COSATU Media Monitor, 21 May 2013

[Norman Mampane]

COSATU Media Monitor   

Tuesday, 22 May 2013

 

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013;24^th and 31^st May 2013 in Johannesburg & Ekurhuleni respectively

 

COSATU National Collective Bargaining, Organizing and Campaigns Conference Special Declaration

 

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

 

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

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

 

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013.

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

 

Stop Commodification of public goods!

 

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

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

 

COSATU is on Twitter and also has a Facebook Page!

 

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

 

 

Contents

 

Workers’ Parliament

Ø  Magistrates on strike

Ø  Mantashe: NUM, Amcu must stick to rules

Ø  Union brinkmanship pushes rand to four-year low

Ø  The disgraced Fidentia boss and his unlikely friends

Ø  Unions and mines in wage stand-off

Ø  Trade Unions to get response regarding wage demands in three weeks' time

Ø  Cops remain in Rustenburg after mine raids

Ø  The Times Editorial-Unions must work for good of nation, not just members

Ø  We pay too much for players, says Mosimane

Ø  More metro cops for troubled CPT schools

Ø  Spot fixing - and the need for a Players’ Association in India

 

South Africa

Ø  Government thinks about closing initiation schools

Ø  Corruption Watch ploughs into Guptas

Ø  Mixed reaction to BBC report

Ø  Govt to buy stake in newspaper group

Ø  Freight industry must grow - Motlanthe

Ø  Polokwane City promoted to PSL Public invited to Mbuli's memorial

Ø  Catholic Church joins e-toll fight

Ø  R1 billion compensation paid last year

Ø  Public Service Bill to improve service delivery

Ø  FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

 

Alliance

Ø  Highway to 2014: ANC plays down the Gupta connection

Ø  Mantashe: No fallout with Zuma over Guptas

Ø  Mantashe: Name dropping quite common

Ø  ANCYL rebuilding ‘on track’

 

International

Ø  Barack and Michelle Obama to visit Africa next month

 

Comment

 

Ø  COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013;24^th and 31^st May 2013 in Johannesburg & Ekurhuleni respectively

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

Ø  What’s that smell? Must be the name droppings.

__________________________________________________________

1.                  Workers’ Parliament   

Magistrates on strike

Philani Nombembe, Times Live,  21 May 2013

Justice is under siege - magistrates have vowed to dump their robes in pursuit of more money.

Members of the Judicial Officers' Association of SA have embarked on a two-day strike for improved salaries and benefits .

Parliament recently approved a 5.5% salary increase for magistrates.

In March, magistrates went on a national "go slow" that clogged court rolls. Magistrates also postponed the hearing of cases.

Yesterday, the association's president, Nazeem Joemath, said the protest had been strengthened and was now a stay-away.

"We want lower-court magistrates to be treated in the same way as high court judges," said Joemath.

"I am a public office-bearer, like a judge, but I am remunerated according to the public service [pay scale]. I have to pay for my own pension. Judges don't pay for their own pension; they get their salaries for life. I don't get a car; magistrates don't get that."

There are more than 2000 magistrates, 1300 of them members of the Judicial Officers' Association.

Joemath said magistrates would bring courts to a standstill by staying at home for two days.

He said the association would soon institute litigation over the salary dispute .

"In the [past] we went to court and just postponed matters, and we said: 'If nothing happens [this time] we are going to escalate it.'

"That is where we are now.

"South Africa is a reactive government - you must strike before you get any real action."

The Magistrates' Commission has charged Joemath and the association's national secretary, Annalene Larsen, with misconduct in respect of the previous protest.

Joemath dismissed the charges as a "smoke screen".

Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesman for Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, said the magistrates' strike was illegal.

"All magistrates who participate in the envisaged stay-away must realise that such action will have serious consequences [and magistrates] run the risk of action being taken against them," said Mhaga.

It is not known how many magistrates heeded the association's stay-away call yesterday.

___________

Mantashe: NUM, Amcu must stick to rules

 Fin24, 20 May 2013

 

Johannesburg - Rival unions NUM and Amcu must play by the rules when recruiting members, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said on Monday.

"With the rivalry of the unions in the Rustenburg area and in the mining industry, we have a principle in that matter," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

"We don't think employers should be biased in favour of NUM over Amcu. What we are saying is that in any area where there is more than one union in a company, all of them must play according to rules."

Last Tuesday, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members went on an unprotected strike, demanding that the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) offices at Lonmin's Marikana mine be shut down.

They suspended the strike on Wednesday after Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa ordered them to return to work.

On Friday, Lonmin [JSE:LON] said it had started de-recognising the NUM, following significant changes in union membership at its operations.

Mantashe said the African National Congress's national executive committee had discussed conflict between rival unions.

He said union members should not "point guns" at people and force them to sign membership forms.

"Its not a question of whether there is rivalry, therefore we hate Amcu. It is not our business, they have a right to exist," Mantashe said.

"There must be no assassinations because of rivalry. Unions must out-organise each other."

Mathunjwa reportedly threatened, at a memorial service for slain Amcu North West organiser Mawethu Steven, to lead a march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, in protest against the "union-bashing" and killings in Rustenburg.

Steven was to have testified before the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, which is probing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 people - 34 of them shot dead by police - in strike-related unrest in Marikana in August.

He was killed at a tavern in the informal settlement near Marikana, on May 11. The same day, a NUM shop steward and his twin brother were killed in the informal settlement of Nkaneng, Marikana.

_______

Union brinkmanship pushes rand to four-year low

Wiseman Khuzwayo, Business Report, 21 May 2013

The demands by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of a 60 percent wage increase helped push the rand to a four-year low yesterday, highlighting the ripple effect of the prospect of more turmoil in the mining industry.

At 5pm, the rand was bid at R9.4692 to the dollar, 8.13c weaker than Friday’s bid at the same time.

NUM has adopted a brinkmanship approach in its wage hike demands in the gold and coal sectors, in the hope of bolstering dwindling membership numbers lost to rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

The Chamber of Mines said NUM represented about 65.5 percent of employees within the relevant bargaining categories at AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Rand Uranium, Harmony, Pan African Resources, Sibanye Gold and Village Main Reef.

“The gold mining industry in particular is contemplating sacking thousands of workers just after the current bargaining season and indications have been made, though not loudly.”

The union said that the demands were submitted to the Chamber of Mines on Friday, and that NUM wanted the entry wage of surface workers raised from the current minimum of R5 000 a month to R7 000 a month, and R8 000 a month for both underground and open-cast mineworkers.

Meanwhile, trade union Solidarity, which represents mostly skilled workers, said yesterday it was seeking a 10 percent pay hike for its members in the gold and coal sectors.

It is now pay back time for the mining companies. Gideon du Plessis, the general secretary of Solidarity, told Reuters there had been a “gentleman’s agreement” that Solidarity’s members would be rewarded for continuing to work last year in difficult circumstances during a wake of violent wildcat strikes by other unions in the industry.

The chamber said: “We appeal to all parties to explore every option in trying to reach settlement without resorting to damaging industrial action, and to reach agreements that will strike a balance between what is affordable to the companies and meets the expectations of the employees. The future of the gold industry is in our collective hands – it is our responsibility to ensure its safety and sustainability.”

Gwede Mantashe, ANC’s secretary-general, said yesterday its national executive committee discussed the state of the trade union movement in the country at the weekend.

It noted that the recent attacks on NUM and the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union is in fact an attack on Cosatu as a federation, and on the congress movement as a whole.

He said: “The ANC resolved to develop a comprehensive programme of engagement with individual unions.

“The officials were directed to engage Cosatu on an ongoing basis.”

The attacks Mantashe was referring to were from splinter groups Amcu and the National Transport Movement.

Amcu has been eating into the membership of the NUM.

But it is difficult to envisage how the ANC would engage with Amcu, which is affiliated to the politically non-aligned National Council of Trade Unions.

It would be even more difficult because Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of Amcu, was expelled from NUM when Mantashe was its general secretary.

Meanwhile, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said the conciliation process in the dispute by Amcu against Lonmin on the unions recognition, continued. So far there had been no outcome.

