Media Monitor 17 November 2009

The ANC has won the battle over the National Planning Commission, convincing its stubborn alliance partners to accept Trevor Manuel as its head.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told reporters yesterday - after the three-day alliance summit in Kempton Park - that the summit had also agreed on Manuel's suggested composition for the commission.

This means that external experts drawn from various backgrounds will make up the commission, which will co-ordinate the government's broader planning.

"In particular we agreed that there is a need for the National Planning Commission located in the Presidency, which will be chaired by (Manuel), and whose main responsibility will be to ensure an integrated strategic planning across government," said Mantashe.

This is a U-turn by the alliance, after the ANC's economic transformation committee had initially rejected Manuel's model - instead suggesting that cabinet ministers, led by President Jacob Zuma, make up the commission.

However, it is understood that, to appease the restless Cosatu, civil society will also be represented in the commission.

But Mantashe said they had merely agreed on the model, while work around finalising the structure was still in progress.

Cosatu was most vociferous in its opposition to Manuel heading the commission, warning that this would lead to the former finance minister being a de facto "imperialist" prime minister.

But the ANC was not willing to compromise on Manuel, and its national executive committee (NEC) made this clear after its last meeting.

After a three-day summit, described as "long and difficult", even Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini was no longer on the offensive.

Asked about Cosatu's views on Manuel heading the commission, Dlamini was cautious in his response, saying they supported the "chairman" of the commission.

The matter had been settled, he added.

Meanwhile Mantashe said the summit was opposed to Eskom's proposed 45 percent electricity hike.

"We are totally uncomfortable with the 45 percent increase. The summit also noted with concern that the successive tariff increase requests through the multi-year price determination by Eskom will negatively impact on society, the economy and jobs.

"The summit therefore supported efforts to have the tariff increases minimised," he said.

The alliance will draw up its own proposal on the pricing issue - to be ready by the end of this month.

On jobs, the summit supported the government's infrastructure investment programme as a key component of the country's response to the global economic crisis.

The summit, said Mantashe, also agreed that an alliance task team on macro-economic policy remains "seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve Bank".

But he would not go into specifics.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20091116041614822C177402

1.2 ANC, Cosatu Agree to Review Central Bank’s Mandate

Nasreen Seria, Bloomberg, 15 November 2009

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress agreed with its labor union and Communist Party allies that the mandate of the central bank must be reviewed and broadened.

“In view of the current economic crisis, we can’t just say the mandate is right as is,” ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Johannesburg today. The ANC and its alliance partners -- the Congress of South African Trade Unions and South African Communist Party -- ended a three-day summit in Johannesburg today.

Cosatu, which helped propel President Jacob Zuma to power in May, has been lobbying the government to review its inflation-targeting policy, which it says is prolonging the economy’s first recession in 17 years and failing to stem job losses. The government has set an inflation target of 3 to 6 percent and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said Oct. 13 that the policy will be retained.

The ANC and its allies discussed “how best the Reserve Bank should talk to the development priorities of the state,” Mantashe said. “The summit agreed that the alliance task team on macroeconomic policy must remain seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve Bank.” Mantashe did not outline specific measures.

Clash

Labor unions clashed with former central bank Governor Tito Mboweni, who raised the benchmark interest rate 10 times to 12 percent in the two years through June 2008. The rate has been cut by 5 percentage points since December. Gill Marcus, who replaced Mboweni on Nov. 9, will probably keep the rate unchanged on Nov. 17, according to 21 out of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The ANC has ruled South Africa in alliance with Cosatu and the South African Communist Party since all-race elections in 1994. The unions have been pushing for a greater say over policy since helping Zuma win leadership of the ANC in December 2007 and former President Thabo Mbeki was ousted in September last year.

South Africa’s economy, the biggest on the continent, shed 484,000 jobs in the third quarter, pushing up the unemployment rate to 24.5 percent, the highest of 62 countries tracked by Bloomberg. Simmer & Jack Mines Ltd., a gold producer, said on Aug. 31 it may cut almost half the jobs at its biggest mine as the rand’s appreciation cut profits.

The ANC and its allies will also consider the strong rand, which may be undermining the economy’s recovery, Mantashe said. The rand has gained 28 percent against the dollar this year.

Exchange Rate

“The exchange rate is important for the economy,” Mantashe said. “If the exchange rate is at a level that is encouraging imports, it’s deepening the economic crisis for sure.”

