AFRICA’S BEST READ November 22 to 28 2019 Vol 35 No 47 @mailandguardian mg.co.za Slave labour at ‘Beautiful City’ Dozens of under-age workers locked inside Jo’burg factory Cults and lies in the church of refugees Sex crimes rampant in SANDF Burna Boy vs AKA: African unity up in flames 20 & 21 Cyril plans reshuffle to assert control Female soldiers forced to work with abusers Minister lashes generals, starts own inquiry 4 & 5 Photo: Paul Botes Photo: David Harrison Page 23 Page 6 Developing threats: Sisulu in firing line as new alliances take shape Page 3
Transcript
AFRICA’S BEST READ
November 22 to 28 2019 Vol 35 No 47 @mailandguardian mg.co.za
Slave labour at ‘Beautiful City’Dozens of under-age workers locked inside Jo’burg factory
Cults and lies in the church of refugees
Sex crimes rampant in SANDF Burna Boy vs AKA: African unity up in flames 20 & 21
Cyril plansreshuffleto assertcontrol
Female soldiers forced to work with abusersMinister lashes generals, starts own inquiry 4 & 5
Photo: Paul Botes
Photo: David Harrison
Page 23
Page 6
Developing threats: Sisulu in firing line as new alliances take shape
Page 3
2 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
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Capture of State CapturersFormer State Security Minister Bongani Bongo appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s court on Thursday where he is facing 13 charges of corruption.
Bongo’s arrest is related to his alleged attempt to bribe state advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, who at the time was involved in Parliament’s investigation into state capture. Bongo is said to have approached Vanara, the evidence leader for the commission, with a blank cheque off er to feign illness in order to derail proceedings.
Bongo was released on R5 000 bail with the defence having indicated that they wish to make presentations to the prosecution as to why the MP should not face charges.
There’s a body of evidenceInsurance behemoth Old Mutual seems to have developed a knack for sticking its foot in it. Not content to be embroiled in a multi-million rand stand-off with their intermittent CEO that’s already taken gazillions off their share price, the insurer this week decided not to pay out a bereaved Kwazulu-Natal family timeously. This caused the family to visit the local branch with said deceased family mem-ber in tow. The entire incident was uploaded on to social media, shaming the insurer and leading to further mutterings of improving processes and what-nots.
‘Just Jose’ is back In just 11 hours,
Tottenham Hotspur — a mid-sized English football team notable for its lofty ambitions and
bare trophy cabinet — went from fi ring its
much-loved manager to hiring a man who has managed to get him-self fi red for destroying his previous clubs. José Mourinho, the self-titled “special one”, was big in the naughties. He has won more trophies than the team he now manages, notably with FC Porto, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea. But in the tweens he came unstuck, fi ghting with his players and ensuring that the only way out was to get fi red (with a nice settlement each time). Tottenham fans — which the Mail&Guardian has in majority — will hope the 2020s bring the special one back to life. We’ll know how Mou was received by players when the fl y-on-the-wall documentary about this season comes out.
Great Gupta fi resale under wayWhile the South African authorities are still trying to lay a glove on those pesky Guptas there has been some movement with respect to their properties. A Gupta-linked prop-erty was sold this week for R2.6m. As the Mail & Guardian reported, the house was previously inhabited by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule’s son, Tshepiso, who valiantly resisted eviction until the sheriff came knocking. Other properties are also due to fall under the hammer, including the infamous Gupta compound that played host to a coterie of ministers and higher ups.
Another victory for life on EarthIn 2016, the ministers of mineral resources and environment decided that it was okay for a new coal mine to be built inside the Mabola Protected Environment. This is despite it being a) a protected environment that falls under the Protected Areas Act and b) the source of several crucial rivers in Mpumalanga. That province has already been torn apart by mining, with up to two-thirds of its area under some kind of mining claim, but the ministers didn’t think one more mine was a problem. So civil society groups went to court, and won. The would-be mining com-pany, Atha-Africa Ventures, appealed and
went to the High Court, then the Supreme Court of Appeal and eventually the Constitutional Court. They have lost each time. Once again, the courts have had to step in to pro-tect our water resources from a government hell-bent on allowing mining companies to do whatever they want. It would be nice if the ministers did this in the fi rst place.
Erections and depressionWe don’t do anything by half measure in South Africa (except the small issue of delivering on basic services). So, with things being a bit hectic, it’s important that we note new research that shows it’s cheaper to get an erection here, and buy anxiety medicine, than it is in most of the world. Medbelle, a “medical pro-vider” that also dabbles in research, found that Viagra is 76% cheaper in South Africa than in the rest of the world. Xanax is 11% cheaper. It might be helpful
if we tackled the causes of depression, anxiety and stress — but we’re still
trying to keep the electricity on so, for now, let’s appreci-
ate that the salve is cheap.
Drugs and weapons – Pretoria-style In a raid targeted at a suspected
dagga laboratory in Gauteng’s strange, hot and hilly north-
ern city, police found a bit more than they were
expecting. The leafy
green dagga plants were there, as were piles of weapons. These included the standard South African mix of pistols, revolvers and AK-47s and a mortar launcher … and crossbows. The owner of the property said they had the weap-ons because they deal in, and collect, weapons. Never a dull day in this country.
Black FridayA timely reminder that — even though the world will go completely crazy next Friday, with people tearing each other apart to get the best special — the Mail & Guardian will be out next week. In planning how to survive the chaos, maybe the calm of a newspaper and a hot drink would be the sane way forward.
The number of people who have died so far this monthin fires that have burned across thousands of hectaresin Australia, destroying hundreds of homes
NUMBERS OF THE WEEK
1.5bn
The number of women that feature on the Time 100Next 2019 list of influential young people. The maga-zine’s list includes Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi (28) from Nigeria,who was given a shout-out on Twitter by former president Barack Obama, who said he was proud of her and her work inorganising young people in Nigeriato help end sexual violence
6Graphic: JOHN McCANN Compiled by: ATHANDIWE SABA
OluwaseunAyodeji
Osowobi
$500-millionThe amount Airbnb is giving assponsorship for the next fiveOlympics. As a tie-in to the deal, thecompany will let athletes sell theirpersonal experiences of the eventvia its platform
The number ofchief executives
Eskom has had in 10years. In January, Nam-pak's André de Ruyterwill take over the reinsof the power utility inthe midst of severechallenges, includinga debt of ± R450-billion
The number of timesthe short-form videoapp TikTok has beendownloaded since itslaunch in 2016. The appis big in India, whichaccounts for31% of thedownloads
53It was 233°C in Bloemfontein this week.
That’s a lot as a young freckled person, I marvelled at people in private schools getting off sports when it nudged past 30°C. In Limpopo, the toss before a cricket match was about trying to make sure you didn’t stand out in the fi eld in the 40-something°C midday sun. If you lost, fi elding became pointless thanks to the slathering of sunscreen on one’s hands.
Bloemfontein tends to be colder than the north of the country. It’s also the capi-tal of a province that makes a lot of our food. While the province was destroyed in a long-term looting project supervised by the man who now helps to “run” the country, it is our third capital, home to the Supreme Court of Appeal and a rugby team so bad that it plays against European clubs.
Not that it actually was 233°C in Bloemfontein. That was a glitch, repeated by a TV station in its weather bulletin.
Still, the world is getting hotter. And the Free State, like the Highveld, is heating at double the world average. In my lifetime, that city between hills could be 6°C hotter than it is now. Or more (the projections tend to be conservative).
That means 40°C summers, shifting rainfall patterns and failed crops. The cause of this is our unsustainable way of living.
In Parliament this week, the energy and minerals department tried to convince its parliamentary portfolio committee that a proposed $10-billion refi nery in Richards Bay will produce “clean fuel” and bring no environmental liabilities.
The world is heating, but we’re betting on burning the fuels that heat the planet. Our new, long-delayed, energy plan calls for more coal-fi red power plants.
On the same day as the “clean fuel” fi b, the United Nations released a report looking at how countries are saying one thing — we need to dramatically reduce carbon emissions to ensure that the world remains livable for most people — and doing another — building more fossil fuel industries.
“Governments are planning to produce 120% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warm-ing to 1.5°C,” the UN report said.
That number is what South Africa says is crucial for this country to function.
Cricket is sure going to be diffi cult. Like the rest of life. — Sipho Kings
412.08412 08ppm
Data source: NASA
As of September 16 this is the level of carbondioxide in the atmosphere. A safe numberis 350 while 450 is catastrophic
States drop the catch on climate
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Joint operation: Police found guns and ganja in the capizol of Pretoria
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 3
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NEWS ANALYSIS Sabelo Skiti & Paddy Harper
President Cyril Ramapho-sa’s “New Dawn” has fal-tered, with internal divi-sions in the ANC and the ruling alliance stopping
tough decisions being made on issues such as the future of Eskom. Now, less than six months into his first admin-istration, Ramaphosa is said to be thinking about reshuffling his Cabi-net to solidify his power in the ANC.
Ramaphosa, who emerged vic-torious by a thin margin at the ANC’s elective congress in Nasrec in December 2017 and began his current term after the May general elections, has faced resistance from the losing faction since Nasrec. As a result, compromises had to be made in the appointments of ministers and the party’s top leadership.
A reshuffle would ensure he has more control over the ANC.
One of the main targets of this would be Lindiwe Sisulu, the minis-ter of human settlements, water and sanitation.
It emerged last week that she still harbours ambitions of the highest office at the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters. It is understood that Sisulu believes she has a deeper understanding of the ANC than the president, because she is an ANC “blue blood” — being the daughter of ANC stalwarts and struggle heroes Walter and Albertina Sisulu, as well as a for-mer Umkhonto weSizwe commander.
A source in her camp said a key problem was that Sisulu “got pun-ished for implementing an ANC reso-lution on Israel [when South Africa downgraded its embassy there to a visa office] and got no defence from the same people who gave us an instruction to act”. This, they said, could have cost her the job as the international relations and co-oper-ation minister. And this came after Ramaphosa had “benefited from us being his running mates” at Nasrec, the source said.
Sisulu’s overtures to ANC struc-tures, including key leaders of the losing faction, seem to have caught
the attention of Ramaphosa, at a time when there is also a realign-ment of allegiances in the the ANC’s top six.
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Sisulu was accused of appointing team members of her failed campaign for the ANC presi-dency to the boards of entities within her department.
Earlier this month, she appointed former social development minister and ANC Women’s League presi-dent Bathabile Dlamini as chair of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority. The authority has a R1-billion budget.
The league opposed Sisulu’s bid for the ANC presidency in 2017, but in May this year Dlamini publicly affirmed Sisulu’s membership of the league, a sign of a realignment between Sisulu and the league.
The M&G has talked to people in different factions across the coun-try, who say that the rough plan is for Sisulu to be moved to the public service and administration ministry. The current minister there, Senzo Mchunu, would replace the state security minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, who would then become the minis-ter of human settlements, water and sanitation.
That department comes with a great deal of power, thanks to its con-trol over issues critical to voters.
Three independent and well-placed ANC sources insist the reshuf-fle would be disguised as the filling of vacant deputy minister positions.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said the presidency is not in a position to comment on reshuffle rumours. “When the presi-dent has decided to fill the vacant position of the deputy minister of mineral resources and energy, he will communicate his intentions and decision to the public.”
Several senior officials in the affected departments, who asked not to be named as they are not authorised to speak to
the media, also confirmed that they were aware of the reshuffle rumours.
“We have been hearing the same thing for a while now,” said one. “There has been nothing official from the presidency yet, but we are expect-ing to hear something any day.”
A second official said he had also been briefed on the three-way move-ment of ministers. “What we are told is that Mchunu will go to state security and Sisulu to public service and administration. Dlodlo will then take up human settlements. What we don’t know is when.”
Rumours of the changes have also been heard in KwaZulu-Natal, with key individuals in Mchunu’s camp confirming that they have heard talks
of the three ministers being moved. Ramaphosa has come under
increasing pressure in the ANC from remnants of the Jacob Zuma presidency, and from within his own camp as some of his support-ers and campaigners who missed out on deployment to the state are frus-trated at being left out.
This has led to ongoing jostling across regional and national branches of the ANC, with the different factions trying to gain an advantage.
The M&G understands that, in the background, Zuma forces in North West— led by former premier Supra Mahumapelo — as well as in the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal — have been in discussions with forces in Mpumalanga that are close to deputy president David Mabuza about reviv-ing the so-called “premier league”.
That league — made up of the lead-ers of the Free State, Mpumalanga and North West — was key to the support of Zuma during his presi-dency. It was broken up at Nasrec, when Mabuza threw his support behind Ramaphosa.
A well-placed source in Mabuza’s camp said the deputy president has developed a very close relationship with ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile.
“It became easy for DD [Mabuza] to listen to what they [Mashatile’s camp] had to say because they all
share similar frustrations at not being allowed to exercise their powers.
“Remember DD feels like he is not given enough power to deploy even though his position is that of chair of the deployment committee and leader of government business. Paul feels that some of his ability to raise funds for the ANC is being impacted by CR’s own campaigners who raise money for his foundation instead of the ANC,” he added.
The M&G reached out to Mashatile’s office for comment, but none was forthcoming at the time of publication.
Talks are understood to include the OR Tambo region in the Eastern Cape, where contestation between Premier Oscar Mabuyane and provincial treasurer Lubabalo Madikizela has divided that prov-ince. The campaign is also said to be active in the Amathole and Nelson Mandela Bay regions.
Disgruntled former ministers, who were left out of Ramaphosa’s cabinet could also be called upon for support, said a senior Luthuli House official: “Ask yourself why the people who were removed as ministers are fine with just being at Luthuli House; what are they doing there? They are seen as State Capture people and so the aunty [Sisulu]comes as the right person who holds high morals and comes from the right family.”
“They are leading a tangent towards the NGC [National General Council] against the old man [Ramaphosa]. You can’t blame the old man for wanting to have changes in the Cabinet and consolidate his power. All those who were ministers are fighting back and want to use the SG [Ace Magashule] to back them.”
News of the impending reshuffle has left Sisulu’s team in a panic, and plans are being hatched to use the ANC national working committee to try and frustrate Ramaphosa’s plans.
A source within her camp said the strategy to be used would include pressure from the Women’s League .
The source warned that the presi-dent “will find himself alienated from structures because Lindiwe is ANC ‘blue blood’ and it has not even been a year since he appointed her and told her to use that portfolio to campaign for local government elections”.
Sisulu’s spokesperson Makhosini Mgitywa has dismissed allegations that she was using appointments as retainers or to leverage support.
Cabinet reshuffle on the cardsThree ministers could change places, moving Lindiwe Sisulu from her powerful post
New deck: Insiders say Cyril Ramaphosa would face alienation from certain structures if he moves ANC ‘blue blood’ Lindiwe Sisulu from her present ministry. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Gallo Images/Foto24
4 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
Paddy Harper
Parliamentarians have placed Minisister Lindiwe Sisulu’s appoint-ment of Bathabile Dlamini as interim board chairperson of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority under the microscope.
The minister of human settle-ments, water and sanitation, who put Dlamini in the job on November 5, has 10 days to respond to parlia-mentary questions on her decision (as well as appointments to other entities under her control) from Democratic Alliance human settle-ments spokesperson Emma Powell.
She has asked Sisulu to provide details of the selection criteria used to appoint Dlamini, who sat on the selection committee, who the other nominees were and a copy of the report they had submitted to Sisulu and on which she had based the appointment.
Powell also asked that Sisulu provide Parliament with the spe-cific competencies Dlamini holds that qualifi ed her as a specialist in social housing, one of the legisla-tive requirements of being a board member.
Dlamini’s appointment is among a series made by Sisulu at the hous-ing entity this month. It follows her appointment of a national rapid response task team with a R13.9-million salary bill to act as a trouble-shooting unit for her ministry.
Last week, the Mail & Guardian reported that a whistleblower had laid complaints about the appoint-ments with the public protector and the Public Service Commission. The complainant claimed that Sisulu had made the appointments in a bid to bankroll her campaign for the ANC presidency in 2022.
Last week Sisulu also appointed a new interim board for the trou-bled Housing Development Agency, which had been placed under administration by her predeces-sor, Nomaindia Mfeketo, over an alleged collapse of corporate gov-ernance and a sexual misconduct scandal. Mvelaphanda Holdings co-founder Mikki Xayiya, Municipal Demarcation Board member Monnapula Motlogelwa, ANC 2019 Western Cape elections candidate Zoleka Moon and former Limpopo human settlements director general Zesuliwe Mkhize were appointed to the interim board. The acting chief executive, Clive Rainee, and act-ing chief financial officer, Sindisa Nxusani, will remain in place.
Sisulu has also appointed an interim board at the Estate Agency Aff airs Board since taking offi ce.
Powell said that once Sisulu had
Sisulu to face Parliament on Bathabile’s new job
responded, she would lay a formal complaint with the public protector and the Public Service Commission about a lack of “legislative and pro-cedural compliance in making this appointment”. She said the DA would also consider challenging the legality of the appointment on the basis that it was not reasonable or rational.
Thami ka Plaatjie, Sisulu’s adviser and the chairperson of her new national rapid response task team, this week demanded that the Mail & Guardian retract last week’s story, saying that the structure was an “eff ective early warning mechanism” for the housing and water and sani-tation departments and the ministry.
He said the task team would co-operate with an investigation by the public protector. It had consulted Sisulu and the ministry’s legal team and would ask the courts to redress the “violation of our rights as indi-viduals and the deliberate aspersions cast on the person of Minister Sisulu”.
Ka Plaatjie said the task team’s role was to “forge mutually beneficial relationships between communities and government so as together the lives of especially ordinary people are changed”. Team members were sent to the nine provinces, where they acted as troubleshooters.
He added that since the task team was established in September, it has intervened in three munici-palities with water shortages — Mogalakwena in Limpopo, Makana in the Eastern Cape and Maluti-a-Phofung in the Free State. It has also provided destitute families in Durban and Pietermaritzburg with decent shelter.
In a radio interview, Sisulu’s spokesperson, Makhosini Mgitywa, defended Dlamini’s appointment, saying her experience in social development would be valuable in addressing social housing issues. “Social housing has to be regulated so that it is not cheated, so that it does not lose money unnecessar-ily. We think that she is a person who can help us with solving the social housing issues in the coun-try, given her background in social development.”
Mgitywa said that as the Social Housing Regulatory Authority board chairperson, Dlamini would be responsible for policy issues. “She remains a member of the national executive committee of the ANC. She is the president of the Women’s League of the ANC and we have to accept the fact that there is a deploy-ment committee of the ANC.”
See “Why I decided to work for Lindiwe Sisulu”, Page 26
SANDF sexual abuse
Athandiwe Saba &Thanduxolo Jika
Shocking statistics have revealed the depth of inst i tut ional gender-based violence in the army and that, far from soldiers
keeping the country and continent safe, women in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) are the most likely to be sexually harassed and assaulted by their uni-formed male colleagues.
The Mail & Guardian has estab-lished that there are at least 41 sexual-related cases that have been reported in just the past 18 months.
According to a recent SANDF inter-nal report, leaked to the M&G, at least 41 members of the army were charged with sexual-related off ences, ranging from rape and assault to har-assment and crimen injuria. Of those cases, 26 have been fi nalised, with 13 guilty verdicts and 11 acquittals.
Sexual assault against women in the armed forces is so rampant that in August last year the SANDF held a conference at Air Force Base Swartkop to deal with the reports of sexual assaults in barracks and else-where. The report that emerged from the conference painted a bleak pic-ture of how women were being sexu-ally victimised by their colleagues and commanders. In some cases, they would still have to work with their abusers.
The report said: “Women are gen-erally at a much higher risk of being sexually harassed than men, with the vast majority of cases being perpetrated by a male colleague or commander.”
It went on to note that sexual abuse does not happen only when soldiers are sent overseas, suggesting that: “Internal deployments should be dealt with in the same manner and [with the same] urgency as external deployments.”
The investigationThe evidence of serious sexual abuse in the armed forces emerges against the backdrop of Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula telling army gener-als earlier this month that she had decided to institute an investigation into claims of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in the military.
In a strongly worded letter, Mapisa-Nqakula threatened that this could end in a commission chaired by people outside the armed forces — where matters are normally dealt with internally.
Her letter warned that: “I have become aware of the rampant cases of SEA incidents internally in deploy-ment areas, as well as in the working environment. These are kept under wraps by the commanders. I want to inform you further that I have received numerous reports of SEA and sexual harassment within our units. I have been mulling over these and I have now decided to institute an investigation, short of a commis-sion, by external role players into this scourge.”
She added that: “This approach is because I do not have the confi dence that as the military and especially yourselves, generals and flag offic-ers, will provide me with satisfactory reports, given that you have been aware of these and turned a blind eye.”
She said the inspector general, defence intelligence (counter intelli-gence) and the military police should have done more, and that the com-plaints should have been brought to the attention of SANDF chief General Solly Shoke and herself.
When an investigation is estab-lished, the minister wrote that: “I would therefore expect that they will receive full co-operation from yourselves.”
Cape Town tops the listDespite the M&G being unable to gain full access to the exact details of off ences, it was able to establish that in one case in Cape Town, a senior offi cer charged with a sexual-related off ence was fi ned R6 000 and demoted — but was not dismissed.
In another case in Cape Town, a captain was found guilty and fi ned R5 000 and demoted to a lower rank of lieutenant.
A brigadier general at Thaba Tshwane military base in Pretoria was charged with sexual-related offences; his trial was scheduled to take place this week. Many of the cases that the M&G analysed fall under section 5 of the Sexual Off ences Act.
The Act says that a person who unlawfully and intentionally sexu-ally violates a complainant without their consent is guilty of the off ence of sexual assault. It further says that a person who unlawfully and inten-tionally inspires the belief in a com-plainant that they will be sexually violated is guilty of the offence of sexual assault.
The largest number of culprits, according to the leaked report, were based in Cape Town, where 17 cases were reported in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 fi nancial years. Thirteen of those were finalised: seven officers were found guilty and six acquitted. Pretoria followed with 12 incidents — six cases were fi nalised; of these, four offi cers were found guilty.
In Bloemfontein, eight cases were reported in the same fi nancial year but only three were finalised. In Durban three cases were finalised,
Internal documents show that soldiers, meant to protect South Africa and keep the peace outside our borders, are sexually assaulting people inside the army and while on peacekeeping operations
Qualified: Bathabile Dlamini oversaw the social grants payment fiasco. Now she’s in charge of the social housing authority. Photo: Oupa Nkosi
‘A man has needs’: Slides from a May 2019 SANDF report to the UN into sexual exploitation and abuse by South African peacekeepers in the DRC
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 5
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and exploitation exposedwith two offi cials found guilty.
The director of military pros-ecution, Brigadier General Sunita Solomons, told the M&G that each case was assessed on its own merit and that it was up to the courts to pass appropriate sentences. She emphasised that the army treats every sexual-related offence with seriousness.
“If there’s an offence committed there is military police investigation and the person is charged [with] what we call an account of off ence … Our [military] courts work exactly on the same principles as the civilian courts ... depending on the offence and the rank of the off ender. If it’s a [case of] sexual misconduct it will go before ... a senior military judge. And the people are charged often in terms of the Sexual Off ences Act 32 of 2007. ”
She said that, just as in any other court, sentences depended on the judges who preside over the cases: even if prosecutors may have wanted harsher sentences, it is not up to them to decide.
Sexual abuse in the DRC As the SANDF battles with sexual crimes internally it has also had to report to the United Nations about dozens of cases allegedly perpe-trated by troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Troops have been deployed to the country — where systematic rape has been used as an instrument of war for decades — to stop violence against communities.
But, for more than a decade, allega-tions of sexual misconduct, exploi-tation and assault have been lev-elled against South African troops deployed in Africa’s second-biggest country.
An internal SANDF document states that at some point the “United Nations considered withdrawing SANDF permanently”.
These documents, dated May 2019, show that there have been at least 21 cases of sexual exploitation and assault reported. These cases include allegations of rape, transactional sex, sexual abuse and exploitative relationships.
Of these cases, 15 were commit-ted by troops from the army, one by the airforce and three by the military health services. Two were unknown as the off enders could not be identifi ed.
Fifteen of the cases have been fi nal-ised; nine soldiers were dismissed from the SANDF.
According to the deputy spokes-person for the secretary general of the UN, Farhan Aziz Haq, since 2015 there have been a total of 92 alle-gations of sexual exploitation and abuse recorded in the DRC. Of these, 34 involved personnel from South Africa — more than a third of all the cases.
He said that when an allegation of abuse is received, the UN “noti-fies the implicated member state and requests that they appoint a national investigation offi cer within fi ve days”.
“The United Nations then follows up on a regular basis with member states, including RSA, to ensure that the secretary general is advised of progress on investigations and sanc-tions. This follow-up includes formal communications, as well as regular discussions at the working level.”
SANDF director of operations and legal support, Admiral Zenisele Kani, said that the defence force takes all allegations of sexual exploitation
On the warpath: Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula (centre) says she will launch an external investigation into claims of sexual exploitation and abuse in the military. Photo: David Harrison
and abuse so seriously that they have ensured that investigations take place speedily and that army prose-cutors are deployed with the soldiers in the DRC, or wherever there is a peacekeeping mission.
“Firstly, there must be no frat-ernisation [with the local popula-tion where the SANDF is deployed], secondly, there must be no issues of what is called transactional sex, where you pay for sex. That is scan-dalous behaviour … When there are allegations of SEA, SANDF inves-tigates and if there is prima facie evidence we go to [the] DRC to prosecute. At times the [number]
of allegations are higher in the UN reports but after our investigations we discover that there are [fewer] because in some cases [the] com-plainant can’t identify the perpetra-tors,” said Kani.
Legacy casesAlthough that process might seem speedy, some of the sexual assault crimes that South African forces are accused of were perpetrated as far back as 2007, and the cases have been completed only this year.
The 12-year-old case saw a cor-poral found guilty — but according to SANDF internal documents, it
received the case only in November last year.
An internal document record-ing this notes that: “Case to be sent to DRC for prosecution. Matter to be enrolled in DRC in Feb/Mar 19. Matter enrolled for 03 May 2019. Matter finalised. Guilty, discharge from SANDF.”
Of the 21 sexual exploitation and assault cases that the M&G has ana-lysed, fi ve cases were not prosecut-able, six are ongoing, eight offi cers have been found guilty and two were acquitted.
But not all these cases are easily prosecutable. In one case, a woman
laid a complaint in the DRC against a major who was working with the military health services. The off ence was committed between April and May last year.
According to the notes on the case, the investigator concluded that the matter was ready for trial. It was placed on the roll but the complain-ant wanted $250 to testify in the matter. “Case could not be fi nalised due to the witness that did not want to testify without payment,” reads the document.
In a case dating back to June 2011, another captain with the 7 South African Infantry Battalion was found guilty only this year — eight years later.
The report on that case reads: “Charges must be instituted. Letter to be sent to the unit to institute charges by 17 August 2018. No feed-back yet from the unit ... The Adj [adjudicator] currently on leave. Charges to be instituted 3rd week in Jan. No feedback as on 29/03/19 ... Charged on 22 May 2019. The mat-ter was finalised on June 26, 2019. Guilty. Discharge from the SANDF.”
Although there are only a hand-ful of ongoing cases against SANDF members in the DRC, the UN’s Haq said that it will continue to follow up with the member states involved until such time as all required accountabil-ity measures have been taken.
“While the vast majority of United Nations peacekeepers, civilian and uniformed, serve with pride in diffi -cult and complex circumstances, we are all diminished by even one allega-tion of sexual exploitation and abuse. Sexual exploitation and abuse runs counter to the values of the United Nations and damages the communi-ties we are sent to serve,” he said.
Graphic: JOHN McCANN Compiled by: M&G DATADESK Data source: SANDF
against South African National Defence Force personnelSexual exploitation and assault complaints
Durban: Threeincidents, all
finalised. Twofound not
guilty
Polokwane:One incident with
result of guilty(but reversed
on appeal) Thaba Tshwane:12 incidents. Sixfinalised, four ofthese not guilty
Bloemfontein:Eight incidents. Three
of these finalised
Internal SANDF complaints Complaints by public against SANDF offenders in the DRC
United Nations repatriations
SANDF paternity cases
Rank
Captain
Offence
SEA
Outcome
Case closed in 2018. No prosecution.Captain — Case closed. Investigation completed in Nov 2018. No prosecutionCorporal SEA Guilty. 2007 offence, finalised in 2019. Discharged from SANDFFlight sgt SEA Guilty. Demoted, file placed on DRC court roll. Finalised in 2019Lance cpl SEA Guilty. 2019 trial in DRC. Discharged from SANDFMajor SOA, MDC Guilty. Letter for court charges issued. Case starts in Nov 2019 Private SEA Guilty. Letter for charges sent to unit in 2018. Charged in 2019Private SEA Not guilty. Charges were laid against member in 2019Private SEA Not guilty. Member was charged. Matter finalised in 2019Private SEA Guilty. Case finalised in 2019. Accused discharged from SANDFStaff sgt SEA Guilty. Member was charged and file placed on court roll in DRCSergeant SEA Guilty. 2013 offence, finalised in 2019. Discharged from SANDF— — No prosecution, offender not identified— — No prosecution, offender not identified— — No prosecution, offender not identified
Corporal SEA Letter for charges sent to unit in 2018. Case to be placed on DRC roll. Flight sgt SEA Member resigned, needs passport to face 2019 charges in DRCMajor SOA Offence from 2018. Ready for trial but a witness wants paymentRifleman SEA Letter for charges sent to unit in 2018. In custody, prosecution in DRCSergeant SEA Member was charged in 2019. Case to be heard in DRC court
Number of incidents reported to legalsatellite offices and outcome of finalised
cases, 2018-19 to 2019-20
By rank of offender, category of sexual offence and outcome.Most cases listed were finalised in 2018 and 2019
Cape Town: 17 incidents. Guilty result inseven cases and not guilty in another six
The number of claims against SANDF personnel allegingpaternity. Seven claims have been referred to the UN28The number of outstanding reported paternity cases asof April 2019 (one case has no prima facie evidence)18
12 SANDF personnel repatriated on disciplinary grounds(some personnel are deployed to UN peacekeeping
missions). Such UN accountability measures are taken in cases ofsubstantial misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse
Major SOA, MDC Guilty. Letter for court charges issued. Case starts in Nov 2019 Army
Not finalised
1
3
8
17
Case finalised
SEA is a UN standard of conduct on sexual exploitation and abuse. SOA is a charge under the SexualOffences Act. — A dash means offender could not be identified. MDC is a charge under the
Military Discipline Code. SAMHS is the South African Military Health Service
6 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
Lester Kiewit
The Central Methodist church in Greenmarket Square, Cape Town, is full.
Every square centime-tre of the floor is covered
with people lying on blankets or mat-tresses. Only the pathway leading to the altar, which is also occupied, is open to walk through.
The air is thick with the smell of people who have been living in close quarters. They have been living like this for weeks.
Before seeking shelter in the church, approximately 1 000 refugees and asylum seekers had staged a sit-in at the offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), less than 500m away.
They wanted to be removed to another country. But they were evicted by a court order and, faced with the police force and stun gre-nades, were received by the church.
