Numsa Media Monitor Wednesday 25 May 2016

Numsa Media Monitor
                        Wednesday 25 May 2016
  A daily compilation of local, national and international articles dealing with
                             labour related issues

SA workers
Zuma signs law to appease provident fund members
Drum Digital/Fin24, 24 May 2016
Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma has signed the Revenue Laws Amendment Act
into law to postpone annuitisation for provident funds, the National Treasury said on
Tuesday.
The new act affects provident fund members only, by delaying both the requirement
for them to purchase an annuity at retirement and the ability to transfer accumulated
retirement savings between all retirement funds tax-free until March 1 2018.
All other aspects of the retirement reform amendments that were contained in the
Taxation Laws Amendment Acts proceeded as scheduled on March 1 2016,
Treasury said in a statement on Tuesday.
Zuma was forced to backpedal on provisions in the Tax Amendment Act that compel
South Africans to put two-thirds of their provident fund savings into a retirement
annuity.
This followed a threat from the Congress of South African Trade Unions to pull its
support of the African National Congress ahead of the local government elections
this year.
The tax provision meant that retirees would be allowed to take only one-third of the
amount in cash, while they are currently entitled to the full amount.
“Government is flexible on the implementation of annuitisation for provident funds,
and proposes to postpone implementation for two years, from March 1 2016 to
March 1 2018,” the Treasury said in February.

When Zuma signed the Taxation Laws Amendment Act late last year he was
unaware of Cosatu’s objections to the provident fund proposals, Minister in the
Presidency Jeff Radebe said in February.
The amendments that became effective on March 1 2016 aligned the tax deduction
between all retirement funds, with increases in the available deductions for
retirement annuity funds and provident funds to encourage individuals to save for
their retirement, Treasury explained on Tuesday.
“The changes include a deduction for employee contributions to provident funds for
the first time, and many members of provident funds who make their own
contribution to their provident fund would have seen an increase in their net pay
position due to this additional tax deduction. A monetary cap on the deduction was
included to ensure that the benefit is distributed equitably,” it said.
“As a result of the postponement, provident fund members will now, for the first time,
enjoy a tax deduction on all contributions made by the member, without being
required to annuitise for the next two years.
“The two-year delay is to allow for further consultations at Nedlac (the National
Economic Development and Labour Council) and with other stakeholders. The
requirement to purchase an annuity with two-thirds of your retirement assets at
retirement for provident fund members would have completely aligned the tax and
annuitisation treatment across all retirement funds.
“However, this act has delayed this particular provision on annuitisation due to
considerable confusion and misinformation amongst the public and opposition from
some of the labour unions.
“The Standing Committee on Finance included an additional amendment in the act to
compel a consultations process whereby government must continue to engage with
all relevant stakeholders on the annuitisation requirement and formally report back to
Parliament before end of August 2017.
“Government is committed to further detailed and constructive engagement with
labour unions and other stakeholders on the requirement to purchase an annuity for
provident fund members, and will facilitate these discussions by publishing the paper
on comprehensive social security.
“While engaging on the details of a suitable arrangement that will benefit members in
retirement, government must also safeguard the principles of the tax system, and
therefore continuing to allow a full tax deduction for contributions to particular
retirement funds that are not required to purchase an annuity upon retirement would
inequitable.”
http://drum.co.za/news/zuma-signs-law-to-appease-provident-fund-members/

Sadtu calls on ANC to act
Loyiso Dyongman, Grocott’s Mail, 23 May 2016

Approximately 60 South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) members
picketed outside the Grahamstown education district offices on Monday 16 May.
The teachers were picketing for resolutions that were take by the ANC during the
party’s 53rd National Conference Mangaung conference back in 2012. They said the
department has failed to implement all the resolutions and they are now going to
protest up until the resolutions have been implemented.
Deputy Secretary of Sadtu in the Western Region, Gwen Mvula-Jamela, said the
ruling party has failed to implement its resolutions like permanent employment of
teachers (caretakers, special needs assistants and clerical officers), non-teaching
staff, therapists in schools and decreasing the number of pupils in classes.
“This is not only happening here in Grahamstown but its a national matter. We are
dissatisfied by the non-implementation of the resolutions that the were taken in
Mangaung,” said Mvula-Jamela.
“The department of basic education is not taking into account issues that impede
delivery of quality public teaching and learning.
“The resolution of ANC in Mangaung made it clear and declared education as a
societal matter and also the department was given a task of going away with the
Peter Morkel model of education.
“We demand small classes, therapists and permanent employment of teachers and
non teaching staff as agreed,” said Mvula-Jamela.
 She said that Sadtu will carry on with the picketing until the department of basic
education implements their demands.
Questions that were emailed to the Eastern Cape department of education
spokesperson Mali Mtima during the week were not answered and his phone was
also not answered yesterday.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/sadtu-calls-anc-act-23-05-2016

Sadtu leaders must account to Parliament over ‘Jobs for Cash’ findings: DA
TimesLive, 23 May 2016
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Monday that it wants the leadership of the
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) to answer the “damning findings”
against it in the long-awaited “Jobs for Cash” report.
This comes after a task team appointed by Basic Education Minister Angie
Motshekga to probe the scandal found irregularities in the appointment of teachers in
six provinces.
The DA’s Gavin Davis said he had written to the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio
Committee on Basic Education to ask her to summon the union’s leaders “at the first
available opportunity”.

