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COSATU Today
Our side of the story
2 November 2009
Contents
1 Workers
1,1 SAMWU warns Musina Municipality
1.2 NEHAWU NEC meeting
1.3 Finalisation of matters linked to Occupational Specific Dispensation
in Public Education
2. South Africa
2.1 Corruption to plunge SA in jeopardy
2.2 Is the pay gap between executives and workers justifiable?
2.3 TAC lauds President Zuma's speech
2.4 TAC and AIDS Law Project on Minister Gordhan's budget
2.6 Lawyers for Human Rights launches a court bid to protect homeless
2.7 FAWU Disgusted Over Agri-BEE Land Bank Scandal
3 International
3.1 Dr Aleida and Camilo Guevara complete visiting and speaking-tour to
South Africa
4 Announcements
4.1 8 PhD Scholarships at International Center for Decent Work and
Development
4.2 Chris Hani book launch
1 Workers
<http://www.cosatu.org.za/> 1,1 SAMWU warns Musina Municipality
Tahir Sema, SAMWU's National Media and Publicity officer, 30th October
2009.
SAMWU members from the Musina Local Municipality in Limpopo province
have discovered grave corruption and alpractice at the Musina Local
Municipality. These findings have emerged in cheques, bank statements
and financial reports of the Municipality. The situation in Musina is
now tense and on the verge of a mass uprising.
Workers from the Musina Municipality say "We are sick and tired of the
lack of service delivery; the roads in Musina are full of potholes and
the Municipalities equipment, such as tractors and vehicles has to be
pushed every morning in order to start them because there are no
finances to repair them. The nicipalities account to buy safety
equipment and clothing has been closed because of non payment."
In order to prevent an already very tense situation from spiralling into
violence, SAMWU members in the region are requesting that the ANC
Regional Executive Committee intervene immediately, in dealing with
the blatant corruption by the municipal managers that has plagued the
Musina Local Municipality for far too long.
Issues that SAMWU will discuss with the ANC Regional Executive
Committee include
* Blatant Corruption.
* Vacancies that have not yet been filled.
* Tenders that are being awarded to friends before they can be
advertised.
* Companies that are operating in the Municipality without proper
contracts of agreement.
* Poor service delivery.
* Mayors continuous intervention in administration.
SAMWU has vowed if these issues are not dealt with as a matter of
urgency, Musina would find itself experiencing a situation similar to
that of Diepsloot and Lekwa Municipalities.
Based on the compelling evidence SAMWU has, the corruption by the
Municipal Manager and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has left the
Musina Municipality in the red. The Municipality has incurred a deficit
of R552,467.43 this year during an annual show hosted by the
Municipality, which was also riddled with corruption.
SAMWU is outraged by the blatant corruption and shocked by the amount of
evidence the members of SAMWU in Musina have accumulated against the
Municipal manager and the CFO. SAMWU will do all it can to
root out corrupt practices in Municipalities. SAMWU has made it clear
mention if it does not receive any cooperation from the Municipal
Manager in question, it will not think twice to use all available means
to expose and correct the situation.
<http://www.nehawu.org.za/>
1.2 NEHAWU NEC meeting
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU's Media Liaison Officer, 31 October 2009
NEHAWU convened a National Executive Committee {NEC} meeting on the
30-31st of October at the Parktonian Hotel where discussions were held
to analyse and deliberate on the organizational and socio-economic
situation in our organization and the country. It also included policy
deliberations and discussions on challenges facing tertiary education,
health care system and the developmental state.
What came out of the deliberations is that the union remains a radical
and transformative union and a labour movement that remains committed to
taking up the immediate concerns of the workers in their work-places. We
also re-affirmed our commitment to dealing with broader social and
political challenges in the context of fighting for socialism and we
still remain a champion of the working class.
Following extensive deliberations the NEHAWU NEC has come to the
following conclusions:
* We support the government's endeavor to introduce the National
Health Insurance {NHI} scheme and the overall transformation of
healthcare system. NEHAWU calls on the Minister to expeditiously release
the discussion document on the NHI for public engagement and for the
establishment of processes leading up to the finalisation of the Draft
NHI Plan and its implementation.
* NEHAWU also calls for the creation of a state owned
pharmaceutical company and also for the commencement of discussions
regarding the issue of nationalization in line with the Polokwane
resolutions.
* We call on all our members and the public servants in general
who are at the forefront of the delivery of services to the nation to
adopt the spirit of service and serve the people with dignity, integrity
and respect.
* We support the Cabinet's decision to review all the lavish and
unnecessary privileges enjoyed by public officials in the national,
provincial and local government, as well as in public entities and state
enterprises.
* We condemn the culture of crass materialism and obscene self
enrichment that has been prevalent in both private and public
institutions. The union therefore calls on all our leaders to take a
lead in the campaign for the transformation of our value systems and
moral regeneration process.
* We commit ourselves to work with government in fighting
corruption and nepotism in the public service and also call on our
members to refrain from engaging in any corrupt activities and also work
hard to expose corruption where they witness it.
* We wish to make it clear that NEHAWU is totally opposed to
corruption and call on the authorities to take decisive and appropriate
disciplinary action against anyone even our members if they are found to
be in violation of the law within the public service.