Now church leaders are scratch-ing their heads, wondering how long they will stay.
Jean-Pierre Balous, the refugee group’s leader — and one of only a few people allowed to talk freely to journalists — shuffles to the altar. Known as JP, he is surrounded by men seemingly forming a protective wall around him.
Balous is there to give people an update on the latest meeting between the refugees and govern-ment authorities.
But first, he wants the children to sing. There’s no real melody. It is mostly chanting. Only four words. “No more South Africa!”
“I’m not here to be corrupted. I’m here to defend my generation,” he tells the crowd in a measured but authoritative tone.
“I need a generation for tomorrow. Because the government of South Africa already destroyed our chil-dren’s generation.”
Balous gives a stirring address. There are more accusations against the government, the UN and other refugee rights bodies than there is information on when people will be moving out of the church. He accuses the UNHCR of being corrupt, saying they will be made to answer.
Balous also tells people that the government wants to kill refugees. “What does the government of South Africa want to do? Do they want to exterminate refugees? Finish them? They don’t want to seek anything good for refugees.” There are mur-murs of agreement.
But, although he seems to hold sway in front of this captive audi-ence, some in the refugee community accuse Balous — who has himself applied to be relocated — of taking advantage of heightened xenophobic tensions for his own benefit.
Fear inside the church of refugeesMigrant leader accused of military-style tactics to influence people and push authorities for a chance to leave South Africa
The Mail & Guardian spoke to several people who have either left the church or who are still inside because they don’t have anywhere else to go. They shared stories of fear and intimidation — they are also too afraid to share their identities.
One person, who agreed to be interviewed by the M&G, was on three occasions stopped by men who act as security outside the church. They were told the security was nec-essary because someone had appar-ently entered the church with a gun.
Another person said that they were encouraged by WhatsApp messages to quit their jobs, give notice at their accommodation and take their chil-dren out of school. They were then made to believe that UNHCR planes were waiting to take them out of the country.
“We received text messages saying we must meet at the UNHCR’s office. The messages also said how bad home affairs is. It said the UNHCR will relocate us if the issues of docu-mentation aren’t sorted out. “
All this seems to have been a way of getting a mass of people to camp outside the UN body’s offices.
Another person said that even though the UNHCR said it could not relocate groups of refugees, and that applications were done on an indi-vidual basis, they were told by lead-ers such as Balous that they would soon leave: “JP also gave promises. Today it was one thing, the next day it was another. I finally got fed up.”
The person said the leaders don’t want people to leave the church, because it would mean they would lose leverage during negotiations with the government and the UN.
“This morning I got a phone call at 4am. It was from JP’s people. They asked where I was and that I must come back to the church because the UN was there to relocate. At 4am.”
Several nongovernmental organisations and facilita-tors close to negotiations are questioning the motives and
demands of refugee leaders. One NGO worker said: “A lot of
concerns were raised about the whole structure of what is happening there.”
A person close to the negotiations said: “Bodyguards around the lead-ers ... people prevented from com-ing into the church ... there are a lot of stories that we have heard. But we can’t independently confirm them.”
Another person helping to facili-tate the negotiations said: “There’s a lot of peddling of lies. Like there was the story of a lot of children who were missing, but none of them were missing. There were stories that peo-ple died. No one died. It creates a bad image of South Africa.”
“People are becoming fed up, peo-
ple who are trying to help. If you crit-icise them (refugees), you are chased away,” said another.
Earlier this month, the Gift of the Givers charity was told by refugee leaders to stop providing food and medical assistance after its direc-tor Badr Kazii made comments that offended them.
Clarifying what he had said, Kazii told Cape Talk presenter John Maytham: “In my view, when I looked at the list of demands, I real-ised that going to Canada or else-where was just not on the cards. No-one had the power to do that.
“If you’re going to have demands that are not realistic it’s not the basis for negotiation.”
He said they had received a “fairly belligerent” statement from refu-gee leaders refusing the aid, but felt those leaders should be putting the needs of the migrants first.
Balous, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is seen as a troublesome figure in the refugee community.
He has worked as a court transla-tor and is said to know well how court systems and bureaucratic pro-cesses work.
But he also has several protec-tion orders against him for threats
and intimidation. He has also been banned from the Western Cape Refugee and Migrant forum.
Gahlia Brogneri, founder of the Adonis Musati Project for refugee rights, said she was forced to go to the police after threats were made against her and her staff.
“He was harassing our staff. Sending false messages via social media with pictures of my staff mem-bers. He accused us of all kinds of horrendous acts … He has the poten-tial to be violent. He stabbed another community leader in the face during one of the forum meetings.”
Brogneri has accused Balous of doing more harm than good in fos-tering social cohesion between South Africans and migrants.
“In this heightened period of xeno-phobia he knew people would be anxious, so he sold them something that was not attainable and he knew that because he’s worked in the court system. He knows how the resettle-ment system works. He knew that many of those people wouldn’t stand a chance because many of them were undocumented.”
But Balous dismisses claims against him. “They are trying to put JP in a problem.”
“I don’t have any cases, I’m not a
criminal. Because whoever is trying to make cases against me, I don’t attack, I don’t steal … A good leader is willing to be insulted because of the goodness of his people.”
He has, however, apologised for the assault on faith leaders and human rights workers in the church last week.
The group, including Cape Town Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Chris Nissen from the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC), was address-ing the group about their options of either returning to their home coun-tries, integrating into South African society, or having the UN process their applications on an individual basis.
Some of the church leaders were assaulted but managed to get out of the church.
Makgoba at the time said their frus-trations were warranted. “I would describe this as termination anxiety. We were delivering the hard truth. Things they didn’t want to hear. So they expressed some level of anger.”
The HRC — which has been helping mediate between the refugees, the UN and govern-ment — said the atmosphere
is still tense, with refugee leaders refusing to climb down from their demands.
Nissen said: “The UN will tell them that there needs to be a receiving country. Donald Trump will tell them ‘You are not coming here’. Countries like Canada, and Europe, the num-ber of refugees they are accepting is dwindling.”
Nissen said there are legitimate grievances, such as the slow process-ing of permits and documents by the department of home affairs, and anti-immigrant sentiment by many South Africans.
“At the heart of it is the relation-ship between refugees and home affairs. People are complaining of a backlog to get papers. If we can facilitate better communication with all sides it would help. I also used to think that home affairs is just bad, but if you speak to them, they also have challenges,” he said.
Cross to bear: Jean-Pierre Balous (above centre) addresses refugees being sheltered in the Methodist church in Cape Town. They are said to be living in fear of Balous who has encouraged them to give up their homes, children’s schools and jobs in order to put pressure on the government and United Nations to relocate them to other countries. Photos: David Harrison
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 7
News
Paddy Harper
The Johannesburg may-o r a l r a c e h a s b e e n thrown wide open by the announcement that the Economic Freedom Fight-
ers will field its own candidate to replace Herman Mashaba in Thurs-day’s election.
The decision, made public by EFF president Julius Malema at a brief-ing in Johannesburg yes-terday, effectively ends the coalition between the party and the Democratic Alliance, which, with sup-port from the Inkatha Freedom Party, has run the city since 2016.
The coalition was put under pressure by Mashaba ’s res igna-tion from the DA and as mayor in protest against the election of Helen Zille as party federal chairper-son last month.
At the same time, the ANC, which holds the majority of seats on the Johannesburg metro council but had been unseated by the DA, EFF and IFP coalition, had begun trying to persuade the IFP to back its mayor candidate in return for co-operation at council level in KwaZulu-Natal.
Malema’s announce-ment ended speculation over which way the EFF would swing. “Everybody is fielding their candi-date. We are not talking to anyone. Why not ask the DA: ‘Are you going to support the EFF?’ Why is the question: ‘Who is the EFF going to support?’ Are we not capable to lead?”
Malema said it would be “difficult” for the EFF to talk to the DA now that John Steenhuisen has been elected interim party leader after Mmusi Maimane’s resignation, or to be a voting partner for a “white DA”.
“Before it was easier, when there was Maimane but now we must talk to Helen and Steenhuisen. I cannot imagine that. It’s going to be difficult,’’ he said.
The move by the EFF to field its own mayoral candidate may play into the hands of the ANC. It believes its offer to drop legal action against the IFP in the Abaqulusi local municipality in Zululand — and giving the party the mayorship of neigh-bouring Jozini — will be enough to win over the party.
In 2016, the DA took 121 seats in Johannesburg, ahead of the ANC’s 104, with the EFF taking a further 30 seats. The IFP took five seats and the African Independent Congress four, with the African Christian Democratic Party, Freedom Front Plus, Al Jama-ah, Congress of the People and the Patriotic Alliance each taking one seat.
In July, the ANC took Ward 109 off the DA in one of four by-elections. The shift in the balance of power raised the ANC’s hopes of a take-over should the DA, EFF coalition collapse.
IFP provincial secretary Alco Ngobese said although the party was committed to the DA coalition, they had been in talks with the ANC.
He said the IFP in Gauteng would be “happy” to work with DA mayoral candidate Funzi Ngobeni and would prefer to remain in the coalition agreement, but that this might be overruled by a national agreement with the ANC. “Anything is possible,” he said.
ANC Johannesburg caucus chair-person Solly Mogase said the party
would finalise its positions in a week-end meeting of the province, region and national leaders.
“We have had positive engage-ments with the parties in council. Even those parties which were in coalition with the DA have had their own dissatisfaction,” he said. “From where I am, we will have a clear answer on Tuesday.”
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“Why is the question, ‘Who is the EFF going to support?’ Are we not capable to lead?”
8 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
NEWS ANALYSIS Franny Rabkin
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will be back in court again on Thurs-day. And although it may appear to be yet another
instalment in the seemingly never-ending political battle of President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gor-dhan vs Busisiwe Mkhwebane and the Economic Freedom Fighters, this particular hearing at the Consti-tutional Court is hugely important.
The case could set a crucial prec-edent to be applied in all other cases, including those that involve ordinary people who have turned to the public protector in the face of an uncaring state. Those cases make up the bulk
of the protector’s work.The Constitutional Court’s 2016
Nkandla decision clarified that “remedial action” by the public pro-tector is binding and has to be imple-mented — unless and until it is set aside by a court. But what if she’s wrong? Then we have to go to court, said the Nkandla judgment. But court processes can take forever. So what happens in the meantime? This is what next week’s case is all about: when, and how easily, a court can grant an interim interdict against the public protector.
Mkhwebane’s report at the centre of this case was about allegations of an unlawfully created investigative unit at the South African Revenue Service (Sars) that went “rogue” and illegally spied on people. She found
that the allegations were “substan-tiated” and directed far-reaching remedial action, including instruct-ing that Ramaphosa take discipli-nary action against Gordhan, who was finance minister at the time.
The report was immediately chal-lenged in court by Gordhan, for-mer acting Sars commissioner Ivan Pillay, former Sars commissioner Oupa Magashula and Ramaphosa.
Part B of the case — which is still to come — will determine whether the report was irrational in law and whether Mkhwebane exceeded her
powers. Part A was an application for an interim interdict — putting every-thing on hold until Part B is decided.
Part A succeeded and the interim interdict was granted by Judge Sulet Potterill in the high court in Pretoria. She treated it like any other interim interdict applica-tion involving the exercise of statu-tory powers. She also considered the Constitutional Court’s decision in National Treasury and Others vs Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and Others — the case brought to interdict Sanral from lev-ying e-tolls.
In this case, the Constitutional Court approved the long-standing test for an interim interdict, includ-ing its “annotation” by later courts — that unless there is an allegation of bad faith, courts should be slow to grant interim interdicts against organs of state when they are exer-cising statutory powers. In addition, constitutional values must be con-sidered, including the principle of the separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary.
An interdict against the exercise of statutory power “may be granted only in the clearest of cases and after a careful consideration of sep-aration of powers harm”, said the Constitutional Court.
But the EFF argues that, when it comes to the public protector’s reme-dial action, it should not be business as usual with interim interdicts. Too easily granting interim interdicts will detract from the very purpose of the public protector — to be acces-sible to act for the poor and mar-ginalised against powerful and well-resourced government officials.
“In the end, there will be no win-ners with all these urgent interdicts against the public protect[or], just one loser: the ‘average citizen’ who the public protector is there to pro-tect,” says EFF counsel Tembeka Ngcukaitobi in his written argument.
The EFF wants the court to “tai-lor” a stricter test, stricter than the Outa test, for when courts will grant interim interdicts against the public protector. “The government official must satisfy the court that an interim interdict will not impermissibly hin-der accessibility and effectiveness of the public protector.”
This sounds very convincing in a scenario when the protector is deal-ing with an average citizen. But the challenge is that the public protec-tor does not deal only with average-citizen scenarios. The Executive Members Ethics Act specifically allows complaints against members of the executive (the president and their Cabinet) from MPs — a potent tool in the hands of opposition par-
ties and one that has been used to great effect by both the Democratic Alliance and the EFF.
As Ivan Pillay’s counsel, Ross Hutton SC, says: “This is clearly not a ‘David and Goliath’ matter as the EFF’s heads of argument would repeatedly have it. Rather it is a bat-tle between several well-armed and well-resourced political figures.”
Gordhan’s counsel, Wim Trengove SC, argues that the law of interim interdicts as it stands is perfectly adequate. The Constitutional Court should not even be hearing the case, he says. It is a “run-of-the-mill appli-cation for an interim interdict”.
Of course, an interim interdict should not impermissibly hinder the accessibility and effectiveness of the public protector, he says. But the test that is already in place considers this. This is why, Trengove adds, the public protector has herself acknowl-edged that, in the normal course of events, she will not fight interim orders. “She consents to these orders precisely because they do not imper-missibly hinder or unreasonably interfere with the performance of her functions.”
Trengove adds that the EFF’s test is one-sided: “It fails to strike any bal-ance, for instance, for the protection of those who fall foul of the public protector’s unlawful abuse of her powers. Recent litigation has shown, again and again, that protection of this kind is essential.”
Mkhwebane’s counsel, Thabani Masuku SC, argues that, even on the existing test in Outa, Potterill failed to heed the Constitutional Court’s principles. “To a certain extent, the findings of chapter 9 Institutions are to be treated with the same defer-ence as a court of law.”
But Ramaphosa’s counsel , Matthew Chaskalson SC, argues that Outa’s factoring in the separa-tion of powers actually goes against the public protector. Outa was about protecting the executive from unjus-tifiable intrusions by other branches of government, he says.
“The logic of Outa determines that it is for the president (and not the courts or the public protector) to decide whether to take the executive action sought by the public protec-tor immediately, or to wait until the pending legal challenge has been determined,” says Chaskalson.
It has been presidents (Zuma and Ramaphosa), banks and opposition parties that have forged the road to the Constitutional Court when it comes to developing public protector law. But it is not only them to which the developments will apply. The principles developed by the courts must be appropriate for the average citizen and president alike.
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‘Rogue unit’ case will set precedent The ConCourt hearing on the interim interdict against Mkhwebane is about more than politics
Under pressure: Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan outside a courtroom. Together with President Cyril Ramaphosa, he is fighting a legal battle against the public protector. Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 9
News
Lester Kiewit
The Democratic Alliance’s newly elected interim leader, John Steenhuisen says his first interaction with his party was as a
schoolboy.In his first foray in political cam-
paigning, he delivered election pam-phlets on his bicycle for the DA’s pre-decessor, the Democratic Party.
Now he leads the party that he calls the “Project”.
“I’ve been an ordinary member. I’ve been a branch chairperson. I’ve served as a councillor, an MPL and an MP and that’s not going to stop,” he says.
Steenhuisen is a born political ani-mal. From boardroom policy meet-ings to hushed discussions in quiet corridors, he relishes the theatre. In the National Assembly, as chief whip of the opposition, his heckles and speeches cut deep into the flesh of ANC MPs and government ministers.
But it’s Steenhuisen’s public life and education that also gets the attention. He has been criticised for only having a matric certificate. His response has been that he has never lied about his lack of formal qualifi-cation; he dropped out of university because he couldn’t pay the fees.
In 1999, at just 22, he was elected to the Durban city council, making him one of its youngest representatives.
From there, his political trajectory started to ascend. He was elected leader of the caucus in the council at the age of 29.
In 2009, he was elected to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. That same year he became the DA’s pro-vincial leader.
Two years later, Steenhuisen was promoted to the National Assembly. After his re-election to the national legislature in 2014, Mmusi Maimane, then the party’s leader, appointed him chief whip of the opposition.
It ’s Maimane’s office that Steenhuisen now occupies, achieving his long-standing political goal.
“I joined the party with the inten-tion of one day leading the party. It’s every politician’s dream to lead their party,” he told the Mail & Guardian before last weekend’s special DA fed-eral council meeting, where his lead-ership of the party was confirmed.
But his rising political star has brought attention to his personal life. In 2010 he and his wife, Julie,
divorced after a widely publicised affair he had with the DA’s provincial spokesperson, Terry Kass Beaumont. They have since married.
“You can’t be a sailor that cursed the sea,” Steenhuisen said of the meeting of his personal and politi-cal life. “You accept that when you take public office there is a sacrifice of your private space. I’ve lived my entire story in the public glare and people have read things about me that happen to ordinary people every day but it doesn’t make the papers. It’s the rough and tumble of the time.”
His colleagues in the party say he is made for the role of leader.
The M&G spoke to several DA politicians in KwaZulu-Natal who said Steenhuisen can be credited for building the party in the province, especially in the eThekwini metro, where it is the official opposition.
In the legislature, the DA is the third largest party. Growing from just two seats in 1994 to 11 in the 80-seat provincial parliament.
“He had a big impact on the city. Even today, 10 years after he left, some municipal officials still inquire about him,” said one DA politician. “And I think he is unique in the grasp on government that he has. He has knowledge and understand-ing of how systems and processes work.”
Nicole Graham, the DA caucus leader in the eThekwini municipal-ity, said Steenhuisen has helped younger politicians, who have come
from the DA’s student movement, into senior positions in councils and legislatures in the province and nationally.
“He’s an incredibly intelligent person. What counts is developing
knowledge of the environment in which you work. It takes commit-ment and courage to get on with the job. Those are things he excels in. I think there are very few people who have the knowledge he does of how
the systems work,” she said. People who know Steenhuisen said
he is a firm but fair political player, equally capable with a turn of phrase as he is with calculating political moves.
“Politics is a tough game,” said a party member. “You would battle to do it for this long if you didn’t love it and if you didn’t find joy in the rough and tumble of it. John has a knack for that thing. And you have got to enjoy it for what it is. He’s known for that.”
With Steenhuisen at the helm of South Africa’s second largest party, many DA politicians say they’re buoyed by his style, emboldened by his take-no-prisoners style of debat-ing and raring to have robust policy debates about the direction and pol-icy of the party.
“Politics is not for sissies,” said Graham. “There’s plenty of disagree-ments and robust discussions. But, for now in the DA, we need to focus on what is important — and that’s the future of this country. Not focus on whether people are friends or always agreeing with each other.”
Steenhuisen is likely to use the interim leadership position as a plat-form for the party’s 2020 elective congress.
There, he’ll be hoping to cement his place as leader, fulfilling the dream of a boy on a bicycle.
Boy on a bike fulfilling his dreamsPeople who know John Steenhuisen, the DA’s interim leader, say he has what it takes to lead
‘Incredibly intelligent’: Nicole Graham, the DA’s caucus leader in eThekwini municipality says John Steenhuisen is up to the task
Born for politics: John Steenhuisen was the Democratic Alliance’s chief whip when the party’s leader, Mmusi Maimane, resigned, opening the door he always dreamed of stepping through. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
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10 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
Nelisiwe Msomi & Pontsho Pilane
Emedia Kaye is trying to muster up the courage to say her piece. The queue to the podium is slowly decreasing. On the last
sheet of the 60-page National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, she has written her thoughts with a faint neon green pen.
She can’t see herself, her family or her community in one of the most contentious policies in the country at the moment.
She feels forgotten.“I wanted to say something from
our community,” the 27-year-old remarks.
Kaye is attending public hear-ings on the NHI Bill, being held in the Northern Cape by Parliament’s portfolio committee on health. These gatherings are headed by the com-mittee’s chairperson, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who begins every public hearing by explaining that the pur-pose of these meetings is to inform people around the country about the proposed policy as well as note peo-ple’s oral and written submissions, which could lead to amendments being made to the Bill.
In August, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize introduced the Bill to Parliament and projected that South Africa’s iteration of universal healthcare will be implemented by 2026. The main function of the draft legislation is to establish the NHI Fund, which will purchase all core health services on behalf of all South African citizens and certain catego-ries of foreigners.
For Kaye, the Bill is yet another reminder of the erasure of her exist-ence and history and that of her com-munity . She flips through the stack of page.
Kaye knows exactly what univer-sal healthcare means for her and her people. “I actually wrote it down.”
“My request is that the NHI Bill must ensure that there are inter-preters in hospitals and clinics around Northern Cape — especially at Kimberley Hospital [renamed Robert Mangal iso Sobukwe Hospital],” she says.
Most health workers at the hospi-tal speak English, isiZulu, Setswana or isiXhosa.
“When our people arrive at the hospital, they are struggling to understand the languages,” she says. “Our people are dying.”
About 20km outside Kimberley, a left turn into an almost 3km stretch of a dusty road leads to this
forgotten place. The sides of the road are filled with long grass, trees and cactus in between.
There is no signage or welcome board, just a discoloured whiteboard with faint traces of font on it.
The gravel road ends and a small burgundy building with a large SABC logo emerges. It’s the local commu-nity radio station, X-K FM.
This is the place Kaye and her peo-ple call home. This is Platfontein.
Platfontein is formerly aban-doned farmland where !Kung (pro-
nounced Xung) and Khwe people were relocated in the early 2000s. Before then, the San people lived in Schmidtsdrift, about 80km from Kimberley. They were moved to Schmidtsdrift in 1990 from northern Namibia and southern Angola when then-South West Africa became independent and the South African Defence Force withdrew.
But, in 2003, they were moved from Schmidtsdrift after a land claim by the Batlhaping and Griqua people was granted. About 7 000 !Kung and Khwe people now live in Platfontein, an area with limited basic services.
It’s Saturday morning, hours since Kaye was afraid to make her sub-mission. Everybody waves at her or greets her with a smile. Her
home is small, yet is filled with peo-ple — her sisters and children play-ing in the yard.
“I want to build a home for my chil-dren. This is nothing big, but it’s a start,” the mother of two says.
Kaye is an interpreter at the Kimberley magistrate’s court. She translates !Kung and Khwe during legal proceedings. Her job has made her realise that it’s not just the courts that need her services — health facili-ties do too.
“My people go to hospitals when they are sick, but they don’t get help. The nurse asks: ‘What’s your name?’ and they can’t even respond because they don’t speak Setswana, English or Afrikaans.”
Instead of receiving medical help, !Kung and Khwe people are left ignored and ill-treated in health facilities outside of Platfontein. This is a reality that 30-year-old Mothi Kapunda knows all too well.
Last year, on the evening of November 15, Kapunda started feel-ing pain in her abdomen. The cramps became frequent and intense.
She was in labour, so she made her way to the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital to give birth to her twin babies. But she was met with hostility.
The doctor and nurses tried to take her through the labour process, but Kapunda struggled to understand what was being said to her.
“How will you feel if someone speaks in a strange language that you don’t understand?” she asks.
Kapunda says health workers mis-treated, belittled and humiliated her. And, according to her and Kaye, this is a common occurrence for !Kung and Khwe people who seek health services in Kimberley and other places around the province.
Kaye, who is also a board mem-ber of the Southern African San Development Organisation, believes South Africa’s failure to recognise !Kung and Khwe — and other indig-enous languages such as Nluu and Birwa — as official languages, despite decades of lobbying, is one of the rea-sons they are discriminated against generally in society, and even more in health facilities where it could be a matter of life and death.
In an interview with Health-e, Mase Manopole, the province’s MEC for health, says the department is aware of the difficulties that San peo-ple face because of language barriers. “We’re ensuring that there is no lan-guage barrier in our health facilities. We are appointing staff who speak the same language because inter-
pretation may take long. We want to appoint those who live in the areas of the facilities.”
But Kaye says their local clinic is full of staff from Kimberley, despite the high levels of unemployment after young people complete their matric.
The small clinic in Platfontein is not open 24 hours and doesn’t offer advanced medical procedures. Most people have to travel to the hospital in Kimberley for other health ser-vices such as giving birth.
Kapunda says: “Whenever we call the hospital for help, the moment they hear our language that’s when they start to laugh and treat us like we are nobody because we speak one of the languages of Platfontein.”
Although the NHI seeks to close the gaps in pro-viding healthcare, the Bill isn’t available in all
11 official languages, let alone any of the San languages. Platfontein resi-dents like Kapunda, who don’t speak English or Afrikaans, will not have the opportunity to fully get to grips with the proposed policy.
“[The NHI Bill] is translated into all 11 official languages by the infor-mation that is at our disposal from the department of health,” Dhlomo says.
But Health-e was unable to find the Bill in any other language except English at the hearings or on the health department’s website. Instead, there are brochures about the Bill available in all the official languages.
Dhlomo says it is the national health department that is responsible for the communication strategy for the NHI Bill and translations fall on them. The draft legislation is only dis-tributed in English at the public hear-ings and a memorandum in various
languages — depending on the area — is also given to attendees.
“It will greatly assist if you were to give us at least one Bill or legislation that has been translated into all 11 official languages,” national health department communications head Popo Maja says.
“Making laws and regulations available in all 11 official languages is an ideal goal that the country is striving for. It all depends on the availability of resources. There is a whole document on NHI communi-cation strategy that could be shared with you.”
But Maja retracted his offer to share it, stating his “principals” advised him that it is an “internal document”.
Language also isn’t the only hur-dle — informing people about the public hearings also proved to be challenging. According to the port-folio committee’s media officer, Yoliswa Landu, Parliament has only secured advertising space for public submissions in local newspapers but not on any radio stations.
For the people in Platfontein, access to information about the hearings is near impossible because they only have one media plat-form in their language —X-K FM — which young people in the area criticise for being hogged by older people with political ambitions. However, Parliament provided interpreters for people who spoke San languages during the Northern Cape hearings.
Back in Kaye’s yard, her sister Tefa Munwango rubs her pregnant belly. She hopes that the NHI will deliver a better future for her child. But her disappointment in the democratic dispensation failing to recognise her people extinguishes that hope.
“They said discrimination stopped in 1994. Here, in Platfontein, it didn’t.” — Health-e News
Forgotten people of PlatfonteinPublic consultations for the country’s new health Bill show how language barriers can keep healthcare away from those who need it
Humiliated: A year ago Mothi Kapunda went to the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital when she went into labour. She felt the staff belittled her because she doesn’t fully understand the languages used in the hospital. Photo: Luntu Ndzandze
“The nurse asks: ‘What’s your name?’ they can’t respond because they don’t speak Setswana or English”
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 11
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Claims by her former chief operating officer that Busisiwe Mkhwebane had acted unconstitutionally and for her own ends in politically sen-sitive investigations were “a poor
attempt at sensationalism”, said the public protector in court papers this week.
In an affidavit filed in the high court in Pretoria, Mkhwebane hit back at Basani Baloyi’s claims that the investigations into allegations of a “rogue unit” at the South African Revenue Service and into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign were “extremely unusual”.
Baloyi is in a labour dispute with her former employer and is demanding that she be rein-stated as chief operating officer. But she has also asking the court to declare that Mkhwebane violated her constitutional obligations to act independently and impartially. In her founding affidavit, Baloyi said she was “purged” because she was an “obstacle to the public protector and CEO [chief executive officer] using their powers for their own personal advancement”.
She said the chief executive, Vussy Mahlangu, had improperly interfered in the investigations into Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti and former head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Robert McBride — and that Mkhwebane had allowed it.
She also said that Mkhwebane had refused suggestions to look into donations to the elec-tion campaign of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ), who was running against Ramaphosa. After the suggestion, external people were brought in, she said.
But Mkhwebane said including these allega-tions in a labour dispute was mischievous, irrel-evant and done purely to harass her. She has asked the court to strike them from the record. “The real nature of this application is a labour dispute,” she said. Mkhwebane added that the chief operating officer’s work was not up to scratch. “At times I had to spoon-feed her with very basic management skills, which I should not be expected to do at her expected level.”
Mkhwebane said the NDZ campaign was not covered by the Executive Members’ Ethics Act. “A competent and suitable COO [chief operat-ing officer] would know this almost instinc-tively.” There was also nothing unusual about the decision to reduce the Bosasa team substan-tially. This, she said, was “due to the high-profile and sensitive nature of an investigation involv-ing the head of state”.
Mkhwebane also hit back at the WhatsApp message attached to Baloyi’s court papers. The message sent on May 26 2019 read: “COO, I worked with few people to deal with the sabo-tage of the PG [Pravin Gordhan] camp. The notice is almost ready for rogue, will issue this week and report will also be issued in the man-ner I will determine. The notice for the presi-dent is also ready, will call him this week to dis-cuss the notice. It is not about you, but one has to play the chess.”
“I understood the reference to playing chess … to mean that the public protector was playing a political game,” said Baloyi in her court papers.
But this interpretation was “absurd and out-rageous”, Mkhwebane said. “It is a well-known fact … that there was a concerted effort by … Gordhan and his team to discredit my office and to politicise its work by labelling me as a par-ticipant in corruption … all of this is, of course, a speculative imaginary and unfounded con-spiracy theory,” said Mkhwebane. But her office had to be alert to it and “devise communication strategies to resist and refute”.
“My reference to chess was obviously in respect of our defensive moves to counteract the sabotage and unwarranted attacks.”
Mkhwebane added that “as proof of [Baloyi’s] malicious intent”, the fact that the Mail &
Guardian sent questions “within a few hours” of the court papers being served, and its pub-lication the following day of a story quoting extensively from the papers, showed that Baloyi had “leaked” her court papers to the M&G. This was in pursuit of her agenda to “cause maxi-mum reputational damage”, said Mkhwebane.
The case is expected to be argued next week.
Mkhwebane hits back at BaloyiThe public protector has asked the court to strike out claims that she and her chief executive had acted unconstitutionally
Her side of the story: Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane (above) has labelled Basani Baloyi’s allegations ‘mischievous’. Photo: Jaco Marais/Foto24/Gallo Images
12 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
SLICE OF LIFE
Travelling is such a tripI think the first time I went on a trip it was in 2008, when I went to Durban on a bus with my then boyfriend — now husband.
It was the first time going outside our comfort zone. We saw new people; a new province.
So we decided it was something we were going to do often — to learn how other people live. Since then we have been to many provinces, and outside our borders to Swaziland [Eswatini] and Mozambique.
I get to relax my mind and meditate when I am travelling. When I discuss other things with my partner outside of our comfort zone, they make sense. We also get to talk about uncomfortable truths and difficult situations in our relationship. It’s easier to talk when you are in a different environment.
Growing up, I was not exposed to people who travelled, so it never crossed my mind that I would be a jet-setter like I am today. I love it and it is something I want to instil in my kids. They need to travel. They need to see the world.
In the previous years I used to travel five to six times in a year. But with our economy now we try to do about three trips in a year. I will not stop travelling as long as I am healthy and have the financial means to do so.
