Numsa Media Monitor Tuesday 23 August 2016

A daily compilation of local, national and international articles dealing with labour related issues

FAWU

Cosatu won’t take action against Fawu for inviting expelled Vavi to address its congress

Kingdom Mabuza, TimesLive, 22 August 2016

Cosatu says it will not take any action against its affiliate‚ the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu)‚ for its decision to invite expelled former Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi to address its national congress which started on Monday in Bela Bela‚ Limpopo.

Fawu was among nine Cosatu affiliates which were opposed to the expulsion of Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

The nine unions were defeated in their attempt to force the federation to reverse its decision to expel Vavi and Numsa.

Divisions within Cosatu appeared to have been healed after the attempt to reinstate Vavi and Numsa was defeated.

But Fawu turned the tables on Cosatu when it invited Vavi to address its national congress on Monday.

And Vavi did not disappoint when he took to the podium to address Fawu delegates. He tore into Cosatu and the ANC.

"That is what COSATU was originally set up to provide‚ and for many years it was indeed one of the most militant and powerful workers’ federations anywhere in the world.

"Tragically it is now not even a shadow of its former self and has become little more than a labour desk for the ANC government‚ whose neoliberal policies are the source of the very attacks we are facing.

"Whatever excuses they continue to make up‚ the expulsion of NUMSA and my dismissal were political – evidence that they can no longer tolerate those who insist that the federation should remain true to its founding principles‚" he said.

Vavi said Cosatu’s mandate to put workers first had been replaced with defending President Jacob Zuma.

"The opportunity for a militant campaign around the National Minimum Wage has been sacrificed in favour of wasting time in the Central Executive Committee on defending President Zuma‚" he said.

"Cosatu‚ once the most powerful union in the continent and the fastest growing union movement in the world with 2.2 million members‚ has now lost hundreds of thousands of its members either through purges or just sheer neglect of members needs."

Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said it was unfortunate that an affiliate decided to invite Vavi to address its congress.

"Fawu is our affiliate and we know that the decision was taken by their leaders‚ we call on members of Fawu to make sure that they re-affirm their union as an affiliate of Cosatu.

"We will not take disciplinary steps against Fawu‚ they are independent‚ we as Cosatu have taken a decision that instead of going the disciplinary route we should instead engage politically‚" he said.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/08/22/Cosatu-won%E2%80%99t-take-action-against-Fawu-for-inviting-expelled-Vavi-to-address-its-congress

There is no Cosatu to go back to, says Vavi

Molaole Montsho, Independent Media, 22 August 2016

Rustenburg -The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) cannot go back to the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), expelled Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday.

“My honest view, comrades, is that with this detail presented there can be no turning back from where we are. Fawu can't go back to Cosatu because there is no Cosatu to go back to,” he told delegates at Fawu's national congress in Bela Bela in Limpopo.

“... We must not lose hope. We must be brave. It is time to forge a new path to rebuilding the power and strength of the working class, in its fight back against poverty and exploitation.

“It is time to reach out to all unorganised workers, whether they are permanent or casual, formal or informal. We need to go back to the basics of organising and servicing, but with new insights and understandings of what solidarity amongst workers means.”

Fawu was holding its congress which must decide whether the union stay as an affiliate of Cosatu or leave. The congress ends on Friday.

Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the federation hoped the congress would come up with answers to the challenges facing the workers. “We hope this national congress will continue in the union's old tradition of engaging in frank and robust debates and also come out with answers to the myriad of challenges facing the workers and the working class.

“We remain committed to worker control and democracy, and we hope that Fawu delegates will use their power to unite their organisation and refuse to allow any divisions or fragmentation in their organisation,” he said.

“We also trust that the workers will use this congress to defend their federation and also use this opportunity to reaffirm Fawu as an affiliate of Cosatu. This federation remains a home of all workers and all workers will be better organised under the leadership of Cosatu.”

He said Cosatu needed a militant and stronger Fawu that would strengthen the federation and at the same time protect the vulnerable workers from the ravages of capitalism.

“We expect all our unions to remain occupied with broad social and political issues, as well as the immediate concerns of its members. They must continuously strive to remain a social force for transformation and their influence on society must remain based on their organised power, and their capacity to mobilise.”

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/there-is-no-cosatu-to-go-back-to-says-vavi-2059851

Vavi tears into Cosatu and ANC at food workers’ union congress

Kingdom Mabuza, Business Day, 22 August 2016

Expelled Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi tore into the labour federation and the ruling ANC at the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) national congress in Bela Bela‚ Limpopo, on Monday.

Vavi said Cosatu was for many years one of the most militant and powerful workers’ federations anywhere in the world, but was now "not even a shadow of its former self".

". .. It has become little more than a labour desk for the ANC government‚ whose neoliberal policies are the source of the very attacks we are facing," he said.

Cosatu has said it will not take any action against Fawu, which is an affiliate, for inviting Vavi to address the congress, which started on Monday.

Fawu was among nine Cosatu affiliates which opposed the expulsion of Vavi and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

The nine unions were defeated in their attempt to force Cosatu to reverse its decision to expel Vavi and Numsa. Divisions within Cosatu appeared to have been healed after the attempt to reinstate Vavi and Numsa failed.

But Fawu turned the tables on Cosatu when it invited Vavi to address its national congress on Monday. And Vavi did not disappoint when he took to the podium to address Fawu delegates.

