COSATU Media Monitor, 19 June 2013

[Patrick Craven]

COSATU Media Monitor    

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

 

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013

 

COSATU National Collective Bargaining, Organizing and Campaigns Conference Special Declaration

 

http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=7062

 

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

http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6785

 

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013.

http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=6793

 

Stop Commodification of public goods!

 

The articles in the Media Monitor do not represent the views of COSATU. They are selected because we believe they deal with topics of interest to our readers, who will then be informed on how the media is reporting and commenting on these topics. It will enable them, if necessary, to respond to inaccurate, misleading or biased reports or comment.

If we have excluded other articles which readers wished could have been picked, this was not intentional but because of tight time-frames. If you have seen article worth to be shared email it.

 

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Contents

 

Workers’ Parliament

Ø  Data show slow growth is hurting job creation

Ø  NUM hands memo to Minopex

Ø  Amcu, Xstrata mine in bid to end standoff

Ø  Single police force will hurt law enforcement: researcher

Ø  Police Priorities: A murdered cop and a middle finger to the President

Ø  Doctors' negligence

Ø  Academy aims to assist jobless youth

 

South Africa

Ø  Hundred years on, the Natives Land Act’s legacy is with us still

Ø  Nelson Mandela International Day formally launched

Ø  New talk station gives 'Power to the people'

Ø  Chamber lashes out over booze ads ban

Ø  South Africans are drowning in debt

Ø  Hope as women test HIV gel

Ø  Sisulu red-cards MPs for foul talk

Ø  Gordhan warns of financial shockwaves

Ø  Hawks closing in on 'bread mafia'

Ø  THE BIG READ: The face of domestic abuse

Ø  Grade 11 pupil takes Motshekga to court

Ø  Eskom wins corporate governance award

Ø  Eastern Cape's Mthatha problem

Ø  FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

 

Alliance

Ø  Ban unsecured bank loans: SACP

Ø  Relief as ANC drops Broadcasting Act revision

Ø  SAHRC spokesman should work for the ANCYL: de Lille

 

International

Ø  Nigeria wants the death penalty

 

Comment

 

Ø  COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013

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

Ø  Potty-mouthed MPs are an insult to democratic debate

Ø  Malema hype is a symptom of middle-class fear

__________________________________________________________

1.                  Workers’ Parliament   

Data show slow growth is hurting job creation

Ntsakisi Maswanganyi , Business Day, 19 June 2013

EMPLOYMENT in South Africa’s formal sector grew much more slowly in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter of last year, figures showed on Tuesday, a stark indication that slower economic growth is harming job creation.

The latest Statistics SA jobs survey came as a report by Nomura warned of more job losses in the ailing platinum mining sector. The bank suggested that 121,500 jobs are at risk by 2015, mainly due to rising costs.

Official figures show that mining in general shed 8,000 jobs between the third and fourth quarters of last year, with some industry players estimating that the sector had lost 40,000 jobs since 2010.

The latest figures lend weight to calls for a less stringent labour environment to help small businesses employ people and a speedy implementation of the government’s multibillion-rand infrastructure programme to boost growth and employment.

South Africa needs higher rates of economic growth to create jobs for some 4.6-million unemployed people. The government says that annual gross domestic product growth of 5% would address unemployment. The economy grew at 2.5% last year.

The formal sector added 7,000 employees in the first quarter, the latest quarterly employment statistics survey showed, taking the estimated number of those employed by the sector to 8.463-million from 8.456-million in the previous quarter.

Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said the very subdued nature of economic growth and the uncertain global and domestic outlook meant it was unlikely that second-quarter employment figures would be significantly different.

A breakdown of the figures showed that five out of the eight formal sector industries reported job losses in the quarter. "The job losses in the private sector argue against any monetary policy tightening," Ms Bishop said.

Mining and manufacturing — two of South Africa’s main employers — shed a combined 5,000 jobs in the quarter, partly reflecting seasonal factors and continuing challenges including increasing administered costs and sluggish demand.

Mining shed 1,000 jobs between the two quarters and there are indications that this figure could increase as more mining companies continue to axe jobs or announce plans to do so.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) is among the mining companies that have announced possible job cuts and it is still in talks with unions in a bid to avoid the loss of 6,000 jobs.

Nomura International analysts warned that "serious balance-sheet difficulties for many operations " would likely drive further job losses in the sector.

"The necessity and effects of restructuring will spread widely beyond Amplats," they said.

Higher electricity costs, steep wage increases and weaker commodity prices could see 24,000 platinum sector jobs "at risk" next year, with this number likely to rise to 121,500 in two years.

Mining was not the only industry to suffer job losses. Manufacturing lost 4,000 jobs in the quarter mainly due to drops in employment in textiles, plastic products and printing manufacturing.

"The manufacturing outcome was seasonal, so not unexpected," Ms Bishop said.

Manufacturers are unlikely to add jobs, a leading indicator suggested. The employment subindex of the Kagiso purchasing managers index remains below 50 — the level that distinguishes between contraction and expansion in activity.

The main contributors to the job losses in the first quarter were the wholesale and retail trade; motor vehicles repairs; and the hotel and restaurant industry.

Employment in the industry fell by 22,000 on a quarterly basis, but rose by 10,000 year on year.

The contracts of workers hired over the festive season in retail stores, hotels and restaurants usually come to an end in the first quarter.

The job losses were countered by growth in the community, social and personal services industry, which saw a quarterly increase of 32,000 employees and an annual rise of 65,000 employees.

Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings said South Africa’s high unemployment rate required bolder solutions, with the private sector playing a much greater role supported by infrastructure development.

__________

NUM hands memo to Minopex

Sapa, Fin24, 18 June 2013

 

Johannesburg - National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members handed a memorandum to the management and leadership of Minopex during a march in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

"The march went well. Everything was peaceful and we had no problems," NUM organiser Elias Mfikoe said.

"We handed over the memorandum and the company accepted it shortly after 14:00."

Mfikoe said workers' grievances included salary discrepancies. They also wanted the NUM to be recognised according to regions.

He said about 250 NUM members participated in the march.

Minopex operates and maintains minerals and metals processing plants, and employs more than 2 000 people in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania.

_________

Amcu, Xstrata mine in bid to end standoff

SABC News, 19 June 2013

Labour union, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) at Xstrata's Steelpoort mine in Limpopo is meeting stakeholders in the Sekhukhune area in a bid to end the stalemate where about 2000 miners were dismissed. 

Amcu representatives are, on Wednesday morning, meeting the Tubatse Municipality and traditional leaders. 

Workers affiliated to Amcu downed tools at the mine three weeks ago, alleging racism by management. 

While the leadership of Amcu is meeting community structures in Burgersfort to seek their intervention, hundreds of dismissed workers are gathered 4 km away from the mine. 

They are later expected to meet three traditional leaders who are the owners of the land where the mine is operating to ask them to convince the mine management to reverse its decision. 

The strike resulted in the shutdown of three chrome mine shafts. 

Management has since obtained a court order instructing the miners to gather 4 km away from the mine. 

_______

Single police force will hurt law enforcement: researcher

Sapa, Times Live, 19 June 2013

A senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has warned that local policing will suffer if a proposal to form a single police force is approved and becomes law.

The green paper on policing, which had just been published, recommended that legislation be amended to provide for a single police force according to Beeld.

In 2007 in Polokwane, the ANC passed a resolution that the country's metro police units be incorporated into the police, but was yet to be implemented.

The ISS's Johan Burger said it was clear the ANC felt "uncomfortable and threatened" by the idea that provinces and municipalities not under their political control could exert control over armed forces.

These were the provinces and municipalities in the ANC's sights, he said.

"If we have one police service, it will be chaotic. You will overload the police with responsibilities and local policing will suffer. National priorities will always override local priorities and it'll be a miserable situation."

In the green paper, government argued that a single police service would be in accordance with the Constitution, but Burger said the new document had remained conveniently silent on article 206 of the Constitution, which made provision for metro police.

"The ISS is very unhappy about it... They can't ignore the Constitution and that's what they're doing."

Democratic Alliance spokeswoman Dianne Kohler-Barnard, said the DA was opposed to a single police service.

"They're using the same argument that was used when they disbanded the Scorpions, but the Constitution allows for separate police services."

_________

Police Priorities: A murdered cop and a middle finger to the President

Khadija Patel, Daily Maverick, 19 Jun 2013

 

The revelation on Tuesday of the murder of a senior police officer in Gauteng in murky circumstances has prompted much speculation but it has also forced scrutiny once more of the perils of police work in South Africa. Also on Tuesday, a court ruled against the Minister of Police who has resisted apologising to a young man arrested for showing the president the middle finger. It really can’t be easy being Police Minister in South Africa. By KHADIJA PATEL.

