Global South African News Wrap – 14 September 2012

Zuma takes off gloves

'Economic war looming'

President proud of 'Zumaville'

Protector probes Mbalula for travel costs

Miner threats pressure ANC

Zuma vows crackdown on platinum ‘instigators’

ANC power play clouds Dlamini-Zuma succession

Limpopo chaos report now with Zuma

Workers vow to shut all mines

Cosatu congress to paper over cracks before Mangaung

JZ denies telling ministers to fund Zumaville

Union claims SABC banned Malema from the airwaves

Analysts differ on Zuma vs Motlanthe

NUM is ‘not a sweetheart union’

It's caution, not panic: Mantashe

Union not surprised soldiers want Malema

We won't legitimise Malema stories: Maharaj

She changed ‘Horror Affairs’

Minister paints a hopeful picture

SANDF on ‘high alert’ as Malema talks to 40

ANC MPs fear for safety, refuse to meet Marikana workers

Malema’s ‘renegade run’ troubles the ANC

Call for new laws for state intervention

Nationalise commodity sectors — UN

Cosatu’s suicidal wage proposal

SA on knife edge

ANC murders: leader in court

Support for Vavi & Co as Cosatu congress nears

ANC’s big Juju conundrum

Tutu decries SA’s ‘moral decline’

Empower communities –Motlanthe

Opposition parties irate at Eskom’s BHP Billiton deal

State body ‘counting races’ as provinces melt down

Service delivery: Presidency blames ‘apartheid denial’

Houses unite to axe Parliament secretary

Nombembe urges local government to lead by example

KwaZulu-Natal trio fall in behind Zuma

UCT is the country's best varsity, by far

Transnet vows end to deviant spending

SACP pushing for Jacob Zuma to win second term

It’s not just the mines

MTN, Vodacom to co-operate on Madonsela’s ICT Indaba probe

‘Some consensus’ on implementing youth wage subsidy

SA's arms sales to Zim 'above board'

ANC needs new blood: Mashatile

Miners on rampage against non-strikers

Zuma feels the heat as Mangaung nears

Motlanthe's headache

Former CEO takes on SAA over ruling

Regulators need more teeth, says study

Lonmin wage talks aim to end wildcat strike

NUM's battle for relevance in evolving landscape

Co-ordination boost for local infrastructure

Why are investors in the mining industry so silent?

More top ANC men want Zuma gone

SAfrica's alliance blames mining companies

Mbeki: AU has failed Africa

Victory for Manuel over strategic plan

ANC has an audacious choice to make

Fracking battle heads for the courts

14 September 2012 The Times Page 1 Dominic Mahlangu, Caiphius Kgosana, Graeme Hosken and Mhlaba Memela

Zuma takes off gloves

President Jacob Zuma is expected to announce extraordinary security measures to deal with the continuing illegal strikes on the platinum mines in North West.

Stopping short of declaring a state of emergency, Zuma will brief the ANC's national executive committee meeting today about the broader plan to bring stability to the mining sector, before addressing the nation on what steps the government will take to restore stability to the mining sector.

It is expected that a high-level security clampdown in the platinum belt of Rustenburg will be announced, including the possible arrests of high-profile instigators.

The Times has learnt that a special police task force, backed by the army, is expected to be announced and will move into the area as soon as this weekend.

The security clampdown will forbid miners from carrying dangerous weapons, marching to mining houses and gathering without permission.

Zuma told the National Assembly yesterday that the government would soon act against those who fuelled tensions on the mines.

"It can no longer be accepted. You know that it's not just the miners striking, it is also some people of some description who are going instigating miners to operate in a particular way. We are looking into that and we are going to be acting very soon," he said.

As Zuma took a tough stance it emerged last night that Lonmin, whose Marikana platinum mine is at the centre of the conflict, had made striking workers a wage offer that is to be tabled this morning.

Zuma earlier issued an indirect warning to expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema that he might face the consequences of instigating strikes by miners.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said: "President Zuma has said that he is aware of people outside of the labour sector who are inciting workers and that action will be taken against them."

The Hawks are already investigating Malema's alleged involvement in tender irregularities.

Asked yesterday about the possibility of Malema's arrest, Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said if and when an arrest were made, the first person who would know about it would be Malema.

"Only then will the South African public be informed," he said.

Floyd Shivambu, suspended ANC Youth League spokesman, said last night that Malema and his ''economic freedom fighters'' would not be intimidated.

''As economic freedom fighters and revolutionaries we will never stop providing political support to all mineworkers. We will never be intimidated by threats of action by people who only think of illegal and illegitimate actions,'' he said.

Malema has been crisscrossing North West and Gauteng mines over the past two weeks, addressing disgruntled miners and urging them to remain steadfast in their demand for a R12 500 salary. He has advised them to go on a five-day national strike every month until their demands are met. He has also called on them to demand the resignation of the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers.

Events at the Lonmin mine in Marikana, coupled with his actions, have left mine bosses, international investors and senior figures in the ANC and in the government alarmed over the state of a key sector of the economy.

National Planning Commission Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday called Malema an "opportunist".

He said: "There's nothing militant about insulting the president and government. And I noticed that when the chap addresses soldiers, there were more journalists there."

Manuel hinted that Malema might top the agenda at this weekend's ANC national executive committee meeting.

Some within the ruling party are urging that Malema be charged with incitement.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesman Theto Mahlakoana called for Malema's immediate arrest.

Labelling him a "power-hungry reject", she said Popcru was angered by Malema's "continuous dangerous actions".

"We are aware of his plot to address police. We have received calls from our members saying that they are to be addressed by Malema. We are concerned by this because we do not know what his modus operandi is when it comes to the police.

"The police must not turn a blind eye to Malema's utterances. They must arrest him for inciting violence and instability," she said.

Malema has also irked the state's security machinery through his decision to address about 100 of the 1300 soldiers who have been suspended for taking part in a protest action outside the Union Buildings in 2009, which turned violent.

All military bases were placed on high alert when it was learned that he was planning to address the soldiers.

Earlier yesterday, COPE MP Papi Kganare described Malema as an "an uncontrollable Polokwane political Frankenstein" created by Zuma.

But Zuma denied he was responsible for Malema's behaviour, saying: "I shouldn't be blamed for somebody who has some characteristic of his own. It's not my fault. I never participated in the production of such a person."

SANDF spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga said the military had yet to receive instructions.

Police spokesman Brigadier Phuti Setati said that they were not aware of plans for additional security measures.

14 September 2012 The Times Page 2 Graeme Hosken 'Economic war looming' South Africa is on the brink of an "economic war" that threatens its security.

As violent protests spiral out of control, researchers, intelligence specialists and security organisations warn of impending national danger and more casualties.

The fears were voiced as axed ANC Youth League president Julius Malema - alleged to be inciting the violent demonstrations - encouraged soldiers south of Johannesburg this week to fight for "decent" wages and improved working conditions.

The Defence Ministry slammed his involvement with the military and in advance of his speaking to soldiers put its bases on high alert. Malema was accused by the ministry of incitement.

Researcher Michael Hough, of the University of Pretoria's Institute for Strategic Studies, said the country was in an economic war.

"We should be gravely concerned. Economic warfare underlies a vast amount of political conflict."

Hough said the biggest problem was the politicising of issues such as wage demands and working conditions.

"General strikes are known factors for revolutionary ideas and precipitate the final stages of revolutions. They are the cause of economic collapse, which, if infused with politics, as is happening, becomes an uncontrollable revolutionary force.

He said that though a wage strike could be resolved, it was virtually impossible to resolve politicised mass action disputes "which are becoming more violent".

"What we are seeing now is becoming worse. People will die. With the country barely able to support the 15million people on welfare there is growing dissent, especially among the unemployed.''

Hough said leadership changes would not help.

"The problem is bigger than leaders. It requires stringent good governance to address the crisis of poor skills development and corruption - driving factors in a revolution."

Malema's meeting with the soldiers was two weeks after he addressed thousands of Lonmin platinum miners striking for a R12500 a month salary.

Hough's warning was given as protesters at the Medupi power station construction site, in Mpumalanga, damaged heavy-lift cranes, disrupting construction.

Malema is expected to speak to these strikers soon.

Last week's of unrest at Medupi, according to an engineer, led to the destruction of cranes and vehicles in what has been described as orchestrated industrial sabotage.

According to intelligence sources, the strikes are part of a systematic attack on the economy and there are fears that they will spread to other crucial construction sites.

The Medupi engineer said the targeting of the cranes was deliberate.

"This is orchestrated. It is industrial sabotage linked to current strike action in the rest of the country."

SA Security Forces Union president Bheki Mvovo said information from the union's members - several of whom were in military intelligence - showed that Malema was ready to sponsor an Arab Spring-style uprising.

"He has targets: the military, intelligence agencies, police, metro police, universities, construction and mines. It is an attempt to destabilise the country. South Africa is facing a real danger," Mvovo said.

Theto Mahlakoana, spokesman for police and prisons union Popcru, said: "We are aware of his plot to address the police. The police must arrest him for inciting violence and instability."

SANDF spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga said the military command was in control.

" The defence force has structures for troops to air grievances. The soldiers who met Malema are a minority. They are facing military trials for marching on the Union Buildings in 2009."

14 September 2012 The Times Page 4 Thabo Mokone President proud of 'Zumaville'

President Jacob Zuma yesterday told parliament that he was "proud" of the massive development that was taking place in his rural village of Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal.

The construction of the Nkandla Mlalazi Smart Growth Centre will cost R2-billion, with half of the money coming from taxpayers.

Critics say this would create a new town that the media has dubbed "Zumaville".

Responding to questions in the National Assembly yesterday, Zuma said: "Why must people from Nkandla starve?

"Developing that area does not trouble me; it makes me very proud."

Zuma's political nemesis, Julius Malema, has called Nkandla the New York City of KwaZulu-Natal.

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko wanted Zuma to explain how the government could spend the money in an area that was "just 3.2km from your homestead" when KwaZulu-Natal villages such as Ebizimali and Eqhudeni lacked water and electricity.

Zuma said: "You have got to start somewhere. I am happy that people that have never seen development before are going to see [it]."

The Mail and Guardian has reported that the project would include a school, libraries, a sports centre with tennis courts, housing, and communal gardens, and is linked to a rural development organisation Zuma chairs.

The rapid state-sponsored development has resulted in the president being accused of acting in his own interests.

14 September 2012 The New Age Warren Mabona

Protector probes Mbalula for travel costs

The office of the public protector Thuli Madonsela said she was investigating allegations of wasteful flight travel expenditure involving Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula and his deputy Gert Oosthuizen. Madonsela’s spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi this week told The New Age that a preliminary investigation was already underway. She said Madonsela had sent questions and was expecting answers from relevant parties. “The investigation should be completed within 30 days in terms of the Executive Members Ethics Act. The public protector will then decide whether to proceed with a full investigation or not – depending on the answers she will have received,” Masibi said.

Asked if the investigations would cover Mbalula’s trips to the London Olympics, Masibi said: “The complainant asked the public protector to investigate flights between April 1, 2010 and early 2012. Madonsela’s probe came after the DA lodged a complaint that Mbalula and Oosthuizen had spent approximately R2.6m on flights between April 1, 2010 and early 2012. DA shadow minister of sport Winston Rabotapi said Mbalula had taken 240 flights within a period of two years at a cost of R1.53m. He said Oosthuizen racked up 105 flights within the same period totalling R1.13m. “I will closely monitor the progress of the investigation and hold the minister and his deputy to account,” Rabotapi said. “Public funds must be used to develop future athletes and support our current crop of talented sports men and women. Every cent is precious in these endeavours and it must not be wasted,” Rabotapi added. Spokesperson for Mbalula Paena Galane yesterday gave a “no comment” answer when contacted. The minister’s adviser Justin de Allende shouted and also refused to answer questions. “I don’t want to have anything to do with you. “You take a different position about the minister and don’t call me again,” De Allende said before hanging up.

13 September 2012 The New Age Reuters

Miner threats pressure ANC

Striking platinum miners delivered much higher pay demands on Thursday and threatened to spread industrial action further, deepening a crisis that is becoming the biggest threat to the ruling ANC since the end of apartheid. In the face of the spiralling labour unrest in Africa's biggest economy, President Jacob Zuma said the government would crack down on anybody stirring up trouble. "It is not just the miners striking. It also some people of some description who are going there to instigate miners," said Zuma, who faces an ANC leadership election in December. "We are going to be acting very soon," he told parliament in Cape Town. What began as an industrial dispute has evolved into a grass-roots rebellion by blacks who have seen little improvement in their lives since white minority rule ended 18 years ago.

At a soccer stadium in the heart of the platinum belt, thousands of workers heard a call from one protest leader for a national strike to "bring the mining companies to their knees". "On Sunday, we are starting with a general strike here in Rustenburg," Mametlwe Sebei, from a fringe Marxist political party, told the workers near the town which lies 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg. He drew mild applause from the crowd, armed with sticks and machetes, and it was unclear if the strike call would be heeded. Despite the weapons, the strikers insisted their push for a sharp hike in wages was peaceful - even after the Aug. 16 police shooting of 34 protesters at Lonmin's nearby Marikana platinum mine. "There should be no blood," one placard read. As investors started to fret about the impact on wider economic growth, the rand fell more than one percent against the dollar - compounding a 3 percent slide on Wednesday. Mining accounts for 6 percent of South Africa's output. Most men at the soccer stadium said they worked for top producer Anglo American Platinum, commonly known as Amplats, which suspended operations at its four Rustenburg mines on Wednesday after they were blockaded by marchers. SPREADING CHALLENGE A group of more than 100 chanting strikers, many waving sticks and "knobkerry" clubs, accompanied protest leaders as they delivered a written memorandum laying out their demands to Amplats management offices near the Bleskop stadium. Police armoured vehicles kept the larger crowd of miners inside the stadium, within sight of a white clubhouse painted with Amplats corporate slogans such as "We value and care about each other" and "We are one team". The demands were for an increase of basic pay and allowances to 16,000 rand ($1,900) a month - nearly three times their current salary and more than double per capita GDP in the continent's richest country. As the stick-waving miners accompanied their leaders back to the stadium, they chanted: "We won't give up!" They said they would not return to work until top management - including Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Amplats parent company Anglo American - came to hear them out. "She must come to the workers," a 32-year-old called Kasigo told Reuters. "If they don't come, we won't work." Amplats confirmed it had received the demands and was monitoring the situation closely. MALEMA "DANGER" The labour unrest began with a violent six-week strike at Impala Platinum in January.

It intensified in mid-August, sending platinum prices up 20 percent since then. It stems from a challenge by the small but militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to the dominance of the ANC-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers(NUM) and is also spreading into the gold sector. World number four producer Gold Fields said NUM officials came under attack when they tried to address wildcat strikers at its KDC West mine near Johannesburg, where 15,000 men downed tools last week. ANC renegade Julius Malema - the de facto face of an unofficial "Anyone but Zuma" rebellion in the ANC - has entered the fray, accusing the polygamous Zuma of being more interested in arranging weddings than trying to clean up the mess. Ministers and NUM leaders have dismissed Malema as an irresponsible opportunist but the expelled Youth League leader is becoming a star for the legions of South Africa's impoverished black majority. "People who believe that Malema does not present a danger to South Africa have missed the point," said Richard Faber, a fixed income trader at Johannesburg brokerage Worldwide Capital. "It is his ideology that presents the danger and that is gathering momentum." The platinum price held steady on Thursday near the 5-month high it hit following the Amplats shut-downs. Amplats shares fell as much 1.8 percent in early trade before bouncing to be up 1.3 percent by 1400 GMT.

13 September 2012 The New Age Sapa

Fire corrupt government officials: Mashatile

Government officials found guilty of corruption must be fired, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said on Thursday. "We must root out corruption fearlessly. We must not look the other side when people are stealing public resources," he told a panel discussion, hosted by the Black Management Forum in Johannesburg. "We must fire them so that those resources can be used for what they are intended for." Mashatile said corruption resulted in limited resources and inefficiencies in government. "As a minister in government I can say that upfront that we are not efficeint." An example of inefficiency was government's delay to approve environmental impact assessments (EIA) for companies that wanted to start projects in the country.

"We take too long to approve plans to give people permits to do business." Mashatile urged the private sector to show confidence by investing in the South African economy. "What leaders need to do between politicians and business is to show confidence in our own economy. If we don't invest in our own economy ourselves, the issue of attracting foreign direct investment from others will not succeed," he said. For the economy to thrive, South Africa had to invest in skills development. "Government must make sure that the public education is working... we should offer free education particularly to the poor communities." Mashatile said land redistribution remained a challenge. "Black people still do not enjoy ownership of land. It is a problem," he told the panel. "We may not like the issue of expropriating without compensation, but expropriation is necessary to ensure that there is redistribution of land to redress the imbalances of the past." The panel discussion was aimed in bringing government and business together to discuss how South Africa could do things differently to grow its economy and become the gateway to Africa.

14 September 2012 Business Day Page 1 Paul Vecchiatto, Carol Paton, Khulekani Magubane, Monde Maoto and Phakamisa Ndzamela

Zuma vows crackdown on platinum ‘instigators’

AS THE turmoil in South Africa’s gold and platinum mining sector spread on Thursday, President Jacob Zuma vowed a crackdown against outside parties he said were "instigating" the wave of strikes.

Workers at the world’s largest platinum miner, Amplats, on Thursday officially joined the wildcat strike action that was costing the mining industry an estimated R90m a day in revenue.

Mr Zuma’s tough talk underlines the growing seriousness of the mineworkers’ revolt, and may help deflect criticism that the government has stood by and allowed the turmoil to spread.

In another development, as wage talks finally began at Lonmin, the Chamber of Mines indicated mine owners may have "no other option" but to come as close as possible to meeting the wage demand of R12,500 being touted in several strikes.

"My understanding is … employers accept the status quo is not and cannot be the way forward," chamber CE Bheki Sibiya said in an interview on Thursday night.

Amplats has suspended operations at five mines, one smelter and two refineries in North West. Initially the group said this was to protect workers from intimidation by strikers from other mines. On Thursday night it confirmed its employees, too, had gone on strike and given it a list of demands.

Spokesmen for workers at a rally at Rustenburg’s Bleskop Stadium threatened an indefinite stoppage until Amplats met its wage demands of up to R16,000.

However, Amplats indicated it would only pay employees until Sunday if it was forced to keep operations on hold beyond that.

"The Rustenburg operations are already under considerable economic pressure, and it will not be financially sustainable to continue to pay affected employees if it becomes necessary to continue the suspension beyond Sunday," spokesman Mpumi Sithole said.

During presidential question time in the National Assembly on Thursday, Mr Zuma faced questions about clashes between police and miners at Marikana mine three weeks ago in which 34 died.

Mr Zuma said: "It is absolutely true that there is the kind of activities that are not acceptable. As government we have been looking at that, and I have engaged with the ministers concerned to discuss how to deal with this issue … very, very soon we will let the public know how to deal with that ...

"It is not just the miners striking. It is also some people of some description who are going there to instigate miners to operate in a particular way. That cannot be accepted. We are looking into that and … are going to act soon."

It was not clear if Mr Zuma was indicating action would be taken, in particular, against expelled African National Congress (ANC) Youth League leader Julius Malema, who has actively supported the strikers and claimed senior ANC leaders were complicit in exploiting them.

As Mr Zuma was speaking in the National Assembly, Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) general secretary Dennis George called on the government to invoke the powers of the apartheid-era State of Emergency Act, saying in a statement the situation was "totally out of control" and could "easily spill over to other sectors of our economy".

Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko asked if the violence could have been prevented if a minority union such as the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) had the same rights as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

"There are serious fault lines in our country because big business, big government and big unions work together to keep the rules of the game working in favour of a small connected elite at the centre and serves to keep everybody else out and fan tensions," she said.

Mr Zuma provoked her ire by suggesting that Amcu, just like the DA, represented a minority and did not enjoy the same rights.

During his replies, Mr Zuma also levelled criticism at Lonmin, saying it was behind other mining companies in providing housing and improving living conditions for its workers, as stipulated in the Mining Charter.

