COSATU Media Monitor, 14 December 2009

He was addressing the mid-term congress of the SA Communist Party in Polokwane on Friday. Vavi told the congress that the adoption of "conservative" macroeconomic policies during the early stages of South Africa's democracy was "unfortunate".

He attributed social unrest and wage-related strikes to the "casualisation" of workers, the "cruel" labour broking system and the feeling of economic deprivation among poor communities.

"Our people ask, was reconciliation worth it if we are living in more or less the same conditions we suffered under apartheid?"

Adding to the concerns raised in the SACP's political report on corruption and the emerging culture of "tenderpreneurs", Vavi said it was the responsibility of the SACP as the workers' "political insurance" to fight those with "get-rich-quick schemes and get-rich-while-you-can" mentalities.

Blade Nzimande, SACP general secretary, encouraged the delegates to "throw their full weight" against labour broking "as part of an important struggle to transform the black working class".

"In the 'white' countryside there has been an increase in the expulsion and displacement of black farm workers through increased mechanisation and periodic evictions, as well as intensified exploitation of the black working class through brazen flouting of labour laws and removal of farmworkers and farm dwellers from housing and schooling on white-owned farms," Nzimande said.

Buti Manamela, Young Communist League national secretary, also lashed out at labour brokers and threatened to mobilise the youth to "forcefully" shut down labour brokering companies if parliament did not act on the matter.

"We want to reiterate our call for the complete banning of labour brokers. We see labour brokers as slave masters of the new order, and absolutely enrich themselves from the labour power of others.

"Stop earning from others' sweat, get off your lazy bums, go and look for a job because we are coming for you," Manamela warned those in labour-brokering activities.

Parliament will decide next year whether labour brokers should be outlawed.

1.1 Traffic cops won’t do overtime work

Mawande Jack, The Herald LABOUR CORRESPONDENT, 14 November 2009

EASTERN Cape provincial traffic officers have refused to work during festive season peak times and over weekends until their demand for outstanding overtime payment has been met by the Transport Department.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesman Mongezi Bathembu said about 400 traffic officers in the province, including some in Port Elizabeth, would refuse to man roadblocks, conduct regular road patrols and perform other duties as unpaid overtime.

“Our members in other parts of the province have already started the protest,” he said.

Popcru has urged its members to reject time off or rest days if offered by employers in place of overtime pay.

This comes at a time when the department’s traffic services are reeling because of a dire shortage of officers willing to work overtime in December and January to cover the 24-hour shift system.

Traffic officers in Nelson Mandela Bay have long refused to work overtime. A shift system has been introduced instead.

Traffic officer and SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) official Libhoyi Nangu said the protest began among a group of traffic officers from Butterworth who had since July 2007 been denied overtime pay due to them.

“Only those officers falling under the province have those grievances,” Nangu said. Overtime work by traffic officers in Mandela Bay was done away with about two months ago.

“There is a moratorium on overtime. Traffic officers only work shifts. No officer will man roadblocks after hours (from midnight to 6am or 7am),” Nangu said.

Bathembu said Popcru did not believe the department lacked funds to pay these officers, that but it had instead redirected the money to a traffic blitz task team.

He said Popcru members would make themselves available for weekend duty only if they were paid overtime.

The Public Service Association has meanwhile distanced itself from Popcru’s strike call.

In Bhisho, Transport spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca admitted that certain officers had still not been paid. He undertook to investigate the matter.

2. South Africa

2.1 SACP decide to stay in government

Ido Lekota, Sowetan 14 December 2009

SACP leaders who serve in government will continue to do so but can be recalled any time the party feels they are not executing its mandate.

This decision was taken at the SACP’s four-day congress held at the University of Limpopo at Mankweng, near Polokwane .

The decision came after questions were raised about positions held by SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande – who is the Minister of Higher Educa

tion – and his deputy Jeremy Cronin – who is the deputy transport minister. On Thursday

Nzimande said the party deployed its key members into government to ensure that commitments made in the ANC election manifesto were fulfilled.

He said the ANC election manifesto was as much part of the SACP as it was of the ANC. He said the party had to make sure it deployed cadres who would remain accountable to the party. He said previously members of the party joined government and then abandoned the SACP .