"Whatever excuses they continue to make up‚ the expulsion of Numsa and my dismissal were political – evidence that they can no longer tolerate those who insist that the federation should remain true to its founding principles," said Vavi

"The opportunity for a militant campaign around the national minimum wage has been sacrificed in favour of wasting time in the central executive committee on defending President Zuma‚" he said.

"Cosatu‚ once the most powerful union in the continent and the fastest growing union movement in the world with 2.2-million members‚ has now lost hundreds of thousands of its members either through purges or just sheer neglect of members needs."

Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said it was unfortunate that an affiliate had decided to invite Vavi to address its congress.

"Fawu is our affiliate and we know that the decision was taken by their leaders‚ we call on members of Fawu to make sure that they re-affirm their union as an affiliate of Cosatu.

"We will not take disciplinary steps against Fawu‚ they are independent. We as Cosatu have taken a decision that instead of going the disciplinary route we should instead engage politically‚" he said.

http://city-press.news24.com/News/motlanthe-anc-must-listen-to-needs-of-the-people-20160822

South African workers

CWU, Telkom resume talks

Zintle Mahlati, Independent Media, 22 August 2016

Johannesburg - Talks between Telkom and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are set to resume on Monday as a strike over wages enters its fourth week.

The parties have been in a protracted dispute over a wage hike, and some members have downed tools. Last week Monday, Telkom secured an urgent interim court order interdicting and restraining the union and its members from a number of illegal activities associated with the union’s current strike.

This comes as Telkom earlier on Monday last week said its workers who attempted to go to work today in the midst of the strike were “aggressively intimidated”.

Telkom currently employs 12 500 people, of which about 11 000 are unionised.

The CWU - the majority union at Telkom - wants an 11 percent increase across the board, a three-year moratorium on retrenchments, an end to outsourcing and six months paid maternity leave. Inflation is currently 6.3 percent.

The other recognised unions at Telkom, Solidarity and the South African Communication Workers Union, have already signed a deal with the telecommunications giant which has been labelled as “fair”.

It includes no forced retrenchments for the next two years, that outsourcing is limited to 1 000 employees over the next two years, as well as the introduction of performance-based pay and a 6% salary increase next April.

Issues between Telkom and the CWU have been ongoing for years. The union has been outspoken against the company’s restructuring policies which has seen it go through retrenchment and outsourcing processes as it seeks to cut costs and make the company more competitive as fixed-line penetration continues to slump.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/cwu-telkom-resume-talks-2059697

Telkom and union locked in strike battle

Fin24, 22 August 2016

Local telecommunications company Telkom and the Communication Workers Union are locked in a bitter battle over continuing strike action.

Local telecommunications company Telkom and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are locked in a bitter battle over continuing strike action.

Hundreds of Telkom staff have launched strike action against the company over a pay dispute. The CWU, which is behind the strike, says Telkom workers need a cost-of-living inflation linked salary increase.

But a dispute over alleged violent strike action and the sabotage of Telkom’s nationwide network, which has disrupted services for over 13 000 customers, has dogged the labour action.

Telkom, in a statement on Sunday, slammed the CWU for allegedly blockading entry and exit points at the company’s facilities, intimidating workers and damaging equipment.

Telkom further alleged that a CWU protester hurled a brick through a non-striking employee’s car window in Randburg while technicians in the Western Cape have reportedly received threatening text messages from the union.

“These incidents are examples of ongoing acts of intimidation by the CWU and the spike in sabotage is related to this industrial action,” Telkom’s Group Executive for Communications, Jacqui O’Sullivan, said in the statement.

“These are not random acts of vandalism or incidents of cable theft. These people know where to go and what to do to wreak maximum damage. This is in-house,” said O’Sullivan.

Union fights back

But the CWU has hit back at Telkom as the union has distanced itself from allegations of sabotage and violence.

On the issue of sabotage, CWU’s Secretary General Aubrey Tshabalala denied that striking workers are damaging equipment.

Instead, Tshabalala said that Telkom is to blame for these issues amid claims that the company’s skilled staff have gone on strike.

“Telkom is failing to respond to technical faults and any other things as swift as they can as they normally do,” Tshabalala told Fin24 by phone.

“All those who are on the inside; they are unable to deal with the challenges of Telkom,” he said.

Regarding allegations of blocking entrances and exits at Telkom facilities, Tshabalala said that the telecoms company failed to help formulate picketing rules for the strike.

“We are picketing in front of Telkom. There is no demarcation in terms of picketing rules. Telkom refused to enter into that space and therefore you cannot tell us in a substantial case where we can demarcate,” Tshabalala told Fin24.

“To us all this must not be defined as violence. It can be defined as a militant strike; it is a militant strike.

“If they thought that a strike would be a Christmas party…they’ve got it all wrong,” said Tshabalala.

‘Attack’ on workers

The CWU has also denied allegations of violence against non-striking staff and said that, instead, its members have been targeted and harmed.

“Our member was ran over by a car of Telkom. While we were sitting in consultation, he was then arrested to say that he was intimidating,” Tshabalala told Fin24.

“That is a blunt attack on workers,” Tshabalala said.

Meanwhile, Tshabalala said that the CWU and Telkom management are expected to meet on Monday afternoon over the ongoing strike action.

And prior to this meeting, CWU has threatened that the strike action could last for a long period of time.

“When we go on strike, we are not that union [that] after two or three days we go back to work,” Tshabalala told Fin24.”We pull a strike until you collapse – even if it takes us months; we are ready. We have told Telkom we are ready,” he said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/telecoms/176755-telkom-and-union-locked-in-strike-battle.html

Tshwane council workers protest about shift allowances

Bongani Nkosi, Business Day, 22 August 2016

Barely a week after inducting its new mayor‚ the City of Tshwane faces a workers protest.

