COSATU Media Monitor, 15 December 2009
Mluleki Mntungwa
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Contents
1.South Africa
1.1 Numsa backs SACP on Malema
1.2 New ANCYL attack on SACP takes alliance to the brink
1.3 There’s no ideological battle in ANC alliance
1.4 You should behave properly: Zuma
1.5 ANC Youth Clash With South African Ruling Party Ally
1.6 Zuma tries to offset investors' fears of Left
1.7 ANC plans its 98th anniversary
1.8 Serving divorce papers again
1.9 Zuma defends Tripartite Alliance in-fighting
1.10 'Cape ANC shredded documents'
1.11 Youth leaders defy Zuma
1.12 Zuma denies SACP boycott claims
1.13 Unemployment rises 1% in third Quarter
1.14 Patel to co-ordinate economic policy, not create it — Zuma
1.15 Economic growth fails poor, says Zuma
1. South Africa
1.1 Numsa backs SACP on Malema
Cape Times, 14 December 2009
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) on Monday accused
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema of fostering anti-communism in the ANC
after he was booed at the SACP's conference last week.
"The structures of the ANCYL have been unleashing missives to the SACP as
part of reinforcing the resurgence of anti-SACP posturing within our
revolutionary alliance as led by the African National Congress (ANC),"
said spokesperson Castro Ngobese in a statement.
Malema and ANC national executive committee member Billy Masetlha were booed at
the SA Communist Party's conference last week.
Malema reportedly asked ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, who is also SACP
chairperson, for a chance to address delegates at an open session where the
media was allowed, but this was refused and Malema left.
Malema and SACP deputy secretary general Jeremy Cronin recently disagreed on
how the nationalisation debate and policy should evolve.
Malema is credited with starting a debate on whether the Freedom Charter's
clause on sharing mineral wealth should be interpreted as nationalising the
country's mines.
Numsa, a 260 000-member affiliate of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu),
with which the African National Congress and SACP form a political alliance,
believed the attacks should be "located and understood within the context
of the re-alignment of different class forces and fractions (sic) within the
ANC who see the SACP as a threat to their narrow and self-centred accumulation
interests."
"The ANCYL particularly with particular reference to its president Malema
must be cautious not be knowingly or unknowingly co-opted and used by this
fraction (sic)."
Ngobese said it supported the nationalisation of mines, but not as a means of
using government money to bail out failing business to benefit the owners,
which it regarded as "vulgarisation" of the ideal.
It could see the league's role in agitating for the implementation of the
Freedom Charter, but wanted Cosatu to "seek an audience" with the
league "as part of rescuing this progressive formation of young people
from being co-opted because of the new economic interests entrenched amongst
our leaders".
Meanwhile, the league issued a statement on Monday, saying its national working
committee was convinced that the main reason why the SACP leadership
"supports the booing of the ANCYL president" was because the ANCYL
did not support SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande's bid to become deputy
president of the ANC in 2012.
The ANC YL said the SACP believed the league would not support Mantashe, also
chairman of the SACP, for a second term as ANC secretary general. - Sapa
1.2 New ANCYL attack on SACP takes alliance to the brink |
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SIBONGAKONKE SHOBA , Business Day, 15 December 2009 |
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THE rift between the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) widened yesterday.
The youth league hurled insults at the SACP, making it apparent that the fractious relations in the tripartite alliance would not be mended soon.
It also threw open the succession debate in the ANC, which President Jacob Zuma has been at pains to avoid.
In a vitriolic statement, the youth league yesterday accused the SACP of supporting the booing of Julius Malema last week at its conference because the league “does not support” SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande’s bid to become ANC deputy president in 2012 and a second term for ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe. It said Mantashe, who is SACP chairman, was “conflicted” by holding posts in both organisations.
A succession debate has started in the ANC two years after the current leadership was elected in Polokwane. So-called anticommunists are said to be pushing for Mantashe to be replaced by Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula at its elective conference in 2012. The youth league claims Nzimande has ambitions to become ANC deputy president.
