COSATU Media Monitor, 14 June 2013
Norman Mampane
COSATU Media Monitor
Friday, 14 June 2013
COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013
COSATU National Collective Bargaining, Organizing and Campaigns Conference Special Declaration
http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=7062
COSATU has served a Section77 Notice at Nedlac on the 11th December 2012
http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6785
COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013.
http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6793
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The articles in the Media Monitor do not represent the views of COSATU. They are selected because we believe they deal with topics of interest to our readers, who will then be informed on how the media is reporting and commenting on these topics. It will enable them, if necessary, to respond to inaccurate, misleading or biased reports or comment.
If we have excluded other articles which readers wished could have been picked, this was not intentional but because of tight time-frames. If you have seen article worth to be shared email it.
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Contents
Workers’ Parliament
Ø Motlanthe to meet mining industry
Ø EDITORIAL: A case for central bargaining
Ø Unions want speedy land reforms
Ø Leather industry reaches pay deal
Ø Marikana site to be 'cleansed'
Ø Amcu puts Lonmin strike on hold
Ø North West police chief continues testimony at Marikana commission
Ø 'I took Marikana decision': Mpembe
Ø Striking mineworkers were a threat - top cop
Ø PTA hospital to probe cop harassment
Ø Waterkloof warders fired
Ø Over 1000 Gauteng cops arrested: Petros
Ø Teacher speaks out about racism at school
Ø Breytenbach to be redeployed: report
Ø Peacekeepers behaving badly: Why South African ill-discipline in DRC is a UN problem
Ø Bad credit records deprive young professionals job prospects
Ø Brokers still not banned
Ø Why do doctors hate medical aids?
Ø IBM lays off workers as company eyes new markets
COSATU
Ø Firm to make R664m from e-tolls - report
South Africa
Ø That day in June, 1976
Ø Call to trace missing 1976 activists
Ø Full programme for June 16
Ø Agang in name wrangle
Ø Govt departments to address complaints speedily: SAHRC
Ø FIVE MINUTES: South Africa
Alliance
Ø Julius Malema unplugged: Talking 'bout a revolution
Ø Cape Town: ANC's attempt at poolitics ends with a whimper
Ø ANCYL protest culprits being identified: report
International
Ø Analysis: Zimbabwe’s elections, through Mugabe’s looking glass
Ø Brazil to kick off Confed Cup in key World Cup test
Ø FIFA urges fans to come pick up Confed Cup tickets
Ø COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013
Ø COSATU Section77 Notice served at Nedlac on the 11th December 2012
Ø Look beyond politics for a city name that will unite all of us
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1. Workers’ Parliament
Motlanthe to meet mining industry
SAPA, Sowetan, 14 June 2013
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will hold a meeting in Pretoria with key players in the mining industry on Friday, the presidency said.
"The meeting is part of government's efforts to engage role players in mining to stabilise the mining industry and work towards a sustainable solution to the current problems afflicting the industry," it said in a statement on Thursday.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Association of Mineworkers' and Construction Union (Amcu), Uasa, Solidarity, the National Council of Trade Unions, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, the Federation of Unions of SA, the Chamber of Mines, and the SA Mining Development Association were expected to attend.
Labour relations in the mining sector have taken centre stage since the killing of 44 people near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana last year.
Tensions between the NUM and rival Amcu have intensified in the platinum sector, leading to violence and strikes.
President Jacob Zuma has tasked Motlanthe with leading interactions with the unions and mining companies.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, and Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu will assist him.
The presidency said Motlanthe had spent the past two weeks holding discussions with the trade unions, federations, and the Chamber of Mines.
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EDITORIAL: A case for central bargaining
Business Day, 14 June 2013
IT WAS almost inevitable that the attempts to create a centralised bargaining forum for the platinum sector would fail. The distrust and divisions between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), and the fractured relationships between employers and the unions, would have made an agreement very difficult.
Besides which, Amcu, as the majority union at Impala Platinum, Lonmin and Anglo American Platinum, clearly wants to deliver a deal to its members on its own terms to prove itself on the mines where it now holds the majority. Negotiations on a collective basis might have diluted any Amcu victory. Amcu is also suspicious of any move towards a centralised bargaining system because it suspects it is an attempt to try to save the NUM, which has been shedding members to Amcu.
This newspaper is not a fan of centralised bargaining as a matter of principle. Big companies like centralised bargaining as it gives them greater certainty around their wage negotiations and saves them time. It also suits unions, which often lack skilled negotiators on the shop floor. Through centralised bargaining, they can deploy their top people to one meeting and secure an agreement for all of their members.
Central bargaining takes away the right for a business to negotiate a deal best suited to its particular set of circumstances, often done to the detriment of smaller businesses. A case in point is the textile sector, where the enforcement of bargaining council agreements to nonsignatories has caused factories to close and put people out of jobs. It also tends to bind employees to a particular union that has been granted recognition rights in that industry. In the case of the platinum sector, there is always the risk that centralised bargaining will entrench the cosy relationship that developed between business and the NUM and led to intense worker dissatisfaction and the emergence of Amcu.
However, there are situations where collective bargaining can be beneficial, such as where the industry is relatively homogenous and job categories and skills requirements are similar from company to company. This applies to the platinum industry, giving credence to the government’s argument that collective bargaining will help reduce tension in the area and hopefully prevent another Marikana.
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Unions want speedy land reforms
Sapa, Fin24, 13 June 2013
Johannesburg - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the Food and Allied Workers' Union (Fawu) will launch a campaign in support of speeding up South Africa's land reform programme, the two trade unions said on Thursday.
Their campaign would start on June 19 - the 100-year anniversary of the Native Land Act which severely limited black land ownership and led to forced removals.
"It is on the day of enactment of the 1913 Native Land Act that Numsa and Fawu have decided to launch their 'Campaign for Agrarian Transformation and Land Distribution in South Africa," said Numsa president Cedric Gina.
The unions wanted section 25(2)(b) of the Constitution changed so that courts were no longer the final arbiter on compensation.
This was because they believed the courts were not transformed enough to understand what was "just and equitable" compensation.
"Because the kind of judges that we have in our country are not progressive enough as far as we are concerned," Gina said.
Numsa wanted land to be expropriated without compensation.
The two unions also wanted:
· the land register to be finalised and completed;
· the Competition Commission to complete its investigation into the alleged abuse of dominance and anti-competitive conduct in the food and agri-processing sectors;
· the Green Paper on Land Reform unveiled in 2011 to be turned into a bill, as it "seems to be stuck in ever-expanding advisory teams";
· a clear strategy on tenure in communal areas after the Constitutional Court ruled in 2010 that the Communal Land Rights Act was unconstitutional; and
· evictions of farmworkers and labour tenants to stop, after 930 000 were evicted between 1995 and 2004 due to job losses on farms.
Sabelo said most of the land redistributed so far was not being used productively.
The campaign would include marches and a mock referendum in September on the proposed changes to the Constitution.
The two unions were working together because Fawu represented workers in the agricultural sector and Numsa represented workers in industries manufacturing agricultural equipment.
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Leather industry reaches pay deal
Sapa, Fin24, 13 June 2013
Johannesburg - The National Union of Leather and Allied Workers (Nulaw) said on Thursday it had secured a pay deal with the Southern African Footwear and Leather Industries Association.
"We are confident that the settlement strikes a good balance in view of the current economic climate in our country," said Nulaw general secretary Ashley Benjamin.
The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) said the agreement was reached under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council of the Leather Industry of SA.
Nulaw, which is affiliated to Fedusa, had agreed on a 7.75% pay rise across the board effective from July 1, and an increase in the agency shop provisions of the footwear sector.
The agreement would cover 165 footwear manufacturers and about 9 000 employees in the bargaining unit. The agreement would be in force for 12 months.
"As Fedusa, we are very proud of the disciplined manner in which our affiliate Nulaw engages in collective bargaining," said general secretary Dennis George.
"Nulaw is an example to other unions in the manufacturing sector of how smart and researched negotiation strategies can add value to the process while promoting the broader interests of their members."
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Marikana site to be 'cleansed'
Sapa, Times Live, 13 June 2013
The families of mineworkers killed in a clash with police in Marikana will conduct a cleansing ceremony of the site, the Bojanala municipality said on Thursday.
The event was expected to be held on Monday afternoon at the hill where miners gathered before the shooting.
“Family members of the deceased and those who were injured, from as far as the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and neighbouring countries, such as Lesotho, Malawi, and Swaziland, are expected to attend the ceremony,” the municipality said in a statement.
“Religious leaders from different denominations will later conduct a spiritual cleansing ceremony processes, after the ritual and cultural activities have been earlier performed by the respective affected family members.”
Police shot dead 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers in Marikana on August 16. Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.
Bojanala mayor Louis Diremelo said in the statement people needed to be calm and stable for the ceremony.
“Let’s peacefully allow space for families and relatives to perform what they believe will heal their scars and emotions created by this tragic incident.”
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Amcu puts Lonmin strike on hold
Sapa, The New Age, 14 June 2013
Amcu has put a strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on hold, the union said on Thursday.
"Yes, we have delayed that [strike]. We are talking to the company," Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) general secretary Jeff Mphahlele said.
He confirmed the union would wait for a meeting between Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and key players in the mining industry on Friday.
Reports last week said Amcu would serve notice of intention to strike over an organisational rights dispute between itself and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Amcu said last Thursday its members voted in favour of a strike. At the time, Amcu treasurer Jimmy Gama said: "We wrote a letter requesting a meeting on Monday in a bid to avoid a strike. If we do not have an agreement by Tuesday, we will serve the company with a 48-hour notice to go on strike."
Last month, Amcu members went on a two-day strike, reportedly because the NUM would not vacate a union office. The unprotected strike ended on May 15 after Lonmin obtained a court interdict.
Forty-four people were killed during unrest at Lonmin's mine in Marikana, North West, in August. Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers on August 16. Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.- Sapa
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North West police chief continues testimony at Marikana commission
SABC News, 14 June 2013
North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe, is expected to continue testifying in the Marikana Commision of Inquiry on Friday morning.
During Thursday’s hearing, Mpembe told the commission he took the decision to disperse striking miners camped on a hill in Marikana on August 16 last year.
The strategy, known as stage three was part of a police plan to disperse armed protesters into smaller groups, encircle and disarm them.
