COSATU Media Monitor, 19 August 2013

[Norman Mampane]

COSATU Media Monitor

Monday, 19 August 2013

 

COSATU Listening Campaign and organizing of vulnerable workers is underway….Join a Trade Union today!

 

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  Lawyer seeks protection from Tribunal

Ø  Marikana healing, sans government, the ANC or NUM

Ø  Unions to fight Amcu's majority at Lonmin

Ø  Auto sector strike begins

Ø  Motor strike brings Toyota to a standstill

Ø  ConCourt postpones Mpofu funding ruling

Ø  Kusile power station ‘on course to deliver by next December’

Ø  Lawyers all at sea over Competition Tribunal complaint

Ø  Strikes hit motor manufacturing industry

Ø  Labour strife fears push rand over R10/$

Ø  When everyone is a loser, try 'striking' in a different way

 

COSATU

Ø  Cosatu stays mum as ‘spy report’ on Vavi deepens alliance tensions

Ø  The real world of NED and Freedom House

Ø  Vavi’s scorched earth strategy: no surrender, no retreat, no endgame

Ø  'Cosatu has a bigger plan'

Ø As much as he erred, Vavi’s warnings are as valid as everKZN Sadtu demands that Vavi suspension be reversed

Ø  2013: The Year of the Great Splintering

Ø  Zwelinzima Vavi’s awful timing

Ø  SUNDAY PRESS REVIEW: Vavi’s spy report and conspiracy claims

South Africa

Ø  Joburg wants a new airport

Ø  MTN executive suspended over alleged Dina Pule link

Ø  State to spend R2bn on mining towns

Ø  Western Cape government, Cape Town to tackle gang violence

Ø  Double digit hike in taxi fares to hit consumers hard

Ø  FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

 

International

Ø  SADC calls for urgent action on infectious deseases

 

Comment

 

Ø  COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013

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

Ø  Austerity has done exactly as intended in Europe

__________________________________________________________

1.                  Workers’ Parliament   

Lawyer seeks protection from Tribunal

Business Report, 19 August 2013

Johannesburg - A junior advocate qualified in shipping law has approached the Competition Tribunal to seek interim relief against three senior advocates, Business Day reported on Monday.

The junior advocate claimed the three were engaged in “racist anti-competitive” conduct, which has the effect of excluding him from the shipping market.

Simba Chitando would ask the Competition Tribunal on Monday to restrain Michael Fitzgerald SC, Russel MacWilliams SC and Michael Wragge SC from engaging in alleged racist anti-competitive conduct.

Chitando wants the Tribunal to order them to include him in the pool of junior advocates they refer work to.

Fitzgerald said in an answering affidavit filed on behalf of all three advocates that they take strong exception to the “wholly unsubstantiated and unjustified attack” made on them and their good reputation.

“We regard the accusation made against us by the applicant (Chitando) of racism and xenophobia as nothing other than seriously defamatory.”

He wants the interim order while the Competition Commission investigates his complaint against the advocates.

It is reportedly the first time individuals are being brought before the authorities. - Sapa

________

Marikana healing, sans government, the ANC or NUM

Khadija Patel, Daily Maverick, 19 August 2013

The absence of the ANC, its alliance partners and its cadres deployed to government from the commemoration of the first anniversary of the Marikana Massacre last Friday was noted by politicians and workers alike. And while the ANC keeps away, “Marikana” becomes a common rallying cry for opposition politicians courting votes ahead of next year’s election. By KHADIJA PATEL.

The absence of official government representation at the commemoration of the first anniversary of the Marikana Massacre last Friday was glaring. The 20 seats that had been reserved for government by the event’s organisers, the Marikana Support Group, stood vacant as church leaders and opposition party politicians addressed the crowd of people who had gathered in the field that was the epicentre of one of South Africa’s most ignominious moments.

“We now know who was behind our shooting,” said Goodwill Jozana, a mineworker at Lonmin PLC's mine in the small mining town in North West. “Them [NUM and government] not coming shows that they know how and why we were shot at.” Still, Jozana believes the absence of the ANC and its alliance partners from the event did not dampen the spirit of the occasion. “We are very happy with the ceremony and it was a great success. It shows we are moving forward in Marikana and the healing process going well.”

Like him, other mineworkers also expressed hope that Friday’s ceremony would finally release the people of Marikana from the burden of violence that has outlasted the 2012 strike.

“After today it seems like there will be peace,” Thabo Mwatse, another mineworker, said during the ceremony on Friday. However, Mwatse tells a story of fear and repression that has coloured the lives of mine workers at Lonmin since they returned to work last September. “It is not very good now at the workplace because it is not very safe for us especially for those who work night shift, like I do. And whenever I work night shift I have to travel in a group because we fear the killings that have been happening,” he says. “We fear who’s next. … Even in the section we work in we don’t feel safe because we don’t know who our enemy is.”

Some observers believe that the halted progress of the government-instituted Marikana Commission, coupled with the absence of government from Friday’s event, smacks of a purposeful attempt to reduce the public importance of the Marikana Massacre. The ANC appears insistent on ensuring that the events at Marikana on 16 August 2012 will not enjoy any more relevance or importance, and that they do not undermine their political stature.

If the ANC had it their way, this would be a labour dispute that went horribly wrong and nothing more.

And yet the unrest in Marikana over the past year has implications beyond the bargaining table at Lonmin. NUM’s inability to “control” the workforce in August last year, as disdain for existing structures of negotiation was demonstrated by the workers’ rejection of NUM and their preference for AMCU, tells a larger story of a working class growing increasingly disenchanted with the ANC. And the decision by the ANC, however it was calculated, to stay away from Friday’s proceedings could be seen as deeply significant. 

All the while, NUM say their decision to stay away from the event is driven by an ambition not to grant any more legitimacy to a plethora of dubious organisations sitting on the sidelines, pushing their own political agendas in the guise of solidarity with Marikana. Yet, the strike in Marikana and the ensuing violence in itself were overwhelmingly political acts.

One year after the massacre, the Marikana scene on Friday was unprecedented in South Africa’s post-Apartheid history. Throngs of workers came to the ceremony on Friday dressed in the green t-shirts of AMCU. They stood on the koppies, facing the stage in the blazing heat, listening intently to the speakers. And across the sea of people, there were no visible references to the ANC or NUM. There were no flags, t-shirts, or posters hinting at the ruling party or its alliance partners.

The only sign of the ANC in Marikana was at least five kilometres away.

At the entrance to the town, ANC posters exhorting residents to register for the upcoming election stood as solitary reminders of the ruling party. Nearer to Nkaneng, the informal settlement that abuts the field where the massacre occurred, there is no noticeable sign of the ANC. Even its office in Wonderkop is closed. It is as though the ANC, Cosatu, or indeed the NUM have been eliminated from Marikana.

And in the place of the ANC, a host of political parties have flocked to Marikana, each hoping to win the community over with promises to better represent their needs.

“You see now,” Sam Komape a plant operator at one of Lonmin’s shafts in the town said, gesturing to the crowd of workers gathered behind him on Friday, “A lot of people here are supporting Bantu Holomisa, UDM, but I think if Julius Malema and EFF can come here then they will support him.”

Malema did attend the ceremony on Friday and he wasted no time inferring guilt on the ruling party. “Lonmin and the ANC have killed our people,” he said.

And though Lonmin CEO Ben Magara apologised to the families of those who died in the massacre saying it “should never have happened”, the ANC’s feelings were communicated through a media statement.

ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said, “Marikana was a startling and traumatic rupture in what had always been a healthy climate of our labour relations framework; bringing harshly to the fore more questions than answers. Questions, which today still remain, unanswered.”

The decision by the EFF to host their party launch in Marikana this week, however, is deeply significant. It shows the extent to which the killing fields of Marikana have been re-imagined as a new political space in South Africa – one devoid of the ANC.

Meanwhile, the pursuit of healing for the communities of Marikana continues. Orlando Matsimbe, the manager of a car wash in Marikana West who hails from Mozambique, says references to the strike last year bring back bad memories. “It still doesn’t sit well on me that these workers were just killed,” he says. “I really hope one day they get what their fellow brothers died for.” 

___________
Unions to fight Amcu's majority at Lonmin

Govan Whittles, EWN, 19 August 2013
JOHANNESBURG – Eyewitness News understands the three minority unions at Lonmin’s Marikana mine will attempt to nullify the platinum giant's recognition agreement signed with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) last week.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) will meet with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)’s arbitrator today in an attempt to nullify the agreement. 

Last Wednesday, Amcu and Lonmin agreed on the framework for this year's wage talks and the role Amcu will play going forward.

The mining giant confirmed Amcu now represents 60 percent of its employees and announced the start of the process of derecognising the NUM, Uasa and Solidarity.

However, Lonmin agreed to allow other minority unions to participate in this year's wage talks.

The trade unions have lambasted the move, saying the agreement was signed before the CCMA could hear arguments for minority representation at Lonmin's Marikana mine.

Uasa spokesman Franz Stehring said the union is prepared to take legal action to retain its recognition rights at Lonmin.

Stehring said there is a lot of discontent amongst supervisors and artisans at Lonmin who are prepared to down tools if agreement isn’t scrapped.

“If push comes to shove and we’ve already done a ballot, Uasa will take the [supervisors and artisans] people out on a strike”.

The three unions represent the majority of skilled workers at the company and have about 90 days before they are formally derecognised.

TURF WAR

There has been an intense rivalry between the NUM and Amcu since last year, chiefly over majority recognition at Lonmin’s mines.

On Friday, the NUM boycotted an event commemorating the one year anniversary of the Marikana killing, claiming it had been “hijacked” from the office of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and that it was organised to deliberately marginalise them.

While Amcu President Joseph Mathunjwa expressed disappointment at the move, the NUM’s Frans Baleni said the tension between the unions was the reason its leaders decided to boycott the memorial.

“We are not nitpicking; we have lost 21 people. One of the concerns which we have been raising is our safety. There’s a song people have been singing called 'How can we kill the NUM and its leaders'.”

The NUM’s Lesiba Seshoka said the agreement has isolated minority unions at the mine.

“This is a major setback for industrial relations. It actually promotes the idea of Marikana where you have got one union that is operating outside that fuels tensions inside in order to [gain support].”

Seshoka warned the company it should prepare for troubled labour relations in the future.

“It is totally irresponsible for Lonmin to have conceded to a demand like that. We think this marks the beginning of the end for that company.”

However, Mathunjwa maintained the signing of the agreement is evidence that it's committed to a sustainable industry.

“Concluding such an agreement doesn’t suggest that other minority unions will be left unattended. We as Amcu believe in co-existence and structured processes, as we have demonstrated.”

As a result of the rivalry, a number of NUM and Amcu members have been intimidated and killed in the troubled platinum belt in recent months.

In the latest incident, a worker was shot and killed last Monday. 

The victim, a female shop steward affiliated to the NUM, was gunned down outside Lonmin’s Rowland shaft on Monday.