The party believes that President Jacob Zuma’s takeover has created space for communists to operate, allowing differences to be discussed within the alliance.

The issue of holding two positions was raised before the congress, with some members arguing that the situation could weaken the party while creating jobs for individuals within the government.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned delegates that SACP leaders should be held accountable to ensure that they were not “swallowed by the state”.

Vavi said the state was “a massive monster”, but also said SACP members must guard against a situation where the state could be used as a weapon to provide jobs for party leaders.

Nzimande has defended the dual positions situation, arguing that there had always been dual membership in the tripartite alliance, with communists being part of government since 1994.

The congress also resolved to strengthen the party by establishing 70000 branches by 2012.

2.2 Zuma calls for Tripartite Alliance unity but misses key question

The Richmark Sentinel, 12 November 2009

The immediate question facing the Tripartite Alliance is whether, despite their being no common ideology between the individual members, they can still maintain unity among those who brought President Jacob Zuma to power.

Can the ANCYL, Cosatu, the SACP and the left wing of the ANC find enough common ground to allow them to make their way forward together?

In the past week we have seen symptoms of the illness that ails them, manifest itself in terms of fighting between the individual groups and members.

However, as stated this is merely symptomatic, the real issue goes back to the initial question posed ie can - for example - an ANC determined to maintain what they perceive
to be sound financial policies ever reconcile with Cosatu and the SACP who are becoming more and more frustrated with the rewards they believe due to them in bringing Zuma to power?

Where, for example, are their policies in terms of the Reserve Bank or on interest rates? Talk is cheap money buys the Whiskey.

It doesn't endear the ANC or their members to the SACP either when ANCYL President Julius Malema lives like a capitalist and speaks like a communist. Nor for that matter would I imagine Blade Nzimande's new motor car.

You've got to walk the talk or you land up running into a wall as Malema found out.

As such President Zuma had a fine line to walk today in addressing the South African Communist Party (SACP)congress at the Limpopo University in Polokwane.

Knowing that certain ANC members had received a less than warm welcome and knowing that he had to restore order to the Alliance he would have been mindful of balancing discipline with reaching out to the comrades.

His call was for respect, unity and discipline among members of the Tripartite Alliance.

"This congress is taking place during a very critical period in the history of the Alliance. It is a period during which there is an intense focus on the relations amongst the Alliance partners," Zuma said.

He said many formations would fall apart if they were to have members who were as "vociferous" in their thoughts and expression of such thoughts as members of the Tripartite Alliance.

"However, the reason we are able to hold this Alliance together, is the traditional focus on discipline, unity, respect for the autonomy of each partner and the respect for each member of the Alliance component regardless of their position in the movement," he said.

He further reminded delegates that the 52nd conference of the ANC confirmed the assertion that it should respect the right of individual Alliance partners to discuss and arrive at their own strategic objectives decisions.

"The conference also confirmed that consistent with this principle, the ANC will continue to determine, in its own structures and processes, how best to advance its own strategic objectives," Zuma said.

Of course this endorses what ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe explained to members During the week but also underlines the central problem at the moment. The ANC is the Centre of power in Alliance but key policies of the ANC run directly opposite to what the Alliance partners stand for.

When COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Friday that the tripartite alliance was witnessing the beginning of the unraveling of the forces which saw a change of guard in the ANC it was a symptom of his frustration at not achieving the movement that he wanted on key economic policies.

When SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande spoke of the parasites of the ANCYL it was coming from a lack of progress in achieving what the SACP felt was their due within the Alliance post Polokwane.

Yes the President can call for respect, unity and discipline but what is more important is seeing how the differences between the members can be reconciled so that their discontent does not come bleeding all over the media.

Achieve that and the rift which is becoming more apparent daily might be averted.

2.3 Booing at congress set to rattle ANC NEC

Ido Lekota, Sowetan, 14 December 2009

COMMUNISTS within the ANC are today expected to defend the treatment given to ANC Youth League president Julius Malema at the SACP congress in Polokwane last week.

Delegates at the congress booed both Malema and ANC national executive member Billy Masetlha when they attended the gathering’s open session on Thursday. The delegates also sang derogatory songs accusing Malema and Masetlha of supporting a capitalist agenda.