Thirty-four miners were shot and killed shortly thereafter. Mpembe says he took the decision before briefing the North West provincial commissioner, Zukiswa Mbombo.
Judge Ian Farlam asked Mpembe to clarify who was responsible for the plan.
On Friday morning Mpembe is expected to tell the commission more on what his role was shortly before the mineworkers were killed, and about the events that took place before the killing.
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'I took Marikana decision': Mpembe
Sapa, Times Live,13 June 2013
North West deputy police chief William Mpembe took the decision to disperse protesters at a hill in Marikana, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Thursday.
"I briefed provincial commissioner Lt Gen Mbombo, who later called a task team meeting," Mpembe told the commission, sitting in Centurion, Pretoria.
"Different commanders also gave feedback on what had been happening on that morning of August 16. The decision to implement the dispersal was agreed upon at that meeting."
The decision to disperse the strikers, also known as "stage three", led to police shooting dead 34 protesters on that day.
Mpembe said an intelligence report was presented at the meeting. He said he had, before the meeting, briefed Mbombo that the situation at the koppie at Marikana, where striking Lonmin miners had gathered, changed "for the worst". Negotiations through union leaders also failed.
Police did not seem to have a clear indication of whether Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa told protesters to lay down their weapons and disperse, as he undertook to do in a meeting the previous day.
Commission chairman, retired judge Ian Farlam, asked Mpembe who took the decision to disperse protesters.
"Who bears the ultimate responsibility for this decision?... Is it you or the provincial commissioner?"
Mpembe said as Mbombo's deputy, he would have to brief his superior before implementing any decision.
"I took a decision, briefed her, and she agreed."
The commission is probing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West, in August.
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Striking mineworkers were a threat - top cop
Kingdom Mabuza, Sowetan, 14 June 2013
THE Marikana Commission of Inquiry heard yesterday that the North West police deputy commissioner General William Mpembe took a decision that striking Lonmin mineworkers should be dispersed.
"I took the decision that stage three ... to disperse protesters, and I briefed the (police) provincial commissioner," Mpembe said.
He said at the time he was responsible for the overall command of the operation.
He said police had earlier persuaded union leaders behind the scenes to negotiate with striking Lonmin mineworkers to disperse on the eve of the massacre, which left 34 workers dead and several others injured.
Mpembe told the commission that on the eve of the shooting he "passionately persuaded the two leaders (presidents of the National of Mineworkers Union Senzeni Zokwana and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Joseph Mathunjwa) to address the protesters to disperse".
Mpembe said the attempt to get the two leaders to persuade workers to disperse failed.
He also said he could not divulge the police plan as it was confidential, and only known to senior officers.
There was also the danger that many more people would have died.
"The mood of the crowd was becoming worse," he said.
Mpembe added that the safety of "bystanders and women of the nearby informal settlement" was at risk.
It was put to him that the commission had already established that residents, and in particular women, in the informal settlement were on the side of workers.
Mpembe said Mathunjwa made an undertaking that he would succeed in persuading protesters to lay down their weapons and disperse.
"We were given a report that Mr Mathunjwa had failed to give feedback on whether protesters were willing to drop their weapons and disperse," he said.
He said he took a decision after consulting other unit commanders to implement a plan to disperse protesters.
"All of us agreed that stage three should be implemented."
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PTA hospital to probe cop harassment
SAPA, Sowetan, 14 June 2013
The Pretoria hospital where former president Nelson Mandela is believed to be receiving treatment will investigate reports that police harassed a cardiology patient, a spokeswoman said.
"Mediclinic is investigating the matter in question with the SA Police Service and while we are respectful of their important duty in this regard, we have to emphasise that all our patients are our priority," Lee-Ann Bell said in a statement.
"To this end, we have systems in place at Mediclinic Heart Hospital that have been successful in ensuring that neither our patients nor their visitors are unnecessarily inconvenienced while maintaining the necessary levels of security."
Eyewitness News reported that Maxwell Mkhonto was mistaken for a journalist at the hospital on Wednesday. He said he was manhandled, searched and that his cellphone was seized and photographs were deleted.
"I was not one of the journalists," Mkhonto told the radio station.
He said he had rescheduled his next appointment hoping the situation at the hospital would have returned to normal by then.
Mkhonto has reportedly not laid any charges against the police.
National police spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati said he was unaware of the incident and could therefore not comment.
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Waterkloof warders fired
Michael Appel, The New Age, 14 June 2013
Correctional Services on Thursday said heads had rolled in the shock early release of two of the “Waterkloof four” who killed a homeless man in a Pretoria park in 2001.
Correctional Services’ chief deputy commissioner for incarceration and corrections, James Smalberger, on Thursday said the investigation launched last year resulted in their axing.
“The chairperson of the parole board was dismissed on September 3 and the chairperson of the case management committee was dismissed on August 22,” Smalberger said.
Two of the four, Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk, are now headed back to prison after the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday set aside an earlier judgment commuting their sentences to correctional supervision.
Smalberger said magistrate Peet Johnson cannot be blamed for his ruling of December 15, 2011 because he ruled on the facts before him and the parole board must be held to account.
Tiedt and Van Schalkwyk were released on correctional supervision three-and-a-half years into a 12 year sentence for murder.
By law, offenders have to serve at least half of their sentence before they are eligible for parole.
Judge Hans Fabricius ruled that they return to Zonderwater Correctional Centre on July 10 to serve out the remainder of their sentences. Smalberger said the judge ruled that the 18 months spent outside of prison would not be added to their sentences as they were still under correctional supervision.
Smalberger said: “They were sentenced on August 11, 2008, so if you deduct the special remission time, the first time they will be eligible for parole, is in February 2014.”
The remaining offenders, Christoff Becker and Frikkie du Preez, continue to serve their sentences and will also be up for parole at around the same time.
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Over 1000 Gauteng cops arrested: Petros
Sapa, The New Age, 13 June 2013
More than 1000 Gauteng police officers have been arrested and nearly 500 have been fired since September 2010, provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Mzwandile Petros said on Thursday.
He said 1027 officers had been arrested, and 463 dismissed. Of the officers dismissed, 121 were fired for corruption.
"There are more than 42,000 police officials in SAPS [SA Police Service] Gauteng and most of them are serving the Gauteng community with pride and upholding the constitutional principles," Petros said in a statement.
"It is a small minority that is tarnishing the image of SAPS and we need to rid the service of such members."
He said three constables, two from Pretoria and one from Alexandra, Johannesburg, were arrested last week for allegedly aiding and abetting criminals after they booked out suspects from the Lindela Repatriation Centre.
The three were still in custody and would appear in the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
"In terms of the SA Police Service Act... members who are arrested for any alleged offence are deemed to be suspended with immediate effect," Petros said.
- Sapa
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Teacher speaks out about racism at school
Poppy Louw, Times Live, 14 June 2013
A former teacher at the Bloemfontein primary school at the centre of a race controversy has come forward with allegations of racism while working at the school.
This comes after a Grade 6 and 7 teacher and the principal at Wilgehof Primary School were suspended following a complaint made by a parent last Tuesday.
The teacher, who asked not to be named, described her nine years at the school as "hell for all the black teachers".
"When I arrived at the school, black teachers were fighting for equal and decent treatment. There was a major difference in the way black and white teachers were treated."
She claimed that principal Fanie Roeloffze allowed the situation to "get out of hand".
"His secretary used to wipe the phone when black teachers used it and when we complained, he would say it was her character.
"He also only gave white teachers bursaries to study at Unisa."
The department of education in the Free State this month launched investigations into racism and corporal punishment allegations made at Wilgehof and Dr Viljoen Combined School in the provincial capital.
It has worked in parallel with the South African Human Rights Commission, which has taken statements from pupils and teachers at the two schools.
But University of the Free State rector Jonathan Jansen said using the Wilgehof incident as an example of whether racism was rife in the province would be irresponsible.
"It may or may not be true, but we do not have evidence," he said.
"What is true is that most Free State schools are integrated, as is the case elsewhere in the country, and that relatively few incidents are reported or known."
Craig Thiem, the father who brought to light incidents of racism at Wilgehof, said a threat made against him last week had only made him more determined to fight his cause.
"A man approached my son and told him that he wanted to beat me up because I was ungrateful for what the school had done for me."
Thiem has opened a case of intimidation against the man.
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Breytenbach to be redeployed: report
Sapa, Times Live, 14 June 2013
Prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach has been informed that she will be redeployed, according to a report.
Her lawyer, Gerhard Wagenaar, told the SABC radio news that she had been informed of this on Thursday evening.
“What I can tell you, is that we have received a letter just before 7pm last night indicating that Ms Breytenbach will be redeployed to the office of the director of public prosecutions in Pretoria and not to the SCU [Specialised Crime Unit] anymore,” said Wagenaar.
On Thursday, the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed that it had filed an application for the Labour Court to review the outcome of a disciplinary hearing which cleared Breytenbach of all charges against her.
On May 27, Breytenbach was found not guilty on 15 counts by a disciplinary hearing, which sat at the NPA’s head office in Pretoria.
One of the charges was that she failed to act impartially when investigating the Kumba Iron Ore/Sishen and Imperial Crown Trading mining rights dispute, because of “improper relations” with Sishen’s lawyer Mike Hellens.
After the findings were made known, the NPA said it found them “factually incorrect and legally unsustainable” and would approach the court for a review.
On Wednesday, the NPA’s executive manager for communications Bulelwa Makeke, said in response to a question, that Breytenbach was at work but that the NPA would not discuss work matters in the media.
On Thursday, Eyewitness News reported that Breytenbach had not worked at all this week.
Asked on Thursday to clarify, NPA spokeswoman Nomilo Mpondo said the NPA told Breytenbach she could come back to work on Monday. The NPA reiterated that it would not discuss her daily movements with the media.
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Bad credit records deprive young professionals job prospects
Bernard Sathekge, The New Age, 13 June 2013
Despite high rate of youth unemployment, debt incurred by students appeared to be another major problem costing them to lose out on jobs due to a bad credit record, according to the Credit Ombuds.
The Credit Ombuds found that every year thousands of students join tertiary institutions and took their first steps into the credit world, resulting into a double blow of being ‘black listed’ and eventually not hired.
According to the National Credit Regulator’s statistics, there are currently 69.53 million consumer accounts with some students involved.
“Students are able to open a student cheque account and even get their first credit card by using their student cards and proof of registration, along with other documents as required by legislation.