________

The disgraced Fidentia boss and his unlikely friends

Rebecca Davis , Daily Maverick, 21 May 2013

 

J Arthur Brown has been one of the most unpopular men in South Africa for a long time now. As the former CEO of Fidentia, he was at the wheel while R1,4 billion went missing from funds administered by the firm, including a fund meant to support widows and orphans of mine workers. It remains one of the biggest corporate scandals in South Africa’s history. Last week, to the shock and disgust of many, the Western Cape High Court ended six years of legal proceedings by handing Brown only a R150,000 fine and a suspended jail sentence. But Brown is receiving loyal support from an unexpected quarter: some of the very people whose money disappeared under his watch, and who most need it back. By REBECCA DAVIS.

In Cape Town, the name “J Arthur Brown” is most commonly prefaced with the label “conman” or “fraudster”. Among other instances of financial misappropriation, Brown’s firm Fidentia embezzled R1,1 billion from the Living Hands Umbrella Trust, formerly the Mineworkers’ Provident Fund, leaving mineworkers’ descendants financially high and dry while Brown continued to rack up purchases of expensive properties and cars and make investments in his favourite sports teams. Taken into custody in March 2007, Brown has reportedly seen his fortune dwindle to nothing over the course of six years’ legal proceedings, although he was able to secure payment of the R150,000 fine slapped on him by Judge Anton Veldhuizen last week.

Brown is now a free man, and many credit this to the prosecution’s inability to build a decent case against him. Brown was initially facing 192 counts of fraud, theft, money-laundering and corruption, but these charges were scaled down to just nine. Legal proceedings were postponed 16 times, thanks to Brown’s delaying tactics, and his day in court finally started only in November last year. In April he was convicted of just two counts of fraud – related to the Transport Education and Training Authority (Teta) and the Mantadia Asset Trust Company – and acquitted on seven others. By contrast, two men in subordinate positions to Brown – financial director Graham Maddock  and broker Stephen Goodwin – were previously handed down seven-year jail terms.

Brown’s wife and children left South Africa for Australia in 2009 after what Brown alleged were threats to their safety, and Brown told journalists that one of his first priorities would be to visit his children. But topping his to-do list at the moment seems to be a campaign to clear his name. Brown is claiming R350 million from the Financial Services Board (FSB) and the curators of Fidentia, who he says are responsible for the loss of investors’ money. Fidentia was placed under curatorship in 2007. Brown maintains that up until the curatorship took effect, there were sufficient assets in the company to cover its liabilities. He told journalists outside the Western Cape High Court last Wednesday that he would “only be free” once he had assisted Fidentia’s victims to recover their lost money.

On Monday, J Arthur Brown could be found in the company of two allies in a sparsely-furnished office in the centre of Cape Town with a “To Let” sign over the door. Brown, casually dressed in stonewashed jeans, looked tired and stressed, despite last week’s court success. He was there to meet with a small group of people who had lost vital income through the Fidentia scandal. But of the 10 individuals gathered around the table, none was there to harangue or chastise Brown. They were there to support him.

The unofficial leader of the Fidentia beneficiaries seemed to be a former SA Nylon Spinners employee, Woodrow Christian, who had invested money in Fidentia via one of the affected funds, the Antheru Beleggings Trust. Christian last received a payment in 2007, before Fidentia went into curatorship. “We got our money on time, no problems, before that,” Christian said. “From 2004 until 2007, no problems. The money paid directly into our bank accounts.”

In January 2007, Christian said, he received his last payment when the curators took over.

“After that, all fall down,” said the man sitting next to him, 70-year-old Dudley Johnson, shaking his head ruefully. “All fall down.”

Most of the people around the table carried bags stuffed with documents relating to the monies owed. Former mineworker Edwin Shibani had a dossier of liberally-underlined news printouts. He passed me a document while a general discussion was ongoing, and looked at me meaningfully.

I wasn’t sure which bit of the news story I was supposed to be looking at. “Brown allegedly stole R12,6 million of Antheru finds to buy the Eastern Cape farm Thaba Manzi,” one paragraph read, though it seemed as if Shibani was willing to skip over that bit. “Brown admitted the money used to purchase the farm was in fact investors’ money held by Fidentia Holdings.”

Langa resident Maureen Williams said that the monthly payments she normally received from the Living Hands Umbrella Trust also dried up after 2007. Williams, a widow, had money in trust for her children. “I’m phoning, phoning,” she explained. “I asked where is Living Hands offices, I am a beneficiary! They say I must go to Joburg. I say, this is my children’s money, they are waiting to go to school! There are five of them.”

Williams says she had previously received R370 per child per month. In January 2010, she said she received a final payment which was less than the usual amount. After this, there has been no more money.

“My mother passed in June 2012,” said Christian. “As the only son, I couldn’t afford to contribute towards the funeral. That made me feel inhuman. I was brought up with integrity and discipline.”

One of Brown’s allies entered the room to summon the group for a photograph. Huisgenoot had arrived to snap a group shot of J Arthur Brown and Fidentia’s victims. Brown stood in the middle. “Smiling, if you feel like it!” the photographer said. There were smiles and laughter.

Upon returning to their meeting, the group was vocal in expressing their support for Brown, who they referred to respectfully as either “Mr Brown” or “Arthur”. Shibani laid it out for me. “The reason we support him is that Mr Brown tried to pay us but the curators took the money,” he explained. “We decided to support Mr Brown because he is not guilty at all. Now we plan to open the case against the curators.”

Fidentia’s curators, appointed in 2007, are Dines Gihwala and George Papadakis. Their names were mentioned continuously at the meeting, where the group had clearly been led to believe by Brown and his friends that Gihwala and Papadakis were the true villains. Brown’s associate Brandon Abelgas sent me an email on late Monday afternoon which included a claim that Gihwala is currently embroiled in another case of financial misappropriation involving a Swiss investment group called Montague Goldsmith.

“Gihwala trial starts tom[orrow] at high court regarding the money he stole from Montague Goldsmith,” Abelgas said in a text message. “We can’t all be telling the same story on this man.”

In 2009 Gihwala lost a case against Montague Goldsmith and was compelled by the court to explain what he did with R4 million deposited into his firm’s trust account. In 2011, it was reported that the Hawks were investigating Gihwala as a result of Brown’s allegations against him.

But Stuart Theobald, managing director of investment research firm Intellidex, pointed out to the Daily Maverick that applications brought by Brown regarding Fidentia’s curators have been repeatedly dismissed. Reviewing one such application in March 2011, Judge Lee Bozalekconcluded that it could be described “as falling into the category of litigation which is ‘vexatious, reckless or an abuse of the process of court’”. It is Theobald’s firm belief, accordingly, that Brown’s allegations against the Fidentia curators are “brazenly without merit”.

Try telling that to Brown’s supporters. “We are the people affected,” insisted Shibani. “He was the person who invested our money. The road is clear now. We have a lawyer. We support him fully and no one can tell us we can’t support him.” When Shibani finished speaking, an impromptu round of applause broke out.

“We believe Arthur didn’t do anything wrong,” Christian added earnestly. “We need to stand by him and trust him.”

Shibani said: “There is money, and Arthur will help us.”

“We are human beings,” Christian chimed in again. “Beings, not B-E-A-N-S.”

J Arthur Brown popped his head around the door. He was leaving. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have an affidavit,” he said, touching one person lightly on the shoulder as he spoke. “Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you Mr Brown,” the table chorused.

After Brown’s exit, the group began to discuss their plans for future “mobilising”. They intended to picket the high court, but Christian warned that only 200 would be allowed on the court stairs, according to police regulations.

“We’ll stand with placards near where the curators live!” Dudley Johnson submitted.

I asked what the placards would say.

“Please remove corrupt curators,” was one suggestion. “Six years on the curators are eating caviar while we are eating dry bread,” Johnson suggested. “Children are suffering and we don’t have money for fees,” proposed Maureen Williams.

“There’s a lot of things we can write on the placards,” Christian summed up.

Earlier, a Brown associate called Matthew Machin had come to chat to the group, and to lead their conversation down journalist-friendly routes for my benefit. Machin was keen to point fingers at Fidentia’s curators, and encouraged the group to do the same. “If you think Mr Brown stole your money, you don’t ask questions,” he explained. An Internet search of Machin, who is British, reveals that he has also been a subject of accusations himself.