I still need to go on international trips.Travelling is a big part of my life now. I get excited when
I have to do planning for my travelling. If three or four months pass without going anywhere I feel like some- thing is wrong. So even if I just do a sho’t left somewhere around the province, I am at peace — Phindile Bavumile Ndaba (33) as told to Bongekile Macupe
Photo: Paul Botes
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 13
14 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 15
News
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Find out more at: www.britishcouncil.org.za/famelab
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in South Africa.
Dennis Webster
Inequality between countries is worse than inequality within countries. This means that the economic distance between an impoverished Burundian and a
wealthy Belgian, for example, is far greater than the economic distance between impoverished and wealthy people within Burundi itself.
There is only one place where the severity of this global inequality is mirrored at a national level: South Africa.
Here, the economic fortunes of the poorest people are similar to those of the most impoverished people in Burundi, and the richest people in South Africa can be compared to Belgium’s richest.
But what does it mean to be the world’s most unequal society?
An Inequality Trends report, the first of its kind, launched on November 14 by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and the South African Labour and Development Research Unit (Saldru) at the University of Cape Town, gives us part of the answer.
Monetary inequalityAlthough social grants and remit-tances have made the most nota-ble headway in bridging the chasm between the runaway riches of South Africa’s wealthy few and the thread-bare struggles of its impoverished majority, there is little to celebrate.
Income inequality in South Africa has deepened. According to the lat-est fi gures from the World Inequality Database, the top 1% of South African earners take home almost 20% of all income in the country, while the top 10% take home 65%. The remaining 90% of South African earners get only 35% of total income.
These unequal incomes, accord-ing to the Inequality Trends report, remain stubbornly racialised, gen-dered and spatialised.
White people are more likely to fi nd work. And, once they do, they also earn better. Between 2011 and 2015, a white person earned R24 646 a month on average, more than three times the R6 899 of their black coun-terparts. Female workers earned around 30% less than male workers during the same period, and workers in the countryside earned less than half of what urban workers did.
But why does the gap in South Africa’s earnings continue to widen? The report delivers devastating evi-dence regarding the performance of incomes at the top and the bottom.
The real wages of the bottom 10% of earners have plummeted, shrink-ing by a quarter between 2011 and 2015. The country’s median incomes also shrank 15%. By contrast, the
SA’s income inequality is growingOur wealth inequality is staggering: the richest 1% owns 67% of all the country’s wealth , the top 10% owns 93%, and the remaining 90% owns a mere 7%
earnings of the top 2% grew 15% over that period, while those in the top 1% saw their earnings balloon by 48%.
But shrinking incomes for the majority in the face of huge growth in those of a handful at the top is not the only factor driving income ine-quality in South Africa. Economists Ihsaan Bassier and Ingrid Woolard have shown recently that fi nancial capital is also a key contributor.
Although the economy grew by only 4% between 2003 and 2016, the income received by the top 5% of the population from instruments such as shares and capital gains grew as much as 20%. This kind of capital income represents nearly half of the income of the country’s richest 1%.
The wealth of a nationThere are deeper indicators of well-being than monetary measures, which Stats SA says “are central to understanding South Africa’s inequality and to understanding the processes that generate South Africa’s money-based inequality”.
To this end, the report measures changes in asset ownership. A rise in ownership of both public assets (whereas 61.7% of people owned a flush toilet in 2009, 67.6% owned one in 2015) and private assets (whereas 6.2% of people owned internet services in 2009, 11.8% did so in 2015) indicates a reduction in the inequality of asset ownership in South Africa.
In the absence of income tax data currently being compiled by the South African Revenue Service and the Treasury, Stats SA does not move beyond this asset inequality to meas-ure wealth. As a result, the effects that fi nancial assets such as depos-its, bonds, equities, life insurance and pension funds have on inequal-ity are left unexplored in the report.
But recent research by Stellen-bosch University economist Anna Orthofer delves into precisely these eff ects and fi nds that wealth inequal-ity in South Africa is staggering. The
wealthiest 1% owns 67% of all the country’s wealth. The top 10% owns 93%. The remaining 90% of South Africa owns a paltry 7% of the coun-try’s wealth.
Inequality is spatialThe persistence of South Africa’s inequality a quarter of a century after formal democracy is, in large part, down to enduring colonial and
apartheid geographies. In the cities, skewed spatial legacies go a long way towards determining opportu-nities. (Although Stats SA’s report does not delve into the details of city structure, 2016 research by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa shows that the periph-eral homes of many black communi-ties directly undermine their ability to fi nd work.)
And ethnic Bantustan borders imagined by apartheid legislators still map neatly along contours of access in the countryside.
Although there have been demon-strable gains in the provision of basic services since the end of apart-heid, the Inequality Trends report highlights that pockets of depriva-tion persist in South Africa’s former homelands.
For example, areas in which more than half of households are una-ble to access piped water, are still largely in the rural Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Inequality in access to other ser-vices also still hews to Bantustan boundaries. Only 41.8% of impover-ished Limpopo homes, for example — mostly in former Venda, Lebowa and Gazankulu — had access to improved sanitation in 2015.
This article was originally published
by New Frame
Walking to work: There are about 10 000 people who commute from Alexandra to Sandton with non-motorised transport, just one sign of South Africa’s stark inequality. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
A zero-waste vegan love nest Page 48
16 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
Sarah Smit
Little has changed in Ham-manskraal since the Mail & Guardian last visited the area in August, when residents said the tap water
had made them sick. Then, the pos-sibility of a solution seemed real.
Now, with summer temperatures heading towards 40°C, locals still gather in small groups waiting for any sign of a truck delivering water. The taps have water. But nobody knows if it’s safe to drink.
George Masombuka’s makeshift car wash overlooks the intersec-tion where the tankers usually stop for the residents of Kanana, a dusty suburb adjacent to the Apies River in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.
Masombuka says they never know when the tankers will arrive — or when it will be safe to drink tap water. “Last week, I was listening to the radio. The radio says: ‘Don’t drink the water. The water’s not good.’ So I sometimes go to buy water. Sometimes they deliver water. Sometimes they don’t deliver.”
The water in Hammanskraal, where about 21 000 people live, was turned off for two weeks at the end of October because untreated sew-age leaked into the town’s water system from Rooiwal, the City of Tshwane’s largest wastewater treat-ment plant.
With the water back on, residents say they have been left in the dark about when they will finally have access to drinkable water.
And now questions have been raised about the tender to urgently fix the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment plant and restore clean water to residents after an almost decade-long crisis at the plant.
Papers filed at the Pretoria high court reveal that the urgent refur-bishment of the plant — which is at the heart of the water crisis in Hammanskraal — has been put on hold for over a year.
The tender, which was fi rst adver-tised in June 2018, was finally awarded in September this year. The refurbishments were expected to start in October. But, after multiple extensions to the bidding process, the awarding of the R291.4-million was challenged in court.
An application was brought to the court in September by Bicacon, one of the companies that lost out on the contract. It was dismissed and the company — itself attracting contro-versy over some of its previous con-tracts — applied for leave to appeal the ruling. The leave application was also dismissed with costs.
But contained in court papers is a previously undisclosed bid evalua-tion committee report which reveals that after three extensions the ten-der was ultimately awarded to a joint venture of three companies — two of which are currently impli-cated in separate investigations into alleged tender fraud.
‘A matter of life and death’Rooiwal has been beset by problems, going as far back as 2010. The plant treats 200-million litres of sewage a day before it fl ows into the Apies River and then the Leeukraal Dam — Hammanskraal’s water source.
Hammanskraal crisis: Slow tender A previously undisclosed tender report reveals that the contract to fix a key wastewater treatment plant was delayed for over a year
The plant has undergone two upgrades since then — one in 2011 and another in 2015. In total, these two upgrades cost the City of Tshwane R338-million.
In October, a power failure at the Pyramid substation resulted in the plant discharging what the city called “partially treated effluent” into the river, which feeds the dam.
Parts of Hammanskraal were left without water. By November 8, water was restored but the city urged residents not to use water for drinking or cooking, as it was still conducting tests to determine the water’s suitability for consumption. Water tankers were dispatched to provide residents with drinking and cooking water.
No further announcements have been made about the state of the water provided to Hammanskraal residents, though water tankers con-tinue to crawl the streets of the small town.
Lindi Ntshona helps run the crèche down the road from Masombuka’s car wash. She says every morning she prays with the children for clean water.
“We wish that they could get us water or make it possible for us to have water at least four times a week, so that the children here in the crèche can drink. Most of the time we struggle when it comes to giving the children water,” Ntshona says, alternating between Setswana and English.
She explains that the workers at the crèche can’t risk giving contami-nated water to the children.
In August, the South African Human Rights Commission, based on findings by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, declared the water in Hammanskraal unfit for human consumption.
An analysis of samples found traces of E. coli and nitrates in the drinking water supplied to Hammankraal residents.
According to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, which con-ducted its own analysis, drinking the water can result in stomach cramps, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
In September, Parliament’s port-folio committee on human settle-ments, water and sanitation called the water crisis in Hammanskraal “a matter of life and death”.
The committee’s chairperson, ANC MP Machwene Semenya, said the committee was of the view that there had been a “clear dereliction of duty” on the part of the municipality in its interaction with residents of the city, who have complained about the con-taminated drinking water for years.
Ntshona says she is constantly on edge, listening out for the water tankers.
“When it comes, it comes. But when it’s not coming, we just go and buy some water and there is a long queue to get water from that place,” she says, shrinking into her chair.
“It is stressful. But we can’t blame them [the municipality]. This place is too big. So maybe today they are here. Tomorrow they are that side. We don’t know.”
The fi xersIn an affi davit to the Pretoria High Court, Bicacon executive chair-
man Thabiso Lekoana claims the firm received a copy of the City of Tshwane’s bid evaluation commit-tee report for the Rooiwal tender from a “whistle-blower” inside the municipality.
The report shows a joint ven-ture between NJR, CMS Water and Blackhead Consulting beat out seven other companies to win the tender. But, in an earlier affi davit, Lekoana questions the eligibility of the joint venture.
According to Lekoana, only those firms who are registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) are eligible to submit tenders.
The bid evaluation committee report indicates that the tender in question is for category 9CE/9ME CIDB registered contractors. Grade 9 contractors are eligible to apply for the highest valued tenders.
Blackhead Consulting is not CIDB registered, Lekoana notes in the affi davit.
In September, the court dismissed this element of Bicacon’s initial application because Blackhead, as a consultant, is not part of the construction element of the joint venture.
Blackhead has worked on a num-ber of projects since it was estab-lished in 2004. But the consulting fi rm became the subject of contro-versy in 2015, when the Democratic Alliance in the Free State unsuc-cessfully brought an urgent court application against the provincial human settlements department to halt payments to it for the eradi-cation of asbestos roofing in the province.
The DA alleged that almost R100-million had been paid to Blackhead despite there being little evidence of “actual goods or services” having been delivered.
In a July proclamation, pub-lished in the Government Gazette, Pres ident Cyr i l Ramaphosa announced that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) would investigate the allegations.
Blackhead and the SIU did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
CMS Water has also recently been the subject of a tender scandal.
In March, the Hawks reportedly conducted a search-and-seizure operation at the Rustenburg local municipality in connection with alleged tender fraud involving the company.
Rustenburg mayor Mpho Khunou revealed in an interview with eNCA that the raid related to an R85-million tender awarded to CMS for the Bospoort Dam construction material in May 2018. Allegedly only R25-million was used for the project.
According to Khunou, the tender was awarded by the Rustenburg Water Services Trust and not the municipality.
North West Hawks spokesperson Tlangelani Rikhotso told the M&G
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By the bottle: Members of the Not In My Name campaign (above) deliver water to residents of Hammanskraal since tap water in the area was found to be unsafe for human consumption
On duty: George Masombuka (above) runs a car wash near the intersection where municipal trucks stop to deliver water. Residents can’t be sure when they will arrive, so Phumzile Vilikazi (below) gets up at 3am to beat the queues lining up for borehole water from a farmer nearby
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 17
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stops clean water flowing
that the matter is still under investi-gation, but at an advanced stage.
In response to the M&G’s query about the investigation, CMS said, through its lawyers, that the firm was “an innocent bystander” in
an issue between the Rustenburg municipality and the water services trust.
The payments to CMS were not irregular, the firm’s lawyers said.
They further noted that the audi-
tor general “has made no finding that fraud was committed, nor does the facts set out in the report indi-cate that there is any basis upon which fraud can be suspected”.
Blackhead and CMS are not on the
national treasury’s restricted sup-plier list, a database used to ensure that no recommended bidders — or any of their directors — are prohib-ited from doing business with the public sector.
Spokesperson for the City of Tshwane Lindela Mashigo pointed this out in answers to questions from the M&G.
“All bidders are subjected to a strict and rigorous evaluation pro-cess which includes checking them on Central Supplier Database to confirm as to whether they are restricted/blacklisted suppliers or not. Once a bidder is confirmed not be restricted then it gets evaluated further,” Mashigo said in response to allegations against Blackhead and CMS.
Mashigo also responded to con-cerns about the delays in finalising the Rooiwal tender. “The BEC [bid evaluation committee] had 59 ten-ders to evaluate and finalise before it could consider the Rooiwal tenders.
“The number of tenders for evalu-ation and volumes of submissions caused the delay in finalising the tender.”
‘Totally wrong’It is a short, but winding walk between Phumzile Vilikazi’s home and the small farm where Kenana residents buy borehole water for R2 a bucket.
“It has affected us so deeply, so bad. We didn’t expect this. But, anyway, we have no choice,” the 29-year-old says. Her sandals kick up dirt on the way down the path. Hammanskraal has endured weeks of above 30°C heat.
Vilikazi says she usually wakes up at 3am to make the walk to the bore-hole, a necessity if she wants to avoid the long queues.
Maletsatsi Malifane, who works at the farm, says the owner makes R1 000 a day.
Two children brave the midday heat to cart two large buckets to the borehole in a wheelbarrow.
“If you drink at the tap, you end up at the hospital. So that is why we just end up buying water,” Vilikazi says, adjusting the top of her red dress.
“But you can’t buy water every day for us to drink, to cook. Why should we buy water when there is running water from the taps?”
Vilikazi says she worries that the water issues in Hammanskraal will never be fixed.
“Because if it was just a simple thing, it should have [been] fixed a long time ago. So we feel they haven’t done anything about it, until now,” she says.
“It’s depressing. It’s not fair. It’s not. I am not allowed to drink water from the tap. Like it’s wrong. It’s totally wrong.” — Additional reporting by Malcolm Sekgothe
Dry as a bone: On top of having to go out and find water, residents from Hammanskraal and surrounds have had to endure weeks of high temperatures. Photos: Delwyn Verasamy
18 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
News
Sabelo Skiti
The department of defence could have to pay hun-dreds of millions of rands to a company that won a controversial VIP air
travel contract seven years ago, even though no work was ever done after the award.
The department has been locked in litigation with Adonai Aviation over the controversial contract — a five-year lease for two aircraft to ferry dignitaries, starting in 2012. At the time, the contract was for about R828-million. In today’s terms the contract, which was dollar denomi-nated, is worth billions of rands.
The aircraft were meant to be used for travel for former President Jacob Zuma and his then deputy Kgalema Motlanthe.
Despite being awarded the work, no contract was ever signed between the two parties because the then newly appointed secretary of defence Dr Sam Gulube, raised a number of issues with the contract in 2011.
These included Adonai not having BEE scoring; the tender not being advertised; the company not having a single jet; and the price being too high.
The Mail & Guardian has further learned that one of Adonai’s direc-tors Masizi Masiza, was an employee of the South African Air Force at the time of the bid, and that this was never declared.
Neither the department nor Adonai’s attorneys responded to questions on this. Masiza could not be reached for comment.
Last May, Adonai won a case in the Johannesburg high court, which ordered that the award constituted
an agreement between the depart-ment and the company. The depart-ment would have to sign an agree-ment with Adonai or settle.
Earlier this year, the department launched a new application — at the same court — which sought to get the agreement cancelled, and have it declared unenforceable. But this was dismissed with costs.
On Monday, Gulube confirmed that he was in discussion with the national treasury over the contract because the department no longer has a need for it.
Previously, in 2015, he had writ-ten to Parliament’s joint committee on defence for direction on how to proceed with a proposed settlement of just over R200-million. This set-tlement would otherwise be seen as unauthorised and wasteful expendi-ture, because no work was done. The proposed settlement was never car-ried out and the matter went to court.
Gulube confirmed engagements with treasury, but would not give fur-ther details. “I cannot say any more about the engagements with treas-ury because I am told there is a con-tempt of court application against the department.”
The M&G has learned that fresh settle-ment negotiations be tween the department and Adonai occurred this week.
T h e M & G has seen cor-respondence between Adonai and the depart-ment, in which the company asks for R500-million as a set-
tlement, or, alternatively, a 10-year lease for one aircraft at R100-million per year.
The department has offered to reimburse Adonai for costs incurred or any damages ordered by the court.
Two senior government sources have said that Gulube’s approach to treas-ury was a last resort after
pressure from Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to pay the R500-million set-tlement. One of the sources said: “He
[Gulube] fears that he could be held
responsible for fruit less and wasteful expenditure.”
Gulube dis-missed claims of pressure, saying Mapisa-Nqakula had
not off ered a
view on the matter.One of the government sources
said the defence department was also concerned about possible mis-representation within Adonai, and a possible confl ict of interest on the part of the lawyers on Adonai’s side, Lesley Cohen and advocate Richard Solomon.
This is after the company’s major-ity shareholders — Shamima Olulade and her husband Ade Olulade — were removed as directors and their shareholding was diluted to accom-modate Elioworx, a company that came in to fund the litigation just months before it was concluded.
A copy of the funding agreement, concluded in February 2018, stipu-lated that Elioworx would pro-vide funding for the case — which sources with knowledge of the litiga-tion say is close to R2-million — in return for 50% of the award.
The funding agreement also said that Elioworx, as the new entity driv-ing the case, would appoint Cohen and Solomon as the new legal rep-resentatives on the case. This was despite the two having been involved in the litigation since 2015.
This critical misrepresentation, and the fact that the two lawyers advised both Adonai and Elioworx in the signing of the funding agree-ment has left them in a potentially confl icted position.
A CIPC search for Elioworx revealed only one director, 26-year-old Zesimdumise Nxumalo, who this week said he was introduced to the
R500m for no-show VIP aircraftEven though no planes were ever supplied, a company wants hundreds of millions of rands from the military for their agreement
deal by the two lawyers. “I saw a legal and ethical opportunity to resolve a confl ict that made commercial sense and I invested in it. I was guided by court rulings and felt I was on the side of law. I am still open to any discussion that’s legal, ethical and makes business sense … I hope this matter is resolved in the most amica-ble manner possible.”
The senior government source said: “We’re told there is now a fight between the people involved in Adonai because it seems the law-yers have taken it over. They were involved in this matter for years but introduced a funder just months before this thing went to court.”
Cohen on Monday dismissed alle-gations of confl ict, saying Elioworx and Nxumalo’s involvement was done at an “arm’s-length basis”, and that he was introduced with the full knowledge of Adonai Aviation.
“We are accordingly uncertain what confl ict of interest you allege in this fi rm’s role as legal representative of Adonai Aviation.”
He added: “There are numerous, far-ranging statements and innu-endos in your email which seem calculated to raise some spectre of impropriety, which is rejected out of hand. We resist having to respond to speculative innuendos and decline from doing so. We remind you that the high court dealt with all issues in our client’s favour.”
Treasury and the department of defence did not respond to detailed questions.
High-flyer: The controversial contract, which was said to provide two aircraft for then president Jacob Zuma and deputy Kgalema Motlanthe, was delayed by secretary of defence, Dr Sam Gulube (below) who raised concerns about the procedures involved in awarding the tender to Adonai Aviation. Photo: Reuters
Trump mantra: Quid pro quo or not, it means bribery and extortion Catherine Triomphe
Quid pro quo. There’s no escaping the Latin phrase in the United States right now. It’s front and centre of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
The expression, literally meaning “something for something”, made headlines again this week when the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, said Trump had sought such a deal with Ukraine.
The Democratic-led investiga-tion is considering whether Trump abused his position as president by withholding aid in the hope Ukraine would dig dirt on his potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden.
The Democrats allege that Trump wanted Ukraine to open a corrup-tion investigation into Biden and his
son Hunter in exchange for a coveted White House summit or $391-mil-lion of military aid — in other words a “quid pro quo”.
If the House of Representatives, which has a Democratic majority, votes to impeach him, Trump will face trial in the Senate to decide whether he be removed from offi ce.
Pushing back at the accusation, Trump, his Republican supporters and right-wing commentators have chosen a rallying cry: “no quid pro quo”.
Repeated ad nauseam, the phrase echoes the “no collusion” mantra adopted by the president during spe-cial counsel Robert Mueller’s investi-gation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Linguists say using the same expression repeatedly is a way of lodg-ing a specifi c idea in voters’ brains.
Since Republicans have the major-ity in the Senate, impeachment is unlikely.
But Democrats hope they can at least convince voters that Trump abused his position to serve his polit-ical interests, thereby encouraging them to vote him out of offi ce next year.
But it is unclear how eff ective the phrase is.
Earlier this month, 33 authors sent a letter to The New York Times asking it to stop using the phrase in regard to the impeachment inquiry.
“Most people don’t understand what it means and, in any case, it doesn’t refer only to a crime,” they wrote.
“Asking for a favour is not a crimi-nal act; we frequently demand things from foreign countries before giving them aid, like asking them to
improve their human rights record.” The writers, clearly Trump oppo-
nents, urged the newspaper to use terms such as “bribery” or “extor-tion” to make clear that what the president asked of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was “a crime”.
Democratic bosses might have been reading.
Last week their leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, referred to “bribery”.
On Monday she went even further, using the word “extortion” to dispute Republican claims there was no quid pro quo because Trump eventually released the aid.
The use of language more explicitly associated with criminal activity was a clear attempt at trying to win over voters sceptical of the impeachment proceedings.
A sample of voters interviewed by
Democrats in early November said they found the term “corruption” much more striking than “quid pro quo”, according to The Washington Post.
But Ben Zimmer, a lexicographer, says Sondland’s statement will give the term “quid pro quo” another boost.
“He is explicitly saying there was one, that means we are going to go through a whole round of arguing over ‘quid pro quo’ again,” he said.
And so it was: midway through Sondland’s appearance before Congress, Trump appeared on the lawn of the White House to address reporters, reading from notes on the testimony.
A photographer captured what the president had scribbled in a black marker pen: “I want no quid pro quo.” — AFP
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entrepreneurs and leading political stakeholders.
20 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Africa
NEWS ANALYSIS Refiloe Seiboko & Simon Allison
‘The green passport. Official travel document of Nigeria, the most popu-lous country in Africa. Entitles the holder to extra scrutiny and harass-ment all over the world. Guaranteed. Have mine if you want to find out for yourself.” — A History of Nigeria, a documentary by Jide Olanrewaju Naij, as sampled in Burna Boy’s African Giant.
Not so long ago, when AKA and Burna Boy w e r e m e n t i o n e d together it was almost always in the context of
their chart-topping collaborations. The two musicians won several awards for the songs they wrote and performed together. One of their biggest hits, All Eyes On Me, was
certified platinum in 2016; another, Baddest, is still one of the top 30 most played songs on South African radio despite being released in 2014.
Whether they realised it or not, their collaboration was always about more than just the music. Against the backdrop of tense relations between Nigeria and South Africa, the image of a South African rapper and a Nigerian afrobeats star work-ing together — succeeding together — became a powerful symbol of 21st century pan-Africanism.
As Rhodes University lecturer Siphokazi Magadla wrote in the Mail & Guardian in May, about similar cross-border collaborations: “These elite artists are showing us that if Africans in different sectors are able to work together across countries more easily, we stand to benefit in economic, social and creative ways that propel us forward.”
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But as the relationship between the two musicians has disintegrated — fraying in the harsh, relentless glare of social media — so too has that symbol.
The trouble began in September,
against the backdrop of another wave of xenophobic violence in South Africa. Although some of the violence was real, there was plenty of fake news too, including several graphic videos that purported to show
Nigerian nationals being attacked in an especially brutal fashion.
“FUCK ALL THAT,” tweeted Burna Boy (real name: Damini Ogulu) to his two million-plus followers. “I personally have had my own xeno-phobic experiences at the hands of South Africans and because of that ... I have not set foot in SA since 2017. And I will NOT EVER go to South Africa again for any reason until the SOUTH AFRICAN government wakes the fuck up and really per-forms a miracle because I don’t know how they can possibly fix this.”
In the Twitter storm that followed, someone brought up comments that AKA (real name: Kiernan Forbes, four million-plus followers) had made after South Africa’s national football team lost to Nigeria’s Super Eagles. “Why do we always have to lose against Naija at EVERYTHING,” AKA had said, apparently sharing Burna’s predilection for caps lock.
Burna’s response was unforgiving. “...it’s Fuck @akaworldwide from now on. And if you down with him, it’s Fuck you too.”
COMMENT Kwanele Sosibo
So much can change within the space of a generation, but perhaps even more within the space of a few months. It was only a few months ago, in May, on election day, that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and rapper AKA were playing buddies on Instagram live, showing off their inked thumbs to each other, imploring the youths to vote and vote “right” (nudge, nudge).
Perhaps wrapped up in Ramaphoria, AKA’s platitudes to the “president of all presidents” sounded pretty much like a long-distance Christmas message, with AKA certain that his Santa Claus would lead us to “prosperity for the next five years”.
The unemployment statis-tics continue to tell a different story, as do the malcontents of Jeppestown when they take to the streets to perform their own brand of outsiderness. On the hills of Kensington, they say you can hear their stomach grumblings morph into war cries, bouncing off the cracked window panes of hostel halls.
After Burna Boy’s fake news-inspired outburst, his refusal to apologise for his misguided tweets, and rumours that the Africans Unite concert he was about to appear in this weekend was state-sponsored, AKA — the ANC’s favoured mascot — is “NEVER getting involved in Politics ever again. On any level,” as he tweeted in a meltdown on November 16. He cited “silence from my own leader-ship”, and a realisation that, in all this time, he had not been led but “been left to lead”.
Of course, in the days of social media, which can amplify storms in tea cups for retweets from a few
million “followers”, it is easy to assume the mantle of “leadership”.
In a musician’s terms in present-day South Africa, “leadership” really means speaking only when spoken to, flashing your inked thumb at strategic moments, then flashing your life for “followers” to live vicariously through in the intervening years. The subtextual message is that you too can attain this level of access and success if you only “vote right”. You too can become an honorary politician, throw money at a few causes and focus on the business of largely self-referential rap music.
With free and fair elections still something of a reality in South Africa, it is easy for the likes of AKA to be petulant on social media and turn their endorse-ment of the ruling party on and off like a communal tap. Just like for Burna Boy it is easy to leverage your global visibility and mobility for a revolutionary posture. All you have to do is spout inflamma-tory rhetoric without bothering to check the most basic of facts, and then play into the hands of self-serving politicians (such as the Economic Freedom Fighters, who have defended Burna Boy’s right to appear at the Africans Unite concert).
In other locales, the time for tantrums between the beatings is limited. Ask Ugandan parliamen-tarian Bobi Wine — who made his name as a musician — about the long tentacles of dictator-ship in Uganda; or rapper Pilato in Zambia, what it is like to miss your country, only to return to a jail cell?
Not to delegitimise self-expres-sion as a form of struggle, but next time we are uniting Africans over the issues of the day, could we cast our nets wider than our Twitter feeds.
Who is the real revolutionary?
AKA, Burna Boy and the African The two musicians once billed themselves as pan-African pin-ups. What does their ugly spat say about the state of continental unity?
Pan-Africanist: Burna Boy vowed never to vist South Africa again after a spate of xenophobic violence. Photo: Joseph Okpako/WireImage
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 21
Fela in VersaceMandela in a ’RariRubber bands, where you get em from?Motherland, Mzansi— Fela in Versace, AKA ft. Kiddominant
Fela Kuti was not the first to mix music with pan-Africanism, but he was arguably the most effec-tive. Decades later, the pioneer of Afrobeat — related, but different from Burna Boy’s Afrobeats — is still an icon across the continent.
Although many claim some con-nection to Fela, Burna Boy’s is more intimate than most. His grandfather, Benson Idonije, was a close friend of Kuti and even managed him for some time. Fela’s teachings come through strongly in Burna’s albums, especially on his most recent.
African Giant was released in July this year, and dwells on stories of the black African experience with regards to colonisation and cul-tural identity. A prelude to the song Another Story is a clip from Naij’s documentary, which explains how today’s Nigerian state began as a privately-owned company: “Nigeria started off as a business deal for them, between a company and [the British government]. Incidentally, the Niger Company is still around today. Only it is known by a different name, Unilever. But that’s another story.”
The artist soon had to come up with another story to his Twitter out-burst in September though because, yes, he would in fact be setting foot in South Africa again — on his terms. He announced he was going to head-line Africans Unite, a new concert, in an effort to promote unity on the continent.
AKA was not impressed: “I would love to attend this show and watch this man put his hands on me in my own country,” he said. Burna Boy responded by telling AKA to beef up his security.
The Africans Unite concert was scheduled for this weekend, November 23 and 24. Since it was announced, it appeared to have the opposite of its intended effect, attracting support and derision in equal measure.
One high-profile supporter was a certain Julius Malema, the leader of South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters.
“Looking forward to receiving and being entertained by my brother [Burna Boy] here at his home called South Africa. There’s no mascot that can stop him from performing, he’s one of our own and we will protect him. We must resolutely oppose regionalism led by political illiter-ates ... South Africa is a home for all Africans.”
To his credit, Malema has been consistent in his condemnation of xenophobia in South Africa. But there may have been some politi-cal points-scoring happening at the same time: AKA has been vocal sup-porter of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress.
One of the biggest critics of Burna Boy’s proposed concert came from a Tshwane-based event organiser called Katlego Malatji. Ironically, his critique seemed to encapsulate, at
a micro level, the same xenophobic tensions that caused this controversy in the first place.
Malatji was upset because the Africans Unite concert appeared to have been endorsed by the South African arts and culture depart-ment (concert branding carried the department’s logo). He thought that this support — and the funding that
unity concert that wasn’t
he presumed came with it — should have been directed towards local businesses. “The truth is, the state is funding, without due process, events that don’t even align with the national development plan at all,” he said.
The department has denied fund-ing the event, and said that their logo was used “erroneously”. But they
had already lost control of the nar-rative. Last week, Malatji’s Tshwane Entertainment Collective sent an open letter to arts and culture min-ister Nathi Mthethwa, complaining about “hate speech and incitement by Burna Boy” and inadequate “pro-tection of local artists”. The col-lective urged patrons who bought tickets to seek refunds, and warned that should their calls be ignored an “unavoidable shutdown” would take place.
So much for African unity.Despite making his reputation
on pan-African cross-border col-laborations, even AKA’s world view appears to have narrowed. “Let NO ONE deter you from your patriot-ism. PROTECT your COUNTRY and it’s REPUTATION at ALL COSTS … You are BLESSED to be a SOUTH AFRICAN,” he tweeted.