* We demand that a deadline be set for the review of the
macro-economic policies and also call on the government to
instantaneously implement the resolutions of the Alliance Summit held in
May 2008 on the review of inflation targeting and exchange act controls.
* We condemn the unilateral decision by the Vice Chancellor
Jansen to drop the university charges against the racist Reitz "4"
despite strong objections from the university stakeholders. The union
therefore calls for the reversal of the decision and the review of the
Higher Education Act of 1997, especially regarding issues of
institutional autonomy and academic freedom behind which the established
vested interests are hiding in blocking thorough-going transformation.
* We also want to observe an immediate dialogue, engagement and
implementation of recommendations arising from the Report on
Transformation, Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in
the Higher Education Sector.
* The union has committed itself to strongly support the efforts
to abolish labour brokers and we will mobilize to ensure that workers
get decent work and their rights are respected and treated with dignity.
* We have noted the ongoing service delivery protests that have
erupted all around the country and while we support the service delivery
demands of our communities we condemn the lawlessness that have
accompanied these protests.
*
1.3 Finalisation of matters linked to Occupational Specific Dispensation
in Public Education
M Govender, General Secretary, ELRC, 29 October 2009
Parties to the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) identified an
urgent need to conclude discussions and negotiations on matters
identified as crucial for the development and provisioning of quality
public education emanating from ELRC Collective Agreement No. 1 of 2008
- The Framework for OSD for Educators in Public Education.
To this extent Collective Agreement No. 4 of 2009 - Finalisation of
matters linked to the Occupational Specific Dispensation in Public
Education, was concluded in August 2009 where parties agreed that
implementation would take effect retrospectively in accordance with the
dates contained in the collective agreement.
Notwithstanding the above, parties also committed to processes relating
to the review of the remuneration system for the entire public service
as per PSCBC Resolution 2 of 2009 and are bound to PSCBC Resolution 5 of
2009 - Agreement on Improvement in Salaries for the Financial Year
2009/10.
The Department of Education is committed to ensure that all payments for
the general salary increase are effected by the end of October 2009.
The OSD payments as agreed in the implementation of Collective Agreement
No. 4 of 2009 will thus be effected, programmatically at a national
level, after the completion of the general salary increase run.
We call on all educators to exercise restraint and patience as the
matter is receiving the necessary attention it deserves.
2. South Africa
2.1 Corruption to plunge SA in jeopardy
Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary's address to the Business
Unity South Africa Anti-Corruption Business Forum, 30 October 2009
Thank you for inviting me to address this meeting on such a crucial
topic - the struggle against corruption. It is such a serious problem
that if we fail to resolve it, the future of our country will be in
jeopardy.
COSATU has been raising its concerns for many years and will continue to
do so until we can finally put an end to the cancer of corruption and
the culture of crass materialism, which threaten the foundations of our
democracy.
Three days ago, our new Finance Minister, in his Medium-Term Budget
Policy Statement, expressed his concern at "the number of government
tenders, in all three spheres of government that are tainted by
corruption. Corrupt officials stand on one side, while on the other
stand corrupt business people."
He was echoing the remarks of the ANC Secretary-General, Gwede Mantashe,
who recently wrote in ANC Today, "The biggest threat to our movement is
the intersection between the business interests and holding of public
office. It is frightening to observe the speed with which the election
to a position is seen to be the creation of an opportunity for wealth
accumulation."
You will note that both the minister and Secretary-General emphasise
that there are two sides to corruption. For every person who receives a
bribe there is another who gives the bribe. For every corrupt councillor
or public official there is a corrupt businessman or woman.
It would be a fatal mistake for the business community to see this as
just a problem for the public sector. The private sector is deeply
implicated as well, with millions of rands being lost in white-collar
crime within businesses. Corruption is a massive problem that society as
a whole has to unite to overcome.
The 1994 historic breakthrough has opened a completely new chapter for
everyone. But as Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said: "A country is just
like a house, it has windows and gates. If you close the window, you get
no fresh air, and also no flies. But if you open the window fresh air
comes in and also some flies."
This is exactly what is happening in our country. A disturbing culture
has blown in through the window and taken root in our society and our
movement, which threatens to erode the moral and ethics of our
revolution and is silently threatening our national democratic movement.
It is a culture which - I have to be frank - has been imported into our
movement from the business sector. While of course the majority of
business men and women - and we can say the same about our political
leadership - obey the law and do not get involved in corruption there is
a capitalist culture which praises and rewards those who accumulate the
most wealth and despises those who 'fail'.
Business has always been run on the basis of the survival of the
fittest, where the principle of 'dog-eats-dog', 'me-first' applies.
Whilst workers universal slogan is "an injury to one is the injury to
all" the capitalist mentality daily practises the opposite "an injury to
one is an opportunity to the other".
This culture has lead to the obscene levels of salaries, bonuses and
perks for top executives, which has led to South Africa becoming the
most unequal society on earth.
A 2007 survey showed that on average, South African managers were
earning more than those in the UK, France, New Zealand and Canada. South
Africa's senior managers earned an average disposable income of R700,
000 a year, while Britain's managers earned around R600, 000. If you
take account of the lower cost of living in South Africa, the difference
in real terms is even greater.
And they are just the average! In the last financial year Brett and Mark
Levy, of Blue Label Telecoms, were South Africa's top-earning
executives, taking home R50.4 million and R49.5 million respectively.
