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Contents
1. Workers
1.1 Union says Northam workers to end strike
1.2 Big-wheeling Zuma fails to pay workers
1.3 Miners face increased danger: SACP
2. South Africa
2.1 ANC mum on reprieve for media
2.2 Outcry over NYDA jobs
2.3 Malema cronies set to cash in
2.4 Malema wants to help Swaziland’s democracy
2.5 Provinces plot against Malema
2.6 Blade forces DG to quit
3. International
3.1 Emotional reunion for miners
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1. Workers
1.1 Union says Northam workers to end strike
South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday striking workers at Northam Platinum are expected to return to work on Tuesday following a revised pay rise offer from the company.
"We have agreed with the members to call off the strike now. We are working on an agreement which will be finalised later today," NUM's chief negotiator at Northam, Zwelitsha Tantsi, told Reuters.
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1.2 Big-wheeling Zuma fails to pay workers
Charity for poor miners, fancy cars for Aurora boss
By BONGANI MTHETHWA, Sunday Times, 17 October 2010
President Jacob Zuma's high-flying nephew Khulubuse Zuma drives some of the world's most desirable cars - Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz - but has not paid his workers for eight months.
Zuma, chairman of embattled mining company Aurora Empowerment Systems, turned heads when he rocked up in a R2.5-million red gull-winged Mercedes-Benz SLS 63 AMG at the lavish wedding of national police commissioner Bheki Cele on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast two weeks ago.
The 40-year-old businessman arrived in a Bentley convertible at a trendy nightspot in Durban's Florida Road where ANC high-flyers partied up a storm during the party's national general council meeting last month.
But the Sunday Times has not been able to establish whether the Bentley, which sells for over R3-million, is part of his personal fleet of 19 vehicles.
His penchant for exotic cars has been described as "shameful" - especially when "people who are under his employ are not paid".
Zuma owns two BMW 750i sedans worth about R1.1-million each, a Range Rover Sport worth about R934500, a Mercedes-Benz Vito, three Mercedes-Benz Sprinters and four other vehicles.
It is also unclear whether the red Mercedes supercar, resembling a vehicle straight out of a James Bond movie, which he drove to Cele's wedding without a number plate, is registered in his name.
Zuma, a former newspaper vendor and taxi operator whose business empire has catapulted him to the ranks of the country's elite, was also spotted in a black Rolls-Royce during a jaunt for more than 50 close friends at a Durban restaurant recently, when he allegedly spent thousands of rands on premium liquor brands.
Zuma and former president Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa own Aurora Empowerment Systems, which last year took over Pamodzi Gold's two liquidated mines - Grootvlei in Ekurhuleni and Orkney outside Klerksdorp.
But miners at Aurora's Orkney operations have not been paid since February.
Zuma could not be reached for comment this week. He did not respond to SMS messages sent to him about his car collection.
Many of the unpaid mine workers have been surviving on food parcels provided by local businessmen, but this has stopped. Last week, the situation at the Grootvlei Mine was reportedly so desperate that workers looted the operation's resources to make ends meet.
On Friday, the Mail & Guardian reported that Aurora had staved off collapse after reaching an agreement with Protea Coin Security, which was granted a winding-up order against the company arising from a claim of R12-million in outstanding payments for services rendered since October last year.
National Union of Mineworkers president Senzeni Zokwana told the Sunday Times yesterday that the workers had not been paid yet, despite a promise by Aurora bosses.
"I think that the promise was meant to delay the judgment on the company being liquidated," he said.
Asked about Zuma driving the red Mercedes-Benz, he said: "It's one of the issues we've been raising that the new elite is eager to display their wealth at the expense of poor people.
"For him to have been driving such a car when people who are under his employ are not paid is shameful.
"I would be ashamed of myself if I were seen in that opulence, and yet people who have worked for me are not able to get their pay.
"It further shows that the gap between the rich and poor is widening. It means that gradually people are losing touch with the people."
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1.3 Miners face increased danger: SACP
The New Age, 18 October 2010
Increased dangers are being faced by mineworkers world-wide and the working class in general, the SA Communist Party said today.
"The number of fatalities in the mining sector and brutalities that workers are exposed to on a daily basis which compromises their well being - is just but one example of how capitalism daily continues to fail humanity," it said in a statement.
"This calls for intense workplace mobilisation to defeat capitalism and install democratic worker control of industry and a more humane system in the form of socialism."
The SACP said capitalists had no respect for human life and continued to place workers in danger in their "pursuit of profits at all cost".
It said it would continue to work together with the National Union of Mineworkers to improve mine safety and with the transformation of the workplace.