Iraj Abedian, CEO of Pan African Investments, told e.tv the ramifications of the Marikana situation would be felt in many ways.

"If the issue is not resolved then (South Africa’s) revenue suffers, the workers suffer, the rand suffers … in particular the country’s credit rating suffers and if that goes down, then everybody suffers."

Lonmin has lost about $103m since the strike began on August 10. It is losing 2,500oz a day in production while Amplats stands to lose 2,100oz each day it is shut.

Gold Fields’ KDC complex near Carletonville is estimated to be losing 1,440oz daily.

More than 76,000 workers are affected by the strikes.

Amplats said workers had demanded a basic wage of R10,000 a month, a living-out allowance of R2,000, clocking-in risk of R500, a monthly safety bonus of R1,500 and transport and meal allowances of R60 and R30, respectively, in the memorandum it had received.

Workers at the Bleskop stadium, however, appeared to expect considerably more. Spokesman for the workers Sphamandla Makhanya said the workers wanted R16,070.

"If the mine is not going to give this amount, we will negotiate a minimum of R12,500. If the mine cannot give this amount, then they can take everything that they have in South Africa and we will let the government rule in this country."

At Gold Fields’ KDC West mine, the branch and regional leadership of the NUM on Thursday fled from an angry crowd of workers after failing to address them from inside an armoured vehicle.

Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche said while the company had been trying to speak to workers through the NUM, it had now become imperative that management negotiate directly with the workers.

Meanwhile, Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile warned that if the wildcat strike spread, it could pose a risk to South Africa’s economy as thousands of jobs were at stake.

Mr Fuzile had an impromptu lunch meeting with NUM general secretary Frans Baleni on the sidelines of a conference in Mozambique on Thursday and raised concerns about investor fears and risks to jobs.

"Mining as a proportion of GDP is small. However, if the problems are sustained and are spreading then the impact could be different. If it spreads and it’s for a long time, then it will be a problem because there is a risk to jobs," Mr Fuzile said.

"Mining has significant foreign exchange earnings. A lasting solution … is what South Africa needs."

Mr Baleni said: "One of the things that he raised is that the investors are panicking."

14 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Setumo Stone and Natasha Marrian ANC power play clouds Dlamini-Zuma succession

THERE is growing expectation that President Jacob Zuma will reshuffle his Cabinet soon as he moves to replace Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who will take up an African Union (AU) post next month.

If Mr Zuma decides to have a big shake-up, this will be the fourth reshuffle in the three and a half years of his first term.

Previous reshuffles had created the perception of a strong president, but that did not last, as the power battles in the ruling party since presented him as an indecisive leader.

This time things are different. The environment is hotly contested as the African National Congress (ANC) marches towards its elective conference in Mangaung, with nominations for leadership positions opening next month. Whatever he does, his decision will be viewed in light of the power play.

The home affairs portfolio is testament to how an ailing government department can be turned around. Ms Dlamini-Zuma on Wednesday urged her successor to continue implementing her vision, as starting over would lead to "a mess".

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor are touted as frontrunners to replace Ms Dlamini-Zuma. While the appointment is Mr Zuma’s prerogative, his opponents in Mangaung will be keeping a close watch.

Gauteng’s ANC provincial leadership is dominated by those against Mr Zuma’s second term bid in Mangaung. Shifting Ms Mokonyane (a Zuma supporter) may not be strategic for him as it may create an opportunity for the anti-Zuma lobby to take over the government of the country’s economic hub. Sources in Gauteng say discussions over a possible move for Ms Mokonyane to the national Cabinet started just after Ms Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign was launched, with Gauteng ANC secretary David Makhura seen as a potential candidate to be premier.

They describe Ms Mokonyane as "ineffective" in government and that she was keeping herself busy with Mr Zuma’s campaign on the ground.

A close aide of Ms Mokonyane in the Gauteng government dismissed the speculation that she was likely to become a national minister. But an MEC said a move for Ms Mokonyane was "not unlikely".

The other option is to replace Ms Dlamini-Zuma with Ms Pandor.

Ms Pandor appears on the campaign slate for Mr Zuma’s re-election in Mangaung as a shoo-in for treasurer general Mathews Phosa.

Should she take over the home affairs ministry, her deputy Derek Han ekom would likely replace her, in what would be a promotion for Mr Han ekom. He is chairman of the ANC disciplinary committee that expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema.

Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj on Thursday said Ms Dlamini-Zuma would take up her AU post next month and it had not yet been decided who would fill her shoes. "No president will know what decision he is going to take before he takes it."

14 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Linda Ensor

Limpopo chaos report now with Zuma

THE presidential task team appointed to investigate and report on the five chaotic provincial departments in Limpopo had submitted its report to President Jacob Zuma last week, Deputy Finance Minister Nhanhla Nene said on Thursday.

The national government took over the running of the five departments in December last year.

Mr Nene would not disclose any details or recommendations, saying it was a presidential report.

Mr Zuma said during question time in the National Assembly on Thursday that he had received the report and was considering it. He would indicate a way forward in "due course".

Mr Zuma’s response to the report will be keenly watched in the light of the upcoming elective conference in Manguang in December as Limpopo is seen as a stronghold of opposition to the president’s re-election.

When the Cabinet announced the intervention in December, it said "there should be consequences for any illegal conduct or maladministration that may be uncovered".

The Cabinet used section 100 of the Constitution to put the five provincial departments under central administration.

The departments were accused of poor governance, maladministration, corruption and a breakdown in service delivery. The affected departments were the provincial treasury, education, transport and roads, health, and public works.

Overspending, total collapse of cash management, uncontrolled tendering and the absence of proper financial management were among the ills uncovered by a team from the national Treasury that had been sent to the province.

Some provincial departments in Free State and Gauteng were also provided with national assistance.

The intervention in Limpopo followed a request by the technically bankrupt province to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for approval of a R700m increase in its overdraft facility so that it could pay staff salaries and wages. The request was refused.

Mr Zuma told MPs that the national government was continuing to work with the Eastern Cape provincial government. He insisted that the government was making "very good progress" in improving education and overcoming the legacy of apartheid.

He rejected a statement by Congress of the People MP Willie Madisha that the education system was worse than under apartheid. Mr Madisha said African National Congress members shared his view.

14 September 2012 Business Report Page 1 Dineo Faku

Workers vow to shut all mines

THOUSANDS of miners remained defiant yesterday as they planned to shut down all the platinum mines in the Rustenburg area by Sunday, until their demands are met.

The call marked an escalation in the worst mining crisis since the end of apartheid.

A shutdown of South Africa’s top platinum belt would bring the global platinum industry to its knees as the area accounts for more than half of global production.

The protesters gathered at the Bleskop stadium in Rustenburg yesterday and called on President Jacob Zuma and fired ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema to address them at another gathering today.

And the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) called on Zuma to declare a state of emergency in the mining sector and end the anarchy.

Zuma, whose leadership has come under fire as the mining unrest spreads, told the National Assembly yesterday that he was planning to take action against those who were influencing the strike. He provided no details.

But Malema, his nemesis, has become the face of the mining upheaval since 34 miners were killed in a clash with police at Lonmin’s Marikana mine on August 16.

On Tuesday, during an address at Gold Fields’ Kloof Driefontein Complex (KDC) West mine where 15 000 workers have been on strike since Sunday night, Malema

called for a nationwide strike until the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) stepped down.

SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Neren Rau said: “It is time for the state president to intervene in a very public way because the matter is escalating.”

Meanwhile, the Association for Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) called for Zuma to host a mining indaba that would address labour unrest in the sector.

“We believe that he is the high office in the country. We could share the direction on how to curb these sporadic work stoppages.

“It is in the interest of the country for him to intervene,” Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said.

Fears that the strikes may constrain global metal supplies have sent platinum prices rocketing 17 percent since the start of the unrest. This has provided a floor to prices, which had been on a downward slide as demand from Europe and elsewhere faltered. The platinum spot price strengthened another $15 (R125) to $1 658 an ounce yesterday because of the disruption to supply.

Meanwhile, Statistics SA reported a 2.7 percent decline in mineral sales in the second quarter compared with the first quarter of this year, mainly due to plummeting sales of platinum group metals and other non-metallic minerals.

In a pre-emptive move, Anglo American Platinum suspended its Rustenburg operations on Wednesday to avoid labour unrest until it is deemed safe to return to work.

Talks between unions, worker representatives and management at Lonmin to address the R12 500 salary demand by rock-drill operators resumed yesterday.

“We are starting negotiations today,” said Barnard Mokwena, the vice-president for human capital and external affairs at Lonmin.

“I am not going to be a prophet of doom and say the company is going to close operations. We are going to give these negotiations a chance. This is what shareholders are also saying.”

The strike at the KDC West mine in Carletonville continued yesterday and workers hurled insults at a NUM official who tried to address them.

Shouts of “Hamba! (Go!)” rang out as security guards tried to usher the miners away. They also toyi-toyied and threw sticks at a vehicle.

Meanwhile, the man found dead near a group of strikers not far from Lonmin’s Marikana mine earlier this week was identified as 51-year-old rock-drill operator and NUM shop steward Dumisani Mthinti, police said yesterday.

14 September 2012 Business Report

Page 16 Terry Bell Cosatu congress to paper over cracks before Mangaung

Amid unprecedented media interest, Cosatu’s 11th national congress gets under way in Midrand on Monday. Many of the nearly 300 journalists, photographers and members of camera crews accredited to attend the event are clearly expecting drama.

Such expectations and interest are understandable, given the present turmoil in the mining sector and the proximity of the ANC elective conference in Mangaung in December, let alone the ongoing anti-union antics of former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.

Cosatu members, after all, often play prominent roles in ANC branches that will start their nomination processes for the ANC leadership before month end.

It is also no secret that there are daggers drawn between different union leaderships on the basis of who supports and who opposes a second term for President Jacob Zuma. As such, the Cosatu gathering has been portrayed quite widely as a “mini Mangaung”.

But the likelihood of such matters reaching the congress floor in any seriously acrimonious sense are slim. Even slimmer is the much-mooted chance of a challenge being mounted against Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Vavi has played the role of a serious critic and maverick from time to time, only to confound this by what has been described as politically schizophrenic expressions of loyalty to the political status quo. But his apparently contradictory statements have merely been examples of the over-riding concept of unity at all costs that has for decades governed the broad church that is the ANC-led alliance.

This approach has always meant that differences within the alliance, even on matters of principle, should be resolved “within the family”, often by sweeping them under the carpet.

It is a hangover from the clandestine organisation of the exile years when the sole object was the defeat of apartheid, a goal supported by elements of the political left, right and centre.

As both a broad church and the major movement opposed to apartheid, the ANC also laid claim to be the only “true representative of the South African people”.

This latter claim was never true, but it was also imported into the new dispensation, with claims that any who did not support the ANC or its alliance partners were not only mistaken, they were the enemy.

If you are not for us, you are against us, was and – to a surprisingly large degree – still is the attitude of many within the governing alliance.

It is this that has bred intolerance, arrogance and complacency at various levels and has helped to bring about much of the fragmentation and tension now tearing at the fabric of the broad church.

But unity for the trade union element of the alliance is seen now as even more important than ever.

As the almost daily protests and clashes around the country have shown, there is considerable anger on the ground, the cause of it best summed up in two words: poverty and joblessness.

Marikana was merely the most tragic example of what is happening from Khayelitsha to Kuruman and beyond.

The desire to escape penury is the common motivation for the residents of the shack farms surrounding Marikana and other mines and the protesters who have thrown up burning barricades across numerous roads around the country.

They are the working and workless poor who make up an unorganised army of the dispossessed, who should be the natural constituency of the labour movement.

That the movement has lost touch with much of this constituency was highlighted by the ease with which Malema was able to exploit the anger, insecurity and frustration of working miners.

As this has unfolded, there has also been a great deal of nonsense talked about wage levels, with former president FW de Klerk claiming that miners earn in excess of R11 000 a month.

Cosatu unions, in particular, were put on the back foot by such claims. And one of their failings was not to adequately respond, even if only to point out that De Klerk’s “cost to the company” figure went well beyond wages and was an average that included the many millions paid to executives and managers.

Belatedly there seems to be a realisation that the initial focus on attacking rival unions was a mistake; that a united, coherent response to the bread and butter issues that affect both miners and other workers should have been the best way forward.

It could have been stressed that while miners top the league for minimum pay agreements, their minimum, up to this year, was just R4 311 a month.

In a country with a probably realistic unemployment rate of 40 percent or more, the number of dependents every worker supports also tends to be high. And all share the common burden of the cost of food, transport, school fees and medical expenses.

Price hikes on such costs have generally exceeded wage rises, meaning that many workers have, effectively, suffered pay cuts. Over the past three years a basic basket of groceries, measured for several years by this column, has risen by 40 percent.

And this is before the latest fuel price rises have fed through to the rest of the economy and before the further increases in the prices of wheat and maize have fully been felt.

It is this minimum or low-wage factor – and the poor living conditions that flow from it – that provides fuel for the fires of rebellion and the demand for change.

Traditionally, disgruntled elements have turned to the major labour movement for support. But it is clear that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has lost credibility with a large part of its constituency, and the events that followed have been a wake-up call for both NUM and Cosatu.

As a result, the last thing Cosatu affiliates will want is a display of disunity at congress as they try, in fact, to get back to basics and rectify obvious shortcomings.

However, these are volatile times and a maverick element could always intrude.

13 September 2012 Mail and Guardian Faranaaz Parker JZ denies telling ministers to fund Zumaville Jacob Zuma has defended the building of a new town near Nkandla, saying it is part of government's strategy to improve the conditions of rural people.

"The president has not instructed ministers to provide funding and a budget for the Nkandla-Mlalazi Smart Growth Centre," he told Parliament during a question and answer session on Thursday.

He conceded that the rural development and land reform department supported the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative with the detailed planning of the Nkandla initiative.

In August, the Mail & Guardian reported on the R2-billion development being built just 3.2km from Zuma’s home. Half of the cost is set to be carried by public funds with the other half coming from private investment.

The "emerging town" of Zumaville, which will cover 200 hectares and could comfortably accommodate 10 000 middle class homes, is envisaged to include government facilities, including offices for home affairs and social development; new community facilities, such as a library, theatre and recreation centre; a new school with boarding facilities; a community safety centre and additions to an existing clinic, a recreation centre featuring a swimming pool and tennis courts, light industrial units, including an agricultural market and housing centred around community gardens.

The project is the brain child of Masibambisane, a rural development organisation that Zuma chairs. It’s believed that the agriculture department was also set to make an R800-million contribution to the organisation for the project.

Clamping down Government later clamped down on information concerning the project, with former government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi saying any information on the development would be contained in annual reports submitted to Parliament and that interested parties should "monitor the presentations and interact with information" they contained for further details.

On Thursday Zuma said no other national departments had made commitments to the delivery of facilities and infrastructure on the site and that the smart centre was part of a provincial programme to revive small rural towns and formalise rural unplanned towns and urban settlements.

He said other towns that would benefit from this programme included Ndumo, Manguzi, Msinga, Mbumbulu, Nkandla, Charlestown, Jozini, Ngwavuma, Dududu, Weenen and Colenso.

"It is important to emphasise that even at a national level, Nkandla is not the only district that is receiving attention for rural development," he said. Zuma listed 23 districts that had been identified by government for interventions to alleviate poverty.

Many of the programmes Zuma mentioned were small in scale – involving infrastructure development and upgrades like the building of roads, bridges and walkways, crèches and recreational facilities.

'Generating interest' He said the rural development and land reform department is working with the Sekhukhune district municipality to plan "a rural node similar in size and scope to the Umlalazi-Nkandla Smart Growth Centre, for the Jane Furse township".

"It is a pity that only Nkandla seems to generate interest," he said.

DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko asked whether Zuma could "justify the spending of R2-billion in one area, that just happens to be just 3km from his homestead, while other areas a few kilometers away are without the most basic services".

In response Zuma said: "Why should people at Nkandla, 3km from where Zuma stays, starve? Why must they be isolated? Why should others who are in other areas be more important than those? Should they be punished because they are neighbours of Zuma? I don’t think so."

He said that Nkandla was well-known for being a poverty stricken area and that development was also happening in many other rural areas but that "you don’t talk about those".

He defended the variable spending by the rural development department different areas, saying: "The money will never be the same, one size fits all. The developments are not the same."

Zuma said he would "never be embarrassed by development in rural areas" and that rural development had to start somewhere.

13 September 2012 Mail and Guardian Sapa Union claims SABC banned Malema from the airwaves

"It has been reported to us by several of our members that they have been instructed to not report on any activities of the expelled ANC Youth League leader, Mr Julius Malema," the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) said on Thursday.

"The instruction went as far as to say that even if he is assassinated, or he dies in any other manner, it should not be reported until top management has instructed otherwise."

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the allegations were not true.

"It is untrue that the SABC news department has issued any instructions banning Julius Malema. What news management has appealed for, is for more responsible and in depth reporting on the issues," Kganyago said.

SABC acting head of news Jimi Matthews said in statement that he had asked the news team to provide more context in their stories.

"I am very disappointed with the turn of events. Instead of debate, certain members of my staff ran off to other media houses claiming that I had banned Malema from the airwaves," he said.

"Nothing can be further from the truth. I asked for responsible journalism and intellectual engagement".

'Attack on freedom of the press' Bemawu said news staff at the SABC had been warned not to report on Malema's whereabouts or what he was doing.

News editors at the organisation were informed of the instruction earlier in the day, it said.

"Bemawu regards this as a gross violation of the principles of journalism and also an attack on freedom of the press," the union said in a statement.

"As a public broadcaster the SABC is duty bound to report news in a fair, unbiased and accurate manner, and without influence from top or any other management of the SABC."

Bemawu had informed its members not to comply with the unlawful instruction and to report the news of the day without fear or prejudice.

"If management dare to touch any of our members ignoring this unlawful instruction, Bemawu will defend our members and take the matter to the highest court."

The union called for an urgent investigation and demanded the strongest action be taken against the managers responsible for the instruction.