Nzimande was accused of character assassination against youth league president Julius Malema after a scathing political report last Thursday in which he criticised the youth league and its alliance with black business, although he did not name it.
“The ANC Youth League will not agree to the dumping of undemocratic leaders into the ANC, and we will decide on the leadership of the ANC when the time is right,” it said yesterday of Nzimande.
It also dismissed SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin’s “superior-complex undermining” of the youth league. “The continued labelling by Jeremy Cronin is a reflection of laziness to engage on deeper ideological questions and a strange trend by Jeremy to protect the interests of white monopoly capitalists.”
It said Cronin should stop using the SACP to spread conspiracies and settle scores.
Young Communist League national secretary and ANC MP Buti Manamela did not escape the ANC Youth League’s scathing attack. The league called him a “factionalist” who was anointed by Nzimande and former SACP treasurer Phillip Dexter.
The youth league said Manamela had called for the SACP to contest against the ANC because he was inspired by his “role model”, Dexter, who is now a member of the ANC-breakaway Congress of the People.
The SACP said yesterday it was concerned about “early warning signs” of “chauvinistic” tendencies within the alliance. “We have also noted the early warning signs of a small but sometimes clamorous anticommunist, chauvinistic tendency in the ranks of our broader movement,” the SACP said.
The Young Communist League came out in defence of the SACP leaders and urged its members “to maintain a cool head” and ignore “this vitriol”, saying: “It is sad Julius Malema has organised the ANC Youth League as an insult-spurting machine, instead of a youth political formation.”
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA also came out in support of the SACP.
Spokesman Castro Ngobese, a former spokesman of the Young Communist League, said the anti- SACP faction in the ANC Youth League was informed by “historically discredited and defeated” attempts to banish SACP leaders who are members of the ANC.
The youth league statement came as the ANC national executive committee met yesterday to discuss the public spats. Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to address a media briefing today on the meeting.
1.3 There’s no ideological battle in ANC alliance |
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WE ARE again being subjected to ANC alliance internal “battles”. Those involved tell us it’s about ideologies – one communist, the other capitalist. The media, of course, go with all this without questioning. We have been duped, there is no communist versus capitalist struggle in the ANC alliance, because all the components of the alliance actually defend capitalism. So what is the so-called battle about? To understand it one has to go beyond the words used by the “warring” factions, such as socialism, socialisation and nationalisation or the national democratic revolution . Let’s start with the call for the nationalisation of mines, led by the ANCYL. This call seems increasingly to be about opening space for those who won in Polokwane to also get access to the mineral wealth of the country, which are currently enjoyed by the pre-Polokwane elite in cahoots with old white capital. It seems Patrice Motsepe has understood the message, hence his reported support for nationalisation, including “socialism”. Now, where have you ever seen a capitalist supporting socialism? As expected, the ANCYL has congratulated Motsepe for his support for nationalisation. We wait to see how Motsepe and others will do a black version of Brett Kebble’s support for the comrades. The SACP has responded to the call for nationalisation by speaking in convoluted tongues. It says it wants “socialisation” that goes beyond state ownership, and warns against “state capitalism”. The easiest thing to do for communists would be to support the ANCYL and then simply go further than what they say is a limited agenda. But no, they are opposing it through sophisticated argument, hence they end up supporting the current status quo that favours the white and the co-opted black capital. Either way, capital wins and the people lose again. Both the ANCYL and SACP, if they really cared for the working class and poor, could start by telling the government to stop the violent harassment and forced removals of communities in the platinum areas in North West and Mpumalanga. By the way, comrade Motsepe’s mining company, with Anglo-Platinum, are implicated in the violence . This is happening with the support of the government. The state-owned enterprises don’t benefit the poor and working class, from Eskom through to Transnet and the SABC. Shouldn’t we therefore worry that any further extension of access to resources by the current government, co-managed with capitalist-communists, will be of no benefit to the majority? Other nations such as Bolivia and Venezuela are using their mineral resources to address poverty and hunger. These nations are committed to ending capitalism in the long run, and their policies are slanted in the interest of the majority, and tax and appropriate private capital. Unfortunately not so for South Africa. Now even Cosatu’s Zwelinzima Vavi is hatching a scheme with a representative of capital, Bobby Godsell “to save jobs”. Actually, this is a scheme to save capital. According to their proposal, management must consider cuts in bonuses and increments, and workers must also consider lowering the cost of labour, that means not asking for increases or bonuses, and even taking lower wages. The global economic crisis was created by capitalists and shows the limits of the system. Why must underpaid and indebted workers be burdened with saving capital? |
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1.4 You should behave properly: Zuma |
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Sibusiso Ngalwa, IOL, 15 December 2009
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'Nzimande is a master character assassinator' |
Deputy president of the ANC, Kgalema Motlanthe, is scheduled to address the media
at noon today on the outcomes of the NEC meeting - a significant move, as
such briefings are usually given by Mantashe.
