COSATU Media Monitor, 18 June 2013

[Norman Mampane]

COSATU Media Monitor   

Tuesday, 18 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 11^th 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

 

Stop Commodification of public goods!

 

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.

 

COSATU is on Twitter and also has a Facebook Page!

 

To participate and follow the Federation debates hashtag on Twitter #cosatu and/or search for Cosatu Today after logging.

 

 

Contents

 

Workers’ Parliament

Ø  Ekurhuleni Municipality workers warned not to strike

Ø  Government now sees importance of facing mining constraints

Ø  Potential job cuts loom at Telkom: report

Ø  Overtime ban blamed for patient deaths

Ø  Premier in appeal not to politicise Marikana

Ø  Green economy a boost for youth jobs

Ø  Minister slams 'chronic' unemployment

Ø  Marikana families believe ceremony will bring calm

Ø  Labour Brokers are here to stay

Ø  Lonmin miners urged not to see the police as enemies

Ø  Many mineworkers die poor, says Holomisa

Ø  Corruption accused immigration officer arrested

 

COSATU

Ø  RESPONSE BY COSATU EARLIER: COSATU`s response to FMF and DA on labour brokers

Ø  'Cosatu is against freedom'

 

South Africa

Ø  Safa waiting on FIFA's Ethiopia decision

Ø  ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: Fresh concerns over current account gap

Ø  Analysis: Desperate youth of South Africa

Ø  Malema has future in politics - Dali Mpofu

Ø  Chicken importers head to court

Ø  Analysis: First power from Medupi by end 2013? Unlikely.

Ø  Equal Education to SA government: Lay down basic standards for schools

Ø  SA still has a long way to go in redistribution of land

Ø  FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

 

Alliance

Ø  ANC accuses media of bias over DA remarks

Ø  ANC wishes Mbeki a happy birthday

Ø  Malema is reckless – Mbalula

Ø  ANC apologises to fallen comrade - report

 

International

Ø  Brazil sees biggest protests in 20 years

Ø  SA wants answers from Britain over G20 spy report

Ø  Swaziland wants local cut for builders

 

Comment

 

Ø  COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013

Ø  COSATU Section77 Notice served at Nedlac on the 11th December 2012

Ø  EDITORIAL: Poll a battle for the ‘born-frees’

Ø  One-size-fits-all plan unlikely to pass constitutional muster

Ø  Ipsos survey: young people in SA slightly more optimistic than old

__________________________________________________________

1.                  Workers’ Parliament   

Ekurhuleni Municipality workers warned not to strike

SABC News, 18 June 2013

The Ekurhuleni Municipality has warned its employees not to embark on a sympathy strike scheduled for today. Over 10 000 union members have threatened to strike in solidarity with colleagues at the Brakpan Bus Company. 

 

Bus company employees are embroiled in a bitter pay dispute with their employers. The municipality has obtained an urgent court interdict, declaring a secondary strike illegal. Municipal spokesperson Sam Modiba, says contingency measures are in place in case of service disruptions. 

 

"The court order from the labour court is with immediate effect and any employee who participates in the strike action planned for the 18th of June by Samwu shall be in violation of the order and therefore disciplinary steps which may be inclusive of dismissal disciplinary action shall be taken against such employees," adds Modiba.

 

Meanwhile, earlier in the month National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa secretary-general Irvin Jim said that strike action in salary negotiations should be the last resort.  Jim was speaking in Cape Town where he was to address Numsa shop stewards. 

 

Jim explained why strike action should be the last option. "Because it does not help to rev workers up and then settle very low. We are approaching negotiations with a very clear perspective and resoluteness that we are going there to negotiate.  We need shop stewards that have a clear perspective, so that they can provide leadership to a member, that’s why I'm here. The strike is not something that we want but it will be the last resort for us, and if employers are not willing we will be left with no option but to do that."

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Government now sees importance of facing mining constraints

 Carol Paton, Business Day, 18 June 2013

WHILE Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe was hosting talks on Friday on the mining industry, a group of Anglo Platinum employees at Thembelani mine, near Rustenburg, was being prevented from exiting a shaft by a gang of workers, angry over the disciplining of union shop stewards.

The juxtaposition is evidence of how far removed talking in boardrooms is from reality, especially in South Africa’s troubled platinum belt. To date, crisis boardroom discussions have been held periodically since the Marikana tragedy in August, yet none so far has had a demonstrable effect on conditions on the ground.

The draft agreement tabled by Mr Motlanthe in talks on Friday covers very much the same ground as the October 2012 agreement before it: all the parties commit to law and order; companies and unions agree to stick to lawful bargaining procedures; and government and employers commit to expediting development in mining communities and ameliorating the socioeconomic conditions of mineworkers.

Will the agreement "work" this time? Assurances have been made that this time there will be proper monitoring of progress. There will be another meeting on Wednesday — it is hoped — to conclude the signing, whereafter quarterly meetings will be held. However, it is worth remembering that the last time the Presidency said it would monitor and convene monthly meetings, these did not happen.

There are two significant differences from the agreement that President Jacob Zuma brokered with business and labour in the wake of the massacre. The first is that this time the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has been included, after its notable exclusion from talks last time.

The second is that the government now sees the importance of the hardships faced by the industry as being part of the discussion. Implicitly, this is a recognition that there is a trade-off to be made between the cost of labour and jobs.

But that said, the key tasks that were set out in Friday’s draft agreement, although easy enough to identify, are very difficult to achieve.

Take the first, of establishing law and order. Measures to improve law and order — such as beefing up the presence of private security guards and searches to prevent the carrying of weapons on mine property — can indeed be taken. These are suggested in the agreement. But effective policing in areas that are sprawling, dark, suffer from chronic violence and crime and are socially dysfunctional, is not as easy.

Since the agreement to enhance policing and expedite prosecutions, murders and intimidation have continued unhindered and not one prosecution has been brought to trial.

The second key task in the agreement — holding companies and unions to procedural labour action — is also not simple.

A damaging consequence of the labour unrest over the past 18 months is that unprocedural stoppages now occur with alarming regularity. At Impala Platinum, for instance, there have been two unprocedural strikes in the past 30 days, both to do with threatened disciplinary action against Amcu leadership. As well as these, there is disciplinary action pending over an incident in which union leadership incited workers to violence following a fatal accident; another in which a shift boss was slapped; and an additional case in which action is to be taken against workers accused of clocking fraud.

Incidences of this nature, such as the one at Thembelani, are frequent and difficult to solve quickly and fairly. One reason is that the conduct of supervisors and management is often not beyond reproach. This complicates the response of management. In the absence of direct relations of trust between employer and employees, without the intermediary of a trade union, it will be difficult for employers to re-establish their authority.

Added to these two key objectives of re-establishing law and order and industrial relations procedures, Mr Motlanthe said it must be conveyed to workers and their representatives, that the constraints faced by the industry require compromise and sensitivity. Achieving this aim, which was stated more implicitly than explicitly, entails addressing the question of worker expectations over wages, he said.

While the draft agreement implies that this is what is on Mr Motlanthe’s mind, it is stated only in the most general and oblique of terms. Balancing the contradiction between worker expectations and economic constraints, will be at the heart of industrial relations in the mining industry in the next few months.

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Potential job cuts loom at Telkom: report

Sapa, Times Live, 18 June 2013

Potential job cuts and the disposal of money-losing assets is looming at Telkom.

Business Report reported that the restructuring came at a time when the telecommunications company ramped up its bid to cut costs and position itself to compete in a cut-throat market.

According to the report the overhaul could see further cuts to Telkom's staff complement of 21,000, including flattening management layers.

It also entailed a review of supplier contracts and the sale of properties countrywide.

Plans were afoot to divest of loss-making and non-core businesses and services, and to pursue mergers and acquisitions using internal funds.

Speaking at Telkom's financial results presentation on Friday, chief executive Sipho Maseko reportedly said suppliers would be effectively managed and would have to "eat their inflation" and "demonstrate their own cost management programmes".

He added that customers were unwilling to pay for inflation passed on to Telkom by suppliers.

The decisive action was a clear indication that Maseko, who had completed about 90 days in office, would be aggressive in stabilising the company.

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Overtime ban blamed for patient deaths

Katharine Child, Times Live, 18 June 2013

A cut in the overtime allowed by the Gauteng Health Department is leading to a shortage of doctors across the province - and to unnecessary patient deaths.

"Patients are dying when they shouldn't be," said the general secretary of the Democratic Nurses' Organisation of SA, Simphiwe Gada.

The Gauteng health department cut back on overtime this year, prohibiting doctors from earning more than 30% of their salary in overtime pay.

The doctors do not work hours for which they are not paid. Nurses' overtime has also been cut.

The department says that it is trying to cut down on irregular expenditure.

Gada said that cutbacks and staff shortages have led to five deaths in the past two months at the Johan Heyns Clinic, in Vanderbijlpark, in the Vaal Triangle.

He said that on Sunday and yesterday there were no doctors on duty at the clinic.

"It is supposed to be a 24-hour clinic but people die because nurses can't prescribe medicine and no doctor is available."

He said tensions were growing between doctors and nurses because doctors were not on duty at clinics when they were needed.

''Because of the tensions the SA Medical Association and the Junior Doctors' Association of SA, along with the nurses' unions, are lobbying the Gauteng government to address the problems," he said.

Doctors' association spokesman Courage Khoza said the doctors were supporting the medical association's call for health MEC Hope Papo to resign or be recalled.

"Papo has known about the issues of long working-hours, non-payment of performance bonuses, and lack of overtime pay for months," said Khoza.

"But nothing has been done."

The doctors are planning to march on Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane's offices as part of their campaign to improve the working conditions of Gauteng's nurses and doctors.

Khoza said a doctor from Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital was rushed to an intensive care unit after being involved in a car accident believed to have been caused by exhaustion.

"Doctors work shifts longer than 30 hours. It's harmful to doctors and patients."

Gada said that on Friday night a Sharpeville clinic was shut after a nurse phoned to say that she was the only staff member there.

"Why must people go to a clinic when there is no doctor?" asked Gada.

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Premier in appeal not to politicise Marikana

 Samuel Mungadze, Business Day, 18 June 2013

NORTH West Premier Thandi Modise on Monday criticised people who she said had politicised the Marikana killings and warned Lonmin to stay out of politics.

The premier said the unrest at Lonmin’s Marikana mine had been highly politicised and called for calm as unions engaged with the company’s management to find a lasting solution to union rivalry.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) ousted the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as the majority union after a wildcat strike in Marikana last year, and now commands 70% of unskilled workers and machine operators as members.

Rivalry between the two unions resulted in violent protests last year. Forty-four people were killed at Marikana, near Rustenburg in August — 34 during a confrontation between striking workers and police on August 16 last year.

The NUM has until July 16 to retain its status as a majority union, or vacate union offices at shaft level. The offices were provided by the company to the dominant union, while other unions were allowed to use only one central office to provide services to their members.