He singled out Sadtu president Magope Maphila who “must account…for his union’s
role in the ‘Jobs for Cash’ bribery and corruption racket”.
 “In particular‚ he must commit to taking action against all Sadtu members implicated
and put in place measures to prevent the buying and selling of teachers’ posts in the
future‚” said Davis.
“Sadtu has consistently claimed that it has not been given a chance to state its case.
We therefore expect that Mr Maphila will welcome the opportunity to appear before
the Portfolio Committee to do just that‚” said Davis.
He commended Motshekga “for establishing the task team and finally releasing
the…report in the face of Sadtu pressure”‚ but said he would ask her for “an
indication of when we can expect the ‘Jobs for Cash’ report to be tabled in
Parliament‚ as she has promised”.
“It is crucial for the Portfolio Committee to discuss and deliberate on the 16
recommendations contained in the final report‚ since these could have far-reaching
consequences for our education system.
“She now needs to ensure that action is taken against the individual Sadtu members
implicated‚ as well as the Sadtu leadership who allowed this corruption to happen
under its watch.”
http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/05/23/Sadtu-leaders-must-account-to-
Parliament-over-%E2%80%98Jobs-for-Cash%E2%80%99-findings-DA

South Africa
Toyota ramps up Durban capacity
David Furlonger, Business Day, 25 May 2016
TOYOTA’s R6.1bn investment at its Durban plant has made it the latest global
vehicle manufacturer to ramp up spending on local production.
But while celebrating the single biggest investment in the local motor industry, the
company has also flagged the need for stable labour relations and better
productivity, emphasising that SA produced less than 1% of the 90-million vehicles
made worldwide every year.
At an event to mark the conclusion of Toyota SA’s latest investment at its
Prospecton, Durban vehicle assembly plant, company CEO Andrew Kirby said that
Toyota SA had spent R6.1bn to produce the latest Hilux and Fortuner models. A
further R1.7bn was spent by suppliers, while Toyota SA has spent more than R400m
on training for new production processes.
Toyota SA’s R6.1bn is the biggest single investment so far in the local motor
industry, eclipsing the R6bn announced recently by BMW SA to replace its 3-Series
with the X3 model.

Toyota SA chairman Johan van Zyl said the investment was made possible by the
2013-2020 Automotive Production and Development Programme.
The government says the programme has already attracted investments worth
nearly R30bn. But with the addition of commitments yet to be spent, the figure is
closer to R50bn.
President Jacob Zuma, a guest at the event, said this investment was an important
part of developing SA’s overall manufacturing sector, a priority of the state’s
industrial policy.
But he said: "Black involvement is most necessary."
Motor companies themselves recognise this and have recently launched initiatives to
identify potential black suppliers.
Black participation must be a priority of future government policy, Zuma said. It was
not enough that the industry had created tens of thousands of jobs for blacks in
vehicle and components manufacturing, he said. The creation and integration of
black-owned companies into the components supply chain "must be the next phase
of government intervention", he said.
Kirby said the latest investment by Toyota SA had lifted annual capacity output of the
Hilux and Fortuner from 120,000 to 140,000.
The plant also builds Corolla and Quest sedans, Quantum taxis and Hino and Dyna
trucks. The Hilux and Fortuner, however, accounted for 80% of total plant
production.
Export vice-president Bronwyn Kilpatrick said more than 50% of Hilux and Fortuner
production would be exported to 74 markets.
Van Zyl said that despite foreign investor confidence in SA, the local motor industry
could take nothing for granted and should not deter investment.
Motor industry employers and unions are engaged in three-yearly negotiations on
remuneration and conditions.
Previous years’ negotiations have been characterised by strikes and already
warnings of confrontations have been given so far.
Van Zyl said: "We have to remain world competitive not only in terms of wages and
productivity but also regarding labour stability. I cannot stress enough the importance
of engagement and the need to employ dispute resolution as the first and only line of
defence rather than resorting to strike action as the solution."
Zuma, however, said there was "a new spirit of collaboration" between labour,
employers and the government "to work together for the future of our country".
http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/industrials/2016/05/25/toyota-ramps-up-durban-
capacity

SACP concerned over 'reckless handling of politics' in KZN
Amanda Khoza, News24, 23 May 2016
Durban - The South African Communist Party in the Eric Stalin Mtshali District has
voiced its concern over what it calls "reckless handling of politics" in KwaZulu-Natal.
The party said in a statement it was worried about rumours that Premier Senzo
Mchunu was on Monday expected to resign after the party allegedly asked him to
step down on Friday.
While the ANC has remained tight-lipped on the matter, Mchunu's absence from the
National Prayer Day in Durban on Sunday further fuelled speculation.
A source told News24 that the party had called Mchunu and asked him to attend in a
last minute attempt to save face, but he allegedly refused. News24 understands that
Mchunu was at home on Sunday.
The SACP urged the ANC to act responsibly as the latest developments could see
the province sliding into political, social and economic instability.
Disturbing development
"There appears to have a reckless handling of politics in the province. KwaZulu-Natal
has always been considered to be a very stable province after emerging from a
highly volatile and violent era.
"While we were enjoying a stable government... We are now hearing a very
disturbing development in the form of possible recall of the Premier."
The SACP said, while it recognised that recalling any ANC deployee was the party's
prerogative, "once a person has been elevated to the position of the premier who is
elected by all parties, [it] immediately becomes an interest of all in the province".
"We are calling for the alliance leaders to be responsible and direct all efforts to an
overwhelming victory of the ANC and refrain from acts that are going to divide the
movement and impact negatively on our campaign for the success of the ANC in this
province."
The SACP called for unity and for alliance partners to rather focus on the elections
and not to destabilise or create further divisions.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sacp-concerned-over-reckless-handling-
of-politics-in-kzn-20160523