A group of South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) workers are picketing outside the customer entrance to the metro’s headquarters‚ Isivuno House.

They want the metro to start paying them allowances in addition to basic wages for evening or overnight shifts. They said it was agreed in June that the allowances would be paid from July.

The picketing workers are mostly from the electricity department‚ the call centre, and water meter reading division.

They held up placards saying the metro owed them. One read: "Tshwane a re tshwaneng. Tshwane a re patelaneng" (Tshwane let us be equal. Tshwane let us pay each other).

Another read: "City of Tshwane you owe us. Pay us back our shift allowances", and another: "Tshwane robbed us our shift allowances for the past ten years."

Metro officials are in talks with Samwu representatives. It is not clear if Tshwane’s new mayor Solly Msimanga is part of the talks.

Msimanga, who is a member of the DA, took over from the ANC’s Kgosientso Ramokgopa on Friday.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/labour/2016/08/22/tshwane-council-workers-protest-about-shift-allowances

Samwu prepared to accept any political administration if workers keep jobs

EWN, 22 August 2016

The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) says, although its saddened by the political changes in hotly contests metros, the union will accept any municipal administration that has been democratically elected.

This comes after the a DA-led multi-party coalition government took over in Nelson Mandela Bay and the ANC lost outright majority in Tshwane and Johannesburg.

Samwu spokesperson Papikie Mohale says that it will support local government on the condition that no municipal workers are purged.

He says that municipal workers should not be employed or fired on the basis of their political affiliation.

“There should be no one who is victimised or purged. Otherwise municipal workers will stand up and defend their own.” — Papikie Mohale, Samwu spokesperson

“Our presence is strong in municipalities that aren't necessarily led by the ANC.” — Papikie Mohale, Samwu spokesperson

“We are prepared to work with any administration.” — Papikie Mohale, Samwu spokesperson

http://www.702.co.za/articles/15964/samwu-prepared-to-accept-any-political-administration-if-workers-keep-jobs

Workers plan to sue for radiation damage

Lutho Mtongana & Lucky Biyase, Sunday Times 21 Aug 2016

Daniel Sibisi, who worked at East Rand Gold and Uranium's treatment plant in Gauteng for most of his adult life, is one of a growing number of people employed there to have fallen ill years later - and who are now seeking compensation from its former owners, including Anglo American.

Sibisi began working at the plant when it opened some 40 years ago, when he was just 18. He is now almost bedridden, and blames his deteriorating health on exposure to gamma rays .

For 27 years, Sibisi operated a machine that separated gold particles from other materials at the plant near KwaThema, east of Johannesburg.

Now, the 58-year-old father of three has to rely on his wife Thembi to help him to get up, dress and walk out of their bedroom.

"At least now he manages to walk a bit in the house and is sometimes able to feed himself. Before that he was wallowing in bed and couldn't move the entire day," says Thembi.

She says sometimes she has to borrow money from relatives and neighbours to get medication for her husband.

"I pay it back when we receive his R1,500 grant. The medication that makes him better is not available at the local clinic and government hospital. I have to go to the chemist. The situation is very bad and his former colleagues complain of several other illnesses."

The plant, whose ownership has changed hands three times in the past four decades, now lies abandoned - and according to experts remains highly radioactive, posing a danger to local residents and any scavengers of scrap.

Just up the road from Sibisi's home lives a former colleague at the plant, Hosea Morera, 76, who is increasingly worried about Sibisi's fast-deteriorating health - and his own.

"I used to visit him to see how he was doing. But now I am myself unable to walk anymore. I am also now feeling the effects of the disease. I can't move my feet anymore. They say it is radiation and I don't really know what that means," says Morera, who cuts a lonely figure in his house, paging through old newspapers.

The two are among 400 men and women who claim to have chronic radiation syndrome - which has similar symptoms to the infamous silicosis - as a result of mining operations at the slimes dams.

The group cite coughing, chest pains, an itchy body and skin rash.

Every fortnight, they sit together and plot how to get their former employers held accountable for their sickness.

Anglo American sold the plant to its one-time subsidiary, AngloGold Ashanti, in 1998. Africa's biggest gold miner sold the mine to DRDGold nine years later.

"Before, we would fill up this entire place. Now we are almost less than half of the people who come to this meeting for a report-back on our campaign to get at least compensation. Most of us have died and others are too weak to come here," says Sipho Shongwe, who is co-ordinating the group of victims, who include beneficiaries of the deceased.

"We are trying to get pro bono lawyers to assist us. Some people have already lost hope because this has been going on forever," say Shongwe.

The group say that once they got sick they were abandoned by DRDGold, left to fall back on government grants.

DRDGold is adamant that it is not responsible.

In a response to queries sent by Business Times, CEO Neil Pretorius said the mining company had not bought the East Rand Gold and Uranium operation as a going concern - and therefore its employees had not been transferred to DRDGold.

"All workers would have been retrenched or redeployed by [AngloGold Ashanti] and any claims that may have arisen at the time would be against the company for whom they worked - the former [East Rand Gold and Uranium] or AGA," he said.

AngloGold, which owned the operation between 1998 and 2007, said it did not believe any employee had had "significant" exposure to any industrial chemical or had developed an occupational illness as a result.

The plant "fully complied with the necessary requirements", the mining house said.

Anglo American said although it had shares in East Rand Gold and Uranium , "... it never operated or owned the operation where [East Rand Gold and Uranium' s] employees worked".

