COSATU Media Monitor, 25 November 2009

Fresh from the battle with its alliance partners, where it lost most of its demands, the top brass at Cosatu House are locked behind closed doors for a three-day meeting of its central executive committee this week.

As leader of the ruling tripartite alliance the ANC has rejected Cosatu’s demand for a review of the national planning commission chaired by Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel.

The ANC has also rejected Cosatu’s claim that Ibrahim Patel, the Minister of Economic Development, should have a role in the NPC.

Recently, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told Sowetan the federation felt that Manuel’s position gave him powers to interfere with the responsibilities of other departments, making him (Manuel) a de facto prime minister.

“In its current proposed form the NPC takes away the responsibilities of other ministers. Our other concern is that we never meant for the NPC to formulate policy.”

Cosatu mistrusts Manuel and has identified him as one of former president Thabo Mbeki’s confidants and architect of the “1996 Class Project”, which sought to displace the federation and the SACP from the alliance.

Cosatu leaders will also debate the alliance summit resolution to extend the mandate of the Reserve Bank to include stimulating investment towards mining, manufacturing and other sectors.

This week Cosatu said it would discuss ways of improving its engagement with the ANC and “building capacity for effective coordination and monitoring”.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davis is to present a discussion paper on the “state of the economy, the challenge of restructuring the economy and the development of a new growth path”, while Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will present a paper on the “migration challenges and the state of the Home Affairs Department”.

1.2 New mayor sees himself as an agent for change

Khanyi Ndabeni Herald, 25 November 2009

NEWLY appointed Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Zanoxolo Wayile wants to be addressed as the agent for social change in Mandela Bay rather than the mayor of the city.

Wayile, 45, husband of Fezeka and father of Thembani, 25, Ncumisa, 24, and Thimna, 9, joined the National Union of Metal Workers of SA (Numsa) in 1988 while working as a machine operator at Continental Tyres.

He became a Numsa shop steward in 1995 before replacing Irvin Jim as general secretary of the union late last year.

The Herald team met him yesterday at the Numsa office where he served his last day as general secretary.

“It is sad to leave this office. I’ve been a union member for almost 21 years and I never dreamt of being in Parliament or being mayor,” said Wayile, whose family comes from Glenmore, near Grahamstown. His mother and father are still alive and have moved to Veeplaas.

After matric he had no opportunity to study further, but with the union’s aid he was able do some short courses to upgrade his skills when he became a shop steward. “I have a big family and they have mixed feelings about my new appointment. There are those who are proud of my deployment and there are those who have a deep knowledge of what is happening in the country politically and are worried about what might happen to me in the future.

“But I will have to brief everyone about my responsibilities so that when I face the turbulent times I have their support,” he said.

Wayile, who is sometimes referred to as the unelected mayor of Glenmore because of his active involvement in trying to develop the area, said seeing people suffering had been his source of inspiration in trying to make things better.

During his term as mayor, he said he would address the social problems left by the apartheid era. He said 15 years into democracy was not enough for the ANC to have created a city free from its colonial and apartheid legacy.

“The task now is to build a non- racial society in Mandela Bay.

“We must build houses that can accommodate everyone in all areas regardless of their race.”

Wayile, whose eldest child, Thembani, was retrenched from Volkswagen last year, said he would also address the issues of unemployment and equality.

A former soccer and rugby player, boxer and cricketer, Wayile said he would continue with his involvement with his local soccer club Peace Lovers as he loved developing new soccer talent.

He is also a co-founder of Nkqubela community radio station which broadcasts in Zwide.

2. South Africa

2.1 Racist whiteys, prepare to shed your tears

John Scott. IOL, 25 November 2009

FRIENDS, Capetonians and fellow South Africans:

Switch off your cellphones and give me a moment of your time. I come to examine the life of Jeremy Cronin, not to praise him. His background suggests that of all white men, he is not a racist. Yet the noble Julius has told you that Cronin is a white political messiah. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and quite effectively has Cronin answered it, describing himself as completely unfazed by Julius's attack.

For Julius is an honourable man.

So are the ANC Youth League all honourable men, or will be when they cease to be youths.

