Numsa Media Monitor A daily compilation of local, national and international articles dealing with

labour related issues

Thursday 3 November 2016

Numsa

Retail motor industry wage deal on track

Roy Cokayne, Business Report, 3 November 2016

Johannesburg - It appears that an accord between the retail motor industry and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) about a three-year agreement may be imminent.

Irvin Jim, the general secretary of Numsa, said yesterday that the union met negotiators from the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) and the parties exchanged views and clarified their positions.

Jim said RMI had committed to come back to Numsa yesterday or today. “The meeting was not that bad,” Jim added.

Jakkie Olivier, the chief executive of RMI, which represents 19 000 businesses that collectively employ about 300 000 people, confirmed that a meeting had taken place with Numsa on Monday and the organisation was preparing “a final settlement proposal” that it would submit to Numsa today for the union to consider.

Olivier said the RMI had an in-principle agreement with Numsa on some components of the proposed settlement agreement.

“It will be in the form of an agreement, which will be signed (by both parties) when there is consensus on all the issues. I think we are very close (to reaching agreement),” he said.

Olivier confirmed the RMI had received a counter proposal from Numsa and both parties had to consult their members because of “the movement in the settlement terms and the counter proposals offered”.

“I’m very comfortable at this stage that agreement is highly likely without disruption in the broad industry,” he said.

Value chain

In 2013, almost nine weeks of back-to-back strikes by various sectors in the motor industry and automotive value chain, including the automotive component sector, resulted in the loss of production of 58 000 vehicles worth a total of about R11.6 billion.

Olivier added that if consensus was reached by both parties, the settlement agreement was likely to be ratified by a meeting of the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (Mibco) that was scheduled to take place on November 10.

Numsa’s previous final demand was for a wage increase of 9 percent in the first year of a three-year agreement, with wage hikes of 8 percent in each of the following two years. The RMI had offered a wage increase of 7 percent in each year of the agreement, with the automotive component manufacturing sector offering a wage increase of 8.5 percent in the first year, 7.5 percent in the second and 7 percent in the third year.

However, it is believed that the RMI and Numsa had moved from these positions. The previous three-year agreement between expired at the end of August. Any new agreement reached between the parties cannot be backdated.

The Automotive Manufacturers Employers’ Organisation and Numsa in September agreed on a 10 percent wage increase in the first year of a three-year agreement with an 8 percent wage hike in each of the following two years.

The settlement between the SA Tyre Manufacturing Conference and Numsa was for an 8.5 percent wage increase in the first year and wage hikes of 8 percent in each of the following two years.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/retail-motor-industry-wage-deal-on-track-2086286

Bacalum employees set to down tools

Mike Loewe, DispatchLive, 1 November 2016

East London’s leading manufacturer of high-end glass and aluminium fittings, Bacalum Manufacturers, is heading for its first legal strike and lockout over wages and conditions on November 14.

Yesterday, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the company owner Douglas Robertson gave two starkly differing accounts of the background and build up to the face-off approved by Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration commissioner Elizabeth Tom on October 19.

Numsa is demanding 10% for 120 workers at the Arcadia-based firm.

Numsa East London secretary Virgel Domingo and Bacalum shop steward Nkosinathi Tokwe said Robertson regularly refused to budge from a 7% offer even though a number of his employees earned only R2500 a month, most lived in

shacks, sent their kids to rural schools and could not afford a car, some after many years of employment.

They claimed the company turned over R75-million in the last financial year and that Robertson had earned a few million rand, but Robertson rejected this outright saying their turnover was less than R37-million.

Times were tough for Bacalum. Paying 10% would be harmful to the company “given the fact that a notice of retrenchment of workers as well as implementation of short time has been given due to the current downturn of work in the Border area”.

Income was also damaged by a Joint Building Contract’s Committee ruling that 10% of contract earnings be withheld until completion.

“This can be held for up to five years on long contracts and this has a cumulative impact on a company’s profitability. Bacalum Manufacturers, furthermore, has R1.5-million outstanding on two government contracts.”

The Numsa men claimed that Bacalum recently reglassed 13 floors at the Garden Court hotel, did work for Bay West Mall in Nelson Mandela Bay and had another job lined up in Plettenberg Bay.

Robertson said their wage offer was in line with the recommendations of the Master Builders’ Association (MBA) and that their last increase of 7% was, in effect a 9.05% increase when the cost to the company of skills upgrading was factored in.

The company trained staff “continually at all levels”, he said.

Domingo and Nkosinati said bluntly: “There is no training path or structure and no money put into training.”

Numsa had demanded to see company financial statements, especially the annual tax return to get a true picture of earnings, but Robertson refused.

Yesterday Robertson said: “Bacalum Manufacturers have on numerous occasions said Numsa are welcome to look at the financial statements in our offices. However, they have never done so.”

Numsa accused Robertson of running the factory “like a prison”. They claimed he only gave workers 10 minutes for morning tea and 30 minutes for lunch in a work day, which started at 7.30am and ends at 4.45pm.

Robertson said: “Bacalum operates strictly within the ambit of labour laws. These allegations have never been raised despite numerous visits by the department of labour.”