'No rebellion, just robust debate around ANC GP-Nkandla apology'
Stephen Grootes, EWN, 23 May 2016
JOHANNESBURG - Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele says claims that there was
a rebellion against the Gauteng African National Congress (ANC) leadership over
whether to accept President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla apology are far-fetched.

It was reported in two newspapers yesterday that branches and regions of the
Gauteng ANC had said during a provincial general council last weekend, that their
leaders’ refusal to accept Zuma’s apology was un-democratic.
Zuma apologised to the nation after the Constitutional Court said he had failed to
uphold his oath to protect the constitution over Nkandla.
Gungubele says there was no rebellions, but robust discussion last weekend.
“This is one province. I wish there was a province similar to it, where debates are
allowed [and] we nurture robustness before we take decisions. We do not frown
upon assertive structures of the ANC.”
He says the provincial ANSC’s final position was accept Zuma’s apology, but to say
the Nkandla issue could not just end there.
http://ewn.co.za/2016/05/23/Gungubele-No-rebellion-just-robust-debate-in-ANC-GP

‘Not our fault state events turn into ANC gigs'
Luyolo Mkentane, The Star, 24 May 2016
Johannesburg - Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane has cautioned
her “opportunistic” ANC about the negative implications of turning government
events into ruling-party bashes.
However, Mokonyane, who also serves as the ANC’s head of elections and
campaigns, said the party never planned to capture government events and turn
them into ANC occasions.
The party was criticised after thousands of supporters, decked out in ANC regalia,
attended Freedom Day celebrations in Giyani, Limpopo, last month.
The National Day of Prayer for Unity, addressed by President Jacob Zuma in Durban
on Sunday, also saw some in attendance proudly wearing ANC colours.
Speaking at an ANC media breakfast with Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele in
Johannesburg on Monday, Mokonyane blamed those incidents on people wanting to
demonstrate their political affiliation, as much as they were “an expression of the
ANC’s popularity”.
“My take is, yes, we must be circumspect. We must be sensitive when people are
raising the perceptions. But at some point we must also appreciate the dominance
and the presence of the ANC in any community,” she said.
“At some point, we mustn’t exaggerate the issue about a takeover (of government
events by the ANC). I agree that there is no need to play ANC CDs at a government
event. Regarding the singing of ANC songs, I don’t know how we are going to stop
spontaneity.

The minister also weighed in on reports of KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu’s
resignation, which would be followed by a major reshuffle. She said anything that
had the potential to divide the party “does worry me, and I’m not the only one”.
The ANC has voiced concern about sporadic violence, especially in KwaZulu-Natal,
associated with the list process where candidates’ names were put down for the
municipal elections.
“That is quite worrisome. People are getting killed. Comrades are getting shot in a
very strange manner.
“We urge law enforcement agencies to investigate these issues, irrespective of who
is implicated,” said Mokonyane.
ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party was expected to finalise its
candidate lists for the elections this week.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/not-our-fault-state-events-turn-into-anc-gigs-
2025491

International

Unions Split as Bitter U.S. Campaign Exposes Divergent Agendas

Tim Jones and Mark Niquette, Bloomberg, 24 May 2016

Before the holidays last year, three unions representing 6.6 million active or retired
service workers and public employees endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for
president. The AFL-CIO and its trade workers, representing 12.5 million people, are
in no such hurry.

The split amid an unexpectedly contentious Democratic primary season has exposed
contrasting agendas in organized labor. Trade unionists are exercised by
international deals, which they blame for the loss of hundreds of thousands of
manufacturing jobs. Service workers less affected by globalization advocate
collective-bargaining rights and wage protection.

Even as leaders vow that organized labor will be united behind the Democratic
candidate, the appeal of the presumptive Republican nominee, real-estate developer
and television personality Donald Trump, could peel away rank-and-file votes in the
fall.

"A lot of people are just fed up with establishment politics," said Chuck Jones,
president of United Steelworkers Union Local 1999, which represents 1,400
Indianapolis workers about to lose their jobs because Carrier Corp. is moving
operations to Mexico. Jones’s local endorsed Democrat Bernie Sanders, whose anti-
free trade stance has won the support of many rank and file workers.

The election is more than five months away and Democrats say there’s plenty of
time to heal wounds and unite. They say unions such as the AFL-CIO often sit on the
sidelines until the Democratic nominee is selected. (The giant labor federation has
endorsed only twice before the party’s nominee was clear, in 1984 and 2000. )

Trump is a wild card. The Republican, like Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, could make
inroads among traditional Democratic voters unhappy with the uneven and sluggish
pace of the economic recovery. He has made Carrier’s decision a frequent object of
derision and has often talked about winning states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin, which haven’t delivered their electoral votes to a Republican since the
1980s.