More or less, more yawaLess people powerSame shit, Ghana Naija, man tire— Another Story, Burna Boy ft. M.anifest
On Wednesday, just days before the Africans Unite concert was due to begin, it was cancelled. Burna Boy had pulled out. The event organisers said that although they remain com-mitted to bringing Africans together as one, “the safety of all artists and attendees could not be guaranteed”.
Despite this, the two artists at the heart of this debate appear to be on the peace train now, albeit without having actually made peace between themselves.
“Please my people, there should never be a South Africa vs Nigeria war or any African country vs African country war Ever. We must unite by any means for the future of our children n their children. I want a united African passport that will be as powerful as the [United States] passport,” Burna tweeted late last week.
Shortly afterwards, AKA tweeted: “I think it’s gone far enough now, apology or not. We cannot afford for South Africans and Nigerians to con-tinue with this type of energy. This will not end well … Don’t let politi-cians hijack this issue and use it for their own agendas. It will be taken to a level that there will be no turning back from.”
He later added: “I am NEVER get-ting involved in Politics ever again. On any level.”
But he may not have a choice. AKA and Burna Boy were pin-ups for pan-Africanism, and neither was shy of using its language and symbols to shift records and boost their own profiles. Now, for better or worse, their enormous influence means that they have come to define 21st century pan-Africanism in popular culture — and to embody its tensions and limitations.
Patriot games: Burna Boy and AKA (above) have had a number of hits together, however their relationship has soured over a series of tweets. The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Julius Malema took Burna Boy’s side; meanwhile, AKA is a fan of ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa (below). Photos: Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images and AKA/Instagram
22 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Africa
Gold rush destabilises central Sahel
Guard duty: Mauritanian soldiers with the G5 Sahel joint force at a command post in the southeast of the country near the border with Mali. The G5 Sahel region consists of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger and the institution was set up to co-ordinate co-operation in development policies and security matters. The joint forces are at the heart of a push to win over grassroots support in Mauritania, with authorities ramping up security operations and infrastructure to curb militancy. But the soldiers with the member countries are battling to limit the attacks. They have to cover vast distances in harsh circumstances and the joint force is quite a small one. Photo: Thomas Samsom/AFP
In the central Sahelian countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, armed groups have been seiz-ing gold-mining sites in areas in which the state is weak or absent.
Artisanal gold mining has boomed in the region ever since the 2012 discov-ery of a Saharan vein stretching from Sudan to Mauritania and the attacks on gold mines have been occurring for the past three years.
Gold mines provide armed groups, in some cases including jihadists, with a new source of funding and even terrain from which to recruit. Informal networks in the region are increasingly involved in smuggling the precious metal. Artisanal mining thus risks fuelling violence and rein-forcing transnational crime.
Sahelian states should take steps to formalise artisanal gold min-ing, while avoiding alienating min-ers. They should redouble efforts to secure mining areas, while ensuring that the forces doing so, whether security forces or allied militias, avoid predatory behaviour. Governments in the Sahel and those countries that buy its gold should strengthen their regulation of trade in the metal.
States in the region are struggling to secure gold mines. Security forces are reluctant to deploy personnel in rural areas where their presence is contested. In addition, they lack resources to deal with non-state, armed actors’ violent appropria-
States need to assert control over the artisanal mining sector, which is being secured by local armed groups
tion of gold resources. States thus tolerate, or even encourage, the for-mation of local, non-state, armed groups to whom they delegate — informally, for now — the responsi-bility of securing the mines.
But such measures have major limitations: the authorities’ ability to regulate mining sites, even indi-rectly, crumbles as security deterio-rates and armed groups challenge state authority in parts of the region.
In this context, armed groups of all stripes can gain greater autonomy by exploiting gold resources, increas-ingly bypassing the state.
Two recent attacks that killed more than 60 civilians working in the gold-mining sector in Burkina Faso — the first against an artisanal site in the north west last month and the other near an industrial site in the east earlier this month — show the violence is becoming more acute.
The growth of artisanal gold min-ing threatens the state in other ways. The financial stakes involved have become considerable in recent years. This has encouraged the creation of informal local, regional and inter-national smuggling networks. Such networks can help finance armed groups, including those engaging in terrorism, and encourage money laundering in the region as traffick-ers interfere in the artisanal gold economy.
Although local dynamics vary across the Sahel, the authorities in each country can take steps to return to mining areas and prevent armed groups from seizing resources:
In high-risk mining areas, states
should either deploy their security forces near the sites (but not neces-sarily in the mines themselves), or give local, non-state actors a more official role and better supervision as they secure mining zones. In either case, site security arrange-ments should be accompanied by governance mechanisms to prevent predation by those forces securing mines, which would push gold min-ers towards armed groups hostile to the state.
In areas in which states can exer-cise authority without extensive security measures, they should adopt measures to formalise some artisanal mining, for instance issu-ing individual gold-mining permits and setting up gold trading posts.
By offering tax benefits or basic services, states can show their value to miners.
Regional governments should also find a balance between allow-ing larger companies to industrialise sites, thereby generating revenue for the state, and preserving areas for artisanal gold mining and thus ensuring that miners do not lose their livelihoods.
Regional states should exert greater control over gold-trading networks to reduce the risk of money laundering and funding of armed groups. They should harmonise their regulatory frameworks and develop specific financial mechanisms to promote the transport of gold through formal — rather than infor-mal — private or public networks. The United Arab Emirates (specifi-cally, Dubai), Switzerland and China, the main importers of Sahelian gold, should strengthen their legal frame-works for gold imports.
This is an edited excerpt from the ‘Getting a Grip on Central Sahel’s Gold Rush’ report, available on the International Crisis Group website
Gold mines provide armed groups … with a new source of funding and even terrain from which to recruit
Reporter’s case delayed againA court hearing for Tanzanian journalism Erick Kabandera was postponed on Wednesday — for the eighth time. Prosecutors keep telling the court that investigations are not complete. Kabandera was charged in August with involvement in organised crime, money laundering and failing to pay taxes, but rights groups and other journalists say the charges are politically motivated and represent an attack on freedom of expression in Tanzania.
Police disrupt Chamisa speechA planned speech by Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa was disrupted by police, who used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd waiting outside the Movement for Democratic Change headquarters in Harare. This is the latest of several opposition party gatherings to be blocked by authori-ties this year. “What this tells you is that we [have] a rogue regime. What this tells you is that we are in a pariah state,” Chamisa said. “When you see a regime that is so scared of its own people, you must know that the end is nigh.”
Tense poll in EthiopiaMembers of Ethiopia’s Sidama minority voted on Wednesday in a self-determination referendum that could see the group be granted autonomous powers. About 2.3-mil-lion voters were registered at nearly 1 700 polling stations. Ethiopia’s Constitution grants the right to seek autonomy to its more than 80 ethnic groups. More than a dozen groups are considering following in Sidama’s footsteps. The referendum is also seen as a trial run for next year’s general election
Dubai nabs Nigerian officialFormer Nigerian attorney general Mohammed Adoke was arrested in Dubai in connection with a $1.3-bil-lion sale of a Nigerian oil field in 2011 — a deal that prosecutors say was corrupt. Nigerian authorities issued a warrant for his arrest ear-lier this year. Adoke’s lawyers said the arrest in Dubai was based on an expired warrant, and is demanding his client’s release.
African fauna at riskA third of tropical plants in Africa are at risk of extinction, a new report claims. Authors of the study, published in the Science Advances open-access journal, say this is mainly because of people’s activi-ties such as deforestation, land-use changes, population growth and economic activities, which contrib-ute to climate change. Trees, shrubs, herbs and woody vines are all a risk. “Biodiversity provides countless benefits to humans and losing diver-sity jeopardises our future,” said one researcher.
Somali peace activist killedAlmas Elman Ahmed, a Somali Canadian human rights worker and former first secretary at Somalia’s embassy in Kenya, was killed by gunmen in Mogadishu on Wednesday. She was shot while driving in Halane, a fortified United Nations compound in the city. It was not immediately clear whether she was a target or was hit by a stray bullet. She died in hospital. Elman is the daughter of another prominent peace activist, Elman Ali Ahmed, who was shot and killed in 1996. Her sister, Ilwad Elman, was short-listed for the Nobel peace prize in October. Almas worked with the Elman Centre for Peace and Human Rights in Mogadishu. — Briefs sourced from BBC and Reuters
Seeking his fortune: Artisanal gold miner Mamadou Diarra pans for gold in Kalana in southern Mali. Small-scale mining in the Sahel region has been under attack by armed groups. Photo: Joe Penney/Reuters
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 23
BusinessThe ugly face of Beautiful CityThe factory owners took advantage of their foreign workers’ precarious status
Thando Maeko
On a small blanket laid on the tarred ground in Vil lage Deep in southern Johannes-burg, a man shuffles a
deck of cards and shares them with a group of about 10 others. The men have been sitting underneath shade cloth in a disused parking lot across from the premises of the ironically named blanket factory, Beautiful City.
They had been there for a week, one of the men said when the Mail & Guardian visited the industrial area earlier this week. Most of the facto-ries appeared to be deserted.
“There’s another boss who’s a Chinese [person] who told us to wait here because maybe we will see something,” said 32-year-old, Mphatso Phiri*. “We are just like security, we don’t work here.”
Beautiful City was busted and shut down by the Hawks and the depart-ment of labour on November 12 for allegedly having violated South African immigration legislation, by-laws and health regulations, and for employing child labour. The com-pany’s sole director, 32-year-old Shih Shen, was arrested during the raid, as were five other Chinese citizens and one Taiwanese citizen.
The report into the factory com-piled by the department of labour, and seen by the M&G, also says Shih failed to report several workplace injuries: one employee had one of his fingers cut off, another had his hand burned and a third was losing his eyesight. Further workplace injuries have been detailed in a statement by the department of labour.
Employees were made to work in the dark with minimal or no ventila-tion. The department of labour said workers were not given contracts or information regarding remunera-tion and they worked excessive hours without being paid overtime.
The workers were required to work in dreadful conditions, earning R6.50 an hour, or R65 a day. They worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week and had no leave. Their wages were three times less than the national minimum wage of R20 an hour.
The National Minimum Wage Act was proclaimed in December 2018 and came into effect from January 1 this year. The failure of the factory owner to comply with the Act over the past 10 months prompted the department of labour to slap him with penalties and a compliance order amounting to R6.3-million.
The department of labour said it would collect the funds on behalf of the employees, 37 of whom are believed to be children under the age of 15. They have been accommodated at an undisclosed place of safety as they are witnesses in the case.
The factory manufactured the inner cotton of blankets using recy-cled clothing. It was granted an import permit in June from the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac), which is respon-
sible for customs tariff investiga-tions, trade remedies, and import and export control. The permit allows the company to import “new or old rags” from any country to a value not exceeding R450 000.
When the M&G arrived at the fac-tory, we found that the rags that were used by the factory when it was still operating were abandoned and stacked up in piles outside the high, steel gates of the business. The gates of the factory had been shut by the department of labour after the raid.
Gauteng’s chief labour inspector, Michael Msiza, said in a statement that information obtained by
the department was that the work-ers were locked in the factory day and night. “When they wanted to buy something they were expected to write it on a piece of paper for their bosses to buy it for them.”
Msiza said that a worker who had managed to escape from the fac-tory alleged that the employers were engaged in the trafficking of
Malawian citizens who were found on the premises. He added that, as well as breaching the National Minimum Wage Act, the employer also violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
“It is alleged that one of the Malawian citizens in this company got injured and his hand was cut off by a machine. Instead of seek-ing medical help from a recognised public health facility, the Chinese employer brought in a Chinese doc-tor to the premises and refused to let the injured Malawian … seek medi-cal help,” Msiza said.
The crackdown came after the Hawks received a tip-off from one of the workers, who managed to escape the premises. The victim was one of the 149 undocumented for-eign nationals employed by the com-pany. There was one South African employee. Only 78 people — who were found covered in fluff from the fibres they worked with — were on site during the raid: the rest escaped.
Hawks spokesperson Katlego
Mogale said the factory has been operating for the past four years. Documents from the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) show that the factory was, however, first registered only in 2017, with Xiaolong Guo named as its sole director. The change in director-ship was enacted in March this year, three months after the South African Revenue Services (Sars) issued the business with a value-added tax (VAT) certificate.
Mogale would not disclose the factory’s turnover but the issuing of the VAT-certificate by Sars this year could indicate that the factory had been generating high revenues over the past year. According to the Sars website, it is compulsory for a business to register for VAT if it is likely to generate an income that exceeds R1-million over a 12-month period. A business generating an income exceeding R50 000 within a 12-month period may voluntarily register for VAT.
Documents from the department of labour describe Shih as a Chinese citizen, and Mogale said the Hawks suspect that Shih, who was in posses-sion of a South African ID book at the time of his arrest, might be falsifying his identity.
Phiri, who was the only one willing to answer questions, albeit anony-mously, when the M&G visited the site this week, denied that the fac-tory was engaging in illegal activi-ties, including human trafficking. He claimed he and the others had previ-ously worked at the factory and knew how it worked. On the day of the raid, he was not scheduled to work
and, therefore, managed to escape the authorities.
When asked who was paying him and the other men for their services as security guards for the factory, he reluctantly replied, “The big boss.”
Phiri denied children were employed at Beautiful City. “You see this one?” he said, pointing to one of the other men close to him. “He’s short and he looks 14 [years old] but he is actually 23 [years old]. A lot of Malawians look short.”
Phiri said that they had been guard-ing the premises for a week “just in case someone comes and jumps the gate and steals something”.
He confirmed that the machines that workers would be operating were dangerous and compared the conditions to working in the bush. Phiri said if an injury occurred dur-ing working hours and the doctor was unable to come to the factory then he would be the person respon-sible for taking the injured worker to hospital.
“Those machines are dangerous. It’s the same [as using] a panga or an axe if you are working in the bush. You don’t know if you [will] get injured: you just come to work,” Phiri said.
“They [the injured] would be gone for three weeks or a month. Then they would come back to work.”
The suspects appeared in court on Thursday to apply for bail but the case was postponed to November 28. They remain in custody.*Not his real name
Thando Maeko is an Adamela Trust Business Fellow at the M&G
Hellish working conditions: The Beautiful City factory (above) was raided by the department of labour earlier this month and six people were arrested. Workers, who were allegedly illegally employed, used imported rags (left) to make the cotton inners of blankets . Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
24 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Business
Tshegofatso Mathe
With the govern-ment indicating that it no longer has the funds to support SAA —
which has debts of R9.2-billion after receiving bailouts of R20-billion over the past three years — and with union attitudes to the carrier hardening, is business rescue an option?
This week, Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan con-fi rmed that there is no money avail-able to loan or fund the troubled airline. He told parliamentarians on Wednesday that SAA might not even be able to pay salaries at the end of this month.
On Tuesday Gordhan had met unions, the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) to discuss general issues but declined to dis-cuss wage demands, saying that this was a matter for the unions and SAA management.
On Wednesday, Air Chefs, SAA’s on-fl ight caterer, served SAA with a notice to join the striking workers.
In a media briefing on Thursday, union Solidarity said that it had fi led court papers with SAA and the minis-ters of fi nance and public enterprises as respondents, asking the court to put SAA into business rescue.
Solidarity said last year it would bring an application for business res-cue, but paused its application after negotiations and reaching an agree-ment, first with former SAA chief executive Vuyani Jarana and then with Gordhan.
Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann said the union is profoundly aware of the cri-sis SAA fi nds itself in, but business rescue is preferable because liquida-tion will have huge consequences for employees, the South African econ-omy and for taxpayers.
“In all, 11 000 workers will lose their jobs and a debt burden of billions of rands will have to be absorbed by the treasury if there is no radical inter-vention. A business rescue applica-tion is the only remaining option to limit the damage,” he said.
But business rescue expert, Dawie van der Merwe, director of business restructuring at BDO, said putting the cash-strapped airline into busi-ness rescue will not save it.
“Always when I speak to people, I say business rescue is not a remedy for all ills. You have to know when it is the applicable tool and when it is not. And I’m of the view that business rescue is not the right tool for SAA,” he said.
Van der Merwe said business res-cue is designed to be an in-between solution for businesses that are fi nan-cially distressed, but he does not think it will work for an airline, and most certainly not for a state-owned airline, because there are “heaps of complexities”.
“Business rescue of airlines is noto-riously diffi cult. I mean, think about it: are people going to buy a ticket on an airline that’s in business rescue?” he asked.
“Nobody’s going to do that,” he
SAA’s options seem limited
said, adding that any airline is only as good as the number of tickets it is selling.
He said that is why the current impasse at SAA is potentially so destructive for the airline. “I can guarantee you, nobody’s booking tickets now for the December holiday or maybe the Easter holiday next year or the international trip early next year; nobody’s booking because they do not know if SAA will be around,” he said.
Van der Merwe said when you place an airline into business rescue you have to accept that there may be no sales, and if you have no sales, you have no business.
He added that on top of potential low sales during a business rescue process, SAA’s large workforce will be a challenge for business practitioners to deal with.
“The airline has a big workforce and that problem doesn’t go away in business rescue: you still have your employees and they still need to be paid,” Van der Merwe said.
“Under business rescue, there will be a dramatic drop in your revenue … because people aren’t booking,” he said. “So you are, if you’re running at a loss at the moment, placing the air-line into business rescue … is going to increase your defi cit exponentially and who’s going to fund that?”
Van der Merwe said the govern-
ment can either continue to bail SAA out or ground it permanently.
Aviation lawyer Chris Christo-doulou agreed with Van der Merwe, saying the underlying premise of put-ting a company into business rescue is that it must be capable of being rescued within a short period of time. The aim of business rescue is to give the company time to implement a turnaround plan.
“My opinion is in this case [is that] probably no amount of that short time will work and will avail the com-pany of the remedies of a business rescue,” Christodoulou said.
He said the process needs a work-able plan and the time to implement it. “In this case, I think time is not the problem: it’s the restructuring that’s required, [which] is more than just keeping creditors at bay for six months. So business rescue is prob-ably not going to give the airline a turnaround or save it.”
Van der Merwe said that the lack of assets could be a problem because 99.9% of aviation companies and air-lines don’t own their own aircraft. “So, you may even run the risk that institutions that fi nanced the acquisi-tion of some of the aircraft may sim-ply want them back,” he said.
“It’s one of the sectors or indus-tries that I don’t think is capable of a good business rescue. I’m happy to be proven wrong. But I think it’s a near
impossible task. Even more so with the added complexity of it being the state-owned airline,” he said.
SAA has failed to table its fi nancials on time for the second year running. Non-executive board member Martin Kingston told Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts earlier this month that SAA does not have access to liquidity and is technically insolvent, creating a major threat to the company and, more broadly, to the larger economy.
He added that the board has writ-ten letters to its shareholders — the treasury and the department of pub-lic enterprises — advising them of its situation and the risks involved.
Kingston said the department of public enterprises has confirmed its ongoing support of SAA, but the airline is yet to receive formal con-firmation from the treasury as to whether the financial assistance it requires to continue trading will be forthcoming.
Kingston said SAA cannot secure additional loans from lenders with-out a full sovereign guarantee from the government. The cash-strapped airline could access a R2-billion loan from banks, but only if it obtains this guarantee.
Tshegofatso Mathe is an Adamela
Trust business reporter at the Mail & Guardian
Business rescue is unlikely to work for a state-owned airline, say experts. But the government has no money for bailouts
Graphic: JOHN McCANN Data source: MEDIUM TERM BUDGET POLICY STATEMENT (OCT 2019)
How much Treasury says SAA’s debt andlosses are costing the country
SAA in the red
Cumulative lossesover past 13 yearsR9.2bnR28bn
Bailout incurrent year
R5.5bn
SAA’s outstandinggovernment guaranteed
debt. Government will have to pay this over the next three yearsif SAA’s lendersdon’t extendterms
R42.7bnTotal amount
FirstRand to vote on climateFirstRand’s shareholders will vote at its AGM on November 28 on a set of climate-risk-related share-holder resolutions proposed by the Raith Foundation and shareholder-activist nonprofi t organisation Just Share. Resolution fi ve proposes that FirstRand prepares a report on its assessment of its exposure to climate-related risks in its lending, investing and fi nancing activities. Resolution six proposes that the bank should adopt its policy on lending to fossil fuel-related pro-jects, including coal-fi red power plants, coal-mining operations and oil and gas exploration and produc-tion projects and publicly disclose this on its website by no later than October next year. Raith and Just Share said they proposed these reso-lutions because climate change is already aff ecting millions of people around the world. “Every day we see further warnings of imminent catastrophe ... [Despite] 40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to address this predicament.”
Investec subsidiary to rebrandInvestec Asset Management is changing its name to Ninety One, in an ode to the year 1991 when the fi rm fi rst opened its doors. The renaming will be rolled out in the fi rst quarter of next year following the demerger of the asset man-ager from the Investec Group. The company said that the demerger is subject to the approval of the share-holders of Investec Plc and Investec Ltd. The fi rm manages more than R2-trillion for institutional and adviser clients globally. “The new name, Ninety One, recognises the fi rm’s history, while the brand proposition refl ects the forward-looking, resilient and agile nature of the business,” the group said.
SAB BEE scheme worth R14bnSouth African Breweries (SAB) Zenzeles broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) scheme is close to generating almost R14-billion for its benefi ciaries over its 10-year investment period, which ends in April next year. The scheme is the biggest in the country’s fast-moving consumer goods sector. The scheme is intended to create sustainable ownership and economic wealth opportunities for previously disadvantaged people, transferring 8.45% of SAB shares to more than 40 000 shareholders. Benefi ciaries are the SAB Zenzele Employee Trust, for the benefi t of SAB employees; SAB Zenzele Holdings Limited, for the black retailers of beer and soft drinks; and the SAB Foundation Trust, which supports entrepreneurship in low-income communities.
Coca-Cola cuts down on plastic From next year, Coca-Cola in Sweden will manufacture all of its plastic bottles from 100%-recycled material. The company announced earlier this week that it would start using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, becoming the fi rst country worldwide to do so. Coca-Cola said the move would eliminate the use of about 3 500 tonnes of new plastic annually. The decision is in line with Coca-Cola’s goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The envi-ronmentally friendly bottles will be rolled out across the Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Bonaqua brands, as well as 40 other brands. The group uses 128-billion PET bottles a year globally, of which 205-million are in Sweden, Reuters reported.
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Grounded: SAA is in a precarious position with no hope of a further state bailout. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 25
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26 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Business
Kevin Davie
Run a straight line down the Nampak share price graph and you’ll find it hits zero as early as the end of next year. This is
from a high in April 2014, when the packaging company was trading at R42 a share, having slumped by 80% to R7.40 this week.
This straight-line exercise has rel-evance as Nampak’s chief executive, Andre de Ruyter, is named as the man to fi x Eskom.
Most of Nampak’s problems — fl at growth in South Africa and cur-rency rationing in its key markets of Nigeria and Angola, which starved the company of much-needed funds to service debt — were created ahead of his arrival at that company.
This too is the case of his arrival at Eskom. The power utility’s legion of problems are well and truly entrenched: what is needed is a turn-around artist, something which De Ruyter has patently not managed in his present gig.
Ground zero with Eskom’s De Ruyter
But at least we are getting him cheaply? Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a statement announcing De Ruyters’s appoint-ment from January 15 2020, that he “would like to thank Mr de Ruyter for not only accepting this position at a diffi cult time for Eskom, but, given Eskom’s current fi nancial situation, also agreeing to a lower compensa-tion package than the position cur-rently pays”.
The p rev ious incumbent Phakamani Hadebe, who quit in July indicating that the job had been bad for his health, earned R6.8-million in 2018/2019. The pay cut may play well to Eskom’s wider constituency given that its bloated wage bill is seen as one of its key problems, but De Ruyter has not been leading by example on the pay front.
The Financial Mail reported in January this year that even though Nampak shareholders had not received a dividend for three years, and the share price was then less than one-third of what it was at the end of 2014, Nampak executives con-
tinued to be handsomely rewarded, De Ruyter pocketing R51-million in a three-year period.
Shareholder activist Theo Botha told the FM that executive incentives were kept high, despite the poor per-formance, by the remuneration com-mittee, which lowered the targets used to calculate bonuses “in each of the last three years”.
Scroll back a few years before De Ruyter joined Nampak and we fi nd him as a Sasol group executive cham-pioning the ambitious Lake Charles project in Louisiana to investors on April 9 2013 in New York.
“This is a unique opportunity for Sasol. It is, as [chief executive] David [Constable] said, an opportunity to spend three quarters of our market capitalisation, significantly grow this business in a very short period of time and build up Sasol to a really higher level of performance both in terms of profitability and volume,” he said.
“But it also presents challenges. We don’t underestimate that spending this amount of money in a responsi-
The former head of stressed Nampak has been brought in to set right the floundering utility
ble way, making sure that we deliver value to shareholders is going to be a challenge. We are very well posi-tioned both in terms of markets as well as our execution capability to meet these challenges in the right way.
“So first of all, let me draw your attention to the cracker, as I men-tioned. That is 1.55-million tons, truly world scale. I think it is right there at the size limitation. However, we are not taking a scale of risk. We have taken a design that has already been executed, so essentially, an off -the-shelf design that we are going to take and implement. It’s been done before, so we are not taking undue scale at risk on that.
De Ruyter put the total capital cost of the project between $5-billion and $7-billion.
“The question is: How do we build this? And this is not a challenge that we take lightly, because if you look at megaprojects irrespective of where you are in the world, they are very challenging. And they typi-cally have a history of cost overruns,
of delays, of all sorts of challenges that crop up and eventually depress the IRR [internal rate of return] that you’re able to achieve on such a project.”
De Ruyter moved to Nampak the following year and so cannot be held responsible for the delays and huge cost overruns, which have plagued what is now a $13-billion project. The Sasol board at the end of October this year fired its joint chief executives Bongani Nqwababa and Stephen Cornell, and acknowledged that Lake Charles had tarnished the whole company.
I asked a colleague of De Ruyter’s who had worked with him at Sasol what his strengths are. “He knew coal contracts originally at
Sasol, then ran gas development in Mozambique and chemicals over-seas. A strategic procurement guy, a bargainer. Will sort out coal pro-curement, REIPP [renewable energy independent power producers] price excesses [and] corruption.”
Gordhan said that a holder of various qualifi cations, including an LLB and MBA, the Pretoria-born De Ruyter “is an accomplished chief executive with deep and wide expe-riences in creating and managing highly-performing businesses”.
“He spent more than 20 years with petrochemicals group Sasol in a number of senior management roles that gave him signifi cant global expo-sure in the energy and chemicals industries. His portfolio included overseeing work in the US, Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Germany and China.”
Gordhan said De Ruyter will work with the Eskom board, management and the government to spearhead the re-organisation of Eskom, which includes its separation into three entities (generation, transmission and distribution) as well as the crea-tion of Eskom Holdings.
“As things stand I am reassured that there is committed and capa-ble leadership at Eskom in the chief financial officer (Calib Cassim) and the chief operating offi cer (Jan Oberholder), who, among others, have all been working tirelessly under the leadership of Jabu Mabuza over the past few months,” Gordhan said.
“I am confi dent that [De Ruyter] will lead a committed and capable management team that will work with him and the board to take Eskom forward.”
Nampak’s disappearing share value suggests that De Ruyter had, at best, a limited horizon at the packag-ing company.
Could the fact that Eskom is already at ground zero suggest that the only way for the utility under De Ruyter’s leadership is up, or is this hoping for too much?
Graphic: JOHN McCANN Data sources: NAMPAK, JSE
... but the packager’s share price has been on a downward trajectory since 2015Nampak sends a surprise package to Eskom ...
2021 202220202014 2015 2016 2017 2018 20190
10
20
30
40
R50 André de Ruyter appointed as CEO designate from Jan 1 2014.Nampak share price closes that week at R40.92
(Friday Jan 3 2014)
Share price almost reaches R45but closes at R44.84 (Friday Nov 28 2014)
De Ruytertakes over asCEO on Apr 12014. Shareprice closes at R37that Friday (Apr 4 2014)
De Ruyter announced as Eskom CEO.Share price closes at R7.35 that day (Nov 18 2019)
If this trend continues, would the share price fall to zero in
early 2021?
Andréde Ruyter
COMMENTKevin Davie
We are used to seeing how law-abiding people can quickly turn into looters picking up all they can carry while hapless shopkeepers stand hopelessly by.
But there are other looters. Listen to the public enterprises minister, Pravin Gordhan, who told parliamentarians this week of a R27-billion invoice for work on two of Eskom’s new plants. But when it was interrogated by fi nancial experts, it reduced to just R2.7-billion.
Or, have you heard of the 131 Eskom employees who are alleged to have done business with their employer, acquiring wealth of R5.7-billion in the process, as detailed by the public enterprises department in its road-map document, which lays out a better energy future for the coun-try. That’s R43.5-million each, assuming the spoils were equally shared.
After a visit to the Medupi and Kusile power stations in October, the standing committee on public accounts reported governance and contract management problems, including employees doing busi-ness with Eskom, no paper trail in most instances to verify supply chain management processes, payments made without work
being carried out and expired con-tracts that were not advertised on time.
If it looks like only those on the inside were on the take, don’t forget that outsiders, led by global consultancies, gorged themselves in the looting fest.
“Eskom has served notice on sev-eral companies and consultancy fi rms for improperly awarded work. Already, Eskom has recov-ered R1-billion from McKinsey and R600-million from Trillian,” the department of public enterprises’ roadmap states.
“Several other consultancies and suppliers are under scrutiny and most recently Eskom has issued court papers against Deloitte Consulting for the setting aside of awards of contracts and recovery of funds amounting to R207-million relating to work done dur-ing 2016.”
Eskom’s latest annual report also lists insiders caught in the feed-ing frenzy. It says: “No offi cial or employee is allowed to do business with Eskom while being employed by Eskom or its subsidiaries. Through an audit process, reme-dial action has been taken against 25 employees who were identifi ed as having business interests in sup-pliers. Seven of these cases have resulted in employee exits; the remainder have relinquished their business interests.”
The report discloses that “a total of 257 new cases were reported through whistleblowing channels during the current year. By the end of March 31 … 118 investiga-tions had been completed, of which 79 relate to whistleblowing cases reported during prior years and 39 to cases reported during 2018/2019.
“Approximately 40% of the completed investigations resulted in sanctions, such as disciplinary action, being recommended.”
An independent company has done lifestyle audits on 365 senior employees, the annual report says, and 12% cases have been handed to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for further investigation.
A total of 1 049 outstanding disciplinary cases relating to pro-curement breaches were unattended to as at April 2018. Of these, 1 004 were fi nalised by April 2019, culminating in 116 employee exits.
Then there are 341 cases of fraud, corruption and irregularities that are under investigation.
Eskom says investigations and disciplinary actions led to the departure of 18 executives and sen-ior managers.
