Media Monitor 29 October 2009
Patrick Craven
COSATU Media Monitor
Thursday 29 October 2009
Contents
1.1 Refuse strike leaves city streets littered
1.3 Teachers, docs could strike again
1.4 HCI makes progress in long Seardel slog
2.1 Cosatu to protest over Mandela CD
2.2 Health stakeholders applaud MTBPS
2.4 Zille's all-male cabinet case costs thousands
2.5 2nd charge against ANCYL leader
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1 Workplace
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Babalo Ndenze, Daily Dispatch, 29 October 2009THERE seems to be no end in sight to Buffalo City Municipality’s (BCM) refuse collection problems after scores of workers downed tools yesterday. Frustrated refuse workers yesterday demanded to see community services director Jerome Ismael about a number of grievances.
The workers later gathered at the Orient Theatre, where they met with SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) leaders to discuss the issues. A refuse collector at the meeting in the Orient Theatre said Ismael promised to address their complaints by Friday.
The worker said they had other issues besides overtime and staff shortages.
“They are employing temporary drivers, but there are people who have been acting (as drivers) who have licences. They are also employing temps at the Berlin dumpsite,” he said.
Residents from Quigney, Beacon Bay and Nompumelelo complained about refuse not being collected in their areas.
Beacon Bay resident Caroline Selkirk said the non-collection of refuse was a weekly occurrence.
“Our refuse collection has been Monday for a number of years. It gets left sometimes for two to three days.
“I usually run down Batting Road and rubbish is literally strewn on the road.
“When I called to tell them our rubbish hasn’t been collected the polite gentleman told me they were having staffing problems.
“That’s strange because we’re paying more rates,” said Selkirk.
She said when the workers do eventually arrive, they only pick up “what’s left” of the rubbish.
“I live near Beaconhurst High School, but for the last month or so the problem has been all over Beacon Bay,” Selkirk said.
Another Beacon Bay resident, who asked not to be named, said the rubbish had not been collected this week again.
“I’m right next to Beacon Bay Motors, not too far from Eskom. It looks really bad.
“They were supposed to collect it on Monday and today is Wednesday.
“They (the workers) are busy having meetings and they’re not working,” he said.
Beacon Bay Community Policing Forum chairperson and Nompumelelo resident Xolile Malangeni said his neighbourhood was also filthy. “It’s a very big problem. I even spoke to the councillor about this and I took pictures.
“Beacon Bay is bad, but Nompumelelo is especially bad. The workers come here drunk on Sundays and want this overtime,” said Malangeni.
Two weeks ago rubbish collectors in Buffalo City did something similar, saying they had had enough of the way management was treating them, and sat around doing nothing.
The workers have been unhappy for some time because management was clamping down on overtime pay.
South African Municipal Workers’ Union’s Amathole branch secretary Suregood Xengxe couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday. BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said there were a number of issues being dealt with by the community services directorate.
“The issue of refuse collection was extensively engaged upon by council (about) various concerns relating to this matter.
“The directorate has been tasked to come up with a turn-around strategy to ensure that all the issues that affect this service delivery aspect of the city are improved,” Ngwenya said. |
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=355690
1.2 Council hit by strike
Alex Matlala, Sowetan, 29 October 2009
Tzaneen municipality employees protest as no work, no pay principle is applied
EMPLOYEES of the Greater Tzaneen municipality yesterday downed tools in protest against the council’s decision to implement the no work, no pay principle after a strike.
About 450 members of the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), who allegedly took part in a national strike in July, downed tools.
Union members were angry at management having deducted four days’ pay – the duration of the strike.
Management had allegedly decided last week to deduct half of the money from their October salaries and the other half next month.
This did not go down well with employees, who said the municipality had “robbed” them.
Local Samwu secretary Kenny Makhubele said the municipality had taken a unilateral decision without first consulting the affected employees. He said employees thought they were still negotiating.
“But we were later taken aback when management told us that they had resolved to deduct money this month,” Makhubele said.
“We have no problem with the deduction. Our problem now is that we have put it to them that they should only deduct the money after February to cushion employees against the Christmas and January financial difficulties.
“But no, management went ahead and took a unilateral decision. That is why we downed tools today to fight for what we believe is a good cause,” he said.
Makhubele said the timing of the deduction was wrong because they needed the money to settle accounts, buy Christmas clothes and groceries, pay school fees and buy uniforms for their children.
He said if management failed to listen the workers would continue with the strike until their plight was addressed.
The protesters were later addressed by municipal manager Mabakane Mangena, who said they had consulted and agreed to suspend the deduction and negotiate with the union.
He said they would be informed by the outcome of the negotiations as to when and how the money would be deducted.
Mangena said management believed that workers would return to work today.
Services in the accounts department of the community services and traffic departments were hugely affected by the strike.
