Fw: Media Monitor 13 November 2009

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had received permission for its workers to strike at Gold Fields over a disputed recruitment assessment method, the union said yesterday. About 45 000 workers would strike unless the method was scrapped. The union said the method acted as a barrier to new employees and staff coming back from leave. - Reuters

2.South Africa

2.1 ANC-Cosatu clash looms over Manuel

IOL, 13 November 2009

Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel's role in the National Planning Commission is set to be a major bone of contention at the three-day alliance summit starting on Friday, despite ANC assurances that agreement has been reached with its allies, Cosatu and the SACP.

Cosatu was sticking to its position that the commission should be chaired by President Jacob Zuma or Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, its president, Sidumo Dlamini, said on Thursday.

He said despite secretary-general Gwede Mantashe's assurances that the ANC's alliance partners knew of the ANC's proposals as they had members on its economic transformation committee, Cosatu leaders had learned of them from the media.

2.2 ANCYL criticises NUM

NONI MOKATI, Citizen, 13 November 2009

JOHANNESBURG - The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) has been criticised for its stance on the resignation of Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell and matters surrounding the power utility by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).

The youth league yesterday said the union had joined those who were spokesmen for capitalists in defending Godsell.

“Bobby Godsell has resigned as chairman of the Eskom board. The sooner NUM accepts such a reality, the better,” it said in a statement.

On Monday Godsell indicated he was leaving the utility because government had failed to support the board on an earlier announcement that CEO Jacob Maroga’s had resigned.

NUM expressed its concern over Godsell’s resignation saying his departure would affect Eskom’s governance.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions said Godsell’s exit would be a great loss to the parastatal.

2.3 'Don't outsource DNA database'

By Audra Mahlong, Johannesburg, 12 November 2009

Despite concerns to the contrary, the police services has the capacity to administer and manage the national DNA database, says the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru).

Parliament recently warned against the hasty implementation of the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Bill. It said the South African Police Service (SAPS) had to solve capacity shortages, and improve its implementation and maintenance plans for the national database.

Outsourcing IT and technology services by the police is also increasing as issues of capacity and skills have become pivotal. But the union is fighting back, saying more money should be ploughed into the police services. Popcru is calling for further amendments to the Bill, saying it does not clarify which body will serve as custodian of the database. “It looks as if the DNA database will be administered and maintained by the SAPS, but will, in fact, be outsourced... Why outsource the national DNA database? The billions of rands, which will be invested by the state in outsourcing this function, will only last five years,” says the union.

Popcru says the SAPS Criminal Record and Forensic Science Service division (CR and FSS) should manage the database. The unit currently houses its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), and Popcru says the two major databases should be administered and managed by the same division.

On the defensive

Parliament and rights groups have slated the performance of the division for the high cost of training, low salaries, high staff turnover and problems relating to evidence collection at crime scenes.

However, Popcru says the turnover times have improved over the years, signalling progress in its IT systems and technology management.

Outsourcing the database amounts to contracting out the police's most critical mandate and its core business to private companies, says Popcru. Existing technologies and internal IT systems can lead to the successful implementation of the database, the union notes.

“Popcru is recommending that the national DNA database is administered, maintained and stored by the divisional commissioner of CR and FSS – as with the fingerprint database. “We also recommend that the billions of rands invested in establishing the DNA database by the outsourced company be redirected and invested to building capacity and proper resourcing of the SAPS forensic science laboratories in all provinces,” says Popcru.

Popcru admission

In 2005, the SAPS lab developed a forensic automation system for DNA evidence using robotics. The Genetic Sample Processing System (GSPS), which is controlled by 27 personal computers, cost approximately R80 million. The system first became operational in March 2007.

“The GSPS system, from the police's side, at least, has improved the SAPS's capacity to process DNA samples. As there has already been a marked improvement in case backlogs, the GSPS system will improve DNA testing by an even bigger margin,” says Popcru. However, the administration and management of the system is outsourced to a German company.