The party also congratulated and thanked the rescue team that was currently busy rescuing the 33 miners in Chile who had been trapped underground for 69 days.
"We wish all the mineworkers a good recovery and good health going forward," SACP said.
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2. South Africa
2.1 ANC mum on reprieve for media
Anna Majavu, Sowetan, 18 October 2010
THE ANC is silent on Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's statement that the media be given space to fix itself, rather than be subjected to harsh punishments under the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal.
Motlanthe said after a meeting with the South African National Editors' Forum on Saturday that the ANC would back off from establishing their proposed Media Appeals Tribunal right now because the media was already reviewing ways to make stories more accurate.
"If the process of reviewing the self-regulatory mechanisms produces mechanisms that can address the concerns about its shortcomings, we see no difficulty in accepting that right product," Motlanthe said.
But Sowetan was unsuccessful yesterday when it tried to find out if the ANC was backing away from establishing the Media Appeals Tribunal.
Even the ANC Youth League would not comment.
The ANCYL has indicated in the past that it is not in favour of the media regulating itself, but that it wants an "independent" regulator.
ANCYL leader Julius Malema was angered after City Press accused him earlier this year of directing a company that built bridges that washed away.
The press ombudsman found the paper had used misleading photos of a damaged roadside to support their story. Deputy press ombudsman Johan Retief reprimanded the paper.
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2.2 Outcry over NYDA jobs
Alex Matlala, Sowetan, 18 October 2010
THE appointment of National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) provincial advisory body members in Johannesburg last week has raised more concern among young people in some provinces around the country.
This comes amid allegations that the majority of those appointed as provincial advisory chairpersons were members of the ANC Youth League who have direct or indirect ties with members of the NYDA.
The Young Communist League (YCL) in Eastern Cape was the first to register dissatisfaction over the way the appointments were made.
The YCL claimed yesterday that the appointments were flawed, unconstitutional and unethical because they allegedly constituted members from the ANC Youth League, leaving other youth structures outside
YCL provincial secretary for the Eastern Cape, Mluleki Dlelanga, said they had already influenced other structures of the YCL in other provinces not to recognise the appointments.
NYDA spokesperson Gugu Ndima confirmed the objections and said the agency was still studying them and liaising with provincial leadership structures that sent their objections.
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2.3 Malema cronies set to cash in
Sabelo Ndlangisa, Paddy Harper, Sizwe sama Yende and Piet Rampedi, City Ptess, 17 October 2010
Johannesburg - Cronies of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema are set to cash in on funds for youth development in the provinces.
The Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade (IFPYB) and the Progressive Youth Alliance – a body consisting of, among others, the league, the SA Students Congress, the Congress of SA Students (Cosas) and the Young Communist League (YCL) – have claimed that the ANCYL had packed the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) provincial advisory boards with its members.
Almost all NYDA chairpersons on the provincial boards and their deputies – whose names were announced last week – were close to or sympathetic to Malema.
Some of Malema’s allies who were appointed to the provincial boards included Limpopo ANCYL leader Frans Moswane; his Eastern Cape counterpart, Ayanda Matiti; North West ANCYL chair Keobakile Babuile; and Mpumalanga ANCYL treasurer Lerato Theko.
Moswane was elected at a chaotic ANCYL conference in Makhado, Limpopo, while Matiti took over the reins on the back of a divisive Eastern Cape provincial conference.
The group will apparently be paid a combined R9m a year in salaries for advising the NYDA national leadership on youth issues in their provinces.
Appointment to the 63 provincial positions means they will have a say in how part of the NYDA’s R370m-a-year budget will be spent.
DA
Only one of the full-time officials, Aimee Franklin, comes from the Democratic Alliance.
NYDA chair Andile Lungisa would not say how much the board members would be paid, saying “the remuneration information is confidential”.
Lungisa denied claims that the board was mainly made up of ANCYL members, saying organisations and individuals had submitted 477 names and that the NYDA had whittled down the shortlist.
“We do not have information on party membership of all members of the NYDA provincial advisory boards. However, provincial advisory board members were nominated by various organisations.
“The process of nominations and, ultimately, appointments was open to all young people and youth formations. The process was rigorous and spanned five months,” he said.
YCL national deputy secretary Khaye Nkwanyana disagrees.
“Our agreement last year was that if the chairperson comes from the ANCYL, the deputy must come from the YCL. Now our comrades from the ANCYL have decided to change everything. And this has something to do with the current political turmoil within our alliance.”
He said the YCL national working committee would meet to discuss the matter.
