Friends of Democracy | What Policies would you like to see governing South Africa? Comments

Dear All

I am a psychologist and would like to render my services after the general elections, since there are indications that some will win with a big margin and others will be crying foul.

If Cope members are in need of psychologilal treatment, please contact me on rashubet@gmail.c*om.

Thanks

Leaders like Manamela must learn from cla.ss of ‘7.6

22 January 20.09
SLICE OF LIFE - Themba Molefe

Themba Molefe

At last the judges have spoken out against the public vitriol levelled against the judiciary by politicians.

Chief Justice Pius Langa and Judge Albie Sachs this week told politicians to leave them alone – because personal attacks on judges would weaken the country’s judiciary and therefore democracy.

As if their complaints hit a tin roof, Buti Manamela of the Young Communist League retorted by further insulting judges.

Manamela said: “Some of the judges think they descended from heaven and on to the bench.”

Judge Langa’s deputy Dikgang Moseneke was himself called a drunk by the ANC’s allies, the South African Students Congress and the Congress of South African Students.

Langa said: “I don’t think anyone should be called a drunk or counter- revolutionary.

“People need to have regard for the institution itself, especially people in leadership roles because what they say impacts on others.”

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has referred to judges as counter-revolutionaries when their rulings were not favourable to the party president Jacob Zuma.

I doubt if Manamela understands politics or if he is indeed a politician. If he was one he would understand that politicians know the law.

Only little pip-squeaks and upstarts will get on top of soap boxes and insult custodians of the law.

Lettered people, I mean those who understand issues and constantly refer to authority – by reading – will know that a judge is trained to apply his mind when making a ruling.

In this country we have a constitution that is hailed as one of the best, if not the most progressive, in the world. It protects people like us, Manamela, his comrades and indeed even criminals.

I wonder if Manamela is aware that it is this guaranteed freedom of speech that he is using to insult people to whom he runs when needs be.

Any organisation in a democracy has structures. Fortunately the ANC alliance acknowledges this.

That is why there are spokesmen, people who are entrusted with articulating the position of organisations.

So not everybody should be allowed to willy-nilly speak on behalf of a political party. I say this because characters such as Manamela and his ilk not only hurt their principals but they embarra.ss the country and themselves in the process. So Manamela and those like him must not be allowed to speak without a script.

It would not be nice when Manamela’s grandchildren one day tell him, very politely, that he used to say stu.pid things as a young man.

“Rakgolo, how could you insult a judge? Did you not think that it was not wise to do so?” I can imagine how red- faced Rakgolo Manamela would be as the wide-eyed grandchild awaited a reply.

The moral here is that what we do now as young leaders, that is if Manamela is one, will follow us in history.

We must not forget that there is a legacy

Have you seen this confession?

Pikoli was adamant that his refusal to bow to executive pressure on the Selebi matter was the real reason why he was suspended.

He claimed that Mbeki's government continued to interfere in this case even after he was suspended by putting pressure on his replacement, acting NPA boss Mokotedi Mpshe, to cancel the outstanding arrest warrants against Selebi.

Pikoli claimed that Justice Department Director-General Menzi Simelane confronted Mpshe just days after Pikoli's departure with a completed application form for the withdrawal of the warrants.

"I was suspended because I refused to obey an unlawful instruction to halt the case against Selebi)," he explained.

Teachers ‘abandon’ cla.sses for ANC campaign

21 January 20.09
Tebogo Monama

PARTY FIRST: Angie Motshekga
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The days of “liberation before education” are back to haunt South African schools, especially in the townships.

More ominously, the “struggle” is led by the largest teacher union in South Africa, which is bent on disrupting schools in the build-up to the yet to be announced general elections.

“Schooling will only be stable when Msholozi is elected president. We are defending the revolution,” said Sadtu’s Soweto branch chairman, Ronald Nyathi, about the ANC and its allies electioneering during school hours.

Sadtu represents 240.0.0.0 teachers, which accounts for more than two-thirds of teachers in the country. It is an affiliate of Cosatu, the biggest labour federation in South Africa.

Last week, Gauteng education MEC Angie Motshekga and ANC president Jacob Zuma visited Bhukulani Secondary School at Zondi in Soweto, in what was seen as part of his election campaign offensive.