In October 2006, the Ideco group was awarded a 15-year contract to operate the AFISwitch. The automated checking service, which acts as an electronic information conduit between the centre and the public, was outsourced as the SAPS struggled to process close to a million non-criminal record checks yearly.

While the High Technology Project Centre, which promotes skills and technology to support investigators is valuable, more needs to be done to attract and retain skilled personnel, admits Popcru.

2.4 Expect ruling alliance to paper over disunity

By Terry Bell, Business Report, 13 November 2009

When the leaders of the governing alliance gather in Ekurhuleni today for their three-day summit, unity will be loudly proclaimed, as it will be after the event.

In line with the statement signed this week by the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP, as well as additional partner the SA National Civics Organisation, unity will be described as "sacrosanct".

The statement maintains: "At this juncture in our history, the alliance is the only existing political entity that is capable of completing our mission of transforming our society." Unity is thus "paramount".

But, as both the Eskom debacle and the ongoing row about labour brokers, in particular, have shown, there exists considerable disunity, not only between alliance partners, but also among Cosatu affiliates. Since several of the protagonists are also members of the SACP, it can probably be assumed that divisions exist there as well.

However, both before and after the summit, it is almost certain that reported evidence of tension and serious disagreements between and within the various partners will be blamed on the media. As, too, will be much of the confusion that has surrounded issues such as the leadership turmoil at Eskom, labour brokers, nationalisation and job creation.

Such blame will be couched in more diplomatic terms than the recent broadsides directed at the "bourgeois press" by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and the Young Communist League (YCL), which shares its national spokesperson with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

If, over the coming weeks and months, the intemperate language, the playing of the race card and often wild accusations made by some elements within the alliance is curtailed, it should be a sign that the ideological cracks in the alliance facade have again been papered over. But there are unlikely to be any retractions, let alone apologies, from the youth leagues or Numsa.

According to Floyd Shivambu of the ANCYL, the "morality of the media has completely degenerated. The youth league will continue to expose these foreign-owned vampires, who manipulate desperate black and African journalists to rubbish and bastardise African leadership."

YCL spokesperson Castro Ngobese, in his Numsa capacity, this week claimed: "South Africa's liberal media is bankrupt and bullied by the ruling elites to impose their class interests and agenda over the strategic direction of the ANC-led administration."

The media does, of course, bear some blame for public confusion about several controversial issues. There has been a tendency to report statements by politicians and trade union spokespeople without context. So contradictory announcements from different sources, at different times, are frequently given equal credence.

Recent claims that resolutions at the ANC's Polokwane conference, for example, supported a ban on labour brokers and the nationalisation of mines received wide publicity. But resolutions adopted at Polokwane did not support such policy positions.

It was this sort of "all truths are equally valid" reporting that led ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to try firmly to set the record straight by pointing out that the ANC manifesto did not include nationalisation and that there was no call at Polokwane to ban labour broking, merely to tighten up regulation of the practice.

Perhaps significantly, he did not take issue with the contradictory statements about job creation being, according to the government, "on target", while the official statistics reveal nearly 300 000 job losses in the previous quarter. But this relates to the difference the unions have highlighted between "real" full-time jobs that have been lost and temporary, part-time "job opportunities" created.

The media has reported on all of this, even if the context has sometimes been missing, but will still remain a convenient whipping boy. This despite the fact that the often acrimonious interunion public exchanges and those between unions and other alliance partners will be discussed behind closed doors over the weekend.

Cosatu's delegation at the summit will be well aware of the annoyance within one of its largest affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), about attacks launched on the union's leadership, especially by the ANCYL. Naming NUM general secretary Frans Baleni, Shivambu this week referred to union leaders who "sit in air-conditioned offices, trade their originality and defend capitalists' interests".

He pledged that the "ANCYL will stop at nothing at defending the principles of transformation and will never be deviated by spokespeople of white monopoly capital. NUM has joined others in defending the owners of mines."

Shivambu also maintained: "Workers in Eskom had a protest march against Eskom board's victimisation of Jacob Maroga."