“The credit cards are generally issued based on proof of income, which comes in the form of regular allowance deposits into their bank accounts, but in this regard students open accounts with a guarantee of guardians,” said Manie van Schalkway, the director of Credit Ombuds.
According to the Credit Ombuds, all that is required is for the student’s guardian to confirm that the student gets an allowance and they could be eligible for an account and some limits range from about R500 to R1500.
“The bigger danger face by students is that prospective employers check credit profiles as part of their security checks and young, newly qualified professionals may lose out on jobs because they acquired a bad credit record as students as a result of mismanaging their accounts,’ cautions van Schalkwyk.
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Brokers still not banned
SAPA, Sowetan, 13 June 2013
ASPECTS of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill could negatively affect investment in South Africa if approved, Sacci says.
"As currently being considered, [it] has the potential to exacerbate the negative impression of South Africa as a desired investment destination and trading partner," the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said in a statement yesterday.
"This is particularly so at a time when the country is experiencing poor economic growth, a low level of business confidence . a volatile exchange rate, and overall deteriorating global perceptions of the country."
The parliamentary labour portfolio committee was meeting this week to continue deliberations on the Bill.
The ANC said the committee had voted in principle on Tuesday to restrict employment of labour brokers by employers to three months.
ANC MP and committee member Buti Manamela said the actual vote on the Bill would take place next week.
If the three-month regulation was agreed to, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant would specify to which industries it applied.
Sacci said it was "disturbed by the tenor" of deliberations on the Bill.
Proposed amendments were discussed in the National Economic Development and Labour Council and agreement was reached on a time-span for temporary employment of six months.
"While business commended government on agreeing that brokering would not be banned, the reduction of the period from six to three months will have the unintended consequence of doing so."
This was because the probationary period for new employees was often three months or longer.
"Sacci is of the view that the result will be a loss of jobs rather than job creation, a situation which the country can ill afford."
Sacci said it was also concerned at the proposal making it unnecessary for unions to ballot members before embarking on a strike.
"This is testing the boundaries of legality and could result in more disruptive strike action than is currently being experienced," it said. – Sapa
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Why do doctors hate medical aids?
Martin Young, M&G, 13 June 2013
We really, really do. You probably wonder about this. I’ve yet to meet any doctor in private medical practice who feels indifferent, let alone positive, about them. Sharing our reasons may offer an insight into why your doctor would prefer you to pay now please, and claim from your medical aid yourself.
Technically, it is not the medical aids we dislike — but rather the medical administrators. Amedical aid is a not-for-profit fund offering insurance to its members, run by a board of trustees who make the decisions much like a company board of directors. A medical administrator is an entirely different beast, most definitely for profit, contracted by the medical aid with the task of administering its own affairs. Never mind that some medical aid trustees are directors or employees of the medical aid administrators themselves. Conflict of interest, anyone? Here I use the names interchangeably.
Medical aids should by law not spend money on items outside direct medical care for their members with the exception of the administration fees demanded by the administrators. Herein lies the problem I referred to in my earlier post, that the percentage of total members’ contributions used for administration is disproportionately large relative to the amount paid to medical professionals whose work is unarguably more important. Administrators also claim their percentage cut up front from the fund — what is left is then subject to the limitations and cuts set by the administrators. It is a relatively risk-free and profitable business model.
Medical aids are wary of doctors because we spend “their” money in a cascade of healthcare over which they have limited control. My decisions over my patients have huge cost implications for the medical aid. Any possibility of control of the decision-making process is hugely attractive to them. So they will institute limited drug formularies, insist on use of generic medications, demand motivation letters before special investigations or surgical procedures, limit the funds available, limit the number of consultations, dream up savings plans, Vitality plans — whatever it takes, all in the name of limiting costs.
I agree wholeheartedly with trying to keep the cost of medical care down. But there is a huge compromise to YOUR safety and YOUR health when those controls are initiated by third parties who do not have the required medical knowledge and do not bear the responsibility for your care. There are good examples where generic medications do not work as well as the originals. Some surgical implants are inferior to others. Some surgical techniques are easier for the surgeon and the anaesthetist, but because studies show minimal benefit for the patient, the medical aid will not fund them — like coblation for tonsillectomy. The effect of all this is that the medical aid places a direct limitation on how well I can care for my patient, how well I can do my job, and how well YOU will do under my care.
The frustration that this involves for a doctor is limitless. Medical aids employ medical advisers whose duty it is to analyse requests for treatments and to approve or deny them. That in principle is not a bad thing, but it presupposes that the medical advisers have the necessary knowledge and training to make an accurate and unbiased decision on every patient. It presupposes that they know as much as the specialist requesting authorisation. And they don’t, because almost without exception they have no specialist training or even experience in the field whatsoever.
The Council for Medical Schemes issued a directive that no request for authorisation may be turned down without direct “peer to peer” contact with the requesting doctor by a person with equal knowledge and experience. Bluntly put, this never happens.
As an example, I once had a medical aid demand a CT scan before they would authorise a septoplasty for my patient with a blocked nose. A deviated nasal septum is something you physically see, and a CT scan adds nothing to the process — it was a blatantly ridiculous and expensive request. I suggested in reply that it was my ethical duty to report the medical adviser to the Health Professions Council of South Africa as being so impaired as to be incapable of giving safe medical advice. The operation was approved immediately without a CT scan.
Luckily we’ve moved beyond the days when medical aid call centres tell our patients we are “overcharging’ them (who the hell are they to decide?). The same centres still say that they pay “100%” of accounts (without explaining it is 100% of their rate, not ours), or tell our patients that they will have to leave our towns, for surgery under another specialist in another town, because that is where the only authorised hospital for that medical aid is, unless “our” patient bleeds after the operation that we haven’t done, whereupon it will be our job to save his/her life as the closest surgeon. We doctors who do not sign “designated service provider” agreements are not paid for work directly into our accounts — a much cheaper process for the medical aids. The patients are paid directly, with the express intention of adding to our bad debt. It is explicit and coercive pressure to sign these agreements. Another good word would be “blackmail”.
For every case where a medical aid does step up and make a massive difference there will be a dozen events where patient care is made difficult. In every medical consultation there is a dispassionate, unqualified third party involved acting as judge, jury and sometimes executioner.
It’s not a new discovery to doctors. We’ve seen it all before, and it is getting worse. Our anger is rising, as seen in this letter which arrived as I write these last words. But to the patient in front of us, to whom we have to say “sorry, can’t help” — that discovery is awful.
That a medical administrator market leader should use the same name is nothing but ironic.
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IBM lays off workers as company eyes new markets
SAPA-AP, Sowetan, 14 june 2013
IBM has laid off an undisclosed number of workers this week as the company intensifies its focus on some of some of the technology industry's hottest markets.
The cutbacks are part of a reorganization that IBM Corp. executives disclosed in April during a conference call discussing the Armonk, New York, company's first-quarter earnings. IBM said it would spend $1 billion reshuffling the types of jobs it needs in its workforce this year, with most of the changes coming before the end of June. The company indicated most of the layoffs would occur outside the U.S.
A company spokesman declined Thursday to provide further details about the staff cutbacks.
IBM employed about 434,000 workers at the start of the year.
But some of those employees didn't fit into the company's plans to expand into new frontiers such as social networking and mobile computing. It also is pouring more resources into data analysis and storage and cloud computing - a term that refers to the practice of storing software applications in data centers so they are available to anyone with an Internet-connected device.
With such a large payroll, IBM has been able to periodically lay off a few thousand workers without triggering rules that require disclosures about a "material" change to its business. The current round of cutbacks has affected IBM's operations in Vermont, according to a notification that Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday said his office received from IBM. No numbers were provided in that notice either.
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Peacekeepers behaving badly: Why South African ill-discipline in DRC is a UN problem
Khadija Patel , Daily Maverick, 14 Jun 2013
South African National Defence Force (SANDF) peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have had 93 cases of misconduct brought against them. Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has lamented the ill-discipline of the South African troops serving in the Congo, but there is more to this than just the criminality of South African troops; it points to fault lines in the UN peacekeeping apparatus in the DRC. By KHADIJA PATEL.
This week, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula revealed to Parliament that 93 members of the South African National Defence Force serving in the United Nations peacekeeping force, Monusco, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have had cases of misconduct brought against them. According to the minister, investigations were conducted against each of the 93 and, where applicable, troops met the “harshest possible sanction”.
Of those 93 cases of misconduct, the Democratic Alliance says at least 23 involve rape, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and the assault of women.
In a statement released to the media, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans indicated that just four cases so far had been finalised and a conviction secured.
“All four have been dismissed from the SANDF,” said the statement.
“Minister Mapisa-Nqakula has expressed her personal intolerance to ill-discipline in the ranks of the military, particularly as it relates to reported incidences of the abuse of women and children,” the statement said. “She has made it clear that conduct unbecoming will be dealt with in the strictest compliance with the law and that there is simply no room for criminality and ill-discipline in a highly professional force like the SANDF.”
The Democratic Alliance’s David Maynier, Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, slammed the report from Mapisa-Nqakula.
“It is completely unacceptable for the members of the SANDF, who are supposed to be a disciplined military force, to begin to mirror the behaviour of the national defence force and rebel groups in the DRC,” he said in a statement.
Military analyst Helmoed Heitman, however, believes that the statistics must be placed in context.
“Before we get too steamed up, we need to know what period this covers. Over the past decade we have had an average of 1,300 troops in the DRC, rotating on a six-month basis,” he said. “That adds up to 26,000 people, of whom 93 may or may not have committed a serious offence.”
Pikkie Greef, the Secretary General of the South African National Defence Union, also urged the DA to interpret the statistics with a more informed insight into the deployment of the SANDF to Monusco.
He says that in total, only 15 soldiers of the 93 mentioned in the report to Parliament were actually convicted of any misconduct.
Like Heitman, he believes the length of time in which these abuses took place must be taken into account.
“This in effect means that only 0.06% of all SA soldiers deployed were convicted of misconduct,” Greef says. “On average, less than two soldiers per year on deployment.”
He believes these statistics are actually favourable to the SANDF. “This is in fact an excellent military discipline record, by the standards of any military force including those of super powers like the United States,” he says.
Heitman, however, admits that the SANDF is faced with a “discipline problem”.