(Edited by Gia Kaplan)

___________

Auto sector strike begins

Business Report, 19 August 2013

Cape Town - Workers downed tools on Monday at the South African unit of Japanese auto maker Toyota, the company said, signalling the start of a nationwide strike in the auto sector over wages.

The strike, which could affect over 30 000 assembly line workers, was called last week by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).

South Africa's auto industry contributes at least six percent to the country's GDP and 12 percent of its total exports. The stoppage is likely to compound the woes of the nation’s economy.

“All manufacturing and assembly production at the plant are shut down,” said Leo Kok, the spokesman for Toyota, the largest vehicle exporter in South Africa.

Toyota's manufacturing plant is in the port of Durban and Kok said the company's national parts centre in central Gauteng province was also affected. More than 80 percent of the company's workforce of 8 000 was absent on Monday, Kok said.

Auto workers want 20 percent wage hikes, up from an initial demand of 14 percent, well above the central bank's projected average inflation rate for the year of 5.9 percent.

Major carmakers in South Africa, which also include Ford, General Motors and Nissan, have offered a six-percent increase during negotiations to replace a three-year wage deal which ended on June 30.

Strikes also loom in South Africa's mining sector, with unions seeking pay hikes that range from 15 to 150 percent, which companies can ill afford as metal prices slump.

A fresh round of labour unrest will be a political headache for President Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress. They have faced criticism for their handling of last year's wave of violent wildcat strikes in the country's mines.

More than 50 people were killed in the labour violence, which triggered sovereign credit downgrades. - Reuters

____

Motor strike brings Toyota to a standstill

SABC News, 19 August 2013

Production at South Africa's biggest vehicle maker, Prospecton-based Toyota South Africa Motors, has come to a complete standstill as the nationwide strike in the motor manufacturing industry gets under way.

Nearly 7 000 Toyota workers are participating in the strike which is expected to affect production, the company's export programme and its parts and distribution centre in Gauteng.

The strike, called by metal workers union which is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), is expected to involve more than 30 000 workers at the big manufacturers.

Toyota South Africa spokesperson Leo Kok says, “We have increased our export programme significantly under the government's motor industry development programme. One in every three cars built in South Africa that is Toyota is shipped to the export market and have 58 export countries to look after. We are trying to mitigate by being in constant contact with them to inform them of the state of the strike and the build-up of back orders that have to deliver to them.”

________
ConCourt postpones Mpofu funding ruling

Eyewitness News, 17 August 2013
JOHANNESBURG – The Constitutional Court has postponed its ruling on whether the state should help fund advocate Dali Mpofu’s legal team in their representation of miners arrested and injured during the violent clashes at Marikana last year.

Mpofu first brought an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court seeking state funding, but this was dismissed, and he went on to make an application at the Constitutional Court.

The court was expected to rule at 2pm on Friday but has postponed the matter until Monday.

The Marikana Commission of Inquiry was established by President Jacob Zuma to investigate the shootings at Lonmin's Marikana operation where 34 miners were killed.

The hearings have been marred by several delays due to the on-going funding saga.

Mpofu argues he cannot be expected to continue his case without funds while the state continues to fund the police’s representatives. 

Some other legal teams involved in the inquiry have also pulled out in solidarity with Mpofu’s predicament.

Meanwhile, an anonymous funder is expected to give clarity on Monday as to whether they will help pay Mpofu's legal bills.

It’s also emerged that platinum miner Lonmin, the company at the centre of the inquiry, has turned down a separate request to help pay the fees.

The Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation apparently made the request themselves, but Lonmin argues that they would implicate themselves in a conflict of interest by funding the miners.

MARIKANA COMMEMORATION

Mpofu forms part of the organisers of the ceremonies taking place in Marikana throughout Friday, along with Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) President Joseph Mathunjwa and Bishop Jo Seoka who has supported the miners since the start of their unprotected strike.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the ruling ANC, however, have boycotted the event.

The NUM's Lesiba Seshoka said the union was snubbing the event because it had been “hijacked” from the office of the Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

(Edited by Craig Wynn) 

_________

Kusile power station ‘on course to deliver by next December’

Sikonathi Mantshantsha And Makwena Manamela, Business Day, 19 August 2013

THE twin concrete structures can be seen protruding into the sky from behind the hills from 40km away, against a background of the golden highveld grass in winter.

The chimney structures rise up higher than 120m.

As you get closer, many more concrete and steel structures come into view, seemingly in a race for a better view of the outlying towns.

During the two days that the Business Day team took to tour Kusile power station under construction in eMalahleni, east of Pretoria, workers in protective gear busily went about their job of spending the R120bn that state-owned electricity supplier Eskom has budgeted for the construction of the 4,800MW coal-fired power station.

Even the security guards manning the three entrances to the site were so busy that they were oblivious to the presence of uninvited and unaccompanied journalists on the edges of the construction site.

That allowed us to film and tour the site for a full hour before anyone could detect our unwelcome presence.

When a security guard finally noticed our photographic equipment, we had to beat a hasty retreat as she insisted on deleting our film because we did not have permission to be there.

That level of paranoia is a reflection of Eskom’s attitude towards outsiders who may be curious enough to check progress on its major infrastructure expansion projects. All the people we subsequently encountered at Kusile were unable to talk to us freely. Those who did are not being named because they did not have permission to speak to the media.

Three previous requests, starting in May, for permission to tour the construction site were declined by Eskom’s communications department.

Yet, when the Business Day team arrived on the site, it found a hive of activity, with everyone seemingly doing their best. Banners and other forms of communications beam out messages of encouragement.

"Yes we can. Yes we will deliver by December 2014," reads one of the banners.

Heavy construction and earth-moving vehicles rush in and out with tonnes of concrete and soil, leaving clouds of dust in their wake. In this nest of activity, more than 16,000 workers are getting the first generating unit of 800MW ready to deliver its first power by December next year. That will be six months after the Medupi power station in Limpopo delivers its first power, in the middle of next year.

The stations are similar in size and technology, and share the same major contractors.

Kusile, however, will be slightly more expensive than the R105bn it will cost to build Medupi because it will be fitted with flue gas desulphurisation — a state-of-the art technology for removing sulphur dioxide from the exhaust flue gases in power plants that burn coal.

Most of the flue gas desulphurisation structure, about 80% complete, has been built right next to the first generating unit.

"As you can see, the boiler unit is 70% complete now," says one of the senior managers as he discreetly shows us around the Kusile site. "We’re well on course to deliver electricity by December 2014," the manager says.

In the year ended March, the company estimated it had spent R54.3bn and completed 46% of the Kusile project.

Eskom also said it had spent R67bn, or 64%, of the funds earmarked for the construction of Medupi at Lephalale in Limpopo.

The company is spending about R240bn on the two power stations — the lion’s share of a R300bn budget to expand its generation capacity over the next 10 years.

The state-owned company is building a total of 12 generating units of 800MW each at the two stations. However, Eskom has had to admit that its newest generating infrastructure unit will only deliver first power in the middle of next year due to technical and labour problems.

Both stations are now delayed by three years from the initial April 2011 commissioning date.

Eskom has always stated that it will bring the generating units online at six-month intervals after the first one. However, that has now quietly changed, with the company stating on its website that the other units at Kusile will come online at eight-month intervals.

If anything can hold Kusile back from a timely completion of the plant, it will be something other than lack of equipment. The station lies on 1,355ha of farmland, which is covered with equipment waiting to be bolted onto the structure.

_________

Lawyers all at sea over Competition Tribunal complaint

 Amanda Visser, Business Day, 19 August 2013

IN AN unusual case, a junior advocate qualified in shipping law has approached the Competition Tribunal to seek interim relief against three senior advocates who, he claims, are engaged in "racist, anticompetitive" conduct, which has the effect of excluding him from the shipping law market.

It is the first time individuals are being brought before the competition authorities for alleged anticompetitive conduct.

Simba Chitando, a junior advocate qualified in shipping law, will ask the Competition Tribunal on Monday to restrain three senior advocates — Michael Fitzgerald SC, Russell MacWilliam SC and Michael Wragge SC — from engaging in such conduct.

Mr Chitando is also asking the tribunal to order them to include him in the pool of junior advocates to whom they refer work. He is asking for the interim order while the Competition Commission completes its investigation into his complaint lodged against the senior advocates.

Mr Chitando, from Zimbabwe, says the senior advocates use their influence in the Maritime Law Association and the market for shipping law briefs to keep a small group of "privileged, predominantly white junior advocates" in practice, while excluding black members from the market.

In his affidavit he referred to a conference he attended on the recommendation of one of the senior advocates, where the junior advocates seemed surprised at his presence, asking him how he could afford to be there.

Another one asked him why he studied shipping law if there was no water in Zimbabwe.

He moved into Huguenot Chambers and bumped into the three advocates, where he met one of them twice in the bathrooms. He said he was asked whether he was going to run his practice from the toilet.

Mr Fitzgerald said in the answering affidavit filed on behalf of all three advocates that they take the strongest exception to the "wholly unsubstantiated and unjustified attack" made on them and their good reputation.

"(We) regard the accusations made against us by the applicant (Mr Chitando) of racism and xenophobia as nothing other than seriously defamatory."

Mr Fitzgerald said it was self-evident that Mr Chitando’s objective was to compel them to include blacks with a shipping law background into the alleged pool of junior advocates.

"However, the applicant (Mr Chitando) is clearly motivated by his own self-interest, which, somewhat inconsistently, he attempts to disguise as reflecting the interest of black members of the Cape Bar or black Zimbabwean members of the Cape Bar."

The advocates refer to an e-mail sent to their attorney in April in which Mr Chitando allegedly attempted to extort from them an amount of R900,000 "to ensure the end of the proceedings and complaints" against them. "The e-mail demonstrates his lack of bona fides, and indeed, his lack of judgment."

The tribunal hears evidence in the case on Monday.

_________

Strikes hit motor manufacturing industry

SABC News, 18 August 2013

More than 30 000 assembly line workers in the motor manufacturing industry are expected to down tools on Monday after wage talks between the seven biggest manufacturers and metalworkers' union Numsa broke down.

Numsa wants a 14% increase while employers have reportedly offered between 7.5% and 8.5%.

The motor industry-dependant Eastern Cape, with its three manufacturers, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, is expected to be hard hit.

Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Kevin Hustler says the concern always around the automotive trade is that it is an anchor industry in the Nelson Mandela region and parts of the Eastern Cape.

He says: "A strike right now is a threat to production as well as local and international orders."

"If the strike continues for a protracted time the greater the effect will be for businesses themselves and the economy as whole. At this time South Africa is affected quite strongly by lack of confidence by both business and foreign investors. This does not bode well for
building confidence in international markets," he added.

_________

Labour strife fears push rand over R10/$

Reuters, Fin24, 19 August 2013

Johannesburg (Reuters) - The rand extended losses to hit its weakest level in more than five weeks on Monday, weighed down by the threat of labour strife in the crucial automobile and mining sectors.

The rand was at R10.1060/$ at 07:58, down 0.2% from its close in New York on Friday, a level last reached in early July.

