Media Monitor 7 January 2008

THE Bhisho government’s failure to honour Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s promised financial incentives brought Frere Hospital to the brink of a strike yesterday.

Several behind-the-scenes meetings were held during the day to avert imminent industrial action, after some nurses got as little as R12 out of a special Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) salary increase announced by Tsabalala-Msimang in September.

Nursing staff eventually resolved to give hospital management seven days to resolve the crisis.

The OSD is an incentive to discourage public sector nurses from leaving state hospitals for the private sector and encouraging overseas nurses to return home.

It amounts to increases ranging from 20 percent for a staff nurse to 88 percent for a professional nurse, backdated from July last year.

It should have been paid before Christmas.

Some of the nurses expected to be paid more than R30000 in backpay.

Yesterday more than 50 night staff nurses attending a meeting in the Frere Hospital, along with union representatives, warned that nursing staff would not hesitate to strike.

“If we must strike, we will strike. It is time government stops promising and starts producing. This time they will feel the sting,” a chief professional nurse said at the meeting.

In a joint statement the nurses said the problems seemed to be Frere-specific, as they received a letter from a Frere administrative officer, Nomvuyo Jozana, warning them that certain staff members would not be paid due to “administrative problems”.

The nurses were promised that the problems would be resolved by January 2, but this did not happen.

Initial payments in December ranged from R7000 for some staff members to R12 for others on the same salary scale.

One nurse with 20 years’ experience told the Dispatch she received R14, while she should have received at least R20000.

Jozana has since gone on leave and was not expected back at work before February 4.

Other furious nurses said staff who were re-employed at Frere after working at private hospitals,
received higher salaries than staff who remained loyal.

They said they wanted to resign and re-apply for work in an attempt to receive “the new Manto salaries”.

The nurses demanded that all Human Resource (HR) staff on leave should return to work immediately to resolve the impasse.

They wanted to know how it was possible that certain HR staff, who worked overtime to calculate the OSD, were allegedly paid between R14000 and R20000 in once-off payments.

They said an independent commission of inquiry should investigate OSD calculations while all
future calculations of OSD be done in a transparent way, with nurses involved in the actual calculation.

The nurses also demanded that the provincial Health Department explain why it requested an additional R200 million for OSD payments from National Treasury as indicated by the minutes of the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC) meeting held in KwaZulu-Natal in December.

“We give management seven days in which to address these matters, failing which the staff intend to apply to embark on industrial action,” the nurses said in a joint statement.

They were, however, doing their best to act responsibly in their actions, as only night staff attended the meeting, leaving day staff to attend to patients.

Late yesterday afternoon management promised feedback by Tuesday, but Bhisho Health Department director of communications Siyanda Manana dismissed talk of a strike, saying an agreement was reached between the nurses and the CEO of the East London Hospital Complex, Luvuyo Mosana, to do a thorough investigation on the payments.

2 Union matters

2.1 Union talks to focus on meaty increases

Mbuyisi Mgibisa, City Press, 6 January 2008

ORGANISED labour has high hopes of fresh solutions to old and new challenges facing workers this year. Shop-floor issues are expected to be high on the agenda of the country’s two largest labour unions, which have pencilled in talks for before March.

Workers need their leaders to be on top of their game a year after inflation and rising interest rates have conspired to wipe out their below-inflation increases, effectively rendering them poorer.

But Cosatu, the country’s largest labour federation, appears to be sidetracked by its involvement in national politics.

Labour analyst and head of the Sociology of Work Unit at Wits University, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, says the involvement of Cosatu in politics has compromised worker issues.

“There’s no question about that. The preoccupation of Cosatu with national politics is taking up shop-floor issues,” he says.

This could also be the spanner that throws the negotiations with the country’s second biggest union, the South African Confederation of Trade Unions (Sacotu), off course.

Cosatu was at the forefront of lobbying support for newly elected ANC president Jacob Zuma, and is expected to continue to play a role as Zuma goes to trial in August.

The unions have been criticised for not ensuring that employment equity is implemented in corporate South Africa.

They have been also lambasted for failing to play a meaningful role in Sector Education and Training Authorities to address the crippling shortage of skills in the country.

But the unions seem to be up to the immediate challenges faced by the working poor.

Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven says the wage increases that workers got last year have been “severely eroded or cancelled out” by the high cost of living arising from inflation and higher interest rates.

Craven says the unemployed and the casualised workers will be bearing a greater brunt of the increases in prices of essential goods.

“This year, there will be a strong militant voice within various unions to insist that wage increases should be protected against inflation,” he says.

“During mid-year negotiations, we’ll be looking for a satisfactory agreement rather than to engage in confrontation.

“But Cosatu members will have a final say on what is a good settlement,” he says.

Statistics South Africa estimates that about 40% of South Africans are unemployed and 200 000 graduates cannot find work.

Craven says the union federation will push very hard to try to turn casualised jobs into permanent posts. The casualisation of workers in South Africa is mostly in the retail sector.

Joseph Maqhekeni, the deputy president of Sacotu, says the unions will face an uphill battle in negotiations for wages during mid-year.

“For the past two or three years, the rate of increases have not been very bad. But considering that crude oil prices this week reached the $100- a-barrel mark, we cannot rule out future interest rates hikes,” he says.

Maqhekeni says his federation is concerned about the low rate of worker unionisation in South Africa, particularly in the domestic and farming sectors.

“We have to sell this noble idea of belonging to the unions. The farm and domestic workers are the worst exploited, but it is very difficult to mobilise them,” he said.

Last year, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana challenged the unions to mobilise vulnerable workers. He said 12 million workers in the country were not unionised, compared to the five million who are members of trade unions.

Maqhekeni says Sacotu is ready to engage in talks with Cosatu to discuss the formation of a single union federation in the country.

“The biggest challenge is the role played by Cosatu within the ruling party, the ANC,” he says. Cosatu has an alliance with the ANC and the SACP.

Craven says Cosatu is looking forward to the negotiations.

“It’s something we are working on. We remain committed to the goal of a single federation,” he adds.

Maqhekeni says his union is working on a strategy to increase its one million paid-up membership by pulling independent public sector unions such as the National Professional Teachers of South Africa into its fold.

“We’re busy identifying other unions that subscribe to the idea of non-political alignment,” he said.

Cosatu says it has increased its membership from 1.8 million to 1.9 million and is drawing closer to its target of two million members by the end of this year.

Maqhekeni says there have been positive developments between labour and government on various issues affecting workers. These include growth, employment creation, poverty reduction, the impact of globalisation, casualisation, fiscal and monetary policy and the challenges facing the trade union movements in South Africa.

However, he raises concerns that some Cabinet ministers who were influential in setting up this process were excluded from the national executive committee of the ANC. Two such ministers are public enterprise’s Alec Erwin, who chairs the task team between labour and government, and Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi of the public service and administration ministry.

Craven says Cosatu believes the new ANC leadership will be sympathetic to the demands of workers.

The mid-year wage negotiations last year resulted in a series of strikes, including the longest public service strike in post-apartheid South Africa.

2.2 Higher wages undone by rises in food prices

Mawande Jack, Labour Correspondent, The Herald, 2 January 2008

UNIONS fear that the wage increases won in the wake of last year‘s wave of strikes have been turned into losses by the increases in interest rates and food prices.

Last year‘s nationwide strikes resulted in salary increases ranging between 7,5 per cent for public service workers and 8,5% for those in the motor, chemical and tyre sectors – opposed to the increases of 6% offered by the employers.

“These interest rate hikes and skyrocketing prices spell disaster for millions of the poorest South Africans,” said Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven.

The unions view the Reserve Bank‘s rate increases as an attack on and reversal of workers‘ victories through collective bargaining.

“Raising interest rates are likely to cause untold misery and wretchedness,” said a statement issued by several Cosatu unions.

Last week one of Cosatu‘s largest unions, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), expressed intense anger at Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni‘s decision to raise the base lending rates by 50 points.

Numsa spokesman Mziwakhe Hlangani said the Reserve Bank‘s monetary policy committee was “grinding down” the wage increases and better working conditions of employment negotiated for metal workers last year.

For the unemployed and unorganised workers who had had no increase in wages, the situation was becoming desperate, Cosatu said.

The union said while the policy was “justified as necessary to fight inflation”, it meant that people who already faced skyrocketing increases in the price of fuel and food had to bear rising repayments on bonds and loan repayments.

“It makes inflation worse” Craven said.

Cosatu and other labour federations have called for a shift in monetary policy, to replace the current “inflation-targeting” with an “employment targeting monetary policy”.