However, while a number of workers at Eskom have protested against racism, NUM has already informed the Cosatu leadership that union members at the power utility wanted Maroga sacked. During wage talks some three months ago, this was the dominant sentiment expressed.

At the same time that Shivambu was delivering his diatribe, Cosatu expressed support for the NUM position. Cosatu's spokesman Patrick Craven noted that the "use of the race card when it is completely irrelevant makes it difficult for all of us to confront real racism where it exists".

Conspiracy theorists have maintained that the ANCYL and YCL are used by their parent bodies to "fly kites" on their behalf to test public reaction. This seems unlikely, but one way of putting paid to such allegations will be if the ANC and SACP reign in what some media commentators have referred to as their kindergartens.

Whether they have the will and ability to do so remains to be seen. Yet to achieve any real ongoing unity, the alliance will have to take steps to ensure that all partners read from the same policy page.

2.5 Summit crunch - alliance pulls up sleeves for battle

Zukile Majova, Sowetan 13 November 2009

THE three-day summit of the ANC- led alliance comes at a time when the leftists in the ruling party are on the back foot.

With the ANC being the only ruling party in the world to house African nationalists, trade unionists, communists, liberals and other political ideologues under one roof, the battles between the various forces have become a daily issue.

At times, with African traditionalists flexing their muscles, you would be forgiven for mistaking an ANC branch meeting for an Inkatha Freedom Party gathering.

The situation has become even more complex under President Jacob Zuma – who is seen as allowing the likes of Cosatu and the SACP more space to ventilate than was previously the case with his predecessor Thabo Mbeki.

The forces will gather again for the alliance summit this weekend, with the East Rand’s Esselen Park as the battleground.

Expected to top the agenda is the political storm around National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, whom Cosatu has described as using his position to elevate himself to being the de facto prime minister.

Also on the agenda is the review of South Africa’s response to the global economic crisis, the upheavals in ANC-led municipalities and the very nature of the alliance itself.

Zuma and ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe will lead the delegation from Luthuli House, while SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande will lead the modern-day upwardly mobile communists to the summit.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is expected to lead the onslaught against Manuel.

But, Vavi will lead a wounded delegation that has suffered several losses against the “nationalists” in the alliance.

The nationalists, on the other hand, are going to the summit with their tails up.

This after successfully rejecting Cosatu’s position that Manuel was using his position to create “kitchen cabinets” inside Zuma’s kraal.

Closing Cosatu’s national general congress in September, Vavi charged: “We are opposed to the fragmentation of the state through the building of fiefdoms or kitchen cabinets within the state.

“For that reason, we call for the withdrawal of the green paper on strategic planning.

“We object to the marginalisation of the alliance and other key ministries in shaping this policy intervention prior to its public release.”

This week the ANC backed Manuel as the minister to head the National Planning Commission.

In an interview this week, Vavi indicated that the nationalists, who endorsed Manuel as chairperson of the commission, might have won a battle but the war was still on.

The war cry being, “Siyohlangan eEsselen Park”.

The labour federation might have suffered some losses in the battle with Manuel, but it has also notched some successes in Zuma’s government.

Thse include the appointment of Sactwu’s former general secretary Ebrahim Patel as Minister of Economic Development.

Zuma has also winked at Cosatu’s suggestion that he should rule until 2017.

Cosatu also cowed the Zuma government into approving double-digit salary increases for public servants despite the raging global economic crisis.

It was these early victories that probably made the trade union federation think it could be the tail that wags the dog.

2.6 ANC fails to get votes to fill intelligence post
WYNDHAM HARTLEY , Business Day, 13 November 2009

CAPE TOWN — The ruling African National Congress (ANC) yesterday came face to face with the consequences of not having a two-thirds majority when it fell more than 30 votes short of the required threshold to push a critical matter through the National Assembly.