Workers downed tools on Monday at the local unit of auto maker Toyota, the company said, signaling the start of a nationwide strike in the auto sector over wages . 

Tensions also remain high in the mining sector a year after police shot dead 34 striking miners at Lonmin's Marikana mine, which was the deadliest security incident since apartheid ended in 1994..

A stronger dollar could put the rand on the back foot this week as the US Federal Reserve releases its minutes, which could offer hints on when it will scale back its stimulus. 

Weak Chinese factory data could also affect the currency.

"The other international headwind for the rand to contend with this week will be Thursday's Chinese PMI data as the reading is likely to remain well below the critical 50 level, which would imply that the manufacturing sector in South Africa's leading export destination is still contracting," Absa Capital analysts wrote in a morning note.

"Any more negative headlines on the local wage negotiation front could also contribute to further rand weakness."

Statistics South Africa will release July consumer inflation data on Wednesday and stronger-than-expected data could limit rand losses, the note added.

Government bonds were weaker, with the yield on the 2026 issue rising 10.5 basis points to 8.505% and that on the 2015 paper up 10 basis points at 6.29%.

________

When everyone is a loser, try 'striking' in a different way

The Times Editorial, 19 August 2013

 

Strikes cost money. They cost everyone. Workers who down tools usually are not paid. The company loses production. Management misses targets. And shareholders are unhappy as they could have had better returns elsewhere.

As many as 31000 auto workers will down tools this morning after wage negotiations between the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) and employers broke down last week.

This time last year, strikes in South Africa became associated with large, threatening crowds demanding huge salary increases. Wildcat strikes spread like fire across the country's mining sector. Violence followed.

These days one is almost grateful to hear that a trade union was granted a strike certificate. Thank goodness, it won't be a wildcat strike! At least management and union leaders will be able to negotiate. A war of words and some sabre-rattling will ensue, but not real war and real sabres.

Still, everyone involved will lose money.

Numsa is intent on getting its members a 14% increase. Carmakers say this is unaffordable.

Our auto industry is quite different from mining. Where labour represents more than half the costs at a gold mine, the salary bill is less than 10% of total costs at South African vehicle manufacturers. But this does not mean that there is much room to manoeuvre. Manufacturing world-class vehicles requires lots of capital and the latest technology.

South Africa's BMW, GM, VW, Mercedes or Toyota have to bid against their peers in other countries to win the contracts from head office to build specific vehicles here.

The competition is tough. And the margins, so an executive in the industry told The Times last month, are thin.

Why let head office in Germany, Japan or the US hesitate about awarding large contracts to South Africa? Why drag out the process?

Striking might get some attention. But striking a deal would help to secure the future of the entire industry and its workers.

___________

2.                 COSATU

Cosatu stays mum as ‘spy report’ on Vavi deepens alliance tensions

 Natasha Marrian, Business Day, 19 August 2013

AN "INTELLIGENCE report", of unknown origin and released by suspended Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, puts his fight with federation president Sdumo Dlamini in the spotlight, and could be the basis for the legal challenge Mr Vavi plans to mount against his suspension.

Cosatu was mum at the weekend after allegations that Mr Dlamini had circulated the "intelligence report", which is aimed at discrediting Mr Vavi.

On Friday, Mr Vavi said he would take legal action to reverse his suspension from the federation, arguing there is a political conspiracy against him. He was speaking out for the first time since his suspension on Wednesday, which was linked to his admission of having an affair with a subordinate at Cosatu House.

Mr Vavi’s comments are likely to inflame tensions in the governing alliance and deepen the acrimony towards him by fellow Cosatu bosses. Cosatu has been in the midst of a damaging internal fight among its top brass, which began in 2009 but spilled into public view last year ahead of the federation’s elective conference.

Mr Dlamini is on the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee and on the South African Communist Party central committee, and is close to President Jacob Zuma. Mr Vavi, meanwhile, is in the ANC’s naughty corner due to his outspoken stance against graft.

Mr Dlamini has in the past said that he was not at war with Mr Vavi and was not heading the charge against him.

However, the information provided by Mr Vavi attempts to prove the federation president’s direct involvement.

Addressing a media briefing at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein, Mr Vavi said there was a "campaign to reduce Cosatu into a labour desk of the governing party, where leaders whose ambitions are to serve in Parliament and Cabinet will be able to advance their individual personal careers".

"Quite clearly, those who have formed long queues in the corruption feeding trough fear an independent organisation, and I believe they have designed schemes to divide and destroy Cosatu, no matter the consequences for workers’ interests and South Africa as whole."

He sidestepped questions on the sanction he should have faced for having sex with a subordinate in her office at Cosatu House, which led to his suspension. Mr Vavi likened it to the pre-Polokwane "Browse Mole" report aimed at smearing President Jacob Zuma, adding that it had the hallmarks of being the work of "rogue elements" in the intelligence community.

His lawyers were writing to State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele to determine whether the report was a product of any state organ and also to the inspector-general — the intelligence ombudsman — to investigate whether state institutions were abused with the aim of dividing Cosatu.

The report, which was distributed at the briefing, includes allegations that Mr Vavi is linked to a US organisation, the National Endowment for Democracy, which seeks to topple the government. He is also linked to Mamphela Ramphele’s newly formed party, Agang SA.

Mr Vavi said his detractors in Cosatu had tried unsuccessfully to remove him in September last year but had resuscitated the push to oust him at a central executive committee meeting in February, and again in May.

The report is dated from January to May this year.

A letter from Mr Vavi’s attorneys was attached to the document — he had presented it to the special central executive committee meeting that suspended him. At the meeting, his attorneys called for its postponement as it would be "tainted by severe bias and prejudice" towards Mr Vavi and any decision it took "will be set aside".

The attorneys also allege there is "clear proof" that Mr Dlamini was distributing the so-called intelligence report, since it refers to the Cosatu president’s opening remarks to the federation’s May central executive committee meeting.

Mr Dlamini had said he could "say with clear confidence" that opposition forces were being supported by "imperialists" to effect regime change in their favour, citing the Central Intelligence Agency-linked National Endowment for Democracy.

"The emergence of such organisations here in our country as the democratic left, the creation of rival unions such as Amcu (the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union) and the emerging political movements which project themselves as very militant, very violent may be part of the African Transformation agenda determined according to the terms that are written in favour of the western powers," Mr Dlamini said.

Mr Vavi’s lawyers called for Mr Dlamini and anyone else responsible for circulating the damaging allegations contained in the report to be censured.

__________

The real world of NED and Freedom House

J Brooks Spector, Daily Maverick, 19 August 2013

In the past several days, an extraordinary affidavit has been widely circulated that purports to be a dossier of emails, SMSs and transcripts depicting a cabal attempting to destabilize ANC leadership. Among others, the conspirators are supposed to have included now-suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, several Constitutional Court justices, a clutch of exiled Rwandan army officers, the American-based and partially US government-supported National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House (an American NGO), social and political columnists and consultants like Justice Malala, Mamphela Ramphele and her new political party Agang and even Julius Malema and his red beret-wearing Economic Freedom Front. At least this exotic grouping does seem to have left out the Illuminati, Ming the Merciless, Moriarty and Lex Luthor. J BROOKS SPECTOR takes a swipe at the web of supposed influence to see if he can find out something more reasonable about the NED and Freedom House.

Even without Luthor, Ming and Moriarty, it must have been one heck of an organizational meeting. On the face, such a conspiracy seems too ridiculous for words. Indeed, various people have lined up to rubbish it publicly, including some of its putative participants. The fact that it’s been brought up at all taps into a deep-seated urge to find a universal explanation – one of those those “Ah ha - that explains everything” moments. But let’s back up a minute and ask a few questions. What exactly are Freedom House and the NED? Are they the kind of bodies that would be meeting secretly to plot the overthrow of the Zuma administration? Why should they be the “logical” candidates for the glue holding together and funding an all-encompassing political conspiracy threatening the foundation of the republic?

In summary, the supposed affidavit assert that Constitutional Court justices are in the pay of the NED, with secret payments made to off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Furthermore, there is a Rwandan general setting up secret military bases in South Africa and recruiting a mercenary army from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This would be a joint operation between Africans and the US, with the NED helping fund the covert project and Zwelinzima Vavi was supposed to become a member of an Agang advisory board. The affidavit further asserts that the NED is to fund that board to the tune of R500-million (something like half the NED’s entire annual appropriation from the US government) and that the NED secretly worked with the legal team that prosecuted Jacob Zuma. The organization is also accused of involvement in Marikana, service delivery protests and xenophobic violence. If we were to believe all this, these people would have been very busy over the past several years, in addition to their respective day jobs.

Back on Earth, let’s start with a look at the NED. It was established during the Cold War as a key tool in the American arsenal to help undermine Soviet hegemony of Eastern Europe and to democratize the Soviet states. Rather than using the threat of nuclear missiles, the NED sought to draw on the power of ideas and the impact of what happens when a nation’s public space is prised opened up to increasingly free debate (what we now call “soft power”).

A key argument for its founding as a separate body was that the State Department, USAID (the foreign aid agency) and USIS (the information and culture arm of US diplomacy) were simply not supple enough to wage such a changeable, shifting crusade for democracy and human rights. In fact, even before the NED had come into existence, an interest in America’s promotion of human rights internationally had already intensified during the Carter presidency, when human rights became a key component of American foreign policy. Further, in the late 1970s, America became increasingly committed to monitoring the Helsinki accords, especially the “basket” of policies dealing with human rights. As policy makers considered such questions, they began to look more closely at the record of German political party foundations and saw them as models for a tool to enhance democratic principles. They became an impetus for the concept of the NED.

In a 1982 speech to the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan proposed an institution “to foster the infrastructure of democracy – the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities – which allows a people to choose their own way, to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.” That speech became a key element in establishment of the NED.

Its first and so far only head, Carl Gershman, seems to have drawn his inspirations from a variety of sources. They include the politically conscious theology of Reinhold Neibuhr melded with more traditional human rights concerns about what was happening behind the Iron Curtain as seen by the AFL-CIO (the national American labour federation). In addition there was Gershman’s own background in the American social democratic tradition, and even an element of the harder-edged neo-conservatism of the writers who collected around Commentary Magazine. From all these view came the idea that the threat of communism could best be thwarted through the power of ideas supportive of freedom and democracy for people around the world.

Deep in the background of such thinking was knowledge of American support in the 19^th century for European revolutionaries like Louis Kossuth and Garibaldi, as well as the recent and rather awkward covert intelligence funding for a number of presumably independent organizations supporting democratic ideals in wobbling regimes in several Western European nations in the aftermath of World War II. As the Soviet Union collapsed and its hegemony across Eastern Europe dissolved, the NED’s attention increasingly expanded to include supporting democratic movements in authoritarian societies throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.