12 September 2012 The New Age Warren Mabona

Analysts differ on Zuma vs Motlanthe The possible outcomes of the ANC’s elective conference remains a closed book, but President Jacob Zuma still stood a better chance of emerging victorious at the governing party’s gathering, an analyst said yesterday. Prof Steven Friedman told The New Age that it was too premature to write Zuma off. He said this was because the South Africa’s top citizen enjoyed huge support from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Free State – among other provinces. “People leak information to the media to create perceptions that things are changing, but there is no change in people’s positions towards Mangaung,” Friedman said. He was commenting on media reports which suggested that some ANC bigwigs, including Tokyo Sexwale, Pallo Jordan, Bheki Cele and Paul Mashatile, were secretly mobilising ANC structures against Zuma and throwing deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe into the ring to challenge his presidency. “We don’t even know if Motlanthe will contest the presidency. And if Motlanthe were to stand up against Zuma, Zuma’s chances of winning are still not close to zero,” Friedman said. Asked if the Marikana massacre could limit Zuma’s chances, Friedman said: “What happened after the Marikana tragedy was that people hardened their positions on the political field, but I don’t think it changed their perceptions about Zuma.” Another analyst, Prof Andre Duvenhage of the University of the North West, disagreed, saying the anti-Zuma lobbying had “gained momentum” after the mine massacre. He said if the momentum continued, the deputy president’s chances of winning the most important ANC position would be much higher than those of Zuma. “Before the Marikana tragedy it was said that Zuma would have an upper hand. After the tragedy, there has been a lot of strategising against Zuma but it is still not clear who will win. It’s a 50-50 situation,” Duvenhage said. He said it seemed former top cop Cele was beefing up the anti-Zuma campaign in KwaZulu-Natal, while Mashatile was doing the same in Gauteng. The elective conference will be held in Mangaung in December. 13 September 2012 The New Age Luyolo Mkentane NUM is ‘not a sweetheart union’ National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary Frans Baleni has attracted criticism for the manner in which his union was handling strikes in the mining sector, the mainstay of the South Africa economy. Mine workers had criticised NUM’s leadership style, accusing the union that represents 320000 members, of not taking up issues on their behalf with mine

managers, claiming it was because the NUM owned shares in the mines. But Baleni defended the union, saying the NUM was not a “sweetheart union”. Expelled ANC Youth League former president Julius Malema threw down the gauntlet on Tuesday when he called for Baleni and the NUM leadership to “step down with immediate effect”. Malema, addressing striking workers at Gold Fields’ KDC West gold mine near Carletonville, called for a national strike at all mines until the NUM leadership stepped down. Malema told the workers they were leaderless. He said he was encouraged by the miners’ action. “This is a serious revolution. Don’t give up,” Malema said. “The Marikana struggle must go to all the mines; R12500 is a reality. We are going to the mines and spreading this revolution. Next week we are in Lephalale. The struggle continues, comrades.” Baleni, who joined the NUM in 1982, said the workers were being “used” by Malema to turn them against the NUM leadership. The union’s central executive committee was busy “rounding up” its structures to inform them about the “alien behaviour”. “The people leading the strikes are not employed. They were expelled by the ANC. NUM is fully aware that the expelled youth league leaders had been involved in a campaign to have their preferred leaders elected at the NUM national congress in May. But unfortunately for them democracy re-elected us. They were not happy with that, so they went to the mines in an effort to topple NUM leaders,” said Baleni, who holds a BA degree in development studies from the University of Johannesburg. Malema had addressed striking miners at Lonmin, Grootvlei and Gold Fields mines, echoing their calls for a R12500 wage increase. Workers at Lonmin platinum mine are still on an unprotected strike which started about four weeks ago. They are demanding that their wages be increased to R12500 a month. Impala Platinum announced this week it had received a demand for another wage increase from the interim workers committee (IWC) and that it was in the process of informing its stakeholders about the development. “At the end of April a wage increase was implemented which formed part of the settlement following the industrial action that was concluded during early March,” the company said in a statement. “Despite clear commitments from all parties to uphold the settlement, the IWC has now demanded that the company implement the same increase again for the second year of the 2011-12 wage agreement. These increases have already been implemented and were brought forward by a period of two months to April as a gesture of goodwill. “Should this implementation be effected as per the demand, this would equate to a double increase within a period of six months,” Impala CEO Terence Goodlace said. Labour analysts have blamed the strikes on high unionisation rates in the mining sector, saying about 81% of the workers were unionised. This led to unions becoming complacent and out of touch with worker-related issues on the ground, the analysts said this week.

Baleni, who was elected general secretary of NUM during its 12th national congress in 2006, said it was “difficult to tell” when the strikes would end. “We are likely to see them spreading to other mines unless the workers see that they are being misled by people who are not even employed by the mines. The workers are risking their job security,” said Baleni, who was re-elected into the position during the 2009 and 2012 congresses, respectively. Baleni, who is a board member of the Development Bank of South Africa, believed the strikes were a “well-orchestrated” attempt to “get at the NUM leadership”. Asked if they supported the ANCYL’s call for nationalisation of the mines and other key sectors of the economy, Baleni said: “We fully support state intervention in mining and the state mining company. There should be a socialisation of the mining sector. Take for instance the Royal Bafokeng Mine, the community there is taking direct ownership and are benefiting directly (from the mines).” He denied NUM’s earlier position that the R12500 wage demand was unsustainable: “We can’t say that R12500 is not sustainable. The companies concerned should respond to that question.” Baleni also denied claims that NUM owned shares in the mines. “We don’t have shares in mines. We took a conscious decision that our investment arm will not invest in the mining or the energy sector.” 13 September 2012 The New Age Sapa It's caution, not panic: Mantashe ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has denied there was wide-spread panic over recent violent protests countrywide. "I'm not sure what's the difference between panic and caution. If they take cautionary measures to avoid the damage and deaths of people that have occurred now, I don't think that can be called panic, it would be called cautionary," Mantashe told SAfm on Thursday morning. Asked for reaction to investors and the international community "panicking" about the situation, Mantashe said there were two "distinct problems" that needed to be dealt with. "When there is lawlessness, the state must be capable to deal with that. When there is agitation and incitement, the state must be able to deal with that," said Mantashe. If the state becomes "flat-footed", "everything can break loose". "I think that is where I am more worried than the panic you are talking about." He also expressed concern about threats to bring the mining industry to a standstill. Mantashe said it would be regrettable if bargaining councils no longer functioned properly. A month ago, 34 people were shot dead by police at Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, Rustenburg in the North West. Protests -- apparently sparked by rivalry

between two unions -- had left 10 people dead the week before the shooting by police. Another body was found at the mine this week, where talks to deal with a R12,500 monthly salary demand were yet to yield any results. The mine has not been able operate for weeks, and protests by mineworkers seem to have spilled over to more mines -- Anglo American Platinum in Rustenburg, and Goldfields' KDC West mine in Carletonville. Expelled African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema has addressed striking miners, urging them to go on work stoppages every month until their demands were met. He also addressed disgruntled soldiers on Wednesday, causing the defence minister to accuse him of being counter-revolutionary and trying to incite members of the SA National Defence Force against the state. Mantashe said the ANC national executive committee would meet to discuss "all these matters that are in the public domain". "It's not an emergency [meeting], it's a normal NEC meeting. It's scheduled," he said. 12 September 2012 The New Age Sapa Union not surprised soldiers want Malema It was not surprising that soldiers invited expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema to listen to their concerns, the SA National Defence Union (Sandu) said on Wednesday. "Commander in Chief [President Jacob Zuma] has not lifted a finger to address [the] dire situation of soldiers, nor even taken the time to visit their bases... to listen to their problems, concerns and frustrations," said Sandu national secretary JG Greef. In August 2009, more than 1000 soldiers defied a military and court order and embarked on a wage protest at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The department of defence accused the soldiers of failing to obey orders, and failing to dissociate themselves from a violent protest and mutiny. Last week, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the department and internal disciplinary proceedings began. Greef said the situation of soldiers had deteriorated since then. "It is little wonder therefore that some soldiers would rather trust Mr Malema to at least listen to their concerns, rather than trust their own Commander in Chief, the President." The situation within the military required decisive leadership, he said. Gareth Newham, Head of the Crime and Justice programme at the Institute for

Security Studies, said Malema appeared to be exploiting the perceived "leadership vacuum". Malema's recent visits to mines, where he encouraged workers to embark on a national strike, and his planned meeting with soldiers in Lenasia later on Wednesday, were part of his broader political agenda. "I think he is trying to show support for [deputy president Kgalema] Motlanthe [ahead of the Mangaung elective conference]. "He is trying to send the message that Zuma is not providing sufficient leadership." It appeared he was trying to show that he was providing leadership "on the ground". "He can say, even our soldiers invited me to speak to them; Zuma is not looking after soldiers and he [Malema] is stepping into that leadership vacuum." As soldiers represented state security, Malema's intention to address them -- taking into account his frequent attempts to incite workers against their employers -- could make for a volatile situation. "He is trying to provoke Zuma, to paint himself as a victim of persecution -- like Zuma did against [former president Thabo] Mbeki. "Zuma is probably reluctant to take action against him for this very reason," Newham said. Malema would likely use his meeting with the SA National Defence Force to signal that "he is more dangerous outside the ANC than he is in the ANC". It appeared that Malema was trying to get back into the African National Congress, from which he was expelled in April." "You will notice, he doesn't attack the ANC itself, but specific people within the organisation," Newham said. The focus of his verbal attacks were often Zuma, and national executive committee member Cyril Ramaphosa, who chaired the National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal which finalised Malema's expulsion from the party. Last month, Malema called for the resignation of Zuma and Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa in the wake of the violence at Lonmin's Marikana mine, in which 34 people were killed on August 16. "President Zuma decided over the massacre of our people (sic), he must step down," Malema said at Wonderkop. He also claimed that the reason the police shot at the miners was that they were trying to protect the interests of Ramaphosa, who, he alleged, owned shares in Lonmin. 12 September 2012 The New Age Sapa

We won't legitimise Malema stories: Maharaj Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to comment on expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema's assertion that South Africa is a "banana republic". "We won't legitimise stories... by getting me or the presidency to comment. You don't expect him [President Jacob Zuma] to comment on this," Maharaj said on Wednesday. "You [journalists] must pay the price and take responsibility for writing stories saying that South Africa is a banana republic because you might believe it." Earlier Malema told soldiers at the Lenasia Recreation Centre, south of Johannesburg, that South Africa was a "banana republic" that did not follow the rule of law. "No one is above the law, not the military, not the presidency, and not Parliament. Every court decision must be respected. We must respect the courts, but the leadership of this banana republic disrespects the courts." He said the government had failed to adhere to court orders in three instances. It had not provided the Democratic Alliance with the evidence it wanted in the corruption case against President Jacob Zuma, had not delivered textbooks, and was not re-instating 1100 soldiers put on special leave for protesting at the Union Buildings in 2009. The country's confidence in its leadership needed to be rebuilt. "Your Commander in Chief [Zuma] is engaged in other things. You are a lesser priority. All of us are a lesser priority," Malema said. "I don't know what is a priority to him, maybe getting married every year. He specialises on that one. Maybe that is what is going right for him. "Here, children don't have books, people in hospitals don't have the necessary machines, they don't have roads or clean water." Malema repeated an earlier accusation that Zuma was a dictator. "These are the symptoms of dictatorship, a political principle in the form of a president becoming more rich and rich, and those that he is leading becoming more poorer and poorer." He said he did not plan to de-stabilise the government. "We are not planning any mutiny. We are not planning to remove any government undemocratically. Yes, we don't love this leadership... we want to remove it democratically," Malema said. "We will never conspire with the soldiers, or anybody to engage in an illegal activity. Our government is leaderless. Your [the soldiers'] issue now is that from 2009 until now, your issue is not resolved." He said he had always told Zuma "votes were not cheap or free".

"Once president Zuma began to do other things, and move away from that mandate, that's when we said this is something else." Malema criticised the way in which the problems at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, North West, had been handled. "Government... instead of listening to workers in Marikana, is killing those workers... That is the government we have voted for." When he had sought to reassure the miners that they still had a future, he was called an opportunist, Malema said. People had only their voices and minds to fight "this barbaric regime under President Jacob Zuma". Malema then led the crowd in a version of dubula ibhunu (shoot the boer) called "kiss the boer". 13 September 2012 The New Age Warren Mabona and Liezelle Kumalo She changed ‘Horror Affairs’ The out-going Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma yesterday expressed disappointment at cutting ties with the department and wished her soon-to-be appointed successor and the personnel everything of the best. She was addressing reporters during a glittering event to bid her farewell in Irene, outside Pretoria. The event was characterised by mixed emotions while jubilation prevailed among the well-wishers. “I’ve got mixed feelings. I’m sorry to leave a department. I worked hard with the strong team and I wish them all the best and hope they’ll do well,” Dlamini Zuma said. She said that her contribution and the department’s good work could be sustained if a “sensible minister” could fill the void she would leave. The minister said she was and would always be attached to the African continent, but would take no instructions from any other individual outside the parameters of the African Union (AU). She said her inauguration as the new AU chairperson would take place later next month. Ministerial spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told The New Age that Dlamini Zuma’s replacement would be announced by President Jacob Zuma in due course. “It’s the president’s prerogative. “I don’t know when that will be done,” Mamoepa said. Home Affairs Deputy Minister Fatima Chohan described Dlamini Zuma’s departure as an emotional experience for the entire department. She said Dlamini Zuma had

transformed the department and made it a respectable house among the people. “Before she came to the department, it was called the Horror Affairs Department. She turned it around and became more than a minister to us, but a leader. Today is our time to thank her for the contributions she made,” Chohan said. “If there was a phrase to describe the minister, it would be ‘leadership through guidance’. “She managed to empower people to understand that they are part of a mission.” The department’s DG, Mkuseli Apleni, was also emotional. Apleni said: “We understand the bigger picture, that she will be working for the continent, but she has given us guidance to move the department forward.” However it was the staff from different provinces and branches who said they would miss her the most. “We will benefit a lot from her in the new position and she might be able to sort out the documentation problems that foreign Africans have,” said department employee Peter Sekutu. Another staff member from Johannesburg Annatjie Luus said:”I am sad that she will be leaving but I am excited for her as well. She transformed the image of the department.” The message throughout the day was clear that the department had been transformed and the minister would be beneficial wherever she went. Anntoinette van der Berg said that their loss of Dlamini Zuma was Africa’s gain. 12 September 2012 The New Age Warren Mabona Minister paints a hopeful picture The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, yesterday painted a hopeful future for South Africa’s relations with the global village and dispelled perceptions that the country was advocating regime changes in other nations as part of foreign policy implementation. She was addressing a business briefing hosted by The New Age and the SABC in Sandton. “South Africa had never supported regime change in Libya, Iraq or anywhere else. We have always been saying finding a solution to the Syrian crisis lay on the political side, not through military intervention,” Nkoana-Mashabane said. She said South Africa was investing R300bn into expanding and improving its railway, ports and fuel pipelines to help unlock the world’s greatest mineral wealth. She said Pretoria had a pivotal role to play in Brics in order to promote South Africa’s foreign policy globally and achieve domestic policy objectives. Brics comprises Brazil, Russia India, China and South Africa. Nkoana-Mashabane described South Africa’s membership of Brics as a strong brick for building Africa’s growth. She said the membership anchored on three pillars,

which are the advancement of national interests, the promotion of regional integration and related infrastructure programmes and partnering with key players on issues of global governance reforms. “The competitive advantage with Brics pertains to our considerable mineral wealth. In a recent report commissioned by the US-based Citigroup Bank, South Africa was ranked as the world’s richest country in terms of mineral reserves, which are worth an estimated $2.5 trillion (R20.4 trillion). We must be proud that we are the world’s largest producer of platinum, chrome, vanadium and manganese,” Nkoana-Mashabane said. The minister said South Africa was faced with a high youth unemployment rate. She said the country would use its minerals wealth to help thrust young jobless people into the job market. Nkoana-Mashabane appealed to people to follow proper channels when establishing links – either as landlords or partners – with foreign nationals in South Africa. She said it was particularly vital for locals to advise their foreign business partners to register their small businesses so that they could pay tax. She condemned resentment displayed to foreign nationals who had small businesses in South Africa. 13 September 2012 Business Day Trevor Neethling and Setumo Stone SANDF on ‘high alert’ as Malema talks to 40

THE South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is seeking legal advice on what charges it can bring against expelled African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema.

On Tuesday, all military bases in South Africa were placed on high alert in anticipation of Mr Malema’s gathering near a base in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

A helicopter circled the area and police surrounded the Lenasia Recreation Centre as Mr Malema addressed 40 of the more than 1,000 soldiers suspended after a protest at Pretoria’s Union Buildings in September 2009.

The army said it would pursue the "harshest possible" disciplinary action against soldiers who came to listen to Mr Malema.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said political interference in the defence force was "dangerous" and the African National Congress said Mr Malema was guilty of "mutiny".

SANDF spokesman Gen Xolani Mabanga said on Wednesday Mr Malema’s actions were alarming and the army saw it as a serious offence. "We will seek legal advice in terms of what course of action can be taken (against Mr Malema), but a member of the public has no right or authority to address or interfere with the management of the SANDF."

Unperturbed by his small audience, Mr Malema said he would have spoken had only two soldiers come to hear him.

A huge media contingent was the bulk of his audience. Children from a nearby primary school managed to sneak into the meeting, but were quickly removed.

Mr Malema said military discipline did not mean soldiers should keep quiet when things went wrong. "That is military stupidity," he said. He said marriage, not soldiers, was a priority for President Jacob Zuma.

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Paul Vecchiatto ANC MPs fear for safety, refuse to meet Marikana workers

AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) MPs on Wednesday voted down a proposal by opposition parties that Parliament’s portfolio committee on mineral resources either visit Lonmin mineworkers’ representatives or invite them to air their grievances.

The committee was about to hear an update from the Department of Mineral Resources on its minerals beneficiation strategy.

The proposal by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and supported by the Congress of the People was that the committee conduct a hearing in Parliament or visit Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine to hear what the workers wanted and to discuss a possible solution to the continuing strike.

Last month, police killed 34 miners and wounded 78 others at Marikana after 10 people including two security guards and two police officers died in strike-related violence in the week prior to the massacre.

DA MP James Lorimer said on Wednesday: "I am very concerned that it has been three weeks since the tragedy, yet Parliament, and our committee in particular, has done nothing."

Parliament held an inconclusive debate about the massacre the week after it happened.

However, the ANC MPs said they were, for security reasons, bitterly opposed to the suggestion of either meeting the miners at Lonmin or inviting their leadership to Parliament.

ANC MP Roseberry Sonto said: "We cannot meet a crowd that is suicidal. We have to first work out what they want and let the processes there unfold."

Ms Sonto was referring to the continuing peace negotiations between rival unions, in particular the emerging Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Mr Lorimer pointed out that NUM representatives were present in the meeting, while the Amcu ones were not.

Ms Sonto was supported by other ANC MPs who fretted about their safety should they have a face-to-face meeting with the workers.

They were also concerned that expelled ANC Youth League president Julius Malema appeared to be making political capital out of the Marikana situation.

Mr Lorimer said he was very concerned about Ms Sonto’s labelling of the striking miners as "suicidal", as it indicated prejudice.

Committee chairperson Frederick Gono rejected the DA’s proposal saying there were already structures in place such as the interministerial committee and the commission of inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma after the massacre.

"I know what you are doing," Mr Gono said to Mr Lorimer. "You are playing to a gallery."

Mr Lorimer insisted his proposal was put to the vote, and ANC MPs voted not to hold any meeting about Marikana.

13 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Sam Mkokeli

Malema’s ‘renegade run’ troubles the ANC

JULIUS Malema is no longer a member of the African National Congress (ANC). "He is now a citizen, like any other," says the party’s head of peace and stability, Siphiwe Nyanda, as the young firebrand carries on stoking the political fires.

Mr Nyanda, like many in the ruling party, doesn’t want to talk about Mr Malema as he is no longer part of the party, at least officially. This is similar to how some senior leaders of the party do no want to talk about "Marikana", as they see it as just another labour matter.

Like Marikana, Mr Malema haunts the ANC but it is because he stirs the political environment, forcing the party and its allies to do damage control.

Analysts say Mr Malema’s spirited drive to cause as much trouble as quickly as he can is just a bubble that will soon burst. He was interviewed by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday evening, the same night the SABC canned a planned interview on Metro FM. As Mr Malema thrives in mocking and criticising President Jacob Zuma, the SABC has been under pressure not to give Mr Malema airtime.

Ahead of the ANC’s Polokwane national conference five years ago, the SABC management was accused of blacklisting commentators who were seen to be opposed to then president Thabo Mbeki’s re-election.

Mr Malema flourishes as ANC leaders hide their heads in the sand, only saying he is no longer a member of the party. He has made it his mission to embarrass the ANC and its allies — especially Mr Zuma and those associated with him.

His meeting with members of the army south of Johannesburg yesterday is just an example of how far Mr Malema’s renegade run can go — creating a perception of chaos and instability in the process.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, is worried that Mr Malema will be campaigning against the ANC in the 2014 elections. "He will be telling people not to vote for the ANC because it is led by the wrong people," he says.

Mr Malema has made it his mission to trash Mr Zuma, as his hopes of returning to the ANC hinge on a leadership change. But there is no guarantee that a new set of leaders will take him back.

The other side of the coin is that Mr Malema has enough reason to run around causing trouble. He hopes this will make him a powerful force. The taxman and the public protector are on his case, investigating his unexplained wealth and allegations that he received kickbacks for organising tenders in his home base, Limpopo.

The meeting with disgruntled soldiers yesterday saw Mr Malema seizing the moment and the limelight. The Defence Ministry and the leadership of the army’s over-the-top reactions suggested there was panic because Mr Malema was now venturing into an area considered sensitive, both politically and security-wise. The ministry said Mr Malema was on a campaign to make South Africa ungovernable.