Robertson said: “Bacalum are confident that they offer the best wages and employment conditions in the Border area.”

http://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2016/11/01/bacalum-employees-set-tools/

South African workers

NUM declines to sign wage agreement with Amplats

eNCA, 1 November 2016

JOHANNESBURG – The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has declined to sign the three-year wage agreement with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), saying on Tuesday that it took a conscious and deliberate decision because the deal did not benefit the mineworkers in the platinum belt.

This comes after Amplats confirmed last week and announced the details of a three-year wage agreement it signed with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) in its Rustenburg operations.

The wage agreement, which would be backdated to 1 July, 2016, would see annual increases of R1,000 or seven percent per month in basic pay for bargaining unit employees over the three-year period.

The wage agreement, which is standard across three platinum miners, would see lowest paid workers receiving salary hikes of 12.5 percent and employees in higher level bands receiving a seven percent basic salary increase.

Other increases include living out allowances, housing rent subsidies and home ownership allowances which would increase by R120 per month for each year of the three-year agreement.

Amcu has been demanding a basic salary of R12,500 for the lowest-paid mineworkers in the platinum sector and larger living out allowances of R1,000 since 2012.

But the NUM said it believed that even in the current signed three-year wage agreement, the underground workers would still have not achieved the R12,500 wage increase but get R11,500 instead.

The NUM said the R12,500 wage increase should have been achieved way back in 2012 by those who were campaigning for it, but that was still not achieved.

William Mabapa, NUM deputy general-secretary, and chief negotiator at Amplats, said that mineworkers deserved better salaries and benefits, not lies.

“The entire wage agreement is a big loss to poor mineworkers who are being made to believe they have achieved a lot,” Mabapa said in a statement.

“The benefits are calculated from a lower base below their basic salaries and that is where the problem is. Workers are highly ripped off in this agreement.”

Mabapa said the wage agreement signed by Amplats and Amcu was a violation of the recognition agreement signed by the NUM on the 9th of February 2009, Uasa and Numsa on the 17th February 2009 and AMCU on the 25th February 2013, according to the collective bargaining unit clauses.

http://www.enca.com/money/num-declines-to-sign-wage-agreement-with-amplats

'Reduce exorbitant packages of national and provincial cabinets‚ MPs and parastatal managers' – Cosatu

Linda Ensor, Sunday Times, 2 Nov 2016

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called for a reduction in the size of the cabinet and legislature and for the salaries of ministers and MPs to be slashed in order to save costs.

This would be an alternative to the freezing of civil servant posts which Treasury has proposed as one measure to reduce government expenditure.

Cosatu's proposal was made by its parliamentary liaison officer Matthew Parks in a presentation Wednesday during public hearings by Parliament's two finance committees on the medium term budget policy statement.

"If government wants to reduce the public wage bill then it should reduce the exorbitant packages paid to national and provincial cabinets‚ members of Parliament‚ judges and senior management in the parastatals. Government can reduce the size of national and provincial cabinets and the number of members of parliament and provincial legislatures. That is where the fat can be found‚ not amongst poorly paid nurses‚ teachers‚ cleaners and police officers‚" Parks said.

A reduction of an estimated 25‚000 civil service posts over the next three years would add to the unemployment crisis.

Cosatu was very concerned that the MTBPS did not address SA's low economic growth rate and its unemployment crisis. "We remain concerned that the demands of rating agencies reign supreme over those of 8-million unemployed South Africans‚" Parks said.

He noted that Cosatu appreciated that Treasury had not proposed a full austerity budget accompanied by cuts to social and service delivery expenditure. It appreciated government’s efforts to stabilise public debt levels and maintain social expenditure above inflation levels.

"However we do not see any shift in the MTBPS that will enable government to decisively reduce unemployment. We remain concerned that the expenditure ceilings will have a negative impact upon government’s ability to deliver and the economy as a while. Essentially this is a business as usual and consolidation approach. It will not resolve the fundamental underlying crises facing the economy."

The federation warned government that any increase in the VATR rate would have a massive negative impact upon the poor and economic demand. "Government should rather increase taxes upon the wealthy‚ luxury goods and non-essential imports‚" Parks urged.

- On Tuesday‚ Cosatu affiliate the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) called for President Jacob Zuma to step down.

Nehawu is the country’s largest public sector union — with some 235‚000 members - and the first union in the alliance movement to call for the president's ousting.

Political analyst Zamikhaya Maseti said the call made by Nehawu was an indication that support was shrinking for Cosatu’s president Sdumo Dlamini‚ who is known to back Zuma.

“Maybe more affiliates of Cosatu will follow. The NUM (National Union of

Mineworkers) may be the second one. The ground is really shifting under Sdumo Dlamini‚” he said.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2016/11/02/Reduce-exorbitant-packages-of-national-and-provincial-cabinets%E2%80%9A-MPs-and-parastatal-managers---Cosatu

Sadtu calls for jail time for those behind exam leaks

JacarandaFM News, 2 Nov 2016

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) says those responsible for exam leaks should face possible jail time.

Sadtu secretary general Mugwena Maluleke says strong action must be taken against those responsible.

"Those behind the leaks are messing with the lives of children. They must be brought to book to send out a strong message that fraud will not be tolerated."