Ms Modise was addressing the families of some of those who died in the Marikana massacre as they held a cleansing ceremony at the scene where the events unfolded.

The premier’s remarks came after lawyers at the Farlam commission of inquiry into the massacre had accused African National Congress deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa of being instrumental in the "recharacterisation" of the Marikana confrontation.

The ANC deputy president’s company, Shanduka, owns an effective 9% in two Lonmin subsidiaries, Western Platinum and Eastern Platinum. Mr Ramaphosa has acknowledged that as a Lonmin director he had been briefed by senior management members over the upheavals at the Marikana mine.

Mr Ramaphosa is on record as saying Lonmin management had engaged him and had been anxious that the government be informed of the seriousness of the situation.

On Monday, Ms Modise said: "We must make sure that Marikana (massacre) will not be repeated. We call upon Lonmin to do the right thing.

"We want politicians to stay out of this and we need Lonmin to stay out of politics. We want Lonmin and unions to lead the negotiations."

Monday’s proceedings were not without drama.

Hundreds of Amcu members walked out of the ceremony. At first it was unclear why they left the ceremony, but later it emerged that they were opposed to the presence of police and African National Congress members.

Senior regional Amcu member Obakeng Evans Ramokga would not be drawn on the walkout, saying he did not know why they had left.

Forty-one families of the 44 of the deceased performed their cleansing rituals earlier by slaughtering either a goat or a sheep.

Family members of the deceased came from the Eastern Cape and Limpopo for Monday’s ceremony.

Some of the family members even made the journey from neighbouring countries, such as Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho.

The cleansing ceremony was organised by the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality. "The ceremony was extremely emotional and the families broke down terribly for about an hour," spokesman Archie Babeile said.

To ensure that the event was not used as a political platform, union T-shirts were banned and the families given white T-shirts.

With Sapa.

_________

Green economy a boost for youth jobs

Sapa, Fin24, 17 June 2013

 Johannesburg - The waste sector is vital to the generation of jobs within the green economy, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said on Monday.

"It is in this light that the department is increasingly expanding its programmes in job creation and enterprise development programmes in this sector," she said in launching a youth jobs in waste programme in the Free State.

About 1 000 jobs would be created by placing young people in municipalities as landfill site assistants, waste collection administrators and environmental awareness educators, the department said in a statement.

A 2007 departmental study had found there was a backlog in solid waste service delivery in all municipalities.

The jobs initiative was developed to address it and create capacity within municipalities to lessen the burden of providing of waste services.

"It was also developed in recognition of the fact that the waste sector is now, more than ever, ready for major investment in both infrastructure development as well as capacity building programmes to create decent jobs and fuel the green economy," it said.

The programme was being rolled out in the Free State, North West, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.

"It is important that the state improves its capacity to deliver waste services," Molewa said.

"This is not only to meet service delivery needs, but also to provide dignity and quality of life to our people."

_________

Minister slams 'chronic' unemployment

Sapa, Fin24, 17 June 2013

 

Johannesburg - The best way to honour the youth who died in 1976 is to solve problems facing the current youth of South Africa, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Monday.

"The best way to honour them is to resolve many problems faced by the youth today which prevent them from realising their potential to be productive and fulfilled citizens," Mapisa-Nqakula said in a speech prepared for delivery.

She was addressing a youth celebration in Riviersonderend in the Western Cape.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the main problems faced by the youth were high unemployment, endemic poverty, crime and substance abuse.

About 3.3 million youths were neither employed nor studying.

This was an unacceptable state of affairs which enjoined all South Africans to find lasting solutions, she said.

"What future does this country have if we do not invest in our youth and create conditions that offer opportunities for the realisation of their full potential?"

Mapisa-Nqakula said South Africa had to continue investing in education and skills development "but seek better results than are currently been achieved".

She said "chronic" unemployment was the scourge that bred poverty, crime, substance abuse and the disintegration of families.

"My message to you is that we cannot afford to surrender to despair and helplessness. Together we can make sure that no one is written off as a hopeless case and left behind."

Mapisa-Nqakula said government had a constitutional obligation to provide education and health to all citizens.

"But our youths also have to take personal responsibility to improve their circumstances. They must have the discipline, initiative and focus to conquer adversity and become productive citizens." She urged the youth to also consider careers within the defence ministry.

"We are currently looking at the enhancement of the force's ability to stimulate local economic growth through various interventions and to assist communities in distress."

Mapisa-Nqakula said the youth had to drive economic development and transformation needed for an inclusive economy that provided a better life for all South Africans.

"This is the only way we can truly honour all our youths who paid the ultimate price so that we may live as free men and women," she said.

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Marikana families believe ceremony will bring calm

Thando Kubheka, EWN, 18 June 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The families of those killed at Lonmin’s Marikana mine are hoping the cleansing ceremony will bring calm to the troubled mining sector.

Over 40 people were killed during an illegal strike at the North West platinum mine last year.

On Monday thousands of people gathered at the koppie where 34 miners were gunned down by police to conduct cultural rituals.

A further 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed during the violent strike in the preceding week.

The Bojanala Platinum District Municipality's Archie Babeile says the community believes the ceremony will ease tensions between the various parties.

“They flocked [to the koppie] in numbers with the hope that after the cleansing ceremony things will change and life will get better in the community here.

"The families don't belong to a particular union. They came here to exercise this practice so that they can heal the scars in their hearts."

Meanwhile, North West police confirmed on Monday the cleansing ceremony at the mine was peaceful.

The police’s Babata Mokgwabone said they were satisfied with how union members conducted themselves at the ceremony.

“We are satisfied with everything thus far. The event has finished and no incidents reported.”

A commission of inquiry instituted by President Jacob Zuma after the mass killings is underway to determine what happened on the day in question.

Miners were demanding better salaries when clashes broke out with police.

(Edited by Refilwe Pitjeng) 

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Labour Brokers are here to stay

Johann Redelinghuys, Daily  Maverick, 18 Jun 2013

Cosatu (and the ANC) want to ban labour brokers, or curtail their use. But they clearly do not understand the dynamics of the employment market. The trend toward temporary employment is a worldwide phenomenon and, despite their best efforts, unstoppable.

It is not only happening at the lower levels of the corporate pyramid where the labour brokers traditionally operate: short-term is becoming a fact of life all the way to the top.

Despite all the hue and cry, labour brokers are not themselves the villains in this situation. They are simply the intermediaries responding to the requirements of an increasingly volatile employment market. Employers, now particularly mindful of being caught with unmanageable redundancy payments in the event of a downturn, want to keep their costs as low as possible and stay flexible. Isn’t this sound business judgement for the times we are in?

Cosatu, on the other hand, wants to restrict the employment on a temporary basis to three months, by which time an employee’s term, they say, must become permanent with all the benefits of permanent tenure. Surely they realise it’s not going to happen? And surely they know that, trying to legislate for it, they are on a hiding to nothing? If the ANC should succeed, against all odds, in banning or curtailing the labour brokers in the present format, the beast will simply reinvent itself by another name and still do the business.

Companies need labour and although they could, in most circumstances, disintermediate and fetch it themselves, when working through the labour brokers they get more flexibility and better control. It is a right service-product-offering for a particular economic time.

To be a lot more practical than simply thumping the table about this, we can only hope that the powers that be will understand that the shape of the market is changing. The number of permanent jobs is dropping and the number of temporary contract jobs is growing; not just here but all over the world.

In South Africa in the past decade, the number of permanent full-time employees has fallen from 11-million to 9.1-million, according to 2012 figures. The stats for temps are not fully up to date but so far the number has risen from 2.6-million to 3.9-million, a 50% increase! These numbers and the overall trends are in line with those for the US, Europe and China.

It’s obvious that everybody wants to see more jobs. We want to sustain the economy and we want more permanent employment. Job creation is the mantra of politicians everywhere. Permanence and stability are what builds nations. But what we have is not that. The contract employment and temporary work facilitated by the labour brokers is insecure, unpredictable and is said to exploit vulnerable people. The employee has no leverage. It’s natural that they want the protection and the benefits of permanent full-time employment and that they don’t want the prospect of being laid off at short notice with no recourse.

Employers, on the other side of the table, are running companies, committing themselves to profits for their businesses and are under increasing pressure. They are responding to escalating demands from shareholders who want nothing but best performance. CEOs are pressed to control costs and prefer the flexibility they get from contract labour. The critical difference is that with contract labour they can react to short-term demands and can save the cost of benefits required by permanent employees.

This is not only trending on the labour broker’s playing field. All the way up the corporate ranks, increasing use is made of short-term consultants and contracted service providers. In the big companies a surprising range of skills are now bought in on contract and are temporary. These include month-end-crisis accountants, advertising and public relations specialists, supply chain consultants, tax advisors, recruitment specialists and many more.

They are all people who used to be employed within the organisational architecture of the business. Even CEOs are increasingly employed on a contract basis and commissioned to achieve particular profit objectives. Those that don’t deliver can be disposed of within a very short timespan.

The private equity sector is even more specific. It wants to turn around a business in three or five years and will employ a turnaround specialist for that purpose and for that time-frame.

Old style “jobs-for-life” are fast disappearing. Not only does such a new reality suit employers who want to stay loose to respond to their markets, it is becoming more appealing to an expanding group of the employee population. These are people who are embracing the new deal and who like the idea of a portfolio life. They want to spread their wings and it can give them the opportunity of several simultaneous contracts or temping positions. It represents more variety and often more money.

Those who are having the most difficulty with the temporary work being offered by the labour brokers are mostly people who yearn for the long-gone certainty of life. That was when things used to be on a firm earth and people could plan into the future. We now have the ground under our feet changing constantly. It doesn’t suit everyone.

Instead of trying to cut off the symptom of the problem, the labour brokers, as the ANC and Cosatu are feverishly trying to do, would it not be more productive if we addressed the cause? That is not the volatility and uncertainty of the labour market which is here to stay, but the firmly held expectation of the workers for permanence and stability.

We need to stop our people from searching only for the haven of a permanent job and from launching misguided protest marches when they cannot be given one. Would it not be better to set up post-school training centres that will teach them to develop the skills to make a living, even in these trying times by whatever means are at hand?

Sustainability for many in the future will be about self-employment; selling whatever skills they have as a “temp” and managing short-term contracts.

Can we make peace with that? 

_____________

 

Lonmin miners urged not to see the police as enemies

SABC News, 18 June 2013

North West African National Congress (ANC) Provincial Chairperson Supra Mahumapelo has called on Lonmin miners in Marikana to stop seeing police as their enemy, and allow them to patrol in the Nkaneng informal settlement. 

Mahumapelo says: "There’s problems of crime, since the police had to withdraw from the area, and that is very unfortunate, because as the ANC, we believe communities should be working together with the police because we are one community."

He adds: "We must make sure that there is stability, there is peace. It's only when there is peace that we'll be able to say South Africa can now move forward. So, we are calling on everybody here in Marikana, to make sure that we work together. If there are differences, let's discuss them, rather than resorting to violence."

