COSATU Media Monitor, 11 December 2012
Norman Mampane
COSATU Media Monitor
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
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Contents
Workers
Ø Denel Aviation to lay off more than 500 workers
Ø Daily Maverick's SA Persons of the Year: The victims of Marikana
Ø Popcru to reveal top cop 'corruption'
Ø Fatality last Friday at Harmony Gold’s Tshepong mine
Ø AngloGold retains investment rating
Ø Violent farm workers strike causes R8 million damage
Ø Strike hits Western Cape black farmers hard
Ø Agriculture Minister unapologetic over call for cases against strikers to be dropped
Ø Defence Force union Sandu hails ruling on suspended soldiers
Ø Chamber of Mines embarks on mass-media charm offensive
Ø Xstrata, Glencore hearing in SA postponed
COSATU
Ø Cosatu cans report showing unionists split on Zuma
Ø Ministers should resign amid corruption allegations – Vavi
Ø Vavi won’t stop ‘speaking truth to power’ despite death threats
Ø Vavi appointed chair of anti-corruption forum
Ø Public has lost confidence in leaders: Vavi
Ø Must win fight against corruption - Vavi
Ø Public servants 'should not do business'
Ø 'Ban officials from tenders'
Ø Cosatu praises NUM
South Africa
Ø Times live POLL - Is climate change happening in your area?
Ø SA needs firm economic policy from Mangaung: Busa
Ø Motlanthe urges men to not just talk against violence
Ø When will the public's rejection of e-tolls be heard?
Ø Countries deeply divided on internet laws during UN talks
Ø Govt unveils 'radical' plan to reshape SA coal
Ø FIVE MINUTES: South Africa
Ø 2011 antenatal HIV survey: What's with the sporadic increases?
Ø Eskom to support emerging coal miners
Alliance
Ø Phosa rues graft permeating ANC
Ø Dewani: SA’s no slaughterhouse – Women’s League
Ø ANC to count Manguang votes manually
Ø ANC's Mkhize rejects M&G report on 'voting cattle'
Ø Mangaung, T minus 5: A state of almighty flux
Ø Ten things about Mangaung
International
Ø Brent edges down near $107 as US, Italy woes rattle investors
Ø Hamas chief ends Gaza visit with Palestinian unity call
Ø Spain’s Weakened Banks Shackle Builders’ Drive for Growth Abroad
Ø China one of the most unequal nations
Ø Stimulus meets 'fiscal cliff'
Ø COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013
Ø Cosatu has learnt about set wages the hard way
Ø Lessons from the US in fighting corruption
Ø India: The ongoing tyranny of the caste system
Ø South Africans believe media freedom is a basic human right
1. Workers’ Parliament
CITY PRESS Voting Booth RESULTS, 11 December 2012
An anonymous letter purportedly written by SABC reporters, producers and presentersindicated concerns of political interference at the public broadcaster, according to a report. I think ...
There is undoubtedly political interference at the SABC 92 % 533 Votes 128.8'> |
There is no such thing as political interference at the SABC 1 % 3 Votes 1.4'> |
If it’s an anonymous letter there is no way to tell if it is indeed from staff 7 % 42 Votes 9.8'> |
Denel Aviation to lay off more than 500 workers
SAPA, M&G, 10 December 2012
Daily Maverick's SA Persons of the Year: The victims of Marikana
Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick, 10 December 2012
If South Africa had to be personified in 2012, it could be a school child in a rural school in Limpopo without essential learning material. It could be an ANC member fighting to be among the privileged few in Mangaung who will determine our destiny. It could be Nelson Mandela: sick, frail and too weary to say what ails him. But South Africa is best personified by what came to define 2012 as the year of disgrace: the dead of Marikana, all 47 of them who died brutal, violent deaths. They represent our collective shame in the year that was 2012. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.
“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”
Winston Churchill spoke these words in the House of Commons in November 1936 in the aftermath of Germany's reoccupation of the Rhineland. All Britain had to do at the time was commit to provide diplomatic support for a French counterattack to prompt a German retreat. Britain did not make the commitment. The consequences are now a matter of world history.
We have entered our own period of consequences.
A dithering government, a political set more interested in the accumulation and retention of wealth and power than the lives and welfare of their people, a nation with a violent past caught up in a waiting game for progress that is not coming, millions of desperate and disillusioned people with no way out of their lives of despair.
A dangerous nexus, a toxic mix waiting to combust.
Rage and turmoil have been boiling over in communities across the country for years, unheeded as the battle for political power continues to hog centre stage. Most fatefully, it is the shocking failure of leadership at all layers of society that has roused a sense of desperation, and with it, rebellion.
Marikana became the first major consequence. It was the consequence of lesser humans realising that they have nobody but themselves to rely on to escape their hopeless lives and subhuman working and living conditions. And so they revolted in an extraordinary wildcat strike that held a major multinational mining company hostage, threatening profits and privilege. The workers went to war with their union, with their company Lonmin and with their way of life. They did so in some awful ways: they killed people, they threatened the safety of others, and they bit the hand that fed them the scraps they survived on.
For that, 34 of the workers paid the ultimate price. They were slaughtered in cold blood by the protectors of our society. Seventy-eight others were injured and 270 workers were held in custody for the deaths of their fellow workers, also by the upholders of law and order. Many of them were tortured and harassed by the police.
In a bizarre attempt at explaining or justifying the slaughter, it has been proffered that these were thugs, armed with lethal weapons intent on killing others. And the action against them therefore needed to be commensurate – concomitant in Cyril Ramaphosa’s parlance.
An eye for an eye became 34 miners’ lives for that of two policemen. Such is the imbalance of the value of human life in a country which holds up the pretence that we all have the same right to life.
Some feel the workers should not be mourned; that they deserved to die like they lived, in indignity. Some, like National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega, go as far as laughing at the grief of the widows. Some feel that only some among the dead are victims – the policemen, the security guards, the National Union of Mineworkers leader Daluvuyo Bongo or the ANC councillor Paulina Masuhlo.
But all 47 people who died at Marikana lost their lives due to a multiple failure of the institutions around them – the unions, Lonmin, the police, the government, the ANC and civil society. They became players in a web of iniquity where human life was counter-posed against the price of a precious metal. Platinum proved to be the more valuable commodity.
Perhaps the commission of inquiry into the massacre will provide some of the answers as to what prompted the collision of circumstances that led to the now unforgettable images of mineworkers falling into the dust in a fusillade from a wall of heavily armed policemen. But it can never undo the horror and brutality that has ripped the fabric of our society, or heal the open wounds of the tormented community of Marikana. They remain there, living on the scene of the crime, haunted and anguished daily by the injustice of the events that played out.
“We might not be educated, but we understand politics... and in politics people do not die as they did in Marikana.” These are the words of “Bhele” Tholakele Dlunga, a survivor of the massacre and police torture, and a face of the tragedy of Marikana. Bhele, like many other people living in Marikana, is horrendously scarred but understands that what happened to him and friends and co-workers is not normal.
It really isn’t. And yet South Africa is willing to leave them behind, to mourn, to be witnesses to the brutality visited on them, and to go back to their sub-human lives.
We are now at the furthest point from where Nelson Mandela left his nation when he went into retirement. We have turned on each other and we fail to feel each other’s pain. And we are willing to leave our fellow citizens face down in the dust of the prized platinum belt, their blood spilt in vain.
It is the ultimate betrayal of the legacy of our founding father, who taught us how love, reconcile and forgive. We are desperately trying to hold on to him, willing him to stay with us, and yet we are nothing of what he wanted us to be.
In 2012, our school children who did not get textbooks and who received a sub-standard education were failed. The country became enraptured by a circus around a painting of President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed. The ANC and alliance leaders took to the streets to have it banned, yet the same set of people were subdued during the agony of Marikana.
The eyes of the world turned to us as the mining and farming industries erupted, causing our economy to convulse. We faced international ratings downgrades and harsh scrutiny from the international media. The ANC reached its centenary and went to war with itself in a high-stakes power battle.
But Marikana was the seminal event of 2012 and post-democracy South Africa. It is the end of the innocence and the start of a period of consequences. We will never be the same. The 47 victims of Marikana will forever be a reminder of this.
In memoriam:
- Tembelakhe Mati
- Hendrick Tsietsi Monene
- Sello Ronnie Lepaaku
- Hassan Fundi
- Frans Mabelane
- Thapelo Eric Mabebe
- Semi Jokanisi
- Phumzile Sokanyile
- Isaiah Twala
- Julius Langa
- Molefi Osiel Ntsoele
- Modisaotsile Van Wyk Sagalala
- Nkosiyabo Xalabile
- Babalo Mtshazi
- John Kutlwano Ledingoane
- Bongani Nqongophele
- Cebisile Yawa
- Mongezeleli Ntenetya
- Henry Mvuyisi Pato
- Ntandazo Nokamba
- Bongani Mdze
- Bonginkosi Yona
- Makhosandile Mkhonjwa
- Stelega Gadlela
- Telang Vitalis Mohai
- Janeveke Raphael Liau
- Fezile David Saphendu
- Anele Mdizeni
- Mzukisi Sompeta
- Thabiso Johannes Thelejane
- Mphangeli Thukuza
- Thobile Mpumza
- Mgcineni Noki
- Thobisile Zimbambele
- Thabiso Mosebetsane
- Andries Motlapula Ntsenyeho
- Patrick Akhona Jijase
- Julius Tokoti Mancotywa
- Michael Ngweyi
- Jackson Lehupa
- Khanare Elias Monesa
- Mpumzeni Ngxande
- Thembinkosi Gwelani
- Dumisani Mthinti
- Paulina Masuhlo
- Daluvuyo Bongo
- Mafolisi Mabiya
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Popcru to reveal top cop 'corruption'
Govan Whittles , EWN, 10 December 2012
JOHANNESBURG - Members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in the Northern Cape say they are planning to expose alleged corruption and racism by the provincial police commissioner.
Last week, several union members were arrested for staging a sit-in at provincial commissioner Janet Basson's office, after she refused to meet with them about the allegations.
Poprcu Northern Cape Secretary Boitumelo Pheleo said members had lost all confidence in Basson.
She said members also fear they would be arrested again when they meet with the provincial commissioner on Tuesday.
Pheleo said the Kimberly dog unit was in disarray due to Basson.
“There are many other things we know. The provincial commissioner is concealing [information] about corruption that is taking place [in the province].
“Of course we will be revealing those things for the public to see."
Pheleo added that they did not trust Basson.
“We really don’t trust the provincial commissioner.”
Basson was not immediately available to respond to the allegation.
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Fatality last Friday at Harmony Gold’s Tshepong mine
South African Labour News, 10 December 2012
Harmony Gold has halted the operation of all trackless vehicles at its Tshepong mine, near Welkom, in the Free State, after a fatal accident on Friday. The company on Monday reported that investigations were under way to determine the cause of the underground accident that claimed an employee’s life.
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AngloGold retains investment rating
Fin24, 10 December 2012
Johannesburg - AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] has announced that its investment grade rating on publicly traded debt has been affirmed by Standard & Poor’s. The rating was completed following a comprehensive review.
"We've taken strong, decisive action to maintain our investment grade rating and preserve our financial stability and flexibility," said Mark Cutifani, AngloGold’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
“At the same time our strategy to improve the quality and diversity of our portfolio remains firmly on track," said Cutifani.
The confirmation of the BBB- (with negative outlook) comes two months after South Africa’s sovereign debt rating and several of the country’s corporates was downgraded by the agency.
The decision is seen to acknowledge AngloGold Ashanti’s large production base and its new projects that are currently in final stages of development.
"Maintaining a strong and stable financial foundation has always been key to ensuring we have cost-effective access to capital over the long-term," said Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, AngloGold Ashanti's Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Venkatakrishnan led the group through the rating review.
"Despite the raft of macro headwinds we've faced during the recent months, we've shown that we have the strategy, portfolio and the team to make good on our commitments," said Venkatakrishnan.
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Violent farm workers strike causes R8 million damage
SABC News, 10 December 2012
At least 14 empowerment farm projects in the Western Cape have been badly affected by the violence that accompanied the recent violent farm workers' strike.
Damage to these farms is estimated at more than R8 million rand after vines and farm land were burnt down.
Western Cape Agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg has raised concern that the damage may derail the further success of government empowerment efforts.
Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Wouter Kriel said they support approximately 200 agricultural empowerment projects in the Western Cape Province.
"The bit of good news that has happened - we have received compost from a compost manufacturer who's donating cubic metres of compost for each hectare of land that's been burnt," he said.
He added that they will make sure that all the empowerment projects which have suffered damage will get some of the compost.
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Strike hits Western Cape black farmers hard
South African Labour News, 11 December 2012 04:53
The Times writes that the Western Cape farmworkers' strike has dealt black farmers who were the beneficiaries of economic empowerment projects a harsh blow. According to the provincial department of agriculture and rural development, 14 BEE farmers lost some R8.2- millions because of the unrest that swept across the province last month.
MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said the strike had hampered efforts to transform the agricultural sector and that the target of a 60% success rate for agricultural empowerment projects had suffered.