Both AngloGold and its former parent, Anglo American, said they could not comment on a possible legal claim as nothing has been brought before them.

Former East Rand Gold and Uranium employees are hoping to institute legal proceedings against the owners of the plant in a separate case to the silicosis action against a host of South Africa's leading gold-mining companies.

The mining houses, which include the likes of Gold Fields and Harmony, and lawyers representing the victims are locked in a class action law suit for damages. The companies are appealing the certification of the class action.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/businesstimes/2016/08/21/Workers-plan-to-sue-for-radiation-damage

National basic wage a pro, con balancing act

Asha Speckman, Sunday Times, 21 Aug 2016

a panel set up by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to advise on the national minimum wage held its first meeting this week, Moody's ratings agency said it was monitoring the outcome of the discussions.

The national minimum wage itself is not a key driver of a ratings assessment, but "in the case of South Africa, what matters is if and how it would affect key drivers of the rating, which are the growth recovery, stabilisation of government debt ratios and the strength of South Africa's institutions", Moody's Investors Service said this week.

It said it was following developments as part of broader structural measures, specifically labour reforms that the government had planned to undertake to stimulate growth , projected to be 0% this year.

Ratings agencies Fitch and S&P Global Ratings cautioned recently against the implementation of a minimum wage ahead of local government elections this month. This would have amounted to a populist policy to gain votes. Fitch also said redistributive regulatory policies could undermine growth.

Fitch and S&P could not provide additional comment this week.

Asked about whether the implementation of a national minimum wage would be positive or negative for the economy, Moody's said: "It will be about specifics and how they will balance social benefits against potential employment losses, what other labour market reform measures are introduced and what the overall impact of the various measures will likely be on economic growth."

It said the minimum wage may incentivise some groups to be more productive or seek employment if they were currently unemployed.

If set too high, the minimum wage could be disadvantageous to "outsiders" who are unemployed or just entering the market and it would deter small and medium companies from hiring new staff or maintaining current staff levels, "given that they tend to employ a high share of less-skilled workers".

Negotiations on a minimum wage - involving business, labour and the government - have been held over the past 18 months. Labour is demanding a minimum wage of between R4,125 and R5,276 a month; business wants R1,800.

The panel, led by Professor Imraan Valodia of Wits University, met for the first time on Thursday.

Other members are macro strategist Mamokete Lijane, Professor Murray Leibbrandt, economist Dr Patrick Belser, Oxfam project manager Ayabonga Cawe, law professor Debbie Collier and Dr Siphokazi Koyana, a market-research and skills-training expert.

Cosatu, which welcomed the appointment of the panel, said a single national minimum wage was an important component to resolve "unacceptable levels of working poverty and wage inequality".

Labour economist Andrew Levy expected the panel to not recommend a minimum wage lower than R1,800, the agricultural sector minimum wage.

"Bear in mind, people in agriculture very often get a home or somewhere to live and a bit of land on which they can run a cow or grow a mealie.

"If you grossed it up it's more than that but that's the kind of level I anticipate it will come in at."

The panel has to walk a tightrope to ensure the minimum wage is not too high that it induces job losses. But if it is too low it may have no effect on employment. "In the South African labour market, where there are so many people who are desperate, who will work for anything, and where we have employers who will ignore the law, it will encourage noncompliance," Levy said.

The implementation of sectoral minimum wage determinations in 11 industries in South Africa had benefited workers in the wholesale and retail, agriculture and domestic worker sectors, where employment has not declined significantly following the introduction of minimum wages.

Research undertaken three years ago by the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town showed that the introduction of minimum wages did not have a statistically significant negative effect.

Monet Durieux, a manager in StatsSA's labour unit, said this week that changes in employment levels in surveys conducted by StatsSA could not be directly attributed to changes in sectoral determinations or minimum wages "as other factors may be at play".

Xhanti Payi, an economist at Nascence Advisory and Research, said work had not declined in the mining sector, for example, despite wages increasing.

Although there were job losses in the platinum and gold sector, jobs were being created in cement and rock drilling. "So that's where the jobs are coming from."

Levy said there were job losses in the agricultural sector after strikes by workers.

Research published last month by Wits argued that economy-wide output would be 2.1% higher if a monthly minimum wage were introduced at levels of between R3,500 and R4,600 between 2016 and 2025.

About 5.5million workers earn below R4,125 - the working poor line - and cannot meet their basic needs, the research showed.

A UCT study said a minimum wage of R3,400 would cause about 500,000 job losses.

The panel is expected to give its recommendations in October.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/businesstimes/2016/08/21/National-basic-wage-a-pro-con-balancing-act

South Africa

DA takes Joburg amid dancing, drama and death

Anna Cox & Thabiso Thakali, The Star, 23 August 2016

Johannesburg - Newly-elected Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba has vowed to clamp down on corruption and ensure accountability in the use of public funds.

He also undertook to restore the dignity of residents in the city by creating jobs and improving service delivery, especially in townships such as Alexandra.

Speaking on Monday evening shortly after the DA wrested control of the city from the ANC during a marathon election in the Johannesburg City Hall, he said: "As of this evening, corruption is declared public enemy number one. I commit and make a pledge that public money that has been misused we will take care of, and use it to provide dignity to our people. We are going to run a government that looks after your money."

Turning to service delivery, he said: "People with no toilets expecting to live in a city that is world class is not fair. We want Joburg to be that great city that everyone wants to live in."