NED’s website describes its current mission: “Since its founding in 1983, the Endowment has remained on the leading edge of democratic struggles everywhere, while evolving into a multifaceted institution that is a hub of activity, resources and intellectual exchange for activists, practitioners and scholars of democracy the world over…. [The] NED is dedicated to fostering the growth of a wide range of democratic institutions abroad, including political parties, trade unions, free markets and business organizations, as well as the many elements of a vibrant civil society that ensure human rights, an independent media, and the rule of law.” Although initially funded entirely by the US government and established by an act of Congress, NED’s authorizing legislation was explicit about its non-governmental status, stating, “Nothing in this title shall be construed to make the Endowment an agency or establishment of the United States Government.”

The NED has explained its mission more fully, saying the grant and training support it supplies “sends an important message of solidarity to many democrats who are working for freedom and human rights, often in obscurity and isolation. The Endowment is guided by the belief that freedom is a universal human aspiration that can be realized through the development of democratic institutions, procedures, and values. Democracy cannot be achieved through a single election and need not be based upon the model of the United States or any other particular country. Rather, it evolves according to the needs and traditions of diverse political cultures. By supporting this process, the Endowment helps strengthen the bond between indigenous democratic movements abroad and the people of the United States – a bond based on a common commitment to representative government and freedom as a way of life.”

Technically speaking, because the NED is not an arm of the US Government, in order to ensure continuing congressional support, it was designed to support several sub-groups that would evaluate proposals and then disburse the money or training funded by the grants. These four independent bodies are the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) with close connection to business organizations, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) tied to the Democratic Party, the International Republican Institute (IRI) tied to the Republican Party, and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, closely connected to the AFL-CIO.

The NED ends up distributing about a thousand grants to non-governmental groups around the world in nearly a hundred nations. Information about the organization’s grants and activities is definitely not secret and can be freely searched on the website. Its programs are subjected to multiple layers of oversight from Congress, the Department of State and the requisite financial audits. A recent review noted that the NED now raises about $0.65 from non-government sources for each $1.00 it receives from its annual Congressional appropriation.

South Africans can recall that the NED made serious contributions to South Africa’s transition to non-racial democracy in the early 1990s. Grants supported voter and democracy education programs as well as training to the various parties contesting that first election to help them improve institutional skills in electorate canvassing, party organization, voter outreach, media relations, creation of party platforms and all the other skills of contemporary electioneering.

According to the organization’s website, there are now two current grants dealing with South Africa. One is via the International Republican Institute for $100,000 “[t]o promote a pluralist public dialogue on policy solutions for issues facing South Africa on the national, provincial and local levels, as well as to foster demand for improved democratic governance on the local level through the efforts of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).” The second comes through the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in the amount of $380,000 in which the “NDI seeks to strengthen parties’ awareness of strategies to increase women’s participation and promote dialogue about women’s service delivery needs.” (There didn’t appear to be any grants listed in the $59-million range designed to undermine the Zuma administration through covert relations with Rwandan generals.)

NED programs have sometimes been criticized from the left, and especially the international human rights community, on the grounds the NED focused too much on the mechanics of “free and fair elections” rather than a larger, more systemic civil rights/human rights culture. Analysts following NED activities say the institution’s growing emphasis on support for long-term democratic development, the building of civil society and funding of indigenous human rights groups has swayed most of those earlier critics towards more favourable views. This, in turn, has nurtured a growing community of interest between NED and the broader human rights community.

Meanwhile, NED has also taken some heat from the political right for the contention that they promote a “social democratic” agenda, based on its labour union relationships rather than a broader liberal catalogue of ideas. Nonetheless, the overall record of NED projects has garnered praise from conservative stalwarts like the Heritage Foundation and Empower America, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times and National Review.

Over time, the NED’s mission has shifted somewhat to supporting what was termed the “full package” response to the complex needs of emerging democracies. To help achieve this, it began hosting biennial global conferences of democratic activists and publishing The Journal of Democracy. This journal has developed a reputation for examining the key issues related to democratic ideas and institutions and it is read worldwide, including in South Africa. Other activities include the International Forum for Democratic Studies, which has become a centre for analysis of the theory and practice of democratic development worldwide. This forum is largely funded from non-US government sources, as is the journal. Its Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program now supports around a dozen international democracy activists, practitioners, scholars and journalists yearly to enhance their ability to promote democratic change.

This litany of efforts would easily threaten the good night’s sleep of authoritarian despots. However, it doesn’t seem to be the conduit for sub rosa support of an alliance of disaffected anti-Zuma politicians and those Rwandan generals, despite the charges in that affidavit.

Of course there is still that second group, the media issues NGO Freedom House, also implicated in what the Vavi affidavit. Freedom House says its key missions include “speaking out against the main threats to democracy and empower[ing] citizens to exercise their fundamental rights. We analyse the challenges to freedom; advocate for greater political and civil liberties; and support frontline activists to defend human rights and promote democratic change.” The organization goes on to say, “We support non-violent civic initiatives in societies where freedom is denied or under threat and promote the right of all people to be free” and that it “acts as a catalyst for freedom through a combination of analysis, advocacy, and action. … Leading experts on democracy have called our flagship publication, Freedom in the World, an ‘essential source’ and ‘indispensable guide’ to democracy’s development.”

None of this seems on point for the formation of a cabal to oust a duly elected president.

Freedom House was established in early 1941 to encourage popular support for American involvement in World War II at a time when isolationist feelings were still potent. It brought together journalists, business and labour leaders, academics, and former government officials, and demonstrated a broad, bipartisan character when businessman Wendell Willkie, the Republican 1940 presidential nominee, joined Eleanor Roosevelt as Freedom House’s honorary co-chairs. While it was created in reaction to Nazi totalitarianism, Freedom House pivoted towards opposing communism after World War II, when the organization’s leadership decided the encouragement of democracy was the best weapon against this latest totalitarian challenge. As a result, it supported both the Marshall Plan and NATO on the international level and opposed McCarthyism domestically in the 1950s. Along the way it became an early institutional supporter of the US civil rights revolution. Bayard Rustin and Roy Wilkins, key leaders in that struggle, were also in Freedom House leadership positions during that time.

In the 1970s, Freedom House turned its attention to the erosion of freedom in many parts of the developing world as it responded with programs that combined research and analysis, advocacy, and on-the-ground involvement in several areas. In 1973, it began its now-flagship publication, Freedom in the World, an annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties, analysing each nation along a series of “freedom indicators”. This is now a key reference for international policymakers, journalists and the public.

At the height of the Cold War, Freedom House helped defend Andrei Sakharov and other prominent Soviet dissidents. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Freedom House set up the Afghanistan Information Center, a clearinghouse for information on the conflict. Freedom House’s website notes “It was also among the earliest supporters of Poland's Solidarity trade union. Responding to growing strife in Africa, Freedom House sent study missions to Zimbabwe and South Africa led by Bayard Rustin. It also sent missions to assess conditions in Central America during the 1980s, as part of an on-going project to support centrist democratic forces, under siege from the Marxist left and the death squad right.”

Following the Cold War, Freedom House began conducting on-the-ground projects in the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and in the former Soviet Union. “Freedom House assisted these post-Communist societies in the establishment of independent media, independent think tanks, and the core institutions of electoral politics,” says its official history. It adds, “From South Africa to Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan to Indonesia, Freedom House has partnered with regional activists in bolstering civil society; worked to support women’s rights; sought justice for victims of torture; defended journalists and free expression advocates; and assisted those struggling to promote human rights in challenging political environments.”

In addition to grants from the US Government, Freedom House receives major financial support from individuals, international institutions and foundations, including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and the United Nations Democracy Fund. Given this pedigree, it is hard to see Freedom House as an institution cavorting with Rwandan exile generals to shoulder aside President Zuma, even if its publications have been critical of South African free speech and government secrecy proposals.

When asked over the weekend about charges that the NED as a stalking horse for the US Government, an American Embassy spokesman told us, “The allegations against the US Government in the #vavireport are groundless and outrageous. The US has a strong record of supporting civil society, but we do not fund political parties or those who urge violence. NED is a non-profit independent from us. The US Congress and others fund them. They speak for themselves @nedemocracy.”

Over the weekend, as this writer was mulling over the charges in the affidavit, he had a chance to speak with a friend, a prominent younger African business man, about these charges as well as the broader issue of whether there really could be a nefarious force trying to topple the Zuma administration. His response was, “It’s incredible, the reports. There is a long claim that the US or CIA didn’t want Zuma to be president, it feeds into this, so it maybe perceived as reality. Almost all politicians hedge their risk especially when they are in trouble so Vavi is no exception. I think people who dissent are eliminated literally or figuratively speaking. I also think the government institutions are used to fight political battles – it’s the only game we know in this country and a legacy of the NP. The real key question, when all is said and done, is what will the ANC do if they were to lose an election?”

Summing up the quality of the Vavi affidavit my friend gave this assessment; “the propaganda reports are still juvenile and lack sophistication – a clear display of the lack of quality of our conspirators and leaders.” Perhaps the biggest challenge, though, is that the people who whisper into the ear of the top men in South Africa understand their own universe as a place where conspiracies have clearly had their uses historically. Perhaps they assume that every challenge coming from beyond the castle keep draws on that same fertile ground, rather than the elemental fact that in a democracy there are many places for criticism, as well as support. The so-called facts of this so-called grand conspiracy will undoubtedly dissolve over time into the mist, but suspicions that such a force could exist – or even that it must, somewhere, if one could only look hard enough – may well remain. And that will be one of the real, lingering tragedies of this little melodrama.

_________

Vavi’s scorched earth strategy: no surrender, no retreat, no endgame

Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick, 19 August 2013

 

Around 4pm on Friday, 16 August, at the time a year earlier members of the police were firing live ammunition at striking mineworkers at Marikana in order to kill them, were South Africans pausing to observe the first anniversary of the nation’s worst massacre post-Apartheid? Not really. Many were titillated by the contents of a nonsensical “intelligence report” that suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi thrust into the public spotlight. Vavi seems to have opted to fight fire with fire in order to save himself. But will this earn him respect and regain public trust? Not until he’s able to show some real leadership. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

The parallels between Jacob Zuma’s troubles before he became president and those of Zwelinzima Vavi now are quite remarkable, if not bizarre. Their problems arose from tensions with the presidents of their respective organisations which resulted in deep factional divides, followed by the coincidence of corruption and rape allegations, and now the emergence of a bogus intelligence report alleging a foreign influence driving their political agendas.

Vavi apparently came to be in possession of the dangerously false report, riddled with factual and spelling errors, a week before he released it publicly. Angry and emotional after Cosatu national office bearers, led by his arch adversary Sdumo Dlamini, announced his suspension as Cosatu general secretary, Vavi decided to fight back and discredit those he believed were celebrating his fall from grace.

The decision to suspend Vavi came at a highly charged Cosatu central executive committee meeting on Wednesday when his sympathisers tried by every means to prevent the decision from being taken. Vavi was put on indefinite leave pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing into his alleged misconduct stemming from a sex scandal involving a subordinate employed at Cosatu. The woman is also suspended and facing disciplinary action.