Motshekga missed the Council of Education Ministers meeting to attend Zuma’s appeal case in Bloemfontein. She defended her decision by saying that she was employed by the ANC and not the department.

On Friday, Sadtu’s Daveyton- Wattville branch in Ekurhuleni instructed its members to attend an ANC election campaign meeting at a local school. Teachers had to cut short lessons to attend the meeting.

This week, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema has been visiting Gauteng schools and donating shoes to disadvantaged pupils.

Nyathi said the Soweto branch was planning a teachers’ ma.ss meeting tomorrow morning.

He said: “Teachers are intelligent and can make up the time spent in meetings. We can conduct extra cla.sses .

“We must have meetings during school hours because it is the same time that other people use to destroy the ANC’s credibility.”

Democratic Alliance spokesman David Quaill said: “This is unacceptable. The teaching of our children should be put above party political activities.

“The perception is that Sadtu’s primary mission is not to educate children, but keep the ANC in power.”

Education department spokesman Lunga Ngqengelele said: “There must be no disruption of cla.sses . Meetings should be held after hours. Sadtu has partnered with the department on a quality teaching campaign.”

• Equity and efficiency objectives should be pursued as complementary…..?
Implicit in this resolution is a racist undertone that seeks to as*sociate equity with inefficiencies. The BMF would argue very strongly that this resolution stigmatizes Affirmative Action, implying that candidates for AA lack merit. Racism and colonized mentality will always second guess Black professionals.

• Affirmative Action Exemptions in rare skills to boost skills base?
This resolution would undermine the constitutional obligation as enshrined in the Bill of rights to promote the achievement of equality. If carried out it would mean certain areas of employment would remain untransformed under the guise of “skills shortage” and would continue to be the preserve of whites only. The BMF rejects this resolution with contempt it deserves.

• BEE policies create an elite based economic system that excludes the majority….?
This clearly is an outdated criticism that belongs to the past; the government has long corrected these phenomena with the introduction of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 20*04, to replace the narrow BEE which simply focused on purchasing equity stakes.
Studying this BBBEE Act which was followed by the Codes of Good Practice, would reveal that all the proposals by COPE and much more have already been factored in. In addition it is worth noting that the Codes took a period of 3 years consultation with all the stakeholders.
Infact there has also been various baselines and follow up studies to measure progress in terms of complying with the BBBEE codes. It is not apparent that COPE is aware of this development.
The BBBEE Codes are very comprehensive and comprise 7 elements as follows
1. Ownership – measures the effective ownership of the enterprise by black people (Broad based ownership schemes are encouraged).
2. Management Control – measures effective control of enterprise by black people.
3. Employment Equity – measures compliance including with Employment Equity act.
4. Skills Development – measures development of competences of black people.
5. Preferential Procurement – measures the extent to which enterprises purchase goods and services from black suppliers.
6. Enterprise Development – measures the extent to which enterprises as*si*st and develop sustainability of other developing black enterprises.
7. Socio-Economic development – measures the extent of Social Investment initiatives.
Very clearly an inclusive well thought out model is already in place with a built in re-view date.
The COPE resolutions on BEE are infact a subset of what is already in existence.

The BMF advises COPE to completely abandon their resolutions on Affirmative Action and BBBEE and simply embrace the Law to avoid creating unnecessary confusion that will bring uncertainty, and undermine transformation and business confidence.

Jimmy Manyi- President of the Black Management Forum.City Press 18/01/2*0*0*9

"COPE resolutions misrepresent Affirmative Action.

The Black Management Forum is indeed disappointed to observe such gross misrepresentation of government policy, latent undermining of the constitutional imperatives and down right superficial understanding of the Affirmative Action and BBBEE as contained in the COPE media statement and in their December resolutions dated 18 December 2*0*0*8.

• Government to blame for poor implementation of Affirmative Action?
This accusation by COPE is not only misdirected but also signifies the poor understanding of the role government plays in policy formulation and implementation. Government formulates policy and it is the industry and commerce that must implement that policy. In the case of AA where Government as an employer is also an implementer, the evidence is out there for all to see that the track record of government and State Owned Enterprises surpas*ses that of the private sector. Infact if you were to remove the Government and SOE figures from the Employment Equity figures the picture would be shockingly poor. Even the Deputy President of COPE, Mr. Shilowa in his recent article in this paper admits this naked truth.