The group described their euphoria at the judge’s finding last week that Brown should be acquitted on most counts. “When the judge said Fidentia was not a Ponzi scheme, I was elated! I was jumping in the air,” Christian said. “It tells us that our law system really works.”

Theobald told the Daily Maverick that he felt “very sorry” for the beneficiaries. “They have a right to see that justice is done. They placed a great deal of faith in the management of Fidentia to look after their funds. That faith was terribly abused, and unfortunately, the NPA has so far blundered in prosecuting the case,” Theobald said.

“What [the beneficiaries] can do now is hope that the curators are able to deliver as much value as possible out of the winding up of the business. To start, they should discourage spurious legal action which merely wastes the money the curators are trying to realise. It is fair that they should exercise some oversight over the curators. Curators can make errors, be improperly influenced, etc. The oversight should be over how effectively the curators manage the assets they still hold, and how effectively they realise returns from those assets – i.e. sell at the best price,” Theobald explained. “Unfortunately, conducting that sort of oversight requires specialist financial skills. I’m not sure the beneficiaries have access to such skills. They should make sure any such advisors have the qualifications, licenses and references to ensure they are worthy of their trust.”

Back in the ad-hoc Fidentia boardroom, matters looked like they were rounding up on a very positive note, despite the financial losses suffered by those present. “There is a lawyer in place, a very good person,” Christian said. “[J Arthur Brown] is busy trying to claim back all our money.”

___________

Unions and mines in wage stand-off

eNCA,21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The mining industry is bracing for a stand-off over pay, unions are pushing for hefty pay rises, but mining companies say they simply cannot afford them. Analysts fear a bitter season of industrial action is looming.

South Africa’s mining industry is still struggling to recover from the strikes that rocked the sector last year.

The NUM is calling for massive wage increases in coal and gold mining, it is demanding percentage increases that are about ten times the current inflation rate and that is despite the heavy losses incurred by mining companies following last year’s strikes.

However NUM insists it is justified in demanding such increases.

Frans Baleni; NUM General Secretary said,  “If you look at our peers abroad the wage gap is about three to one at the most 30 to one. If you look at the salary of four thousand rand these mine workers have dependents of up to ten in some instances.’

The Chamber of Mines says companies are already under financial strain, after last year's strikes and electricity increases this year.

The NUM has dismissed claims that it’s making such demands, to try and stem its loss of members to the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

AMCU has still to submit its proposals, and Solidarity has called for a 10% increase which the chamber also considers steep.-eNCA

__________

Trade Unions to get response regarding wage demands in three weeks' time

Luyolo Mkentane, The New Age 20 May 2013

TRADE unions organising in the coal and gold sectors would know in three weeks’ time what mining bosses think of their wages demands tabled at the Chamber of Mines on Friday.

The National Union of Mineworkers was demanding a monthly minimum wage of R7, 000 for surface mineworkers and R8, 000 for underground and open-cast mineworkers.

Gideon du Plessis, general secretary of trade union Solidarity, said they were demanding a 10% wage increase for their “skilled members”.

He said a “gentlemen’s agreement” mining houses entered into with the union was that their members would be rewarded for staying put and not joining other workers during last year’s strikes in the mining industry.

The chamber of Mines said it would circulate the wage demands to its members in the coal and gold sectors, before developing a collective response to them.

It would take about three weeks before a formal meeting was held between the Chamber and the unions, said Elize Strydom, senior executive of employment relations at the Chamber of Mines. 

___________
Cops remain in Rustenburg after mine raids

Govan Whittles, EWN, 20 May 2013

RUSTENBURG - Police maintained a strong presence on the platinum belt in Rustenburg following raids at several mines over the weekend.

More than 500 police officers carried out raids at the Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and the Impala mines. 

Dozens of people were arrested for carrying illegal weapons and drunken behaviour.

Police said it was the first time not a single incident of crime was reported since tensions between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) first flared up.

Police spokesperson Thulane Ngubane said the operation was part of strategy to reclaim the area.

“We cannot compromise on law enforcement. We are going to remain in the area to reclaim our authority as police.”

Thousands of miners working the area travelled to the Eastern Cape for the funeral of Amcu leader Mawethu Stevens. 

Stevens was assassinated in a tavern near Amplats' Khomanani shaft last week.

_________

More metro cops for troubled CPT schools

Shamiela Fisher & Chanel September , EWN, 21 May 2013

CAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town is planning to deploy additional metro police officers to schools plagued by criminal activity.

Officers have been sent to six so-called high risk schools in several areas, including Hanover Park and Manenberg since the beginning of the year.

It forms part of a pilot project aimed at ensuring the safety of pupils in gang hot spots.

The metro police's Wayne le Roux said they were reassessing their programmes.

“Yes, we are looking forward because of the outcry from the community.”

School safety has been thrust into the spotlight again after the shooting of Spes Bona High School pupil Glenrico Martin in Althone last week. Three men rushed into the school and shot 19-year-old Martin in the head. He later died in the Groote Schuur Hospital.

Yesterday, Western Cape Education MEC Donald Grant appealed to parents to ensure that all Spes Bona pupils returned to class. In the wake of Martin’s death, many parents said they would not send their children to school.

Meanwhile, two teenagers, Wilston Stoffels and Jevon Snyman, who allegedly shot and killed Martin will remain behind bars until their next court appearance on 27 May.

They appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on murder charges yesterday.

The matter was postponed to allow prosecutors to establish if the young men have previous convictions or pending legal cases.

Snyman was arrested a day after the shooting, while Stoffels was arrested in Bonteheuwel on Friday.

_________

The Times Editorial-Unions must work for good of nation, not just members

The Times Editorial ,21 May 2013

 

The Times Editorial: We hope that the National Union of Mineworkers' demand that its members be given a 60% wage hike is not just a ploy to win more support in a sector that is bleeding jobs.

The news that the NUM, the most powerful union in gold and coal mining, is to push for such a large wage increase has rattled investors - and should worry the government.

Though the union is entitled to fight for the best deal for its members, its latest demand is widely seen in the mining sector as part of a strategy to win back support lost to its new rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

Amcu is yet to put its wage demands on the table but the talk in the industry is that it might pitch for an increase even bigger than that sought by NUM to protect its new-found popularity.

But, while the two unions are muscling each other, South Africa's economy is choking and crying for help

Stability is what determines whether investors increase their stake or pack their bags.

With our mining sector already in the doldrums after the tragic events in Marikana last year, we cannot afford yet more instability.

We fully agree with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that rival unions must play by the rules when recruiting members.

In the past few months there have been killings said to be linked to the recruitment of members by the rival unions.

Because of the winner-takes-all policy, which involves the union with the most members at a work site being accorded exclusive recognition by the employer, the fight can be expected to get even more bitter and probably more violent.

South Africa cannot afford to lose a job, let alone a mine, if there is to be a better life for all.

Unions cannot be allowed to put at risk the investment needed to build this nation, whatever their stake in the politics of the day .

It is time for the leadership of the unions to act for the benefit of the nation and all its people.

__________

We pay too much for players, says Mosimane

Mazola Molefe, Times Live, 21 May 2013

 

PITSO Mosimane, gearing himself up to recruit new faces for Mamelodi Sundowns for next season, yesterday described the Premier Soccer League transfer market as "crazy" and "abnormal".

"We [Sundowns] are to blame, and so are Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates," the coach said.

Mosimane, who was yesterday named the coach of the final league quarter following one defeat in six matches, criticised Sundown's transfer policy and said he will be "at the heart of every move" for next season.

He said he expects to struggle to off-load players he no longer needs at the club ahead of the next campaign because their worth had plummeted.

"We've paid too much for some of these players and now we can't get rid of some of them because no one is prepared to match our asking price," Mosimane said.

"The market has gone crazy. Look at what we have paid in the past and what we get in return. Are they really worth that much? Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns took the market to another level."

The Brazilians have often splashed out when buying, with Wayne Arendse, Eleazar Rodgers and Teko Modise said to have cost the club over R4-million each.