There is much else about Cronin that must have driven Julius into attacking him

Cronin was never my friend, he just suffered in the struggle, and for that he has my respect and admiration. But Julius says he uttered white supremacist sentiments, and Julius is an honourable man.

Cronin, a philosopher, poet and nearly a Catholic priest, was so appalled by what the apartheid government was doing to black people like Julius (though Julius had yet to be born) that he joined the underground SA Communist Party to play an active role in bringing about a more just society.

Are these the actions of a white racist?

I recall the day, in 1976, when Cronin and fellow white activists David and Sue Rabkin were arrested on the instructions of Boss, the Bureau for State Security, for consorting with the ANC and distributing SACP pamphlets. These were grievous crimes in terms of the Terrorism and Internal Security Acts. When Cronin came to trial, the prosecution even asked the judge to consider the death penalty, but instead he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.

Hardly the punishment normally dished out to a white reactionary, yet Julius is an honourable man.

When Cronin was in the racially segregated Pretoria prison, they threw him in the white section. Somehow this didn't turn him into a racist. He composed a book of poetry on his experiences there titled Inside. One of the poems, Death Row, describes how he and his fellow white "terrorists" tried to express their fellow feeling for three black compatriots about to be hanged.

Though unable to see them, Cronin and his mates could hear them, and sang.

One verse of his poem goes:

Morena ... We whiteys sing

Mayibuye iAfrika, and muffled

far-off chortling, you guys

call back: Encore! Encore!

But let me not stir you up against Julius. I am no orator as Julius is, and the last thing I would think of doing is calling him a black racist because, as honourable as he is, I know I am already a racist in his eyes, merely by being white.

Cronin's poetry won him the Ingrid Jonker Prize in 1984 - Jonker, of course, also being white, and therefore suspect.

There is much else about Cronin that must have driven Julius into attacking him in such intemperate terms. He is an intellectual, speaks French, and has an MA in philosophy from the Sorbonne. Ridden with Eurocentricity, in other words.

So he shouldn't think he is excused by having worked with the UDF after his release from prison, until the attentions of the Security Police drove him and his wife into exile for three years. They returned only in the early 1990s. By this time the noble Julius had indeed been born.

He has made all of us whiteys realise that, if we have tears, we should prepare to shed them now. For if even Jeremy Cronin can't escape the knife-thrust of racism, what hope is there for the rest of us?

2.2 Zuma faces nagging doubts

By Donwald Pressly, Business Report, 24 November 2009

Jacob Zuma has done a reasonable job in his first six months in office of stabilising the economy and providing a friendly face of government to business.

However, nagging doubts remain about whether high costs of state personnel, poor education, high levels of crime and the growing bill to the taxpayer – state welfare grants – are sustainable.

Political and economic analysts tend to agree that despite a resurgence of the left – in the form of the SACP and Cosatu – the basic elements of prudent financial management are in place.

The able leadership of Trevor Manuel at the National Treasury has been replaced by Pravin Gordhan, who is described by Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust - which grants awards to public-private upliftment projects - chief executive Rhoda Kadalie as “even better than Manuel.”

Gordhan, drawn from the ranks of the SACP but who is no longer a member, was “not a showman. He quietly gets things done and is thorough.”

Kadalie, a former member of the human rights commission, noted that he had transformed Sars into a revenue generating machine.

Mike Schussler, economists.co.za chief executive, said the appointments of Gordhan and, more recently, Gill Marcus were “inspired”.

Sanlam chief economist Jac Laubscher said clarity was needed about new departments including the oversight department of Collins Chabane and the economic development department of Ebrahim Patel.

He said while some old hands lent stability to the government, at the same time there was “a heightened level of noise around policy positions” and it made it difficult to determine what one should take seriously.

Zuma’s pledge of creating 500 000 jobs by the end of the year appears far off target.

Kadalie says: “I don’t think they (the government) have a clue how to create jobs.”

Skilled teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers were leaving the country. She argues that the focus should fall on niche job creation such as tapping into the arts and synergising the relationship between small business and the labour market.

“We need a more relaxed labour regime.” She cites the example of China where one can register a new business within a week.”