The SIU is also investigating maladministration at Eskom after January 1 2010 in terms of a proc-lamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The investigation places specifi c focus on maladministration and corruption at various power sta-tions, including the construction of Medupi and Kusile through the new-build programme,” Eskom’s annual report says. It began in June last year and involves collabo-ration with other state authorities such as the National Prosecuting Authority and the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Gordhan told Parliament’s public enterprises committee this week that 18 months after the clean-up was initiated, state capture still has its tentacles “in all of these entities”, explaining that once corruption was allowed at the top of an organisation, it became systemic.
The solution, he said, for those who have collectively stolen R1-billion, is to appear in court and in orange overalls. He indicated that another sweep was necessary.
A functioning prosecuting authority, and some of the klepto-crats nattily dressed in orange, will undoutbtedly help, but equally the challenge will be, as the depart-ment of public enterprises’s road-map sets out, to establish a new, independent, transparent and competitive platform to source electricity from multiple suppliers, big and small, that will hopefully keep the system as a whole honest, and thieves and looters at bay.
Gordhan starves the Eskom piranhas
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 27
Comment Analysis&
Politics is a tough business. Not long after his recent resignation as Demo-cratic Alliance leader, Mmusi Maimane took an
economy class seat on a Cape Town to Johannesburg flight immediately behind former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, who, with charac-teristic aplomb, greeted Maimane with the words: “Hey Mmusi, busi-ness class on the way in, economy on the way back, eh?”
Never a truer word said in jest. Political failure can be brutal.
Yet Maimane’s quick retort was no less jocular, but with even more edge: “Yes, but at least I didn’t lose to Japan”, a reference to the Boks’ shock defeat at the opening game of the 2015 World Cup, when De Villiers was captain.
If only Maimane had defined the DA’s vision and values with such sharpness in the run-up to May’s poor performance in the general election he would still be DA leader. But his own ideological shallowness — his basic lack of a political hinter-land and street-wise know-how — was ultimately exposed.
Oratorial poise and panache, and the courage he showed in taking on then president Jacob Zuma toe-to- toe in the National Assembly espe-cially, were never going to be enough to seriously dent the ANC’s big brand in South Africa’s rugged electoral terrain.
When Zuma was deposed, the DA’s underlying divisions on key issues, such as black economic empower-ment and the absence of a clearly articulated value proposition as an alternative government in the face of a reformist Cyril Ramaphosa-led administration, was laid painfully bare in the 2019 election campaign.
Maimane’s demise was inevitable. Whether this explains, let alone
justifies, the return of Helen Zille is a completely different matter. Her leadership provided strategic clar-ity for eight years from 2007: build on the party’s Western Cape base one city or province at a time, until the case as a government-in-waiting is fully made — underpinned by a Popperite version of liberalism that emphasised equality of opportu-nity and which just about managed to fudge the internal differences of opinion on affirmative action as the basis for socioeconomic redress.
Ironically, when she stepped down in 2015 it was because she was insist-ent that the DA needed a black leader if it was to advance further.
Zille 2019 is a different political proposition from Zille 2015. Her trenchant positions on, among other things, colonialism and her Trumpite promiscuity on Twitter has devalued her brand and sullied her reputation.
The biggest task for John Steenhuisen, the newly elected (interim) leader of the party, will be to convince a wide range of people in the electoral marketplace that he is not Zille’s lackey and that he is the leader, not her.
Steenhuisen has proved to be a first-class parliamentarian when serving as DA chief whip. His grasp of the rules, and his sharp-witted willingness to use them effectively when challenging ANC governmen-tal failings, was as good as anyone who has served in Parliament since the Democratic Party veterans of the 1990s (Colin Eglin, Ken Andrews, Douglas Gibson, Dene Smuts et al), the “gang of seven” DP MPs that ran rings around the ANC (and the National Party rump) in the first democratic Parliament from 1994-95.
They proved that in politics size does not always matter — a small, disciplined, capable, coherent politi-cal party can punch well above its weight.
This is not to suggest that the DA will, or must, contract to its 1990s form. But con-tract it may well do, unless
Steenhuisen is able to develop quickly into a national-level politi-cal leader of the stature and gravitas necessary to convincingly project the DA as more than just a small liberal party.
He is smart, charming and, most importantly for political success and survival, extremely ambitious. Unlike his predecessor, he was born for poli-tics. Maimane’s career diverted from its pastoral path towards a career in politics in his late 20s. While he was gathering a number of tertiary quali-fications, including a master’s degree in theology, Steenhuisen was busy learning politics from the bottom up.
Like many ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters politicians, he knows no other life. This will stand him in good stead as he seeks to steady the DA ship and then reset its strategic and ideological course.
Apart from the spectral shadow cast by Zille, Steenhuisen will also have to nimbly eviscerate his party’s
existential crisis over whether they are a liberal party with social demo-cratic tendencies and the ambition to compete with the ANC, or a just a good old-fashioned liberal party that is happy to play chihuahua nipping at the heels of the big dogs (every multiparty democracy should have one).
Does he, for example, want to win back the 1.5% of DA voters who in May abandoned the centre ground and opted for the nationalist alterna-tive presented by the Freedom Front Plus? Or, given the bad run of by-election results in mainly coloured working-class wards in the Western Cape since the election, perhaps he will opt for rebuilding the party’s base before it contemplates a return to the growth trajectory of the Zille years.
Decisions, decisions. In compari-son, taunting a Zuma-led ANC in Parliament was like shooting fish in a barrel. Welcome to the big league, John.
His first statement on winning the election on Sunday was interesting, because he went out of his way to couple the notion of redress with the fight against poverty. Perhaps he had read columnist Eusebius McKaiser on these pages last week, when he invited Steenhuisen to “rethink and revise some of his views on race and redress” lest he be mistaken for a “Zille-lite”, notwithstanding signifi-cant differences in tone and style.
In turn, Steenhuisen will need to fashion a smarter, more strategic approach to coalitions in the face of the train-smash of Nelson Mandela Bay metro and the on-going dis-comfiture of the Johannesburg and Tshwane metros.
The EFF has had an even more terrible six months since the election. In so far as they were ever real corruption-
busters, the VBS Mutual Bank rev-elations have truly busted their flush. Although they doubled their share of the vote in May, despite the socioeco-nomic context and the opportunity it offered them, the South African elec-torate essentially rejected their neo-fascist, ultrapopulist offering.
The EFF’s high water mark has come and gone. It will be down-hill all the way from here for Julius Malema and his noisy band of fellow travellers.
Which does of course raise ques-tions about the strength and depth of South Africa’s democracy.
Do the travails of the two biggest opposition parties not imply that the ANC can indeed rule until Jesus returns, regardless of how recklessly it chooses to govern?
And thus, does it not strengthen the hand of the scoundrel wing of the ruling party, those “fightback-ers” who are willing to imperil Ramaphosa’s reform programme regardless of the harm it will do to
the economy and its prospects of recovery?
Certainly it is true that during the slide towards state capture, the more far-sighted and thoughtful mem-bers of the ANC leadership would privately express gratitude at the growth path of the DA and the emer-gence of the EFF as a muscular oppo-sition — precisely because it helped their cause in trying to protect the integrity of the ANC against the head-banger barbarians at the gate.
Opposition weaknesses are rel-evant to the bigger concern about an ANC government’s ability to lead South Africa decisively away from the social, economic and fiscal crisis.
The competition for power at municipal level will remain keenly contested, but in the national, and largely in provincial sphere too, we’re back to the place where we were 10 or so years ago: the real opposition is inside the ANC and what is left of its broader alliance.
Or perhaps we never left that place. And unless a new political offering can be imagined and packaged in a way that appeals to the six million young South Africans who did not even register to vote in May, maybe we never will.
Richard Calland is an associate professor in public law at the University of Cape Town and a part-ner in the political risk consultancy, The Paternoster Group
DA, EFF lack the muscle to keep ANC in checkAnd their travails strengthen the scoundrel hand of the anti-Ramaphosa wing of the ruling party
Richard Calland
Graphic: JOHN McCANN
28 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Comment & Analysis
M&G Media Ltd
No defence for sexual abuse
RIGHT OF REPLY Makhosini Mgitywa
My friendship with H u m a n S e t t l e -ments, Water and Sanitation Minis-ter Lindiwe Sisulu
goes back a long way. When I was spokesperson for the National Pros-ecuting Authority, a job that was stressful and dangerous, the biggest supporter I had outside of my family was Sisulu.
She would call or text late at night to check how I was doing. She would tell me when she thought I had done well after seeing me on TV. She would also say in forthright terms if she thought I had said or done some-thing stupid.
It is perhaps timely to say that one meeting with her that stands out in my mind took place when I was head of communication at one of the country’s largest banks. She had requested that I influence my employer to set up a fund for a for-mer employee who had been in an accident that left him with a dis-ability. I was not able to help poet and writer Sandile Dikeni, who died more than a week ago, report-edly after an on-off battle with tuberculosis.
I would later take a matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration against the same employer.
Sitting at home and doing nothing was driving me crazy. I was enter-taining suicidal thoughts. Sisulu called one day to find out how I was doing. After I told her about my bleak situation she asked for a name and number of someone at the bank she could talk to. She made one phone call and a few days later the employer made a settlement offer.
Two years ago I was part of her unsuccessful campaign for ANC president. The campaign was cash-
strapped. At the time she was min-ister for a department with a big budget. One of the main pillars of her campaign was the fight against cor-ruption and maladministration, and she didn’t want state resources being used for her presidential run.
I had numerous disagreements with Sisulu during the campaign. We had a few tense moments, none of which were personal or borne out of disrespect or insubordination. They were always tactical differences between two individuals who were passionate about the task at hand.
Despite that history, a few months ago I was privileged to receive an invitation from Sisulu to join her in her new ministry. The message was clear: she had a mammoth task of turning around the water and sani-tation department and securing the supply of water for all citizens. She identified the communications and public relations function in her min-istry as one of the potential drivers for improved service delivery.
I also have my own reasons for joining the ministry. After the for-mer president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated in 2001 I was sent by the SABC to cover the transition of power and the state funeral. At the hotel where we stayed we were warned never to drink water from the taps. We were in Kinshasa, the country’s capital and economic hub.
The rich were buying clean water. The bad water from the taps was being consumed by the poor — the lucky ones to have tap water. I could never pass up an opportunity to help avoid the same situation repeating itself in my country.
My acceptance of the offer was also informed by an appreciation that water is now a geopolitical com-modity. South Africa will remain at peace with her neighbours in part if the country has sufficient water for
the needs of its growing population, and if our immediate neighbours are equally privileged.
In a few days Sisulu will launch her water and sanitation master plan. Working with departmental officials and her panel of advisers she has been seeking ways of ensuring that our country averts a water crisis. Her plan seeks to “disaster-proof” our country from the devastating effects of the droughts that we so often experience and of climate change.
The Mail & Guardian (“Sisulu ‘plot-ting’ to oust Mabuza”, November 15 to 21 2019) “claims that she is loading her ministry with loyalists in a cam-paign for the deputy presidency”.
Sisulu is a stickler for the ANC’s rules and regulations. For example, she launched her campaign for party president only after the process was formally opened, long after some of her opponents had started.
To suggest that she is “plotting” to replace the ANC deputy president at the party’s national general council next year is bizarre. Only a national conference can elect or remove an ANC office bearer. The narrative by her political opponents was obviously meant to make her look naïve and be the subject of ridicule and scorn.
The headline was unfair and it wasn’t supported by the story. The gratuitous use of the words “plot” and “oust” could place Sisulu’s life in danger. The words may well have come from the sources of the story but placing them in the headline decidedly prejudiced her.
Some of the people who work for Sisulu have been with her for dec-ades, even though she is a tough taskmaster and not easy to work for. They stick with her because she is a caring employer. She also has an unwavering commitment to serve her country and do what is best for it. Some people appreciate that in a leader.
Makhosini Mgitywa is head of com-munications and spokesperson for the ministry of human settlements, water and sanitation
Why I decided to work for Lindiwe SisuluShe is a hard taskmaster but caring, a stickler for rules and committed to serving the country
Hard worker: Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu visits Khayelitsha in 2017. Her portfolio now includes water and sanitation. Photo: David Harrison/Gallo Images/Sunday Times
South Africans have, for a long time, been able to live comfortably knowing our workers have a voice. We have had a strong trade union movement, in which many of the country’s most influential decision-makers — including our president — cut their teeth.
But this illusion of living in a country in which even the most vulnerable workers are protected is just that — an illusion.
Last week, the department of employment and labour announced that a factory, not too far from the Mail & Guardian’s offices, had been operating for years under conditions that can only be described as modern-day slavery.
Workers at the factory (See Page 23) were found to be toiling under appall-ing conditions for only R65 a day. Many were children under the age of 15, working excessive hours in a space with no ventilation and poor lighting, and without wearing protective gear.
The department’s report into the factory found that one worker had some fingers cut off, another had his hand burned and a third was going blind. Gauteng labour inspectors dubbed the site “the horror factory”.
Most of these workers were Malawians, preyed on by a Chinese factory owner. In a country with a history of xenophobic indifference and violence, it is easy to see how the conditions of workers from outside South Africa are overlooked.
But we cannot let these facts prompt us to outsource our disgust.Because the rights of workers in South Africa, and the trade unions that
claim to protect them, are becoming more precarious by the day.The country’s deepening jobs crisis — and a government that has histori-
cally responded by yielding to capital — means that many people expect workers to do their jobs for a pittance. They are expected to back down when they are treated unfairly, and are chided like children by the public and the government when they don’t.
The demeaning minimum wage and new restrictions on the right to go on strike — agreed on by the government and Cosatu, the country’s most power-ful trade union federation — denote one thing: in South Africa, workers’ lives are cheap.
And for many people, South Africans and migrants alike, the country itself is — and always has been — a horror factory.
Jo’burg’s ‘horror factory’
Earlier this month, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the minister of defence and military veterans, wrote a letter in which she announced an investigation into allegations of sexual exploita-tion and abuse in the armed forces. At the same time, she deliv-ered a stinging reprimand to the leaders of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“This approach is because I do not have the confidence that, as the military and especially yourselves, generals and flag officers, will provide me with sat-isfactory reports given that you have been aware of these and turned a blind eye.”
Documents leaked to the Mail & Guardian highlight how pervasive sexual abuse and exploitation is in the defence force (See pages 4 and 5). Over the past 18 months, there have been at least 41 such cases, ranging from rape and assault to harassment and crimen injuria. Of these, 26 have been finalised, resulting in 13 guilty verdicts. But Mapisa-Nqakula’s letter seems to suggest that the problem runs deeper.
“I have become aware of the rampant cases of [sexual assault and exploita-tion] incidents internally in deployment areas, as well as in the working envi-ronment. These are kept under wraps by the commanders.”
It is almost unprecedented for a defence minister to criticise senior officials so publicly. That Mapisa-Nqakula chose to do so indicates the severity of the problem. It would have taken considerable courage for the minister to speak out on this subject, and she is to be commended for doing so.
But this is far from the first time that the defence force has been implicated in sexual abuse.
South African soldiers have been repeatedly implicated in rape and sexual assault committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the SANDF maintains a contingent of peacekeepers — peacekeepers who rape. These allegations date back nearly a decade. Since 2015, the United Nations has recorded 92 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers in the DRC. A third of all cases (34) involved personnel from South Africa.
High levels of gendered violence are a disgraceful, shameful feature of South Africa’s history and present. So, in some ways, it is no surprise that this violence should replicate itself in the ranks of the defence force — or that soldiers perpetrate this violence on the vulnerable people they are supposed to protect.
As protestors pointed out earlier this year in countrywide demonstrations, gender-based violence is an epidemic that needs to be addressed with great haste.
The defence minister’s investigation into sexual exploitation and abuse in the defence force is a good place to start. But this investigation cannot ignore abuses committed by South African soldiers against civilians in other coun-tries. To do so would be to risk entrenching and endorsing this behaviour.
Comment & Analysis
Jinxed by the Ingonyama board
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 29
VERBATIM“Solving the problems of South Africa won’t come
about through the pigmentation of our skin. It is going to come about with all of us working together to ensure that we adhere to ethical and credible leadership.” — ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe responding to complaints that the appointment of the new Eskom chief executive, Andre de Ruyter, is racist.
“We know what we’re after and we have strategies to
get us there. You will see some of these strategies unfolding. Some will be pretty obvious… our time horizon is long. We have to hold those responsible for state capture responsible and not only those who did the dirty work. So many people were on the band-wagon. My mantra to my team is: ‘Focus’. ” — Hermione Cronje, the head of the National Prosecuting Au-thority’s investigative directorate, as-suring South Africans that progress on state capture is being made and events will start unfolding soon.
“Corrupt politician Adam Schiff ’s lies are growing by the
day. Keep fi ghting tough, Republi-cans, you are dealing with human scum who have taken Due Process and all of the Republican Party’s rights away from us during the most unfair hearings in American History. But we are winning big, and they will soon be on our turf. — United States President Donald Trump tweeting about the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
“SAA doesn’t have enough cash to possibly even pay sal-
aries at the end of the month. Not only will people not get increases but they might not even get their salaries.” — Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan speaking at a parliamentary briefi ng on Wednes-day. The strike by National Union of Metalworkers of SA and the SA Cabin Crew Association was in its fi fth day on Tuesday. The airline announced it may have to cut up to 944 jobs.
YEARS AGO
The National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) and Volkswagen SA (VWSA) have reached a multifaceted agree-ment which will change manage-ment structures and establish a new relationship between man-agement and worker.
The agreement aims to develop Volkswagen SA to become a world-class performer as tariff protection cuts threaten to take a huge bite out of motor manufac-turers’ market share.
For Numsa chief negotiator Gavin Hartford the agreement set a “new benchmark” for the union. The Iron and Steel Workers’ Union is also party to the agreement.
The agreement, concluded after several months of in-plant negotiations, broadly means that union and management will work jointly to ensure the growth of VWSA.
Other key features of the agreement include the increased production to 100 000 units a year, employment protection and the promotion of education, training and development of employees. — The Weekly Mail & Guardian, November 18 to 24 1994
My two days of wading through court papers and no story is like Small James’ ordeal trying to get an SAA flight home from Lagos
Tuesday.
My back and eyes are aching. The bulk of the past two days has been spent hunched over the
laptop, crawling my way through page after page of court papers. The high court application to halt the Ingonyama Trust Board’s (ITB’s) programme to convert permission to occupy certificates into residen-tial leases is fi nally being heard on Friday.
As a result, since mid-morning on Monday, I’ve been wading my way through a seemingly endless lake of legal documents — heads of argu-ments, affidavits, legal precedents — from the applicants in the case, the ITB, the co-operative governance and land reform department and the house of traditional leaders.
It made sense to read all of this again before starting to write any-thing. It’s been a while since the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) fi rst filed its application on behalf of Lawrence Zikhali and other resi-dents of Ingonyama Trust land, who have been joined in the case by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and the Rural Women’s Movement.
There’s a lot of narrative to recall, along with a load of technical argu-ment, so a re-read of everything is essential. There’s the heads of argu-ment, laying out the key thrust of
Paddy Harper
the legal arguments by each of the parties that have been waiting to be read since last week. It’s a lot, but a credible job requires that each of the several thousand pages involved gets read — at least once — so here I am, hunchbacked.
Finally, I’m done with the last head of argument, the ITB’s. I get a coff ee going, get ready to start writing.
There’s been a considerable amount going on with the ITB since the fi rst papers were fi led, which also has to be factored in.
Two of the ITB’s board members bailed a couple of months ago ahead of the submission of the board’s annual report to Parliament, which
now wants the board to give it a breakdown of all the money it has allocated to residents. The board in turn says it is only accountable to government for its budget allocation, and not for money it takes in from leases or concessions.
There have also been meetings between the rural development and land reform minister, Thoko Didiza, and King Goodwill Zwelithini, on whose behalf the board administers the land — and issues the leases — on the sidelines of the case. Some serious juggling lies ahead, but I’m game.
I check my mail. There’s a note from the LRC.My heart drops. There’s a leaden
feeling in my stomach, a sick emptiness.
I start sweating.Friday’s hearing is off . The provin-
cial judge president wants the matter heard by a full Bench over two con-secutive days, so Friday won’t hap-pen. There’s no suitable date avail-able between now and the end of the court’s last session of the year, so the
matter is likely to be heard only in March.
I feel the blood draining from my face. This is not cool. No hearing means no story. I’ve just spent two days crippling and blinding myself for nothing. By the time the case sits several months will have passed. I’ll have to read this all over again come March.
That’s not the only issue. There’s a “two days of work” hole in the paper with my name on it. I need to come up with a replacement story — and quickly — preferably before I break the bad news to the lahnees in Jo’burg. There are a couple of things I put on hold so I could work the ITB story, but making them work for this week means I’m not going to get much sleep between now and Thursday.
The cellphone goes.It’s Small James, one of my sons.
He’s fi nally almost home from Lagos after just more than three days of try-ing to get a fl ight back to South Africa.
My bundle of joy was among those who got caught up in the mayhem of the SAA strike. James was booked on a fl ight to Jozi on Saturday and, like thousands of others, found himself stranded in a foreign country while the national carrier and the trade unions slug it out.
Unlike most people stranded by the strike, Small James was lucky. The people he was working with were happy to look after him, so he ended up having a free holiday and visit to the Shrine while he waited for a fl ight home. The day and a bit of a detour spent in Dubai can’t have been much fun, but at least James is on the way home.
I don’t see SAA surviving — at least not in its present form. Throwing money at the national carrier doesn’t make it profitable. It never has. Selling it looks like the only option.
Perhaps we can fi nd a buyer willing to take on such a money trap.
Perhaps.
Bucks: King Goodwill Zwelithini is the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust, to which residents have paid millions of rands in rent and leases
I need to come up with a replacement story – and quickly – preferably before I break the bad news to the lahnees in Jo’burg
30 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Comment & Analysis
Chinese South Africans fight hate speechHATE SPEECH Mellisa Fan
Twelve individuals are before the Equality Court for hateful and discrimi-natory speech directed at the Chinese community.
Not only was the speech harmful and degrading, it also deepened old wounds. The effects of such discrim-ination is deeply hurtful. Yet, much of this suffering has been rendered almost invisible.
The case, which was brought by The Chinese Association (TCA) and began in the high court (sit-ting as an equality court) in March, concerns comments posted on the Facebook pages of Carte Blanche and the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary in early 2017. The 12 are accused of hate speech, harassment and unfair discrimination.
The hate speech includes state-ments that Chinese are “not human”, are “vile and barbaric” and that South Africa should “get rid” of them. Further statements are that they should be “wipe[d] out” and that “we should start killing their children”.
When the case resumes on November 25, the TCA will present evidence on the harmful, hurtful and discriminatory effects of these comments on the local Chinese com-munity, both South African born Chinese people and immigrants.
“Many South Africans don’t know the history of Chinese in this country — the contributions we have made and the pain we have suffered,” says Francis Lai Hong, deputy chairper-son of the TCA.
The association brought the case
on behalf of about 40 organisations and people including the All Africa China Association, the South African Chinese Enterprises Association, the China-Africa Women’s Association, the South African Guangzhou Association of Trade and Cultural Exchange and the Sino South African Chamber of Commerce.
The TCA seeks an unconditional apology, an interdict preventing similar future speech, damages, the rendering of community service to monitor and remove anti-Chinese hate speech on social media, and that the respondents attend sensiti-sation training offered by the South African Human Rights Commission.
To paint a clearer picture, one needs to look at the history of the Chinese population, which dates back to the 1660s. At that time there were laws against the Chinese to limit their economic activities. When Chinese labourers were brought into the country as indentured labour in the 19th century, attacks on their race and culture began in earnest.
In their book Colour, Confusion and Concessions: The History of the Chinese in South Africa, Melanie Yap and Dianne Leong Man show that, at the time, newspaper headlines used words such as “heathens”, “moral plagues” and “human rubbish” to label all Chinese people.
Unsurprisingly, the Chinese, as second class citizens, faced similar restrictions as other “non-whites” during apartheid when racial dis-crimination was at its peak.
We are now well into the 21st cen-tury and without any racist legisla-tion, yet mindsets remain. Much of the hate speech that is the focus of
the present court case mirrors that used in the headlines of the 1880s. These words are used to dehuman-ise us. The negative stereotypes and misconceptions about our race and culture are still being propagated so that we continue to have to endure mockery in all areas of our lives, whether at school, at work or just trying to get our shopping done.
The effect of this prolonged dis-crimination has been deep and last-ing, but we have suffered mostly in silence because of our status as a minority among minorities, which makes it more difficult for our voices and narratives to be heard.
Furthermore, many of us were taught to “keep our heads down” such that if we focus our energy on work-ing hard we will thrive. But the real-ity is that our efforts are wasted when we are alienated and made out to be inferior.
As a result of discrimina-tion, many Chinese people may have distanced them-selves from their own cul-
ture as a survival mechanism to feel more accepted. Future generations may then be conditioned to favour the dominant culture and see their own as inferior. This is not to say that all deviations from our culture are wrong, as long as it is done out of free will. And we are denied the dynamic identity of being both Chinese and South African. Discrimination implies that as long as our culture dif-
fers, we are not welcome and we will not be considered South African.
Distancing oneself from one’s cul-ture may seem passive, but it can also lead to an internalisation of rac-ism. Chinese people may then take part in the alienation of individuals who choose to embrace their culture, and this may further invalidate those individuals’ experiences of racism. These dynamics cause rifts and inter-nal conflict in the community where individuals are preoccupied with dif-ferentiating themselves instead of trying to find common ground and embracing a shared ancestry. The result is a loss of collective identity and a sense of belonging.
Growing up, many of us have struggled to find others with similar backgrounds to allow us to form real connections and feel accepted. Some of us found ourselves feeling discon-nected to our culture and our people, while simultaneously struggling to be seen as South African. Despite having come here more than 300 years ago, many of the Chinese popu-lation are still seen as foreigners, and some people are even surprised that we can speak English.
Aside from social harm, discrimi-nation also causes mental and emo-tional damage because it affects one’s self-esteem. Additionally, loss of identity and a lack of belonging lead to feelings of isolation and lone-liness. Sometimes, what’s worse than the discrimination itself is the lack of validation that it is happening.
What puts the Chinese minority at a higher risk of feeling isolated is the fact that the culture is a highly col-lective one. Often we tend to have a higher regard for others and depend more on one another for self-regula-tion and feelings of safety. Also, the mental well-being of the commu-nity is worrying because many of us are reluctant to admit when we are struggling.
This may stem from the fear of being criticised by others and so we are taught to keep pushing our-selves. Although it may be done with good intentions, this can worsen the condition of those who are already feeling alone and pushed to the edge. It is likely that many of us have concealed our anxiety and depression.
The case against hate speech is about fighting for the dignity of the Chinese, holding people who have behaved in a hateful way to account for their actions, and creating understanding about the social and psychological effect of such behav-iour and speech. Words of hate are rooted in racial discrimination that should no longer be a part of South African society.
We need to embrace true toler-ance — which is not to deny the existence of differences but to cel-ebrate these and realise that with differences, we are all human.
Mellisa Fan, a psychology honours graduate, is a Chinese South African
Rich history: Chinese South Africans take part in New Year celebrations at the Nan Hua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, in February 2013. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
Defence and democracy are good bedfellowsRIGHT OF REPLY Simphiwe Hamilton
The South African Aerospace Maritime Defence Industries Association (AMD) has as one of its primary objectives the represen-tation of the entire South African defence industry. This it does par-ticularly in matters relating to trade and of regulatory nature. The organi-sation also acts as an official spokes-person for the industry, hence our response to the Mail & Guardian’s editorial “Arms against democracy” dated November 8 2019.
The M&G needs to acknowledge the strides made by, and the lead-ership of, the government and the defence industry in the field of arms control as enabler of the protection of human rights and as an integral part of the international arms trade.
In the past 25 years of the new South African arms export history, this country and its industry have never once been found wanting or
to have violated any United Nations regulations in relation to human rights or to have traded in a man-ner that was not compliant and thus detrimental to human rights and regional stability.
This is adequate proof that the South African arms control regime and systems are not only functional but also that they meet the highest international and moral standards.
Our leadership is soundly estab-lished, with South Africa not only being the only country in the world to have denuclearised but also in that the official leading the (global) Arms Trade Treaty organisation in Geneva is the former head of the South African arms control secretar-iat at the Directorate of Conventional Arms Control. This clearly shows the world’s confidence in the South African government, as well as our legislative and regulatory prowess.
In principle the defence industry values and respects the commitment and responsibilities of the govern-
ment in relation to compliance and the enforcement of related obliga-tions emanating from international treaties and national legislation.
Furthermore, the defence industry not only voluntarily complies with such measures but actually sees com-pliance as a competitive advantage that establishes it as a reputable and responsible industry.
It is for this reason that the defence industry, with Denel as an integral part thereof, shall always act as an interlocutor between the regulatory regime and its clients by ensuring that the latter are not only informed
of compliance issues in line with South African legislation but are also assisted to comply optimally.
The AMD, with respect, thus disa-grees with your editorial’s assertion that Denel is merely a “rebranded” apartheid-era entity. The South African National Defence Force and many other state institutions and state-owned entities have the same historical origin of being inher-ited from the previous apartheid regime, and you’d then have them viewed in the same light.
The reality is that the democratic government has transformed all these institutions and organisa-tions in line with our constitution-ally defined principles. The value of Denel and the arms industry as contributors to South Africa’s gross domestic product, jobs and tax rev-enues needs to be acknowledged.
Defence and democracy are not strange bedfellows; they are mutu-ally reinforcing and interdependent and should be managed and treated
as such. Like other democratic coun-tries, South Africa should be allowed to, and strive to have, a credible and well-resourced defence capability along with the complimentary defence industrial base, which has significant economic multipliers, technologi-cal spin-offs and direct cross-sectoral enhancers that enable tourism, rail safety, mine safety and even disaster management, as well as an innate potential to propel the country into the fourth industrial revolution.
The time has come for all South Africans — including the media — to cease with the senseless demonisa-tion of the defence community and to accept that there is no anomaly in a democratic South Africa having a defence capability (both in the form of the armed forces and the associ-ated industry) and to rather embrace and harness it to the best benefit of our country and people.
Simphiwe Hamilton is executive director of AMD
Despite having come to the country 300 years ago, hateful comments were made online
The AMD ... disagrees with your editorial’s assertion that Denel is merely a “rebranded” apartheid-era entity
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 31
Comment & Analysis
MEDIA Mark M Nelson
Almost everywhere one looks, the news media is in crisis. And although a robust free press is fundamental to a well-functioning democracy, the world’s democratic governments are doing too little to protect it.
Media outlets worldwide are strug-gling to adapt their business models to the digital age, with newspapers, collapsing partly because of the loss of advertising revenues. Without trusted publications, readers become susceptible to false narratives and sensationalist clickbait. As quality journalism is marginalised, political leaders can dismiss unflattering cov-erage as “fake news” and the lack of a shared set of facts erodes trust in democracy and the rule of law.
The dominant model of media ownership is “media capture”, whereby political leaders and their wealthy cronies use it to advance their authoritarian designs and busi-ness interests. Without trusted media holding government and business to account, corruption flourishes.
The feeble response to this crisis by the world’s democracies reflects more a lack of political will than a lack of solutions.
