Numsa Media Monitor

A daily compilation of local, national and international articles dealing with labour related issues

Monday 17 October 2016Numsa

Cosatu demands Numsa coughs up R3.2 million in outstanding fees

TimesLive, 15 October 2016

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) says it has received a letter from attorneys representing the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) demanding that it pay R3.25 million in outstanding affiliation fees owed to the federation‚ and threatening to institute legal proceedings if Numsa fails to comply with this demand.

“This is the same Cosatu which expelled Numsa‚ and its then 345‚000 members from its ranks on unfounded and preposterous grounds‚” said Numsa acting spokesperson Patrick Craven.

He described it as an “incredible move” which he said could only mean that Cosatu was now not only politically bankrupt‚ but financially bankrupt as well‚ following the departure of Fawu and financial problems within several affiliates.

“As part of this new and absurd strategy and in order to fill the coffers of this bankrupt federation‚ Fawu has equally been targeted‚” Craven added.

“How else can they explain an attempt to recover money from workers they have expelled and said they no longer want or indeed those who have willingly left their ranks?”

Craven noted that on March 30 2015‚ Cosatu’s central executive committee had confirmed the affiliation of a new union‚ the Liberated Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Limusa)‚ led by a former Numsa president‚ Cedric Gina.

“They agreed that Limusa met the requirements for affiliation. This confirmed that there was to be no way back for Numsa‚ since Limusa was to be operating in exactly the same sectors of the workforce.”

Numsa was intentionally also denied any right to appeal against its expulsion at two separate National Congresses in 2015 - a special congress in July‚ at which Numsa was not allowed to appear and the normal congress in November.

“Despite strenuous efforts by Fawu‚ Saccawu and others to allow Numsa to appeal and to reverse the decision to accept Limusa’s affiliation‚ the decisions were endorsed.

“Yet now this Cosatu leadership who set up a rival union to steal Numsa’s members is demanding that the workers they threw out must pay to keep them afloat‚” Craven stated.

“Not only is this demand for affiliation and political fees an outrage; it has no legal basis. The amount of money being claimed has not been corroborated by any supporting documents and in any case‚ at least a substantial portion thereof‚ would have ‘prescribed’‚ meaning that because the alleged ‘debt’ dates back to 2013‚ more than three years ago‚ it can no longer legally be claimed.

“In fact and notwithstanding the unfounded claim raised by Cosatu‚ Numsa confirms that all fees due were correctly paid‚ right up to the day they were expelled. Not a cent more will be paid to Cosatu‚ nor will this defunct federation be bankrolled by the sweat and blood of metalworkers‚” Craven asserted.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016/10/15/Cosatu-demands-Numsa-coughs-up-R3.2-million-in-outstanding-fees

Motor industry strike looms again

Roy Cokayne, Business Report, 17 October 2016

Johannesburg - The spectre of a strike in the retail motor industry, including the automotive component manufacturing sector, has become a real possibility following the issuance of a certificate on non-resolution to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) last week.

The certificate was issued following a negotiation session with the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI).

Jackie Oliver, the chief executive of the RMI, which represents 19 000 businesses that collectively employ 300 000 people, confirmed on Friday that a certificate of non-resolution was issued to Numsa.

Oliver said this meant that Numsa could give the retail motor industry 48 hours notice of a strike.

However, Oliver said both parties had committed to continue with discussions and test certain principles and wage proposals.

Requests for comment from Numsa were unsuccessful.

A strike by the retail motor industry in 2013 halted production at vehicle manufacturing plants because of a shortage of automotive components.

Oliver said the major issue still in dispute with Numsa was the wage increase in each of the three years of the proposed agreement.

He said the RMI was substantially far apart from Numsa’s demand of a 9 percent wage increase with an 8 percent wage hike in each of the following two years. Oliver said the RMI had offered a wage increase of 7 percent in each of the three years.

“Personally I believe we are close enough to reach an agreement without a strike and are confident about reaching a settlement. But it will take leadership (from the parties) to get resolution,” he said.

Oliver said Numsa was demanding that wage increases in the retail motor industry should be in line with the increases agreed with the vehicle manufacturers.

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

Car sales down

However, Oliver said the majority of companies in the retail motor industry were small businesses and could not afford the same wage increase in the context of what was happening in the economy with car sales and exports being down.

“This is the reality and it impacts on small businesses. We still hope to convince Numsa about this particular scenario,” he said.

Oliver said wage increases of the magnitude being demanded by Numsa would lead to severe pressure and job losses in the retail motor industry.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/motor-industry-strike-looms-again-2080418

Makers of new cars face uphill battle

Roy Cokayne, Business Report, 17 October 2016

Johannesburg - Vehicle manufacturers will either have to slow down production or cut margins even further to create more demand in the new vehicle market, according to vehicle risk intelligence company TransUnion Auto Information Solutions.

Targeted marketing strategies and incentives would also have to be implemented by dealerships to match supply to demand, said Derick de Vries, the chief executive of TransUnion Auto Information Solutions.

De Vries said the ongoing recession in the domestic new vehicle market, combined with an extremely difficult economic environment, pointed to an unfavourable short- to medium-term outlook.

Year to date there has been a 12.4 percent decline in new passenger vehicle sales, an 8.9 percent drop in light commercial vehicle sales and an overall reduction in new vehicle sales of 11.3 percent.