There remains very little detail about the circumstances that led to the death of Major-General Tirhani Simon Maswanganyi. The South African Police Service (SAPS) said Maswanganyi’s body was found early Tuesday morning in an open field beside a highway in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.

According to the SAPS, patrolling officers were prompted to launch an investigation upon the discovery of an abandoned Isuzu bakkie beside the R101 freeway. In the bakkie, the patrolling officers found a discarded police uniform, a service rifle as well as a police identification card. Several police units including the Dog Unit were called in to help with the search. Maswanganyi’s body was subsequently found in a bushy area nearby, his hands and feet were bound and there were no visible injuries, or apparent gunshot wounds.

The motive of the crime is still unknown.

But as the horror of that murder continues to unfold, another case involving the police on Tuesday revealed the complexity of police work in South Africa in the current day.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) revealed that the South Gauteng High Court dismissed, with a punitive costs order, an application calling for a review of the Commission’s findings against the SAPS. The case in question involved one Chumani Maxwele, the University of Cape Town student who showed President Zuma’s motorcade the middle finger in February 2010.

The Commission received a complaint from the FW de Klerk Foundation's Centre for Constitutional Rights, also in February 2010, on behalf of Maxwele.

The Commission found that members of the Presidential Special Protection Unit violated Maxwele’s rights: “After conducting an investigation into this matter the Commission found that indeed the following rights were violated namely: Human Dignity (Section 10); Freedom and Security of the Person (Section 12); Privacy (Section 14); Freedom of Expression and peaceful/unarmed demonstration (Sections 16 & 17); Political Choice (Section 19) and the Rights of Detained Persons (Section 35).”

Maxwele complained that during his arrest that followed the middle finger to the presidential blue lights, his head was covered with a paper bag and his legs bound while he was whisked to a police station. He was released a day later without charge, but also had been without any food during his detention. He claims he returned to his home to find that his belongings had also not escaped the attention of the country’s security services.

The SAHRC found that “the Minister of Police should be held vicariously liable for the acts of members and employees of the South African Police Service who are found to have been acting within the course and scope of employment.” The Commission recommended that the minister issue an apology to Maxwele within a stipulated time frame and reaffirm his and his charges’ commitment to the Bill of Rights.

Sorry, however, appears to be a very, very hard word for the good minister.

In January 2012, nearly two years after the incident, Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa approached the courts to persuade the SAHRC to set aside its ruling against him and the SAPS in the Maxwele case.

The minister explained that an apology from him would not sit very well in the civil suit that Maxwele had brought against the SAPS.

In 2012, Mthethwa's spokesman Zweli Mnisi said, “On numerous occasions, the minister has appealed to the SAHRC not to prejudge the outcome of this case and to allow the legal process, which Maxwele opted to use, to take its course.

“Any apology by the minister would be tantamount to pre-judging the case,” he said.

The R1.4-million lawsuit against Mthethwa for wrongful arrest was meant to be heard in court earlier this month, but on the eve of the case Maxwele was made a ­settlement offer of R80,000. He rejected the settlement and his lawyer also quit the case.

With Maxwele in legal limbo in the civil action he’s pursued, the South Gauteng High Court has now ruled very strongly in favour of the SAHRC.

According to the SAHRC, Judge Neels Claasen found that the “minister had displayed a disconcerting attitude which, if not downright contemptuous of the Commission, at the very least showed disrespect for the Commission's standing as a body instituted by the Constitution and tasked with a duty to investigate events where human rights are violated”.

The judge also ordered the Minister to foot the bill for the SAHRC’s legal costs.

Meanwhile, the death of the slain police officer Maswanganyi has been described as a loss to the fight against crime. Speaking to Eye Witness News, the Institute for Security Studies’ Gareth Newham said the murder is a shocking reminder of the danger police officers face on a daily basis.

In a 2011 report on police killings for the ISS however, Newham noted “both the deaths of police officers on duty and police brutality are well known occupational hazards”.

And while Maxwele’s case, though disturbing, still falls short of the kind of brutality displayed by the police in Marikana for example, his experience does prove a tendency by the SAPS to react with inordinate force and scant respect for the human rights of people in its custody.

“It is therefore not surprising that the measures required to reduce threats to the lives of police officers are, in many instances, the same as those required to prevent police brutality,” Newham wrote.

Indeed. 

________

'Marikana cops were attacked': Mpembe

The New Age, 19 June 2013

Police officers on duty in Marikana during last year's mine unrest came under attack from protesters, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Tuesday.

"Regarding the August 13 tragedy, as I was there... police were charged at and they defended themselves and their colleagues," North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe said.

Two police officers were hacked to death during unrest on August 13.

"I was not at the scene on the 16th [of August], but when I looked via a video, for what is called scene one, I could see that there was a group charging at police. That I can also attribute to self defence."

The commission, sitting in Centurion, is probing the circumstances of the deaths of 44 people during an unprotected strike at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, in August.

Thirty-four striking miners were shot dead when police tried to disperse them on August 16. Ten people, including two policemen, died in strike-related violence the preceding week.

Vuyani Ngalwana, for the police, asked Mpembe on Tuesday to explain to the commission the violence of August 13 and 16.

The hearing continues.  -Sapa

___________

Doctors' negligence

iAfrica,19 June 2013

Lusikisiki - A man who has spent three years with two surgical instruments in his body, is suing the Eastern Cape Health Department for R8 million.

Doctors who operated on Wandisile Myolwa in 2009 left forceps and a clamp in his stomach when they sewed up his wounds.

Unable to work for more than three years, Myolwa wants to be compensated for disfigurement, medical expenses and his future loss of income.

Mornings are the most difficult for Myolwa. Getting out of bed is a struggle and he is in constant pain.

Stabbed and mugged of his wallet in 2009, Myolwa underwent surgery at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha.

Three years after the operation, unable to do the simplest of tasks, Myolwa gave up his job as a construction worker.

And although he returned to the hospital numerous times, nurses merely gave him painkillers and sent him home.

"I felt very sorry about him because he always complained each and every day, especially in the mornings in the evenings and especially during bad weather conditions," said Myolwa's brother Zolani Myolwa.

"He always complained then we started to acknowledge there was something wrong with his stomach."

Finally Myolwa’s mother took money from her pension to send him to a private doctor.

Myolwa went for X-rays which showed a pair of forceps and a bulldog clamp in his stomach.

He was rushed into surgery so the medical equipment could be removed.

Doctors use forceps like fingers during delicate parts of the surgery.

Myolwa's doctors say the instruments caused a severe infection in his colon and small intestine, meaning he can only eat soft food for the rest of his life.

A single parent, Myolwa is struggling to support his young son. And he is furious the hospital hasn't apologised.

"I don't feel good at all about what happened to me, and I feel so victimised by what happened," said Myolwa.

"The worse part of  this whole thing is that it caused me to stop working. Even those doctors who did the operation, not even one apologised regarding the mistake they have made. "

Determined to hold someone accountable, Myolwa has turned to a lawyer, Edward Bikitsha. 

"Eventually the Department of Health admitted liability, now for the past almost two years now they have not settled the matter," said Bikitsha.

"Each time the matter is about to go on quantum they come up with a request the matter must be removed [as] they want the matter settled amicably and nothing happens."

Although nothing can erase what he's been through, Myolwa says at least a payout from the department will cover his future medical bills and help him support his family.

The provincial health department says it can't comment on legal matters. 

-eNCA

________

Academy aims to assist jobless youth

Andiswa Maqutu, Business Day, 19 June  2013

WHEN Sizwe Nzima spent hours in long queues at public hospitals to collect chronic medication for his grandparents, he did not realise he was standing on a business idea that would see him on the Forbes 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs list.

The 21-year-old from Khayelitsha now runs Iyeza Express, a business that uses bicycles to deliver chronic medication to about 300 people.

"Health access is not just about getting medication, but also about how you get the drugs," Mr Nzima says.

He developed the idea while he was a student at the Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development. This is a tertiary-level institution for people aged 18 to 30, started by Mr Ackerman, the founder of Pick n Pay.

A veteran entrepreneur himself, Mr Ackerman started Pick n Pay in 1966 after getting fired from Checkers. The chain now has stores all over South Africa and the rest of the continent.

Mr Ackerman says he started the academy with his family and the University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business in 2005, because of his passion for entrepreneurship and his desire to help young South Africans. "I wanted to help the young people who don’t have a qualification, to get a job, or business skills and as a result fall through the cracks," he says.

Statistics SA figures for the first quarter of the year show that 71% of the 4.6-million unemployed people in South Africa are aged 15-34. Of the unemployed youth, 59.4% have not completed matric. While these youths need skills development, they also need to be economically active and may not have the time or money for years of study.

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative, a five-year investment that provides women throughout the world with business education, was impressed with the achievements of the programme at the UCT campus and supported an expansion to the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Soweto in 2008. The Goldman Sachs investment ends this year after a five-year commitment to the academy.

