Global South African Weekly News Wrap 24 February 2012

Global South African Weekly News Wrap Up 24 February 2012
Contents
I dont fear Mangaung Zuma .................................................................................. 3 Zuma interview: His masters loud voice .................................................................. 4 Analysis: The State of the Nation speech decoded .................................................... 7 Gordhan justifies intervening in provinces ............................................................. 10 Zuma undoes good showing ...................................................................................... 13 Zuma klaps Mulder ................................................................................................... 15 No fireworks in Gordhan budget.............................................................................. 17 Apartheid denialism drives a knife into belly of black SA ..................................... 19 'We want out of SA' ................................................................................................... 21 Con court 'review' soon ............................................................................................. 24 Juju expulsion certain ............................................................................................. 25 Nationalisation out, nationalism in ........................................................................... 26 Texas oilman is at it again -- now with Zuma ......................................................... 30 Zuma unleashes SIU on fraud, corruption at Eskom ............................................. 35 Does ANC elite get the constitution? ........................................................................ 37 SAA needs extra R6bn from state as costs bite ....................................................... 38 African languages not making grade ....................................................................... 41 Push to shrink ANCs national executive body ....................................................... 42 Sixty new research chairs as initiative gathers momentum ................................... 44 SA fares poorly in environmental index .................................................................. 45 Cape Towns race issue is not black and white ....................................................... 46 UK, SA back Arab League plan ............................................................................... 48 Malemas immature Zuma..................................................................................... 49 Mdluli vs Cele: The battle lines are drawn .............................................................. 50 Lindiwe Mazibuko is not the role model we need ................................................... 52 Mbekis new mission .................................................................................................. 54 Zuma Front Shock ..................................................................................................... 56 SA is a country of contrasts: Tutu ............................................................................ 59 UN had no evidence of Libya war: Mbeki ............................................................... 60 ANCYL rejects nationalisation report ..................................................................... 61 Nzimande juggles another governance crisis .......................................................... 62 Mbeki attacks 'armed intervention in Africa' ......................................................... 63 Debate is important. Action is critical...................................................................... 64 Judge Constitutional Court in its context ................................................................ 67 Stink over fishy fishing contract ............................................................................... 69 Motsoaledi takes aim at alcohol adverts, smoking .................................................. 71 Backlog to fix power grid R35bn ........................................................................... 72 Mugabe is a poor reflection on SA ........................................................................... 74 Mugabe hanging on to life and power ................................................................. 75 Arms report could be withheld ................................................................................. 77 Manuel urges return to ANC values ........................................................................ 79 Deadly force for police use only, MPs told .............................................................. 80 Audit for Zuma shadow aircraft to US ................................................................. 81 A remarkable woman at the head of a remarkable institution ............................. 82
24February 2012 News Wrap-up
De Klerk foundation joins fray over courts role .................................................... 84
12 February 2012 City Press Staff
I dont fear Mangaung Zuma

Hours after addressing the nation, President Zuma says he wants to see cranes going up, unemployment going down and insists he is sleeping just fine ahead of the ANCs elective conference in Mangaung in December. Infrastructure By 2014, Id want to see the cranes, building, digging everything. Id like to see people employed. We are looking at a new kind of city at Waterberg. Thats how Johannesburg began, as a mining town.Its an area of strategic minerals which we begin to connect with a road and rail link that goes to the East through Swaziland. You cant only depend on a single transport corridor any longer. Jobs Id like to see unemployment moving down.Its difficult to put a number on it.Not everybody who is on the social safety net should be there. The social safety net should be shedding some people.Its a huge challenge. Secrecy Bill People can debate public interest but classified information is classified information around the world. Where do you draw the line between the national interest and the public interest? We have to define these things for ourselves as South Africans. Corruption I think we can root out corruption. We are one among few countries tackling corruption. We are doing something. The fact that we identify and take action is important. We are looking at the tender system. The Treasury is useful in finding and dealing with corruption. Mangaung Mangaung will come and go. Some conferences of the ANC come with more excitement than others. ....It doesnt help if people get emotional. One should not lose sleep about Mangaung. I think this should be an ANC thing that should be determined at an ANC pace. Malema disciplinary I think the current issues have been followed through very properly, so that nobody is left dissatisfied.I dont think (Malemas 2010 sanctions) were followed through, and I cant speculate why they werent followed through, because there were specific structures that were supposed to follow through. I think in a sense it is a lesson that once you take decisions, you have to follow it through. I dont think it will repeat itself again.
I think at this point in time the processes have been followed so that nobody could feel there was prejudice in the process. 12 February 2012 City Press Carien du Plessis and Ferial Haffajee
Zuma interview: His masters loud voice

This week President Jacob Zuma delivered a confident state of the nation address. Previous addresses were sullied by personal crises in 2010, the address was made soon after news he had had a baby out of wedlock with the daughter of his friend. Last year, the lacklustre address came as questions were asked about whether the tail was wagging the dog. The ANC Youth League was at the apogee of its influence and its positions on nationalisation and expropriation set the agenda. This week he asserted himself. Julius Malema was in effect axed last Saturday while nationalisation was taken off the agenda. By Thursday, Zuma was the man in charge. Carien du Plessis and Ferial Haffajee quizzed him After a long hard day on Thursday, you danced up a storm late into the night with two of the first ladies. Clearly, you have energy and stamina. Would you like to stay for a second term? (Guffaws). In the ANC, the question of staying doesnt depend on individuals no matter how much people might express wishes. But the plans you outlined will take a long time to come to fruition. Wouldnt you like to be around to see that happening? These plans must be followed for a long time. If this is acceptable, then I am satisfied. While I am in government, my purpose is to ensure that those plans are implemented. Paint us a picture of what success will look like? What will the Waterberg in Limpopo be like if the plan to develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure in the minerals belt is successful? Will there be cranes and construction, real signs of an infrastructure boom which we havent yet seen though it has been promised for three years now? By 2014, Id want to see the cranes, building, digging everything. Id like to see people employed. We are looking at a new kind of city at Waterberg. Thats how Johannesburg began, as a mining town. Its an area of strategic minerals which we begin to connect with a road and rail link that goes to the east through Swaziland. You cant only depend on a single transport corridor.
You have moved away from setting employment targets in hard numbers. What percentage of unemployment is manageable for South Africa given that we do have a social safety net of some size? Id like to see unemployment moving down. ts difficult to put a number on it. Not everybody who is in the social safety net should be there. The social safety net should be shedding some people. Its a huge challenge. We take extraordinarily long to do things in South Africa. Government has been talking, say, about the infrastructure plan for years, ditto the beneficiation of minerals, which is only now at strategy level. Does it concern you that we dont move quickly like the Chinese? Things should not take so long. Thats why Ive established the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission. Were just talking and talking. We have arrangements in the bureaucracy that allow matters to just drag on and on as if these matters are not urgent.The commissioners dont need to come and report to the minister; we need people to make the decisions. You are an intelligence man what are you going to do about the disarray in the intelligence services? Im not sure if its in disarray. Its a serious matter. You know that people talk about intelligence as if it is just another outfit. I always take it as a very serious kind of outfit which needs not be a subject of discussions in one form or the other. Intelligence is working but there has been some difficulty. Not for the first time, as you know, some people were expelled at some point for some issue or the other. We are now trying to work out how to put intelligence together so that it operates in the way it should. What are your plans to resolve the impasse on the Protection of State Information bill? South Africa is a very interesting country. Its more open than other countries. Nobody can interfere with classified information in the US. Theyve got heavy laws in that direction. Nobody says they are bad or that they are undermining democracy. But South Africa has a different culture its the nature of us (to think we can interfere with everything). There isnt a country in the world without classified information. But here we are introducing a culture that looks at things differently. We must not think we are the worst in Parliament we even discuss intelligence that doesnt happen in other democracies. We are a unique democracy. But theres an acceptance that South Africa needs a classified information law. The debate now is about whether the law should have a public interest over-ride clause to protect whistle-blowers.
To condemn government is the wrong premise. People can debate public interest but classified information is classified information around the world. Where do you draw the line between the national interest and the public interest? We have to define these things for ourselves as South Africans. Police chief general Bheki Cele and national prosecuting head Menzi Simelane are suspended, and spy boss Gibson Njenje has resigned. How does this influence our fight against crime and corruption? I dont think its a question of individuals, it is a question about responsibilities. If we did not act while there was a report et cetera, there would have been a lot of (journalists) saying there is indecision and he didnt act. And when we decide (the media) say you are weakening (the criminal justice system). You have to take appropriate action. Do the provinces worry you with the financial meltdown in Limpopo? Limpopo is a worry and provinces are a crucial level of government. We are looking at it and we have a fair idea of why that has happened and we are dealing with it to ensure we dont have one province after the other getting into it. Is Limpopo the only province with these problems? No. But other provinces have taken remedial measures. KwaZulu-Natal, for example, had problems and rectified them. Do you think that corruption has become endemic? I think we can root out corruption. We are one among few countries tackling corruption. We are doing something. The fact that we identify and take action is important. We are looking at the tender system. The Treasury is useful in finding and dealing with corruption. Im not sure we are getting nowhere you wouldnt see people being charged and suspended. South Africa is not a small country. Its important to have sufficient instruments to deal with it. (Zuma had been asked whether there were too many organisations dealing with corruption) Enoch Godongwana recently resigned as economic development deputy minister and MP, and under a bit of a cloud. Do you think hes done the right thing? People have different views on that matter. At the moment you are talking about allegations. Allegations doesnt mean you are guilty, until you are found guilty. But I think (there are) individuals who feel it is better to stand aside to allow the process, but (there also are) individuals who could not stand aside because theyre not guilty and they have not committed a crime either.
So it is a matter of how people would react to situations. What does the word Mangaung mean to you? People speak about it in such hushed tones. (Laughs). Mangaung will come and go. Some conferences of the ANC come with more excitement than others. It doesnt help if people get emotional. One should not lose sleep about Mangaung. I think this should be an ANC thing that should be determined at an ANC pace. The ANC is a democratic organisation that is capable of discussing its leadership in a democratic way. A lot of your infrastructure plans rest on co-operation and partnership with the rest of Africa. Yet South Africa has just failed in a bid to secure the head of the African Union position for Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Is our influence and leadership role on the continent fading just at the moment we need it most? Ive not understood the hue and cry about divisions. How else does democracy play itself out but through contestation. The first time the AU has a genuine contest, why must it be a question of South Africas interest being on the wane? We put forward a candidate who could take forward the interest of the AU. We should instead be looking at the AU: is it effective or not effective? Are you having fun? (Laughs) Always. But always. Absolutely. 10 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Rapule Tabane and Lynley Donnelly
Analysis: The State of the Nation speech decoded

President Jacob Zuma on Thursday delivered one of his better State of the Nation speeches since taking office in 2009. The speech, while barren of any poetry or great quotes, was strong on detail and provided a sense of the earnestness and planning being put into efforts to unlock economic potential and create jobs. What was also different about the president's speech this year was that he acknowledged his promises from last year, and presented a report-back on that speech. This is a departure from the routine of making new promises every year without linking to or reflecting on previous undertakings. Zuma acknowledged his much-criticised pronouncement that 2011 would be the year of job creation and pointed out what was achieved and what went wrong in the pursuit of the goal.
His speech was simpler than before, but solid -- and indicated a workmanlike approach to getting momentum going on key areas of focus in the economy. Liberation allies hailed During the ANC's centenary celebrations in Mangaung in January, Zuma was criticised for not acknowledging the contribution of other liberation role-players, and he appeared to make up for it by using his speech on Thursday night to acknowledge the role of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the black consciousness movement, as well as Helen Suzman of the Democratic Party. Speaking in a week when nationalisation was a major talking point, both at the mining indaba and in the discussion document released by the ANC indicating that the party would move away from the controversial proposal, Zuma referred to it only indirectly, once again assuring investors that they need not worry about adverse conditions in the mining industry. "We remain committed to the creation of a favourable and globally competitive mining sector," he said. "And to promote the industry, to attract investment and achieve both industrial growth and much-needed transformation." Jobs, jobs and jobs Reflecting on his job promises of last year, Zuma said the results were promising but appeared to blame the global economic situation for the failure to meet targets. "The fourth quarter figures released on Tuesday indicate that the rate of unemployment has come down from 25% to 23.9% as a result of new jobs. During 2011, a total of 365 000 people were employed. This is the country's best performance since the recession of 2008." He expressed his satisfaction that the jobs were being created in the formal sector including in mining, transport and trade and attributed that to greater cooperation with business. The president said the money set aside last year at the Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC) had been utilised well, with R5-billion approved for 60 companies to promote job creation. He also gave a nod to the thorny issue of labour broking, noting that National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) discussions on "atypical employment" had been finalised. It is, however, noteworthy that he highlighted that the state wishes to ban "abusive practices inherent in labour broking". This suggests that the labour legislation review will just mean more regulation of the sector rather than an all-out ban. Infrastructure drive As the Mail & Guardian predicted last week, the president announced a massive infrastructure drive, which he emphasised was not for the sake of mere infrastructure building.
"The massive investment in infrastructure must leave more than just power stations, rail-lines, dams and roads. It must industrialise the country, generate skills and boost much-needed job creation." The infrastructure plan would be driven by the presidential infrastructure coordination commission (PICC), which will be led by the president and his deputy. However, the many announcements of infrastructural developments leaves one wondering where the government will get the money to fund all of these projects? Soccer practice The state is aiming to use the expertise learnt during the Fifa World Cup in 2010 to deliver on this plan. The PICC leads the process and will coordinate and drive key infrastructure projects identified from SOEs, provincial, local and national government. The projects are to be geographically focused as well as focus on health and basic education infrastructure, information and communication technologies and regional integration. The geographic focus starts in Limpopo in the Waterberg in the western part of the province and Steelpoort in the eastern part, intending to unlock the enormous mineral belt of coal, platinum, palladium, chrome and other minerals, in order to facilitate increased mining as well as stepped-up beneficiation of minerals. This talks to the government's beneficiation strategy and points to the strategic minerals that the ANC nationalisation document has identified. There is an emphasis on rail with the plans by Transnet to invest R300-billion in capital projects over the next seven years. R200-billion will be used for rail investments the rest for ports. The iron ore freight lines in the Northern Cape will be expanded from 60-million tonnes to 82-million tonnes. The white elephant in the room But plans to build a manganese corridor to the Coega harbour will be seen as little more than an attempt to feed a white elephant, as the Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya has already noted. The cost of shipping ore to Coega rather than Saldanha is over twice the price per tonne and this appears little more than an attempt to find a way to pay for a bad policy decision. Plans to decrease port charges are also on the cards, with manufacturers expected to see decreases in port charges to the value of R1-billion. These steps are likely to encourage businesses that have complained of logistics bottlenecks, and high administrative prices that have eroded South Africa's competitiveness.
The port's plans may be a big plus for the exporters and businesses that have complained of the high prices and left our ports far more expensive than their global counterparts. The extent to which the government is taking on the work load is further evidence of an ever encroaching state involvement in the economy. But Zuma did not mention how the private sector can help in this infrastructure effort, despite the very cooperative role it played in making South Africa a successful host of the World Cup. The plan to hold an infrastructure summit appears to be where the state will hold talks with social partners and stakeholders to take the plan to potential investors. Lights, camaraderie, action The role electricity will play in making it possible for this expansion to go ahead is critical -- and Zuma did not ignore the power crisis the country faces. He has approached Eskom regarding the question of rising prices but acknowledges that tariffs need to remain at a level that ensures that Eskom and the industry remain financially viable. But again little was made of the need for private sector players in this respect. Government's limited policy planning and Eskom's monopoly in the market are exactly why the country is experiencing these problems. Agriculture and water resources are also acknowledged -- with plans to build a new dam in the Eastern Cape on the Umzimvubu River and a series of water augmentation projects being outlined. This is a much-neglected element of infrastructure development, and it's good to see it is not being ignored -- but as the DA's spokesperson on water and environmental affairs Gareth Morgan points out, many of the augmentation schemes outlined, while very good, are not new, With the mega-infrastructure drive, the intense competition between the needs of farmers and communities versus the water needs of major construction projects will only become more intense, he said. 13 February 2012 Business Report Page 19 Shanti Aboobaker
Gordhan justifies intervening in provinces