Projected growth

National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said in May that new vehicle industry production should continue to benefit from the 12 percent projected growth in export sales to 375 000 units from 333 802 last year.

However, vehicle exports increased by only 1.3 percent to 263 930 units in the first nine months of this year from the 260 569 units exported in the same period last year.

This is largely because of a 54 percent decline in vehicle exports into Africa because of the current poor economic environment on the continent.

TransUnion’s latest vehicle price index revealed that the rate of increase of both new and used vehicle prices accelerated further in the third quarter of this year.

New vehicle prices increased by 9.9 percent year on year in the third quarter from 8.4 percent in the second quarter.

Used vehicle prices rose by 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent in the same period.

The further increase in new vehicle prices was attributed by TransUnion to a delayed reaction to rand weakness and ongoing poor economic conditions.

TransUnion data also showed there had been significantly fewer deals financed in the third quarter of this year than in the corresponding quarter last year.

De Vries said TransUnion’s financial registrations data indicated a drop of about 48 percent in new vehicle finance deals and 12percent on used vehicle finance deals in the third quarter compared with the corresponding quarter last year.

He said the percentage of new and used vehicles financed below the average price of R200 000 had increased in the third quarter to 50 percent from 38 percent in the same quarter last year.

De Vries said luxury vehicles had been substituted for more affordable vehicles that still provided most of the accessories in top of the range vehicles.

He said household cash flow measures showed that household finances were the weakest they have been since 2010 and that consumers did not have any room to take on any additional debt.

“Low levels of both consumer and business confidence combined with new vehicle pricing remaining above the consumer price index will continue to add severe pressure to the new vehicle market.

“This has, however, seen the demand for used vehicles continue to increase considering the affordability challenges in the new vehicle market,” he said.

De Vries said consumers were tending to look for cheaper cars or hold on to their existing vehicles for longer than normal.

One new vehicle was financed in the third quarter for every 2.93 used vehicles financed compared with one new vehicle financed for every 1.71 used vehicles that were financed in the corresponding quarter last year.

De Vries said overall the current economic conditions had slightly improved the used car market, with year-to-date volumes increasing, but the new car market had suffered.

He predicted the market would show some signs of recovery within the next 12 to 18 months.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/makers-of-new-cars-face-uphill-battle-2080421

South African workers

NUM concerned as miners stage underground sit-in

Koketso Motau, EWN, 15 Oct 2016

JOHANNESBURG - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says 66 of its members have been staging a sit-in underground at the Gold One Modder East Operations in Springs, east of Johannesburg.

Miners who work as rock drill operators embarked on an illegal strike on Tuesday, demanding a R250 bonus per blast. They vow not to surface until their demands are met.

NUM’s Livhuwani Mammburu says they are concerned about their members’ lives and safety underground.

“Our members are demanding R250 bonus per blast so we fully support them. They are also demanding that management not take disciplinary action against them when they come out underground because it’s an unprotected strike.”

http://ewn.co.za/2016/10/15/NUM-concerned-as-miners-stage-underground-sit-in

66 NUM miners end underground sit-in

Koketso Motau, EWN, 15 Oct 2016

JOHANNESBURG – The National Union of Mineworkers says 66 of its members who have been staging a sit-in underground at the Gold One Mine’s Modder East operations have now resurfaced.

Miners who work as rock drill operators have been on an illegal strike since Tuesday, demanding a R250 bonus per blast.

They were also demanding that management not take disciplinary action against them for their unprotected strike when they come out of the shaft

The NUM’s Livhuwani Mammburu says their attempted meeting with management was unsuccessful, but there is a meeting request for Tuesday.

“A committee led by the branch committee went to plead with them to come up from underground, but they are still demanding the same R250 bonus per blast.”

http://ewn.co.za/2016/10/15/66-NUM-miners-end-underground-sit-in

No end in sight for Robertson Winery workers' strike

Xolani Koyana, EWN, 15 Oct 2016

CAPE TOWN - The Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers' Union has vowed that its members will continue a month-long strike against Robertson Winery until demands are met.

About 220 workers went on strike in August, demanding an R8,500 minimum wage.

The union is expected to meet with the employer next week to begin mediation under the auspices of the CCMA.

The union's Deneco Dube says the company's negotiating in slave wages.

“Workers want to negotiate in rand, with money, as they're buying in rand and not percentages."

Robertson is currently proposing a minimum wage just over R4,000 a month.

http://ewn.co.za/2016/10/15/No-end-in-sight-for-Robertson-Winery-workers-strike

Student protests

#FEES MUST FALL No end in sight as unrest persists

S’thembile Cele, City Press, 16 Oct 2016

Johannesburg - There is no end in sight to the deadlock between students and the government as protesters calling for free education are set to occupy the streets for a fifth week.

The government’s decision to put together a ministerial task team mandated to “normalise” campuses has caused further mistrust, with students questioning the exclusion of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan from the team.

The task team, announced while President Jacob Zuma was on a state visit to Kenya, is dominated by security cluster ministers suspected of being partial to a clampdown on protesting students in a bid to save the academic year.

Mmabatho Ramompi, spokesperson for the task team’s leader, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, said on Saturday that Zuma included security cluster ministers to “address the widespread destruction of property and violence and intimidation” seen on campuses.