The UCT campus takes in 30 students and the UJ campus selects 60 students twice a year for the six-month programme.

According to Mr Ackerman, 83% of the graduates from the academy go on to start a business or find employment in companies, so the aim of the course is not just for graduates to become entrepreneurs. "It is an accredited course that people can use to get a job," he says.

Entrepreneurship has been a buzzword in South Africa as the proposed solution to the unemployment problem. However, it is still not a career of first choice for many.

King Makhubele started working weekends at Pick n Pay while studying at the academy. He then applied internally for a permanent position at the retail store in February 2011 where he worked until April when he resigned to start his tyre repair business, Justus, in Cosmo City, Johannesburg.

However, Justus is not doing well because there are many businesses in Mr Makhubele’s market that provide the same service as he does.

"I am still building my client base" Mr Makhubele says.

Many graduates find employment with Pick n Pay.

"They don’t get preference but now they have the skills and better access to information about opportunities," says the joint co-ordinator of the UJ programme, Eugenia Mabuza.

Elli Yiannakaris, director of the academy at UCT, says: "We don’t expect them to graduate and start being entrepreneurs, but we need to change attitudes around entrepreneurship."

The academy has a low dropout rate as students are recruited through a rigorous process, which includes a selection workshop.

Once selected, students are taken through the full-time programme that teaches them business and soft skills as well as idea generation.

Many of the students come in wanting to start a car wash or hair salon. After the programme, more of the ideas are creative solutions to problems in their communities.

"We introduce them to creative thinking and business ideas which they don’t usually see," Ms Yiannakaris says.

The global head of 10,000 Women, Noa Meyer, says: "We have seen a growing number of academy graduates go on to start businesses, which will create jobs in their communities and benefit the South African economy."

One of the women to benefit from the partnership is Cape Town’s Abigail Florence, runner-up in the Shanduka Black Umbrellas incubator awards.

Ms Florence says she joined the academy when she felt her business was not growing.

She now runs a creative business that teaches people sewing and craft skills, and many of the people go on to start small businesses. Ms Florence was introduced to the Shanduka Black Umbrellas incubator programme through the academy.

Mr Ackerman’s vision for the academy is to get additional funding from companies and social investors to expand into other universities in Africa.

_________

2.    South Africa

Hundred years on, the Natives Land Act’s legacy is with us still

Rebecca Davis, Daily Maverick, 19 Jun 2013

 

“Awakening on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth,” wrote Sol Plaatje. One hundred years ago today, the Natives Land Act came into being. REBECCA DAVIS reflects on the ongoing social consequences of this egregious piece of legislation.

Without the Natives Land Act, would South Africa have experienced the horror of Marikana or the upheaval of the Western Cape farmworkers’ strikes? Writing in April this year, historian Colin Bundy suggested that the 1913 Land Act had a powerful relevance to both events, because the 1913 law and its consequences “still shape rural South Africa”.

Bundy’s is a useful explanation of the historical context for the Land Act. Even though the 19^th century frontier wars resulted in substantial land dispossession, Bundy points out that before 1910, some African pastoralist farmers still lived outside the “tribal reserves”, on land settled by their ancestors, even though it was now often owned by white farmers. In exchange for this access to land, tenants either paid a cash rent, paid white farmers in kind from the crops produced, or paid rent in the form of a certain amount of days’ labour per year.

Not all, crucially: in some cases, notes Bundy, “land was bought by modernising peasant families, wealthy enough to seek individual tenure”. In other cases, chiefs and their communities bought up large tracts of land.

But white farmers needed labour and the pre-1913 situation presented insufficient amounts of it. “The 1913 Act did not aim to move black people off commercial farms but to keep them there as workers rather than tenants,” wrote historians William Beinart and Peter Delius in the Mail & Guardian last week.

White farmers also didn’t want to compete with black farmers over land price. The 1913 Natives Land Act, which set aside just 7% of agricultural land for the use of black people, was designed to take care of these concerns. There was a further benefit for white rulers: the reserves to which black people were confined “created a physical and social space in which to contain large numbers of black people at minimal cost”. Bundy quotes Godfrey Lagden, the Transvaal’s Native Affairs Commissioner: “Every rabbit has a warren where he can live and burrow and breed and every native must have a warren too”.

In some areas, black families were able to continue living on white farmers’ lands and paying rent via sharecropping or occasional labour. But in the 50s and 60s, the state stepped up support for white farmers and the resulting mechanisation led to the eviction of hundreds of thousands of tenants. Those left became the farm labourers whose future struggles would go on to dominate headlines in 2012 and 2013.

Post-apartheid, the movement of blacks off the land has continued. “Some 2.4-million people were displaced from farms between 1994 and 2004,” writes Bundy, “just over half of them actually evicted, the rest because conditions on the farms deteriorated so much.”

The 1913 Act had consequences that pervade South African society to this day. For one, it “bequeathed the poverty of contemporary Limpopo, Mpumalanga, rural KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape”, Bundy suggests. For another, it set into motion the migrant labour system that would one day lead us to the door of Marikana. But despite this, South Africa has yet to see the sustained political organising of rural people. Writes Rhodes Politics lecturer Richard Pithouse: “There has never been a rural movement, or sustained rural struggles, in the same way that there has been a trade union movement since the 1970s or ongoing urban struggles since the 1980s.”

What can be done to address the legacy of the 1913 Natives Land Act? “To overturn the Land Act’s legacy requires confronting autocratic chiefly power and the denial of black land-ownership,” Aninka Claasens wrote in the Mail & Guardian last week.

But the ANC government has gone about this in a pretty strange way. “Its package of traditional leadership laws vests far-reaching, unilateral powers in chiefs, including apartheid-era appointees, while re-entrenching the deeply contested tribal boundaries of the former bantustans,” says Claasens.

One of these laws is the contested Traditional Courts Bill, but there are many others: 2003's Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2004's Communal Land Rights Act, a number of provincial laws and the National Traditional Affairs Bill. Among documented abuses of chiefs’ authority, writes Claasens, are the denial of “proof of address” letters – necessary, for instance, to claim a child support grant or pension – to those who refuse to pay annual “tribal levies”; and the banning of community meetings which are not organised by chiefs, in some areas.

When it comes specifically to land, one of the most egregious aspects of the vesting of power in traditional leaders is their insistence that customary law precludes the possibility of independent land rights in the former bantustans. Even in cases where rural groups have won land restitution claims, notes Claasens, the Department of Rural Development has withheld the title deeds to this land under pressure from traditional leaders. One good reason for traditional leaders to wish to retain control of this land is the lucrative mineral deposits that often lie beneath it.

Last month, the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill was published for public comment, to give those who missed out on the last land claims bill – which expired on 31 December 1998 – to lodge a claim for compensation. The process allows for those who were dispossessed of land rights after June 1913 as a result of “racial discrimination” to lodge a claim, as long as they were not paid “just or equitable” compensation.

“This seems at first to be a good proposition,” UCT’s Centre for Law and Society’s Tara Weinberg told the Daily Maverick on Tuesday. “It opens up the restitution process and allows those who didn’t get a chance during the last land claims act to lay a claim.”

But, she says, there are a number of problems with the bill. The amendment says, for instance, that the transfer of land is conditional on the cost: if it’s too expensive, it may not happen. It also makes the transfer conditional on whether or not the land will be used “productively”, which may be defined arbitrarily.

The same issue persists whereby communal property owners will find it difficult to request land to be transferred communally: “In the Eastern Cape we know there’s a moratorium on this as a result of chiefs’ complaints,” says Weinberg.

Weinberg says that the Centre for Law and Society attended a workshop in parliament a few weeks ago that offered some insight into what the government is thinking on these matters. It was worrying, she says, because it seemed to rehash a lot of the problems of the Communal Land Rights Act, seemingly asserting that communal land belongs to traditional leaders.

“This ignores the notion in living customary law that land rights are nested and interdependent,” says Weinberg. “Decisions were always made at various levels of the community, not just at the level of the traditional leaders.” The Centre fears that a number of alternatives being offered to the bill, after extensive consultation with rural people, are not being sufficiently taken into account.

“If you are living in a communal land area and you want to build on that piece of land, there’s very little way for you to keep that land secure,” Weinberg says. “Individual title doesn’t fit in that instance, so people are absolutely stuck and people whose lands rights are already vulnerable – such as women – are doubly stuck.” She suggests that there is an urgent need for parliament to listen to alternative rural voices on the manner in which living customary law informs relational land rights.

As things stand, it would seem that the post-apartheid government is not doing as much as it could to work past the legacy of the Natives Land Act. “One hundred years after the Land Act denied black land ownership, the ANC government is supporting traditional leaders in upholding this ‘tradition’,” Claasens writes. “Now, as in the past, a ruling elite has reached for the law to bolster its contested authority and monopolise land and other resources at the expense of the poorest.” 