3 Alliance politics

3.1 Cosatu warns of chaos at Zuma trial: Report

SABC, 3 January 2008

The Congress of SA Trade Unions in KwaZulu-Natal has warned that the country would be thrown into chaos and that blood would "be spilt" following the latest charges brought against ANC President Jacob Zuma, the Sowetan reported today.

The National Prosecuting Authority filed an indictment on Zuma last week and he faces 16 charges in total.

Cosatu's provincial leader Zet Luzipho warned that there was growing anger from the people on the ground, especially in KwaZulu-Natal where Zuma has his biggest support base.

"People are now angry. This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom. People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We will not be held responsible for their anger," he told the Sowetan.

During Zuma’s previous court appearances, thousands of supporters showed up at court. Luzipho said the latest string of charges against Zuma smacked of a "political conspiracy" by those "who lost the political contest in Limpopo".

He said he was saddened by the latest developments because "many of us saw Limpopo as an equal contest and not as a platform to create further enemies". He said the actions against Zuma further divided the ANC.

"It is divisive and will plunge our country into chaos. As much as the NPA says this is an independent undertaking, it confirms to us that state machinery is again being used for political gain," he told the Sowetan.

However, NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said yesterday: "The NPA is sensitive to the controversy which this decision evokes. We are also aware of claims that the NPA is being misused to advance the political and other objectives of certain individuals. This is not so."

Trial unlikely to start before August

Zuma's trial is unlikely to start before August - if at all, his attorney, Michael Hulley told Talk Radio 702 today.

Zuma still has to file papers to counter the NPA's indictment for him to stand trial in seven months time. He faces charges of corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud.

The NPA has claimed that it is ready to proceed with the trial whenever the defence indicates it is willing to do so. But Zuma's lawyer told Talk Radio 702 that it was not clear when his legal team would respond to the indictment.

Hulley has indicated Zuma plans to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution, based on the belief that his right to a free trial has been infringed. – Sapa

3.2 Zet Luzipho: Harbinger of doom

Sunday Times, 6 January 2008

COSATU KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Zet Luzipho has warned of violence and mayhem should the authorities proceed with the trial of ANC president Jacob Zuma.

“People are now angry,” our Mampara suggests. “This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom.

People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We will not be held responsible for their anger.”

(He means firing line, doesn’t he?)

But whose blood is it exactly that will be spilt? The judge’s? Zuma’s? The lawyers who will defend Msholozi to the last cent of taxpayers’ money? Ours? Yours?

And where exactly is this frontline the people will be in and not on?

If Loose Lips Luzipho could please tell us, we’ll run the other way.

3.3 Zuma tells supporters to stay calm

Jeremy Gordin and Sapa, Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, 6 January 2008

COSATU backs down on 'blood in streets' threat if ANC's new president is dragged into court on corruption charges

Jacob Zuma, the president of the ANC, has called on people to remain calm and disciplined in the wake of the national prosecuting authority re-charging him with corruption and charging him for the first time with racketeering.

And Arthur Chaskalson, the former chief justice, and George Bizos, an eminent advocate, have jointly called on the public to respect the country's judiciary and not criticise the courts in connection with the Zuma case.

"We don't want to have the kind of thing we are seeing in Kenya," said Zuma on Friday night, soon after meeting the ANC's five other senior officials in Johannesburg in preparation for tomorrow's first meeting of the organisation's new national executive committee (NEC).

The four-charge indictment, served on Zuma three days after Christmas and a week after he was elected president of the ruling political party, sparked widespread anger among his supporters, especially those in the ranks of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the ANC Youth League.

Zet Luzipho, the Cosatu leader in KwaZulu-Natal, said on Thursday that blood would be spilled and the country thrown into chaos if Zuma were forced to appear in court.

His statement was "withdrawn" on Friday by Patrick Craven, Cosatu's national spokesman, who said that Cosatu members would not resort to violence.

Zuma supporters are angry about the timing of the serving of the indictment - delivered to Zuma between Christmas and New Year - and have remained adamant that his prosecution is a plot to quash his presidential aspirations.

Zuma supporters have also argued that the way in which the case has been handled since 2004 has robbed Zuma of his right to a fair trial.

"On no account should there be any violence or burning of property, or anything like that, because of these charges against me. I know why people are so angry on my behalf. But there are other ways, legal ways, with which to deal with such matters," said Zuma.

He said he had discussed the charges against him and Thint on Friday afternoon with Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC's deputy president, Baleka Mbete, the party's chairman, Gwede Mantashe, its secretary-general, Thandi Modise, its deputy secretary-general, and Mathews Phosa, the party's treasurer. Zuma said they had been preparing for tomorrow's NEC meeting and the coming week's celebration of the ANC's 96th birthday.

"As for the indictment, you can expect the NEC to make a statement about it after tomorrow's meeting. It's not for me to say anything. It's the call of the NEC - and I am sure they will do and say what they are required to."

Zuma's innocence or guilt should be decided by the courts and not by the rhetoric of his detractors or supporters, Chaskalson and Bizos said this week.

In an unusual step in the legal world, they issued a signed statement saying: "We are concerned at the tone of the debate around the contemplated trial of Mr Jacob Zuma."

Chaskalson and Bizos emphasised that they did not want to say anything about whether Zuma should have been charged, or about the substance or lack of it of the charges against him.

They were concerned with only one issue, they said, "and that is the implication from some of the statements that our judiciary as a whole lacks the independence and integrity to ensure that Mr Zuma will receive a fair trial".

This was harmful to the judicial process, constitutional democracy and the country's reputation, they said.

Chaskalson and Bizos appealed to all political leaders and their supporters, opinion makers, commentators and the media to let the courts decide the issues.

"We are confident they will do so without fear or favour."

They said an example of the integrity of the judiciary being called into question was when a Cosatu spokesman reportedly said: "It does not matter who the judge is, we do not believe the judiciary will be able to be objective.

"The trial against Zuma is a politically motivated exercise … he has been subjected to trial by public opinion for the past seven years. We have been convinced for some time that he will not get a fair trial … workers will not allow the NPA and whoever is handling [it] to abuse its power in this matter."

Craven yesterday denied that Cosatu was questioning the independence of the judiciary. "We are defending the independence of the judiciary against what we perceive are attempts to manipulate [it] for political ends," he said.

A lawyer associated with the Zuma case said: "I have no idea why Chaskalson and Bizos have made a statement. They are not connected with this business; they are not in the loop any more. If the chief justice wanted to make a statement, that would be fine. But it's not the business of two old fogeys."

3.4 Zuma will take fight to highest court

The Citizen, 7 January 2008

ANC president Jacob Zuma said he would fight to the bitter end in the highest court to prove that he is innocent and did not commit any crime, Beeld reported on Friday.

He was deeply suspicious that senior members of the government were playing an important role in his indictment on 16 charges which included allegations of racketeering, corruption, money laundering and fraud, he said, but did not name anybody.

Responding to a warning by the KwaZulu-Natal office of the Congress of SA Trade Unions that there would be chaos if he did have to appear in court, Zuma said: “No, no, no.

“That is exactly what I don’t want. I don’t want people to die or that shops and vehicles be set alight. I want no violence.

“I understand people’s anger, because even I am deeply upset over the latest move by the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority). But there are other legal ways that people can air their views and express their feelings and give expression to their unhappiness,” Zuma was reported as saying.

“Violence is not the answer and I will never approve of it. I call on all of them to remain calm and abide by the law.” – Sapa.

3.5 ‘Doubts about Zuma fair trial undermines judiciary’

Former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson and George Bizos SC, City Press, 6 January 2008

Statement on the independence of the judiciary

WE are concerned about the tone of the debate around the contemplated trial of Mr Jacob Zuma. We do not wish to say anything about whether he should or should not have been charged, or the substance or lack of substance of the charges against him; those matters are beyond our knowledge.

Our comments are directed to one issue only and that is the implications that have been made that our judiciary lacks the independence and integrity to ensure that Mr Zuma will receive a fair trial.

An independent judiciary is one of the pillars of our democracy. Statements questioning the independence and integrity of our judiciary are without substance and will undermine our democracy.

An example of this, recently given prominence in the media, are comments attributed to a spokesperson from Cosatu, who is reported to have said: “It does not matter who the judge is, we do not believe the judiciary will be able to be objective. The trial against Zuma is a politically motivated exercise . . . and he has been subjected to trial by public opinion for the past seven years. We have been convinced for some time that he will not get a fair trial . . . workers will not allow the NPA and whoever is handling them to abuse its powers in this matter”.

The question of whether Mr Zuma is guilty or innocent must be decided by the courts and not by his detractors or supporters; so too, the question of whether or not he gets a fair trial is for the judiciary.