At his media briefing of Friday, Vavi said his lawyers had written to the CEC requesting that the meeting be either cancelled or postponed because they believed that a number of the people were already prejudiced and wanted his removal anyway. Vavi distributed copies of the letter from his lawyers to the CEC, along with the attached “intelligence report”. Also attached and distributed was an extract from a speech Dlamini delivered at the May CEC in which he appears to refer to the contents of the report, which alleges that the US government, through an organisation called the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), was working to undermine the South African government and funding efforts to overthrow other African governments.

Vavi’s lawyer’s letter to the CEC states “there is now clear proof” Dlamini has been distributing the documents to people who would have attended Wednesday’s meeting, “clearly in order to influence them”. According to Vavi, the Cosatu office bearers decided that the letter and documents were not relevant to the agenda items for the special CEC, and deferred the matter. Vavi therefore announced that he had instructed his lawyers to challenge the CEC decision to suspend him and subject him to disciplinary action as he had already been prejudiced and stood no chance of a fair process.

Vavi’s demeanour in the media briefing showed that he was highly emotional. His statement included quotes from Dr Martin Luther King Jr., such as “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”, which revealed he was feeling betrayed and woeful. This is precisely why he should not have been addressing the media and the country, and making statements that will have long-term implications on his own life and the political future of the country.

Although Vavi made it clear that the contents of the intelligence report are rubbish, the fact that he and his lawyers are using it as part of his defence in contesting his suspension shows that he is desperate and floundering. He has betrayed himself and his supporters by revealing this publicly. Most reasonable and well-informed people in South African society already know there are people in Cosatu, the ANC and the SACP who want him gagged or booted out, as he is far too candid and outspoken for their liking. He did not need an absurd report to expose this fact.

Vavi seems to be pinning his hopes on the report in the hope that it will have the same effect as previous disinformation concoctions purporting to be intelligence documents. In his media statement, Vavi referred to the bogus claims in 2001 that Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Mathews Phosa were plotting a coup against former president Thabo Mbeki. He spoke of how Cosatu, elder statesman Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu spoke out against the misinformation campaign then. The allegations were investigated by the police, who found no substance to the claims, and the episode showed Mbeki to be paranoid.

He also referred to the Browse Mole Report, which emerged ahead of the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007. It made equally wild claims about a foreign plot to destabilise the country, and other African leaders planning military backing for Zuma to topple Mbeki. The report was produced by information peddlers associated with the now disbanded Scorpions unit. It was used to show how the state was involved in smearing Zuma while at the same time prosecuting him for corruption.

The difference in the Vavi matter is that he does not know where the report came from but alleges in his statement that it “has all the hallmarks of being the work of rogue elements in the intelligence community, who are in the employ of factionalists within our organisations”.

But how does he know this?

Vavi said he would be writing to the Minister of State Security and the inspector-general of intelligence to ask them to investigate whether state agencies had been abused “to divide workers’ organisations and smear individuals”. If Vavi thinks anyone in government will associate themselves with such a clearly flawed document, he is fooling himself. On Sunday, as to be expected, the Ministry of State Security distanced itself from the report, saying they had no knowledge of where it came from. According to the Mail & Guardian, State Security spokesman Brian Dube said: “We don't know anything about that report.”

So how does Vavi now show the hand of greater powers in his demise? The mysterious drafters of the report are not his prosecutors, like in Zuma's case. In fact there is no telling where the report came from, other than that it is a disinformation campaign targeting many people, including Vavi. And for this reason, it is unlikely that prominent leaders and organisations would stand up and protest on his behalf like they did when the other reports emerged.

The only way to link the report to his enemies is through the allegations that Dlamini distributed it to some people and quoted it in a speech to the CEC. The lawyer’s letter states that on the basis of a story in the Mail & Guardian, it was clear that the general secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) Zenzo Mahlangu and National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) general secretary Fikile Majola had read the document. But these people are already his declared enemies and were going to vote against him anyway.

In any event, Vavi is going to run into the same trouble he had when trying to stop the special CEC discussing his sexual misconduct case. How do the two matters relate?

The fact of the matter is that Vavi made an awful mistake by engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate when he knew there was already a plot to get rid of him. Apologising for this does not mean that Cosatu is unable to take action against him. Cosatu has every right to want to take remedial measures to prevent inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. And if its gender and labour policies are to be taken seriously, it cannot simply look away.

Vavi claims that the federation is now operating under double standards because it accepted Zuma’s apology when he was in a similar situation. But Zuma was not an employee of Cosatu and therefore they had no basis to take the matter further.

Of course Vavi’s enemies will exploit the situation and have jumped at the opportunity to get rid of him. But Vavi clearly does not have the benefit of a clear head and perspective to navigate his way through the mess.

According to his deputy Bheki Ntshalintshali, Vavi agreed to subject himself to the processes of Cosatu but now he wants to challenge the suspension legally. Vavi obviously cannot tear himself out of Cosatu but wants to continue to fight the rest of the elected leadership. It is clear he cannot work with them. There will now be a bigger mess, perhaps played out in court. As was witnessed with the fallout in the leadership of the Congress of the People, once a battle reaches that level, there is no turning back.

So how does Vavi envisage this fight will play out? Are the rest of the office bearers supposed to be chased out of Cosatu for plotting against him so that he might ride back in as the conquering hero? Or perhaps the parallels with Zuma will continue – there will be a wave of support from the ground up to carry him to victory.

The fact is neither Vavi nor his supporters have a plan. They have taken the scorched earth option because it saves them from making long-term decisions. Vavi says he is fighting his suspension because he does not want to surrender Cosatu to his enemies and allow it to become the “labour desk” of the governing party. But he cannot see that by getting embroiled in the muddle, he is causing himself even more damage.

Vavi stood out from the rest because of his courage and his ability to tell right from wrong. These are the qualities that made many people respect and trust him. Many people are now disappointed in him and put off by his silly tactics.

Vavi will not regain the public space he occupied by leaning on a spurious report and adding to the confusion and disorder in the alliance and in the country. He will build himself up again if he is able to accept responsibility for what he did and move on from it. He needs to stop being dictated to by his bruised ego and his emotions and start thinking rationally, no matter how difficult it may be at this moment.

Vavi must weigh his principles and what he stands for and let those dictate his next steps and his future political role in the country. In doing so, there might be some short-term setbacks and it may appear as if his enemies have the upper hand – which by his tweets seems to rile him to no end. But it is the perception of his prime constituency, the workers, and the South African public that he needs to worry about.

Therefore Vavi needs to focus on the bigger issues in the country and start articulating them again. He needs to show that he has not lost his strong voice and that he has much to give South Africa. He needs to find his place in society. By being consumed in his mess, he has given his enemies what they wanted – a distracted, discredited Vavi.

Leadership does not come from wrestling in the mud or burning everything down. It takes true grit and courage under fire.

_______
'Cosatu has a bigger plan'

Mia Lindeque ,EWN, 19 August 2013

JOHANNESBURG – Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says there is a bigger plan within Cosatu to silence anyone who is deemed as a threat.

Vavi was put on special leave by the federation's Central Executive Committee on Wednesday after admitting to having sex with a junior employee at their headquarters.

Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Friday afternoon, Vavi said his suspension is the culmination of a year-long political campaign to remove him from the federation, led by Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini.

Vavi said he had to break his silence before his enemies had the opportunity to tear him apart in a ‘kangaroo court’ used to their own advantage.

“South Africa better wake up now before you can no longer raise your own fingers because they will be broken.”

Vavi said there is a serious effort to create an image of him wanting to start his own political party, which forms part of a plot to drag his name and those of several other prominent leaders, through the mud.

“They were suggesting that I must not put these issues to the public. Even when I know about their existence like a ship quietly going into the slagpad.”

Vavi said he has apologised for having an affair with an employee but it’s clear that his enemies are using the sex scandal for their political plot to oust him.

He said people are throwing stones at him who have committed far worse crimes than what he has done.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Metalworkers’ of South Africa (Numsa) believes Vavi’s opponents will emphasise on what it referred to as “the genuine mistake of the leader” in order to aid them in their political battle.

“Independent of whether Zwelinzima Vavi remains the General Secretary of Cosatu or not, there are irreparable ideological ruptures within the federation. These ruptures are fundamentally between those who want a two class Cosatu and those who want the federation to continue to advance the interests of the poor.”

Numsa, the biggest trade union affiliated to Cosatu, has rejected Vavi's suspension.

Numsa General Secretary Irvin Jim says it will fight tooth and nail to make sure Cosatu doesn’t turn into a lapdog.

Jim said there is a political conspiracy to destroy Cosatu and liquidate Numsa.

The union fears Jim is the next target.

He said Numsa will fight to defend Cosatu from being destroyed.

“We are not surprised we have been having this sustained programme to ensure that Vavi is basically removed. Within both the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) there are forces who are hell-bent on working 24 hours a day with those in Cosatu to ensure that Cosatu will be made a lap dog.”

(Edited by Gia Kaplan)

_________

As much as he erred, Vavi’s warnings are as valid as ever

Songezo Zibi, Business Day, 19 August 2013

LAST Thursday, the central executive committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) placed general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on special leave pending an independent investigation and disciplinary process involving him and a junior employee he hired. The employee, at some point a complainant against him before changing her mind, has also been placed on special leave.

On Friday, Vavi held a media briefing at which he made spectacular allegations against some of his colleagues, in particular Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini. The most disturbing allegation was that Dlamini distributed a so-called intelligence report, which accuses Vavi of planning to sow division within Cosatu, and of preparing the ground for the formation of a new political party after next year’s general elections.

The profound stupidity required to believe the report’s contents is a subject for another day. Suffice to say that its mere existence and circulation among Cosatu’s leadership demonstrates how far into the gutter things have gone. It also exposes the viper pit that the African National Congress (ANC)-aligned trade union movement has become. While denials could be believed by some amid the thuggery ahead of the ANC’s 2007 elective conference in Polokwane, the open warfare that has now erupted settles the argument.

While the bogus dossier’s implications should not be underestimated, it is important to focus on some issues of principle. Ignoring them will mean one more step into an abyss where there is no bar with which to measure the value or the promise of leadership.

It is important to separate the apparent existence of a dirty conspiracy against Vavi from the problems arising from his admission of sexual impropriety with an employee while at work. On its own, such conduct warrants an investigation to ascertain whether organisational rules have been broken. A mere apology, however sincere, is simply insufficient to maintain faith in the institutional integrity of Cosatu or any organisation facing a similar case. For a workplace disciplinary code to be credible, it needs consistent application. If Vavi and his accomplice are allowed to merely apologise and walk off without further sanction, then it establishes a precedent in the organisation that such conduct is acceptable — as long as the people concerned apologise. That is an unsustainable position for any organisation.

The case is also somewhat unique in that Vavi is the organisational head and the face of Cosatu. What he does reflects on the organisation he heads. It is for this reason that someone in a position such as his has to be extremely careful about his personal conduct — to protect the organisation’s reputation.

However, if Vavi’s pursuers within Cosatu are driven by this principle, they need to answer for the deeply hypocritical nature of their stance given the support they continue to give to President Jacob Zuma. Apart from serious charges of corruption — to which he has so far avoided providing any cogent answers — they also supported him through a series of scandals, which included sexual impropriety and the profligate spending of public money on his personal comforts.