________

Nelson Mandela International Day formally launched

SABC News, 19 June 2013

Nelson Mandela International Day is being launched on Wednesday by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the United Nations. This, as the iconic former president spends his twelfth day in the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria. 

Madiba's birthday, 18 July, was recognised in 2009 by the United Nations as Nelson Mandela International day, but the formal launch on Wednesday. 

On Sunday, President Jacob Zuma told a Youth Day rally in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal that Madiba was still serious but stable, but continued to get better. Since then no new updates have been issued by the Presidency. 

Mandela is being treated for a recurring lung infection. 

 

The media contingent outside the hospital continues to decrease.

His wife, Grace Machel, thanked everyone who has sent well wishes to the family. 

 

Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, thanked South Africa and the world for their love and generosity they have shown the family. She said South Africans, Africans across the continent and thousands more from across the world, have lightened their burden of anxiety; bringing them love, comfort and hope.

_______

New talk station gives 'Power to the people'

iAfrica, 18 June 2013

JOHANNEDBURG - Gauteng's new voice, Power FM hit the airwaves this morning.

The station's first broadcast, from a Johannesburg suburb, was also watched by a live audience.

The privately owned English talk station will compete against the likes of 702, Kaya FM and SAFM in an increasingly crowded market.

Power was awarded the last available licence on the FM frequency.

It is owned by the same group that runs the popular Capricorn FM in Limpopo.

“I think context is what will differentiate us from every other existing talk radio station. Basically this is the first time that we finally have a platform where we can express ourselves in our voices and where we finally understand the people that we’re broadcasting to because we are the people. So, it’s a first for South Africa and I think it will be quite refreshing for our listeners,” said Power FM Presenter Mashechaba Lekalake. –eNCA

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Chamber lashes out over booze ads ban

Sapa, Fin24, 18 June 2013

Johannesburg - The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) is not convinced that a ban on alcohol advertising will reduce levels of abuse, it said on Tuesday.

"Sacci believes that the banning of advertising increases state intervention in legitimate business operations, but may not deliver the anticipated tangible benefits," CEO Neren Rau said in a statement.

This was in response to the draft Control of Marketing of Alcoholic Beverages Bill, which aims to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion.

Sacci said advertising was one of a number of factors, such as peer pressure and parent examples, that influenced consumption. 

Research had shown it did not drop because of an advertising ban.

It noted a study by Econometrix that a ban could lead to the loss of about 12 000 jobs and a reduction in GDP of about R7.4bn.

Sacci recognised alcohol abuse as a problem requiring specific interventions, such as policing existing regulations relating to sales, particularly to underage youth, and raiding and shutting down illicit sales outlets.

Education on the effects of over-indulgence could also be enhanced, it said.

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South Africans are drowning in debt

Tj Strydo, Times Live, 19 June 2013

Millions of South Africans borrow to survive and are falling further behind on their debt repayments.

Numbers from the National Credit Regulator show that, in the past three months, the number of consumers with impaired records increased by 189000 to 9.53million.

The CEO of the regulator, Nomsa Motshegare, called this increase "concerning" yesterday as she released statistics for the quarter to June.

"Impaired record" refers to a consumer and/or account that is three or more payments or months in arrears, or that has been handed over or written off, or against which a judg ment/administration order has been granted.

In the past year the cost of fuel, electricity and municipal rates and taxes have increased sharply.

Other gauges of consumers' credit situations confirm the bleak outlook.

TransUnion's quarterly consumer credit index showed last month that credit health had deteriorated for the fourth consecutive quarter.

This happened as the government mulls over a controversial credit amnesty for financially impaired consumers.

If adopted by the cabinet, the amnesty could come into operation by October.

But banks have raised concerns that dodgy consumers would get a clean slate and it would be much more difficult to calculate risk.

While more people are falling behind on repayments and are being blacklisted, the regulator's latest figures also reveal fewer consumers have a good credit rating.

The number of consumers classified as being in good standing dropped by 76000 to 10.55million.

Bernadene de Clercq, head of Unisa's personal finance research unit, said yesterday that consumers' credit health seemed to be slipping. In the unit's latest consumer vulnerability index, the bulk of consumers are described as at "a high risk of becoming financially very exposed and financially vulnerable. The majority of consumers therefore still feel that they do not have full control over their cash flow." When cash flow is under pressure, people default on payments.

"Consumers are inclined to default on school fees first, followed by rent payments and insurance," said De Clercq.

The number of both over-indebted consumers and over-indebted accounts had risen, she said.

The number of impaired accounts spiked by 790000 in the past three months and by nearly 1.4million in a year, according to the regulator.

These were not good signs, said De Clercq.

"Based on the regulator's numbers, it is evident that the number of consumers with two months' arrears has increased dramatically since 2007 and this is very problematic as our other research showed that they have a bigger chance of becoming further in arrears than becoming up-to-date," she warned.

Consumers' thirst for credit has led to a boom in unsecured lending over the past five years. Unsecured loans worth about R30-billion were granted in the past year, the regulator revealed. These loans usually come at higher interest rates, making repayment difficult.

Consumers find themselves jumping from account to account to try to avoid falling behind.

"This trend is confirmed by sustained levels of distressed borrowing among households as the use of revolving-credit facilities to supplement monthly budgets grows," TransUnion said in its consumer credit index report.

And there is no respite in sight for consumers .

The rand's recent weakness against the dollar will probably spur on inflation.

By next month, the petrol price could go up by about 80c a litre if the rand and international oil prices stay at current levels, statistics from the Central Energy Fund show.

Higher inflation might force the Reserve Bank to raise the interest rate before the end of this year because it has a mandate to keep consumer inflation below 6%.

Statistics SA will today release inflation figures for May, which most economists expect to be at about 5.9%, touching the upper end of the target band.

Higher interest rates would be a bitter blow for indebted consumers.

According to De Clercq, consumers (especially lower-income groups) appeared to be using some of the debt to finance consumption but were not necessarily wasting money.

"[They] need it to survive due to the increases in living [costs]. For your lower-income groups, CPI was actually higher than 5.9% and if their income streams did not increase with the same percentage, they actually had less to maintain their expenditure commitments with," said De Clercq.

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UJ students up in arms over Obama honour

SABC News, 19 June 2013

The Students' Representative Council at the University of Johannesburg has vowed to stage a boycott over UJ's decision to bestow American president Barack Obama with an honorary law doctorate later this month.

The SRC says university officials failed to consult with the students on this matter. It says details of the boycott will be announced later. The issue has divided the UJ community.

SRC president Levy Masete says beyond the failure to notify students - they believe that Obama's decisions as US president have caused many human rights violations in the Middle East and Africa.

Masete says: “Obama is also guilty of human rights violations. Obama signed what is called United States Israel Enhanced Security Corporation Act of 2012 that was to strengthen the Israel's qualitative military act to fight against Palestine. So now, how do we honour someone that is still perpetuating the war in the world”. 

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Hope as women test HIV gel

Katharine Child, Times Live, 19 June 2013

South Africa could produce an antiretroviral vaginal gel to offer women protection from HIV infection, if the current trial of the Tenofovir product is successful.

The Follow-on African Consortium for Tenofovir Studies (FACTS) trial, which is testing the use of antiretroviral vaginal gel on 2900 local women, will be discussed at the South African Aids conference in Durban ,which started yesterday.

The women, from across the country, are being asked to use the gel 12 hours or less before, and again after, sex.

Professor Helen Rees, from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute and protocol chairman of the study, said what was exciting was that the FACTS trial was building on previous studies and, if successful, would be one of the last steps between research and the gel being registered as medication.

An effective vaginal gel would be good news for women who cannot always negotiate condom use with their sexual partners.

The study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAid and the Department of Science and Technology, is taking place at nine sites across South Africa.

Rees praised the department for investing millions in the study which ends next year. In order for the study to be successful, researchers need to ensure that participants use the gel. But this may not be as simple as it seems.

In 2010 a study by the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa showed that the women who used the antiretroviral gel 80% of the time or more had 54% protection from the virus.

But another gel study was a failure. The VOICE trial, an American run and funded effort, asked more than 2000 women in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda to use Tenofovir gel or a placebo daily.

The trial was stopped a year early in 2011 because the women were not using the gel. Less than 30% of the participants used the gel they were supposed to use daily.

Researchers hope the current trial will be successful as the gel is only used before and after sex.

"Rather than every day, they need to use it around the time they have sex and are at risk. We hope this will make it easier for women to incorporate it into their lives," said Deborah Baron, programme manager at the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute.

"Unless we can persuade women to use the product in the trial, there will be no gel product for women," said Rees.

About 5000 doctors, activists and researchers are attending the week-long Durban conference.