Putting pressure on the courts by making serious allegations of partiality, uttering threats of massive demonstrations, and expressing opinions in intemperate language, are harmful to the judicial process; to our constitutional democracy; and to our country’s reputation.

We appeal to all political leaders and their supporters; to opinion makers; commentators; and the media, to let the courts decide on these issues. We are confident that they will do so without fear or favour. That is their constitutional duty and there is no reason to believe it will not be discharged.

3.6 Jurists’ stand on Zuma trial welcomed

Wyndham Hartley, Business Day, 7 January 2008

The leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament, Sandra Botha, has welcomed the intervention of former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson and veteran human rights lawyer George Bizos, who at the weekend warned political organisations to stop interfering in the work of SA’s law courts.

T he two highly respected jurists issued a joint statement on Saturday that called for African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s innocence or guilt to be left to the courts and not to be determined through rhetorical statements from his detractors or supporters.

They said they were concerned with only one issue: “And that is the implication from some of the statements that have been made that our judiciary as a whole lacks the independence and integrity to ensure that Mr Zuma will receive a fair trial.”

Botha, in a statement yesterday, said: “SA should be thankful to the respected legal practitioners George Bizos SC and former c hief j ustice Arthur Chaskalson for the much-needed perspective they presented … on the role of the courts in the Jacob Zuma saga.

“The ANC — and in particular secretary-general Gwede Mantashe — must realise no political party has any place to exercise influence over the courts in order to determine the merits of any individual case.

“This is one of the fundamental cornerstones of democracy; anyone who fails to understand this is unfit to hold political office,” she said in the statement.

Botha said that it was reckless for statements to be made that “blood will flow”, as said by Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) provincial spokesman Zet Luzipho. She welcomed Cosatu national spokesman Patrick Craven’s repudiation of the statement.

“Mr Zuma must make sure that he emphasises this sentiment in the ANC’s January 8 statement this coming week. The political landscape has undergone a dramatic change and the very least voters should be able to expect from the ruling party is the assurance of stability regarding their safety, their investments and the fact that everyone is equal before the courts.

“The DA believes the protection of independent institutions is just as important as the assurance that elections will be held regularly and that they would be free and fair,” Botha said.

3.7 ANC, judges on collision course

Wyndham Hartley, Parliamentary Editor, Business Day, 7 January 2008

The bitter wrangle between the African National Congress (ANC)-led government and the legal community over judicial independence is set to continue this year following the adoption at the party’s Polokwane conference of a resolution that endorses positions that many in the legal fraternity believe infringe on the constitutional independence of the judiciary.

Since the publication of the Superior Courts Bill and the Constitution 14th Amendment Bill two years ago, objections from the legal community have been serious and sustained.

Among those who have criticised the proposed legal measures are former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson, veteran human rights lawyer George Bizos and former Constitutional Court judge Johann Kriegler.

Among the issues raised regarding the original legislation is the placing of absolute administrative and budgetary control of the courts in the hands of the justice minister, giving the minister the power to veto rules of court, and giving the president of the country more power in the appointment of acting Constitutional Court judges and judges president.

After the publication of the bills in January 2006, the General Council of the Bar convened an urgent symposium on February 17 to discuss the implications.

The barrage of criticism that followed caused the bills to be put on the backburner in Parliament, and to be referred to the structures of the ruling party for discussion.

A document on judicial transformation tabled at the ANC’s policy conference last June did not recommend the removal of the controversial clauses and these were endorsed at the ANC’s conference last month.

The Polokwane resolution also comes in the context of threats by ANC-aligned organisations of social upheaval should newly elected ANC president Jacob Zuma be brought to court on a new set of corruption, fraud and racketeering charges.

The draft resolution insists that the “principle of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary must be respected by all spheres of government”.

The resolution says that in matters concerning the adjudication of cases, the chief justice will have responsibility .

It continues by saying that the administration of courts, including any allocation of resources and financial management, is the ultimate responsibility of the minister and that there should be a single rule-making mechanism for all courts “with the rules being approved by the m inister and Parliament”.

The justice ministry has insisted since the controversy began that in terms of the rules of court, the judiciary was not being deprived of a power to write rules because it has never had them.

Rules of court, in terms of the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act 1985, are determined by the board, which is appointed by the minister.

Democratic Alliance justice spokesman Tertius Delport said he had to caution that the executive not exercise administrative control to such an extent that it would infringe on judicial independence or “at very least create the impression that the executive is involved in, for instance, allocating judges, as this would be extremely damaging”.

3.8 The politics of placing the constitution above all else

Editorial, City Press, 6 January 2008

They say a week in politics is a very long time. And so we have witnessed just how long as a country long regarded as a rock of stability descended into anarchy in a couple of days.

As we write, more than 300 people have been killed in the violence that has followed the announcement by the Electoral Commission of Kenya that the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki, had won the presidential election, beating the opposition challenger, Raila Odinga.

Odinga and his supporters claim Kibaki tampered with the ballots and robbed Odinga of victory. How do they express their unhappiness? By burning properties and killing their opponents. As if that were not bad enough, suddenly it becomes an issue that Kibaki is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo, and people declare open season on their neighbours, all because they belong to the same ethnic group as Kibaki or Odinga.

There is a clear lesson for South Africa in the tragedy that has been unfolding in Kenya: we cannot take peace for granted. This comes as the infighting in the ruling party has taken an ominous turn.

Following the NPA’s recharging of ANC president Jacob Zuma, there has been a clamour from the usual suspects – the ANC Youth League, Cosatu and Young Communists League – that the timing is suspect. As if there would have been a good time to charge him.

Had the NPA recharged Zuma before the Polokwane conference, his gallery of supporters would have made the same claim: that he is being prevented from becoming president.

KwaZulu-Natal Cosatu leader Zet Luzipho has threatened: “This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom. People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We will not be held responsible for their anger.”

What the rest of us read into these statements is that Zuma should not be charged at all, and that is worrying for that means that he is above the law. Zuma, after all, faces charges including corruption, fraud, racketeering, tax evasion and money laundering.

He has claimed to want to have his day in court, yet he is silent when his supporters aim their machine guns at the judiciary. Former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson and Advocate George Bizos SC were drawn to release a statement (see page 4) in which they express concern at “the tone of the debate around the contemplated trial of Mr Jacob Zuma”.

If Zuma has ambitions of becoming president of this country, and all indications are he has those ambitions in tonnes, he has to realise that as the first citizen of the country it would be his primary responsibility to defend its constitution and its institutions.

First of all, he has to come out strongly, and publicly, and repudiate the reckless statements that are being made by his defenders. His silence allows the suspicion to fester that our hard-won democracy may not be safe in his hands.

3.9 Luister na Zuma en los geweld oor vervolging

Volksblad, 7 January 2008

ONDANKS die swaard van vervolging wat oor hom hang, het mnr. Jacob Zuma die regte leierseienskappe getoon toe hy die opruiende uitsprake van die Cosatu-leier in KwaZulu-Natal sterk gerepudieer het.

Mnr. Zet Luzipho, provinsiale leier van die vakverbond, het ná die aankondiging van die Nasionale Vervolgingsgesag dat Zuma vervolg gaan word op klagte van bedrog, korrupsie, omkopery en swendelary, met geweld gedreig.

Luzipho het gesê die woede van die mense oor Zuma se vervolging gaan lei tot “bloedvergieting in die hofsaal”, en dat “Suid-Afrika in ’n chaos gedompel sal word en dat bloedvergieting sal plaasvind”.

Die herinneringe aan die skandelike wyse waarop Zuma-ondersteuners hul argwaan oor die verkragtingsklagte teen hom op die arme klaagster buite die hof in die strate van Johannesburg uitgehaal het, is nog vars in die geheue.

Dié boewery en intimidasie van ’n populistiese gepeupel is toe skaars veroordeel.

Nou het hy egter sterk standpunt ingeneem teen Luzipho en ander ondersteuners se dreigemente van geweld. “Nee, nee, nee. Dit is presies wat ek nié wil hê nie. Ek wil nie hê mense moet sterf of dat winkels en motors aan die brand gesteek moet word nie. Ek wil geen geweld hê nie.”

Zuma het ’n beroep gedoen op almal om kalm te bly en wettig op te tree, ’n vermaning wat in belang van Suid-Afrika se brose demokrasie dringend inslag moet vind by die heethoofde. Augustus, wanneer Zuma in die hof verskyn, lê nog ver.

As die politieke klimaat nou reeds deur soveel dreigende storms gekenmerk word, kan ’n mens net jou asem diep inhou in vrees vir daardie één daad van onbesonnenheid wat die kruitvat kan laat ontplof.