In many ways, the imbroglio succinctly demonstrates the deepening moral crisis of South Africa’s politics.

Those accused of stealing public funds turn out to be the same people expected to fight corruption. Those who have neglected to stick to Cosatu affiliates’ core mandate of representing the interests of workers, and who have overseen a decline in the credibility of trade union leadership, are now expected to act against Vavi, ostensibly to protect Cosatu’s reputation.

Bizarrely, Vavi and his allies are asking the country to exercise the same deficient moral reasoning in respect of Zuma that brought them to where they are now.

Back then, they insisted that the public should not have any discomfort about supporting Zuma’s bid for the presidency of the ANC, despite extremely worrying signs of poor judgment.

The majority obliged, conflating the presence of political enemies with the validity of the accusations he faced at the time.

In no time they were complaining about a "predatory and parasitic elite" that was pilfering the public purse for personal gain. It was as tacit an admission of flawed political and moral judgment as it gets. Nonetheless, they appear to have made some attempt at pulling themselves out of the gutter they chose to inhabit with such intransigence before the 2009 elections.

The public-interest positions taken by Cosatu in recent times, often at Vavi’s personal behest, have been admirable. They have been the brakes that have slowed down an increasingly overloaded gravy train speeding towards a complete collapse of any respect for public funds and moral standards.

It is deeply ironic that he would fall foul of the same standards he has recently fought so hard to instill in our body politic.

A question therefore arises about the best way to proceed given the obvious existence of deep schisms within Cosatu, and the very strong possibility that the knives are out for Vavi. What should happen now?

At the centre of it all must be the recognition that all influential public organisations have a moral responsibility to society. As far as possible, they have to demonstrate a loyalty to transparency and fairness that consistently reminds society that no one is above scrutiny and accountability. For this reason, as poisonous as the environment Vavi finds himself in is, there is no other way but to proceed with a probe into the entire affair.

What will sink the process and severely damage the public’s confidence in the country’s ability to follow due process will be the emergence of inconsistencies in the application of Cosatu’s rules.

So far, no one has made that accusation, and for the good of all of us, we must hope there are no such instances. The accountability Vavi has so often demanded must be seen to be implemented even in his case.

However it is resolved, the entire affair provides us with an opportunity for deeper reflection about the true state of our politics. What kind of people do we have as leaders if they can peddle fabricated documents to discredit one another? How could any of that be in the specific interest of the workers who make up Cosatu’s affiliates? How is it in the general public interest?

These questions are not limited to Cosatu but are relevant to the ANC’s latter-day political culture too. There is clearly an abuse of the state security apparatus to fight personality-based power battles. We must not so casually accept, as we do now, that the private text messages of ministers or anyone else somehow end up with newspapers. It is a dangerous trend.

The time has arrived for a fresh political discourse that focuses on the moral meaning and importance of leadership.

It is dangerous for us to accept such crooked conduct as normal and to continue to invest our fortunes in people who clearly have no desire to serve the public other than that it gives them access to the levers of power and state resources.

As much as Vavi has made a grave error of judgment, we should not fool ourselves by believing that any of his warnings about the state of our politics are now invalid.

• Zibi is a senior associate editor at the Financial Mail.

___________

KZN Sadtu demands that Vavi suspension be reversed

SABC News, 18 August 2013

Sadtu's biggest region in KwaZulu-Natal, Kokstad is demanding that the decision to suspend Sadtu president Thobile Ntola and Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi be reversed.

Sadtu's Kokstad region held a meeting in Port Edward on Sunday.

Ntola was suspended after granting Vavi a platform to address Sadtu at the union's meeting in East London.

Vavi was suspended for having a sexual encounter with a junior staffer.

Zamuxolo Matwasa says both Vavi and Ntola's charges lack substance.

"The delegates at this conference agreed that the suspension of Sadtu president has no logic and as delegates therefore agreed that the president be reinstated and we further agreed that we support the suspended 
Cosatu general secretary comrade Zwelinzima
Vavi as he must be reinstated with immediate effect," explained Matwasa.

______

2013: The Year of the Great Splintering

Stephen Grootes, Daily Maverick, 19 August 2013

 

2013 AD is a rare year in which there are no major ANC events, conferences or even general elections. Coming just after Mangaung, it was supposed to be a boring year, a year in which President Jacob Zuma simply consolidated his power and got on with running the country. Two-thirds of the way into the year, turns out things have been quite different than expected. We will remember 2013 for a long time because it started a process that could either force the ANC to reform and change or be the final undoing of the movement as the party in power. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

For what was supposed to be a by-the-numbers year for us political pontificators, it’s actually been anything but. Sure, it’s lacked the horror of Marikana, the high-stakes dramatics of a Malema chucking-out, or the wonderful tragedy of anything with the word “recall” in it. And as yet, no one’s even mentioning the ANC and the s-word – you know, split. But if you look back at a series of little dramas you can see they are actually part of a much bigger process, which is only now gaining momentum.

Since Zuma’s re-ascension to power in Bloemfontein, these are just some of the events that have happened: the Workers and Socialism Party was created, Agang formed, Malema and his Pink Beret’s founded the Economic Freedom Fighters (really, can you imagine Che Guevara in pink?), Cosatu is about to formally throw out Zwelinzima Vavi who, in turn, could start and lead a new union movement, and Marikana has become an official no-go area for the ANC and its alliance members.

Of all these events, the Cosatu drama is getting the most headlines, and rightly so. It has all the elements that could really lead to the end of one of the biggest and most powerful organisations in the country, and that would have very real impact on the ANC in the long-term, and possibly even on next year’s elections in the short-term. But in fact it’s the other events that are possibly more significant.

At Marikana on Friday, just metres away from what is really quite a small koppie when you get close to it, and its even smaller sub-koppie, gathered an interesting array of people. There were Bantu Holomisa, Mosiuoa Lekota, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Mamphela Ramphele, all in their funereal finery in the starkly white VIP tent. There was Malema being Malema and one or two others of his posse just hanging around, being his posse.

None of them really mattered. What was interesting was the men, hundreds of them, plastered to the rock of the koppie like barnacles. They were there from early in the morning and spent the entire sun-filled day there, refusing to move, and just about all of them refusing to use any kind of shade whatsoever.

For these people, the ANC is the enemy. There is no ANC branch in Marikana anymore. For them, the only possible leader (and even then only to an extent) is the AMCU’s Joseph Mathunjwa. But even he is not really in charge.

The point is this: it was an event that did not feature the ANC at all. And not in a way that maybe it would have been okay for an ANC leader to attend and sit on a chair between his former colleagues Holomisa, Lekota and Malema. Nope, it was in actively hostile in an anti-ANC way. The CEO of Lonmin, Ben Magara was there, and was actually allowed on to the stage to speak. (Just for that, he is a strong contender for the inaugural Daily Maverick “Bravest Man of the Year Award” when we finally get them going at some point in our hopefully illustrious future.) And the reception he got was, well, respectful. Perhaps it was because he is, in fact, the boss of these men, the person who pays their salaries. Perhaps it was simply respect because he was there and was actually trying to do something. Maybe it was just because Mathunjwa asked them to be quiet while he spoke.

If someone from the ANC or the National Union of Mineworkers had tried to do that, they would have needed every single one of the 37 police vehicles and 12 Nyalas present to get them out. And even then it might not have been out and alive, just out.

The point is that Marikana is now a zone where our current political class has no role to play. It has been rejected, completely and out of hand. And there doesn’t seem to be a way for them to overcome that rejection.

With the plethora of splinters dotting our landscape, trying to overcome this rejection isn’t even going to be on the agenda of the ANC, or anyone else. All that can be done now is to try to contain the splintering, to stop it from gathering too much momentum.

Already over the weekend a branch of the South African Democratic Teachers Union is planning to rebel against their leaders’ decision not to support Vavi at last week’s Cosatu meeting. Recalling that these same leaders suspended their president Thobile Ntola last week for his support of Vavi, it’s clear the union is massively divided on the issue. When push comes to shove, it will split too.

And that’s just one union. Others will be going through exactly the same process. And now that Vavi has upped the stakes by taking legal action, pressure will mount for him to be formally expelled. This will allow him to portray himself as the wronged man, the man pushed out. And if we’ve learnt anything over the years it’s that South Africans like nothing more than a political victim. Especially of political conspiracies, like this “intelligence document” that is really the biggest work of fiction since Zuma’s promise to “fill the upper echelons of the criminal justice system”.

All of this is part of what Helen Zille likes to call “catalytic events”, things that happen that force major changes. Of course, the Mbeki recall is a good example of that.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Because that drama, the ousting of Mbeki and then the formation of Cope, happened in 2008, the year after Polokwane. And it was a reaction to what some in the ANC saw as an overreach by Zuma. As a result Cope was formed. Here, in 2013, we seem to have exactly the same thing. Zuma wins at Mangaung. His allies in Cosatu overreach by attempting to oust Vavi. And this is the result, a split and a splintering process.

As tempting as it is to always blame everything on Zuma (there, there Mac, you'll agree with this bit) it’s really not his fault. The fact is this is a long term dynamic that has its roots in the ANC of 1994. There and then a decision was made to try to govern for the whole country. It did kind of make sense. After all, there was a country to heal. The last thing anyone needed was any more political instability. But it went against one of the iron laws of politics – you cannot govern for all the people, all of the time. You can only govern for some of the people, some of the time. Because if you try to cater to everyone, your church becomes too broad. And once it’s too broad, it doesn’t take a political Samson to bring it down. Just Zwelinzima Vavi.

_______

Zwelinzima Vavi’s awful timing

Sipho Hlongwane, Business Day, 19 August 2013

THERE are other things on the mind of suspended Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi than Marikana. He made that plain on Friday, when he called a press conference to release an explosive report that dominated the weekend papers, claiming that he and others "perceived as opponents and who dare to speak truth to power" were in some grand conspiracy with Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy to effect regime change in South Africa.

This was on the first anniversary of the Marikana massacre, and the eyes of the world were on Nkaneng, where a ceremony was being held. It was a big pow-wow, and while it descended into farce at times, it did commemorate an important milestone in this country’s history.

Everyone, in their own way, marked the day. Lonmin CEO Ben Magara apologised to the families of the deceased and repeated the company’s promise to fund the orphaned children’s education all the way to tertiary level. Economic Freedom Fighters boss Julius Malema urged workers not to accept the apology, as the company had "blood on its hands".

This is the Marikana zeitgeist. We need to find someone to hold responsible. That is where we are, a year later. Malema has an uncanny ability to pick up the crucial issue and turn it into a catchy phrase, and he did it again on Friday, calling on the community to reject all apologies until someone has taken responsibility for the massacre.

He said: "Lonmin and Jacob Zuma have blood on their hands. They talk about peace but they have not given you the R12,500 they have promised to give. Lonmin will be our friends the day they pay you the R12,500 they promised to pay."

It saddens me to point out that all involved have so far claimed that they were acting reasonably and within the law. Apparently, such a scenario can be envisaged within the bounds of the constitution. (Feel free to insert your own snort of derision here.)