"Some of these players are unfinished products for these exaggerated figures. And I think only Chiefs, Sundowns and Pirates can restore the market if they are realistic. At this rate, what we are paying is abnormal."

He said he believed the reason why Amakhosi duo of captain Itumeleng Khune and Siphiwe Tshabalala have been unable to secure moves to top European sides is because their representatives differed on the value of the players.

"We also put pressure on these players because of the money that we pay for them and the money we pay them ."

Mosimane is hoping the market will be lenient with him as he prepares to go on a shopping spree after Sundowns fell short of their ambition to secure a Top-8 finish, ending the season in 10th position.

"I like [Cuthbert] Malajila and [Mzikayise] Mashaba, that is why I called him up for Bafana when I was there. But I don't know if I can afford these players."

Malajila finished as Maritzburg United's top scorer with 11 strikes, while Mashaba has impressed at Bidvest Wits in his first season.

The coach went on to suggest that he could be outbid by Soweto rivals Chiefs and Pirates for players because of the five-year R1-billion Vodacom sponsorship deal the two clubs share.

________

Spot fixing - and the need for a Players’ Association in India

Ant Sims , Daily Maverick, 20 May 2013

 

Every man and his dog has reacted to the spot-fixing saga which rocked the IPL. Everybody has promised stricter security and ruthlessness when dealing with the perpetrators. But what about the players and their well-being? By ANT SIMS.

Cricket will always be a tender spot for those who really live it. And now, just like when Hansie Cronje broke down and dropped his bombshell all those years ago, many people believe the game is at a crossroads.

Whether it’s a corrupt board sticking their fingers various pies or whether it’s a few individuals taking dirty money, cricket is riddled with threats. And while it’s unlikely that those threats will ever be eliminated in their entirety, it’s important that they are restricted.

Just a few days after three IPL players were arrested on allegations of spot fixing, with the Delhi police claiming more arrests are imminent and the lid has been blown off a massive racket, the BCCI acted swiftly and decisively.

The BCCI on Sunday revealed that an accreditation process would be put in place for player agents. For the business end of the IPL, every team will be given its very own Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) officer.

The assigned officer will stay with the team, travel with them and work alongside the security in charge to help pick up anything dodgy. Of course, the official won’t be reading the every single player’s text messages and e-mails, but one can hope the presence serves as a deterrent.

The BCCI called an emergency working committee on Monday, and after assessing and dissecting anti-corruption measures with special invitees ACSU chief Ravi Sawani and his ICC counterpart, YP Singh, the board announced a number of measures to prevent further corruption.

Sawani will head the commission of inquiry into the allegations against the three players and revealed that he had a productive meeting and discussion with police officials on Monday.

"I had a very useful meeting with the Delhi Commissioner of Police," he said after the meeting. "The BCCI has assured him of cooperation in the case. I also told him of Rajasthan Royals' intention to file an FIR in the case."

The Rajasthan Royals, the franchise the three accused players play for, has decided to press charges against the accused, while the BCCI won’t.

“We are advised that the BCCI by itself cannot because they (the players) are contracted to the franchise; the franchise is filing,” BCCI president N Srinivasan said on Sunday.

In a statement issued by Royals on Sunday, the franchise said they would file FIRs to help the police carry out the investigation.

"It is critical that this evil is rooted out of the game, and as such we will be filing FIRs with the Delhi Police. This will ensure that justice is pursued to its most complete end, and that the police are able to appropriately conduct their investigation."

The BCCI president also admitted that the ACSU remained somewhat limited in putting a lid on corruption in cricket. Unlike police, they can’t tap phones and have limited access to other methods of information gathering.

"Not being a police organisation, we are handicapped when it comes to control over bookies,” said the BCCI president.

Betting on anything other than horse racing is illegal in India, and the saga has prompted India's law minister Kapil Sibal and sports Minister Jitendra Singh to ponder a new bill to be introduced to combat the problem. The pair have been studying the way betting is dealt with in the United Kingdom and Australia, and this information will be shared with the Law Ministry in the next session of Indian Parliament.

The one important thing which has not yet been mentioned in all of the discussions is the need for a players’ association in India. These associations champions players’ rights and are the go-to contact for everything from suspected corruption to depression. It’s one thing to do damage control and restrict potential damage, but equally important is the need to educate and remind players of their responsibility to the game and its code.

The reaction from the powers that be has been admirable, and while many will scoff at their attempts to ensure the game is kept clean, there remains a lack of understanding for the simple needs of players.

Aside from dealing with education surrounding corruption, who to talk to when something dodgy crops up and everything involving the latest saga, these associations also help players understand depression, their rights in terms of payment and everything else which any good trade union from any other industry would help their employees with.

Players’ Associations certainly aren’t all moonshine and roses, but they do serve as a mediator between those in charge and those who play the game. It is imperative that on the back of this scandal, India seriously reassesses its need for such an organisation. It might not be the saviour of the future of the sport, but it could be the saviour of some players.

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2.    South Africa

Government thinks about closing initiation schools

eNCA,21 May 2013

 

The Mpumalanga government is thinking about closing several initiation schools after a series of deaths.

 

The number of initiates who've died in Mpumalanga has now risen to 27.

 

The deaths took place in Evander, Middleburg, Belfast, Siyabuswa, Verena and KwaMhlanga over the last two weeks.

 

Police have opened 26 murder dockets.

 

Most of the schools under investigation are believed to be legal but local government officials say they're not following correct procedures.

 

Health MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini has now rubbished calls for her to quit.

 

Trade union Nehawu called for her head after said her gender prevented her from getting personally involved.-eNCA

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Corruption Watch ploughs into Guptas

eNCA,20 May 2013

Johannesburg - As public outcry over Guptagate grows, Corruption Watch has questioned how the Gupta family have been afforded "extraordinary privilege" over the years the family has enjoyed links to government.

The anti-corruption group's spokesman David Lewis said government's proposal to root out tenderpreneuring and "name dropping" by private individuals hoping to win government contracts, trivialised a maor problem faced in South Africa.

"Justice Minister Jeff Radebe’s proposal that a public service campaign be introduced to discourage a 'negative culture of name dropping’ overlooks the real issues," Lewis said in a statement today.

The group was responding to the findings of a government inquiry into how a private partly plane carrying guests of the Gupta family, landed at Air Force Base Waterkloof in April.

Lewis said the organisation called for investigations into criminal liability and "if criminality is found, they should be charged."

Yesterday, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said informal "name dropping" may have been the reason why the Gupta party plane landed at a national key point. 

But Lewis, today, questioned government's findings.

"But how could this happen? How is it possible to ‘misrepresent’ that one speaks in the name of the President or a member of the cabinet without evidence of this, without evidence of formal authority?

He said Guptagate, was an indication of "a serious breakdown in administration at the highest level."

"How can the public be expected to accept that if a violation of security of this dimension could have been secured by misrepresentation, that the same does not occur in the issuing of licences or tenders or in the range of administrative decisions that are taken on a daily basis by public officials in their engagement with well-resourced private parties and firms?

"It would seem that mere mention of the Gupta family in the same breath as the names of senior of the executive was sufficient to procure the most extraordinary privilege and to result in the most flagrant breaches of law and security considerations."

Lewis said Radebe's use of the term 'name dropping; trivialised the issue of "starkly inappropriate relationships between senior people in public life and elements of the business community."-eNCA

_________

Mixed reaction to BBC report

Gia Nicolaides, EWN, 21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - There was mixed reaction on Monday to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report which questioned whether white South Africans have a future in a post-apartheid country.

The BBC's senior foreign writer John Simpson reported that while some whites have the best houses and jobs, below the surface there is poverty and a sense of growing vulnerability.

Independent analyst Daniel Silke said this was a slanted view because many white communities continued to enjoy a high standard of living.

“This is selective reporting. I don’t think this report has any impact on the domestic political situation. I think what it does, since it comes from a prominent broadcaster is that it adds to the state of confusion and a generally negative view of South Africa.” 