Malema then confronted ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe who was chairing the proceedings as the SACP national chairperson, accusing him of failing to protect him and Masetlha who were there as guests of the SACP.

Malema went on to call on President Jacob Zuma to intervene, saying the SACP must be taken to task for publicly humiliating members of the alliance.

On Saturday Zuma called on the alliance members to engage each other with dignity and respect.

Malema and Masetlha’s treatment is expected to be discussed at the ANC special NEC meeting today. The matter is expected to set the nationalists and the communists within the ANC against each other.

Yesterday SACP spokesperson Malesela Maleka tried to underplay the tension between Malema and the party, calling it engagement.

However, Young Communist League leader Buti Manamela on Friday blasted Malema for trying to disrupt the proceedings of the SACP congress, saying he had no right to demand a platform to speak at a congress of communists.

A senior SACP member told Sowetan that the SACP’s feelings were that Malema got what he deserved.

“You cannot go on abusing people publicly and then expect them to roll out a red carpet for you,” he said.

Both Malema and Masetlha have recently attacked the SACP, accusing its members of trying to hijack the ANC and turn it into a socialist party.

Malema also launched a scathing attack on SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin, saying the youth league did not need a “white Messiah” to give them political leadership.

This after Cronin had said the call by the ANCYL to nationalise mines was driven by the league’s obsession with “bling”.

At the weekend Malema was said to have sent a threatening SMS to Cronin – but the SACP was unfazed, saying he normally ignored such things.

The ANCYL has denied any knowledge of the SMS.

“I do not know of any such SMS,” spokesperson Floyd Shibambo said.

2.4 ANC gives Zille a zero!

Zukile Majova, Sowetan, 14 December 2009

THE ANC has hit back at DA leader Helen Zille over her party’s Cabinet scorecard which rated President Jacob Zuma’s performance at no more than 30percent – despite various surveys praising his leadership.

A recent TNS survey investigating Zuma’s approval ratings among South Africans found that his popularity up to November had increased to 58percent.

International opinion makers have also praised Zuma’s intervention in Zimbabwe where he established a task team to drive the unity government – while Zambia conferred on him its highest national award for freedom fighters.

Giving Zuma a 3 out of 10 rating last week, Zille said: “If we were to rate him on charm alone, he would get 9 out of 10.

“If we were to assess him based on his commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law, he would get 1 out of 10.”

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said the DA scorecard showed the party was out of touch with the sentiments of South Africans and was “employing cheap and desperate political tactics”.

2.5 Left-wing groups in EC back Democratic Left

Dispatch online, 14 December 2009

THE idea of a Conference of the Democratic Left (CDL) – a platform for dialogue for solidarity and mass action – was given a resounding endorsement by left-wing organisations yesterday.

At a meeting in Grahamstown, representatives of several organisations such as the Unemployed Peoples’ Movement (UPM), Rural Development Movement, Land Reform Investigation Movement and several others undertook to organise a provincial version of the CDL early in 2010.

The national CDL is scheduled to be launched in March next year and conveners are currently on a countrywide consultation mission.

The preliminary meeting in Grahamstown is understood to be the first of these in the province.

One of the CDL conveners, Mazibuko Jara, said he hoped the CDL would bring together a “weak and divided Left” and communities actively involved in struggle. It was hoped the conference would “build solidarity” in the Left.

He emphasised that the conference would not be about taking a “sectarian stance against the ANC alliance” or any other party.

“We are not against the ANC, but we won’t shy away from criticising the capitalist policies of the ANC. We want to build a united, anti-capitalist perspective and platform ... a non-sectarian, open-ended Left that tries to draw as many people as possible from various organisations onto a platform for political struggle.”

Jara carefully steered the meeting away from the idea that the CDL was a political party. He said that, at this point, they had “no idea” what form it would take. But there was a need for an “alternative political pole” in SA that would speak clearly for the poor and working people.

He said to move forward, the Left had to “unlearn” many of the “dogmas” and styles of politics of the past and learn a “new style” for a different anti- capitalist economic struggle.

Ayanda Kota from the Unemployed People’s Movement in Makana said changes in SA to date had been merely “cosmetic”. People from the former liberation movements had “shifted to the Right” and had become the “CEOs” who had been co-opted by the system and were “toeing a different line”.