"This is a time when a Donald Trump can emerge," said Robert Bruno, a professor of
labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois.

The disarray for organized labor follows a long decline. Membership peaked in the
mid-1950s, at about one-third of the U.S. work force. In 2015, the percentage was
11.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the movement was born in steel mills, auto assembly lines and coal mines,
much of the modern rank-and-file is found in classrooms, state and local office
buildings and prisons. Public sector and service-union membership outnumbers that
of trade unions by 5-to-1. And the gap is getting wider.

"Manufacturing workers are very sensitive to trade issues, while service workers and
teachers are focused on austerity budgets and government spending," Bruno said.
"It’s playing out in a more dramatic way because there’s never been a Republican
candidate who was so anti-trade. This certainly raises the profile of the
disagreements."

Although Clinton entered the race last year as the strong favorite, Sanders’s populist
campaign tapped anger over Wall Street, income inequality and blue-collar job
losses. The Vermont senator’s path to the nomination is almost impossible, yet an
average of recent polls have him defeating Trump by 11 points, while Clinton is
effectively tied with Trump, according to RealClearPolitics.

Nafta’s Hangover

The dynamic is complicated by Clinton’s record in support of the North American
Free Trade Agreement, which her then-president husband championed more than
two decades ago. Sanders calls trade pacts "disastrous" while Trump pledges to
renegotiate or scuttle Nafta. Some workers have taken note.

Geno DiFabio, 53, a truck driver and a former member of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters union, said he was a Democrat since he started voting at
18. Then, he took a Republican ballot in Ohio’s March 15 primary to vote for Trump.

DiFabio, who is from the hollowed-out steel center of Youngstown, said he has been
increasingly turned off by the positions that Clinton and other Democrats have taken
on immigration, gun rights and abortion.

"There’s enough to dislike about her to say, ‘Well, let’s give Trump a try,”’ DiFabio
said.

The labor vote isn’t monolithic. President Obama won 58 percent of union
households in 2012, while Republican Mitt Romney took 40 percent, according to the
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

In Pennsylvania, about 28 percent of the 800,000 AFL-CIO members are
Republicans, and while those members may back Trump, it’s unlikely he will woo
many others, said Rick Bloomingdale, the organization’s president in that state.

“He wasn’t against bad trade deals until he started running for president,”
Bloomingdale said. “The voters are not stupid.”

Even if Trump appeals to some white union men, that will be offset or even
overcome by the number of union women, blacks and Latinos against him, said
Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic consultant in Washington who was political director
at the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2002.

“I’m in the school that when the votes are counted, he’s just going to be another
Republican presidential candidate,” Rosenthal said.

In any event, the influence of union endorsements is limited, said Chuck Deppert,
former president of the Indiana State AFL-CIO.

"The leadership is a lot closer to the Democratic Party than the average union worker
is," said Deppert, who led the organization from 1989 to 1997. "They elected Obama
and expected great things, but the average guy in the factory doesn’t see much
difference. The jobs are still slipping away."

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-24/unions-split-as-bitter-u-s-
campaign-exposes-divergent-agendas

Comment and analysis

SA needs a crisis to spur societal change

Steven Friedman, Business Day, 25 May 2016

OUR problem is not that we are in the midst of a crisis — it is that we are not.
Because, those who talked about a need to change society only a year ago now
want only a change in political leaders.

Saying that we need a crisis sounds odd in a country in which people constantly
throw the word about. It becomes less odd when we remember what "crisis"
originally meant. While today it is often used to talk about calamities (particularly in
this country), it originally meant "turning point" or "a time when difficult decisions
must be taken". In the early 1990s, there was a real sense of crisis here — just about
everyone with influence believed we needed to change course and there was heated
debate on what we should do. It was this which produced a new constitution.

Now we have much talk of calamity, but very little on changing course. And so we
have placed on hold the difficult discussions that could lead the country out of a cul
de sac. The key reason is that the pressures for change that emerged last year have
been replaced by a fixation on individual politicians.

This is evident in political talk over the past few days — among those who want
change as much as those who don’t. It has fixated on fights in Parliament, even
though they have now become predictable and routine, and more personality politics
in which serious problems are reduced to simplistic battles between good and bad
guys.

While this sort of politics is deeply ingrained here, it is a shift from last year, when
student protesters and many other voices challenged the bargain that has
underpinned official SA since 1994. A groundswell was beginning. It pointed out how
much the past two decades have left unchanged, that the racism black people faced
under apartheid has not disappeared, and that the economy is still divided between
insiders and outsiders, even if some of the previous outsiders have become insiders.

This promised a very necessary conversation about the unfinished business of 1994.
It seemed that we might talk about racism rather than denying it or using it as a tool
to gain advantage, and about how to negotiate change in the economy that includes
everyone but does not damage its ability to sustain us. It seemed possible that we
might begin to recognise that many of the patterns which damaged us before 1994
are still alive and that we need a new bargain to tackle the issues that were ducked
then.

But, since then we have fallen into a familiar pattern, debating symptoms because
this is far easier than talking about causes. Why are most of those who were talking
about change last year now talking only about personalities, insisting that our sole
problem is the people running the country obviously suits people who resist change?
If we simply need new leaders, we can return to business as usual as soon as we
have them. But it appeals also to many ANC activists who can explain away the
current state of the governing party by overstating the glories of its past and pinning
all the blame on its current leaders. The reality, that the leaders are symptoms of the
failure by all power holders to change enough, is ignored.