James Shikwambane of Tiekieline said he was unable to pay a traffic ticket he got for speeding because officials were on strike.
Gloria Nkuna of Flora Park also could not pay her electricity bill when she got to the counter “because there was strike.”
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1082847
1.3 Teachers, docs could strike
again
East Coast Radio, 28 October 2009
Teachers and health care professionals are again threatening strike action over the Occupation Specific Dispensation.
Last month teacher union, Sadtu signed an OSD agreement
with the department, but Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that
they'd have to source the money in order to honour the agreement.
Sadtu's
Mbuyiseni Mathonsi now says the department has not paid OSD monies and has
instead blamed technical problems.
He says they're meeting to discuss
the issue, but warns that they could even go so far as to disrupt the matric
exams.
"The department has as usual reneged on the agreement that we've
had with them. I think that is the only terrible situation which can militate
against the smooth running of the examination, because then educators may take a
decision that these exams are not going on."
Meanwhile, Newswatch has
also learnt that certain healthcare professionals - such as dieticians and
physio-therapists - are not happy with some aspects of their OSD package and are
also considering their options.
1.4 HCI makes progress in long Seardel
slog
Florence de Vries, Business Report, 29 October 2009
Empowerment group Hosken Consolidated Investment (HCI)
still has a long way to go in turning around its struggling clothing and textile
subsidiary Seardel, but significant progress has already been made in reviving
the loss-making arm.
Last year HCI bailed Seardel out with a R306 million
rights issue along with help from the Southern African Clothing and Textile
Workers Union (Sactwu), which acted in the interest of Seardel
employees.
However, the recapitalisation had been the start of a process
in which a number of jobs were lost and loss-making facilities were closed
down.
Analysts have criticised the group's previous leadership, saying it
ran the company as its "own personal piggy bank", but it has since been replaced
as the controlling shareholder, HCI, plans to transform Seardel into a
world-class manufacturing operation that is able to hold its own profitably
against all competitors.
The group has launched an action consisting of
various substantial claims with a total value of about R300m against former
directors of the company and its subsidiaries.
Seardel chairman Johnny
Copelyn said: "These claims are primarily related to personal property
transactions, the opportunity for which we believe ought to have been passed on
to the Seardel group."
The claims stem from an extensive forensic audit
of the company and is being defended by former directors, one of whom is
believed to be the founder Aaron Searll.
In his first report as chairman, Copelyn said changes
such as the closure in July of the Frame vertical pipeline facility in which 1
400 jobs were lost were painful but necessary.
"It was the only chance
Seardel had of returning to profit as a substantial manufacturing operation in
future."
Copelyn wants to make Seardel employ about 15 000 workers again
and believes it can be done, but not without significant changes. So far HCI has
recapitalised the group with sufficient capital for its ongoing needs and
renegotiated the banking facilities to run up to next June, "providing security
and sufficient time to return the group to profitability".
It had closed
Frame which was generating losses in excess of R10m a month and was budgeted to
continue at these levels into the foreseeable future.
Nedcor Securities
retail analyst Syd Vianello called the potential turnaround a mean feat, but
said successful local clothing manufacturers were those that stuck to niche
markets and traded in markets that did not directly compete with the Chinese.
"It is impossible to criticise HCI at this point as the changes they've made to
date are indeed positive," he said.
Stuart Queen, the chief executive
designate of Seardel, said there were no quick fixes to a group of this size,
adding that the group would likely record further losses for the year to
March.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=563&fArticleId=5222436
2 South Africa
2.1 Cosatu to protest over Mandela CD
IOL, 28 October 2009
Cosatu is to picket outside singer Patti Labelle's Sun
City concert this weekend at the playing of a CD with lyrics insulting former
president Nelson Mandela.
The North West branch of the Congress of SA
Trade Unions said on Wednesday it would march to the resort on Saturday to hand
over a memorandum on its concerns.
Marchers would move from the Main road
of Moses Kotane Municipality to Sun City's main gate.
Cosatu has urged
Sun City to ban the security firm Falcon Security, whose chief executive officer
Ben Burger was arrested after the playing of the CD. Burger has already appeared
in court over the matter.
Falcon Security has provided security at the
international resort for the past 14 years,
The company announced earlier
in the day that its operations manager Warren Alberts had been suspended over
the CD incident.
The company said it was investigating the playing of the
CD at a Sun International staff function on Saturday.
On Tuesday, police
claimed that, during a competition, a CD was played "containing remixed lyrics
of the national anthem" which called former president Nelson Mandela a
"k****r".
Burger appeared in the Mogwase District Court on Tuesday on a
charge of crimen injuria, and was released on bail of R1 500.
In a
statement, it was said he attended the staff potjiekos family day at Sun City
where various CDs were presented to be played.
He did not hear a
15-second snippet of the song and was not near the company stand when it was
played. However, he was surrounded by police after someone complained.