Cosatu, die ANC-jeugliga, die SAKP en ander Zuma-ondersteuners moet deeglik van sy woorde kennis neem – en die hofproses sy gang laat gaan.

3.10 ANC vows to stand by Zuma

Werner Swart, Sashni Pather and Nivashni Nair, The Times, 7 January 2008

NEC expected to treat Zuma accusations as plot to deny him presidency

The ruling party’s national executive committee is expected to back its beleaguered president, Jacob Zuma, when it meets today.

Despite yesterday’s Sunday Times report on Zuma’s dependence on hand-outs from his former financial adviser , convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, and the charges of corruption and racketeering that he faces, the committee is expected to reiterate its support for Zuma.

Independent analyst Harald Pakendorf said the committee had adopted a pro-Zuma stance and would side with Zuma’s supporters, who maintain that the charges against him are part of a political campaign to derail his political ambitions.

“This is the light in which the NEC will see the allegations in the Sunday Times ,” Pakendorf said.

Responding to the Sunday Times report, ANC spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said: “These are details of the legal affairs of the president and the [National Prosecuting Authority]. The ANC has taken a decision to support [Zuma] and we will not comment on specific details of the case.”

Rikhotso confirmed that Zuma’s legal troubles and the pending court case would be discussed at today’s meeting of the national executive committee.

The Sunday Times yesterday revealed the embarrassing extent to which Shaik bankrolled Zuma for more than a decade.

The information was contained in a report compiled by auditing firm KPMG and will provide a new insight into the history of the relationship between the two men when Zuma goes on trial in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in August .

According to the report, Shaik paid R4 072 499 to Zuma from 1995 until two months after Zuma was fired as deputy president of the country, in 2005. The payments covered a variety of Zuma’s expenses — from an insurance payment to R10 for the washing and vacuum cleaning of a car owned by Zuma.

In addition, Shaik paid for Zuma’s clothing — R36000 was spent at a boutique in Durban. Shaik paid school fees for Zuma’s children and a “Zuma family travel” bill of R44100 for a trip to Cuba in 2002.

Shaik was found guilty on corruption charges, stemming from his relationship with Zuma, in 2005. The conviction led to Zuma being axed as deputy president. Shaik is serving a 15-year jail sentence.

In a remarkable comeback, Zuma was elected president of the ANC at the party’s national conference last month, putting him in pole position to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as head of state .

But, a week later, Zuma was indicted on charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion. He is accused of using his government positions to land lucrative contracts for Shaik’s companies and for French arms manufacturer Thint in the country’s multibillion rands arms deal.

Shaik’s brother, Mo, yesterday refused to comment on the new revelations about his brother’s payments to Zuma.

“I would rather want to know how the Sunday Times got hold of those documents. We don’t know if they are authentic court documents,” he said.

“We are used to it, as a family, to wake up on a Sunday morning and have one story or the other leaked by the Scorpions. Hopefully, one day, the Sunday Times will tell us if it is indeed ‘the paper for the people’ or an embedded agent for certain state institutions.”

Cosatu’s leader in KwaZulu- Natal, Zet Luzipho, has denied that he was advocating violence when he said blood would be spilt if Zuma were tried for corruption.

Last week, Luzipho told Sowetan: “People are now angry. This time there will be blood spilt in the courtroom. People are ready to put themselves in the frontline. We will not be held responsible for their anger.”

Yesterday Luzipho explained that he was not declaring war but was warning that Zuma’s powerful support base, angry about the NPA’s decision to recharge him, might become violent.

3.11 ANC policy teeters on centre of power divide

Wilson Johwa, Political Correspondent, Business Day, 7 January 2008

TOP global banks say the outcome of today’s meeting of the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) national executive committee (NEC) and the contents of the party’s annual plan of action, to be presented by its president, Jacob Zuma, tomorrow , will provide the first clues as to which of the two centres of power will dominate in the next 18 months.

Zuma’s defeat of President Thabo Mbeki for leadership of the party led to a perceived split between the ANC-led government and Zuma’s left-wing backers.

Zuma’s supporters accused Mbeki’s administration of not adequately addressing the concerns of the poor and it will now be under pressure to implement policies endorsed by the ANC’s new leaders.

“It will be the first test for signs of where policy direction might be headed … markets are concerned about the implications of this perceived shift to the left in the composition of the NEC and what it might mean in practical terms,” said Razia Khan, Standard Chartered’s regional head of research for Africa.

In a research note, JPMorgan economist Tebogo Dintwe said Zuma’s speech tomorrow “may showcase the increasingly bitter relations between the two centres of power and provide indications of the policy direction under the new ANC leadership”.

One of the first opportunities to spell out policy shifts will come tomorrow, when Zuma delivers the party’s annual anniversary statement spelling out its programme for the year.

Several key meetings over the next month will also provide pointers to policy shifts and tensions between party and government leadership.

Next week , the party’s NEC lekgotla convenes in Gauteng. In effect a workshop also attended by decision makers in the government, it is meant to reflect on Zuma’s statement tomorrow and establish plans of action for resolutions adopted at the party’s national conference.

On January 31, the 332 members of the ANC parliamentary caucus will meet in a four-day lekgotla to identify “strategic priorities” relating to Zuma’s statement.

Mbeki’s state of the nation address at the opening of Parliament next month will be followed by a cabinet lekgotla, which will inform the government’s programme of action.

Dintwe said although Zuma had repeatedly assured investors of policy continuity, the change in NEC composition was likely to affect economic policy.

“We do not anticipate a radical departure from the current framework but the resolutions adopted at the June policy conference are sufficiently broad to allow discretion in their implementation,” Dintwe said.

JPMorgan believed the South African Reserve Bank’s inflation targeting strategy was likely to be revisited, as demanded by Zuma’s trade union backers. “Still, this does not necessarily imply abandonment of inflation targeting or threaten the independence of the (Bank) ,” Dintwe said.

While selective increases in social spending were among the resolutions adopted at the ANC national conference, “whether such potential changes can take effect prior to the national elections could largely depend on the outcome of the battle between the two centres of power,” said Dintwe.

Khan said markets were looking for reassurance of continuity in SA’s pragmatic fiscal and monetary policies.

“I think the need for more spending on poverty is a given; markets have no problem with that and there is some fiscal room to allow that to happen.

“But at a time when markets are nervous about inflation … with inflation above the target and heading higher, if there are any indications at all of a strong grassroots move away from inflation targeting that could potentially be quite damaging," Khan said.

Today, at its first meeting since its election at the ANC’s national conference last month, the 86-member NEC will elect a national working committee (NWC) that will convene every two weeks to deal with all manner of party issues.

“Being a member of the NEC is a huge affirmation by the members of the ANC.

“To be elected into the NWC is an indication that you have made it into the top leadership,” said political analyst Siphamandla Zondi of the Institute for Global Dialogue. “It deals with the kind of work that is assigned to the most trusted, most able and most senior members of the ANC,” Zondi said.

Nomination to the NWC is “not left to chance but decided in advance”, said a former cabinet minister, who did not wish to be identified.

“The powers that be decide who should be in there.”

As the main forum for regular contact between the government and the ANC, there is concern that the NWC would become the stage for turf and policy battles should animosity between the Zuma and Mbeki camps persist.

“It depends on who is on it,” said Steven Friedman, a political analyst.

At the ANC’s Polokwane conference, the Zuma camp clinched the most seats in the NEC. However, since most of its previous members — mainly cabinet ministers — were not re-elected, Zuma’s allies are set to translate their dominance by electing their people on to the NWC.

Yet, there is the possibility of retaining some of the 13 cabinet ministers elected on to the NEC.

At today’s meeting the NEC is expected to make pronouncements on Zuma’s pending trial, while also choosing a new party spokesman to replace Smuts Ngonyama, who is no longer a member of the NEC.

3.12 ANC to discuss Zuma's graft case

Aderogba Obisesan, Mail & Guardian, 7 January 2008

The corruption charge against Jacob Zuma, the new head of the African National Congress (ANC), is on the agenda of the first meeting since his election of the party's national executive council (NEC) on Monday, the party secretary general said on Sunday.

"The corruption charge against Zuma is on the agenda. It [NEC] will deal with the issue but it will not be the major focus of the meeting," Gwede Mantashe, said.

"We will handle the issue in a way that it will not affect the nation's judiciary process," he said, without further explanation.

Zuma (65), who was elected ANC president about two weeks ago, was on December 28 charged with fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and tax evasion following a probe that also implicated French arms manufacturing group Thales.

The trial of Zuma, who married his fourth wife on Saturday, is scheduled for August 4.