Another reason last year’s sense that we needed to change society has been
replaced by obsession with office holders is the firing of Nhlanhla Nene as finance

minister. This narrow escape from the clutches of patronage politicians scared
everyone with a stake in the urban economy. Left-wing trade unionists and bank
executives were no longer on opposite sides. They were so horrified by the
patronage barons’ power to do harm that they put their differences aside. This is
probably why the left, with some exceptions, no longer talks much about the need for
change in anything but the identities of politicians in government.

It is easy to see why this happened. Patronage barons can do great harm, as the
latest leaks attacking Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan show. If they are allowed to
win, the inevitable economic damage will make everyone poorer. But the effect is to
drown out talk about the need to move the country out of stalemate by revisiting the
bargain that was supposedly struck in 1994.

It makes little sense to put discussion of what we need to change on hold until the
barons are defeated. As long as the economy is divided between insiders and
outsiders, politicians who want to buy support will have a ready market. Patronage
politics will be with us until many more people are included in the economy. Talking
about how to achieve this is not a distraction from the fight against patronage: it is
essential to it.

Those who want change need to remember that it is possible to talk about more than
one topic, to oppose patronage and to keep alive the debate on the need for a new
society. Until we talk about causes again, we will be in a constant fight with the
symptoms.

• Prof Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2016/05/25/sa-needs-a-crisis-to-spur-
societal-change

On the chopping block: Why a slashed ANC suits Zuma and the premier
league

Ranjeni Munusamy, Daily Maverick, 25 May 2016

A video clip of President Jacob Zuma reading the ANC’s membership figures at last
year’s national general council was a YouTube hit and even tickled Trevor Noah on
The Daily Show. Zuma’s penchant for fumbling big numbers is a source of endless
hilarity but many people overlooked the message being relayed in the clip. The ANC
is bleeding membership and will continue to do so as factional battles and
disillusionment plague the party. Why is the ANC leadership allowing so many
people, like the entire losing faction in KwaZulu-Natal, to be flushed out? It has to do
with a little event called the ANC 54th national conference, next December.

The ANC national conference in 1942, which was also the year two future
presidents, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, were born, set an ambitious target. At the
age of 30, the ANC decided that by the time of its centenary, it should have one
million members. This was achieved. On the 100th anniversary of the ANC in
January 2012, it had 1,027,389 members. By December that year, when the ANC
held its 52nd national conference in Mangaung, the party had 1,220,057 members.
While this was a source of celebration for the ANC, there were drawbacks to having
such a huge membership base.

Addressing the ANC’s 2002 policy conference, the party’s then president Mbeki
cautioned that a rapidly expanding membership was not necessarily a good thing.
He also defined the calibre of people the ANC needed in its ranks.

“This is a cadre who strives at all times to raise his or her political consciousness.
This is a cadre who works continuously to improve his or her skills to enhance his or
her capacity to serve the people of South Africa. This is a cadre who is loyal to the
movement, dedicated to its cause and respects the discipline of a movement she or
he would have joined voluntarily, with no compulsion by anybody.

“It may be that not everybody accepts what some may consider to be burdensome
obligations of membership of the ANC. We are permanently interested in increasing
the size and strength of our movement. Nevertheless I am convinced that we must
also pay particular attention to the principle – better fewer, but better!”

This was a controversial statement at the time because it was alleged that Mbeki
wanted to purge the ANC of what he referred to as “ultra left factions”. The South
African Communist Party and Cosatu were fierce critics of Mbeki at the time. So
when he said, “The issue of the offensive of the ultra-left against our movement is
also important because this ultra-left works to implant itself within our ranks”, there
was no guessing who that bullet was aimed at.

But nobody could challenge Mbeki on the fact that the ANC needed to attract and
cultivate higher quality members. Perhaps there was also acceptance that
membership would plateau and inevitably drop under varying political conditions.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe spoke on this matter in his organisational
report at the party’s 2012 Mangaung conference. “There is an ongoing debate as to
whether the ANC needs a big membership instead of the focus being on quality of
membership. Quantity and quality are not mutually exclusive,” Mantashe said.

Political education remained weak, he said, and the majority of branches did not
even make new members take the ANC membership oath. “This is reflected in the
quality of membership, and the ease with which this membership gets manipulated,”
Mantashe said.

Mantashe had a different story to tell in his organisational report to the ANC 2015
national general council. The report revealed massive drops in membership figures

in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga
since 2012, leading the national membership to drop by 450,187 people. Mantashe
said ANC branches were “polluted by factional politics, which are fast becoming the
norm”. Factions were not about ideology but about spoils, Mantashe said.

Bemoaning the drop from 1.2-million to 769,870 members, which produced the
much-watched video clip of him fumbling the numbers, Zuma slammed the existence
of factions and the phenomenon of some members owning other members. “As a
result such members defect when the people they followed into the ANC are
expelled or become unhappy and leave,” Zuma said.