It is the incidence of sex crimes committed by members of the SANDF in the DRC that is particularly troubling.
The scourge of sexual violence and the use of rape as a ploy in war is well known to be part to conflict in the Congo. It has long been seen as a function and tool of conflict in the DRC: in 2011, a study on rape in the Congo published in the American Journal of Public Health found that 48 women were raped every hour in the country.
It is noteworthy that Minister Mapisa-Nqakula has indicated that no member of the South African contingent within the UNAMID in Sudan was being investigated or charged for misconduct.
As horrific as these abuses perpetrated by South African troops are, they are not the first occurrences of sexual violence in the UN ranks in the DRC in recent years.
Gerald Caplan, writing for Canada’s Globe and Mail last year, noted that there was “a long and squalid history” of women being abused by UN forces in the DRC.
He relates the 2005 sexual exploitation and abuse of Congolese females by a small but significant minority of UN troops that led former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to describe the situation as “an ugly stain” on the United Nations.
“Even though many victims were unable or unwilling to identify their assailants, 63 soldiers were expelled from the mission and repatriated, while a zero tolerance policy was instituted for all cases of abuse by UN soldiers of local citizens,” Caplan notes.
It was, however, not effective.
By 2008, further allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by UN troops surfaced.
“Human rights observers found that a child prostitution ring had been formed and some 100 UN troops from India were accused of paying for sex with young Congolese girls,” Caplan says. In this case, the Indian army blamed the UN for unjustly bringing charges against its recruits.
More recently, Professor Victoria Fontan, the Director for Academic Development and Head of Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University for Peace, Costa Rica, has written about Monusco peacekeepers who she says have continued the tradition of their predecessors by committing violent and abusive acts against Congolese women – often against underaged prostitutes – and getting away with it too.
“In a way, it is much easier to ‘address’ the sexual abuses committed by ‘savage’ Congolese, than to acknowledge the sexual violence brought in with peacekeeping contingents,” Fontan writes.
The DA’s Maynier says, “The Parliamentary question specifically probed whether the United Nations (UN) had been informed about the outcome of each investigation conducted by the SANDF. However, this part of the question was not replied to by the Minister and suggests the SANDF may not have fully cooperated with the UN in investigating some cases of misconduct in the DRC.”
The Daily Maverick’s own efforts to reach Monsuco were unsuccessful on Thursday, but it is this latter part of Maynier’s statement that is most significant. What must now be established is how not just the SANDF but Monsuco, and by extension the UN, deals with sex crimes committed by its peacekeepers.
Certainly the continuance of these acts significantly tarnishes the reputation of the UN as the new intervention brigade prepares to do battle against rebel groups in the eastern DRC. Many Congolese have already come to resent the UN, who, they say, are meant to bring peace to their land – but instead abuse the local population.
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2. COSATU
Firm to make R664m from e-tolls - report
Sapa, Fin24, 13 June 2013
Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions is appalled that an Austrian e-tolling company expects to make about R664m a year from the Gauteng e-tolling system, the trade union federation said on Thursday.
"This makes the argument for tolls more and more untenable, and the argument for using taxation more and more obvious," Cosatu said in a statement.
"This is further evidence that e-tolls amount to the commodification of our highways, a business opportunity for a private company rather than a basic public service for the community."
Bloomberg reported that Andre Laux, a board member of Kapsch TrafficCom (KTCG), the Austrian maker of toll-road systems, said it would get an annual revenue boost of "significantly more" than €50m (R664m) for eight years from the Gauteng project.
On Wednesday, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) denied that money collected from e-tolling in Gauteng would go overseas.
Not true, says Sanral
"This is simply not true," spokesperson Vusi Mona said in a statement.
"What must also be made clear is that all tolls collected on GFIP [Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project] go to Sanral. ETC [Electronic Toll Collection joint venture] is paid for services rendered on a monthly basis, and the payment is strictly according to a bill of quantities as specified in the tender contract."
Mona said the dividends they declared could be paid to foreign companies only after income tax was paid in South Africa.
Sanral awarded the e-tolling contract to the ETC because its tender was more than R2bn lower than the next offer, he said.
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) expressed its shock at Kapsch TrafficCom's announcement.
"This is money that is being extracted directly from the pockets of hard-pressed citizens to improve the profits and wealth of overseas business," chairperson Wayne Duvenage said in a statement.
"The figure Kapsch mentions is around 45% of the annual running costs for the e-tolling system quoted by Sanral and the South African Treasury, which depicts sizeable profits for an offshore company, paid for by the Gauteng road user."
Cosatu said it supported Outa's call for the public protector or even a possible judicial commission of inquiry to probe the e-tolling deal.
"This news will make workers more determined than ever to fight e-tolling and support the call for an efficient, safe, and affordable public transport system," Cosatu said.
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3. South Africa
That day in June, 1976
J Brooks Spector, Daily Maverick, 14 Jun 2013
In 1976, I was a young American diplomat who had been assigned to Johannesburg the year before, following an assignment in Southeast Asia. Trying to understand Johannesburg, and South Africa, meant trying to come to grips with the country’s myriad of racially defined laws – as well as all the other things not actually enshrined in law but deeply woven into the fabric of this society. All of this became like a series of slaps across the face, even though America’s own experiences with racial segregation were still relatively fresh in the Washington, DC area and could have been a partial roadmap. By J BROOKS SPECTOR.
The fact that job opportunities were rigorously managed in racial terms, and that the entire country’s residential pattern and its government offices like the post office were strictly segregated, all of this was obvious, given South Africa’s international reputation. That restaurants, hotels and the like were similarly segregated, or just plain off limits for the majority of the country, could be understood – even if it made one furious and frustrated whenever I thought I could meet with someone over a meal – if they were not a white South African.
As a result, we got used to using the restaurants in two five-star hotels by virtue of their “international status” (testing the envelope with normal people “sneaking in” as if they were Malawian diplomats going out for lunch) – or the Wimpy at the top of the Carlton Centre office building. Or we met in people’s homes, at Uncle Charlie’s roadhouse (the famous drive-in fast food joint with the old Viking aeroplane mounted on the roof) out towards the south of the city. And then there was also one non-descript guest house in the part of the city zoned for Johannesburg’s Coloured inhabitants whose owners didn’t seem to care who came to eat or drink, just as long as they didn’t make any trouble and paid their bills.
But it was the unofficial stuff that seemed to make one even angrier. The chamber music concert series presenting international classical music stars such as James Galway used the Witwatersrand University’s Great Hall. Back then, tickets were hard to come by – people literally waited until someone passed away to get on the roster of ticket purchasers. The hall – like the university – was actually an officially “open” facility, available to all as a fading remnant of the university’s pre-apartheid liberal tradition. But, having been allowed into the inner circle and allowed to purchase tickets, whenever I accompanied a date who clearly was not a privileged white person, those cold, frozen looks we attracted were truly extraordinary.
Of course, while such things were galling, they were obviously minor in comparison to the larger, more oppressive dimensions of the apartheid system. A key part of my job responsibilities included becoming better acquainted with the country’s educational, political and intellectual circles. Aside from the obvious task of trying to understand how they felt about their own society and its terrors, yet another task was to understand their views and attitudes about America and then to identify individuals who might, for example, be invited to visit the US so that they could explore the country for themselves and begin to base their attitudes on actual evidence.
Of course, overt, direct political activities by black South Africans were pretty few and far between, but that obviously didn’t stop people from having political ideas, attitudes and values. That led us to the leading high schools for African, Coloured and Indian students in the greater Johannesburg area. And that, in turn, led us to organisations such as the Transvaal United African Teachers Association (TUATA) and, among others, the principals of the eight high schools in Soweto. In particular, the president of TUATA and headmaster of Morris Isaacson High School, LM Mathabathe, was a mesmerizing presence. He ran a tight ship in his TUATA meetings – and an even tighter one at Morris Isaacson. Over the years, he had assembled a faculty where, unusually, many of his teachers had university degrees – and many of those instructors had figured out subtle ways to demonstrate their political bona fides to their students – thereby leading them to explore the larger political meanings of their daily circumstances.
Back in 1975, it was still easy to imagine South Africa’s political life as something like a bug frozen in amber. It might be terrible but it was almost impossible to see how it might change given the economic, political power and deadly force imbalances. The puppet leadership of those homeland administrations controlled a major share of the country’s population and political movements such as the ANC and PAC had effectively been ground down or driven out of the country and into exile.
The major townships were thoroughly under the thumb of government offices that ruled through an intricate web of regulations – especially those that governed an individual’s permission to live in an urban area, rent a house (or build one in specified areas if one happened to be classified as Coloured or Indian), go to a particular school, or get a job – let alone get married.
Poet Sipho Sepamla’s wry work, The Will, summed up these Kafkaesque challenges to even trying to lead a near-normal life, when he could write:
The house, by right,
you will have to vacate
surrender the permit
and keep your peace
The burglar-proofing and the gate
will go to my elder son
so will the bicycle
and a pair of bracelets
The kitchen-scheme and utensils
will go to my little girl
so will the bathtub
and the two brooms
The bedroom suite
will go to my younger son
who is married
so will the studio couch
The peach tree uproot
it might grow in the homelands
so might it be with your stem
The Bible
you will have to share
for you will always want its Light
The cat spotted black and white
you will have to divide
for that you’ll need God’s guidance.
The conundrums set out by Sepamla (and in his heyday in the 1970s as a leading member of the new wave of politically conscious poets, he filled large halls with people eager, even desperate, to soak up his coded political messages) kept a subject population so busy complying with apartheid’s legal structures that there had been over ten million separate arrests for pass law violations by the late 1970s – often leading to the convicted individual being forcibly returned to his putative original homeland.
Trying to understand this country’s torments, I became increasingly well acquainted with the teaching staff at Morris Isaacson High School. Along the way, I arranged to have both the principal and then the school’s science teacher (a strong Black Consciousness/Black People’s Convention supporter – then one of the few even partially legal political forums) selected for those month-long trips to the US to observe educational and social issues there.
As things happened, he was away on that trip for four weeks in late April and early May 1976, just as the Soweto students had begun to come together in increasingly vigorous protests against the government’s sudden decision to impose Afrikaans in place of English as a medium of instruction for science and maths in Soweto’s schools. This decision came despite the fact that students, teachers and parents all opposed the idea and regardless of the fact that there simply were not Afrikaans-speaking African teachers to do the teaching anyway.