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Sisulu red-cards MPs for foul talk

Thabo Mokone, Times Live, 19 June 2013

National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu has again lambasted MPs for using "uncouth language" in parliament.

And ANC MP John Jeffrey has been ordered to apologise to the DA's Lindiwe Mazibuko for comments on her weight.

Sisulu was delivering several rulings outstanding from last week's sittings of the house, during which MPs called each other "clowns", "mascots" and "bad dressers".

Sisulu said it was unnecessary for parliamentarians to resort to foul language to make a political point.

"Remarks of a racist, sexist, personal or hurtful nature are out of order. I appeal to members, as public representatives, to refrain from resorting to [such] uncouth or unbecoming language ." said Sisulu.

"Democracy and freedom of speech are not about aggressive confrontation but about tolerance, about respect for different points of view, and a willingness to agree or disagree without stepping over the bounds of decency."

Last week in parliament Jeffrey remarked that Mazibuko was a person of some weight but with a questionable stature as a leader.

Another ANC MP, Buti Manamela, said her bad fashion sense would one day be blamed on President Jacob Zuma.

Manamela told black DA MPs to stop being "acceptable darkies" in their own party.

A red-faced Jeffrey was yesterday ordered by deputy speaker Nomanindia Mfeketo to stand up in at a sitting of the house and withdraw his remarks about Mazibuko.

"I would like to take the opportunity to apologise [to Mazibuko]; the statement was not intended to be sexist," he said.

Mazibuko nodded in acceptance of the apology.

Sisulu made no ruling on Manamela's "darkie" comments but urged MPs to be careful about using words that had in the past been used to refer to blacks and whites disparagingly.

The Minority Front's sole MP, Royith Bhoola, was also found guilty of using unparliamentary language.

During a debate last week Bhoola took a swipe at DA deputy chief whip Sandy Kalyan.

Bhoola had said that Kalyan - of Indian origin - should have kept her "mouth zipped while her own party incited racism".

Bhoola said she had behaved like "a clown and mascot" while the DA was waging a racist campaign against powerful families such as the Shaiks, the Guptas and the Reddys.

Sisulu ruled that Bhoola - he was absent from yesterday's sitting - was out of order and that he would be ordered to withdraw his comments at his next attendance.

ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga welcomed Sisulu's ruling.

"The heckling , usage of unparliamentary language, emotional outbursts, disrespectful and condescending language, cannot be condoned," he said .

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Gordhan warns of financial shockwaves

Sapa, Fin24, 18 June 2013

 

Cape Town - Revenue outlook could dim further if markets reacted adversely to an awaited announcement by the US Federal Reserve, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan warned on Tuesday.

"In respect of the revenue outlook in relation to the current economic growth that we are experiencing... we are today facing more difficulties than anticipated.

"[This is] partly because of the very uncertain and volatile environment that we are experiencing globally, which could become worse when the chairperson of the Federal Reserve of the United States addresses us," Gordhan told the National Assembly during debate on the 2013 Appropriation Bill.

Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke is expected to indicate on Wednesday whether the US central bank will taper off its massive quantitative easing programme, which was designed to boost the recovery of the US economy.

"It is likely that if the markets don't like what he is saying or interpret what he is saying in a particular way, that could introduce shockwaves very similar to what we experienced about two weeks ago in the financial markets around the world, so prepare ourselves for that.

"All these uncertainties actually introduce uncertainty around the revenue picture," Gordhan added.

Two weeks ago, the rand fell to a four-year low against the dollar. The US currency has strengthened in recent weeks, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve might start retreating from its bond-buying stimulus programme.

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Hawks closing in on 'bread mafia'

iAfrica,18 June 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The Hawks made a major breakthrough in their investigation into the so-called 'bread mafia', after arresting three suspects during a raid on Super Harvest, an industrial bakery in southern Johannesburg, earlier on Tuesday. 

Last week the crime-busting unit foiled what appeared to be a house robbery in Ormonde, and three suspects were killed.

Arrest warrants had been issued for seven suspects, and the Hawks were still looking for four other suspects, including the bread-mafia kingpin.

Over the past six months three delivery drivers from a rival independent bakery, Morning Bread, were killed, and last week the bakery owner’s house was robbed. 

Police were investigating the possibility of it being a failed assassination attempt.

On further investigation it was discovered that the robbers were linked to several hits on Pakistani bread delivery men.

“They are indeed the bread mafia, a syndicate accused of attempted murder... they have been threatening to kill their competitors in the bread industry. And we have a watertight case against them,” said Paul Ramaloko, Hawks spokesman.

The lucrative independent bread business previously consisted of only two major players in Gauteng, one of which was Super Harvest.

However, over the past two years, several more popped up, and the competition became tight.

An industrial bakery can produce as many as 100,000 loaves of bread a day, with a profit of 30 cents a loaf.

When contacted by telephone by eNCA, the suspected kingpin of the bread mafia said he was consulting his lawyers.

In the meantime the Hawks believed they were closing the net on the remaining four suspects.

-eNCA

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THE BIG READ: The face of domestic abuse

Anna Maxted, Times Live, 19 June 2013

Nigella Lawson, beautiful, clever and rich, is not the sort of woman we expect to be hit by her husband. And yet, here we are, gawking at photographs that apparently show Charles Saatchi with his hands around the heroine's throat - and her obvious, chilling terror.

How fortunate for him that it took place in a posh restaurant, where everyone was too polite to intervene. One cannot help but wonder, if this is the public face, what he might dare do in the privacy of their luxury home.

It is curious, is it not, that we are so surprised that domestic violence can apparently affect a woman like her. Our shock gets to the shameful nub of it: that, really, we don't believe cultured, middle-class men are violent to their partners or that successful, confident, fabulous women suffer it. Surely, domestic violence is the grubby problem of the inarticulate and poorly educated, who cannot eloquently express their frustration; who are not self-aware or emotionally intelligent enough to thrash out their differences with a civilised heart-to-heart, rather than simply with a thrashing. We suspect that the typical victim is a meek mouse of a woman, who somehow brought those cigarette burns upon herself by being irritating.

"I've met a lot of women who've survived domestic violence," said Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid. "All different types of people, from all walks of life. I've never met a little mousey, victim-type woman."

What we struggle to get into our heads is that anyone can be a victim, regardless of race, religion, age, lifestyle or how many times they have appeared, looking beautiful and accomplished, on television. A quarter of women have suffered domestic violence. Being an extrovert, boasting a brilliant career or a degree from Oxbridge is, outrageously, no immunity.

"It's a gradual thing, abuse," a police officer friend told me once. "It's a mental thing first. You're brainwashed."

So, when this police officer friend's boyfriend began to throttle and beat her, she thought to herself: "I've obviously done something to annoy him."

So class or status is irrelevant but we persist in our naivety. It is a defence mechanism, of course. We are desperate to find a cast-iron reason that will distance ourselves from the miserable fate suffered by someone unnervingly similar to our comfortable little selves - because we don't want to believe that it could happen to us. We cannot tolerate the thought that we are not safe. And from this weaselly position of "I'd never get myself into that situation" it is a short, shameful step to blaming the victim. Why does she stay with him? Why does she put up with it?

Hence the reflex instinct of society to presume that a victim is exaggerating. We grimly cling to our rose-coloured view, wilfully disregarding the truth that our blindness makes us guilty of cowardly neglect. Of course, it is difficult to acknowledge the truth because then we are obliged to take the inconvenient, awkward, possibly frightening, step of doing something about it.

Neate puts it thus: "We don't think: the person whom we ought to be questioning and challenging here is the abuser, the perpetrator." We supposedly "decent types" find the act of cruelty, if not the instinct, hard to comprehend, so we search for a sensible cause to explain it away. Is it a man's inadequacy, his feelings of failure, frustration, stress, anger at the world, which he viciously takes out on someone physically weaker than himself, who in some way, perhaps by her mental and moral superiority, inspires his envy and resentment and bile? Tricky, because Charles Saatchi does not quite fit this profile. Instead of stretching our little brains trying to work out "why Charles Saatchi?", perhaps we should be asking "why not Charles Saatchi?"

Neate's opinion is ''that all men can be influenced by a wider culture, which objectifies women, trivialises them. If you're inclined to be abusive, you don't have to look that far in popular culture to find some sort of justification of that. We might not have as many mother-in-law jokes but we've got a lot more naked and provocatively posed women up and down the street."

The truth is, if you are inclined towards abuse or violence, you don't need a reason because you create a reason. It's not the other person's fault. It's yours.

Years ago, late at night on a train, I was physically intimidated by a couple of older men. I ignored them until one lunged at me, growling like an Alsatian. All the potential heroes in the carriage hid behind their newspapers or looked away. In those brief moments of fright, I realised how helpless I was, how pitifully unequal in strength, and that provocation is not necessary. My only error was being there to pick on. I got off the train. It's not quite as easy to leave a relationship.