He undertook to work with commodity organisations to get the affected projects back on their feet.
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Agriculture Minister unapologetic over call for cases against strikers to be dropped
South African Labour News, 11 December 2012
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson remained unapologetic yesterday about controversial remarks she made to striking Western Cape farmworkers.
Replying in writing to a parliamentary question, she justified her call, made while addressing thousands of workers in De Doorns last month, for all criminal charges laid against the strikers to be dropped. Several workers were arrested during the violent strike.
Joemat-Pettersson stated that in some cases protest action would have included behaviour which could be seen as "lawless", but that did not make such behaviour “illegal”.
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Defence Force union Sandu hails ruling on suspended soldiers
South African Labour News, 11 December 2012
Business Day writes that attempts by the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to fire about 600 soldiers for allegedly participating in an illegal march on the Union Buildings in 2009 have suffered another setback in the courts, according to the SA National Defence Union (Sandu).
In August 2009 the soldiers were suspended and given notice they were to be dismissed, leading to years of court battles that have yet to be resolved. The union reported yesterday that the latest attempt to have the soldiers fired was ruled out of order last Friday by the North Gauteng High Court. Sandu’s Pikkie Greeff said it was time for the chief of the Defence Force “to admit that this entire matter has become a gigantic albatross around his neck.”
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Chamber of Mines embarks on mass-media charm offensive
Martin Creamer, Miningweekly, 10 December 2012
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Chamber of Mines (CoM) of South Africa has embarked on a five-day mass-media charm offensive to convince civil society that the multitrillion-rand South African mining sector is worth fighting for.
CoM CE Bheki Sibiya conceded in the first of what will be double-page broadsheet advertorials – which began on Monday and which are scheduled to continue daily until Friday – that the Marikana tragedy had shaken South Africa’s reputation as a world-class mining investment destination and admitted that the industry had often been fraught with exploitation and conflict.
But he expressed the conviction that the South African mining industry could once again be made the “envy of the world”.
“I am resolute in my belief that it is possible to create a mining sector that grows and develops our country while attracting investor support,” Sibiya said.
As the world emerged from recession, South African minerals would feed into the big structural shifts in the global economy.
Drivers of “massive demand” for South African minerals were the estimated additional three-billion people that would move to cities by 2050 and the recoveries of the economies of the US and EU.
South African minerals that the world would “so dearly” need included platinum-group metals, high-grade manganese and chromium.
The country also continued to have the world’s largest reserves of gold after more than 126 years of gold mining.
He was optimistic that the emerging mood within the ruling African National Congress and infrastructure spending priorities would release South Africa’s mineral wealth.
He said the names that should be watched out for and which would set South Africa back on its minerals growth path were outgoing Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll, Impala Platinum CE Terence Goodlace, Shanduka chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa, National Union of Mineworkers general-secretary Frans Baleni, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union president Joseph Mathunjwa, Webber Wentzel Africa mining headPeter Leon, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.
CoM said the mining sector’s 2011 multipliers accounted for 18% of South Africa’s gross domestic product and for 29% or R1.4-trillion of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.
In 2011, the sector’s R282-billion worth of exports accounted for 38% of total South African exports.
The mines spent R46.5-billion of capital in 2011, paid R25.8-billion in tax and R16.2-billion in dividends.
Some R484-billion was spent from income of R489-billion, the overwhelming bulk of it in South Africa itself.
Nearly 100% of South Africa’s cement and building aggregates were made in South Africa from locally mined minerals and 80% of the country’s steel was made from locally mined iron-ore, chrome, manganese and coking coal, using furnaces that were 95% electrified by coal-fired power stations.
Nearly a third of South Africa’s petrol, diesel and chemicals were produced from locally mined coal and 13% of the world’s catalytic converters were made in South Africa using locally mined platinum.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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Xstrata, Glencore hearing in SA postponed
Reuters, Miningweekly, 10 December 2012
PRETORIA – A hearing by South Africa's Competition Tribunal on commodities trader Glencore's $33-billion takeover of miner Xstrata has been postponed until next month, the tribunal said on Monday.
Glencore was expected to defend its case this week after South African power utility Eskom raised concerns the deal could affect its coal supplies, but the hearing was postponed until January 18 after the parties asked for more time to prepare.
"We agreed to postpone the hearing because there would be insufficient time now to properly examine the matter," said Rafik Bhana, a lawyer representing Eskom.
State-owned Eskom has said it is not calling for the deal to be abandoned but is hoping the country's competition authority will impose conditions on the tie-up to ensure coal supplies to its power plants are not at risk.
The utility relies on coal-fired power plants to generate 85% of the electricity that powers Africa's biggest economy and is keen to ensure the merger does not impede its ability to obtain timely, sufficient and competitively priced coal.
Xstrata is one of South Africa's biggest coal producers and a key supplier of the fuel to Eskom. The utility said the merged entity would be supplying 15% of Eskom's coal and would be also among the largest traders in the coal market.
Eskom hopes to ensure that the merged entity does not dominate the market by setting prices that are unaffordable to the utility or opt for exports hoping for higher returns.
Insufficient and poor qualities of coal have been a concern to Eskom in the past and affected its ability to meet fast rising demand for electricity in the major producer of platinum, gold and other minerals.
Glencore's long-awaited takeover of Xstrata only has two hurdles left to clear: final approval from competition authorities in South Africa and China.
Edited by: Reuters
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2. COSATU
Cosatu cans report showing unionists split on Zuma
Natasha Marrian, Business Day, 11 December 2012
THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday canned a report — on the eve of its release — showing that most of its shop stewards did not support the re-election of President Jacob Zuma as president of the African National Congress (ANC).
Cosatu’s central executive committee last month announced the federation’s support for Mr Zuma, after its members deferred an endorsement of any ANC leader at its September congress to avert a divisive debate.
A press statement was issued on Monday by the Forum for Public Dialogue, saying it was releasing on Tuesday the findings of a national survey of 2,000 Cosatu shop stewards, focusing on their social, economic and political attitudes.
The forum, a political and economic think-tank chaired by Moeletsi Mbeki, had been commissioned by Cosatu to do the research. "The survey has found that Cosatu shop stewards want nationalisation, they have no confidence in the South African Communist Party, and they want Cosatu to form a labour party," the forum said.
"On leadership … the study found that the majority of Cosatu shop stewards do not support Jacob Zuma’s re-election for the position of president of the ANC.
"Cosatu shop stewards are divided between Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe. This is despite Cosatu’s central executive committee’s decision to support Zuma’s bid for a second term."
It is understood the report’s release was shelved because Cosatu was "uncomfortable" with its findings, which could "undermine" the central executive committee’s position on leadership, informed sources said on Monday.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday night the report’s release was postponed because the federation realised it was "far from complete". "They (the forum) made a presentation to us and we realised that they have not finished, so we cancelled it," he said. He refused to comment on the contents of the report, saying it would see the light of day in March.
"We realised it’s a half job … there is only one conclusion — that this is not the full report," he said.
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Ministers should resign amid corruption allegations – Vavi
Xolani Mbanjwa, City Press, 10 December 2012
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has called on ministers and senior government officials to voluntarily resign if any allegations of corruption surface against them.
He also said people who hold public office, such as the president, cabinet ministers, heads of department, unionists and other officials and their relatives should not be allowed to do business with the state.
Vavi was speaking at the International Anti-Corruption Day in Pretoria today where he said ANC members were likely to reject suggestions that politicians and senior government officials be barred from doing business with the state.
Vavi’s comments come just days after it was revealed that South Africa dropped to 69th spot, from 64th last year, out of 176 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index in 2012.
“We have to agree on some new rules. If you are the head of state, in Cabinet, in the public service, a government worker, a manager, a member of a union, you are in the ANC leadership and everywhere where you exercise some degree of influence ... you must choose between business and the public sector.
“Once you do both at the same time it is inevitable that you will use your power to advantage your other interests. The power of capital to suck you into that world is just too much to resist,” said Vavi.
His comments were also echoed by the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Ben Mthembu, who repeated the suggestion he had made in Parliament to ban public servants form doing business with the state.
But Vavi cautioned that if the issue were to come up at the party’s upcoming elective conference in Mangaung next week ANC members would reject it.
“There will obviously be resistance from people who stand to benefit from the status quo. There will be resistance.
“Your kids your wife, family must not do business with the institution that you can influence. If we can have only those two rules we will go a long way,” said Vavi.
ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa, who also attended the event, said the debate on whether public servants should be allowed to continue doing business with the state was likely to come up at the conference as the ANC was set to discuss “organisational renewal and ethics”.
Vavi used the occasion to also suggest that a five-year moratorium should be imposed on officials who want to leave the public service and go into business instead of the proposed one-year cooling-off period.
Vavi repeated his stern criticism of the ANC as having become a party with “Absolutely No Consequences” in reference to the ruling party’s response to the scourge of corruption.
“The culture of absolutely no consequences will continue in the absence of total prohibition. You can’t be a player and referee at the same. It’s just not possible. They must choose either to serve the public or go into business,” said Vavi.
He added that Cosatu’s calls for lifestyle audits to be conducted on leaders – “to see how people live” – was “unpopular” within the tripartite alliance.
He said government, business and civil society should work harder to turn the tide of public pessimism about government’s commitment to fighting corruption.
Vavi lashed some ANC members suspected of corrupt activities for mobilising “psychopaths” outside courts to march in their favour while they face criminal charges of corruption inside the courts.- City Press
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Vavi won’t stop ‘speaking truth to power’ despite death threats
Xolani Mbanjwa, City Press, 10 December 2012
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi will not stop speaking truth to power despite fearing for his life after receiving “serious” death threats for the second time in two years.
Vavi was speaking at the International Anti-Corruption Day at the University of South Africa’s senate hall where he accepted his appointment as chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Forum.
Vavi was disappointed that nothing had come of an investigation by authorities into the first death threats he received in 2010 and now he has had to increase security at his home and has two bodyguards, who are the labour federation’s shop stewards, to protect him.
This comes after crime intelligence’s Major General Chris Ngcobo told him that there was a plot to kill Vavi by poison in an apparent plan that involves crime intelligence operatives from Iran.
Asked whether he was scared Vavi said: “Scared? Yes I am. But will I turn my back on what is right? I wouldn’t. If I wasn’t scared I wouldn’t have bodyguards.
“I have bodyguards. At home I have put up security measures. This is not the first death threat I’m getting. I’ve had two in a space of two years. All of them were reported in high offices in the minister of state security and general or commissioner of police,” said Vavi.
He said he was still waiting for the report from security authorities on the first threat he received in 2010.
“The first one (death threat) that came in 2010, there is no report until today. This one came a very few days after a highly contested Cosatu congress. It (threat) is there. What can I do?
“This is the hazard of speaking truth to power. Other people are long gone (dead), at least I’ve been warned to put up insurance for kids and all of that,” said Vavi, who was elected unopposed during the Cosatu congress.
He did not believe that any Cosatu member, as alleged by the Ngcobo, would plot to have him killed for money.
According to reports, the plot involved an Iranian intelligence agent, one of Vavi’s bodyguards and a member of a non-governmental organisation.
His bodyguards were now “shop stewards” who had decided to “forego everything to come and look after me to ensure that I am safe”.
“It would be impossible that workers will collaborate with some foreign Iran intelligence to take me out for money. Come on guys?” he said.- City Press
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Vavi appointed chair of anti-corruption forum
Govan Whittles , EWN, 10 December 2012
PRETORIA - The newly elected chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Forum on Monday said the perception that the majority of public servants were corrupt must be broken.
On Monday, Zwelinzima Vavi was inducted at a discussion held to commemorate International Anti-Corruption Day at the University of South Africa in Pretoria.
He said the negative perception about the integrity of public servants discouraged whistleblowers to report corruption.
Vavi added corrupt officials only get scolded when they were caught.
He said if the current perceptions are sustained, it will be difficult to fight the scourge.
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Public has lost confidence in leaders: Vavi
SABC News, 10 December 2012
Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi says the public has lost confidence in leaders due to rampant corruption. He's vowed to fight this, even though he's been the target of death threats.
Vavi, who also chairs the National Anti-Corruption Forum, has called for a ban on public officials doing business with government.
According to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012 released last week South Africa is becoming more corrupt.
The country has slid 14 places since 2009 and now stands at 69 out of 176 countries.
Vavi says public officials doing business with government is the root of corruption.
"It is inevitable that you will use your power to advantage your other interests - is just inevitable".
Vavi says corruption is destroying the foundation of the country's democracy. He's pledged to defend the truth, despite death threats against him.
It is inevitable that you will use your power to advantage your other interests - is just inevitable.
"I do have bodyguards. At home I have put up security measures. This is not the first death threat I'm getting. I had two now in the space of two years".
Vavi says he's aware of two plots to kill him, one involving Iranian intelligence.
But despite high ranking police officials informing him as such, there's been no action from the police.
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Must win fight against corruption - Vavi
Michael Appel, The New Age, 10 December 2012
As the world yesterday celebrated International Anti-Corruption Day 2012, Cosatu's SG Zwelinzima Vavi has emphasised that corruption is eroding the very moral fibre of our democracy.