The task team’s mandate is to “coordinate the government’s response to the situation” and “serve as a point of contact for stakeholders in the sector and society who would wish to work with the government to get the academic programme back on track”, Ramompi said.

“It is critical that a conducive environment for learning and teaching is created so that the 2016 academic year is not lost,” she said.

“Normalising the situation entails restoring stability to campuses and ensuring that students are able to get back to class without fear of intimidation and violence,” she said.

Student leaders at Wits University – considered the epicentre of the protest action – have said they were woken up in the early hours of Monday morning by a man who said he had been sent by the intelligence minister and task team member David Mahlobo.

The students, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man had identified himself as “Malcolm” and was dressed in casual clothes and had said the minister wanted to speak to them.

However, State Security Agency spokesperson Brian Dube denies this.

City Press reported last week that police would deal more harshly with students and that targeted arrests would be made to bring an end to the protests.

While a number of arrests had been made the past few days, student leaders at Wits have not been arrested.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, students leaders said the news of their impending arrest was making them anxious.

“We keep expecting that it will happen and we don’t know why it hasn’t. We have not been sleeping at our homes and have avoided walking around alone. We are aware that there are police and people from intelligence on campus posing as journalists and students, but we don’t know why they have not acted,” said one student leader.

Wits announced on Monday that operational control of security had been handed over to the police, who have set up a temporary base on the campus.

While protesting students all seem to agree that protest action must continue, City Press understands that there is disagreement on the method for this.

While some advocate a more “peaceful” approach, others are calling for a more “militant” one.

At least two cars were burnt on Friday night and stones were thrown at others as protest action spilt onto the streets of Braamfontein for a second time.

Students said police on campus had fired indiscriminately, with rubber bullets flying into rooms of residences and then in the streets of Braamfontein.

Both the police and the university dispute this version of events.

“The police were called into Braamfontein as vehicles were being stoned and set alight, and people were concerned for their safety. We deployed and took the necessary proportional action to protect lives and property, as per our constitutional mandate. Stability and order was restored,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Sally de Beer.

“We continue to monitor and deploy where necessary. We have no knowledge of students being ‘shot at their desks’ and disagree with that statement.”

Friday’s protest is believed to have been set off by the announcement of a curfew that would be implemented by Wits University management.

Anyone who does not live on campus would be denied access between 22:00 and 06:00.

Meanwhile, black academics at Wits are in the process of writing to vice-chancellor Adam Habib about the conditions.

“We decided to start collecting evidence after we met black administrative staff. Many of them are told they cannot leave, even if they feel unsafe. If they leave, they must take formal leave,” said Dr Danai Mupotsa, a lecturer at Wits.

“Because of where the protest areas are located, we’ve seen administrative staff in the Matrix [building], for instance, being stuck inside. They [police] lock the doors and shoot and throw teargas and stun grenades into the building. [People] are told to stay calm and lock their doors, meaning that they breathe teargas daily.”

Mupotsa described how another member of staff was shot at his work station in the Matrix building on East Campus on Saturday.

“Campus health was stormed by the police this week – stones, rubber bullets and teargas – while they tried to help patients. Incidentally a message was going around saying staff who help students would be disciplined. Even medical assistance [staff].”

Terry Tselane, Independent Electoral Commission deputy chairperson and one of a group of mediators and alumni working to resolve tensions, told City Press that the presence of police and security had become a sticking point. He also confirmed they had met Radebe over the free education call.

The ministerial task team includes Mahlobo, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko, Justice Minister Michael Masutha, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba. Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor were also included.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/fees-must-fall-no-end-in-sight-as-unrest-persists-20161015

South Africa

It’s open war

Hlengiwe Nhlabathi, Setumo Stone, S’thembile Cele & Abram Mashego, City Press, 16 Oct 2016

Pretoria - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has fired a massive salvo at the Gupta family with a high court application which details R6.8bn in suspicious payments allegedly made by the family’s companies.

The application, lodged on Friday afternoon at the North Gauteng High Court, includes a certificate from Financial Intelligence Centre director Murray Michell. It

lists 72 questionable payments that the banks reported were made by Gupta companies and in which President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane also has a significant sake.

These payments could shed some light on why the country’s major banks closed the accounts of Gupta-owned businesses and why their auditors and JSE sponsor Sasfin terminated their relationships with them.

Gordhan is asking the high court for a declaratory order “in the public interest” that he is neither empowered nor obliged to “intervene in the relationship between” the Guptas, their companies or the banks.

The Guptas have insisted that their accounts were closed “for no adequate reason”.

In his application, Gordhan attaches several pleading letters which Nazeem Howa, CEO of Gupta-owned holding company Oakbay Resources, wrote to him.

In the letters, Howa begs Gordhan to use his “strong relationship with the captains of industry” to help them save their employees’ jobs and convince the four major banks to reopen their accounts.

In his affidavit attached to the application, Gordhan says that in several “direct representations and demands to me as minister of finance ... Oakbay demanded that, on behalf of the government, I intervene with the banks to achieve a reversal of their decisions”.

After another letter from Howa, sent on April 17, which exhorted Gordhan to accept “our unequivocal apology”, Gordhan says he was “concerned to explore any respect in which I could properly, in terms of law, address the situation arising from Oakbay’s serious allegations concerning the banks”.