Performance targets
It has also emerged that the NYDA, which President Jacob Zuma praised in June for helping to create jobs, has failed to achieve most of its 68 performance targets.
The organisation’s yearly report says 44 of its targets could not be achieved, while nine of them could not even be measured.
However, the report shows that despite its lacklustre performance, the NYDA management paid itself a performance bonus of R1m.
DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip slammed the bonuses.
“That an organisation which has failed to perform, supposedly due to financial constraints, sees fit to devote such considerable resources to the financial benefit of its management is a serious indictment of the ANC’s culture of using state resources to line the pockets of underperforming cadres deployed to government posts,” he said.
NYDA chief executive Steven Ngubeni said the R1m bonus went to all the 416 employees except him.
He said the organisation had done well – even exceeding its target of creating 36 300 jobs – but this was not factored in as the auditor general wanted documented proof of the jobs.
“On the basis of figures, we believe they have performed,” said Ngubeni.
Serve just Malema
Mpumalanga YCL secretary Mandla Tebane said the nomination of his league’s Gert Sibande and regional secretary Nhlakanipho Zuma did not make the board representative of all sectors of the youth.
“We don’t think this board is there to serve the interests of the youth, and its composition tells us that something is wrong. It will serve one individual – Julius Malema. Zuma is a YCL member, but he was on the ANCYL’s list anyway. He is their person,” Tebane said.
“We will mobilise the youth from all sectors against these nominations. Our battle is not for YCL representation, but for the opposition as well, be it the Inkatha Freedom Party or the DA. When setting up such a structure, all sectors of the youth, such as people with disabilities and the opposition, need to be considered,” Tebane said.
Enraged IFPYB leaders in KwaZulu-Natal called on Zuma to disband the newly appointed NYDA board members.
The IFPYB’s outburst follows the exclusion of its members from the provincial board.
IFPYB leader Pat Lebenya-Ntanzi accused the ANCYL of hijacking the election process to put its members on the board.
“The election process was flawed, so we demand the whole process be reviewed,” Lebenya-Ntanzi said.
Taxpayers
She said the IFPYB would demand a review of the process and for the NYDA not to be used as an extension of the ANCYL.
“This is a national public entity, funded by taxpayers. It should serve all young people and address the issues of their development.
“If they are concerned about issues affecting young people, the young people from various organisations should be part of the NYDA, not just one political party.”
In Limpopo, the provincial board was dubbed “a Malema political militia”.
It included Mokgadi Motheme, deputy provincial secretary of the YCL, who is seen as part of a group backing Malema in his ongoing battle with YCL national secretary Buti Manamela.
Motheme was suspended for allegedly being part of anti-Manamela YCL members who disrupted a party meeting in Mokopane two weeks ago.
YCL Limpopo secretary Pat Makape said his organisation did not support Motheme’s candidacy.
“That NYDA provincial board is not a structure to be taken seriously.
“It is just a boyfriend and girlfriend which is an extension of the ANCYL,” said Makape.
Cosas provincial secretary Sammy Makhubele said they would not recognise the board.
“The NYDA cannot be led by Moswane. As the Progressive Youth Alliance, we agreed that we want Joyce Tsipa, but because of the pressure (Limpopo Premier) Cassel Mathale is getting from Julius, he appointed Moswane.
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2.4 Malema wants to help Swaziland’s democracy
JP du Plessis, Eyewitness News, 18 October 2010
ANC Youth League President Julius Malema said on Saturday he wants to use the upcoming International Youth Conference to expose political inequalities in countries like Swaziland.
About 30,000 delegates from 150 countries are expected to attend the 17th annual world festival for youth and students in South Africa in December.
Malema welcomed the festivals international organising committee in Pretoria on Friday.
The President of the World Federation of Democratic Youth Tiago Viera said, “We can win even though we face big difficulties. We can face hardship, but we can win.”
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2.5 Provinces plot against Malema
SAM MKOKELI and SIBONGAKONKE SHOBA, Business Day, 18 October 2010
NOT only is African National Congress (ANC) Youth League president Julius Malema facing legal woes, there are moves in the league to strip him of his power.
This comes after Mr Malema was publicly isolated by President Jacob Zuma during the recent national general council of the ANC. Some party leaders say he should be disciplined for his recent public pronouncements that have offended many in the ANC.
Mr Malema’s stance on nationalisation has caused a division in the ruling party and jitters within the investment community.
There have been increasingly strident calls from within the ruling party for the youth league leader to be disciplined.
Following the national council, league provinces that are marginalised under his strong rule are joining forces in a campaign that aims to curtail his power, and ultimately remove him from the presidency when elections are held next year.