Even though the protests were becoming increasingly frequent, the teacher and I had scheduled an appointment to talk about the trip so I could do an evaluation of that trip from the traveller’s point of view. This was routinely done so that the people who actually organised the schedules and meetings could figure out what they had done right – or wrong.
Anyway, something came up and our originally scheduled meeting at Morris Isaacson on 16 June was brought forward by a day and then I went back to my office to prepare my evaluation. The very next day, of course, everything changed. The students marched out from their schools and then the police began shooting them when they refused to disperse. This was the moment on that afternoon when it became crystal clear South Africans were prepared to use their bodies to make it absolutely clear they no longer were prepared to accept the old way. It was, as the physicists would say, a phase shift – but in human terms, rather than ice melting into water or water turning into steam.
But the tale doesn’t quite end here.
The evening of 16 June, I sat at the kitchen table with the family of a young black paediatric surgeon who worked at Baragwanath Hospital – then as now the largest hospital serving Soweto. I watched a man who had gone through years of intense study so as to be able to accomplish lifesaving surgeries on the fragile abdominal organs of small children and listen to him tell how he had been in an emergency operating theatre all afternoon, struggling to save the lives of dozens of high school students who had been shot by the police – and how so often those wounds had been in their backs. They had been running away as they were shot and then they were carried to the hospital by convoys of passing motorists.
In my office the next day, I found it almost impossible to convince my dubious American colleagues about what I had learned about events of the previous day. The prevailing mind-set was that, yes, the South African regime was often harsh but it did not have the kind of police force that would simply start shooting school children in the back. In fact, in those first hours after the events, it was almost impossible for people to imagine the next decade and a half of what a struggle that was about to engulf this country. And at the height of that fighting against a system those students had first opposed on that crisp, early winter afternoon, it was almost as hard to imagine the country that would ultimately emerge after coming through that fire.
Many of those same students fled the country after their rebellion was effectively crushed. And many of them slowly found their way to an ANC in places such as Ghana and Tanzania – although some lost hope and then died of despair in exile. This was an ANC nearly devoid of energy and near-paralysed into somnolent inactivity in its down-at-the-heels diaspora. But these same students brought a tantalising sense of possibility to those long-time exiles. Suddenly it seemed that what they had theorised and dreamt about might even be possible in their lifetime after all, what with all this fierce anger and new young blood.
Slowly this new wave was won over to the ANC’s charterist ideology – and away from the black consciousness ideas that had been the motive energy for their initial protests in the mid 1970s. The police rounded up yet others but they gained a political education at Robben Island “University” – now that they were in the company of all those half-forgotten elders who had been out of sight since the 1960s.
In time, they would become the shock troops of the armed struggle. When they returned from their own exiles or finished their sentences on The Island, many eventually became the backbone of the United Democratic Front when it, in turn, gained ascendancy in the mid-1980s as the avatar for fundamental social change.
Those young students are now distinctly middle-aged. Some are in government positions, some have gone on into academic careers – and some even have quotidian business lives. Amazingly, not a few of them are even coming close to retirement age now. Soon enough they will be like old soldiers, sitting in the warm sun as they tell their tales of youthful courage and derring-do to children who listen politely but then go off to other youthful interests and pursuits.
And so what larger lesson can we draw from all of this? Looking back, I realise I first came to understand just how much a revolution is dependent upon the energies of young people who are truly convinced they can do the impossible; that they can change a world, without carefully calculating the costs to themselves all the way. And in this particular case, despite the many mistakes of the current rulers – and without meaning to minimise any of them – this country is galaxies better place than the way they found it on that early winter afternoon 37 years ago. All because of what those students suddenly found the courage to begin.
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Call to trace missing 1976 activists
Luzuko Pongoma, The New Age, 14 June 2013
The Class of 1976 has called for more resources to be pumped into finding activists who went missing.
Former student leaders who participated in the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 37 years ago, have joined the June 16 Foundation project called Ba Kae (Where are they) which is meant to trace all the students who died or went missing on that fateful day and after.
Zwelinzima Sizani, who was with the SA Student Movement, said more support and resources must be accorded the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA), who are tasked with tracing and identifying missing persons during the struggle against apartheid.
“The youth must add a voice to what the June 16 Foundation has started,” he said.
Former student leader at Naledi High School, Enos Ngutshane said more resources were needed to give power to the NPA to search for the missing students and heroes who disappeared at that time.
“The apartheid regime was very vicious; it killed and never kept records. It dumped people in mass graves. There are a lot of traumatised families today who do not even know where their loved ones are,” he said.
Ngutshane said there were those who died in exile, still buried in Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and elsewhere on the continent and abroad. “We need to assist those families, repatriate those bodies to SA,” he said.
Ngutshane said some former exiles felt like they were still in exile, with no support or appreciation for their role in the struggle.
“This means that the whole process of re-integrating former exiles into South African society is not complete” he said.
Sizani said although the government was doing its best to repatriate former liberation fighters and fallen heroes and heroines, more still needed to be done.
Ngutshane and Zisani said some former liberation fighters and former exiles had to live with their parents after returning from exile or jail.
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Full programme for June 16
Zwelakhe Shangase and Luzuko Pongoma, The New Age, 14 June 2013
While President Jacob Zuma will deliver a keynote address at the National Youth Day Commemoration on Sunday at the Phelandaba Sports Ground, eMadadeni in Newcastle, revellers across the country will celebrate the anniversary of the Soweto uprising of 1976 in style.
Over the years there has been a notable shift from politics to more fun-filled festivities.
Zuma will be accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, NYDA chairperson Yershen Pillay and Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Mashatile.
As for the festivities, Durban’s Albert Luthuli Convention Centre will be playing host to everyone’s favourite performer, Zakes Bantwini, on Sunday night.
In Gauteng, Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, sport, arts, culture and recreation MEC Lebogang Maile and Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau will lead a march to relive the walk of June 16 in Soweto. The 14.2km march is part of the heritage trail from Naledi High School via Hector Pieterson Memorial to the Orlando Stadium.
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Agang in name wrangle
Sam Mkokeli, Times Live, 14 June 2013
A legal battle is brewing just a week before Mamphela Ramphele launches her political party, Agang, with a civic body yesterday claiming that the name was its trademark.
Ramphele will launch her party on Saturday next week.
The Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation has objected to the use of the name and briefed lawyers yesterday to start a process that could frustrate the launch of the new party. It has also threatened to take the matter to the Independent Electoral Commission.
This can start a distracting wrangle similar to the one faced by COPE when it was launched in 2008, with the ANC claiming that the splinter group was riding on its heritage and symbols with its choice of a name. COPE won the battle eventually.
The foundation is a social advocacy group that has run a number of programmes, including one named Agang .
The foundation's chairman, Bontshitswe Mothopeng, yesterday said the programme Agang was aimed at influencing the "government, private sector and the political framework not only in South Africa but throughout the African continent and globally".
Mothopeng said the foundation had registered the name under the Trade Marks Act.
He called on "any person, group or institution to refrain from bullying or hijacking programmes of civil organisations".
Its seven years of civil society work under the Agang name - Sotho for "let's build" - "would have been in vain" if Ramphele was allowed to register the name with the IEC.
"We own Agang in terms of the Trade Marks [Act]. Anyone who uses it will need to have the decency to come and engage us.
"We will then decide whether or not to let people use it," he told The Times yesterday.
Agang spokesman Thabo Leshilo said: "Having launched in February, Agang South Africa's trademark application is under way. It appears that an alternative trademark application was made in April. However, our legal advisers suggest that this should be unsuccessful."
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Govt departments to address complaints speedily: SAHRC
The New Age, 13 June 2013
Government departments have undertaken to ensure complaints about service delivery, particularly of water and sanitation, are speedily addressed, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said on Thursday.
The SAHRC said it met departments on Thursday amid a breakdown in service delivery in several parts of the country and a perceived lack of government accountability.
Spokesman Isaac Mangena said many departments had already provided policy responses to systemic challenges and practical answers to complaints raised during the SAHRC's national hearing on water and sanitation in March.
However, some provincial departments and municipalities had shown a lack of urgency in responding to SAHRC requests for plans and reports, and it had found a lack of inter-governmental co-operation, he said.
On Thursday, departments agreed with the findings of an SAHRC report emanating from its national hearing in 2012.
It found that the poorest of the poor could not access water, that water quality was poor, there was a lack of sanitation services in informal settlements, and poor maintenance of existing facilities.
The SAHRC noted in the report that a comprehensive, inter-governmental collaborative approach was needed to resolve the water and sanitation crisis in schools and communities.
"The commission recommended a cabinet-level task team to ensure the necessary collaboration, especially with regard to funding and technical support in poor municipalities," said Mangena.
It also found that a funding model was needed which allowed municipalities to provide water and sanitation services.
He said the department of performance monitoring and evaluation in the presidency had undertaken to provide technical and financial support to municipalities.
"The panel will use government's submissions in finalising its report to Parliament in July this year," he said.
Mangena said there were ongoing SAHRC investigations into a number of water and sanitation complaints in provinces across the country, and it was treating these with the necessary urgency.
-Sapa
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FIVE MINUTES: South Africa
Daily Maverick Staff Reporter, 14 Jun 2013
A round-up of the day’s news from South Africa.
NPA FILES FOR LABOUR COURT REVIEW OF BREYTENBACH FINDING
The National Prosecuting Authority has asked the Labour Court to review the outcome of a disciplinary hearing that cleared its prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach of all 15 charges levelled against her. Sapa reported that NPA spokeswoman Nomilo Mpondo confirmed an application for review had been filed with the Labour Court. At the time, the NPA said the findings of the disciplinary hearing, convened in its Pretoria head office, “factually incorrect and legally unsustainable”. Breytenbach was due to return to work at the NPA this week, but Eyewitness News said she had not worked at all. The NPA said it would not discuss work matters in the media.
AMCU HOLDS OFF STRIKE TO ATTEND MOTLANTHE TALKS
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has postponed a planned strike at Lonmin to attend mining sector talks to be held by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, BDlive reported. "We figured it is important to afford the deputy president an opportunity of realising the challenges faced by ourselves and engage in the presence of other stakeholders in forging a good working relationship in particular with the employers," Amcu said in a statement. President Jacob Zuma deployed Motlanthe to lead talks in the mining sector in a bid to avoid violent strikes during annual wage talks. Amcu said it was committed to “good industrial relationship at the workplace”.