Tony Twine, Econometrix economist, said Zuma’s decision to keep Manuel in the cabinet had worked to maintain confidence “in the structure of cabinet”, even though there had been “some cage rattling” from the alliance partners articulating their “clear distaste for the Trevor Manuel brand of social democracy.”

Twine put down the debates articulated by Ebrahim Patel, economic development minister, as “kite flying where you put up a policy for debate and see what the reaction is in the market place.”

One of the examples was whether there was an appropriate value in the money market for the rand. It remained to be seen if there would be interventions to reduce its value. Patel’s training layoff scheme, at least, had made it into a policy position irrespective of how successful it had been implemented, noted Twine.

A policy that targeted the exchange rate of a currency in an economy “as small as ours and as open as ours … is attempting to nail jelly to the ceiling.” It was an “impossible ambition,” Twine argued.

In 1998 the SA Reserve Bank had made the mistake of trying to “slug it out” to maintain the value of the rand. SA ended up with a R25 billion net open forward position. By 2001 under then Governor Tito Mboweni decided not to enter the fray. The currency fell but over the next three years it regained “considerable ground” without support.

If one wanted to alter the exchange rate of the rand, the only way to do it was “to create an economic environment here in South Africa.. that is relatively weaker than the rest of the world,” notes Twine.

This must be ill-advised as it would be characterised by higher inflation, a lower desire by foreigners to invest, lower fixed investment and lower levels of fixed capital stock, lower levels of employment and lower levels of growth. This would be contrary to the desires of organised labour.

Laubscher agrees that there is little concrete that the government could do to weaken the rand, but he noted that much of the clamour for a weaker rand actually came from business, rather than labour.

Schussler believes Zuma has been better for the economy than most commentators ever thought he would be, yet there had been a ham-handed approach during his presidency to the parastatals.

However, many of the problems had their roots in the Thabo Mbeki administration.

A long list of parastatals or state entities had acting chief executives – including SAA, Transnet, the SABC, Eskom and Armscor.

This was happening at a time when these enterprises should be operating at optimum efficiency, noted Schussler.

Kadalie agreed. “They have been used as cash cows for politically correct people,” she said, noting that people were put in posts at the top for political reasons. At Eskom the chief executive should have acted on the Olsen report which warned of looming supply problems.

Twine believes that the Zuma administration had acquitted itself reasonably well by sustaining the macro-economic formula that had supported accelerating growth since 1994.

Even during the recession, SA had done better “at a macro level” that most of its trading partners.

Yet there were worrying micro-economic matters such as the planned imposition of the national health insurance scheme which was unsettling the health industry.

The competition commission crackdown on market place collusion was also, he believed making the ability to do business in SA “extremely tricky”.

He noted that quarterly figures for petroleum sales and cement sales had been stopped “as a result of the competition rulings that data should not be pooled”.

The aim may be to protect consumers but the result was throwing the baby out with the bathwater, he argued. “The irony is that the theoretical requirement for perfect competition is perfect information. Our competition law appears to be interfering with the information flow.”

Laubscher said what worried him dearly was the increased cost of public servants. The public sector wage bill had risen by about R12 billion and this would prove difficult to manage in future budgets.

It also meant that less money was available for high priorities – such as the estimated extra R10 billion needed for land transformation.

Kadalie said the social cost of crime remained high, education remained poor for most and there was more noisy debate about economic issues than usual under Zuma. But she believes that Zuma has done a reasonable job in stabilising the country and providing confidence in the economy. He allowed his left alliance partners "to prattle on" but then "he puts his foot down".

2.3 ‘Julius not our Black Messiah’

Anna Majavu, Sowetan 25 November 2009

ANGRY young communists say Julius Malema is a “political nincompoop” and they don’t want him as their “Black Messiah”.

Continuing the war of words, the Young Communist League branches yesterday refused to heed the calls of their leader, MP Buti Manamela, for a ceasefire against Malema.

The ANC youth leader recently called the SACP’s Jeremy Cronin a “White Messiah” for criticising his call to nationalise the mines.