He warned that change would not come without courage and pledged the UPM’s support for the CDL, whatever form it took. “The truth is we need an alternative. The CDL could not have come at a better time.”

Afterwards Jara, who said he was delighted with the outcome of the meeting, explained that he had found SACP’s Blade Nzimande and Young Communist League (YCL) secretary Buti Manamela’s recent statements about the CDL “disappointing”.

According to the Mail & Guardian, Manamela told an SACP conference that he was shocked Jara was still being kept a member of the party.

“(The organisers of the Democratic Left) are travelling the breadth and width of the country trying to pull together, with no support, this stokvel of theirs. We hang our heads in shame that he is from our ranks.”

Jara said the party “should not be threatened by the Left”. “Hopefully others will behave in more mature way.”

He added that the derogatory statements about the CDL were infantile and had been made out of “ignorance and paranoia”.

2.6 Showdown - Zuma in hot seat as battle for soul of ANC shakes alliance

By MOIPONE MALEFANE, MPUMELELO MKHABELA and NKULULEKO NCANA, Times Live, 12 December 2009

'Mr President we hear you are not coming."These are the words of Gwede Mantashe, the secretary-general of the ANC and chairman of the SA Communist Party, in a late-night phone call to President Jacob Zuma on Friday.

Mantashe feared that Zuma would boycott the SACP special conference at the University of Limpopo in Polokwane yesterday, after the battle for the soul of the ruling party played out in public and behind closed doors this week.

It is understood that ANC Youth League president Julius Malema tried hard to persuade Zuma to boycott the SACP conference after his humiliation on Thursday. Malema and ANC delegates Billy Masetlha and Tony Yengeni were booed when introduced at the conference.

It took a last-minute intervention by Mantashe on Friday to convince Zuma to attend the SACP conference yesterday.

Malema slammed Mantashe for not protecting him and refusing him the opportunity to address delegates.

So deep is the rift in the tripartite alliance that tomorrow's special meeting of the ANC's national executive committee will boil down to a battle between the ANC and the SACP, which enjoys the backing of labour federation Cosatu.

While the humiliation of Malema was a public spectacle, the contest over who dictates South Africa's economic policy is the quiet storm brewing within the alliance.

During a closed session which debated SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande's political report, ANC NEC member and human settlements minister Tokyo Sexwale urged the SACP to teach its members the distinction between its socialist plans and the ANC's "national democratic revolution".

Masetlha has previously warned the ANC about the need to defend the party from attempts by the SACP to turn it into a socialist movement.

There are strong rumblings within the ANC circles about the growing influence of high ranking SACP officials, who occupy senior positions in the ruling party since Zuma took over as party president at the ANC's conference in Polokwane two years ago.

Besides Mantashe, who serves as both SACP chairman and ANC secretary-general, SACP general secretary Nzimande serves on the ANC NEC and as a member of the national working committee.

In his opening address, Mantashe controversially urged SACP members to "resist all attempts to relegate us into second class members who serve at the mercy of other members. We must not be apologetic for being communists, because we are put under pressure that we get elected to positions in the ANC to serve strong lobbies".

ANC members want him to explain his remarks, which they interpret as a direct attack on them.

The Sunday Times has been told that Mantashe, who has come under fire from the ANC delegation at the conference, phoned Zuma on Friday.

According to ANC officials, he told Zuma that he wanted to confirm his attendance after hearing that the president's diary had changed. The officials said Zuma assured Mantashe that he would attend.

The next round of the battle is set to be fought at tomorrow's ANC special national executive committee meeting.

After storming out of the SACP meeting on Thursday, Malema said he would report the matter to Zuma.

Malema is expected to table a complaint to the party's the special NEC meeting about the conduct of the SACP and Mantashe, who was chairing the conference when he was booed.

The ANC is also expected to complain about the attack on ANC members by Nzimande, who in his political report criticised what he described as the "new anti-communist" tendency in the ANC .

An ANC official said the heckling of Malema had "raised the stakes" and that it was "obvious" that the divisions were "deep".

The fall out between Mantashe and Malema has left the ANC secretary-general in the firing line as the youth league is questioning his credibility.