The basic education department has confirmed that pupils at a number of schools in Giyani had access to the question paper before sitting for the exam yesterday.

Sadtu says the investigation into the matter must be accelerated.

It is also calling on the basic education department to bolster security to prevent further exam leaks.

"The department should zoom in on the place where the question papers are being printed as well as the storage facilities."

This is the second time in two years that an exam paper has been leaked in Limpopo.

Last year, the Life Sciences Paper 2 was leaked in the Vhembe District.

"The authorities cannot rule out that there is a syndicate operating in that area," Maluleke says. "People should be disciplined, whether it is learners, teachers or examination officials responsible for the leak."

Maluleke says in the age of technology, exam leaks should not happen.

He urges pupils not to be tempted, as cheating during matric will only further delay their future.

https://www.ecr.co.za/news-sport/news/sadtu-calls-jail-time-those-behind-exam-leaks/

Public Protector’s report

Calls for Zuma’s exit grow louder

TJ Strydom & Mfuneko Toyana, Reuters/Independent Media, 3 November 2016

Pretoria - South Africa's anti-graft watchdog called for a judge to investigate allegations of influence peddling in President Jacob Zuma's government, in a report released on Wednesday as thousands of protesters called for the president to step down.

The 355-page report, titled “State of Capture”, stopped short of reaching conclusive findings, but is likely to add to pressure on Zuma by demanding a full inquiry within 30 days into the biggest crisis of his scandal-plagued presidency.

The report was finally released after the president withdrew a court bid earlier on Wednesday that had sought to delay its publication.

Police fired stun grenades and used water cannon to disperse demonstrators who had marched to the Union Buildings, where Zuma's offices are located. Outside the High Court, protesters carried “Zuma must go” placards.

Zuma denies providing special favours for wealthy friends, including three brothers who run a business empire from media to mining and who also deny wrongdoing.

The carefully-worded report stopped short of asserting that crimes had been committed, saying the watchdog lacked the resources to reach such conclusions.

It focused on allegations that the brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, influenced the appointment of ministers, and called for an investigation into whether Zuma, some of his cabinet members and some state companies acted improperly.

In one case it cited “extraordinary and unprecedented” government intervention in a private business dispute involving Zuma's friends and his son. This, it said, may have created “a possible conflict of interest between the President as head of state and his private intere

The affair has rattled markets in Africa's most industrialised economy, which faces the risk of ratings downgrades later this year. Divisions within the African National Congress have widened since the ruling party suffered its worst-ever local election results in August.

The rand rose by as much as 2 percent to the dollar when the court ordered that the report be released, although it later pared some of its gains. Analysts said allowing the report to be released was an indication the country still had strong institutions.

The release of the report has been a central demand of Zuma's opponents since its publication was suspended on October 14, the day its author, Thuli Madonsela, reached the end of her tenure as public protector, South Africa's anti-graft watchdog.

The presidency said in a statement that Zuma had decided “in the interests of justice” to withdraw his bid to delay it.

Political analyst Gary van Staden of NKC African Economics said although the cautiously-worded report did not carry a knock-out punch, it had piled even more pressure on Zuma.

“The way Zuma was rushing to stop this thing, we were waiting for something explosive. It certainly doesn't seem to contain the kind of information everyone seemed to think it might,” Van Staden said.

Daniel Silke, a director at Political Futures Consultancy, said, the findings of the report would weaken Zuma, adding strength to calls for his early exit.

“He now faces a very awkward judicial inquiry which in itself could unleash criminal or court action,” Silke said.

‘Wheels coming off’

Since taking office in 2009, Zuma, 74, has survived several corruption scandals with the backing of top echelons of the ANC.

In March, the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma to repay some of $16 million spent on enhancing his Nkandla home in rural KwaZulu-Natal province. Zuma, who weathered a motion of no-confidence in parliament over the cost of the renovations, has since paid back more than $500 000 as required by the court.

But near record unemployment has exacerbated discontent with his government, which also failed to end weeks of often violent student demonstrations over the cost of university education.

Protesters demanded that state prosecutor Shaun Abrahams be removed from office. Abrahams had pressed charges of fraud against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, but then dropped them on Monday after popular support for him from the worlds of politics and business.

Supporters of Gordhan said the charges against him could have been a ploy to discredit Gordhan for standing in the way of graft. The president has denied he is in conflict with Gordhan.

In a sign of the country's establishment turning sharply against Zuma, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, a charity founded by South Africa's first black president, blamed Zuma on Tuesday for the “wheels coming off” South Africa.

About 40 CEOs of mostly listed companies have joined in calls for new political leadership. Among companies coming forward were technology investment firm Naspers, Africa's biggest company by market value, Standard Bank, the continent's biggest bank by assets, and Telkom, the partially privatised former telecoms monopoly.

Thousands march

Opposition leaders said Zuma, who has shown no signs of stepping down before his second and final term as president is up in 2019, should leave office now.

“We don't want Zuma, he has no credibility,” said Julius Malema, leader of the radical leftist party Economic Freedom Fighters who called for Wednesday's marches as a show of force against Zuma.

“Jacob Zuma is unfit to hold office,” said Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party.