Two leading South African jurists on Saturday said that the graft case against Zuma, which has attracted local and international attention, should be settled by the courts alone.

In a statement, Arthur Chaskalson, the first post-apartheid head of South Africa's Constitutional Court, and George Bizos, ex-defence lawyer for former president Nelson Mandela, said the courts must be allowed to decide on the matter.

"Putting pressure on the courts by making serious allegations of partiality, uttering threats of massive demonstrations and expressing opinions in intemperate language are harmful to the judicial process, to our constitutional democracy and to our country's reputation," the statement, sent to the South African Press Association, said.

Given the ANC's dominance of South African politics since the end of the whites-only apartheid rule in 1994, Zuma would normally expect to become the country's president after President Thabo Mbeki's second term of office expires in 2009.

He has said he will stand down from the ANC if found guilty of any offence but he has steadfastly insisted on his innocence.

Zuma was sacked by Mbeki in 2005 after his financial adviser was found guilty of soliciting bribes on his behalf.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, one of Zuma's biggest backers, condemned the move by the National Prosecuting Authority to charge Zuma with corruption as a "politically inspired campaign" using state institutions to settle factional battles within the ANC.

His other supporters said that Zuma, believed to be on frosty terms with Mbeki, was the victim of a "political vendetta".

The ANC national executive meeting in Johannesburg will, among other things, also elect a 20-member national working committee (NWC) to oversee the day-to-day running of the party, Mantashe said.

Zuma and members of the ANC executive were elected at the party's conference in Polokwane.

The meeting will also discuss the contents of the ANC's yearly "January 8" statement.

The statement, which gives the policy direction of the party, is given annually to mark the anniversary of the ANC.

The ANC, which turns 96 on January 8, led the struggle against whites-only minority apartheid rule.

'Two centres of power'

Meanwhile, the election of the all-powerful NWC on Monday would likely be an indication of how the party dealt with the issue of two centres of power, political analyst Adam Habib, from the University of Johannesburg, said on Sunday.

"Firstly, the two centres of power, clearly this is going to be the time to manage relations between the two [state and party]. This may well be a big item on the agenda.

"It will be interesting to see how the NWC elections turn out -- if people from both camps are elected then it will be what the president [Jacob Zuma] wanted in his closing address in Polokwane, to see unity," said Habib.

"If the Zuma camps takes the NWC, this will set the parameter for how conflict will evolve.

"The big issue is going to be how to bridge divide between party and state," he said.

Mbeki was likely to cut a lone figure at Monday's meeting with many of his key allies no longer on the party's NEC. -- AFP, Sapa

3.13 Key ANC meeting could bring unity - or war

Cape Times, 7 January 2008

The election of the all-powerful ANC national working committee (NWC) on Monday is likely to be an indication of how the party deals with the question of two centres of power, says University of Johannesburg political analyst Adam Habib.

"Clearly this is going to be the time to manage relations between the (state and party). This may well be a big item on the agenda," Habib said.

Jacob Zuma was elected president of the ANC at the party's national conference last month.

President Thabo Mbeki's term as head of state ends with the general elections next year.

If people from Mbeki as well as Zuma's camps were elected to the NWC, this would be what Zuma said in his closing address at the ANC's national conference that he wanted - "to see unity", Habib said.

"If the Zuma camp (dominates) the NWC, this will set the parameters for how conflict will evolve."

Habib said this week's meeting of the ANC national executive committee (NEC), its first since the election of the party's new leadership, was likely to be acrimonious.

Fifteen members of the NWC are to be elected at this three-day meeting, beginning in Esselen Park, East Rand.

The working committee also includes the top six leadership figures. Ex-officio members are former ANC presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, ANC Youth League President Fikile Mbalula, and Women's League President Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

"The big issue is going to be how to bridge the divide between party and state," Habib said.

Mbeki was likely to cut a lonely figure at Monday's meeting as many of his key allies were no longer on the NEC.

An opinion piece in the Sunday Times attributed to Mbeki's mother, Epainette Nomaka Mbeki, warned about the treatment of the former ANC president.

"South Africa today is on the verge of a mighty upheaval that, if left unchecked, might set back all the gains our fledgling democracy has hitherto achieved on all fronts," the piece read.

"A very ugly prospect has appeared. The main horror is the attitude toward the (state) presidency. A section of the public is bent on destroying the respectability of the office and besmirches the president's name with all the vitriol reserved for enemies of the ANC."

Epainette Mbeki said the country needed a new constitution. The first priority was to revise the electoral system.

"Individual members of parliament should be elected directly by citizens at polling stations in relevant, direct constituencies, and the party system should be abolished. It is deviant and people feel cheated. At present MPs are not accountable to the public."

The second priority was that Luthuli House, the ANC headquarters, should be disbanded.

"Luthuli House and what it stands for is a spoke in the wheel of progress; it is redundant. The NEC composition is black, and (whites, Indians and coloureds) are not represented.

"Watch its inaugural meeting next week," Epainette Mbeki wrote.

"There will be wrangling and hurling of insults; the pot calling the kettle black."

The National Prosecuting Authority's charges against Zuma are also likely to be on the agenda of Monday's meeting.

The indictment, served on Zuma on December 28, was discussed at the first meeting of the party's top six leaders on Friday afternoon.

"The corruption charge against Zuma is on the agenda. (The NEC) will deal with the issue, but it will not be the major focus of the meeting," said Gwede Mantashe, newly elected secretary-general of the ANC.

"We will handle the issue in a way that will not affect the nation's judiciary process."

Habib said the ANC would have to examine how the charges would affect its election campaign, likely to begin in the next two or three months.

The charges against Zuma have been severely criticised by his supporters, who allege that his legal woes are a result of political interference. Criticism has been directed at Mbeki, with the ANCYL claiming he is a player "behind the scenes".

Zuma has appealed to his supporters for calm.

"We don't want to have the kind of thing we are seeing in Kenya," he said.

3.14 ‘I am able to fight my own battles’

Fred Khumalo, Sunday Times, 6 January 2008

But the man from Nkandla will need all his legendary charm now.

The Zulu word isoka is usually used to refer to a man who has the uncanny ability to charm himself into the hearts of many women with the sweetness of his tongue.

But isoka can also denote someone who is so good with words that he can bring two warring factions to a table, where they break bread peaceably .

Jacob Zuma is an isoka supreme. His victory at the ANC’s 52nd conference in Polokwane is testimony to him being a man whose second name is Prince Charming.

His actual second name is Gedleyihlekisa — Zulu for “the one who laughs with you while he is hurting you” — a perverted kind of charm. It’s a name rooted in the domestic squabbles that were taking place in the Zuma household when he was born into this polygamous family in 1942 in Nkandla. His father had two wives, and Zuma’s mother was the junior wife.

Zuma was only three years old when his father died — and Zuma jnr and his mother had to leave the household, finally settling at his mother’s parental home in Maphumulo.

That’s where Zuma began herding cattle while other children his age went to school.

A typical rural Zulu boy, he learnt the art of stick fighting . When he was acquitted of rape a few years ago, Zuma invoked the days of his boyhood, saying : “Ngelusa, ngaqhathwa,” which loosely translates as “I can fight my own battles.”

He had decided that the acquittal was the beginning of a fight for his political life — against his long- standing friend and comrade, Thabo Mbeki.

Zuma was born eight days after Mbeki. The latter is highly educated, from a middle-class family, aloof in demeanour; the former a peasant, with no formal education, and affable and friendly.

Zuma joined the ANC as a teenager after moving to Durban where his mother was employed as a domestic worker

In 1962, he joined the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe. He joined the South African Communist Party the next year, and was given the name Pedro, as was the tradition at the time.

The underground movement of the ANC was still in its infancy.

Zuma was meant to have been one of the first recruits to be sent abroad for military training. As it happened, he was part of a group of 45 new recruits who were intercepted by police outside the then Western Transvaal town of Zeerust in 1963, and held under a law that allowed the state to detain people without charging them for up to 90 days.

Zuma was in fact charged and, convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island.

Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and others would be arrested in 1964 and sentenced to life imprisonment, and also served on the island. As a communist, Zuma was closer to Govan Mbeki than to Mandela, who wasn’t a communist.

Some of South Africa’s most promising leaders would be groomed on Robben Island over the next 30 years; Zuma was one of them.

As a youngster he had attended night school and, when he arrived on the island, he resumed his schooling, thanks to the help and encouragement of the likes of Mbeki and Harry Gwala, who were his mentors.