There are other reasons too why people decide to leave the ANC, with apathy and
disappointment with the current leadership ranking being among them. In recent
months, after the axing of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister and particularly after
the Constitutional Court judgment finding that Zuma had violated the Constitution,
many ANC members, veterans and commanders of the military wing Umkhonto we
Sizwe publicly expressed their disillusionment.

Instead of the ANC leadership taking active measures to address their concerns,
they have been written off and, in some cases, driven away. Those who now speak
for the ANC have attacked and tried to discredit the president’s detractors, showing
intolerance for open engagement and diverse views.

This phenomenon of cutting people loose is also evident in factional battles in ANC
structures, such as the one currently playing out in KwaZulu-Natal. It seemed like a
deadly move for the ANC to fire the former premier Senzo Mchunu so close to the
local government elections, when the party needs to show a united front to maintain
its electoral dominance.

Last year’s NGC figures showed that KwaZulu-Natal recorded the biggest drop in
membership: 331,820 to 158,199. It therefore appears reckless for the national
leadership to endorse the provincial executive committee’s decision to recall Mchunu
and alienate the entire faction loyal to him.

The provincial elective conference in November showed that faction behind Mchunu
was not insignificant. While the chairman Sihle Zikalala’s faction made a clean
sweep, a fightback still raged months after the conference with Mchunu’s supporters
rejecting the results. His removal as premier will have repercussions for ANC
structures throughout the province, with his supporters likely to continue their
rebellion.

There are already indications that Mchunu’s supporters are being penalised in the
selection process for election candidates and that some of them might stand as
independent candidates against the ANC. Why would the ANC’s national leadership
allow this and risk losing seats in councils in different parts of the province?

It is no secret that Zikalala’s faction is firmly ensconced in what is popularly known
as the “premier league” faction. With Mchunu and his faction out of the way,
KwaZulu-Natal joins North West, Free State and Mpumalanga, along with the ANC
Women’s League and ANC Youth League, as firmly behind Zuma. With the Gauteng
ANC also falling in line after Zuma supporters forced a retreat on their position on the
Constitutional Court judgment at the recent provincial general council, there is now
no significant opposition to the premier league.

The ANC is shrinking in Zuma’s favour, with people who are disillusioned or in
opposing factions becoming inactive or turning against the party. Those loyal to
Zuma dominate party structures and are also the dominant voices speaking for the
party.

What purpose does this serve?

The ANC might feel the pain at the elections but knows it will not lose enough votes
to threaten its overall majority. Those holding power in the ANC are more focused on
the party’s 54th national conference next December and their ability to influence the
election of the top six leadership and the national executive committee. With the
organisation being flushed out of their detractors, a compliant membership will elect
whomever they are told to vote for.

While it might appear that the ANC is being reckless by not dealing with high levels
of discontent in its ranks, what it is actually doing is preparing the ground to elect a
new president and leadership that the premier league wants. Those in the ANC
leadership who oppose these moves are outgunned and outnumbered. They are
forced to go with the flow.

Ultimately, every ANC president wants the membership to reflect their own beliefs
and values.

Oliver Tambo wanted an ANC defined by selfless struggle.

Nelson Mandela wanted the party to reflect reconciliation and nation building.

Thabo Mbeki wanted ANC members who were highly skilled and politically
conscious, and who were not leftists.

Jacob Zuma’s ANC is made up of people who can sacrifice their integrity to cover up
his failings and consent to his friends and family fleecing the state. In Zuma’s ANC,
the discourse can be dominated by nonsense such as that emanating from the likes
of Collen Maine, Bathabile Dlamini and Kebby Maphatsoe, while compromised
people like Humphrey Mmemezi sit on the highest decision-making body, the NEC.
Under this ANC, state institutions can be abused for political agendas, Parliament
can be turned into a circus and the Constitution can be trampled on.

The purpose of hounding detractors out of the party is to ensure that Zuma’s ANC
lives on even when he is no longer president. They want the next ANC president to
be a flag bearer of the Zuma project so that the political and business networks
thriving now can continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

They have gambled that the process of losing votes will be slower and less
damaging than the potential of losing control of the ANC.

With so many people being flattened by the comrade-crushing machine, there will be
little or no opposition left in the ANC by next year. Unless a massive fightback is
mounted to reclaim the ANC, a whole new nightmare will begin in December 2017.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-05-25-on-the-chopping-block-why-a-
slashed-anc-suits-zuma-and-the-premier-league/#.V0VVIk3lrIU

The top 10 bogus ANC conspiracy theories

Gareth van Onselen, Business Day, 25 May 2016

UNDER pressure the African National Congress (ANC) has historically relied on one
red herring above all others to negate responsibility and divert attention from
dissatisfaction with its own performance: a "third force", be it the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) or white supremacists, is supposedly the root cause of its many and
varied problems.

Always unseen, never proven and yet constantly alluded to, its claims to this effect
are the ultimate abdication of agency. The implication is that, inside and outside of
the government, secretive foreign forces are at work, manipulating the South African
people and causing mayhem and instability.

The end game is always "regime change" and more often than not, "agents of the
West", "western forces" or "western imperialism" serve the "agenda" of the hostile
ideological architect behind it all.

In this way the ANC is nothing but a victim. And if anything sells in SA, it is
victimhood. We fairly revel in the stuff. You can see it on every level; if not pure,
unadulterated conspiracy, then the sublimation of it.