He
threw the CD into a dustbin. He did not understand why he was arrested because
he was innocent.
Sun International's publicity company hoped to comment
on Cosatu's concerns soon. – Sapa
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20091028173109485C157252
2.2 Health stakeholders applaud MTBPS
Gabi Khumalo, BuaNews, 28 October 2009
http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/09/09102816051001
2.3 ‘We have had
enough’
Siyabonga Mkhwanazi, Star, 29 October 2009
ANC MPs have laid into senior Gauteng government
officials for "driving flashy cars" but not attending to the plight of poor
communities, telling the provincial executives that enough is enough.
The
MPs were angry because the Gauteng government did not follow up on Human
Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale's promise that the community of Diepsloot
should be provided with water and toilets.
Members of the National
Assembly's committee on human settlements told the provincial officials
yesterday that they would not accept the excuse by the
department.
Committee chairwoman Nomhle Dambuza (ANC) said they had had
enough of government officials not doing their work while busy driving "flashy
cars".
The officials were in Parliament to brief MPs on the progress made
since Sexwale visited the Diepsloot area, north of Joburg, in August to get a
first-hand account of the residents' living conditions.
Gauteng
department of local government and housing acting chief executive Bongani More
and chief director Linda Ngcobo made the presentation to the MPs.
The two
admitted that they had not followed up on the plight of Diepsloot residents.
Ngcobo said that after Sexwale's visit to the area, the City of Joburg
had consulted the community, but she did not know what had happened since
then.
Her response elicited an angry rebuke from Dambuza, who lashed
Ngcobo and the other officials for their failure to address the problem more
than three months after the minister's visit.
"The minister was there at
the beginning of August. As the portfolio committee, we can't accept that there
were talks (between the council and community, and it was not clear what had
transpired).
"Can you afford not to have sanitation for one day? That is
not acceptable. We have had enough. Communities are being undermined by our
machinery. We have seen this in the Eastern Cape. People are living without
toilets and officials are driving flashy cars," said a visibly angry
Dambuza.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=594&art_id=vn20091029040458779C240523
2.4 Zille's all-male cabinet case costs
thousands
Andisiwe Makinana, Cape Argus, 28 October 2009
Western Cape taxpayers will have to pay almost
R50 000 for lawyers used by the province in the court case that trade union
Cosatu brought against Premier Helen Zille over her all-male
cabinet.
Zille revealed in a response in the provincial legislature on
Tuesday that R49 356 was spent on legal representatives who were defending the
provincial government in the case.
Zille said advocate Renata Williams,
SC was briefed in this matter and a junior advocate, Karrisha Pillay, was
briefed to assist senior counsel.
Zille said the directions hearing, in
terms of Equality Court proceedings, was set down for 19 August 2009 without
prior consultation with the parties' legal representatives.
She said the
state attorney was only informed of the date on August 18, and Advocate Ashton
Schippers, SC was briefed to stand in for Williams who was not available on that
day.
Zille said Schippers and Pillay had submitted invoices for R8 208
and R41 154 respectively. Cosatu took Zille to the Equality Court earlier this
year, calling her to account for her all-male cabinet and charging her with
discrimination against women specifically and the people of the Western Cape
generally.
The organisation also claimed she was undermining the
Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. It asked the
court to order Zille to reconstitute her cabinet.
Cosatu later dropped
its complaint: "In light of what is contained in the answering affidavits filed
in the Equality Court proceedings, the premier's commitment to gender equality
and the advancement of women is apparent, rendering it unnecessary to proceed
with this litigation," said the two parties, jointly, at the time.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20091028124331634C230011
2.5 2nd charge against ANCYL leader
News24, 28 October 2009
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday laid charges of intimidation against Free State ANC Youth League chairperson Thebe Meeko.
On Tuesday, the party laid a complaint of hate speech with the Equality Court against Meeko.
DA spokesperson Wilmot James said Meeko was quoted in the media as saying that University of the Free State vice-chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen should be "shot and killed because he is a racist".
"Prior to reportedly saying this, Mr Meeko also addressed a crowd, with video footage of the event confirming that Meeko said: 'like President Jacob Zuma when he said the police must meet fire with fire, the shoot-to-kill approach must also apply to all the racists, including Jansen, because he is a racist'."
James said the youth league had now "tried to backtrack by claiming that they were referring to racism and not Professor Jansen".
"Once again the youth league's 'selective memory' and dishonest disposition is palpable for all to see.
"We laid the charge with the Equality Court because the statements attributed to Meeko clearly equate to hate speech. Such conduct violates the Constitution, and constitutes an incitement to cause physical harm to Mr Jansen," he said.
The abuse of speaking on a public platform could no longer be tolerated.
The statement in question should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
"It is an absolute disgrace. It is embarrassing for us as a country, for the ANC and for the government. It must be met with immediate and decisive consequences." – SAPA