To view the entire report, click here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22554709

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Govt to buy stake in newspaper group

Sapa , Fin24, 21 May 2013

 

Johannesburg - The Government Employees' Pension Fund is to acquire a 25% stake, worth about R500m, in Independent News and Media SA, Business Dayreported on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the fund already owns a 19.5% stake in the Times Media Group, which publishes Business Day and other major titles in competition with the Independent's titles, which include The Star and The Cape Times.

Independent was recently purchased by the Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium, which was set up by Dr Iqbal Surve to bring Independent News and Media SA "back home", after it was bought from Anglo American[JSE:AGL] by the Irish holding company, Independent News and Media in 1994.

Business Day reported that the state already owned 100% of the public broadcaster, the SABC, and had been perceived to be keeping The New Age afloat through lucrative advertising deals.

Pension fund spokesperson Khanya Buthelezi told the newspaper the purchase of the stake in Independent News and Media SA was in line with its government mandate.

"In terms of our development investment policy, to which we have allocated 50% (about R60bn) of total assets under management, we seek to invest in commercially viable projects that deliver both financial and social returns," he was quoted as saying.

"In addition, we seek to promote black economic empowerment to increase economic participation by the majority in the mainstream economy."

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Freight industry must grow - Motlanthe

Business Report, 21 May 2013

Johannesburg - South Africa needed to increase its use of rail freight to boost economic growth and preserve the country's roads, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, on Monday.

“Moving freight from road to rail is a big strategic imperative and state-owned freight logistics group Transnet needs to look at many elements... when considering moving freight from road to rail.”

These elements included cost and efficiency, Motlanthe said at the annual convention of the Road Freight Association.

He said the biggest challenge facing South Africa's freight logistics system was the ineffective split between rail and road transport.

In 2010, the division of cargo between road and rail was split 88.8 percent and 11.2 percent respectively.

“The ideal situation is that long-haul cargo, such as coal and iron-ore, should exclusively be transported on rail instead of the road networks,” Motlanthe said.

The government had emphasised the importance of infrastructure development in its National Development Plan, but road continued to dominate the freight industry.

“It is increasingly clear that our country needs a road freight industry which is growing in leaps and bounds to meet our developmental needs.”

He said it was unfortunate that coal from the northern provinces was transported via trucks because there was a lack of rail infrastructure.

“This damages main and arterial roads that were not designed for such heavy-freight movement, which leads to the decreases of the life span of roads significantly and also disrupts the maintenance schedule.”

Intermodality, or the ability to move goods between road and rail quickly and efficiently, was a key element that needed to be considered.

Motlanthe described South Africa's freight logistics system as “the heartbeat of economic growth, just as transport is the heartbeat of the economy”. - Sapa

_________

Polokwane City promoted to PSL

Eyewitness News , 20 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - Polokwane City were promoted to the Premier Soccer League after beating Roses FC 1-0 in the National First Division (NFD) on Sunday.

They advanced on goal difference getting automatic promotion over Santos.

Meanwhile, another Limpopo side Black Leopards have been relegated to the first division.

Mpumalanga Black Aces will take part in the playoffs with Santos and Chippa United.

Technical Director of Polokwane City Bareng Kobi said, “We have wonderful players who gave it their all.”

The team managed to get promoted to the big league despite losing four of its players during a car accident in November.

Polokwane City was once Bay United.

It changed its name after its owners sold the franchise in 2012 and it moved from Port Elizabeth to Limpopo.

The promotion playoffs are scheduled to start on 29 May.

_________

Public invited to Mbuli's memorial

Mbali Sibanyoni , EWN, 21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is expected to hold a memorial service for late television and radio personality Vuyo Mbuli on Wednesday.

He collapsed at the Bloemfontein Stadium during a Super Rugby match between the Cheetahs and the Reds.

Mbuli, 46, was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead.

Although the exact cause of death has not been confirmed it is suspected he suffered a heart attack.

The SABC's Kaizer Kganyago said members of the public were also welcome to attend the memorial.

“It will be at 2pm at the SABC and we are calling on all people who want to be part of the memorial to come over and let us share the moments and life of Vuyo Mbuli.”

SABC employees were still trying to come to terms with his death.

Morning Live producer Lerato Manzi said Monday’s show, the first without Mbuli, felt unreal.

“At home, it didn’t really sink in. But once I came to the office it began to sink in.”

Manzi worked with the television personality for six years.

He said the country had lost a legend.

Meanwhile, tributes from around the country continue to pour in.

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said the passing of Mbuli would leave a big hole in the hearts of many South African's.

President Jacob Zuma, political parties and the broadcasting community expressed shock and sadness at the death of Mbuli.

SANEF’s Makhudu Sefara said Mbuli’s passing will leave a big void in the journalism industry.

Leanne Manas co-hosted the show with Mbuli for nine years and described what it was like for her on Monday morning, while speaking to John Robbie on Talk Radio 702.

"I went onto set about half an hour before (the show) ... I was waiting for to him to walk through the door and it didn’t happen. It was terrible."

Mbuli made his television debut in 1993 and also briefly worked for Eyewitness News.

The presenter then spent the greater part of his career at the SABC. 

_________

Catholic Church joins e-toll fight

Stephen Grootes, EWN, 21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The Catholic Church said on Monday people should not buy etags or collaborate with the e-tolling of Gauteng's highways.

The Church had slammed the tolling project saying it is simply unacceptable to toll an existing stretch of road without providing alternative routes.

The Catholic Church has for the first time come out against the planned tolling of Gauteng highways.

The Church slammed the tolling plans saying there was lack of transparency when people asked why the roads were costing so much.

Toll road operator South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said, the Church had a chance to raise its objections to tolling and should not be calling for anarchy.

Sanral’s Vusi Mona said, “If we are serious about being a democracy we should utilise the opportunities we are given.”

Anti-tolling group Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance's Wayne Duvenage said this was a key intervention.

“For the first time one church body said it is too easy to sit back.”

The Church added that it was worried of the effect of e-tolling on the poor.

Sanral said it was ready to roll out the e-tolls by July. 

If the system is passed, Gauteng motorists will pay at least 30 cents per km to use a large stretch of upgraded highways.

Cosatu said it would continue to voice its disapproval of the project, with more protests planned. 

CAPE TOLL BATTLE

The City of Cape Town last Friday presented a case against Sanral to stop tolling in the Western Cape.

The City filed an urgent interdict against Sanral to prevent it from implementing the proposed N1 and N2 Winelands tolling project.

The matter was heard in the Western Cape High Court over two days and concluded on Friday.

Head of the City's Transport Portfolio Brett Herron said judgment was expected to be handed down next week.

Herron believed they presented a confident case. 

“I think our case is compelling and the matter is now in the hands of the judge.” 

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R1 billion compensation paid last year

Sapa , Times Live, 21 May 2013

 

Almost R1 billion in financial compensation was paid to land claimants in the last financial year, the department of land reform said on Monday.

The department paid R993 145 949 to people who lodged land claims between 1994 and December 31, 1998, spokesman Mtobeli Mxotwa said in a statement.  

There were 602 restitution claims settled during the financial year, starting April 1 last year and ending March 31 this year. 

Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said land claimants had the options of seeking restoration of their own land, alternative land or financial compensation.

The highest claim paid was R93 million to a community in Siphaqeni, in Flagstaff, in the Eastern Cape.  

Individual claimants received an average of R54 000 in compensation.  

The claims related to 195 967 hectares in the country’s nine provinces.

In the Western Cape 198 claims were settled, and R44 010 860 was paid to beneficiaries.  

In Gauteng 118 claims were settled and R27 041 840 was paid out.

In Limpopo 105 claims were settled and R151 393 707 compensation was paid.  

In KwaZulu-Natal, 61 settled claims cost R192 261 518 in compensation, while R249 144 648,39 was paid relating to 53 land claims in the Eastern Cape.  

Mpumalanga’s 47 settled claims led to R59 226 922 being paid out.  

In the North West 12 claims were settled and claimants were compensated R50,549,614.

In the Free State five settled claims, which gave rise to R77 957 750 in compensation being paid, while the Northern Cape paid R92 334 989 arising from three land claims.

The land claim process is aimed at providing compensation for communities forcibly removed from their land by the colonial and apartheid governments between 1913 and 1994.