This past weekend student leader Malaika wa Azania wrote "the greatest
responsibility for the torching of universities and other forms of violence must be
taken by our government…" (Burning of universities is counter-revolutionary) No one
is really responsible for anything in SA. It’s always someone else. We are all victims
of some third force, in some form or other, acting on us.

Of course, the irony is that, if true, it is a complete and utter indictment of the South
African security forces. Routinely our highest security structures are set to work to

uncover and investigate these elusive yet omnipresent influences. Routinely, they
turn up empty-handed.

If ever one needs proof SA’s security agencies are fundamentally useless, one need
only measure their performance against the ability to deliver on the primary problem
their political masters set them: a ubiquitous set of saboteurs who are everywhere,
manipulating everything, and yet who can never be found.

But then again, that’s not the point. The point is to distract and evade. And it often
works a charm. If anything, ours is a land of conspiracy and paranoia, and many
indulge these fantasies as great truths. We have no Area 51 in SA, no fake moon
landing, instead we have "the West". It is our unidentified flying object, and it is seen
hovering in the night skies on a regular basis.

Little wonder, too, that words like "sabotage" and "treason" are bandied about so
frequently these days. They are the product of the same kind of paranoid hysteria.
When "the nation" is under attack, "patriotism" becomes the ultimate test of any
citizen. So the ANC relies heavily on the ideas of treason and sabotage to sow
suspicion and distrust.

But there is a greater irony still. If you’re looking for evidence of a third force, look no
further than the surreptitious and destructive influence of the Gupta family, one of its
own. Their tentacles are everywhere. . More to the point, their influence is not the
product of mere speculation but is well documented and extensively recorded. The
real third force is in plain sight. So, naturally, the ANC would have everyone look to
the horizon for something more sensational still.

Here follow ten examples of the ANC’s bogus conspiracy theories.

1. The CIA’s agenda to suggest HIV causes AIDS

At the height of his HIV/AIDS dissidence, it was reported former president Thabo
Mbeki had addressed an ANC caucus meeting in October 2000 to declare, among
other things, that the US’s CIA was part of a conspiracy to promote the view that HIV
causes AIDS.

At the time, the Mail & Guardian reported (Mbeki fingers CIA in AIDS conspiracy)
that Mbeki had claimed "the CIA is working covertly alongside the big US
pharmaceutical manufacturers to undermine him because, by questioning the link
between HIV and AIDS, he is thought to pose a risk to the profits of drug companies
making antiretroviral treatments".

Mbeki wasn’t alone in this kind of paranoia. One of his favourite surrogates, the late
ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Peter Mokaba, had claimed the link between
HIV and AIDS was part of an "international western plot" to kill black Africans. No
evidence for their claims was ever provided by either of them.

2. #FeesMustFall protests driven by white supremacists

"White supremacists are the third force behind this. They enjoy the strikes and
disruptions because they think we can’t govern and keep things civilised."

That was the considered view of Unathi Mtshotwana, ANCYL convener for the
Dullah Omar region, who had called a press conference in January 2016 to claim,
among other things, that the ANCYL was "the champion of education" (White
supremacists 'third force behind fees must fall.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) later gave credence to the idea. Acting
National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane told Parliament, "Surely it could
not have been students on their own?" But, as ever, SA is still waiting for any actual
evidence to this effect.

3. "The West" is plotting to assassinate Jacob Zuma

Such is the size of Zuma’s security detail you’d be forgiven for thinking every second
person was planning to assassinate him. But, for ANCYL KwaZulu-Natal secretary
Thanduxolo Sabelo, the real threat is The West.

"I want you comrades to know that we have uncovered such a plot (to assassinate
Zuma).… We must start to build the capabilities of the (defence force) to the capacity
and capabilities of a world superpower. We must have one million well-trained young
soldiers," he said after a provincial executive meeting in April this year (West plotting
Zuma assassination‚ claims KZN ANCYL).

A world superpower? Perhaps just focus on providing electrical power first. It’s
remarkable that a provincial youth branch uncovered a plot that has evaded all our
national security forces. Not just the champion of education, then, but the champion
of international foreign intelligence too. As ever, we await the details.

4. The public protector is a CIA spy

"These Chapter 9 institutions were created by the ANC but are now being used
against us, and if you ask why, it’s an agenda of the CIA. Ama (the) Americans want
their own CEO in SA and we must not allow that."

So said Defence and Military Veterans Deputy Minister Kebby Maphatsoe at a
funeral in September 2014 (Thuli a CIA spy, says deputy minister). Pressed on the
accusation, he would later respond, "We do not have such details. I am going to give
full details about the comments I made at the tombstone, including why we believe
she is an agent of the CIA."

No details yet — surprise, surprise. And none have been forthcoming since.

5. Madonsela, Mazibuko, Malema and Mathunjwa are spies

One thing you don’t want is for your surname to start with "M". The State Security
Agency (SSA) seems to have a particular issue with that letter.

In March 2015, the SSA announced (CIA claims: state probes Thuli and Juju), on the
back of no more than a quack blog entry on the lunatic fringes of the online universe,
it was investigating Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, EFF leader Julius Malema,
former DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko and head of the Association of
Mineworkers and Construction Union, Joseph Mathunjwa, as American spies.

"I have never heard such madness in my life.… Those people are clowns," Malema
said in response. Remember that.