Perhaps the sight of Nigella Lawson, frozen in fear, as her husband apparently chokes her, will end the curiously pervasive myth that domestic violence is just a teeny bit linked to the victim's behaviour - that a woman can be so irritating or pathetic that she, as the saying goes, deserves a slap. It could be time to stop critique-ing the abused and focus on the perpetrator. Domestic violence is about exerting control and inspiring fear.

As Neate says: "The early warning signs of control are not necessarily physical, and can build up quite gradually: controlling someone's phone . "

The problem is, we don't want to comprehend another's capacity for evil. Our mind naturally twists away from the unpalatable truth. This is possibly why many early warning signs of abuse are interpreted in a romantic, rosy way by society: the adorable idea of the man who loves "his woman" so much he cannot bear to be without her for a second. He's jealous, possessive, passionate (euphemism of the day) only because he cares.

Even the experts struggle. One pair of psychoanalysts, trying to establish quite why someone would beat to a pulp a person he supposedly loves, write: "People who allow the abuse have often experienced painful shock or trauma in the past and will align themselves with abusers who enable them to re-experience the pain of the original trauma."

What a curious notion: that a victim gives an abuser permission. But we do, like dogs returning to a filthy old bone, keep gnawing at the delicious idea that the victim is somehow culpable. After all, Nigella has spoken of her mother's cruelty towards her as a child, and the idea that someone who was mentally abused by a parent has latent insecurities is hardly surprising.

Neate says: "The experience of abuse dramatically impacts on a person's self-esteem and ability to protect themself. It impairs their understanding of what they deserve and what behaviour they should expect in relationships, and that can make them vulnerable to further abusive relationships."

But we teeter perilously close to the suggestion that some women seek out abuse. Just by looking at those photographs of Nigella, with her lover's hands around her throat, we can safely consign that theory to the dustbin of denial. No victim lets it happen . - © The Daily Telegraph

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Grade 11 pupil takes Motshekga to court

iAfrica, 18 June 2013

Matatiele - A Grade 11 Eastern Cape pupil took Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to the Bhisho High Court over conditions at her school.

According to Equal Education (EE), Moshesh Senior Secondary School pupil Palesa Manyokole wanted the court to act against those responsible for standards at her school.

The school is in Queen's Mercy, a rural village near Matatiele.

"Learners from the school first wrote to Equal Education in 2012 to ask for the organisation's assistance," it said in a statement.

"Equal Education visited the school to assess the situation, and found several problems at the school which were seriously hampering learner progress."

These included absenteeism of the principal, the principal's unlawful expulsion of pupils, teacher absenteeism and lateness, a shortage of qualified teachers, and no curriculum planning.

The matter was postponed to October 22.

Manyokole's application was against Motshekga, the Eastern Cape education MEC, the school principal, and the school governing body.

EE said despite numerous communications with the provincial education department, most issues remained unresolved.

"In light of the fact that major issues still need to be resolved, Equal Education is pushing ahead with the case," it said.

Basic education spokesman Panyaza Lesufi said if the department received a notice it would appear in court.

"We believe this case is part of the gimmick of the EE to embarrass the department," he said.

"The department already opened 22 schools in the Eastern Cape and plans to open more to eradicate the bad conditions in schools. EE are misleading and using children to fight their issues."

-Sapa

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Eskom wins corporate governance award

SABC, Fin24, 19 June 2013

 

Johannesburg - The state owned power utility Eskom has won the audit firm Nkonki's award for integrated reporting by state owned companies for the second year in succession.

Transnet and the aerospace and defence technology company Denel took second and third place respectively. 

Integrated reporting is a new tradition of corporate reporting, aimed at revealing the degree of convergence of an organisation’s corporate strategy, governance and financial performance with the social, environmental and economic context in which it operates.

The results, which were conducted for the 2012 financial year, show that on average, state owned companies achieved a score of below 50% in 9 out of 17 disclosure requirements.

The requirements include ethical leadership, independence of the board of directors, audit committees, internal auditing, governance of risk, compliance with laws, codes, rules, standards of stakeholder relationships, sustainability and integrated reporting philosophy.

“Nkonki believes that as worthy winners and in many cases class leaders in the sustainability and integrated reporting fields, the winners now have the responsibility of being role models for other state owned companies," said Nkonki's chairperson, Mzi Nkonki.

"Listed companies can also learn a lot from their standards of reporting and disclosure."

Nkonki says there are, however, signs that all other state owned enterprises are striving towards better reporting and quite a number of those that are not in the top three, have excelled in one or more aspects of the disclosure requirements of integrated reporting.

Among the winners of specific requirement categories, are the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (first on audit committees) and the South African Post Office (first on governing stakeholder relationships).

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Eastern Cape's Mthatha problem

Greg Nicolson, Daily Maverick, 19 Jun 2013

 

In a damning report to be released at the SA Aids Conference today, civil society groups describe what happens when the drug supply chain goes wrong. As the Mthatha medical depot in the Eastern Cape remains dysfunctional, over 100,000 people are affected, with many unable to access life-saving medication. Still, the province doesn’t believe there’s a problem. By GREG NICOLSON.

Five months ago, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Section27, the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) warned that while government focuses on improving the delivery of primary healthcare, parts of the system are in a state of crisis. In the Eastern Cape, the problems are illustrated at the Mthatha health depot.

The crisis hit in September 2012. The national transport strike meant deliveries to the depot slowed before the centre’s staff also went on strike. The centre serves over 300 medical facilities and affects over 100,000 people. When MSF and TAC went to investigate, they found no staff to unload deliveries at the depot, no one to capture orders from medical facilities and no one pack the orders for delivery. Few employees returned from the bitter wildcat strike. Service delivery had collapsed, causing interruptions in patients’ antiretroviral (ARV) and other treatments. With interruptions comes the risk of developing resistance to the drugs.

MSF and TAC provided the resources to clear the backlog of orders of medical supplies and in a relatively short period, the depot was working again. They called on national and provincial government to intervene urgently by sending in the relevant pharmacists and managers, resolving the industrial relations problems and restocking the depot.

The report to be released today at the 6th South African Aids Conference, being held in Durban, shows that the recommendations were largely ignored and the situation remains dire.

“This situation is catastrophic. It means many thousands of people living with HIV have risked treatment interruption for months now. The stock-outs consequently undermine clinical benefits of life-saving ARV treatment. Over time, more deaths will occur as a result, and the likelihood of increased drug resistance is significant,” said Dr Amir Shroufi, deputy medical coordinator for MSF in SA.

Of 70 facilities supplied by the Mthatha depot that were surveyed in May, investigators found 40% experienced HIV or TB drug stock-outs. Of the affected facilities, 24% had sent patients away because they did not have the required HIV or TB medicines. Little has changed as the stock-outs were found to last an average 45 days.

“It seems very little was learnt from our report in January to the Eastern Cape health authorities. It is unacceptable that there has been little or no change. We demand that Eastern Cape MEC for health, Sicelo Gqobana, take leadership to end these stock-outs,” said Vuyiseka Dubula, TAC general secretary, in a press release.

The January report mentioned medical practitioners were trying to hold out against the impacts of the shortages by taking it upon themselves to source drugs. The impact, however, was still severe. The organisations estimated that at least 5,494 adults weren’t able to take some of their ARVs and 561 children were sent home without treatment. An estimated 714 patients could have developed drug resistance, resulting in 20-80 excess mortalities because of the unplanned treatment interruption.

“In November I was told there was no TDF [a type of ARV] at my clinic so I went for one week without any treatment. I felt terrible. ARVs are a lifelong treatment. I thought maybe I am going to die,” said one respondent to the January report. “I am afraid to die, every time they tell me there is no treatment I think of dying,” commented another.

Sizwe Kupelo, spokesman for the Eastern Cape MEC of Health, slammed the claims that the crisis is continuing. Speaking to Daily Maverick over the phone, he accused MSF of “deliberately distorting the facts” and said Tuesday’s statement was “a clear mischievous attempt to mislead the world”.

Kupelo blamed the depot’s problems on last year’s wildcat strike. Since then, the provincial department has advertised 29 positions to replace fired staff and filled 15 posts, said Kupelo. It has appointed pharmacists, a supply chain manager and is finalising the appointment of a number of key members.

Allowing MSF and TAC to work in the depot was a “ground-breaking move” by the province, said Kupelo, claiming the organisations are now politicising public health by peddling “a deliberate distortion of the facts”. According to the department, there are adequate ARVs and other drugs in stock.

“So that does not suggest a crisis. No clinic and no hospital in the region has reported a drug shortage,” said Kupelo. The department has assisted the Hawks in arresting eight officials suspected of stealing medication, he added.