Paul Mashatile, ANC chairman for Gauteng province which includes Pretoria and the economic hub Johannesburg, said his group would take part in the marches, even without the blessing of the national party.

“I do not have the mandate to say the president must step down, but I can say we are against all the wrong things that are happening, including corruption,” he told eNCA television.

He said the party had to change after its August hammering in municipal polls, its worst electoral losses since Mandela's historic victory in the first post-apartheid election in 1994.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/calls-for-zumas-exit-grow-louder-2086274

Fresh blow as Zuma faces judicial inquiry

Natasha Marrian, Business Day, 3 November 2016

Embattled President Jacob Zuma received another blow on Wednesday with the news that he will face a judicial inquiry into his relationship with the politically connected Gupta family.

The week is Zuma’s worst since taking office, with several reversals in the courts; a growing number of calls for him to step down from all quarters and the release of a damning report on state capture by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.

Madonsela observes that Zuma may have violated the Executive Ethics Code, infringed the provisions of the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act and failed to comply with section 195 of the Constitution — and there may be a possible conflict of interest due to the relationship between his son and his friends, the Gupta family.

Her remedial action — which will take forward the investigation — is a judicial commission of inquiry to be established within 30 days to be headed by a judge selected by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. The panel should be properly funded by the Treasury and the judge shall have powers to collect evidence no less than the public protector’s. It has 180 days to do its work.

Zuma withdrew an urgent interdict against the release of the report but a statement from the Presidency on Wednesday indicates that he may have the findings reviewed in court.

The ANC said it took note of the report and indicated it would study it — but the party faces an arduous road ahead. It is already on the back-foot electorally and a further lengthy legal process by Zuma and ministers implicated in the report will keep the issue of state capture prominent in the public debate as the 2019 national election approaches.

Save SA leader Sipho Pityana doesn’t expect MPs to oust President Jacob Zuma over the state-capture report as they kept him after Constitutional ...

Correspondence attached to the report, dramatically released after a full bench of high court judges ordered its disclosure, shows Madonsela’s frustration in her interaction with Zuma as she sought to get him to respond to the allegations during a four-hour meeting in October.

His responses and those of his legal advisers at the meeting are further evidence of the attempt to delay the finalisation of the report.

The document provides a glimpse into the manner in which state-owned entities favoured the Gupta family — Eskom in particular.

Evidence shows that Eskom acting CEO Brian Molefe called Ajay Gupta 44 times between August 2015 and May 2016 -— calls were made to him by the Guptas 14 times. He was in the vicinity of the family’s Saxonwold compound on 19 occasions between August and November 2015. Madonsela observed that the Eskom board appeared to be improperly appointed and Eskom’s conduct in certain instances was solely to the benefit of the Gupta-owned company Tegeta.

Tegeta’s conduct with regard to a prepayment from Eskom could amount to fraud.

Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, according to the report, was accused of participating in factional activities by the Guptas to undermine Zuma along with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize — this was before they offered him the post of finance minister which would come with a R600m payment from the family. The Guptas revealed to Jonas that they had "made a lot of money from the state" — between R6bn and R8bn, that their money was held in Dubai and that the Treasury was a "stumbling block" to their business ambitions. They boasted they had made Zuma’s son, Duduzane a billionaire and that he had a house in Dubai.

“South Africans are tired of a leader who is handled by people who have no respect for the Constitution,”

Former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan provided evidence that Zuma had made it difficult for her to do her job and would not let her appoint a director-general. Former MP Vytjie Mentor was offered Hogan’s job by the Guptas. Hogan said during a state visit to India in 2010, she had noticed the Guptas taking "control of the proceedings".

Zuma came under fire in the streets of Pretoria on Wednesday with the EFF, the DA and the Save SA coalition marching against corruption and state capture. The EFF marched to the Union Buildings threatening to occupy it until Zuma stepped down. ANC Gauteng leader Paul Mashatile said while the dropping of charges against Gordhan was a battle won, the war continued and urged everybody not to "relax".

South African Communist Party second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said the ANC had to "choose between SA and morally decadent leaders".

Save SA convenor Sipho Pityana reiterated his call for Zuma to resign. "South Africans are tired of a leader who is handled by people who have no respect for the Constitution," he said.

http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2016-11-03-fresh-blow-as-zuma-faces-judicial-inquiry/

At the Eskom coalface of family’s influence

Carol Paton & Karl Gernetzky, Business Day, 3 November 2016

The board of Eskom, appointed by Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown, consisted predominantly of people with ties to President Jacob Zuma’s son

Duduzane, the Gupta family and its associates, and went to extreme lengths to assist the family to buy the Optimum coal mine, according to the former public protector’s report into state capture.

It also illustrates the "cosy relationship" between Eskom CE Brian Molefe and the Guptas through Molefe’s phone records, which show that he called Ajay Gupta 44 times over a six-month period and was in the vicinity of their Saxonwold compound 19 times between August and November 2015.

Brown failed to apply basic principles of corporate governance in her appointments — described as "improper" — and failed to take action once this became apparent.

The report shows a web of interrelated conflicts of interest and overlapping business relationships between Eskom directors and the Gupta family, including well-known associate Salim Essa.