It was being speculated last night that Motlanthe had been asked
to perform the task as he would be considered a more neutral figure than
Mantashe, whom the league has threatened will not have their support for
another term of office in the ANC's hierarchy.
Despite Zuma's efforts to encourage debate through "proper
channels" rather than public mud-slinging, insults continued to be
traded between the parties' respective youth wings yesterday.
Malema himself was silent, but he is scheduled to address the National Press
Club this morning.
The youth league's national working committee, which also met yesterday,
challenged its mother body's silence on the humiliation meted out to Malema
and said this was because of Mantashe's "conflicted role" in
serving both the ANC and the SACP. Senior communist leaders Blade Nzimande
and Jeremy Cronin also did not escape the youth formation's lash.
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'You should behave properly' |
The league accused the SACP leadership of having deliberately
"planned" to have Malema booed by delegates - a charge that was
denied by the communists.
"The SACP leadership supports the booing of (Malema) because they believe
the ANCYL does not support the bid of Blade Nzimande to become (ANC) deputy
president in the 53rd national congress of the ANC in 2012, and that the
youth league will not support Gwede Mantashe for a second term as ANC
secretary-general.
"Nzimande is a master character assassinator and thinks he will succeed
in the character assassination of (Malema)," said the statement, signed
by the youth league's spokesman Floyd Shivambu, deputy president Andile
Lungisa, treasurer Pule Mabe and deputy general secretary Steven Ngobeni.
In what seemed like a missile aimed directly at Mantashe, the youth league
said that it would "not agree to the dumping of undemocratic leaders
into the ANC, and we will decide on the leadership of the ANC when the time
is right".
The league said the booing would turn out to be a "long-lasting
lesson" to SACP deputy general secretary, Jeremy Cronin.
"Jeremy Cronin's statements that the booing was a lesson to the
president of the ANCYL will be met with practical action on the ground and
will be a long-lasting lesson to him."
Malema recently called Cronin a "white messiah" in a spat about the
nationalisation of mines. Mantashe was elected to the ANC on a left ticket.
Nzimande on Sunday denied harbouring any ambitions to become the deputy
president of the ANC.
The youth continued their tirade against Cronin, accusing him of seeking to
protect "white monopoly capital".
He had clashed with the leader earlier over his call for the mines to be
nationalised, questioning whether the youth league had properly thought the
issue through.
Young Communist League (YCL) leader Buti Manamela was not spared from the
attack, being accused of being a "factionalist" product of former
SACP treasurer Phillip Dexter - now a Cope MP.
By contrast, the YCL adopted a measured tone yesterday, saying it would
neither "legitimise nor dignify" the youth league's insults with a
response.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) accused Malema of fostering
anti-communism in the ANC.
"The structures of the ANCYL have been releasing missiles at the SACP as
part of reinforcing the resurgence of anti-SACP posturing within our
revolutionary alliance as led by the African National Congress,"
spokesman Castro Ngobese said in a statement.