In the financial sector, First Rand's chief executive, Paul Harris, made
R27.8-million, Sanlam chief executive Johan van Zyl R27.1-million,
former Absa chief executive Steve Booysen R18.2-million and Standard
Bank chief executive Jaco Maree R14.1-million.
Many will argue that these individuals deserve these obscene salaries
and perks, which they earned through hard work, and that they create
wealth for their shareholders who took a risk by investing their money.
As we know, however, in South Africa bonuses are paid to the upper
echelons of management irrespective of the performance of the companies
they are managing.
Workers on the other hand earn far less than workers in the UK, France,
New Zealand and Canada. These same companies that pay out these
first-world salaries to their CEOs expect their employees to accept
third-world wages and lecture the trade unions about their excessive
wage claims.
They casualise their workforces and use the services of labour brokers
to dodge their moral and legal obligations to give their workers the
benefits, job security and minimum wages they are entitled to and still
complain about unions being an obstacle that stops them making even
bigger profits.
It is as a direct result of this attitude to remuneration that wages
have consistently declined as a proportion of GDP, from over 50% in 1998
to under 40% in 2005, while profits steadily rose in the same period.
Ladies and gentlemen
"Fighting corruption," said the COSATU Congress report "is not only a
moral imperative but a major issue of social justice in this country".
As Gwede Mantashe said in his article, "If we do not deal decisively
with this tendency the ANC will only move one way, that is, downward.
Fighting corruption must be our preoccupation".
He quite rightly links corruption to the wave of service
delivery-related protests we have experienced recently. While many
councillors and mayors continue to do wonderful work in support of the
goals of revolution, often under difficult conditions, the recent
community protests are stoked by legitimate grievances about the
terrible levels of poverty and poor service in our poor communities.
But they are just as much a revolt against people they elected to serve
them as councillors and mayors, who become corrupt, move out of the
community, live a life of affluence at the people's expense and do
nothing to help those they have left behind.
Resources intended for the public good are being diverted to
individuals' pockets so that the poor are deprived of desperately much
needed basic services. It is also theft of our taxes that we work so
hard to pay in order to improve public services.
A particular problem is one we call 'throwing the javelin', where
politicians, public servants and unionists feather their nests while
still in public service, by creating future business opportunities.
They then leave the service to work in the same sector in a private
company and profit from the opportunities they themselves had created as
public servants. COSATU is demanding at the very least a five-year
cooling off period after public servants leave public office before they
can take any such position in the private sector.
We continue to insist that those who want to be public representatives
must choose between being public representatives, who live within the
salaries provided for these positions, or being businesspersons. No one
should be allowed to choose both. Those who choose both must be asked to
resign. Clearly a simple declaration of interest is not good enough.
Our country is in danger! As more and more join this race to
self-enrichment, the more the needs of workers and the poor take a back
seat. Individualism takes root. Soon we will be en-route to Zimbabwe and
other failed revolutions elsewhere in the world.
This is not what OR Tambo sacrificed thirty years of his life in exile
for. This is not what Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in
prison for. This is an insult to all of our heroes and heroines. We must
stop this cancer before it is too late. We must raise our fingers now
before we reach a time when no one will be able to raise a finger
without it being chopped off.
2.2 Is the pay gap between executives and workers justifiable?
Patrick Craven, COSATU National Spokesperson's, paper to the SARA
Conference, 30 October 2009
Thank you for inviting me to talk on such an important topic. The short
answer to your question - Is the pay gap between executives and workers
justifiable? - as I am sure you are expecting me to say, is NO.
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said: "A country is just like a house.
If you close the window, you get no fresh air, and also no flies. But if
you open the window fresh air comes in and also some flies."
In both China and South Africa, we have seen a similar phenomenon. Two
countries which went through a liberation struggle which opened the
windows in 1949 and 1994 respectively, to allow in more democracy and
equality, have both ended up with greater inequality than ever.
In both countries a disturbing materialist culture has blown in through
the open windows, a culture imported from within the business sector,
which unfortunately has also spread into our public service, which
praises and rewards those who accumulate and display the most wealth and
despises those who 'fail'.
It is a philosophy of the survival of the fittest and weakest to the
wall, where the principle of 'dog-eats-dog' and 'me-first' applies.
Whilst workers' universal slogan is "an injury to one is the injury to
all" the capitalist slogan is the opposite - "an injury to one is an
opportunity to the other".
While of course the majority of business men and women - and same
applies to our political leadership - obey the law and do not get
involved in corruption, this culture has lead to the obscene levels of
salaries, bonuses and perks for top executives, which has led to South
Africa becoming the most unequal society on earth.
A 2007 survey showed that on average, South African managers were
earning more than those in the UK, France, New Zealand and Canada. South
Africa's senior managers earned an average disposable income of R700,
000 a year, while Britain's managers earned around R600, 000. If you
take account of the lower cost of living in South Africa, the difference
in real terms is even greater.
And they are just the average! In the last financial year Brett and Mark
Levy, of Blue Label Telecoms, were South Africa's top-earning
executives, taking home R50.4 million and R49.5 million respectively.
In the financial sector, First Rand's chief executive, Paul Harris, made
R27.8-million, Sanlam chief executive Johan van Zyl R27.1-million,
former Absa chief executive Steve Booysen R18.2-million and Standard
Bank chief executive Jaco Maree R14.1-million.