The national government had intervened at the right time in stemming the tide of financial mismanagement in three provinces, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Friday as he deflected impressions that a civil servants were crooks. I think were on a good wicket, a good footing, he said in response to Cope MP Dennis Bloem during a briefing of the standing committee on finance by the interministerial task team responsible for the intervention into the mismanagement of billions of rand in departments in Limpopo, Gauteng and the Free State.
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Bloem remarked: It seems as if we employ a lot of crooks in those departments (finance, education, transport and roads, health and public works). They are stealing from our people. It is very, very painful. Gordhan said while there were crooks in those departments, they were a minority. We will humbly suggest that the majority are not crooks. The crooks are a few (but) we need to create an environment where they do not intimidate the majority. Nor do we want to call everybody incompetent. Our state, compared to more than 100 other countries, is relatively more competent than others. (But) our whistle blowers are not protected enough. We need to identify them (crooks) and work them out of the system, Gordhan said. He said instead it was important that bad elements be exposed and prevented from tarnishing the image of the public service, echoing a statement of a committee member who had said mismanagement of funds by these provinces was an administrative problem, not a political one. The three provinces together have more than R2.6 billion in unpaid accruals and R7.4bn in unauthorised expenditure. The briefing was also attended by the ministers of basic education, higher education and training, health, public works, transport and public service and administration. Gordhan painted a bleak picture of the financial state of affairs in Limpopo. Before the Treasury intervened in the province, the provincial administration had requested an extension of its overdraft with the Reserve Bank of R1bn, bringing the total overdraft to R1.7bn. The Reserve Bank terminated this facility, resulting in the province being unable to pay its teachers, doctors, nurses and outstanding creditors. Gordhan said this posed a serious risk to the staff in the province and sovereign risk for the province and the country as a whole. The province also accumulated a large unauthorised expenditure, which grew from R1.5bn in 2009 to R2.7bn in 2011. There was R500 million in accruals at the end of March 2011 which included unpaid invoices. The practice of not paying invoices on time has been there for some time, he said. The finance minister said the provincial Treasury had all but collapsed. Many senior staff had either left or were forced to leave the department and evidence of illegal payments was emerging. The budget section of the Treasury which is an absolutely crucial part is dysfunctional, he said.
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Gordhan said the Limpopo Education Department had not prepared a credible budget. For example, it had R2.2bn in unauthorised expenditure, in addition to having more than 2 400 excess teachers employed, and 200 ghost teachers. The department had not ordered learning or teaching support materials on time, and had R190m worth of invoices that had not been paid on time. In the provincial Department of Health, there was R400m in irregular expenditure, Gordhan said. Some figures that did not even make it into the financial statement submitted to the auditor-general last year included R427m in assets with no supporting documents and R138m in accruals, he said. In the Limpopo Department of Public Works, Gordhan said, there was no asset management system in place. There were supply chain management violations for example, awarding tenders without a bidding process and the modification of existing contracts to increase the tender value, he noted. Teams have been appointed for each department in Limpopo to stabilise the provinces finances and ensure that the province has enough cash to meet its expenditure responsibilities. (The teams must) ensure that only creditors with legitimate claims are paid, they must revoke all illegal supply chain management guidelines and processes which the premier (Cassel Mathale) and his colleagues have agreed with, Gordhan said. He said that since the Treasurys intervention, the preparation of a credible budget had commenced and the provincial bank account was stabilising. Cash in the bank is accumulating the cash shortfall has been reduced to R1.1bn from R2bn, he said. Creditors with legitimate claims were being paid within 30 days, and control measures were put in place to ensure that legally entitled creditors were paid, he said. Gordhan said prosecutions were a possibility and that a task team had been sent to Limpopo to investigate. Lets give them a few weeks. (The possibility of prosecution) depends on the complexity of the matter. Some cases will take a few years, others six months. Well do whatever the law requires, he said Treasury spokeswoman Bulelwa Boqwana said the teams were also carrying out diagnostics and working on a provincial budget for Limpopo.
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Interventions in the Free State and Gauteng fall under section 100 (1) (a) of the constitution, whereby a directive has been issued by the national executive and the premier has signed an agreement to strengthen the provincial departments of health and treasury in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The cabinet has given a directive to the premier of Gauteng ordering that the provincial Health Department be stabilised, the provincial Treasury be strengthened, the Gauteng Shared Services Centre be disestablished, the financing and procurement model of the Kopanong Government Precinct be revisited and growth funds that are not in line with the PFMA be discontinued. The state of affairs of the Gauteng Department of Health included accruals of R2.1bn that were unpaid or older than 30 days at the end of the last financial year; R1.6bn of accumulated outstanding debts owed to the department; challenges in paying service providers and unauthorised expenditure of R4.74bn. The National Treasury also identified as major challenges the recent resignation of the head of the Health Department as well as the provinces chief financial officer. The Gauteng Health Department spent 75 percent of its budget by the end of 2011 and expects an over-spend of R1bn. The Treasurys intervention is part of a strong message from the government that it will not tolerate mismanagement of funds and corruption. Minister of Public Service and Administration Roy Padayachie said the government would not tolerate corrupt practices no matter how senior you are in the government or the ruling party. We cannot guarantee protection to anyone no matter how high he is Our government has a host of laws which need to be more strenuously applied. Government will not hesitate to act so that the basic services of our people are protected, are sustained, he said. There is something radically wrong in the ethos of our public service. It has been corrupted in certain critical cores, he said. Gordhan told provinces to follow three basic principles: One, you can only spend cash you have; two, you have to cut the unnecessary expenditure the fat; and (you must) start to live within your means. 15 February 2012 The Times Page 8 S'Thembiso Msomi
Zuma undoes good showing
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Fair-minded South Africans would have been glad to see President Jacob Zuma exude so much confidence during his State of the Nation address last week in Cape Town. It was by far his best speech in parliament since coming to power in 2009 and would probably go a long way in convincing some of the sceptical ANC branches that he deserves re-election as party leader at the national conference in December. As things stand, Zuma goes to the Mangaung conference in a far stronger position than, say, two years ago. He has avoided many of the personal controversies that marred his early days in office and his family appears less in the news for wrong reasons (though the recent comments attributed to one of his wives, MaNtuli, effectively blaming teenage pregnancies on child grants, would have embarrassed party policy-makers). One of the key charges against the Zuma administration in its earlier days was that it was too soft on corruption, and the president was accused of being too scared to act against ministers and senior government officials accused of wrongdoing. Now his supporters can convincingly dismiss this perception by pointing out that Zuma has not only authorised high-level investigations into corruption allegations in key state institutions, but has also fired a couple of ministers and suspended a national police commissioner on suspicion of maladministration. His cabinet's intervention in Limpopo, though its intentions would remain suspicious to those seeking to limit his rule to a single term, would surely win him the backing of trade unions, which have long complained about the allegedly kleptocratic tendencies of those who run the province. At ANC level, Zuma has finally woken up to the fact that the nonexistence of a strong centre has encouraged ill-discipline and anarchy within his party and, by extension, his government. But there are many other areas that the president still needs to improve on if he is to convince the party faithful, and indeed the general electorate, that he deserves to lead the country beyond 2014. One such area is the way he communicates his message. At the risk of being ridiculed as one of the "gifted ones" - a term the president used to refer to journalists and political analysts who criticised the manner in which he delivered the keynote speech at the ruling party's 100th birthday celebrations last month - I must say that Zuma can be his own worst enemy sometimes. In a week in which the president should be basking in very rare glory after such an impressive State of the Nation address his office once again finds itself having to "clarify" comments made by Zuma in a press interview. Remarks by the president that his government seeks to review the powers of the Constitutional Court caused a great deal of confusion on Monday, leading to claims
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by opposition parties that the ANC government seeks to do away with constitutional democracy as we know it. It took the president's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, to explain that what Zuma was talking about was no new measure. The president, he said, was referring to a well-publicised cabinet decision to do an assessment of the impact of the court's judgments on the transformation of South African society. "This must therefore not be viewed as an attempt by the government to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law entrenched in our constitution," explained Maharaj. In a separate incident, during his SABC interview on Sunday, the president's answers to questions about the future of provinces suggested that the status quo would remain. This is despite the fact that the ANC, in at least three major gatherings, expressed grave reservations about the effectiveness of this level of government - with some of its allies calling for their scrapping. The government even mandated the ministry responsible to conduct a study on the usefulness of provinces and whether, if the system remains, their number should not be reduced. The general public understanding has been that the matter would come up for debate at the ANC policy conference in June. But if Zuma's comments on TV on Sunday are anything to go by the current set-up of nine provinces would remain as it was - a decision taken after careful consideration at Codesa. Was the president merely expressing his personal preference here? Was it an ANC or government position? It wasn't too clear to me on Sunday. As head of state, Zuma's every word is always important for those seeking to understand the government's policy positions and intention. Any ambiguity from him can cause confusion and untold damage to the country's image. It is, therefore, important that his messages are clear and do not have to be "clarified" by his office at a later stage.
17 February 2012 The Times Page 1 Caiphus Kgosana
Zuma klaps Mulder
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President Jacob Zuma rebuked Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder, warning him to tread carefully on the issue of land and not to make comments that were "careless" and "callous". Responding to the debate on his State of the Nation address in the National Assembly yesterday, an emotional Zuma accused Mulder - whom he appointed deputy minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in 2009 - of failing to show good leadership after he told MPs that Africans could not lay claim to 40% of South Africa's land. In an unprecedented and dramatic move, Zuma was interrupted by a Freedom Front Plus MP as he addressed Mulder on the matter, a move that did not go down well on ANC benches. On Wednesday, Mulder told the National Assembly that Africans did not have a legal and historic claim to up to 40% of South Africa's land because they migrated from northern Africa. In his speech, Mulder referred to Africans as "Bantu" and said they could not claim the Western Cape and parts of the Northern Cape as land that belongs to them. "There is sufficient proof that there were no Bantu-speaking people in the Western Cape and the northwestern Cape. These parts form 40% of South Africa's land surface," Mulder said. Zuma came out with guns blazing on the issue yesterday, telling Mulder to handle the land question sensitively "The land question is one of the most emotive issues in our history and [at] present, and must be handled with utmost care and not in the careless and callous manner that the honourable Mulder handled it," Zuma said in an unusual and dramatic dressing-down of a member of his executive. "We urge Mulder to tread very carefully on this matter. It is extremely sensitive and, to the majority of people in this country, it is a matter of life and death. That is why we have been very careful in this matter and I don't think we should provoke emotions. It is wrong, it is not good leadership - no matter what your constituency thinks." This prompted Freedom Front Plus MP Petrus Groenewald to interrupt Zuma in an attempt to defend his leader. He sought to ask Zuma a question. In terms of the rules of parliament, MPs are allowed to pose clarification questions to those making speeches in the National Assembly. But house decorum and tradition dictates that the president is not interrupted when he makes his State of the Nation address or responds to the debate on his speech. Angry ANC MPs attempted to shout Groenewald down, but Zuma allowed him his question. "Do you think it is responsible leadership if some leaders in the ANC constantly tell white people that they have stolen the land and thereby are thieves?" asked Groenewald. A calm Zuma said he would not give the Freedom Front Plus MP a lesson on how the land ended up in the hands of the white minority. "I'm sure the honourable member does not want me to get to the land question, how the land happened to be in the hands of the minority in the country . We are dealing with this matter responsibly. That does not change the facts of history," Zuma said. He added that there were factors slowing down redistribution of land, such as the lengthy process of acquiring and redistributing land, which often drives up the price of the targeted land. Zuma also defended the recent decision by his cabinet to conduct a review of all Constitutional Court judgments.
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He said the assessment would reflect on the impact judgements of superior courts have had on the goal of transforming society and it was not an attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary. "We reiterate that this exercise must not be viewed as an attempt by government to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, which are enshrined in the constitution. It is in reality an enhancement of our constitutional democracy," he said. Analysts and opposition parties have questioned the government's motives in conducting the review, fearing that this was an attempt to muzzle the judiciary. Zuma also took on opposition parties - especially the IFP and the PAC - that have argued that their role in the liberation struggle has been diminished by the ANC . He told PAC leader Letlapa Mphahlele and IFP MP Albert Mcwango, who in his speech had argued that Zuma was attempting to write party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi from history books, that it was up to those parties, and not the ANC, to honour their own leaders. He also tackled Buthelezi's claim that his State of the Nation speech had not to addressed many failings of the ANC government. "I dealt with these matters, even today [at] Home Affairs . An experienced minister who had run a homeland could not turn it around. We turned it around," he said, a swipe at Buthelezi's 10-year stint at Home Affairs, during which the department was riddled with mismanagement and corruption.
20 February 2012 Business Day Page 10 Editorial
No fireworks in Gordhan budget

When Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announces his 2012 budget on Wednesday, it is unlikely to be accompanied by fireworks. Although infrastructure spending will be a priority, the Treasury will have to maintain a careful balance between fiscal stimulus and the management of public debt. From a political perspective the biggest challenge will be to limit current expenditure items such as the public sector wage bill and social welfare, in favour of long-run capital investment in infrastructure. In the three-year medium-term fiscal framework revealed in October, the Treasury forecast that the budget deficit for the 2011-12 financial year would widen to 5,5% of gross domestic product (GDP), but Mr Gordhan has expressed a strong desire to see a positive primary balance by 2015. SAs national debt is expected to increase to 44% of GDP by 2015-16 from the current level of about 40%, before gradually declining. Speaking in the National Assembly last week, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said the states infrastructure expansion programme would be funded through a wide range of measures, of which deficit spending is likely to comprise a
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substantial portion. This deficit expansion is expected to be financed primarily through domestic auctions, with no plans to increase global borrowing. There is certainly room for the state to borrow more; the question is, how much more? Against the backdrop of the unresolved European sovereign-debt crisis, the prospects for global and domestic growth remain gloomy. Although there are slow signs of recovery, a significant reduction in global creditworthiness has meant economic growth projections have almost all been negatively affected. Emerging markets are expected to continue to outperform advanced economies, but low levels of confidence coupled with instability in global financial markets mean developing countries remain vulnerable to the vagaries of the market. In light of this, the Treasury has cut its growth forecast for the next three years, estimating that SAs GDP growth for 2012 will be 3,4%, rising to 4,1% next year. Despite the downward revision, this forecast could still be too high, given that it is still heavily reliant on an acceleration in private sector investment and increased exports. There is therefore a significant risk that the next fiscal year will not live up to expectations. Even without the possibility of lower than expected growth, current growth rates are not fast enough to support the employment gains and poverty reduction the country requires. That makes investment in infrastructure paramount, despite the risks inherent in financing growth via the budget deficit. Some analysts have gone so far as to say that the state has the capacity to almost double its current debt levels. Borrowing to finance infrastructure that will generate jobs and promote economic growth in the long run is prudent and financially sustainable. That said, the level of debt that can be sustained is highly dependent on the states ability to improve the efficiency of public service delivery and the political will to trade off short-run gains in favour of long-run stability. It is therefore encouraging to see the governments commitment to a R1-trillion integrated infrastructure development plan. In his state of the nation address President Jacob Zuma outlined plans for massive infrastructure investment, including the development and integration of rail, road and water infrastructure. This includes a much-needed allocation of R300bn towards Transnet port and rail expansion projects over the next seven years. Wednesdays budget is also likely to focus on investment in critical social infrastructure such as healthcare and education. This should include projects aimed at laying the basis for the National Health Insurance system, such as the refurbishment of hospitals and nurses homes. A total of R300m has also been allocated for the preparatory work for building new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. Funding investment in social infrastructure projects out of the deficit will be considerably easier to justify to the fiscus than any further expansion to the social
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grant system. At present, about 15,2-million people receive some kind of government assistance, making welfare the second-largest expenditure category after education. Although critical in the alleviation of poverty, social grants should not be funded out of debt. SAs dependency ratio is already precariously high and any further expansion to welfare provision without a comparable increase in tax revenue, will have a negative effect on SAs international credit ratings. The only sustainable remedy to this problem is to expand the tax base and spread the tax burden through job creation a task that is neither easy nor immediately realisable. Within this context it is essential that the government focus on structural changes that improve SAs competitiveness. This will require the political will to keep the rapidly expanding public wage bill in check, as well as to make adjustments to labour legislation that give companies some incentive to hire young job-seekers. In the long run, increasing competitiveness is the key to the more rapid and inclusive growth that is required to reduce and ultimately eradicate poverty and inequality. 19 February 2012 Sunday Times Page 4 Mondli Makhanya
Apartheid denialism drives a knife into belly of black SA

A few years back, a Dutch friend rode into town and asked to visit the Apartheid Museum. It was a big deal for this individual as her parents had been involved in the anti-apartheid movement in the '70s and '80s. When she was a youngster, they had taken her to protests at the headquarters and outlets of the Shell oil company, which was heavily invested in apartheid South Africa. Her bond with South Africa was strong and she was dying to see what it was her young self had been fighting against. Like most residents of this magnificent place called Johannesburg (the city that the Almighty created on the eighth day after a solid rest), I had never been to the Apartheid Museum. It was one of those things that I was going to do some day. The experience was a mind-blowing one. It should be compulsory for all 50 million South Africans - plus the five million Zimbabweans in our midst - to visit the museum at least once. My Dutch friend was emotional and nearly broke down as she witnessed what mankind can do to mankind. About two years after this I had the macabre privilege of visiting the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Arguably one of the most poignant modern history museums,
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it affects you deeply. When you walk out, you can't but wonder how Israeli politicians, most of whom have been to the museum, can visit so much suffering on Palestinians. It was with this in mind that I listened to Freedom Front+ leader Pieter Mulder's input on land reform this week. Coming just a year before the centenary of the 1913 Native Land Act, which dispossessed Africans of their property and apportioned 83% of land to whites, Mulder's speech was the crudest form of denialism about South Africa's evil past. He drove a sharp knife into the belly of black South Africans and rubbished one of their the most painful moments. This is what he said: "Africans in particular never in the past lived in the whole of South Africa .... There is sufficient proof that there were no Bantu-speaking people in the Western Cape and northwestern Cape." Translation: Shut up you darkies! We whites were right to mess you up all these decades. The debate about land reform is an important one and one which needs emotions taken out. This son of peasants has previously written in this space that our country is wasting time, money and energy trying to get an urban-inclined population to love the land. Just observe the hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land that lie fallow. So why would you want to interfere with commercial farming in order to satisfy a mythical desire for agricultural land? But that is beside the point. And it was certainly not Mulder's point. The point Mulder was making was that the past was not that bad. This is a sentiment that, unfortunately, is held by a lot of white South Africans. Every day a steak knife is driven into hearts of black South Africans by the denialism of their fellow citizens. This denialism takes the form of (supposed) ignorance about the sins of the past, dismissal of the past and straightforward racism. Just the other day there was a horrible racist incident that hardly raised an eyebrow because such things happen all the time. Liz Hleza, a Virgin Active gym member, was racially abused by a white man because she kept shouting "yebo" during her exercises. (OK, I sympathise with the white dude on that score ). Hleza told The Star newspaper that the man had gone into racist overdrive and called her a kaffir . "He also told me that I was born walking on four legs with a tail, and I should go back to the bushes where I belong and make that noise there." Even after they had gone to the manager's office, he was unrepentant.
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"He said 'You bloody kaffir, you are a cockroach and next time I come to the gym I will bring Doom to spray you with.'" This was a particularly aggressive racist who mouthed what he believed. There are many like him who say such words to black South Africans. But the vast majority practise their racism subtly in the way they treat and speak to blacks they come across. Speak to any black person on any given day and they will relate a story of a racist incident they or a person close to them has experienced in the previous seven days. This is not because they are sensitive beings; it is a reality of our country 17 years after the diminutive archbishop told the world we were the "rainbow people of God". His aspirational message was not wrong at all. He was saying we could become that if we put our minds to it. In order to get there, however, white South Africans will have to recognise that apartheid was no joke. It was real and painful. No apology is required. Just an acceptance of the depth of the evil that their countrymen and -women were subjected to.
22 February 2012 The Times Page 1 Nashira Davids
'We want out of SA'