The youth league dared the SACP to divorce itself from the ANC. "If the
SACP wants to contest elections against the ANC, it must say so and stop
threatening us and behaving like an opposition party in the ANC," it
said.
The league's statement came a day after the league's provinces came out in
support of Malema - calling for Nzimande, Cronin and Mantashe to be censured.
Earlier in the day, Zuma - during an interview on Talk Radio 702 - sought to
downplay the tensions, saying the alliance enjoyed "lively
debates".
Zuma also denied media reports that Malema had tried to persuade him to
boycott the SACP congress.
"I addressed all of us, not just the SACP, to say you should behave
properly," he said.
But he did condemn Malema's treatment, saying that "booing one another
causes unnecessary problems".
1.5 ANC Youth Clash With South African Ruling Party Ally
By Nasreen Seria, Bloomberg 14 December 2009
The youth wing of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress said the party must be defended against communists, heightening tensions within the alliance that swept President Jacob Zuma to power.
“Members of the ANC and ANC Youth League are called upon to rise and defend the African National Congress against the pressure group and factionalists masquerading as communists,” the ANC Youth League said in an e-mailed statement today.
Tensions between the ANC Youth League and the South African Communist Party, or SACP, intensified last week after Julius Malema, president of the ruling party’s youth arm, was heckled by delegates at a SACP national conference. The ANC rules in alliance with the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s biggest labor federation.
Communist Party leaders approved of the heckling because they think the ANC Youth League doesn’t support a bid by SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande to become deputy president of the ANC in 2012, the ANC’s youth wing said today.
“We will not engage with the leadership of the Communist Party until its leadership condemns the behavior of the delegates at the special national congress for booing the leadership of the ANC,” the statement said.
SACP leaders also wanted to undermine Malema because they believe that the Youth League won’t support a bid by SACP Chairman Gwede Mantashe to stay on as secretary general of the ANC for a second term in 2010, the statement said. The Youth League added that it will “decide on the leadership of the ANC when the time is right.”
Hope Not ‘Insolence’
SACP spokesman Malesela Maleka said he couldn’t immediately comment on the statement. The Young Communist League said in an e-mail that rather than “insolence,” the youth needs “leadership and hope.” It will “engage with Malema as and when he is prepared to embark on programs” that help to improve the lives of young people, the group said.
The public spat between the two groups broke out on Nov. 18 after SACP Deputy General Secretary Jeremy Cronin, a deputy transport minister, questioned Malema’s calls on nationalizing the country’s mines, saying it wouldn’t solve South Africa’s high unemployment and poverty. Malema, who is black, responded by calling Cronin a “white political messiah” representing “fake-left forces.”
The ANC Youth League said today that Cronin has a “superiority complex” and is opposed to nationalizing mines to “protect the interests of white monopoly.”
The Youth League’s response comes two days after Zuma spoke to delegates at the SACP conference, appealing for the political alliance to be protected.
“We must engage each other with dignity, honesty and with respect,” Zuma said. “The public outbursts and acrimonious exchanges are not in the tradition of the alliance.”
1.6 Zuma tries to offset investors' fears of Left
By REUTERS and KEA MODIMOENG, Times Live, 15 December 2009
President Jacob Zuma has moved to end confusion about who controls economic policy after a push for influence by the ruling ANC's communist and union allies.
Labour federation Cosatu, in a bid to drive the economy to the left, wants Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, a former trade unionist, to be responsible for policy direction.
Patel has become more vocal on policy and a report - immediately denied - that he wanted to freeze the rand earlier this year unnerved investors.
But, though Zuma has said he is open to debate, the government and the Reserve Bank have signalled that they are committed to a relatively conservative stance.
"Nobody is going to create a new policy; they have been created, they have been implemented," Zuma said in an interview with Talk Radio 702 yesterday, adding that Patel does not set economic policy.
Members of Patel's department must ensure that "they don't move in different directions. That's what we're saying," Zuma said. "We're not saying 'you originate policy'."