My opponents in this debate therefore need to justify why South Africa
should have such unparalleled levels of inequality. They may argue that
these individuals deserve these obscene salaries and perks, because they
have earned them through hard work, which has created wealth for their
shareholders who took a risk by investing their money.
But in South Africa these bonuses are paid to the top managers
regardless of how hard they worked or the performance of the companies
they are managing. The best example is Eskom, which has increased its
CEO's salary by 26.7% despite its manifest failure to deliver an
efficient and affordable service.
Yet these same companies which pay out these first-world salaries to
their CEOs expect their employees to accept third-world wages. Workers -
and they are after all the people who actually create the companies'
wealth - earn way below workers in the UK, France, New Zealand and
Canada.
More and more of these companies are casualising their workforces and
using the services of labour brokers to dodge their moral and legal
obligations to give their workers the benefits, job security and minimum
wages they are entitled to, yet still complain about unions making
'excessive' wage claims and being an obstacle to them making even bigger
profits.
It is as a direct result of this attitude to remuneration that wages
have consistently declined as a proportion of GDP, from over 50% in 1998
to under 40% in 2005, while profits steadily rose in the same period.
I believe that this yawning gulf between the richest and poorest in our
society is an untenable position which threatens to erode the moral and
ethics of our national democratic revolution.
I am convinced that the wave of service delivery-related protests we
have experienced recently are in part a response to the levels of
inequality in our society.
Some of you may not see the link but how do we explain that elsewhere in
Africa there is far greater poverty, yet we do not see the same amount
of social unrest.
The reason I suspect is that poverty in these countries is more
widespread and general. People in surrounding communities are seen to
suffer from the same poverty and lack of service delivery and it is thus
accepted reluctantly as a fact of life.
On the other had communities like Alexandra and Diepsloot, are next door
to Sandton and Fourways, communities which live in a different world
entirely. Arguments about of a lack of resources for service delivery
carry no weight among people who are living in shacks, with no running
water, electricity and sewerage, but see people with seemingly limitless
resources living only a few kilometres away.
The situation is made even worse when their own local representatives
move into the wealthy suburbs and adopt a capitalist lifestyle. While
most councillors and mayors continue to do wonderful work in support of
the goals of revolution, often under difficult conditions, the recent
community protests are in part a revolt against people they elected to
serve them as councillors and mayors, who become corrupt, move out of
the community, live a life of affluence at the people's expense and do
nothing to help those they have left behind.
I end with a quotation from a speech made just this morning by our
General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, to the BUSA Anti-corruption Business
Forum, which applies equally to the debate about inequality and the
culture of self-enrichment.
"Our country is in danger! As more and more join this race to
self-enrichment, the more the needs of workers and the poor take a back
seat. Individualism takes root. Soon we will be en-route to Zimbabwe and
other failed revolutions elsewhere in the world.
"This is not what OR Tambo sacrificed thirty years of his life in exile
for. This is not what Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in
prison for. This is an insult to all of our heroes and heroines. We must
stop this cancer before it is too late. We must raise our fingers now
before we reach a time when no one will be able to raise a finger
without it being chopped off."
2.3 TAC lauds President Zuma's speech
President Jacob Zuma has made one of the most important speeches in the
history of AIDS in South Africa. In front of the National Council of
Provinces (NCOP), he unequivocally acknowledged the devastation of AIDS
on our country. With this speech state-supported AIDS denialism has been
banished. The Treatment Action Campaign welcomes the ushering in of this
new era, almost exactly ten years since former President Mbeki made a
speech that began the era of state-supported denial in front of the
NCOP.
President Zuma acknowledged that government's efforts so far have been
insufficient to curb the devastation of the epidemic. The reality of
this has been declining health outcomes and increasing mortality. We
have a crippled health system and a ballooning epidemic from the years
of AIDS denialism and inaction by former President Thabo Mbeki and
former Health Minister Manto Tshablala-Msimang. However, today's speech
puts that behind us and provides hope that President Zuma will urgently
tackle the epidemic with renewed commitment to meet the treatment and
prevention targets of the HIV & AIDS and STIs National Strategic Plan
2007-2011 (NSP).
In his speech, President Zuma acknowledged that the fear and shame that
have surrounded the epidemic must be overcome. The spread of the
epidemic is intimately connected to government's ability to safeguard
our human rights. All South Africans must feel secure to know their
status and access and adhere to treatment without fear of
discrimination.
President Zuma emphasized the need for behaviour change to reduce new
infections by 50% from 2007 to 2011, the NSP prevention target. Changing
behaviour must be facilitated by increased access to prevention services
and by reducing the vulnerabilities to HIV infection in our society.
Converting knowledge to behaviour change will be directly linked to
these interventions.
A theme of the speech was that to turn the tide of the epidemic
political will is needed not only by government but also by the citizens
of South Africa. TAC and other civil societies have developed an active
cadre of HIV activists in South Africa but this commitment to tackling
the epidemic needs to be adopted throughout our society. As South
African citizens we must actively engage with our own health and the
health of each other. As active citizens we can overcome the stigma and
discrimination that have driven the epidemic.
Key challenges remain to meeting the ambitious targets of the National
Strategic Plan (2007 - 2011) for the treatment and prevention of HIV.