JEFFREY WITHDRAWS COMMENT ON MAZIBUKO’S ‘SUBSTANTIAL WEIGHT’
The ANC chief whip’s office says it has “noted” the DA deputy chief whip’s intention to complain about “sexist and chauvinistic” attacks directed at the DA’s parliamentary leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko, by ANC MPS Buti Manamela and John Jeffery. Jeffrey said, “… while the Hon Mazibuko may be a person of substantial weight, her stature is questionable” while Manamela is questioned her sense of fashion during a debate. Chief whip Mathole Motshekga said Jeffrey’s reference was “more to do with her influence and power associated with the position she holds than her physical weight” and that he would withdraw the statement after “reflecting on its ambiguity” and apologise to Mazibuko. But Motshekga said Mazibuko’s dress “showed total lack of respect to the debate and the decorum of the House”.
ZUMA DENIES RESPONSIBILTY FOR RAND’S POST-BRIEFING PLUMMET
President Jacob Zuma has denied being responsible for the sharp decline in the value of the rand after a media briefing designed to prop up the currency. Zuma, responding to the Presidency’s budget vote debate, said the markets were volatile on the day and that the rand’s dive was the result of a stronger dollar and lower commodity prices. Zuma admitted, however, that labour unrest and the weak GDP exacerbated the situation. But he warned opposition parties to stop making statements that could make the situation worse, saying they should “put the country first” and help government build confidence in the economy.
JUSTICE DEPT SHUTS DOWN NAME AND SHAME CAMPAIGN
The department of justice has shut down a 'name and shame' campaign for convicted drunk drivers in the Western Cape. Transport MEC Robin Carlisle said the campaign was responsible for a 30% decrease in road traffic fatalities. "The 'Safely Home' campaign has been pivotal in achieving a 30% decrease in road traffic fatalities in the province since 2009," Carlisle said in a statement. It was run according to procedure, and relied on court records supplied in terms of the National Road Traffic Act to the provincial transport department. "The national department of justice initially simply ordered the courts to stop supplying the records, then later ordered them to supply a truncated record which excluded the offence and sentence of the culprit," Carlisle said.
TSHWANE ORDERED TO SHOW OLD STREET NAMES
The City of Tshwane has been given six days to comply with a court order to show Pretoria’s old street names with the new ones after the High Court in Pretoria denied an application for leave to appeal against an interdict stopping the removal of Pretoria's old street names. The SABC reported that Judge Bill Prinsloo dismissed the application with costs. The municipality told the court it would have to spend over R2.6 million to re-erect the old signs and argued there was no proof anyone had been harmed by the name changes. MP van der Merwe, for AfriForum, said the city only had itself to blame if it had to spend over R2 million to put back the names.
WESTERN CAPE HAS 373 BUCKET TOILETS OUT OF 88,000 IN SA
A parliamentary question has revealed that of the 88,127 post-1994 bucket toilets identified by national government across the country, only 373 or 0.4% are in the Western Cape. DA human settlements spokesman, Stevens Mokgalapa, says the reply shows “the ANC’s hypocrisy on this issue”. Mokgalapa said he hoped that the party’s political opponents would “one day be able to give credit where it is due and put service delivery ahead of petty politics”. He said if the ANC and its youth wing were genuinely concerned with poor sanitation across the country, they would be protesting poor sanitation in places like the Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape where there are “tens of thousands of bucket toilets still in use”.
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES WELCOMES RULING ON WATERKLOOF TWO
The Department of Correctional Services has welcomed a court ruling that will see two of the so-called Waterkloof Four going back to prison next month. James Smalberger, chief deputy commissioner of incarceration and corrections, said on their return to Zonderwater Correctional Centre “they will merely continue to serve their sentences as if not released’. The ruling follows a public uproar after Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk, who along with two others were sentenced to 12 years in prison for beating a homeless man to death in 2001, were released in 2011. A full bench of judges set aside district magistrate Peet Johnson’s ruling of December 15, 2011, to convert the men’s prison term to correctional supervision.
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4. Alliance
Julius Malema unplugged: Talking 'bout a revolution
Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick, 14 Jun 2013
You may think the announcement by former ANC Youth League president Julius Malema this week that he is undertaking a consultation process on his economic freedom campaign was months in the making, a political strategy devised in smoke-filled rooms by shadowy political heavyweights behind him. Turns out Malema and his sidekick Floyd Shivambu, together with a few of their mates, decided on it without consulting anyone. Malema revealed this, his intentions for a “revolution” in South Africa, his impressions watching from the sidelines as Jacob Zuma won a second term at Mangaung and his life outside the ANC in an interview with RANJENI MUNUSAMY. GREG NICOLSON took the pictures.
It surprises Julius Malema that some people are scared of him and think he is a monster of sorts. I ask him how is he going to attract people to come on board his economic freedom campaign when he has built himself as an aggressive radical, spewing bile and instilling fear.
He grins coyly and says he doesn’t know why people are scared of him. As with the local and international radio and television interviews Malema has done during his stint as South Africa’s most controversial political figure, he is soft-spoken, polite, articulate and deliberate, answering everything asked of him. It is difficult to amalgamate this image with the persona on a political podium – fiery, audacious and belting-out war talk.
Malema says when he addresses rallies and public meetings, he has to use a different language to that when he speaks to people face to face. “You have to agitate and get the message across in a short space of time. It is the language of mobilisation and agitation.”
“I’m Julius throughout,” he says bemused, as if the contradictions between his two personas should not be disconcerting.
He relays an anecdote of how even he gets shocked by people’s perceptions of him. Malema says he and a handful of friends attended the launch of a new cruise ship in Durban. The function was in a cinema on board the ship and the lights were turned off. When the lights were eventually turned on, the mostly white crowd was stunned to discover Malema sitting among them. After the initial shock wore off, many rushed over to take pictures with him.
“I couldn’t understand it. It was as if I was some big TV personality; they were behaving like I was a celebrity,” Malema says.
So how did it come about that Malema decided to re-emerge from the political wilderness and dive back into the game? He says he has continued to address public meetings and “engage with the masses” away from the media spotlight. He took a two-month break to study – he is doing a BA degree in politics and citizenship through Unisa – and recently finished his exams. It was then that he, former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) spokesman Floyd Shivambu and a “few comrades” decided that the time was right to launch a process of consultation to decide how to advance their economic freedom campaign.
The campaign, as it was when Malema and Shivambu were still in the ANCYL, advocates for a radical economic policy shift in South Africa including through expropriation of land without compensation and the nationalisation of mines. Malema says he and “a few young people” decided to form the group, calling themselves “Economic Freedom Fighters” to re-float their old campaign by holding consultation forums around the country.
He says they have not yet decided whether to form a political party. There were three options on the table: an independent political platform “agitating” for economic policy change but not affiliated to any political organisation, contesting the elections and then pushing for change through Parliament, or remaining loyal to the ANC hoping that it would “self-correct” some time in the future. Malema says the public forums and submissions would culminate in a national consultative meeting which would ultimately decide which option to take.
Malema says his announcement this week has upset some of his former allies in the ANC and ANCYL, who felt affronted that he had not consulted with them on the idea before going public. But he says he did not want anyone else to control his agenda. “Every generation has its own mission. This is ours.”
But if he could not succeed with the nationalisation campaign from within the ruling party, how does he hope to make any policy impact from outside? “The 1976 Soweto uprising was not an ANC initiative,” Malema responds. “In fact the ANC criticised those kids until they were overtaken by events. So it doesn’t need to come from inside the ANC, they will join later.”
So, you want an uprising then, Julius? Malema does not blink and answers instantly:
“We are agitating for a revolution. We want a radical policy shift. The ANC can only be forced into it by the masses.”
Throughout the interview, Malema weaves in his views of Zuma’s failures as ANC leader and president. He claims his expulsion was “a well-calculated move” to ensure that Zuma was re-elected at the ANC’s national conference at Mangaung last December. He also claims that his charges of racketeering and money laundering, the seizure and sale of his properties by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) were all politically motivated to destroy him.
Malema says he thinks the outcome of the Mangaung conference could have turned out differently had he still been in the ANC, as his expulsion “served as a blow to the Forces of Change”. He says after he was expelled, those who were running the Forces of Change campaign to remove Zuma as ANC president were “advancing their own names” and were “inspired by self-interest”, and this further destroyed the campaign.
Malema was in Mangaung during the conference and monitored the events throughout. “I knew we were going to lose, there was too much manipulation.” He says he knew there was “something fishy” when ANC membership figures in KwaZulu-Natal escalated rapidly ahead of the conference so that support would sway in favour of Zuma.
Malema says he nonetheless “admired the spirit of comrades” in the Forces of Change camp. “No matter the consequences and the hardships, they fought until the conclusion, including Comrade Kgalema. I felt very bad for the comrades who were inside (the conference tent) and kept soldiering on.”
Asked whether with the benefit of hindsight, he could have done things differently to remain in the ANC and perhaps still be living the high life he once enjoyed, Malema says he believes he acted according to his political beliefs and would not change anything he had done. He said he was punished for speaking out against Zuma and had no regrets about that.
However, he says he and his colleagues who were subjected to disciplinary procedures by the ANC had made approaches to try to broker a settlement, but these were snubbed. Malema’s written request to the Mangaung conference to reconsider his expulsion was also rejected.
At first Malema says he was not bitter about losing his possessions and homes because he understood it to be politically motivated. “I don’t feel angry, I know it is part of the game.” But later he admits that he was cross about the sale of his cabbage farm.
“I did get angry seeing that the land of an African child was bought by a white Afrikaner male, presided over by the ANC government on the eve of the 100 year anniversary of the 1913 Land Act. The Afrikaner males ganged up there to secure the land.”
Asked what he has been doing with himself since being expelled from the ANC, Malema says he is in business but is reluctant to say what exactly this is. He says his business only deals with the private sector so that the state does not interfere with it. “I live in Limpopo and survive through family and friends.” He had to return the swish black Mercedes Benz Viano he used to travel around in to a friend who loaned it to him, as he says SARS kept asking questions about it and state agencies were harassing the owner.
So where would the resources come from to run a countrywide consultation process? “You don’t need much resources, you need political will,” Malema says. “If it means we use public transport to reach the masses so be it.”
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Malema’s new political career is his pending corruption trial. But he does not see it as such.