Speaking in his new position as chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF), Vavi on Monday said: "The fight against corruption is one we can't afford to lose. If corruption is not defeated, it will mean the decay and ultimate death of our democratic system."
The country's law makers were skilled at producing policies and principals but action on the ground was missing, highlighted Vavi.
As the country grapples with how best to deal with the scourge of corruption, the country has slipped 31 places since 2001 on an international corruption watch index to 69 out of 176 countries.
Vavi alluded to the auditor general and Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan's recent comments that some R30bn in state funding is lost to corruption every year.
"We lose 5% of government budget to tender corruption which totals between R25bn and R30bn every year. Some 20% of government's procurement budget is being lost to corruption which impacts on service delivery," said Vavi.
Vavi said the NACF supports the Public Service Commission's recent recommendation to parliament to ban all public servants from doing business with their employing departments.
"Conflict of interest has become the biggest threat facing this democracy. You can't be referee and player at the same time," said Vavi.
Vavi was flanked by ANC treasury general Mathews Phosa in his capacity as chairperson of the UNISA Council that hosted the event, as well as the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo.
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Public servants 'should not do business'
Sapa, Fin24, 10 December 2012
Johannesburg - Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi backed a hard-line stance on public servants doing business with the government at the International Anti-Corruption Day roundtable on Monday.
In a speech prepared for delivery, he supported the position of Public Service Commission (PSC) director general Prof Richard Levin, who believes that in the absence of a total ban, senior officials who fail to disclose conflicts of interest should be charged with misconduct.
"Why do ministers accused of serious offences not follow their consciences and voluntarily resign while the charges are investigated, rather than sit and wait until they are dismissed, this happens in many other countries?" he asked.
Vavi, who chairs the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF), said it was not enough for public servants to be allowed to do business with the government provided they declared their interests.
There had to be a zero-tolerance approach.
There also had to be a crack-down on private businesses which collaborated in the misappropriation of public funds.
"We must never forget that for every public official who accepts a bribe, there is a business person who gives it.
"We must change the mindset of those running our public bodies and re-establish a culture of public service, under which public representatives either serve the people honestly and efficiently, or resign and make way for others who will do so," he said.
The modern definition of corruption was "dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery, or the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved".
Vavi said if such conduct was not checked, it would threaten to destroy the foundation of South Africa's democracy.
"One of the biggest difficulties we face, however, is that while everyone - government, business, labour, civil society, all political parties and religious denominations - are unanimous and vehement in condemning corruption in principle, none of us are doing enough to turn principles into action on the ground," he said.
In 2007, the ANC had resolved that it had to provide leadership to society in the fight against corruption and that the country would continue to promote its anti-corruption values.
"The problem is, however, that despite all our fine resolutions, the problem remains endemic," said Vavi.
An urgent national debate was needed on how South Africa was going to turn around this disaster.
"As long as we are seen to be too scared and unwilling to challenge the growing power of the few who continue to damage the image of political organisations, business formations, civil society formations and more worryingly government, all of them will continue to be discredited."
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'Ban officials from tenders'
Amukelani Chauke, Times Live, 11 December 2012
COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said yesterday that public servants should be banned from doing business with the state because this contributed to corruption.
Quoting figures from the Special Investigating Unit, Vavi said 360 cases of conflict of interest, involving R3.5-billion, were being investigated.
Speaking in Pretoria after his appointment as chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Forum, Vavi said the current policy, which allows public servants to do business with the government provided they "declare their interests", was not enough.
"[The Special Investigating Unit] suggests that up to 20% of the government's procurement budget was being lost to corruption and therefore lost to delivery," he said.
Vavi said the current policies should be scrapped.
He said that recent audits by the a uditor- general and figures from the Public Service Commission on the large sums of money being lost to corruption we re an indication that there wa s a need for change.
"That is why we should fully support the Public Service Commission's call that public servants be banned from doing business with the government. They must choose either to serve the public or to go into private business, but never the two at the same time.
"The same rule should apply to labour union and civil society leaders," he said.
The ANC has built a wall of resistance to protect the current policy.
The government has maintained that it would be wrong to ask state employees not to do business with the government, stating that opportunities should be open to everyone.
In 2009, the ANC said in its election manifesto: "We will step up measures to ensure politicians do not tamper with the adjudication of tenders, that the process of the tendering system is transparent as well as ensuring much stronger accountability of public servants involved in the tendering process."
Vavi, however, said that recent figures from the auditor-general and the Public Service Commission showed that the government was not enforcing these measures.
"As long as we are seen to be too scared and unwilling to challenge the growing power of the few who continue to damage the image of political organisations, business formations, civil society formations and, more worryingly, the government, all of them will continue to be discredited," Vavi said
He said figures from the commission showed that in 2010-2011 838 senior [government] officials were charged with financial misconduct, and that the figure had shot up from 689 and 652 in the previous two years.
Vavi said an urgent national debate was needed on how South Africa could turn around this disaster.
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Cosatu praises NUM
SABC News, 10 December 2012
Cosatu President S'dumo Dlamini has praised the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at the celebration of its 30th year of existence, saying it is growing despite an onslaught on it during the recent mining strikes, especially in the Rustenburg area.
Dlamini was addressing thousands of Cosatu and NUM members during the celebrations at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Klerksdorp in the North West yesterday.
Dlamini says the union faced opposition from inside it and from the outside, but that it continues to grow against all odds.
“They are eyeing this union to destroy it. It is overcoming this challenge like it has overcome of five madoda, like it has overcome the challenge of the mouthpiece, like it overcame of Inkatha which was really getting this down and they defeated those challenges. Today it has been tested. Going forward, it goes and grows more and stronger,” he said.
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3. South Africa
Times live POLL - Is climate change happening in your area?
TOTAL VOTES 418
76% |
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Yes | |
24% |
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No |
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SA needs firm economic policy from Mangaung: Busa
Sapa, Times Live, 10 December 2012
Policy decisions made by the ANC during its national conference in
Mangaung can prevent the country's economy from declining, Business Unity SA (Busa) says.
"Busa sees the forthcoming ANC... conference in Mangaung as a crucial one for South Africa from the point of view of political leadership and policy certainty," it said in a statement.
"A clear affirmation of policy direction from the conference could do much to help build a South African economy which is bigger, stronger, and better in the years ahead."
South Africa had experienced "significant domestic developments" which had affected the country's economic outlook and confidence.
If these developments were not taken into account at the conference, the country would no longer be able to withstand the worst effects of the global financial crisis.
"In order to help meet SA's pressing socio-economic challenges, the Mangaung conference needs to take in key decisions that will boost investor confidence needed to underpin higher growth and employment," it said.
"Busa believes that South Africa's perceived economic decline can only be arrested if a firm policy basis is forged at Mangaung to find real solutions to the structural socio-economic challenges facing South Africa."
African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe wrote in this week's Sunday Times that the party's vision for economic growth would take "centre stage" at the conference.
Crucial issues, such as the nationalisation of mines and land redistribution, would be debated.
Mantashe wrote on nationalisation: "It is true that any further uncertainty on this matter will affect our ability to attract more investment to the country.
"While investor sentiment cannot dictate economic policy, uncertainty is not to be encouraged if we are serious about partnering locally and globally to build the economy that will aid us to tackle the challenges we all know about."
The conference will be held from Sunday.
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Motlanthe urges men to not just talk against violence
SAPA, M&G, 10 December 2012
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Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has urged men not turn a blind eye to violence against women and children.
"[I hope men] will take it upon themselves ... not to just talk against violence, but to do something concrete and positive in their communities to contribute to the collective effort to build a society that protects and respects the rights of women and children," said Motlanthe.
"Two weeks ago, when we marked International Men's Day, I was encouraged by the pledge by men in many organisations to strive towards becoming role models through behaviour and practices that uphold the dignity of young girls and women."
He said he was confident that the country was making progress in influencing men to stop treating women and children as objects of abuse and violence.
Motlanthe was addressing the closing ceremony of the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children and the launch of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence, in Rustenburg.
He said although the campaign was coming to an end, it did not mean that the fight against this type of violence should as well. The country's experience and understanding of the importance of human rights should enable it to build a strong institutional and constitutional framework to protect such rights.
"We all need to take responsibility to protect this framework, and at the same time, implement programmes and interventions that contribute to the attainment of our vision of a caring and proud society," Motlanthe said.
"The fact that we observe these 16 days serves as the strongest sign that more still needs to be done by all of us to truly render this form of abuse obsolete and to ensure that violence has no place in a civilised and humane society."
He said government had been working with all parties involved to implement various institutional measures. This included rolling out and sustaining initiatives which informed and raised awareness among communities; developing strategies and interventions to address weaknesses within the system which supported those whose rights had been violated; and getting citizens to contribute to the fight against violence against women and children.
Motlanthe said Women, Children, and People with Disabilities Minister Lulu Xingwana would establish a National Council Against Gender-Based Violence. "This is indeed a positive step that will allow us to work in unison and in a co-ordinated fashion.
"We are very mindful, however, that the problem of the abuse of women and children can never be confined to specific campaigns and commemorative days," he said.
The 16 days reminded people that they could not be complacent or indifferent, and to intensify efforts in fighting the abuse of women and children. – Sapa
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When will the public's rejection of e-tolls be heard?
Wayne Duvenage, Daily Maverick, 10 December 2012
It’s not going to be that hard to destabilise the entire e-tolls programme. The key is non-compliance by the public. The problem is that this will come with a host of complications – all of which could be avoided if SANRAL just listened to its critics in the first place.
There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. This rings loud and true for SANRAL and government, as they simply ignore the crescendo of public rejection of e-tolls and soldier on with implementation plans.
As with the bold calls from Jimmy Manyi in 2011 – you know, “e-tolls are here to stay, finished and klaar” – so again the voice of authority, this time from Minister Collins Chabane, was defiant of public opinion last week. He stated that it was not tolling but rather the tariffs that were still under consideration, and that government department fleets would now begin the tagging process with SANRAL.
Over the past six weeks, the public engagement sessions and written submissions to the department of transport, along with Cosatu’s marches and drive-slow sessions, have clearly expressed a resounding outcry against SANRAL’s e-toll plans. Yet government’s response has been a resounding silence.
In the meantime, the public waits with bated breath for the outcome of OUTA’s high court review, which is expected to receive judgment in the next several weeks. And while we wait, many wonder what may unfold from the possible scenarios of the court ruling.
I, too, have pondered the variables. There are a number of real possibilities and developments for each possible judgment outcome.
SCENARIO 1
Should the High Court rule against SANRAL (setting the current e-toll decision aside), we can probably expect the following:
Government will more than likely appeal this judgment and try to move this rapidly back to the Constitutional Court, where they feel the last judgment in their favour could assist them with a win.
Whilst an appeal is in place, technically they will be allowed to proceed with tolling (due to the earlier Constitutional Court ruling which set aside the temporary interdict in September), however, this would be a dangerous move to make, as the high court ruling will heighten the public’s negative sentiment and cause almost full non-participation.
SANRAL’s credit ratings will probably be negatively impacted, once again.
An appeal will take a few more months to be heard and serious decisions by the authorities will need to be made. Going on past behaviour and the need to save embarrassment, they will more than likely elect to fast-track the appeal process, appropriate more funds to keep the SANRAL creditors and the rating agencies happy, whilst they prepare all-out for a win at the appeal hearing.
In the case of an appeal, OUTA will be hard-pressed with shortage of funds to defend the appeal and will conduct heightened calls and new marketing initiatives to raise a few million to challenge the appeal, while SANRAL remains relaxed in this space, knowing that citizen’s taxes will fund their mounting and colossal legal expenses.
But if the authorities would seriously contemplate the probable outcomes of the short to medium term decision to toll – as envisaged below – the authorities may be wise to call off the e-toll debacle now, disguising this as a policy decision taken at the ruling party’s conference in Mangaung.
SCENARIO 2
Should the High Court ruling go SANRAL’s way, one can expect the following developments to take place:
SANRAL will press on full steam ahead to launch tolling in mid- to late January 2013.
Almost immediately after the ruling, they will announce reduced tariffs based on their “assessment” of input from the public consultations and thousands of written submissions during the November engagement process. Here they will begin the charm offensive by emphasising that they “have listened and heard the call from the motorists” and as such, the e-toll tariffs will be reduced by a further 15 or 20%, along with the maximum monthly cap reduced to below R400.
The charm offensive will be heavily driven and conveyed through press releases, advertisements on radio, print and TV as the government tries to convince the public that eTolls are not that expensive to the “average” motorist and that tagging up is the wise and right thing to do.
Early in January 2013, the SANRAL spin doctors will send out messages that “thousands of e-tags are being taken up”, but in reality, this will be mainly due to government and municipal fleets, banks and leasing companies that will be driving up these numbers, as opposed to the general public.
The public outcry will continue to grow, now that the Gauteng road users have become wiser to the real issues of the debate and are not fooled by lower tariffs, knowing these can and will be ratcheted up in time (Eskom style). In addition, they know that despite lower tariffs, the e-toll collection costs will remain high and this is the ultimate waste they will not tolerate.