Mahumapelo was addressing over 2 000 people during a cleansing ceremony held at the hill in Marikana yesterday, where 34 miners were killed last August.  The ceremony was organised by the Bojanala District municipality. 

North West Premier Thandi Modise meanwhile says as the provincial government, they are concerned about the state of affairs in the mining area, particularly in the Rustenburg area.

"Last week we met up with the leadership of Amcu. We are hoping to meet up with the leadership of NUM and Solidarity. We are also intending to meet up with Lonmin. As government we are very worried about what is happening here. We think that we need to now begin to move faster, now that we've had this ceremony because in a way the ceremony begins to point us to a situation where families, community can accept that Marikana happened last year," says Modise.

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Many mineworkers die poor, says Holomisa

Sapa, Fin24, 18 June 2013

 

Johannesburg - Mining firms such as Anglo American and BHP Billiton should transfer some of their mining rights to the people, said United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday.

Holomisa said the mining sector had not transformed. He was speaking at a UDM youth rally at Freedom Park, near Rustenburg.

"It cannot be right that, since the days when our grandfathers worked the mines no mineworker has benefited from digging our mineral wealth.

"Many mineworkers die poor, while thousands suffer from incurable diseases caused by working in the mines," he said.

Holomisa said mining firms such as Anglo American[JSE:AGL] and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] should "offload" some of their mining rights to the people.

"This will serve as an incentive to employees and the new mining companies to promote productivity and to increase competition in the industry."

He accused mining firms of colluding with the elite in the ANC. He said the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) have larger numbers than the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) but it is not recognised.

He also said firms were abusing their mining rights.

"They abuse this power during the wage negotiations with labour by threatening to close down shafts when workers make demands."

Solutions 

Holomisa suggested that an economic indaba "on the scale of Codesa" should be hosted to find solutions to the country's problems.

He said ownership of the economy is still a pipe dream despite Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), However, he added that socio-economic freedom could be achieved if the government did more.

It had to review the funding model of the "expensive" education system which, he said, had failed to produce the skills required by employers.

Holomisa said the events of 1976, and the killing of 44 people during a strike in Marikana, should be a reminder "that we have to work harder to resolve our differences by talking and not physical violence". - Sapa, Fin24

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Corruption accused immigration officer arrested

Sapa, Citizen, 17 June 2013

An immigration officer has been arrested in Polokwane on charges of corruption, the Hawks said on Monday.

Captain Paul Ramaloko said the 37-year-old man was arrested on Friday, for soliciting a R7000 bribe from a Bangladeshi businessman.

"Allegations are that the immigration officer confronted the businessman and told him his asylum had expired, and then he solicited the bribe," Ramaloko said.

"The asylum was not expired and the man notified the police. The Hawks arrested the immigration officer as he took the money."

The man would appear in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

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2.        COSATU

RESPONSE BY COSATU EARLIER: COSATU`s response to FMF and DA on labour brokers

http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=7428

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'Cosatu is against freedom'

Herman Mashaba (Free Market Foundation), iAfrica, 18 Jun 2013

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) rejects Cosatu’s attempt in its article Cosatu’s Response to FMF and DA on Labour Brokers to link it with a political party. The fact that Cosatu graciously hosted the debate between our director, Temba Nolutshungu, and Zwelinzima Vavi on the economics of minimum wages in COSATU House has as little implication about the nature of our Foundation as the fact that the DA happens to put forward an economic argument similar to that of the FMF.

Cosatu is well aware that the FMF is totally non-partisan and does not get involved in party politics. The FMF has been promoting economic freedom for 38 years and will continue to do so. We are happy to engage with any political party, labour union or any other kind of organisation to discuss the benefits the entire nation would reap with greater rather than less economic freedom. Economic freedom, simply defined, is voluntary exchange between individuals, free of force, coercion or fraud.

Nowhere in the FMF statement Unemployed people need the services of labour brokers was it suggested, as contended by Cosatu, that labour brokers create jobs. The final sentence reads, "Job seekers, who need the services of labour brokers, should raise their voices in defence of the brokers". The statement was clear that labour brokers provide a valuable service to the unemployed and that it will be a disservice to the most vulnerable and needy people in the country to prevent or curtail their access to the service provided by labour brokers.   

The reason why we have been involved in the debate over how to end mass unemployment in South Africa is because we are convinced that greater economic freedom, including a free market in labour, would rapidly reduce unemployment so that our country would no longer have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Our statement on the proposed changes to the labour laws is based on the view that free markets bring about rapid economic growth which, in turn, increases the demand for labour and reduces unemployment.  

Economist Walter E Williams said, "People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What's more, they believe they've been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others."

The FMF opposes labour legislation that restricts the peaceable, voluntary exchange between intermediaries (in this case labour brokers) and job-seeking unemployed people who freely enter into contracts with such intermediaries. In other words, it opposes regulation that infringes on the economic freedom of the participants.

Critics of the labour broker system tend to be more concerned about the fees of labour brokers rather than the interests of the unemployed. Do they "believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom" than the unemployed and therefore "have good reasons for restricting the liberty" of labour broker workers? Or, are they merely, at any cost, looking after the interests of the already employed?

They criticise labour brokers for paying workers "poverty wages". This implies that workers do not have the ability to decide for themselves whether the wages they receive are better than all other available alternatives. In many cases the alternative to what Cosatu describes as "poverty wages" is "zero wages".

Cosatu has every right to attempt to persuade unemployed people not to enter into contracts with labour brokers. Cosatu could run courses for the jobless on alternative ways to find employment and even assist them to find jobs. However, they are not entitled to claim that they are acting in the interests of the unemployed when they use their political power, as members of the tri-partite alliance in government, to bring about regulations that, according to every objective standard, will reduce the job opportunities of more than 7-million out of work and destitute people. Regulations that will unavoidably add a large percentage of the currently employed labour broker workers to the numbers of South Africa’s unemployed.

Labour unions are a free market phenomenon where employers and employees are free to enter into voluntary contracts with each other on agreed terms. The FMF and Cosatu are therefore on the same side of the economic fence on condition that all union activities take place on a voluntary basis and there is no force or violence involved.

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3.    South Africa

Safa waiting on FIFA's Ethiopia decision

Jean Smyth, EWN, 17 June 2013
JOHANNESBURG - The President of the South African Football Association (Safa), Kirsten Nematandani, on Monday told Eyewitness News that they'll wait patiently on FIFA's decision on the Ethiopian Football Association.

The world governing body will investigate the Ethiopian FA for allegedly fielding an ineligible player during a World Cup qualifying match.

In their match against Botswana last week, they allegedly fielded a player who should have sat out with suspension.

On Sunday Ethiopia beat Bafana Bafana 2-1 to end their chances of going to Brazil, but this development could see them back in with a chance.

Nematandani said they'll keep a close eye on proceedings.

“We’ll wait until they finalise the process and if the result is us still being in the race and if it’s not positive then we’ve played the game.”

FIFA also opened disciplinary proceedings against Togo and Equatorial Guinea.

There are a number of options open to Bafana and it’s possible they could be docked the 3 points.

If that were to happen it would leave Ethiopia on 10 points in Group A, Bafana on 8 with one round of fixtures remaining.

(Edited by Refilwe Pitjeng)

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ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: Fresh concerns over current account gap

 Ntsakisi Maswanganyi , Business Day, 18 June 2013

THE deficit on South Africa’s current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, will have widened in the first quarter of this year, figures out on Wednesday are expected to show. The widening indicates that South Africa will have to do more to lure foreign investors into the country.

The deterioration in the current account deficit is likely to lead to fresh concerns about its financing, which has largely come from foreign purchases of local assets, particularly bonds. These types of inflows, unlike foreign direct investments, are volatile.

Despite the concerns, authorities have expressed confidence that the deficits will be "comfortably" financed by inflows into the financial account.

A BDlive median consensus forecast among six economists saw the shortfall widening to 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the quarter ending March from 6.5% (-R212.6bn) in the three months to December. The wider deficit is expected mainly because of the shortfalls the trade account has recorded from January to March this year.

Both exports and imports have been rising. However, the growth in imports has by far outstripped that of exports.

"I do think exports have performed badly in the first quarter," Frost & Sullivan economist Craig Parker said. "There will be some offsetting effects with the weaker rand, but the problem is that there is very little demand coming from Europe and they are our major export market."

Mr Parker said although the markets would be likely to react negatively to the current account figure, this would be temporary given that most players had already been pricing in the bad performance in the current account. "Markets have most likely already priced in the deterioration ."

Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings agreed that South Africa was still managing to fund the shortfall on its current account but said the means to do so were under pressure.

"Investors are starting to relook at their investments in emerging markets; so when they sell, South Africa is also affected," he said.

Markets will also be keen on information about inflation last month after it has remained at 5.9% year on year for three consecutive months. A BDlive median consensus forecast of seven economists forecasts that the consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation, will have moderated slightly to 5.8% in May compared to the same month last year, when Statistics SA (Stats SA) releases the figures on Wednesday.

"The main reason behind the expected lower CPI number in May is a 5.6% decline in the petrol price," Nedbank economist Busisiwe Radebe said.

The price of petrol dropped by 73c a litre last month, which should offset any upward pressure from other components.

The Reserve Bank has said it still expects inflation to temporarily breach the upper end of the 3%-6% target band, but at a slightly improved average level of 6.1% in the third quarter from an earlier forecast of 6.3%.

A quarterly jobs report out on Tuesday from Stats SA will be monitored by some. Though not market moving, the quarterly employment statistics report will give an official indication of what happened to jobs in the formal nonagricultural sector between the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year.

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Analysis: Desperate youth of South Africa

 Greg Nicolson, Daily Maverick, 18 Jun 2013

 

Youth issues have become political issues. Each year on Youth Day, we hear of the crisis of education and unemployment. But as politicians use the “youth” to further their campaigns to the 2014 elections, they fail to acknowledge many of the struggles young South Africans face. By GREG NICOLSON.

Youth Day is about struggles past and present. Speaking in Newcastle, President Jacob Zuma focused his speech on the 1976 student uprising before turning to the current challenges facing young South Africans. The common factor, he said, is the desire to have a better life. Over half of the country is under 39-years-old and 72% of unemployed South Africans are under the age of 34.

According to Zuma, youth development faces several key challenges: unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, xenophobia and access to quality education. “As youth, your task is learn, learn and learn. Learn from the lives of those before you and, most important of all, learn the skills that are necessary to build a winning nation and a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa,” advised the president.

The Democratic Alliance performed a similar tune. Speaking in Johannesburg and Limpopo, party leader Helen Zille and youth leader Mbali Ntuli focused on the lack of decent education and unemployment.

In a press release, Cosatu said the structure of the economy needs to change and asked young people to be responsible for their future.

Newcomer to party politics, Mamphela Ramphele, criticised government for failing to improve the Apartheid state’s education model and asked young people to honour the spirit of the youth uprising of 37 years ago.

