks
The union is waiting for the education department to confirm that an improved occupation-specific dispensation on salaries will be implemented from today.
The terms of the new dispensation were discussed by the government's bargaining council until late last night.
It was not known last night what the council had decided. But Sadtu's acting general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said the teachers wanted a basic entry- level salary of R180,000 a year for qualified teachers, which would be implemented over four years.
He said R95,000 was presently the entry-level salary for a newly qualified teacher.
"Sadtu will consult its members on the appropriate action to take if the employer [the government] fails to meet our demands."
He said the national office of the union was telling Sadtu branches to be ready for "anything."
"We are not ruling out the possibility of going to strike should the department fail to respond to our demands quickly.
"Even if we have to strike during the school holidays, we will do that," said Maluleke.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page7165...
2 South Africa
1 ANC; 2 CWU; 3 Blade Nzimande; 4 COSATU; 5 SACP-COSATU; 6 ANC
2.1 ANC indaba to size up
Canaan Mdletshe - 01 July 2009
MORE than 1000 ANC members will assemble at the party's provincial general council this weekend at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Westville campus.
President Jacob Zuma is expected to deliver the keynote address on Saturday.
Acting provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said the council would "firstly recap on the resolutions taken at the last provincial conference and review if these mandates have been acted on".
The council is also expected to examine the provincial government's progress over the implementation of the ANC's manifesto, which focuses on the creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods, quality education and healthcare, fighting crime and corruption and rural development, food security and land reform.
A new provincial secretary will also be elected after the resignation of former secretary Senzo Mchunu, who was redeployed to serve as MEC for education.
Meanwhile, the ANC has welcomed the precedent - setting judgment handed down by the Esikhawini regional court in convicting an IEC officer who was found guilty on five charges of forgery and violating the electoral code.
Sindisiwe Mncube, who was a presiding officer in Ulundi, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, of which three years were suspended.
Mncube was arrested after being caught with illegally marked ballot papers in the general elections on April 22.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026540
2.2 We've got rotters here: SABC boss
Buddy Naidu and Sapa - 01 July 2009
ACTING SABC chief executive Gab Mampone has admitted that the organisation had its fair share of "rotten apples".
His admission yesterday to Parliament's communications portfolio committee came amid claims of wasteful expenditure by unions representing staff. Last week Kanyi Mkonza, former chairperson of the SABC board, also laid into senior managers, accusing them of mismanagement, including the fact that they ran up a petrol bill of R18million from November 2007.
The committee discussed a report submitted by the Communications Workers Union and the Media Workers Association of SA that said "money had been wasted with impunity". In response Mampone said: "We have our fair share of rotten apples who are trying to infect us with a deadly virus: incompetence."
Committee chairperson Ismail Vadi suggested that the allegations be passed on to the state prosecuting authorities for further investigation.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026572
2.3 Education for all, says Nzimande
Anna Majavu - 01 July 2009
HIGHER Education Minister Blade Nzimande has repeated his promise that no poor student will be "deprived of access to higher education because of financial constraints".
Nzimande also announced a cash injection for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which provides loans and bursaries to disadvantaged students.
He said he wanted to see a million students enrolled in tertiary institutions by 2014, up from about 400000 today.
Speaking at a press briefing in Parliament yesterday, Nzimande said, "we have to increase the bursary component if we are to respond to the tasks we have just outlined".
The amount of money NSFAS disburses to students might also increase, since "for some students it is no use to give them money for accommodation and tuition when they don't have food at all", Nzimande said.
He said the system where universities only accept students who have matric exemptions might also change.
"Only 18percent of our students get a matric exemption and this is not a true reflection of the potential of our youth ," Nzimande said.
Meanwhile, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said President Jacob Zuma had asked her to set up a meeting with all principals in the country on August 7.
About 25000 principals are set to attend the meeting, she said.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026558
2.4 The strange politics of the tripartite alliance
Stanley Uys - 30 June 2009
Stanley Uys responds to a critique of his article from S'Thembiso Msomi of The Times
Writing in The Times last week, S'Thembiso Msomi chides me gently for "wrongly" thinking (in these columns) that the Tripartite Alliance (ANC, Cosatu, SACP) is going to split (see article). I say gently, because Msomi is politeness itself. But there is something about the indictment that he brings against me that is puzzling.
First, he says that when Jacob Zuma was elected ANC president at Polokwane in December 2007, he (Msomi) thought "the matter was settled." Wrong. The rest of the country, I am sure, knew the matter was just beginning.
Second, Msomi says the cabinet Zuma appointed on May 10 was "fairly inclusive," because both Cosatu and the SACP leaders were given positions in it. That's it, then: deliver cushy jobs to the top rank - and behold the "inclusive" society! Besides, someone has to manage those trade unionists who (Msomi's words) are in "continuing dispute" with the government.