The blog sites and research will show the growing base of active citizens that the system only requires 20 to 40% of people to “not tag” for it to become unworkable.
Within a month or two of launch, by early March 2013, SANRAL’s Freeway Police patrols will attempt to make some high profile arrests in an attempt to coerce the general public into greater levels of compliance.
Within weeks of the e-toll launch, number plate cloning will rise as hundreds (maybe thousands) of angry and non-compliant commuters ride on the ticket of other vehicles with same make, model and colour as their own cars.
Innocent people will be caught up in the cross-fire of number plate cloning or general ignorance, and despite the reassurances from SANRAL that tagged vehicles will not suffer from this fate, they will.
With AARTO not in place, the enforcement process will have to be channelled through the Criminal Procedures Act (CPA), with hundreds of individual court challenges taken up. Successful past tolling court challenges (such as the State v Smith for non-toll payment, where Mr Smith was successful) will be used to seek that one individual win in court, which will bring the e-toll house of cards tumbling down.
In the meantime, the first quarter of 2013 will see Cosatu and other civil action groups flex their muscles, with ongoing road blockades becoming a regular nightmare, with the daily commuters ‘joining in’ and highway jams becoming a popular pastime and excuse for arriving late to work.
A handful of unruly citizens will probably take the law into their own hands and vandalised gantries will become a weekly sighting.
Shortly after launch, “scanner-jammer” sales will become the booming business of the day, as people purchase jamming devices (already available) to block the SANRAL’s (already outdated) gantry technology from reading their number plates. Other devices with similar effect such as subtle number plate tampering or infra-red lighting around number plates or rotating multiple license plates will add to the woes and headaches of the SANRAL Freeway Police force.
By month four, the Freeway Police will probably be bolstered as they try to cope with the non-compliance, pulling cars off the road and creating more traffic jams.
The courts will become overwhelmed with the number of cases coming their way and the decision to set up separate “e-toll” courts to reduce the burden on the normal courts will be made.
By month four, the country’s credit ratings could be negatively impacted by the ongoing strikes and civil disobedience.
Six to nine months later, the public outcry will get louder, people will share ways of bucking the system. The compliant tagged users will become despondent that they are paying while thousands of others are not.
The road jams and strikes get worse, and with the 2014 elections on the horizon, debate within the ruling party will become strong enough to convince government to reverse the e-toll decision, thereby taking the wind out of the DA’s potential election willing slogan in Gauteng (which would probably read “If we were in power, we would take down the gantries”).
If only the authorities would look deeper at the history of international tolling and not be blinded by the sugar-coated scenarios as proposed by their agents.
If only the authorities would see their critics as concerned citizens and purveyors of ideas, constructive input and possible solutions, instead of fobbing them off as ignorant opponents.
While tolling has a place and works in many instances across the world, there are as many cases of failure. A common element in all failed tolling projects is society’s lack of support for the system, no matter how disciplined the environment, which generally stems from one or more of the following: poor public engagement, a lack of transparency, and higher than normal/ expected costs. In Gauteng’s case, all three aspects are prevalent and trust in SANRAL has all but broken down. The system is doomed to fail in the medium to long term.
So you’d be forgiven if you asked: why is it that our government would force an aggressive, inefficient, cumbersome, unpopular and costly road tax into being, when there are far more effective, highly compliant, peaceful and less costly avenues open to them?
I guess there are none so deaf as those who refuse to hear, or maybe, just maybe, it’s a case of too many benefits for a few that stand to be lost.
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Countries deeply divided on internet laws during UN talks
SAPA-AP, M&G, 10 December 2012
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Talks over possible new UN regulations for the internet have been deeply divided.
The talks, which took place on Monday in Dubai, saw Russia and others advocating for more government sway while a US-led bloc warned against rules that could restrict freedoms in cyberspace.
The Dubai conference, which wraps up later this week, is not empowered to bring about any immediate changes on how the internet operates.
The US and its backers, however, argue that sanctioning greater government roles in internet oversight could allow governments that already heavily censor web traffic, such as China or Iran, to justify more restrictions and monitoring.
A high-powered US delegation – including representatives from tech giants such as Google and Microsoft – has tried to block all discussions of possible internet regulations.
The effort, however, has met strong headwinds from countries such as Russia that want a greater control over net commerce and security.
Resistance against censorship
So far, the closed-door talks have failed to find much common ground at the 193-nation UN International Telecommunications Union, which last updated its rules in 1988 before the internet became a global force.
"What's happened in the conference is a variety of proposals have come in from other nations that get into the internet, that look at internet governance," said the head of the 123-member US delegation, ambassador Terry Kramer, in a video uploaded by organisers late Sunday.
"It creates an open door for review of content and potential censorship there. It will create a chilling environment for the internet."
For several days, US-led envoys fought against a proposal submitted by the host United Arab Emirates, which last month passed sweeping new internet laws outlawing social media posts that insult rulers or call for protests.
The proposal – backed by countries such Russia, China and other Arab states – was removed from discussion Monday, conference organisers said, after an uproar from web activists supporting the American position.
Among its provisions was a call for governments to have "equal rights to manage the internet," including its technical workings, according to a text leaked by a website, wcitleaks.org.
Divides
The site claimed to have access to meeting documents not yet made public. It is unclear, however, whether the American views have gained the upper hand as the talks move into their final days.
US officials say other proposals that support a greater government voice in internet affairs are still active.
Many experts on internet technology believe the proposals could further squeeze the net in countries where it is closely regulated, even though it won't fundamentally alter cyberspace in places with traditions of openness.
"These proposals would break what's working – freedom of information and freedom of access," tech analyst Elise Ackerman wrote in a column for Forbes.
"And they wouldn't help fix the parts of the internet that need reinforcing, namely security and privacy."
She noted, however, the conference reflects a general push for more "international policymaking" as the US dominance of the internet weakens.
Content providers
On Monday, the head of the UN telecoms agency, Hamadoun Toure, was scheduled to meet with civil society groups who have complained of being excluded from the talks.
Other issues at the conference also remain unresolved, including a European-led proposal to charge content providers for access to cross-border markets.
The idea is strongly opposed by US companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and others.
Supporters say the so-called "toll" could be used by developing countries to fund expansion of internet services. – Sapa-AP
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Govt unveils 'radical' plan to reshape SA coal
David McKay, Miningmx, 10 December 2012
[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa's domestic coal mining sector was set to undergo a radical, "game-changing" restructuring, according to the South African government which added that “urgent steps” were needed to secure up to 2.1 billion tonnes (Bt) of thermal coal supplies for Eskom, the state-owned utility company.
Billed as a "game-changing" initiative by Eskom, public enterprises minister, Malusi Gigaba, said today the private sector, apprised of government’s plans last week, was “generally supportive” of the initiative in which Eskom would “radically transform” its procurement strategy to include new, black-owned miners.
Eskom estimated that between now and 2040, it would require 4Bt of coal of which 1.97bt had been contracted, but a further 2.1Bt was still to be secured. Of this, Eskom believed some 1.3Bt could be provided by new, black-owned companies.
“We have no option for any back-up plan to secure future coal. We have to make sure new mines open and that more than the majority of them are by black-owned companies,” said Brian Dames, CEO of Eskom.
Capital for the new investment would be drawn from a mining fund expressly founded for new mining companies, as well as the consolidation of existing junior coal mining companies.
Other initiatives included establishing an inland terminal – or coal pantry – to provide a platform for beneficiation of coals, encouraging new mining companies to engage in coal trading activities, and efforts by Eskom to use its purchasing power to lift black-ownership of existing companies to 50% plus 1% from the current legislated target of 26% under the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).
Currently, 61% of coal bought by Eskom was procured from eight mines which belong to the likes of Anglo American, BHP Billiton Energy South Africa, Xstrata and Exxaro Resources, the only major black-owned coal mining company listed on the JSE.
“From 2018, the shortfall is significant and allows a window for development, including the Limpopo and Waterberg coalfields. It is important to start the planning process now,” said Dames.
Commenting on the establishment of a fund, that would have the support of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), among other funding agencies under government’s control, Dames said: “We would like to see its start as soon as possible so we can start implementation.”
Private sector participation was welcomed, said Gigaba: “The development fund won’t rely on DFIs [development funding institutions], but it will welcome private sector participation”. Of the more than 5,000 coal miners addressed about the plan earlier today, which Gigaba said were receptive to the restructuring plan, there were a number of small private equity firms.
The initiative ultimately falls under the aegis of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), the future of which was captured in the Infrastructure Development Bill, gazetted in parliament on December 6. In terms of the PICC, some R845bn was be invested in infrastructural projects – through Infrastructure Strategy Projects, known as ‘Sips’ – in three years, and some R4 trillion over 15 years.
PRIVATE SECTOR
Calls for private sector involvement in Eskom and government's plans comes at a difficult time for existing coal producers.
Earlier this month, Dames said in parliament that he was seeking a "national pact" to control coal price inflation while Gigaba told Miningmx on December 5 that he would support the notion of declaring South Africa’s coal resources a strategic asset at the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) elective conference in Mangaung.
These comments have been interpreted by the market as anti-investment developments, and that South Africa's coal sector is ex-growth.
Dames said in an interview today that the proposed pact on coal price inflation, and any other measures to apply export duties on coal should be viewed through the lens of Eskom's Multi-Year Price Determination (MYPD3) application which asked for an increase in electricity tariffs of 16% a year from 2013 to 2018, assuming coal price inflation did not exceed 10%.
"The national pact relates to the performance of the cost plus mines but in 2018 we recognise that we will have to cater for a much higher coal cost," Dames said.
Dames added that to help finance the new generation of mines, Eskom would replicate its cost plus model whereby miners are able to lock in a margin above the cost of production.
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FIVE MINUTES: South Africa
Daily Maverick Staff Reporter , Daily Maverick, 11 December 2012
A round-up of the day’s news from South Africa.
SHOP STEWARDS WANT COSATU TO FORM A LABOUR PARTY
A survey conducted by the Forum for Public Dialogue (FPD) has found Cosatu shop stewards want nationalisation, have no confidence in the South African Communist Party and would like the workers’ federation to start a labour party. The FPD surveyed over 2,000 shop stewards in all nine provinces. It also questioned the stewards on the ANC’s upcoming leadership conference in Mangaung and found that the majority do not support Jacob Zuma's re-election for the position of president of the ANC. The shop stewards are divided between Jacob Zuma and Kgalema Motlanthe, despite Cosatu's Central Executive Committee's decision to support Zuma's bid for a second term.
COURT STOPS SANDF FROM FIRING SOLDIERS
The North Gauteng High Court has stopped the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) from firing about 600 soldiers. The ruling was welcomed by the SA National Defence Union nation secretary Pikkie Greeff who said notices appeared in two newspapers in November informing the soldiers that they had 10 days to motivate why they should not be dismissed. They also received registered letters conveying the same information. The soldiers were accused of taking part in an illegal march to the Union Buildings in 2009 and disobeying a command to return to base. In August, the Supreme Court found the SANDF had been unfair in its dismissal of the soldiers, but upheld its right to maintain discipline. In October, the soldiers were fired, allegedly without hearings. Now the North Gauteng high court has found the newspaper advertisement were “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
BUSA CALLS FOR CLEAR ECONOMIC POLICY OUT OF MANAGAUNG
Business Unity South Africa says a clear economic policy coming out of the ANC’s leadership conference in Mangaung could help build a “bigger, stronger” economy. "In order to help meet SA's pressing socio-economic challenges, the Mangaung conference needs to take in key decisions that will boost investor confidence needed to underpin higher growth and employment," Busa said in a statement. The business group believes the country’s “perceived economic decline can only be arrested if a firm policy basis is forged at Mangaung to find real solutions to the structural socio-economic challenges facing South Africa”. Busa said South Africa had experienced “significant domestic developments” that had affected it economic outlook and confidence.
ICASA MUST INVESTIGATE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AT SABC
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) must broaden the scope of its investigation the cancellation of last week’s Metro FM debate to include “widespread accusations of political interference”. Democratic Alliance communications spokeswoman, Marian Shinn, says it is “important that the growing body of evidence of political interference is considered in full”. Shinn was responding to a report in The Times that claims SABC journalists have been “taken to task” for not defending President Jacob Zuma against criticism. The newspaper says journalists at the public broadcaster have written to its board and acting head of news, Jimi Matthews, saying a "climate of uncertainty and fear has created a state of paranoia in both the television and radio news rooms and has lowered morale”.
ANCWL WANTS INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF DEWANI’S MENTAL HEALTH
The ANC Women’s League has demanded independent expert mental assessments be carried out on Shrien Dewani to “determine the true state of his mental health”. The Women’s League marched to the UK High Commission to demand Dewani be extradited from Britain to South Africa to face charges that he masterminded the murder of his new wife, Anni. “The South African police worked tirelessly to solve the mystery surrounding Anni Dewani’s murder and have had a number of successful convictions,” Mirriam Segabutla, the League’s NEC representative said in a statement. “However the South African Police have accused Dewani as having a hand in his wife’s murder and we strongly believe he must stand trial for these charges.”
DA ASKS PUBLIC PROTECTOR TO PROBE JOEMAT-PETTERSSON. AGAIN.