"The youth league feels that when Mantashe takes on his role in the SACP leadership, he forgets about the ANC's interests, which is problematic," a youth league leader said.

The dominant view in the youth league is that Mantashe should be removed as secretary-general in the party's 2012 national conference.

Adding to the tensions are the unexplained absence of ANC national chairman Baleka Mbete and deputy secretary-general Thandi Modise who were scheduled to head the ANC delegation at the SACP conference.

Sexwale and co-operative governance minister Sicelo Shiceka received a warm welcome from delegates. However, they were invited in their capacities as ministers, not as ANC officials.

Although Mantashe had criticised delegates for booing Malema, the youth league leader is believed to have told ANC associates that he would demand that the party reprimand Mantashe for failing to protect the ANC delegation. Malema had earlier described Mantashe's condemnation of the booing as inadequate and "wishy-washy".

Young Communist League general secretary Buti Manamela raised the stakes even higher after suggesting that SACP officials in government were there due to strength and influence of the party, not because of the generosity of the ANC.

"Today, we have ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, MECs and various titles co-determined together with the ANC and Cosatu.

"This is not a reflection of the generosity on the part of the ANC, but a reflection of the strength of the (SACP)," Manamela told delegates on the second day of the conference.

Manamela also laid into Malema, describing him as a "drama queen" who did not deserve any red carpet treatment at the SACP conference.

Malema is becoming increasingly unpopular within the SACP after accusing SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin of behaving like a "white Messiah" when he publicly condemned Malema's call for the nationalisation of mines as being inspired by struggling black economic empowerment capitalists who wanted government bailouts.

Nzimande repeated the allegation during his presentation on Thursday.

ANC sources said they expected a stand-off between ANC nationalists and communists at tomorrow's special NEC meeting.

2.7 Compradorism in the age of the SACP and MTV

By Stephen Grootes, THEDAILYMAVERICK, 14 December 2009

Day one of the SA Communist Party conference turns out to be illuminating. And very, very entertaining. Okay, maybe not so much to Julius Malema.

You have to love the language of the SACP. The words are long, the sentences even longer, and they ring with phrases you just don’t hear every day (unless you have nothing else to do and you’re in Polokwane at the moment). And yesterday’s political report by the SACP’s central committee to the party’s special conference was a genuine, over-the-top merry-Xmas goodie.

“Comprador” was the favourite word. In case you don’t know, it’s a sort of slightly insulting slang for a person who is bourgeois (strictly it’s “a former Chinese native agent or factotum, as of a foreign business house”). Or something similar to that, but mostly “not one of us, hard-working people”. Another favourite is “proto-fascist”, or someone who is nearly like a fascist, but forgot to put on their black shirt this morning. But sadly missing entirely from the main speeches yesterday, was the phrase “lumpen proletariat” (as in “disenfranchised or uprooted”). We miss it.

They make up for it with the reference to “MTV”. And no, video did not kill the socialist star. But in their mind, they’ve raised the bar, they can’t rewind, they’re looking ahead to their Medium-Term Vision. But it’s a bit of a fanfare, really. It’s a critique of the current situation. There doesn’t seem to be much that’s seriously added to the debate; that’s actually going to change the world we live in.

But away from the linguistic intrigue that is the hallmark of our socialist brother comrades, there’s some serious stuff going down. For a start, the SACP looks like one organisation prepared to have a go at Julius Malema, and possibly even President Zuma himself. Try this on for size, “there are worrying tell-tale characteristics that need to be nipped in the bud. They include the demagogic appeal to ordinary people’s baser instincts (male chauvinism, paramilitary solutions to social problems and racialised identity politics). They also include the turning of politics into ‘spectacle’.”

Malema may have to read that a few times, and even then, it’s 50-50 as to whether it gets, to use Jeremy Cronin’s famous phrase, under his “delicate skin”. The SACP is absolutely right to bring this up. The personalisation of politics, while wonderful for us in the media, is not the best thing for us in the country. And if anyone’s been involved in that, it’s Malema. Zuma is not innocent either, and the use of the word “paramilitary” must surely be a reference to the “shoot-to-kill issue”. The criticism of the Youth League actually gets a bit stronger later on, with a reference to “the great majority of young militants who have flirted with this style of long nights of long knives in bottom-baring conferences, with symbolic coffins for rivals, are not beyond constructive engagement”. Ouch!

