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AIDS HOLOCAUST: Charged of mass murder to be laid against condom manufacturers. By Sipho Mthembu
urning Point is in the final stages of consulting legal counsel with the view to lay charges of “mass murder of countless South Africans who died from causes related to HIV and AIDS” against a condom manufacturing companies.This weekend, Turning Point will meet its high-powered legal team to put the final touches on the specific charges to be laid against several respondents. The lawsuit follows a media expose in August 2007 that the government supplier of condoms Latex Surgical Products (LSP) and its contracted subsidiary Zalatex, had been supplying sub-standard and faulty condoms to the government.According to reports, the supplier bribed an official of the state standards authority, South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) to certify as good quality more than 8 million sub-standard and faulty condoms since October 2006. These were destined for free distribution at 190 primary sites country-wide, including hospitals clinics, libraries, universities, municipalities, pubs, taxi and bus ranks and every possible public space. It was further alleged that Zalatex, which has been contracted to government since 2005, was to supply 76 million condoms in a three-year contract ending in February 2008. The Zalatex contract represents nine-percent of an 850 million free “Choice” branded condoms. The rest of the supply was divided to six other manufacturers and distributors over the same three year period. Three of the companies are foreign, and the remaining four are South African. The free condom distribution is one of government’s main strategy in its fight against the pandemic, which has now claimed more than 2.5 million lives in South Africa alone. The government reacted to the story, launched a campaign to recall 20 million faulty condoms supplied by Zalatex and ordered an investigation into the scam. The supply contract with the company has since been terminated. The police were called in, and the owner of LSP, Jeffrey Hurwitz, Zalatex factory manager Sajeev Joseph and the employee of SABS Simphiwe Fikizolo, were arrested.On September 7 2007 newspapers reported another condom shocker that Zalatex may not have been the only company supplying faulty condoms. Condoms from three other government-contracted suppliers were, according to the SABS, found with “anomalies”. The SABS recommended that government health department warehouses batches of these sub-standard and faulty condoms. The three implicated companies were not named.On October 9 2007, newspapers reported yet another shocker: tens of thousands of unused faulty and sub-standard condoms were found dumped along the side of a road in Inanda, near Durban. Investigations revealed that the condoms were manufactured by yet another government contracted supplier Kohrs Medical. According to reports, Kohrs Medical had already supplied government with 5 million condoms, with 4 million already distributed and 1 million still in government stores. According to Turning Point editor Alex Mashinini, charges will be laid against the owners of Latex Surgical Products (LSP), their subsidiary Zalatex, and the accused in the condom scam case number 111/231//07 and 116/08/07 currently in the Commercial Crimes court in Pretoria, Kohr Medical and all other manufacturers of condoms implicated in the saga around the manufacture and supply of faulty and sub-standard condoms to the government of the Republic of South Africa. Said Mashinini: “Firstly, Zalatex won a government contract to manufacture and supply the South African government with condoms. Under the terms of the contract, they were to produce and supply condoms to government, and then government would pay. They did not need to sell and market these condoms. Their duty was simply to produce, supply and get paid. Why then did the employees of the company bribe an official of the South African Bureau of Standard (SABS) in the first place? “Is there any significant difference in monetary value between the SABS approved condoms and the sub-standard and faulty types that they flooded the market with? Are the SABS approved condoms using more raw materials (and therefore expensive to make) than the sub-standard and faulty types they supplied government with?”, Mashinini asked. “Secondly, Zalatex and other condom manufacturers are not in the business of manufacturing candies. They are manufacturing and supplying condoms that are to meet, at all times, certain stringent quality standards so as to protect users (human beings) from contracting a viral infection that is lethal and causes death.“The manufacturers, more than any person in this world, posses requisite knowledge that the consequences of supplying sub-standard and faulty condoms will cause certain death to the users yet the company went ahead, intentionally and knowingly, and manufactured and supplied lethal sub-standard and faulty condoms to government. “To ensure that these sub-standard and faulty condoms “pass the test” and find themselves in the pockets of unsuspecting users, they bribed the official of the standards authority, to certify as “good” these sub-standard and lethal condoms. It is clear that the motives and intentions of those who committed these crimes were premeditated. Mashinini is convinced that there could be no other intention than “a mass culling” of, especially the black populace. “It is clear that the consequences of these acts could have lead to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of unsuspecting users of these faulty and sub-standard condoms having been lulled into a false sense of protection and security and contracting the virus that causes HIV and AIDS. After all, these rejects carried the SABS stamp of approval.” He urged law enforcement agencies to investigate what he calls the weird phenomenon in South Africa’s fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic, charging that with the world’s most comprehensive programme and the largest spend to curb the pandemic so far, the death and devastation caused by this disease is unrelenting. On the contrary, he says, the more government pumps in resources, the higher the incidence of HIV and AIDS infections. “Today South Africa has the highest HIV and AIDS incidence in the world, standing at 5 million, and the death toll stands at 2.850 million as of June 2009 and still counting at a rate of more than 1 000 deaths a day, and 1 500 new infections a day. According to the Medical Research Council (MRC), the death toll from HIV and AIDS in South Africa will reach over 5 million in 2010”, charged Mashinini, who vowed this newspaper would pursue the matter right up to its conclusion. JOIN THE AIDS HOLOCAUST CAMPAIGN