Mxotwa said that in most cases families used financial compensation to improve their living conditions by sending their children to school and improving their houses.

_________

Public Service Bill to improve service delivery

.

Shain Germaner , EWN, 21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - Public Service Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu said on Monday her planned 'school of government' will be launched by October and will be responsible for training government officials to improve their performance.

Sisulu was speaking at the Sandton Convention Centre where she announced the bill will be proposed this week.

She said the school would help bridge the gap between the state and higher education.

Sisulu was speaking to academics from all over the country on Monday where she revealed her Single Public Service Bill which will see 1.6 million public servants retrained.

“If we succeed in this and the bill is passed, it would mean that we would have 1.6 million people in the public service which is the total population of Namibia.”

She said if the bill was passed it would be the first step for public servants to provide real service.

“A public servant who is imbued with a sense of purpose, who is patriotic, committed and cadre of government. This public servant we hope will graduate from the school of government.”

The ministry conducted a skills audit which revealed that many of the 2.2 million public servants were not able to do their job properly. 

_______

FIVE MINUTES: South Africa

Daily Maverick Staff Reporter, 20 May 2013

 

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

NUM WAGE DEMANDS DRIVES RAND DOWN

Big wage hikes demanded by the National Union of Mineworkers, the ANC-allied trade union in South Africa's coal and gold industries, has helped push the rand to a four-year low, highlighting the ripple effect of the prospect of more turmoil in the industry. The NUM has called for pay rises of up to 60%, a move that has rattled mining investors after wildcat strikes at platinum and gold mines killed 50 people and cost billions in lost output last year. Opponents say government and the mainstream NUM have neglected the rights of workers and sided with mine bosses, a charge they both deny. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, a former top NUM official, defended the NUM, saying that "recent attacks" on it were akin to an attack on the ruling party's alliance with its labour allies.

ANC NEC DISCUSSES STATE OF THE UNIONS

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe says the party’s National Executive Committee has discussed the state of the trade union movement. He said the meeting had “noted that the recent attacks on NUM and Satawu”. Mantashe told reporters at a post-NEC media briefing that employers should not be biased in favour of one union or another and that “in any area where there is more than one union in a company, all of them must play according to rules”. Mantashe was referring to the escalating tension between rival unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association for Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). Amcu, now the dominant union in the platinum belt, wants the NUM to move out of its offices. Mining company Lonmin said it was in the process of recognising Amcu after “significant changes” in union membership.

WATERKLOOF REPORT OVERLOOKS REAL ISSUE, SAYS CORRUPTION WATCH

CEO of Corruption Watch, David Lewis, says justice minister Jeff Radebe’s ‘name-dropping proposal’ overlooks the real issue that led to the Gupta wedding plane landing at Waterkloof Air Force Base. Lewis said the incident “speaks to a serious breakdown in administration at the highest level”. He asked how South Africans were expected to accept “that if a violation of security of this dimension could have been secured by misrepresentation, that the same does not occur in the issuing of licences or tenders or in the range of administrative decisions that are taken on a daily basis by public officials in their engagement with well-resourced private parties and firms.” Lewis said this reflected “the level of mistrust that acts of corruption of this scale generates”.

A SCHOOL FOR GOVERNMENT BY GOVERNMENT

A school of government will create passionate, professional public servants, says public service minister Lindiwe Sisulu. She said government had revived its plan to train officials, including directors general, who would have to pass the school’s exams before taking up their positions. Sisulu said she was “pleasantly surprised” that public service unions had agreed to a compulsory induction course for all public servants. Sisulu said all 1.6 million employees who will belong to the single public service would need to be retrained. The Single Public Service Bill, which had been eight years in the making, will be tabled this week. Its aim is to create a uniform public service through the three tiers of government. The school will be launched in October.

MANDELA DAUGHTERS SUE FOR CONTROL OF HIS ARTWORKS, MONEY

Zenani and Makaziwe Mandela are suing their father for control of his artworks and his money. The Star newspaper reported that former president Nelson Mandela’s daughters will fight a Johannesburg High Court order that in 2004 ordered his then-lawyer, Ismail Ayob, to stop managing his financial, legal and personal affairs. Billy Chuene, Mandela’s current lawyer, last week filed an affidavit in response to the lawsuit brought by the sisters, who are represented by Ayob. The newspaper reported that Chuene and fellow directors of three Mandela companies and a Trust, George Bizos and Tokyo Sexwale had in 2011refused to release the trust's money to the daughters without a legal justification.

TWO ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING CAPE TOWN SCHOOLBOY

Two men have been arrested for the murder of killing Cape Town schoolboy Enrico Martin. Wilston Stoffels, 18, and Jevon Snyman, 19, have appeared in the Athlone Magistrate's Court on charges of murdering Martin. He was shot last week and later died at Groote Schuur Hospital. The accused alleged dressed in school tracksuit top and approached Martin as he entered the gates of Spes Bona school. One of them shot him in the head. Spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape, Eric Ntabazalila, said the two men would return to court next week after information on bail had been gathered.

ESKOM SERE WIND FARM AWARDED LICENSE

South Africa’s national energy regulator has granted Eskom a license for its Sere wind farm in a move expected to pave the way for construction of the R2.4 billion project to go ahead. “Sere is our first large-scale renewable energy project. It demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and to investing in a sustainable energy future,” said Brian Dames, Eskom’s chief executive.  The wind farm, in the Vredendal area of the Western Cape, is expected to generate up to 100 MW of power for the national grid, avoiding nearly 4.7-million tonnes of carbon emissions over 20 years. The Seres wind farm will be completed by the end of 2014 and is being funded by a group of development finance institutions.

POLICE INVESTIGATE DEATHS OF 27 INITIATES IN MPUMALANGA

Mpumalanga police are investigating the deaths of 27 boys attending initiation schools in the province. Spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said 26 of these were being investigated as murders and one remained an inquest. Hlathi said police were awaiting the results of post mortems on the youths. "It's not a question of arresting currently. It's a question of effectively investigating these cases," Hlathi told Sapa. He said once information was collected, it would be presented to the National Prosecution Authority, which would decide how to proceed. Provincial community safety, security, and liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe said someone needed to be held responsible for the deaths of the boys. He said indications were that initiates had died as a result of excessive bleeding and dehydration.

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3.    Alliance

Highway to 2014: ANC plays down the Gupta connection

 Greg Nicolson , Daily Maverick, 21 May 2013

 

President Jacob Zuma doesn’t need to explain who his friends are. South Africans have a bias against facts and the Waterkloof scandal, or Guptnkandla, has united the ANC. So said the party’s Secretary General Gwede Mantashe on Monday. Ahead of the 2014 elections, he tried to shield the president from criticism and cast doubt on divisions within the party, but it won’t be easy to conceal the Gupta in the room. By GREG NICOLSON.

On Monday, Mantashe briefed media at Luthuli House on the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting over the weekend and distanced Zuma and other top ANC members from the Waterkloof scandal. “Did the president take us into his confidence about the relationship between [him] and the Gupta family? I'm not sure if that is necessary,” said Mantashe, who explained that what’s important is whether the Gupta family acted in the way it did because of its relationship to Zuma.

The secretary general took issue with the public’s view of ANC leaders and their role in the Gupta family organising a private plane to land at an Air Force base. Regardless of what the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster report found, South Africans will say there has been a cover-up, said Mantashe. “Facts don’t matter. Perceptions matter,” he summed up the public’s view on the matter. It’s not necessarily true that if the scandal occurred in a country like the United States a top member of government would resign, Mantashe argued.

President Zuma’s close friends and party affiliates the Gupta family caused controversy by landing a private jet at the Waterkloof Air Force base in Pretoria on 29 April. An investigation found that officials did not act according to procedure in approving the landing but neither the executive nor ministers were found culpable.

“The NEC agreed to wait for the report of the [Directors-General] as commissioned by the ministers in the security cluster,” Mantashe said. “The report has now been finalised and made public [it will be made public this week]. The ANC welcomes the outcome of the investigation. We appreciate the details and the clarity given. It provides the basic information on what happened. This will help the parliamentary debate on Wednesday. We are confident that the relevant ministers will take the process to its logical conclusion so that this incident does not repeat itself.”