Out of touch and fond of paternalism, the politicians’ speeches were framed by the upcoming elections. There was talk of what needs to be done, but little on what is – the diversity of South African youth and the varied realities of individuals. There’s a failure to recognise that youth are real people, with their many issues and with broad struggles.

Judging from the Youth Day speeches, young South Africans have benefitted from the struggle against apartheid and have vast opportunities – such potential – but are crippled by challenges.

It’s a neat summary, but looks at the most important group of South Africans as children rather than citizens. It uses them to get votes rather than improve communities. The definition and the way young people are treated feels glib, too dry to take seriously; young people do have lives beyond education and employment.

What about those who weren’t able to finish high school and are struggling to survive in a squatter camp? How about young prisoners? Does the political narrowing of “youth” capture the 22-year-old with a part-time job who wants to party on the weekend and find a girlfriend? Does it capture the students completing a master’s degree? How about the management consultants or the young politicians?

Young people do need an education and a job, but there are other struggles. Think of the high school students who can’t afford a taxi to get to school and have to support siblings. Think of the university students pressured to sleep with lecturers or those in situations of sexual violence struggling to focus on an assignment. What about the boy who wants to be a man and go to initiation school but is scared after so many of his peers died?

Young people are vulnerable to many health risks. Racism and discrimination remain serious concerns. Teenage pregnancy, alcoholism and drugs are a massive threat. So is suicide. Politicians fail to recognise the many challenges that can define the lives of a diverse South African youth and yet it is the myriad of challenges that cause some of the problems they are so concerned about. Young people cut their identity in a society that continually wants to categorise them according to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity or class, yet they are at the very heart of the project social cohesion South Africa.

In the midst of such issues, youth continue living, waiting, struggling, crying, hustling, dying and even killing. While dealing with all of that, there are the ever-present dreams, ambitions and fears as they navigate an uncertain future in a society created by another generation that largely remains in control.

Meanwhile, those who get a chance to speak on the issue of youth, those controlling power and discourse, continue to tell young people what to do. Be in control of your own future. Be of service to the community. Be straight. Be a good student. Be safe. Be rich. Be modest. Be entrepreneurial. Be a good husband. Be a good man. Be inclusive. Be a woman. Be harder working. Be submissive. Be strong. Be funny. Be cool. Be drug-free.

There’s little space for youth to just be, to carve an identity and future of their own and have their own voices heard on the most important issues in society.

As youth continue to be marginalised from discussing their own challenges, hopelessness rules. When you’ve repeatedly been promised a better future many times but have had a poor education, can’t find a job, or don’t feel your voice will be listened to, despair is a friend. Look at the struggling National Youth Development Agency and it feels like there’s little hope to give help to those who need it.

It’s a dramatic narrative but doesn’t define “youth”. Young people are not a single entity of despair. Look at the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Youngsters released last week and you’ll find some of the most impressive young people in the world. Their lives don’t seem to be about unemployment statistics, but about opportunity, hope and hard work. Whether South Africans want to be on that list or just get a job or some help with the challenges they face, they need the space to aspire to something and have a voice on who they are and what they want.

To really honour Youth Day, society needs to stop trying to define “youth” as either a problem to deal with or an issue that can win elections. Young people need a voice in their own future. That’s what people died for, isn’t it? 

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Malema has future in politics - Dali Mpofu

Stephen Grootes, EWN, 18 June 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The lawyer who represented Julius Malema during his ANC disciplinary hearing says he believes Malema has a future in politics.

Advocate Dali Mpofu argued for Malema last year and is now representing the Marikana miners. Mpofu represented the former ANC Youth League president when the mother body charged him with bringing the party into disrepute.

Mpofu and Malema lost the battle, with the young Limpopo politician being booted from the ruling party.

Last week, Malema confirmed he was starting his own political party after being expelled from the ANC.

Speaking to Eyewitness News, Mpofu said Malema had a shrewd political brain.

“He certainly has a future in South African politics.”

The former head of the South African Broadcasting Corporation added that representing Malema was different from other clients who tended to leave the strategy to the lawyers.

“He would really engage the subject and would often come with good ideas.”

Mpofu said he had fully recovered from being stabbed in East London in April.

At the same time, Malema is expected to announce next month if he will contest next year’s general elections with his own political party.

Some South Africans say they're excited about the prospect of seeing his name on the ballot box.

Malema announced last week that he formed a political forum called "Economic Freedom Fighters". He said he planned to campaign for the expropriation of land without compensation, as well as for the nationalisation of mines.

While it remains to be seen if Malema has the ability to set up structures to contest the elections, his support base seems ready to rally for his cause.

(Edited by Refilwe Pitjeng) 

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Chicken importers head to court

Sapa, Fin24, 18 June 2013

 

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (Amie) will bring an application in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday for information about an increase in chicken import duty costs.

Announcing the planned court action earlier this month, Amie said the information might shed light on future chicken import duty costs.

It opposed an increase, which it feared could be anything up to 82%, from 24%.

Amie said its application was being filed against the SA Poultry Association (Sapa) and the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) of SA's chief commissioner, for access to information the Sapa had supplied Itac.

"We believe [the information] is flawed, and we want a chance to interrogate it properly," said Amie executive committee member Georg Southey.

Amie claimed higher import duties would make prices higher for consumers, whose only source of protein, in many cases, was chicken.

It was also concerned that it could cause job losses among the 15 000 people who cut, repackaged and distributed the imported chicken.

At the time, the SAPA claimed the court action was disrupting what was usually an internal process, but said it respected Amie's right to do go to court.

"It is for the judge to decide," said the Sapa's CEO, Kevin Lovell.

The proper way of doing things would be to take Itac's decision about an import duty increase on review once it was made, he said.

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Analysis: First power from Medupi by end 2013? Unlikely.

Chris Yelland, Daily Maverick, 18 Jun 2013

 

Despite repeated assurances by Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba and Eskom CEO Brian Dames, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that power from Medupi, South Africa’s first new base-load power station in 25 years, will be delivered into the national grid by the end of 2013. By CHRIS YELLAND.

Already more than two years late on Medupi, Eskom has blamed the absence of a funding plan, geological conditions, its major contractors Hitachi and Alstom, labour unrest by the construction site workforce and even its former construction execution partner, Parsons Brinckerhoff Power – but never itself – for the construction delays at the 4,800MW coal-fired dry-cooled power station.

The bottom line, however, is that Medupi should have had 2,400MW of commercial power on stream by now and the base-load power capacity shortage resulting from the delays is throttling economic growth in South Africa and weakening the currency.

Ultimately, however, with Medupi not being a turn-key project and the utility instead placing all major contracts directly, Eskom inevitably takes on the overall role and responsibility for coordinating, managing and commissioning the project itself.

A R125-billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project of this size, with about 40 main contractors, hundreds of subcontractors and some 17,000 workers on the construction site, is bound to be fraught with financial, contractual, labour, safety, technical, completion time and performance risks – and requires extremely close project management and attention at all levels.

In April this year, Eskom has publicly announced that it had serious problems with its control and instrumentation contractor, Alstom. By late 2012, the boiler protection and the balance-of-plant software had failed acceptance tests in France three times, threatening first power from Medupi by end 2013; in March 2013, Eskom called in Alstom’s performance bond.

Asked last week whether the software has since passed the acceptance tests, Alstom would only say: “We confirm that tests are ongoing at this time, and we are closely collaborating with Eskom,” and: “Alstom remains committed to delivering on the Medupi project on time.”

However, Eskom advised that the software is still not to specification. Although the balance-of-plant software failed again last week, Eskom says the defects are fixable on-site. Acceptance tests on the more critical boiler-protection software have been delayed, but will start this week and will take a further three weeks to complete. Eskom says there will be no compromise on safety.

Eskom’s problems with Hitachi Africa, a company 70% owned by Hitachi Europe and 25% by the ruling African National Congress party in South Africa via its investment wing, Chancellor House, and contracted to build the twelve 800MW coal-fired boilers at Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile power stations, have also been widely reported.

In early 2013, Eskom gave notice to Hitachi of its failure to meet various performance guarantees relating to boiler tube welding quality and procedures and placed the company on terms to rectify the matter – failing which it would call in Hitachi’s performance bond. According to Eskom, Hitachi subsequently did not comply with the notice, and on 12 February 2013 the boiler contract bond was called.

However, the next day, Hitachi obtained a court interdict suspending payment of the bond. It is believed that Hitachi claimed that labour unrest at Medupi, which resulted in a 10-week closure of the construction site by Eskom this year, had impacted adversely on its ability to timeously rectify the welding problems that had arisen.

Eskom immediately applied for leave to appeal, which was granted. But then on 21 February, before the appeal was heard, Eskom and Hitachi reached an out-of-court agreement extending the performance date to 31 May.

With 31 May behind us, and asked whether it had since met its performance guarantees, and if not, whether it would now forfeit its performance bond or further oppose Eskom, Hitachi replied: “Unfortunately we cannot provide the information requested at this time.” But Hitachi did confirm that: “All our remaining work can be done within the given time-frame, however our remaining risk is related to further industrial action.”

Eskom, on the other hand, has indicated that it wrote to Hitachi on 31 May 2013 and is currently evaluating Hitachi’s response.

In the meantime, Eskom’s finance director, Paul O’Flaherty, has moved to take control of site construction activities at Medupi, while Eskom has been working to stabilise labour relations on site.

After initially insisting that the site labour issues were not its problem but matters between its contractors and their own labour, Eskom appears to have belatedly come to the realisation that, whether it likes it or not, in its own and the national interest, it had to intervene to ensure consistent and acceptable treatment for all workers on the Medupi and Kusile sites.

On 12 June, Eskom announced it was party to a new site-specific labour agreement, along with organised labour and the contractors who employ most of the labour, replacing the old project labour agreements. “Eskom is taking a much more active role in the labour relations on our project sites,” says O’Flaherty.

But while Eskom is putting in serious efforts to mitigate the problems of site labour unrest and the known issues posed by the boiler and control and instrumentation contracts, it is the grey areas and interface conflicts between contracts, and the problems that that will inevitably arise as commissioning of the first unit at Medupi commences, that may pose the greatest risks of all to electricity from Medupi by year-end. 

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Equal Education to SA government: Lay down basic standards for schools

Rebecca Davisk, Daily Maverick, 18 Jun 2013

 

It has been increasingly common in recent years for South African civil society organisations to approach the courts to compel government departments to take action on social issues. But even if successful, the legal route doesn’t always guarantee a quick solution. Equal Education staged marches in Cape Town and Pretoria on Monday as part of their lengthy battle to get Education Minister Angie Motshekga to agree to publish norms and standards for school infrastructure. By REBECCA DAVIS.

South Africa has almost 25,000 schools and many of them are in pretty shocking condition. Of them, 3,544 have no electricity, 401 have no water supply at all, 913 have no toilets and 2,703 have no fencing. The vast majority of schools – over 21,000 in both cases – lack libraries and science laboratories, while 19,037 schools do not have a computer centre.