AIDS HOLOCAUST: The case for state intervention By Andrew Molefe
he recent announcement by a local majority black-owned company to enter the R12-billion annual South African anti-retroviral medicine has drawn a mixed reaction.“Close to R12-billion is spent on ARVs annually, of which almost all is imported from India and China, “ said Brian van Rooyen, Executive Chairman of Labat and the company looking at stopping production of intergrated circuits (ICs) in Koedoespoort into a drug production plant instead.Those who have read van Rooyen’s statement, questioned his company’s intention and called for the state to establish its own ARVs manufacturing plant or go into public-private partnerships to provide the country, hardest hit by HIV/Aids epidemic with affordable drugs.R12-billion the state spent buying ARV’s annually, can be used to be built, equip and staff a state-of-the arts facility to produce ARV’s, says those who want the government to become involved in the production the drug.Only this week, reports emerged that government will be short of R1-bn for HIV and AIDS drugs this financial year, risking repeat of the shortages experienced in the Free State, according to Mark Heywood, the deputy chairman of the South African Aids Council.He said the shortfall of R1-bn could amount to at least 10-percent of the funding dedicated to the fight against HIV. His estimation suggests that the state does spent around R10-bn in ARVs while the private health sector spend only around R2-bn annually.Others, like Cosatu say there is a need for producing ARV’s in the country regardless of whether they are manufacturing by government or the private sector.“As long as the manufacturers produce good quality drugs that are effective, it doesn’t matter who is producing them. Establishing a plant in South Africa is will be welcomed because that will mean job creation,” said spokesperson Patrick Craven.He however told Turning Point that another important thing will be that, whoever manufacturer these medicines, should make them affordable to the general public as it is the poor.South Africa currently imports most, if not all of its ARV’s from India and China and should Labat succeeds, their plant will be first on the African continent to produce ARV’s. Their ARV plant will however see the demise of another industry and the potential loss of jobs too.They will close to stop production of ICs, which was the only one in Africa, seeing possible loss of jobs for IT-specific technicians and render Africa a net importer of IC products for years, and perhaps decades to come.After the ANC abandoned its earlier policies of socialism and talks of nationalisation prior to coming to power and its embracing the free market system, the country has been tied down by a number of international treaties it signed that discouraged interventionist policies in economic matters.On a positive front, in January the South African Council for scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced that it has developed a low-cost method of manufacturing the antiretroviral used to treat HIV/AIDS.The CSIR’s new technique will reduce the production costs of thymidine, a valuable ingredient in the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs AZT and stavudine. The two generic drugs are used in combination therapy.By using two drugs of different classes, combination therapy minimises both HIV virus resistance to ARVs and the development of serious side-effects. Because of this, it is the preferred method of ARV administration.Until now, Indian drug manufacturers supported by state subsidies have offered the most competitively priced active pharmaceutical ingredients, and so dominated the global market. The CSIR’s breakthrough will now allow for the production of thymidine at a fraction lower than the Indian market.According to Dr Moira Bode, who led the CSIR project probing the low-cost production of ARVs, this research could stimulate establishment of an industry for local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.“This will empower African governments to supply more people with the life-saving drugs,” Bode said. Dr Gatsha Mazithulela, executive Director of the CSIR Biosciences research unit was quoted as saying South Africa’s high HIV prevalence rate made low-cost ARVs essential. The issue of state manufactured drugs is not a grey area. There are precedents around the world. In extreme cases, governments have nationalised pharmaceuticals, started-up their own production companies and in some cases, pursued public-private partnerships.Just last week, Argentina’s Ministry of Health granted a major contract to state medicine producers in a bid to support local pharmaceutical production.A contract worth ARS37mn (US$12.2mn) has been granted to 10 state-owned factories for the production of six drugs, including several antibiotics, the diuretic hydrochlorothiazine and the analgaesic aspirin. The government said that state-production will reduce the cost of the medicines considerably.The pharmaceutical industry in Argentina is competitive. Following positive steps by the state to improve its regulatory environment, BMI – an International rating body – has upgraded the country’s Business Environment Rating (BER) for the Approvals Process subcategory from 4 to 6.Another example of a successfully run state-owned pharmaceuticals can be found China. The North China Pharmaceutical Group is the largest pharmaceutical production enterprise in that vast country, producing over 300 products, including antibiotics, semi-synthetic antibiotics, vitamins, genetically engineered pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and veterinary.By 2002, it was already the number one China’s Top 500 Enterprises, had a staff of 18500, was the best profit-maker in the country and export sales of R8 00 million while domestic sales reached R5.6bn.