Earlier, tragedy and confusion struck at the inaugural meeting of the City of Joburg, with ANC councillor Nonhlanhla Mthembu collapsing and dying before casting her vote for mayor. This happened at a moment of high anticipation, just after the nomination of the two mayoral candidates, the ANC's Parks Tau and Mashaba.

The singing and dancing by the EFF and ANC stopped abruptly, and the chamber remained eerily silent as the voting took place.

It was decided to combine the voting for chief whip and mayor to expedite the meeting so that the ANC could go and offer condolences to the family.

Mashaba was then named as the new mayor, amid much jubilation and ululation. He won by 144 votes against Tau's 125. The chief whip will be the DA's Kevin Wax. Vasco da Gama was elected as the Speaker.

In light of Mthembu's death, Mashaba cut short his speech, saying he would deliver his inaugural address on September 13.

Gauteng ANC spokesmanNkenke Kekana said: "Ms Mthembu, who recently celebrated her 50th birthday, was an activist at heart and a longstanding member of the ANC. She was a Johannesburg councillor in the 2011-2016 term of office, and was re-elected to serve for another five years. The cause of death is not known."

The odds appeared to have been stacked against the ANC when, during day-long proceedings, much of the support for the DA seemed to come from EFF members in the public gallery. They booed each time an ANC councillor's name was called out, but sang in support of the DA.

Electoral Commission officials were at the meeting to assist with the election of the three key posts.

City manager Trevor Fowler had a tough time calling the rowdy EFF supporters and, later, ANC supporters to order, repeatedly asking them to be quiet. Several councillors, during the vote for the Speaker, showed their ballots to the public before placing them in the box. Some party officers objected. The IEC ruled that ballots had to be secret and that if it happened again, the vote would have to be retaken.

Earlier in the morning, the start was delayed as ushers battled to get the 30 EFF councillors - dressed in their red overalls, hard hats and domestic worker uniforms - into their seats, amid chanting and singing EFF supporters.

The council's dress policy was being reviewed by a committee set up with all parties' approval, according to Fowler. Proceedings nearly came to a halt when former member of the mayoral committee responsible for housing Dan Bovu's name was announced and the crowd started booing him. Bovu has been accused of trying to bribe EFF members to swing the votes for the ANC.

One by one, EFF candidate councillors stood up demanding that he be removed because he was a "wanted criminal".

"The police are outside - this wanted criminal must be arrested now. You are seated next to a judge - ask him how can a wanted criminal be sworn in as a councillor. We don't want bribery and corruption in this council. There are two cases of bribery and corruption open against Bovu at Eldorado Park and Brixton,"said the candidate councillors, one by one.

They threatened not to allow the inaugural meeting to continue.

They eventually allowed the meeting to continue on the condition that their objections be noted, when Fowler refused to budge.

When Mashaba's name was announced, the crowd again went crazy, chanting and signing.

The supporters again would not stop singing and dancing when the EFF members went up to be sworn in, and again had to be quietened.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/da-takes-joburg-amid-dancing-drama-and-death-2059908

ANC’s Dan Bovu denies EFF bribe claim

Wire Staff, Business Day, 21 August 2016

THE ANC’s Dan Bovu has denied a claim by the EFF he has tried to bribe its councillors in Johannesburg to vote for the ANC, and says he intends opening a case of defamation against the party.

In a startling claim on Sunday‚ the EFF accused Bovu‚ the outgoing member of the mayoral committee for housing for Johannesburg‚ of calling its councillors and "offering them money to the value of R500‚000 in exchange for them to vote with the ANC during the elections of the Johannesburg City Council tomorrow (Monday)".

The EFF said it would lay a charge of bribery against Bovu, warning its votes were not up for sale "be it money or positions".

However‚ Bovu denied the claim and accused the EFF of "desperate grandstanding".

In a statement‚ he said: "I have noted with great concern the serious‚ defamatory and spurious allegations of bribery the EFF is making against me to bribe their Johannesburg councillors. It must be stated that I have never met EFF councillors nor have I offered anyone bribes to vote with the ANC. I intend to open a case of defamation against my character by the EFF."

Bovu added that since the election results were announced‚ the ANC had been in talks with other parties who were clear they did not represent an agenda that sought to reverse the democratic gains the ANC had achieved since 1994.

"My understanding is that the desperate grandstanding of the EFF is due to what happened in Rustenburg on Friday‚ where smaller parties rallied around the ANC to form a partnership of co-operation‚ thus rejecting the EFF and their coalition with their bedfellows‚ the DA‚" Bovu said.

Johannesburg is one of the many hung councils in SA following the August 3 local government elections‚ with the ANC having garnered 44.5% of the vote to the DA’s 38.37%. The EFF received 11.09% and the Inkatha Freedom Party got 1.72%.

The EFF has rejected coalitions with other opposition parties, but has said it will vote with the DA in hung councils, with the exception of Johannesburg unless it withdraws businessman Herman Mashaba as its mayoral candidate for the metro.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/2016/08/21/ancs-dan-bovu-denies-eff-bribe-claim

Protests in Inchanga after ‘execution-style’ killing of SACP member

Nathi Olifant, TimesLive, 22 August 2016

The atmosphere is tense in Inchanga‚ outside Pietermaritzburg following the killing of vocal and prominent South African Communist Party (SACP) member Nontsikelelo Blose on Sunday night and a suspected revenge killing on Monday.

Access roads are closed in the area‚ police are patrolling‚ and learners and workers have been affected.

The incident is believed to be linked to an on-going feud between the African National Congress (ANC) and the SACP in the area.