Gordhan details how he twice sought legal opinion – from Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett and Advocate Frank Pelser – about how he could do this, but they strongly advised him that he, or any other Cabinet minister, could not legally intervene.

“I encouraged Oakbay to ... approach a court. Finally, I requested Oakbay to desist from its attacks on the integrity of National Treasury in the public interest,” Gordhan wrote.

But Howa responded that they too had received legal advice and were told that any court application they launched against the banks would fail.

In June, Gordhan again received word from Oakbay – from Stephan Nel, the CEO of Sahara Computers, a subsidiary of Oakbay – again apologising for negative public statements, but “pressing me to ‘serve the national purpose’”.

Gordhan then received a letter from SA Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago in which he “raised his independent concerns regarding the deleterious effect on the banking sector of the contentions made by Oakbay”.

But in a statement to M-Net current affairs programme Carte Blanche, Howa let slip that one of the banks had told Oakbay that the reason it closed the companies’ accounts was that it was not allowed to do any business with people or companies it believed could be contravening one or more laws – including the Companies Act, the

Prevention of Organised Crime Act, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.

Gordhan then obtained a certificate from financial intelligence, detailing the more than R6.8bn of suspicious transactions “linked to Oakbay.

“Just one example is the reporting of an amount of R1.3bn as a suspicious transaction – in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act – relating to Optimum Mine Rehabilitation Trust,” Gordhan said.

Other entries on the list include 14 payments made by the Gupta family in their personal capacity, including one of R38m made by Atul Gupta. The document does not mention to whom.

Neither Atul Gupta nor family spokesperson Gary Naidoo could be reached for comment on Saturday.

Alliance at war

Tuesday’s announcement by National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams that Gordhan would be charged with fraud for signing off his former deputy Ivan Pillay’s early retirement, has sent shock waves through the ANC and its alliance partners.

The SA Communist Party (SACP) insists that Zuma must be made to pay if he removes Gordhan from office over an “illegitimate” charge by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

A seething Solly Mapaila, the party’s second deputy-general, told City Press that the political manoeuvrings by “criminal elements” close to Zuma were eroding the “entire movement”.

He said if Gordhan was axed, it would “amount to giving in to this criminal syndicate that wants to hijack our state institutions and movement”.

“This is clear political prosecution. Gordhan is at risk because he is the strategic enemy of the Guptas,” he added.

“To ask him to step aside would be to accept the wool that has been pulled over our eyes. If he is removed, so be it. But the president will bear the consequences of [what happens to] the movement. The ANC will have to accept that.”

The ANC, he said, had already faced the wrath of the electorate, who punished the party in the August 3 municipal elections.

Although Mapaila denied the Gordhan issue featured at the alliance secretariat meeting on Friday, City Press understands the issue was raised but postponed because the ANC was not prepared to answer to it immediately.

Jessie Duarte, the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, attended the meeting without secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, who was in China.

Mapaila said that if Zuma fired Gordhan and replaced him with “someone who will effect decisions that Gordhan has objected to” – in particular, those relating to the

SAA and nuclear deals – “it would be clear as daylight whose interests they were serving”.

The SACP had grown critical of Zuma’s failure to distance himself from the Guptas, as well as the ANC’s failure to deal with allegations of state capture.

Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was on Friday prevented from releasing her report on state capture following urgent court interdict applications from both Zuma and four-day finance minister Des van Rooyen.

The BBC reported on Friday that Madonsela was in possession of “cellphone evidence” – including SMSes – that placed Van Rooyen at the Guptas’ Saxonwold home the night before his appointment.

Now the SACP is demanding a say in the hiring and firing of government ministers.

Zuma only informed alliance partners of his decision to fire Gordhan’s predecessor, Nhlanhla Nene, as finance minister an hour before making the announcement of his new appointee, Van Rooyen, that caused the country billions of rands in losses.

Mapaila said this was an insult and that Zuma’s consultations with alliance partners was merely cursory.

Mapaila and other SACP leaders and structures will be going to court to support Gordhan when he appears in court on November 2.

ANC asunder

A senior government minister said the party was divided, as some senior leaders believe that Gordhan should be brought to book regarding his alleged role in the formation of the so-called rogue unit at the SA Revenue Service. Others, however, believe that the charges are nothing more than political chess.

“There are those who have, even in our meetings, advocated for his removal and the others in his defence were saying there is no need to do that and to wait for the charges. Now we know the charge and we can see it’s nothing serious. I can say most are behind him,” said the minister.

The minister added that if Gordhan was removed, “it will feed into instability for the country that the ratings agencies don’t like”.

Ratings agencies are expected to revise their assessment of the country’s viability in early December.

“They believe if the country is politically unstable, it can’t meet its targets. That is a threat that is worrying,” said the minister.

If not Gordhan, who?

Among those expected to take over Gordhan’s job following a Cabinet reshuffle are ANC MP Sfiso Buthelezi and Eskom CEO Brian Molefe.

Allegations abounded that Molefe had been preparing to leave Eskom to the point that he even asked Gordhan’s office for information on SAA and the nuclear energy deal.

Van Rooyen faced similar allegations after he arrived at Treasury with two Gupta-linked advisers when he was appointed finance minister.

Molefe could not be reached for comment.