Also, what was the fuss about the "war of words" between Cosatu and the Zuma-led ANC over the Reserve Bank's inflation-targeting policy? And the row over Cosatu's "premature call" for Zuma to serve more than one term as ANC president? It's the name of the game, isn't it?
Next, Msomi closes in on my "prophecy" that the tripartite alliance will not survive the remaining three-and-a-half years or so of Zuma's five-year term as ANC president. It was my mistake, he says, to fail to see that all that is happening in the alliance is "current public debates" and "a continuing battle for political control between various interest groups within the ruling party and its alliance parties." Just the lads having a chat over a beer.
Relations in fact "have never been sweeter" between the ruling party and the (Cosatu) federation." Like ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe (he also moonlights as SACP chairman) telling Cosatu to mind its own business? I can see now where I went "wrong": I failed to grasp the proper definition of tripartite alliance ethics.
"What Uys and others are missing," says Msomi, "is the context within which some of the militant statements by unionists are made." He continues: "There is an elective national congress in September and, in order to be re-elected, the federation's leaders have to convince their members that they remain fearless in their advancement and defence of workers' rights. If they show any signs of softening on important issues, such as wage talks and inflation targeting, merely because their preferred political leader, Zuma, now runs the government, they run the risk of being voted out."
Cosatu, therefore, has to put on a show. Nothing it really believes in - just a show. Ethics as a kind of pop concert. Leaders must sound tough, because if they look soft, they will be voted out of those jobs they hold. Such nice, well-paid jobs.
So what I have been seeing as a vice, is in fact a virtue. It's not a disgrace, not one of the reasons why people say a plague on all politicians: it's ethics played with style.
Msomi has more thoughts. "Cosatu is well aware that its close ties to the ruling party make it vulnerable to attacks from rival unions who want to convince its members - especially in the public sector - that the federation does not put the interest of workers before all else.
"So, when medical doctors in the public sector took to the streets recently to protest against their meagre salaries, (Zwelinzima) Vavi (Cosatu secretary general) et al had to throw their weight behind the doctors' actions. Failure to do so, the federation knew, would have opened up a strategic gap for rival federations and unions to exploit. Even Zuma seems quite conscious of this.
"Though it's true that he recently urged unions to reconsider the wisdom of engaging in strikes in the current economic climate, Zuma says his government and the ANC will not stop Cosatu members from downing tools".
From this, Msomi concludes: "The tripartite alliance, it appears, will be with us for a very long time."
You see my problem, the puzzlement to which I referred in the first paragraph? Either Msomi is condoning alliance ethics at their most disgraceful; or he has written what is probably the most subtle article to emerge from an analyst's pen since the post-Mbeki alliance started to play its Great Game. The points he makes have an outer meaning (the ones I comment on), and an inner meaning, which mock the alliance game-players.
Kipling said it all. If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it/And - which is more - you'll have understood alliance ethics, my son!
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page7161...
2.5 SACP and Cosatu are just tinkering on the margins
30 June 2009 - BOLEKAJA! - Andile Mngxitama
THE SACP and Cosatu are becoming the shop stewards of capitalism - which is based on greed and exploitation of the majority for the benefit of a few.
Essentially, it's an evil system that breeds hunger and violence. It has reduced democracy to a joke: elected leaders don't serve the electorate but the interests of capitalists who bribe and bully them into submission.
But capitalism is at present experiencing a serious global crisis and wants to be saved.
Cosatu and the SACP, instead of building socialism, are busy bailing capitalism out. They agree with the government on giving taxpayers' money to companies in trouble. Apparently if we don't save these companies more jobs would be lost.
This is blackmail; they say bail us out or more people would lose jobs! What a blatant lie. The majority already live in poverty whether the economy is performing or not. The poor and their governments have no business saving capitalism.
First, it's not the poor who created this crisis but the greedy managers of capitalism.
The second reason why we shouldn't bail out companies in trouble is that they never share profits with us, so why should we share their self-created troubles?
Third, even when there is no crisis capitalism doesn't serve the poor. The system exploits workers and survives by creating high unemployment for cheap labour.
Clearly, Cosatu and the SACP stand exposed as false socialists.
How can they push for measures to safeguard the bosses and not the workers?
In his state of the nation address President Jacob Zuma said the government's bail-out package would be provided in exchange for a moratorium on retrenchments and the retention of workers facing retrenchment.
We would expect a government that claims to be for the poor to demand more than just a temporary halting of retrenchments. Why can't these companies be taken over for the benefit of all of society?