Mr Nyanda says that, up to now, t he South African National Defence Force has stuck to its mandate of safeguarding the country from "foreign aggression" and has not been roped into the ANC’s factional battles. "The defence force has been very stable, it has stayed very clear from politics ."

The ANC’s role after the Marikana massacre was to give leadership. The party had to "articulate itself" and guide the government in countering the perception of ungovernability.

Mr Nyanda said the party had not discussed the Marikana events in any detail yet because it did not want to jump into the areas that would be dealt with. This would happen once the judicial commission of inquiry Mr Zuma has been appointed gets going.

Mr Nyanda said the youthful troublemaker was free to go and speak to people anywhere in the country, but the ANC did not agree with the things he said in Marikana and other places.

13 September 2012 Business Day Page 4 Linda Ensor Call for new laws for state intervention

LEGISLATION was urgently required to govern the intervention by national and provincial governments in the administration of other spheres of government, the director-general of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, Sean Phillips, said on Wednesday.

These interventions currently occur in terms of provisions of the constitution which are insufficiently detailed, resulting in disputes over, for example, who the accounting authority is when one sphere takes over a function from another. Such disputes have arisen in departments in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape which have been taken over by the national government.

The constitution does stipulate that legislation is required to govern such interventions, but this has not yet been adopted.

Mr Phillips said in an interview after a meeting of the parliamentary committee on public service and administration that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs was finalising a draft Monitoring, Support and Intervention Bill. This would supplement the constitutional provisions, which were "very high level" and did not address several detailed questions.

"The bill will clarify the constitutional provisions for interventions by national government in provinces with regard to concurrent functions where minimum norms and standards are not being met, and also with regard to provincial interventions in local government where norms and standards are not being met with regard to local government service delivery."

Democratic Alliance MP Deetlefs du Toit agreed that the proposed law was urgently needed and stressed that it should include sanctions against government officials who failed to implement national norms and standards.

Mr Phillips also believed national departments responsible for concurrent functions needed to "put in place more comprehensive appropriate minimum norms and standards for the quality of provincial and local delivery of services". These needed to be monitored regularly and support or corrective action taken when necessary.

He presented the findings of the mid-term review of government priorities, published last November, to the committee.

The review dealt with progress made in governance and service delivery and concluded that one of the main reasons for the lack of proper implementation by the government of its policies was poor management.

Mr Phillips warned that the slowdown in the rate of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) made it unlikely that the target of achieving a 45% rate of employment by 2014 would be met.

He was concerned that broad unemployment in rural areas had risen rapidly from 44% in 2009 to 52% this year, partly due to the slow rate of overall national economic growth, inadequate progress with smallholder farmer development, and the lack of growth in employment in the commercial agricultural sector.

The government was making slow progress in implementing policies to reduce inequality, such as improving basic education and small business development. He argued for effective policies to promote youth employment.

13 September 2012 Business Day Page 5 Ntsakisi Maswanganyi Nationalise commodity sectors — UN

COUNTRIES that derive a considerable amount of income from extractive industries such as mining and oil should either tax or nationalise the resources in those industries to distribute wealth and reduce inequality among citizens, a senior economics affairs officer with the United Nations (UN) Conference on Trade and Development, Alex Izurieta, said in an interview on Wednesday.

The body’s trade and development report for this year, with a focus on policies for inclusive and balanced growth, was released on Wednesday.

Some of South Africa’s youth under the African National Congress Youth League want the government to nationalise the country’s mines, but the government has hastened to reassure investors that nationalisation is not its policy.

Mr Izurieta said while Unctad recommended nationalisation for some countries, it was not within its capacity to say whether or not this would work for South Africa.

"We are not in a capacity to say for South Africa that such or such is the recommendation, but in general our recommendations are either that we should consider nationalisation of extractive industries or we should consider serious ways to tax extractive industries," Mr Izurieta said.

He added that the reason behind the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s support for nationalising or taxing extractive industries in some countries was so that "the society as a whole can benefit from the exploitation of resources which are on the ground".

The report advocates greater taxation of wealth as a potential source of public revenue that can be tapped into by many developed and developing countries to reduce inequality. Recommendations include taxes on real estate, large landholdings, luxury durable goods, and financial assets.

The report noted that these taxes could be an important source of revenue in countries with high income inequality and difficulty in distributing wealth.

"The taxes that should be increased should be on those sectors of society which are the richest, and there should be lower taxes for the poorer sector of the society. It helps to improve equality and it helps also to improve economic growth," Mr Izurieta said.

The report recommends that countries which rely strongly on exports should diversify both their export products and markets due to waning global demand, particularly in the biggest economies.

Expansion in international trade slowed to 5.5% last year and is expected to further decelerate this year amid expected lower growth rates in most countries.

Brendan Vickers, chief director for research and policy at the Department of Trade and Industry, welcomed the UN Conference on Trade and Development report and said the department was looking forward to discussing it within the government.

He noted that the report highlighted the importance of trade diversification and the emerging role of Africa globally.

But Mr Vickers cautioned that African countries were facing challenges such as a "very frail" development path and these challenges needed to be addressed through strategies for growth and development.

African countries could improve by adding value to exports and beneficiating, as opposed to only exporting raw materials.

13 September 2012 Business Day Page 12 Editorial Cosatu’s suicidal wage proposal

IT IS hard to believe that the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu’s) latest call to do away with sectoral minimum wages in favour of an across-the-board basic minimum wage is anything more than a bid for attention ahead of next week’s national congress.

In the wake of the Marikana killings, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has said the organisation needs to return to its core objective — the advancement and protection of its members in the workplace. Discussion papers prepared for the conference suggest that the push to introduce a national minimum wage of about R4,500 a month is part of this strategy.

The congress could be a turning point in the union’s relationship with its allies, the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party. There has been increasing tension in the alliance over leadership and economic policy, particularly labour broking and the proposed youth wage subsidy. Mr Vavi has said that, by focusing on political gains rather than wages, the union is failing its members. It is in this light that the proposal has been made.

It is possible that, given the ANC’s unwillingness to accede to the demand that labour brokers be abolished, and the unions’ failure to halt e-tolling outright, Cosatu has chosen to champion another cause in the hope of saving face with its members and reassert its influence in the alliance.

Although there is limited evidence internationally suggesting the relationship between employment and minimum wages is not always negative, the results of a recent report by the University of Cape Town’s Development Policy Research Unit indicate that this has indeed been the effect in the domestic farming sector.

The paper uses data from the biannual Labour Force Survey to estimate the effect the introduction of a minimum wage has had on SA’s farms. The conclusion is that there was not only a significant reduction in employment, but also that, on average,

there has been an increase in the average wage bill paid by farmers, in addition to a sharp rise in noncompliance with labour laws.

If these results can be generalised to other sectors, they provide damning evidence against the existing minimum-wage structure and even more so against the introduction of a national minimum wage, as suggested by Cosatu. Apart from the negative social and economic effects, a reduction in employment as a result of the increased burden placed on employers by a minimum wage is not in the union movement’s long-term interests. The unemployed already outnumber union members in SA, and further job losses will just mean still fewer members.

There is also an existing problem of noncompliance with minimum wages in sectors such as clothing and textiles, where the Cosatu-affiliated union is faced with the hard choice of either turning a blind eye or being complicit in official sanctions against a significant portion of the employer base, which could result in mass closures.

Sectoral minimum wages already struggle to cater for significant differences in corporate profitability within individual sectors — miners of different commodities, for example, or rural versus urban clothing factories. The price floor must necessarily be set below the market-clearing level of the most profitable firms in the most profitable sectors if unemployment is not to result in the least profitable sectors. Either way, the R4,500 proposed by Cosatu is certainly well above what firms in the least profitable and moderately profitable sectors of the South African economy can afford.

Cosatu’s proposal would place both firms and the workers they employ at risk. While it will undoubtedly be passed at next week’s conference, for the ANC to follow suit at the end of the year would be suicidal in the long run.

13 September 2012 The Times Page 1 Sipho Masombuka, Tj Strydom and Amukelani Chauke SA on knife edge As miners vowed yesterday to shut down South Africa's platinum industry, high-level meetings were being planned to rescue the strife-torn mining sector.

According to ANC insiders, an urgent national executive committee meeting will be held within days to discuss how to bring under control the chaos in mining and the unfettered power of expelled former youth league leader Julius Malema.

"We should be at the centre of what is happening now in the mines without undermining Cosatu. Being quiet will not help us. We need to show that we are a governing party together with our alliance partners," a senior ANC insider said.

Last night, mining bosses met senior government officials and union leaders in an attempt to stem the violent strikes that started a month ago at Lonmin's Marikana mine.

Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll said they were "in touch with the authorities at the highest level" to identify how they could work together. The "authorities" were both government and trade unions, according to a spokesman.

The National Union of Mineworkers has called a special national executive conference tomorrow also to discuss the events at Marikana and other platinum mines.

"We are highly concerned because these people can lose their jobs," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said last night.

He pointed out that both Amplats and Goldfields had issued retrenchment notices in June and July and NUM was concerned that the strikers were handing mining companies the power to retrench them.

Yesterday, striking miners at Marikana and the nearby Anglo Platinum mine outside Rustenburg formed a "war room" to fight together for salaries to be raised to R12500 a month. Almost 10000 miners from Amplats are expected to join the strikers at Lonmin.

A mining executive, who did not want to be named, described the sector as "a runaway train".

"The best-case scenario for the mining sector is to return everything to 3pm on the afternoon of the shooting at Marikana. But that still is a nightmare for management, workers and shareholders because it would mean job losses, mine closures and economic decline."

The platinum industry, he said, had been in severe pain already for a number of quarters. The mines simply could not pay higher wages, and workers seemed unwilling to back down.

Marikana had been a loss-making operation before the shooting in mid-August, as were many mines, according to a research report by JP Morgan, he said.

The executive was not aware of any industry-wide measures to save the industry nor of talks between government and companies.

To normalise things, he said, someone had to stand up and speak the uncomfortable truth that wage increases would not happen but mine closures would.

In North West, mineworkers rejecting the formal unions have formed a Rustenburg Workers and Communities Forum under the leadership of the Democratic Socialist Movement, affiliate of the Committee for Workers' International.

Executive member Mametlwe Sebei yesterday tried to persuade miners that a general strike should start in Rustenburg and be followed by a national strike and march to the Union Buildings.

"This battle can be won only if we are united," Sebei urged at a mass meeting at Amplats.

An estimated 12000 miners went on strike at four Amplats shafts on Tuesday night, demanding salaries of R14500 a month.

One of the strike leaders, Evans Ramokga said they had been trying since May to get NUM to take their demands to management. "NUM rejected us and we decided to do everything ourselves."

In Marikana, Bishop Joe Seoka said an end to the impasse was in sight as workers' representatives agreed to participate in the CCMA-facilitated negotiations, which will resume today.

13 September 2012 The Times Page 5 Nivashni Nair and Thando Mgaga ANC murders: leader in court

A 30-year-old ANC Youth League branch leader and a 20-year-old man appeared in the Port Shepstone Magistrate's Court yesterday over the murder of two ANC leaders in the Lower South Coast region.

However, police denied claims that the ANC's Sifiso Khumalo confessed to the killings yesterday.

The denial came after the KwaZulu-Natal region of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA issued a statement welcoming Khumalo's "confession".

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Colonel Vincent Mdunge said Khumalo and Hle Cele appeared in court over the murders of Oshabeni ANC branch chairman Dumisani Malunga, 42, and member Bheko Chiliza, 39.

"The matter was [postponed] for a bail hearing. There was no confession and he did not plead guilty in court," Mdunge said.

He said there was a possibility that Khumalo would appear in court again today.

Numsa said Khumalo was expected to appear in the Ramsgate High Court today to "spill the beans on who else was involved or took part in the broader assassination plot, which led to the killing of these two principled and great servants of our movement".

They died in a hail of bullets on Sunday night while on their way home from an ANC meeting in which campaign strategies ahead of a by-election in the area were discussed.

The position of ward councillor was left vacant. Incumbent Ntombenhle Gcabashe died last month.

ANC members on the South Coast said that Khumalo, the Oshabeni ANC Youth League leader; and Malunga, along with three other ANC members, w ere touted as candidates by the party's members in the area.

Lower South Coast regional secretary Mzwandile Mkhwanazi yesterday confirmed that Khumalo was the ANC Youth League's Oshabeni branch chairman and that Cele was a member of the ruling party.

He denied that Khumalo and Malunga's names were selected as possible ward councillor candidates.

The province has been rocked by a spate of political killings in recent months, prompting police to set up two task teams to investigate the murders.

Khumalo and Cele were arrested less than 24 hours after the shooting.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the fatal shooting of Hibiscus Coast councillor Wandile Mkhize and his friend, Nhlakanipho Shabane, in a drive-by shooting in Manaba, Margate, in June.

Mkhize died at the scene; Shabane died in hospital three weeks after the attack.

Last month, ANC councillor in Umtshezi, Jimmy Lembede, was shot dead at his home.

13 September 2012 The Times Page 6 Zine George Support for Vavi & Co as Cosatu congress nears Cosatu leaders in Eastern Cape are to lobby the trade union federation's affiliates in the province to vote for the reinstatement of the national leadership - including general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi - at the Cosatu congress next week.

Cosatu's Eastern Cape secretary, Mandla Rayi, said the provincial executive committee resolved at the weekend that it would not wait until next week to voice its preferences because media reports were already indicating that Vavi and other leaders would be challenged at the congress.

"There was discussion, based on media reports that suggested that Comrade [Vavi's position] might be contested at the conference. The provincial executive committee then said, for the sake of unity, let's push for the re-election of the current leadership.

"Even though, as a provincial executive committee, we don't have voting powers, some of the people who were part of the meeting will go back to their affiliates to champion this position," said Rayi.

With more than 238000 Cosatu-affiliated members, the province is the fourth biggest in the country for the federation.

Cosatu affiliates are to hold two-day planning meetings from today.

"The aim is to influence [delegates] so that, when they go to their national planning meeting tomorrow, in preparation for the conference, they have an informed position [from the provincial leadership]," said Rayi.

Vavi is said to enjoy overwhelming support among the rank and file. The National Union of Metal Workers and the SA Municipal Workers' Union publicly back him.

But two of the strongest unions - the National Union of Mineworkers and the Democratic Teachers' Union - are divided between Vavi and President Jacob Zuma's ally, Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini.

Vavi confirmed at the weekend that he would fight for re-election.

"The provincial executive committee noted serious challenges to Cosatu's unity and cohesion in the run-up to the congress.

"It trusts that the congress will resolve to move forward in a united and principled way.

"It expressed the wish that the current leadership be retained in its entirety for the sake of unity," said Rayi.

13 September 2012 IOL Babalo Ndenze ANC’s big Juju conundrum

Cape Town - Axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, fomenting rebellion among miners and soldiers, will continue until he is brought back under the party’s control, say analysts.

The Friends of the Youth League is also adamant the ANC has no choice but to bring him back into the fold.

Malema has had a busy few weeks, speaking to a wide range of people, from striking miners in Marikana to soldiers in Lenasia.

He told soldiers on Wednesday their plight after being put on special leave for protesting at the Union Buildings in 2009 was similar to his, since they had been judged before any disciplinary hearing.

His call for a national strike in the mining sector has spooked investors, while he has enjoyed unprecedented exposure in international media, most recently being interviewed by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, raising the ire of some of the party’s leadership.

University of Johannesburg Professor Kwandiwe Kondlo said the situation with Malema and the ANC was a double-edged sword.

“Perception is very important. The perception now is that even if the ANC tries to spit him out [of the party], it does not really lead to the political demise of that person,” said Kondlo.

Malema was striking the right chords with “popular forces” in disgruntled communities, and “this is the beginning of a point of coherence around Julius becoming a leader of” those forces” and ordinary people.

In 2005, the ANC’s national general council reinstated then-ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma to party activities and structures after he voluntarily stepped down the day he was charged with corruption, marking the beginning of a spectacular political comeback that culminated in his becoming president.

Although Zuma was not expelled from the party, those behind Malema are hoping for a similar outcome for the firebrand come Mangaung in December, when a new ANC leadership will be elected. The matter of Malema’s expulsion could be raised from the floor and be overturned with majority support.

“The goal of Malema now is beyond the ANC. They have no option but to bring him back in Mangaung,” said Kondlo.

Kondlo wouldn’t say the same about Zuma.

“Zuma is the past, but he is the kind of past that is refusing to pass. The future of SA politics doesn’t reside with Zuma, it resides with the likes of Fikile Mbalula and those younger than him. Unless the ANC is so shortsighted [as] to give Zuma another term.”

Malema has proven adept at exploiting the gap that has opened up between the ANC and affiliates of its ally, Cosatu – such as the National Union of Mineworkers – and workers and communities who feel excluded.

But Malema’s spokesman, Floyd Shivambu, said the strategy was not about “narrow personal achievements” but meeting people on the ground who had “called upon him”.

On Malema’s reinstatement in the ANC, Shivambu said: “It’s a fact. It’s going to happen when ANC [leadership] is brought to proper thinking.”

However, political analyst Keith Gottschalk of the University of the Western Cape said Malema’s populist and militant rhetoric might be a little old.

“It’s already frightened whites and coloureds to vote for the DA. For the DA this is like the ANC’s gift to the DA.”

Disgruntled communities would continue to call on him because his presence would get their plight on to newspaper front pages, and this “mutual exploitation” would go on for the rest of the year.

Gottschalk doubted Malema’s behaviour would change should the party reinstate him.

The ANC in the Eastern Cape said on Wednesday Malema’s behaviour and that of his allies in recent violent strikes was “tantamount to mutiny”. Provincial spokesman Mlibo Qoboshiyane said it was a serious threat to peace, security, and stability.

SA Security Forces Union (Sasfu) president Bhekinkosi Mvovo said it was opposed to any “opportunism” by Malema and “the so-called Friends of the Youth League in exploiting the vulnerability of the soldiers”.

DA defence spokesman David Maynier said Malema was exploiting soldiers for political gain, but it should not be forgotten that the SANDF service commission had described as slum-like the conditions at the Doornkop/ Lenz military base, where the soldiers Malema would meet were stationed.

Malema’s visit to the soldiers threatened to undermine the constitutional imperative that the military remain politically neutral.

As such, Maynier said any soldier who attended Malema's address should be disciplined.

He said Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was right to disapprove of Malema’s intention to address the soldiers.

Earlier, Mapisa-Nqakula said on SABC radio that Malema seemed bent on turning soldiers against the state.

“You can’t just go on and on… and be going around mobilising funeral gatherings and agitating people to become ungovernable… It cannot be that we allow an ordinary citizen to stand up and want to instigate and want to agitate members of the SANDF, which is what has happened in Marikana, which is what has happened in the mining industry among those workers.”

* Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj declined to comment on Malema’s assertion that SA is a “banana republic”.

“We won’t legitimise stories… by getting me or the Presidency to comment. You don’t expect him [Zuma] to comment on this,” he said yesterday.

“You [journalists] must pay the price and take responsibility for writing stories saying that South Africa is a banana republic because you might believe it.”

* Economist Chris Hart said the impact of turmoil in the mining sector was serious.

“It’s not a small story anymore. It’s not our own internal issues. It’s becoming very serious and it’s probably one of the reasons the rand has been hit hard and as far as Angloplats is concerned,” said Hart.

Anglo American Platinum announced on Wednesday it had suspended operations in the Rustenburg area to protect its staff.

Hart said investors would most likely withdraw capital from the mining industry or cancel projects. “The international community is probably wondering why it took so long, South Africa is now falling apart,” he said.

Companies were probably asking: “How are we going to plan our business models from here?”

In Malema’s words…

“We have now taken over the leadership of that struggle to make sure the mineral resources of this country benefit the people of this country. Particularly the workers who are working very hard in very risky conditions underground, trying to take out these precious minerals.”

“We continue to play that role to ensure that the working class in South Africa does not become leaderless because those who are charged with such a responsibility have taken leave from discharging such responsibility.” - Malema to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour

“There must be a national strike at all the mines until Frans Baleni and the NUM leadership step down with immediate effect - to workers at Gold Fields KDC West gold mine in Carletonville this week. “The problem is not NUM. The problem is the leadership who take money from mlungu (whites).