Mantashe said the alliance also opposed tariff increases proposed by Eskom Holdings Ltd., the state-owned power utility, as it may damage economic growth and result in job losses. Eskom applied last month to raise power prices by 45 percent a year over the next three years.

“We are uncomfortable with 45 percent increase over three consecutive years,” Mantashe said. “It will impact negatively on society, the economy and jobs.” The “summit therefore supported efforts to have the tariff increases minimized.”

Cosatu eased its opposition to the National Planning Commission led by former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, agreeing today with the ANC that the commission should continue to be located within the Presidency and be headed by Manuel.

Zuma named Manuel as head of the National Planning Commission in May, a move opposed by the unions who said that the commission will give Manuel too much influence over government policy.

“It’s no more an issue” of who should lead the commission, Cosatu President Sidumo Dlamini told reporters. “The issue is how to ensure the commission discharges its duties with the utmost speed required.”

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg at nse...@bloomberg.net.

1.3 Alliance sets summit follow-up for February

Karima Brown, Business Day, 17 November 2009

LEADERS of the tripartite alliance will meet again in February to assess progress on several key decisions on macroeconomic policy, including the setting up of a task team to review the mandate of the Reserve Bank.

The task team, proposed by the weekend summit of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies, will have to craft alternatives to the Bank’s current mandate and present them for in-depth scrutiny.

The ANC’s acceptance of this review signals that a policy overhaul may be on the cards.

ANC bosses and their counterparts in the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will send delegates to consider the Bank’s mandate.

Cosatu has campaigned for the Bank’s mandate to be widened to include employment creation.

The union federation has also argued for lower interest rates and a weaker exchange rate.

Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini told Business Day the process was “urgent” and needed to be finalised soon. “We will meet again in February because we want these matters addressed as soon as possible.”

The February meeting will also check on progress on the national health insurance (NHI) scheme, which the allies expect to be provided for in Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech that month. Dlamini said the NHI should be rolled out in five years and the alliance would scrutinise Gordhan’s health allocation to see whether the NHI had been taken into account.

“It’s obviously a very expensive process, but we need to see clear signals around the NHI. So, yes, we will look at the overall health budget and expect to see that the scheme has been taken into account.”

The allies have embarked on a joint campaign to explain the NHI to various players in the health chain, including sectors that have warned that its funding and logistical implications are too expensive.

The alliance will examine the progress made on the National Planning Commission (NPC), especially how it relates to civil society, which the union movement believes should be accommodated. The summit’s decision that the NPC consist of external experts under the chairmanship of Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel does not address the vexed question of civil society’s participation.

On Sunday, ANC secretary- general Gwede Mantashe said experts for the commission could be drawn from civil society groups but warned that they should not be ideologically dogmatic when participating in the work of the NPC because it would slow down implementation of the government’s efforts to deliver on the strategic plan.

But Dlamini said while Cosatu accepted that a rigid attitude would be unhelpful, “there is no such thing as a class-neutral expert”, hence the need to ensure diversity of policy views in the work of the NPC.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=87255

Summit time: the living's easier

1.4 Alliance squabbles have proved surmountable

Raenette Taljaard, Times, 17 November 2009

This weekend's tripartite alliance summit was a singularly significant event. It was significant as it was preceded by heated differences of opinion between the alliance partners. It was significant as fears that it could degenerate into an unseemly fight over Trevor Manuel have been proven wrong.

Now that the personalisation of the Manuel issue and his role as chairman of the National Planning Commission has been amicably resolved the time has perhaps finally come to debate more vigorously the reports by parliamentary committees of the Green Paper on National Strategic Planning.

It is important that we also learn the political lessons of how national planning commissions were set up in other countries, such as India and Brazil.

The Brazilian case offers compelling analogies, given the similarities in social and socio-economic challenges, and the Indian case offers lessons about the fine balance between the role of a planning commission and politics that can often derail or sideline such efforts.

This weekend's summit also clearly displayed the depth of the capabilities that ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has in bringing difficult political situations to acceptable and inclusive conclusions. He is increasingly emerging as a voice of reason as he did in the Eskom saga.

Many analysts, including this analyst, were growing increasingly concerned at the seeming supremacy of the tripartite alliance partners' influence on decision-making.

While the partners have a crucial role to play in enriching debates and offering alternative perspectives, thereby furthering democratic discourse in the alliance in the context of a dysfunctional opposition, it is the ANC that has the formal electoral mandate to govern and to lead.