A South African family is desperate to remain in the US, its members claiming they cannot return home because, as Afrikaners, they will be subject to racial discrimination. The family's legal representative has been contacting US academics in a bid to get a scholarly opinion that would bolster the asylum application. The family, described by the law firm as "white Afrikaner farmers", is among dozens of South Africans who, over the past decade, have applied for asylum abroad for a range of reasons, including fear of persecution and violent crime. Some of the applications have been successful. When contacted for comment, the family's lawyer, Rehim Babaoglu, said the family was too afraid to be identified. "They were shocked to hear that a reporter was seeking information and they have no comment. They definitely don't want to participate because of privacy and safety concerns," said Babaoglu. But Professor Mark Behr, of Rhodes College, in Memphis, Tennessee, and Dr Dennis Laumann, of the University of Memphis, have rejected requests that they help the family.
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"I am not interested in assisting Afrikaners claiming discrimination in a non-racial, democratic, post-apartheid South Africa," wrote Laumann. "In my scholarly opinion, there is absolutely no basis for their allegation - whatever evidence they may present." Behr - who is an award-winning South African author - said he did not believe the law firm would find "any fair-minded scholar" to support the family. "If the people your firm seeks to represent are in any way victims of racism, it is, sadly, only a racism of their own making, in their own minds. "Let me add, too, that I speak as a white Afrikaner, from a family of farmers, people who themselves lost farms they owned in Africa, and with my own profound empathy for all people who live off the land in South Africa," replied Behr. But the family is not alone in attempting to flee post-apartheid South Africa: According to latest statistics from the US Department of Homeland Security, about 129 South Africans were granted asylum between 2001 and 2010; Immigration New Zealand's general manager for settlement, protection and attraction, Stephen Dunstan, said 48 South Africans had applied for refugee status since 2006. All were rejected; and Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees received nine applications for asylum between 2009 and 2011. Russell Kaplan, the lawyer for South African Brandon Huntley, who is still fighting for refugee status in Canada, said the trend was growing. "My office is involved in other South African claims - I prefer not to say how many - and I continue to speak to many white South Africans every month who report increasing fear for themselves and their families," Kaplan said. Gary Eisenberg, who specialises in immigration law, said that, though the topic was complex, he believed that many applicants had a valid case. "There exist, for instance, entry quotas for whites at universities, and BEE policies restricting the hiring of white candidates in the private sector," said Eisenberg. "If these measures could be interpreted to be state-sponsored or supported discrimination based on colour or race classification, for example, then a well-founded case of discrimination on those facts could be made in terms of the asylum rules of Western countries, such as the UK, Canada and the US." But Eisenberg said it would be difficult for someone to apply for asylum on the basis that he felt that the state supported or sponsored the high levels of crime in the country.
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Adriana Stuijt, a retired Dutch-born journalist who worked in South Africa, estimates that there are almost 800 South Africans living as refugees around the world. Stuijt has a blog that monitors the number of refugees and is a member of the Afrikaner Rescue Action Fund, which was started in the Netherlands to help poor Afrikaner communities. "The latest case, a South African Afrikaans-speaking man of German descent, is in north Germany. He applied three months ago. He fled because of many violent incidents and threats to his life," said Stuijt. "The latest group of asylum-seekers, from 2011 and 2012, I find are often Afrikaner individuals or families, most of them from farming regions. "Some are sponsored by US families and religious communities and are still in the asylum process in several states." AfriForum's deputy CEO, Ernst Roets, said that though the organisation did not encourage South Africans to leave the country, the crisis on the farms has left many with no alternative . Roets said San Pedro Sula, Honduras, has the highest murder rate in the world - 159 murders per 100000 inhabitants. "In South Africa, to be a farmer, the murder rate is more than 300 per 100000, according to criminologists," said Roets. "What encourages people to ask for refugee status is the fact that our government is not taking real steps to address the issue.'' Just this week, a dairy farmer was killed and his wife badly injured in Buffelshoek, North West. Roets travelled to Geneva in December to address the UN Human Rights Council on the crisis on South African farms. He said the biggest concern was that a minority group was being targeted. His intention, he said, was to create awareness and put pressure on the government to "take this more seriously". But Lucy Holborn, research manager at the SA Institute of Race Relations, said statistics did not back up arguments that, by virtue of being a minority group, Afrikaners were more likely to be crime targets. "The majority of victims of crime in South Africa are black . I often argue that crime is the one thing that cuts across all race groups," said Holborn. She said there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that crime in farming communities was racially motivated.
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Dave Steward, executive director of the FW de Klerk Foundation, said South Africa, despite "some threats" to basic human rights, such as the Protection of State Information Bill, was a long way from being in a situation where people should be seeking asylum. "The situation on the farms [is] fairly critical but whether that is a result of government activity - often the requirement for political asylum - is another matter." Yesterday, Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said it was impossible to say how many South Africans made asylum or refugee applications.
19 February 2012 Sunday Times Page 1 Caiphus Kgosana and Sibusiso Ngalwa
Con court 'review' soon

The government will announce the terms of a formal study of the "transformative nature of jurisprudence" by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, following remarks by President Jacob Zuma that the court's powers should be reviewed. Justice Minister Jeff Radebe is expected to elaborate on the process, which the cabinet said would be conducted by a "reputable research institution". His spokesman, Tlali Tlali, said the announcement would provide a "better understanding" of what the government envisages in its review. Radebe told the Sunday Times last year that there was a "wrong perception" that had been created that the government wanted to use the review to assess judges. "The exercise is with a view to assess the transformative nature of jurisprudence from the highest court in the land in promoting an equal, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society envisioned by the constitution within the context of a developmental state. This exercise is not unusual, but occurs all the time," said Radebe. But senior commentators have raised concerns about the move, saying that it might be an attempt by the ANC government to muzzle the judiciary. Professor of public law at the University of Cape Town Hugh Corder said the government had not given any concrete motivation for the review. "Nothing has been said ... what is the motivation for this review? I think there are many political signs from people in government that they are pursuing this argument that somehow the constitution and the courts are an obstacle to transformation. In my view, that allegation is completely without foundation," said Corder.
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He said he had no problem with parliament conducting such a review, but was sceptical of the cabinet's motives. ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga said this week that a review of the constitution was not unheard of in a democracy. This was after Zuma had told Independent Newspapers in an interview that there was a need to review the Constitutional Court's powers. He also questioned the logic of minority judgements - a common practice in law arguing that this weakened the final decision taken. "How could you say that [the] judgment is absolutely correct when the judges themselves have different views about it?" His office later clarified his comments. "We don't want to review the Constitutional Court; we want to review its powers." But Corder argued that it would be "incredibly unhealthy" if judges agreed on everything. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said last year that the courts were hostile to the executive. "My view is that there is a great deal of hostility that comes through from the judiciary towards the executive and parliament towards the positions taken by the latter two institutions. Unless this issue is addressed deliberately, it's going to cause instability. It undermines the other arms of government, and this could cause instability," he said. ANC NEC member Ngoako Ramatlhodi later described the constitution as a "compromise" in favour of forces that were opposed to change. "In this regard, a point needs to be made that a constitution can either be progressive or reactionary, depending on the balance of forces in the society it governs. In our case, the black majority enjoys empty political power, while forces against change reign supreme in the economy, judiciary, public opinion and civil society," he said. 20 February 2012 The New Age Warren Mabona
Juju expulsion certain

The political career of suspended ANC Youth League president Julius Malema might be heading for the scrap heap, following speculation of his expulsion from the ANC. The speculation became rife after Malema appeared before the ANCs national disciplinary committee (NDC) hearing on Thursday.
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A source close to senior ANC leaders told The New Age yesterday that Malema shot himself in the foot by publicly attacking the partys top brass following his five-year suspension late last year. According to the source, ANC bigwigs were left with no other option but to cut ties with the youth league leader. I can tell you that Malemas association with the ANC is now history, the source said. Maybe he would have had his suspension lessened if he did not persist with insulting the ANC leaders. Malema and his fellow youth leaders were suspended by the ANC last year for bringing the organisation into disrepute and sowing divisions in its ranks. They appeared before the NDC seeking mitigation of their various sentences. During the course of the disciplinary action processes, Malema had publicly attacked several ANC leaders, including President Jacob Zuma. In one of his outbursts, he alleged that he suspended because certain leaders wanted to settle political scores. If the speculation is anything to go by, Malema will automatically be stripped of all his powers as youth league president and be lost to the formal structures of the ANC. This would further mean Malemas detractors within the ruling party, especially the Seshego anti-Malema faction in Limpopo, will soon pop champagne corks to celebrate when the news of his demise becomes public knowledge. The expulsion will be a big blow for the embattled youth leader as he was looking forward to garnering support for his allies within the ANC ahead of the upcoming Mangaung elective conference at the end of this year. Malema and his faction are lobbying for the support to oust ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and are also intent on putting Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in the partys presidential seat occupied by Zuma. ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza poured cold water on speculation of Malemas dismissal. No, thats not true. I do not know where these rumours come from. If Malema was expelled, the NDC panel would know about it, but they dont know. Khoza could not reveal the day on which the NDC would announce its decision on the hearing. The panel was still deliberating on the matter and would make their announcement in due course, he said. 10 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Sharda Naidoo
Nationalisation out, nationalism in
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Get ready for resource nationalism: the state and ruling ANC are rigorously debating proposals that could force a radical shake-up of the country's $2.5-trillion non-energy mineral wealth. The broad strokes of the reforms, presented in the ANC's 600-page draft "State Intervention in Minerals Sector" report, call for, among others, supertaxes on the mining industry that could be ring-fenced into various investment vehicles and sovereign funds. With the world in a state of economic flux and sovereign debt spiralling, countries around the globe are under great pressure to reduce their borrowings. The idea is: Why fund the economy on debt when you can fund it with taxes? Although the taxes have been flayed by mining executives as intrusive, a disincentive for investment and another regulatory burden, they could be a good method of propping up the fiscus and developing the infrastructure and skills needed to grow the struggling sector. The question is whether the plan can be implemented, considering the many infrastructure and skills constraints, political factionalism and the disconnect between the public and private sectors. One of the biggest moves is the plan by the state to consolidate, or take, majority control over South Africa's key manufacturing input minerals under a state mining company, a model adopted in many of the 14 countries from which the ANC is drawing lessons. The plan is for development finance institutions, such the Industrial Development Corporation, Public Investment Corporation and National Empowerment Fund, to join forces with mining trade unions and pool their pension funds in a special-purpose vehicle that can be used to increase stakes in listed companies. State to intervene in Sasol The ANC report lists Sasol in particular for state intervention. It has products that feed into almost every manufacturing sector. The report calls for trade federation Cosatu to consider using its influence over its fund managers, which invest members' pension funds, and partners to increase the state's 26% stake in Sasol to one of majority control. That way the state and the labour movement could exert more influence on mine management. All this will be managed and governed through a super-ministry merging five departments. Price penalties will also be attached to licensing conditions: companies such as Sasol and ArcelorMittal South Africa, which continue to charge predatory prices, could have their mining rights revoked. "The second most important feedstock into manufacturing is polymers, which are sold by Sasol into the local market at monopoly prices," says the report. "Mining licences should obligate local sales at 'cost plus'." Local customers must likewise be obliged to apply export parity pricing to their products." The bigger picture is about getting competitive input prices in the economy to stimulate job creation, as pronounced in South Africa's various industrial policies.
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Figures released this week put the country's unemployment rate at 23.9%, whereas the new growth path is targeting five million jobs by 2020. The ANC report estimated that between 400 000 and one million jobs could be created over two to five years through the mooted interventions. Although nationalisation of the land-grab style is discouraged in the report, the state will apply a heavy hand to all strategic mineral assets that feed into downstream job-creating sectors such as manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and agriculture. Targeted for intervention are the producers of steel, polymers, base metals, coal, gas, uranium, nitrogen, cement, copper, platinum group metals, chromium, manganese, phosphates, zinc and potassium. The state is already putting this plan in motion. The third most important mineral feedstock into manufacturing is copper. It is also an important feedstock into infrastructure (construction and power). The report says copper should also be declared a strategic mineral with competitive pricing mining-licence conditions. The main producer is Phalaborwa, owned by Rio Tinto and Anglo. The Industrial Development Corporation has put in a bid to purchase it and if successful, the ANC says, the economic development ministry should instruct the corporation to sell into the local market at a competitive export parity price. "However, our main copper reserves are in the PGM reefs (a co-product) of the Bushveld Complex and the platinum group metals mining licences should stipulate sales into the local market at competitive prices," said the ANC report. The plan, parts of which have been leaked to the media, still needs to be debated and vetted at the ANC's policy and elective conferences, respectively in June and December. Although the treasury still needs to scrutinise the fiscal interventions, on the table is a windfall tax or resources rent tax of 50% on superprofits (defined as a return on investment of 22%), a 50% tax on the sale of mineral rights, a reduction in royalty tax from 4% to 1% and a rent share of mining rights. The idea is to warehouse the estimated R40-billion a year earned from the resources rent tax into a sovereign wealth fund that could be used, in part, to develop infrastructure, skills and geo-knowledge. A resources rent tax, similar to the Australian model, is regarded as progressive because it is a tax on exceptional profit -- it kicks in only after the normal average profit is recorded. If managed properly, it could dramatically reduce South Africa's current account deficit. Trevor Manuel, the minister in the presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission, said at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week that it was critical that sensible taxation existed to extract rent from the industry to invest in South Africa's development.
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Although some mining executives bemoaned the idea of supertaxes, saying it would discourage investment and thus job creation, others, such as Anglo American and BHP Billiton, were happier to have the taxes on their plate than a policy of nationalisation. "I believe there is a need for some state intervention that is a constructive partnership between the private sector and government," said an Anglo executive, who did not want to be named. "At least with taxes, there is some policy certainty and we can do our forecasts and modelling for the next 20 years. It does mean, though, that we might not invest as much in capital expansion." The mining industry has been in a state of structural decline. Its contribution to the economy has shrunk from R103-billion in 1993 to R92-billion in 2009 and from 21% of gross domestic product in the 1970s to about 6% now, despite a synchronised commodities boom. Employment has also dropped, from more than 400 000 to just more than 100 000. It is the reason why Manuel believes the trend must be reversed through a state interventionist approach of policy and regulatory certainty, the extraction of rents from the sector, investment in infrastructure, beneficiation and the reduction of mining's impact on the environment Tax changes reflect measures taken in other countries Royalties: The royalties rate varies depending on the earnings before interest, taxation and gross sales. For refined minerals the maximum rate is 5%, and for unrefined it is 7%. Corporate income tax: There is a standard corporate tax rate of 28% and a secondary tax on companies (STC) of 10% is levied on companies. Withholding taxes (WHT): South Africa does not currently apply a WHT on dividends. However, plans are under way to introduce a WHT at a rate of 10% in 2013, which could replace the STC. Capex expensing: Mining companies are eligible for an upfront deduction of all capital expenditure incurred. However, the deduction can be claimed only when the company reaches production stage and is subject to sufficient taxable income. Assessed losses may be carried forward indefinitely as long as the company trades. SOME OF THE NEW PROPOSALS: Resources rent tax (RRT): The idea is that South Africans should get a fair share of resources rent. This is the surplus value or exceptional profits: it is the difference between the price at which a resource can be sold and its extraction costs, including normal returns. Many countries take a part of the resource rents. In oil and gas extraction, the RRT is generally between 50% and 90% of the excess profits. Australia has an RRT of 21%. The ANC is proposing an RRT of 50% that will kick in only when the investor has made a reasonable return, which the researchers believe would not deter investors or have an impact on marginal or low-grade deposits. A "normal" return should be defined as the treasury long bond rate plus 7% (about 15% currently). The tax of 50% would yield about R40-billion a year at current prices. The RRT proceeds should be housed in a sovereign wealth fund to ameliorate the
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strengthening of the rand during commodity booms and could be used to invest in long-term projects and instruments. This ties in with the new growth path proposals to create a sovereign wealth fund. Gold mining tax: The current gold mining formula tax should be combined with corporate income tax plus the RRT. Currently, companies can deduct 100% of much of their capital expenditures against tax. Gold mining companies pay a corporation tax rate calculated according to a formula that keeps remittances to the government low. Mineral royalties tax: The researchers believe royalties on mineral production (turnover, revenue or sales) add to costs and increase the cut-off grade. Once the RRT is in place, the royalty rate should be cut to 1% of revenue (about R4-billion a year) to enhance optimal resource extraction. Mineral foreign shareholding withholding tax: This is proposed to encourage direct investment from a company's primary listing country. If the foreign mining company is held in a tax haven (as determined annually by the minister of finance) the rate should be 30%. If not, the normal rate of 10% should apply. Brazil has a similar system to discourage investments from tax havens. Carbon tax: The report suggests that a carbon tax, as proposed by the treasury, could be "extremely damaging" to the economy and should be put on hold. "It could also potentially render many energy-intensive beneficiation operations unviable." It is proposed that a carbon tax, which it is estimated could bring in about R80-billion a year, be reconfigured, possibly by having a higher RRT (above 50%) linked to carbon emissions and should also include a realistic basket of supply-and-demand side measures to reduce national carbon emissions. 17 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Stefaans BruMmer
Texas oilman is at it again -- now with Zuma