Board tables stumble over Bulelani By Sipho Mthembu
hen he laid the foundation for what would become South Africa’s most sensational prosecution of then deputy president Jacob Zuma in August 2003, former Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka dropped the line “prima facie case, but not winnable in court”.While the subsequent prosecution has since collapsed and now known as the infamous Zuma persecution, it seems the chickens have come home to roost and the notorious line is about to haunt the former all-powerful National Director of Public Prosecutions. There is clearly a ground-swell of calls from those who believe Ngcuka has a case to answer after charges against Zuma were dropped.Various stakeholders are now calling for Ngcuka to be stripped of his directorships, especially in public entities. In total, Ngcuka holds about 39 directorships with various companies, nine of which are with public companies.According to disclosure certificates retrieved from the Companies and Intellectual Registration Office as recent as Monday (June 22), Ngcuka is an active director at public companies Transnet, Mutual and Federal, City Lodge Hotels, Sail Group, PA Group, Top Fix, Rolfes Technology Holdings, Buildmax, Smith and Tabata Inc.Most believe that after acting NDPP Mokotedi Mphshe’s damning statement when he dropped charges against Zuma, ethics in general and good corporate governance in particular, would require that Ngcuka and Leonard McCarthy be relieved of any office, be it in the public or the private sector.Mpshe had revealed that – being convinced that there was abuse of legal process – the NPA strongly believed it was vital that a “full and proper investigation must be conducted by a judge or independent person to make recommendations about any further actions to be taken, whether of disciplinary or criminal nature, as well as the framework within which the NPA operates to ensure that such abuses never occur again”.This after he read from transcripts of phone conversations between McCarthy and Ngcuka, who at one stage said to McCarthy, “you made my day”, after finding out that Zuma would be recharged.The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) pulled no punches in stating how they felt about Ngcuka’s directorships. “That he is still a director in these companies] shows that some businesses are still undermining the role of President Jacob Zuma.“Cosatu has been very critical where he (Ngcuka) is concerned, especially for the role he played in the Jacob Zuma saga. We remain convinced that he was responsible for manipulating the situation against Jacob Zuma in the past,” said Cosatu national spokesperson Patrick Craven.However, some of the companies were still unmoved by the growing levels of discontent.“Yes, Mr Ngcuka is – and remains – a non-executive member of the Transnet Board of Directors,” confirmed the company’s general manager for corporate communications, John Dludu. “Yes, he is one of our non-executive director,” said a statement from Top Fix.Smith Tabata Inc were at pains to distance themselves from Ngcuka but could not provide all details to contradict information on the Cipro records.“Mr. Bulelani Ngcuka is no longer on the Board of Directors of Smith Tabata Inc. He resigned his directorship early in 2009. Accordingly, if his name appears on any Cipro Search, their records are not updated. Our auditors confirmed that all documentation has been forwarded to Cipro, so they are in a position to reflect his resignation. We are unable to establish the basis upon which they have not done so,” said a statement from the law firm. The rest of the companies had not responded at the time of going to press.Corporate governance experts that Turning Point spoke to on Ngcuka’s suitability to remain on the boards of various companies were not at ease commenting on the “sensitive” matter, but some did and preferred to remain anonymous. “If this whole matter has impacted on Mr Ngcuka’s honesty, then that clearly flies in the face of the principle of good corporate governance,” said a top expert on the subject. “However,” he quickly pointed out, “no one knows the full extent of the tape recordings and one would therefore hate to comment on this whole matter. What I know is what have read in newspapers.”Top auditing firm Pricewaterhousecoopers whose clients include Transnet in which Ngcuka is still active, would not be drawn on the matter and only had this to say: “Please note that our professional code of conduct precludes us from commenting on these matters. Please refer any queries you have to the company concerned.”
racial profiling: How supermarket giants are short changing black customers Turning Point Reporters
Turning Point investigation, coupled with personal experiences of black shoppers, has revealed that major retailers like Pick ‘n Pay and Shoprite Checkers are guilty of racial profiling.The newspaper has uncovered a litany of differences between the two stores’ operations frequented mainly by white shoppers and those in the townships and blue-collar areas where black shoppers are in the majority.The investigation concludes that black shoppers at these major retail stores are short-changed and treated indifferently as compared to customers in upmarket suburban areas.These stark differences, includes security, shelving, hygiene, pricing, packing and the general aesthetics. This was confirmed by three of the four Turning Point reporters who shopped at both the townships and suburban supermarkets of these giant retailers. The fourth reporter visited only one mall in the Johannesburg’s northern suburbs.When it comes to security, it seems that in the townships and working class areas, these supermarkets presume the shoppers are guilty of theft until they prove otherwise.At a local Pick ‘n Pay supermarket in Vosloorus where one of the reporters is a regular shopper, the entrance of the store is manned by a gun-totting security guard whose other “security” arsenal includes a German Shepherd dog on the leash. Customers have to produce a till slip that confirms their purchases. In most cases, the counting of individual items amounts to ransacking. “It has been like walking in my own cell where you have to produce a bail (slips) docket before leaving the premises,” said the reporter.At this supermarket, she said there appeared to be no cleaning staff to wipe clean the floors and wipe off spillage as speedily as possible as is the norm in suburbian supermarkets. Customers had to walk “on eggs” to avoid slipping from spilled liquids while walking isles.The presentation of fresh produce makes one think she was shopping at a street corner. There were droppings of vegetable and others were just thrown together unpacked.Other anomalies the team experienced in township supermarkets owned by these two major retailers include:• Indifference when asking for assistance from shop assistants• Few cashiers to man the tills, resulting in longer lines than one experience in suburban malls.• In some cases, cashiers didn’t ask if customers needed plastic bags• In most cases, there were no packers available to assist customers• Shelves were shabbily packed with some basic items out of stock and other products left with a single item in stock.• Leaving the store presents other problems. This time it is long queues towards the security guard whose job as to tick off every item purchased on your till slips.When another reporter in the team visited Checkers Hyper at Rosebank in the northern suburb he was met with a shopping experience totally different from what his colleague experienced.He strolled in and out without seeing a single security guard, let alone being searched. Staff there was very friendly and helpful. “The place was so clean.” He said, “You could eat your breakfast on the floor.”He was in and out in no time because queues were shorter while tills were well manned. Shelves were full and signs made negotiating the supermarket isles a pleasure. There was no security at the door to verify purchase and there were plenty trolleys available for customers.