This matter appears to have been settled after a resolution sought to make the alliance the locus of decision making - a notion that would fly in the face of every constitutional prescript on the role of the Cabinet.

While President Zuma and the ANC appear to be treading very carefully to protect the Constitution by declaring that ministers are there to serve the ANC and not the alliance, this matter will continue to arise when differences of opinion or policy or approach come up.

While it has been resolved not to have these discourses quite so publicly in future, the issues around the role of the alliance partners will continue to be vigorously debated.

The alliance summit was also significant for the debate about the role of the central bank, and by extension the strength or weakness of the currency, that is signalled.

The summit "agreed that the Alliance Task Team on macroeconomic policy must remain seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve Bank". This is a significant development, but, to be fair, is also a decision that is being taken in a world context where the role of central banks are under renewed scrutiny.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan intimated in the mid-term budget policy statement that the role of the Reserve Bank was being looked into.

At this juncture President Zuma has given Manuel the backing that he requires to get the job done, but both the president and Mantashe will have to continue to steer the alliance ship in a constitutionally sound manner that does not compromise or substitute other forces or party for the state.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article197013.ece

2 Interest rates

2.1 Cosatu calls for Marcus to ‘dramatically drop’ rates

Zukile Majova, Sowetan, 17 November 2009

AS RESERVE Bank governor Gill Marcus prepares to announce her decision on interest rates today following the two-day meeting of the monetary policy committee this week, labour federation Cosatu has concocted a new cocktail of demands.

The two million-strong trade union wants a “dramatic drop” in interest rates to save jobs and those companies placed in financial distress by the economic recession.

At the weekend, a three-day meeting of the tripartite alliance announced it wanted a review of the central bank’s inflation-targeting policy and proposed an extension of the bank’s mandate to include the creation of jobs.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the ANC, Cosatu, the SA Communist Party and the SA National Civics Organisation had resolved to review the bank’s mandate.

“The summit agreed that the alliance task team on macro-economic policy must remain seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve Bank.”

Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said uncompromising inflation targeting had resulted in the economy shedding close to a million jobs this year, adding that “some of these jobs could have been saved”.

Independent economist Mohau Pheko said the alliance had opted for the relaxation of the 6percent inflation target to stimulate job creation.

“South Africa would not be alone in taking this line of thinking because there are countries that have relaxed their inflation targets beyond 10percent to as far as 13percent.

Other analysts said the decision to “tweak” inflation-targeting policies was more of a “compromise” by the President Jacob Zuma government than a policy shift to the left.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1088978

2.2 Rand firms in face of substantial interest rate cuts

Ethel Hazlehurst, Business Report, 17 November 2009

While critics of monetary policy continue to call for sharp interest rate cuts and lobby for a weaker rand, the unit has firmed this year in the face of a 5 percentage point cut in interest rates.

Ian Cruickshanks, the head of strategic research at Nedbank Capital, said yesterday: "The rand was trading at just less than R10 to the dollar when the Reserve Bank first cut its repo rate on December 11 last year and, by the time the last cut to 7 percent was made on August 13, the rand had strengthened to just more than R8."

The unit, he said, was responding to a weaker dollar. The trend highlights the difficulty for policymakers who try to manage currency movements.

The ANC alliance partners - trade union federation Cosatu and the SA Communist Party - have led the campaign for a more accommodative monetary policy - a stand that has support among exporters, who are battling to remain competitive on global markets because of rand strength. Cosatu has told Parliament it would like to see the repo rate at 3 percent.

But Jean Francois Mercier, an economist at Citi in South Africa, said there was no direct link between interest rates and the rand. "In South Africa the unit now seems mainly driven by the equity cycle."

In other words, when foreign funds flow into South African shares, the rand firms.

Therefore a low interest rate environment, which is good for equities, makes for rand appreciation. The opposing view is that high interest rates attract offshore funds to local bank deposits and other money market products, strengthening the currency in the process.

Both theories have proved correct on different occasions. So the policy debate is bedevilled by the rand's inconsistent behaviour.

The first meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) to be chaired by new Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus comes after the ANC agreed at a weekend summit with the alliance partners to review the bank's single mandate of price stability - and possibly broaden it to include economic growth.

But today's decision is unlikely to be seen as a litmus test of future monetary policy.

Marcus is widely expected to keep the rate on hold - after a 5 percentage point cut since December. But a further cut of a half percentage point would not surprise in view of the sluggish state of the economy.