The Democratic Alliance has asked the Public Protector to investigate the conduct of agriculture minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, during the recent farmworker strikes in the Western Cape. Spokesman on agriculture, Annette Steyn, says the minister “wilfully condoned violence and made irresponsible public promises.” In doing so, she violated parliament’s code of executive ethics. Steyn said Joemat-Pettersson had encouraged violence to settle labour disputes and that her promise to “speak to the NPA and the police minister to ensure that all cases of intimidation and public violence are withdrawn" set a “dangerous precedent and could lay the foundations for destabilisation across sectors and regions”. Also, the minister promised strikers that a new minimum wage would be negotiated by 4 December, which was out of her jurisdiction.
MANDELA UNDERGOING MORE TESTS
Former President Nelson Mandela is undergoing further tests on Monday, but had a good night’s rest, the Presidency said. Spokesman Mac Maharaj said Mandela was “in good hands”. Associated Press reports that defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had visited Mandela at One Military hospital in Pretoria, and said the 94-year-old former president was "doing very, very well". Maharaj said today was a special day for Mandela as it was on 10 December 1993 that he received the Nobel Peace Prize “for his selfless contribution to the struggle for liberation, human rights and justice in South Africa”.
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER SIGNS RHINO PACT WITH VIETNAM
Environment minister Edna Molewa has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with her Vietnamese counterpart, Dr Cao Duc Phat, who will be submitting a decision on banning the import of rhino parts into Vietnam this year. The MoU comes in the wake of news that a total of 618 rhinos have been poached in South Africa so far this year. “As the toll mounts, it is clear that everyone has a critical role to play in this war against poaching," Molewa said after signing the pact. The MoU is meant to promote co-operation in biodiversity between the two countries, and is aimed in particular at curbing rhino poaching. "The continued slaughter of the rhino is a cause for concern," Molewa said. The minister said the MoU “adds to our arsenal against rhino poaching and increases the number of role players working towards curbing rhino poaching."
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2011 antenatal HIV survey: What's with the sporadic increases?
Sipho Hlongwane , Daily Maverick, 11 December 2012
As in the 2010 survey, too, the latest antenatal HIV survey indicates there is an uptick in the number of HIV-positive antenatal patients in certain areas of the country, whilst the general trend is in a plateau. The department of health is still not sure why this is happening, though what is clear is that the problem is still massive. By SIPHO HLONGWANE.
According to the department of health’s National Antenatal Sentinel HIV & Syphilis Prevalence Survey in South Africa for 2011, several provinces showed increases in the number of HIV-positive antenatal patients. These included the Free State, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
KwaZulu Natal still has the highest prevalence, followed by Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West, all with a prevalence rate of 30% or higher. The Northern Cape and Western Cape were the only two provinces with less than 20%. Women between the ages of 15 and 24 recorded a 21.8% rate (this figure is used to estimate the rate of new infections, as these women are assumed to be have been relatively recently infected) – while the national average was 29.5%. The department estimates that 5.6 million people in South Africa are living with the disease today.
Some 33,446 first-time antenatal patients participated in the survey.
The rate of infection fluctuates greatly across the country, and there are signs that this has something to do with the availability of contraceptive devices. The department’s representative for HIV, tuberculosis and child and maternal health, Yogan Pillay, said that condom distribution in some regions provided a clue: in Gert Sibande in Mpumalanga, for example, condom distribution stood at 18 condoms per male per year, while HIV prevalence stood at 46.1%. In Eden, in the Western Cape, condom distribution was 40 per male per year, and HIV prevalence stood at 16%. Now, the department is planning to increase the supply of condoms in areas where more than 40% of women are testing positive.
In order to better understand why some regions are worse hit than others, and also why these areas suddenly experienced jumps in infection rates, better surveys and studies are needed, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.
“To start with, there is need for analytical epidemiological surveys based on scientific study in the highly-affected areas to understand the factors driving the epidemic,” he said.
Like he did last year, he ominously suggested that areas that saw an influx of migrant workers due to new construction work, like the new power stations in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, saw an increase in infection rates.
But there is some good news. Not only is the national rate hovering around the 29% mark, like it has since 2005, but there were 26 regions with above-average numbers in 2011, compared with last year’s 28.
Because of the stigma still attached to HIV/Aids in South Africa, it is difficult to get people to volunteer for these surveys. Many people simply don’t get tested at all. This is why the department of health uses antenatal patients as a sample for the rest of the population. Not only have they definitely had sex in the previous months, but the benefits are numerous. Modern science can now prevent the mother from transmitting the disease to her newly-born child. This makes them more receptive to testing.
Research by the department shows that maternal deaths are on the decrease for the first time, thanks to Aids drugs.
The National Committee for the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths found that the institutional maternal mortality ratio fell almost 16% year on year to 156.5 per 100,000 live births last year. This was down from 186 per 100,000 in 2010 and 189 per 100,000 in 2009, BusinessDay reported.
The excellent news is that the department is very keen to get a grip on the pandemic, even if it has been struggling to push it back for seven years now. As soon as someone comes up with a new way to either treat or stop infections, Motsoaledi and his crew leap onto it. Unfortunately we need to wait for a few years before we see their solutions beginning to take effect.
Motsoaledi has always warned that we will in all likelihood see more people living with HIV/Aids in coming years, which will simply be a sign that antiretroviral treatment is working. When that starts happening more, the focus may shift towards testing younger people to get a clearer data on how the virus is spreading.
In coming surveys, syphilis will be dropped. The numbers are so low as to be insignificant, at least compared to HIV. Motsoaledi said that they would be testing for herpes simplex instead.
But for now, the message is clear. We need to roll out treatment and education programmes more swiftly. There is something chilling about the fact that HIV/Aids is still being spread into rural areas thanks to new infrastructure. That’s not how development is supposed to work.
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Eskom to support emerging coal miners
Sapa, Fin24, 10 December 2012
Johannesburg - A strategy is in place to enable emerging coal miners to play a bigger role in the supply of coal to Eskom, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Monday.
"Eskom is in the process of developing the strategy, which would enable emerging miners to play a greater role in the supply of coal for power generation in South Africa... and take transformation in the industry to a new level," Gigaba said in a statement.
Gigaba met emerging miners on Monday to explore partnerships with Eskom, following a session with established coal producers and the SA Chamber of Mines.
"Eskom's long-term coal supply requirements create significant opportunities for emerging miners to ramp up their participation in the industry.
"This will require significant investment in coal mining and Eskom is committed to ensuring that this is accompanied by transformation of the industry."
Gigaba said in addition to coal, suppliers of materials such as limestone would also be needed.
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4. Alliance
Phosa rues graft permeating ANC
Setumo Stone, Busines Day, 11 December 2012
THE African National Congress (ANC) has a "heroic" tradition of leadership and integrity, yet dishonesty has found a home within its ranks, the party’s treasurer-general, Mathews Phosa, said on Monday.
The ANC is expected to discuss ethical issues at its conference next week in Mangaung — including corruption which has worsened under President Jacob Zuma’s leadership. In the 2012 Transparency International index, measuring perceived levels of corruption in the public sector, South Africa dropped five places, ranking 69th of 176 countries surveyed.
Speaking at an anti-corruption workshop in Pretoria, Mr Phosa said questions relating to ethics were at the heart of the ANC’s discussions about organisational renewal. It was "terrifying" that fraud and corruption were becoming more prevalent.
"Where, in our heroic tradition of leadership and integrity, does dishonesty find a home?" he asked. "I think the issues should be debated in those commissions (at the ANC conference) and in a very frank manner."
At its 2007 conference, the ANC resolved that it had to provide leadership to society in the fight against corruption.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi — who was on Monday appointed as chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Forum — told the workshop that corruption remained endemic in South Africa despite the ANC’s "fine resolutions". The forum is a civil society initiative established in 2001 to combat and prevent corruption, build integrity and raise awareness.
Mr Vavi said he would never turn his back on telling the truth, but was "scared" following renewed death threats. This was the second time in two years that he had received threats and he had reported both cases to "high offices", but without any feedback.
"This is the hazard of speaking truth to power," Mr Vavi said.
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said on Monday that police crime intelligence boss Maj-Gen Chris Ngcobo had summoned Mr Vavi to an urgent meeting on September 28 where he gave him details of the plot. Iranian intelligence officials had apparently bribed one of Mr Vavi’s bodyguards to disclose his travel arrangements.
It was planned that a member of a nongovernmental organisation that worked closely with Cosatu would use the information to try to find an opportunity to poison him.
Mr Phosa praised Mr Vavi, telling the workshop that he was "unafraid to say what he believes (and) he was not cowed by power, position and authority — even when there are allegations of death threats against him".
As National Anti-Corruption Forum chairman, Mr Vavi said his pledge was to get every government worker and manager — and leaders of government, business and civil society — involved in the fight against corruption. "As long as we are seen to be too scared and unwilling to challenge the growing power of the few who continue to damage the image of political organisations, business (and) civil society formations, and, more worryingly, government, all of them will continue to be discredited."
Mr Vavi was instrumental in the formation of Corruption Watch — a Cosatu initiative that allows members of the public to report incidents of corruption anonymously.
Corruption Watch executive director David Lewis said at the workshop that the public perception that the "big fish" get away with corruption was not wholly unfounded. In some cases, it was "difficult to believe that there is no lack of will to take action".
The reported R250m spent on upgrading Mr Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla was highlighted at the workshop as an example of high-profile and powerful individuals being shielded when public funds were misspent.
Mr Lewis said the furore around Nkandla would not go away until a proper explanation was provided.
Clifford Collings, South African Revenue Service group executive for anticorruption and security, said despite measures enacted to fight corruption, "when leadership fails then everything is going to fail".
Deputy Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo told the workshop that the government’s anticorruption strategies had often not been implemented. Implementation was the responsibility of both the private sector and the government.
"If we work in silos, we (will) not be able to deal with some of the ills of our society," Ms Dlodlo said.
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Dewani: SA’s no slaughterhouse – Women’s League
Sapa, City Press, 10 December 2012
The ANC Women’s League has handed a letter to the British High Commission demanding that Shrien Dewani be extradited to South Africa.
“We believe this process has been drawn out unnecessarily,” the ANC Women’s League said in the letter today.
“We implore the courts of the United Kingdom to consider the fact that justice needs to be served here in South Africa.”
It said South African police had worked tirelessly to solve the mystery of Anni Dewani’s murder and believed Shrien had a hand in the crime.
The league wanted Dewani to stand trial for the crimes of which he was accused.
“A strong message needs to be sent to the international community that crime in South Africa, more especially crimes against women, will not be tolerated, and that South Africa is not a slaughter-house where people alleged to have committed crimes can leave the country without standing trial,” it said.
Dewani allegedly orchestrated the murder of his 28-year-old bride, Anni, during a staged car hijacking in Cape Town in November 2010. He has denied the claim.
Last week, a British magistrate set Dewani’s extradition hearing for July 2013, after hearing that he had become a “husk” of a man who suffered from flashbacks of the night his wife was killed, French news agency Agence France Presse reported.
Dewani is being treated at a psychiatric hospital for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
His extradition was halted in March on mental health grounds.
A judge ruled last Monday that he needed several more months to recover, AFP reported.
Chief magistrate Howard Riddle ruled there would be a review hearing on April 11, and that a five-day, full extradition hearing would start on July 1 if Dewani had recovered to the point where he was deemed fit to stand trial.
The Women’s League wanted an independent expert to conduct psychiatric tests on Dewani.- SAPA
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ANC to count Manguang votes manually
Yolisa Njamela, SABC News, 10 December 2012
As the ANC prepares to hold its elective conference in Mangaung next week, deep-seated feelings of mistrust among warring factions has resulted in the ruling party opting to count the votes manually instead of electronically.
It all started at the 2007 ANC elective conference in Polokwane, when fearing vote rigging, the then ANC's deputy president Jacob Zuma's backers called for a manual count. They argued that it was highly possible to manipulate technology and manual counting was seen as the answer to eliminate any suspicion of fiddling with counting.
Five years on and the party has decided to stick to this method of counting, despite all the technological advancements.
ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu says, "We have discouraged the issue of electronic counting. We would like proper counting, manual counting of all the votes that would have been cast for each and every individual. That minimizes any contestation around outcomes."
Some say there's irony in this, as South Africa is touted as a technology leader on the continent. Yet other countries have made better advancements. Vote-counting in the recent Ghana elections was done electronically.
It remains to be seen when the ruling party will opt for technology over tradition in its vote-counting processes.
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ANC's Mkhize rejects M&G report on 'voting cattle'
SAPA, M&G, 10 December 2012
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The ANC has chosen its leaders on the basis of the work they do and not because they make news headlines, says the party's KZN chair Zweli Mkhize.
"We choose our leaders on the basis of the work that we see. We do not choose simply because someone appears on television or is on the front page of any newspaper," the ANC's KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Mkhize told a cadres forum at the University of Zululand on Sunday.
He rejected a recent Mail & Guardian report that Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla had said in an interview that ANC members had been turned into "voting cattle".
Mkhize said ANC branches made their decision on the party's leadership and that delegates were not "herded" to vote in a particular way.