2.4 Wake up – ANC told
Nawhal Kara, Sowetan 25 November 2009

The DA Youth yesterday marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demand action from the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. Led by DA regional chairperson Cilliers Brink, the youth said Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya needed to “wake up” to the reality of violence being perpetrated by the police against women and children. The marchers dispersed after two hours because there was no one to receive their memorandum. Metro police stopped them from advancing to the entrance of the Union Buildings for “safety reasons”. The protest, on the eve of the start of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, was aimed at prompting Mayende- Sibiya into action. “The ANC should face 16 days of shame for merely paying lip service to the rights of women and youth, while presiding over a government that negligently allows its agents to abuse these very rights,” said Brink. Brink also said that 406 criminal offences were committed by police officers in Gauteng, with a further 25 rapes committed by officers nationally, according to the Independent Complaints Directorate’s annual report. He referred to incidents in Kempton Park and Rustenburg, where two women were allegedly raped in custody by police officers.

2.5 I was betrayed, sobs mayor

Rochelle de Kock, The Herald, 25 November 2009

“I FEEL betrayed,” said tearful Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi after officially handing her resignation letter to the council’s speaker on her birthday yesterday.

“I can’t even begin to express how I feel ... betrayal is what I feel right now,” she said after a press conference.

Maphazi said she would wait to hear from the ANC on her “redeployment” but had no plans to leave Port Elizabeth.

“I was never officially informed by the national office of the ANC. I was called to a meeting at (regional office) Standard House (in Port Elizabeth) by the regional secretary, deputy secretary and spokesman of the ANC provincially.

“That’s when they told me about plans to redeploy me and they wanted a letter of resignation, and I said I need time to do it.

“I sent (the letter) to the ANC (on Monday). I was just told I’m being redeployed and, by that time, I was asked to go and address the REC (regional executive committee) with the decision from that meeting last week.”

Maphazi added: “As a collective deployed here, we committed ourselves to rise above all disruption and sabotages that took place disguised under different masks.”

The political champion of Motherwell and onetime petrol pump attendant said her daughters were happy over her decision, as she would now have more time for herself.

“My plan was, in any case, that this was my last term in office, so I was planning after my term as mayor (that) I would not take up any political office and I would be able to be with my family full-time,” she continued.

“I have no plans to stay in Bhisho should the ANC want to redeploy me there full-time ... I would have to evaluate first, though, how that would work out for me, because I have a child at school and another two at home.”

She also plans to complete her NMMU public administration doctorate.

Maphazi said she knew three months after being inducted as mayor that she was not the preferred choice of some officials.

“These people have now managed to get the platform to use the ANC to push their own agendas,” she said.

“At the time, in 2006, they were not (on) the platform to do so. But now that they are in the structures, they have succeeded using that platform.”

Maphazi said she thought the pressure to have her ousted was further motivated by a letter she wrote to acting municipal manager Elias Ntoba last week, telling him to present a report on the scathing attacks on city manager Graham Richards, who has been placed on leave pending an investigation of city contracts.

“The last report was a scanty report because they had nothing tangible on Graham. I gave (Ntoba) until (tomorrow) to present the report.

“They will not get anything on Graham – he’s clean to me, and some of the things that are alleged against him were before his time.

“They must call municipal managers who were here before his time to deal with those matters.

“The way the investigation is handled, it seems like it is a way to get something out of Graham or maybe to push him out completely.”

The city’s first woman mayor, appointed by then president Thabo Mbeki in 2006, is to be replaced by city councillor Zanoxolo Wayile, regional secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa).

Speaking fondly about projects she was personally involved in and which are very close to her heart, Maphazi said she enjoyed working with community organisations and would continue to do so.

She was training 20 Despatch women who “paint faces on plates, trays, jewellery boxes .... They have done the first three months of their training.

“I have also been very involved in housing projects. I’m proud to say that the housing project in Joe Slovo in Uitenhage is about to take off. The bulldozers were there (on Monday) to clear out the area.

“For now, I’m waiting to hear about the redeployment, but other than that I’m available for any other community projects.”

Deputy mayor Bicks Ndoni said the ANC provincial secretary only informed them of the decision to recall the mayor, deputy mayor and speaker.

“There was no clarity given on why ... We’ve heard in the media that part of the decision was the poor performance in the metro during the past elections and that wherever the mayor goes, people are howling, (but) those are pure lies.”