Marcus will announce the decision at 3pm.

Any change to monetary policy remains some way down the line. And financial markets barely responded yesterday to the news of a policy review.

The rand ranged between R7.46 and R7.36 in line with Friday's moves. And money markets were equally unperturbed.

Cruickshanks said rates on forward rate agreements (FRAs) moved marginally. FRAs are three-month contracts that start at some time in the future.

Cruickshanks said on Friday that the FRAs were "seeing a 25 percent chance of a half percentage point cut and yesterday they had lifted the odds to 30 percent".

Mercier described the debate around a dual mandate as "misconceived". He said under its present mandate the bank did not ignore signs of a weak economy. "After all the MPC cut by 5 percentage points while inflation was above the target".

Inflation first breached the target ceiling in March 2007 and remained above it at 6.3 percent in September.

And Mercier pointed out that the bank currently targeted price stability "to ensure more stable and stronger growth over the long term". He said the trade-off was between growth in the short term and the long term. "Cosatu believes there is a permanent trade-off between inflation and growth, but that is not proved by the facts."

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=631&fArticleId=3427584

2.3 Alliance bank debate to start next year: sources

Peroshni Govender, Reuters, 16 November 2009

South Africa's ruling ANC and its partners will only begin a debate on broadening the mandate of the central bank in 2010, alliance insiders told Reuters on Monday.

The ANC and its partners in the communist party, trade union federation COSATU and civics organisation agreed at a weekend summit to review the focus of South African Reserve Bank, possibly widening it beyond targeting inflation.

The alliance said a team representing all its partners would also look at the impact on the economy of a strong rand, which has rallied more than 20 percent against the dollar this year.

A delegate who did want to be named said the alliance partners agreed that the mandate had to be looked at to consider whether the central bank should take wider social issues into account in making their decisions.

"There has always been an argument that the mandate is narrow and it needs to be broadened," he said.

"We have a global crisis, we have set ourselves an overall target of job creation ... does the mandate of the Reserve Bank as it is now help us to do those things?"

Another delegate said the make-up and the mandate of the team was yet to be finalised and that the first meeting would only take place next year.

"At this stage, they did not decide who would sit there ... (it) will depend on them (members of the team) when they meet," he told Reuters.

The bank has the task of fighting inflation, keeping it between 3 and 6 percent. In September, inflation was 6.1 percent year-on-year, compared with almost 14 percent a year ago.

Critics say this had led to interest rates that are too high, which COSATU blames for exacerbating poverty.

They want the target scrapped and interest rates cut to help pull the economy out of its first recession in nearly two decades which has resulted in about one million job losses.

The central bank has cut its repo rate -- its base lending rate -- by 5 percentage points since December despite inflation still being outside the band, although at 7 percent it remains high by global standards.

COSATU spokesman Patrick Craven said COSATU was still to name its nominees for the team reviewing the central bank's mandate, and that the composition, mandate and powers of the team were still being ironed out.

"You don't go into a big meeting like that (alliance summit) and go into precisely who is going to be on those committees," he said. "It will be up to the alliance partners to nominate people."

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE5AF0QX20091116?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

3 South Africa

3.1 Three shot at ANC meeting

IOL, 16 November 2009

Three people were shot and wounded and five others were injured when violence erupted during an ANC meeting in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape police said on Monday.

The meeting took place at the Lusikisiki College on Sunday, Captain Mduduzi Godlwana said.

"I am not sure what the meeting was about but it involved disputes at the Ingquza Hill municipality."

The meeting was taking place when arguments started around 12.30pm. A man then opened fire with an R5 rifle, seriously wounding three people. Five others were injured when they were hit with stones.

Godlwana said a 37-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning for being in possession of an R5 rifle, but it was not known if he was the one responsible for the shooting.

Police also seized 14 rounds of ammunition.

"All we could charge him with was for being in possession of an R5 rifle."

The injured people were recuperating in hospital, Godlwana said. – Sapa

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=nw20091116173629544C108935

3.2 NUM disappointed Godsell will not return

JP du Plessis, Eyewitness news, 16 November 2009

The National Union of Mineworkers says it is disappointed Eskom former board chair Bobby Godsell will not return to his post.

Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan met with Godsell at the weekend to try and convince him to change his mind but he used the chance to reaffirm his resignation.