The ANC had enjoyed a two- thirds majority since MPs were allowed to cross the floor (from March 2003) and in this year’s election fell short by less than 1% of the vote. It is the first time in many years that the ANC has failed to get two- thirds of the vote in the house — it was only able to get 234 of its 264 MPs into the house for the vote. If all the ANC MPs had been in the house then it would have had to persuade only three opposition MPs to vote with it for the matter to be passed.

The appointment of a new inspector-general of intelligence requires a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. When the ANC’s nomination of former National Intelligence Agency operative Faith Radebe was put to the vote, Deputy Speaker Nomaindia Mfeketo was forced to declare to the house that the matter was lost and would have to be deferred.

This is extremely problematic for the government as the term of office of the current inspector-general, Zola Ngcakani, ends at the end of the year and yesterday was the last day of the parliamentary year. SA will either have to proceed into the new year without an inspector-general of intelligence or bring Parliament back at great cost to reconsider the matter. In any event, some political deals would have to be cut as unless the support of some opposition parties can be secured the ANC will face a repeat performance.

Radebe was chosen from a short list of candidates by the joint standing committee on intelligence and its report recommended to President Jacob Zuma that she be appointed. It is not known what objections, if any, opposition parties had to Radebe’s nomination as the proceedings of the committee are secret and all members take an oath of confidentiality.

Spokesman for the ANC in Parliament Moloto Mothapo said because it was the last day of the sitting for both houses there was a lot of work, and so some MPs were in other meetings and unable to vote.

2.7 Crushed wall opened the door to SA's freedom

FW DE KLERK, Former State President, Mail&Guardian, 13 November 2009

The fall of the Berlin Wall has come to symbolise the collapse of international communism and the end of the bipolar world. Perhaps, even more significantly, it signalled the failure of ideology and social engineering to provide workable solutions to the challenges of human societies.

The fall was above all a victory for freedom. The crowds who gathered day after day in Leipzig and in other German cities quietly and peacefully reasserted their right to personal liberty.

The constituent countries of the Soviet empire were able to assert their national independence -- and in most cases quickly established constitutional democracies.

At the same time, people throughout the former Soviet empire were able to begin to exercise their right to economic freedom. After decades in the straitjacket of command economies, they were able finally to participate in the newly re-emergent markets.

What factors contributed to these momentous developments? It had become evident to any rational observer that free markets generated much greater wealth and higher standards of living than rigid command economies. Western Europe was demonstrably a better place in which to live than the drab and severely rationed East.

Instead of overtaking Americans in terms of prosperity, as Nikita Kruschev had promised in the late 1950s, Soviet citizens fell further and further behind in the consumer race. Ultimately, the Soviet Union did not have the resources to continue to compete in the arms race against the United States.

As with all collapsing empires, the main cause of the decline was simply that the leadership began to lose faith in the political mythology on which their state had been founded. It had become increasingly obvious to new generations of leaders that communism was not delivering the utopian paradise that had inspired their predecessors.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 had dramatic repercussions for South Africa's constitutional transformation. One of the South African government's central political and strategic concerns before 1989 was the expansion of Soviet influence in Southern Africa and the influence of the South African Communist Party (SACP) within the ANC.

Former South African governments knew that the SACP proposed a two-phase revolution. During the first phase -- national liberation -- the ANC would be the vanguard party and would lead all forces opposed to apartheid to the goal of national liberation. During the second phase, the SACP would take over as the vanguard party and would lead the country to the establishment of a "people's democracy".

Former National Party governments did not feel that they were under any moral obligation to accept a one-man, one-vote process that would quickly lead to the demise of democracy and the establishment of a totalitarian communist regime -- as had already happened in a number of neighbouring states.

This was not a question of "reds under beds". The communist threat was very real.

The contest between the free world and the Soviet bloc was taking place through Third World liberation struggles. Throughout the 1980s South African Defence Force units were involved in direct conflict with Soviet and Cuban-led forces in southern Angola.

