Zuma's government pulls out of commemoration for mine killings

August 15th 2013

Xola Potelwa 2 hours ago

By Xola Potelwa

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa's ANC government pulled out at the last minute from a memorial ceremony marking the anniversary of the nation's bloodiest post-apartheid labour violence, drawing attention to the dominant party's loss of support among many mineworkers.

President Jacob Zuma's government had planned a unifying day of prayer and reflection to commemorate the killings by police last year of 34 striking platinum workers at Lonmin's Marikana mine. The deadliest incident of its kind since the 1994 end of white-minority rule, it shocked South Africans and the world.

But just hours before the planned commemoration went ahead on Friday at the mine northeast of Johannesburg, a government spokeswoman said no one from Zuma's government would appear. More than a dozen seats for cabinet ministers on the main stage were empty when ceremonies started.

Zuma, who faces an election next year, has come under fire from critics over the government's clumsy handling of what has come to be known as the "Marikana massacre", including questions over alleged police brutality.

The Marikana killings were among 60 deaths during a wave of illegal strikes and labour violence in the country's mines that started last year and spilled over into this year. The violence helped trigger credit downgrades for Africa's biggest economy and dented the image of the ANC government.

Zuma's ruling ANC said it would not participate in Friday's memorial because the event was being organised by a Marikana support group, which includes the hardline Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

"We are not participating in this activity," ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi told Reuters. "People are taking advantage of a tragedy for their own political benefit."

The labour union ally of Zuma's ANC, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has been displaced by the more hardline AMCU as the dominant union among miners in the area, said it was also staying away, for safety reasons.

"It's important that we commemorate those who lost their lives, but it is not necessary that we go and commemorate only to lose more lives. The possibility of losing further lives is great," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.

The more radical AMCU accuses the ANC government and its NUM union allies of siding with mining bosses over the interests of workers fighting for better pay and conditions.

The two unions have been involved in a deadly war for members among South Africa's mineworkers, accusing each other of being behind killings of members over the past few months.

At Marikana, thousands of people, many of them wearing green AMCU T-shirts, gathered on and around the rocky outcrop dubbed by media the "Hill of Horror" where the strikers were killed last year, most falling in a hail of police gunfire.

Marikana worker Paulos Mpahlela, 60, expressed anger at the government and ANC's decision to stay away.

"We are hurt, the government should be here. They should have taken the trouble to come and be here because they're the leaders," he said.

"ENEMY TERRITORY"

The decision by the ruling party and government to stay away highlights the alienation of many of South Africa's poorest workers from the ANC, Nelson Mandela's liberation movement which has dominated South Africa since the end of apartheid.

The ANC is still expected to win elections easily next year, but increasingly suffers from accusations that it has become the party of the rich and powerful.

"What it shows is that the ANC, the NUM and the government have lost their legitimacy in that region which has become enemy territory. It is a unique situation when the NUM and ANC cannot appear somewhere," Cape Town-based political analyst Nic Borain told Reuters.

AMCU denies that its aggressive recruitment tactics are behind the unrest in South Africa's mines, which has injected added tension into the latest round of wage bargaining currently underway between mining companies and unions.

Attending the Marikana commemoration, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa called it a "sad day" that should not be used for political "electioneering".

The threat of an immediate fresh strike at Marikana was eased this week when Lonmin, the world's No. 3 platinum producer, signed a deal with AMCU recognising it as the majority union at its mine, although labour tension remains high.

A government commission of inquiry was due to conclude its investigation into the Marikana shootings by last December but proceedings stalled and lately were suspended because of lack of funding for lawyers representing the victims.

Rights group Amnesty International urged the government to ensure that inquiry was fully completed.

"There seems to be a critical lack of political will to ensure that the police and those responsible for the police fully account for their actions," Amnesty's Deputy Programme Director for Africa Noel Kututwa said in a statement.