Blose was reportedly gunned down while relaxing in a drinking area. She was shot in the head.

"She was shot execution-style. That was cold-blooded‚" said a woman who attended the scene around 6.30pm.

Her killing follows the winning of the ward by Malombo Nxumalo‚ an independent councillor who broke ranks with the ANC after protracted tensions.

He beat Khanyi Gumede to become Ward 4 councillor.

Her murder also follows that of SACP member Phillip Dlamini‚ 68‚ who was killed earlier this year after a community meeting that turned sour.

Blose was also vocal following the murder of Siyabonga Ngubo‚ 38‚ on May 31.

Another SACP member‚ Magazini Shange‚ who survived an earlier attack‚ said in June: "We don’t feel safe in the streets."

Blose was quoted by the SABC following Ngubo's murder as saying: "We have strong evidence because people who shot him were travelling in cars and they saw who they are and we want the police to arrest them."

In October 2015‚ Blose accused the ANC of gate-keeping after her membership was delayed ahead of several branch general meetings.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane confirmed the two incidents.

"We can confirm the incident that took place ... at about 6pm at Fredville area where a 40-year-old woman was shot by unknown suspects. She was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. The motive is unknown. A case of murder was opened at Inchanga police station for investigation and no arrests have been made‚" Zwane said.

"Another person was killed this morning as well at Inchanga. People are blocking the roads with burning tyres and stones protesting about the killing of a woman. Police are deployed in the area to monitor."

Blose's last WhatsApp status read: "You say they were gossiping about me‚ what did you do"‚ followed by gun emoticons [sic].

Neither the ANC nor the SACP leadership was available for comment.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/08/22/Protests-in-Inchanga-after-%E2%80%98execution-style%E2%80%99-killing-of-SACP-member

ANC arrogance like Maphatsoe’s is partly why Ronnie Kasrils left the party

Ernest Mabuza, Business Day, 22 August 2016

THE defamation suit brought by former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils against deputy defence minister Kebby Maphatsoe was stood down until Tuesday morning after the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) was joined by other parties as defendants in the action.

Kasrils is suing Maphatsoe‚ who is also chairman of the MKMVA‚ for a statement he made two years ago that Kasrils gave instructions to the young woman‚ known as "Khwezi"‚ who said President Jacob Zuma raped her in 2005.

Both Kasrils and Maphatsoe were present in court.

After the case had been postponed‚ Kasrils said he had gone to court because he had been maligned‚ with Maphatsoe calling him the enemy of the people and accusing him of working for imperialist agencies.

"This is absolutely defamatory. I have a reputation to protect‚" he said.

"We need to put a stop to these people who‚ at the drop of a hat‚ point a finger at those who criticise the government and call them agents."

Kasrils said he was very confident in his case and his team. He said if he won the case‚ he would donate the money to a worthy cause.

When asked if he was not sad to face a former comrade in court‚ Kasrils said it was the arrogance of people such as Maphatsoe‚ calling people spies‚ that prompted his lawsuit.

"This comes from a party of liberation. The reason I left is because of people acting this way. We need to teach these people a lesson. They have become arrogant and self-serving."

Kasrils also denied the allegation made by Maphatsoe that he instructed the woman who laid the rape charge against Zuma.

Kasrils described how he knew Zuma’s rape accuser from Maputo in Mozambique when she was seven years old.

"Jacob Zuma and I knew Khwezi very well. Khwezi was this lovely seven-year-old who is a niece of ours."

Kasrils said Khwezi was brought into his office in February 2005 by a woman working in intelligence. Khwezi indicated she would want to meet him again.

Kasrils recalled Khwezi calling her in November 2005. "She said: ‘Uncle Ronnie‚ Jacob Zuma has raped me’."

Kasrils said she was on her way to lay a charge at the police station‚ and that he never had any part in manipulating the case.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/law/2016/08/22/anc-arrogance-like-maphatsoes-is-partly-why-ronnie-kasrils-left-the-party

Motlanthe: ANC must listen to needs of the people

Paddy Harper, City Press, 22 Aug 2016

South African voters are no longer willing to be fed slogans by a former liberation movement boasting of its past achievements rather than focusing on meeting the needs of citizens, says ANC veteran and former president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Addressing a forum convened by the Xubera Institute for Research and Development in Durban on Friday night, Motlanthe said the results of the August 3 poll in which the governing party lost control of key metros served to “reflect a population that is beginning to embrace a variety of ideas”.

“They reveal a citizenry expressing their will, who are articulating their desire for a party that recognises their distinct and particular needs and works to meet them; that does not rest on past achievements, nor distance itself from the electorate,” Motlanthe said.

Addressing the topic, The Pitfalls of National Consciousness: Are We There Yet?, Motlanthe said that while much of the analyses of the degeneration of former liberation movements when they came to power – espoused by philosopher Frantz Fanon in 1961 – held true for the ANC today, historical conditions had changed.

The attainment of the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing “have yet to extend to all citizens in the new South Africa”.

“Those who do not experience these – the ‘newness’ of the nation, and the freedom and equality promised – do not operate differently than under the old epoch,” he said.

As a result, some citizens felt “reduced to second-class citizens in the land of their birth or choice”.

“None should be placed in the context of such indignity, caught in a new nation that has not granted them access to the most basic of human needs,” Motlanthe said.

“We cannot be comfortable with a society in which people who had given everything, wonder with their empty hands and bellies, as to the reality of their victory,” he said. “True freedom needs to give people the most basic of rights, as well as the possibility of agency, choice and wider vistas.”