Zuma said that a lack of communication between the government's economics departments, such as the Treasury and the department of trade and industry, might have contributed to jobless economic growth.
He tried to resolve the conflict in the messages sent out by his office and by the ministry of public works about the 500000 jobs that, he promised in his first state of the nation speech in June, would be created by the end of the year.
He said that Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge was in a better position to comment.
"One has to note that minister Doidge deals with the public works department, so at the level of details he has more information than I do, but he will have to report back to the president anyway."
He said the media had misrepresented his position on job creation and that he had been referring to "job opportunities" and not "actual number of jobs" in his state-of-the-nation speech.
On the hot issue of labour brokers, Zuma said Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana's call for a "total ban" on them was neither an ANC nor a government position.
"Mdladlana speaks as a person who heads a department and has a view," he said. "The ruling party policy says let us regulate this in a manner that is beneficial."
Investors are watching for signs of any departure from previously conservative policies allowed by Zuma, who was helped into power by the unions.
1.7 ANC plans its 98th anniversary
NONI MOKATI, Citizen, 14 December 2009
JOHANNESBURG - The ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) is working around the clock in preparation of the ruling party’s 98th anniversary celebrations to be held on January 9 next year.
Yesterday, the committee converged in Ekurhuleni for the last time this year to reflect on challenges faced by the party and to outline some of its strategies for the big day.
ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said preparations were under-way.
Mnisi said that the NEC had also discussed the ruling party’s political programme for 2010 during the talks.
“The discussions included how structures in various provinces would go about fulfilling promises made to the masses during the elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a letter posted on the ANC website, President Jacob Zuma said the country was blessed with an array of past leaders such as Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani and Oliver Tambo who all left indelible footprints in the annals of history for the struggle for freedom and democracy.
Further praising Tambo, Zuma said: “Oliver Tambo was, is and will continue to be the pride of the ANC.
“Because of him, today South Africa is a new nation, a united people founded on the fundamental principles of human dignity, democracy and equal rights for all.”
1.8 Serving divorce papers again
By Sunday Times Editorial : Times Live 14 December 2009
Sunday Times Editorial : The acrimony between ANC leaders and communists which characterised the beginning of the South African Communist Party conference in Polokwane this week once again raises the question of how long the marriage between these two alliance partners can be sustained.
SACP leaders such as Gwede Mantashe and Blade Nzimande, who wear both parties' hats, will find it difficult to justify why it is still imperative for them to simultaneously serve two political masters who clearly have different political agendas.
Mantashe is ANC secretary-general, while retaining his position as SACP chairman. He strangely presided over a conference where he allowed ANC leaders to be attacked by SACP members.
Similarly, Nzimande is holding two high-profile positions as a prominent ANC national executive committee member and SACP general-secretary.
It appears that both men want to cling to both positions.
To them, it does not matter that the ANC is capitalist in nature while the SACP is a socialist organisation. It is because of these political contradictions that the SACP's youth wing, the Young Communist League, has begun questioning the wisdom of communists fighting elections under the ANC banner.
The YCL's argument carries a lot of political weight.
Any political party worth its salt would like to test its ideas by taking them to the electorate. This should send a clear message to the likes of Mantashe and Nzimande that they cannot have their cake and eat it.
There is in fact a suspicion within the corridors of both parties that the reason they so desperately want to cling to this untenable arrangement is not based on strategic political considerations, but on fear of losing all the political status and financial benefits that go with wearing two hats.
Describing people who question this duality as "counter-revolutionary forces" who don't understand that wearing two hats is in line with pursuing the struggle for the attainment of "the national democratic revolution" is sheer sophistry which no longer meaningfully contributes to the debate.
If anything, this week's confrontation in which ANC leaders such as Billy Masetlha, Tony Yengeni and Julius Malema stormed out of the SACP conference in protest, exposes the alliance as a sham. A marriage of convenience which has outlived its usefulness to the majority of members of both parties and South African society at large.