"We have made our nominations. We stand by them," he said.
Mkhize later told reporters that whatever was decided at Mangaung would be accepted by KwaZulu-Natal delegates.
KZN's cabinet nomination results
The province nominated President Jacob Zuma to lead the party with businessperson and national executive committee member Cyril Ramaphosa as his deputy.
It nominated Gwede Mantashe to stay on as secretary general with and Jessie Duarte as his deputy, Mkhize as treasurer general instead of Matthews Phosa, and Baleka Mbethe for another term as national chairperson.
Mkhize and provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said that although the national leadership contest was important, it was not the sole item of importance on the agenda of the party's 53rd national elective conference.
They said KwaZulu-Natal delegates would be disciplined and humble when voting at the conference.
Of the almost 4 500 delegates who will attend the conference in Mangaung, 974 will come from KwaZulu-Natal.
Zikalala said the KwaZulu-Natal delegates would ask the party to look at various policies concerning mining and import tariffs.
The mining and import tariffs issue
The wholesale nationalisation of the mining sector was also not on the cards, but the party wanted to see greater protection of natural resources.
He said it should not be that resources were simply mined and exported but that the resources should be processed into finished products.
"We don't want investments that are dependent on foreign trade only," he said.
The ANC KwaZulu-Natal also wants the issue of import tariffs to be discussed.
"We are saying that tariffs need to be increased on products that can be made in South Africa."
He said that the ANC would not "embark on economic policies haphazardly".
Zuma also arrived at the cadres' forum to loud cheers and singing, but his address to the forum was not open to the media. – Sapa
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Mangaung, T minus 5: A state of almighty flux
Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick, 11 December 2012
After tormenting his party and South Africa for months with his silence, ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe has to stop the dodging game and give the ANC electoral commission a straight answer. His key supporters believe he will challenge ANC president Jacob Zuma for leadership of the ANC – and new figures are doing the rounds indicating Motlanthe could still beat the odds. Meanwhile, some decisions taken at the ANC policy conference, like the one to reduced size of the national executive committee, are likely to be overturned at Mangaung. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.
As far as playing hard to get goes, Kgalema Motlanthe has it down to a fine art. With just five days remaining before the start of the ANC’s 53rd national conference, not even his comrades in the ANC leadership, his aides or his most ardent supporters have any idea yet whether he will run for the presidency, the number two spot, or both, or nothing at Mangaung.
His consistent position was that he would allow the branches to have their say first. The last of the branches had their say at the provincial nominations conferences last week but Motlanthe is still dragging the matter out, saying he will only reveal his decision to the electoral commission which presides over the ANC elections.
Motlanthe’s strict adherence to party discipline by not campaigning made sense to the point of the nominations conferences, as he first wanted to find out whether the membership of the ANC wanted him in a leadership position. Now that it is clear that three provinces and the ANC Youth League want him to be their president and another province has nominated him for deputy president, Motlanthe’s reticence is simply pathological.
By now the Forces of Change lobbyists have had enough of hanging back and are upping the ante. While ANC president Jacob Zuma’s supporters in Cosatu and the South African Communist Party are still angling for a deal that will see Motlanthe keep his current position and businessman Cyril Ramaphosa decline nomination for the deputy president post, anti-Zuma campaigners have revived their campaign to have the president unseated.
The Forces of Change bloc was dealt a blow by the outcome of the nominations conferences, particularly in the swing provinces such as the Eastern Cape and the North West, which voted in favour of Zuma. The votes in the nine provinces gave Zuma a seemingly unbeatable lead of 2,521 over Motlanthe’s 863.
But those opposed to Zuma’s second term regrouped over the weekend and, in a somewhat inexplicable resurgence of confidence, believe they can still pull of a Motlanthe victory. They claim that the conferences in the North West and the Eastern Cape were rigged and that a different picture will emerge in Mangaung. They also claim that delegates aligned to them in the Zuma strongholds of KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and Mpumalanga could not vote according to their will as there would have been a witch-hunt to track them down. They were also afraid that these people might be excluded from official delegations and replaced with Zuma acolytes.
But Zuma’s supporters are unperturbed by an SMS doing the rounds in ANC circles estimating that Motlanthe can win the support of 2,158 of the 4,130 branch delegates. They claim that the Forces of Change’s newfound buoyancy is “misplaced” and that expecting a mass variance in voting patterns is foolhardy.
As a result of the new developments, talks towards a pre-conference deal that would keep Zuma and Motlanthe in their positions have not been able to advance beyond calls between camp leaders to test the waters.
But while the issue of leadership remains a point of contention, it is now likely that the ANC delegates will overturn a decision taken at the June policy conference to reduce the size of the national executive committee (NEC) from 80 members to 60. The proposal to the policy conference was sponsored by KwaZulu-Natal which felt that the NEC was unnecessarily large and this led to meetings taking an inordinate amount of time as most members wanted to speak. In addition to the 80 members are the top six officials and ex officio representatives from the three leagues.
The policy conference recommendation to the national conference reads as follows: “The size of the NEC (i.e. directly elected members) should be reduced from 80 to 60. In order to qualify for election into the NEC, a candidate should have been a member of the ANC for at least 10 years, with a proven track record of leadership at other levels or in other sectors of society. In addition, a candidate should have undergone training from the ANC political school system.”
The proposal has prompted much wrangling in several provinces over the reduced number of seats available in the NEC. Most provinces, as well as the alliance partners, want to increase their representation on the NEC but are finding it difficult to do so as they have to boot out people currently on the committee. The NEC is currently dominated by members of Cabinet who would be humiliated if they were excluded from the powerful decision-making body. The NEC also has to have 50% representation of women, which means that the voting results are manipulated to push women up the list to achieve parity.
Provincial leaders compiling their NEC line-ups based on branch nominations are finding it impossible to get their nominees onto the list of 60 members. There is now a loose consensus in the provinces that the reduction of the NEC by 20 members is not feasible.
Furthermore, the policy conference resolution to reduce the number of provinces in South Africa is also now facing general opposition.
The policy conference decided that provinces should be “reformed, reduced and strengthened” and that, “A presidential commission be appointed to review the provinces, and make proposals on, among other issues, the role of provinces and the number the country should have and their possible boundaries.”
One of the underlying reasons for the controversial proposal was to neutralise the Democratic Alliance’s dominance in the Western Cape by merging it with parts of the Eastern Cape. It has also been suggested that the boundaries of the old Transvaal be re-established, which would entail merging Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. All three of the provinces are now balking at the idea however, as it would threaten the political and economic fiefdoms established by the provincial leaders.
Government’s National Development Plan could also come across stiff opposition at the conference. The plan, compiled by Trevor Manuel’s National Planning Commission, is a long-term strategy aimed at eliminating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030. Although the plan has been welcomed by government and opposition parties, it received a cool reception at the policy conference as well as the September Cosatu national congress. Some provinces now want the plan to be sent back to the drawing board.
As with the policy conference, the issue of nationalisation of mines remains one of the most burning issues the ANC will have to contend with in Mangaung, particularly after the wave of unrest that swept through the mining sector after the Marikana massacre. Although wholesale nationalisation was thrown off the table at the policy conference, there was broad support for “strategic nationalisation” which would see a percentage of mine ownership being taken over by the state.
The issue was complicated at the policy conference as support for strategic nationalisation coincided with provinces which appeared to be supporting Motlanthe. Only KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Free State motivated against the proposal for strategic nationalisation. Confusion reigned after the policy conference as some ANC leaders denied there was a decision in favour of it. However ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe made a surprise statement at the Cosatu congress, inviting the trade union federation to contribute to the resolution on strategic nationalisation.
But with configurations and support patterns in some provinces having changed since the policy conference, the issue of nationalisation is once again a hot potato and it is not known what the Mangaung conference might eventually decide on the matter. Nationalisation also lost its chief advocate when Julius Malema was expelled from the ANC and the issue has lost momentum since then.
With five days to go before the conference opens on the Day of Reconciliation, absolutely nothing is reconciled or certain in the ANC. However there is low-level horse-trading between camps and provinces over positions on the NEC and policy, which could see some secondary deals struck before the conference starts.
But the question of the presidency still hangs in the balance and it hinges on Motlanthe’s response to the party’s electoral commission.
Over to you, Mr Deputy President.
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Ten things about Mangaung
Mail & Guardian Correspondent, M&G, 07 December 2012
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Mangaung is the municipality in which the city of Bloemfontein is situated; the city is also erroneously referred to as Mangaung. Mangaung is the capital of the Free State province. What is now the province was an independent Boer republic, the Orange Free State, from 1854 to 1902.
- The name means “Place of Leopards” or “Place of Cheetahs” in Sesotho.
- Bloemfontein is the home of the Cheetahs rugby team.
- The African National Congress was founded (as the South African Native National African Congress) in Bloemfontein in 1912.
- The National Party, which governed South Africa from 1948 to 1994, was founded in Bloemfontein in 1915 by Afrikaners disaffected with the governing South African Party of General Louis Botha.
- The ANC will hold its elective conference there from December 16.
- The ANC also held its 44th national congress there in 1955. ANC president Dr AB Xuma delivered a stern lecture warning of the dangers of “certain tendencies” in the party, including “splits, cracks, antagonisms and struggle for office for personal reasons”. The ANC, he said, “seems to fear ... criticisms constructive and otherwise from its following and others. People who voice their reasonable and considered views on Congress policy and/or no policy ... are referred to as ‘sellers-out’ or ‘agents’ or ‘friends of the government’ instead of being shown where they are wrong ... Many who dare to criticise the hierarchy have been expelled ...”
- Bloemfontein was officially founded by a British soldier, Major Henry Douglas Warden, in 1846, in the form of a fort that would serve as an outpost of the Cape Colony. It retained the name of the farm Warden had bought from its Afrikaner owner. A bronze bust of Warden graces the Bloemfontein-Mangaung History Hall at the National Museum there.
- In 1899, Bloemfontein was the site of a meeting between British imperial forces and representatives of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR; also known as the Transvaal Republic), in an attempt to forestall the outbreak of war between Britain and the Boers. It failed. British High Commissioner Lord Alfred Milner demanded of the republic’s President Paul Kruger that uitlanders (white foreigners) in the territory be given the vote at once, meetings of the Volksraad or parliament be conducted in English as well as Dutch and all its laws be confirmed by the British Parliament. Kruger refused on the grounds that this was an unacceptable breach of the republic’s sovereignty and Milner walked out. War was declared on October 11 1899.
- True to its Dutch name, Bloemfontein (“flower fountain”) hosts the annual Rose Festival.
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5. International
Brent edges down near $107 as US, Italy woes rattle investors
REUTERS, SABC News, 11 December 2012
Brent crude edged down towards $107 a barrel today as a stalemate over fiscal talks in the United States and political uncertainty in Italy rattled investors, even as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East supported prices.
Investors shied away from riskier assets as US politicians squabbled over ways to reduce debt, while Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's decision to resign early raised fears that the country could stray from economic reforms needed to steer itself out of the financial crisis.
Brent crude edged down 8 cents to $107.25 a barrel by 0302 GMT. U.S. crude was at $85.54, down 2 cents.
"There is a bearish tone in the market going into the year end with nothing much to support oil prices except geopolitical risks," Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp said,
"The focus is on the fiscal cliff," he said, adding that the bad news from Italy also weighed on oil prices.
More talks were held yesterday between the White House and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's office to break the "fiscal cliff" stalemate, although neither side showed any public
In Italy, borrowing costs soared and share prices tumbled on Monday as the markets took fright at Monti's announcement that he will step down early.
The news came just as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday that economic growth in Italy and China may be about to turn up.
Traders also will be keeping a close watch on any changes in OPEC supply as the group meets in Vienna on Wednesday
China's crude imports rose in November while refinery runs reached a record of more than 10.1 million barrels a day (bpd), although foreign trade data disappointed.
"Despite China's improving economy, prices could come under some pressure today as fresh uncertainty over Europe tempers sentiment," ANZ analysts wrote in a note.
Yet, tensions in the Middle East that threaten to disrupt oil supply have supported prices throughout the year. The region is facing fresh unrest in Egypt, fighting in Syria and global pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme.
"The geopolitical risk is higher than ever," Nunan said. "It's going to be nasty when Damascus falls."
Traders also will be keeping a close watch on any changes in OPEC supply as the group meets in Vienna on Wednesday, while scouring weekly U.S. oil inventories data to be released over the next two days.
"The only thing that could come out of OPEC would be bearish as most people agree they have to address oversupply next year," Nunan said.
OPEC members collectively are producing about 1 million barrels a day of crude more than needed, swelling oil stocks at a time of weak demand, Iranian OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said.
The 12-member group is expected to stick with its target of 30 million bpd when it meets on Wednesday.
In the United States, commercial crude oil stockpiles were forecast to have fallen last week amid high refinery demand, while gasoline inventories were expected to rise, a preliminary Reuters poll of five analysts showed.
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Hamas chief ends Gaza visit with Palestinian unity call
Reuters, EWN, 11 December 2012
GAZA - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended his first visit to the Gaza Strip on Monday with a pledge his Islamist movement would strive to heal political rifts with Palestinian rivals who hold sway in the occupied West Bank.