It was critical, he said, that “our conception of freedom” was driven by a “profound humanism” and the desire to attain full, not “flag”, freedom.

“It remains critical to heed ... warnings about the trappings of power,” he said.

“I have previously stated that the success of the ANC will be judged on its ability to build a new generation of South Africans that have the same access to opportunities and development resources to build a prosperous nation. This still stands.”

The current generation of leaders could not afford to leave the attainment of real freedom to the future “while we feast on the fruits of incumbency and designate our current challenges to those who will come after us”.

“People cannot be addressed with slogans and jargon, but require being met with action and a realisation of the future promised to them so many years ago,” he said.

The ANC’s electoral losses showed that the party needed to “align ourselves with the people in a manner that takes into consideration their desires, needs and hopes”.

Motlanthe said that other forms of protest – including the silent anti-rape protest during President Jacob Zuma’s release of the official election results two weeks ago – showed that the ANC had not become the “omnipotent political party that monopolised the truth”.

“I see such acts as antithetical to the passive, malleable and helpless state of post-colonial African societies that confronted the generation of Fanon. Our system of democracy enables these young women to express their discontent,” he said.

“What it means is that post-apartheid South Africa affords its people space to be heard.”

Likewise, the campaign for a free and transformed tertiary education “challenged the idea of liberation and access for all”.

Motlanthe said that while 20 years of democracy was too short a period to “discern frozen patterns of political behaviour”, there were real dangers of “finding comfort in continuing the old terms of domination and distancing democracy from the very people it claims to free”.

http://city-press.news24.com/News/motlanthe-anc-must-listen-to-needs-of-the-people-20160822

ArcelorMittal to pay R1.5bn fine for role in steel cartel

Fifi Peters, Business Day, 22 August 2016

THE Competition Commission has fined steel monopoly ArcelorMittal SA R1.5bn — the biggest fine imposed on a single company for anticompettitive behaviour in SA’s history.

The commission said Arcelor had admitted to its involvement in long steel and scrap metals cartels. However, SA’s largest steel maker had denied allegations of collusion in the flat steel and wire rod markets.

The R1.5bn fine brought to an end to all proceedings against the company, the commission said.

Investigations into the local steel industry began in SA began in 2008 following concerns about high and increasing steel prices, despite SA being a next exporter of steel.

Other stakeholders who had been implicated during investigations include Cisco (Cape Town Iron and Steel Works), Scaw Metals, Cape Gate and Highveld Steel and Vanadium.

Arcelorhad agreed to pay the administrative penalty of R1.5bn, the Commission said, in five annual instalments of at least R300m

The steel maker had also agreed to various other remedies, including limiting price increases of flat steel products and committing R4.64bn to capital expenditure for the next five years, while not admitting its pricing conduct contravened the Competition Act.

Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said the penalty sent a strong message of deterrence and was an important milestone in the watchdog’s enforcement against cartels.

“In addition, the pricing remedy reflects our desire to protect SA consumers against dominant firms, particularly on key industrial products,” he said.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/industrials/2016/08/22/arcelormittal-to-pay-r1.5bn-fine-for-role-in-steel-cartel

Comment and opinion

Op-Ed: Does the ANC face defeat in 2019?

Raymond Suttner, Daily Maverick, 22 Aug 2016

The disruption witnessed in elections in council chambers, through defeated ANC councillors, feeds into fears that many of us would previously have discounted: that the ANC may be reluctant to concede power should it be defeated nationally in 2019. This has a range of implications including resorting to illegal means to frustrate or obstruct opposition in order to avert defeat. We can no longer discount illegality since there has been ample evidence of the ANC leadership’s willingness to depart from the rule of law, and constitutionalism more generally, in the last few years. Since it has been used to secure benefits, why should such means not be deployed to defend what has been secured and to which some regard themselves as entitled in the future?

No one should expect the ANC leadership to have anticipated precisely how the local government elections would turn out. Polls predicted some type of setback, but then many commentators and scholars cast doubt on the polls.

Leaders ought to be prepared for a worst-case scenario and have some idea of how to address that should it arise. More important, there was a time when the ANC had its fingers on the pulse of its constituency, through hard organisational work. Had it been in touch with its supposed base of support now, it would have had a better sense of the changing tide.

Evidently, the ANC had no clear plan for how it would deal with the results that it now confronts and whose implications are still unfolding. It has not readied itself to be an opposition in many municipalities, large and small. Its conduct in elections or after elections of mayors and other officials where they were defeated, has lacked basic decorum. This is not the same question as observing rules of public fora (as has been the case with the EFF), but what demeanour one displays in the face of defeat, following 22 years of being accustomed to victory.

What we have seen feeds into fears that many of us would previously have discounted: that the ANC may be reluctant to concede power should it be defeated nationally. This has a range of implications including resorting to illegal means to frustrate or obstruct opposition in order to avert defeat.

We can no longer discount illegality, since there has been ample evidence of the ANC leadership’s willingness to depart from the rule of law and constitutionalism more generally in the last few years. Since this has been used to secure benefits, why should such means not be deployed to defend what has been secured, and to which some regard themselves as entitled in the future?

Even if these implications or potentialities are not realised, and fears are unwarranted, clearly the ANC has not prepared itself to handle defeat with dignity and generosity, something that one ought to display if one is a mature organisation with a seasoned leadership. But for some time hooliganism has been a significant presence within the organisation and unsavoury elements are to be found at all levels, so it may be unrealistic to think that leaders are the ones who can remedy this tendency. In many cases, those who disrupt may have been given a tacit nod, suggesting that what they do is acceptable.