On April 30, Mantashe issued a strongly worded statement condemning the landing at Waterkloof as an “indication that all and sundry may be permitted to undermine the Republic, its citizens and its borders.” He repeatedly called the Air Force base a national key point. Justice Minister Jeff Radebe revealed on Sunday that Waterkloof is not a national key point but governed under stricter security legislation. Regardless of how it’s classified, the landing was “not normal, totally abnormal,” Mantashe said Monday.

He denied the issue had soured his relationship with the president. Mantashe has read about unnamed NEC members claiming there’s been a split, but he only finds out about it in the papers, he said. “To me this issue has not divided the organisation. If we can actually talk about it, it will actually pull us together.”

The Waterkloof affair is one of a number of scandals surrounding Zuma and the ANC ahead of the 2014 elections, and the party is under pressure to maintain its hefty majority. “In the face of the growing anti-majoritarian positioning of the opposition forces and the agitation for discontent, the ANC will continue telling the story of our country and therefore remind society of the progress made over the last 20 years,” said Mantashe, a clear response to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Know Your DA campaign.

The ANC has chosen Amos Masondo to head its 2014 election campaign while Manne Dipico has been appointed as national list coordinator and “he will be deputised by a woman.” Masondo was mayor of Johannesburg between 2001 and 2011. The ANC is expected to face stiff competition niggling at its majority in 2014, with millions of young South Africans eligible to vote for the first time. The DA is trying to expand its vote in Gauteng and Eastern Cape. There’s also the emergence of Agang, Mamphela Ramphele’s “political party platform”, and a slew of leftist movements opposed to the ANC.

Currently, the party doesn’t have a vocal Youth League to support its campaign. Since the NEC disbanded the leadership of the Youth League, a national task team has travelled to six provinces and visited dozens of regions to consult on issues facing the young lions. Mantashe said he’s happy with the progress. The organisation will be racing against time to appoint new national leaders that will have enough legitimacy to rally the youth in 2014.

Key to those elections will be trying to convince voters that the party has not been captured by wealthy individuals. Mantashe said it is “a terrible trend in society” that “people with money can buy anything and anyone.” Zuma – surrounded in scandals from Schabir Shaik to the Gupta family – may be seen as the archetype of that problem.

The ANC is likely to accept the report into the Waterkloof scandal and its contention that the protocol breach was orchestrated by officials directly involved with the Air Force base and diplomatic controls rather than the Presidency or ministers. Mantashe reiterated Radebe’s concerns about name-dropping. He regularly finds people trying to use the influence of someone else to advance their interests, he said.

The issue of name-dropping may have been a key reason why officials circumvented protocol to allow the Gupta family’s guests to arrive at Waterkloof, but it’s unlikely to convince those who doubt the president’s independence. Mantashe said it himself: the public is guided by perceptions rather than facts. That’s especially true when people don’t believe the facts they’re given. And it’s crucial to remember as the party approaches next year’s vote.

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Mantashe: No fallout with Zuma over Guptas

Sapa , Times Live, 21 May 2013

 

It is unnecessary for President Jacob Zuma to explain his relationship with the Gupta family to the ANC, the party's secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, said yesterday.

"Did the president take us into his confidence about the relationship between [him] and the Gupta family?

"I'm not sure if that is necessary," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

"It is not the business of the [national executive committee of the ANC] who I relate to in my personal capacity.

"The question is whether the relationship impacted on the behaviour of the family."

He said the national executive committee had welcomed the report of the directors-general appointed to investigate the landing of a private jet, chartered by the Guptas, at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.

"The [committee] agreed to wait for the report of the directors-general as commissioned by the ministers in the security cluster.

"The ANC welcomes the outcome of the investigation.

"We appreciate [the] details contained in the report and the clarity given," he said.

"It provides the basic information on what happened. This will help the parliamentary debate [tomorrow].

"We are confident that the relevant ministers will take the process to its logical conclusion so that this incident does not repeat itself."

The plane landed at the base last month. It was carrying 270 guests for the wedding of Vega Gupta, 23, and Indian-born Aakash Jahajgarhia, at Sun City, in North West.

On Sunday, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said Zuma and his cabinet had no involvement in the landing.

Radebe said one of the findings of the investigation was that the landing was a direct result of processes being manipulated.

Radebe said that names had been "dropped" in the course of securing authority for the landing, including those of Zuma, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and Transport Minister Ben Martins.

Mantashe denied that there was a conflict between himself and Zuma because of the incident.

The ANC is considering having a fixed venue for its national conferences, Mantashe said.

"It is not working for us, this thing of rotating the conference and creating conference infrastructure every five years at huge cost," he said.

"In the next [national executive committee meeting], we must take the decision that our conference will be in place X, and we can start working now for the conference in 2017."

He said that, in this way, the ANC could begin to deal with the costs and activities of its national elective conferences "as early as possible".

_________

Mantashe: Name dropping quite common

Gia Nicolaides, EWN, 21 May 2013

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday reiterated that President Jacob Zuma's ties with the Gupta family had nothing to do with the Gupta plane saga and South Africans must stop assuming it is a cover up.

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said South Africans based their views on perceptions and not facts.

“South Africans make many assumptions, there is a certain outcome they want.”

Mantashe added that findings of government's investigations show that Zuma was not involved and yet the public still believed it was a cover up.

“Their theme is, anything coming from government cannot be trusted.”

The Secretary General said the President does not need to justify or explain his personal relationship with the Guptas.

He continued that the ANC was satisfied with the findings which would help guide Tuesday's Parliamentary debate.

Meanwhile, just a day after the findings of government's investigation into the Gupta plane saga were released, the ANC said "name dropping" had become common in South Africa.

The political party is warning the practice is only likely to escalate in the run up to elections next year.

It was revealed on Monday the names of senior cabinet officials and Zuma were used to ensure the red carpet was rolled out for the Gupta wedding delegation.
 
Mantashe said it was not surprising that name dropping was used in the Gupta saga.

“When people want favours they will name drop, that will happen all the time when we go to the elections because people want to make an entry point in elections.”

Mantashe said dealing with powerful people is also an issue because money can buy anyone and anything, which has become a terrible trend in society.

NO STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN SA/INDIA

The Department of International Relations maintained the Indian government had not requested a diplomatic apology following the landing debacle.

The Sunday Independent reported that Zuma should expect an angry reception when he visits India in two weeks’ time.

However, international relations' Clayson Monyela said the relationship between the two countries was not under strain.

“The relations between India and South Africa are historic. They are friendly, strong and solid and there’s absolutely no strain in the relationship. There are no tensions between the two countries.”

WATERKLOOF

On 30 April Eyewitness News broke the story when around 200 Gupta weddings guests made a controversial landing at Waterkloof Air Force base in Pretoria.

The jet was ordered to leave the base and then depart from OR Tambo International two days later.

The wealthy family is said to have close ties with Zuma.

On Sunday, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe released the findings of a government investigation into the debacle.

The report showed that the Gupta family used Zuma’s name to get permission to land at the air base.

Radebe said the clearance for the landing of the aircraft was “based on false information and abuse of privileges, the combination of which resulted in the manipulation of the process by various persons who shared a common purpose and acted in concert”.

A full report into the matter would be released later this week.

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ANCYL rebuilding ‘on track’

Qaanitah Hunter, The New Age, 21 May 2013

The ANC on Monday said it was impressed with the progress made by the National Task Team (NTT) of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) since the interim leadership structure took over the reins from the disbanded national executive committee (NEC).

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told journalists at the party’s headquarters in Johannesburg that the task team had already visited six provinces and 35 regions on an assessment mission. He called on the public to give the NTT space to perform its duties.

“We are very happy with the work they are doing and we appeal that they should be given space. The NTT is in the process of diagnosing the problems that plagued the league,” Mantashe said.

The Youth League was riddled with problems after its former president, Julius Malema, was expelled from the ANC last year for bringing the organisation into disrepute.

Asked if the governing party was happy with the state of affairs in the ANCYL, Mantashe said: “We only disbanded the NEC (of the youth league) because we were unhappy with it.

“But we are very happy with the task team.”