“The economic freedom campaign is not a personal project. The economic freedom fighters will lead it whether I am there or not.”
If Malema is there, leading the campaign, it is guaranteed to run interference against the ANC and the state. Malema agitating for change inside the ANC caused unprecedented turbulence. Now he wants a revolution and has no restraints.
The prospect of Julius Malema talking directly to the forgotten people of South Africa will keep many an ANC politician awake at night.
Add things together and Malema 2.0 may be a terrifying opponent to the very organisation that spawned him. His impulsive, maverick move should make the inhabitants of Luthuli House extremely nervous. They have been warned.
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Cape Town: ANC's attempt at poolitics ends with a whimper
Rebecca Davis, Daily Maverick, 14 Jun 2013
Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman called on “all our people” to join a march to the DA-controlled provincial legislature on Thursday. Poor turnout and a refusal by any DA bigwigs to collect a memorandum of demands rendered the march a bit of a damp squib. No faeces was flung – other than verbally. But with the elections a full ten months away, Western Cape opposition politics are looking increasingly like – if you’ll pardon our language – a shit-show. By REBECCA DAVIS.
“We call on all sectors, religious, Khoisan, minstrels, NGOs and CBOs, farm communities and others to come in numbers,” Marius Fransman announced on his Facebook page on Wednesday. “There will be free trains! Also we call on people to be disciplined and dignified. We have picked up that there are agent provocateurs to try and distract. And no throwing of anything allowed!”
Fransman’s reference to “no throwing” was, of course, a reference to the ANC Youth League’s recent dumping of human waste on the steps of the provincial legislature.
“We call on people to come with MASKS on as the Mayor did unacceptable thing by going with MASK into our communities cause she can’t stand the stink,” Fransman continued. Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille wascriticised for having worn protective gear and a facemask during a visit to the Cape Town informal settlements of Barcelona and Kanana on Tuesday.
De Lille’s visit was ostensibly to assist with the clean-up of container toilets, but some residents found her choice to wear a face-mask insulting, given that she was protecting herself from a stink that residents in the informal settlements face daily. The visit was viewed by some as a meaningless PR stunt, but de Lille defended it by saying she was there, with a heavy police presence, to ensure that toilets got cleaned in the face of a labour dispute, which had meant the toilets had been filling up for some time.
Fransman had aimed to adopt the emblem of the mask as symbolic of how out-of-touch the DA is with the plight of the poor. “We will come with MASKS to CBD cos we CAN’T stand the stench of extreme wealth in sea of poverty, we can’t stand stench of racism by DA, we can’t stand the stench of DA by closing our schools!” he wrote. “Bring a friend with and bring your MASK!”
When the marchers gathered on Thursday morning, however, it was evident that most of them had neglected to bring either a friend or a mask. With regards to the latter, perhaps someone had informed Fransman that the wearing of masks in protests is illegal under the Gatherings Act, which states that: “No person shall at any gathering or demonstration wear a disguise or mask or any other apparel or item which obscures his facial features and prevents his identification.”
In the end, around a thousand people turned out for the march. Their placards hinted at a very mixed bag of concerns, but primarily: perceived DA racism, service delivery issues, worries about the MyCiti bus lines supplanting the taxi industry, and school closures.
The latter is a long-running issue, stemming from Education MEC Donald Grant’s decision to close 17 Western Cape schools. Sadtu and the affected schools have argued that sufficient consultation did not take place with the relevant communities before the decision was taken.
The Western Cape provincial government has pointed out that thousands of other schools are earmarked for closure in ANC-governed provinces and claims that the issue is being used as another political football.
Before the march set off, Fransman denied to journalists that it was a publicity stunt with an eye on the 2014 elections. “We did it last year and the year before, when there were no elections,” Fransman said.
The end-point of the march, the Western Cape provincial legislature, has become the tinderbox of the province’s fractured politics of late, both in terms of events outside and inside it. Aside from the dumping of waste on its steps, the ANC warned this week that it was reconsidering participating in the Western Cape legislature at all.
This stems ostensibly from an issue in May, when the ANC’s Max Ozinsky said that Helen Suzman “wanted to kill us”. Last Thursday, deputy speaker Piet Pretorius ruled – in response to a request from Premier Helen Zille – that Ozinsky’s claim was unsubstantiated and should be withdrawn. Ozinsky refused to do so and the ANC staged a walkout.
On Wednesday this week, the ANC’s caucus, including Fransman,protested outside the legislature about the DA’s “power abuse”, claiming that the DA was shutting down democratic debate and treating its members unfairly.
In response, DA Western Cape chief whip Alta Rossouw claimed that ANC attendance at important hearings in the legislature was very low and that the ANC members were failing to uphold the duties for which they were paid salaries.
At the march on Thursday, police guarded the entrance to the legislature. ANC Provincial Secretary Songezo Mjongile called for a prayer for the health of Nelson Mandela and then led the crowd in chants of “We want schools! We want homes! We want toilets!”.
Mjongile said that eight South African provinces are free, but the Western Cape is “not yet uhuru”, a suggestion met with cheers by the gathered protestors.
One elderly woman brandished a sign reading: “Zille Klim Af Van Daai Stoel Ek Wil Daar Sit Want Jy Laat My Kak In 'n Blik”: Zille, climb down from that chair – I want to sit there because you let me shit in a can.
Photo: A protester carries a sign expressing her anger at Premier Helen Zille (Rebecca Davis)
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich was on hand to deliver his trademark fiery rhetoric. “The mayor comes to our communities and wears a mask,” he said. “Does she want us to wear a mask every day of our lives?”
He compared the impoverished informal settlements with the lavish resources of wealthier Cape Town: “In Constantia, every room has a toilet!”
Fransman took a pot-shot at Zille’s claims that the Western Cape is the best-run province, saying that this fails to take into account apartheid history. During apartheid the old Cape Province had better infrastructure and was not burdened with the Bantustan system, Fransman said, which has given the province an advantage to this day. He hit out at the lack of females in Zille’s cabinet, saying it spoke to a disregard for the capabilities of women and said the same applied to the premier’s attitude to race-based employment equity.
“We must ask: Is Helen Zille racist?” Fransman told the crowd and received answering cries of “She is! She is!”
Fransman condemned the actions of the “young people who throw thekaka kaka”, but said it had served to raise the vital issue of service delivery to the townships. He urged the crowd to make sure that they were registered to vote, so that “the walls of Jericho must come down in May 2014”.
March organisers were initially adamant that only Helen Zille herself would be an acceptable candidate to collect their memorandum. Fransman said they wanted nobody but Zille because the DA had too many “werfbobbejane”, which he subsequently laughingly translated as “tame monkeys”. Given that he immediately followed this with “Only the Madam must come”, his words are – to say the least – open to misinterpretation as a racial epithet.
Fransman will no doubt claim, however, that he was using werfbobbejaanin the same way that Tony Leon did in 1999, when he used it in reference to Louis Luyt’s appointment to the Judicial Services Commission: to refer to a toothless, compliant candidate. Leon said at the time: “If Dr Luyt wishes to be the useful idiot of the ANC, or their werfbobbejaan, then good luck to him.”
Zille did not arrive, however, and Mjongile instructed an increasingly restless crowd to disperse with order. “We will not give our memorandum to the postman,” he said. “We will be back!” The elections may be almost a year away, but it’s clear that the stakes are rising – in an increasingly messy way – every day.
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ANCYL protest culprits being identified: report
Sapa, Times Live, 14 June 2013
The ANC in Limpopo has received video footage from the party's head office asking them to identify members who smashed shop windows in August 2011, according to a report.
The Sowetan reported on Friday that youths looted several shops around Luthuli House in Johannesburg's CBD when the ANC Youth League's former leader Julius Malema was appearing before the disciplinary committee.
They were demonstrating their anger over the charges that were brought against him.
The video footage showed most of the youths trashing streets and burning T-shirts bearing the picture of President Jacob Zuma.
According to the report the African National Congress intelligence and security members met party leaders from Botlokwa in Polokwane on Wednesday where they showed them the footage.
Vusi Ramusi, an ANC leader in Botlokwa told the daily: "I can confirm that I was summoned to help identify people who took part in the stone-throwing incident at Luthuli House, and have positively identified some of the youths as those coming from our area."
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5. International
Analysis: Zimbabwe’s elections, through Mugabe’s looking glass
Simon Allison, Daily Maverick, 13 Jun 2013
Zimbabwe has a way of turning things on their head. The latest news is no exception: Comrade Bob, the dictator’s dictator, wants elections, while the pro-democracy crowd is telling him to back off. If you’re confused, you should be, but fortunately SIMON ALLISON is on hand to explain that it all makes more sense than you think.
Damned if doesn’t, damned if he does. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe finds himself in the most unusual position of being criticized – pilloried, in fact, as being unconstitutional, undemocratic and tyrannical – simply because he wants to hold elections. Yes, you heard that right, as absurd as it sounds on the surface: in the pro-election corner is Mugabe and Zanu-PF; while arguing against the democratic expression of the people’s will are the main opposition parties and international civil society. Poor old Comrade Bob, he just can’t catch a break (at least that’s what Dali Tambo seems to think).
This uncomfortably paradoxical argument over elections has been simmering for some time, but came to a head on Thursday when Mugabe – reverting to that dictatorial style which has served him so well for so long – ran out of patience and issued a presidential decree stating that elections would be held on July 31.
In a letter he wrote to Morgan Tsvangirai, his main political opponent and Prime Minister in the soon-to-expire government of national unity, Mugabe explained his sudden haste, cloaking himself in the protection of laws and court orders (this is, incidentally, a popular tactic even in countries considered to be functional democracies; just look at how America’s immense spying program has been legalised through fig leaf of secret, unaccountable courts).
“Given the need to comply with the deadline for elections as imposed upon me by the Constitutional Court Judgment,” Mugabe wrote, “It became inexpedient to await the passage through Parliament of the Electoral Amendment Bill to align the Electoral Law with the new Constitution. Accordingly, I found it necessary to invoke the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, Chapter 10:20 in order to comply with the Order given by the Constitutional Court.”
This court judgment to which Mugabe refers came in response to an application brought by a “private citizen”, who wanted to force Mugabe to set an election date before the term of the current Parliament expires (which it does on June 29). Who knows how private this citizen really was, but the court complied with his request, and told a delighted President that he must hold elections before the end of July.