Ndoni said no one could accuse them of under- performing as they had done their best to make the municipality the second best in the country.

“We have done what we were supposed to, although we could’ve done better. I’m proud to say we don’t leave behind a cupboard of skeletons and we’ve served the people of the metro with dignity.”

Ndoni is to be replaced by public health portfolio councillor Nancy Sihlwayi, and Speaker Charmaine Williams by safety and security committee chairman Helen Sauls-August.

2.6 Nationalising mines not the answer — YCL
KARIMA BROWN, Business Day 25 November 2009

YOUNG Communist League (YCL) national secretary Buti Manamela says the call by its counterpart in the African National Congress (ANC) to nationalise mines only amounts to “state capitalism” and would not restore SA’s mineral wealth to the people.

In an interview with Business Day yesterday, Manamela slated the ANC Youth League’s (ANCYL’s) push for nationalisation, saying the YCL proposed something more radical.

He also dismissed notions of a so- called “truce” on the issue after a slew of public insults with his counterpart, Julius Malema, who dismissed South African Communist Party (SACP) deputy secretary- general Jeremy Cronin’s critique of the ANCYL ’s view, saying SA did not need a “white messiah”.

“I am capable of mudslinging but I am also capable of reason, and in this instance reason appeals to me more,” Manamela said.

He was responding to questions about why he has called for the debate to be handled internally rather than through the media.

But yesterday, two of the YCL’s provincial structures also issued public condemnations slating Malema’s behaviour, a move that is only likely to increase tensions ahead of any engagement between the two youth leagues .

Manamela said the substantive issues on nationalisation were what needed to be thrashed out internally, including the need to debunk the myth that the ANCYL’s call to nationalise mines would automatically mean genuine people’s power over the economy.

“You can’t have nationalisation only for purposes of deracialising the economy so that BEE (black economic empowerment) interests are served. Nationalisation for its own sake makes very little sense.”

Manamela argued that “socialising” the commanding heights of the economy was a better option.

He said that would go beyond formal state control to real ownership being in the hands of the people, not BEE companies in need of bail-outs.

This was also the view that Cronin expressed in his article in the party’s newsletter, Umsebenzi Online.

“Some of us have already cautioned that nationalising mining houses in the current global and national recession might have the unintended consequence of simply bailing out indebted private capital, especially BEE mining interests.”

Manamela said the strategic importance of overcoming private monopoly distortions in the economy and society was what the Freedom Charter’s call to ensure that the wealth was shared actually meant.

“The YCL supports a multi- pronged strategy that ensures that we increasingly socialise these commanding heights of our economy through a wide range of interventions.

“H ence our call for control of Sasol and Mittal Steel to be refashioned to serve the energy needs of the people instead of capital,” Manamela said.

2.7 Tsiane to lead SACP in Limpopo

Alex Matlala, Sowetan 25 November 2009

LATE SACP chairperson Pandelani Ramagoma must be turning in his grave with joy.

His protégé Jan Tsiane was unanimously elected to fill his shoes at a one-day party provincial council meeting in Polokwane on Sunday.

Ramagoma died in a car crash on August 10.

Tsiane was contesting the position against George Mashamba, husband of sport, arts and culture MEC Joyce Mashamba.

However, Mashamba turned down the nomination at the 11th hour, saying he was not available .

Party provincial secretary and MEC for local government Soviet Lekganyane described Tsiane as a real cadre who knows the politics of the organisation.

Lekganyane said Tsiane was the right choice for the position.

He said Tsiane has served and represented the party in critical positions both provincially and nationally.

Meanwhile, Ronny Morwatshehla, a teacher in Tzaneen and Cosatu provincial chairperson, thrashed Nelvin Lekgau at the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union’s provincial council in Polokwane on Friday to become Sadtu’s provincial chairperson.

Mluleki Mntungwa (Communications Officer)

COSATU ICT Unit

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P.O.Box 1019

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Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24

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E-Mail: mlu...@cosatu.org.za

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COSATU Media Monitor, 25 November 2009

Patrick Craven

Zukile Majova, Sowetan 24 November 2009