Lonmin will not pay legal fees for miners

6 minutes agoSapa

(Lucky Nxumalo, City Press)

Lonmin deal with AMCU heads off strike

Woman killed at Lonmin

Ex-CEO: Machines can end mine strife

CCMA mulling Lonmin jurisdiction

Lonmin, unions at CCMA

Credibility of Lonmin CEO at stake

Cape Town - Platinum miner Lonmin [JSE:LON] has turned down a request to help pay the legal fees of miners taking part in the Farlam Commission of Inquiry, it said on Friday.
Lonmin human capital manager Abey Kgotle confirmed he had sent a letter to the Hola Bon Renaissance Foundation, which made the request, in this regard. He said no further comment would be made.
According to the letter the company notes the foundation's application and says it was duly considered.
It reads: "We certainly support you in the belief that it is right that all interested parties continue to have a voice at the commission.
"However, given the conflict inherent in Lonmin providing financial assistance to a party with whom it may be in opposition and the negative perceptions this could raise, we cannot accede to your requests."
The foundation sent the letter on July 25.
Following Lonmin's response on Tuesday, foundation project manager Lebogang Moima asked for a meeting to further discuss the reasoning behind the request.
Kgotle confirmed the meeting request and said it would be arranged, refusing to provide further details.
On August 10 last year, rock drillers at Lonmin's Marikana operations, outside Rustenburg in North West, embarked on an unprotected strike for a monthly salary of R12 500.
More workers joined the strike and the protesters gathered on a hill near the Nkaneng informal settlement, some carrying weapons such as pangas, spears, knobkerries, and iron rods.
Thirty-four workers were killed when police fired on them on August 16 while attempting to disperse and disarm them.
Ten people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in strike-related unrest in the preceding week.
President Jacob Zuma established the Farlam Commission of Inquiry to investigate the deaths.
In June Dali Mpofu, for the wounded and arrested miners, told the commission that due to financial constraints his team could be forced to withdraw from the inquiry. He brought an urgent application in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria several weeks ago seeking state funding, but this was dismissed. Mpofu then took the state to the Constitutional Court, asking that it pay for his legal team.
The Constitutional Court was to have delivered judgment on Friday but postponed the ruling until Monday. The commission's proceedings have been postponed several times while solutions to the funding problems were sought. Government has so far spent about R6.7m on legal representation for police.
Moima said the foundation considered itself a mouthpiece for the disadvantaged and the request formed part of its advocacy responsibilities.
"We are hoping our meeting with Lonmin will just be progressive in a way that they will pay, even just partly. It's important that even Lonmin must show commitment...."

Uganda: University Closed Over Pay Demands

New Vision

< a href="/view/group/main/main/id/00025970.html">

< /a>

Photo: New Vision

< /div>

Uganda: University Closed Over Pay Demands

Staff of Uganda's 90-year-old Makerere University have gone on strike after the government's failure to honour their 100-percent salary increase demand. (file photo) more»

Keeping up in Class: Students, School Face Growing Pains

June 28, 2013 ⋅Post a comment

Teacher Thoko Matosi helps a student in her 10th-grade physics class at COSAT. (Photo: Anders Kelto)

This story is part of a year-long series, School Year: Learning, Poverty, and Success in a South African Township.
A few weeks ago, Thoko Matosi, a physics teacher at the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT), was helping her 10th-grade students with an electronics lab.
The students huddled around wires and circuit boards. But, as Ms. Matosi pointed out, not all of the kids were involved.
“A lot of them are just standing,” she said.
The classroom had only three circuit boards for 30 kids. That meant just a few kids in each group would do the experiment, while the rest watched. Ms. Matosi said that was not conducive to learning.
“You don’t really learn much when you just observe things,” she said.
One student who was just observing was a sophomore named Sikelela. She had short hair and a big smile, and sat quietly at her desk, hands folded in her lap. She said she hadn’t really participated in the lab, and didn’t follow what her peers were doing.
“I’m not really understanding it,” Sikelela said. “I’m just writing their findings.”
More Students, Greater Struggles
Sikelela’s situation reflects a growing trend at COSAT.
The school was founded as an elite institution, attracting the very best students from one of the poorest parts of town. Nearly all of the students graduated, and most went on to college. The government saw this success and forced the school to expand. Its enrollment has more than doubled over the past four years. That has meant more crowded classrooms.