It seems to me that we cannot talk about moving on, or even healing, after Marikana without someone stepping up and taking responsibility. In this instance, someone is definitely to blame. That is the conversation we need to have.

Then, Vavi called his press conference. He released the report, claiming that certain judges were on the payroll of the National Endowment for Democracy, a Rwandan general is setting up secret military bases in South Africa, and many prominent individuals will sit on the advisory board of Agang SA — all for regime change.

The man was clearly angry, and releasing the full report to the press was his way of launching a fight back. He accused Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini of circulating the report to senior officials in the African National Congress (ANC) and the federation to discredit him.

Not to suggest that the Vavi conspiracy is one we should pass up, but why did this press conference have to happen on Friday?

Vavi was suspended on Wednesday and may have been concerned that the weekend papers would have carried a different message had he decided to wait before speaking out in public but, with his disciplinary hearing only set for September, I submit that he could have waited.

He, of all people, has warned that Cosatu is in danger of losing touch with the masses by engaging in damaging squabbles and political fights in public. He has said that "bread and butter" union issues are being ignored because of palace politics.

Yes, there is definitely something going on at Cosatu House. Despite ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s remonstrations, yes, it does seem to involve the ANC. What doesn’t these days? Yes, we cannot ignore this: a respected unionist abused his position on the one hand and, on the other, there is much more than that going on.

Cosatu is at serious risk of falling apart. That should frighten us all. But it could have waited. Vavi could have held his press conference on Monday. He did the opposite instead, and proved his own point about the callousness of Cosatu leaders.

What greater symbol of that than calling an explosive press conference on the day of the first Marikana anniversary? It sends the message that, like the government and ANC officials who didn’t turn up at the commemoration, Vavi’s concerns are elsewhere, certainly not with the workers in the midst of South Africa’s most profound struggle since 1994.

____________

SUNDAY PRESS REVIEW: Vavi’s spy report and conspiracy claims

Sipho Hlongwane, Busines Day, 19 August 2013

WE have another spy report to muddy the waters and throw the country into political crisis.

This time, the report was circulated by the suspended Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, at a press conference on Friday.

The report claims that there is some kind of grand conspiracy involving Vavi, Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, AgangSA’s Mamphela Ramphele, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) boss Irvin Jim, and "others perceived as opponents and who dare to speak truth to power", to topple the African National Congress (ANC) government and replace it with one more favourable to "imperialist" interests.

Vavi claimed that Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini has been circulating the report to Cosatu officials in a bid to discredit him before the sex scandal disciplinary hearing, which is due in September.

Pretty much everyone who was been named in the report has dismissed the claims in it as utter rubbish, but it is out in public now, a part of our political discourse. Former national director of public prosecutions Vusi Pikoli told City Press that the report was "rubbish!"

This is a pretty explosive revelation, either way. If this is a clumsy smear campaign, then Vavi’s claim of a political conspiracy suddenly holds a lot more water. Who stands to benefit right now? A certain union federation president, perhaps? I shudder to think of the volcano eruption of drama that will occur if there is even an inkling of truth to the report. A word to the spooks: hire a copywriter next time. The lack of logical coherence and the sloppy spelling did not make the report any more believable.

Friday was also the first anniversary of the Marikana massacre, and the Mail & Guardian has provided some excellent coverage of the aftermath, giving a human face to those who died and their families. The special Marikana report (available online) is not to be missed. What was truly disappointing is that the ANC spent the day fighting its provincial and regional structures to stay on song — without committing people to the commemoration ceremony. The ANC in North West cast aspersions on the ceremony, fetching an official reprimand from Luthuli House. That was about the sum total of the ruling party’s contribution to proceedings.

The Sunday Independent ran a front page story about how former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is to lose all the privileges of a former deputy president after being appointed executive director of the United Nations (UN) Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. After slyly suggesting that this might have something to do with old grudges that President Jacob Zuma might hold against her husband, the article quotes the UN’s staff member rules, which say that their duties are exclusively international and that staff may not accept any "honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any government," which effectively disqualifies her from receiving ex-presidential status. I hate to be the one to point out that this is hardly a conspiracy and has nothing to do with Polokwane.

___________

3.                  South Africa

Joburg wants a new airport

Penwell Dlamini, Times Live, 19 August 2013

An agency within the Gauteng treasury is to commission a study of the feasibility of a new West Rand regional airport, a proposition dismissed by some experts as a waste of money.

Last week the Gauteng Funding Agency submitted a report to the portfolio committee on finance detailing its current and forthcoming projects for the year.

In the report, the agency said a commercial case was being put together for the development of a freight and logistic hub on the West Rand. It said the terms of reference had been framed for a feasibility study and the development of a commercial justification for the establishment of a regional airport.

The agency converts infrastructure project concepts that can be funded through public- private partnerships into reality.

The agency's head of communications, Aubrey Kitime, said: "With a proper marketing strategy the airport could provide a wide range of services and facilities for flight schools, light and sport aircraft, aviation-related manufacturers, aviation agents and skydiving clubs.

"The feasibility study and commercial case will [show] whether it is a viable project."

Kitime said there were two airfields on the West Rand that were facing closure because of housing developments "hence the need to construct a new integrated airport".

"This proposed airport should be viewed as a potential economic catalyst, which the region desperately needs," he said.

According to the agency, the airport is not intended to be in competition with existing airports.

The final report on the study is expected by December.

But aviation experts have rejected the idea of the new airport, describing it as a waste of money.

Athol Franz, editor of aviation magazine African Pilot, said the province had too many airports already. These included Lanseria International Airport, Rand Airport, in Germiston, Grand Central, in Midrand, Wonderboom, in Pretoria, Heidelberg, Brakpan-Benoni, Krugersdorp and Springs, in Ekurhuleni, East Rand.

Franz said the Lanseria airport was spending millions on upgrading its runway to enable it to accommodate larger aircraft.

"I don't see the feasibility for another airport. It's an absolute waste of money," he said.

Leon Dillman, CEO of the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa, said the new airport was not needed.

Dillman said airports such as Rand, Grand Central and Wonderboom were under-utilised.

"A better solution would probably be to extend Lanseria or Grand Central. To start building a completely new airport would be a waste of money."

_________

MTN executive suspended over alleged Dina Pule link

Sapa, Times Live, 19 August 2013

 

MTN’s chief corporate services officer has been suspended allegedly over his role in the diversion of sponsorship funds for the ICT indaba, according to a report.

The Business Day newspaper reported that Robert Madzonga was also threatening to take take legal action against former MTN SA managing director Karel Pienaar, human resource director Themba Nyathi and general manager of business risk management Lily Zondo.

Zondo allegedly accused Madzonga of receiving some of the money paid to former communications minister Dina Pule’s boyfriend Phosa Mngqibisa, as a management fee for the indaba last year.

Pule faced parliament’s joint ethics committee recently following allegations that funds for the event had disappeared, the paper reported.

Madzonga reportedly considers the accusation defamatory.

He also lodged a grievance over the allegation.

MTN confirmed the suspension but gave no details, saying it was “not in a position to divulge the nature of these internal matters...”.

________

State to spend R2bn on mining towns

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi, The New Age, 19 August 2013

The government will pump nearly R2bn into fixing mining towns in the country by building houses in these areas.

The initiative follows an intervention by President Jacob Zuma after the Marikana tragedy.

Zuma set up a special presidential project for the mining towns of Sekhukhune, Welkom, Emalahleni, Lephalale, Rustenberg, Klerksdorp, West Rand and Carletonville.

Chief director for the project management unit in the Department of Human Settlements Julie Bayat told MPs on Friday that the upgrades of these towns would improve the socioeconomic conditions of the people in the towns.

She said a task team had been established to look at the work to be done in the eight towns that had been identified.

Her unit would get progress reports from each mining town, she told members of the portfolio committee on human settlements.

The monthly reports would look at the provision of infrastructure, including water, sewers and roads and the allocation of houses.

The reports would be fed into political structures at municipal, provincial and national levels of government, Bayat said.

However, all the work would be handled at national level since this was a presidential project.

Bayat’s unit would monitor every month whether all those tasked with ensuring development in the mining towns were doing their work.

They wanted a system which would ensure all deserving beneficiaries in these towns got houses.

“In some provinces 10% of the housing is allocated to military veterans. Maybe we need to utilise a similar principle. We don’t want mine workers in a corner. We want them in the community,” she told the committee.

“In this financial year there is R1.7bn (allocated) into these mining towns. That is 10% of the budget,” said Bayat.

She said they had also taken into account backyard dwellers during this process.

The government has started with a pilot project in Bojanala in the North West.

________

Western Cape government, Cape Town to tackle gang violence

Sapa, Times Live, 18 August 2013

The Western Cape government will divert R6 million from education to the City of Cape Town to use it in efforts to curb gang related violence, premier Helen Zille and mayor Patricia de Lille said on Sunday.

"This budget will have to be diverted from other priorities in education. The City of Cape Town together with the Western Cape government, met with residents in Manenberg on Thursday evening to discuss new steps that could be taken to meet the safety concerns of the educators of shut schools," the DA leaders said in a joint statement.

They said the provincial government and the city had limited powers in the fight against crime and violence but would continue to play their respective roles.

"Both the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have no powers when it comes to investigating crimes and securing convictions in a court of law," they said.

"While we are doing everything possible to make communities safer through crime prevention programmes, we will never successfully tackle gang violence if the gang members responsible for violent acts and criminal behaviour are not brought to justice and put behind bars."

Gang-related violence has been on the rise in areas such as Manenberg, which has affected learning. Members of the community have also been caught up in the crossfire.

As part of a plan to combat the violence a commission of inquiry has been established in Khayelitsha.

Among efforts to fight the violence they sought to pass a Safety Act, conduct policing needs and priorities, watched briefs and formed partnerships.

They appealed to the SAPS to deploy additional resources to Manenberg, particularly during this increasingly violent time.

"We also repeat our calls for President Jacob Zuma to authorise the employment of the SANDF in gang hotspot areas," they said.

_______

Double digit hike in taxi fares to hit consumers hard

Zodidi Mhlana, The New Age, 19 August 2013

Most consumers, who are already under pressure economically, will be forced to dig even deeper into their pockets as taxi fares are set to increase at the beginning of September.

National taxi body, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) is set to increase fares by between 10% and 20% countrywide.

It cited the increase in the petrol price as the main driver behind the decision to hike fares.

The petrol price went up by 32 cents per litre and the price of diesel by 33 cents recently. This was the fifth increase since the beginning of the year.

Santaco secretary general Philip Taaibosch said: “Petrol price increases are the main cause behind the taxi fare increase that will come into effect in September. We know that they will have a negative impact on consumers but we don’t have any choice but to hike fares.”

He urged the government to come to the rescue of commuters and called for a subsidy for hard pressed consumers.

“We appeal to consumers to request political parties to consider subsidising the taxi industry as it does with other transport sectors. The field should be level,” he said.