“Comrades, you don't have leaders. You are leaderless. You are not alone. We are encouraged by what you are doing,” he said. - Malema to workers at Gold Fields West Goldmine, Carletonville

“We are going to lead a mining revolution in this country... We will run these mines ungovernable until the boers come to the table”. - to workers at the Aurora mine in Grootvlei in August. - Malema to workers at Aurora goldmine in Grootvlei, Springs

“Under democracy our people will be protected. But government has turned against its people,” Malema told a memorial service for the dead miners in Marikana, North West. - Malema during a memorial service for Marikana miners

12 September 2012 Cape Times Page 4 Sipho Khumalo Tutu decries SA’s ‘moral decline’

KwaZulu-Natal - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has raised sharp questions about the decline of moral standards in the country, saying he is appalled by cases of innocent orphans being stoned to death or children being raped.

Delivering a moving tribute at the funeral of church leader, freedom fighter and community leader the Reverend Khoza Mgojo in Port Shepstone on Tuesday, Tutu painted a gloomy picture of a society in which morals had undergone a frightening decline and a nation tearing itself apart.

He suggested it was difficult to convince the world that apartheid was over in SA, but assured President Jacob Zuma, with whom he shared a platform at the service, that he was not attacking anyone and that he still needed to have a meeting with him.

Tutu was almost in tears as he spoke about things that had gone terribly wrong in SA.

“When we voted in 1994, it was so peaceful and we thought we had crossed river Jordan to the Promised Land. What has happened to us and what do we think of our police force?

“How do we explain to people who want us to prosper that our police shot and killed our own people? What has happened to us?” he said, breaking into an anti-apartheid song Senzeni na? (What have we done?)

“What has happened to us when a grown-up man rapes a child? What has happened to us that three orphans were stoned to death? What have we done? God, tell us. We thought you had given us freedom. What have we done? Every day we see different forms of violence. We see people protesting and demonstrating,” he said.

The funeral provided a rare occasion on which Tutu and Zuma shared a platform following years of sharp differences between them.

Last October, Tutu said Zuma was not his president and that he was going to pray for the “downfall of the ANC government”.

That was after the government declined to issue a visa to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Zuma agreed with Tutu, although he added it was not enough to ask what had happened.

“Archbishop Tutu’s concerns are pertinent and fundamental. What has happened to us as people? This is a challenge to all of us. What we should do is go beyond asking the question. I think we should do something because we are all concerned that killing has become so easy.”

For police to shoot and kill people and for the people to protest with pangas and spears meant there was a problem.

“We need a gathering for us all to ask the question on what has happened to us, particularly the Africans,” said Zuma.

Rather than the fact that crime had risen so much in SA compared with other countries, what was of concern was the violent nature of the crimes.

“In other countries people steal and leave, but in South Africa people steal and wait for you, to kill you.”

Zuma said to Tutu: “I want to make an appointment for us to meet. I think we need to sit down and work out a national approach to this problem… we still need a strong voice from the church.”

12 September 2012 Cape Times Page 5 Sapa Empower communities –Motlanthe

Johannesburg - The government needed to empower communities if it wanted to stop service delivery protests, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Tuesday.

“It is only when we empower citizens as public representatives that we can begin to stem the tide of service delivery protests,” he told the SA Local Government Association's (Salga) special national conference in Midrand.

Communities needed to take ownership of their wards and the work happening in them.

Motlanthe said some protests against local government had little to do with a lack of service delivery, but were more about mismatched priorities or services not provided by local government.

“In this regard, we must always seek new and innovative ways to communicate with local communities... “

Turning local government around must involve all South Africans, he said.

“Local government is everybody's business... it is also about all of us taking responsibility and asking each other what we have done, together, to turn the tide.”

This did not mean taking advantage of local government to serve one's own interests.

“... When we say local government is everybody's business, we are under no circumstances saying that local government is everybody's business by hook, crook or tender.”

It meant that the youth, civil society, organised labour, all political parties and “stone-throwing service delivery protesters” must get involved, Motlanthe said.

He was speaking on the second and final day of the Salga conference.

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 1 Paul Vecchiatto Opposition parties irate at Eskom’s BHP Billiton deal

OPPOSITION parties on Tuesday criticised a deal between Eskom and BHP Billiton, which owns the aluminium smelter in Richards Bay, that allows the group to pay a fraction of what the rest of the country is charged for electricity.

BHP and Eskom concluded a deal on electricity prices in the 1990s. There have been several attempts, including court action by Media 24, to uncover the terms of the agreement.

The contract was signed when Eskom had a surplus of electricity and the government wanted to unlock the aluminium chain. Eskom agreed to supply electricity at rates allied to the price of aluminium on the open market. Since then, aluminium prices have declined and Eskom is desperately short of electricity.

Democratic Alliance MP Pieter van Dalen on Tuesday told Parliament he knew what the company was paying.

"The information I have now is that (BHP) Billiton is paying 8.8c/kWh-10c/kWh while we are paying 120c/kWh as the aluminium price is at an all-time low," he said.

Mr van Dalen tabled these figures while presenting his party’s vote on a report by Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises.

He was supported by Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling, who also called for an explanation of why the BHP deal was not renegotiated by Eskom in the midst of South Africa’s energy crisis.

Mr van Dalen said: "I also rise to inform this house of a travesty of justice; of one company in South Africa that uses 7.5% of the total electricity generated in the country, but only employs 3,000 people and contributes a minuscule 0.01% to our gross domestic product."

He said BHP and Eskom had a secret deal called a "special pricing agreement", that was described in the electricity generator’s annual report as "embedded derivatives".

"These terms are just fancy words for theft from the poor. They are fancy words for ordinary South Africans subsidising an international conglomerate, BHP Billiton, to the tune of R4.8bn a year — exported from this country in the form of aluminium ingots," Mr van Dalen said.

BHP and Eskom did not reply to requests for comment.

Mike Rossouw, chairman of the Energy Intensive Users Group of South Africa — whose members account for 44% of the electricity consumed in the country — said special pricing agreements were made on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis. He said Eskom relied on big users such as BHP to relieve the constrained electricity system through power interruptions.

Mr van Dalen said BHP’s aluminium smelters were built when there was excess electricity.

"Eskom wants us to believe that we are stuck with these contracts for 25 years; that they were inherited from the apartheid era pre-1994. I asked questions in Parliament on this. The answers revealed that some of the deals were signed as late as 2003."

He said Parliament must call for the cancellation of the deal.

Mr Greyling said the contract was costing South Africa billions of rand. "We also want public pressure to be brought to bear on this company to force it to the negotiating table so that we can get a better deal for all South Africans."

African National Congress MP Willem Koornhof said the two statements had nothing to do with the report tabled, and accused Mr van Dalen and Mr Greyling of "political grandstanding".

Tristen Taylor, project co-ordinator at Earthlife Africa, said the deal was "illegitimate, if not illegal".

"It is appalling that BHP Billiton, a multibillion-dollar company, is being subsidised by South African electricity consumers," he said.

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 1 Linda Ensor State body ‘counting races’ as provinces melt down

THE Commission of Employment Equity was guilty of "serious goal displacement" by making racial head-counting rather than service delivery the overriding criterion to measure provinces’ progress, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille’s office said on Tuesday.

The commission found that the top echelons of the Western Cape government remained dominated by white males, making it the worst-performing province in terms of race and gender equity.

The finding is embarrassing for the Democratic Alliance-controlled province, which holds itself up as a model of good governance.

But Ms Zille’s spokesman, Zak Mbhele, accused the commission of "mistaken" priorities. He cited Limpopo — lauded by the commission as progressive in terms of racial equity — which had five departments under administration.

"Do the citizens of Limpopo, especially the poor who depend on government services, experience this melt-down as ‘progressive’?" he asked.

The commission’s 2011-12 annual report, launched by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant in Parliament on Tuesday, found that while African males and females represented 17.3% and 14.3% of the economically active population in the Western Cape, they occupied 11.2% and 3.1% of top management posts in its government. Coloured males (27.5%) and females (25%) held 36.7% and 3.1% of top management posts. White males (8.2%) made up 34.7% of senior managers in the provincial government.

The commission also found that the private sector in the Western Cape was the worst performer nationally in terms of racial representation in the workforce.

Congress of South African Trade Unions Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said that the private sector took its cue from the provincial government in respect of "disregarding employment equity obligations".

The commission found that nationally Africans represented only 18.5% of top management compared with 18.8% last year; coloureds 4.8% (3.9%); Indians 7,5% (6.1%); whites 65.4% (68.1%); and foreign nationals 3.9% (3.1%).

It concluded that Africans were still "grossly underrepresented" at this level.

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 1 Nick Hedley

Service delivery: Presidency blames ‘apartheid denial’

A "DENIAL" of the magnitude and effects of apartheid prevents South Africans from understanding the challenges the country faces and appreciating the progress made since 1994, the Presidency said on Tuesday.

President Jacob Zuma on Monday said the government had made substantial progress in delivering services to the poor, but this fact was lost in the "hurly-burly" of competitive politics.

His speech was interpreted by some as not taking responsibility for weaknesses in the government and choosing to blame apartheid leaders instead.

"We are criticised as if nothing has been done. It is an unfortunate criticism of the government," Mr Zuma said on Monday.

After the media "hysteria" over his comments, the Presidency said on Tuesday the government had achieved a lot and apartheid was to blame for the underdevelopment of the majority in South Africa.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said apartheid had led to a "deliberate underdevelopment of the majority", and some black people, especially in rural areas, had electricity in their homes for the first time only after 1994.

Mr Maharaj said Mr Zuma was pleased with the progress in improving the lives of South Africans, but he and the government "never fail to point out that much more still needs to be done".

The appeal that the government deserved more credit for its progress on service delivery was justifiable, the South African Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday.

Frans Cronje, deputy CEO of the institute, said "a myth has taken hold in South Africa that service delivery was a failure". He said the institute’s research suggested that "this is not the case".

The institute’s data shows that between 1996 and 2010, the number of households in South Africa living in formal housing increased 89.9%, while the number of households with access to electricity increased 127.9% and the number with access to piped water 76.6%.

Mr Cronje said increases of a similar magnitude were true for all 15 service delivery indicators.

Together with increased access to social welfare, "service delivery successes are responsible for the fact that the proportion of South Africans living on less than $2 a day has declined from 12% in 1994, and a peak of 17% in 2002, to just 5% today", he said.

The increase in service delivery protests was not a function of the failure of delivery, but rather of its success, Mr Cronje said.

"This success has raised expectations that cannot be met because of shortcomings in the school system and the labour market," he said.

Kevin Allan, MD of Municipal IQ, said while there had been improved delivery over the past 18 years since democracy, it "has been very patchy" and has favoured metropolitan areas over the poor and rural areas.

Mr Allan said Municipal IQ research showed that over the past five years, former homelands and rural municipalities’ expenditure per person on services was only a quarter of that spent per person in metropolitan areas, excluding bulk services such as electricity.

In former homelands and rural municipalities, "very little has changed over the past 18 years", and there was a "huge disparity in where delivery takes place", Mr Allan said.

While Cape Town and Johannesburg were delivering services relatively well, smaller municipalities had a "profound lack of capacity" and skills needed to collect revenue and deliver services, he said, reiterating Mr Zuma’s concerns.

Houses unite to axe Parliament secretary

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Natasha Marrian

FOR the first time in the democratic era, both houses of Parliament on Tuesday voted to dismiss its accounting officer with immediate effect.

The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) had to vote to dismiss Zingile Dingani because the secretary is appointed by Parliament and only it can dismiss him.

The vote in the houses follows the findings of an independent disciplinary committee that Mr Dingani misled the speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the NCOP. He had claimed there were policies in place that allowed for the granting of advances against salaries when he persuaded officials to approve a R186,000 payment to build a wall around his property.

African National Congress chief whip Mathole Motshekga introduced a motion calling for Mr Dingani to be dismissed in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

His counterpart in the NCOP, Nosipho Ntwanambi, introduced an identical motion to the council. Both were approved unanimously without any debate.

The motions noted that Parliament’s executive authority approved Mr Dingani’s request on the basis that he stated Parliament’s policies made provision for the granting of advances against salaries in exceptional cases.

After it was alleged that a salary advance was improper, the auditor-general was asked to investigate because the Financial Management of Parliament Act holds that any allegations of financial misconduct must be promptly investigated.

The motions proposed that "in light of the seriousness of the misconduct and of several key provisions of the Financial Management of Parliament Act that were contravened, the disciplinary hearing, on September 6, recommended that the secretary to Parliament be dismissed with immediate effect".

It asked both houses to accept the findings of the disciplinary hearing; and "resolve that the secretary to Parliament be dismissed with immediate effect".

Mr Dingani has been reported as saying he would challenge his dismissal in court because he did not agree with the findings of the disciplinary committee.

Nombembe urges local government to lead by example

AUDITOR-General Terence Nombembe issued a leadership challenge at the South African Local Government Association (Salga) special national conference in Midrand on Tuesday. He urged public representatives to make ethical conduct the mainstay of their leadership and to lead by example.

Mr Nombembe earlier this year expressed dismay at local government audits, warning of a worrying situation in South Africa where the people who were voted into power were not taking responsibility for their roles.

Municipal audits painted a dismal picture, with only 13 — about 5% of South Africa’s 283 municipalities — receiving a clean audit.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe also spoke out on leadership at the conference, urging public representatives at local government level to be more accessible to their constituencies.

Mr Nombembe said ethical conduct, honesty and integrity, was the "tone" for local leaders to set.

"Nothing can be more honourable than this tone that we have to exhibit as leaders … so that at no stage we have a situation that says do as I say, but not as I do," he said.

Mr Nombembe said good financial governance required rigorous "checks and balances" and these did not "just happen on their own".

People had to enforce them.

"It must be done by people willing to tell the truth and the full story of what happened," he said.

He told those in public office to hire competent people, particularly to run municipal finances — to ensure they were qualified to perform the job. Checks and balances had to be applied to everything that the local government sphere touched — including servicing communities.

Mr Motlanthe said service delivery protests — often an expression of anger over citizens’ experience of delivery — could be quelled through empowering citizens.

"Communities must have information on hand about who is doing what in their locality, when, how and why they are doing it."

South Africa has witnessed a rise in service delivery protests, with the highest citizen action since 2004 recorded in the first half of this year, according to statistics gathered by Municipal IQ.

Mr Motlanthe, a possible challenger to President Jacob Zuma at the African National Congress elective conference in Mangaung in December, urged local government leaders to reconnect with their constituencies.

"Turning local government around is no longer about asking the government, what government has done; but it is also about all of us taking responsibility and asking each other what have we done together, to turn the tide," he said.

Salga deputy chairman Mpho Nawa said the association would work hard to reverse perceptions that public representatives at the local level were "corrupt and lazy".

12 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Edward West

KwaZulu-Natal trio fall in behind Zuma

THE African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal — the province that holds the party’s biggest membership — has criticised speculation that some of its top office bearers intend to challenge the top six national leaders at the party’s elective conference in Mangaung later this year.

There was speculation in weekend reports that KwaZulu-Natal premier and ANC provincial chairman Zweli Mkhize and ANC provincial executive committee member and education MEC Senzo Mchunu were rallying behind Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who is said to be leading a front opposed to the re-election of President Jacob Zuma for a second term.

"Comrade Zweli Mkhize, comrade Senzo Mchunu and comrade Bheki Cele have categorically specified they are fully behind the current ANC national leadership," said a statement issued on Tuesday by provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala.

Linking the KwaZulu-Natal leaders to a faction opposed to Mr Zuma was "nothing but a frantic attempt by those who want to influence the outcome of the conference," the ANC said.

South African Communist Party provincial secretary Themba Mthembu said on Monday that the speculation was an attempt by factions to split the support for Mr Zuma in the province.

Former national police commissioner Bheki Cele, who was fired by Mr Zuma, is believed to still hold influence in the province, where he has previously chaired the ANC’s eThekwini region.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal said Dr Mkhize, Mr Mchunu and Mr Cele would be "part of the discussions" that would take place at all the party structures in the province ahead of the conference.

The nomination period for the ANC national leadership election will start next month.

"The ANC in the province is stable and will engage with leadership issues once the NEC (national executive committee) has mandated structures to engage on such discussions," the statement said.

University of KwaZulu-Natal political lecturer and analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said Mr Cele may still enjoy some support in the province from ANC cadres who resented him being fired by Mr Zuma.

Mr Zakhele said it was understood that the ANC was united behind Mr Zuma in KwaZulu-Natal and this was most certainly the case "on the ground", or among rank and file members of the party. If there were ANC leaders in the province wishing for change, they were likely to keep this view "close to their chests," because they would be out of a job if Mr Zuma was re-elected, he said.

Support in KwaZulu-Natal for Mr Zuma had little to do with service delivery issues, and more to do with the fact that he should have two terms just as former president Thabo Mbeki had, said Mr Ndlovu. There was also an ethnic affiliation to Mr Zuma in

rural and city areas, and there would be "food on the table" implications for party leaders should there be leadership changes.

Mr Ndlovu believed a clearer picture of the extent of support for a national change in leadership would emerge from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) conference in two weeks. A split in support for Mr Zuma in Cosatu may make it feasible for those wanting a change of leadership in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to play their hand more openly, he said.

12 September 2012 The Times Page 4 Andile Ndlovu UCT is the country's best varsity, by far The University of Cape Town is by far the best university in South Africa, says the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings for 2012-13, released yesterday.

Last year, too, UCT was the only university in South Africa, and Africa, to make it to the top 200 of the list.

The university is two positions up from last year, to 154, with 55.7 ranking points out of a possible 100.

The University of California also scored 55.7 points overall.

UCT was ranked as the best African university in last month's Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Gerda Kruger, the executive director of communications and marketing at UCT, said yesterday: "We are happy with [our] consistency . a good performance in the rankings sends the message that South Africans can get a world-class education at home."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology leaped from third last year to the top, displacing Cambridge and Harvard into second and third, respectively.

The difference in tuition fees between UCT and MIT was massive.

Undergraduate fees at UCT ranged between R32800 and R49200 for domestic students (and R65590 and R81980 for international students) while MIT fees were between R311540 and R326780 for undergraduates.

12 September 2012 Business Report Page 20 Londiwe Buthelezi Transnet vows end to deviant spending

Transnet has come under fire for not having tight controls to ensure its managers spent according to the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) rules when awarding contracts to external suppliers.

The portfolio committee on public enterprises questioned yesterday how the R8.4 billion irregular expenditure reported in the 2011 annual report escaped three levels of auditing.

Transnet chief financial officer Anoj Singh pointed out that the irregular nature of the contracts emanated from the manner in which they were awarded, because Transnet’s procurement policies were not followed. However, the money did not need to be recovered as it was not lost.

“Work was performed by the contractors and value was received by Transnet. So the money was not spent in vain, it was not fruitless and wasteful, but the manner in which the contract was awarded, was the problem,” he said.

Aubrey Mokoena, a member of the portfolio committee, said this was not the point, as the concern was that neither the internal auditing committee nor the external auditors or the auditor-general picked this up.

Transnet group chief executive Brian Molefe said the R8.4bn figure related to previous years and the group had since put controls in place to avoid repeating the mistake.

In the 2012 financial year, Transnet spent R195.5 million irregularly. But committee member Gerhard Koornhof said the fact that the external auditors specifically pointed out that Transnet did not take the necessary steps to prevent this irregular expenditure was what most concerned the committee.

Molefe said the parastatal had intensified PFMA awareness training and implemented a Cura system, which was a centralised database of PFMA-reportable violations. Transnet was in the process of linking its contract management and procurement systems to ensure PFMA compliance.

Transnet said the R89.6m in fruitless and wasteful expenditure related to incidents such as staff returning hired vehicles late and money spent on repairs after accidents involving company vehicles.

There were about 200 of these instances in the 2011/12 financial year.