Sikelela, a 10th-grader at COSAT, transferred from a less challenging high school. (Photo: Anders Kelto)

Sikelela has been part of that expansion. This is her first year at COSAT, and she is struggling to keep up with the school’s fast-paced curriculum. At her old high school, she didn’t have to work that hard.
“If you [didn’t] understand, they would repeat it until you [were] bored,” Sikelela said. But that is not the case at COSAT.
Since arriving here, Sikelela had fallen behind in most of her classes and failed several tests. She was starting to wonder if she belonged here.
Sikelela’s story raises an important question: By admitting students who are not well-prepared for such a high-pressure environment, is COSAT doing those students a disservice? Will they simply become discouraged?
“My opinion is that they can succeed,” said the school’s principal, Phadiela Cooper. “With the correct nurturing and support, we can perform miracles. We’ve seen it in the past.”
But in the present, the school is stretched thin. Classes are bigger, resources are scarcer, and teachers are working longer hours. That makes it harder to provide a nurturing, supportive environment that can help students who are struggling.
Mid-year Assessment
At the time I spoke to Mrs. Cooper, students were preparing to take mid-year exams that would indicate how they’re doing in this new environment. It was clear that Mrs. Cooper was a bit worried about what the tests would show.
“I’m optimistic,” she said, “but concerned.”
A short time later, Sikelela – the 10th-grader – was doing some last-minute studying in the school courtyard. She was about to take her mid-year physics test. She said she was feeling pretty well prepared.
“I studied so much, especially yesterday – during the weekend,” she said.
She felt comfortable with most of the physics material, except for one section. “The electricity topic – I didn’t really understand it,” she said. “But I did work my best.”
Last week, the grades were in – for all the classes.
The scoring system at COSAT is on a 100-point scale. A passing grade is 40 percent. But COSAT wants all of its students to get at least 50 percent in all of their subjects.

Students take notes in class. (Photo: Anders Kelto)

In her office, the principal, Mrs. Cooper, flipped through a stack of papers with test scores. She said the sophomore class, which has a lot of new students, didn’t do very well compared with previous years.
“We [have] so many more people scoring less than 50 percent,” she said. “And that is a worry.”
Mrs. Cooper said that with a limited budget, there wasn’t much she could do about the problem. She couldn’t hire more teachers, and she couldn’t ask current teachers to work more hours. COSAT was already offering Saturday school for students who need extra help. All the school could do, she said, was put the onus on the students – and convince them to work harder.
“It’s not up to us,” she said. “They have to do what is required.”
Finding Motivation
That message seems to have gotten through to 10th-grader Sikelela.
On the last day of classes before the mid-year break, she got her report card. In physics, she received a 67 – not as high as she had hoped, but better than many of her peers.
Most importantly, she said the process of studying hard and seeing the effort pay off taught her that she is capable of more than she thought.
“I’m motivated, I’m inspired, and I’m going to make time for my books,” she said.
Sikelela has seen the benefit of having teachers who hold her to high standards.
“Sometimes, you need some people to push you,” she said.
Before she came to COSAT, she said no one really held her accountable. But here, the teachers are demanding, and they push her to work hard.
And now, as the school goes on mid-year break, she said she is starting to feel at home here.

ANC broke AA agreement, says Pik Botha

Aug 16 2013 07:14Fin24

Johannesburg - Affirmative action as it is currently implemented was not what was intended with the agreement reached in 1994 between specifically the then ruling party, the NP, and the ANC, according to former minister of foreign affairs Pik Botha.

He expressed this sentiment on Thursday during a debate on affirmative action in Pretoria.

Botha joined other experts on the subject of affirmative action in a debate regarding the place of affirmative action in South Africa. Rabelani Dagada of the Wits Business School in Johannesburg and Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Solidarity Movement, were participants in the debate.
According to Botha, the ANC has broken the agreement that was reached in 1994. He also clearly expresses this view in Hermann's latest book, Affirmative tears: Why representivity does not equal equality (published by Kraal Uitgewers).
He reckons that a new constitutional dispensation would have been impossible in South Africa, had the ANC insisted at the time that the provisions of the Employment Equity Act and the manner in which they are enforced be made part of the Constitution.
He pointed out that the intention during the negotiations was to rectify the inequalities and injustices caused by apartheid.
"But we did not agree to remedying injustices in the past by creating injustices in the present," Botha explained.