His comments reinforced promises he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah movement, made to each other in a telephone conversation a month ago.
These were promises to forge ahead with a stalled unity deal opposed by Israel.
During his four-day stay in Gaza, Meshaal had angered Israel with vows to never recognise the Jewish state and to seek to "free the land of Palestine inch by inch."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Europe, the United Nations and Abbas of reacting to calls by Hamas for the destruction of Israel with "deafening silence."
In brief remarks before crossing back to Egypt from Gaza, Meshaal sidestepped the conflict with Israel, and focused on internal Palestinian feuds.
"I entered Gaza carrying a great love for it and I exit with a greater love in my heart," said the 56-year-old Hamas leader, who lives in exile.
"From Gaza I have stressed the need for reconciliation, and I do so again. Gaza and the West Bank are two dear parts of the greater Palestinian homeland, and they need each other."
Hamas has ruled the tiny Gaza Strip and its 1.7 million population since 2007, when it won a brief civil war with its secular rivals Fatah, which still controls the occupied West Bank.
Israel had pulled troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005.
The two main Palestinian factions have tried, often with little enthusiasm, to patch up their differences.
Meshaal has vowed to push for the unity which most Palestinians say they want.
Both parties hope to boost ties on the heels of an eight-day war between Hamas and Israel last month that ended with a truce, and a Fatah-led initiative at the United Nations General Assembly recognising Palestinian statehood.
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Spain’s Weakened Banks Shackle Builders’ Drive for Growth Abroad
Charles Penty & Manuel Baigorri,Bloomberg, 11 December 2012
Spanish builders find themselves increasingly dependent on foreign banks as they seek growth abroad to weather the worst property slump on record.
“We are having more difficulties with access to credit,” said Susana Monje, chief executive officer of Grupo Essentium, a construction firm based near Madrid that turned to Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG for backing to win a contract in India this year. “There’s a label for Spanish companies and if you have that label, then you have it more difficult.”
Spanish builders such as Essentium and Actividades de Construccion & Servicios SA are paying the price for the frail state of the country’s banking system as they seek to tap growth abroad to compensate for a collapsed market at home. While helping fuel a housing boom before the bubble burst in 2008, lenders have since become reluctant to support the construction industry’s growth ambitions, instead focusing on reducing domestic real estate losses and cutting lending risks.
The country is set to receive about 40 billion euros ($52 billion) in bailout funds as soon as tomorrow after earlier this year sealing an agreement for as much as 100 billion euros of European aid to stabilize its banking system. Under the terms, Bankia group and two other nationalized lenders, whose combined assets amount to almost a fifth of Spain’s banking industry, will have to cut assets by more than 60 percent by 2017.
‘Significant Barrier’
Lending to Spain’s building industry has already slumped 40 percent from a 2007, according to Bank of Spain data. Loans for construction as a proportion of gross domestic product dropped to about 9 percent from 15 percent in that period.
“It’s true that financing conditions have got tougher,” Jose Manuel Loureda, general director of international business at Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SYV), a construction company based in Madrid, said in a telephone interview. “It has become a significant barrier to overcome.”
Spanish bad loans may increase further as the economy continues to shrink in 2013, the Bank of Spain said on Nov. 5. Banco Santander SA (SAN) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA), Spain’s largest lenders, were downgraded two levels to BBB and BBB-, respectively, by Standard & Poor’s on Oct. 16. The firm also cut the ratings of nine other banks and placed six on credit watch negative.
Tougher Competition
Builders are also struggling to regain investor confidence in their balance sheets. ACS has been forced to disclose more financial information to win foreign orders than in the past, spokesman Juan Jose Diaz said. Spain’s biggest construction company started to “bid pretty much anywhere” as customers grew more cautious and competition toughened, he said.
While Essentium’s infrastructure construction unit in July won a 30-month contract worth 26 million euros to build a 67- kilometer (42-mile) section of railroad in the Indian state ofUttar Pradesh, it had to first line up a counter-guarantee from Deutsche Bank after the contractor declined to accept its backing from a Spanish lender, said Monje.
“We have only encountered this situation once, it’s not wide-spread and we hope this doesn’t get any worse,” she said. “The issue of guarantees is one of the most decisive factors for Spanish companies to be successful when expanding abroad. We could attack the market much more for railroad projects if we had more support in terms of guarantees.”
‘Negative News’
Spain is relying on the ability of its companies to build their businesses abroad, with the economy mired in its second recession since 2009 and more than a quarter of the working population unemployed. GDP may drop 1.5 percent this year and next, before increasing 0.5 percent in 2014, a Bloomberg News survey shows. By comparison, the euro-area economy is seen returning to growth next year, a separate survey shows.
Sacyr, whose international business accounts for about 40 percent of revenue, up from 36 percent a year ago, is seeking to further expand abroad after winning contracts in countries including Panama and Angola in the third quarter, said Loureda.
At Essentium, Monje said the lack of funding at home has forced the builder to “find resources where we didn’t look before,” such as consortiums with local partners.
“All the negative news on Spain is having a negative impact on Spanish companies,” she said. “The construction sector needs to reinvent itself or die.”
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China one of the most unequal nations
AFP, Fin24, 10 December 2012
Shanghai - China's wealth gap has widened to a level where it is among the world's most unequal nations, a Chinese academic institute said in a survey, as huge numbers of poor are left behind by the economic boom.
China's Gini coefficient - a commonly used measure of inequality - was 0.61 in 2010, the Survey and Research Center for China Household Finance said, well above what some academics view as the warning line of 0.40.
A figure of 0 would represent perfect equality, and 1 total inequality.
"Currently, China's household income gap is huge," said the institute, founded by the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and the Institute of Financial Research, which operates under China's central bank.
"The Gini coefficient is as high as 0.61, rare in the world."
China's growing wealth gap is a major concern for Communist authorities, who are keen to avoid public discontent that could lead to social unrest in the country of 1.3 billion people.
In a sign of the sensitivity surrounding the issue the government has not released an official Gini coefficient for the country as a whole for more than a decade, since it put the statistic at 0.412 in 2000.
A figure of 0.61 would put China at the top of a list of 16 countries by 2010 Gini coefficient on the World Bank website. The largest set of figures available on the site is for 2008, covering 47 countries and headed by Honduras on 0.613.
The Global Times newspaper, which reported the latest survey results on Monday, said China's wealth gap had reached an "alarming" level.
But the research centre played down its own findings, saying such a phenomenon was common in rapidly developing economies.
It called on the government to use its vast financial resources to support low-income earners in the short term, while improving education to help address the imbalance in the long term.
"The Gini coefficient certainly points to the serious issue of income inequality," the director of the Chengdu city-based centre Gan Li said.
"But more importantly about the interpretation of the figure is that it does not necessarily indicate imbalance in China's economy," he said, adding it was normal for greater resources to flow to developed areas.
"There's no need to make a big fuss about it."
The government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated China's Gini coefficient at nearly 0.47 in 2005.
Another research institute, the Centre for Chinese Rural Studies, in August put the Gini coefficient at around 0.39 for rural residents last year, but gave no figure for the overall national level.
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Stimulus meets 'fiscal cliff'
Reuters, Business Report, 10 December 2012
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The contrast could not be sharper: Economists are all but certain the US Federal Reserve will expand its monetary stimulus this week, but they have no clue how the fiscal battle in Congress will shake out.
US central bankers look set to extend their monetary stimulus, known as Quantitative Easing, into the new year at a meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Analysts expect the Fed to continue buying $85 billion worth of securities per month.
“The Fed would not have emphasised the number '$85 billion' in securities purchases in its statement if it wasn't prepared to continue at that pace well beyond the end of the year,” said Roberto Perli, a senior managing director at investment research firm ISI.
No matter what it does, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has made it clear the central bank lacks the firepower to counter the possible drag from the looming $600 billion combination of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions popularly known as the “fiscal cliff.”
Alarm over an immediate, looming deadline may be overstated. Some analysts say the cliff is better described as a slope, since not all provisions will kick in at once. But Congress' budget watchdog and the Fed both think it spells recession.
The world is watching with bated breath, particularly given the fragile state of other major economies.
EURO ZONE HURTING
The euro zone remains mired in recession and, while Greece's latest debt deal has calmed nerves for now, few believe it will take long before troubles in Spain and Italy flare up again.
Euro zone industrial output numbers on Wednesday are forecast to show an uptick of 0.2 percent following a steep 2.5 percent plunge in the prior month, according to a Reuters poll. Still, few believe the euro zone's wounds will heal any time soon.
A European Central Bank policymaker said the bank had a “very serious” debate last week about cutting interest rates, which are already at a record low of 0.75 percent, and added that a cut was possible next year if the euro zone economy does not pick up. The German and Austrian central banks separately suggested such a turnaround is unlikely, forecasting scant growth in their economies for 2013.
With the continent still in crisis, European Union leaders will hold their last summit of the year. Ahead of that gathering, EU finance ministers will meet on Wednesday to try to hash out an agreement on cross-border banking supervision, having failed to do so last week.
Heads of state, for their part, will focus on the long-term direction and structure of the bloc, for which banking union is a key part.
The final Spanish bond auction of the year on Wednesday will provide a good opportunity to look back at how they have fared this year and, more importantly, a possible signal of how they will do in 2013 with investors still waiting for Madrid to request outside help, which would allow the ECB to intervene in the bond market.
'FISCAL CLIFF' OR BUST
Stateside, budget negotiations will remain centre stage, even if expectations for a deal are based more on faith than fact.
“The decision is completely being driven by politics, not by what's good for the economy,” said Eric Leeper, an economics professor at Indiana University. “That's what happens when you have no clear objectives for fiscal policy.”
Republican House Speaker John Boehner accused President Barack Obama of pushing the country toward the “fiscal cliff” on Friday and of wasting another week without making progress in talks. Obama has argued it is Republicans and their desire to protect the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that are preventing an agreement.
“Last week brought very little substantive progress,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities, calling the discussions “a slow-motion train wreck.”
US employment picked up in November, according to a Labor Department report on Friday, but the drop in the jobless rate to 7.7 percent was due to discouraged workers bailing out of the labor force. This should keep the Fed, which has committed to buying assets for as long as it takes to improve the outlook for jobs, easing monetary policy for the foreseeable future.
Indeed, economists at JPMorgan said that the third round of quantitative easing could range as high as $3 trillion if recent progress in bringing down unemployment grinds to a halt.
At $2.8 trillion, the Fed's balance sheet is already more than triple its pre-crisis size. - Reuters
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6. Comment
COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013
For more information, contact COSATU Offices
Come one…..Come All!
Stop Commodification of public goods!
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Cosatu has learnt about set wages the hard way
Dave Marrs , Business Day, 11 December 2012
STRIKING farm workers in the De Doorns district of the Western Cape may not have achieved the doubling of their wages they were after, but at least now they know who their local MP is. It turns out that, in terms of our rather quirky form of representative democracy, the constituency was allocated by the African National Congress to Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, and he duly made a guest appearance when the manure hit the fan a week or two ago.
Who knew? I mean, how many South Africans even know they have an MP ostensibly looking after their interests in Parliament, let alone who it is? Not that having a government big hitter apparently in their corner has done either the strikers or the wine-grape and export fruit farmers, much good. Just like Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s early intervention in the dispute only added fuel to the fires, Davies’s stab at putting a lid on a violent and destructive situation seemed to confuse more than placate.
Hardly had he sagely advised the strikers that they would get a better deal if they were more organised and engaged in "credible collective bargaining", than the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) got involved and persuaded the workers — most, anyway — that farm-level negotiations were actually the way to go.
I don’t claim to be a labour-relations expert, but that would seem to be a move in the opposite direction of what Davies was advocating. It makes sense to anyone who understands how the farm sector works — some farms are more profitable than others and require different skills, even within the same district, so a one-size-fits-all wage agreement is not appropriate. But farm-level negotiations are the equivalent of factory-level talks in the industrial context — and that is usually anathema to the unions.
The reason Cosatu had a starkly different opinion from Davies on the best way forward at De Doorns is that it has learnt the hard way. Sector-wide collective bargaining makes sense in industries where jobs, profitability and skills are relatively uniform; it would be wise for the platinum mining sector to standardise work categories and pay levels as a means of avoiding another Marikana, for instance. But it is a disaster waiting to happen when applied to industries where such circumstances do not prevail.
The clothing and textile and light engineering sectors are cases in point — Cosatu and its affiliate in the sector have painted themselves into a corner over their insistence that wage levels be negotiated industrywide and imposed on all employers through the bargaining council system. Now many of those employers are failing to comply with the statutory minimum wage and the union is balking at enforcing compliance, because it knows that would mean plant closures and thousands of job losses.
The same would happen if the minimum wage for De Doorns farm workers was more than doubled to R150 a day, as is the demand, or even increased by about 40% to a nice round R100, which some have suggested as a compromise. Cosatu knows there would be many job losses, mechanisation would increase, some farmers would go bankrupt and output and exports would decline.