Eskom’s board announced the resignation of its CEO Jacob Maroga last week, leaving the power producer looking to fill both posts under acting chairman Mpho Makwana.

“He is the right person for the chairmanship. It will be a hassle for the parastatal to have to go back again and get a new chairperson,” said NUM’s Lesiba Seshoka.

Both Hogan’s and Godsell’s offices have refused to comment any further on the matter.

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=26451

3.3 Godsell’s Eskom rebuff a hard blow

Karima Brown, Business Day, 17 November 2009

FORMER Eskom chairman Bobby Godsell yesterday declined an invitation to return to the utility, dealing a heavy blow to the government and to Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan in particular.

Hogan had suggested on Friday that he might return, and she now faces the nigh-impossible task of finding speedy replacements for both Godsell and CEO Jacob Maroga.

This will be difficult as the pool of talent is limited and the government is looking for CEOs for parastatals such as Transnet, SAA, Armscor and the SABC.

As SA embarks on its largest infrastructure development programme of R872bn over the next three years, more than half of which will be spent by parastatals, its most important public entities are leaderless.

Eskom has an inexperienced acting chairman also filling in as CEO in a crucial period for the utility. It has to justify its applications for tariff increases of 45% a year for the next three years and raise funds for its R384bn capital spending programme.

Godsell said yesterday Eskom was “ready to move forward under new leadership”.

Hogan indicated at the weekend that he might return to Eskom after quitting on Monday last week, citing lack of government support in the impasse between the board and Maroga over Maroga’s disputed resignation.

Godsell “reconfirmed” his resignation yesterday, saying Eskom acting chairman Mpho Makwana had already demonstrated “wise and calm” leadership.

Department of Public Enterprises spokeswoman Ayanda Shezi said Godsell’s departure was a loss, a sentiment echoed by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Business Leadership SA’s Michael Spicer.

Spicer said Godsell not returning to Eskom was “a pity and missed opportunity”.

But recent events indicated “some progress”, and while it had been messy, the roles and responsibilities of the board and executive at Eskom had been illuminated, Spicer said. “The board now has a clear mandate, and they need to proceed.”

Spicer said another important issue that had to be clarified was the commercial and developmental role of parastatals.

Eskom fell under two ministries and a regulator, “whose independence still needs to be better established”, and this too needed clarification, Spicer said.

Business Unity SA said last week it was concerned at the “pattern of governance difficulties” in parastatals.

“If not corrected soon, the cumulative impact on the economy could be serious.”

The NUM, which defended Godsell against claims of racism from its African National Congress (ANC) Youth League ally, said it was disappointed he would not return as Eskom chairman, but believed “Godsell’s skills and knowledge could still be used in a different capacity”.

Senior research associate at the Centre for Policy Studies Aubrey Matshiqi said the Eskom debacle arose partly because the ANC spoke from “from too many centres of power on the same issue”.

Godsell’s return would not have helped solve division in the ANC on parastatals, he said.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=87262

3.4 FEDUSA welcomes ANC view on power price hike

Times, 16 November 2009

The ANC’s view on Eskom’s proposed 45% tariff hike in each of the next three years was welcomed by Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa).

“We are pleased to know that the ruling party of our government shares our views on the Eskom issue,” Fedusa general secretary Dennis George said in a statement.

“We cannot allow ourselves to just stand by and watch how Eskom makes demands on the economy, without it having a very negative effect on our country’s inflation rates.”

The proposed increase would be detrimental to the country’s economy and would hit the mining, manufacturing and retail sector hard, he said.

On Sunday, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe expressed concern about the proposed increase.

“We are definitely uncomfortable with the 45% times three. We are looking at all various options... We want to come up with a proposal by the end of the month,” he said.

Mantashe was speaking at a briefing following a three-day summit of the ruling alliance — the ANC, the South African Communist Party, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the South African National Civic Organisation.

Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger said submissions on the proposed hike had been received from the National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association (Salga).

The parastatal was required by law to consult with the Treasury and Salga before submitting its official application for the tariff increase by the end of November. This process was underway.

“We are obliged to take into consideration the issues raised by Salga and National Treasury. We will then finalise the application and from then on the regulator would run the public participation processes,” Etzinger said.

It was not yet certain how this could affect Eskom’s application for 45% increases in each of the next three years, Etzinger said.

“... It may be less, it may be more, it depends on the submissions,” he said.

“We are working on the numbers. In two weeks, we will know what the final application will be.”