The Eastern Cape and Limpopo are two provinces where the campaign is on the go.
Leaders in these provinces have been engaging their counterparts in Gauteng and Kwa- Zulu-Natal. Eastern Cape provincial secretary Ayanda Matiti has emerged as a candidate for the position of secretary-general, now held by Vuyiswa Tulelo.
This would be the first step to curtail Mr Malema’s power as Mr Matiti is seen to be a strong minded individual, who, even if Mr Malema were to be re-elected next year, would challenge his management and leadership of the league. Mr Matiti’s ambitions are said to have strained his relationship with Mr Malema. Sources said Mr Malema prefers a candidate who would not question his authority. “Even people close to him are interested in this position, but the president prefers a weaker candidate,” said an insider.
Youth league leaders in Gauteng have confirmed that Mr Matiti had approached them to support his campaign. Although most of them support Mr Matiti’s bid, there is no consensus on whether Mr Malema’s position would be challenged or not. Sources in the Eastern Cape said Mr Matiti also approached the youth league leadership in KwaZulu-Natal to back his candidacy.
Mr Matiti yesterday denied being after Ms Tulelo’s position. “I don’t know about that,” he said.
Mr Malema’s national executive committee (NEC) is believed to be timid and unable to challenge him. His relationship with his deputy, Andile Lungisa, is strained as Mr Malema believes Mr Lungisa has ambitions to dethrone him. In August, Mr Lungisa — also chairman of the National Youth Development Agency — was forced by Mr Malema to apologise for allegedly using the agency’s resources to advance his political ambitions.
Mr Lungisa hails from the Eastern Cape, one of the provinces plotting to challenge Mr Malema’s power. Although he is seen as lacking the political clout to challenge Mr Malema, he is believed to enjoy the backing of Mr Zuma.
After the punting of Mr Matiti as a strong candidate for secretary-general, a candidate could emerge to challenge Mr Malema’s position directly.
The Nelson Mandela Bay region in the Eastern Cape was the centre of a campaign against Mr Malema this year, but its efforts were set back when Mr Malema’s supporters elected Mr Matiti, then a Malema ally, as chairman of the provincial league. A Port Elizabeth league leader said yesterday Mr Matiti was available to stand for secretary- general. The Eastern Cape has been canvassing support from provinces such as Limpopo, where many are alienated from Mr Malema.
Weekend media reports said Mr Malema could lose R50000 worth of his possessions after a court issued an execution order in a matter related to hate speech.
2.6 Blade forces DG to quit
Gershwin Chuenyane and Dumisane Lubisi, City Press 17 October 2010
Higher education and training director-general Mary Metcalfe is set to quit following a nasty fallout with minister Blade Nzimande.
Three sources in the education field, all of them in government, say Nzimande has demanded that Metcalfe resign after barely a year in her position.
Nzimande and Metcalfe’s relationship of more than 20 years has broken down barely a year into the newly formed Department of Education and Training.
Two government officials who are aware of a meeting that took place at noon on Monday, and where the resignation was discussed, told City Press that Nzimande informed Metcalfe that he no longer trusted her and that she should leave.
Nzimande and Metcalfe had previously worked together in a United Democratic Front structure, the National Education Coordinating Committee, and at the ANC’s national post-secondary education initiative.
Things are said to be so bad that Metcalfe was looking at leaving at the end of the current financial year next March, or even earlier.
An education official said Metcalfe had quit her job at Wits to join the department and was upset that “an impression would be created that she has done something wrong” if she left.
The source said Metcalfe was “taken aback and shocked” at Nzimande’s demand for her resignation, which has since sent shockwaves through the new department.
The source said it was not clear what had made Nzimande demand Metcalfe’s resignation and on what information he based his mistrust of the director-general.
The source said Nzimande was “paranoid” and believed there was a cabal within the department that was working against him.
Another education official said Metcalfe had in the past few weeks questioned the cost of an overseas trip Nzimande was to undertake. The trip to Cuba has been postponed after Metcalfe questioned what appeared to be inflated prices that would have cost the department more than R1 million.
Yesterday Metcalfe would neither confirm nor deny that she had been asked to leave.
“The only thing I am prepared to say publicly is that I have not resigned. The work of the department is critical to the future of the country and I am carrying on with work,” she said.
Nzimande’s special adviser, Gwebs Qonde, said: “It is absolutely incorrect and we are going to issue a statement on Monday on the matter. The minister has never ever asked the DG to resign. No, no, no; he has never done that.”
Asked to comment on other allegations, including the postponed trip to Cuba, Qonde pleaded for more time.