Again, it’s not immediately obvious why this court order was welcomed with such alacrity by Mugabe, and immediately condemned by his detractors – surely, one would think, a Mugabe operating in near-complete executive control is a more dangerous prospect than a Mugabe that is at least constrained by the fig leaf of parliamentary accountability (there are, after all, a number of opposition MPs?
But this is Zimbabwe, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in covering our northern neighbour it is that the obvious is almost never the solution.
Here’s the problem. Zimbabwe is not ready for an election. Regardless of what the electoral commission might say (“we will be ready”, commented chairperson Rita Makarau), the country is going to struggle to organize polls that comply with international standards in time. They haven’t even got a voters roll together yet, and it’s unclear whether the government has enough money to fund the election (the government previously asked South Africa to sponsor the vote). If rushed, the election will be a disorganized affair – and disorganization breeds corruption and electoral fraud, things that have blighted elections in Zimbabwe before, let’s not forget.
Then there are a few basic legal hurdles, foremost among them the complete confusion surrounding a proposed new electoral law – the one that Mugabe claims it is “inexpedient” to wait for. According to Tsvangirai, this new law was agreed in Cabinet on Tuesday, and it has ramifications for exactly who the people should be voting for and how they should do so; it introduces, for example, new concepts like proportional representation in the Senate and in the newly-introduced provincial council elections. And according to Zimbabwe’s new constitution, any upcoming elections need to be conducted under the new electoral law, not the old electoral law; so, as much as he would like to, Mugabe can’t really set an election date until it is in place, no matter what the court says.
But by far the biggest area of concern is the failure to reform Zimbabwe’s national security apparatus, who act to all intents and purposes like Zanu-PF’s private heavies. In the last scheduled election – the presidential run-off between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008 – the police and army were implicated in violence against Tsvangirai supporters which eventually forced the election to be called off. No one’s been held accountable for this, and there’s been little to no change in how the national security apparatus operates. There is nothing to suggest that they won’t derail yet another election in Mugabe’s favour.
“There is a real opportunity in Zimbabwe to build confidence in the integrity of electoral institutions and processes, a real chance to do this properly. Rushing into elections will fundamentally undermine those opportunities,” concludes the International Crisis Group’s Piers Pigou. “The ICG doesn’t believe that the conditions in Zimbabwe are appropriate for a free and fair election at this juncture, let alone a transparent, peaceful and credible election.”
While it’s hard to argue with all this, it’s worth noting that the opposition also has a selfish motive in avoiding an immediate election. Truth is, they’re in a bit of disarray. Fractured, bickering, and undermined by personal scandals (primarily Tsvangirai’s much-publicised love life), the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai is not so confident that they can win an election, even if it was free and fair.
As the Guardian’s David Smith explains: “The rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is seen by many as having lost momentum and the moral high ground after entering a power-sharing agreement…The MDC stands accused of the sins of incumbency, its leadership seduced by ministerial houses and luxury cars; the party has been forced to discipline some councillors for corruption. It has failed to heal a factional rift that could divide its support. Leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who serves as prime minister in the unity government, has been criticised for becoming too close to Mugabe and for an unseemly run of sex scandals. ‘I think he's been a total disaster,’ said one senior MDC figure, who did not wish to be named.”
So, early elections are bad news for the troubled opposition, something Mugabe is well aware of, consummate politician that he is – hence his uncharacteristic rush to the ballot box. And, given Zanu-PF's still-powerful grip on the state’s institutions, it will be a surprise if the opposition can prevent elections going ahead on their own.
They’ll need help, which can only come from one place – SADC, and specifically the South African mediation team headed by President Jacob Zuma. There’s a SADC meeting this weekend to discuss Zimbabwe, and they’ll have plenty to talk about. It was already delayed by a week by Mugabe, who presumably knew he was about to drop a bombshell.
But will SADC have the strength to stand up to Mugabe? So far, they have avoided confrontation wherever possible, favouring the ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach which so often looks the same as doing nothing at all. And the immediate reaction of Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma’s chief negotiator on Zimbabwe, hinted at more of the same: “SADC is concerned that there should be an election that is nowhere near what happened in 2008,” she told the Telegraph, without apportioning blame. “At the end of the day, there are three parties in the coalition and SADC wants to see those three parties being in agreement rather than unilateral decisions.”
Well, that’s nice. We’d prefer to see Zimbabwe get a real chance to choose its own government, and if it means that SADC has to take a stand that not all parties agree with (specifically, that Zanu-PF does not agree with) then that’s exactly what should happen.
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Brazil to kick off Confed Cup in key World Cup test
The New Age, 14 June 2013
After months of angst over preparation delays, Brazil steps into the global spotlight on Saturday when it kicks off the Confederations Cup, a key test of its readiness to stage the World Cup next year.
Six Brazilian cities: Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio and Salvador are hosting the two-week soccer tournament, expected to attract some 355,000 Brazilians and foreign tourists.
Brazil, winner of the previous edition in South Africa in 2009, has this year dropped to a new low of 22nd in the rankings of world football's governing body FIFA.
The Selecao is given little chance of lifting the trophy this time around.
The other contenders are current World Cup holders and European champions Spain; European vice-champions Italy, South American champions Uruguay; CONCACAF champions Mexico; Africa champions Nigeria; Asian champions Japan; and Oceania champions Tahiti, very much the minnows.
Saturday's opening game in Brasilia's Mane Garrincha pits the Brazilians, five-time World Cup winners, against Japan.
For the young Brazilian team coached by wizard Luiz Felipe Scolari and led by Barcelona-bound rising star Neymar, the tournament offers a chance to get experience and confidence for next year's bigger prize.
The average age of the squad is 26 years and six months.
In two recent warm-up matches, they drew 2-2 with England in the inaugural match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium and beat France 3-0 in Porto Alegre.
But beyond the teams' football prowess, world attention will focus on whether Brazil is really ready to honor its pledge to stage the best World Cup ever next year.
"The Confederations Cup helps up prepare the World Cup," Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo told reporters Thursday.
"If all goes well, if security, transport, airports, surveillance go according to plans, I will be happy," he added.
"With joint efforts by all the parties, we will arrive on time, although naturally with some concessions with respect to deliveries," FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said.
But he also warned that such delays would not be tolerated for the World Cup, for which all stadiums must be completed by December.
Despite $15 billion in government investment for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, the country still faces logistical shortcomings.
Organisers have been struggling to complete the construction or renovation of the six host arenas, hobbled by repeated delays due to strikes, roof collapses and other problems.
Four of the stadiums were delivered to football's world governing body FIFA behind schedule. And in the northeastern city of Salvador last month "a human error" caused part of the roof of the brand new Arena Fonte Nova to collapse following heavy rains.
"I think that some issues will be solved at the last minute," FIFA President Sepp Blatter told a press conference in Rio Thursday, commenting on the delays in delivering Rio's iconic Maracana arena. That stadium will host a Mexico-Italy game on Sunday.
Rebelo told the same press conference that although the six host stadiums for the Confederations Cup were delivered behind schedule, they were tested and "ready" for the tournament.
Infrastucture problems, with congested airports, soaring air traffic and inadequate urban mobility facilities, are another major headache.
There is also concern about the skyrocketing housing, restaurant and transport prices in several major host cities.
Rio hosts both the Confederations Cup and the World Cup -- in addition to a visit by Pope Francis next month. It is now the world's third most expensive city when it comes to hotels, according to a recent Brazilian Tourism Board study.
Thursday, Rebelo vowed "zero tolerance" of price gouging.
"We are not going to allow the hotel industry to take advantage of sporting events to overprice...If necessary, we will activate the federal police, the entire State control apparatus," he warned.
And there is mounting restiveness in several major cities over increases in urban transport fares.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous city which will host World Cup Games next year, has witnessed violent clashes between police and youths seeking a rollback of a hike in bus, metro and train fares from $1.50 to $1.60.
Similar protests over higher transport fares were held in Rio, Natal in the northeast and Goiania in the center.
-Sapa-AFP
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FIFA urges fans to come pick up Confed Cup tickets
Sapa-AP, The New Age, 14 June 2013
FIFA and the local organizing committee are issuing a strong appeal to Brazilian fans to pick up their tickets ahead of the Confederations Cup to avoid the prospect of people lining up by the thousands on match days.
While workers are still putting the finishing touches on stadiums two days before the tournament begins, it now appears that handing out tickets is also a big concern.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says "there are thousands of people who have paid for their tickets and not collected them. ... At the World Cup it will be even worse so we need people to understand that."
Three times the number of tickets have been sold for this event compared to the last Confederations Cup in South Africa.- Sapa-AP
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6. Comment
COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013
For more information, contact COSATU Offices
Come one…..Come All!
Stop Commodification of public goods!
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COSATU Section77 Notice served at Nedlac on the 11th December 2012
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Look beyond politics for a city name that will unite all of us
The Times Editorial,14 June 2013
The Times Editorial: The battle over whether the capital city should be called Pretoria or Tshwane is likely to continue indefinitely if cool heads do not prevail.
What we should accept is that victors always rewrite history and ensure their dominance is not only felt but seen.
During the dark days of apartheid, the Nationalists honoured their history and heroes. They named almost the entire country after their leaders.
Those under their rule never had a chance to protest or approach the courts about the naming of streets, towns or provinces.
Post-1994 and almost 20 years into democracy, we are yet to adopt a system that will unite the country.
While the ANC-led government has the numbers to push for name changes, it should not repeat the mistakes of the past.
If a ruling party is to make changes in an effort to erase the past, it should resist imposing its history and the names of its heroes on everyone.
South Africa has a rich history that dates further back than apartheid, the ANC and colonialism.
Every mountain and valley had a name. Rivers and the landscape hold special places in our history and the wars of freedom added another layer to it and shaped the nation that we are today.
That is why it is important that the parties in the struggle to rename our capital city should be reminded that history changes.
The apartheid government never envisaged that its history would be challenged.
It never thought its "well-known, respected names that had been there for decades" would be removed.
The ANC-led government, too, should consider that history changes all the time.
Preserving apartheid names and pushing liberation heroes will always miss the point. Let's name our villages, towns and rivers after what unites us rather than be influenced by the ideologies we hold today.
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Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 or Direct 010 219-1342
Mobile: +27 72 416 3790
E-Mail: mam...@cosatu.org.za