Molefe also told the portfolio committee that the Transnet Pension Fund and Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF) made ad hoc bonus payments of R1.23bn to their pensioners in addition to their monthly pensions.

Cumulatively, approximately R1.9bn had been paid to pensioners on top of their 2 percent statutory increases.

Singh said the 2 percent statutory increase was afforded by the pension fund itself and the annual bonuses that Transnet provided had seen the annual pension of members increase three times above inflation for the last three years.

“In terms of the long-term solution, that 2 percent will remain as a statutory increase and we are looking to supplement that in the long term with the annual bonuses,” Singh said.

Over the past four years, Transnet made ex gratia bonus payments of R385m to the members of TSDBF.

Meanwhile, DA public enterprises spokeswoman Natasha Michael said she had asked the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, to conduct a full investigation into which party was at fault in the payment of pensions and why the annual increases of these pension funds had been limited to 2 percent when inflation was in the region of 6 percent.

“We have 70 000 widows that are suffering.

“We must find out where the problem lies,” she said.

11 September 2012 The New Age Siyabonga Mkhwanazi

SACP pushing for Jacob Zuma to win second term The SACP in Gauteng has come out in support of President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, describing it as being effective and in line with the resolutions of the Polokwane conference. The party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) said yesterday it was fully behind Zuma’s leadership of the ANC. The endorsement of Zuma by the SACP in Gauteng is a welcome boost for the ANC leader who is increasingly coming under attack from opponents who want to replace him at Mangaung in December. The endorsement of Zuma comes a few weeks before the ANC formally opens nominations for positions in the ruling party. It has been claimed that Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale are also intent on running for Zuma’s job. However, the two are yet to officially announce their bid for the top job in the ANC and the country. The SACP said it was confident that Zuma could drive the agenda of the working class. Zuma has been president of the country for the last three years. He has however led the ANC for five years.

The PEC also deliberated on an analysis of the challenges in the mining sector, the state of the national democratic revolution and an assessment of its 2012 programme of action. 8 September 2012 The Economist Staff

It’s not just the mines

The rainbow nation and its ruling party are failing to live up to their ideals

“WE THOUGHT we were having a nightmare”, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a South African Nobel peace prize laureate and a veteran of the struggle against apartheid. But no, he cried, “it was us, in 2012, in our democracy.” His howl of rage and disbelief has echoed across South Africa. Many of its people experienced flashbacks to the horrors of an earlier time, after last month’s killing by police of 34 striking workers at a platinum mine near Marikana, in the North West province.

Disbelief grew after the national prosecutor charged 259 miners, arrested after the confrontation, with the murder of their colleagues, citing a “common purpose” law that had been enacted under apartheid but upheld in a restricted form by the constitutional court in 2003.

That the miners were charged was bizarre and shocking. Though still on the books, the use of what has been described as a “lazy prosecutor’s law” prompted outrage across the country. Days later the murder charges were dropped, though prosecutors insisted on their soundness in law. It is not clear whether they came under pressure from the government either to lay the original charge or to rescind it, but the affair has inevitably cast doubt on the national prosecutor’s independence.

Marikana has highlighted and inspired unrest elsewhere. On September 3rd four miners were wounded by rubber bullets when security guards fired on a hostile crowd at the gates of a gold mine near Johannesburg, the commercial capital. Around 12,000 miners at another gold mine have downed tools in a wildcat strike, demanding more pay.

The Marikana fiasco has also prompted a wave of criticism of the ANC for its seemingly inept management and for its failure, more broadly, to fulfil its promise, trumpeted long and loud, of a better life for all. Inequality has grown since the ANC took charge in 1994, even though poverty in absolute terms has declined and the number of South Africans living on less than $2 a day has fallen substantially.

At an ANC conference in June South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, bemoaned that most of the country’s economy is still in white hands. Nonetheless, there is a growing feeling in the country that a rich black elite has profited most from South Africa’s liberation, while doing little to improve the lot of ordinary people. Cyril Ramaphosa, once boss of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), is often cited as a case in point. Now a multimillionaire businessman and still an ANC bigwig, Mr Ramaphosa

earlier this year bid 19.5m rand ($2.3m) for a prize buffalo at a farm near Marikana. On average black South Africans earned around 26,000 rand a year in 2010, when incomes were last tallied.

The country’s official trade unions, who are in a formal ruling partnership with the ANC and the South African Communist Party, are in danger of losing credibility. In the past five years the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has been criticised by many of its members for not fighting their corner hard enough. Among the established unions, the mineworkers’ has been chastised, rightly or wrongly, for being closer to big business than to its members in the mines.

As a result, at least one loud voice of dissent has resonated among the poor. Julius Malema, once the leader of the ANC Youth League but recently cast out of the party for insubordination, has used Marikana to attack the government, blaming it for the tragedy and calling for Mr Zuma’s resignation. He has demanded a revolution in mining, telling workers—as campaigners did under apartheid—to make mines ungovernable. Investors have not so far been deterred, but their confidence is waning.

Strikes are becoming ever more common. Protests take place almost every week and often focus on a lack of basic necessities such as water or electricity. Most demonstrations are small and local. No political party has managed to co-opt them. Most protesters probably still support the ANC, with its cachet of liberation.

Might that change? The ANC is still by far the most powerful and popular party, with Nelson Mandela its icon. At the latest general election, in 2009, it got 66% of the vote (down from 70% the time before) against only 17% for the biggest opposition party, the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), still seen by most blacks as an essentially white-led organisation. But the DA is gaining ground. It runs the Western Cape province and the city of Cape Town. At the next general election, in 2014, it hopes to make inroads in Gauteng, the country’s richest and most populous province, which includes Johannesburg, where a growing number of middle-class blacks are disillusioned with the ANC for what they see as incompetence and corruption. But the DA is still miles away from having a real chance of taking over.

In the long run, the ANC might lose power if it were to suffer a serious split, perhaps with a substantial capitalist or socialist chunk of the party peeling away. But in the past it has easily survived the departure of dissident factions.

Nonetheless, the ANC is not at ease with itself. Infighting in the run-up to a party conference in December, when the leadership will be elected, is sure to get fiercer. At a similar meeting in 2007, Mr Zuma ousted his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. The president will have to pull out the stops to avoid facing the same fate.

Marikana has done little to help him. Some leading lights in Cosatu do not support him. Its leader, Zwelinzima Vavi, has been particularly outspoken about the failings of the government. But none of Mr Zuma’s mooted rivals within the ANC looks strong enough at present to be sure of ousting him. Those most mentioned are Tokyo Sexwale, a vastly rich tycoon who is currently housing minister, and Kgalema Motlanthe, the deputy president.

Though strikes at places such as Marikana have become common in mining, they have not yet spread widely into other parts of the economy, as they did in the struggle against apartheid. But they have drawn attention to South Africa’s many

painful problems, especially poverty and low wages, poor policing and questionable judicial authority. Above all, as the gap between poor and rich yawns, they point to the smell of corruption.

11 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Paul Vecchiatto

MTN, Vodacom to co-operate on Madonsela’s ICT Indaba probe

MTN and Vodacom say they will co-operate with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s investigation into the alleged conflict of interest Communications Minister Dina Pule had with the ICT Indaba conference, during which R25.7m in sponsorship money allegedly disappeared.

The June conference that ran for almost a week was hailed by Ms Pule then as a success and "the first of its kind on the African continent".

Her department chipped in another R10m, and Ms Pule claimed last month that the auditor-general had cleared her of any wrongdoing. However, the report has not yet been released.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) asked the public protector towards the end of June to investigate the conflict of interest as reports surfaced that Ms Pule was romantically involved with Phosane Mngqibisa, whose company managed the event.

Events management company Carol Bouwer Designs was hired to stage the conference, but this was outsourced to Mr Mngqibisa. The money allegedly disappeared from the Carol Bouwer Designs account.

DA communications spokesperson Marian Shinn said the public protector’s inquiry would complement a similar one by Parliament’s ethics and members interest committee, which was also initiated by the opposition party.

Ms Pule has submitted a sworn affidavit to that committee. However, it has not yet determined if the matter warrants further investigation nor released a finding.

Although MTN has not yet confirmed its sponsorship, it is believed to have been R15m, with Vodacom and Telkom each contributing about R5m.

On Monday, MTN SA human resources executive officer Themba Nyathi said his company would fully co-operate with the public protector or any lawful investigation agency.

"Remember MTN would also appreciate full financial audit accountability from the ICT Indaba organisers. Hence I hired Werksmans Attorneys to do a forensic investigation over our shareholders’ money donated to the ICT Indaba."

Vodacom spokesman Richard Boorman said his company paid for a gold sponsorship and had conducted a due diligence process ahead of the event, including the requirement of the supplier to complete an anticorruption questionnaire.

"We received the services contractually agreed on. Having said that we would like comfort that the funds were used for legitimate purposes, and with this in mind we requested additional information from Carol Bouwer Designs."

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 2 Amanda Visser ‘Some consensus’ on implementing youth wage subsidy

SOME consensus has been reached in negotiations about the final implementation of the long-delayed youth wage subsidy announced more than two years ago, yet it seems there is still no end in sight to the process.

Obed Bapela, deputy minister in the Presidency for performance monitoring and evaluation, on Monday accepted a memorandum from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and unemployed South Africans on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

He said Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel had "broken ground" and "some consensus" had been reached on how the money would be used.

However, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA finance spokesman Tim Harris that the discussion about the wage subsidy had been expanded to look at active labour market policies more broadly.

Mr Gordhan said the consultation process on strategies for stimulating employment was continuing and it was his "sincere wish" that the discussion would come to a useful conclusion soon.

The DA has been driving a campaign to have the R5bn wage subsidy, announced by Mr Gordhan in the 2010 budget, finally implemented.

On Monday, DA leader Helen Zille, surrounded by hundreds of young unemployed South Africans carrying posters showing the faces of unemployed young people, said the party would not rest until every South African could enjoy the dignity of an honest day’s work.

Ms Zille said the symbolic 423 unemployed people gathered on the lawns each represented 1,000 young unemployed South Africans who could benefit from the subsidy programme.

Mr Bapela said unfortunate disagreements during negotiations before the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on spending the R5bn wage subsidy prolonged the process and caused frustration.

He said concerns that needed further negotiations related to employers using the opportunity to replace their older employees with younger ones. "I think that is a legitimate concern that the government had to listen to and give assurances that the money would not be used to replace older workers."

Another concern was that employers could use the subsidy to foot their wage bills and pocket the money they would have used to pay wages.

Ms Zille said economic growth of 8% was necessary to have any significant influence on the unemployment rate. She said in the Western Cape, where the provincial government had taken money from other projects to implement the wage subsidy, there had been some success.

She said 70% of the young people who benefited from the programme had found permanent employment, while others had used the opportunity to study further.

In the memorandum, the DA referred to a study done by market research provider TNS that showed 77% of South Africans supported the subsidy. According to the party, more than 3,2m young South Africans are without work.

11 September 2012 The Times Page 8 Graeme Hosken

SA's arms sales to Zim 'above board'

The sale of military equipment to Zimbabwe has sparked outrage and calls for the government to explain its actions.

The discovery of the sale of hardware worth more than R2-billion was revealed in answers to parliamentary questions by DA MP David Maynier yesterday.

Maynier was questioning the chairman of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, about the export of military hardware.

In its quarterly report for April to June, the committee revealed it had sold more than R2.7-billion worth of equipment, with R18.1-billion in arms sale contracts still pending.

The report showed South Africa had exported millions of rands worth of category C equipment to Zimbabwe and more than R500 000 worth of category A equipment to Rwanda.

Category A equipment includes artillery, ammunition and mortar bombs. Category C includes armoured vehicles other than combat vehicles, military radios and unmanned vehicles.

While Maynier said he would demand answers over the sale of military equipment to Zimbabwe, a defence analyst said the alarm cannot be raised yet.

Analyst Helmoed Heitman said while the European Union and the US had arms embargoes on Zimbabwe, the United Nations did not, so there was nothing stopping South Africa from exporting weapons to Zimbabwe.

"The equipment we have sold is minute and is non-combative. While some would question the sale of military equipment to Zimbabwe, serious questions need to be asked over the sale of weapons to Rwanda, especially as it includes ammunition," he said.

In June, the UN highlighted Rwanda's links to the M23 rebel group's operations in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where a bloody conflict is being waged between that country's government and various militia.

Heitman said although Rwanda's involvement could not be proved, it was not in doubt.

He said it had to be understood that because South Africa and Zimbabwe were part of the Southern African Development Community and the SADC stand-by brigade, both countries had to contribute to the military peace force.

'This means that should both countries be deployed together on a peacekeeping mission, they would have to operate together.

"To operate together means they have to have the same or very similar equipment, which is what these sales - especially of radios and other communication equipment - is about."

Heitman said South Africa's sale of weapons was not unusual.

"We currently sell more than R1-billion worth of mine-protected and mine-detection vehicles to the US military for its operations in Afghanistan. We also sell equipment for fighter aircraft and submarines to different nations."

Maynier said it was not known what military equipment had been sold to Zimbabwe.

"We do not know what this equipment includes or the quantity. They say it is one thing, but it could be something completely different."

11 September 2012 The Times Page 4 Mhlaba Memela

ANC needs new blood: Mashatile

Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile yesterday called for radical change in the ANC leadership at the party's elective conference in Mangaung in December.

Speaking at the ANC Youth League's 68th anniversary celebrations in Thembelihle, Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, Mashatile said: "We must renew our leadership and

make sure that when we elect leaders in Mangaung ... we bring in the new generation of leaders."

To applause, Mashatile said "radical change" was needed to ensure that in 18 or 20 years people could look back and say "We have a better life".

"At the conference we must adopt radical policies. Let us go there and renew the organisation," he said.

He said the future of the country was in the hands of the youth league.

"We are saying to our young leaders, it is your responsibility to make sure you bring about change ... so that people can have a better life."

Earlier, Gauteng youth league secretary Ayanda Kasa-Ntsobi said the ANC needed "decisive leadership that was not afraid of its people".

She led the crowd in cries of support for Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, who are reportedly ready to run for the positions of president and secretary-general of the ANC respectively.

The crowd sang in favour of Motlanthe while rolling their hands in a gesture more often used when soccer fans call for a substitution during a match.

In Durban, SA Communist Party provincial secretary Themba Mthembu said his party was aware of "forces" that have been trying to divide the ANC ahead of Mangaung.

"It is not the first time [this is happening]. We also believe that dragging the names of comrades Zweli Mkhize and Senzo Mchunu is an act of desperate forces.

"This is seen as a clear indication of the desperation in which these forces find themselves," he said.

Weekend reports suggested that Mkhize and Mchunu were rallying behind Human Settlement Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who is said to be leading an anti-Zuma campaign.

"It was seen that the country and the ANC-led government is in a dire situation ... we strongly believe and recognise the commitment and effort of the present government and its leadership," Mthembu said.

11 September 2012 The Times Page 4 Sipho Masombuka and TJ Strydom

Miners on rampage against non-strikers

As angry strikers marched on Lonmin's Marikana mine to prevent non-strikers from working yesterday, another mine came to a standstill following "intimidation".

About 400 workers forced the closure of the KDC West mine near Westonaria in anticipation of a visit by expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema.

The workers went around hostels of the mine at the weekend telling their colleagues not to pitch for work, said Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche.

Nearly the whole work force of 15000 stayed home yesterday.

National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka confirmed the workers were unhappy with the branch leadership at the mine.

He said workers wanted the branch leaders to negotiate a smaller tax deduction for them.

Among their other demands is the magic number of R12500 as salary of choice.

"We don't know where this [figure] comes from, but everybody seems to be asking for R12500 now," said Seshoka.

This took place amid rumours that Malema would make an appearance there tomorrow.

Floyd Shivambu, expelled ANC Youth League spokesman and Malema's close ally, did not want to confirm or deny the visit. He said announcements would be made in due course.

Police were forced to save a non-striking Marikana miner from imminent death yesterday when a group of armed striking workers chased after him as they marched from Newman shaft.

The man suspected of being a non-striking worker was hiding behind a bush.

He sprinted towards the police inyalas as about 3000 armed men approached him.

A group of about 100 men armed with knobkerries, pangas and an axe gave chase.

Police intervened and put the terrified man inside one of the police vehicles.

"He would be dead by now if we had caught up with him before the police saved him," said Powell Dalibango, one of the striking miners.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration had called a meeting between the mine management, unions and striking workers to reopen wage negotiations yesterday. The miners snubbed the attempt.

CCMA spokesman Nersan Govender had said the striking miners had to return to work for the negotiations to be effective.

Instead, the miners marched to three shafts of the Lonmin mine to prevent anybody else working.

Under the watchful eye of a strong police contingent, the miners marched from shaft to shaft to clear out non-striking workers.

Solidarity spokesman Gideon du Plessis said workers' representatives did not show up for the CCMA negotiations because they "were too tired".

The commission had requested a day's postponement to meet the workers' committee for the last time, he said.

11 September 2012 The Times Page 1 Amukelani Chauke Zuma feels the heat as Mangaung nears Mounting disapproval of his leadership yesterday forced President Jacob Zuma to defend himself, saying he could no longer sit back and allow his critics to exaggerate the weaknesses of his government. Zuma - who has been under siege because of his style of leadership of the ANC and of the government - yesterday deviated from a prepared speech to lash out at commentators whom, he said, continued to say that the government had not done enough to improve service delivery after 18 years of democracy. Opening the SA Local Government Association's special national conference, in Midrand , Zuma said critics should, when denouncing his administration, balance their views with the progress the government had made. "I know that we in government, because we know we have a very big responsibility, we are very timid, we are very shy to tell what is happening. "And we then create a space that those who are critical, they look like they are telling the truth that nothing has happened. "I hear every day all these clever people are saying that nothing has happened in this country. Nothing; no delivery, nothing. For criticism to be respected, it must be balanced, it must be objective. It cannot be one-sided," he said. His defensive flare-up was the second in recent months. In May, he gave his detractors a piece of his mind when he spoke at the congress of the National Union of Mineworkers, at which he said: "I know what I'm doing. I didn't get here by mistake. And that is why I am not going to be diplomatic on matters of revolutionary principles. There is no diplomacy required." His outburst came on the same day that one of his ministers, Paul Mashatile, called for "radical change" in the ANC's leadership . Speaking at the ANC Youth League's 68th anniversary celebrations, in Johannesburg, Mashatile said: "We must renew our leadership and make sure when we elect leaders in Mangaung . that we bring in the new generation of leaders." Zuma told councillors and municipal leaders that people judged the government's performance by their first-hand experience of municipalities.