But with the renewed political demonstrated by President Zuma and the
leadership of Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, we believe these
targets are achievable.
2.4 TAC and AIDS Law Project on Minister Gordhan's budget
Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan has delivered the Medium Term Budget
Policy Statement (MTBPS) on 27 October. [1]
Despite the difficult economic conditions, Gordhan's budget commits to
an increase in social welfare and education. We regard his commitments
to health as significant, including:
* An additional R900 million will be given to the Department of
Health to cover AIDS programmes for the remainder of the financial year.
This is a much bigger adjustment to the health budget than the one
provided in last year's MTBPS and much closer to what the Department of
Health requested. The Department actually requested R1.2 billion, but a
further R240m will be provided by the US President's Emergency Fund for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), so the shortfall is relatively small.
* A further R213 million will be given to the Department of
Health for this financial year to cover several goods and services
including measles vaccinations and vaccines and antivirals for pandemic
flu.
* The conditional AIDS grant, which includes the cost of
antiretroviral medicines, condoms, diagnostics, monitoring and some
salaries, will increase from R4.4b in 2009/10 to R7.3b in 20012/13, an
increase of 19% on average per year.
Effective budgeting depends on greatly improved monitoring and
evaluation of antiretroviral treatment and prevention programmes
The central question for the work of the TAC and ALP is whether enough
money has been allocated to the AIDS programme to meet the National
Strategic Plan (NSP) treatment and prevention targets. [2] The answer is
unclear. There is not enough information available and given the
plethora of problems we are encountering, we believe it is unlikely that
there is enough money. But it is also clear that a lack of managerial
capacity and competence in all the departments of health (national and
provincial) is at least as big a problem as lack of money.
There are three state-run antiretroviral treatment and prevention
programmes: (1) highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) for
people with HIV who have progressed to AIDS, (2) prevention of
mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and (3) post-exposure prophylaxis
(PEP) for health workers and rape survivors. HAART is by far the largest
expense of these and the cost of PEP is negligible.
The Department of Health does not have accurate data for the number of
people on HAART. Figures are occasionally published, but for a variety
of reasons they are unreliable. Data on the PMTCT programme is even
worse and is barely ever published. The Department's Monitoring and
Evaluation systems are not working. This is the fault of the former
Director-General of Health, Thami Mseleku and former Minister
Tshabalala-Msimang.
Recently, the newly formed Budget and Expenditure Monitoring Forum,
which includes TAC and the ALP met with the Department of Health. The
department emphasised that steps are being taken to rectify data
collection on the HAART programme. We are encouraged by this. But until
this happens we cannot know if there is enough money in the system to
cater for the number of people currently on treatment, how much the
shortfall is or how close we are to meeting the NSP targets.
The antiretroviral tender
The TAC and ALP have received, encountered or investigated numerous
reports of problems with the HAART and PMTCT programmes. These have
included the moratorium on initiating new patients on HAART in the Free
State, as well as drug stock-outs and dozens of individual cases of
people being denied access to treatment across the country. Studies in
the Free State and Durban have found that the average waiting time to go
onto treatment are four months and 3.5 months in these two areas
respectively, with massive patient mortality occurring during these
waiting periods (over a quarter of patients waiting for HAART in the
Free State die without ever taking an ARV pill). [3,4] Furthermore, we
have received reports of stock-outs of ARVs and erratic procurement.
It is unclear why this should be happening. The NSP provides for
approximately 800,000 people on treatment in 2010. The current public
sector antiretroviral tender (see Table 1) runs from June 2008 to May
2010 and it provides for enough ARVs to approximately meet this target.
It also includes procurement of tenofovir and paediatric abacavir, two
medicines which although not yet provided for in published Department of
Health treatment guidelines are important drugs that will improve
treatment outcomes. We welcome these aspects of the tender.
However, the volumes of drugs to be bought on tender are estimates, not
what is actually being bought. We have tried unsuccessfully to obtain
information on what volumes have actually been bought to date. It
appears that National Treasury is the main obstacle to finding out this
information. From our preliminary investigations though, it seems the
predicted volumes are not being purchased.
Put simply, if the predicted tender volumes were purchased, it is
unlikely we would be seeing such chronic shortages of ARVs and such long
queues. The shortage of health workers is also likely a major cause of
this problem.
Assuming our preliminary investigations are correct, why are the
predicted volumes not being purchased? The cost of the tender is
approximately R2.1 billion a year, or less than half what has been
allocated to the conditional AIDS grant (see Table 2). So there really
should be enough money earmarked to fill the predicted tender volumes.
One possibility is that provincial governments are spending a
disproportionately large part of the conditional grant on health worker
salaries. Certainly some of the conditional AIDS grant money can be used
to cover salaries, but the primary purpose of the grant is to ensure
that the HAART, PMTCT and PEP programmes are implemented. This cannot be
done without purchasing the drugs. If there is not currently enough
money to pay salaries, the budget should be appropriately amended.
We note that the Minister said little about National Health Insurance
(NHI). We await the green paper on NHI. The planning and implementation
of NHI depends on improving the public health system including
controlling and treating AIDS. In this respect we welcome the growing
budgetary commitment to HIV.