Cosatu says: Butt out of the law

Cosatu, meanwhile, has labelled those who have come out in support of Gordhan – including Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who threw his weight behind him on Saturday – as factional.

Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla told City Press that the Gordhan matter was a legal one.

“Those voices are factional. They operate in a political space. They are not legal experts. Why? What informs that support, what legal advice do they have? What are they going to benefit from taking such a public position?” Pamla said.

Some of the leaders include ANC stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, national executive committee members Max Sisulu, Enoch Godongwana and Jackson Mthembu.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/its-open-war-20161016-3

Shady Gupta family billions laid bare

Sabelo Skiti & Thanduxolo Jika, Sunday Times, 16 Oct 2016

Billions of rands in dodgy bank transactions by the Gupta family business empire have come to light in a dramatic court application by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, showing for the first time why the banks shut the accounts.

The banks' actions earlier this year - when they did not go public with their reasons because of confidentiality - sparked a furious row between Gordhan and the influential family, which has close ties to President Jacob Zuma and his sons.

The transactions lie at the heart of the titanic battle being waged for control of the National Treasury.

Explosive details of the dubious transactions, worth a staggering R6.8-billion, were laid bare when Gordhan went to court this week to seek a declaratory order that the cabinet has no authority to intervene in the impasse between the banks and the Gupta businesses.

Gordhan's move - away from the glare of publicity surrounding fraud charges brought against him by the National Prosecuting Authority this week - is seen as a masterstroke by the minister.

A declaratory order such as he seeks would in effect mean that even if he is removed as finance minister, any incumbent would find it impossible to intervene in the dispute between the Guptas and the banks.

It also means the banks, respondents in the matter, would be compelled to reveal further details around the transactions. They had not yet filed responding papers.

Gordhan has been under pressure from several quarters, including the family, some cabinet ministers, the ANC's women and youth leagues and Umkhonto weSizwe veterans, to intervene to have the banks' decisions overturned.

In April, all of South Africa's major banks, as well as auditors KPMG, confirmed a decision to terminate all business relationships with Zuma's friends.

The Sunday Times can reveal that the move was precipitated by the continued flagging of suspicious transactions totalling R6.8-billion in more than 70 bank accounts belonging to members of the family, their associates and companies.

According to a top banking source, the frequency of the movement of money to and from Gupta bank accounts during this period raisedsuspicions of money laundering.

"The banks were concerned with the speed with which monies were moved from their different accounts, the unusual amounts of money coming into and going out of the accounts to and from beneficiaries or depositors that could not be explained.

"And when that happens, banks are required by law to report this to the [Financial Intelligence Centre] as this is viewed as money laundering," the source said.

By law, and in line with international banking best practice, banks are obliged to report any suspicious transactions - failing which they could be seen as aiding unlawful activities such as money laundering or financing terrorism.

The Guptas' suspicious transactions are contained in a certificate issued by the Financial Intelligence Centre to assist Gordhan in his court action. They include:

• R1.3-billion movement in an account belonging to Optimum Mine in April this year;

• R1.2-billion movement in an account belonging to Koorfontein Mines also in April;

• At least seven separate transactions totalling R98-million done by Atul Gupta between 2013 and this year; and

• R10-million movement in an account belonging to Mabengela Investments, which is partly owned by Zuma's son Duduzane.

The certificate also reveals movement in an account holding R1.5-billion of Optimum Mine's rehabilitation fund, which was apparently moved with consent from Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane.

This is established by a letter from Werksmans Attorneys to the South African Reserve Bank's registrar, confirming that Zwane had given consent for the monies to be moved to the Bank of Baroda - India's international bank, which has two branches in South Africa - provided it was registered with the Reserve Bank.

A close study of the certificate reveals that the Guptas were at their busiest between the end of February and early April, making multiple transfers between their business and personal accounts. It does not show where the monies came from, or to whom they were paid.

In June the Sunday Times reported that the Reserve Bank and the Financial Intelligence Centre had requested the Bank of Baroda to provide documents related to deposits into Gupta accounts.

A source at the time said there were suspicions that monies were being moved offshore.

In his affidavit before the court Gordhan reveals that he had several interactions with Nazeem Howa, the CEO of Oakbay, over the account closures.

He speaks of how, despite two legal opinions (filed as annexures) stating that the cabinet had no power to intervene in a private relationship between a bank and a client, Howa insisted that he do so.

Gordhan is one of three ministers appointed by the cabinet to talk to the banks and the family to find a solution.

However, he says in the papers, he was uneasy about his power to compel the banks to reverse their decision, which the Guptas labelled "anti-competitive, politically motivated, and designed to marginalise their business".

"I stressed that the minister of finance can not act in any way that undermines the regulatory authorities," he said. "I encouraged Oakbay to achieve a determination of its contentions by approaching a court. I finally requested Oakbay to desist from its attacks on the National Treasury in the public interest."

Howa's response to Gordhan was that the company had been legally advised that it had no prospects of success in court "given the contractual rights the banks have".

The opinions Gordhan received included those of Jeremy Gauntlett and a warning from Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago on April 26 that continued intervention by the cabinet could be seen as "undue political interference in banks' operations, and could introduce heightened levels of uncertainty and pose a risk to South Africa's financial stability".

Gauntlett advised that cabinet members had no legal authority to intervene in the private bank-client relationship.