He said some critics often took advantage of his humble nature and sensationalised their critique on the government. "The criticisms are as if nothing has been done, and it is unfair to the government. "All I am calling for is balanced reporting about the progress we have made. That's all." A report released by auditor-general Terence Nombembe in July paints a grim picture of South Africa's municipalities. The damning report found, among other things, that 70% of all audited municipalities had incompetent officials and that most used outside consultants to balance their books despite municipal employees being paid to do the job. Nombembe said that politicians seldom took his recommendations seriously, and that political leaders and officials were not held accountable for poor performance. On the day the report was released, Minister in The Presidency Collins Chabane said it was time to evaluate the link between service-delivery protests and badly managed municipalities. According to media reports, the latest research by Municipal IQ has found that service-delivery protests are on the increase, with 113 reported in the first quarter of this year alone. Zuma's leadership style has come under severe criticism both from opposition parties and faceless ANC leaders. ANC leaders have questioned his fitness to lead the party for a second-term based on back-to-back crises under his watch. There is now an "Anyone But Zuma" (ABZ) campaign led by ANC members determined to oust him at Mangaung. Among the issues that have embarrassed the party is his reluctance to suspend or sack Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga for of her department's failure to deliver textbooks to schools in Limpopo and other provinces for over six months - a crisis that has led to multiple investigations and lawsuits. In May, Zuma was grilled by MPs about his failure to intervene in the suspension saga of the former police crime intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli. He has also faced censure for a number of controversial appointments he has made, including that of Menzi Simelane as head of the National Prosecuting Authority. Simelane's appointment has been overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal. 10 September 2012 The Times Page 4 Abongile Mgaqelwa Motlanthe's headache

Deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe may have to make the crucial decision in the coming weeks on whether to challenge President Jacob Zuma for the top position in the ANC. His name has appeared on lists discussed by both the anyone-but-Zuma and the pro-Zuma factions of the party. A meeting of the pro-Zuma faction in Umhlanga Ridge, KwaZulu-Natal, last week discussed potential candidates for the top six party positions. An NEC member said the six named were Jacob Zuma as party president, Kgalema Motlanthe as deputy president, Baleka Mbete as chairwoman, Gwede Mantashe as secretary-general, Jesse Duarte as deputy secretary-general and Naledi Pandor as treasurer-general. Cyril Ramaphosa has been touted as a possible replacement for Motlanthe if the anyone-but-Zuma group convinces him to run against Zuma. A move against Zuma could be career suicide for Motlanthe. Should he lose in Mangaung he will be out of a job in the ANC. Though he would remain the country's deputy president, he would automatically lose this position after the national elections. ANC members from all the provinces except the Western Cape attended the KwaZulu-Natal meeting. The Western Cape is said to be deeply divided in its support for a Zuma second term. An Eastern Cape representative said though leaders from Gauteng did not attend the meeting, members from the province's youth league leadership were there. An SMS that made the rounds at the weekend had Minister of Public Service and Administration Lindiwe Sisulu, National Planning Commission Minister Trevor Manuel and Zuma's right-hand man, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, as possible candidates in the top six. Another regional leader said there was a "compromise" line-up that would include Fikile Mbalula as deputy secretary-general, Manuel as treasurer and Sisulu as chairwoman. As it stands, Zuma's second-bid strongholds are KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Mpumalanga. Last week The Times reported on a meeting of the anyone-but-Zuma group at which Motlanthe emerged as a possible candidate to contest Zuma. Prominent leaders from all over the country attended, including the leadership of the ANC Youth League. Tokyo Sexwale will stand for deputy president against Ramaphosa if Motlanthe accepts the nomination. Though KwaZulu-Natal is Zuma's stronghold, prominent names from the province were raised as possible top six members.

Both the pro- and anti-Zuma groups have Mantashe as secretary-general. One provincial leader said Mantashe might emerge as kingmaker in Mangaung, depending on which side he chooses. THE ZUMA LINE-UP Jacob Zuma as president Kgalema Motlanthe, deputy president Baleka Mbete, party chairman Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general Jesse Duarte, deputy secretary-general Naledi Pandor, treasurer-general Other options: Cyril Ramaphosa has been touted as a replacement for Motlanthe if the ABZ group persuades Motlanthe to run against Zuma KGALEMA LINE-UP Kgalema Motlanthe as president Also likely to be in the top six: Fikile Mbalula Paul Mashatile Tokyo Sexwale Lindiwe Sisulu Trevor Manuel, and Ngoako Ramatlhodi 10 September 2012 Business Day Page 1 Nicky Smith

Former CEO takes on SAA over ruling

FORMER South African Airways (SAA) CEO Khaya Ngqula has taken the national airline’s board to the Supreme Court of Appeal, urging the court to find that SAA had approached the wrong high court when it tried to recover millions of rand from him.

In the past two years the board has been pursuing at least four separate claims, totalling about R252m, against Mr Ngqula.

If Mr Ngqula is successful at the Supreme Court of Appeal, it will mean that SAA will have to start its litigation afresh in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. This could open the way for him to argue prescription, a legal technicality that could get him off the hook as SAA would have taken longer than the three years available to it to pursue the claims.

Late last year, SAA maintained in court that the South Gauteng High Court could hear the case as the matter was not one that related to Mr Ngqula’s employment contract, which stipulated contractual issues must be heard in Pretoria. Instead, the matter involved the common law and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act, SAA argued.

But in order to prevent any further delay, SAA applied to transfer the case to Pretoria.

Mr Ngqula opposed the application to transfer the matter to Pretoria, but Judge Nazeer Cassim agreed with SAA and ordered the matter transferred there.

Today, Mr Ngqula will hope to convince the Supreme Court of Appeal that Judge Cassim did not have the jurisdiction to transfer the case since the South Gauteng High Court did not have jurisdiction to hear it in the first place.

The SAA board’s claims arose after a forensic investigation by audit firm KPMG highlighted certain of Mr Ngqula’s decisions while he was the CEO. The investigation was sparked by a dossier compiled by the South African Transport Workers Union, which was handed to former public enterprises minister Brigitte Mabandla and former SAA board chairman Jakes Gerwel in February 2009, containing allegations of mismanagement and wasteful expenditure by Mr Ngqula.

KPMG alleged that Mr Ngqula had exceeded his authority by awarding bonuses to keep skilled staff and signing sponsorship deals well in excess of the limits placed on his budget. Up until 2006 this limit was R1m, but after November 2006 it rose to R2m.

SAA said last week the board had an obligation to pursue claims against Mr Ngqula that it felt it had a reasonable chance of success.

The R252m is made up of amounts contained in the various summonses that have been served on Mr Ngqula, according to SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali. These include R27.4m paid in retention bonuses to senior management in 2007, a R29m sponsorship of golfer Angel Cabrera, an ATP tennis sponsorship deal worth $23.5m and €204,170, and a "junkets claim" worth R637,340, Mr Tlali said.

Mr Ngqula, in response to the slew of claims against him, has insisted that as an executive of SAA he was insured against any claims to a maximum value of R200m, an assertion that SAA has dismissed as baseless.

Department of Public Enterprises spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete said that as Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba supported "any action to make people accountable for how they spend state money, we will continue to get briefed on the matter. We will push for accountability at all levels."

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 2 Carol Paton

Regulators need more teeth, says study

INDEPENDENT regulators of economic infrastructure should be able to penalise anticompetitive behaviour by firms and state-owned enterprises, many of which are monopolies, the Development Bank of Southern Africa says in a report to be published this week.

The State of Infrastructure Report 2012 says giving regulators, including National Energy Regulator of SA and the National Ports Authority, the power to impose

sanctions "must be a policy priority". It further says many of SA’s regulators are ineffective.

In infrastructure sectors where there are no regulators, such as rail and water, these should be established with urgency.

The bank’s report provides an in-depth analysis of the state of the six network industries — rail, ports, roads, electricity, water and telecommunications — and the challenges they face. The report’s key concerns and conclusions focus on the lack of a clear governance framework for developing infrastructure.

Poor governance, says the report, has implications for the sequencing of financing, pricing for consumers, efficient price recovery by the entities and the proper costing of the entire life span of what gets built.

The report comes in the wake of the government’s plan to spend R840bn on infrastructure over the next three years in what is hoped will be a major stimulus to growth and job creation and R3.2-trillion over the next 20 to 30 years.

Despite the importance of regulators in ensuring affordable pricing and quality improvements, the regulators reviewed in the study — as well as the regulatory frameworks governing their activities — all fell short of what is required.

"The regulatory framework for the six economic infrastructure sectors is poor, both in design and implementation," the report reads.

The outcome had been "prices that are very high in relation to international benchmarks, (cost) under-recovery alongside poor operational performance and asset utilis ation".

That key sectors lack regulators entirely has resulted in the danger of monopoly pricing in the rail sector and damage to roads in the sector freight as a result of the failure to effectively regulate overloading and underpricing. It has also caused poor price recovery in the water sector.

In sectors where the legislative framework is sound, such as in the ports and information and communications technology sectors, "the regulators lack the capacity to effectively regulate their sectors". This undermined the competitiveness of the national economy.

Ravi Naidoo, the bank’s group executive for development planning, said network infrastructure was the "natural domain" of the state because of the large amounts involved. "The private sector would tend to under-provide, therefore one would expect state-owned enterprises to be very involved but it means they have to be well regulated ."

However, regulators face two sets of problems. "The first is that regulators tend to have less capacity than the institutions they regulate, so their ability to understand and enforce industry players in limited.

"Second, they find it hard to arbitrate between different government departments with different priorities," he said.

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 2 Monde Maoto and Karl Gernetzky

Lonmin wage talks aim to end wildcat strike

WAGE negotiations at Lonmin are scheduled to start today, with the aim of ending a month-long wildcat strike, which resulted in the deaths of 44 people at the Marikana mine near Rustenburg.

The bargaining process comes after the signing of a peace accord last week, aimed at bringing an end to the violence at the mine. Striking mineworkers are expected to return to work this morning.

The week ahead will also see the South African Local Government Association (Salga) seeking to increase its political weight by amending its constitution, and President Jacob Zuma is likely to face tough questioning in the National Assembly on Thursday.

From tomorrow until Wednesday, Salga delegates will be meeting at a special congress to discuss constitutional amendments. These will change the way the sole representative of local government operates. Salga is seeking to renew its role and mandate, and alter the composition of executive structures, in order to increase its legitimacy and to improve on its ability to affect policy matters.

Today the African National Congress Youth League will hold a rally in Soweto to celebrate its 68th anniversary. The event could see strong language on the issue of the ANC leadership succession, with formal party branch nominations now only two weeks away.

Sport and Recreation Minister and former league leader Fikile Mbalula is due to address the rally. Mr Mbalula is seen as a contender for the position of secretary-general of the ANC, and may use the event as a platform.

Also today, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille and other senior party officials will lead a protest to the Union Buildings. The protest, which will begin when the DA leaders meet 423 unemployed young people, will culminate in a memorandum being handed to the Presidency on the implementation of the youth wage subsidy.

Tomorrow, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will brief Parliament on progress regarding the auditor-general’s recommendations, the results of the Special Investigating Unit’s investigations, and the results of a skills audit at the broadcaster.

A 2009 investigation by Auditor-General Terence Nombembe found evidence of widespread corruption at the SABC. In previous briefings to Parliament, the broadcaster had been criticised for its failure to fully comply with the auditor-general’s recommendations. The investigations had concerned large numbers of staff being probed for conflicts of interest.

In Parliament on Thursday, Mr Zuma will respond to questions in the National Assembly. Opposition parties are unlikely to pass up the opportunity to grill Mr Zuma on burning issues, such as the crisis at Lonmin’s Marikana mine.

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 3 Natasha Marrian

NUM's battle for relevance in evolving landscape

HEIGHTENED tensions over positions in the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM ) are at the root of unrest in many mines, particularly along the platinum belt in Rustenburg where more than 5,000 jobs have been lost as a result of wildcat strikes, says the union’s general secretary, Frans Baleni.

A wildcat strike at Lonmin last month led to the death of 44 people, 34 at the hands of police during a bloody stand-off. In the wake of the tragedy, NUM has been criticised for being aloof and for failing to keep its finger on the pulse of worker needs.

NUM is monitoring platinum and gold mines, where there are signs that the unrest may spread. Beyond Lonmin and Impala Platinum, the union ha s observed signs of possible unrest in some neighbouring mines.

Mr Baleni sa ys the signs are also evident at Gold Fields and Kloof mines on the West Rand. In an interview last week, he said the union was "trying to communicate" as much as possible to avoid further labour unrest.

He defends the NUM against criticism that it has lost touch, saying changing dynamics in SA and the environment in which the union operates contribute to the unrest on the mines.

He cite s an example of protests against an African National Congress mayor in the Free State, which erupted mere months after her appointment. It emerged that the protests were rooted in jostling for positions.

Those who had not been elected had "whipped up the emotions" of the community, convincing them that the mayor had failed to deliver. This was all in a bid to remove her and install one of their own.

"Similar things are happening in the NUM ," Mr Baleni says. "There is a high interest in elected positions in the union."

The benefits companies usually bestowed on elected officials fuelled the problem.

"These positions attract better benefits ," Mr Baleni says. "L et’s say you get trained and so on and then they end up adjusting your salary. So if you lose elections, you then, in some cases, go back to your old salary.

"Sometimes you were working underground, now you’ve spent three years on the surface in an office and then you go back underground, so that is uncomfortable. It’s not a question of being not in touch so to speak, but people stir the emotions.

"Those who have lost tend to destabilise or want to fight back. You make ( your successor’s) term so difficult that people (start doubting) this suitability. Come the next elections, you can be re-elected ."

Research the NUM has conducted shows that workers in the Rustenburg area are upset by the lack of visibility of shop stewards.

According to a Cosatu organisational report — to be discussed at its national congress in two weeks time — the federation would embark on a process of "internal introspection" to resolve problems in its affiliates — NUM is its largest. These problems include poor servicing of members, envy of material benefits of shop stewards, a possible social distance between leaders and organisers, and training of organisers.

The report further shows that 60% of workers in Cosatu-affiliated unions are unhappy with the wage increases their unions have secured for them in the last year.

Professor Mpfariseni Budeli-Nemakonde from the department of mercantile law at the University of SA says the power struggle within the unions is a factor, but not the only one. Mineworkers earn too little and those elected to negotiate on their behalf are failing to adequately do so as they themselves get paid more, owing to their union positions.

"They then tend to side with the employers," Prof Budeli-Nemakonde says. "They feel to be part of the management and put their personal interests first to the detriment of the people who elected them ."

"The NUM, as the recognised union at Lonmin with bargaining powers, failed to represent its members, through not championing their interests."

Sometimes employers "encouraged" the dissatisfaction with the unions through the use of the "divide and rule " tactic. This drives a wedge between shop stewards and mineworkers, and even among the workers themselves.

"Some shop stewards committed to the interests of their union members may still fall into disgrace if the employers do not co-operate with them fully," Prof Budeli-Nemakonde says.

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 4 Linda Ensor

Co-ordination boost for local infrastructure

A LACK of co-ordination among the many bodies responsible for delivery of water and sanitation services to communities had been a stumbling block in the roll-out of infrastructure and would have to be addressed by changing the law and regulations,

Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane admitted on Friday.

Municipalities and the departments of human settlements and water affairs are all involved in providing water and sanitation infrastructure. But they have not done enough to fix antiquated systems that pose a health hazard and are inadequate to meet the demands of growing urban populations, particularly in Johannesburg and on the West Rand.

Municipalities often lack capacity and have not invested enough in maintenance and upgrade work.

National co-ordination and the prioritisation of investment was critical, Mr Chabane told a media briefing on the outcome of last week’s Cabinet lekgotla.

More resources would also have to be mobilised for expansion and to maintain existing infrastructure, he said.

The issue of poor sanitation became a source of embarrassment for both the African National Congress (in Free State) and the Democratic Alliance (in the Western Cape) last year when it emerged that communities were having to use unenclosed toilets.

To address the problem, the Cabinet has decided to include the provision of water and sanitation infrastructure at community level on the list of 18 special infrastructure programmes falling under the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission.

The structure of the commission — which is chaired by President Jacob Zuma and includes Cabinet ministers, premiers, metro mayors and the South African Local Government Association — ensures that there is strong co-ordination between the three spheres of government.

The commission was established last year to accelerate critical infrastructure development, which the Cabinet believed was not keeping pace with needs.

Its mandate is to develop a 20-year infrastructure pipeline to ensure proper planning, certainty and the continuity of projects.

The commission has developed an infrastructure plan with 17 strategic integrated projects, covering more than 150 interventions in rail, road and port systems; dams and irrigation, bulk sanitation; new energy generation plants; electricity transmission and distribution; communication and broadband infrastructure; social infrastructure in the form of hospitals, schools and universities; and regional infrastructure.

Mr Chabane said the special focus given by the commission to water and sanitation would help identify which institution and government department should take responsibility for the work. This decision had not yet been taken by the Cabinet and could require an amendment of laws and regulations to ensure the co-ordination of the functions.

Mr Chabane said the Cabinet was "confident that the (commission’s) projects are progressing well" and welcomed steps taken to contain costs and combat corruption in infrastructure projects.

10 September 2012 Business Day Page 9 Malcolm Gray and Bonita Meyersfeld

Why are investors in the mining industry so silent?

SINCE August 16, the South African and international media have been immersed in commentary and discussion about the tragedy at the Lonmin mine at Marikana.

Almost every conceivable voice has been heard, except one: those who invest in and fund mining activity. It is for this reason that an investment manager and a human rights lawyer have decided to merge their voices.

Institutional investors are bound by their fiduciary duties to act in the best interests of their clients and to maximise profit. These were the key principles governing investment management for many years.

Increasingly, the interpretation of the "best interests of clients" is changing. Both international bodies and South African law require investors also to embrace a broader understanding of fiduciary duties and take into account material aspects that may affect value and investment decisions, including considerations related to environmental factors, social issues and good governance.

As such, a more challenging hurdle is emerging. Investors should be investing in companies ("portfolio companies") that will generate appropriate risk-adjusted returns, but they should also be thinking about risks associated with human rights and environmental violations.

Enter Marikana, which raises a provocative question: what happens when a portfolio company breaches a human right or environmental or governance standard? When institutional investors invest in a corporation that is connected to such a breach, the questions follow: are they complicit in the harmful conduct? Do investors have a legal obligation to take steps to prevent such violations?

And, if so, what are the possible steps? Screening, engagement, divestment or litigation? What should the asset owners (pension fund members or individual investors) expect from their fiduciaries?

Given the events in the mining sector in recent weeks, it is interesting to note that we have heard or read very little from the investment community — that is, the people who own these mining companies on behalf of the savers of the nation.

This silence is also symptomatic of a broader issue in the investment community (both in SA and abroad), namely, how much thought and analysis investment managers actually give to social and environmental considerations, which are key issues for a business’s long-term sustainability when making investment choices.

Investment choices appear increasingly to be driven by short-term considerations, and one wonders about the value of the expensive and complex research provided by the broking community.

Is the broking community able to integrate these material considerations — material but difficult to quantify — into its assessment of corporations, and are investors able to interrogate and challenge such reports?

There similarly appear to be discrepancies between the various ratings a corporation can be awarded (including credit, social and environmental ratings) and the reality on the ground: some corporations with the highest ratings demonstrate corporate vulnerability.

The events at Marikana raise the question: is business as usual really sustainable business? This is not to be simplistic about the multitude of factors that feed profit and loss in any industry, not least of all mining.

It does, however, speak to the need for a more balanced approach to investment considerations, especially in the extractive industry, an industry with such a high emotional profile.

In our assessment (borrowing from much more detailed work over the years), this balance includes three parts: the natural capital controlled by the state (the resources themselves are owned by the state and, as such, the state acts as a key allocator of licences while extracting royalties, rents and other taxes); financial capital (equity and debt providers, with return and risk expectations, which fund the enterprise, its capital investments needed to procure, open up and exploit the resource and working capital); and social capital (the workers and communities who provide the human energy needed to extract, operate and sustain the overall operations and around which these operations are or should be traditionally sustained).

There is a need for this collective to be in balance. Interests may differ but, in the end, successful, sustainable ventures require all these parties to receive fair reward for their contributions. And within this collective, there is the need for a binding, sustainable social contract that recognises that, without any one of these players, mining would not be possible. In our view, it appears that this social contract has been eroded in SA. Or perhaps it never really existed.

In addition, and possibly accounting for the relative silence to date, the providers of capital appear lost in the context of the politics, social disintegration, inequality and the apparent lack of true leadership. One of the reasons for this absent voice is that we do not all speak the same language.

Activists, the government, business, investors, trade unions and workers speak in different tongues. Each has a language with terms of art, jargon and emotion that others may not understand.

In many respects, we need the famous Babel Fish of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which translates every language to facilitate universal understanding.

Without this, a resolution to the instability at Marikana and in the platinum belt is going to be hard to achieve.

In the coming weeks, we urge the investors and shareholders to account for their role in the events of the past weeks and going forward.

There is a deep emotional link to what, for many reasons, is increasingly considered a sunset industry.

We need the investment community to be engaged, to contribute by identifying the steps needed to mitigate harm, respect human rights and develop a constructive, socially and financially relevant extractive sector in SA. Society expects nothing less.

The strike at Marikana increasingly appears not to have been an event of random agitation but an event reflective of a longstanding, slow-burning and long-ignored demand for change and dignity.

Investors need to hear that demand and become engaged stakeholders in the emerging dialogue.

It is important that investors listen, are heard and can stand accountable as key stakeholders in the longer-term sustainability of the industry.