This doesn’t make for a setting that is very conducive to high-quality learning. At Monday’s Cape Town march, Equal Education’s Deputy General Secretary Doron Isaacs read one of 700 testimonials collected around the country, from a Khayelitsha pupil who wrote that he and his classmates were frequently sick during winter because both the doors and the windows to their classrooms were broken.

In the memorandum the organisation handed over at Parliament in Cape Town and at the Department of Basic Education in Pretoria, the difficulties of gaining – or giving – an education under these circumstances are laid out starkly.

“It is impossible to learn and to teach when there are 130 learners in a class. We have experienced this,” the memorandum read. “It is impossible to learn and to teach when the roof may fall on your head. We have seen this. It is impossible to learn to love reading when there is no library with books. Most schools face this. It is impossible to concentrate when there is no water to drink all day at school. We have gone through this. It is impossible to respect school when our toilets don’t work and we feel undignified.”

Equal Education is not guided only by learner experience in this regard; there is also some solid academic research on their side. Stanford professor Eric Hanushek’s 2011 paper School Resources and Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries looked at 20 years’ worth of research on the question of which specific factors in an educational setting had the greatest positive impact on learning. Hanushek determined that there were very few characteristics that had “unambiguous” results, but that “perhaps the clearest finding is that having a fully functioning school – one with better quality roofs, walls or floors, with desks, tables and chairs and with a school library – appears conducive to student learning”.

For almost four years, Equal Education has been campaigning to get proper infrastructure into South African schools. As far back as 2007, government promised – via the amended South African Schools Act – to issue a set of legally binding “norms and standards” for school infrastructure. All this means is that a document would be issued prescribing what South African schools should look like: how many toilets, how many taps, how many computers and so on. On a more basic level, it will specify that schools have to have electricity, drinking water, etc.

It’s hoped that such a document would help students, teachers and parents to hold the government to account when their schools fall short of this legal minimum. But the department of Basic Education, under the leadership of Minister Angie Motshekga, has consistently dragged their feet on this issue. Reading the timeline of Equal Education’s attempts to wring the promised norms and standards out of the department is like witnessing a dreary tennis match where one party seemingly isn’t keen on playing at all.

 

From 2009 onwards, Motshekga said at various intervals that the norms and standards had been developed and would be released for comment. In August 2011, Equal Education’s attorneys wrote to Motshekga to ask when the norms and standards would be promulgated. In October 2011, Motshekga replied to say that the department had decided to adopt “guidelines” for school infrastructure instead. This was clearly unacceptable, as such guidelines would not be legally binding – and hence might well amount to no particular change in the status quo at all.

In March 2012, Equal Education launched legal action against Motshekga to compel her to issue the norms and standards. A few days before the Bhisho High Court was due to hear the case in November, however, Motshekga reached an out-of-court settlement with Equal Education.

The terms of the agreement were quite clear: “The first respondent (the Minister) has undertaken to make and promulgate regulations which prescribe minimum uniform norms and standards for school infrastructure … before 15 May 2013.” A draft set of the regulations would be published for public comment “on or before 15 December 2013”. The Minister subsequently requested – and received – an extension of one month, to 15 January 2013.

The draft norms were duly published by Basic Education on 8 January. Equal Education described them as “an enormous disappointment”. In particular, the organisation said that the language of the norms is so vague that even the poorest-equipped schools might be able to meet their requirements. Equal Education complained that the draft norms don’t address issues such as overcrowding and the lack of electricity and drinking water in schools, and also fail to lay down concrete timeframes for action.

“We want specific targets and requirements,” the organisation said. Section 27’s Mark Heywood described the draft document to the M&G as being “like a punch in the stomach”.

 

Equal Education proceeded to submit extensive comments on the draft, which was then supposed to make its way into a final form for promulgation by the end of May. By 31 May, in fact, every school in the country should have received a copy of legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure in South Africa.

It didn’t happen. Motshekga asked for an extension and Equal Education agreed to one month. If the Minister rejected this offer, the organisation stated, it would renew its application in court. Motshekga returned to say she needed six months, because she needed to seek the input of various heads of education committees; because she was waiting to hear back from Nedlac (the National Economic Development and Labour Council); and because she wanted to release another set of draft norms and standards for public consultation before promulgating them.

Equal Education says that none of these reasons are satisfactory. In the most recent court application, the organisation points out: “The extension sought will mean that yet another school year will come to an end without the Minister having prescribed the Regulations”. As such, Equal Education submits: “This matter is now urgent in light of the seriousness of the breach [of last November’s settlement agreement] and its consequences and the history of continuing delay and broken promises”. In their view, the quickest way forward is through the strong arm of the law again. On 11 July 2013 the matter returns to court.

Some suggest that it is the government’s intention to keep the process bogged down in delays and legal proceedings until the 2014 elections have safely passed. (Cynics suggest, in fact, that the reason Motshekga agreed to a settlement with Equal Education in November last year was to avoid rocking the boat before Mangaung in December.)

At Monday’s march in Cape Town, about a thousand school children carried signs saying they were having none of it. “We Won’t Be Dragged Until the 2014 Elections,” read a huge banner. “No More Delays!”

The memorandum, handed over by an earnestly bespectacled lad in his school uniform to a representative of Basic Education, contains three demands. The first is that Motshekga “immediately” publish legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure.

If this cannot be done immediately, the second demand is that Motshekga implement the draft norms and standards drawn up in 2008 by erstwhile Minister Naledi Pandor, but never promulgated.

This document, which Equal Education sees as a reasonable temporary solution, contains specifics such as the maximum number of learners per school and the minimum size of the school site. It prescribes, “as a bare minimum”, appropriate fencing and some form of security; electricity and a water source; and some grounds on which to play sport.

It does not aim as high as Equal Education, but intends a “functional level of provision”. For instance, it states, a school “may not have a science laboratory but it must have an alternative way of providing learners an experience as similar to that of a laboratory as possible. Examples of such substitutes could be science kits and, as a last resort, visual laboratories.”

The benefit of this approach, according to Pandor’s document, is that “a functional level of provision affords the system time to plan without dramatically risking the core principles of equal educational opportunity”.

Equal Education’s final demand is that Motshekga convene an urgent meeting of provincial education departments to plan the implementation of the norms and standards.

As things stand, the organisation is prepared to meet the Basic Education ministry once again on 11 July in the Bhisho High Court. But, Isaacs told the Daily Maverick on Monday, “The Minister is trying to settle before we get there”. As has been seen before, however, an out-of-court settlement by Motshekga may ultimately count for very little in concrete terms.

Unless school infrastructure can be fixed, a parent told the Equal Education march on Monday, “our children will not be doctors, lawyers, professors.” Instead, the grinding cycle of poverty and diminished opportunities will be doomed to continue, she warned.

“We have nothing left except education.” 

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SA still has a long way to go in redistribution of land

SABC News, 18 June 2013

Rural Development and Land Reform Director-General, Mdu Shabane, says over one million people have benefited from land redistribution and restitution since 1994.

This as the country marks 100 years since the 1913 Land Act came into effect. Shabane says although progress has been made to address the legacy of apartheid and the Land Act, there is still a long way to go.  Shabane also says government will only be able to establish how many South Africans and foreigners own private land once the Land Management Commission is established legally.

He says there is currently a draft Land Commission Bill, which gives the commission the power to recover land that was acquired illegally towards the end of apartheid.

Meanwhile, Contralesa President Nkosi Phatekile Holomisa says there may be a need to amend the constitution if the land question cannot be addressed speedily.  "Land is not for sale should not be for sale, it’s a God given right to any human being. A human being born is automatically entitled to a piece of land. The state as the entity responsible for the well-being of South Africans must have a right to identify land that is needed for people to be given access to. If the constitution stands in the way of the state acquiring land, then the constitution must be amended," says Holomisa.

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FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

Daily Maverick Staff Reporter, 18 Jun 2013

 

A round-up of the day’s news from South Africa.

UK SPIED ON SOUTH AFRICAN DELEGATES TO G20 MEETING IN LONDON

As the G8 conference opened in Ireland, the British government was rocked by allegations leaked by former US spy, Edward Snowden, that it spied on foreign delegates attending a G20 meeting in London in 2009. British intelligence services spied on South Africa and Turkey, among others, the Guardian newspaper reported. Spies used intelligence capabilities to monitor communications between officials, including intercepting emails as well as messages and calls made on BlackBerry devices. The newspaper claimed one document “summarises a sustained campaign to penetrate South African computers, recording that they gained access to the network of their foreign ministry", "investigated phone lines used by High Commission in London" and "retrieved documents including briefings for South African delegates to G20 and G8 meetings".

WELL KNOWN SA ARTIST APPEARS ON CHARGES OF MURDER

Well-known South African artist Zwelethu Mthethwa has appeared in a Cape Town court for allegedly beating a woman to death. Die Burger reported that closed circuit cameras captured footage of Mthethwa hitting and kicking a woman to death on the street in Woodstock in April. Police spokesperson FC van Wyk told the newspaper Mthethwa was also identified by an eyewitness. Van Wyk said the 52-year-old allegedly stopped his car, climbed out and walked over to the woman, thought to be a sex worker, and started hitting her repeatedly. Mthethwa reportedly appeared the next day in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court, where he was granted bail of R100,000.

SANDF ON THE MOVE TO DRC

South African soldiers are on the move to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are part of the ‘Force Intervention Brigade’, also known as the SADC Brigade, given a United Nations mandate to ‘stabilise’ the eastern DRC. Independent Foreign Service reported that 1,300 SANDF troops flew to Goma this weekend from Bloemspruit Air Force Base in Bloemfontein where they had undergone training at a combat school. The report said a full battalion and support company, a paratroop company, Special Forces and engineers were en route to the DRC. Monusco military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Félix Basse said the brigade was ready to conduct offensive operations so as to “neutralise” armed groups.

DA COUNCILLOR SUSPENDED FOR ‘OFFENSIVE AND RACIST’ EMAIL

A DA councillor in the Eastern Cape accused of sending a racist email has been suspended. Stanford Slabbert wrote that President Jacob Zuma had more wives than brain cells, and said the African National Congress produced "dumb idiots who wait for handouts", The New Age reported. DA leader in the Eastern Cape, Athol Trollip confirmed to Sapa that Slabbert had been suspended. He said the email was “very offensive and racist” and had contravened the party’s constitution. Slabbert faces a disciplinary hearing in July.

BREYTENBACH TO CHALLENGE REDEPLOYMENT AT LABOUR COURT

NPA prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach’s lawyer Gerhard Wagenaar will file an application with the labour court against her redeployment, Sapa reported. “An application will be brought to the labour court this week, to set aside the decision by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to move her from the office of Specialised Crime Unit (SCU) to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Pretoria,” Wagenaar said. In the meantime, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that it had filed an application for the Labour Court to review the outcome of a disciplinary hearing, which cleared Breytenbach of all 15 charges levelled against her by her employer.