After his release in 1973, Zuma married Sizakele Khumalo, a terribly shy childhood sweetheart . The wedding was financed, to a large extent, by one Mrs DM Wall of the West Midlands in England. She was linked to the International Defence and Aid Fund that helped sustain political activists who, upon their release from prison, often found themselves unemployable.

Zuma was at the forefront when the labour strikes of the early ’70s exploded in the then Natal . By that time he had set up an underground network in the province.

When things became too hot, he fled into exile in 1975, leaving his wife behind. It was in Swaziland that he first met Thabo Mbeki who taught him how to use a gun, he said. At one point, both men were arrested in Swaziland, but Mbeki managed to persuade Swazi officials not to send them back to South Africa.

In his unauthorised biography of Mbeki, author Mark Gevisser gives a glimpse into the chemistry between the two men: ‘‘what did Mbeki see in him? Certainly his staunch loyalism , but also his innate political sensibilities and strategic savvy. These attributes would make him indispensable to Mbeki in the ’80s and ’90s, and so threatening after 1999.”

While still in Swaziland, Zuma was instrumental in recruiting many youngsters into the ANC. He helped them cross the border as things got hotter in the aftermath of the 1976 uprising. After Swaziland, he settled in Mozambique where he became chief representative of the ANC following the signing of the Nkomati Accord in 1984. His predecessor was Joe Slovo who, in terms of the accord between Pretoria and Maputo, had to leave Mozambique.

Said a former comrade: “Zuma ran the organisation off the top of his head. He never carried documents; that was dangerous; but he knew the activities of the movement and individual comrades off the top of his head.”

Zuma was instrumental in the planning of many explosions at government installations in South Africa; in 1988, Pretoria struck at the ANC with a car bomb that almost killed comrade and now Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs in Maputo — and the word went out that Zuma was on the hit list of the death squad responsible.

As things heated up in Mozambique, Zuma moved to Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed chief of the intelligence department. He had by this time been appointed to the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

With the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, Zuma was instrumental in organising the Groote Schuur Minute with then President FW de Klerk, which got the negotiated settlement process rolling.

That year he was elected chairman of the Southern Natal region of the ANC.

At that time, Inkatha was a powerful force in what is now KwaZulu-Natal, and engaged in a long, bloody war against the ANC.

Ever the strategist, Zuma fell headlong into the strife — but he wasn’t fighting; he was working hard at finding a peaceful settlement .

He whipped the rug from under the feet of Mangosuthu Buthelezi when he charmed his way into the heart of ordinary Zulu speakers. He went to great lengths to repair the damage done by the likes of ANC leader Sbu Ndebele, who had treated Zulu royalty — the essence of Zuluness — with disdain .

If there is anyone who should be credited with destroying Inkatha, it is Zuma. Using his political charm and exploiting the Zulu deference to royalty, he won over ordinary rural folk to the ANC.

In him, they saw a person who not only respected their king, but one who, unlike IFP leader Buthelezi, had fought the apartheid regime .

Zuma built his power steadily over the years, until he was appointed deputy president of the country in 1999. That is when the relationship between Mbeki and Zuma began to sour, culminating in Zuma ’s sacking in 2005 for his alleged part in arms deal corruption.

Just months after his sacking, Zuma was accused of having raped a 31-year-old family friend who was HIV-positive. His supporters said Zuma had been set up, singing to his accuser outside the court: “How much did they pay you, nondindwa [whore]?”

But, even assuming that he had been set up, it seemed Zuma had lost the good judg ment that helped him survive years of harassment and monitoring by apartheid agents.

By falling into a trap — assuming that this is what it was — he seemed to have lost his touch as an ultra- cautious, suspicious operative. He had become complacent.

In the years to follow, Zuma exploited the rumours of conspiracy to resuscitate his career. Faced with a disgruntled ANC torn asunder by an aloof and arrogant Mbeki, Zuma did not have to work too hard to appeal to the sympathetic sensibilities of those disaffected with Mbeki’s abrasive style of leadership.

Zuma’s victory early this week, then, was not necessarily an affirmation of the vision he would like to share with the country, but a repudiation of Mbeki .

Moving forward, it should be noted that even though Zuma has won control of the party, Mbeki still has his hands on the levers of power as he is still in charge of the government.

A year in politics is a long time, and it would therefore be wise of Zuma not to leave Mbeki — who was humiliated at the conference — smarting in a corner.

Embracing him and his acolytes would go a long way towards helping him not only nurse his wounds, but to bringing about the much-spoken-about unity of the ANC, a liberation movement which has been torn apart over the past three years.

And being the isoka that he is, Zuma shouldn’t find it difficult to use his charm and influence to achieve this goal.

· Fred Khumalo’s Mshini Wami! The unauthorised biography of Jacob Zuma, published by Penguin Books, is due to be released next year

3.15 You ANC nothing yet

Brendan Boyle, Sunday Times, 6 January 2008

Forget Limpopo, the real battle for power has yet to start

The Polokwane shootout between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma rescued democracy and open debate within the African National Congress, but residual hostilities will deliver another year of political sniping with a real risk of collateral damage to critical pillars of the state.

The best thing the two men could do for South Africa would be to put their personal feud aside in the interests of the country, but there is little reason to hope that either is ready to let the national interest trump personal or party priorities, according to a panel convened by the Sunday Times to analyse the significance of the ANC’s 52nd national conference in Limpopo three weeks ago.

The next round will be fought tomorrow, when Mbeki and Zuma attend the first meeting of the new National Executive Committee elected after Zuma had trounced Mbeki in the election of the leader who will preside until after the party’s centenary celebrations in 2012.

If the winner-takes-all spirit of the national conference persists this week, Mbeki is likely to feel very alone in the National Working Committee to be elected tomorrow. He will be there only in his ex-officio capacity as former party president and few members of the Cabinet will be around to back him up.

Zuma’s seconds could be pushing him to go for a quick kill in this week’s meeting and the ANC lekgotla a week later — or they might prefer just to wing the President and leave him less able to manoeuvre.

Veteran ANC member Frene Ginwala worries that Zuma’s new NEC comprises so many different agendas that unity could be impossible; Aubrey Matshiqi of the Centre for Policy Studies fears 2007 might turn out to have been a tame curtain-raiser to the real battle this year; and Rhodes University professor Steven Friedman is concerned that unsettled scores could distract the ruling party from the business of ruling for at least another 18 months.

The discussion, chaired by Professor Sipho Seepe, president of the SA Institute of Race Relations, took place before the National Prosecuting Authority laid new charges against Zuma, but the likelihood that he would again face formal indictment for fraud and corruption shaped the conversation.

For Raenette Taljaard, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation, Zuma’s resort to the Constitutional Court in another bid to evade prosecution poses a dangerous challenge to the institution designed to be the strongest pillar of South Africa’s young democracy.

Zuma loyalist Comfort Ngidi, a lawyer in KwaZulu-Natal, believes his man offers the best chance of stabilising the ANC because he is a leader who has grown within the ranks of the party and not, like most of Mbeki’s strong allies, someone imposed from without.

University of Johannesburg professor Adam Habib says the focus of Zuma’s influence will be on economic policy as he tries to address the perception that the ANC has prioritised the interests of a few high fliers at the expense of the poor masses who have seen too little benefit from the transition to democracy.

The following is a heavily edited transcript representing, in words, about a tenth of the discussion. For a complete transcript of the debate, go to: http://www.thetimes.co.za

Sipho Seepe: What would we say determined the outcome of the leadership vote?

Adam Habib: This effectively represented a rebellion against Mbeki’s administration and leadership of the ANC. There’s a powerful layer within both the tripartite alliance partners and in the ANC that feels that this transition has benefited the rich more than it has the poor and the marginalised. This is an issue of a more inclusive transition — not socialism, not communism but a kind of economic agenda that is much broader than this. I think, also, there was a strong feeling in the party that there was manipulation of state institutions, that institutions are used against some people much more vigorously than they are used against others and there’s a feeling very strongly in the party that rules were deployed differentially against different people. So for instance you charge Jacob Zuma, but you don’t charge Jackie Selebi immediately. I think both at the level of crime and also on health there was a feeling that the President actually was not identifying with mothers whose children were dying.

Raenette Taljaard: We actually have an anti-hero that’s been elected. It’s as if we have the antithesis that’s been elected as opposed to actually having a person elected fully on their own merits.

Steven Friedman: I didn’t find a single person in Polokwane who told me that they were going to vote for Jacob Zuma because of economic policy. Unless we have institutions of governance in this country which connect with people and respond to people, we can have 53 rocket scientists per square inch and it won’t make a darn bit of difference.