Signalling Left & Turning Right
Radebe Turning Left
The Judicial Service Commission has put all interviews for new judges on hold following what it said was a request by new Justice Minister Jeff Radebe for a fresh look at the issue of transformation. In a statement read out by spokesperson Marumo Moerane, it said it had decided “by a majority” to postpone all interviews. “The minister for justice and constitutional development requested a postponement to consider the following: the enhancement of the independence of the judiciary and the vital question of the transformation of the judiciary in terms of the constitution, with regard to race and gender representivity in order to facilitate meaningful input into the appointment process.” – SapaFemale Judge President please!
ustice Minister Jeff Radebe acknowledged on Wednesday that racial representivity on the Bench had made huge strides since 1994 but that he remained concerned about gender, pointing out that there was not a single female judge president in the country.Radebe dismissed accusations that by asking for a postponement of the JSC interviews earlier this week because of transformation concerns, he was trying to interfere with judicial appointments.“I have no intention in my capacity as the Minister of Justice to interfere with the process. We will work as a collective on the JSC to interview candidates. It is just this context of transformation, particular gender representation that I am concerned about. I even indicated to them that after 15 years into our democracy, we do not have a single judge president that is a woman.”Barbara Turning Right Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has been ordered by both the ANC and Parliament to explain her warning that struggling state-owned enterprises “might” have to be sold off in what appears to be the first major row between the ruling party and the government’s new administration.National Assembly public enterprises committee chairwoman Vytjie Mentor on Thursday slammed the minister, saying she had no right to make statements that constitute “a major political shift” in direct contradiction to ANC policy.Mentor’s comments followed equally harsh words from ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, as well as ANC alliance partner Cosatu. Mantashe said Hogan was “running ahead” of herself because there had been as yet no ANC discussion - or decision - to sell off state-owned enterprises (SOEs).Mentor said Hogan’s comments earlier this week contradicted an ANC Polokwane conference resolution that SOEs should be strengthened to become economic drivers in the ANC’s developmental state to help create jobs and reduce poverty.ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte confirmed on Thursday that Hogan would also have to explain her comments to the ruling party.“There is no decision by the ANC that allows for selling off of any state assets without a proper assessment,” Duarte said.Hogan had said in an interview that unprofitable SOEs may have to be sold because the state - especially in economically challenging times - could not afford to bail them out indefinitely.Hogan was previously forced by her party to apologise to the cabinet after publicly criticising the government’s decision to refuse to grant Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama a visa to enter the country. Turning Right, Manuel Again!
osatu and the SA Communist Party have lashed out at National Planning Commission head Trevor Manuel for suggesting unions were relying too heavily on strike action to push for social change.Manuel made the comments at last week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town, where he also criticised business.That earned him a rebuke from the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which said his comment that “cowards in business” were not providing the necessary counterweight to unions’ power was “unwarranted”.The row escalated yesterday as Cosatu and the SACP both weighed in against Manuel for having accused unions of abusing their right to call strikes over broad socio-economic issues under section 77 of the Labour Relations Act. The SACP said it found his remarks “deeply offensive, insensitive and against government’s commitment to the creation of decent work as the core pillar of economic policy”.Cosatu said the former finance minister’s comments were “at variance with ANC policy”.The alliance partners’ attack comes after Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan was publicly chastised by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe for suggesting that financially ailing state-owned enterprises could not be supported indefinitely by bailouts and might have to be sold.Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said on Monday Manuel’s comments were “if anything even at more variance with ANC policy” than Hogan’s.“So why has he (Manuel) not therefore been similarly castigated for expounding policies that have never been agreed to by the party which has deployed him to government?” Craven asked.He said Cosatu urged both Manuel and Hogan to “publicly withdraw their remarks, and to return to the job they were deployed to do - implement the rapid socio-economic development of South Africa for the benefit of all its citizens, blacks in general and Africans in particular”.
LOW WAGES: SA ticking time bomb By Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
he changed political context defined by the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma is obviously weighing on the minds of workers. Rather than making the reasonable assumption that the new administration will deliver on its promises, public service workers are rattling their sabres to remind current leadership that existing agreements are vital to long run improvements in the performance of the public service.COSATU unions, especially those in the public service, have conducted extensive political education on the relationship between unions and dominant political parties. Shop stewards in these unions will have internalised that uncritical support for dominant political parties, usually results in the long-term decimation of worker organisations. There is little doubt that within the unions themselves, there may be voices calling for a softer stance towards ‘our government’ and in this sense, workers are reminding their leaders about where their first allegiance should lie.Nevertheless, trade unions are also acutely aware of the changes in the global economy. Many commentators would argue that these changed circumstances require a softer approach to be taken by trade unions, especially due to the impact of government settlements on inflation. This call for reasonableness, however, fails to recognise the hard-won gains by workers, who have clawed their way out of the defeat of unilateral wages in 1999.A surprising development in South Africa today is that workers traditionally considered “high skilled professionals” in the health sector have been at the forefront of ‘wildcat strikes’. In some respects, it suggests that current trade unions will need to fight hard to recruit or retain these members in their respective unions. In another respects, it indicates a pervasive mood of defiance in the public service.Whilst the wildcat strikes in the public service are linked to wage negotiations, there are a multitude of labour relations issues specific to a hospital, school, district or province that are also brought to bear. Since the last wage negotiations, there is evidence to suggest that there has been a worsening of local conditions. So whilst the breakdown of relationships in a small educational district does not make headlines, it provides the basis for mobilisation and organisation by trade unions.Workers in these situations reason that through strengthening the hand of their union nationally, they get something more than salary increases, as their relative position at a local level is strengthened. This link between these local and national issues is vital to understand, especially because demands in unions are increasingly being driven from below. In fact, across the ideological divide, trade unions have been forced to make impassioned demands for unity and discipline.In present day South Africa, public service wage negotiations will resume on the back of a historic strike in 2007. The strike demonstrated, up until then, an untested capacity to sustain strike actions beyond a couple of days. Research from the HSRC on the public’s perception of the strikes, indicates that the public was significantly more sympathetic to trade unions. This is indicative both of a better communications strategy in the trade unions, but also that salary conditions in the