• Nepotism and Cronyism in the public service?
The concept of Nepotism and Cronyism, undesirable as they are, could never be the sole preserve of Affirmative Action. These bad recruitment practices pre-date Affirmative Action and it is purely opportunistic, dishonest and gratuitous to lambaste Affirmative Action with this scourge. These concepts are also experienced in companies that are exclusively white, including Europe and Americas.

• Exclusion of minorities from the public service?
This is the acid test of the level of misrepresentation that COPE is propagating on AA. Can anyone really say minorities are excluded in the public sector? Absolute barriers are prohibited by the law, if that was happening government could have long been successfully challenged in court.

• Using Race as a sole criterion of employment equity?
This is another misrepresentation of the Law. Employment Equity Act, no 55 of 1*9*9*8 which governs Affirmative Action, does not use race only, but gender and disability as well. Even within the race criteria, it’s not just blacks that are catered for, but all other races are included, e.g. white women in the pursuit of gender parity and white males and females with disabilities.

• Coloureds, Indians and those of Chinese origin expressed exclusion or overlooked for Appointments.?
Without condoning this bad practice, is COPE saying they could not find Africans and Whites that could make the same claim?
The BMF appeals for honesty and integrity in public discourse.

• Equity and efficiency objectives should be pursued as complementary…..?
Implicit in this resolution is a racist undertone that seeks to as*sociate equity with inefficiencies. The BMF would argue ve

Minah

I agree with you about being carefull about those who do not have our country at heart taking advantage of our critisi8sm for Terror.However,what irritates me is the deliberate undermining of Conference decisions by some who still want to pursue thier personal agendas using COPE.We should not allow COPE to operate like UDM or INKATHA or ID where the person who initiated the formation of the party behaves like its owner.This is too important a project to be allowed to take that shape.So,we hope that we have made our point and our leaders will hence-forth conduct themselves in a manner that is consitent with our values and principles.Arrogance is what we ran away from and we should not make any excuses on behalf of anybody who behave as such.WE NEED TO DISTINGUISH OURSELVES BY THE WAY WE RESPECT EVEN OUR ENEMIES,LIKE MADIBA

I would like to thank the NPA for campaigning on behalf of the African National Congress. The more they continue to persecute the President of the ANC the more they have convenced my grandmother, mother, father, my wife, my s*i*sters and brothers, aunts, uncles, friends and ordinary South Africans that we all have a duty to defend the rights of the ANC President, and the only way to do that is to vote for the African National Congress.

MY ANC, MY VISION, MY FUTURE

Amandla!!!

DA refers Angie to Integrity Commission

19 January 20.09
Namhla Tshisela
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The DA has referred Gauteng MEC for education Angie Motshekga to the Integrity Commission for her alleged contravention of the code of conduct of MECs and members of parliament.

Jack Bloom, DA chief whip in the Gauteng legislature, said Motshekga had neglected her duties as MEC by putting her loyalty to the ANC first.

This follows Motshekga’s failure to attend a Education Ministry council meeting last week, instead opting to attend ANC president Jacob Zuma’s case at the supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein.

“I am not employed by the Gauteng education department. I am employed by the ANC and when the ANC deploys me I will go,” said Motshekga when asked why she had missed the meeting.

Bloom said: “She has contravened the code of conduct by putting her party loyalty above her duty as MEC.

“Her accountability to the public should be her prime responsibility, not attending court cases.”

Bloom also criticised Motshekga’s visit to Bhukulani Secondary School in Soweto with Zuma last week as “highly irregular”.

“It was wrong for Zuma to campaign at the school and Motshekga should not have allowed him to turn the visit into an election rally,” said Bloom.

He said Motshekga had been referred to the Integrity Commission twice already in the past three years and could be “suspended for a limited period” if found guilty.

The Department of Education and Ccommission could not be reached for comment.

Clear Head and TV, you have said it all. Zuma will be the President of the counrty in May. Those who hate him can jump in the pool to cool down their anger.

We are going to vote again for the President of the ANC to lead all of us South Africans. Democracy will once again prevail as we all know that JZ is the only ANC President ever that has been elected to lead the movement