That is not an argument against minimum wages per se. There is a place for a state-enforced base wage rate as a way to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable individuals whose freedom of choice and movement may be limited. International research supports the view that a moderate wage floor need not cause job losses and can even help reduce inequality by narrowing the wage gap. There is still a price to pay: there is evidence that employers partially recover the cost of increased minimum wages by raising prices and reducing service levels.
The key word here is "moderate". Minimum wages that are too high, will cause damage. Adcorp puts the number of jobs lost across the economy as a direct result of the introduction of minimum wages at 1,5-million in a decade. The farm employment level plunged from 2,5-million in 2001 to 647,000 at present, and while enforced wage increases are clearly not the only cause, they have undoubtedly added to the burden farmers face.
• Marrs is Cape Editor.
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Lessons from the US in fighting corruption
Nicola Whittaker, Business Day, 11 December 2012
LAST week, Net1 Universal Electronic Payment System Technologies disclosed that it was being investigated by the US department of justice for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Net1 is listed on the Nasdaq and the JSE. Its share price plummeted after the disclosure.
The far-reaching Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminalises corruption perpetrated outside the US by, among others, US-listed entities. The act prohibits giving anything of value to foreign government officials to obtain or retain an unfair business advantage.
The act has, of late, been applied by US authorities with aggression.
Why are the US authorities after Net1? And what does it have to do with us? Earlier this year, one of Net1’s subsidiaries, Cash Paymaster Services, a South African company, is alleged to have made payments to government officials in order to secure a R10bn contract from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) to distribute social grants worth R500bn to more than 15-million beneficiaries in SA. The award of the contract was subject to a high court challenge by one of the unsuccessful bidders, Allpay Consolidated Investment Holdings. Allpay took Sassa and Cash Paymaster Services to court this year claiming irregularities in the tender process and corruption on the part of Cash Paymaster.
The court found numerous gross irregularities in the tender process. Yet, despite this, and notwithstanding Allpay’s contention that Cash Paymaster perpetrated acts of corruption, the court upheld the tender. It did so — after finding the tender process "illegal and invalid" — in order not to interrupt the payment of social grants. This decision is going on appeal, to be heard next year.
But the fact that the tender was not set aside by the court did not deter the US authorities. Corruption was alleged involving a company that falls within its jurisdiction — the US authorities sat up and launched an investigation.
South African authorities, on the other hand, appear to be asleep. The corruption allegations are set out in the court papers deposed to by Allpay and have been placed before the authorities by parties in the know, as is required in terms of our own corruption legislation. And yet all is quiet in SA.
According to an article in Beeld last week, the spokesman for the Department of Social Development is on record as saying that no investigation against Cash Paymaster is necessary in light of the court’s decision to keep the Sassa tender award in place. Not only is this a pitiful cop-out, it is plain wrong. The court took a decision not to set the tender aside because it was persuaded that to do so would upset the distribution of social grants and in turn prejudice the millions of beneficiaries. The court in no way condoned the actions of Sassa or Cash Paymaster in the tender process. To the contrary, the court’s judgment shows up a number of suspect actions and omissions on the part of Cash Paymaster that at the very least provide fuel for an investigation. And the South African authorities will surely want to probe why a major tender was so grossly flawed. Were those responsible for awarding the tender induced to conduct themselves illegally?
Why is the US, which is not affected in any material way by the tender award, taking a stand against corruption and SA is not? This is not because our country lacks strong legislation. South African law criminalises corruption; creates a separate offence for corrupt activities relating to public officials; and applies extraterritorially. The difference is that the US has decided to enact legislation and enforce it with vigour. It sends a clear message in order to counter a growing global culture of corruption.
South Africans have an interest in our country following this example. The most vulnerable South Africans who are beneficiaries of social grants are most at risk if this is left in the hands of a distributor that has been implicated in an illegal tender. The economy is at risk if bidders for major public tenders are required to compete on an uneven playing field.
All South Africans are exposed if anticorruption laws remain unenforced.
So what should be done? The court acted in an attempt to protect the interests of 15-million grant beneficiaries. The choice, however, should not be between protecting the vulnerable or accepting corrupt practices. By confronting corruption, we protect the most vulnerable, who ultimately pay the cost of corruption. Strong law is not good enough. We need strong enforcement too.
• Whittaker is with Corruption Watch.
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India: The ongoing tyranny of the caste system
Jay Naidoo, Daily Maverick, 10 December 2012
While South Africa is still clinging to the remains of its image as the poster child for peaceful transition, injustices parallel to those of Apartheid continue unchecked in India. Hunger and desperation fester, while the legacy of the caste system remains as powerful as ever.
I sit in a huge rambling hall in Delhi with thousands of activists from Dalit villages across India. There is tangible excitement amid the festival of colour as chattering delegates clutch their badges and conference folders. Many, barely literate, are in clothes that are threadbare but obviously their best, wearing chappals (rubber slippers). It has taken a year to prepare for this conference. But they are like those Cosatu delegates at the founding congress in 1985 in Durban; proud to be here representing their communities.
Their leader, Ashok Kumar Bharti, rallies the gathering, thundering about the continued exclusion and marginalisation of the Dalits: “Ours is the struggle for social inclusion and the recognition of our human dignity. We will not allow our people to be trampled on by a tyranny of the upper castes. We will speak for ourselves.”
I agree with him. I think back to our own struggle against racial exclusion and find the parallels even today. The scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in India number over 300 million and constitute a quarter of the population, and yet they remain entrapped to menial labour through an insidious system, the social and religious roots of which date back centuries.
I think to the world we know today and believe that social exclusion is the dominant challenge we face. Billions live in poverty on less than US$2 per day. Increasing inequality has raised the ugly head of a new Apartheid that divides an every small minority of global economic and political elites who dominate the world economy from the vast majority of humanity.
The global crises of food, financial and climate change combined with the continuing fiscal austerity hit the poor and the working people ever harder. Unemployment, especially amongst youth, is becoming a permanent feature of the global economic fabric. Our governments are disconnected from the hardships of unemployment and poverty and increasingly hostage to predatory elites.
At independence (1947), the Indian Constitution made a provision for reservation of 22% in all governmental positions and educational institutes for Dalits and scheduled tribes. The challenge, similar to black economic empowerment in SA, is that only a small elite has benefited, and mainly because of its political connections.
Ashok’s commitment to taking the benefits of democracy down to the grass roots reminds me of Steve Biko. He is a fearless, charismatic and militant campaigner advocating a philosophy of 'Dalit Consciousness' advanced by Dr Ambedekar, the architect of India's constitution and himself a Dalit. It reminds me of hearing Biko's fiery speech I experienced as a teenager. "You have nothing to lose but your chains. Stop being bystanders in a game you should be playing. It is, after all, better to die fighting for justice and human dignity than to live a life of oppression and die a slave."
I recognise the tension and the complexity of building a movement here. It reminds of the birth of the modern trade union movement. These village representatives are like the hardened hostel dwellers who formed the backbone of Cosatu in the eighties. There is raw passion and energy in the air. All discussions are in vernacular. And the hardship of daily life is etched in the faces of many who have travelled outside their village for the first time.
Memories roll back decades. I drift in and out of those heady days of our robust discussions of yesteryear. We disagreed, argued and made many mistakes. But the principle of “servant leadership” prevailed: “I may disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.” Our vision of activism driven by the interests of the poorest seems to have withered inside of our country and indeed in the world.
Here I see it incubating again.
I watch the youth that are present and see their eyes light up with enthusiasm when I describe the life of my great grandmother, who came from a poverty-stricken village they know so well, to me being a Minister under the famed Mandela. “Only we, ourselves, stand in the path of us achieving our dreams. We have learnt that we should never hand over our power to leaders. We have learnt that in my country (SA), even having the world’s best Constitution, with regular elections and all the best policies does not guarantee the better life our people have a right to. Real democracy only comes when we stop being subjects and become active citizens. It comes when we stop being afraid of our leaders and they fear us, the citizens, and understand that we pay them to serve our interests.”
The applause shows that they identify strongly with this political narrative. Only painstaking organising of communities and building a confident local leadership, equipped with the tools of negotiations and coalition building, can ensure that our schools are places of learning, that the clinics don’t run out of medicines and that local government is held accountable.
As I travelled to villages with Ashok Bharti Kumar, I saw the visible signs of desperate wasting and I asked a naïve question. "Who are the Dalits in this village?"
He laughed. I was puzzled. “Everyone here is a Dalit." In rural India, there is a geographic caste division that still lives on. The corrosive legacy of caste, like racism here in SA, can only be eradicated when we are organised.
India, a sub-continent, is a lumbering democracy, the world’s largest. It is a milieu of cross-cultural co-existence with 18 official languages and innumerable dialects and tribal languages across 600,000 villages. Its growth rate averaged 8% over the past decade, claiming global power status as an emerging economy of the future and that has seen poverty drop by 20%. But it still leaves close to 600 million people living in the harshness of deep poverty and inequality that undermines social cohesion and malnutrition has only dropped minimally.
A recent study by the Naandi Foundation, based in Hyderabad, identified a “malnutrition belt” across northern India and mainly affecting the Dalit communities, tribal populations and religious minorities. The study concluded that India is "doing worse than sub-Saharan Africa.” Nearly one in three malnourished children worldwide are found In India, whilst 42% of the nation's children under five years of age are underweight. A total of 58% of children under five surveyed in the worst districts were stunted and suffering irreversible mental and physical underdevelopment.
When the Indian PM, Manmohan Singh, launched the report, he described the continuing crisis of malnutrition in India as a “shameless act”.
Acknowledging such a fact, in my mind, is half the solution. Denialism, as we have seen in our South African experience, has a nasty way of killing hundreds of thousands unnecessarily as we saw in the HIV/AIDS debacle.
The World Bank estimates that micronutrient deficiencies cost India approximately US$ 2,5-Billion per annum. We know today that countries that do not tackle malnutrition when it is cost-efficient to do so, in the first 1,000 days of life – i.e. from pregnancy to 2 years – will see higher healthcare costs into the future.
The science now has proved a link between undernutrition in this “window of opportunity” and the increased risk of diabetes, bone diseases, hypertension, cardio-vascular illnesses and obesity later in life. And if the social and health costs are not important to policy makers, then the economic modelling now demonstrates that not tackling malnutrition could clip 3% of annual GDP rates.
And if there is any doubt about our covenant with our people, then let us turn to one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time. Mahatma Gandhi had this to say about the state of humanity: “There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” As we stand at the edge of a precipice, his profound wisdom is more relevant today than any other time in human history.
Is it not time for us to take a stand to avert a disastrous future for our children?
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South Africans believe media freedom is a basic human right
Research by Ipsos, SABC News, 10 December 2012
Research findings from a poll conducted by Ipsos shows that more than 6 out of 10 (64%) agree with the statement that access to information and a free media are basic human rights and almost half (47%) of adult South Africans believe that the proposed information bill or “secrecy bill” will limit media freedom. The “Pulse of the People” poll of 3 563 people was conducted between October and November, 2012.
“South Africans’ strong views about the bill are rooted in our deep commitment to human rights on a grassroots level,” says Mari Harris, Public Affairs Director at Ipsos.
Split along party lines, more than six in every ten ANC supporters (63%) share this view, while DA supporters feel even more strongly about the subject with three quarters (76%) supporting media freedom as a basic human right.
Opposition to the Secrecy Bill
The view that the Secrecy Bill will limit media freedom is dominant amongst those with a tertiary education - 55% of this group agreeing that media freedom will be limited.
Looking at population groups, 51% of both whites and coloureds, 46% of blacks and 40% of Indians agree.
Analysed along party lines, 53% of DA supporters believe that the new proposed information bill will limit media freedom. A slightly lower proportion of ANC supporters (49%) share their opinion.
"The issue of corruption has been on the red light list for a long time"
Potential for Corruption
Half of South Africans are of the opinion that if the new information bill becomes law, it will be easier to hide corruption and fraud. This sentiment is more pronounced amongst DA supporters (60%) than ANC supporters (50%). Almost half of blacks (48%) and more than half of Indians (54%), coloureds (58%) and whites (59%) agree. Again, stronger views are linked to a higher level of education: 36% of those with no education, 47% of those with up to some high school, 50% of those who completed matric and 64% of those with tertiary education agree.
• Currently only about four in every ten South Africans believe that the national government is doing well in fighting corruption
• 38% say that they believe the government is doing very well or fairly well with fighting corruption in government
• 42% say the government is doing very well or fairly well with maintaining transparency and accountability
“The issue of corruption is one of the so called red-light areas in the regular Ipsos Government Performance Barometer – which highlights the public’s evaluation of government performance on 26 critical policy and service delivery areas,” explains Harris. “If less than 50% of the public evaluate the government as doing well - that is doing “very well” or “fairly well” in a certain area - the issue is below the pass mark and is highlighted as a problem area – demanding urgent attention or corrective measures from government. The issue of corruption has been on the red light list for a long time.”
Today is International Human Rights Day. A day when we respect all people everywhere. Click her to view some video inserts by the UN which celebrates Your Voice.
*Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals*
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Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 or Direct 010 219-1342
Mobile: +27 72 416 3790
E-Mail: mam...@cosatu.org.za