DA YOUTH DAY OUTREACH BANNED BY LIMPOPO EDUCATION MEC

The Democratic Alliance in Limpopo was stopped from carrying out a Youth Day outreach at a school in the province by education MEC Dickson Masemola. The party had planned to repair a high school. DA youth leader Mbali Ntuli said the team went to the Kgabo High School on Sunday to repair facilities at the school.

“It is a pity that, even on youth day, the MEC is putting politics above delivery,” Ntuli said. But department spokesman Pat Kgomo accused the DA of lying, saying they had not received a request from the DA about the event. Ntuli said staff, teachers and the governing body were “happy” to welcome them, but that the school superintendent told the group Masemola had told them the DA should not be allowed to help at the school.

GORDHAN MUST INVESTIGATE ANC CONNECTION TO GADDAFI BILLIONS

Finance minister Pravin Gordhan must investigate the so-called ‘Gaddafi billions’ hidden in South Africa, says DA finance spokesman, Tim Harris. He said while the party welcomed the announcement that the Libyan funds and assets would be repatriated, the link between the funds and high-ranking ANC officials should be investigated. City Press reported two Libyan factions were involved in a “billion-dollar fight” to find and repatriated money, gold and diamonds. One faction says ANC security head Tito Maleka and ANC-connected businessman Jackie Mphafudi are connected in the recovery of $1 billion of Gaddafi’s assets in South Africa, helping an “illegitimate” group. “This raises questions around government and the ANC’s financial ties with the former Libyan dictator, and whether there may have been any undue influence,” Harris said.

GRACA MACHEL THANKS SA, WORLD FOR MANDELA MESSAGES

Graca Machel has thanked South Africans for their support of her husband, former president Nelson Mandela. “So much love and generosity from South Africans, Africans across the continent, and thousands more from across the world, have come our way to lighten the burden of anxiety, bringing us love, comfort and hope,” Machel said. “We have felt the closeness of the world and the deepest meaning of strength and peace.” Mandela has spent 10 days in hospital since being admitted on 8 June for a recurring lung infection. The presidency, which is handling communication around Mandela’s health, has consistently said the world statesman was in a “serious but stable condition”.

TIME FOR ‘TEFLON TINA’ TO GO

It is time for President Jacob Zuma to “do the right thing” and relieve agriculture minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson from her duties, says DA agriculture spokeswoman, Annette Steyn. Steyn was responding to a report that alleged the minister had taken a kickback, worth R100,000, for arranging the sale of a farm. The Sunday Times reported the lawyer, close to the deal, as saying the money was paid directly into Joemat-Pettersson’s personal bank account. “Joemat-Pettersson is the ultimate Teflon Minister, she has hurtled from scandal to scandal without any real castigation. It is time for President Zuma to do the right thing and relieve her of her duties,” Steyn said in a statement. Joemat-Pettersson has denied the allegations, with her spokeswoman Palesa Mokomele calling them  "unsubstantiated and regrettable”.

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4.    Alliance

ANC accuses media of bias over DA remarks

 Wyndham Hartley, Business Day, 18 June 2013

THE intensity of unseemly exchanges between the ruling party and the opposition escalated on Monday, with the African National Congress (ANC) charging that the media was being gentle with the Democratic Alliance (DA) over racist remarks in the Western Cape legislature.

During last week’s debate on President Jacob Zuma’s budget vote, ANC MPs resorted to highly personal observations about DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko. Senior ANC MP John Jeffery later unreservedly apologised for and withdrew his remark that Ms Mazibuko was of great weight but little stature.

Acting ANC deputy chief whip in the National Assembly Mmamoloko Kubayi entered the fray, saying two DA members of the Western Cape legislature had racially insulted ANC members and had failed to apologise.

She said there had been extensive media coverage of what was said by ANC MPs but little reported on the insults by DA MPLs. "Jeffery has since voluntarily … indicated that he will withdraw his pun," Ms Kubayi said.

"He had said that ‘while the Honourable Mazibuko may be a person of substantial weight, her stature is questionable’. Because this pun is ambiguous and is open to various interpretations, including possible reference to Mazibuko’s body, Jeffery saw it as appropriate that he should not only withdraw but personally apologise to Mazibuko. For many years, Jeffery fought for the attainment of a non-racial, nonsexist and democratic South Africa. It is because of this political consciousness and understanding, as espoused by his organisation, the ANC, that he took this decision," she said.

"The same cannot be said by DA members of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, who either refuse to apologise or are forced to do so. Western Cape health MEC and DA MPL Theuns Botha was on Thursday forced to withdraw his racist remark against ANC MPL Zodwa Magwaza, which likened her to a baboon. During a debate in the legislature, Botha had shouted at Magwaza in Afrikaans "’n bobbejaan sê hoe!" (a baboon says how!). In March, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille referred to Magwaza as an ‘elephant’ that should join her on her next cycling exercise. Previously, Botha had referred to ANC leader in the legislature Lynne Brown as a ‘hippopotamus’. Botha might have been forced by the legislature speaker to withdraw his racist ‘bobbejaan’ remarks, but he has not apologised," Ms Kubayi said.

"While some sections of the media, in their usual bias and dislike of anything ANC, were quick in the last few days to drive an attack on Jeffery, despite his apology and withdrawal of the remark, they have turned a blind eye on these racist and sexist remarks made in the Western Cape legislature by DA leaders."

Ms Kubayi said that with next year’s election fast approaching, some sections of the media were dropping any pretence of objectivity : "If the media’s critical role in society is to be taken seriously, then it should apply its watchdog role fairly without prejudice."

Ms Mazibuko accepted Mr Jeffery’s apology.

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ANC wishes Mbeki a happy birthday

Sapa , Times Live, 18 June 2013

The African National Congress wished former president Thabo Mbeki a happy 71st birthday on Tuesday.

"... We wish president Mbeki a happy and restful birthday and indeed respite, even for just a day, from the important work that he continues to do on the continent..." spokesman Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

"The ANC thanks president Mbeki for his contribution to the people of South Africa, Africa, and beyond for the sterling work he has done both domestically and in relation to his immeasurable contribution to ensuring Africa takes her rightful place among the nations of the world."

Mthembu said Mbeki, who was the second democratically elected president, played an invaluable role in making South Africa a better place today than it was in 1994.

"Our gratitude goes also to his family for having shared him with all of us from a very young age."

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Malema is reckless – Mbalula

Piet Rampedi, Shanti Aboobaker And Loyiso Sidimba, Sunday Independent, 16 June 2013

Julius Malema’s erstwhile friends – including Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale and Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula – have vehemently distanced themselves from his new party initiative, with the latter saying his comrade is immature, reckless and committing political suicide.

In an interview with The Sunday Independent last week, Mbalula said Malema lacks political education and is impatient.

Mbalula said there had been speculation that he was the brains behind Malema’s party, given their close friendship.

“As a cadre, being trained by the ANC, forming a political party out of the ANC is political suicide. It is out of anger and not necessity… Being disgruntled about individuals in the ANC cannot lead to the formation of a political party… I have no intention of joining anything,” he said, describing Malema’s new initiative as “political adventurism”.

“He is my friend but this is where I draw the line. And I will remind him that, friendship aside, it is my duty to defend the ANC.

“I was almost expelled before Polokwane (ANC national conference) and accepted guidance and the most helpful thing for me was political education… Julius’s generation had not had that opportunity to get political education, they lack patience… I told him that he is committing political suicide,” he said.

Mbalula, who is indirectly responsible for Malema’s rise in the ANC Youth League, said he still believed “Julius can bounce back as a solid leader, only if he can remain patient”.

“But what he is doing is reckless and erratic and speaks to a lack of political maturity.”

Asked if he was abandoning his friend, Mbalula said: “I have defended him in the (ANC’s national executive committee) when many didn’t want to be associated with him. I have risked my career for remaining true to our friendship.

“But friendship must be balanced with one’s principles and conviction. I don’t believe in veering from the ANC as a matter of principle, and if it means I part ways with Julius on this, so be it.”

“If my beliefs are not based on principles but on mere friendship, then it is hollow.

“My honest advice to my friend is that he has been through tribulations, his legal battles, and he was expelled from the movement. But this calls for patience.

“I respect his choice as a citizen with constitutional rights to belong to whatever party, but his political decision is sad,” said Mbalula.

Malema and Mbalula had a close personal and political relationship, and were primarily seen as the key conspirators behind a plot to remove President Jacob Zuma at the party’s last conference in Mangaung.

Malema was expelled before the conference after a lengthy disciplinary process while ANC delegates rejected Mbalula as secretary-general and booted him out of the party’s highest structure, the NEC. Mbalula is not the only Malema ally to frown upon his new initiative.

Mathale, who lost his chairmanship of the provincial ANC after Luthuli House dissolved the party’s Limpopo leadership structure, on Saturday said Malema’s decision to form a forum of “radical militants” to champion “economic freedom” was “unfortunate”.

“I don’t agree with it but he has the right to do it. Like I said, he is a citizen and no longer a member of the ANC. I am not concerned about what people who are not members of the ANC do. It’s unfortunate that things have turned out the way they did. Obviously he is going to oppose the ANC and I am a member of the ANC. We are going to be on the opposing side of the fence. It’s unfortunate,” Mathale said.

Limpopo Human Settlements MEC Clifford Motsepe, who was part of the legal team that represented Malema during his misconduct case with the ANC, said while Malema would “remain my friend”, he wanted nothing to do with his forum.

“I can’t leave the ANC. I will die ANC. I am going to attend branch general meetings with my grand children and the day I die my coffin would be draped in black, green and yellow colours,” Motsepe said.

Former Limpopo ANC provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane last week denounced Malema as a “hypocrite”.

This came after Malema said Lekganyane was kicked out of his position after releasing a statement early this year rejecting “one of their own” for political expediency.

“We have accepted the decision of the NEC of the ANC to uphold the ruling of the NDCA (national disciplinary committee of appeal) and also not to review it. For him to hallucinate that we released a statement renouncing him in order to propitiate favours with the new leadership and stave off any possible dissolution of the PEC (provincial executive committee) is as infertile as it is parochial.

“It is a statement of a nostalgic hypocrite reminiscing of his halcyon days in the ANC,” said Lekganyane.

Former ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa, who represented Malema in his first disciplinary hearing in 2010 when was has charged with comparing President Jacob Zuma unfavourably to his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, said he did not want to talk about other parties. “I am a member of the ANC,” Phosa said, adding that the economic freedom fighters should speak for themselves.

Former National Youth Development Agency chairman, Andile Lungisa, who is a friend of Malema’s said he would not join the new party. Maruleng ANC sub-regional secretary Tsheko Musolwa, who is close to Malema’s one-time close ally Mopani District Municipality mayor Joshua Matlou, dismissed Malema’s initiative as “a very selfish decision”.

“It is more guided by personal ambition and individual glory than the welfare of the people he is talking about,” Musolwa said.