One lever for addressing it is for-eign and security policy. Democratic governments should recognise attacks on press freedom and use measures such as diplomatic isola-tion, denial of visas and sanctions to put pressure on perpetrators to meet their obligations under international law to uphold freedom of expression.
Momentum for such action may be building. In July, Canada and the United Kingdom launched a media freedom initiative, which calls on countries to sign a pledge to take co-operative action when media free-dom is at risk. The following month, France included the issue on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Biarritz.
A second lever for addressing the problem is official development assistance. In 2018, less than 0.5% of the $150-billion that the world’s richest countries spent on develop-ment assistance went to addressing media freedom. That share could be increased meaningfully — say, to 1%,
as a group of media-support organi-sations has advocated — without cut-ting significantly into spending in other areas.
Raising development assistance for the media could help to advance other development goals. A media industry captured by vested interests impedes economic reform, precludes political compromise and under-mines social cohesion. For countries struggling to build or maintain a democratic system of governance, a robust free press is indispensable.
Sudan is confronting precisely these challenges as it attempts to build a democracy in the wake of Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year dictator-ship. During such fraught political transitions, newly liberated media organisations often align themselves with a particular party or faction, reinforcing deep and paralysing fis-sures. In a country where ethnic, cul-tural, and religious discrimination has fuelled brutal civil wars, the risks should not be underestimated.
Yet, so far, the international com-munity has done far too little to aid Sudan’s media development and
reform efforts. As Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok argued at September’s United Nations gen-eral assembly, donors must “revise their priorities” and support media reforms in countries like his. These efforts — along with building an independent judiciary, reversing the economy’s decline and addressing the Bashir regime’s crimes — are crit-ical to a successful transition, he said.
Among donors’ priorities, in Sudan and elsewhere, should be helping to address governance weaknesses — economic, political, and institutional — that leave media vulnerable. That means assisting governments in reforming or strengthening media laws, building institutions and secur-ing political support for democratic media governance. Development institutions such as the World Bank and the UN Development Programme can help here.
Media development organisations also have a role to play — for example, in helping local outlets to strengthen newsroom management and ensure high journalistic standards. Fortunately, many highly competent
organisations stand ready to contrib-ute. Donor governments should facil-itate these contributions, including by using their influence to discour-age aid recipients from interfering in media development work. With additional investment, they could also ensure that the work of media development organisations — such as the European Journalism Centre in the Netherlands or Deutsche Welle Akademie in Germany — comple-ments the broader development agenda.
Mark M Nelson is the senior director of the Centre for International Media Assistance
DEVELOPMENT George Lwanda
With almost 60% of its population under the age of 25, Africa is the world’s youngest
region. Yet young people are often left behind. They face inadequate economic opportunities and may be socially or politically excluded. Unless this is addressed, achieving many of the United Nations sus-tainable development goals will be impossible.
When young people are active in their societies, economies and poli-tics, they are not only more produc-tive, they also contribute to stabil-ity and development. This is all the more true on a continent where there will be more than 830-million young people by 2050.
And yet, the median age of African leaders is 62, older than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development median. In South Africa’s general election, held in May, 46% of the nine million eligible voters who did not register to vote were aged 20 to 29, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
Young people account for 60% of Africa’s unemployed. In North Africa, the rate of youth unemploy-ment averages 25%. The rate is lower in sub-Saharan Africa because it does not include the large num-
ber of young workers in vulnerable employment or who are underem-ployed in informal sectors.
The United Nations Development Programme’s Africa Centre wants to help change this, thereby ena-bling the world to advance the core sustainable development goals’ mis-sion to leave no one behind. That is why we have been developing a youth socioeconomic and politi-cal disengagement index made up of 10 equally weighted indicators, from education status and cash income to voting in elections or even participating in protests or demonstrations.
The index, which uses merged data from the Afrobarometer sur-veys, covers 12 countries: Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It also offers at least three broad messages that should guide policymaking.
The first is that the expansion of economic, social, and political freedoms can be a boon for youth engagement. From 2001 to 2016, the proportion of disengaged youth across the 12 countries fell from 12% to 6%, on average — and the num-ber of indicators on which they were disengaged fell from four to three. These gains are strongly correlated with improvements in freedom.
In Mali, for example, youth engagement spiked in 2001, 2005 and 2008 — during a 12-year period
when United States-based watchdog organisation Freedom House classi-fied the country as “free,” in terms of political rights and civil liberties. In 2012, when Freedom House down-graded Mali to “not free,” engage-ment declined by 7%. The country recaptured that lost 7% in 2016, three years after it was categorised as “partly free”.
But limited freedom is not the only impediment to political and socio-economic engagement among young people. African countries’ enduring failure to build robust, diversified economies that are insulated against commodity-price volatility is also hampering progress.
This is the second message of the socioeconomic and political disen-gagement index.
After Malawi launched its first commercial mining operations, the proportion of disengaged youth fell from 68% in 2008 to 45% in 2012. But, in 2014, mining operations were suspended in response to declining global uranium prices. Youth dis-engagement skyrocketed, reaching 65% in 2016.
Overall — and this is the socio-economic and political disengage-ment index’s third message — while progress is being made in boosting
political and socioeconomic engage-ment among young people, it is not happening nearly fast enough. The share of Africa’s young peo-ple who were not in employment, education or training — so-called NEETs — fell by only 7% from 2005 to 2016, at which point nearly half (47%) remained idle. At this rate, it will take at least 40 years for the 12 socioeconomic and political disen-gagement index countries merely to halve the proportion of NEETs.
This would effectively torpedo sus-tainable development goal eight: “To promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.”
That failure would hamper pro-gress toward other goals, from the first one (“end poverty in all its forms everywhere”) to the 16th (“promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels”).
Moreover, limited youth engage-ment is likely to fuel social and political instability. According to the World Bank, 40% of people who join rebel movements are motivated by too few economic opportunities.
For African governments — and their international partners — boost-ing political and socioeconomic engagement among young people is crucial. The socioeconomic and political disengagement index can help to guide action, by showing who exactly is being left behind, and by enabling relevant actors to monitor progress and adjust their strategies accordingly.
George Lwanda, a regional pro-gramme and policy adviser with the United Nations Development Programme’s Africa Centre, is a 2018 Asia global fellow at Hong Kong University’s Asia Global Institute and an alumnus of the Mo Ibrahim-SOAS University of London Gov-ernance for Development in Africa Initiative
Africa mustn’t leave its youth in the lurchCountries must take steps to build young people’s social, political and economic involvement
End the global media crisis to build democracy
Need for progress: The involvement of young people in their societies, economies and politics contribute to a country’s stability and development. Photo: Joe Penney/Reuters
32 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Comment & Analysis
LITERATURE Lily Saint
Namwali Serpell’s novel The Old Drift arrives at a moment in contempo-rary African literature deeply committed to
revisiting the past. The thicket of historical novels released in recent years overwhelms: Yvonne Owuor’s Dust (2013), Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu (2014), Yaa Gyasi’s Homego-ing (2016), Novuyo Tshuma’s House of Stone (2018), Ayesha Attah’s The Hundred Wells of Salaga (2019), and Wayétu Moore’s She Would Be King (2019) were joined most recently by Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (already optioned for cinema).
What’s more, these recent nov-els join a field already populated by breakout historical hits such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness (2000). Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) is itself a historical novel so we could even argue that the African novel emerges precisely to address the problem of history.
When theorised, the historical novel is most frequently understood as a nationalist undertaking that affirms the nation through literature or, as is the case more recently with various postcolonial historical nov-els, critiques it, excoriating its mate-rial and political failures.
True to form, The Old Drift tells mainly a Zambian history. And like many historical novels, this history unfolds through a series of inter-connected chapters that trace one sprawling Zambian family’s 20th century. What counts as Zambian is complicated from the start, because the white paterfamilias, who recounts his arrival at Victoria Falls in 1901, is a mediocre racist British colonialist who stays on to become a postcard photographer.
As the novel progresses, its Zambian ambit includes the family’s Italian, British and Indian branches, as well as the Tonga and Bemba ones. Zambia’s proximity to Zimbabwe — “Zim or Zam?” one character asks — forms another theme in the book so that Zambia’s history is always local and pan-African; matriarchal and patrilinear; international, multilin-gual and interracial. But it is the sto-ries of individuals that flesh out the trajectory of the nation.
We meet people from across the social and economic and racial spectrum: sex workers who become hairdressers, HIV researchers, dam builders, teachers, tennis players, wig sellers — and even the astro-nauts who spearheaded Zambia’s space race to the moon, which Serpell has written about here. For Serpell writes actual history.
As she puts it in the book’s acknowledgements, “The Old Drift includes many fictions and quite a few facts,” a central one of which is the monumental fact of the Kariba Dam. Located on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Kariba Dam forms the world’s larg-est man-made reservoir still in con-tinual use for hydroelectric power.
Two improbable lovers escape Italy early in the novel to administer the construction of the dam. Circuitously tracing the dam’s disastrous history, Serpell recalls the deaths involved in its construction in 1958, six years before Zambia’s independence.
“So many men” died — the majority of whom were African locals. Some “died in a collapsed tunnel” while others “plunged seventy metres into wet concrete when a platform col-lapsed”. Joan Didion, in a brief essay
on the Hoover Dam, also recalls the men who lost their lives “to make the desert bloom”. But unlike at the Hoover Dam, on the borders of the states of Nevada and Arizona, where a plaque memorialises these losses, Serpell’s novel must do this salvage work in fiction instead, because the state has buried these everyday his-tories beneath the more triumphal-ist fictions of national progress and technological advance.
As the gravestones at The Old Drift burying ground bemoan, so many of the dead resurrected in this
novel are otherwise “Unknown. Unknown.”
The dam’s creation relocated wild-life — “lions, leopards, elephants, antelopes, rhinos, zebras, warthogs, even snakes” — and the project forced about 57 000 Tonga to reset-tle elsewhere. Their displacement on less arable lands had dire and ongo-ing economic consequences, made even harder by the periodic flooding caused by the new dam.
And so at the book’s end, set in the near future, Serpell imagines that the descendants of those who constructed Kariba Dam inadvert-
ently become those who destroy it, annihilating this enormous symbol of exploitation and devastation. A trio of friends (and lovers) — Jacob, Joseph and Naila — set out to protest against the government’s increasing technological control over everyday life, but instead they bring about a flood of biblical proportions acciden-tally terminating the family line by drowning Naila, the story’s last preg-nant protagonist.
A novel this large in scope, that plays with genre, too, defies neat review. But its turn at the end to an Afro-future freed of this symbol of man’s dominance over the natural world aligns neatly with its focus throughout the rest of the book on a host of other technological dreamers.
In addition to the Zambian astro-nauts, one character makes the development of an AIDs vaccine the centrepiece of his life’s work, while his illegitimate son works furiously to perfect new drone technology. (Here is another instance of Serpell’s art imitating life, because drones are used on the continent for delivering medicine to remote areas.)
The historical novel exists then to help us understand our present as much as our past, so we might envi-
sion other schemes for thinking about tomorrow that extend beyond the quarantine of our present. Her focus on the innovators who have dared to think otherwise is no exception.
But a postmodern narrative thread operates like an intermittent Greek chorus to comment on the characters in the novel through the collective voice of a swarm of mosquitoes. They caution us about the role played by accident in history’s haphazard tra-jectory, with the mistaken destruc-tion of the dam providing one such example. What causes things to hap-pen is not only the forces of domina-tion, racial capitalism, and patriar-chy that the novel interrogates, but also what the mosquitoes praise as “that tiny chaos”, randomness and error that disrupt political and social agendas. This force of mishap and misrule renders the future opaque, reminding us, too, that the past is as heterogeneous and unpredictable as any future we dare imagine.
This is an edited version of an article that was first published on Africa is a Country. Lily Saint is the author of Black Cultural Life in South Africa: Reception, Apartheid, and Ethics
Historical novel tests notion of nationThe past explains the present but not the future because ‘that tiny chaos’ makes the future opaque
Future imperfect: The Old Drift’ includes the construction of Kariba Dam (above), under which histories were buried and 57 000 people dislocated
Comment & Analysis* Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 33
POLITICS Kolawole Olaniyan
Since assuming power on May 29 2015, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has shown a stun-ning disregard for the rule
of law and human rights, ignoring judges on at least 40 occasions.
He seems to be getting away with it.
The fight against corruption has been an important facet of his rheto-ric but his persistent disobedience of court orders, disdain for judges and flagrant violations of human rights under his watch puts into question his commitment to ending fraud.
It’s hard to overstate the sig-nificance of this disregard of court orders not just for the operation of the rule of law but also effec-tive respect for constitutional and international human rights, such as freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association and access to information.
Buhari ’s attorney general , Abubakar Malami, once said the rule of law is what the authorities deter-mine it to be.
But only an independent and impartial tribunal has the author-ity to correct any perceived errors of law of lower courts, not the attorney general.
Court orders that are yet to be com-plied with include those obtained by human rights lawyer Femi Falana, particularly the judgment by
Nigerian courts ordering the release of Islamic Movement of Nigeria leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah, from unlawful detention.
Similarly, the government’s State Security Service continues to arbi-trarily detain activists Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare, who called a national protest, despite court orders that they should be released on bail.
Other high-profile judgments the authorities are refusing to obey include at least four obtained by the anti-corruption and human rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project. The first is the judgment by Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari ordering the govern-ment to tell Nigerians about the sto-len assets it allegedly recovered, with details of the amounts recovered.
The second judgment, by Justice Mohammed Idris, ordered the gov-ernment to publish details of the spending of stolen funds recovered by successive governments since the return of democracy in 1999.
The third judgment, by Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor, ordered the immediate release of details of payments of billions of naira to all defaulting and allegedly corrupt elec-tricity contractors and companies since 1999.
The fourth judgment, by Idris, ordered Buhari to prosecute sen-ior MPs suspected of padding and stealing N481-billion ($1,33-billion) from the 2016 budget. The court also
ordered Buhari to “direct the publi-cation of the report of investigations by security and anti-corruption bod-ies into the alleged padding of the 2016 budget”.
Despite the clarity of these orders and judgments, the government con-tinues to refuse to obey them, with impunity.
Yet, the rule of law means respect-ing and protecting the human rights of everyone. Without the possibility of judicial protection and strict obe-dience to court orders, the means by which an individual can complain of an abuse of governmental power will be illusory, and human rights will remain a fiction.
The government is already in con-tempt of court regarding these cases, but it is not even pretending to be seeking to appeal the orders and judgments, even though that in itself wouldn’t be a reason for disobeying them.
The government always has expla-nations about why it should not obey lawful court orders, seemingly replacing binding legal decisions with the vagaries of politics, and obeying the decisions whenever they suit it.
The public perception seems to be that the government will only obey court orders if it gets what it wants. Yet, it should never be right for the government to obey the court as a matter of grace. Buhari has to obey the courts as a matter of necessity.
If Nigeria is ever going to comply with its international human rights obligations and commitments, the government has to show respect for the judges.
The courts shouldn’t be treated
Rule of law? What rule of law?Nigeria’s leader ignores court orders to release detainees and provide details of corrupt actions
as the enemy; the judicial process is by far the most effective method of upholding the rights of the individ-ual against public institutions.
The government cannot run to court to obtain detention orders or other favourable decisions only for it to turn around and ignore the orders of the same court.
Former United States president Harry Truman adorned his oval office desk with a sign that read: “The buck stops here.” This sign was Truman’s way of saying that he would accept personal responsibility for the decisions he made and for the consequences of those decisions.
No more excuses: the buck stops with Buhari, because he’s the one with a legal duty to see that his gov-ernment operates within the rule of law, and consistent with Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights obligations.
Indeed, of all the people who have a critical duty to obey court orders, it is the executive. If the govern-ment continues to disobey court orders, the means to hold the execu-tive to account will be blocked, and there will be no way of ensuring that human rights and the rule of law prevail.
Buhari’s example is already having corrosive consequences in several of Nigeria’s 36 states, with governors using the judicial process to target journalists and human rights defend-ers, and also disobeying court orders. This is the case, for example, in Cross River state where the publisher of online news outlet CrossRiverWatch, Agba Jalingo, is arbitrarily detained and facing trial simply for report-ing allegations of corruption involv-
ing the governor. In Kaduna state, human rights defender Chidi Odinkalu is facing charges of “injuri-ous falsehood and incitement” sim-ply because he exercised his right to freedom of expression.
But the implications of failure to obey court orders are much wider, because the National Assembly is also using Buhari’s example to pass repressive laws, the most recent being the hate speech Bill, which pre-scribes death by hanging for alleged hate speech.
Many people see this as an exten-sion of the government’s push to restrict the right to freedom of expression and media freedom, because the minister of information is already pushing to “regulate social media”.
If Buhari is truly committed to fighting corruption and protect-ing individuals against unlawful action by his government, security agents (or other public institutions) and private actors, he must imme-diately obey all court orders and respect human rights. He must ask recalcitrant state governors and the National Assembly to comply with the Constitution and international obligations.
Until this happens, we Nigerians must raise our voices and tell the president loud and clear that he will not get away with disrespecting human rights, the rule of law and treating our courts with contempt.
Kolawole Olaniyan is the author of Corruption and Human Rights Law in Africa and is a legal adviser at Amnesty International’s interna-tional secretariat in London
Failing his people: A portrait of President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos. He has a duty to operate within the rule of law, but has disobeyed numerous court orders. Photo: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP
34 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Education
Nicky Willemse
Two programming apps that don’t require computers played a key role in bringing the world of cod-ing to 11 500 learners across Nelson Mandela Bay in October.
The month-long initiative was the result of a partnership between Nelson Mandela University’s depart-ment of computing sciences, the Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre, and digital solu-tions firm S4 Integration, which teamed up to off er free coding work-shops to learners, most of them from under-resourced schools.
“It was the opportunity of a life-time for some of our kids … allowing them to explore a world of program-ming and the creative use of tech-nology,” said Charles Duna Primary School teacher Jarren Ganhiah.
Twenty-four facilitators used three diff erent programming tools to teach
Coding without computers reaches thousands of learnerscoding to kids: Scratch, a computer-based programming language devel-oped by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, and two apps called Tanks and Boats, which were developed in Port Elizabeth, and which don’t require comput-ers. Learners could go to the Science and Technology Centre for the work-shops, but the facilitators also visited 60 schools to provide basic training.
“Instilling a passion for technology from a young age is what can propel our country so much further,” said S4 Integration development services manager Nico Claassen. “Through the Tanks initiative, we have seen tangible results and can attest the work is [having] a lasting impact.”
Tanks was developed in 2017 by Nelson Mandela University hon-ours student Byron Batteson, who wanted to fi nd a solution to address the shortage of software developers in South Africa.
Batteson’s lecturer, Professor Jean Greyling, helped to make Batteson’s vision a reality, by commercialising and rolling out Tanks. “There are 25 000 schools in South Africa and 16 000 of them don’t have access to computer labs. We want to get to those kids,” said Greyling, who won the university’s Innovation Excellence Award this year, and was also one of the top 10 winners in the SAB Foundation’s Social Innovation Awards, netting a R400 000 award for Tanks.
Tanks essentially takes the form of a puzzle. Working in groups, learners piece together commands on puzzle pieces to move an army tank through a maze and to shoot at obstacles. When learners have completed the puzzle, they photograph it with a cellphone, and a mobile app trans-lates it into coding. They can then progress to a more diffi cult level.
The other app, Boats, created by
local software development com-pany Avocado Chocolate, follows a similar concept, except learners must manoeuvre a boat through obstacles in the ocean to pick up pollution.
“Tanks and Boats allowed the facilitators to visit numerous schools that do not have computer labs,” said Greyling. Tanks was originally devel-oped for children aged eight to 12 and Boats for younger learners, but Greyling has used them successfully with all ages.
“These games are extremely rel-evant in this country, in the context of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s drive to promote coding and robotics in schools,” he said.
Tanks has also attracted interna-tional interest, with Greyling hav-ing been invited to Unesco’s Mobile Learning Week in Paris in March. That same month, it was the runner-up in the Technology Innovation cat-egory at Africa Tech Week.
Academics and teachers in Oldenburg, Germany are piloting Tanks in several schools, and it has also attracted the interest of several African countries.
“There are other coding games that have been developed and introduced in Africa by massive multinationals, but you need computer labs. What I’m saying is that we can do this without labs,” said Greyling.
Over the past two years, Greyling has trained facilitators in every prov-ince to present Tanks workshops at schools — and has also trained unemployed youth to run “coding clubs” in townships, to expose even more learners to coding while gener-ating a small income for themselves.
“For me, this is more than just a game. It has the potential to change people’s lives,” said Greyling.
Nicky Willemse is a freelance journalist
COMMENTYlva Rodny-Gumede
What is the future of the university and higher edu-cation in light of the fourth indus-
trial revolution (4IR)? How will 4IR affect traditional disciplines, the cur-riculum, modes of delivery, research and publications, organisational and management practices and cultures, and campus itself?
The questions raised regarding 4IR and the future of the univer-sity are to a degree universal and shared independently of national or regional settings. Where there are diff erences these are lodged in dif-fering socioeconomic contexts. What is clear is that traditional models of higher education, contents and modes of delivery are being ques-tioned in light of rapid technologi-cal changes and a changing world of work.
What is needed is a redefin-ing of what universities can do and should be doing. They need to think out of the box and beyond the physical walls of lecture halls, university buildings and the cam-pus. And they need to, as best they can, prepare for what former United States secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld famously called the “unknown unknowns” —the unknowns we do not even know
Prepare for the ‘unknown unknowns’
we do not know. Amid the wicked problems of our time, and our own societal and economic context, our education as a whole needs to be rethought, and higher education has a crucial role to play. But not in its traditional form.
What is often emphasised is the need for new skills and an educa-tion system, whether primary or tertiary, that fosters and embraces 21st-century skills often thought of as soft skills aligned to the much talked about four Cs — communi-cation, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration — and a colleague recently also added a fifth C, that of computational intelligence. The latter emphasises how systems are designed to mimic and in some areas even trump the human brain in terms of data processing.
These are all skills important to the 4IR economy that, unlike the knowledge economy of the digital revolution — in which the custo-dians of higher-degree knowledge reigned supreme —will rely on entre-preneurship and innovation.
The question is how such skills can be incorporated into the uni-versity curriculum and, maybe even more importantly, how universities beyond the curriculum can foster, as well as employ, 21st-century skills in all its operations.
Borders are porous and a cur-riculum can no longer be something taught in a classroom or a degree,
and it cannot be owned by just one university, discipline or lecturer. Instead, the teaching project must be seen as an extension of the uni-versity as a whole.
This is dependent on universities not being ivory towers and instead being spaces that connect with the communities they form part of, pro-vide a platform for innovation and experimentation and where com-munication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking is the frame-work for teaching and learning. In this way, teaching will be highly eff ective but at a low cost and pro-vide for students to apply knowledge.
With new online offer-ings and increased opportunit ies for completing whole
degrees online, the teaching role of universities is subsiding and instead students increasingly come on cam-pus to meet other students and to socialise.
In this context classrooms become agoras and forums where people meet to exchange ideas rather than to have content and curricula dictated to them. Instead, lectures in the tradi-tional form will take place off campus and sometimes online, using tech-
nology that augments and enhances the learning experience in ways that provides for customisation and one-on-one tuition. Classrooms continue to be low tech but high energy when students and faculty come together to share and discuss ideas.
Such a model also provides for a curriculum of smaller customised and niched modules that either build up to a degree or that is used for further studies and advanced professionalisation.
Equally, we need to provide for a multitude of formal and informal ways of engaging with the univer-sity and of accessing the university, degrees and individual course off er-ings. The same goes for fl exibility in assessments.
Lifelong learning is about keep-ing the doors of learning institutions open and to have them adapt to the changing needs of the students rather than the other way around. This means providing for students to set their own study pathways, whether this be one of pursuing a full-time degree, a series of short courses, studying alongside a work placement or working full time.
The truth is this is already the reality for most students. Also, no student is the same and no one-size-
fi t-all models of learning will ever work.
No longer can lecture halls and classrooms be the domains of the lone professor who owns both knowledge and modes of deliv-ery. Instead, lecturers have to form teaching teams to share and co-cre-ate knowledge in co-operation with their students, industry and sur-rounding communities.
This will also be the most cost-efficient way of delivering higher education, and might even provide for new ways of income generation, because students will “pay” for a lifelong relationship with mentors and institutions that come along for the ride and that invest in lifelong achievements rather than three-year degrees.
Thus the future of higher educa-tion depends on fl exibility, adapta-tion and use of technology to provide an enhanced learning experience on and off campus, with an emphasis on high-tech but low-cost off -cam-pus solutions and a low-tech but high-energy experience on campus.
Ylva Rodny-Gumede is the head of the International Offi ce and profes-sor in the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg
Universities need to adapt teaching and curricula to cater for the fourth industrial revolution
Graphic: JOHN McCANN
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 35
COMMENTCecilia Sani
My favourite part of my job is when I attend the opening of a new library. I get excited about
the opportunities and possibilities that a library represents to people, especially to the children.
The role of libraries has long since changed from being keepers and pre-servers of books. Now, many librar-ies are vibrant spaces that facilitate information sharing and lifelong learning opportunities with an emphasis on serving residents.
The importance of libraries cannot be over-emphasised, especially when one considers that six out of every 10 South Africans older than 16 live in households without a single book, according to a recent survey by the South African Book Development Council.
Considering the positive effects that reading has on creativity and language skills development, this is a crippling shortcoming.
A shortage of reading materials and textbooks has been identifi ed as among the main reasons that 78% of children in grade 4 cannot read for meaning. Research shows that in 2008, only 60% of the cohort of learners who had started school 12 years earlier had progressed to write their matric exams and, of these, only 37% passed. It is hardly surpris-ing that poor literacy levels in South Africa is such a hot topic.
So, what problems do our librar-ians face in a barely literate society?
Attractive distractions. There is a perception that there are more fun things to do than read. One of the
biggest challenges we face is how to motivate children and adults to read for self-study and pleasure when competing against smartphones, social and other online media, instant messaging, television and computer games.
Information ignorance. Many parents are either unable to or shirk the responsibility of helping their children with school projects. Many children require guidance on how to structure or write projects — a task that is often diverted to librarians. Although noble in principle, this poses various problems.
First, not all librarians are trained to provide that kind of learner assis-tance. Second, although we really want to help, libraries are insuffi-ciently staff ed for that level of indi-vidual attention.
Language barriers. Some library staff speak just one offi cial language, which means they are often unable to help people who speak other lan-guages by providing reading assis-tance or homework support in any language other than their own.
Resources . Insuf f ic ient resources, too few qualified staff members to manage the facilities and a shortage of funds to buy text-books and other library materials are a reality. The absence of stocked and functional libraries in most schools puts huge pressure on pub-lic libraries. For this reason, public libraries need a wide range of mate-rials to meet the curriculum-related needs of learners and teachers. In the current economic climate, this is not always possible.
Socioeconomic problems cer-tainly contribute to the difficulties librarians face. In many households, living spaces are small and cramped,
with inadequate lighting and not much space to sit and read. Many parents are illiterate and so cannot read to their children. Many children do not attend any form of pre-school and are not exposed to books. This is a vicious circle that sets them at a huge disadvantage from an early age.
Library buildings are affected by civil unrest. They are sometimes targeted and damaged when peo-ple have a grievance against the municipality.
The critical role libraries play in people’s lives is unquestion-able. Not only are they impor-
tant for providing books, fi lms, inter-
net access and other future-enabling information, but they ensure peo-ple’s vitality and promote strong social ties.
The good news is that librarians are an awesome bunch of people. They chose the profession because they are passionate about books, lit-eracy and the upliftment of people.
Libraries constantly reinvent themselves in the face of ever-chang-ing technologies. The staff members in each library adapt and develop programmes that work for the peo-ple they serve.
With partners like Nal’ibali, South Africa’s reading-for-enjoyment cam-paign, which reached almost 1.6-mil-
Libraries build services and communities
lion children on World Read Aloud Day in February and is running a library card sign-up drive, libraries are making a diff erence.
Libraries are committed to provid-ing services that are free, equitable and accessible to providing for the information, reading and learning needs of people and to promoting a culture of reading, library usage and lifelong learning.
The calling is enormous, but then so is the reward of seeing the better-ment of our people.
Cecilia Sani is the director of library services at the Western Cape depart-ment of cultural aff airs and sport
But librarians face difficulties in a society where the culture of reading is not widespread
Gra
phic
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Early childhood learning gives children a headstart in lifeCOMMENTCecile Kiley
Never a truer word was spoken last year than that by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation speech: “If we are to break the cycle of poverty, we need to educate the children of the poor.” He also declared: “Early-grade reading is possibly the single most important factor in overcoming poverty, unem-ployment and inequality.”
Given that 78% of South African grade 4 pupils cannot read for mean-ing in any language, the implica-tions are far-reaching. Stellenbosch University education researcher Nic Spaull said an inability to read prop-
erly meant “many learners never get a fi rm grasp on the fi rst rung of the academic ladder and fall further and further behind”.
There is global consensus on the premise that the fi rst 1 000 days of a child’s life hold the key to unlock-ing their lifelong potential — with good reason: by the age of fi ve, 90% of a child’s brain will have devel-oped. When children have adequate healthcare, wholesome nutrition, quality childcare, early learning and stimulation, they have what is nec-essary to boost their sensory, emo-tional, cognitive, social and physical development from birth until they reach school-going age, according to the United Nations Educational,
Scientifi c and Cultural Organisation.Early childhood development is
broadly defi ned as the programmes, activities and experiences focused on promoting the education of children from birth until formal pre-school-ing (grade R).
The difference between children exposed to early childhood develop-ment and those who aren’t is stark. The former are often streaks ahead, and this advantage becomes almost exponential as the years unfold.
Early interaction with peers means children become socialised. Group work skills are an outflow of daily activities at early childhood devel-opment centres. When teamwork is required, these children show
more confidence and find it easier to contribute to the task at hand. Communication fl ows naturally and listening skills are honed.
Empathy is a priceless build-ing block and this may be easier to nurture in a setting where there is greater interaction with others. Emotional intelligence is a natu-ral consequence in quality early childhood development settings. Negotiating is par for the course, and fostering friendships is encour-aged. Children quickly learn about acceptable behaviour and behaviour that will not be tolerated. Children tend to process requests and receive instruction more easily than their less advantaged peers.
Reading, writing and arithmetic skills come far easier to those chil-dren in early childhood development centres and gives them the edge in “big school”. A love for reading can be boosted through regular story time sessions.
Physical development is encour-aged through sports and play. If, for example, a child shows a lag in fi ne motor skills development, this can be addressed through remedial activi-ties. Creativity is expressed through music and art activities, and natu-ral talents are easily identifi ed at an early age.
Cecile Kiley wrote this article on behalf of the Read Institute
36 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Tshwane University of Technology Advertorial
Charles Molele
Over the past 15 years, since the merger of three tech-nikons, the Tshwane Univer-sity of Technology (TUT) has achieved several significant
milestones that add to the institution’s history of excellence.
According to Professor Lourens van Staden, TUT’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, the institution was recently ranked the number one university of technology on the African continent, and the ninth best university in South Africa by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which uses global tables across the core missions of teach-ing, research and knowledge transfer.