public service needed substantial changes. Public service workers emerged buoyant and confident, demonstrated by the recent wildcat strikes involving health workers, with other sectors indicating very early that a crisis is eminent in the public service.Government for its part emerged politically battered but ironically with a much stronger mandate for change. This mandate was the agreement around the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD), which provided a pioneering approach to human resource planning in the public service. The OSD at its most rudimentary adjusts the salary packages of key personnel to market conditions. Thus potentially improving prospects for current workers with highly portable skills to remain in the public service, as well as improving prospects for young adults to enter training in jobs focussed on the public service.However, the ODS promises more, with a much needed process for determining job descriptions and developing systems to move from one level to the next. Moreover, in its design, human resource planners have included plans for internships, which would provide an important entry point for young entrants to enter the public service.The sheer scale of the reforms envisaged in the OSD, in itself, would suggest that the tight deadlines government reached with unions would be challenging to meet. This is especially true due to the absence of a long-term vision for public service reform. The salary agreements in 2007 recognised this deficiency and committed parties to holding a summit to debate key issues that would provide the foundation for systemic changes to improve public service performance. To date, the summits have not taken place, in part due to the changes in political leadership of the Department of Public Service and Administration. At a technical level, delays should have been anticipated simply due to the sheer complexity of the initiative. This complexity makes negotiated agreements extremely difficult because it provides so many opportunities for disagreement.Important progress has, however, been made in the health and criminal justice sectors, with negotiators exceeding expectations and reaching agreements on OSDs. On other occupations, notably correctional services and education, no agreements have been reached.In the case of education, the major obstacle relates to how performance will be assessed. Both parties have legitimate grounds. On the one hand, government wants performance linked to the performance of learners. Intuitively this should be a goal that everyone agrees to. On the other hand, unions argue that linking performance in this way is unlikely to improve performance because there are systemic weaknesses outside the control of teachers. The unions have an important point given the historic experience with performance management systems in the public service that have led to accusations of “subjective assessment.” Moreover, teacher unions are raising valid concerns that education outcomes are determined as much by teacher performance, as they are by the availability of learner materials, clarity on curriculum and its outcomes as well as the role of parents. Taken together, it is easy to see how the question of performance can lead to differing positions and in the context of negotiations, to a stalemate. However, agreement must be reached if, as a society, we seek to ensure that poor learners receive an education that permits them to enjoy the opportunities offered by democracy.In the current round of salary negotiations, there is thus a very real danger that the systemic change envisaged in the introduction of the OSD, might be replaced with short-term agreements. Parties to the agreements would however not be meeting their commitment to building a better public service, which is a foundational requirement to breaking structural poverty in our country. These negotiations should thus aim to stay the course towards implementing the OSD, but catalyse discussions towards a long-term vision and operational plan for public service reforms. Source: The South African Civil Information Service (www.sacsis.org.za) Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen is an independent researcher and public policy analyst.
Held in contempt: Corporate Criminals By Turning Point Reporter
n a country known for its appalling crime statistics, it is surprising that white-collar crime barely receives a mention from its crime-consumed populace. Yet price fixing, collusion and other such anti-competitive practices come at a considerable cost to South African consumers who bear the financial brunt of unreasonably and inexplicably high prices. Over the past two years, the Competition Commission investigated companies including Sasol, Tiger Brands, Pioneer Foods, and Premier Foods for price fixing in the fertilisers and phosphoric acid sectors, and of bread, mielie meal and dairy products. Other sectors include manufacturers of pipes, culverts and manholes, as well as scrap metal dealers. The offences occur across industries and sectors and point to the serious nature of cartel activity by South African businesses. Such activity came under scrutiny at the International Competition Network (ICN) conference held in Zurich, Switzerland last week. In an interview with the Business Times, competition tribunal chairman David Lewis confirmed that cartel activity is likely to become a criminal offence in South Africa – a globally accepted trend. According to Lewis, competition authorities around the world are applying criminal sanctions to businesses found to engage in anti-competitive activities.In South Africa, amendments to competition legislation will see corporate executives held personally liable and jailed if found to have been involved in anti-competitive practices. This will be a victory for South African consumers should the proposed legislation – which has been referred to the President for assessment – be adopted. Collusive behaviour has a widespread harmful effect on the economy. Cartels stifle competition, which allows them to ensure to gain significantly from economic profit while at the same time driving off smaller or “weaker” businesses. As seen in the South African market, the fewer the firms, the larger their share in the markets, and therefore the greater their ability to manipulate prices as they see fit. In last week’s recommendation to block the proposed merger between wholesalers Masscash Holdings (a subsidiary of Massmart Group) and Finro Enterprises, Competition Commissioner Shan Ramburuth comments: “As part of our investigation, we surveyed nearly 400 retailers who buy from these wholesalers to have a clear understanding of the region. We saw this merger removing an effective competitor in the food sector, a priority sector for the Commission. All consumers are suffering under the burden of food inflation, but what is very concerning is this merger could have affected adversely the poorest of the poor who are suffering the most”. Of the view that the proposed merger would substantially prevent or lessen competition in the affected markets, the Competition Commission recognised that the merger would not be in the public interest as it would allow the merged entity to significantly raise prices in the affected market.However, the Competition Commission’s ruling points to the more considerable, if not sinister, issue at hand. The conduct of South African businesses has an adverse effect in a country where 25.7 million or 57-percent of the population is considered poor. For example, while rising food prices are a global concern, it has been found that in South Africa, the pricing structure is unusually higher than in most countries. An economy in which the majority of people can not participate meaningfully, prejudices that same group further when business puts shareholder value and profits before the livelihood of consumers – at the detriment of the nation’s inhabitants. What further deepens the injustice of such conduct is the oligarchic structure of the corporate sector. The combined efforts of business to suppress and weed out competition leave South Africans with few alternatives but to accept the system as is. This puts further strain on an already distressed nation grappling with a number of socio-economic issues.As the Competition Commission continues to take on corporate criminals and government works to implement legislation that seeks to protect South Africans from criminal activity by corporate South Africa, it will be important for citizens and government alike to remain vigilant at all times.As for the oligarchs, it is high time that they include in their corporate structure the position coined at the ICN conference: Jailed Executive.