At the centre of Eskom’s suspicious relationship with the Guptas are the Optimum coal mine — which was bought by Gupta-controlled Tegeta Resources in April after being forced into business rescue — and the subsequent coal contracts awarded to the company.

Among the key observations regarding Tegeta and Optimum, the report suggests that Eskom intentionally pushed the Optimum coal mine, then owned by Glencore, into business rescue by refusing to renew its coal supply contract for the Hendrina mine. It appears this severely prejudiced Glencore, and Eskom’s conduct "was solely for purposes of forcing the mine into business rescue and financial distress", says the report.

Eskom also directly assisted Tegeta to buy the Optimum mine through awarding to the mine additional contracts to supply a power station at Arnot. While the supply price for the Hendrina power station was loss-making, the price to supply Arnot was among the highest paid by Eskom.

The sole reason for giving Tegeta the Arnot contract was to assist it in purchasing all the shares in Optimum. Tegeta also received extremely favourable payment terms of seven days, even though a 30-day payment term was in force.

The Eskom board further assisted Tegeta’s purchase of Optimum by prepaying R659m for the Arnot coal contract. This payment was made on the same day Tegeta informed the mine’s business rescue practitioners that it was short of R650m for the Optimum shares. That night – April 11 – Eskom held an urgent board tender committee meeting at 9pm to approve the prepayment.

Tegeta’s conduct and misrepresentations made to the public about the prepayment could amount to fraud, says the report. As the shareholders of Tegeta, which include the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma, pledged their shares to Eskom for the prepayment, it is clear that they were aware of the nature of the transaction.

In several instances, Eskom’s board contravened the Public Finance Management Act and did not exercise a duty of care.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane played a part in facilitating the Tegeta-Optimum transaction and travelled with a delegation from Tegeta to Glencore in Switzerland in December 2015 to negotiate the purchase.

“It is potentially unlawful for the minister to use his official position of authority to unfairly and unduly influence a contract for a friend or, in this instance, his boss’s son at the expense of the state,”

Zwane was not interviewed for the report. He confirmed in January that he had travelled with the delegation but denied any personal benefit.

The report, which confirmed travel records, eyewitness accounts of the trip and Zwane’s meeting with Glencore CE Ivan Glasenberg, Rajesh Gupta and Essa, notes that if Zwane did travel officially to meet Glencore executives "his reason for travel would have been authorised by the president".

"If Minister Zwane travelled in his official capacity to support Tegeta’s bid to buy the mine, his conduct would give Tegeta an unfair advantage over other interested buyers. Further, it is potentially unlawful for the minister to use his official position of authority to unfairly and unduly influence a contract for a friend or, in this instance, his boss’s son at the expense of the state," the report reads.

The report says a case exists to explore a range of suspicious contracts and events at other state-owned companies, in particular Transnet, South African Airways, Denel and the SABC, many of which involve the Guptas.

But it will be up to the commission of inquiry, which she has ordered as a remedial measure, to investigate these.

http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2016-11-03-at-the-eskom-coalface-of-familys-influence/

Eskom, Gupta dealings exposed

Siseko Njobeni, Business Report, 3 November 2016

Johannesburg - Power utility Eskom prejudiced commodity trading and mining group Glencore in order for Optimum Coal Mine and Optimum Coal Holdings to get into business rescue.

Eskom also awarded a contract for the supply of coal to its Arnot power station to Tegeta to enable the firm to purchase all shares in Optimum Coal Holdings.

The damning findings are contained in the long-awaited Public Protector’s report on state capture.

The report said Eskom might have repeatedly broken the law to accommodate the Gupta family-owned Tegeta Resources.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has recommended that President Jacob Zuma appoint a commission of inquiry headed by a judge selected by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

Madonsela investigated complaints of alleged improper and unethical conduct by Zuma and other state functionaries on alleged improper relationships and the involvement of the Guptas in the removal and appointment of ministers.

She also probed the family’s influence in the appointment and removal of State Owned Entities directors and the improper award of state contracts and benefits to the Gupta family’s businesses.

The report potentially hauled Eskom over the coals for its dealings with Tegeta.

“Glencore appears to have been severely prejudiced by Eskom’s actions in refusing to sign a new agreement with them for the supply of coal to Hendrina Power Station, this was not in line with previous discussions held by Glencore with Eskom, furthermore, it is unclear as to why approval was needed from (then) acting chief executive (Brian Molefe) before the agreement was signed, as the necessary approvals appear to already have been obtained,” the report said. “It appears that the conduct of Eskom was solely for the purposes of forcing Optimum Coal Mine and Optimum Coal Holdings into business rescue and financial distress.”

Benefited

Madonsela’s report said the only entity that appeared to have benefited from Eskom’s decisions on Optimum Coal Mine/Optimum Coal Holdings was Tegeta.

It probably enabled it to purchase all shares held in Optimum Coal Holdings. She said the favourable payment terms given to Tegeta needed to be examined further.

“Optimum Coal Mine clearly had 30 day payment terms with Tegeta for the supply of coal to Arnot Power Station, and Eskom appears to have been aware of this. It also appears that Tegeta did not meet all its obligations to Optimum Coal Mine as Optimum Coal Mine was owed R148 million (R148 027 783.91) by Tegeta as at July 31 and an amount of R289.8m (R289 842 376.00) as at August 31.”