A Nigerian-American oilman, who has become a major backer of President Jacob Zuma, paid R50-million to a wanted Congolese warlord in an illegal gold deal, according to the United Nations. A UN expert group monitoring compliance with arms sanctions in the Democratic Republic of Congo has identified Kase Lawal, who heads the second-largest blackowned business in the United States, as the financier of the deal. Lawal persisted with the deal even after being told the warlord was the seller, the panel has claimed. But the transaction imploded last February when security agents in the eastern DRC arrested Lawal's half-brother and some associates, confiscating the gold they had just bought. Lawal and Camac, the oil and gas group he heads, tried to distance
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themselves from the events at the time, suggesting it was really one of the associates' deals. It was just seven months later, in September last year, that Lawal took pride of place next to Zuma in Houston when Lawal's alma mater, the Texas Southern University, awarded Zuma an honorary doctorate. Lawal appears to hold some sway at the university -- he became its largest alumnus donor in 2009 by pledging $1-million, after which he, too, received an honorary doctorate. At Zuma's award ceremony a partnership was announced between Camac and Zuma's charitable foundation, the Jacob G Zuma RDP Education Trust, in terms of which the company would sponsor beneficiaries of the trust to study at Texas Southern and another Houston university. That, the trust confirmed to the Mail & Guardian, came on top of a five-year, R1-million-a-year Camac endowment to the trust, effective from 2010. Zuma founded the trust in the 1990s when he was a KwaZulu-Natal MEC. The trust's website says it is supporting 1 200 young people to get an education. Past scandals Zuma's public association with Lawal has raised some eyebrows. At the time of the ceremony in September, Lawal and Camac were already suspected of involvement in the DRC gold affair. But that was not Lawal's first brush with notoriety. Earlier, he had been implicated in a spectacular fraud in his native Nigeria, where he and others allegedly conspired to "steal" an oil block and pump millions of barrels of oil from it. Despite protracted legal proceedings in Nigeria, Lawal was never prosecuted and has consistently denied the allegations. In 2003 the Mail & Guardian revealed how Lawal, after becoming close to former president Thabo Mbeki, benefited from "what appears to be a fraud on the South African and Nigerian public". In that deal Camac had set up a local subsidiary, the "South African Oil Company", with a group of individuals connected to the ANC. Mbeki wrote to his then-counterpart in Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, supporting the company's request for "a long-term crude oil contract for the Republic of South Africa". The company got substantial oil allocations at discounted "government-togovernment" rates. But neither the oil nor the profit came to South Africa -- it went offshore to a mirror "South African Oil Company" registered in the Cayman Islands, where a mystery coowner shared the proceeds with Camac. Even Zuma, deputy president at the time, appeared unaware of the facts. In a parliamentary debate he hailed "South Africa's crude oil allocation".
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Lawal's lawyers denied impropriety, claiming the allocations were never meant for South Africa. The presidency at the time claimed that Mbeki had no duty to check up after helping the company get the allocations. Said an aide: "What happens after is a different matter ... it is not the responsibility of the president to investigate." DRC deal The UN group of experts' report, released in December, puts Lawal at the centre of the DRC gold deal, saying he financed the purchase using Camac funds. The transaction was set up in late 2010 when Dikembe Mutombo, a Congolese basketball hero formerly with the Houston Rockets, introduced Lawal to the opportunity to buy 475kg of gold supposedly held in Kenya. Lawal roped in diamond trader Carlos St Mary to help. The three men would split the estimated $10-million profit (about R75-million now). In Kenya, St Mary was introduced to one Eddie Malonga, who was presented as the owner of the gold. However, after $4.8-million was paid to him, Malonga disappeared. When he resurfaced, he proposed completing the transaction in the lawless eastern DRC town of Goma. At the time there was a ban decreed by President Joseph Kabila on all precious mineral exports from the eastern DRC, in an attempt to stop the financing of arms smuggling and destabilisation. On February 3 last year Lawal sent Mukaila Lawal, his half-brother and Camac's vice-president in Nigeria, to Goma with the remainder of the purchase price -- $6.8million (R50-million), according to reports -- in cash. Mukaila Lawal was accompanied by another Camac employee and St Mary on a Camac Gulfstream jet. In Goma they were introduced to General Bosco Ntaganda as the true owner of the gold. Ntaganda, a rebel warlord who had switched sides to Kabila and then built himself a new power base in Kabila's notoriously fractious military, goes by the alias "Terminator". Ntaganda has been wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2006 for war crimes relating to the use of child soldiers and was slapped with a travel ban and asset freeze by the UN Security Council the following year for violating the DRC arms embargo. He and his troops have been linked to ethnic massacres, torture and rape. The UN group says St Mary told it that both he and Mukaila Lawal had told Kase Lawal about Ntaganda's ownership of the gold. "Nevertheless, Lawal was concerned only to the extent that this presented another twist in the already convoluted deal, but also appeared relieved to finally be engaging directly with the true owner of the gold." The cash was handed over in two bags -- one upfront to Ntaganda, who personally counted it, and the second the next day to one of Ntaganda's men after 25 metal boxes said to contain the gold were loaded on the Camac jet. Immediately afterwards, a different faction of the security forces, led by a presidential security adviser, arrested St Mary and the Camac men, taking the gold.
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The three, according to the UN report, were charged with money laundering and illegal transport of a banned material, but were released seven weeks later, when Camacs Kinshasa representative "officially paid" $3-million in fines. However, the report cites St Mary saying that Lawal later confessed to him "that he had lost a total of $30-million as a result of the whole ordeal, including transport fees, fines, bribes and the payments made on the gold purchase". Camac declined a request to co-operate with the UN investigation but said in a statement this week: "Camac is a law-abiding company We are enormously proud of the work we do, and of the wide range of charitable causes we support. We dispute many of the allegations and statements made in that small portion of the recent UN report that mentions Camac and the incident in the Congo, most especially those that allege a connection between Camac and Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted for war crimes. We join with the world community in condemning his actions and await the day when he can be brought to justice. "In addition Dr Kase Lawal and Camac deny that Camac funds were a part of any illegal payment. It is important to remember that the Congolese government filed no charges and that neither Camac nor Dr Lawal have made any admission of wrongdoing." Camac also trumpeted its work "to improve the lives of those in the African community", saying it was pleased to continue its partnership "with the many who know of the character and integrity we represent", including the Zuma education trust. Zuma trust responds The presidency referred questions to the Zuma education trust, which maintained that the United Nations allegations against Kase Lawal remained untested: "They are allegations and would remain as such until proven otherwise through a legal process." The trust also suggested that there was no reason to doubt Lawal's integrity as he "has served, in an advisory capacity, various United States presidents including the incumbent. As you would know, the United States of America has one of the most advanced democracies globally. Anyone serving the presidency has to go through a rigorous vetting process." As for President Jacob Zuma's honorary doctorate from Lawal's alma mater, the trust said Zuma "was invited to Houston by the president and council of Texas Southern University, and not by Dr Lawal" and that government structures would have performed the necessary check regarding the integrity of the "institutions to be visited". The trust confirmed that it and Lawal's company, Camac, signed a memorandum of understanding in 2010 to collaborate in the education of, especially, young rural people. Camac had already donated R2-million of five annual grants of R1-miillion each.
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The trust also said its "strategy and objectives are not based on rumours, allegations and innuendoes, but rather, they are based on the realities faced by underprivileged young people in the rural areas of South Africa". The players: Power broker, sports star, gems dealer and warlord The oilman Kase Lawal's schmoozing of Jacob Zuma is consistent with his business model, which appears to be based on access to power. He served on former US president Bill Clinton's Africa trade advisory committee, did fundraising for Hillary Clinton in her failed bid for the US presidency and was appointed by President Barack Obama to a key trade policy committee in 2010. In his native Nigeria, Lawal's fortunes have depended on who was in power. During much of Olusegun Obasanjo's 1999-2007 rule he was a wanted man who had allegedly conspired to forge papers to win offshore drilling approvals and illegally pump more than 10-million barrels of crude -- charges he has consistently denied. In 2008, the year after Umaru Yar'Adua replaced Obasanjo, Lawal hosted the new president's wife in Houston in spite of his "fugitive" status, then still in place. Around that time Lawal's company, Camac, scooped new oil allocations from Nigeria's national oil company. Two years later, when President Goodluck Jonathan took over from Yar'Adua in an acting capacity, he appointed Lawal to a 26-member presidential advisory council to assist him. Camac's website boasts pictures of Thabo Mbeki, then South Africa's deputy president, with Lawal in 1996. By 1997 Lawal was vice-chair of a company in the African Renaissance group, which comprised businesspeople regarded as particularly close to Mbeki. The basketball star Until the gold scam hit the headlines, Dikembe Mutombo, the former Houston Rockets basketball all-star, was known simply as one of the best players in National Basketball Association history. He was known as much for his signature finger wag (which he used to scold his opponents on the court) as for his humanitarian work. Born in 1966 in Kinshasa, the 2.18m-tall Mutombo arrived at Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1987 on a pre-med scholarship. The school's basketball coach soon lured him to the team. The Washington Post reported that by the time he retired in 2009 he had brought in more than $100-million over his two-decade career. Now Mutombo appears to be the mastermind of the gold deal, meeting with Lawal and diamond dealer Carlos St Mary in a New York hotel in December 2010. The Houston Chronicle reported that one of Mutombo's nephews was also on the aeroplane in Goma. But instead of being arrested with the others, he left the airport with soldiers. Mutombo declined to comment. The diamond dealer
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Houston diamond dealer Carlos St Mary appears central to information gathering for the UN report. The Houston Chronicle -- which has been following the story since St Mary's arrest in Goma in February 2011, where he was detained for almost two months -- quoted him thus earlier this week: "I'm not sure what [happened] but this was a calculated, devious plan." But the newspaper's earlier reports indicate that St Mary is hardly an innocent victim. They reported in 2011 that the 41-year-old married father of two, who was a cadet at the prestigious West Point military academy, has been involved in dodgy deals in the past. The paper detailed a 2008 deposition from a lawsuit brought by Houston investors he had failed to repay in which St Mary "explained why he no longer had the $700 000 three investors had given him, or the diamonds the money was supposed to pay for". Meanwhile, an Arizona loan agent claimed that St Mary cheated him, too. The agent sued and was awarded a default judgment of $1.4-million by a Texas court. The warlord From his base in the lawless eastern DRC Bosco Ntaganda became the recipient of millions of dollars in the gold deal that never happened, according to the UN report -in a country where dozens of multinationals were implicated by the UN for their dealings with warlords like Ntaganda, who are paid to smuggle natural resources. Some believe Ntaganda was in on an elaborate plan to knock the buyers. St Mary told the Guardian earlier this month that Ntaganda was on the phone with President Joseph Kabila after the arrest. "They were arguing over how to split the cash." Though Ntaganda is wanted by the International Criminal Court for using child soldiers in the early 2000s when he was head of the rebel army, he lives openly in Goma and has worn the government's uniform ever since a peace deal merged the rebel army with the national army in 2009. 10 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Faranaaz Parker
Zuma unleashes SIU on fraud, corruption at Eskom

Over the next three years, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) will investigate Eskom's operations for evidence of corruption, fraud or maladministration, by proclamation of the presidency. Key areas of focus identified by the SIU's initial assessment are Eskom's coal procurement and transport services, as well as undisclosed interests held in companies doing business with the parastatal. The intervention is being made at Eskom's request.
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"Eskom came to us -- they took the initiative and requested the intervention," said SIU spokesperson Marika Muller. According to Muller, Eskom is the first stateowned enterprise to request such an intervention. While not unheard of -- government departments have in the past made similar requests -- the request is not common. After making its initial assessment, and in line with the legislation that governs the way the SIU operates, the unit reported back to the justice ministry and president and recommended that the president authorise a proclamation that would allow it to proceed with a full investigation. The proclamation was authorised on Tuesday. It empowers the SIU to use a range of special powers, including ordering people to cooperate with its investigations by producing specific evidence or appearing before the SIU to answer questions under oath. A team of SIU investigators will work with Eskom's in-house forensic team to conduct a systematic check of all Eskom divisions. Any criminality uncovered will be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Police Service. Eskom announced its partnership with the SIU in March last year. At the time, Eskom's chief executive, Brian Dames, said: "We have made it a strategic imperative that Eskom must be a high-performance organisation. Our partnership with the SIU will help us to achieve that." Dames said the move was part of a drive towards greater efficiency and transparency, and that the initiative was in line with Eskom's commitment to stamping out corruption and strengthening governance. He said appropriate action, including criminal prosecution, would be taken should corrupt activities be uncovered. Chris Yelland, managing director of industry publications company EE Publishers, endorsed the move. "The bottom line is that Eskom can't lose by going into this," he said. "They're taking a proactive stance against corruption even if it is within their own ranks. If something suspicious is found, they'll deal with it which is exactly what the public wants to hear." In recent years Eskom has suffered an onslaught of setbacks including a power crisis and a series of rolling blackouts; a breakdown in trust between its board, former chairperson Bobby Godsell and former CEO Jacob Maroga; a poor relationship with the media and the public; allegations that its coal procurement processes were in shambles and its coal division in a near state of collapse; a conflict of interest in a multibillion-rand tender deal involving the ANC's investment arm Chancellor House; a major accident at the Duvha power plant which threatened the power supply.
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The parastatal has seen something of a turnaround since Dames took over as CEO in mid-2010 and although questions still remain about Eskom's ability to keep the lights burning, there has been during his tenure a greater emphasis on communicating regularly with the public. 15 February 2012 Business Day Page 8 Editorial
Does ANC elite get the constitution?

What, precisely, is the Cabinet-initiated "assessment of the impact of the judgments of the Constitutional Court on the transformation of society" intended to achieve? This was not articulated at the time of its announcement in November, and every subsequent official reference to it has muddied the waters further. The Presidencys most recent statement on the matter, released earlier in the week in response to a public outcry over President Jacob Zuma s suggestion in a newspaper interview that the courts powers be reviewed, and that split judgments are somehow illegitimate, was so muddled as to allow for only two possible conclusions: either Mr Zuma and his executive are being deliberately obtuse to obscure their real intentions and attitude towards the independence of the judiciary, the doctrine of the separation of powers and the supremacy of the constitution, or the Presidency is in desperate need of advice from an experienced constitutional lawyer. The latter possibility that Mr Zuma simply does not "get" the constitutional democracy concept and has failed to surround himself with people who do cannot be excluded, despite the fact that the political party he heads was the primary driver of the process that led to the writing of the constitution. That internationally acclaimed documents main authors were, and remain, sympathetic towards the freedom struggle and the African National Congresss (ANCs) stated goal of transforming SA politically, economically and socially to shed the vestiges of apartheid. There is therefore no shortage of constitutional experts in the tripartite alliance who would be happy to provide guidance on such matters, yet senior party leaders keep making statements that appear to question the core principles on which our democracy is based, and the executive keeps acting in ways that leave the Constitutional Court no choice but to overturn its decisions. The utterances of senior ANC members suggest the party longs for a system where Parliament is supreme and the courts merely interpret the laws it passes. Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has complained that SA is becoming a "judicial dictatorship", Deputy Correctional Services Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi describes the constitution as a "compromise tilted heavily in favour of forces against change". ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has objected to an unelected judiciary being empowered to set aside the policy choices of a democratically elected government.
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Last year, Mr Zuma declared that the governments view was "that the executive has the sole discretion to decide policies for the government" and issued a veiled warning that the judiciary should not consider itself the "superior" arm of the state. And now he has gone on to suggest that the Constitutional Courts powers should be reviewed, because in the opinion of the executive dissenting judgments sometimes have "more logic" than those of the majority. This amounts to a fundamental contradiction of the founding philosophy of our democracy, which ditched the Parliament-supreme apartheid model to embrace a system of checks and balances on the powers and responsibilities of the state by sharing them between the executive, legislature and courts and mandating the Constitutional Court to adjudicate any conflict. The more the Presidency tries to justify its politically loaded "assessment" of the courts record on transformation, the more it exposes the flaws in its criticism of the judiciary. The suggestion that the exercise will "not only assist in developing valuebased solutions to address the legacy of the past but will contribute in shaping our evolving constitutional jurisprudence" is meaningless waffle on the face of it, but has ominous undertones. Constitutional jurisprudence is shaped by the decisions of the court over time; the executive has no business trying to muscle in on the process. 15 February 2012 Business Day Page 1 Linda Ensor
SAA needs extra R6bn from state as costs bite

South African Airways (SAA) has warned it would post a loss this financial year and said it was in talks with the government for a recapitalisation of about R4bn-R6bn to fund operational costs, its growth strategy and fleet renewal. The injection of state funds would be in addition to the R1,3bn subordinated loan SAA already has from the government, and the R1,6bn "going concern" guarantee it obtained to underpin its cash requirements after the auditor-general raised concern last year about its ability to generate sufficient cash to fund operations. "This year we will have to go through the same process and the guarantee required will probably be higher," SAA chief financial officer Wolf Meyer told Parliaments public enterprises committee yesterday. SAAs weak balance sheet would also have to be addressed if it was to finance its future growth and fleet renewal, as its debt to equity ratio was "high", Mr Meyer said. The funds it needed depended on the growth strategy adopted. The form the aid would take was still under discussion. Mr Meyer confirmed in an interview that the airline "would probably be in a loss situation" in the 2011-12 financial year to end-March. This is an indication of the
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soaring operating costs after it reported a net profit of R782m for the year to endMarch 2011 and a R442m profit the previous year. SAA chairwoman Cheryl Carolus insisted in Parliament yesterday that the R4bnR6bn required was not a bail-out for mismanagement or for "going wild", but to fund SAAs future growth. She urged that this injection be seen as part of SAs infrastructure expansion programme and dealt with in the same manner as Transnet, which is undertaking infrastructure expenditure of more than R100bn. The Department of Public Enterprises deputy director-general responsible for transport, Raisibe Lepule, said yesterday it was "fully behind" SAAs request. The department believed SAA needed to be an appropriately capitalised airline, and one able to deliver on its growth strategy. Ms Carolus said SAAs capacity to generate its own cash had been decimated by the soaring fuel price, which had taken a "huge whack" out of operating profit. The weak and volatile rand had also had a significant effect, she said. The trading context was "very tough". SAA CEO Siza Mzimela said it was "sad" that high fuel costs had "completely" wiped out the strong gains SAA had made in growing revenue and passenger numbers and expanding its route network. The Durban to Cape Town route, which previously had made a loss of about R90m for both SAA and Mango, had become profitable in the last three months. As part of its future growth strategy SAA would like to increase its three times a week direct flight to Beijing to a daily service connecting Latin America and Asia. Expanding African routes would also be a priority. On the fleet renewal programme, Mr Meyer said SAA was looking to take delivery of 20 narrow-bodied Airbus A320 for its domestic routes between next year and 2017. It also needed to start planning for the replacement of the wide-bodied international fleet for delivery from 2017-18. Ms Mzimela reported that baggage pilferage had improved significantly since all role players such as Airports Company SA and ground-handling operators implemented "Project Zero". The rate of reported pilferage at OR Tambo International Airport had fallen from 0,76 incidents per 1000 passengers in July to 0,35 in December and there had been multiple arrests and suspensions at the airport. State-owned airline SA Express could also be facing losses this year. CEO Inati Ntshanga said yesterday the airlines fuel costs were R100m over budget and operational costs were beginning to exceed revenue.
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A profit of R127m had been budgeted, compared with last years R51m bottom-line profit. Whether this materialised or not, or whether SA Express reported a loss, would depend on how its auditors decided to deal with R32m in nonrecoverable value-added tax claims accounted for as trade receivables and in what year the amount had been written off. These unaccounted-for debts, brought to light by a whistle-blower in September last year, meant that SA Express would have to withdraw and restate its 2011 financial statements, Mr Ntshanga told the public enterprises committee members. Restatements for 2009 and 2008 might also be necessary, he said. Committee members said they were enraged that Parliament had been "misled" about the figures. SA Express chairwoman Lilian Boyle said that "we were all misled" and questioned the role of the auditors in the saga as s ome of the anomalies had dated as far back as 2006. Matsotso Vuso, head of the SA Express audit and risk committee, said the amounts concerned fell below the materiality threshold applied by its auditors.
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14 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Karl Gernetzky
African languages not making grade

Raising indigenous African languages to equitable status with English in education is an economically and politically expensive proposition but SA has a clear precedent in the elevation of Afrikaans. The latest South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) survey has confirmed the declining status for African languages in teaching, with the report indicating that 60% of pupils choose English despite it being spoken as a first language by only 7% of them. Less than a quarter of pupils who speak Ndebele, Sotho or Tsonga as their home language actually choose to learn in their mother tongues, according to the survey. SAIRR researcher Jonathan Snyman says the research indicates that the preference for English starts "very early on", in the foundation level of grades 1-3. This preference is despite the proportion of grade 1 pupils learning in their home language at this level increasing from 55% in 1998, to more than 80% today, in line with the Department of Basic Educations recognition that children should be taught in the language they know best for as long as possible. By matric, however, 92% of pupils will be learning in English or Afrikaans, and many experts say that part of the reason for SAs poor schooling outcomes is the shift to English pupils face in grade 4, which leads to their never really grasping basic concepts. These pupils often progress through education despite failing or performing poorly as schools seek to avoid the capacity pressure that high levels of grade repetition cause. There is also a rule against failing a pupil more than twice a phase. The head of the University of the Witwatersrands School of Education, Ruksana Osman, says the lack of preference for African language instruction is symptomatic of the view that English competency represented "access" to employment and social opportunities. Even if there was demand for African language schools, the equitable status of African languages with English or Afrikaans still faces challenges, she says. Unlike Afrikaans and English, African languages lack the necessary resources such as literature and textbooks, and many teachers lack the skills to teach adequately in them. The perception that being fluent in a language enables you to teach in it is simply untrue, Prof Osman says. Ultimately, creating a basic education system offering home-language instruction will rely on tertiary institutions with well-developed African language departments.
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The elevation of Afrikaans to a language used in medicine, engineering and postgraduate research was swift, and universities such as Stellenbosch instrumental. However, now formerly Afrikaans-medium universities are moving towards dualmedium language instruction. University of Stellenbosch vice-chancellor Russel Botman says without addressing "migration to English" at the basic education level, it would be "hard to see how SA will evolve into a multilingual society". Prof Botman says Stellenbosch University is committed to offering "multilingual" education in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa as far as is possible by offering "parallel medium" instruction. But in terms of African language components, these are largely in the health and education faculties as these professions often require graduates with African language competence. However, despite this commitment, Stellenbosch faces an increasing prevalence of English at the basic education level, with even traditional Afrikaans "feeder schools" increasingly offering bilingual education, Prof Botman says. The example of Afrikaans shows how necessary "political and financial support" is in the cultural and academic advancement of language, and the decision by tertiary institutions to develop the "mandate and the competence" is a difficult one, he says. Upon taking power in 1948, the National Party government moved to promote Afrikaans in employment, business and education. However, any policy, even if expensive, that gives students the option to continue their education in up to three languages, would be worth it, he says. "Languages are not just for talking to each other," they need the kind of evolution and development reflected by academic status, he says. 14 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Sbu Mjikeliso
Push to shrink ANCs national executive body