Zille becomes Sowetan pin-up girl
What ever happened to the soul truth daily? By Sipho Mthembu
When you are through changing, you are through,” said one obscure Bruce Barton.Now, one cannot be through while we still have a heart-beat and breathing.Which is why change in general, be it in the media or any sphere of life should be welcome.Just recently, one of the iconic institutions of black journalism, The Sowetan newspaper underwent cosmetic and content change. Let me quickly point out, I dedicated about 15 years of my life working at that institution and I think that, and the fact that I still read the newspaper religiously makes me an automatic interested party. According to those driving the changes, the main reason for the new direction is to make the newspaper reflective of the “rainbow” South African society. They argue that there is no more space for a newspaper dedicated to a black audience only. Romantic.If that is the logic, then one has no option but to believe what some say about South Africa. That it is a country of miracles. A great nation that has undone in 15 years damage that happened over a period of over 340 years.But that’s besides the point. What is of concern, though, are the intentions that have never been made public while pointers are there for all to see. In their build-up to removing the Soul Truth Daily, slogan and replacing it with the In the know, On the move – which I think is purely what those in charge think of themselves rather than their target readership – a scary trend has developed, a complete about-turn.From Tuesday, May 12, The Sowetan started an unprecedented in-your-face campaign with Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on their front page banner picture for three consecutive days.In their five subsequent editions they either played her mug shots in the front page and followed that with her images played prominently in the inside. You would have been excused to think she was the President of the Republic and not a premier of a province that still accounts to national government.Now, if they say a picture is worth a thousand words, who can fault me for suggesting that the Sowetan was consciously waging a campaign to popularise Zille’s face to those black voters outside the Western Cape who they assume would have maybe voted her had she been exposed early enough ahead of the April 22 elections. Could this be meaning work for Elections 2014 has already started? The least said about some of their “In the know, on the move” columnists the better. The way they attacked the ANC Youth League and the MKVA for their response to Zille, who had launched an unprovoked attack on the country’s president, you wondered if there was an off-the-record session where they received briefing. Remember, this is the same newspaper that stunned all and sundry when they recently argued for former Umkhonto we Sizwe chief of staff Chris Hani’s killers Clive Derby-Lewis and Janus Walusz to be given parole.Its “editor” made an attempt at an academic argument and ignored the context of the Hani killing. No doubt, what was intended by killing Hani was to plunge this country in turmoil and frustrate the negotiations which led to a peaceful settlement.What put issue beyond doubt for me, though was Monday’s feature in their op-ed pages, heaping praise on Zille. She was hailed as a former anti-apartheid activist, one of a few whites who speak fluent isiXhosa (read Fanakalo).On the flip side, MK veterans that marched on Zille’s offices were described in the most demeaning way, their size and uniforms at the centre of taunts. But, hey! I am not here to judge, time and history will.