Table 1: Summary of public sector ARV tender, June 2008 May 2010
Item
Dose
Company
Volume
Total Cost
ABC
240ml
GSK
1,747,000
234,849,210
ABC
300mgx60
GSK
43,000
13,765,590
DDI
25mgx60
Sonke
37,000
2,003,550
DDI
50mgx60
Sonke
26,000
1,464,580
DDI
100mgx60
Sonke
683,000
46,327,890
EFV
200mgx90
MSD
1,104,000
328,130,880
EFV
600mgx30
Adcock
7,000,000
756,210,000
EFV
600mgx30
Aspen
3,000,000
347,880,000
3TC
240ml
Aspen
3,138,000
67,184,580
3TC
150mgx60
Aspen
9,735,200
290,887,776
3TC
150mgx60
Sonke
2,433,800
72,794,958
PEP Starter
3TCx6,AZTx18
GSK
15,000
855,000
3TC/AZT
150mg+300mgx60
Aspen
20,000
1,835,800
3TC
300mgx30
Cipla
1,601,000
68,042,500
Lop/Rit
5x60ml bottle
Abbott
1,066,000
340,128,620
Lop/Rit
133.3mg&33.3mgx2x90
Abbott
256,000
81,681,920
Lop/Rit
200mg&50mgx120 HS
Abbott
617,000
196,823,000
NVP
20ml
Cipla
10,000
128,000
NVP
240ml
Aspen
45,000
1,633,500
NVP
200mgx60
Aspen
8,801,000
282,600,110
Ritonavir
90ml
Abbott
50,000
3,186,500
Ritonavir
100mgx84
Abbott
200,000
14,888,000
D4T
15mgx60
Aspen
489,000
8,288,550
D4T
20mgx60
Aspen
770,000
13,051,500
D4T
30mgx60
Aspen
8,728,000
147,939,600
D4T
30mgx60
Sonke
2,182,000
38,512,300
TDF
300mgx30
Aspen
3,687,000
588,039,630
AZT
20ml
Aspen
731,000
9,393,350
AZT
200ml
Aspen
200,000
4,530,000
AZT
100mgx100
Aspen
70,000
4,957,400
AZT
300mgx60
Aspen
4,000,000
284,360,000
Total
4,252,374,294
Table 2: Conditional AIDS grant by province (numbers are approximate, as
these have been updated)
Province
2008/9
2009/10
Eastern Cape
441
480
Free State
207
275
Gauteng
803
933
Kwazulu-Natal
1,338
1,463
Limpopo
244
301
Mpumalanga
228
272
Northern Cape
352
375
North West
135
145
Western Cape
276
310
Total
4,023
4,554
2.5 ANC YL 65th Anniversary activities in Umtata a great success
Floyd Shivambu, ANC YL National Spokesperson 1 November 2009
The African National Congress Youth League 65th Anniversary Rally held
on the 31st of October 2009. The Rally was addressed by ANC President
Jacob Zuma and ANC YL President Julius Malema. The Rally was attended by
more than 10 000 young people from various regions of the ANC YL in the
Eastern Cape, Provincial and National Leadership of the ANC YL.
The Rally was preceded by a week long political education classes
conducted by the ANC YL National Executive Committee in all ANC YL
Regions of the Eastern Cape and mobilisations of the communities to
attend the rally.
On Friday, the 30th of October 2009, President Julius Malema visited
Ikhwezi Lokusa Special School for young people with disabilities in
Umtata. Concerned by the lack of basic necessities, such as wheelchairs
for young disabled students, the President committed to contribute 50
wheelchairs to the special school before the end of the learning and
teaching season this year. Further details concerning this important
social responsibility will be communicated.
In his address to the Rally, the President of the ANC YL emphasised and
focused on the following issues:
* Youth Development
President Julius Malema emphasised the vitality of the National Youth
Development Agency intensifying youth development. He called for the
speedy localisation of the NYDA so as to ensure that as many young
people as possible have direct access to the services of the NYDA.
He raised concern over the fact that the readjustment budget presented
by Finance Minister Pravin Gordham did not allocate anything to the
NYDA, which in the Youth League's view should be priority. He called on
Minister Pravin Gordham to prioriotise youth development and understand
that the NYDA is currently the primary channel to advocate for and
mainstream youth development in all spheres of society. He specifically
called of the Minister to allocate not less than R1 billion to the NYDA.
Fight against HIV/AIDS
The President welcomed and appreciated ANC President Jacob Zuma's
renewed commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS. He re-affirmed the ANC
YL's campaign of One Boyfriend-One Girlfriend Campaign and that young
people should understand that HIV exists and should use protection if
they engage in sexual activities.
Service Delivery
The ANC YL President said that communities have a right to protest and
that the Youth League will support all protests where demands are
genuine and violence and destruction is used by protesters. He further
said that criminals should not be allowed to hijack the genuine concerns
of the people and use protests to destroy infrastructure and fight
factional battles through protest.
Alcohol, Drugs and Substance Abuse
The President called for an absolute ban on all alcohol advertisement,
emphasising the point that South Africa cannot continue to celebrate
alcohol while it is responsible for many social ills, including rapid
spread of HIV, crime and social decay. He called on the government to
immediately review alcohol regulation laws to ensure that alcohol is not
sold to people below the age of 21. He also called for the banning of
smoking in public places such as hotels, restaurants, schools, etc.
Education Access
President Julius Malema expressed concern over the fact that the
democratic government has not built even a single University since 1994.