The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal wants the partys national executive committee (NEC) to be cut from 88 members to 66, saying this would reduce widespread leaking of information to the media. Provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala yesterday presented resolutions taken at a threeday provincial lekgotla last week, where the province decided to push for a smaller executive committee at the national policy conference in June. The NEC is the ANCs highest decision-making body between conferences.
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Last year ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said media leaks by NEC members were "bleeding the party to death". He also said members often behaved like agents working against the party. Mr Zikalala said reducing the number of NEC members would solve such problems. "Youve got people (in the NEC) who dont represent ANC values, who are handled by the media," he said. "Each and every time you discuss in the NEC, when you go out, they report (to the media). We dont need such characters in the ANC, we need cadres who are committed and loyal to the organisation. "In some cases you learn about the agenda of the NEC before you reach the committee and that means there is a problem. That compromises the integrity of the NEC. " We believe 88 is too much, is a large number; 66 will help to have a manageable number of leaders with integrity. (However), in saying so, we also do not want a tiny NEC that will not be able to carry the programmes of the organisation." Mr Zikalala also took aim at senior party members who engaged in factional leadership tussles. "We want a 66-member NEC which is elected by the ANC membership, not by factional tickets." Independent political analyst Protas Madlala said he could not see how a random reduction in the number of NEC members would reduce the leaking of information or lessen factionalism in the party, especially in the run-up to its elective conference in December. "This decision doesnt make sense. I dont know how increasing or reducing the NEC members will tighten the leaking of information," said Mr Madlala. Mr Zikalala said the provincial lekgotla would push for a database of government officials who were under investigation for corruption. Officials had the "tendency" to resign from their posts while government disciplinary action was still in pro gress. Mr Zikalala called for a ban on rehiring such officials, many of whom emerged as employees in several departments. 14 February 2012 Business Day Page 4 Sarah Wild
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Sixty new research chairs as initiative gathers momentum

Another 60 research chairs would be awarded to tertiary institutions between this financial year and 2013-14, bringing the total to 152, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said yesterday. "The idea of research chairs was to have leading academics at professorial level whose primary activity is to do research and train postgraduate students," Romilla Maharaj, the National Research Foundations (NRFs) executive director : human and institutional capacity development, said. Scientific output is an important part of the Department of Science and Technologys 10-year innovation plan. It aims to develop the countrys knowledge economy to boost economic competitiveness and job creation. According to a report released last year in the South African Journal of Science, titled A Bibliometric Analysis of SAs Scientific Outputs, SAs scientific publications have increased 60% since 1994 but the number of researchers has remained static, signalling the need to develop a new generation of researchers. Since its inception in 2005, the department has invested R1,1bn in the South African Research Chairs Initiative through the NRF. The initiative aimed to "attract and retain excellence in research and innovation in the South African science system", the Department of Science and Technology said yesterday. "The future of our country in the knowledge century depends on our keeping up to date and leading the world in some cases," dean of research at the University of the Western Cape, Prof Renfrew Christie, said yesterday. "The Chinese, Indians, South Koreans are not waiting for us." The initiative "released people who are good researchers" from undergraduate teaching commitments and allowed them to "leap forward" in their research, Prof Christie said. The initiative had "provided a serious jump in original and new output, rather than just churning out little bits of salami-sliced research", Prof Christie said. The research chairs "enable us to make the sorts of new discoveries that will make us a winning nation in the knowledge century". There are now 21 universities hosting research chairs, in disciplines from astronomy to energy and biofuels. The research areas were disciplines that could address SAs social and economic challenges, Dr Maharaj said There are two tiers. First-tier chairs are awarded to researchers who are leaders in their fields or have had substantial international recognition. "The starting award is R2,5m a year, and this includes salary contribution, running expenses, postgraduate bursaries, travel expenses and other things directly related to chair activity," she said.
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The second tier is for "people under the age of 40, to grow the next level of leadership. They have to be established researchers, but do not have to have substantial international recognition." Awards start at R1,5m. Prof Christie emphasised that not all of the award was spent on salaries, but covered other expenses. In fact, Dr Maharaj said chairs salaries were capped at R750000 and "the institution had to top it up to a market-related salary". The goal is to recruit chairs who were not initially based at South African universities. "About 20% of current research chairs were recruited from outside the research sector. We want 60% to be from outside South African universities from science councils or industry in the country, or from abroad," Dr Maharaj said. 14 February 2012 Business Day Page 4 Sue Blaine
SA fares poorly in environmental index

An international index of 132 countries environmental management has revealed a perennial South African problem: poor policy implementation. SA was ranked 128th and last of the 21 sub-Saharan countries surveyed by the US ivy league universities Yale and Columbia, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the European Commissions Joint Centre in their 2012 Environmental Performance Index. "SA is recognised as having some of the most progressive environmental legislation on the planet and yet, as the study shows, the implementation of this legislation seems to be woefully inadequate," Wildlife Society of SA conservation director Garth Barnes said yesterday. He said while the lack of co-operation between government departments was "an issue", it was also important that scientists and nongovernmental organisations came together to aid the governments implementation of environmental laws. Last year, the National Planning Commissions diagnostic report pointed out while "significant progress" had been made since 1994, the transformation of South African society was "far from complete" and "in some areas, constitutional and legal provisions (had) not been fully implemented; (while) in others there (had) been a lack of sustained and effective focus". World Wide Fund for Natures SA CEO, Morn du Plessis, said, however, that the ranking system was skewed towards low greenhouse gas emission and low child mortality, with the two making up almost 50%. Also, the index was more reflective of the present and future than the past, which was why industrialised countries fared far better despite SA "sitting on far superior ecological jewels".
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Its greatest worth, he said, was as a "wake-up call" for the government, and especially the planning commission, which had to ensure its planning fundamentally changed the way in which SAs economy operated. SAs rank put it in a camp with Iran ( 114 ), Russia (132), Azerbaijan (111), Ukraine (102) and Mexico (84), although the grouping was not explained. SA was just ahead of Iraq (125) and Turkmenistan (123), while its Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA, deemed to be on a similar economic trajectory) fellows were ranked 30th (Brazil), 125th (India) and 100th (China). Each country was ranked on 22 performance indicators in 10 policy categories: environmental burden of disease; waters effects on health; air pollutions effects on health and ecosystems; waters effects on ecosystems; biodiversity and habitat; forestry; fisheries; agriculture; and climate change. 14 February 2012 Business Day Page 10 Palesa Morudu
Cape Towns race issue is not black and white

Twitter and Facebook apparently send shivers down the spines of politicians across the world. So when @simphiwedana and @helenzille had a twitter scuffle about racism in the Mother City, I expected an "Occupy Cape Town" movement to swing into action. So far, theres nothing to report. Inspired by the spat between the hard-working but increasingly shrill Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and gifted singer Simphiwe Dana, Sundays City Press ran a big spread about the race question in Cape Town. The newspaper canvassed a crosssection of views across the city. I think the city is fine. It works most of the time and it is beautiful, which is a bonus. Of course, its part of South Africa and that means it has South African problems. I also happen to live in one of the most integrated parts of town a kernel of possibility for the future. While the debate is an important one, the current talk, sadly, appears to me as a quarrel between a growing but still small African middle class that has not yet achieved critical mass in the city and a dominant ruling party in the Western Cape that is seen to represent white privilege. Unfortunately, the debate becomes polarised. Many black professionals are alienated by the cliquish smugness of Cape Town; some Capetonians stick their heads in the sand, ignore uncomfortable realities and say people must just move on. I think these matters are much more complex and a narrow framing of the problem simply makes it harder to find solutions.
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Cape Town is prone to pulling some surprises that dont accord with either of these narrow views. This is, after all, the city where the United Democratic Front (UDF) was born. The UDF gave us a glimpse of a future democratic non-racial and nonsexist South Africa. All of Cape Town found representation in that progressive movement and this tradition continues in some ways even today. Equal Education, for example, organises an annual march to Parliament in support of the "one library, one school" campaign every June 16. On that day, the streets of Cape Town explode in colour as thousands of high school students from both sides of the tracks demand libraries and books in all the schools of Cape Town. The recent march against the noxious Protection of Information Bill organised by the Right2Know campaign was by far the largest and the most integrated of all in the country. So the very presence of this progressive element in Cape Town immediately dislodges a narrow view that Cape Town is a racist city. How else is it possible that progressives are able to draw large numbers of black and white Cape Town residents to unite around progressive issues of national importance ? Cape Town does, however, confront a deep legacy of class and racial divisions. This requires economic changes and, at the level of public debate, should move us away from subjective, knee-jerk views. The divisions have to do with the economic power relations so cleverly illustrated by Adriaan Basson in City Press and the legacy of apartheids jobs reservation, wherein by law, skilled jobs were the preserve of workers apartheid classified as coloured. Economic power, built over generations, remains largely in the hands of white-owned businesses, which dominate commerce. The insidious divisions that apartheid engraved in the consciousness of all South Africans will only fade in time. In the short term, absent a revolution, a focused intervention by business and the government to open up the economy to new entrants, including through genuine affirmative action procurement, and supporting and growing small enterprises, would be a big step. So would expanding training programmes to help people gain skills, become artisans and so on. The Western Cape government will have to address the legacy of jobs reservation genuinely. This is the crux because both the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress have for a long time manipulated this division for short-term narrow electoral gains. This, however, requires leadership, of which there is a national shortage. 14 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Wyndham Hartley
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UK, SA back Arab League plan

Both UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and South African International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane yesterday came out in support of the Arab Leagues peacekeeping proposals for Syria. This came as Syrian leader Bashar al-Assads regime rejected the Arab Leagues proposals for joint Arab and United Nations (UN) peacekeepers to go to Syria. Speaking at a joint press conference, Mr Hague said he and Ms Nkoana-Mashabane had discussed the situation and were agreed in their support for the Arab League position. Both the UK and SA had voted together in the UN Security Council, where Russia and China vetoed a resolution on Syria. Mr Hague said any peacekeepers for Syria should not wear "western boots", while Ms Nkoana-Mashabane said she was deeply concerned about the situation in Syria and urged all parties there to heed the call of the Arab League. In a separate development yesterday, Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier called for the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) to investigate possible weapons sales to Syria. Mr Maynier said while there was no evidence of SA-made weapons being used in Syria, there was a need to be sure South African arms were not being used to suppress protests in Syria. " Evidence emerged in 2009 that South African arms manufacturers were active in Syria." He said a number of contracting permits were issued for grenade launchers and sniper rifles but there was no evidence they were sold to Syria. "There are pervasive rumours on the internet concerning an attempt by Syria to purchase a large consignment of sniper rifles from SA in 2010," he said. There was, however, no evidence sniper rifles were sold to Syria in 2010 "at this stage". The NCACC also issued an export permit for Category A weapons ( major conventional implements of war ) worth R7,7m for Syria in 2010, he said. But NCACC chairman Jeff Radebe said last year the weapons in question were sold to the UN in Syria, and not Syrias government. His spokesman, Tlali Tlali, said yesterday: "Our records reflect and will corroborate the fact that in January 2010 the NCACC approved an export permit for the exportation of APC (armoured personnel carrier) vehicles to the value of R7,7m. (They) were procured by the UN operation in Damascus. No such transaction in respect of Syria was authorised
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13 February 2012 Cape Times Moeshoeshoe Monare
Malemas immature Zuma

Johannesburg: Julius Malema thought the ANC was weak and he could do whatever he wants to do, but he was immature, President Jacob Zuma said. He also warned senior ANC leaders who might cross the line by defending Malema. The embattled Malema who is in fierce combat with Zuma ahead of the ANCS conference in Mangaung in December is awaiting the outcome of arguments at the ANC disciplinary committee over mitigation of his sentence. But his suspension from the party is likely to be confirmed by the ANCS disciplinary committee. In a 45-minute interview with the Cape Times yesterday in Mahlamba Ndlopfu, his official state residence, Zuma said the party had given Malema a second chance after he was found guilty of undermining the ANC leader in 2010. I dont think he was in a position to understand how the ANC was acting. I think his understanding was that this organisation is weak, you can do whatever you want to do. I think thats why the ANC now can no longer do what it did at the beginning because it needs to act and act resolutely, he said, referring to the ANCS failure to enforce sanctions such as taking Malema for anger management lessons. On accusations that he had defended Malema three years ago when he was bullying his opponents and when he declared his willingness to kill for the president, Zuma said he had qualified his support for the radical youth leader. I remember, I was in Limpopo, when I said that in Malema there is a leader here, he needs to be properly nurtured I was with him to open a house he has built for a poor family. We also went to launch the church where his mother used to go which he has helped (to build), he said. Zuma said people should not equate the misbehaviour of the youth league today with very reasonable actions by past league leaders such as Nelson Mandela. There were no youth league meetings which stood up there and criticised and sang songs about the leadership of the ANC It tells you of political immaturity, and the misunderstanding of the history of the ANC, Zuma said, in reference to Malema supporters offensive slogans about the president. Malema could not be reached for comment yesterday. Zuma berated senior ANC leaders who defended Malemas ill discipline, saying such leaders are serving other interests.
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It is not from the branches, it is from the leadership that that line has been crossed, thats where the problem is, which undermines the capacity of the ANC to deal with the issues of discipline, he said. When asked directly about criticism by his colleague, ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, of Zumas administrations intervention in Limpopo and his indirect support for Malema, Zuma who did not mention Phosa by name said: It does not mean because you are a leader you are then beyond this kind of thing. It is not the first time in the ANC that people from the leadership begin to act against the principles of those of the ANC. The ANC historically has always dealt with such things.
12 February 2012 City Press Adriaan Basson
Mdluli vs Cele: The battle lines are drawn

A battle for control of the police force has broken out between two of the countrys top cops. Documents in the possession of City Press reveal that suspended crime intelligence boss Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli believes General Bheki Cele is actively participating in a plot to unseat him. Mdluli is tipped to become the next police chief if Cele, also on suspension, is ousted by a commission of inquiry into multimillion-rand police leasing deals. Mdluli is believed to have President Jacob Zumas ear he prepared a secret intelligence report last year that claimed a powerful group of ANC politicians, led by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, were plotting to unseat Zuma at the ANCs Mangaung conference in December. It has now emerged Mdluli believes Cele who was also named as part of the antiZuma group in his plot report is waging a campaign to oust him from the police. The campaign, according to Mdluli, even has a name: Project Libambe Lingashoni, translated by Mdlulis lawyer as let us wage a relentless campaign to see to it that he does not survive. Mdluli is on the brink of making a comeback after Cele suspended him in March last year following his arrest for murder. He is still on suspension, pending the finalisation of an internal police investigation. Mdluli accuses Cele of an abuse of power and authority. Cele told City Press he was legally illiterate and was certainly not going to comment on Mdlulis claims, made in lawyers letters.
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In September Mdluli was also charged with corruption and fraud, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) controversially dropped both cases after it received representations from Mdlulis legal team. The representations, in the possession of City Press, show that Mdlulis team used two main arguments to get off the hook: that he was a victim of a conspiracy by Cele, top police brass, reservist Paul OSullivan and the media; and that there was no evidence to link him to the murder case. In the corruption matter, Mdluli presented no evidence to rebuff the substantial charges against him, but only relied on the conspiracy theory to get off the hook. In both cases, he succeeded. Supporters of top fraud prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach believe she is now being targeted by the NPA for insisting on pushing ahead with Mdlulis corruption trial. Breytenbach was served with a notice to suspend by the NPA last week. She has still not been formally suspended and this week her lawyer warned the NPA that any action against her would be a malicious attempt to influence prosecutorial decisions. In his representations, Mdlulis lawyer, Ike Motloung, claims there is a conspiracy between certain law enforcement agents and their cohorts to unseat our client. Then he goes for Cele. There is an added significance to the above-stated campaign in the fact that the office of the National Commissioner SAPS could not wait to jump on to issuing our client with a notice of intention to suspend him almost immediately after his arrest and while still in custody. He hints that Cele was acting against Mdluli to please OSullivan. Immediately after his appointment, the murder allegations against Mdluli were published by the Sowetan. Certain elements in the police were behind the story, Mdluli claims. He claims a Commissioner Ntlemeza investigated alleged irregularities in crime intelligence and found there was a clear plot to prevent him from getting the job. Cele told City Press he knew nothing about such a report. Who asked for the investigation? Mdlulis representation refers to an investigation done years ago into the murder for which he was charged. No evidence against him could be found. Motloung lists four incidents where people were allegedly coerced to give false evidence against Mdluli and says there is in effect a single witness against him. Motloung accuses Cele of being among those who instituted the murder charges against Mdluli. As if that is not enough...he (Cele) sought to have him (Mdluli)
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charged for fraud and theft allegedly related to the purchase of vehicles for crime intelligence. Motloung points to the fact that the same Cape Town detectives investigated both cases. In his representations on the fraud and corruption charges, Motloung claims it was a continuation of the dirty tricks and manoeuvrings relating to the contestation and jostling for the position of head of crime intelligence. What has triggered this particular case is the realisation the Joburg (murder) case is not sustainable against Mdluli, Motloung wrote. There is sheer desperation on the part of some in the top brass of the police and their cohorts to get rid of our client by hook or crook, not only from his position in crime intelligence, but from the SAPS. Without giving examples, Mdluli accuses the Hawks investigating team of seeking to fabricate and manipulate evidence against him that would result in an unfair trial. The NPA previously said the fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli were withdrawn because of a lack of evidence. Police spokesperson Brigadier Lindela Mashigo said the police was not privy to Mdlulis representation. No comment will be made on the matter, suffice to indicate that there is an internal process under way to deal with workplace issues pertaining to (Mdluli). 10 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Verashni Pillay
Lindiwe Mazibuko is not the role model we need