In October 2015 the SSA said the investigation was at an "advanced stage". No
doubt, in the same way as dementia is described as being at an advanced stage.
Almost a year later, SA still awaits the outcome.

6. COPE is an agent of imperialists

Malema’s quote was worth flagging because, as ever with the EFF leader, inevitably
he indulged the exact kind of scaremongering he would later feign so much outrage
over.

At its outset the Congress of the People (COPE) was billed as a serious threat to the
ANC, most of all in the Eastern Cape. This prompted Malema, then ANCYL leader,
to say of the party in January 2009 (Cope 'zoo' reincarnated as a puppet), "They are
working with the imperialists; they are no different from the Movement for Democratic
Change and (Kenyan Prime Minister Raila) Odinga’s party; they are puppets of the
West."

He said he was aware of trips by COPE leaders to "London, Nairobi and Namibia"
where they were supposedly "working with those who have been opposed to the
revolutionary movement".

But, just like his accusers in 2015, he was not able to provide evidence. The worm
turns, they say. But then hypocrisy flows through Malema’s blood. He is by habit a
creature of duplicity.

7. The opposition are CIA agents

"If they (the DA and EFF) want to mobilise the people (against Zuma), it will confirm
they are part of CIA agents," said ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Sihle Zikalala in
April this year (ANC rallies around Zuma).

But even he was forced to backtrack a little bit when pushed. "I am saying they are
part of the (push for) regime change. I am not saying they are CIA. They are working
closely with the CIA. They are working with the regime change forces," he tried to
explain. So just working with the CIA on a voluntary basis. Kind of like charity work.
A hobby they do on the side.

That the DA and the EFF are openly campaigning to oust the ANC-led government is
hardly a revelation. They are opposition parties. In a democracy, that’s what
opposition parties do. But if, like the ANC, you believe you are ordained by God to
govern until the end of days, well, any opposition is illegitimate. As for Zikalala’s
accusation — there’s zero proof.

8. The CIA is working to topple the government

If the opposition is working with the CIA to oust the government, then it follows the
CIA must have an agenda. So, when it was recently revealed the CIA played a role
in Nelson Mandela’s arrest in 1962, naturally this confirmed for the ANC a
contemporary plan for revolution.

"That revelation confirms what we have always known, that they are working against
(us), even today," ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said this month (Nelson
Mandela: CIA tip-off led to 1962 Durban arrest).

Quite frankly the CIA could have coughed and it would have confirmed something or
other for the ANC. It should be called the African National Conspiracy.

As ever, no evidence.

9. The American embassy is planting "regime change" students

In February this year, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said: "We are aware
of the programme that takes young people to the US for six weeks then bring them
back and plant them everywhere in the campuses." He said "regime-change
elements" had gripped SA and they (the students) aimed to "plant the seeds of
anarchy" (Mantashe claims US is meddling in SA).

This was met with some bewilderment by US ambassador to South Africa Patrick
Gaspard, who pointed out that he had personally invited Mantashe to recommend
young leaders from the ANC for the programme, called the Washington Fellowship.

Then again, given the "intelligence" on display from the ANCYL, it is likely no one
from the party qualified and Mantashe was just upset. Either way, he has provided
no evidence to back up his claim.

10. Service delivery protests are driven by a "third force"

Whether it’s 24 schools being razed in Vuwani, which Zuma suggested recently was
influenced by a "third force", or general discontent across the country, the ANC
government’s first port of call is almost always a conspiracy of some sort of another.

When protesters rampaged through Sebokeng, Gauteng, in February 2014, for
example, community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko ordered the police to investigate
the "invisible hand" of a suspected "third force" ('Third force' link to unrest).

Even as far back as 2010, when protests erupted in the same province, it was
reported the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) was investigating them.

"It seems there is a systematic pattern and that the protests are co-ordinated with a
clear objective to destabilise government," ANC Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa
Ntuli said at the time.

But there’s never any evidence, and it is never proven that a third force is behind any
of it.

The NIA and SSA spend so much time investigating, so little time corroborating.
Perhaps they should co-ordinate with the ANCYL, which seems to have its finger on
the real pulse of international espionage.

And so it goes. The ANC has deliberately manufactured an environment in which
everything that runs against the party or threatens its legitimacy is blamed on some
outside agency. It is a form of behaviour that has become addictive, with many
individuals excusing their own abhorrent attitudes and actions in much the same
fashion.

No less than King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo himself has blamed a "third force" for his
legal predicaments (King Dalindyebo’s victims appeal to Zuma and Madonsela).
When King Goodwill Zwelithini contributed to the outbreak of xenophobic violence in
2015, he declared in response to the subsequent outrage, "The government agrees
with me that there is a third force and we need to fight against it" (King Zwelithini
blames 'third force' for violence). Of course they have Zuma, the ultimate victim, as
their inspiration.

There’s always a third force. Responsibility left SA a long time ago, and with it,
accountability.

We are a nation of victims. The ANC has helped engender and augment that reality
on various different levels, least of all by fuelling an atmosphere of paranoia and
conspiracy. It is because of this environment that, routinely, it can sprout no end of
nonsense in the face of gross negligence and the great political benefit of it, that it is
so often indulged.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2016/05/25/the-top-10-bogus-anc-
conspiracy-theories