However, some ANC members said they were concerned about the dent Malema was likely to make in the ruling party in next year’s elections, largely because of perceptions that President Jacob Zuma is corrupt and morally bankrupt.

A member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this was because the ANC had so far failed to separate itself from Zuma’s actions. “Now the DA and Julius are going to successfully campaign against the ANC on the basis of Zuma the person and his failures, not what the ANC has done or has not done.” – Additional reporting by Moshoeshoe Monare

Sunday Independent

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ANC apologises to fallen comrade - report

Sapa, Citizen, 18 June 2013

The ANC has apologised to Kanyamane Ranyaoa for believing he was a traitor who had sold out his comrades to the apartheid government.

The apology was issued on Saturday when Ranyaoa’s remains were buried, The Star reported on  Tuesday.

What finally cleared his name was dogged detective work and forensic science, according to the report.Ranyaoa’s was one of 10 bodies handed over to their families by the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) at Freedom Park in Pretoria on Friday.

The African National Congress had reportedly believed Ranyaoa was responsible for the deaths of at least two of his comrades and that he later became an askari, taking part in a raid against the party in Botswana.

But Ranyaoa’s family never believed he was a traitor and, for a quarter of a  century, fought to clear his name.

A forensic examination of his bones revealed Ranyaoa had sustained his injuries in battle.

The MPTT said: “The MPTT established without doubt through photographs, dockets, and DNA that Ranyaoa died heroically in combat and never became an askari.”

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5.    International

Brazil sees biggest protests in 20 years

Reuters , EWN, 18 June 2013
SAO PAULO - As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.

The marches, organised mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil's Congress building and then stormed it.

Monday's demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil's sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.

Some demonstrators in Rio pelted police with stones, set fire to a parked car and vandalised the state assembly building, destroying property in the southern city of Porto Alegre.

Around the country, protesters waved Brazilian flags, dancing and chanting slogans such as "The people have awakened" and "Pardon the inconvenience, Brazil is changing."

The epicentre of Monday's march shifted from Sao Paulo, where some 65,000 people took to the streets late in the afternoon, to Rio. There, as protesters gathered throughout the evening, crowds ballooned to 100,000 people, local police said.

The demonstrations are the first time that Brazilians, since a recent decade of steady economic growth, are collectively questioning the status quo.

GATHERING PACE

The protests have gathered pace as Brazil is hosting the Confederation's Cup, a dry run for next year's World Cup football championship. The government hopes these events, along with the 2016 Summer Olympics, will showcase Brazil as an emerging power on the global stage.

Brazil also is gearing up to welcome more than 2 million visitors in July as Pope Francis makes his first foreign trip for a gathering of Catholic youth in Rio.

Contrasting the billions in taxpayer money spent on new stadiums with the shoddy state of Brazil's public services, protesters are using the Confederation's Cup as a counterpoint to amplify their concerns.

The tournament got off to shaky start this weekend when police clashed with demonstrators outside stadiums at the opening matches in Brasilia and Rio.

"For many years the government has been feeding corruption. People are demonstrating against the system," said Graciela Caçador, a 28-year-old saleswoman protesting in Sao Paulo.

"They spent billions of dollars building stadiums and nothing on education and health."

More protests are being organised for the coming days. It is unclear what specific response from authorities would lead the loose collection of organisers across Brazil to consider stopping them.

For President Dilma Rousseff, the demonstrations come at a delicate time, as price increases and lacklustre growth begin to loom over an expected run for re-election next year.

Polls show Rousseff still is widely popular, especially among poor and working-class voters, but her approval ratings began to slip in recent weeks for the first time since taking office in 2011. She was booed at Saturday's Confederations Cup opener as protesters gathered outside.

GRIEVANCES LOOMING LARGE

Some were baffled by the protests in a country where unemployment remains near record lows, even after more than two years of tepid economic growth.

The marches began this month with an isolated protest in Sao Paulo against a small increase in bus and subway fares.

The movement quickly gained support and spread to other cities as police used heavy-handed tactics to quell the demonstrations. The biggest crackdown happened on Thursday in Sao Paulo when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes that injured more than 100 people, including 15 journalists, some of whom said they were deliberately targeted.

Other common grievances at Monday's marches included corruption and the inadequate and overcrowded public transportation networks that Brazilians cope with daily.

The harsh police reaction to last week's protests touched a nerve in Brazil, which endured two decades of political repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. Adding to doubts about whether Brazil's police forces would be ready for next year's World Cup.

The protesters were described as "troublemakers" and "vandals by Sao Paulo state Governor Geraldo Alckmin.

The protests are shaping up as a major political challenge for Alckmin, a former presidential candidate, and Sao Paulo's new mayor, Fernando Haddad, a rising star in the left-leaning Workers' Party that has governed Brazil for the past decade. Haddad invited protest leaders to meet Tuesday morning, but has so far balked at talk of a bus fare reduction. 

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SA wants answers from Britain over G20 spy report

SABC News, 18 June 2013

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation says relations between Britain and South Africa will now depend on the explanation by Britain to clarify what took place during a G-20 meeting in 2009 and what they plan to do about it. 

 

This follows reports that Britain spied on G20 delegates during meetings in London in 2009. Britain's Guardian newspaper reported that British agents hacked into the phones and e-mails of South African and Turkish diplomats. 

 

International relations spokesperson Clayson Monyela says now that South Africa knows what they were up to they need to explain what was going on.

 

"As part of bilateral relations there would be issues that come up from time to time but it really depends on how those issues are managed so that they don't negatively affect the strong relations we have. So at this stage we are not looking at anything negatively affecting our relations but it really depend on how they respond," says Monyela.

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Swaziland wants local cut for builders

Sandile Lukhele, Business Report, 18 June 2013

One sector of Swaziland’s otherwise declining economy – the construction industry – intends to localise construction jobs through new legislation that blocks South African construction firms from doing business in the country without a Swazi partner.

The House of Assembly is considering the Construction Industry Council Bill, which forbids exclusive tendering of government projects to foreign firms. It also stipulates that jobs in the private sector cannot be given solely to non-local construction companies.

Construction firms wishing to do business in Swaziland must team up with Swazi companies on all projects.

The law carries stiff penalties. If convicted of giving business to a construction firm that does not share the profits with a Swazi firm, a property owner will face a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 10 percent of the gross estimated value of the project.

At the low end of the construction sector are Mozambican firms that work primarily in townships and informal settlements. South African construction companies stand to lose out on the higher end of the construction spectrum.

Last year construction projects worth R1 billion were undertaken in Swaziland and lending for property development increased by 37.5 percent to R503 million.

New construction is concentrated along the corridor between the capital of Mbabane and the central commercial hub of Manzini, but development is languishing in outlying areas.

The town of Ezulwini, adjacent to Mbabane, was the traditional home of Swaziland’s hotel industry but has grown in the past decade.

The new corporate headquarters of MTN-Swaziland are located in Ezulwini. New shopping malls have opened and existing malls are being extended this year. While the Sun International group shuttered one of its three hotels there last year, a new hotel built by Swazi owners opened nearby.

Recent public sector construction has centred on a new airport in the eastern lowveld hamlet of Sikhupe. The project is largely complete, but for now the facility lies dormant.

A highway is due to be built from Matsapha, the industrial town west of Manzini, to connect with Sikhupe airport.

The government also plans to spend R42m to construct a highway from the southern provincial capital, Nhlangano.

The relatively vibrant construction industry in Swaziland seems at odds with the country’s deteriorating economy, were unemployment sits at more than 40 percent.

But economists see the sustained value of land in the country as consistent with supply and demand.

“Swaziland is a small country but with a population density greater than South Africa. Everyone wants land, but 80 percent of land is unavailable for private ownership, so there is a demand for what is left,” said an economist with an Mbabane financial institution who studies the Swazi property market.

“Some people are looking to the day when South Africa gives King Mswati an offer he can’t refuse and Swaziland is incorporated in South Africa, which will make local real estate much more valuable,” the economist said.

The government’s 2013/14 budget calls for expenditure of R100m on new factory shells to await the return of foreign investors.

An amount of R105m has been allotted for a “biotechnology park” outside Matsapha, which the government intends to use to attract hi-tech businesses to the country.

Like Sikhupe airport, financial analysts see the factory shells and biotechnology park as risky ventures offering no certain reward. However, construction job tenders will be available for South African firms that can cosy up to Swazi partners.

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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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EDITORIAL: Poll a battle for the ‘born-frees’

Business Day, 18 June  2013

JUNE 16 1976 is now, almost 40 years later, universally recognised as a turning point in South Africa’s history, the day the dam wall holding back black resentment at 300 years of oppression finally broke.

Nothing was ever quite the same in South Africa after those 176 Soweto school pupils were shot and killed by police after what began as a class boycott in protest against the use of Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction escalated into a march involving as many as 20,000 youths that was brutally suppressed by the regime.

Like the "Spring" movement that has swept through the Arab world over the past few years, it was the younger generation of black South Africans who broke the apartheid paradigm. It was the youth who looked to the future and refused to accept the status quo.

With South Africa’s fourth democratic national election now about a year away, the commemoration of June 16 at the weekend in the form of the Youth Day public holiday seems an appropriate time to reflect on what the Soweto riots mean today. Two decades have passed since the first democratic election, meaning an entire generation has now been born and raised in the post-apartheid era. How do they see their country? Are South Africa’s so-called "born-frees" satisfied with their lot? Do they believe their parents have set the country on the correct path?

Next year’s election has long been identified as another potential turning point for South Africa, largely because, for the first time, a significant proportion of the electorate will have little or no first-hand memory of apartheid, being either not yet born or too young to have known legislated racism. All will have experienced the legacy of apartheid, of course, including the vestiges of racial discrimination in society, inequalities in both material possessions and opportunity, and the effect of the measures that have been taken since 1994 to attempt to compensate for apartheid. But that is not the same as growing up with grand apartheid, whether at the receiving end or merely knowing that you were a beneficiary of an unjust system. Indeed, many social scientists were hoping the "born-free" generation would be the first capable of forging a new South African identity without being burdened by unbearable racial baggage.

As far as next year’s election is concerned, to stand a chance of gaining a meaningful share of the vote, all of the parties whose names appear on the ballot will have had to consider the questions posed above. If they believe the answer to be in the negative — that the younger generation is not satisfied that the country is headed in the right direction — their analysis of the reason for that dissatisfaction will be a key determinant of how they approach the campaign.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) will be especially anxious to get that answer right. It is apparent to all who stay abreast of the news in South Africa that the level of public dissatisfaction and protest action has escalated in recent years, and that young people are generally at the forefront of such demonstrations, a disturbing number of which turn violent. It is also common cause that young people have borne the brunt of the economic slowdown in South Africa since the financial crisis of 2008 — Planning Minister Trevor Manuel estimates that as many as seven out of every 10 South Africans between the ages of 25 and 34 are unemployed.