"[Lindiwe] Mazibuko says she's a role model" My heart sank when I saw the headline. It was brought to us by our local wire agency and adapted by various news outlets. It went on to say: Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko responded to the party's leadership polemics on Monday by saying she had become a role model for young girls of all races. "The demographic of young people I get stopped by in the street most are teenage and pre-teen girls of all races who ask me which subjects they should take in high school to become an MP, and who say they think it is so exciting that I'm a member of
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Parliament and that my hair looks great," she told the Cape Town Press Club [on Monday]. It wasn't that the article focused on throwaway comments instead of the bulk of her pre-State of the Nation speech: that's par for the course for politicians. Neither was my primary concern that the article had clearly been angled and titled to gently poke fun at the young and extremely self-confident leader. What saddened me was that the headline hinted at something that could have been a reality, but simply is not: the examples depict Mazibuko's supposed status as but a faint and disappointing shadow of what it should be. Mazibuko burst on to the political scene at a young age and was propelled up the DA ladder at an astonishing speed, to become the leader of opposition in Parliament. That she is the great black hope of a largely white party fighting for relevance in South Africa is obvious. When I first started covering Mazibuko and her story in 2009, as she became a young parliamentarian, I was struck, as were so many South Africans, at how easily she handled the complex reality of being black and living in a largely white world. Many people didn't realise that the UCT-educated, well-travelled and eloquent young woman had partly grown up in a township and experienced many of the discriminations and horrors that were part and parcel of apartheid. But she also had middle-class parents and had moved to a "white" area and school long before other black people did. What had crippled many black people in our country had barely slowed her down. The psychological trauma of being seen as inferior, which countless black people still struggle with, was overcome with a flick of that great hair. So when she became the face of the DA and positioned to become that hoped-for role model, I couldn't wait to hear what Mazibuko had to say. Her natural gift for public speaking -- twinned with her unique experiences in this country -- would make her a potent figure, I was certain: someone who could speak with heartfelt conviction about her own experience and use it to offer hope and healing for others, and chart a way forward in a fraught post-apartheid landscape. I thought of Barack Obama's incredible speeches. He used his diverse cultural experiences to gather together a divided nation and give hope to all its people. In my most optimistic moments I saw Mazibuko doing something like that, even if it was in a smaller and less grand fashion. Our country was desperate for that sort of figure: one who could acknowledge our collective and individual hurts while also leading us forward. She did neither.
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Instead we were subjected to the same tired line we have heard from too many DA leaders: that the party and all its members are post-race. Move on, they seem to imply. Or act like a "born free" and stop bothering us with these issues. Mazibuko has internalised this denialism wholesale, effectively robbing herself of the enormous potential she possesses. She could have used the endless racial aches and pains experienced by so many South Africans as a powerful rallying point, meting out inspiration and drawing people closer to her and her party. She could have acknowledged hurts and proffered forgiveness and understanding as a way forward. She could have tried to fill some of the massive gap left by the gracious public spirit of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Instead she resorts to cold functionalism, refusing to dig deep or get personal to any degree among people of a land crying out for someone with sincerity and heart. It's not that she doesn't have it. We glimpsed a bit of that heart in her impassioned speech to Parliament before the secrecy Bill was voted in by an ANC majority. She spoke with moving conviction, challenging the injustice before her with courageous eloquence. But when it comes to issues of race she withdraws. In response to the ANC's propensity to use race to divide, she shies away from it altogether, instead of using it to unite. It's a missed opportunity from a young leader who could give us so much more. And South Africans are left between a rock and a hard place: with one party that stirs up the old fires of racial hatred and another that instead treats the issue with unhelpful defensiveness or outright denial. 21 February 2012 The New Age Mel Frykberg
Mbekis new mission

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has been given the responsibility of leading a high-level team to stem the illegal outflow of about $50bn (R384bn) yearly of African resources out of the continent. Mbeki, who was recently appointed chairperson of the UN Economic Commission on Africa (Uneca) panel, is determined to put a stop to marauding foreign companies, individuals and governments draining the continents resources and wealth with impunity and thereby undermining the prospects of Africas development. About $50bn is exported out of Africa illegally every year, Mbeki has said. Almost $25bn comes into the continent.
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That means (Africa) loses twice the capital it receives in financial assistance. The loses came about through means including over-invoicing and underpricing of exports, and money-laundering strategies, media reports said. People will import an item into South Africa and it is supposed to be sold for R10, but instead South Africans pay R30 for it this is one of the ways to suck capital out of the continent, Mbeki said. In some instances mining companies will export platinum (but) in the customs records say they are exporting tin, which has a lower price. Thabo Mbeki Foundation spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said yesterday that the panel had a wide ranging brief. The panel has a mandate to look at various forms of illegal and illicit transfers of money out of the continent. This will involve monitoring and investigating all forms of illegal financial activity. Mbekis appointment to head a top UN panel is a big achievement for South Africa and for Africa as a whole. It also represents a turning point in Africa taking charge of its own affairs as a result of intensive lobbying by African members of the UN. The former president has been critical of the inordinate influence the UN, the US and other major Western players in the international body have had on the affairs of Africans without necessarily consulting the people whom their decisions would have an impact on. This is a major step forward for Africa and for our country, the deputy directorgeneral responsible for Africa multilateral issues at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Sisa Ngombane, told The New Age. Uneca will monitor various illegal activities which could range from money laundering and the sale of blood diamonds to human trafficking. It will not be able to take legal action against companies and individuals pilfering the continents riches but will be able to advise the relevant bodies and organisations which can take legal action. Ngombane said one of the biggest problems was European corporations involved in the oil and mining industries taking advantage of Africas plentiful supply of natural resources. A lot of the oil, gold and minerals are moved to Europe for refining and polishing. Africa is seen as an easy solution to big profits where relevant legislation can be bypassed. Even in South Africa we have this problem with illegal mines which are difficult to close down, said Ngombane. But the problems go further than the European corporations and include the lack of efficacy on the part of African governments. There are weak states in Africa which
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lack the requisite administrative capacity to take charge and implement the necessary action against the exploitative companies. Their governance is also undermined by bribery and corruption which further complicates transparency. On the question of further investigation into blood diamonds, Ngombane said that particular issue would not be the UN panels focus other than when it involved the illegal transfer of funds out of Africa. A lot of work had already been done on this issue through the Kimberley Process. Analysts have also spoken out about the necessity of monitoring the finances of aid agencies working in Africa. According to critics, a lions share of the money donated to aid agencies is ploughed back into the administrative costs in their countries of origin instead of going to those in need. 19 February 2012 The Sunday Independent Page 1 Dianne Hawker
Zuma Front Shock

A group of companies that has made millions in contracts with the police, the City of Cape Town, Transnet and other government departments has been accused of using President Jacob Zumas brother Michael for black economic empowerment fronting. This week a stunned Michael Zuma told The Sunday Independent that he has no knowledge of the deal to purchase the companies from its owner, saying he was only an employee. This is despite his name appearing on a letter terminating the sale of shares agreement. Zuma and his business partners, Amahlubi clan Prince Brayce Mthimkhulu and ANC MP Richard Mdakane, allegedly owe more than R64 million in the soured deal to buy Midway Two Holdings. A special investigation by this newspaper has uncovered a litany of allegations of fronting involving the companys owner Oom Daan Scholtz. Among them are claims that Scholtz used his former domestic worker, Maria Jeme, to front over several years, listing her as a director and shareholder while she had no power and received a secretarys salary (see page 2). According to Mthimkhulu, Scholtz deliberately dismantled the deal after the company had won a series of lucrative tenders as a result of its black ownership. Mthimkhulu said these deals include labour contracts with the City of Cape Town and Transnet. Scholtz has rubbished the fronting claims, saying he is no racist.
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But this week Zuma had no idea what his role in the company was, and was shocked to hear that he allegedly owed part of R64m for the deal. Zuma said he had met Scholtz at his home in George last year. Oom Daan said he liked me as someone he wanted to hire. We arranged to meet in Joburg at Midway. Then he told us we would be directors. When asked what job he would be expected to do, Zuma said he was only called in to attend three board meetings. Oom Daan said I should sit close to him and he would show me how things work. But we never got to that point, Zuma said. Documents from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission show that the trio became directors in May 2011. According to Mthimkhulu, the initial agreement had been for the three to become 51 percent shareholders, but later Scholtz agreed that they would buy him out. In October or November, we were told that we need to pay R68m within 14 days. They said we are in breach of contract and demanded that we pay R68m. We were up to date with all the payments, he said. Mthimkhulu said the deal was for him to bring in new clients, and said the company was able to clinch key labour contracts as a result of being partly black-owned. Where can you raise R68m in 14 days? I fought with him (Scholtz). I said Im not going to accept this. You cant make me become window dressing. Im a successful businessman, he said. Zuma said he didnt know why the deal was cancelled. I was shocked to hear that they were fighting. I didnt know that we were going to buy the company. I knew we were going to work there. Despite being a director of the company, Zuma does not appear to know much about its operations. He said the wages he had been paid in the several months he had worked at Midway Two had been between R8 000 and R10 000. Previously when I worked with Prince at another company I had got around R20 000. At Midway there was only (one time) when I got around R14 000 or R15 000 and that was when I asked for them to increase it. I didnt know that I was a shareholder, he said. Asked whether he agreed with Mthimkhulus assessment that the trio had been used as a front, Zuma said: I dont know what Prince said. I can only speak about what I know. I cant say what Oom Daan wanted to do. Zuma said he, Mdakane and Mthimkhulu had never discussed taking ownership of Midway Two.
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In my mind, the company belongs to Oom Daan, he said. Zuma had a copy of a letter in which Scholtz alleged breach of contract which he had not read or fully understood. The letter demanded more than R64m, plus interest, as an outstanding amount for the sale of the company. On Saturday, Mthimkhulu said Zuma knew that he was involved in the purchase of the company, but may not have known the details as he was not involved on the operational side. He said the group were hoping for an amicable resolution, since their lawyers had been in talks with Midway for several weeks. Numerous sources have told The Sunday Independent that the bulk of the companys work was with government departments. Treasury regulations require government departments and municipalities to adjudicate all tenders with a consideration to price and BEE or historically disadvantaged individual (HDI) status ownership. The City of Cape Town confirmed having used Midway contract workers as and when needed, paying the company more than R110.7m since 2005. The most recent contract from the municipality was won in October. Midway would receive a share of the R80m contract depending on what labour it was asked to supply. Cape Town deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said: Midway Two received 51 percent HDI points in the tender process, meaning that company documents submitted showed a 51 percent shareholding by black, female or disabled people. It was also selected for a R43m contract in June based on having achieved 51 percent HDI points, Neilson said. The groups brokering arm also currently supplies labour for berthing operations the Richards Bay harbour. Transnet did not respond to questions requesting details on the contract. Meanwhile, Scholtz did not respond in detail to questions sent via e-mail. He said: In many instances your questions (show) that the individuals to whom you have spoken have not correctly advised you of the history and/or facts pertaining thereto. He added that since the matter was being dealt with by lawyers, he did not want to comment.
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In a follow-up telephonic interview, Scholtz said he had been in business for more than 20 years and had built many black schools. I know more about black empowerment than anyone else. So many people have said I am truly open-minded. I owe nobody. I put millions into hospitals and schools. Im not a racist, he said. Mdakane put the dispute down to a personality clash between Scholtz and Mthimkhulu. 17 February 2012 The New Age Sapa
SA is a country of contrasts: Tutu

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says South Africa is a country of contrasting realities between excessive wealth and dire poverty. "We live in a society of conspicuous consumption amid dire poverty, against a backdrop of some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth," he said in a speech prepared for delivery. "This is not just unfair, unsustainable and unjust, it is also unbiblical because God is notoriously biased in favour of those who suffer and those who are poor." Tutu was speaking at the launch of the Franschhoek Valley transformation charter launch in the Western Cape on Thursday evening. Tutu said society had failed in narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. This, despite overcoming Apartheid, the leadership of former president Nelson Mandela, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the rise of a black economic elite. Even in Cape Town, the lifestyle gap could be seen with a "preponderance of German limousines" and expensive real estate compared to townships enrolled in malnutrition programmes. Tutu praised the Franschhoek initiative for its work in transformation. "You have recognised that it is untenable to live so near yet so far apart from one another. "You have understood that no matter if we have straight blonde hair or lustrous peperkorrels [peppercorns], where we worship or what language we speak, we are members of one family."
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He said he felt the real reason he got into trouble for mentioning a wealth tax was that he forced white citizens to seriously consider the extent to which they benefited during Apartheid through superior education and economic opportunities. "It was a call for magnanimity -- a plea for ubuntu." Tutu said that through community initiatives, the youth could become activists and reduce inequality, intolerance and selfishness. 17 February 2012 The New Age Sapa
UN had no evidence of Libya war: Mbeki

The United Nations gave free reign to the United States, France and the United Kingdom, known as the P3, to intervene in Libya without any evidence of war, former president Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. "The naked reality is that the relevant organs of the UN -the Security Council and the Office of the Secretary General - elected to betray their binding obligations in terms of international law, especially as prescribed by the UN Charter," he said in a speech prepared for delivery. "In this context I would like to state that there is absolutely no evidence that the [Muammar] Gaddafi regime either committed or had any intention to commit any genocide or wage a war against civilians, justifying the evocation by the UN, the P3 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) of the so-called 'right to protect'." Mbeki was speaking at the annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture at the University of the Western Cape. He said military actions in Libya were purportedly performed to make peace, bring people out of a dictatorship and protect the people from criminal abuse by the government, especially if war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide occurred. "Together with everything I have said, we must nevertheless accept that various concrete realities in Libya provided the excuse for the Western powers to intervene in the manner they did," he said. "Through its actions, it had earned the wrath of the major Western powers, partly informed by the conviction that Libya had carried out terrorist actions which had claimed many lives of citizens of these powers." Libya had not been a democratic country, and it was young military officers, led by Gaddafi that originally overthrew a feudal regime to assert the right of African people. 17 February 2012 The New Age
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Sapa
ANCYL rejects nationalisation report

The ANC Youth League has rejected the research report on the nationalisation of mines, its deputy president Ronald Lamola said on Thursday. "It [the report] did not do what the NGC [ANC national general council] said should be done," Lamola told reporters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg. "We will soon compile concrete facts and data on how the many countries that have nationalised their strategic sectors of the economy generate additional income into the fiscus and utilise it for the development of the people." The report on possible reform of the mining sector was presented to the African National Congress's national executive committee at its meeting in Pretoria earlier this month. The City Press newspaper published details of the report after claiming to have seen it. It said there were two proposals for new mining taxes. One was a 50 percent tax on the sale of mining rights to prevent speculation. The other was a tax of up to 50 percent on so-called "super profits", defined as anything more than a 22 percent return on investment. The report proposes a reduction in the royalty tax from four percent to one percent. Mineral governance could be overseen by a new "super ministry", namely the combined departments of trade and industry, public enterprises, mineral resources, and science and technology. According to the newspaper, the task team recommended that the ANC investigate state control of mines "in terms of rent share, growth and development, and make targeted interventions to achieve such outcomes". The team visited 13 countries to investigate mining models and best practices that would be viable for South Africa. Lamola said: "The research report on the state intervention in the minerals sector... does not in any way respond to the ideological and political directive of the ANC national general council." He said that according to the resolution from the ANC's NGC there was "greater consensus" within the party on the nationalisation of mines and other strategic sectors of the economy. ANCYL treasurer general Pule Mabe on Thursday said the league would gather more facts so it could argue its case for the nationalisation of mines at the ANC's policy conference in June.
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16 February 2012 Mail & Guardian David Macfarlane
Nzimande juggles another governance crisis

Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande is looking into allegations of a governance crisis at yet another university -- the Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State. This follows his appointment of an assessor to investigate management meltdown at Vaal University of Technology (VUT), the Mail & Guardian reported on Wednesday. "Following reports of mismanagement and abuse of power at CUT, the director general [Gwebs Qonde] wrote to the university council and requested that it attends to the reports," Nzimande's spokesperson, Vuyelwa Qinga, told the M&G on Thursday. "The department is continuing to hold discussions with the CUT council on these matters so as to find an amicable solution." CUT's main campus is in Bloemfontein. About half of its 11 000 students are enrolled in science, engineering and technology programmes, and a third study business and management. Vice-chancellor Thandwa Mthembu said he would prefer to leave it to the CUT council to comment, "given the critical discussions taking place between it and the department". The M&G had invited Mthembu to comment on the higher education ministry's confirmation of its communications with CUT, and on the "allegations of maladministration and mismanagement against ... Mthembu", the New Age newspaper reported last week. The report also referred to "intimidation" of staff, and the "sweeping under the carpet" of two investigative reports (one by KPMG) on such allegations. Responding to the same questions the M&G also sent to council chairperson Sylvan Seane, university spokesperson Dan Maritz said the council reported in June last year on its appointment of KPMG "to determine the merits and demerits of the issues raised by [an] anonymous letter to the minister". KPMG did not meet the agreed deadline for the report, Maritz said: "As a result, the council terminated the contract ... Council then appointed a third party to deal with the investigation." Advocate J Lubbe conducted this investigation, and the council received his report at its last sitting, on January 26. Other reported allegations are "still to be substantiated", he added. They have been grounded in "faceless and unidentified person[s] who on the basis of untested claims are given a space to dent the public profile of CUT and tarnish its image".
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The developments at VUT and CUT spotlight once again the rocky, and sometimes corrupt, management at several South African universities. Nzimande has placed three under administration in the past year -- the University of Zululand, Tshwane University of Technology and Walter Sisulu University. "The minister is concerned about governance and management in some of our universities [and] this is receiving serious attention from the department," Qinga told the M&G on Thursday. Muzi Sekhakhane, an advocate attached to the South Gauteng High Court, will be VUT's assessor, she said. The Government Gazette notice had not named the assessor. Overall, however, "the state of governance in our universities is fairly good and stable", Qinga said. "There are a few universities facing different challenges of administration and management, and these are being attended to help them individually to address the challenges and focus on the business of providing education and training to students." 16 February 2012 Mail & Guardian Sapa
Mbeki attacks 'armed intervention in Africa'

Former president Thabo Mbeki was on Thursday evening due to deliver a stinging attack on "contemporary foreign armed interventions in Africa". The prepared text of his Dullah Omar Memorial lecture at the University of the Western Cape frames Nato action in Libya, and the toppling Cte d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbagbo as products of persistent racism, describing them as the outcome of the 20th century's failure to solve what WEB du Bois in 1900 called " the question of the colour bar". In a speech with all the classic Mbeki features, including quotes from Yeats and Chinua Achebe, the former president is unsparing of a divided African Union, and asks whether the ANC is living up to the legacy of Dullah Omar.
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19 February 2012 Sunday Times Page 1 Cyril Ramaphosa
Debate is important. Action is critical