It was also graded among the top 1 000 best universities in the world, Van Staden was pleased to announce. “Ladies and gen-tlemen, TUT should be known as a place where value is promoted and the ‘inventor spirit’ is respected and nurtured,” he said.
Van Staden was speaking at the glitzy annual TUT Academic Excellence Awards held at Theunis Botha Hall in Pretoria, under the theme of The Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The awards ceremony, interspersed with music and a fourth industrial revolution fashion show, presented an opportunity to celebrate innovation, teaching and learning, and saw hundreds of academics and staff members of TUT receive merit awards for their outstanding research work, master’s degrees, doctoral and post-doctoral dissertations.
The more than 100 recipients were from various faculties, but particularly from engineering and built environment, the humanities, science, finance, human resource and transformation and higher education development and support.
Van Staden said the awards were an important marker for TUT to become a global heavyweight and to remain one of the top universities of technology in aca-demia in South Afrca, on the African con-tinent and in the world.
It was recently ranked the number one university of technology on the African continent
“Tonight, I am honoured and delighted to celebrate and reward our achievements and striving for excellence. Our academic and research staff have remained focused and worked very hard amidst widespread challenges, not only at the university, but also in the higher education sector and country. Your awards tonight speaks vol-umes about your passion and dedication to your profession and the industry,” he said.
“TUT is definitely not about accept-ing mediocrity or second-class academic and research performance. We must con-stantly strive for nothing less than high quality academic and research standards and outputs.”
The Vice-Chancellor said appreciating and rewarding excellence and research was important in higher education, in order to generate a cadre of academics who are able to provide teaching in their respective disciplines. But he warned aca-demics and the university staff members against complacency, and resting on their laurels.
Guest speaker Dr Gillian Arendse, the deputy director of Stellenbosch University, said academics must keep working hard and find lasting solutions to society’s pressing problems. “A comfort zone is a lovely place, but nothing ever grows there,” said Arendse.
“So as we celebrate what we have achieved, we are reminded of the need to keep going. We need to understand that better can never be our best, but we always need to go for good.”
Arendse also advised award recipients to never get complacent, bored or let their egos get the better of them.
“Well done on your achievement, and remember that every professional was once an amateur. Our efforts to grow our disciplines and ultimately our country are grounded in the need to take people with. Continue to tell your story, as that might just be the inspiration that somebody else needs,” he said.
Professor Patricia Popoola, who won the woman researcher of the year and senior
researcher of the year awards, said she was extremely happy to be recognised for her hard work and research in the faculty of engineering and built environment.
Popoola, who specialises in the study of metals, said students should take their education seriously and be disciplined in order to achieve their goals and dreams of building a prosperous South Africa.
“I am excited and happy about these awards I received tonight. I like engineer-ing and metallurgy, and always motivate our students to get more education and strive to be the best at what they do,” she said.
Dr Letshego Faith Mashele, who received a doctorate in finance, said it takes perseverance, determination and hard work to excel in academia.
“My dissertation was about sustainable procurement and supply chain manage-ment at the University of Witwatersrand. It took me more than two years to com-plete. It was not easy. But through hard work everything is possible,” said Mashele.
“We do need more South Africans to have doctorates and work hard to deliver outstanding research in their respective disciplines.”
Dr Malesela Kekana, who received a doctorate in science, said he grew up in a rural village in Mokopane, Limpopo, “a place of hopelessness and angst-ridden youth”.
“I come from a poor village and that motivated me to show others what can be done. You don’t have to be a product of a Model C school to be where I am today,” said Kekana. “Mathematica was my case study. We investigated if algorithms are accurate and tested them. I am over the moon with our results.”
Professor Stanley Mukhola, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Teaching, Learning and Technology, said the awards were particularly significant in that they are being celebrated at a time when TUT is grappling with some important educa-tional and vocational questions.
“The questions are around the impact
of the anticipated revolutionary changes on our future education systems, our future vocational expectations and the future world of work for our students, as engineered by the dawn of the second digital revolution, also referred to as the fourth industrial revolution by the World Economic Forum,” said Mukhola.
“I know that the excellence awards are given to top performing academics in teaching and learning as well as research effort. Our overall performance in these two competencies over the recent period has resulted in our university attaining international acclaim and standing. This is very important in terms of reputation and is yet another indicator of our com-mitment to excellence as the largest and foremost university of technology in Africa.”
Dr Thandi Mgwebi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of research, innovation and engagement, said as part of its research, innovation and engagement strategy, TUT has to maintain and grow its status. To achieve this, the university council has approved a total of R25.2-million for inter-nal grants, which will be awarded based on research excellence.
“Of this total, R12.6-million is for three research platform awards and R12.6-million for 10 early career development awards. These are to attract senior aca-demics and develop early career and emerging researchers,” said Mgwebi.
“The aim is to retain and attract young post-doctoral researchers mentored by leading academics in established labo-ratories, while concomitantly, allowing these postdoctoral researchers to mentor and supervise students at master’s level.”
Van Staden said great things were hap-pening at TUT regarding its research, innovation and academic excellence. “TUT is certainly moving towards new heights, which is confirmed by its recent rankings.
“However, it must be remembered that there is no time for complacency or self-satisfaction regarding our achievements. We must continually reach for the stars in our research endeavours.”
TUT gears up for 4IR
The TUT Academic Excellence Awards was a glitzy affair with guest speakers and was held under the theme of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Photos: Courtesy of TUT
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 37
Future of Health Index Sponsored feature
The future of health in South AfricaRomulen Pillay
The Future Health Index is an inde-pendent research initiative com-missioned by Philips annually since 2015 that helps to determine the readiness of countries to address
global health challenges and build sustain-able, fit for purpose, national health systems.
Healthcare systems vary from country to
country, but they share a common goal: they
provide quality care, with improved experiences
for both patients and healthcare professionals.
The Future Health Index 2019 is Philips’s
fourth annual index. It was based on a survey
of more than 15 000 individuals who represent
the adult general population and 3 100 health-
care professionals across 15 countries, includ-
ing South Africa.
The report this year focused on exploring the
impact of digital health technology on health-
care professionals and patients — two elements
of the quadruple aim of healthcare — the other
two elements being better health outcomes and
lower costs of care.
Managing director of Philips South Africa
Romulen Pillay explained the key takeaways
from this year’s South African report to the
Mail & Guardian.
1. What are the key themes that have emerged from the Future Health Index (FHI) 2019?Three clear themes emerged from the FHI 2019 for South Africa:
Engaged and digitally enhanced healthcare professionals The increasing numbers of healthcare profes-sionals who use technologies such as digital health records (DHRs) and telehealth obtain better results and have higher job satisfaction.
Empowered patients — access to data and more controlIndividuals with access to their own health data are far more likely to engage with that information in ways that improve the quality of care and their overall experience.
Learning from forerunners The experiences of digital health technol-ogy forerunners such as China, Saudi Arabia, India and Russia provide valuable lessons that all countries can apply.
This leads to the conclusion that incorporating
new technologies into healthcare is a journey,
not a one-time event, enabling healthcare profes-
sionals and patients to adapt as needs evolve and
new challenges arise.
1. What were the FHI’s key findings about the challenges facing South Africa’s health system?The findings for South Africa clearly indicate that more momentum is required to increase the adoption and utilisation of digital health technology in the country.
We see that while some South African health-
care professionals are starting to use various
forms of healthcare technologies in their day-
to-day work, more momentum is needed to fully
recognise and make use of their potential.
The research showed that only 40% of South
treat patients, despite low levels of adoption.
The country’s healthcare professionals show
more confi dence in using the technology than
their global counterparts: 79% would be com-
fortable using it for patient monitoring, com-
pared to the 15-country average of 63%. In addi-
tion, 76% would be happy to use it to fl ag patient
anomalies, compared to the 59% in the 15-coun-
try average.
There are thus many untapped opportunities
for South Africa to further leverage AI technol-
ogy to drive efficiencies and improve experi-
ences throughout the healthcare system.
4. What can South Africa learn from other emerging economies that are forerunners in using technology to overcome access to healthcare challenges?South Africa can learn from forerunners such as China, India and Saudi Arabia that are successfully leapfrogging challenges such as access to healthcare by adopting digital health technology.
People in India, China and Saudi Arabia who
use digital health technology or mobile apps
frequently report that the information they
receive from their digital health technology or
mobile apps leads them to contact a healthcare
professional.
South Africa falls below the 15-country average
(46%) in terms of individuals tracking their own
health indicators — 41% of patients who have
seen a healthcare professional in the last year
have taken action by tracking their health indi-
cators — which shows that South Africans are
not yet leveraging digital health technology to its
full potential.
Increased adoption and use of digital health
tech among South Africans may empower peo-
ple to adopt a more proactive attitude toward
their health management, ultimately improving
their healthcare outcomes.
Perhaps the most important lesson to learn is
that the adoption of digital health technologies
is an ongoing journey, and that both healthcare
professionals and individuals need to adapt as
they adopt them to achieve better health out-
comes and lower the cost of
healthcare.
African healthcare professionals are currently
using digital health records in their hospital or
practice because of challenges around infrastruc-
ture and the cost of investing in this infrastruc-
ture. This is markedly lower than the 15-country
average of 76%.
The lack of digital health technologies cur-
rently being utilised mean that only 38% of
health professionals in the country believe that
they are empowered to deliver the best care
to their patients, whereas nearly a third (29%)
believe that state-of-the-art technology would
best enable them to optimally provide care to the
whole population.
Cost is also a challenge for patients, who do
recognise that they have an important role to
play; 86% of South African patients believe they
have the biggest impact on their own health, but
costs and data security hinder greater adoption
of digital healthcare technologies.
This is why less than a third of South Africans
use digital health technology or mobile apps to
track their key health indicators.
2. Where do the biggest opportunities for both healthcare professionals and patients lie?
Interestingly, it is the country’s biggest chal-lenge that presents its biggest opportunities: using digital health technology and health data positively impacts the experience of healthcare professionals and their patients.
Three-quarters of the country’s healthcare
professionals reported that their experience had
been positively impacted over the past fi ve years
from being able to access to patients’ full medi-
cal histories.
Using digital health technologies also helps
empower patients to take control of their own
health. South African patients indicated that
having access to their own health data makes
them more likely to engage with it in a way that
will improve the quality of care they receive.
In fact, 58% of patients in South Africa indi-
cated that when they have access to their digital
health records they were more proactive in tak-
ing care of their health.
3. What untapped technologies are emerg-ing strongly as the solutions that can most improve the overall healthcare experience in South Africa? Telehealth — the remote access to and man-agement of health — emerged strongly as an untapped tool for healthcare professionals. It can bridge the gap for the 74% of South Africans who did not visit a healthcare pro-fessional when they had a medical reason to go.
It has the power not only to drive greater
access to care, but also to improve the patient
experience by cutting down on the amount of
time they need to wait to see a professional: 88%
of patients reported having to wait over an hour
to see a general practitioner, while 92% had to
wait over an hour to see a specialist. Waiting
times are considerably longer in public health
institutions.
Telehealth can change that: it provides an
opportunity for the country’s healthcare system
to leverage telehealth technologies that address
the challenges associated with the shortage of
healthcare professionals.
AI (Artificial Intelligence or Adaptive
Intelligence) also has an important role to play,
with the majority of South African healthcare
professionals feeling comfortable using AI to
Romulen Pillay is the Managing Director, Philips Southern Africa
Learning from forerunners
Base: Total healthcare professionals
Some countries are making the most of digital health technology, moving steadily from gaining access to the technology, to using it
78% 76% 75%
94%
79%
64%
88% 88%77% 81% 85%
48%
72%
86% 82%76%
15-countryaverage
Australia Brazil China France Germany India Italy Poland Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa UK Netherlands Singapore US
Percentage of healthcare professionals who currently use any digital health technology or mobile health apps:
China and Saudi Arabia are consistent forerunners when it comes to adop and use of all new technologies. Some other emerging countries, including India, are also excelling in speci c areas.
Diabetes 38 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 *
The South African Demographic and Health Survey found that 13% of adult women and 8% of adult men have diabetes. The Statis-tics South Africa, Mortality and
Causes of Death Report 2016 indicated that diabetes mellitus, which ranked third in 2014 and accounting for 5.1% of deaths, moved to being the second-most common natural cause of death; it was responsible for 5.5% of deaths. Mortality in women due to diabe-tes mellitus was the leading cause of female mortality in 2016, accounting for 7.2% of female deaths.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, there were 1 826 100 cases of dia-betes in South Africa in 2017, including peo-ple with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The total adult population was 33 762 000; prevalence of diabetes in adults was 5.4%. Globally lit-tle data exists on the number of people with Type 1 diabetes, but Type 2 is reported to be increasing.
The majority of people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes, and half of those living with diabetes are undiagnosed. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, this results in
dangerously high blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes is often caused by lifestyle, genetic factors and is more recently associated with other factors including tuberculosis.
There is global and national recognition of the need for multi-sectoral action to prevent and control diabetes, which includes per-son-centred care as well as the involvement of families and communities. It is therefore appropriate that the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) identifies the theme for dia-betes awareness month and World Diabetes Day 2019 as Family and Diabetes.
The IDF encourages all sectors to strengthen efforts aimed at raising aware-ness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and the support network of those affected, and promoting the role of the fam-ily in the management, care, prevention and education of diabetes.
Not all diabetes can be prevented. However, a significant proportion of Type 2 is attributed to preventable causes related to unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. In this regard, families and communities can be encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles and reduce the risk of diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Type 2 is the most prevalent form of the condition, responsible for around 90% of all diabetes. Additionally, even when diagnosed with both types of diabetes, maintenance of healthy lifestyles contributes toward the con-trol and avoidance of serious complications including heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputation, depression, anxiety and kidney failure.
Optimal management outcomes are dependent on the recognition of early warn-ing signs, early diagnosis, holistic treatment and control. Families are urged to learn more about the warning signs of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. According to the IDF, research conducted in 2018 revealed that most parents struggle to spot this seri-ous, lifelong condition in their own children. Despite the majority of people surveyed hav-ing a family member with diabetes, an alarm-ing four-in-five parents would have trouble recognising the warning signs and one-in-three wouldn’t spot them at all.
More knowledge about early warning signs is needed. Mild symptoms may develop gradually into Type 2 diabetes. On average it takes seven years for a person to be diag-nosed with Type 2 diabetes, as symptoms are hard to detect initially. About 30% of people with Type 2 diabetes will already have devel-oped complications by the time they are diagnosed.
The support of a family member, especially for children and adolescents with diabetes, is critical for good health outcomes. Often this
support is provided within many competing socioeconomic priorities; family members who wish to provide optimal care may them-selves require an enabling platform for care. Taking care of a person with diabetes places a large burden on the family, hence the need for both to receive emotional support and, more importantly, for their needs to be aligned to responsive health systems.
Families are also faced with the alarming costs associated with diabetes. There are the direct costs of the disease, including hospital and medication costs and disability grants, as well as indirect costs, such as work absen-teeism, time spent caring for sick relatives and reduced productivity.
The challenges are complex, require input from various sectors and must resolved if the country intends meeting the UN’s 2030 Agenda obligations to “leave nobody behind”. As we aim to improve health sys-tem responsiveness, much can be done to reduce preventable risk factors which con-tribute toward non-communicable diseases, including diabetes. South Africans experi-ence the highest levels of obesity globally! Communities must be educated and respon-sive health systems etablished; health must come before profits.
The Ministry of Health calls upon families and communities to unite and mobilise to stop the horrendous impact of the commer-cial determinants of health at the expense of health outcomes, quality of life and develop-ment of our people!
Optimal management outcomes for diabetes are dependent on the recognition of early warning signs, early diagnosis, holistic treatment and control
When a person has diabetes it places huge demands on their kith and kin
THE FAMILYAND DIABETES
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 39
Sponsored Feature
Fact Sheet: DiabetesKey factsIn 2014 the global prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 9% among adults aged 18+ years.
In 2012, an estimated 1.5-million deaths were directly caused by diabetes.
More than 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) pro-jects that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030.
Healthy diet, regular physical activity, main-taining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
What is diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar.
Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage of many of the body’s systems, particularly the nerves and blood vessels.
Type 1 diabetesThere is no cure yet, but it can be managed to prevent complications.
Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas pro-duces little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter the cells to produce energy.
Different factors, including genetics and some viruses, may contribute to Type 1 diabe-tes. Although it usually appears during child-hood or adolescence, it can also develop in adults.
Despite active research, Type 1 diabetes as yet has no cure. Treatment focuses on manag-ing blood sugar levels with insulin, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications.
SymptomsType 1 diabetes signs and symptoms can appear relatively suddenly and may include:• Increased thirst• Frequent urination• Bed-wetting in children who previously didn’t wet the bed during the night• Extreme hunger• Unintended weight loss• Irritability and other mood changes• Fatigue and weakness• Blurred vision
When to see a doctorConsult your doctor if you notice any of the above signs and symptoms in you or your child.
CausesThe exact cause of Type 1 diabetes is unknown. Usually, the body’s own immune system — which normally fights harmful bac-teria and viruses — mistakenly destroys the insulin-producing islet of Langerhans cells in the pancreas. Other possible causes include:• Genetics• Exposure to viruses and other environmen-tal factors
Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset) results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin. Ninety percent of people with diabetes around the world have Type 2 diabetes, and it is largely the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity.
Symptoms may be similar to those of Type 1 diabetes, but are often less marked. As a result, the disease may only be diagnosed several years after onset, once complications have already arisen.
Until recently this type of diabetes was seen only in adults, but it is now also occurring in children.
Gestational diabetesGestational diabetes is hyperglycaemia with blood glucose values above normal but below those diagnostic of diabetes, occurring during pregnancy. Women with gestational diabetes are at an increased risk of complications dur-
• blood lipid control (to regulate cholesterol levels); and
• screening for early signs of diabetes-related kidney disease.
These measures should be supported by a healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintain-ing a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use.
Global responseSouth Africa is working with the WHO to stimu-late and support the adoption of effective meas-ures for the surveillance, prevention and control of diabetes and its complications, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. To this end, WHO:• provides scientific guidelines for diabetes prevention; • develops norms and standards for diabetes diagnosis and care; • builds awareness of the global epidemic of diabetes; celebration of World Diabetes Day ( November 14); and• conducts surveillance of diabetes and its risk factors.
The WHO global strategy on diet, physi-cal activity and health complements its dia-betes work by focusing on population-wide approaches to promote healthy diet and regular physical activity, thereby reducing the growing global problem of overweight and obesity.
The role of insulinOnce a significant number of islet cells are destroyed, you’ll produce little or no insulin. Insulin is a hormone that comes from a gland situated behind and below the stomach called the pancreas.• The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream.• Insulin circulates, allowing sugar to enter your cells.• Insulin regulates the amount of sugar in your bloodstream.• As your blood sugar level drops, so does the secretion of insulin from your pancreas.
The role of glucoseGlucose is the main source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues.• Glucose comes from two major sources: food and your liver.• Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it enters cells with the help of insulin.•Your liver stores glucose as glycogen.• When your glucose levels are low, such as when you haven’t eaten in a while, the liver breaks down the stored glycogen into glucose to keep your glucose levels within a normal range.
In Type 1 diabetes, there’s no insulin to allow glucose into the cells, so sugar builds up in your bloodstream. This can cause life-threatening complications.
Risk factorsSome known risk factors for Type 1 diabetes include:• Family history: anyone with a parent or sib-ling with Type 1 diabetes has a slightly increased risk of developing the condition.• Genetics: the presence of certain genes indi-cates an increased risk of developing Type 1 diabetes.• Geography: the incidence of Type 1 diabetes tends to increase as you travel away from the equator.
ing pregnancy and at delivery. They are also at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in the future.
Gestational diabetes is diagnosed through prenatal screening, rather than reported symptoms.
Impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glycaemia Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG) are intermediate condi-tions in the transition between normality and diabetes. People with IGT or IFG are at high risk of progressing to Type 2 diabetes, although this is not inevitable.
What are common consequences of diabetes?Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves.• Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. In a multinational study, 50% of people with diabetes die of cardiovascular dis-ease (primarily heart disease and stroke). • Combined with reduced blood flow, neurop-athy (nerve damage) in the feet increases the chance of foot ulcers, infection and the even-tual need for limb amputation. • Diabetic retinopathy is an important cause of blindness, and occurs as a result of long-term accumulated damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. One percent of global blindness can be attributed to diabetes. • Diabetes is among the leading causes of kid-ney failure. • The overall risk of dying among people with diabetes is at least double the risk of their peers without diabetes.
PreventionSimple lifestyle measures have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of Type 2 diabetes.
To help prevent Type 2 diabetes and its com-plications, people should:• achieve and maintain healthy body weight;• be physically active — at least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days. More activity is required for weight control; • eat a healthy diet of between three and five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and reduce sugar and saturated fats intake; and• avoid tobacco use — smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Diagnosis and treatmentEarly diagnosis can be accomplished through relatively inexpensive blood testing.
Treatment of diabetes involves lowering blood glucose and the levels of other known risk fac-tors that damage blood vessels. Stopping smok-ing is also important to avoid complications.
Interventions that are both cost-saving and feasible in developing countries include:• moderate blood glucose control. People with Type 1 diabetes require insulin; people with Type 2 diabetes can be treated with oral medi-cation, but may also require insulin;• blood pressure control; and• foot care.
Other cost-saving interventions include:• screening and treatment for retinopathy
(which causes blindness);
• Age: although Type 1 diabetes can appear at any age, it appears at two noticeable peaks. The first peak occurs in children between four and seven years old, and the second is in children between 10 and 14 years old.
ComplicationsOver time, Type 1 diabetes complications can affect major organs in your body, including your heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys. Maintaining a normal blood sugar level can dra-matically reduce the risk of many complications.
Eventually, diabetes complications may be disabling or even life-threatening.• Heart and blood vessel disease: diabetes dramatically increases your risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke, narrowing of the arteries (ath-erosclerosis) and high blood pressure.• Nerve damage (neuropathy): excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, espe-cially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward. Poorly controlled blood sugar could cause you to eventually lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs.• Damage to the nerves that affect the gastro-intestinal tract can cause problems with nau-sea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation. For men, erectile dysfunction may be an issue.• Kidney damage (nephropathy): the kidneys contain millions of tiny blood vessel clusters that filter waste from your blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system. Severe damage can lead to kidney failure or irrevers-ible end-stage kidney disease, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant.• Eye damage: diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), potentially causing blindness. Diabetes also increases the risk of other serious vision con-ditions, such as cataracts and glaucoma.• Foot damage: nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot complications. Left untreated, cuts and blisters can become serious infec-tions that may ultimately require toe, foot or leg amputation.• Skin and mouth conditions: diabetes may leave you more susceptible to infections of the skin and mouth, including bacterial and fungal infections. Gum disease and dry mouth also are more likely.• Pregnancy complications: high blood sugar levels can be dangerous for both mothers and babies. The risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and birth defects increases when diabetes isn’t well controlled. For the mother, dia-betes increases the risk of diabetic ketoaci-dosis, diabetic eye problems (retinopathy), pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and preeclampsia.
PreventionThere’s no known way to prevent Type 1 dia-betes, but researchers are working on prevent-ing the disease or further destruction of the islet cells in people who are newly diagnosed.
Ask your doctor if you might be eligible for one of these clinical trials, but carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any treatment available in a trial.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle significantly reduces the risk of contracting diabetes
Life sciences or biological sciences comprise the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life and organisms such as microorgan-isms, plants, and animals, including
human beings. Life sciences is one of the two major branches of natural science, the other being physical science, which is concerned with non-living matter.
Some life sciences focus on a specific type of organism. For example, zoology is the study of animals, while botany is the study of plants. Other life sciences focus on aspects common to all or many life forms, such as anatomy and genetics. Some focus on the micro scale, such as molecular biology and biochemistry, and other on larger scales, for instance cytology, immunology, ethology and ecology. Another major branch of life sciences — neuroscience — involves understanding the mind.
Discoveries made in life sciences are help-ful for improving our quality and standard of life and can be applied to health, agriculture, medicine and the pharmaceutical and food sci-ence industries.
In the grade 12 syllabus, Abbotts covers a section on genetics and the study of DNA. Genetics is a branch of biology concerned with the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.
Though heredity had been observed for mil-lennia, Gregor Mendel, a 19th century scientist and Augustinian friar, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance" — patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring. He observed that organisms (pea plants) inherit traits by way of discreet "units of inheritance". Today we call these units “genes” and the study of them “genetics”.
It may sound complicated, but genetics is the section that many teachers are passion-ate about. There is such a sense of gratifica-tion when learners ask questions about why they have certain characteristics from their mom or dad and, once you go through the content with them, a light bulb switches on. “As a teacher, it’s remarkable to witness,” says James Messian, life sciences teacher at Abbotts
College Centurion.The study of the life sciences provides impor-
tant insight into disease processes and allows for the development of novel therapeutic and innovative medical devices, thereby directly improving human health. Life sciences also help us understand the environment and the other living species with which we share the earth. This knowledge guides conservation efforts.
Life sciences empower us to answer funda-mental questions about ourselves: Where did we come from? What are we made of? What is the basis for the miracle of our existence? What is our place in the natural world, in the tree of life? Life sciences reveal more about our existence and our real identities.
If you take biology or life science as one of your subjects, it can open a lot of opportuni-ties. It is a multi-discipline field that requires you, as a student, to learn, apply, evaluate and to do practical work. While some view life sci-ence as a hard and boring subject, it is actually one of the most interesting.
Important ways to help one master this sub-ject are:• Listen carefully in class• Immediately review what has been taught•Keep reading.
Career opportunitiesOne thing that learners need to remember is that after mastering the subject, there are plenty of career opportunities available to them.
Those who are interested in the field of biol-ogy can decide to become social or medical researchers, or go the industry route. Careers open up in tourism, conservation, agricul-ture, journalism, veterinary science, environ-mental law, biotechnology, biochemistry and medicine.
Students who choose this subject must pre-pare themselves for a lot of work. There is lots to learn, meaning that the workload may seem overwhelming at times, but students need to know how to apply knowledge as well as how to evaluate and understand it.
Here’s a handy summary of the different
jobs you can find in the life sciences sector:
Biomedical scientistBiomedical scientists examine medical sam-ples, for example, blood and tissue, thereby helping doctors to diagnose and treat diseases. They use their knowledge and test results to advise and support doctors and other medi-cal staff. Biomedical scientists need in-depth knowledge of areas such as pathology, anat-omy and physiology.
BiotechnologistBiotechnologists combine biology, the sci-ence of living things, with technology. They research and develop the use of biology to solve problems in areas such as healthcare, the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, agri-culture, food production and environmental protection.
BiochemistBiochemists study the chemistry of life. They investigate life's processes at the level of mol-ecules, using their knowledge to identify and solve biological problems. They research and develop new products and processes to benefit a wide range of areas, including food processing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and agriculture.
Computational biologistComputational biology involves the develop-ment and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modelling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioural, and social systems. The field is broadly defined and includes foundations in computer science, applied mathematics, animation, statistics, biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics, molecu-lar biology, genetics, genomics, ecology, evolu-tion, anatomy, neuroscience, and visualisation.
MicrobiologistMicrobiologists study the biology and chem-istry of microbes. They apply this knowledge to solve problems in areas such as agriculture, food production, the water industry, medicine and pharmaceuticals, and how to manage and
protect the environment.
Clinical research associateClinical research associates organise and run trials to test the safety of new medicines and to see if they work efficiently. They choose and set up sites where tests take place, supervise trials and monitor the quality of data from the trials.Industrial pharmacistIndustrial pharmacists are involved in the dis-covery and development of safe, effective drugs and medicines. They can work at any stage of the process, including research, development, clinical trials, overseeing production, quality testing, marketing and applying to have drugs legally registered.
Research assistantA research assistant is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a univer-sity or a research institute, for the purpose of assisting in academic research. Research assistants are not independent and report to a supervisor or principal investigator. They are often educated to degree level and may be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme and teaching at the same time.
BioinformaticianBioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data. As an inter-disciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combines computer science, statistics, math-ematics and engineering to study and process biological data.
James Messian is a life sciences teacher at Abbotts College Centurion
James grew up in Johannesburg, where he went to Hoërskool Vorentoe and thereafter studied Zoology and Ecology at Witwa-tersrand University. In 2009 he started teaching Life Sciences at Dowerglen High-school and moved to Abbotts College Centu-rion in 2014. He say’s “he is passionate about Biology and Life Sciences but even more about teaching.
Life sciences help us to understand ourselves – and our environment
Choosing life sciences in high school
Abbotts College Centurion students learning about Life Sciences.
Recognising that diversity is important in achieving excellence, Rhodes University especially encourages South African members of designated groups to apply.
ACADEMIC POSITIONSDEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer
CLOSING DATE: MONDAY, 09 DECEMBER 2019 AT 12H00.
If you have not been contacted within a month of the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful. For application forms and full requirements, go to:
Interested persons are invited to submit applications bearing in mind that the EU Delegation to the Republic of South Africa reserves the right to remove or modify these job offers.
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Nal’ibali (isiXhosa for “here’s the story”) is a national reading-for-enjoyment campaign. It seeks to spark and embed a culture of reading across South Africa, so that reading, writing, and sharing stories – in all South African languages – becomes part of everyday life.
Children who are surrounded by print and immersed in great and well-told stories – in
become readers themselves, and to do well in school across all subjects.
Since 2012, Nal’ibali has worked with state, civil society and business partners to make sure
advocacy, training, support and high-quality reading material, Nal’ibali is helping to nurture a reading nation.
• Work with an
in South Africa by using the power of stories to build a reading culture, • Be a passionate and articulate thought leader for the organisation on various forums, such as radio, television, newspapers, conferences, committees, podcasts, CSI platforms, etc. • Maintain existing and forge new strategic partnerships within the political, business and civil sectors to take the the campaign to the next level, • Be primarily responsible for raising funds and for maintaining strong, informative, honest, and dynamic relationships with funders, • Collaboratively set and drive organisational strategy and culture – and use it to motivate and inspire our large, passionate and diverse team across the country, and to get South Africans excited about books and stories, • Directly manage and support our CFO and COO, and actively participate in and build the leadership team • Ensure we hire the best candidates for key and senior roles
in internal disputes and participate in rare serious disciplinary matters.
• A passion for what we do! • Proven track record of executing strategy in a rapidly growing environment • Experience in leading teams in diverse geographically dispersed locations • Postgraduate degree in development, business, education, behaviour
(verbal and written) in English and at least one additional African language • At least 5-10 years’ experience in senior management positions • Strong communication skills and a
Ability to think big picture, as well as drill into the details • Experience working with a board of trustees / directors • Experience in managing large budgets • Great interpersonal skills •
Experience working with USAID will be an advantage • Prepared to travel regularly in and out of South Africa • Will be required to work long hours.
In line with EE targets, preference will be given to black (African) South African candidates.
NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
ACT, 1990 (ACT No. 86 OF 1990)
The following documents must accompany each nomination:
Nominations should reach the under-mentioned address no later than 13 December 2019:
Enquiries:
Correspondence will be limited to successful candidates.