'Discrimination against white young people, who had nothing to do with apartheid, was definitely not part of the agreement between the NP and the ANC. Neither, generally, was discrimination against whites, coloureds or Indians."
The ANC's "quota obsession" amounts to a rejection of skilled people, who are able to contribute amply to train black people, in his opinion.
"The boomerang effect of the Employment Equity Act is that masses of black people are still untrained and unemployed and that the country's economic progress is severely hampered by a shortage of skills. This affects millions more blacks than whites," Botha said.
"Spontaneous, informal yet fundamental talks among leaders of all races are needed in order to agree on the road ahead."

Banks hold breath for default decision

Aug 16 2013 14:37

Cape Town - Credit providers are hoping for a positive judgment from the appeal court on the delivery of default notices to defaulting consumers, says banking specialist lawyer Aslam Moosajee.

On August 22 the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) is to hear argument on whether a court can grant default judgment to enforce a credit agreement such as a home loan, where it knows that a Section 129 notice under the National Credit Act did not reach the consumer because it was not collected from the post office.

The banking industry will be following the appeal before the SCA with close interest, says Moosajee. "Banks will be hoping for a finding that consumers' failure to collect Section 129 does not allow them leeway to escape any legal consequences by pleading ignorance of the notice."

In Sebola versus The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (June 2012) the Constitutional Court held that it was not sufficient for the bank to show that the notice had been sent by registered post to the address chosen by the defaulting consumer.

The bank must also print out a “track and trace” printout from the website of the South African Post Office to show that the notice was delivered to the correct post office for the chosen address.

If the notice reached the relevant post office, a court can accept this as adequate proof of delivery of the notice to the defaulting consumer.

Since the Sebola judgment was delivered in June last year, there have been conflicting judgments in the high courts about its proper interpretation, says Moosajee.

An issue that has troubled a number of our high courts is whether it is sufficient to prove that the notice reached the correct post office or whether the Sebola judgment means that, if there is evidence that the consumer did not collect the notice, default judgment cannot be granted.

In other cases, the Western Cape High Court held that if the bank proved the notice was sent to the correct post office, the risk of non-receipt of the notice rests with the defaulting consumer.

Proof of delivery to the correct post office is sufficient, regardless of whether the notice was collected by the debtor.

This approach was not adopted by the South Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape high courts, which interpreted the Sebola judgment in a different way.

The courts held that if the track and trace report indicates that the Section 129 notice was returned to the sender, there has not been compliance with the National Credit Act and judgment cannot be granted.

The banks are hoping the court will rule that consumers cannot get away with the excuse that the registered item was not collected, if it can be proven that a Section 129 notice was sent to the defaulting consumer by registered mail and it reached the correct post office.

Expat: Africa is in my blood, but...

Jul 18 2013 15:25Fin24

(Shutterstock)

It's all about cost of living

Sable: Expats waiting to come home

What we pay for petrol - expats

How much forex can I bring into SA?

Tax advice for returning expats

New UK tax status test could hit expats

Cape Town - "Africa is in my blood. I would love to come home..."

This was the response of South African Liezl Hesketh in reaction to an article on Fin24 about expats who are considering returning home, but are hesitating to do so for various reasons.

A report by African Business Link to Experts (Sable) Accelerator found that although these expats have a wealth of information and skills which could be applied in South Africa, many still don't think South Africa is "open" to those who are considering a return.

"There are standouts in many fields of endeavour who are willing and eager to give back to the country. They just need to be invited, engaged and recognised through a formal process of interaction,” said Donovan Neale-May, managing partner of the Sable Accelerator and chairperson of the Rhodes University Trust USA.

Sable Accelerator, is a Silicon Valley-based global group of South African expats who advance commercial innovation and exchange for their home country.

Hesketh is a professional and entrepreneur who has been living in the UK since 1999.

In six months' time she is returning to South Africa to select a local supplier to build a new web application she hopes to roll out internationally.

She also wants to see if her British husband - a business analyst - could adapt to life in South Africa.

She writes: "We both have a wealth of information and skills, which could be applied in South Africa, but I still don't think South Africa is welcoming to those who are considering a return.

"There are many like us.

"We are still daunted by BEE, affirmative action and corruption. We want to be given the opportunity to make a living (using) our skills, which would be marketable anywhere else in the world."

- Fin24

Something on your mind? Tell us about it and you could get published.

Socio Economic Network

Friday, August 16, 2013