Now is the time for a genuine Left to provide anti-capitalist alternatives, such as the nationalisation of all companies in trouble and the placing of these under community and worker control.
Such a move would not only ensure that we all share the profits - but would also help reverse the massive privatisation of assets undertaken by the ANC government in the past 15 years.
Furthermore, such a move would democratise and transform the economy better than any BEE deal could.
So why is the Left not making these demands? What happens when the crisis deepens?
It's possible that Cosatu and the SACP will even lead the attacks against workers who are already being told to fasten their belts.
Cosatu hopes to control society so that no one makes demands that go beyond its own limited capitalism saving processes.
But this is not going to work. The Zuma administration can't give the workers what the Mbeki government couldn't deliver through the same policies.
Cosatu and the SACP are involved in tinkering on the margins, they don't want to make a fundamental break with capitalism.
Soon the ANC's left wing is going to either attack the poor and marginalised as unpatriotic - or break with the system.
I predict they will attack the poor. They are now too invested in the capitalism they were meant to oppose.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1025989
2.6 ANC calls for Durban bus resolution
Sapa - Jun 30, 2009
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has described the suspension of Durban's bus service as unacceptable and called on government and the city to urgently sort it out.
"The ANC believes it is unacceptable that buses be stopped as thousands of people will be deprived of their daily transport which will cause disturbances to the education of our children and potentially cripple the economy," said African National Congress secretary Sihle Zikalala.
Durban's beleaguered bus operator, Remant Alton, informed the city two weeks ago it would cease operations from June 30 due to financial problems.
Operations however stopped on Monday morning because angry bus drivers parked buses in various streets in Durban causing traffic chaos.
Thousands of people were without transport this morning.
Addressing the media in Durban on Tuesday, Zikalala said the ANC supported KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize's decision to appoint a task team to address the matter.
Zikalala said the team consisted of finance MEC Ina Cronje, education MEC Senzo Mchunu, economic development and tourism MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and transport MEC Bheki Cele.
"We want the task team to come up with short term and long term solutions. We also want it to examine where the city went wrong," said Zikalala.
The municipality privatised the municipal fleet in 2003 because the National Land Transport Transition Act stipulated that municipalities with transport authorities, such as eThekwini, should not themselves run buses.
Since 2003, the bus company had been accused of failing to provide efficient public transport and the city had bailed it out financially several times.
In 2008, eThekwini spent R405 million buying back buses and equipment from the underperforming operator. This was in terms of an agreement where Remant Alton would continue operating the service but the council would own the fleet.
The operator had since told the city it cannot continue operating because of financial problems.
Zikalala said the ANC believed public transport should be under government.
"The ANC provincial committee has also noted that the policies with regards to the public ownership of buses will have to be re-looked at."
3 International
1 Oversees; 2 ZIM
3.1 KZN applies for overseas doctors
Sapa Published - Jun 30, 2009
The KwaZulu-Natal department of health would make submissions to national government about the number of doctors it needs from other countries, the SABC reported today.
The SABC quoted KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo as saying that a number of countries had indicated a willingness to provide doctors.
Yesterday, more than 200 doctors were served with dismissal letters by the KwaZulu-Natal health department.
They were dismissed after they defied a Durban Labour Court interim interdict compelling health care professionals to return to their posts.
Scores of doctors picketed outside Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospital this morning. Most of them were those who have been fired.
Doctors went on strike last week to protest against poor pay and working conditions.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026360
3.2 MDC denies collapse
Moses Mudzwiti - Jun 30, 2009
ZIMBABWEAN Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday that his unity government with ageing President Robert Mugabe would not collapse.
Tsvangirai said: "I can assure you there's no pulling out of this agreement. There's no reason the government is going to collapse."
The prime minister made his remarks at a press conference a day after his MDC party colleagues boycotted an impromptu Cabinet meeting. The MDC also threatened to quit the unity government.
On Monday, Tsvangirai's deputy, Thokozani Khupe, led a boycott of an unscheduled Cabinet meeting called by Mugabe. She said Mugabe was disrespecting the Cabinet by unilaterally rescheduling its Tuesday sitting to suit his own engagements.
Mugabe, 85, was said to be preparing to travel to Libya, where he will attend an African Union summit.
Yesterday, Tsvangirai dismissed suggestions of a widening rift between the MDC and Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
The positions of the central bank governor and the attorney-general remain contentious. Mugabe has refused to sack them even though their appointments were dubious.
Provincial governors who have been paid off to quit their jobs and make way for MDC candidates continue to carry out state functions.
But, much to the chagrin of many of his MDC supporters, Tsvangirai said calls for the Southern African Development Community to intervene were now unnecessary.
"We can do this on our own," said Tsvangirai.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1026507
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