He then called on the government of the ANC, under President Jacob Zuma
to build Universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga and Northern
Cape. He further made a call to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande
to come with a concrete programme on how Free Education for the poor
should be introduced until undergraduate level.
Housing Access
The President made a call to government to establish a State Owned
Housing Bank, which will specifically finance houses and property for
middle income groups, who are not eligible for RDP Houses and still
cannot qualify to get Housing Finance from Banks. He emphasised that
this should looked at as a matter of priority.
Nationalisation of Mines
President Julius Malema re-affirmed the ANC YL's call for the
Nationalisation of Mines, emphasising that ANC leaders who are opposed
to the Nationalisation of Mines are unlikely to lead the ANC from 2012
onwards, because the ANC YL will not support them.
African Leadership
President Julius Malema re-emphasised the ANC YL's call that Africans
should be represented in strategic and key sectors of the economy. He
specifically called for the support of ESKOM Chief Executive Officer
Jacob Maroga, who is being blamed for ESKOM problems despite the fact
that the previous administration under President Thabo Mbeki accepted
that ESKOM problems are a consequence of government's inaction on the
proposals made to expand the power generation capacity of ESKOM.
The President spoke about a variety of vital organisational, political
and social responsibility programmes of the ANC YL, and emphasised the
historical evolution of the ANC YL as a formidable, militant, relevant,
fearless and radical youth organisation.
All the issues raised by the President in his 65th Anniversary address
will constitute concrete programmes of the ANC YOUTH LEAGUE with a
decisive intention to make that they are actualised. All these
commitments illustrate that the The ANC YL Lives! The ANC YL Leads!
2.6 Lawyers for Human Rights launches a court bid to protect homeless
Jason Brickhill, Legal Resources Centre , Jacob van Garderen Lawyers
For Human Rights, Mark Heywood, Aids Law Project, 1 October 2009
In the late hours of 3 July 2009, some 350 destitute and homeless people
were arrested for "loitering" in central Johannesburg.
As they had nowhere else to go, they had been sleeping in the vicinity
of the Central Methodist Mission ("the Church"). As part of "Operation
Chachamela", which effectively targets the destitute and homeless in
Johannesburg, hundreds of homeless persons - including disabled persons,
women, children and many refugees and asylum-seekers - were unlawfully
arrested and detained for the entire weekend.
Many of those arrested reported that they were also beaten, shocked by
tazers and pepper-sprayed. Some say that they were further mistreated
once they were taken to Johannesburg Central Police Station, only to be
released several days later with no charges filed. Many of the
belongings of those sleeping outside the Church - including their few
items of clothing and blankets, identity documents, passports, work
papers, and asylum-seeker permits - were destroyed during the raid and
subsequent arrests.
On Friday, 30 October 2009, the Church, Lawyers for Human Rights and two
of the "loiterers" issued an application in the South Gauteng High
Court, Johannesburg seeking relief against the City of Johannesburg, the
Chief of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), the
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Services
(SAPS) and a number of Ministers. The applicants are represented by the
Legal Resources Centre (LRC) with the assistance of the AIDS Law Project
(ALP). The application papers will be served on the respondents at the
beginning of this week.
The applicants have asked the High Court for an order that includes the
following:
(1) Declaring that the raid on 3 July 2009 and subsequent arrests were
conducted unlawfully;
(2) Prohibiting the SAPS and JMPD - jointly responsible for the unlawful
arrests - from harassing those living in and around the Church and
conducting further unlawful police operations at the Church;
(3) Declaring a City of Johannesburg by-law that criminalises
"loitering" on public roads unconstitutional and invalid; and
(4) Compelling government to engage meaningfully with those seeking
shelter at the Church and other key stakeholders in order to address the
concerns of all.
The applicants are concerned that if no steps are taken to address the
grievances suffered by those living in and around the Church, or to
challenge the "loitering" by-law which is used to harass, detain and/or
arrest them, the SAPS and JMPD will continue to implement "Operation
Chachamela" (which means "walking on burning coals") - the crackdown on
the destitute and homeless - in a way that has a severe impact on the
lives of many of Johannesburg's poorest and most vulnerable residents.
Those living at and around the Church and other residents of central
Johannesburg live in a constant state of anxiety and continue to be
harassed by members of the SAPS and private security companies.
Attempts to obtain undertakings from the SAPS and JMPD not to continue
the harassment campaign have been unsuccessful.
In the result, the applicants have been left with no option but to
approach the High Court for appropriate relief. It is their hope that
this application will prompt the City of Johannesburg and others within
government to develop more appropriate policies to deal with those
living on the streets, especially as the 2010 Soccer World Cup
approaches.
2.7 FAWU Disgusted Over Agri-BEE Land Bank Scandal
Vusumzi Landu , FAWU's National Legal Co-ordinator, 01 October 2009
The Food and Allied Workers Union has expressed its dismay and disgust
at the allegations of graft on AgriBee as reported in the Sunday
newspapers of this past weekend. It is indeed with shock to note that
monies meant to redress the evil of the past, have been misused to the
benefits of individuals instead of the poor and the dispossessed people
of this country.
We are appalled to note that allegations have been levelled against
senior Land Bank officials like its former CEO, Mr Phil Mohlalela and
former Gauteng housing boss Mr Dan Mofokeng to the effect that they
might have used the funds to buy mansions and luxury cars.