This means Zwane's intervention on behalf of the Guptas, without any sanctioning from the cabinet, was unlawful.

Last month the cabinet and the Presidency distanced themselves from a statement by Zwane calling for an inquiry into the banks' actions.

Zwane this week refused to be drawn on the matter, saying it was now a cabinet issue.

Between February 29 and April 6, the banks submitted 25 reports to the Financial Intelligence Centre reporting multiple transactions. In this period the family was coming under intense political pressure.

In March the Sunday Times reported that Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered the finance portfolio last December by the Guptas. A week later

former government spokesman Themba Maseko went public with allegations of Gupta influence on the state, followed by former MP Vytjie Mentor.

Oakbay spokesman Howa said yesterday: " Oakbay Investments has never been involved in money-laundering and no charges have ever been brought against us.

"It is clear that these documents have been leaked by the ministry of finance as part of a politically motivated campaign against us. It would not be appropriate to comment further on an ongoing legal process."

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2016/10/16/Shady-Gupta-family-billions-laid-bare

ANC supports release of public protector's state capture report

Mail & Guardian/Reuters, 15 Oct 2016

The ANC said on Friday it supported the release of the state capture report into claims of political interference by the Gupta family, despite a court bid by President Jacob Zuma to block the report.

Public protector Thuli Madonsela was expected to reveal the findings on Friday, her last day in office, and she called a news conference for later in the day after publishing a list of 23 cases on which she would report.

The list did not mention the Guptas, a wealthy Indian-born family at the centre of the investigation into whether top political decisions, including cabinet appointments, have been unduly influenced.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa told eNCA the party was in favour of Madonsela releasing her findings, including information on the Guptas.

Both the family, which has wide-ranging business interests in South Africa, and the president have denied any wrongdoing.

The claims of undue influence have become known as “state capture”.

“From our point of view, we are looking forward to the report because the allegations of corporate state capture are very serious,” Kodwa told the broadcaster in an interview.

“... For us whether it is today, or any other day, we are looking forward to the release of the report.”

Kodwa said he was not surprised that Zuma had sought a court order to block the report, as that was his right.

Zuma applied for that order on Thursday on the grounds that he had not had the chance to question witnesses and review any evidence that implicated him. The case is due to be heard on Tuesday.

http://mg.co.za/article/2016-10-15-anc-supports-release-of-public-protectors-state-capture-report

Zuma faces ANC backlash

Craig Dodds, Mogomotsi Magome & Reuters, Weekend Argus, 15 October 2016

WITH a backlash gathering force within the ANC over the prosecution of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, a statement by the ruling party endorsing former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture sent a clear message senior leaders have lost patience with President Jacob Zuma and his allies.

As Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete refused to safe-keep the state capture report, saying she would send it back to Pretoria, the party countered that the report would help the ANC and the country “gain clarity on the allegations and point to the resolution of the reported challenges”.

Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, addresses the media including releasing her final investigations on her last day in the office of the Public Protector in Pretoria, South Africa, 14 October 2016. Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Des van Rooyen, went to court on 14 October trying to get an order to stop Madonsela from releasing the "state capture" report. EPA/STR. Credit: EPA

Last night Mbete acknowledged the rules required her to table all documents in the house with members, but said she couldn’t do so with Madonsela’s report, which the North Gauteng High Court has said should not be made public pending the court applications by Zuma and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen.

Zuma and Van Rooyen launched last-ditch bids to delay the release of the report while the governing party said it “looks forward to (its) imminent release”, pending the court decisions.

Meanwhile, the rand reversed early losses against the dollar yesterday after Gordhan branded as “frivolous” the charges against him, promising international business leaders he was “here to stay”.

Opposition parties, including Cope, the DA, the EFF and the UDM, joined the court case opposing Van Rooyen’s application to interdict Madonsela from releasing the report. The EFF, through its attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, urged the court to compel Madonsela to release the report immediately.

Zuma’s friends, the wealthy Gupta family, have been accused of influencing the appointment of cabinet ministers and other senior government officials in order to benefit their business concerns.

Zuma turned to the courts for an interdict to halt the release of the report three days after he demanded an undertaking from Madonsela that she would not wrap up her investigation until he had been allowed to question other witnesses in the investigation.

In the ANC statement yesterday, spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party had spoken out against state capture, which amounted to “an attack on the character of the revolutionary movement, an attack on our democratic state and an assault on the confidence our people place on our movement and government”.

Kodwa said the public protector’s final report on the matter “with its binding recommendations”, though subject to judicial review, would “assist the ANC and South Africa to gain clarity on the allegations”.

“The ANC commends... Madonsela on her committed service to South Africa and wishes her well in her future endeavours.”

DA leader Mmusi Maimane welcomed the order of the North Gauteng High Court to preserve the report as is and keep it safe, saying it would ensure it was not subject to amendment.

“The fight for accountability is not an easy one and is often subject to setbacks, but we are determined to see this matter through until the end,” he said.

“Jacob Zuma and those implicated in state capture may have delayed accounting for their role in undermining the sovereignty of the state and the rule of law, but they will face the music at an appropriate time.”