If that is not ringing extremely loud warning bells in Luthuli House, someone has fallen asleep at the wheel. And there are other signs of another youth-led paradigm shift looming in South Africa’s political landscape, among them the resurrection of the Black Consciousness Movement, the philosophy that motivated many of the young people who led the Soweto uprising in 1976. After all but disappearing with the advent of the democratic dispensation in South Africa, organisations with black consciousness leanings have started to become more prominent of late, especially among the youth and unionised workers. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, which has made dramatic inroads into the membership of the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers, has black consciousness inclinations, as do many of the civil society organisations that have been confronting the government in the streets and courts over service-delivery issues.

In addition, on a smaller but no less important scale, much of the black support the official opposition Democratic Alliance has gained in recent years appears to be among young people. The majority seem to be from the relatively small black middle class and therefore probably do not yet pose an electoral threat, but given that, if the government’s black economic empowerment policies are successful, this group is destined to grow significantly in the decades to come, the trend must be of concern to the ANC.

All of this takes place in the context of considerable instability within the ruling party, especially as concerns its youth wing, the ANC Youth League. After years of sitting on its hands while the league behaved like a loose cannon under now-expelled president Julius Malema, smashing into friend and foe alike, the party leadership has belatedly acted to impose discipline. But the damage has been done — the league is divided and barely functional, with most of its structures under mother-body administration and an appointed leadership battling to gain credibility.

Whatever else it has up its campaign sleeve, the ANC will certainly not be able to depend on its youth league’s organisational ability to bring in the votes of the "born-free" generation next year.

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One-size-fits-all plan unlikely to pass constitutional muster

Paul Hoffman, Business Day, 18 June 2013

IS THE African National Congress’s (ANC’s) policy on the public service constitutional? Moves are afoot at Luthuli House and in Parliament to introduce legislation aimed at creating a centrally controlled one-size-fits-all public service for South Africa. Interested parties have been given the impossibly short deadline of June 28 to comment on a bill that has been published to resuscitate an idea first mooted several years ago and then quietly dropped when criticism surfaced.

The old thinking survives, tucked away in regulatory powers envisaged for the minister of public service and administration, currently Lindiwe Sisulu.

Having regard to the quasi-federal features of South Africa’s constitutional landscape, and the possibility of further provinces joining the Democratic Alliance-run Western Cape in being governed by parties or coalitions other than the governing alliance, it is easy to anticipate that the introduction of the new-look public service will be problematic and controversial. But will it be constitutional?

All laws and conduct in South Africa have to be consistent with the constitution to be valid. Any new law aimed at creating ministerial hegemony over the public administration for the whole country will have to pass constitutional muster. Anything short of that is liable to be struck down.

What, then, does our constitution expect of the public administration? The foundational values are clearly set out in section 1 of the constitution. A multiparty system of democratic government to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness is envisaged. This means that the founders of the new order were not prepared to countenance a one-party state and made room for the situation in which minority parties at national level could be in government in some provinces and at local level.

The role of the public service in a system in which the constitution and the rule of law are supreme is set out in section 197: "Within the public administration there is a public service for the Republic, which must function, and be structured, in terms of national legislation, and which must loyally execute the lawful policies of the government of the day." Special mention is made of provincial governments. They are given the responsibility for "recruitment, appointment, promotion, transfer and dismissal of members of the public service in their administrations within a framework of uniform norms and standards applying to the public service".

The basic values and principles governing the public administration are set out in section 195 (1). After reaffirming that the democratic values and principles enshrined in the constitution apply to the public service, the section sets out a list of criteria that are all too often honoured in the breach. These include a high standard of professional ethics, (think Jackie Selebi, Bheki Cele and Menzi Simelane), the promotion of efficient, economic and effective use of resources (think arms deals, Nkandla, police leases and the lack of "bang for buck" in education, housing and health) and a development-oriented public service (think youth wage subsidy, ambivalence over the National Development Plan and the rejection of the constitutional checks and balances on the exercise of power that lurks within the Cabinet itself).

The section expressly provides that "services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias". This is not the experience of the ratepayers of Ballito, who have complained to the public protector about it, but their lot is a common one as local government declines into chaos due to the illegal and unconstitutional habit of deploying loyal ANC cadres in the public service.

Accountability, transparency and responsiveness to the needs of the people are all set out in section 195 (1) and are all too often ignored in practice. Public participation in policy-making is regarded as a chore best avoided by setting the type of deadline that the bill has been given. The notion of good human-resource management and career development practices to "maximise human potential" has not been cultivated.

These principles are meant to apply in every sphere of government, to organs of state and in the management of public enterprises. Section 195 (3) requires that national legislation "must ensure the promotion of the values and principles listed in subsection (1)".

So the question is whether the bill will be able to pass the constitutionally required test that has been set for it. Will it promote the values and principles set out in section 195 (1) of the constitution?

The possibility, despite the resolution at Mangaung adopting the generally constitutionally compliant NDP, of the ANC’s continued embrace of the values of the national democratic revolution (NDR) lies at the heart of the problem. This "revolution" is still popular in the rhetoric of the alliance partners. The ANC proclaims in its strategy and tactics documents that, "In order for it to exercise its vanguard role (in the revolution), the ANC puts a high premium on the involvement of its cadres in all centres of power. This includes the presence of the ANC members and supporters in state institutions…. And wherever they are to be found, ANC cadres should act as the custodians of the principles of fundamental social change."

Creating a single public service will facilitate this deeply unconstitutional endeavour aimed at securing hegemonic control of all state levers of power.

An example of the type of custodianship the ANC has in mind is to be found in the public-service career of Simelane, who is now "special adviser" to Sisulu, a former director-general of justice who later, until the courts put a stop to it, became the national director of public prosecutions.

As director-general, he contrived to secure the suspension and dismissal of a perfectly good public servant, Vusi Pikoli, then the national director of public prosecutions, in favour of protecting a thoroughly bad one, Jackie Selebi, then the chief of police. Simelane was instrumental in promoting the notion of the disbandment of the Scorpions and he thereafter joined the prosecution service to implement the vision of the ANC for it; a vision that has sadly left its credibility and independence in tatters.

His promotion to succeed Pikoli was set aside as irrational after a long, hard court case in which Simelane’s mendacity, under oath, was exposed. Pikoli successfully sued, and was awarded millions in damages for his unlawful dismissal. That Simelane is still in the public service can be attributable only to his continued custodianship of the values of the NDR. His minister might have learnt from her experiences with the unlamented Paul Ngobeni, but apparently has not.

Unless and until the value system of the ANC is brought into line with the value system of the constitution, its conduct and its legislative programming are going to fall foul of the requirements of section 2 of the constitution, which firmly states "law or conduct inconsistent with it is invalid, and the obligations imposed by it must be fulfilled".

Revolutionary ideology that is inconsistent with the constitution cannot be allowed to supplant the even-handed public service the constitution envisages. Objective public servants who owe their allegiance to the constitution, not the revolution, will be better able to secure a future in which respect for human dignity, the achievement of equality and the enjoyment of the freedoms guaranteed to all are possible. This bill suggests the NDR is prevailing over the NDP. How sad.

• Hoffman is a director of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa.

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Ipsos survey: young people in SA slightly more optimistic than old

Ipsos survey, SABC News, 16 June 2013

In public opinion surveys worldwide, the youth are generally expressing more optimistic views about issues than older people, but young people in South Africa are only slightly more optimistic than older people.

 In line with other developing countries, South Africa has a very young population and almost three in every ten adults in South Africa (28%) fall in the 15 to 24 age group. 

 However, this is not necessarily a homogenous group.

 It is possible to look at the opinions of the so-called “Born Frees”, thus those young people who have been born since the first democratic election in 1994. Currently, more than 3,6 million of the so-called “Born Frees” are older than 15 and they form roughly a tenth (11%) of all adults (15 years and older) in the country. A substantial proportion of this group will also be eligible to vote for the first time in 2014.

 Actually, there will in total be more than 5 million “First Time Voters” in 2014 (15% of adults 15 years and older will be eligible to vote for the first time in a General Election next year).

 National pride: How proud are young people to be South African? 

 It is clear from the table below that, although young adults (73%) are marginally more proud of being South African than older adults (71%) there is not a big difference in their views.  This should be seen against the background that more than 90% of all adults in the mid-nineties were expressing their pride to be South African. National pride, like a number of other indicators, is currently under pressure and declining prior to the 2014 election.

  

I am proud to be a South African	Young adults, 15-24 years old %	Born Frees %	First Time Voters %	Other adults, 25 years old and older %
Strongly agree/ agree	73	74	73	71
Neither agree nor disagree	17	16	18	18
Disagree/ strongly disagree	8	8	6	9
Don’t know	2	2	3	2

  

When asked about the direction in which the country is going, optimism of the youth shines through, with four in every ten (40%)  saying the country is going in the right direction – only just over a third (37%) of “older adults” (those 25 years and older) share this sentiment. In fact, more than four in every 10 (41%) of this group say the country is going in the wrong direction, an opinion shared by a third (34%) of young adults (15-24). 

 Although there is virtually no difference in the proportions of young adults, Born Frees and First Time Voters who think the country is going in the right direction, a smaller group of three in every ten (29%) of Born Frees feel the country is going in the wrong direction. This can possibly be attributed to more uncertainty amongst the younger Born Frees.

 It is interesting to keep in mind that, in November 2004 (survey done after the national election of that year), more than seven in every ten (72%) adult South Africans were of the opinion that the country was going in the right direction, this has declined to a proportion of 56% by November 2009 (survey again done after the national election of that year) and to below half of adults (48%) by November last year (2012). The current figure is even lower.

 

The country is going in...	Young adults, 15-24 years old %	Born Frees %	First Time Voters %	Other adults, 25 years old and older %
The right direction	40	40	39	37
The wrong direction	34	29	32	41
Undecided/ uncertain/ don’t know	26	31	29	22

           

The majority of South African adults feel that their satisfaction with life stay at the same level as a few months ago and young people are no different from older ones. 

 A substantial minority of about one in 5 of both older adults (20%) and young adults (17%) are less satisfied with life than a few months ago.  Although the circumstances of people differ vastly, South Africans are all feeling the pinch of slow economic growth, rising prices of necessities and “muddling through” as far as a number of social and governance issues are concerned. 

 

Your satisfaction with your life -  has it...	Young adults, 15-24 years old %	Born Frees %	First Time Voters %	Other adults, 25 years old and older %
Improved	28	26	26	26
Stayed the same	55	61	57	54
Deteriorated since a few months ago	17	13	17	20

  

Technical aspects

·           Fieldwork was carried out from 22 April 2013 to 30 May 2013 by trained and experienced fieldworkers

·           Face-to-face in-home interviews were conducted with a randomly chosen sample of 3,590 South Africans, 15 years and older, in the language chosen by the respondent.

·           The results were weighted and projected to the universe.

·           The margin of error of the study is 1,67%

____________

Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)

Congress of South African Trade Unions

110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street

Braamfontein

2017

 

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