Santaco represents more than 95% of taxi industry. It launched its taxi fares index to measure taxi fare increases in June this year.

Taaibosch said the increase in fares would apply equally to taxis that travel short and long distances.

The move would surely come as depressing news for hard pressed consumers.

“I constantly have to ask my parents for extra money each month as I battle to have money till the end of the month. This looming taxi fare increase will put me under unnecessary pressure.

“Using public transport is costly and everything has been going up,” Palesa Moredi, aged 25, said.

She travels daily between Pretoria and Johannesburg.

She said she spends no less than R2000 each month on taxi fares.

“Sometimes it feels like I only work for things such as food and transport. I can’t save and do other things.

“I am often left with nothing after spending my money on basic things,” she said.

The bus fares have already been increased.

Lundi Mzekeli, who lives in South Hills, south of Johannesburg and who travels regularly on public transport said: “This coming increase will add pressure on us; we are already battling with what we pay currently on a monthly basis. I travel between Joburg south and Pretoria daily and I have to pay more than R1500 a month, and now this increase means that I’m going to pay more. Sometimes, it feels like we are working for food, transport and rent only and it’s sad.”

__________

FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

Daily Maverick Staff Reporter, 19 August 2013

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

CRIMINAL COPS RESPONSIBLE FOR MULTIPLE CRIMES, AUDIT SHOWS

Information previously withheld from parliament’s portfolio committee on police shows 568 of SAPS’ 1,448 identified criminal members are guilty of multiple offences. DA police spokeswoman Dianne Kohler Barnard said a police audit showed 3,204 offences were committed by the 1,448 police officers. These include 54 for murder, 116 for attempted murder, 37 for rape, 33 for attempted rape and 917 for assault. Kohler Barnard said the numbers must be viewed “as a crisis in the SAPS” and that the audit only went up to the end of 2009. She said national police commissioner Riah Phiyega should immediately dismiss the officers as she is empowered to do.

WESTERN CAPE DIVERTS FUNDS TO FIGHT GANGSTERISM IMPACTING SCHOOOLS

The Western Cape government is to divert R6-million from its education budget in an effort to help combat gang violence, Premier Helen Zille and executive mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille said in a joint statement. The provincial education department last week closed schools in areas hard hit by an upsurge in gang violence. Provincial and local officials met with residents in affected areas to discuss options for the schools, Sapa reported. Zille and De Lille said provincial government and the city had no power to investigate and prosecute crimes and gangsters, which is a national competency. They appealed to SAPS to deploy more police to the areas and for President Jacob Zuma to reconsider a request to deploy the defence force to patrol severely affected areas.

ROGUE INTELLIGENCE REPORT IS ‘RUBBISH’

A “spy report” that suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says was circulated by the federation’s president Sdumo Dlamini “to smear and destroy” him has been dismissed as “rubbish” by other prominent South Africans mentioned in the document. Advocate Vusi Pikoli, former national director for public prosecutions, told City Press the rogue intelligence report was “rubbish”, backing Vavi’s point that it was “total fabrication”. The report names key SA figures that it claims were paid to advance the interests of the United States via an organisation called the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). It said the NED and its South African agents were behind civil unrest, President Jacob Zuma’s corruption case and funding Dr Mamphela Ramphele’s party, Agang SA. Vavi said the report was proof of a political conspiracy against him.

DON’T DRAW US INTO YOUR ‘MUD’, MANTASHE WARNS COSATU

The African National Congress does not want to be drawn into Cosatu’s “mud”, says the party’s secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. He accused suspended Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi and his supporters of “trying to draw us into this matter. We don’t want to be drawn into that mud”, Mantashe told the Sunday Independent. On Friday, Vavi said the labour federation was being reduced “a labour desk of the governing party, where leaders, whose ambitions are to serve in Parliament and cabinet, will be able to advance their individual personal careers”. Mantashe said if the ANC wanted to form a labour desk, it would “not need Cosatu” to do so.

‘ADVOCATE BARBIE’ APPROVED FOR PAROLE

The woman known as “Advocate Barbie” is to be released on parole. Cezanne Visser, who is serving a seven-year jail term for indecent assault, manufacturing and possessing child pornography, as well as for defrauding a children’s home, will qualify for parole after serving half her sentence, the Sunday Times reported. The correctional services deputy commissioner James Smallberger said Visser’s parole fell under the “maximum category” that came with strict conditions, the newspaper reported. Smallberger said Visser, like other offenders in the same category, had to serve half of her sentence before “she qualified for to be considered for placement on parole”.

HILTON COLLEGE OUTDOORS TRIP STRUCK BY DOUBLE TRAGEDY

One pupil has died and another was seriously injured on Hilton College’s annual Outward Bound school leadership excursion. A group of 10 boys and two teachers from the prestigious school were hiking in the Drakensberg mountains when one boy, James Loxton, suffered multiple seizures and later died in hospital. Another boy, Xilombe Tlakula, had his arm crushed by a falling boulder earlier in the week and had to have his arm amputated. The Saturday Independent reported school principal Peter Ducasse saying the school would review future excursions in light of this week’s dual tragedies. Tlakula is in a stable condition in the Albert Luthuli Hospital.

LIMPOPO’S NEW PREMIER SWEEPING CLEAN

New Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha is taking action against some of his heads of department previously implicated in incidents of fraud, corruption and maladministration during sacked former premier Cassel Mathale’s term of office. Charges have been formulated, the Sunday Independent reported, and Mathabatha has met with public service and administration director-general Mashwahle Diphofa and national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega. The results of an investigation by the public service department have been handed to Mathabatha.

SOUTH AFRICA BACKS SADC PLAN FOR SINGLE CURRENCY

South Africa has backed a Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) plan to launch a single currency for the continent, but says it’s unlikely that the goal of doing so by 2018 would be met. Trade and industry minister Rob Davies said there were “a few challenges” that were being addressed as well as “a bit of unfinished business “ in terms of the free trade agreement. Davies was a part of delegation to a SADC summit in Malawi. Davies said there were fears – which he dismissed – that the introduction of a single regional currency would “tilt balances of trade and investment in favour of the more stable economies in the region that may eventually swallow the smaller economies”. 

________

4.    International

SADC calls for urgent action on infectious deseases

Lehana Tsotesti, SABC News, 19 August 2013

The scourge of HIV/Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis must be tackled without delay. This was the call by regional leaders meeting at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit in Malawi.

Despite the recent reductions in infections that is seen within the SADC countries, the leaders attending the Aids Watch Africa meeting have agreed to work together in the fight against HIV/Aids, health, security and development issues.

Research shows that through shared responsibility the number of infections is decreasing. This has been aided by the recent summit in Abuja, Nigeria on HIV/Aids.

African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says despite the progress achieved, Africa still remains the most highly affected region.

"To sustain the gains we have achieved, high level leadership is indispensable."

Dlamini-Zuma called on African leaders to renew their calls for funding for HIV/Aids research in the region.

For some African countries the challenge is finding a lasting solution with the huge figures in their population. Tuberculosis remains a persistent illness

SADC has made recommendations that ministers of health from the region should come together and discuss the best possible ways in finding solutions.

_________________________________________________       

5.    Comment

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013

 

For more information, contact COSATU Offices

                                

Come one…..Come All!

 

Stop Commodification of public goods!

____________

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

____________

Austerity has done exactly as intended in Europe

Daniel Gros, Business Day, 19 August 2013

ALTHOUGH many European governments have announced spending cuts and tax hikes, their debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratios continue to deteriorate. So, if the purpose of austerity was to reduce debt, its critics are right: fiscal belt-tightening has failed.

But the goal of austerity was not just to stabilise debt ratios. In fact, austerity has worked as advertised in some cases. Germany’s fiscal deficit temporarily increased by about 2.5 percentage points of GDP during the global recession of 2009; subsequent rapid deficit reduction had no significant negative effect on growth. So it is possible to reduce deficits and keep the debt-to-GDP ratio in check — provided that the economy does not start out with large imbalances and that the financial system is working properly. Obviously, the countries on the eurozone’s periphery do not meet these conditions.

Countries whose governments have either lost access to normal market financing (such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal) or face very high risk premiums (such as Italy and Spain in 2011-12) simply do not have a choice: they must reduce their spending or get financing from some official body, such as the International Monetary Fund or the European Stability Mechanism. But foreign official financing will always be subject to lenders’ conditions — and lenders see no reason to finance spending at levels that previously led a country into trouble.

So, in the eurozone periphery, austerity is not a question of fine-tuning demand, but of ensuring governments’ solvency. Solvency has little to do with the ratio of public debt to today’s GDP and much to do with debt relative to expected future tax revenues. A government’s solvency thus depends much more on long-term growth prospects than on the present debt-to-GDP ratio.

A reduction in the deficit today might lead in the short run to a fall in GDP that is larger than the cut in the deficit, which would cause the debt-to-GDP ratio to rise. But almost all economic models imply that a cut in spending today should lead to higher GDP in the long run, because it allows for lower taxes.

Austerity should thus always be beneficial for solvency in the long run, even if the debt-to-GDP ratio deteriorates in the short run. For this reason, the increase in debt-to-GDP ratios in southern Europe should not be interpreted as proof that austerity does not work.

Moreover, austerity has been accompanied by structural reforms, which should increase countries’ long-term growth potential, while pension reforms are set to considerably reduce the fiscal cost of ageing populations. Such reforms promise to strengthen the solvency of all governments that adopt them, including those on the eurozone’s periphery.

More important, austerity has been successful in restoring external balance to the eurozone’s periphery. The current accounts of all southern eurozone countries are improving and, with the possible exception of Greece, will soon swing into surplus. This change has contributed to the reduction in risk premiums over the past year, despite the political upheaval that continues in many countries.

The external aspect is crucial. If public debt is owed to domestic investors, it can be serviced with the taxes levied on GDP. But debt owed to foreigners can be serviced only with goods and services sold abroad — that is, exports. Thus, the key variable for countries that had large current account deficits, and thus are burdened today with high foreign-debt levels, is not the debt-to-GDP ratio, but the ratio of foreign debt to exports.

Here, developments are encouraging. During the boom years, when countries such as Greece, Portugal, and Spain were running ever-larger external deficits, their exports did not grow quickly, so their foreign-debt-to-exports ratios deteriorated steadily, reaching levels that are usually regarded as a warning signal.

With austerity, imports have crashed everywhere in the periphery, while exports — helped by falling labour costs — are increasing (except in Greece). As a result, these countries’ current accounts are now moving into surplus, and their external solvency is improving rapidly.

Austerity always involves huge social costs, but it is unavoidable when a country has lived beyond its means and lost its foreign creditors’ confidence. The external fundamentals of the eurozone’s periphery are now improving rapidly. In this sense, austerity has done exactly what it was intended to do. 

• Gros is director of the Centre for European Policy Studies.

_______

Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)

Congress of South African Trade Unions

110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street

Braamfontein

2017

 

P.O.Box 1019

Johannesburg

2000

South Africa

 

Tel: +27 11 339-4911 or Direct 010 219-1342

Mobile: +27 72 416 3790

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