He said Zuma’s “house of lies and cronyism was falling apart, causing him to employ the most

http://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/zuma-faces-anc-backlash-2080230

ANCYL calls for MK Veterans to take up arms for Zuma

Kaveel Singh and Jenna Etheridge, News24, 16 Oct 2016

Durban - The ANCYL Chairperson Collen Maine on Saturday called for MK Veterans to arm themselves to defend President Jacob Zuma.

"Comrades from Umkhonto we Sizwe, bring your guns. Now is the time to defend the revolution. We must do it. Generations that came before did it. They sacrificed their lives," he said in Durban.

Maine was speaking at a Hands Off Zuma march the city. Over 4 000 attended the peaceful gathering.

The ANC Ethekwini Region organised the event because it believed Zuma was being targeted.

The march comes in the wake of drama around outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's "state capture" report.

On Friday, Black First Land First (BFLF) protesters marched to the Public Protector's office in Pretoria to defend the president.

They carried posters reading "hamba Madonsela" and "hands off Zuma" as they rushed up to the gates of the office complex.

Others held signs accusing Madonsela of being in cahoots with the wealthy Rupert family and acting in the interests of white monopoly capital.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ancyl-calls-for-mk-veterans-to-take-up-arms-for-zuma-20161015

International

Philadelphia bus, trolley & subway operators vote unanimously to authorize strike

David Chang & Morgan Zalot, NBC [USA], 16 Oct 2016

The union that represents more than 5,700 SEPTA bus drivers, subway and trolley operators voted unanimously Sunday morning to authorize a strike.

Members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 (TWU 234) met 11 a.m. at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall at 1311 S. Christopher Columbus Boulevard in Philadelphia to discuss negotiations with SEPTA and vote on whether or not to authorize a strike. In less than an hour, the workers voted to authorize a strike.

The union’s current contract with SEPTA expires at midnight on Oct. 31. That's when, if they do strike, workers would walk off the job. Negotiations with SEPTA began earlier in the year.

Outstanding issues for the union include the need for pension reform, maintaining affordable quality health care and addressing safety and fatigue issues for SEPTA drivers.

SEPTA passengers are already talking about a possible strike that would severely impact transportation all across Philadelphia.

“We’ll get direction from our members on Sunday and proceed from there,” said TWU Local 234 President Willie Brown. “We’re not looking for a day-by-day extension and we’re not interested in working without a contract. We want an agreement that is fair to our members that addresses pension plan inequities between managers and frontline workers, while guaranteeing quality service to our passengers.”

If a strike is authorized, it would not start until Nov. 1 and would shut down SEPTA's bus, subway and trolley services in Philadelphia. SEPTA's Regional Rail service and service in areas outside of Philadelphia would not be affected.

If a deal is not reached, the strike could last through Election Day.

“Oh God, I don’t really know what to say about that one,” said Margaret Foote, a SEPTA rider. “How would people get out and vote?”

NBC10 reached out to SEPTA for comment.

“Taking a strike vote in advance of contract expiration is not out of the ordinary,” a spokesperson for SEPTA wrote. “We remain hopeful as we work to bargain an agreement in the best interest of our employees, riders and the public.”

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/SEPTA-Strike-Authorization-Vote-TWU-Philadelphia-Bus-Train-397212251.html

Comment and opinion

Only the colour of cash matters

Terry Bell, City Press, 16 Oct 2016

Several trade unions and many protesting #FeesMustFall students have directed their anger at the wrong targets in the past week.

The unions demanded decent work from the private sector; the students wanted free education from university administrations.

But the private sector is not in the business of creating jobs or providing decent work.

And university administrations do not have it in their power to provide free education, something several student leaders have now, perhaps belatedly, acknowledged.

“White monopoly capital” was also targeted by elements in both protesting groups.

But the only colour business cares about is the colour of money.

And just as it is against the interests of the private sector to create more jobs than are absolutely necessary for each enterprise, so it is not in the interests of this sector to pay more than the lowest wages it can get away with.

Profit is essential for business to survive in a competitive environment that is managed and regulated by government.

University administrations, on the other hand, have little control over the imposition or level of fees, and rely on government subsidies to function and survive. Yet government’s contribution to tertiary education has steadily declined.

The promised move towards free as well as equitable education has long fallen by the policy wayside.

This was a fact 20 years ago in the form of what Cosatu and the SA Communist Party (SACP) refer to as the “1996 class project”.

All this means is that government – to which both the SACP and Cosatu are allied – had by 1996 embarked on policies that benefited business and, therefore, damaged labour.

And since the sellers of labour are far and away the largest segment of society, this pandering to a minority is fundamentally undemocratic.

But then our parliamentary democracy is a far cry from the ideal of rule by the people for the people. In fact, the partial – even farcical – democracy we now have is actually a recipe for patronage, nepotism and other forms of corruption.

By operating, at a national level, on a party list system, voters have no control over their supposed parliamentary representatives who make the rules that govern our daily lives.

The power lies with the party and within the party, with its executive, and, ultimately, with the leader.

Because election campaigns cost money, political parties rely on funding, which comes largely – and secretly – from the private sector.

So, every five years, voters troop off to ballot boxes to effectively hand over the power they collectively have to a party and its bosses, who may already be deeply indebted to the funders.

This situation is not unique to South Africa, but the list system and secret funding make state capture so much easier.

Buying number one on the winning party list can be enough to ensure sweet deals and policies.