It is time for the next round of divorce papers to be served and for the ANC and SACP to walk their own separate paths, difficult as it may appear to be. Divorce is not too ghastly to contemplate as it will be in the best interests of both organisations and the country. Both parties will have clearer mandates, untarnished by personal struggle loyalties and voters will have a greater choice at the polls. This would ultimately serve the greater good of a more vibrant and competitive democracy.
1.9 Zuma defends Tripartite Alliance in-fighting
Mandy Wiener, Eye Witness News, 14 December 2009
President Jacob Zuma said on Monday there was lively debate within the Tripartite Alliance, downplaying an apparent fight for influence in the country.
This past weekend, a deepened rift emerged between the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress.
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema was booed and heckled at the SACP congress last week.
Zuma said all three members of the alliance would not agree on everything and there was debate about issues.
The
president also responded to fierce criticism about his appointment of Menzi
Simelane as National Director of Public Prosecutions.
Zuma was speaking to Talk Radio 702/567 Cape Talk host Redi Direko.
“I am happy you say we must leave out the Ginwala thing because this is a mistake people make that an allegation is in fact a judgment or a conviction which is a very bad tendency in this country. Once there is an allegation made that person must be condemned and it is a wrong approach that people are taking,” said Simelane.
1.10 'Cape ANC shredded documents' |
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By Murray Williams, IOL, 14 December 2009
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1.11 Youth leaders defy Zuma |
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By Xolani Mbanjwa and Sibusiso Ngalwa, IOL, 14
December 2009
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1.12 Zuma denies SACP boycott claims
Mandy Wiener , Eye Witness News, 14 December 2009
President Jacob Zuma on Monday denied he was asked to boycott the South African Communist Party’s congress in Polokwane at the weekend after African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema was booed and heckled there last week.
It was reported that Zuma agreed to attend the event after ANC Secretary General and SACP Chairman Gwede Mantashe phoned him.
Zuma addressed the congress at the weekend, calling for the Tripartite Alliance to be strengthened.
Speaking to Talk Radio 702’s Redi Direko on Monday morning, the president said claims he would not be attending were fabricated by the media.
“Nobody asked me to boycott - I was scheduled to go there and address as we always do at these conferences and I went,” said Zuma.
Zuma also defended his controversial appointment of Menzi Simelane as National Director of Public Prosecutions.
1.13 Unemployment rises 1% in third Quarter |
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Business Day, 15 December 2009
The number of people employed in South Africa’s non-agricultural sectors decreased by 1,0% in the third quarter of this year compared with the second quarter, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
Africa’s biggest economy grew by an annualised 0,9% in the third quarter after three consecutive quarters of contraction due to depressed global demand, which slashed nearly 1 million jobs, a large chunk of them in the key manufacturing sector.
Earlier this month President Jacob Zuma said South Africa may lose more jobs as a result of the global economic downturn, adding that while the local economy was growing again, the crisis continued to bite especially the poor.
On Tuesday Statistics South Africa said a survey showed the number of people employed in the formal non-agricultural business sector decreased by about 79000 to 8,162 million employees from June to September.
Employment fell 3,9% compared with the third quarter of 2008.
It also said gross earnings paid to non-farm employees increased by 1,7% compared with the previous quarter, and by 3,6% against the same period last year.
Stats S.A. data in October showed that South Africa’s jobless rate increased to 24,5% of the labour force in the third quarter of this year from 23,6% in the second quarter.
The manufacturing sector, one of the hardest-hit by a global downturn and domestic recession, shed 150000 jobs — 8% of total jobs for the industry — in Q3 while wholesale and retail trade lost 110000 jobs.
1.14 Patel to co-ordinate economic policy, not create it — Zuma |
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SIBONGAKONKE SHOBA , Business Day, 15 December 2009 |
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ROLE PLAYERS: President Jacob Zuma says that if Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, left, set economic policy, the economy would be finance-oriented. The job of Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, right, is to ‘deal with the national plan’.