The NTT, led by convener Mzwandile Masina, is tasked with making preparations for the ANCYL’s national conference.

This would take place once it has completed its task of rebuilding the league’s structures at a branch, regional and provincial level.

Mantashe said the ANC allocated the end of July as a deadline for the NTT to hold the conference.

“Between July and the elections next year, whenever the date is set, we do not want any disturbances,” he said.

He said after the conference efforts of the Youth League would be poured into the preparation of the 2014 general elections.

Mantashe further noted that the ANC was satisfied with how the NTT kept a low profile and was primarily preoccupied with fulfilling its mandate.

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4.    International

Barack and Michelle Obama to visit Africa next month

J BROOKS SPECTOR, Daily Maverick, 21 MAY 2013

 

It’s been some years since we hosted then-senator Barack Obama on South African shores. Since then it’s been a matter of speculation: when the Obamas would pay an official visit. A matter of time, surely? As it turns out, it’s a matter of very little time indeed. One month, to be exact. By J BROOKS SPECTOR.

On Monday, the White House Press Secretary announced in Washington that American President Barack Obama and his wife plan to make an official visit Africa in a three-country tour that will include Senegal, Tanzania - and South Africa. In the official statement, the press secretary said the trip would take place from 26 June to 3 July.

In that statement, the White House said, "The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders. The president will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues."

The official statement added that the trip was designed to highlight the US leader's "commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity."

This will be the third time the president has visited the continent since he became president - he has previously travelled to Accra, Ghana and Cairo, Egypt. First Lady Michelle Obama visited South Africa last year.

Barack Obama previously visited South Africa while he was a US Senator from Illinois in 2006. A highlight of that trip was a visit to the Constitutional Court where he met with the justices of the Court.

The president has ancestral ties to Africa - his Kenyan father was an exchange student in Hawaii - but according to the announcement, there was no indication of a stop in Kenya.

_________________________________________________       

5.    Comment

COSATU E-toll Campaign goes ahead in 2013; 24^th & 31^st May at Johannesburg & Ekurhuleni

 

For more information, contact COSATU Offices

                                

Come one…..Come All!

 

Stop Commodification of public goods!

____________

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

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What’s that smell? Must be the name droppings.

Pierre De Vos , Daily Maverick, 20 May 2013

 

Minister Jeff Radebe on Sunday blamed “name-dropping” for the Gupta corruption scandal and said the government wanted name-dropping to be classified as a form of gross misconduct – presumably for members of the civil service. But for Radebe to blame officials for a culture of name-dropping and to rail against such a culture, is a bit like a habitual drunk blaming a culture of wine making and railing against liquor stores to excuse the fact that he killed a child while driving under the influence of liquor.

Several years ago I was involved in an argument with the principal of a high school in Polokwane. The principal had endorsed unfair discrimination against gay and lesbian learners during a school assembly (comparing homosexuality to Satanism) and I was trying to get the principal to repent and to respect the existing law. The principal was evidently an old style beneficiary of Broederbond-style affirmative action gone wrong and was clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed. He refused to acknowledge the existence of the sections of various Acts prohibiting his school from unfairly discriminating against gay and lesbian learners, choosing to repeat his own narrow-minded, racist and homophobic views as justification for his actions.

As it dawned on me that the principal lacked the basic intelligence and academic literacy required to engage in a logical and coherent debate, I am ashamed to admit I finally reverted to name-dropping. Pretending to be good friends with the then-Minister of Education, I threatened to report him to my good friend, the minister, if he did not relent.

But even this intellectually challenged man did not fall for my bluff. He knew as well as I did that I had no influence with the Minister of Education. I could drop her name a million times until her name shattered into a million bright little pieces at my feet – he would be safe in ignoring my increasingly shrill demands and threats. He knew I had no influence or power over the minister and hence that the name-dropping was nothing but an empty gesture to try to get him to do what his reactionary politics prevented him from doing.

Now, of course, the situation would have been different if I was widely known to be a friend and financial benefactor of the minister. The principal would probably have quaked in his boots if it was widely known that I were the minister’s financial benefactor and bankrolling the minister and her family. He would have jumped and done as I asked if he had thought that the minister would do anything I told her to do because I had bribed the minister. In those circumstances, not even a person as stupid as that principal would have dared to ignore my complaints. He would have been far too scared of losing his job or being transferred to Putsonderwater High School.

But because the principal correctly suspected that I would never pay bribes to a politician, because we both (probably correctly) assumed that the Minister of Education would never have taken bribes from me or anyone else, and because it was therefore highly unlikely that I had the Minister of Education in my pocket to do as I ordered her to do, that principal had no problem in ignoring my pathetic attempt at name-dropping.

The admission by Minister Radebe that “names were dropped”, is therefore telling. Using the passive voice – a classic technique of evasion – Minister Radebe on Sunday said that the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Transport and President Jacob Zuma’s names were dropped (by whom we are not told) to officials to get them to break the law.

Even if we believe Minister Radebe when he claims that no minister, nor the president, gave direct instructions to any of the officials who orchestrated this abuse of state power, the very appeal to “name-dropping” as a justification for exculpating the politicians, suggest that corruption is at the heart of this scandal. For some reason – which might or might not be linked to activities that are prohibited by the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act – all the officials miraculously believed that when the Gupta’s drop the president’s name, they better jump – after asking the Gupta’s how high they were required to jump.

The most telling and shameful aspect of the Guptagate is that – even on the version of events dished up to us by the likes of Minister Radebe – the officials all believed that they had to follow the Gupta’s request or face the consequences from the president and the ministers whose names were dropped. On Radebe’s own version, then, senior officials believed that the president and his ministers were corrupt and willing to break the law and endanger South Africa’s security. On this version officials wilfully broke the law and endangered South Africa’s national security because they thought their jobs depended on fulfilling the corrupt and unlawful wishes of the President and his Ministers.

This is an extraordinary admission to make and I am not sure the minister and his colleagues have given sufficient thought to what they are admitting to. They are, in effect, telling us that the culture of corruption and bribery around the president and the government he leads is so deeply entrenched that – without even having to take instructions from the president or one of his ministers and regardless of what the actual situation might be – senior officials would break the law and endanger national security to please the Guptas, because they believed the Guptas had bribed President Zuma and could instruct him what to do.

What is equally astonishing is that Minister Radebe and his colleagues have failed to ask the obvious question that flows from this unintended admission of government entanglement with corruption: why would the officials believe that the name-dropping by the Guptas (or their underlings) of President Zuma’s name was anything but the empty threats made by any other citizen? After all, those officials would have been unimpressed if any of us ordinary citizens, who (unlike the Guptas) had not been paying off the bond on the house of one of the president’s wives and had not co-opted the president’s son as a business partner, had dropped President Zuma’s name in order to get those officials to break the law. I could drop President Zuma’s name a million times, and I would still not get a single official to allow me to land a civilian plane at Waterkloof Air Force base.

When Radebe claims that the scandal shows that name-dropping in the public service had to be classified as a form of gross misconduct, he is either demonstrating a tenuous grip on logic, or he is wilfully trying to mislead the public. Officials do not drop names. People like the Guptas drop names. They drop names because they have paid their dues and know that the officials will feel pressured by the name-dropping. They drop names because they have names in their pockets to drop. People who drop names have those names in their pockets because they are willing to pay for the privilege.

It is not the officials who are at fault. It is the business people who buy the influence of powerful politicians with offers of financial and other assistance (and the powerful politicians who allow this to happen), who are at fault. And there is no need for new legislation to deal with this problem. This kind of buying of influence that makes name-dropping effective is all outlawed by the Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act. This is, not so incidentally, the very Act under which President Jacob Zuma was going to be prosecuted before charges against him were mysteriously dropped. (I guess President Zuma must have dropped his own name to get the National Prosecuting Authority conveniently to make those charges go away.)

So, dear reader, when you hear a politician bemoaning the culture of name-dropping, ask that politician whether he or she could take a lie detector test to promise that he or she had never received any financial or other benefit from any one of those rich businessmen and -women who so love to drop the names of our politicians. Then watch as that politician squirms to avoid answering your question.

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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