The report said the move could amount to a possible contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) which states that a board needs to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“It appears that the Eskom Board did not exercise a duty of care, which may constitute a violation of section 50 of the PFMA. Eskom’s awarding of the initial contracts to Tegeta to supply coal to the Majuba Power Station will form part of the next phase of the investigation,” the report said.

Tegeta also has a 10-year coal supply agreement with Eskom to supply coal to the Majuba Power station.

In its responses, Eskom denied involvement in the transaction charging that its role was limited to the approval of the cession and assignment of the coal supply agreement from Optimum Coal to Tegeta.

The report also questioned the status of the Eskom board, saying it appeared to have been improperly appointed and not in line with the spirit of the King III report on good Corporate Governance.

It said the Eskom board, appointed in December 2014, consisted predominately of individuals with direct and indirect business or personal relations with Zuma’s son, Duduzane, the Gupta family and their related associates.

Molefe, who has since been appointed to the position, has consistently defended the Guptas in public. The report said in the period between August 2, 2015, and March 22 this year, Molefe has called Ajay Gupta a total of 44 times.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/eskom-gupta-dealings-exposed-2086293

South Africa

ANC integrity commission failed to act on Zuma - Gwede

Mahlatse Gallens, News24, 2 Nov 2016

Johannesburg - While the ANC needs a special congress to recall president Jacob Zuma, those calling on him to step down are appealing to his conscience, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday.

“If there are people calling on the president to step down, they are talking to him. If there are people saying we must recall him, that is different, we have processes,” Mantashe said.

He was responding to increasing calls for Zuma to step down following the Nkandla saga, the ANC’s loss of support in the August 3 local government elections, the controversy over “state capture”, and the aborted attempt to prosecute Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on fraud charges.

Cosatu affiliate Nehawu said Zuma had to make the “honourable and courageous decision” in the ANC’s interest.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation called on the ANC to put South Africa in safe, capable hands. Zuma had failed to protect the Constitution, it said.

Mantashe said the ANC could only recall Zuma at a special congress. According to the party’s constitution, at least five provinces or the national executive committee had to ask for such a congress. No province had done so as yet.

Mantashe criticised the party’s integrity commission for complaining to the media about the NEC’s failure to act against Zuma. He said the commission had itself failed to act against Zuma.

The commission is comprised of party veterans and chaired by one of three surviving Rivonia trialists, Andrew Mlangeni. He has repeatedly spoken out against Zuma.

The integrity commission had the power to independently act against ANC members who brought the party into disrepute, Mantashe said. It had however failed to call Zuma to account, even after the Constitutional Court’s ruling on March 31 that he violated the Constitution in his handling of the security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.

“The president never refused to appear before the integrity commission, because they never called him.”

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/anc-integrity-commission-failed-to-act-on-zuma-gwede-20161102

ANC’s Communist Allies Say Party Losing Grip on South Africa

Sam Mkokeli & AntonySguazzin, Bloomberg, 2 Nov 2016

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is in such a political crisis that even its closest allies admit it could soon lose power.

The South African Communist Party, which is part of the country’s ruling alliance, believes the ANC must fight corruption and factionalism or face political death, according to its second deputy secretary-general, Solly Mapaila. If the communists had been in the ANC’s place, he said, they would have removed President Jacob Zuma as their leader after its worst electoral result yet in a municipal vote in August when it lost control of three key cities, including the capital, Pretoria, and the economic hub of Johannesburg.

“If we don’t do concrete work to rectify these mistakes, we will certainly not be in power in the next couple of years,” Mapaila said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Johannesburg office.

Mapaila’s comments signaled deepening opposition to Zuma’s rule. The National Health and Allied Workers Union, an ANC ally, on Tuesday urged the president to resign, and business, religious and civil-rights groups plan to join opposition parties in protests Wednesday against his administration in Pretoria. They also echo sentiment from an internal report presented to the top leaders of the ANC in August that said corruption, “an arrogant leadership” and faction fighting are tearing apart the party that Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994 to end apartheid.

More criticism of the party came on Oct. 28 from a group of 101 senior ANC members, including former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, ex-parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala, and Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg and Andrew Mlangeni, who were sentenced with Mandela.

‘Clear Message’

“This is a very important spoke in a turning wheel, that the SACP is coming to this recognition,” said Susan Booysen, a politics professor at Johannesburg’s University of Witwatersrand. “The SACP is joining this growing group of people -- it’s not a tsunami but a growing group of insiders -- joined by outsiders, who are realizing that if they don’t step in now, there won’t be an ANC to rescue.”

The August elections provided “a clear message” of discontent with the ANC’s leadership and shows that its grip on power may be under threat in general elections in 2019, Mapaila said.

“We have lost the faith and respect of the people in the townships, which were the primary base of our working class struggles that we mobilized to launch an offensive against the apartheid regime,” Mapaila said.

The Mandela Foundation on Tuesday said political meddling is undermining key institutions such as the revenue service, the National Prosecuting Authority and law enforcement agencies.