9 September 2012 Sunday Times Page 1 Sibosiso Ngalwa, Sibongakonke Shoba and George MatlalaIbusiso

More top ANC men want Zuma gone

More top ANC leaders have turned against President Jacob Zuma as the battle for the presidency intensifies ahead of the party's Mangaung conference in December.

Former top cop Bheki Cele has emerged as a key lobbyist for the "Anyone But Zuma" grouping in KwaZulu-Natal, as the campaign ahead of the conference shifts into top gear.

And ANC stalwart and former cabinet minister Pallo Jordan this week added his voice to those calling for change in the party, urging the Mangaung conference to elect strong leaders with moral courage.

"The elective conference that the ANC holds at the end of the year must rise to the challenge of producing a leadership core that has the will, the moral courage and moral standing to take on the task of clearing corruption," Jordan said at a memorial lecture to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Bhisho massacre on Friday.

With exactly 21 days to the opening of the official nomination period for the ANC presidential election, anti-Zuma campaigners are taking their fight to the president's home province of KwaZulu-Natal to shake the perception that he is unchallenged there.

And they are kicking off a campaign in Mpumalanga - until now believed to be safe Zuma territory.

North West premier Thandi Modise and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale are expected to share a platform with ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola at a "cadres assembly" in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, today.

The campaign against Zuma took final shape this week when various groupings opposed to his second-term bid met in Sandton on Wednesday night to thrash out

who will head the anti-Zuma ticket. They agreed to back Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, with Sexwale as their candidate for the deputy presidency.

Representatives from party structures in every province except the Northern Cape were present at the meeting.

"The idea is to make this a national campaign and not have no-go areas. Even in places where Zuma is strong, we will go there. We won't repeat the mistake of Thabo [Mbeki's lobbyists] who focused on certain provinces ... we know that they are also working in our areas," said a member of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) who attended the meeting.

The Sunday Times has learnt that Cele met Motlanthe and Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile two months ago and has attended meetings with the anti-Zuma grouping, which is keen on bringing other influential KwaZulu-Natal leaders, such as education MEC Senzo Mchunu, over to their camp.

KwaZulu-Natal is the largest ANC province in terms of membership and is widely believed to be firmly behind Zuma. But Motlanthe supporters are pinning their hopes on the popular Cele, who once chaired the province's influential eThekwini region, to split the KwaZulu-Natal vote.

Cele met Motlanthe at OR Tambo House in Pretoria on July 20, when, it is understood, they spoke about the state of the ANC, albeit without touching on the succession battle.

Motlanthe's spokesman Thabo Masebe could not confirm this, saying: "There are so many people who meet with [Motlanthe] in so many places. We never speak about those meetings. I don't know if he met with Bheki Cele."

Cele's spokesman, Vuyo Mkhize, confirmed the two had met, saying it was one of several meetings Cele held with ANC leaders about his axing.

"These meetings were initiatives of his ANC bosses who wanted him to brief them on the events of the previous two years that had led to his axing - all of which they were completely in the dark about, save for what they had read in newspapers - as well as establish the basis of his court action," said Mkhize.

On Cele's links with the Anyone But Zuma grouping, Mkhize said: "Cele has, indeed, been sounded-out by various ANC comrades, who recognise him as part of the [NEC] leadership collective that was elected at Polokwane, on various questions including the current state of the party as well as his availability to serve as part of a post-Mangaung leadership collective. Without exception, he has directed those comrades to raise such matters with the current ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership as the organisational authority to which he is immediately subordinated."

But a senior leader in the anti-Zuma faction, who sits in the ANC's national working committee, said: "Bheki is mobilising against Zuma like nobody's business. He is pulling regions against JZ."

The leader said Cele had been angered when Zuma fired him as police commissioner.

Cele did not attend Wednesday's meeting but is said to have attended an earlier caucus meeting in Sandton on Sunday.

Despite the Cele boost and consensus about Motlanthe, sharp differences still threaten the anti-Zuma campaign. Before the Wednesday meeting agreed on Sexwale as the group's candidate for the deputy presidency, the youth league had pushed for ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa to get the nod.

Phosa is believed to still be keen on the deputy presidency, even though the meeting said he should remain party treasurer.

Another point of contention is the post of secretary-general, with the youth league insisting that the position should be contested by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, while Motlanthe supporters in the Eastern Cape want current secretary-general Gwede Mantashe to retain the position.

The youth league's push is made difficult by a growing sentiment within the Anyone But Zuma group to distance itself from former league boss Julius Malema, who was expelled from the ANC earlier this year.

"We are fighting for change, we can't be working on a campaign which is seen as Zuma's defeat by Julius ... change is not about humiliating Zuma.

"Mbalula is wanted by Julius and the youth league ... it's their conference resolution," said a Eastern Cape anti-Zuma campaigner who also attended the meeting.

Zuma's supporters held their own meeting last Saturday at Coastlands Hotel in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal. The meeting, which was attended by regional and provincial leaders from all provinces except the Western Cape, is said to have agreed to retain Zuma, Motlanthe, Mantashe and chairwoman Baleka Mbete. Another name to feature prominently in the discussions was that of the Minister of National Planning, Trevor Manuel - with a strong view that he should be party treasurer.

Businessman Cyril Ramaphosa's name was raised as a possible candidate in case Motlanthe decides to stand against Zuma.

9 September 2012 Sunday Times/Business Week Page 6 Michelle Faul

SAfrica's alliance blames mining companies

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African National Congress and its governing partners in South Africa on Friday accused mining companies of stirring up union rivalries at the heart of a violent strike that led police to kill 34 striking miners.

The pointing of fingers and shifting of blame highlights divisions between the ANC and its partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions during the run-up to a December ANC congress that will decide the future of South African President Jacob Zuma.

A joint statement Friday accused various companies and employers of "fanning up conflict between the unions and thus, conflict amongst the workers themselves."

It noted that similar union rivalries earlier this year at Implats platinum mine ended with the mine firing all workers and selectively rehiring some on less preferential conditions.

" It is therefore our considered view that employers have an interest in fanning this conflict to reverse the gains achieved by workers over a long period of time," the alliance partners said, accusing the country's platinum industry of following "the story of the power and belief in divide and rule."

The statement makes no reference to striking miners' accusations that shop stewards of the National Union of Mineworkers, the country's largest and politically connected union, are seen as cozying up to management and that leaders of the union are putting politics before shop-floor problems of its members. The Aug. 16 police shootings of more than 100 miners at London-registered Lonmin PLC platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg has raised a national outcry that is still reverberating. Zuma said last week that the state of the mines and plight of mineworkers will be discussed at the December congress. The last such ANC meeting was marked by calls for the mines to be nationalized as the only way to equitably share the country's rich resources.

Breakaway unions that have taken away thousands of NUM members say leading black politicians have been enriched by their shares in mining companies, creating a source of conflict that means they can never fully support the workers' struggle for better conditions.

The NUM is the cornerstone of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, known as C OSATU, and its leaders are spearheading Zuma's bid for re-election as president of the ANC, which would guarantee him another five-year term as president of Africa's richest nation. Yet the secretary general of COSATU, Zwelinzima Vavi, is anti-Zuma. Vavi says the violence at the Lonmin mine reflects general anger over poverty and inequality in this nation of 48 million people.

Some blacks have become billionaires under a post-apartheid dispensation that some are now portraying as a successful coopting of blacks by whites who still largely control South Africa's economy. But only a small black elite has benefited, often corruptly, while most South Africans remain mired in poverty and the gap between rich and poor widens.

"We have warned over and over again that South Africa is sitting on a ticking bomb -- the recent Marikana mine massacre was an exploding bomb, sending an alarm signal to us all, saying 'Wake up, do something about this situation,'" Vavi said at the annual summit of the National Economic Development and Labor Council.

The Lonmin strike is thought to have badly damaged the election chances of Zuma rival Cyril Ramaphosa, a former leader of the NUM and now billionaire businessman who has shares in the London-registered Lonmin PLC. Ramaphosa led striking

miners in a march 25 years ago that was attacked by police officers supporting the white apartheid regime who shot and killed four miners.

Few in the new South Africa thought they would again see such state-sponsored violence, which looked very much like the government using its power to support big business and against vulnerable workers. South Africans were further shocked when prosecutors charged 270 arrested miners with the murders of their co-workers who were killed by police. The prosecutors, who were using an arcane apartheid-era law that the ANC fought when it was a liberation movement, were forced to retract.

Now citizens are dealing with revelations that some 190 of the arrested miners have laid complaints that they were beaten while in police custody, by officers trying to get the names of miners who had hacked to death two policemen in violence leading up to the shootings. TV stations that had been replaying the Aug. 16 killings now nightly show tales of police brutality meted out to others.

Zuma and officials have cautioned against apportioning blame before a judicial commission of inquiry appointed by the president issues its findings. That inquiry was to report by January but has been delayed by differences over its wide-ranging terms of reference. Lawyers hired to represent the South African Human Rights Commission and some victims and their families indicated Friday that it may need much more time.

Lonmin reported that only 2 percent of its 28,000 work force reported for duty Friday as the strike entered its fourth week. Lonmin said it expects more workers at the shafts on Monday, the day set for a return to work under a peace accord brokered by the Department of Labor and signed by mine managers and the three main unions. But the breakaway union and striking workers who brought the mines to a halt have refused to sign the deal. Strikers say they want Lonmin to agree to their demand for a take-home monthly salary of R12,500 ($1,560) — more than double their current pay.

9 September 2012 Fin24/ Sunday Times Page 4 Staff

Mbeki: AU has failed Africa

Former president Thabo Mbeki has accused the African Union (AU) of letting down the continent, because of petty disagreements between heads of state, the Sunday Times reported. Mbeki criticised African leaders, including President Jacob Zuma, in an article to be published in The Thinker magazine, according to the newspaper. Mbeki's criticisms included South Africa, Gabon, and Nigeria agreeing to military action against Libya, contrary to an AU decision; the failure to acknowledge the AU's anniversary at its Addis Ababa summit in July; and Africa falling off the world economic development agenda.

The former president was also critical of the summit's lopsided focus on the contest for the AU commission chair, and said African leaders had not assessed the AU's impact on the continent since its establishment. The focus on this leadership contest was reflective of the malaise poisoning the African body politic, Mbeki said. He cited former liberation movements' inability to bring about meaningful social change once they moved into government as the cause of many of Africa's weaknesses in the past 10 years. 9 September 2012 The Sunday Independent Page 4 Gaye Davis Victory for Manuel over strategic plan

The National Planning Commission has won the cabinet’s endorsement for its long-term strategic plan for the country – a commitment underscored by plans to move on implementing key targets.

The decision is a victory for the commission’s head, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, who is now expected to be appointed chairman of the cabinet committee to be established to drive the process.

His cabinet colleague, Minister in the Presidency in charge of performance monitoring and evaluation Collins Chabane told journalists on Friday the committee would develop targets and integrated development plans.

An indication of the cabinet’s commitment to the plan is the involvement of the government’s directors-general.

Chabane said the Forum for South African Directors-General (Fosad) will work with the cabinet committee in aligning departments with the 18 targets identified by the commission as key to attaining the plan’s objectives.

“The lekgotla welcomed the national development plan developed by the National Planning Commission and endorsed the objectives and the 18 key targets in attaining these,” Chabane said.

“The lekgotla also acknowledged the national development plan as a strategic framework to form the basis of future government planning.”

He said a government-led process to involve citizens in “owning” the plan would be launched, and Manuel and the commission are expected to lead this drive. This represents a shift from the commission’s previous advisory role to one that will be more hands-on.

The lekgotla, chaired by President Jacob Zuma, involved not only cabinet ministers but also, on its final day, provincial premiers and directors-general of national departments.

The Sunday Independent understands this development has been hailed by the planning commission as a significant victory, although there is also recognition that political battles still lie ahead, particularly with regard to the economy and labour.

A key goal of the plan is to bring about a public service that is less vulnerable to the kind of politicking that attends party leadership battles and a state able to sail through the choppy waters that accompany any changes in administration.

Insulating those in charge of running government departments and programmes from political interference is one aspect of proposals to make the state more efficient.

Together with giving the Public Service Commission more powers, this lays the basis for dealing with some of the systemic problems afflicting the civil service, including corruption.

It also means that whatever happens when the ANC goes to Mangaung in December to elect a new leadership, there will be an anchor in terms of strategic direction.

10 September 2012 The Sunday Independent Page 16 Karima Brown ANC has an audacious choice to make

Looking at the ANC only through the prism of succession has so distorted any genuine effort to assess the efficacy of the ruling party that it has led to a flawed belief among many, including the media, that all the ANC needs to fix itself is to remove President Jacob Zuma as leader.

The truth is that the challenges of the ANC extend far beyond the issue of leadership, important as this might be. It is the very culture and organisational ethos that needs a radical and bold overhaul if the party wants to fulfil its historic mission.

The big irony is that even if Zuma were to lose in Mangaung in December, which remains unlikely, what ails the ANC will not magically disappear with the ushering in of a new guard, a reality no leader can escape, including those with pretensions to the throne.

This is the most valuable lesson the coalition that brought Zuma to power has had to learn since removing Thabo Mbeki.

So bad are matters that a senior trade union leader told me in jest that serving in the ANC even as a member of its national executive committee when there is little or no prospect of a change in provincial chairpersons, bar one exception, was “untenable”, given their penchant for malfeasance.

Of course the same trade union leader will quickly forget his objections to the shortcomings of the leadership in the ANC if his own political career in the alliance is dependent on hitching his survival to any of the factions that will promise to extend his political life. Realpolitik quickly supplants lofty principles when you have an expiry date on your back.

Engulfed by what it calls the “sins of incumbency”, the party is a shadow of its former self. Factionalised, divided and fractured by rapacious elites which see the organisation as a quick means to access largesse not only in the state but also in business and other influential sectors of society, the ANC stands at a fork in the road.

Africa’s oldest liberation movement is struggling to cope with the pressures of governance and trappings of power. It exhibits classical post-colony characteristics which often plagued other countries which attained their independence.

The ANC has identified key weaknesses which it needs to address to survive. The first and probably most pernicious is the party’s relationship with business and the vexed question of political party funding.

At present it is unregulated, opaque and corrupt. This allows powerful factions to exert influence and power behind the scenes in such a way that they undermine the internal democracy of the ANC, which has always been the bulwark against any one faction gaining the upper hand.

The second problem is that too many of its members depend on the ANC for their livelihoods. This explains in part why individuals are so desperate to cling to power and positions, even at branch level.

The ANC’s efforts to rationalise the internal checks and balances during candidate selection, which is based on sound considerations such as skill and competence, gender, demographic considerations, generational mix and language criteria, are often sacrificed at the altar of factionalised interests.

In the state the narrative is the same, with devastating consequences for efficiency and delivery. Given the past, SA’s path to creating and fostering a professional class in the civil service was not going to be a walk in the park. This past which has to be overcome is why one can go from being unemployed one day to morphing into a senior government minister or official the next day.

Serving as a councillor is often the difference between having a job and a house or being poor and destitute. This rapid, fluid and unplanned way to access political office or the public service explains in some measure why there remains such resistance to changes in the way people are elected in the ANC and appointed in the state bureaucracy.

And for those who want to blame it on the present administration, history shows otherwise. Cronyism and political loyalty to individuals instead of competency, have been hallmarks of all ANC administrations dating back to even the days of Nelson Mandela’s first days in office.

This deficit of a properly skilled, trained and professional civil servant was identified in the National Development Plan recently handed to Zuma which identified the lack of vision in its diagnostic report when it comes to building a capable and developmental state. This inability is a major threat to the creation of institutions of state that are meant to deepen democracy and deliver accountable government.

For the ANC, it is adapt or die a slow and painful death, with consequences for SA and democracy that should alarm even the most cynical politicians and mandarins. This is the ugly reality that stares all leaders of the ANC in the face, no matter the faction or interest group they belong to.

So what is to be done? And is there the political will to do it?

Historically the ANC has always had the capacity to adapt to changing conditions. It did so since its inception in 1912 when it was essentially a gentleman’s club seeking suffrage for blacks. It transformed into a mass movement, went underground and operated in tough conditions of exile and banishment for more than 30 years.

After nearly 20 years in power it now needs to make its most audacious decision yet. It needs to sacrifice the ambitions of its individual leaders in the interests of a centre that will hold across its many factions and interest groups. The leaders who can broker such a deal will be the ones who will hand over the baton to a new generation in an organisation that could still have a fighting chance not only to rule, but to govern with legitimacy and credibility, given that it remains the popular choice of most South Africans, as demonstrated in all the democratic elections held since 1994.

10 September 2012 Cape Times Page 1 Babalo Ndenze and Crystal Ordeson

Fracking battle heads for the courts

Cape Town - The battle over the exploration of shale gas in the Karoo is far from over, say lobby groups gearing for a fight that could reach the Constitutional Court.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu will brief the media at Parliament on Tuesday on the technical task team’s report the cabinet approved last week when it lifted a moratorium on exploration after 14 months.

The decision has outraged environmentalists and lobby groups opposed to the controversial system of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, on the grounds of the dangers the process poses in the water-scarce region.

Shabangu’s office said she would detail the “government’s stance and way forward on the matter” before a sitting of the National Assembly ton Tuesday afternoon, where the issue will be discussed.

“We’re definitely going to court. We have been preparing for this for the past 18 months. There are various laws and statutes that we believe have been violated,” said Jonathan Deal of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group. “This is just the beginning of the fight.”

The group was formed to oppose fracking in the Karoo. Deal said, and in terms of the moratorium, it didn’t have much of a legal standing.

“But we do have a legal case in terms of actual exploration. It won’t be long before this happens,” said Deal.

Three companies – the multinational Shell, the Australian-based Bundu and US-based Falcon – have applied for permission to explore for shale gas.

Deal called the cabinet’s decision “hastily and ill-informed”, and said they were disappointed, but not shocked by the announcement.

On Friday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said the cabinet had approved the report drawn up by the task team established to explore the viability of shale gas exploration, and had decided to lift the moratorium on exploration.

Chabane said it was the process, and not individual applications, that had been suspended by the moratorium.

But the issue is not cut and dried, as the Department of Science and Technology is also awaiting details before it can comment on whether or not the decision will affect its Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope in the Karoo.

Chabane said there would be a buffer zone between the shale gas exploration activities and the proposed R15 billionn SKA radio telescope with its 3 000 dishes.

Lunga Ngqengelele, the Department of Science and Technology spokesman, said they would first study the technical team’s report to see whether provisions in the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act had been broken before taking a position.

The legislation provides for the “preservation and protection of areas within the Republic that are uniquely suited for optical and radio astronomy”, and aims “to provide for intergovernmental co-operation and public consultation on matters concerning nationally significant astronomy advantage areas”.

“There is legislation that protects astronomical sites. It’s what the minister has been saying all along,” said Ngqengelele.

Environmental bodies said fracking has the potential to “carpet bomb” rural areas.

But energy expert Professor Philip Lloyd welcomed the news as “very positive” and long “overdue”.

He said he was never certain why the moratorium was imposed in the first place. “We could not have done much damage if we explored first”, he said.

“If we do find something, then there will be huge benefits for South Africa as a whole”.

Saliem Fakier, who heads the World Wildlife Federation’s Living Planet Unit, said the government hadn’t provided the basis for its decision.

“And they didn’t put the decision out for public scrutiny. They’ve been very dismissive. It’s very bad handling of public relations,” said Fakier.

He said given the current “crisis” in mining, the government needed to be more sensitive and more responsible in how it made such decisions.

Chabane indicated the report would be made public, but that this would be up to Shabangu.

Political parties’ reaction was mixed, with the Freedom Front Plus condemning the lifting of the moratorium.

DA spokesman on mineral resources, James Lorimer, said his party wanted the government to proceed “cautiously on this issue”.

“The potential benefits in terms of job creation, cheaper energy and increased government revenue needs to be constantly weighed against the potential threats to our agricultural sector, water resources and environmental integrity of the Karoo and other potentially affected areas,” Lorimer said. - Cape Times