The spokesman was outraged by claims that mismanagement of the health system contributed to the drug shortages. MSF held its position on Tuesday and referred to its research.

“The dysfunction of the Mthatha depot is a symptom of the ailing state of health care in the Eastern Cape more broadly,” reads the report being released today. “Doctor Trudy Thomas, the first MEC of Health in the Eastern Cape said: ‘Over the last 15 years, I have witnessed the progressive deterioration of the Eastern Cape Department of Health and the services it offers. This trend grew most acute over the last year and has culminated into a full-blown catastrophe’.”

The report continues: “The problems to which Thomas refers, include, amongst others, the failure to properly budget; financial mismanagement; poor, or no systems for human resources; crumbling infrastructure; poor supply chain management; the lack of accountability and the lack of proper management generally. The breakdown at the Mthatha depot is an example of these different elements combining to culminate in the desperate failure to deliver essential drugs and supplies in a timely and reliable fashion.”

MSF also dismissed the claim that no medical facilities are out of stock. When it contacted facilities at the end of May for a progress update since the TAC and MSF finished its intervention, 24% of them reported stock-outs and all details were forwarded to the Mthatha depot staff.

In a speech on Tuesday evening marking the beginning of the SA Aids Conference, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi outlined a number of challenges and priorities for his ministry. Motsoaledi has been widely praised for his determination to tackle some of the key problems in the health system and in particular HIV/Aids. Enormous challenges, however, remain, particularly at local levels. Mthatha is a prime example. If drugs don’t get delivered to those who need them, patients will suffer.

“Urgent action is required in order to ensure that patients do not face ongoing treatment disruption, risking drug resistance and death,” says the report. 

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FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

Daily Maverick, 19 Jun 2013

 

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

SOUTH AFRICA CONDEMNS SPYING AS ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The South African government wants answers from Britain over reports that delegates attending the 2009 Group 20 meeting were put under surveillance. Documents leaked by former spy Edward Snowden showed that South African, Russian and Turkish officials, among others, were targeted using state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. “We do not yet have the full benefit of details reported on, but in principle we would condemn the abuse of privacy and basic human rights, particularly if it emanates from those who claim to be democrats,” said international relations spokesman Clayson Monyela. “We have solid, strong and cordial relations with the United Kingdom and would call on their government to investigate this matter fully with a view to take strong and visible action against any perpetrators.”

MARIKANA STORE RAN OUT OF PANGAS AND AXES

A storekeeper in Marikana ran out of pangas and axes during last year’s mining unrest that resulted in the death of 44 people. The Farlam Commission of inquiry into the massacre heard demand for weapons increased, as the unprotected strike continued. “There was a sudden great demand for pangas, axes and hatchets from August 11,” said general dealer, Mohammed Cassim, in a statement. “I usually kept at least 30 pangas in the shop at a time, but they ran out in no time and I had to go buy more stock.” Cassim’s statement was handed over to the commission, which would decide later whether to call him to testify.

GAUTENG PREMIER LABELS COP KILLING A ‘SENSELESS’ CRIME

A high-ranking Gauteng police commander has been found dead in a field near Hammanskraal, police reported. The body of Major-General Tirhani Simon Maswanganyi was discovered in the early hours of the morning with his hands and feet tied, said Gauteng commissioner Lieutenant-General Mzwandile Petros. Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said his death was a “senseless blow to the province's war against crime”.  Police who spotted Maswanganyi’s abandoned Isuzu bakkie next to the R101 found his body. They found a police uniform and police identification card in the bakkie, which set in motion a search for the policeman.

OVERTIME RULES KILLING GAUTENG HOSPITAL PATIENTS

Patients are dying in Gauteng’s hospitals due to a cut in the overtime allowed by the province’s health department, says the general secretary of the Democratic Nurses’ Organisation of South Africa, Simphiwe Gada. The department prohibits doctors from earning more than 30% of their salary in overtime pay. It also slashed nurses’ overtime, saying it was trying to cut down on irregular expenditure. Gada says the cutbacks and staff shortages have led to the deaths of at least five patients. Doctors say health MEC Hope Papo was aware of the problems, but “nothing has been done”, said spokesman Courage Khoza.

HOUSES IN DISTRICT SIX ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED BY FAMILIES

District Six is at the centre of a land claim row as a group of Khoisan people, who say they are the original land claimants of the District Six land, illegally occupied houses on the contested land. The Western Cape High Court granted the department of rural development and land reform an interim court order to evict the group of illegal occupants, but they have refused to leave. Head of communications, Vuyani Nkasayi, said the group “forcefully moved into the houses and illegally occupied 15 houses late on Saturday”. The Argus reported some in the group of around 60 people claim ancestry from the original Khoisan inhabitants of Table Bay, while others say they are land claimants whose families were evicted from District Six under apartheid.

VIOLENT CRIME COVERS SA IN ‘BLANKET OF FEAR’

Government says violent crime is preventing South Africans from participating socially and economically in the country, Sapa reported. A green paper on policing written by the police civil secretariat says in addition to R68-billion in tax money spent annually on the South African Police Service (SAPS), violent crime also cost the country in terms of loss of productivity and foreign investment. “Crime in South Africa is a blanket of fear that has an inhibitory effect on everything,” Dr Johan Burger, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told the agency.

FISHERMEN TO PAY SA MILLIONS FOR ILLEGAL ROCK LOBSTER HARVEST

A New York court has ordered three men to repay South Africa over R225-million after they unlawfully imported illegally harvested rock lobster into the US. The department of fisheries welcomed the decision, saying the move was the “largest restitution amount ever awarded under the Lacey Act”, a law that makes it a crime to import into the US fish, wildlife or plants taken in violation of another country's laws. Arnold Bengis, Jeffrey Noll and David Bengis were ordered to pay “following extensive, unlawful harvesting of south and west coast rock lobster in South African water”. The department said the men “under-reported catches, bribed fisheries’ inspectors and submitted false information to the department”.

EASTERN CAPE PUPIL TAKES EDUCATION MINISTER TO COURT

A child at a school in the Eastern Cape has taken education minister Angie Motshekga to court over conditions at her school. Moshesh Senior Secondary School pupil Palesa Manyokole wants the Bhisho High Court to take action against those responsible for standards at her school, said NGO Equal Education. The NGO said pupils at the school had written to them for help. “Equal Education visited the school to assess the situation and found several problems at the school which were seriously hampering learner progress,” the NGO said in a statement. Problems included absenteeism of the principal, the principal’s unlawful expulsion of pupils, teacher absenteeism and lateness, a shortage of qualified teachers and no curriculum planning. EE said despite several attempts to get the Eastern Cape education department to address the children’s concerns, no action had been taken, forcing them to take the case to court.

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3.    Alliance

Ban unsecured bank loans: SACP

SABC News, 18 June 2013

The South African Community Party (SACP) Deputy General Secretary, Solly Mapaila has called for the banning of unsecured lending by South Africa’s major banks.

Mapaila’s comments come as concern is mounting at the rising levels of borrowing by highly indebted households in South Africa.

Its alleged local banks are increasingly giving out loans without security to consumers already struggling to pay their bills.

Speaking on SAfm’s Forum@8 current affairs programme, Mapaila says they are seeing similar tendencies happening in South Africa that lead to the 2009 financial meltdown in the  US.

“The situation is getting out of control and its worrying us, because of reckless lending which people have gotten them into as a consequence of advertising, people are losing their houses.”

However, Managing Director of the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), MCassim Coovadia, says he is convinced that  banks are lending in a responsible way.

"We’ve recognised that people are in debt, some are over indebted, we have recognised that there is a problem, we have worked very hard with National Treasure and others in government to identify areas of efficiencies in the system, both on the lender and borrower side,” he says.

Coovadia added that the issue of over indebted consumers will not go away easily.

“We have a situation where we have slow growth, we have unemployment, and we have people wanting to borrow money, we also have a culture in our country of consumption through credit, and we have a very low, virtually a zero savings rate.  ”

We have a situation where we have slow growth, we have unemployment, and we have people wanting to borrow money,

Gary Palmer, CEO of Paragon Lending Solutions, also weighed in on the subject, stating that unsecured lending has been around for many years and is not necessarily bad but needs to be better managed. 

“In South Africa there are about 30 000 unsecured lenders, the risk to the borrower is that the banks and other lenders are doing is extending the terms, if people are borrowing at 25% to 36% interest rate they should be borrowing for six months maximum, but some of these landers are lending for up to 84 months, how do they repay that?”

Refusing to back down, the SACP’s Mapaila blames the Reserve Bank for allowing the “Big Four” banks Absa, Standard Bank, FNB and Nedbank to enter the unsecured lending space.