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma yesterday made clear Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel’s central role in economic policy, but stressed that the government had already agreed what those policies would be.
“Nobody is going to create a new policy; they have been created, they have been implemented,” Zuma told Talk Radio 702.
Members of Patel’s department had to ensure “they don’t move in different directions ... We’re not saying ‘you originate policy’.”
Zuma said Patel’s ministry was created to co-ordinate implementation of policy by all departments.
“That is why the Department of Economic Development was established, so that we have a department to look at everything we do economically to ensure that every element talks to the other.”
Patel’s department was also tasked with making sure economic growth resulted in the reduction of poverty, Zuma said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions had complained that a green paper on the National Planning Commission would give the commission’s head, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel , more power than Patel in the implementation of economic policy.
Zuma also elaborated on the roles of Manuel and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
“The minister in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission deals with the national plan ... the plan of the country so that the work of different departments ... in provinces, in municipalities, talks to this overarching plan.
“That’s a critical point. It is not an economic ministry that people make it out to be … there should be no confusion.” Zuma said Gordhan’s job was to deal with finances; he was not a leader in setting economic policy.
“If you talk about Treasury, their focus is finances. That is what they will look at. If that department was leading (in setting economic policy) you will then end up with an economy that is finance-orientated.”
He said Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana ’s statement that labour brokers would be banned was his own opinion and not that of the ruling party. “He was not articulating ANC policy.”
Zuma said an ANC resolution adopted in Polokwane in 2007 called for the regulation of labour brokers, not their abolition.
He defended the right of the alliance to influence the ANC, saying real discussions on economic policy took place in the alliance.
1.15 Economic growth fails poor, says Zuma
By Mzwandile Jacks, Business Report, 15 December 2009
President Jacob Zuma's contention that the economy has failed to
help poor citizens despite steady growth since 1994 has been disputed by
economists, who said this betrayed a superficial understanding of the
government's economic management policy.
Reacting to comments made on Radio 702 by Zuma yesterday, Azar Jammine, the
chief economist at Econometrix, said: "There is available evidence that
the lives of the poor have become much better.
"Information from places like Statistics SA shows there is an improvement
in all sets of indices.
"Poorer people now have access to television sets, cellphones and housing,
and refuse removal has improved," Jammine observed.
During the interview, Zuma said: "The gap between the rich and the poor
has been widening as the economy grows. Any economy must talk to the problems
of its people."
Mike Schussler, a director at Economists.co.za, said Zuma should listen more to
his cabinet team, especially Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and National
Planning Minister Trevor Manuel.
"The lives of many more poor people have become much better," said
Schussler. "Even though I do not agree with these welfare cheques that
have been paid out, I do think they have assisted the poor a lot.
"I would urge him to listen to people who understand the country's
economics rather than people who know nothing," he added.
Schussler said that it was important to do so now that the country faced
economic hurdles like electricity price hikes.
He added that if he were Zuma he would not listen to Cosatu general secretary
Zwelinzima Vavi's advice and the broader SACP perspective.
The two economists did, however, agree that the gap between the rich and poor
had no doubt widened.
Zuma, who campaigned hard on a pro-poor platform promising change and a renewed
focus, told radio presenter Redi Direko that education was critical in creating
a huge pool of skills.
"We have a huge plan of changing the education system in order to skill
people. In the next few years we are going to make sure people are skilled
during their formative years."
He also backtracked on his ambitious promise of creating 500 000 direct jobs by
the end of his first year in office.
"There has been a misunderstanding. We did not say we were going to create
these jobs. We said we were going to create 500 000 job opportunities."
Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge last week said a total of 223 568 work
opportunities were created between April and August by the expanded public
works programme.
Zuma's toughest task may be balancing the interests of unions and communists
who helped him rise to the top against those of investors who fear he will
steer the economy to the Left.
Mluleki Mntungwa (Communications Officer)
COSATU ICT Unit
1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Street
Braamfontein
2007
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24
Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940
E-Mail: mlu...@cosatu.org.za