But then a preciously rare moment happened: Malema got booed by the communists, the very people whose wants he swore he knew better than Jeremy Cronin himself. And when he demanded to address the conference from the stage, he was cold-shouldered by the SACP leadership, reminding him that he was not in a comfortable space now, otherwise known as an ANC rally. As we write this, the spinning people of the alliance are trying to find ways of presenting the incident as “robust discussion” or something. We’ll have to see what they come up with.

Let us remind you; it was the people that one would have expected to use Malema’s name and “Viva!” in the same sentence, and do so often. Nope, not this time. The young firecracker has finally got a lesson he should have received many moons ago: when you’re young and new, first learn who you can and who you can’t piss-off, and especially not in public.

It would appear that the deep thinkers in the SACP are not amused by the Youth League’s antics, ever since that famous Bloemfontein conference that saw the country’s most notorious incident of mooning.

There’s another great word coming out of the conference relating to the League so far - “Kebble-ism”.

While also a bit of a crack at the League, it’s really about BEE (black economic empowerment). Well, not really BEE as such, but those who abuse it. Well, maybe it’s about BEE. You decide. But, it seems that what really gets their goat are “javelin throwers”, people who abuse the tender processes. There they’re in complete accord with President Jacob Zuma and the rest of the alliance.

It’s all well and good to be a political party and to have policies, but you have to ask serious questions about a party when the three main tasks of the conference, as identified by its central executive committee (hey, at least it’s not a politburo), are to understand. To understand the economic crisis. To understand why there is such high unemployment, still, 15 years after democracy. And to understand what’s happened in the last two-and-a-half years.

One of the big set-piece speeches, was, of course, by that man, Gwede Mantashe. And he clearly had his day-job front of mind. “The historic leadership role of the ANC must be reaffirmed,” he said. Okay, so the chairman of the SACP just told the party that another party, the ANC, must lead. And everyone’s okay with that? What is this then, a debating chamber?

Perhaps that’s too harsh, but you have to ask why the SACP does it. It’s not going to get power and joining the ANC is a much quicker conduit to money, resources and patronage than joining the SACP. Having said that, we must point out that according to the SACP’s central committee, it now has more members than at any time in its past. An election must have helped, but that’s pretty good going. It does show that the party does have a good, firm base.

But you have to hope that all of these people aren’t just joining up to use nice words and phrases – even if there is a surfeit of them.

2.8 Malema demands an apology from SACP for booing

JP du Plessis , Eye Witness News, 12 December 2009

African National Congress Youth League President Julius Malema on Thursday accused ANC Secretary General and South African Communist Party Chairman Gwede Mantashe of failing to protect him.

Malema was demanding an apology from the SACP after the Communist Party refused to give him a platform to respond to delegates at the party’s conference in Limpopo who booed him from the stage.

Mantashe told him he was not at an ANC conference and had no right to address the SACP delegates. But Malema believes he was wronged and wants an apology.
Malema himself is not usually inclined to say sorry.

Apologies have been demanded from Malema by the Sonke Gender Justice Network for saying Jacob Zuma’s rape accuser enjoyed herself, and by the SACP for calling the party’s Jeremy Cronin a "white messiah".

Malema has apologised to Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor for insulting her accent after being rapped on the knuckles by the ruling party. But he told suspended Athletics South Africa boss Leonard Chuene not to apologise for lying to the public about local gender tests conducted on track star Caster Semenya.

On Thursday, the youth league leader attacked leaders from the SACP and the ANC.
Observers will be keen to see how this latest saga ends.

2.9 South Africa Moves to Broaden Inflation Target

By Nasreen Seria, Bloomberg, 14 December 2009

South Africa’s central bank has achieved its inflation target for the first time in more than two years -- just as the government begins to question whether it is worth the sacrifice in terms of growth and jobs.