“These four banks, essentially they are the monopoly in the banking sector, if one of them is badly affected there will be a major crisis, because having seen the success of Capitec  Bank in the unsecured  loaning  market they themselves have jumped in. ”

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Relief as ANC drops Broadcasting Act revision

 Paul Vecchiatto, Business Day, 19 June 2013

AN ATTEMPT to amend the Broadcasting Act, which if passed would have seen the life of the SABC’s interim board extended, has been abandoned by the African National Congress (ANC) members of Parliament’s communications committee.

The ANC MPs have agreed to withdraw the contentious amendment, which allows for an interim board to be in existence for six months, during which public hearings have to take place to determine the constitution of a new regular board.

In March, the communications committee dissolved the last regular board after all but one member stepped down.

That governance crisis was precipitated by the resignations of then board chairman Ben Ngubane and his deputy, Thami ka Plaatjie, both of whom tried to overturn a resolution unilaterally that called for the removal of SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his return to his permanent position.

Five people were nominated to the interim board: Zandile Tshabalala as chairwoman, Noluthando Gosa as deputy chairwoman, economist and former member of the Public Service Commission Vusumzi Mavuso, and chartered accountant Ronnie Lubisi. Economist Iraj Abedian turned down his nomination.

Communications committee chairman Eric Kholwane said the idea to amend the Broadcasting Act was based on a hint made by Communications Minister Dina Pule during her budget vote speech on May 21. "I will be consulting with the portfolio committee on communications to explore an urgent review and amendment to the Broadcasting Act," she said.

At Tuesday’s portfolio committee meeting, ANC whip Faith Muthambi said the amendment had been abandoned and that the process to advertise for nominations for the new SABC board would start.

Democratic Alliance MP Marian Shinn said her party welcomed the ANC’s decision.

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SAHRC spokesman should work for the ANCYL: de Lille

Sapa, Times Live, 19 June 2013

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has slammed the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over its independent probe of the toilet saga.

The Cape Times reported that de Lille also claimed in a letter to the commission last Tuesday that its spokesman Isaac Mangena should be working on behalf of the ANC Youth League.

This was in response to a previous report in which he said De Lille had claimed people were happy with the bucket system.

She wrote in the letter that she had said some residents were reluctant to forgo the system.

The commission reportedly conducted an inspection of toilets in Gugulethu without consulting or informing the city, finding that they were in "crisis" and a health risk.

De Lille said the SAHRC had not been fully briefed about the effects of the current Sannicare labour dispute on service delivery in the area.

Mangena told the newspaper he could not comment on the letter but that SAHRC chairman Lawrence Mushwana would meet De Lille on Thursday.

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4.    International

Nigeria wants the death penalty

iAfrica, 18 June 2013

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan wants to enforce the death penalty, the West Africa Bureau Chief Kwangu Liwewe said on Tuesday.

The death penalty is still in force in 17 African countries but human rights activists condemn it because it violates the right to life.

They say there is no evidence it deters crime and innocent people are frequently wrongfully convicted.

But executions on the continent continue with five countries carrying them out last year.

South Sudan executed five and two hundred others are still currently on death row.

Watch: The death penalty is still in force in 17 African countries. Human rights activists condemn it because it violates the right to life. They say there is no evidence it deters crime. And innocent people are frequently wrongfully convicted.

Zimbabwe says it will not hang anyone - despite employing a hangman in February.

It has 76 murderers on death row, 11 of whom were sentenced in 2012 alone.

But the new constitution does not allow women and men under 21 or over 70 to be executed.

However this ruling does not apply to those guilty of treason or mutiny.

Botswana suspended executions in 2011 but executed two last year.

Gambia executed nine by firing squad, most of them for treason, yet its law says the death sentence applies only to murderers.

Before that Gambia hasn't executed anyone for 30 years.-eNCA

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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!

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

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Potty-mouthed MPs are an insult to democratic debate

The Times Editorial , 19 June 2013

 

The Times Editorial: Freedom of speech, which is protected in our law books, seems to have been disrespected in our parliament. In recent days, we have witnessed parliamentarians abusing this right and turning parliament into a beer hall.

Yesterday, speaker Max Sisulu lambasted MPs for using "uncouth language".

Last week, MPs called each other clowns, mascots and bad dressers.

While the house is expected to be robust in its deliberations, recent verbal exchanges have added no value to this country.

Instead, the unbecoming behaviour has exposed the calibre of today's MPs.

We expect high standards from our law-makers.

We expect them to act in a manner that inspires confidence.

Instead, we have childish adults who strive to best each other in insults .

The mistake we have made as a country is to reward bad-mannered loudmouths with positions of authority.

We fully agree with Sisulu that respect should be at the centre of proceedings in parliament.

"We simply cannot allow political discourse and debates to degenerate into aggressive confrontations between members. Democracy and freedom of speech are not about aggressive confrontation but about tolerance, about respect for different points," Sisulu said.

If our MPs are unable to respect each other's views and continue to misbehave then they should not demand respect from young voters who heckle them.

MPs cannot tell youths to respect their elders when they, themselves, behave like children.

We will respect parliament only if MPs do.

As the country gears up for national elections early next year, voters should expect maturity from our politicians. The time has come for all of us to demand better service from those we elect to parliament.

We need mature debates centred on what this country needs - not fashion critiques.

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Malema hype is a symptom of middle-class fear

Steven Friedman, Business Day, 19 June 2013

IF WINNING elections depended on impressing journalists and commentators, Julius Malema would be president next year. Since it requires gaining the support of voters, he will be lucky if he makes it into Parliament. Signs that Malema may form a party have attracted attention in social and mainstream media: again we are asked to believe that he will head an unstoppable political force, which says far more about the state of the debate than political reality.

One reason for deep scepticism about a party headed by Malema is that parties need money and it is hard to see where he will find the cash he needs. When he was president of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, his bank account seemed awash with money from supporters. But, then, Malema was useful to his backers. Now he is not.

When he was in the ANC, Malema was helpful to some senior politicians and politically connected businesspeople. For the politicians, he offered a potential route to business resources. When Malema said things that alarmed investors, senior politicians in his camp could approach business and present themselves as moderate alternatives who needed backing. For the businesspeople, his "nationalisation" proposal offered the possibility of off-loading poorly performing mining assets at the taxpayer’s expense and using a state mining company’s power to hand out mining licences to demand that companies give them plum assets if they wanted permission to mine. A Malema in opposition making vague promises of "economic freedom" offers no such benefits. At most, he may attract some funding from interests who want to test the water in case they are forced to leave the ANC. But this would not be enough to fuel a growing party.

Another reason people may be reluctant to bankroll a Malema party is that they know it won’t win many votes. There is no evidence Malema has much voter support. His marches drew at most 5,000 people, substantially fewer than those who attended the annual gay pride parade, and half the amount mobilised by a nongovernmental organisation pushing for school libraries. His removal from the ANC triggered celebration in shack settlements and townships, particularly in Limpopo, where many people associate him with making money out of tenders for substandard public services.

If we want a sense of why poor people do not see him as their champion, Malema was once asked by a TV interviewer how he came to own two large houses. He responded that, like any other young person in South Africa, he used his first salary cheque to buy houses. He seemed unaware that most young people here do not get salary cheques at all and that those who do are hardly in a position to buy houses. A politician so cut off from the lives of the poor is unlikely to win their support.

Malema may not even have been good at winning votes among ANC activists. His first election as youth league president was challenged by most of its provinces, his second was unopposed after strong-arm tactics were used on his challengers. In his final test of support, an election for the ANC’s Limpopo executive, he came 17th in his provincial stronghold, near the bottom of the 20 candidates elected.

There is a gap in our politics to the left of the ANC. But Malema cannot fill it: he has no support among the poor and no sense of how to speak for people at the grass-roots. Those who lost out at Mangaung may leave the ANC and form a new party. But Malema is incapable of leading them — his role has been to listen to senior ANC politicians in his camp, not to tell them what to do. Given this, why does the prospect of a Malema-led party get so much attention? One answer is that political journalists are entranced by him — writing about Malema is much more fun than bothering to read the National Development Plan. And continued fixation with social media means that someone with dozens of supporters on Facebook and Twitter can seem immensely popular when he is not.

But there is one more reason. Many middle-class people harbour deep fears that a majority-ruled South Africa cannot prosper. One aspect of this fear is the expectation that a demagogue will arise who will whip the poor into a frenzy of retribution, urging them to seize the goods of those who have what they lack. This fear is ignited whenever anyone in the ANC begins using militant language: because it runs very deep, no one bothers to ask if they really enjoy support. This is why Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was portrayed as popular when polls gave her 1% support and why Malema’s popularity is so vastly inflated. And why the next politician who uses heated rhetoric while living very well indeed will get much the same reaction.

The fears that produce the Malema hype are important — they tell us why events here are sometimes greeted by panic. But they are symptoms of a problem, not a guide to understanding.

• Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy.

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[Norman Mampane]

Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)

Congress of South African Trade Unions

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