Frene Ginwala: In the last five years we began to have more and more extended national executive meetings, when all the ministers, all the deputy ministers started attending. These people came without a vote, but they started introducing the policy debates. And all the NEC policy sub- committees, with one or two exceptions, were also headed by members of the executive.

Comfort Ngidi: Because of the distance between the President and the ordinary branch members, the President could not hear branches. Because he is no longer capable of listening to his members, he can’t understand the language that they talk.

Aubrey Matshiqi: Their appropriation or invocation of certain traditions in the ANC, or misappropriation of certain traditions of the ANC itself, had an alienating effect. For me, the economic explanation is much less compelling than the argument around political management and style of leadership.

Friedman: Obviously not everybody can be a Cabinet minister, but if you don’t craft your Cabinet so that all the major elite groups within the ANC are included in it, then you’re going to have trouble, which is precisely what happened.

Taljaard: The electoral system we have has allowed a leadership echelon to develop that hasn’t needed to be rooted in structures, because that is not necessarily a fundamental requirement of becoming a political leader in a pure, proportional representation electoral system.

Ginwala: It was a vote about perceived sides, which makes reconciliation much more difficult because it had a kind of all-or-nothing perspective.

Habib: What will happen when comrade Zuma phones ’braMbeki and says, “Howzit ’bra Mbeki, can I suggest that the following is done,” and ’bra Mbeki responds as he has in the last 13 years: “Sorry, I am State President, I shall determine that.” You could have a conflict emerge.

Where the crunch comes is: how do you do it when it comes to interest rates, how do you look at inflation targeting? Do you look at a more expansive environment or do you focus on employment? That’s the first crunch.

Friedman: It doesn’t matter what the motives of the people who were temporarily democratising the ANC were, the genie is out of the bottle and will be very difficult to put back again. If you look at history, most democratic breakthroughs have not been achieved by high-minded people trying to introduce great social visions. They’re usually produced by grubby people who mobilise the masses and try to put them back in the box and find they won’t go into it.

Ginwala: The people in politics today are not the people who were in the struggle pre- 1990. They see politics as a career, also a way of personal advancement. So it’s no good hankering after something, where your whole life was the struggle, where you sacrificed families, careers, everything. Sometimes, when President Mbeki speaks, he really thinks in those terms and it is not feasible.

Taljaard: Polokwane is stage one. There will be other stages leading into the 2009 election. We are looking at at least 18 months of a very steep learning curve, in which the unpredictability of politics is always present. We are a country that deals well with uncharted terrain — we have up to now, in our transition, done relatively well, but it really is seriously uncharted terrain.

Habib: It might be simply the NPA making a decision on its own, but it will be perceived in a particular way and reaction to that will create its own dynamics. If we think 2007 was bad, actually 2007 might simply become a curtain-raiser to 2008.

Taljaard: Irrespective of whether there are new charges brought, we already have the Zuma case before the Constitutional Court. So, especially after the nature of what happened in Polokwane, we have another constitutional institution that is only a few years old in the crucible of this struggle. There are rule of law implications, there are fragility of institutions implications when you bring a body as important as the Constitutional Court into the heart of a political battle.

Matshiqi: Aspects of the Zuma case, in my opinion, have been representative of a misapplication of the rule of law and aspects of how the NPA has handled the Zuma affair have been embarrassing. But, having said that, I really hope we’ll not make the mistake of thinking (of) the Zuma affair as the totality of how we have applied the rule of law in this country.

Seepe: The issue is really about state power versus political power. Zuma commands political power; he’s got the political base, the political advantage. And you have the President with the state power. And when you have control over state power, you have control of the state organs, you have access to the repressive machinery of the state. So this period is a period of vigilance, where you make sure that state organs are not used to settle political scores.

Matshiqi: There is going to be another battle in 2009 because I do not assume that these calls for unity will necessarily translate into automatic consensus that Zuma should become head of state in 2009. And I’m factoring in the NPA and the possibility of charges.

Friedman: We need to be concerned as a society that a whole variety of actors are compromising our prospects of building a really independent judiciary in this country. And if we are going to have 18 months of trench warfare between the party and the state, the country is going to be the loser quite substantially.

I think this leaves a new leadership of the ANC in a situation where, having led a rebellion against a particular person, having mobilised the delegates, the branches, are they going to continue to respect the branches? Because if they don’t there is going to be a problem. And, secondly, having complained that they were marginalised, are they now going to do to the people who lost yesterday what the people who lost did to them; because if those things happen you can kiss ANC unity goodbye and this democratisation is simply going to lead to an indefinite period of trench warfare.

Taljaard: What I see in this instance is the revenge of what somebody has called the coalition of the disgruntled. How is internal democracy ever going to be seen as having resurged on a credible basis if it has purely resurged on the basis of revenge — which is clear in the block voting for the top six and the NEC outcome?

Ginwala: It is also very important to see to what extent this can be a unified leadership anyway, because it’s a strange coming together and I don’t know how it is going to work.

Habib: I had a fascinating conversation with a number of people who were unhappy with both candidates and what they said was: “We are throwing in our lot with Zuma because we think the momentum is there, we think they are raising important questions around democracy, but we are hoping that the case itself will resolve the Zuma dilemma in the sense that he will no longer be a candidate for the president.” So what they are saying is: the mere fact that there is a case happening disqualifies him from the presidency and therefore what could come into play is a Motlanthe presidency of the state.

Ngidi: The reality is that the Scorpions have made their case worse than it was because how are you going to charge a corruptor and a corruptee differently? Apart from the merits of the case having been weak, you have witnesses who have made statements to the police, they’ve made statements to court and you then imagine the attorneys having a field [day] with witnesses who have made three statements.

Taljaard: My great fear is that in this potential scope for disunity, which is very much there after Polokwane, we’re not ever going to go into discussion about values, whether as they are espoused in the Constitution or how they go forward in post-apartheid phase two.

Matshiqi: I think what tended to happen throughout the succession battle was the emphasis of certain values to the extent that such an emphasis advanced your interests. But I think it would be an error to assume that this NEC list represents a complete absence of values and much more accurate to say there was a selective approach in the values that people emphasised in the political choices they made.

Friedman: Either it’s trench warfare to determine who will be the next presidential candidate of the ANC or it’s some kind of attempt to deal with difference. If unity is based on an attempt to deny difference then it’s going to fail.

Ginwala: The South African court system being what it is, there’s no way that case is going to finish in 18 months. So I think we are going to have to live with the fact that Zuma would be the next president.

Habib: If Jacob Zuma is not charged, or if he wins the case, I think he is a shoo-in for the presidency. If, on the other hand, he is severely compromised, whether found guilty or not, I don’t think he is going to be a candidate and then I think the person to watch here, who came out fantastically at the conference, the man of the conference, is Kgalema Motlanthe. If (Zuma) gets charged but the thing drags on and you enter into a campaign I think there’s a body in the collective that will go to him and say, “In the interests of the party, given the fact that we are in the middle of a campaign, you can remain president of the ANC but can you agree not to be the candidate for the president.” Whether that succeeds or not, I’m very dicey.

Matshiqi: It will depend on whether the ANC achieves unity over the next 18 months and my view is that it’s going to be very difficult. I think the best the ANC may be able to achieve under Zuma’s leadership is the absence of open conflict. On the trial, if the evidence that is adduced during the case is seen to be politically damaging in terms of internal dynamics, it is not inconceivable that Zuma will be forced to withdraw by the collective leadership.

Ginwala: You see, this collective leadership, that’s why I say what’s crucial is whether it can unify, because there’s so many different interests amongst it.

Taljaard: Depending on how the two individuals behave, depending on what is going to happen in those 18 months to party and state, that will determine what will happen in the list process leading into 2009 — and the outcome of the list process chooses the president in legal terms, nothing else.

Ginwala: Jacob Zuma has also, consciously or unconsciously, got obligations and there is no way he can satisfy all the demands. These are dynamics that still have to be played out.

Ngidi: As far as achieving the unity of the ANC, I say Zuma stands a better chance of achieving that.

Friedman: Whatever you think of the outcome, a process in which the president of the ruling party was replaced by somebody else in a free ballot, in a democratic process, is immensely important for the future of this country.

Habib: What did open up, over the last two years and in this conference, is a debating culture that allows for a plurality of views to be expressed and not de-legitimised by labelling ... that’s a fantastic benefit.

Ngidi: We should be grateful that Mbeki and Tokyo (Sexwale) contested the election. It cemented democracy and changed the ANC, at least for the next 20 years.

Ginwala: What’s positive is empowerment of the ordinary ANC member.

Matshiqi: The gender lobby, they went in there demanding 50-50 parity and they got more than that because what they got was a minimum of 50%.