Black lawyers: Victims of own
inferiority complex
he notion that the “legal world is still a white man’s club”, can’t go unchallenged.The leader of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa is a senior black advocate. The national leader of Advocates for Transformation is a senior black advocate. The leader of the Johannesburg chapter of Advocates for Transformation is a senior black advocate. The leader of the largest association of advocates, the Johannesburg Bar, is a senior black advocate. The co-leader of the Law Society of South Africa is a senior black attorney. The legal world is, in fact, a black man’s club. We, as black professionals, must face the facts. Things have changed, but we simply haven’t changed with them. We hold leadership positions, yet we still cling steadfastly to the rickety scaffolding that is victim-hood. We hold positions in private companies and state-owned enterprises that confer on us the power to decide which firm and which advocate gets the privilege to represent the companies we lead in litigation, or to provide us with a legal opinion that could help our companies either to avert litigation or successfully engage it. Yet we run instinctively to white firm and white advocate and then claim, without any rudimentary research, that there are no black firms or black advocates with capacity to handle the work we generate. Worse still, we brief one black advocate in a matter. He mucks it up and we conclude, satisfied in the accuracy of our prediction, that black advocates are not good. This is scandalous. We are not victims if the white man’s club syndrome. We are victims of our own inferiority complex. It appears leadership positions have stunned us into self-importance, given us a licence to share bad jokes with the Ruperts and the Venters who, no sooner had we introduced ourselves – and our names had already been forgotten. Again. Leadership positions have transformed our once awkward and self-conscious gait into a nonchalant swagger and an occasional swig of cognac in the company of captains of BEE industry.It should not be so. We have the opportunity and the power to change briefing patterns in the legal profession, but we lack the will to do so. I suggest we look in the mirror, shame ourselves and then talk to each other and find solutions that will end this debate because, quite frankly, it has become rather stuffy.The steps that must be taken are simple. First, black people are in charge here. There is no reason to still be complaining about briefing patterns. In 2007, the Department of Justice alone spent more than R300 million on litigation fees. Less than 10% of that went to black advocates. And yet there is denial that black lawyers don’t receive meaningful mandates from government. The central and local government need to emerge from behind the Legal Services Charter bush and insist on the briefing of black counsel and black firms.The organized bar, which is now led by senior black advocate, has the opportunity and the power to influence briefing pattern to accelerate black skills development. Most government institutions that generate legal work are headed by black people. Some of them generate specialized work such as competition law, asset forfeiture, income tax and work related to BEE. They complain that much of their expenditure is wasted on having to go through law firms, some of which are merely conduits because the real value will come from counsel.Why can’t those kinds of briefs go directly to counsel without the intervention of an attorney? That would absolve white firms from constant blame, because they would have nothing to do with briefing patterns in those matters.The English Bar allows barristers to obtain briefs from what they call “licence access clients” without the intervention of an attorney. Typically, these are professional clients such accountants, engineering firms, regulatory authorities. And auditing and quantity surveying firms etc. These professional clients obtain a licence from the bar to brief counsel directly. The arrangement is then governed by a set of rules and regulations. The current rules falls short of the required standards in its excoriation of some of the desirable aspects of English law rules. The result is a half-baked croissant that’s neither appealing nor objectively workable. We have the opportunity and power to remedy that. Let’s stop blaming white firms for our woes. Let’s start by talking to each other and solve it ourselves. Vuyani Ngalwana, member of the Johannesburg Bar
Millennia Secret Exposed: African
Origin of Civilization
- Myth or Reality? -
by Cheikh Anta Diop
Compiled by: alex mashinini
ankind’s single most controversial and long kept secret, is the very first chapter of human history... who created civilization that gave birth to our modern way of life?From astronomy to mathematics, medicine, architecture, technique, the calendar, writing, religion, philosophy, the arts and science in general? Ask anyone who has been through high school, and the names of Greece, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, Alexander The Great, Julius Caesar, etc. are unhesitatingly provided as answers.Greece and its offspring, the Roman Empire, civilized the world. This, we are told, is an historical fact. Yet the greatest civilization of all times, that of Ancient Egypt, which existed thousands of years long before Greece could be regarded as an organized society, is treated as an historic relic and a collection of mummies in pyramids of no consequential importance!The superiority of the Greeks and, by descent, of whites and Western civilization, is presented as factual, cast in the colossi of Ancient Greece and the cathedrals of Rome. Everything that flows from this “historical fact”, from the Christian crusades of the early history of Europe to the “discovery of the new world”, to slavery and colonialism... all these “civilizing mission” are justified by this “indisputable superiority”.To this very day, relationship among nations, the edifice of Western civilization and the wealth they amassed through colonial plunder and brutal exploitation of peoples of former colonies, the ever-widening gap in the standard and quality of life between the developed and under-developed countries, globalization, and wars in many “hot spots” of the world today, ... all these relationships are defined by the answer to the question: Who created civilization?In one of the most significant master works to be written in two thousand years, “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality” Cheikh Anta Diop, a leading Senegalese historian and first black Egyptologist, challenges this version of the history of human civilization and reveals – through historical, archeological and anthropological - startling evidence that was kept a secret for over two thousand years. Diop exposes this conspiracy, maintaining that “the West today is fully aware of this, but it lacks the intellectual and moral courage required, and this is why text books are muddled”. Above all, he challenges “us Africans to rewrite the entire history of mankind for our own edification and that of others”.Given the importance of this work, a typical newspaper book review would be an understatement and not serve any purpose. For, if there is any historical, political and cultural rallying point in our pursuit of the dream of African Renaissance and Black empowerment, then the monumental contribution of Cheikh Anta Diop should serve as our foundation. Accordingly, “Turning Point” will be publishing a series of articles reviewing chapters of this great classic. The following are some of the central issues revealed by Diop: Ancient Egypt was a Negro CivilizationThe history of Black Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the history of Egypt is neither modest nor objective, nor unruffled; he is ignorant, cowardly, and neurotic.The ancient Egyptians were Negroes. The moral fruit of their civilization is to be counted among the assets of the Black world. Instead of representing itself to history as an insolvent debtor, the Black world is the very initiator of the “western” civilization flaunted before our eyes today.Black Africa: The Source of Judaism, Christianity and IslamPythagorean mathematics, the theory of the four elements of Thales of Miletus, Epicurean materialism, Platonic idealism, Judaism, Islam and modern science are rooted in Egyptian cosmogony and science. One needs only to meditate on Osiris, the redeemer-god, who sacrifices himself, dies, and is resurrected to save mankind, a figure essentially identifiable with Christ.A visitor to Thebes in the Valley of the Kinds can view the Moslem inferno in detail (in the tomb of Seti I, of the Nineteenth Dynasty), 1700 years before the Koran, Osiris at the tribunal of the dead is indeed the “lord” revealed religious, sittings enthroned on Judgment Day, and we know that certain Biblical passages are practically copies of Egyptian moral texts.