Law Violation

“Twenty years since Nelson Mandela signed South Africa’s constitution into law and as the third anniversary of his passing approaches, it is painful for us at the Nelson Mandela Foundation to bear witness to the wheels coming off the vehicle of our state,” it said. “We are reaping the results of a political trend of personalizing matters of state around a single individual leader. This in a constitutional democracy is to be deplored.”

Mapaila said the Communist Party differs with the ANC’s response to the election in the way it absolved Zuma, 74. It chose instead to take “collective responsibility,” without anyone being singled out for blame, Mapaila said.

Zuma has suffered a series of setbacks since March, when the Constitutional Court ruled that he violated the law by not abiding by the directive of the nation’s graft ombudsman that he repay some of the taxpayers money spent on his private home. He’s also been feuding with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over the affordability of nuclear power plants the president wants to build, and the management of state companies and the national tax agency.

The president went to the High Court Tuesday to seek an order blocking the release of a report by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela on allegations that a wealthy family, the Guptas, used its friendship with Zuma for profit and influence -- what is known in South Africa as “state capture.” Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing.

The Communist Party would have removed Zuma if he was its president, Mapaila said.

ANC’s Mission

“If we feel that the leader does not pass all the tests, we would easily remove you, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “We would have taken action if this was in the Communist Party, now we can’t impose it on the ANC.”

The National Health and Allied Workers Union, which represents about 300,000 workers, called on Zuma on Tuesday to take the “honorable and courageous decision” and step down before his current term ends in 2019 and for his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, to replace him.

The majority of South Africa’s people have looked to the ANC to transform society from an economy dominated by the white minority to one that serves the interests of all races, which the party calls the National Democratic Revolution.

“The point is that the ANC has been given this historical mission by our people to fulfill,” Mapaila said. “Now if it can’t fulfill this mission, there will be others who believe in this mission who will fulfill it.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-01/anc-s-communist-allies-warn-its-grip-on-south-africa-in-peril

Minerals bill edges along in Parliament

Linda Ensor, Business Day, 2 November 2016

The tortuous process of enacting the Mineral Petroleum and Resources Amendment Bill showed some progress on Tuesday with a contested passage through the National Assembly.

The bill, adopted by Parliament about two-and-half years ago, was referred back to Parliament by President Jacob Zuma on constitutional grounds. It will now go to the National Council of Provinces and stakeholders are hoping that they will be able to make further inputs during public hearings.

The lack of legislative certainty in the country’s declining mining sector has been a serious concern to potential investors and has also been raised by credit ratings agencies ahead of their assessment of SA’s sovereign rating.

The president’s concerns were related to possible contraventions of SA’s international trade obligations and elevates the mining charter to the status of legislation.

The minister will be able to designate minerals as strategic to promote local beneficiation and restrict exports.

Neither the Department of Mineral Resources nor the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on mineral resources agreed with Zuma’s reservations and only attended to his procedural concerns by holding consultations with traditional leaders.

In introducing the bill, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said the bill would improve the ease of doing business; tackle the shortfall identified in several court rulings; and introduce "a credible and orderly" means of state participation in the development of the country’s petroleum resources.

It would allow an integrated licensing regime to be established for the granting of rights, issuing of water-use licences and approval of environmental authorisations. It would also provide for designation of minerals as strategic for the purposes of supporting local beneficiation and industrialisation, wane said.

His speech was interrupted several times by EFF MPs who said they did not believe the "Gupta agent" should be allowed to address Parliament.

Opposition parties voted against the bill, with DA mineral resources spokesman James Lorimer saying the "gravely flawed" bill would not fix SA’s collapsing mining sector.

"This bill will worsen uncertainty by putting massive power in the mineral resources minister’s hands to set the rules and change them quickly.

"It will open the door to corruption, allowing the minister to hand out mining rights to friends, cronies or the highest bidder, and based on current performance, we can be sure that the state won’t get all that bid money," Lorimer said.

He believed the bill should be scrapped and rewritten.

Lorimer noted that the legislation failed to deal with oil and gas, missing the country’s opportunity to attract investment in this sector.

http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2016-11-02-minerals-bill-edges-along-in-parliament/http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2016-11-02-minerals-bill-edges-along-in-parliament/

A march to reclaim Khwezi’s dignity

Samantha Hartshorne, The Star, 3 November 2016

Johannesburg - While many citizen activists in Gauteng converged on Pretoria on Wednesday, a colourful group set off from the high court in Johannesburg to increase awareness of a different kind and memorialise the late Fezekile Kuzwayo, Zuma’s rape accuser, known in the media as “Khwezi”. Wednesday marked 11 years since Fezekile Kuzwayo was allegedly raped by President Jacob Zuma, who was acquitted. The group marched from the high court in Johannesburg to Constitution Hill. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha

At the same time, Zuma was retracting his application to interdict former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s state capture report, around 150 demonstrators took to the streets in a bid to reclaim the identity and dignity of Kuzwayo.

And unlike the EFF march, there were no clashes with the police.

Dressed in purple T-shirts that bore slogans such as “Silence is not consent” and “Beware – women crossing the line”, the marchers sang “Enough is Enough!” and danced.