To this end FAWU fully supports the call by finance Minister Gordhan
that an urgent investigation is needed in this regard and that culprits
found to be guilty of any wrongdoing, should be brought to book and be
compelled to pay back those funds.
In this regard an asset forfeiture unit should swiftly act to confiscate
all the assets of the individuals involved in this corruption scandal as
we do not have any place in our society for such dishonesty.
3 International
3.1 Dr Aleida and Camilo Guevara complete visiting and speaking-tour to
South Africa
Chris Matlhako - General-Secretary of FOCUS-SA, 31 October 2009
As the month of October came to its close, the Friends of Cuba Society
(FOCUS-SA), also completed a successful speaking-tour and visit of the
daughter and son of the revolutionary icon 'Che' Guevara to South
Africa, Dr Aleida and Camilo Guevara March.
The visit and speaking-tour coincided with a few historic anniversaries,
which raised the prestige of the visit and speaking-tour to our country
as unprecedented an unique. During this month of October the
international progressive world marked the 42nd anniversary of the death
of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna - popularly known as Che Guevara, at the
hands of CIA in Bolivia, whereas this year also marks 50-years of the
triumph of the Cuban Revolution and 15-years of fraternal bi-lateral
relations between the democratic SA and Cuba.
Cuba has for many years since the triumph of the revolution in 1959 been
an ally of the downtrodden and the marginalized peoples of the world
despite its own marginal resource-base. And the ties between the South
African progressive liberation movement (NLM), can be traced to the
early 1960s, when immediately after the triumph of the Revolution, the
ANC sent recently exiled SA students to go and study in Cuba. This
solidified the fraternal relations between the peoples of these two
countries, which today is marked by presence in both countries of each
others nationals'.
That historic bond and ties have been carried into the new democratic
SA, through the establishment of bilateral relations between the
governments of Cuba and SA, thus regularizing these ties through the
medical programmes and exchanges that have seen SA sending needing
students to study medicines and Cuba sending various professionals to
our shores to assist with beefing up the fledging health and other
important sectors for purposes of achieving the goals of the
reconstruction and development.
The visit and speaking-tour of Dr. Aleida and Camilo Guevara, which them
criss-cross the country and visit six of the nine provinces, was
intended to further entrench and cultivate the fraternal peoples'
relations between the peoples' of Cuba and SA. As such her programme
entailed speaking to university students and various audiences around
three key topics - the success of the Cuban Revolution and the ideas,
thoughts of Che Guevara, the importance of providing quality healthcare,
education and dignity to the people as a basis for a sustained
revolution and the campaign to release the Cuban compatriots jailed
unfairly in USA.
No doubt the audiences, with which she and the delegation interacted,
valued the exchanges and appreciated the effort undertaken to make such
possible. For, the minister and deputy of health, premiers' Mathale,
Modiselle and Mkhize and their executive councils, - these engagements
provided a unique basis upon which to further appreciate the basis of
and for dialogue with alternative views and perspectives as an ongoing
effort to address deficit of delivery, in particular in favour of the
marginalized of society.
In the context of the 42nd anniversary of the death of Che Guevara in
Bolivia at the hands of CIA, and the thriving commercialization of the
face of 'Che', FOCUS-SA, found the exchanges in particular with students
and youth at universities and radio talk-shows very useful to elaborate
and share, the not so widely known values and ideals of the late
revolutionary leader and rebellion. Through his children (Aleida and
Camilo), the genuine innate and oft' not pronounced because of
ideological slandering, the subtle and softer sides of a father, leader
and revolutionary, who has touched many in the world, was exposed! Thus,
if there was any value in the visit, it is the opportunity to exchanges
to various levels of human-beings and share or identify with in a more
profound manner the struggles of people.
What the visit and speaking-tour crystalized very clearly was the ever
more important need for more such ordinary peoples' exchanges to
buttress the democratic and human rights values that underpin the
democratic SA. Indeed, it is unthinkable that the youth ad others who
yearn for icons and role-models much be constants fed the diet of banal
Euro-centric and stale American cultures and values. More so, than ever
before, we need to expose in true measure of our democratic and
progressive basis, alternative and progressive perspectives of similar
or close appreciation of societies which exhibit characteristics close
to our won, so as to ensure a sustained effort to make a dent of the
deficit of the poverty of ideas that seem to envelop much of the public
discourse in favour of one line of the 'market' in almost every aspect
of our lives.
4 Announcements
4.1 8 PhD Scholarships at International Center for Decent Work and
Development
The newly founded International Centre for Development and Decent Work
which was established in cooperation with the Global Labour University
www.global-labour-univeristy.org
<http://www.global-labour-univeristy.org/> and the ILO is offering 20
PhD Scholarship for students from developing and transition countries.
ICDD is an interdisciplinary and international scientific network of
excellence with the head office located at the University of Kassel,
Germany and partner universities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The
PhD school is organised around three research cluster
1. Sustainable Value Creation for Decent Work
2) Instruments for Promoting Decent Work
3) Strategies of Empowerment for Decent Work
Starting date March 1st, 2010
Deadline for applications: November 15th, 2009
For details and application form see
http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduate
_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf
<http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduat
e_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf>
4.2 Chris Hani book launch
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