Taljaard: Another positive of the conference is that floor crossing is to be scrapped, which I intend to do countless jigs about and break open the champagne the moment [the] law goes through Parliament.

Seepe: One could actually say it’s a victory for the ANC, it’s a victory also to South Africa, but also a victory to the commitment to transparency.

3.16 How Schabir Shaik controlled Zuma

Andre Jurgens, Sunday Times, 6 January 2008

CONVICTED fraudster Schabir Shaik ran almost every aspect of Jacob Zuma’s financial affairs for almost a decade.

A 16-page KPMG report that forms the cornerstone of the state’s case against Zuma for fraud and racketeering, paints a staggering picture of the complete financial hold Shaik had over the newly elected president of the ANC.

Zuma will in August face a battery of charges in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, including fraud, corruption, racketeering and money- laundering, for allegedly using his high position in government to further the business interests of Shaik and the French arms firm Thint — in exchange for money.

The damning document shows Shaik’s astonishing generosity. He funnelled a total of R4072499 to Zuma, according to the indictment in his looming criminal trial, in 783 separate payments between October 25 1995 and July 1 2005.

The Durban businessman continued to pay Zuma during his own fraud and corruption trial, with the last payment going through in July 2005, two months after Shaik’s conviction.

Shaik’s companies gave money to Zuma’s ex- wives, paid his rent, supplied his children with pocket money and forked out for his many debts. They even paid R10 to cover the cost of a “wash and vacuum” of his car.

Within days of Zuma being fired as deputy president of South Africa, the last payment was made to him — R393.80 to Absa on July 1 2005 for insurance on a Toyota Tazz vehicle — and he was also given R400000 to pay off a debt.

Shaik, who now sits in Westville Prison, KwaZulu-Natal, also paid doctors, pathologists and hospitals, traffic fines, electricity and water accounts, car repayments, insurance and phone bills. Even housekeeping costs were covered while Zuma was deputy president .

In June 2005, the Durban High Court sentenced Shaik to an effective 15 years in jail and a number of his companies to an array of fines for fraud and corruption. It was through many of these companies that Shaik paid hundreds of thousands of rands to Zuma.

The traditional home where Zuma married his fourth wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli, yesterday in a tightly guarded ceremony in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, was bankrolled with help from Shaik, his “financial adviser”.

Cash was also paid to Zuma’s ex-wives. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who divorced Zuma in 1997, received R22 000. Kate Zuma, who committed suicide on December 8 2000, received R23 400.

One of the payments to her was for R400 on July 24 1998. She received two payments in a single day on August 31 1998 — R1500 from the account of Pro Con Africa and R7000 from the account of Schabir Shaik.

The payments to Zuma and his family ranged from a mere R10 to cover the cost of a “wash and vacuum” of his car to a R300000 cash deposit directly into his personal bank account just three months before President Thabo Mbeki fired him as his deputy.

Shaik paid Zuma’s family travel and accommodation costs, including aircraft charter (R14200), a tab from the exclusive Twelve Apostles Hotel in Cape Town, Avis car rental costs and tickets to fly on South African Airways, according to a spreadsheet in the KPMG report.

He also coughed up R44100 for “ Zuma family travel costs” for a trip to Cuba (tickets and allowance) on December 13 2002.

During Shaik’s trial it emerged that, as MEC for Economic Affairs and Tourism in KwaZulu- Natal between May 1994 and June 1999, Zuma earned about R20000 a month. As deputy president of South Africa he earned a salary, including allowances, of around R870 000 a year.

Yet, even after becoming deputy president, the schedule lists one payment of R140.01 (April 21, 2000) from Shaik’s firm Kobitech, under the heading “petrol for Zuma’s car”. Five months later R25 in cash was doled out for a “mini-valet for Zuma car” followed days later by R10 in cash for — “wash and vacuum Zuma car”. More valet and petrol costs followed, including R150 paid for a traffic fine.

Shaik even paid panel beaters in Durban for work done on a Mercedes-Benz listed as a Zuma vehicle.

Zuma wore designer clothes thanks to his benefactor, who dished out tens of thousands of rands to the exclusive Casanova boutique in Durban. In just two weeks in August 2001, one of Shaik’s companies paid the store R18000 for Zuma’s purchases. A month later the store was paid another R18000 — and further payments followed.

A large portion of the payments received by Zuma was made in cash. Vast sums were also spent on educating Zuma’s numerous children. Shaik’s Nkobi Group forked out money for school books and paid regular fees for Zuma’s children to attend Holy Family College, Sacred Heart College , Empangeni High School, the University of Zululand , Westerford High, Pretoria Boys, Herschel School, St Catherines , Cape Technikon and the International School of Cape Town. The payments are listed under the heading “Zuma children education”.

There were also numerous payments for “Zuma children allowance”, separate amounts to different children ranging from a few hundred rands to R5340. One child received R12160 in just two months.

Regular monthly payments were made for a Hyundai Sonata and Mazda Etude listed as “Zuma children vehicle costs”.

The newly elected ANC president even has Shaik to thank for paying R21000 to the organisation to settle his outstanding party levies. Members of Parliament are expected to pay a percentage of their salaries on top of their membership fees to the party.

The indictment shows that Shaik was supposed to handle Zuma’s tax returns and his declaration to Parliament and the Cabinet’s registers of interests.

Zuma now faces tax evasion charges for allegedly not declaring to the taxman the income he received from Shaik and his other funders. He is also being rapped for failing to fully declare his interests as the law requires of serving MPs and members of the Cabinet.

4 South Africa

4.1 Young communists launch 'Right to Learn' campaign

Mail & Guardian, 7 January 2008

The Young Communist League (YCL) will on Tuesday launch a "Right to Learn" campaign in memory of Joe Slovo. Spokesperson Castro Ngobese said the purpose of the campaign was to to ensure that schools re-opened smoothly.

"Slovo was a thinker that reigned supreme in the galaxy of many working class and communists heroes that the ANC [African National Congress]-SACP [South African Communist Party] alliance ever produced," Ngobese said.

"He was a selfless and dedicated communist, a fighter par excellence for the working class and the poor," he said.

"We call on government and the Department of Education to genuinely honour Joe Slovo in a befitting manner by ensuring that learning and teaching were opened without any financial obstacles," he said.

Ngobese said Slovo knew that a better life for the people meant three basic things: shelter, affordable healthcare and a quality education.

"His untimely departure robbed our country of one of its leading cadres and agents in the reconstruction and development of our nascent democratic state we now all belong to.

"The challenge is to empower the youth with education, skills and opportunities, and not through patronage," he said.

He said the campaign would help administrators ensure effective and speedy registration.

Meanwhile, the SACP on Sunday also commemorated Slovo's death.

Slovo was the chairperson and general secretary of the SACP and a former commander of Umkhonto weSizwe.

Commemorations followed the ANC's 52nd national conference where it was decided that economic transformation needed to be accelerated for the benefit of the overwhelming majority of South Africans, the party said. – Sapa

4.2 ‘Schooling will return to normal in Khutsong’

Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi, Sowetan, 7 January 2008

North West education authorities are confident that normal schooling will take place in Khutsong this year.

Pupils from the turbulent township lost more than six months of schooling last year because of protests against the incorporation of the Merafong municipality into North West from Gauteng.

Education department spokesman Charles Raseala said the department would do everything in its power to uphold the culture of learning in Khutsong.

“We have no reason to suspect that things will not work this year. The Merafong Demarcation Forum (MDF), parents and pupils assured us at a meeting on Thursday that there will be normal schooling this year,” he said.

Raseala said the community even offered to help municipal workers in cleaning up the schools to prepare for a smooth start to schooling.

Pupils boycotted classes in April last year to support the community in their bid to resist incorporation into North West.

In June, they did not write mid-year exams because of class disruptions.

In August the department shipped more than 400 of the 475 registered matriculants to a camp in Taung to prepare for exams.

Raseala said the camp paid off beyond their expectations.

“We got 11 distinctions in maths which means more engineers, scientists and medical doctors,” he said.

MDF secretary Kgapa Mabusela said they were working hard to normalise the situation.

“At Thursday’s meeting with the department we raised some issues that need to be addressed and we hope the department will attend to them speedily for the sake of proper learning,” he said.

Mabusela said one of the issues was the outstanding results of some pupils.

“It is up to the department to finalise the matter before school starts to avoid any disruptions.”

North West Sadtu chairman Mxolisi Bomvana said: “We expect pupils and teachers to report to school on time so that normal schooling can take place”.

“We hope the situation will be calm this year to avoid the disruptions that marred schooling last year.”

He said the problem in Khutsong was political and needed to be resolved politically.

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