Comprising mainly women, they represented various non-profit organisations (NPOs) united in a common cause.

Their message and hashtag were clear: “Her name is Fezeka”.

Until her death, Kuzwayo was known as Khwezi to conceal her identity. Despite the courts having acquitted Zuma on the rape charge, Mpumi Mathabela from the One in Nine campaign, the organisers of the march, said: “Today marks 11 years to the day that Jacob Zuma raped Fezeka.”

She said November 2 was the day Kuzwayo accused Zuma of the alleged rape.

“Today is to reclaim Fezeka’s dignity and her identification. We chose the day that she remembers – rather than the date he went to court.”

The One in Nine campaign was started in February this year. Mathabela said it was a merger of NPOs with a vested interest in women’s rights, including People Opposing Women Abuse.

The marchers held posters with “Guilty” stamped in red across Zuma’s face. A few held #FeesMustFall slogans.

Mathabela said Kuzwayo lived a life in hiding and couldn’t enjoy the things most people take for granted.

“She was exiled and chased away by her family. She had to live in Amsterdam and Tanzania. Even when she came home in 2013, she couldn’t enjoy a normal life.

“Today’s campaign highlights the criminal justice system and its problems. She was killed by Jacob Zuma and the criminal justice system,” claimed Mathabela.

Hassen Lorgat, an activist and a supporter of the campaign, was one of the few men on the march, which made its way from the high court along the Rea Vaya path, to Constitution Hill in Braamfontein.

Lorgat was at the court when Zuma was tried in February 2006. “I remember standing there when Zuma was taken in. I'm supporting this because it is just great to see so many citizen activists.”

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/a-march-to-reclaim-khwezis-dignity-2086245

International

Comment & opinion

ANC needs better way to choose leaders

Natasha Marrian, Business Day, 3 November 2016

We need to think about how we choose leaders in this country, and carefully. A revolving door of presidents dropped, deserted and despised cannot be healthy for a young democracy with the staggering challenges we face in equalising a society all too accustomed to injustice and oppression in the past.

This means that should the ANC wish to remain the governing party for the foreseeable future, it cannot be business as usual in selecting leaders. The leadership of the ANC and the tripartite alliance are at a crossroad. In Cosatu, the leadership has sought to quash the opposing views of affiliates by tip-toeing around the leadership issue. Many union leaders have said it was time for President Jacob Zuma to go, some having been more direct than others, indicating that the mere whiff of him in the party’s 2019 election build-up would be damaging. Yet this was not expressed when Cosatu announced the outcomes of its central executive committee meeting.

This has angered the affiliates, whose members expected some indication from the federation that it had taken their views into account. The bold statement on Tuesday by the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), calling on Zuma to resign was prompted partly by concern over Cosatu’s stance. Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini is said to have been angered by Nehawu’s move, but he is now likely to lose control of the federation as more unions come out to express the views of their members.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union is set to hold a national executive committee (NEC) meeting within the next two weeks and it is likely to take a similar stance to that of Nehawu. The National Union of Mineworkers will hold an extended

NEC in November and could well emerge with the same resolution, to be followed by the South African Democratic Teachers Union.

Last week, it was revealed that a number of ANC structures had expressed the opinion that the entire party leadership including the president, should resign. Yet the party has tried to mesmerise the nation with its dialectic elasticity, insisting it is taking collective responsibility through individual responsibility.

NEC member Jackson Mthembu was the only one of the 86-odd members of the party’s top leadership structure brave enough to state outright that the emperor has no clothes.

Now, as the ANC faces another damaging crisis exposed in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s state capture report, its response will be predictable if Zuma’s vast network of rent-seekers use their numerical advantage to quash any backlash for him.

The report is a harrowing read, showing that despite Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas’s very public disclosure on his interaction with the Gupta family, no action was taken by the executive, which may constitute an infringement of the executive ethics code. It also shows that there may have been a conflict of interest between the president as head of state and "his private interest as a friend and father" when members of his Cabinet intervened in the closing of the Gupta-owned Oakbay bank accounts. His son Duduzane is in business with the family.

The Cabinet took "extraordinary and unprecedented" steps in the dispute between the private company owned by the president’s friends and his son, the report says. While much of what is contained in the report was known, if not set aside on review, a judicial commission of inquiry appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng will now make a decisive finding on the extent of the capture of the Zuma administration.

Factoring in a review application by Zuma — a near certainty — should the review fail and the recommendations be implemented, the final word on the state-capture issue might be made public only on the eve of the next national election in 2019. So, SA is not out of the woods yet. As ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile said at the SaveSA assembly on Wednesday, a battle has been won, but not yet the war.

In the interim, the ANC will elect new leadership in 2017. Its recent conduct in protecting, defending and shielding Zuma does not bode well for the process. It has shunned the idea of a consultative conference to review and decide on the manner in which ANC leaders are selected.

In the meantime, the tide is turning against Zuma and his allies in the party, and it may once again bubble over and spew out a leader in the manner it did with our current head of state. That is, if there have not been any developments in the interim that render the ANC’s selection of leaders irrelevant.

Marrian is political editor.

http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2016-11-03-natasha-marrian-anc-needs-better-way-to-choose-leaders/