The application would be submitted to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa which would then hold public hearings.

This would take place early next year.

A final decision on the application would be known by February 2010, according to a timelines published on Nersa’s website.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/business/article196704.ece

3.5 DA wants key record on Zuma case

Cape Times, 16 November 2009

The acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mokotedi Mpshe, was trying to block from judicial scrutiny the record that led to his decision to drop charges against President Jacob Zuma, the Democratic Alliance has said in an affidavit.

The affidavit is among the papers the DA has filed in its high court application for a review of the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to drop all criminal charges against Zuma in April.

The DA wants the court to direct Mpshe to supply it with the record that was before him and led him to drop the charges.

Zuma's legal team and the national director of public prosecutions have submitted their opposing affidavits, and on Friday the DA filed its replying affidavit with the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

"If any such documents were before (Mpshe) when making his decision, or were relied upon by him, they must be produced," the DA said.

Its affidavit says the NPA's failure to produce these records raises serious questions about what they contain and whether they justified the decision to drop the charges. The NPA was obliged to prosecute suspected wrongdoers.

"The prosecution of (Zuma) was and is a matter of extraordinary importance.".

"Vast public resources have been invested in the investigation and preparation of the prosecution, to the point where it had become clear there was a formidable case against (Zuma).

"Yet (Mpshe) strives to block from judicial scrutiny a decision to discontinue a prosecution against (Zuma) when there was a mass of evidence pointing to his guilt on serious charges, which had been painstakingly accumulated over a period of several years."

At no stage had the national director of public prosecutions revoked a statement made earlier that there was a prima facie case against Zuma.

The proceedings were manifestly in the public interest, the DA argued.

This was not a case where the prosecution had been discontinued at the request of the complainant, or because there was no prima facie case, or because a witness statement was outstanding.

It was a case where no representations had been made on the merits, and where there was a powerful body of evidence in support of a range of serious charges.

"The review application is aimed at upholding the rule of law," the DA argues.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20091116043207156C717906

3.6 Malema vows to block Mbeki genocide charges

JP du Plessis, Eyewitness News, 16 November 2009

The African National Congress Youth League on Monday said it would do everything in its power to prevent charges of genocide being laid against former president Thabo Mbeki.

The question about whether or not Mbeki should be charged for his HIV/Aids denialism during his term in office was raised two weeks ago by the Young Communist League.

YCL leader Buti Manamela blamed Mbeki for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people because of his belief that HIV did not cause Aids, and for delaying the countrywide provision of anti-retrovirals.

Speaking at the Pan African Youth Union gala dinner at Emperors Palace on Monday night ANCYL President Julius Malema defended Mbeki, saying he made a mistake while under tremendous pressure to provide the nation with answers.

“Thabo Mbeki might have made mistakes on this or that but you should never be tempted to charge Thabo Mbeki with genocide. That will never happen,” said Malema.

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=26483

3.7 Dumisani must sing in the shower: YCL

Times, 16 November 2009

The Young Communist League of SA says anthem singer Ras Dumisani is a "howler of note" and should sing "only in his shower".

"The Young Communist League of South Africa (uFasimba) condemns with the contempt it deserves the horrendous singing of our national anthem by Ras [Dumisani] at the South Africa vs France game in [Toulouse], France.

"What concerns us more is that Ras [Dumisani] did not know the lyrics of the anthem, especially the English/Afrikaans version, and sang the entire anthem out of note creating a mockery of a song that is supposed to be the pride of our nation."

The league demanded an apology from the French Rugby Federation and said the department of arts and culture and international relations should compile a list of people who could sing the anthem to avoid future embarrassment, especially ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

They also called on the education department to make sure children learn the anthem and for mandatory singing at morning assemblies.

"As for Ras [Dumisani], he must keep singing the anthem, but only in his shower."

The Congress of the People called his performance a "vocal misfire". "It looked as though it came right out of the blooper reel of a reality TV singing show," the party said.

Beeld reported that Dumisani blamed the sound equipment. He had complained about it during the sound check but nothing was done.

"It was war, it was definitely war. If you can't hear yourself, then it is not possible to sing," he wrote in response to a question posted on Facebook.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article196188.ece

Patrickn Craven (National Spokesperson)

Congress of South African Trade Unions

1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets

Braamfontein

2017

P.O.Box 1019

Johannesburg

2000

South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24

Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940

Mobile: +27 82 821 7456

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

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