Figures out tomorrow will show inflation remained at 5.9 percent in November, within the 3 percent to 6 percent target range for only the second time since March 2007, according to the median estimate of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Labor unions and the ruling African National Congress say the central bank should now ease up in the fight against inflation and do more to revive growth in a country where one in four are unemployed. Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus, who took office on Nov. 9, may not be willing to erode the bank’s mandate on price stability as energy prices are set to soar next year.

“A compromise will be the most likely outcome and it’s not impossible that we may see an adjustment in the target band,” said Jac Laubscher, group economist of Cape Town-based Sanlam Ltd., the biggest South African-owned life insurer. “It doesn’t necessarily signal a looser monetary policy. Gill Marcus will oppose any move to abandon price stability as an objective.”

Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa will publish the inflation data at 11:30 a.m. local time tomorrow.

Tensions over monetary policy are set to increase. With the rand unlikely to repeat its rally of the past nine months and electricity prices set to surge, keeping inflation within the target may require higher interest rates next year. That’s a price the ANC, which rules in alliance with labor unions, says is too high as job losses mount, even as the economy emerges from recession.

Job Losses

Miners, including Anglo Platinum Ltd., the world’s biggest producer of the metal, have fired thousands of workers, while the rand’s 25 percent surge against the dollar this year is hurting the competitiveness of manufacturers, such as Seardel Investment Corp., South Africa’s largest clothing and textile maker. The jobless rate rose to 24.5 percent in the third quarter, the highest of 62 countries tracked by Bloomberg.

“The concentration on inflation targeting to the exclusion of other factors has resulted in interest rates being too high,” said Patrick Craven, spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions. “That’s made the recession even worse and caused more job losses.”

South Africa adopted inflation targeting in 2000. Cosatu, which helped to sweep President Jacob Zuma into office in May, now wants a review of the central bank’s mandate to “define what criteria the Monetary Policy Committee has to take account of in setting interest rates,” Craven said.

Policy Review

The ANC and its alliance partners agreed on Nov. 15 to set up a task team to review the central bank’s mandate. The team hasn’t been appointed yet and will probably only conduct its first meeting next year, ANC spokesman Brian Sokutu said.

The government may widen the mandate to include a clause on sustainable growth or job creation, said Peter Attard Montalto, an economist at Nomura International Plc in London.

Such a move may not result in changes to interest rates as the Reserve Bank already has a “flexible” approach, said Montalto. The bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 5 percentage points to 7 percent between December and August, even as inflation exceeded the target band, to help pull the economy out of recession.

South Africa won’t be the first emerging market country to widen its inflation target to give the central bank room to keep interest rates low. On Nov. 26, South Korea raised its inflation target for 2010 to 2012 to 3 percent, plus or minus 1 percent. The target is currently 3 percent, plus or minus 0.5 percent.

Marcus

Marcus has said that she is willing to discuss concerns about inflation targeting. Still, the Reserve Bank’s primary job is price stability, which is essential for sustainable development, Marcus said in a speech on Dec. 2, according to a report in Johannesburg-based Business Day.

Marcus left the key rate unchanged on Nov. 17 forecasting that inflation will stay inside the target band until the end of 2011.

“We can still remain true to the objective of price stability, even if we become more flexible” on the target, said Laubscher. “This change will be, by and large, neutral for markets.”

2.10 SA owes its freedom to Zanu-PF: ANC

By Fortious Nhambura, The Herald, 13 December 2009

THE African National Congress has promised its unwavering support for Zanu-PF, saying it has always been indebted to the party for assisting the South African liberation struggle and that of the whole region.

Addressing the just-ended Zanu-PF Fifth National People’s Congress in Harare on Saturday, ANC national executive committee member Cde Tokyo Sexwale hailed Zanu-PF’s contribution to regional liberation and said this should never be overlooked.

Cde Sexwale was delivering a solidarity message on behalf of the ANC, its leadership and South African Presi-dent Jacob Zuma.

“It is Zanu-PF that supported all of us in the Southern African region to have the freedom we enjoy today.

“The importance of Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe and in the region cannot be overemphasised in the quest for political freedom.

“Zanu-PF played a big role in bringing the end to colonialism, to racism in South Africa and in the region.

“It is our sincere hope that this congress shapes the future of Zimbabwe and the region,” Cde Sexwale said.