However, the tide was already turning: the following year the Soviet Union and Cuba agreed to withdraw Cuban forces from Angola as the precursor for the implementation of United Nations resolution 435 for the independence of Namibia. The negotiations with the Angolans and the Cubans, and the subsequent successful implementation of the UN independence plan during 1989, reassured the South African government that it could secure its core interests through negotiations with its opponents.

The collapse of the Soviet Union symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall removed one of the major obstacles to a negotiated settlement in South Africa: communism was in headlong disarray; the SACP was in shell-shocked retreat; and constitutional democracy and free market principles were triumphant.

Never again would the balance of forces be so favourable for an equitable negotiated settlement. The destruction of the Berlin Wall opened a window of opportunity through which we unhesitatingly jumped. During the following four years we were able to negotiate a model democratic Constitution that has served as the basis for 15 years of stability and growth -- despite the many challenges that continue to confront us.

2.8 Mokhele has major task to steer Implats

By Asha Speckman, Business Report, 13 November 2009

Khotso Mokhele, who was appointed chairman of Impala Platinum (Implats) on Wednesday, will have his work cut out to deliver on his mandate of providing strategic leadership to help extract stakeholder value from the underperforming mining firm.

Implats's share price has been in almost free-fall for the better part of this year, a reflection of poor investor sentiment in the company and a bleak operational performance.

Yesterday, its shares fell 2.3 percent to R171.50.

In the year to June revenue fell 31 percent, while headline earnings declined a whopping 52 percent. Its safety record is the worst in the platinum sector, with 17 deaths recorded in the nine months to September.

Mokhele will have to build better relations with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity, which do not speak very fondly of former chairman Fred Roux.

Mokhele's appointment comes as the dust is settling on Roux's unceremonious dismissal.

But Mokhele seems well aware of the daunting challenges that lie ahead at the platinum producer.

"It's a company that I've been associated with, one that I admire greatly. I also know and appreciate the challenges that the company is confronted with," he said yesterday.

Mokhele described the tumultuous financial year at Implats as "quite unfortunate" and said that the primary challenges requiring strategic vision were production, interpersonal relations and mine safety.

"In the last three years we have done well in isolating things that we must get right. I am confident that it can be done," he said.

Lex van Vught, the chairman of Tiger Brands and an Implats board member, was not keen to comment on Mokhele's ability to turn around the negative publicity on Implats.

He did say: "Mokhele is an excellent all-round businessperson with good strategic insights. He will foster good interpersonal relationships".

Jonathan Louw, the chief executive of Adcock Ingram, which was unbundled out of Tiger Brands last year, described Mokhele as an "inspirational and fantastic leader of Adcock's board and a good manager with relevant manufacturing experience. I'm sure he'll bring that to bear at Implats".

An analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mokhele's appointment was a "good move" based on his government contacts and professional appointments.

"He doesn't have a mining background but as chairman that is not essential."

The analyst said Implats' share price had been "drifting down since mid-year. It had been trading in the band since May." He attributed that solely to operational inefficiencies.

Labour stakeholders NUM and Solidarity also welcomed the "fresh approach".

Frans Baleni, NUM's general secretary, said the union had previously raised the issue of transformation, particularly within the board. "We said we hoped that this time they would do the right thing and appoint an African. I wouldn't say they did so under pressure but they know that they have no option given that their statistics in terms of equity are not good," said Baleni.

He said Implats had about six weeks ago requested a meeting to establish good relations between the union and Mokhele - something the union appreciated.

"We have never had contact with Roux, which tells me he was anti-stakeholder. Getting things done differently was a challenge," commented Baleni.

Jaco Kleynhans of Solidarity said the union welcomed the new chair as a "fresh approach".

"There was a strong drive by the previous chair to get rid of minority unions. Workers are very unhappy with management. The fatalities have been high. Platinum mines are supposed to be safer than gold mines. We believe they have been prioritising production and productivity rather than the lives of workers."

Fw: Media Monitor 13 November 2009

Patrick Craven

1.1 NUM to strike at Gold Fields

Business Report,November 12, 2009