For those outside the ANC, it confirms what they suspected to be the trajectory of the organisation. But for those who remain within the ANC, who still hold out hope of “self-correction”, it is clear that the task, if it is realisable at all, is much more difficult than might have been anticipated.

The ANC clearly did not adequately prepare itself for how it would address what had previously been unthinkable. Many of those in leadership seem to have believed that historic loyalties would hold sway and that people would forgive the ANC and continue to be patient with the organisation.

It had previously proved itself, especially in the sacrifices that its cadres made to liberate South Africa. But many of the current representatives, including some in leadership, may not have played any or a significant role in the struggle. They have therefore never been equipped with any form of discipline that could have been invoked against those who, on losing elections, have disrupted proceedings in council chambers.

For those who speculate over whether or not the ANC can survive as an organisation or whether it is to implode or just disappear for one or other reason, the balance must have shifted towards believing that its collapse is no longer inconceivable.

For me, the question does not revolve around election results, but whether or not the organisation has or can regain the political capacity to make sense of the realities that people face. I question whether it can convince those people that it has a way of addressing these and remedy the demeaning living conditions that continue to be the lot of very many. One can hold the reins of government and create chaos, not order, destroy instead of build, as we have seen in recent years; one can observe or continue to undermine the Constitution for whose creation the organisation itself was primarily responsible.

Who can say that the ANC of today inspires them with the required confidence? What reason do we have to be confident in the ANC’s capacity to govern? Does it have any vision beyond personal benefit? We know we cannot trust the ethics of the current leadership at all levels. But can we even rely on them purely in terms of governmental coherence, willingness and capacity to govern?

The answer seems to point to the negative, especially since a situation has developed where one of the prime causes of this disarray is the president. But his continued incumbency of the position and the activities he has engaged in are apparently excluded from any post-election evaluation by the ANC.

It is significant that the ANC has become the object of scornful laughter, that jokes about the organisation proliferate in all forms of media. These are not ordinary cartoons, but ridicule. Many of these relate to the claim that the ANC will rule till Jesus comes, with many speaking of “Jesus” arriving in Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane, Mogale City, and then the satirists ask where the next stop in “Christ’s” journey will be. The ANC has brought this ridicule on itself; it has created a situation where it is not met simply with disagreement or outrage, but is simply not taken seriously in many respects.

That a giant has been wounded and that this may be the early stage of the demise of the ANC requires critical evaluation. While I do not believe that self-correction is inevitable, I am not filled with confidence over the parties that will potentially fill the shoes of the ANC should this local government defeat lead to its national defeat in 2019. The DA has a mixture of a bureaucratic, technocratic and meritocratic ethos, on the basis of its governing in the Western Cape. But there are reasons for caution, given the orientation of the party, its attitude to the poor, the inequalities that still prevail and the degrading and dangerous conditions under which many black communities still live.

The ANC follows, in many respects, the trajectory of the Indian Congress, also a long dominant party. But we have seen in India how when the once mighty Indian Congress fell into authoritarian decay and was defeated, it then returned to power as a shadow of its former self. In each case of its defeat, dangerous forces have filled the void, as with the current authoritarian Hindu fundamentalists who have attacked the very fabric of Indian society.

What do we do in this situation to remedy the present but also ensure that what follows does not present new dangers? There is a need for humility. There is a need to develop realisable ideas through sustainable organisation. It is inadequate for us to look to the ANC to self-correct on the basis of an assumption that there is a “real ANC” that only needs to be rediscovered or restored in order to remedy the current problems.

Let us recognise that President Jacob Zuma emerged from that ANC. For that to happen indicates that even if the ANC were to engage in some type of self-examination and cleansing, it cannot simply go back to “the ANC of OR Tambo” (as suggested by Rev Frank Chikane). Those who were in the ANC at earlier periods need to ask what was inadequate in what was built or why, that proved too fragile to survive succumbing to situations where temptations of wealth and resorting to violence could not be resisted.

We need to recognise that the “real ANC” that some veterans want to restore no longer exists, if it ever existed in the past. That is not to say that the ANC is no more for those who still feel attached to the organisation. It may still remain the home for many and it may remain in office for some time. But we need to build organisations beyond the ANC and also beyond the electoral arena.

We must avoid putting all our eggs in one basket, the councils or provinces or parliamentary electoral baskets. It is important to use these organs of government and hold them accountable. But we also need to gather together those who are interested from a variety of sectors to take forward the project of building grassroots organisations, where people are directly empowered. These would come from

sectors including faith-based communities, workers, landless and homeless, women and men, the unemployed, especially unemployed youth, people from cultural, medical and other sectors. This ought to include those who may be wealthy; who also have an interest in seeing an end to corruption, and seeing stability that depends on basic social needs being met.

Building something new is always difficult. But as long as we appreciate that what we need affects our future and that of future generations, the effort is necessary and required of us, no matter how arduous the journey may be. DM

Raymond Suttner is a scholar and political analyst. He is a former political prisoner for activities in the ANC-led liberation struggle. Currently he is a Part-time Professor attached to Rhodes University and an Emeritus Professor at UNISA. His most recent book is Recovering Democracy in South Africa (Jacana and Lynne Rienner, 2015). He blogs at raymondsuttner.com and his twitter handle is @raymondsuttner

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-08-22-op-ed-does-the-anc-face-defeat-in-2019/#.V7v-Nk3lrIU