“We as ANC and Zanu-PF remain as one. We know where we came from and we know our history. What goes on in South Africa will eventually affect Zimbabwe and what happens in Zimbabwe must affect South Africa,” he said

Cde Sexwale said Zanu-PF should lead the way in ensuring the success of the Global Political Agreement, economic development and poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe.

“The decisions reached at this congress will help inject life into the inclusive Government,” he added.

Cde Sexwale drew loud cheers from delegates when he called for the immediate lifting of all forms of sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe by Britain and its allies.

“We want to call on the world and everyone to recognise the GPA and lift any sanctions imposed on the country.”

Cde Sexwale urged Zimbabweans to safeguard the gains of their hard-won independence for which many of their sons and daughters died fighting.

“Your enemies never criticise you, but they will (instead) destroy you, only your friends will criticise you in a constructive manner. Zimbabwe should always heed the call whenever South Africa criticises you.”

Cde Sexwale took the opportunity to ask for Zimbabwe’s support for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, saying his country would be sending a delegation to brief Government on what support they would need.

In response, Zanu-PF passed a resolution at the end of the congress throwing its weight behind South Africa as an able host that could successfully stage the soccer extravaganza.

The ANC delegation joined other sister liberation movements who graced the congress and delivered solidarity messages to the party. These included Zambia’s Unip, Frelimo of Mozambique, the Chinese Communist Party, and the Cuban Communist Party, among others.

2.11 SACP: Malema is ‘spreading lies’

CEDRIC MBOYISA, Citizen, 13 December 2009

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Communist Party (SACP) has branded ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema a “desperate liar” on a mission to discredit its general secretary Blade Nzimande.

This was after Malema at the weekend charged that Nzimande was positioning himself for the position of Deputy President (currently occupied by Kgalema Motlanthe) of the ruling party. “Julius has been too desperate. He has been spreading lies,” SACP spokesman Malesela Maleka told The Citizen yesterday.

He said no amount of lies would dissuade the communists from preserving and strengthening the unity of the tripartite (ANC- SACP-Cosatu) alliance.

The relationship between Malema and the SACP took a turn for the worse last week when he was booed and heckled by communist delegates at the party’s special congress in Polokwane.

Malema incurred the wrath of the communists for referring to the SACP’s Jeremy Cronin as a “white messiah” when he differed with him on his call for the nationalisation of mines.

It has now emerged that Malema, after being booed, allegedly sent threatening SMSs to Cronin, but Maleka said the SACP did not want to believe they originated from the youth leader.

In his address in Sekhukhune at the weekend, Malema took a further swipe at the SACP, accusing it of harbouring ambitions of taking over the ruling party.

He lashed out at the Young Communist League (YCL), likening it to the Congress of the People (Cope). But YCL national secretary Buti Manamela hit back, saying that Malema was the one who had more in common with Cope, the ANC breakaway party.

“In our view he is much more close to COPE because he wants to destroy the alliance. He is on an anti-communist charade,” Manamela told The Citizen yesterday.

He said Malema possessed the characteristics of Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy Mbhazima Shilowa.

Political analyst Professor Steven Friedman said Malema’s comparison of the YCL to Cope was “far-fetched”.

“The tensions are really at the stage where the leadership has to do something urgently. It’s clearly a power struggle,” he said.

Addressing the SACP congress at the weekend, President Jacob Zuma called for an end to the public spat.

“The public outbursts and acrimonious exchange are not in the tradition of the alliance,” he said.

2.12 Vavi points to new order

Mandy Wiener , Eye Witness News, 12 December 2009

COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Friday the tripartite alliance was witnessing the beginning of the unraveling of the forces which saw a change of guard in the ANC.

The trade union federation leader addressed the SACP congress in Limpopo on Friday.

Vavi told the SACP congress leaving the ANC due to problematic pronouncements from a minority would be a betrayal of the masses.

He said it would be folly to abandon the ANC when confronted by contradictions.

The unity in the tripartite alliance, which saw ANC leader Jacob Zuma sweep to power at the ruling party’s Polokwane conference two years ago, has been under strain of late.

Alliance partners have clashed over the administration of the National Planning Commission, cabinet ministers’ flashy cars and the unionisation of the military.

Vavi urged delegates to deafen post-Polokwane gains.

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

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