‘The Lord said to Abraham: “Leave your country, your kinsfolk and your father’s house, for the land which I will show you”. Abraham took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all the property they had acquired and the person they got in Haran and they departed for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abraham passed through the land to the sacred place at Sichem, near the plain of More. At the time the Cannaanities were in the Land’.(Genesis 12 verse 126).Black African Is The Source Of Judaic And Arabic Peoples. Anthropologically and culturally speaking, the Semitic world was born during protohistoric times from the mixture of white skinned and black-skinned people in western Asia. This is why an understanding of the Mesopotamian Semitic world, Judaic or Arabic, requires constant reference to the underlying Black reality. If certain, Biblical passages, especially in the Old Testament, seem absurd, this is because specialists, puffed up with prejudices, are unable to accept documentary evidence. The Roots Of All Africans Are In EgyptThe oneness of Egyptian and Black culture could not be stated more clearly. Because of this essential identity of genius, culture and race, today all Blacks can legitimately trace their culture to ancient Egypt and build a modern culture on that foundation. By successive migration as time passed, Blacks slowly penetrated into the heart of the continent, spreading in all direction. They founded States which developed and maintained relations with the mother valley until it was stifled by the foreigner. From South to North, these were Nubia and Egypt; from the North to South Nubia and Zimbabwe; from East to West, Nubia, Ghana, Ife; from East to South-West, Nubia Chad, the Congo; from West to East, Nubia and Ethiopia. A dynamic, modern contact with Egyptian Antiquity would enable Blacks to discover increasingly each day the intimate relationship between all Blacks of the continent and the mother Nile Valley. By this dynamic contact, Blacks will be convinced that these temples, these forests of columns, these pyramids, these colossi, these bas-reliefs, mathematics, medicine, and all this sciences, are indeed the work of his ancestors and that he has a right and a duty to claim his heritage.The Starting Point Of African RenaissanceConsequently, the Black man become able to restore the continuity of his national historic past, to draw from it the moral advantage needed to reconquer his place in the modern world, without falling into the excesses of Nazism and other from of racism. In a word, we must restore the historical consciousness of the African people and reconquer a Promethean consciousness.
Historical injustice revisited: White Women were not oppressed!
By Alex Mashinini
HERE is a saying that if donkeys could write, they would paint god in their own image! This, more than anything, illustrates our obsession as South Africans, with inventing words and ascribing meaning to things. It does not even matter if these words do not match the objects and things they are trying to describe. Even when reality is distorted and falsified, we will still ‘paint’ things to match our desires.The case in point here is the much debated issue around the status of white women as being part of the previously disadvantaged group (HDIs). As Black people, we are at each others’ throats supporting and justifying the assertions that white women were previously disadvantaged. Labour Minister Mdladlana came out blazing the other day on radio, saying that as long as he is minister in the ANC government, this status will not change! He was supported by Reserve Bank Governor Titi Mboweni (former labour minister!). Those who support a different view, that white women were no disadvantaged, risked being packed into a constitutional corner and ‘forced’ to recite the non-racialism, non sexism stanza!At the root cause of this emotional upheaval lies the disingenuous smuggling of words that have been diligently crafted by government and constitutional law advisors and smuggled into the post apartheid jargon; historically disadvantaged individuals and historically disadvantaged communities; previously disadvantaged schools and universities, etc. The brutalities of the oppressive apartheid system that visited untold misery and death to Black South Africans, has been reduced to a mere ‘disadvantage’. The whole world reviled against this system and branded it a crime against humanity, and yet, hardly 15 years after its official demise, this brutality is called a ‘disadvantage’ even by Black people who suffered and were persecuted, imprisoned, exiled and murdered by this system! It is also interesting to note that the Black supporters of this falsification of history are well to do, empowered and integrated into the higher echelons of the white controlled economy. We are beginning to hear “let’s forget the past and move on”. It is on such lonely moments in the lives of Black people that one longs for Malcolm X, who called such Black people “house niggers”, for they quickly forget where they came from and participated in the oppression of their Black ‘field nigger’ bothers and sister. History should not be allowed to repeat itself! As Jimmy Manyi aptly observed …the “newfound high tea and biscuit solidarity between some black female non-executive directors and white businesswomen is clearly not benefiting black female farm workers and other women in executive positions”. This scam must be stopped! Let’s not fool ourselves here and tackle the bull by its horns! Black people are historically oppressed individuals or groups, and not ‘disadvantaged’! You use this phrase everyday, then the whole debate falls away, for there is no white woman I know of who is a farm worker, domestic worker, nor have I ever seen a squarter camp or taxi rank of white women. Yes, white women were disadvantaged, but by the patriarchal system practiced by their own men and husbands, in as much the same way as Black women are still today subjected to the patriarchal system practiced in Black culture. It is an insult to the memory of fallen freedom fighters to reduce the meaning of their sacrifices to such a relic of feudal practices as patriarchy! If you want to fight patriarchy, you have a convert in me. But please do not hijack the cause of Black women, which is located in the bigger cause of Black people in this country, which is the fight against the deliberate and continued exclusion of Black people from the main stream of the economy.Call me to fight against disadvantages only after Black people own and control the economy to the extent that is representative of the demographics of the country’s population! Not earlier!
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