“All your questions will be answered on Monday when you will hear the department’s position,” he said.
The first official said Nzimande’s suspicion of a conspiracy was allegedly sparked by revelations of his stay at the luxurious Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town last year.
The source said Nzimande also felt that Metcalfe was dragging her feet in hiring blacks in senior positions.
Since her appointment Metcalfe has filled two vacancies with black deputy directors-general while a third one rejected the job after going through the interviews, the source said.
Tshwane University of Technology deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation and partnerships, Prince Nevhutalu, was tipped to take over one of the senior posts in the department but he allegedly declined it.
Nevhutalu told City Press he and the department had been involved in a negotiation process but that it had died down due to lack of progress.
A source outside the department but within the education field said: “Blade’s advisers have limited or no experience in higher education.
Metcalfe had a stint at Wits and even her appointment was questionable because she does not have a PhD.
“All was not well there and maybe the minister wants to counteract this lack of experience.”
He cited Dr Molapo Qhobela, the former deputy director-general for higher education, as having had a fallout with Metcalfe, since leaving to join his former minister, Naledi Pandor, at the Department of Science and Technology.
Metcalfe confirmed she did not have a PhD and that Wits knew that when she was
appointed.
She also said she had great respect for Nzimande’s advisers.
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3. International
3.1 Emotional reunion for miners
City Press, 17 October 2010
Thirteen survivors, accompanied by partners and children, took part in a private ceremony yesterday after visiting the tent city where relatives refused to give up hope, waiting anxiously for 10 long weeks for their safe return.
Claudio Yanez, who proposed to his longtime companion Cristina Nunez during the ordeal, toured Camp Hope with his tiny daughter in his arms, peering into tents now empty and battered by the strong Atacama desert winds.
“This was a city,” he said, while workers slowly set about taking down the makeshift shelters that became home to thousands of relatives and well-wishers as the massive rescue effort reached its euphoric climax on Wednesday.
Dario Segovia, a rescued drill operator whose sister Maria was nicknamed The Mayoress for the leadership role she assumed at the camp, paid tribute to the stoicism of the miners’ families.
“Everyone suffered out here as we suffered down there,” he said.
Many miners did not attend the mass as they were still recuperating after their 69-day ordeal, while others were sleeping off family celebrations that ran late into Saturday night following their release from hospital.
Only one miner, Victor Zamora, remains in the care of doctors and he is expected to remain under medical observation until at least tomorrow after undergoing serious dental surgery.
The return to the mine was part of what is expected to be a long process of readjustment for the 33 men, who have become national heroes and garnered global attention for their miraculous survival and dramatic rescue.
Their newfound fame could bring them riches, but they also plan to use it to improve the fate of miners worldwide, they said.
But some miners and their families began showing strains from the media frenzy over their spectacular tale of survival, with some apparently adhering to a “pact of silence” over the ordeal.
At least three miners confirmed that there is an agreement of silence, but only about the first 17 days of their ordeal, when they survived on sparsely rationed bites of tuna and drank dirty mine water until they were able to get word to rescuers that they were alive.
“We will not talk about the first 17 days until the investigation (into the mine collapse) is complete,” said Carlos Bugueno, one of the rescued workers.
But fellow miner Omar Reygadas said there was no such pact.
“There is no pact of silence,” he said. “There is nothing to hide, we went through the experience as partners, there is nothing to be ashamed about.”
Still, Reygadas grew impatient as he navigated through a crowd of news crews around the tent where his family slept while he was trapped.
“Give me my space please,” he said.
Fellow miner Claudio Acuna was with a crying baby, riding in a car surrounded by journalists. A woman inside said to the him: “Smile, so they can take your picture, and then they will leave us alone.”
Although the miners in the camp had no problems posing for the cameras, almost all of them refused to give statements to the press.
Police had to intervene to allow the miners to tour the remnants of Camp Hope, at the foot of the San Jose Mine, where the accident occurred.
At a press conference Saturday, miner Juan Illanes, who acted as spokesperson for the group, urged the media to have patience in reporting and said that the miners expected to write a book about their experience.
“We have to do something together, the experience must be put to use,” Illanes told El Mercurio newspaper. “We have to decide how to direct our project so this type of thing never happens again.”
Yonni Barrios, who famously asked both his wife and his girlfriend to come to the mine and greet him on Wednesday, said the men wanted to find a way to advise companies on making mines safer.
“We’re thinking about creating a foundation to solve problems in the mining industry,” he said. “With this, with the experience that we have had, God help us, we should be able to solve these problems.”
- SAPA
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