It should also be clear that it is not in the interests of the private sector to provide decent work any more than it is to fund education, health and other essential public services. The crucial question, therefore, is not only who governs, but whose interests the government serves.

http://www.fin24.com/Economy/only-the-colour-of-cash-matters-20161014

Politics: Lessons from Italy

Michael Schmidt, Financial Mail, 14 October 2016

With the new pattern of coalition rule now established in several of its municipalities — including the Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela metros — SA has fully entered its "Italian season", a period of dramatic realignment in the face of state inertia, ruling party atrophy and social unrest.

The season in Italy occurred four decades ago, in a very different time and space, heavily inflected by the Cold War. But to compare Italy over 1962-1969 to SA over recent years is instructive, for the similarities are startling.

In 1962, Italy gained its first centre-Left government since 1947. The Italian political spectrum had been dominated in the post-war era by the centrist DA-like Christian Democrats (DC), but possessed powerful ANC-like Socialist (PSI) and Communist (PCI) parties.

The PCI, though down to 1.54m members by 1966, remained a powerful mass party (the SACP probably peaked at only 30,000 in the 2000s). Unfettered to a nationalist movement, unlike the SACP, the PCI nevertheless held strong sway in the Cosatu-like CGIL union confederation, alongside the socialists, which, like the ANC, had also suffered two splits in the previous two decades.

Where the PCI and the SACP are similar is that, though the SACP is in power via the ANC, and the PCI remained outside power except in the cities of the "Red Belt" of Emilia-Romagna, they were both, in their relative ages, riven by internal conflict between traditionalists and social democrats.

The year 1962 heralded "the opening to the left", in which a coalition of the Social Democrats and Republicans pushed DC rule to the left with several attempts at modernising structural reform, similar to the quasi-socialist RDP under Nelson Mandela.

As with democratic SA’s golden age, this was a boom period for the Italian economy. But the socialists failed to make hay while the sun shone. Their structural reforms were, from 1963-1968, replaced with watered-down policies from coalition

governments dominated by socialists. This annoyed the newly urbanised proletariat, who had stood to gain most from the "opening".

In the 1960s, the Italian state was prey to practices that curtailed initiative and efficiency. There was lottizzazione: governments ensured that key civil service posts were occupied by party members. In SA we call it cadre deployment and, as in Italy, it occurs right through the ranks.

Then there was the sorry condition of the Italian state-owned enterprises, or SOEs. Inefficiency meant heavy reliance on public funds, which were all too readily obtained, yet most SOEs experienced heavy losses over the 1960s, with the marginal exception of hydrocarbon giant ENI.

The confluence between lottizzazione and SOEs resulted in the emergence of what Guido Carli, then-governor of the Bank of Italy, termed a "state bourgeoisie".

Italy specialist Paul Ginsborg wrote that "a new generation of public managers and entrepreneurs, very closely linked with the dominant political parties, not only wielded considerable power, but also diverted substantial amounts of public funds into private channels."

Ginsborg cites the chilling case of ENI’s Eugenio Cefis, who used ENI funds to secretly purchase for himself a controlling shareholding in electrical-chemical SOE Montedison, to which he then relocated, to preside over an empire with 15% of the European market. By the 1970s it included "the ownership of major newspapers ... the financing of political parties, and close links with the secret service". State capture comes to mind.

Lastly, there was pervasive clientelism in Italy, where the Mafia was particularly successful in exploiting the cities’ developmental agencies to divert funds (intended to develop SMMEs) into construction speculation, which eroded public space, the public interest — and public confidence.

Over 1967-1968, Italian universities, overcrowded with newly urbanised working-class and aspirant middle-class students, erupted into protest, as has happened in SA. In both cases, the immediate concerns around fees, exclusion, and a lack of transformation — stemming from the antiquity of the Italian academia, and the corporatisation of its SA counterpart — were rapidly overtaken with broader concerns.

In both countries, the students rejected conventional politics in favour of more militant and directly democratic politics. Radical new currents arose: in Italy, the operaista of the universities, housing projects and factories; in SA the populists of the #fall campaigns, townships and platinum mines.

Both countries were racked by unprecedented strike-waves over wages and conditions and community protests over service delivery, with the socialists and communists losing control of the unions to new formations (witness the fragmentation of SA’s Cosatu and Numsa’s new initiatives). In Italy, even the DC-linked CISL unions radicalised, and in 1972 federated with the leftist CGIL and conservative UIL (take heed of Sacotu’s aim to unite with Cosatu if it sheds the

ANC). Radicals repeatedly clashed with a remilitarised police force: the carabinieri had undergone the process in 1962, and the SA Police Service in 2010.

From 1969-1982, a crisis-riven Italy fell into what is called the Anni di Piombo, the "Years of Lead", in which bullets ruled in a zero-sum "strategy of tension" between reactionaries and revolutionaries, resulting in waves of ultra-Left and ultra-Right terrorism and even two coup plots.

The 2012 Marikana Massacre was a worrying sign that this course is already a possibility for SA, while this year’s integration of the EFF into municipal governance at the ANC’s expense (as with the United Proletarians in Italy at socialist expense) somewhat defuses the threat.

So now we stand on the cusp of where we might diverge from our "Italian season" — or continue, with unforeseeable results.

http://www.financialmail.co.za/features/2016/10/14/politics-lessons-from-italy