As part of our Each One Hire One campaign to create jobs, the Sunday Times is publishing a series of articles by leaders on meeting this challenge. This week Cyril Ramaphosa puts his faith in small and medium enterprises to create the millions of jobs South Africa needs - with crucial help from the state If there is one thing on which all South Africans agree, it is that the creation of jobs is the foremost challenge facing our country today. It is critical not only for the achievement of a better life for all our people - employment is central to our notion of human dignity, equality and justice. Unemployment stands in the way of our efforts to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. It undermines the achievement of sustainable economic growth, and erodes social cohesion. Unemployment may not be the cause of all our social ills, but it severely hampers our ability to effectively address them. But, while there may be consensus on the need to create jobs, there is less agreement on how we should go about doing so. This is not necessarily a bad thing. We pride ourselves on the diversity of views in our society, and our ability to engage in vigorous debate. But we also pride ourselves on our capacity, through this engagement, to find common ground and achieve outcomes that serve the interests of all our people. Just as we were successful in working together to define the values, principles and form of our democratic constitutional order, so too do we need to work together to determine how we can most effectively create jobs, and do so in a sustainable manner. This task stands at the centre of the National Development Plan, which was produced last year by the National Planning Commission as the basis for a nationwide engagement on South Africa's development programme for the next 20 years. It envisages the creation of 11 million jobs by 2030, and a reduction in levels of unemployment from about 25% to 6%. These are ambitious targets, and will not be realised unless all South Africans work together in a coordinated manner to implement bold and innovative measures. Debate is important. Action is critical. In this, the government, business and labour all need to play a role. The government's works programme is an important poverty-alleviation measure that provides skills and work experience to the unemployed. There is scope to further expand this intervention. But it has inherent limitations. What the unemployed need are permanent, sustainable jobs. We need to agree on mechanisms for encouraging greater labour absorption by the private sector. These should include a wage subsidy for companies that employ young entrants into the labour market. It is necessary to
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ensure that it does not undermine the wages and working conditions of existing employees and does not lead to their displacement. We need to make our economy more competitive. South African companies are having to compete with foreign companies in both the domestic and export markets. To make our companies successful, we need to reduce their costs of doing business. They must increase the value products and services they produce. We should focus on developing those sectors in which we have a comparative advantage, and which are capable of creating more jobs. A contentious issue that we need to confront is the cost of labour. We face the difficult task of improving our global competitiveness while protecting the gains that workers have achieved over years of bitter struggle. In a country with such extreme income inequality, it is difficult to argue that workers must constrain their wage expectations. At minimum, any effort to moderate wage increases needs to begin with the highest earners in South Africa, while safeguarding middle and low earners. A critical component of any effort to moderate wage growth is a concerted programme to reduce the cost of living. The government needs to look at how to reduce the burden on the poor in particular. The reduction of energy, transport, food and other basic costs will go a long way to reducing wage inflation. At the same time, we need to reduce other business costs including energy, transport and telecommunications as well as costs related to unnecessary regulatory compliance. Many of these efforts are already under way. Some progress - on the regulatory front, for example - could be achieved relatively speedily. Other efforts, however, require a long-term investment in infrastructure, not only in South Africa, but in Southern Africa as well. The most pressing task, of finding employment for a largely low-skilled population, must not undermine our longer-term goal of cultivating a working population with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing, modern, global economy. For this reason, we need to place at the heart of our job-creation efforts the achievement of quality education for all. Despite significant improvements in access to education and an increased education budget, South Africa is lagging behind comparable countries on most educational indicators. This is arguably the single greatest constraint to the creation of jobs and eradication of poverty. We need a bold, focused and concerted effort to fix the problems in our education system - to address issues of management, school leadership, teacher competence, the teaching culture, the learning environment and the role of parents. As we work to address all these challenges, we need to acknowledge that the government, parastatals and large companies will not create most new jobs. Jobs will be created by small and medium businesses. As a society we need, therefore, to reconsider the role and place of small and medium businesses within the economic life of our country.
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For too long we have tended to view large corporations as the central drivers of economic growth. We have viewed corporate jobs, professional careers and publicservice positions as the surest routes for personal advancement. Among countries at a similar stage of economic development, South Africa's levels of entrepreneurial activity are significantly low. This needs to change. We need to recognise the great opportunities that entrepreneurship presents, not only for individuals, but for society as a whole.
In most countries, small businesses create more jobs than any other sector. The 2010 Finscope Small Business Survey Report projected that the SME sector could create 2.5million jobs in South Africa by 2020. These are significant numbers that, if realised, would be making a massive dent in our unemployment figures in just eight years. We need to significantly improve our efforts to support and facilitate the growth of small and medium enterprises. The g overnment has recognised many of the shortcomings in its efforts to date, and is working to enhance both its financial and technical support to small and medium enterprises. But the development of this sector will require more than that. There needs to be far greater collaboration between the government, the private sector and financial institutions in supporting SMEs. We need to engage with a new approach to the incubator concept. This is eminently achievable. There are several examples across the world, and even some in South Africa, of approaches to SME financing that have been able to account for increased risk and lack of collateral. These need to be multiplied. The government has a direct role to play in reducing the regulatory burden on SMEs. Many small businesses cite the cost of compliance with business and labour regulations as a key hindrance to their growth. Other countries have demonstrated that it is possible to significantly reduce these costs and make the regulatory requirements less onerous without completely exempting small businesses from necessary regulations. Both the government and the private sector have a role to play in improving market access for SMEs. Many struggle to get contracts from the government and corporations, who tend to prefer larger, established businesses. By simply relooking at their supply chains and their procurement criteria, the government and the corporate sector could make a significant contribution to the development of SMEs, and especially black-owned SMEs. South Africa is defined as a middle-income country. Yet most of its people live in conditions typical of a low-income country. This suggests that our greatest problem is not that we do not have enough money, but that we have not found effective, sustainable and just ways of distributing it. By concentrating our efforts on job creation, by each of us taking responsibility to contribute in whatever way we can to alleviating this problem, and by acting together in a common purpose, we will be able to ensure that all South Africans can enjoy the dignity, fulfilment and opportunity that comes with work. Our resolve to create jobs
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should be executed with a determination and speed akin to how one would save another person from a burning building. 19 February 2012 Sunday Times Page 5 Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
Judge Constitutional Court in its context

President Jacob Zuma is clearly sceptical of the judiciary; that is not unexpected - in many democracies the executive is sceptical of the judiciary and ours is no exception. But the president's statement, that the powers of the Constitutional Court should be reviewed, goes considerably beyond executive scepticism of the judiciary. Since the advent of constitutional democracy, it has not happened that a president has explicitly asked for the reconsideration of the powers of the Constitutional Court. Because it was the president speaking, we must take him seriously. But, more significantly, we must assume that he was articulating not only his personal opinions, but a collective view shared by members of the executive that he leads. In fact, shortly after the president's remarks were published, the presidency issued a statement that seemed to entrench the belief that he was speaking on behalf of the executive. We were asked to situate the remarks of the president in the context of the ongoing review of the judgments of the Constitutional Court, the details of which will be announced in due course by the minister of justice. Let us then accept the invitation from the presidency and consider the justification for the review of the powers of the Constitutional Court in the light of its record. Since the powers of the Constitutional Court are located in the Constitution, the natural starting point is the constitution. At the outset, I must emphasise the unscripted, yet pivotal role of the Constitutional Court in our democracy. It was articulated by former president Nelson Mandela when he inaugurated the Constitutional Court on February 14 1995. He said: "The last time I appeared in court was to hear whether or not I was going to be sentenced to death. Fortunately for myself and my colleagues, we were not. "Today I rise not as an accused, but on behalf of the people of South Africa to inaugurate a court South Africa has never had, a court on which hinges the future of our democracy." With these words Mandela cemented the special place of the Constitutional Court not only in the legal system, but in the democratic dispensation as a whole. It was a court with the primary mandate of protecting human rights that are central to our conception of democracy. It was important to allocate this function to the Constitutional Court because the apartheid-era judiciary, which comprised essentially white males who were largely sympathetic to the National Party government, could not be trusted to protect and enforce constitutional rights. In other words, the
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establishment of the Constitutional Court was foundational to the idea of the new state based on constitutionalism. But the court had no hope of discharging its mandate unless its composition was legitimate and the legal framework for its operation was enabling. A central tenet of its powers, therefore, had to be the power of constitutional review. This meant that legislative or executive powers became subject to review on constitutional grounds. But it has never meant that judges run the country. From the very beginning the court knew the potential and limits of its powers. For instance, when the court found the government's housing policy wanting on constitutional grounds, it left the executive free to create a new housing policy. This tradition has continued. In recent times, and in cases fraught with political controversy, the court has made authoritative statements affirming the supremacy of the constitution but left the scope for governmental reconsideration of decisions intact. In the matter of Hugh Glenister vs the President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, the court invalidated legislation establishing the Hawks but left the legislature free to rectify the legislation. Similarly, although the court invalidated the president's decision to extend the tenure of Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, it said such extension could be done through new legislation that met constitutional criteria stated in the judgment. There have been cases in which the court found for the government in split decisions. The more socially divisive examples come to mind: it upheld the legislation that made prostitution illegal by a majority of one. Similarly, in a case about the legalisation of marijuana, the court was split in the middle. About three months ago, the court decided, with a majority of one, that the Mail & Guardian had no right of access to the report about the elections in Zimbabwe. Thus, the Constitutional Court has been performing a function it was established to perform. It has been true to the vision expressed by Mandela at its establishment. Intimations about the limitation of its powers require compelling justification. It is not sufficient simply to assert the alteration of the court's powers because "sometimes the judges are not unanimous". Majority vote is the most practical system of judicial decision making. That is how it works everywhere, including in parliament where the most significant decisions affecting our daily lives are taken. The executive's scepticism of the judicial branch is healthy for maintenance of democracy; it keeps the judiciary in check. Like any power, the judicial power is vulnerable to abuse, which is why the president's expression of doubts about the parameters of judicial authority is understandable. But we deserve a thoughtful discourse about the trajectory of our democracy. This must entail an examination of the extent to which the executive and the legislative branches of government have fulfilled their constitutional mandates. It must also
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entail an inquiry into the nature and causes of the persistent levels of inequality in society. Despite its obvious importance, such discourse has escaped us. It must be rekindled urgently. This way, the most important legacy of Zuma shall be his ability to allow us the space to express our views and - to deploy his favourite term - debate. But the debate must be informed by facts and experience. Crucially, at this stage we do not know which powers of the Constitutional Court should be reviewed and why. If we are to undertake the task called for by the president, we must recall the words of the late Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed, who said in our democracy certain constitutional provisions are so basic to the constitution that their review would "effectively abrogate or destroy" it. Given the centrality of judicial power to review legislative and executive action, its reconsideration is the reconsideration of our democracy itself. Ngcukaitobi is a member of the executive committee of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution 19 February 2012 Sunday Times Page 4 Caiphus Kgosana
Stink over fishy fishing contract

A damning legal opinion has recommended that a controversial fisheries tender awarded by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries be put on ice. Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson is also headed for a showdown with her top officials after discovering that the department had failed to spend more than R800-million. The tender, also worth R800-million, was awarded to Sekunjalo Holdings to combat illegal fishing along South Africa's coastline. Questions have now been raised why the department ignored a conflict of interest arising from the fact that one of Sekunjalo's subsidiaries - Premier Fishing - has rights to fish in South African waters. Sekunjalo chairman is Iqbal Surve, a politically connected businessman who is also director of Premier Fishing. Critics argue that awarding the contract to a company with interests in fishing makes it both referee and player in the R2-billion industry. The preferred bidder was also announced despite the failure by the department to conclude a due diligence process.
But the department has defended itself, saying the legal opinion was its initiative. Outgoing service provider Smit Amandla Marine has gone to court to challenge the decision to award the contract to Sekunjalo. It wants the court to review that decision.
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However, legal opinion obtained by the department after the preferred bidder was announced warns the court is likely to find in favour of the company that lost out. "The prospects of successfully defending the review are not good and in our view the review is likely to succeed on the basis that the scoring was irrational and cannot be rationally and fairly correlated with the information which served before the bid evaluation committee." The legal advice noted that there were discrepancies in the awarding of the contract. It points out that the tender should have been re-advertised when all the bidders failed to meet the minimum requirement of 80% functionality. Director-general Langa Zitha was given three options by the bid evaluation committee: That the functionality requirement for the contract be reduced to 60%; That the bidders be invited to make oral presentations to clarify certain issues; or That the tender be re-advertised with more detailed evaluation criteria. The department opted for the second option and invited the bidders to make oral presentations. But this gave rise to further discrepancies in the scoring of the bids. "We are of the view, given what has emerged from the consultations and the information provided to us, that there is substantial risk that the award cannot be justified rationally." Accordingly, the lawyers argue that the contract awarded to Sekunjalo can be set aside by the department as a result of the deficiencies in the bid evaluation process. Highly placed insiders said the blame lay squarely at Zitha's door as he endorsed the final recommendation to select Sekunjalo despite glaring irregularities in the process of awarding of the tender. Zitha and Joemat-Pettersson have clashed in the past following a series of blunders, including perceived failure by the director-general to approve important projects. "The minister does not sit on tender committees; all she did was announce the preferred bidder. But why did the director-general sign when there were serious problems with process?" asked a senior official who refused to be named. Department spokesman Selby Bokaba said while they could not comment on a matter before the courts, they had initiated the legal opinion. "It must be stated on record that the legal opinion route was the initiative of the department." Bokaba defended the minister, saying she was not involved in the awarding of tenders. Meanwhile, Joemat-Pettersson and Zitha are headed for another a showdown after it emerged that the department has over R800-million held by the Land Bank, including money for flood and poverty relief.
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The minister has refused to approve a report on departmental finances which shows that money meant for important projects has not been spent and that the provinces have only spent R447-million of the R1-billion available. The department has failed to spend R84-million in flood relief money despite flood devastating several areas around the country. It also has more than R560-million earmarked for loans to struggling farmers. Joemat-Pettersson now wants answers from Zitha and other senior officials as to why the money was not spent. Bokaba said the minister had since been given updated expenditure figures. "There are new and updated figures and information which has subsequently come to the attention of the minister which renders the initial information outdated." 20 February 2012 Business Day Page 4 Wyndham Hartley
Motsoaledi takes aim at alcohol adverts, smoking

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is on a crusade and he expects to make no friends as he targets liquor advertising, tougher smoking laws and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. His campaign will include intervention in Parliament to combat the burgeoning waistlines of some MPs. Dr Motsoaledi said at a news conference on Friday that he wanted a ban on liquor advertising and that a draft bill was ready for gazetting for public comment. He would not "relent on banning alcohol advertising". He criticised trends in alcohol advertising that showed beautiful people and sports stars promoting liquor and in the process teaching the youth it was "cool to drink". When asked why the drafting of the bill had taken more than a year since it was first mooted, he said it was not something that could simply be imposed on the country and that the message had to be built slowly to get people to agree. " I have targets for the reduction of both alcohol consumption and smoking and this year we are going to be tightening the space in the fight against tobacco products and alcohol consumption," Dr Motsoaledi said. "We have to deal with the scourge of alcohol advertising where this is projected as a product bringing success." On the issue of the food available to MPs in Parliament, he said the availability of food was a career hazard for elected public representatives.
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Food was available at parliamentary committee meetings and there was even food at press conferences, often of dubious dietary value, he said. Dr Motsoaledi said he intended to try to change this. He is targeting the noncommunicable diseases that result from obesity, "which continue to be a serious public health challenge facing us". "At the centre of all this is the critical issue of prevention. Already, work is being done in the areas of regulating salt and trans-fats in food. These two are well known as key causes of many of these diseases," he said. Statistics SAs mortality report for 2009 indicated that deaths from these conditions all increased despite an overall 3,8% decline in mortality. The Medical Research Council of SA estimated that 6,3-million South Africans suffered from high blood pressure, with salt intake widely cited as a major contributor, and the condition was managed in only 14% of cases. At issue is the cost to the state of treating these diseases. Dr Motsoaledi said it had been estimated that in some Caribbean countries the incidence of diabetes was up to 40%, and that a similar situation in SA would be a public health disaster. On the issue of conditions in public health institutions, he said: "Quality of care in our facilities continues to be a huge challenge facing us." He said a number of initiatives were under way to deal with this problem. "It is very worrisome and not good at all." Dr Motsoaledi said audits of facilities had been conducted. "To date, 3336 have been completed out of 4200." He said improvements would begin in "four districts and 214 facilities in KwaZuluNatal, Gauteng, Free State and Northern Cape". Last week, Dr Motsoaledi told the South African National Editors Forum that he planned to tackle the negative perceptions of the standards and quality of primary healthcare facilities, saying greater utilisation of clinics, alongside a campaign against diseases caused by poor lifestyles, could reduce pressure on overburdened hospitals. Hospitals that should deal with "serious cases" were being "overloaded" as more than half of patients had minor problems that could be treated at a primary level, he said.
22 February 2012 Business Day Page 1 Linda Ensor
Backlog to fix power grid R35bn

The maintenance backlog of municipal electricity infrastructure is at about R35bn and rising by R2,5bn a year, Parliament heard yesterday.
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Municipalities are failing to invest in infrastructure because they need funds for operational expenses and because of uncertainty over the future ownership of the assets, MPs were told. The government has been battling since the late 1990s to integrate the fragmented electricity distribution sector and has not come up with an alternative to its plan to create regional electricity distributors, which was ditched by the Cabinet in December 2010. The condition of infrastructure continues to deteriorate, translating into more blackouts, and economic disruption. Copper theft adds to the problem of the distribution sector operated by Eskom and 187 municipalities. Department of Energy director general Nelisiwe Magubane told a meeting of three parliamentary committees an intergovernmental team was examining options to fund investment in distribution infrastructure. These included an allocation from the fiscus; using the municipal infrastructure grant; an increased allocation in the tariff determination for investment; an increase in the allocation in the price determination of the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) ; loans, grant or donor funding; or a mix of these options. The department was also in discussions with Nersa to strengthen the regulatory regime to ensure that the margin of the electricity tariff it sets for maintenance was used by municipalities for this purpose alone. Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs deputy director-general Ricardo Hansby estimated the distribution infrastructure backlog was R35bn. He and Financial and Fiscal Commission deputy chairman Bongani Khumalo believed "policy uncertainty as a result of the unresolved restructuring process" was one of the reasons for the backlog. Mr Khumalo said municipalities were spending a smaller percentage of their total operating budgets on electricity infrastructure repairs and maintenance. In Johannesburg, the percentage had fallen from 13,2% in 2008-09 to 9,9% in 2010-11. South African Local Government Association executive director for infrastructure services Mthobeli Kolisa urged that a national municipal infrastructure refurbishment fund be established by the government, with private-sector funds being leveraged too. He said "network outages as a result of distribution failures are on the increase". The average age of assets was about 45 years.
21 February 2012 Business Day Page 12 Editorial
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Mugabe is a poor reflection on SA

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turns 88 today, an event that will be celebrated, one hopes with some irony, at festivities costing an estimated $2m this weekend. The event will turn the weary eyes of an impatient world back momentarily to the travails of a small, landlocked country that managed its politics and economy so badly that it achieved an inflation rate so ridiculous it rendered its currency useless for all time. Despite one of the most spectacular economic meltdowns in the history of any nation state, that Mr Mugabe remains head of state after 32 years argues an extraordinary set of circumstances that reflects badly on almost everyone involved. It reflects badly on SA, the would-be continental economic powerhouse that cannot even bring to heel an economic pipsqueak on its doorstep. It reflects badly on the international community, and perhaps as much on the former colonial power, the UK, not for interfering too much but, if we are honest, for caring too little. Zimbabwe is of no consequence internationally, a fact that Mr Mugabe cannily realised some time ago. As a result, there are no real sanctions imposed by "the West" on Zimbabwe for electoral theft and creating economic chaos; there is only a set of paltry travel restrictions on a few individuals that seems to be there only for show. In real politics, they mean nothing. It reflects badly on the internal opposition in Zimbabwe, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in particular, for being bizarrely unable to turn economic disaster to his advantage. Of course, it reflects badly on Mr Mugabe himself except in some ways it does not. I t reflects badly on him because he oversaw the decline of a country, which once showed great economic promise, into an economic basket case, with all the trappings of economic disaster: dysfunctional health and education systems, electricity blackouts, mass emigration, and so on. It doesnt reflect badly on him because, in a perverse way, his political survival is itself testimony to an extraordinary political cunning. It is one of the great tragedies of modern Zimbabwe that if Mr Mugabe had decided somewhere to exert his not inconsiderable guile into running a modern economy, rather than concentrating exclusively on the political kingdom, history would have turned out so much better. His strategy now is so Machiavellian, it is really hard not to admire it. It is, as always, multifaceted. Suddenly, he is pressing for early elections. The notion of Mr Mugabe becoming a true-blue democrat can only raise a wry smile. What lies behind the desire for early elections, is, of course, a desire to capitalise on the improvement in the economy, which he had nothing to do with, and the political weakness of his main opponent, Mr Tsvangirai. But in order to achieve that, he needs to fill the partys election war chest, so that means intervention at the Marange diamond fields, which human rights organisation Global Witness says is well under way. The third part of the strategy is characterised by an odd dance with the key international negotiating group, led by President Jacob Zuma . Mr Mugabe cannot afford to alienate this group entirely, but he can undermine it. This he did last week by
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saying, most insultingly, "we can reject Zuma in broad daylight". But add ing, he didnt want to. SA has been trying to play Mr Mugabe at his own game, by pressing for electoral reforms that will result in Mr Mugabe being forced to engage in a fair fight. It would be churlish not to acknowledge that some progress has been made on this front. The "government of national unity", or "the government of disunity" as it is known in Zimbabwe, has meant a much better economy and that has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans. Yet, every time SA tries to play Mr Mugabe at his own game, it seems to lose more than it wins. What is to be done? In short, if they are not to lose again, Mr Zuma, and the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, need to up their game. They need to ensure they are able to counter each parry and thrust in this continuing battle. No more underestimating Mr Mugabe, no more half-measures; they need to hunker down for a long, drawn-out battle, because that is what it is going to be. 21 February 2012 Business Day Page 6 Ray Ndlovu
Mugabe hanging on to life and power

Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe turns 88 today with no sign of the veteran ruler relinquishing power, at the same time taking a swipe at President Jacob Zuma as mediator in the country. In the latest power struggle in Zanu (PF), Mr Mugabe has threatened to reject Mr Zuma as mediator in the countrys protracted political crisis. He also has swooped on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and vowed to resist a clause in the new draft constitution that would bar Mr Mugabe from contesting his seventh election race. "Whichever way you look at it, Zimbabwe is facing another 12 to 18 months of uncertainty," says Tony Hawkins, an economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe. Observers say the next election, which would end the three-year-old unity government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, could mark the swan song of Mr Mugabes 32-year rule. The veteran ruler yesterday warned his party would reject any facilitator "biased" towards another political party, and insisted Zanu (PF)s rejection would be only of Mr Zumas role and not of SA.
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"We can reject President Zuma at the appropriate time. We have always maintained that we are not forced to accept his mediation. But that is not something that we want to do. We dont want to fight, we want to reach an understanding with him," he said. Mr Mugabe, in excerpts of a state radio interview that was to be broadcast yesterday, cited a Botswana leader chosen by regional counterparts to mediate in Lesotho, a leader who, he said, was later "rejected" by that nation for bias toward the opposition there. The manoeuvring to rebuff Mr Zuma comes as 30 NGOs among them Care International were banned last week from operating in Masvingo (a Zanu (PF) stronghold), under the pretext of failing to reregister their operations. Zanu (PF) has brushed aside concerns that the ban will undermine food aid efforts in the country, as 1,1-million people face severe food shortages, according to the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme. At its conference held in Bulawayo in December, Zanu (PF)s central committee resolved to crack down on the countrys many NGOs and accused them of pursuing a "regime change agenda". The ban is seen as a forerunner of widespread campaigns ahead of the elections. "NGOs have weathered such attacks before and shall do so again. In these circumstances, the affected NGOs must ignore the ban by governor Titus Maluleke and continue to carry out their life-saving interventions in Masvingo and other parts of the country," Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition director Dewa Mavhinga says. Mr Tsvangirais Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said it would report the latest Zanu (PF) belligerence to the Southern African Development Community. But little headway is expected from the MDCs action. It has failed before to rein in Mr Mugabe, who at the weekend mocked the party for being "a barking dog which does not bite". Earlier this month, Mr Mugabe scored another victory by unilaterally appointing security service chiefs, whose terms of office had expired, brushing aside MDC threats of "legal and political" action at the move. "The undoing for the MDC has been their inability to galvanise the nation in pushing for the reform of state institutions. They have also lost their strategic linkages with their civic partners once they went into the government, and this has weakened their ability to mobilise against Zanu (PF)s recalcitrance," political analyst Charles Mangongera says. Despite the power-sharing agreement which purports that power be equally shared, all cabinet meetings are chaired by Mr Mugabe, who insists on three titles: head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief. "The reality is that power resides with the president, but the other players in the unity government will always want to pretend that they also have some power, some responsibility, and this is what keeps creating this circus," Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku says.
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The European Union on Friday last week dropped 51 Zimbabwean individuals and 20 companies associated with Zanu (PF) from its sanctions list, although it kept an arms embargo and a freeze on development aid. Zanu (PF) handlers celebrated the removal of sanctions on the eve of Mr Mugabes birthday, but insisted it was not enough. Rugare Gumbo, the Zanu (PF) spokesman said: "Removing a limited number of individuals from the sanctions list is meaningless and of no value. We want all the people to be removed from the list because the sanctions are racist and illegal as they were not approved by the UN". 21 February 2012 Cape Times Page 1 Louise Flanagan
Arms report could be withheld

Johannesburg: President Jacob Zuma may keep the arms deal inquirys final report secret, and the inquiry chairman may restrict access to the information therein. The inquiry regulations which Zuma signed into law this month dont close the inquiry to the public, but do make restrictions possible. The inquiry hasnt started, although the two-year clock started ticking when the terms of reference were gazetted in November. The regulations are in terms of the Commissions Act of 1947, which orders that evidence be heard in public unless the chairman decides otherwise. According to the regulations: No copy of the report or interim report or part of these may be released without the presidents authorisation. Witnesses may not refuse to answer questions, but that evidence may not be used against them in criminal proceedings. Cross-examination of witnesses happens only if the chairman deems it necessary. Documents may be seized with a warrant, but only if this is based on information revealed under oath. Nobody may provide information or access to records of the inquiry except in so far as it is necessary in the performance of his or her duties in connection with the functions of the commission or by order of a competent court. Documents submitted to the inquiry may not be disseminated or published without the chairmans written permission.
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No shorthand notes or recordings may be transcribed without the permission of the chairman. Anti-arms deal activist Terry Crawford-browne said the regulations appeared to disregard presidential expressions of commitment to deal with corruption. The government and ANC obviously still think they can brush the arms deal scandal under the carpet and, if necessary, then pass the Protection of Corrupt Politicians Bill to bury a political hot potato. Heavens, even the Americans cannot protect themselves these days from Wikileaks its time our guys woke up to the 21st century instead of trying to reinvent the apartheid-era sledge hammer, said Crawford-browne. Commission chairman Judge Willie Seriti said giving the president the authority to release the report was standard. You dont want the president to see the findings of the commission in the newspaper without even seeing it. Releasing the report will thus be solely his discretion said Seriti, but referred to precedents when courts ordered the president to release other inquiry reports. Zuma escaped facing corruption charges arising from the arms deal when prosecutors decided to drop the case in 2009, a decision currently being challenged in the Supreme Court of Appeal by the DA. The president will refuse to put the final report and interim reports into the public domain at his peril, said advocate Paul Hoffman, SC, also referring to court orders to release other inquiry reports. Media lawyer Dario Milo also referred to court action to release other reports. A similar regulation to this was struck down by Judge Meyer Joffe in a 1995 case, where he held that the prohibition against publication without the presidents consent of the report in that case was cast in such a manner that the report may never see the light of day. If the president does not allow release of the publication a matter of public interest could well be kept from the public forever. The same could be said here, said Milo. Hoffman said the powers to limit publication of evidence or documents or closing of hearings seems to be limited to circumstances in which the witness giving evidence of a whistle-blowing nature will want protection for fear of reprisal. Seriti said the inquiry would be open to the public to a great extent, unless there were reasons to close specific parts of it. A refusal to allow press coverage will have to be reasonable and justifiable, and a ruling un warrantedly prohibiting coverage could be challenged in court, said Hoffman. 20 February 2012 Cape Argus
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Page 5 Nontando Mposo
Manuel urges return to ANC values

National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel has urged ANC supporters to go back to basics and focus on the partys policies and structures to contribute to making it better. We need to go back to the ANCs traditional rules and re-evaluate why we are supporting it and how we can contribute to building a better ANC, Manuel said. He was speaking at the ANC Cadres Forum in the Msizi Hall in Khayelitsha yesterday. ANC provincial chairman and Deputy International Relations Minister Marius Fransman said they would be visiting ANC branches across the region to assess the progress the party had made and to reflect and look at key challenges that the party is faced with leading up to the 2014 national elections.
On the weekend Cadres Forums were also held in the Free State, Central Karoo and Beaufort West. Our main objective is to speak to all our structures in the Western Cape about the values of the ANC and reclaim the power we have lost in the province. The best way for us to move forward is to engage with cadres at grassroots level to ensure that discipline is maintained and that our leaders are respected, Fransman said. The forthcoming 53rd ANC National Policy Conference in June will be bigger than Mangaung where a new ANC leadership will be elected, said Manuel. The policy conference is in so many ways bigger than Mangaung. We have a very important question to answer about ANC policies, and that is are our policies efficient?. But before we get to the conference we need to understand the liberation movement that we are supporting to implement its policies correctly. Manuel also encouraged ANC supporters to go back to the policy book of the ANC to understand why the party had survived the past 100 years. Its important that we focus on the state of our branches and make sure that they are bigger, stronger and functional. The fact that the ANC is not playing as major a role in the province doesnt do justice to a movement that has come out of so many challenges. We owe it to ourselves to build a new ANC and we will put in the effort to make sure that we are stronger in the province, added Manuel.
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22 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Sapa
Deadly force for police use only, MPs told

Proposed changes to the law governing the use of lethal force under section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act should apply only to police officers making an arrest and not to private individuals acting in self-defence, Parliaments justice committee was told yesterday. Police shootings and the use of lethal force have been in the headlines of late. Both were particularly pertinent at yesterdays committee deliberations following last weeks shooting of a youth, allegedly by a student policeman. Public hearings in the justice committee last August contained a wide variety of responses ranging from outright rejection of the new proposed section 49 to it being a welcome clarification of how and when police could use their firearms. At issue is when police can use deadly force to prevent a dangerous suspect from escaping. During last years hearings, University of Cape Town law professor Pierre de Vos warned : "Legislation that provides a blanket power to arrestors to use deadly force against anyone suspected of committing a crime involving serious threat of bodily harm, where suspects flee or resist arrest, would not pass constitutional muster." Gen Tertius Geldenhuys, commenting on the public submissions, said yesterday that he was concerned some of the submissions wanted the law to apply to both police and private individuals. He explained that the way it was drafted, it applied to a specific purpose, and that was a police officer making an arrest to secure an appearance in court. The rules governing how private people could apply lethal force were covered by the common law. He said the amendment was an important measure which defines the "threshold that must be crossed before force can be used". He described the case of a young officer who had decided that an armed, fleeing suspect could not be shot in the back and ran after him, only to have the suspect turn and fatally wound him. Gen Geldenhuys agreed with submissions that stressed the importance of training in the matter of using deadly force, and also supported calls for a "use of force policy" to be developed. But sceptical MPs were unconvinced. Democratic Alliance MP Debbie Schafer said the first obligation was to ensure that police shootings did not occur, and then to define the conditions under which force could be used. She asked Gen Geldenhuys to explain how the police were trained in the use of force "because we have heard that the training is simply not happening".
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African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart said there was concern about the dangerous and stressful conditions in which police operated, "but there is also concern about the powers which police enjoy and how they are abused". Mr Swart took issue with the clause that said force could be used where the suspect could commit violent crimes in the future. "How can a police officer make a decision based on whether an arrest could be made later? That is asking them to be prophetic," he said. Committee chairman Luwellyn Landers (ANC) questioned Gen Geldenhuyss statement that training in the use of force would be reviewed once the new section 49 had been approved by Parliament. This sounded like an admission that police training was inadequate. Gen Geldenhuys said that whenever a police officer used his or her firearm, the matter should be investigated by the Independent Police Investigating Directorate, which will soon replace the current Independent Complaints Directorate.
21 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Wyndham Hartley
Audit for Zuma shadow aircraft to US

Auditor-general Terence Nombembe will investigate the two aircraft that "shadowed" President Jacob Zuma when he flew to the US late last year as part of a performance audit at the Department of Defence. It was revealed last year that Mr Zumas Boeing Business Jet was "shadowed" by two back-up aircraft, including an South African Airways (SAA) Airbus A340 and a Bombardier Global Express. At the time, the air force said it was normal practice to back up an aircraft after a major service and the presidents aircraft had had a major service in Switzerland before the US flight. This prompted Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier to ask the auditor-general to investigate the incident. He received confirmation from Mr Nombembes office that the shadow aircraft would be audited. The auditor-generals office said the relevant processes would be audited "as part of the supply chain management audit", then evaluated for compliance with the applicable Treasury regulations and practice notes. The findings will be "reported to Parliament, if required". Mr Maynier yesterday welcomed the news of an investigation, pointing out that the "SAA Airbus A340 (200) is a long-range, four-engined, wide body jet aircraft designed to carry more than 250 passengers", while the Bombardier Global Express
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XRS is "an ultra-long range executive jet air aircraft designed to seat up to 19 passengers". "The justification for the use of back-up aircraft to shadow President Jacob Zumas Boeing Business Jet has never been properly explained. We do not have all the facts, but operating the three aircraft may have required up to 16 pilots, two flight engineers and 16 cabin crew and cost more than R10m." Mr Maynier said it had also been reported that the use of shadow aircraft had not been authorised by South African Air Force chief Gen Carlo Gagiano and Defence Secretary Sam Galube. This meant the expenditure may therefore have been "an unauthorised, irregular or wasteful expenditure", he said. "We cannot sit back and allow millions of rand to be wasted on the shadow planes for President Zuma," Mr Maynier added. Attempts to get comment from the department were unsuccessful. 20 February 2012 Business Day Page 11 John Kane-Berman
A remarkable woman at the head of a remarkable institution

Barely noticed in SA, although we are a member of the Commonwealth she heads, Monday a fortnight ago was the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne of the UK and of her other "realms and territories". But for the fact that the prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, forced her uncle King Edward VIII to abdicate in 1936, when he chose to marry a divorcee, she might never have become queen. Her reign during which she has outlasted 12 British prime ministers and 12 US presidents has been a huge success. It is hard to think of anyone anywhere who has done so professional a job so well for so long, so much of it in the public eye. Merit might not have put her on to the throne, but it has kept her there. She knows the monarchy rests on popular consent, not hereditary rights. A hundred years ago, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary were ruled by emperors, but those dynasties perished amid war, revolution and their own ineptitude. By then, the subordination of the British monarchy to Parliament had been long established.
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The British monarchy is one of the most accomplished political institutions of all time. It has survived from the days of royal absolutism into the democratic and republican age because its occupants have skilfully adapted. During the First World War, George V disowned his German ancestry by changing the family name to Windsor. Lest he inflame revolutionary sentiment, he also denied political asylum to his first cousin, Czar Nicholas II of Russia, who was soon murdered on Lenins orders. Just before the war, George V supported Prime Minister Herbert Asquiths Liberal government by threatening to pack a reactionary House of Lords with Liberal peers when the Lords tried to block Lloyd Georges radical "peoples budget". In 1923, when the sitting prime minister died, George V endorsed his replacement by the businessman commoner Baldwin instead of Lord Curzon, the presumed favourite and most glamorous of all Tory grandees. The king thought Curzon should be disqualified because he sat in the hereditary Lords, rather than the elected House of Commons. He told the shocked aristocrat: "I want my prime minister to face his opponents in Parliament every day." The following year, when a general election resulted in a hung Parliament, the king overcame his loathing of socialism to help put together a coalition government under the first Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, whose party contained many Bolshevik sympathisers. So a part of the reason for the British monarchys longevity is that it has sided with democracy against its supposed natural allies in the aristocracy. The present queen enjoys fewer powers than her predecessors, powers which over the years have been gradually conceded to elected politicians. Conservative prime ministers, once appointed by the queen after having somehow "emerged", are now elected by party caucuses. Part of her success is that nobody knows her politics. And nothing leaks from her weekly audiences with her prime ministers, some of whom have drawn strength from their ability to talk to her in absolute confidence. Do they always do so? One intriguing question about her reign is whether Anthony Eden, when he was prime minister, told her about his governments plot to conspire with France and Israel to invade Egypt and seize back the Suez Canal, which President Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalised in 1956. The plot delighted the Russians, caused the Americans to threaten economic sanctions against the humiliated British, and destroyed Eden. Did he tell the queen what he was up to? If so, did she exercise her constitutional right to warn him against it? Celebrations of the queens diamond jubilee in the UK later this year will outshine the London Olympics. Perhaps they might also give pause to reflect that a political
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system in which the head of state is above party politics is preferable to the more widely used model in which the head of state is first and foremost a party politician.
22 February 2012 Business Day Page 3 Sam Mkokeli
De Klerk foundation joins fray over courts role

The FW de Klerk Foundation has criticised African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Mathole Motshekga, who at the weekend said SA was being transformed into a "one-party state" governed by unelected courts. The foundation this week joined a number of bodies outraged by plans of a constitutional assessment that may include a review of the powers of the countrys courts. In a newspaper interview at the weekend, Mr Motshekga defended President Jacob Zuma s announcement early this month that the government wanted to review the powers of the Constitutional Court. Mr Motshekga said there was nothing untoward or unconstitutional about the review announcement. He said the planned review reflected a public concern over the power of the courts. "For most people it appeared that the government had to ask the permission of the courts before it did anything," he was reported as saying. Foundation executive director Dave Steward said: "Mr Motshekga would do well to note that no person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the courts; that organs of state must assist and protect the courts; and that court decisions and orders bind all persons and organs of state to which they apply". ANC leaders have criticised the courts for lacking in transformation and say the courts are being used by opposition parties to fight the partys right to govern. Mr Steward said the governments problems with the courts did not arise from any lack of clarity about the respective powers of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. It was also not a question of reactionary courts obstinately standing in the way of transformation. "The governments problems with the courts arise from the fact that unconstitutional laws and government conduct have repeatedly been struck down by the courts. Neither is there any basis to the charge that the courts are exceeding their powers." Mr Steward said many of the cases that the government lost had been pro-transformation. An example was the Treatment Action Campaigns case, which led to the rollout of antiretrovirals.
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"Others have involved unconstitutional legislation and abuse of executive power, such as Glenister and Simelane, and still others relate to cultural and language rights, such as Lourens." Mr Motshekgas spokesman Moloto Mothapo said: "The foundation must know that even the biggest democracies in the world are from time to time subject to regular constitutional review; hence our Parliament has the joint constitutional review committee to deal with constitutional matters." The foundation should not put the cart before the horse as the details of the review had not been released, he said. Mr Steward said Mr Zuma, as head of the government, did not have the powers to review the courts. The Department of Justice is expected to release details about the review this week.
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Global South African Weekly News Wrap 24 February 2012

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Global South African Weekly News Wrap Up 24 February 2012

24February 2012 News Wrap-up

De Klerk foundation joins fray over courts role .................................................... 84

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