The Working Earth 11-22441
VACANCYHousing Company Tshwane (HCT) is a municipal entity solely owned by the City of Tshwane mandated with development and management of the social and affordable housing in the City
these positions will be subject to the signing of an employment
The HCT seeks to appoint a Paralegal professional to assist with legal support services and to ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and that decisions of the board of
Requirements• Grade 12;• Paralegal Diploma;• Minimum of 2 years’ paralegal experience;• Knowledge of relevant legislation/regulations;
Summary of duties• Performing substantive and procedural legal work, assisting the Head of Legal & Company
Secretariat to deliver support to the Board of Directors;
• Provide administrative support to the Head of Legal & Company Secretariat;
• Ensuring the adherence and compliance to agreements and contracts;
-spective area of responsibilities;
-ings;
Please email a comprehensive curriculum vitae (CV) to [email protected] (State the reference number of the position you are applying for on the subject)
a)b) Please ensure that you have submitted a complete CV with updated information related to
c)
d)e)f) Should you not be contacted 21 days after the closing date, consider your application unsuc-
g)
h)
The closing date: 3rd December 201911411M&G
42 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Jobs
FREE STATE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
action employer. It is our intention to promote representativity (race, gender
and candidates whose appointment/promotion/transfer will promote representativity will receive preference.
DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY
Directions to applicants Applications must be submitted on form Z.83, obtainable from any Public
of results must be attached or subjects should be mentioned in CV), driver’s license if required, identity document and a C.V. Applicants are requested to complete the Z83 form properly and in full. The reference number of the advertised post should be stated on the Z.83. Candidates
and those that do not comply with these instructions will not be considered. The onus is on the applicants to ensure that their applications are posted or hand delivered timeously. Candidates
No e-mailed or faxed applications will be considered. Applicants are respectfully informed that if
that their application was unsuccessful. Suitable candidates will be subjected to personnel
APPLICATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF FREE STATE PROVINCIAL TREASURY TO BE SUBMITTED TO: The Free State Provincial Treasury, Private Bag X 20537, Bloemfontein, 9300.
managerial position of which at least three years should have been in an economic environment. Knowledge of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), Treasury Regulations, Public Service Act and Regulations, Econometrics, Public Finance and Development, Macro and Labour Economics. Problem solving and innovation
literate. Valid driver’s license.
DUTIES: Periodic analysis and update of provincial socio-economic indicators. Coordinate and
technical and strategic support in economic policy research, analysis and development. Maintain and expand existing databases and information sources on the provincial economic and related social issues. Manage resources of the Directorate.
ENQUIRIES:
DIRECTOR: MUNICIPAL RISK MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL AUDITREFERENCE NO: FSPT: 014/19
SALARY:
CENTRE: BLOEMFONTEIN
REQUIREMENTS:
of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), Treasury Regulations, MFMA Circulars,
Auditors’ Standards. Problem solving and innovation capability. Good interpersonal, strategic
DUTIES:
municipalities.• The implementation of fraud management strategies within municipalities.
ENQUIRIES:
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PAYROLL MANAGER MAIN PURPOSE OF POSITIONTo oversee the delivery of an effective, accurate and compliant payroll function on a monthly basis. To manage all payroll functions, while ensuring a high
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES• Contribute towards the development of and implementation of the overall Financial Department strategy. • Monitor and manage departmental inputs
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and regulations relating to Payroll within the SABC. • Accurate maintenance of tax totals and payment
team, including skills transfer to payroll team where necessary. • Ensure that correct accounting procedures are followed for payroll throughout the SABC. • Ensure payroll data integrity. • Prepare monthly reconciliations of payrolls for review and sign-off. • Apply technical knowledge to ensure correct disclosure
knowledge and expertise to provide exceptional service. • Management of
deadlines. • Ensure adherence to policies and procedures and proper corporate governance. • Develop and Monitor the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures, (SOPs). • Develop and Monitor the implementation of relevant Policies. • Provide report to the General Manager on the progress with resolution of risks and non-compliance of risk management within business unit. • Adhere and reporting on all Occupational Health and Safety Compliance matters. • Monitor the internal control environment and ensure that it is sound, risks are attended to and shortcomings addressed. • Support the annual External Audit project and respond timeously as is required. • Address
• Constantly be on the lookout for innovation and automation opportunities that
and manage Performance of the team in accordance with the Performance Management policy. • Effective management of Employment Relations issues within the Business Unit. • Manage, direct, guide, motivate and develop the team • Ensure effective communication within the department and division and promote effective communication channels. • Personnel Development Plans (PDP) for all staff members. • Provide direction on the attraction and
available for the Business Unit. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND EXPERIENCE• Honours Degree in Finance or Accounting • 8 – 10 Years’ experience in payroll • In - depth working knowledge of relevant tax legislation including Income Tax
• Advanced Computer literacy (Excel, Word, Outlook)
Closing date: 02 December 2019To apply for the positions log onto the SABC’s website
@ www.sabc.co.za or follow the linkhttps://career2.successfactors.eu/career?company=sabcsoclim
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VAC A N C Y BULLET IN
EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
For detailed information on the above post/s visit our website at: www.westerncape.gov.za/health-jobs
Candidates are welcome to access the website at Cape Gateway address:4 Dorp Street, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
The WCG is guided by the principles of Employment Equity. Candidates with disabilities are encouraged to apply and an indication in this regard would be appreciated.
138397 M&G www.thecandocompany.co.za
Closing date: 13 December 2019
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHGROOTE SCHUUR HOSPITAL, OBSERVATORY
HEAD CLINICAL UNIT GRADE 1 (MEDICAL: NEPHROLOGY AND HYPERTENSION)Remuneration: R1 728 807 per annum(A portion of the package may be structured according to the individual’s personal needs. It will be expected of the successful candidate to participate in a system of remunerated commuted overtime.)
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 43
Department of Transport & Community Safety is an equal
1.
2.
3.
of duty.4.
regulations.5.
6.
reasons.7.
8.
9.
13.
rules.
rules.
rules.
rules.
44 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
POST : CHIEF PROVINCIAL INSPECTOR: TRAFFIC STATIONS AND TCC
(10 POSTS) (REF: LDTCS 008/19)SALARY: R 470 040 per annum (LEVEL 10)
CENTRE: CAPRICON (DENDRON), VHEMBE (MALAMULELE AND MUSINA), SEKHUKHUNE (NEBO AND MOUTSE), WATERBERG (LEPHALALE, NORTHAM, MODIMOLLE,
GROBLESBURG AND MOKOPANE TRAFFIC STATION /TCC) DISTRICTS
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: • An undergraduate (NQF level 6) as
CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES: Strategic Capability
CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES: Strategic Capability
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
POST : ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: COMPLIANCE(REF: LDTCS 018/19)
SALARY: R 376 596 per annum (LEVEL 9)
CENTRE: HEAD OFFICE
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
disabilities) CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES: Strategic Capability
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
POST : ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: e-NATIS ADMINISTRATION (REF: LDTCS 019/19)
SALARY: R 376 596 per annum (LEVEL 9)
CENTRE: HEAD OFFICE
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
disabilities)
CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES: Strategic Capability
POST: ADMINISTRATE OFFICER: PERMITS AND REGISTRATION (REF: LDTCS 020/19)
SALARY: R 257 508 per annum (LEVEL 7)
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Literacy KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
POST: ADMIN CLERK: RADIO OPERATOR (3 POSTS)(REF: LDTCS 021/19)
SALARY: R 173 703 per annum (LEVEL 5)
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES:
POST: ADMIN CLERK: PERMITS AND REGISTRATION
(2 POSTS) (REF: LDTCS 022/19)SALARY: R 173 703 per annum (LEVEL 5)
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
CORE AND PROCESS COMPETENCIES
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 45
Jobs & Tenders
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy and productive lives. UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Programme Specialist, Pretoria, South Africa : Fixed Term Appointment (NOC)2. Programme Analyst, Bisho, Eastern Cape, South Africa: Fixed Term Appointment (NOB)
Applications: Closing date for this announcement: 06 December 2019Please note that Interested candidates are asked to complete the online application found by using the link below:
Job Opening ID: 27282,Posting Title: National Post: Programme Specialist, Pretoria, South
Africa, NOC
To view this Job Opening, visit:https://hr.partneragencies.org/psp/UNDPP1HR/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/UN_R_
SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT
INSTITUTE (SADC-GMI)WORLD BANK ASSISTED
Project ID: P127086Issuance Date: 22 November 2019
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOI) CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION
CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR CAPTURING LESSONS LEARNT AND DESIGNING OF A NEW SADC GROUNDWATER PROGRAMME
Contract No: CS/2019/30BACKGROUND: The Southern African Development Community Groundwater Management Institute (SADC-GMI) is a regional centre of excellence on groundwater management hosted by the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa on behalf of and under the strategic guidance of the SADC Secretariat, Directorate of Infrastructure and Services – Water Division, in Gaborone, Botswana. The SADC-GMI received a grant from the GEF and CIWA through the World Bank to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States project (P127086) until 31 December 2020. SADC-GMI intends to deploy a portion of this grant to fund the consultancy services for “Capturing lessons learnt and designing of a new SADC groundwater programme”. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT: This request for EOI aims to enlist a firm to:a. Develop a background document on the emerging issues and lessons learnt from implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States project, and b. Develop a bankable project proposal document for implementation of a new SADC Groundwater programme from 2021 Specific Tasks and Activities: In order to fulfil the objectives of this assignment, the consultants will be required undertake the following non-exhaustive key tasks:
a. Capturing Lessons learnt and identifying emerging issues at local, national, regional and global levels. In order to perform this task, the following activities will be performed: i. Conduct desktop study of documents to be provided by SADC-GMI (document list to be provided in the Terms of Reference for shortlisted firms). ii. Conduct interviews of key informants to be identified in liaison with SADC-GMI on Grant and Project Agreements signed among World Bank, GEF, SADC Secretariat, University of the Free State and SADC-GMI. iii. Evaluate the SADC-GMI’s founding documents as a not-for-profit company in South Africa based in Bloemfontein, and its effectiveness in delivering its mandate as a Centre of Excellence for groundwater in SADC. iv. Undertake an internal operational capacity assessment of SADC-GMI in relation to its operational needs as a regional Centre of Excellence for groundwater and evaluate the needs in relation to the hosting arrangements and the Service Level Agreement signed with the University of the Free State. v. Conduct a Cost-Benefit Analysis of the SADC-GMI’s structure, operations and location vi. Capture the outcomes of this key task into a comprehensive Lessons Learnt and Emerging Issues Document. The outline layout of the document will be discussed and agreed during the Inception period. vii. Based on cost-benefit analysis (CBA), produce a concept document on the proposed organisational / financial set-up for SADC-GMI in a follow-up programme (typical context of the CBA to analyse relationship to UFS, location for SADC-GMI, relative cost of doing business from Bloemfontein vis-à-vis other locations in South Africa, etc) viii. Conduct workshop for up to 50 participants coming from the SADC Member States and other stakeholders to discuss the Lessons Learnt and Emerging Issues Document. The consultant will be responsible for the technical inputs to the workshop while SADC-GMI will be responsible for the associated logistics and costs to bring the participants to the workshop. b. Develop Programme Elements for the next 10 years (2x5 years). The following activities will be undertaken in order to fulfil this task: i. Identify strategic programming needs from the Lessons Learnt and Emerging Issues Document
ii. Conduct consultations with potential financiers to establish the appetite to fund aspects of the proposed new programme. Target institutions/programmes for this consultation should include GEF, CIWA, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, World Bank, BGR, BGS, USAID, SADC Secretariat, GIZ, etc. The full list of stakeholders to be consulted will be finalised during the inception phase. iii. Produce a document containing bankable project components that can be implemented in the next 10 years split into two-five year periods. This document should be designed holistically to cover all identified groundwater issues in the SADC region such that different partners and stakeholders bringing support for groundwater in the region use this document as an entry point. ELIGIBILITY: Interested consultancy firms are requested to submit an expression of interest (EOI). The Expression of Interest should include the following details which will also be the EOI Evaluation Criteria;
a) Valid Business License b) Registration Certificate of TIN and VAT c) Company Certificate Registration/Incorporation (Evidence showing that the firm is a legal entity)**; d) Availability of Professional Key Staff with Suitable Qualifications in the field of the assignment**; e) Evidence of at least 3 similar projects previously successfully completed, of which 1 was in the SADC region**;f) Evidence showing the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm in the field of assignment and handling assignments of similar complexity**;g) Brief description (not more than 3 pages) of the proposed Methodology of carrying out the assignment**; h) The EOI submission should not exceed 30 pages**
Note: Items marked with ** are mandatory and failure to comply or submit requisite documentation on any one of them will lead to automatic disqualification of the entire submission. SCHEDULE AND DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT: This consultancy is a once-off engagement involving the deployment of a total of 110 man-days by the 3 key experts in the fields of Organisational Development, Groundwater and Institutional Finance over a period of 5 months. Further details will be shared with the shortlisted firm(s) in the TOR contained in the Request for Proposal document.
Further information can be obtained at the address below during normal office hours i.e.08:00 am-4:00pm, Monday – Friday at [email protected] must submit electronic Expressions of Interest (EOI) by e-mail to [email protected] or submit the documents in a sealed envelope by hand or post to the address provided below by 12:00 noon (RSA Time) on 13 December 2019. Note: If you do not hear from us within 4 weeks after closing date, kindly consider your application unsuccessful on this occasion.
Tender envelopes/Email Subject Lines shall be read: CS/2019/30: Consultancy Services for Capturing Lessons Learnt and Designing of a New SADC Groundwater Programme
Attention:Procurement and Grants OfficeSADC Groundwater Management InstituteInstitute for Groundwater StudiesUniversity of the Free StateBloemfontein, SOUTH AFRICAOffice Tel: +27 51 401 7721
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Requirements:
Key Performance Areas:
CLOSING DATE: 06 DECEMBER 2019
Please apply online at www.capetown.gov.za/careers (external applicants) or via the SAP Portal (internal applicants), unless otherwise stated.
www.ursonline.co.za
CITY OF CAPE TOWN JOB OPPORTUNITYThe City of Cape Town promotes and applies the principles of employment equity. In line with the City’s corporate employment equity and diversity strategy, equity policy, plan and targets, preference will be given to suitably qualifi ed candidates from the designated groups.
Mail Guardian& www.mg.co.za
Academics & CoursesCONTACT:
Ilizma 063 026 7450Vanessa 011 250 7450
46 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Jobs, Tenders, Notices & Classifieds
Call for Expression of Interest
The BioInnovation Africa project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Coop-eration and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internatio-nale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The project aims at fostering equitable European-African business partnerships that contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in Cameroon, Madagascar, Namibia or South Africa. It intends to do so by encouraging the private sector to invest in Africa and establish long-term partnerships for biodiversity-based businesses.
What are we looking for?GIZ is looking for partners with concrete and economically viable proposals to advance busi-ness opportunities in Africa, in line with the objectives of the BioInnovation Africa project and UNCTAD BioTrade principles.
The project is particularly interested in proposals that seek to: • develop new ingredients or new applications of ingredients derived from African biodiversity in
sectors such as food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals;• strengthen existing supply chains for national markets or export to Europe;• advance compliance (including regularization) with ABS rules and regulations in Africa; and• render concrete impacts within a period of two years.
Expression of interestWe invite companies and business organizations interested in partnering with GIZ to submit ‘ex-pressions of interest’ (EoI) that aim at developing or scaling up supply and value chains, which are based on African biodiversity and respect the UNCTAD BioTrade principles.
Detailed information about the Call, the template for expressions of interest, selection criteria and further background information are available for download at the following link:www.abs-initiative.info/bioinnovation Eligible European and African companies are invited to submit their expression of inter-
est via email to [email protected] until latest Friday, 6th December 2019 COB. Please quote reference “BioInnovation Africa EoI” when submitting the documentation.
Late submissions will not be accepted.11419M&G
Notice
IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG LOCAL DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
CASE NO: 23095/18
In the matter between:RENT-A-CAR DIVISION
BARLOWORLDApplicant
SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD t/a AVIS/BUDGET
andDUMA TRAVEL (PTY)
LTDRespondent
NOTICE OF MOTION
BE PLEASED TO TAKE NOTICE that the abovementioned
applicant intends making an application to the
above Honourable Court on 03 February 2019
at 10h00, or soon thereafter as Counsel may be heard for the
following orders:
1. Placing the respondent under supervision;
2. Commencing business rescue proceedings in terms of section 131 of the Companies Act, 71 of 2008 “the Act”;
3. Appointing Mr. JJ Benadie as an interim practitioner who satisfi es the provisions of section 138 of the Act, pending ratifi cation and/or fi nal appointment of a practitioner nominated by the aff ected parties in accordance with section 131(5) of the Act;
4. Costs of this application be costs in the business rescue proceedings; and
5. Further and or alternative relief.
TAKE NOTICE FURTHER that the
accompanying affi davit of PAUL NEL will be
used in support of this application.
TAKE NOTICE FURTHER that the
applicant has appointed POSWA INCORPORATED, the details of whom are set out below, as the
address at which it will accept notice and service
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALSThe South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) is the legislated regulatory body for natural science professionals in South Africa. The Council hereby invites service providers to submit proposals for the appointment of a service provider to manage the continuing professional development (CPD) programme.The Terms of Reference (ToR) are available on request.
Service providers should email proposals to the address below by 11pm on Wednesday, 11 December 2019.
All documents should be forwarded via email to:Name: Mrs Landi Jacobs
Call for Expression of InterestThe C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the British Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). It is implemented by a partnership of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The CFF is a project preparation facility set-up in 2015 to support C40 cities in developing and emerging countries to prepare and deliver sustainable, low carbon and climate adaptation projects. The CFF aims to support the development of new climate relevant infrastructure and to use this experience to catalyse further action in other cities, to support greater market understanding and engagement in infrastructure projects, and to develop the capacity of supported cities to independently undertake similar projects in the future.
The ultimate objective of the CFF is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase
the following high-level project outcomes:1.2. developing the capacity of city administrations to mobilise and access a broad range of
3. sharing knowledge beyond CFF partner cities via peer-to-peer learning and CFF
4.representations.
The CFF entered into a partnership agreement with the City of Tshwane (CoT) in May 2019 to assist the city in identifying and implementing projects that encourage the reduction of green house emmissions. In this regard, all parties agreed on the collaboration to develop and realise the establishment of waste water to energy generation plant at Zeekoegat Waste Water Treatment works through a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant. GIZ and CFF is now seeking a Transaction Advisor (T/A) to assist the city in considering its contracting options in building and operating the said plant.
GIZ invites eligible and professional companies with relevant experience and local presence in South Africa to participate in this tender. Expression of Interest forms are available for downloading until 29 November 2019 at the following link https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/74906.html. Completed forms must be submitted to [email protected] by 06 December 2019. Please quote reference 83343102 when submitting the
documentation. Late submissions will not be accepted.11418M&G
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The Minister of Economic Development, in terms of section 22 of the Act, hereby invites applications for the following position:
Applications should be submitted to the Minister of Trade and Industry for the attention of Dr Molefe Pule, E-mail: [email protected] Economic Development Department, Private Bag X149, Pretoria, 0001 or hand delivered at the Ground Floor, Block G, the dti Campus, SEDA Building, 77 Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, 0132.
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Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 47
Books
Graeme Feltham
Fig claws through the cob-webs of some or other muckmare, the details of which he thankfully cannot remember.
He takes the mirror off the bedstand and snorts the line of coke he prepared before falling asleep like a log.
On the spot he’s awake on the dou-ble-bed sponge mattress with a crate on either side, the Hitachi L 17 on the one crate, a few books on the other (no library here, commensurate with his avowed unbelief in property), two other crates that double as chairs scattered on the floor and against the one wall his clothes are folded in wooden tomato boxes.
And that’s it.That’s all there is in his bedroom.Fig looks around and sees it is
good.And what’s more, his headache is
already tapering off.Coke does that, admittedly along
with other things not as good-feel.
Robin Williams didn’t say “Coke is God’s way of telling you you’ve got too much money” as a joke. Cocaine prolly was impacting on his bank balance.
The vagaries of wealth distribution aside, what does that mean for Fig?
Means he’s broke-ass most of the time.
So it’s a good thing he’s not a propertarian.
A good thing he’s not into things.
Still, cultivat-ing feeling good has been known to lead to expen-sive tastes, and in his case it has.
As with every other weekday morning he pushes into a pair of Levi’s after sniffing the crotch area to check if there’re any
skid marks, seeing he doesn’t wear underpants.
Then he shrugs into his boots, his Caterpillars, after which he pulls a black Mr Price T-shirt over his head and onto his torso. And that’s his uniform.
He occasionally complements this strict uniform with one of two jack-ets — a blue Armani or brown one. Today he slips into the blue one and then swaggers to the bathroom.
Checks in the mirror. Something that looks like Noli illegitimi carborundum is writ-ten on the mirror in Sensodyne toothpaste. Can ’ t r emember doing that.
Remembers his Latin lecturer told him it means, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
The world really does consist of codes and people profiling the Other that means each other continuously.Then he takes
a swig from the Listerine mouth-wash with promises on the label that it will rid your mouth of every oral germ Big Pharma has thus far identified and let loose on a buying populace.
A kinda vicariously kif thrill because Fig stopped brushing his teeth at age 16 after reading that the CIA was experimenting with fluo-ride because it induced obedience. Anyways, that scared young Fig off the stuff until recently when a bemused dentist told him there was no fluoride in Sensodyne.
The irony that he imbibes drugs on a regular basis that chew up his teeth is not lost on him.
Can’t win them all, just splashes his face with cold water, his no 1 shaven head requiring no hairdoing.
Stay neat on top. That way you can pretend corporatophilia tops
your list when called for.With that done, he’s back in
his room in St Michael’s Court in Isipingo Road in artsy Yeoville and whistling “The times they are a-changing”, making a last line of cola for the road before finding his car keys in the last place that he looks as must and can only happen.
Sam-Sam is snoring so loud that the sound from his room is reverb-ing through the flat.
And with that, keys in hand, Fig sets off to occupy the role of a copy-writer-slash-conceptualiser at an ad agency called Launch Factory.
This is an edited extract of With the Safety Off by Graeme Feltham (Dye Hard Press). The novel was pub-lished posthumously with the help of Graeme’s son, Luke Feltham
You gotta be the morning aftertasteDrug user, and later dealer, Fig lives in Yeoville in the mid-1990s. Not a novel for the faint-hearted
Living on the edge: Graeme Feltham’s posthumously published novel, ‘With the Safety Off’, explores the underbelly of society
48 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Lifestyle
Zaza Hlalethwa
‘This is the antith-esis of excess cul-ture where we pop champagne only to pour it on the floor
and burn money because we have so much,” says Banesa Lolauoa Tseki, sitting alongside her business part-ner Anesu Mbizvo.
Last year Tseki and Mbizvo opened The Nest Space in Greenside, Johannesburg, the first yoga stu-dio in South Africa owned by black women. Today they sit in the stu-dio’s recent appendage: a zero-waste vegan grocery and café.
Situated across the hall from the yoga studio, the naturally lit retail space is about the size of a double garage. Instead of shelves packed to the ceiling with merchandise, items on sale sit on tables in large glass jars among potted plants and a vari-ety of crystals. This space leads out to an enclosed balcony with ample patio furniture that allows patrons to comfortably observe the traffic of Greenside’s Gleneagles Road
After last year’s interview about the yoga studio, the Mail & Guardian caught up with Tseki and Mbizvo to unpack the lifestyle they are selling.
“Okay, so there’s actually no such thing as zero waste,” sighs Tseki. The act of leaving a footprint on the earth is inevitable so zero-waste refers to a lifestyle in which people reduce the amount of nonbiodegradable matter they discard. The French zero-waste advocate Bea Johnson explains it as: refusing what you do not need, reducing what you do need, reusing nonperishables and recycling what is left over.
In an effort to promote this, all items in the store are aligned with the zero-waste ethos. This means they either have no packaging or come in reusable glass containers or biodegradable beeswax paper that won’t harm the Earth. The unpack-aged items, such as grains, nuts, rai-sins, and seeds, are sold by weight. To encourage customers to adopt this lifestyle, they are asked to bring their own containers in which to store the produce they purchase. The alternative is purchasing reusable containers from The Nest.
Most of the grocery’s products are supplied by Unwrapped Co, an online store that supplies its clients (private and retail) with organic pan-try staples and eco-friendly house-hold products that align with the zero-waste ethos. It supplies The Nest with a variety of items, ranging from your everyday grains such as rice to organic dishwashing soap.
With regards to its pricing, The Nest aims to be as affordable as possible. “We’re vegan and don’t use animal products so it’s quite easy because fruits and vegetables are not expen-sive,” says Mbizvo. Tseki recalls the duo’s first interview with the M&G, in which they said that the lifestyle they promote at The Nest is first marketed towards black people, in an effort to remind us that holistic self-care is not a Western concept. “We need people to wake up from this idea of associat-ing things that are good for us with whiteness or other than us,” she says.
Tseki and Mbizvo then engage in a back and forth, discussing the ways
in which the zero-waste and vegan lifestyle is not new to the African way of existing. They talk about using ice-cream tubs as skaftins, an empty orange sack as a loofah sub-stitute, passing down clothes and making rugs out of old clothes or plastic bags.
When deciding which items to include in the grocery’s catalogue, the partners drew from their per-sonal experiences as black women who are on plant-based diets and promote the zero-waste move-ment. As a result, their merchandise includes basics such rice and pasta; toothbrushes, shampoo and con-
ditioner that are sold in soap bars instead of plastic bottles; household cleaning products; and zero-waste essentials including stainless steel straws, cotton shopping bags and face cloths. The Nest also offers an organic fruit and vegetable box ser-vice that allows clients to order and pick up a weekly supply of fresh produce when they shop for their nonperishables.
In addition to adding a grocery to its stable, The Nest’s expansion includes a café where homely vegan food is served in an airy setting with free wi-fi. The café serves vegan cof-fee, tea, juices, smoothies, wraps
and sushi platters. Seeing that the ingredients are organic and locally sourced, the café’s menu is based on which produce is in season and it changes weekly.
As well as promoting veganism that is sustainable and affordable to those who are already interested in it, The Nest’s grocery and café aims to be a safe space in which cynics who think the food is not palatable, filling and wholesome can be per-suaded otherwise. With this in mind, Tseki’s and Mbizvo’s weekends are spent hosting a buffet on Saturdays and a soul food lunch on Sundays. The ingredients for the events are supplied by Johannesburg-based food rescue and redistribution non-profit Nosh.
Speaking to the M&G, Hanneke van Linge, the founder of Nosh, says the organisation collects food waste from various Checkers, Pick n Pay and Spar stores. It was established after Van Linge realised how much food retailers throw away when she participated in a soup-kitchen run. “I’ve built relationships with stores to collect waste and I distribute that to a whole network of shelters, feed-ing schemes and churches, people who are doing the feeding every day.”
Food waste is not rotten. It is the produce that retailers have to get
rid of because of “damaged pack-aging and sell-by dates that have passed,” says Van Linge. This food is often discarded in dumps and land-fills because the legal liability for what happens to food waste from supermarkets lies with the retail-ers. “A lot of the stores choose to throw it away to avoid being sued. That’s why we remove all branding when we receive the produce,” says Van Linge.
Because the food that Van Linge handles is perishable, she has to redistribute it on the same day she receives it from retailers to avoid adding to the tonnes that are already being thrown away. When there is excess, Nosh offers the likes of Tseki and Mbizvo produce for dona-tions that go towards funding the day-to-day operations of the non-profit, which otherwise has very lit-tle funding.
“Our menus and what we have available in store are dictated by what the Earth has to give us,” says Tseki towards the end of our conver-sation, in a bid to link the grocery and café to the yoga studio across the hall. “In everything, all we’re try-ing to do is encourage people to be mindful, to look at what they have and create from there. We have eve-rything we need and we’ve always had it.”
A zero-waste, vegan love nestThe founders of a vegan grocery are combating myths that self-care is a Western concept
Green living: (from left) Anesu Mbizvo and Banesa Lolauoa Tseki (top), the co-founders of The Nest Space, which runs a yoga studio, a zero-waste grocery store and a vegan café. The products they sell include toothbrushes (left), soap (right) and tea (below). Photos: Paul Botes
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 49
Music
Zaza Hlalethwa
Elaine embodies the girl next door aesthetic in an oversized T-shirt dress and fresh sneakers. Her envy-worthy natural hair
sits in an effortless but taut pineap-ple bun that draws attention to her kind but matter-of-fact eyes. “Thank you so much for having this chat with me, sis,” she says as we settle into our conversation over coffee. She can only spare an hour because, even though today is her “day off”, it’s exam season and she has to study.
With access to information and unmatched resources, she and a group of barely 20-something-year-old students managed to put out Elements, her internationally acclaimed, local chart-topping debut EP. Barely accustomed to her new-found fame, the 20-year-old artist talks me through the thinking that led to her becoming the first inde-pendent woman to reach the number one spot on the South African Apple Music album charts within a month.
Although she is from Pretoria, Elaine is in her second year at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she is studying towards a mas-ters’ degree in law. When I exclaim at the thought of being a full-time student and an independent artist she shrugs off the idea of being over-whelmed because she has “always enjoyed being really busy”.
So far, her only point of tension this year was curating the team that would help create her signature sound. “I had to start over quite a few times because what was being pro-duced was not the sound I had envi-sioned,” she explains.
No one is over 21 All members of the team that helped make Elements a chart-topping EP are students no older than 21. This was a deliberate move on Elaine’s part, because she didn’t want to work with anyone who was established.
“I didn’t want to be told what to do by someone who thinks they know better, I’m trying to learn and grow at the same pace as my team,” she adds.
And in case the public thinks her decision was motivated by exist-ing friendships, Elaine clarifies the nature of the collaborations. “We’re not friends; I didn’t choose to work with them because I know them. I chose them because they’re good.”
After a handful of false starts Elaine began working on Elements with producers Clxrity and Elyzée. The fourth, and most invisible mem-ber of the team is her manager, Joshua Molotsi, who describes him-self as “a young kid who wants to help change the South African music industry” through his music agency Velocity Music Group.
His role as manager began after a
friend of his played him Elaine’s sin-gle, Slip Away, in February. The bud-ding artist manager had been look-ing for an artist with Elaine’s R&B and trap-soul sound since 2018. With no leads into who she was and how to get in touch with her, he sent her a dm on Instagram. “I told her that I don’t have all the experience in the world but I have passion to get her to the next level”. By March he had assumed the role of handling “her interviews, bookings, visibility and royalty administration while making sure that nobody takes advantage of her”.
Molotsi is in his third and final year at the Academy of Sound Engineering where he picked up the means to manage artists through music business courses and mentor-ship from his lecturer and entertain-ment lawyer, Nick Matzukis.
“Besides the book and mentorship I also stay online. Thank God for the internet and wi-fi,” adds Molotsi.
Fashioning a bespoke soundThe sonic aesthetic in question is a blend between various genres including trap-soul, Baroque pop and contemporary R&B. Trap-soul happens when a New Age hip-hop beat is combined with soulful lyr-ics sung in the dactylic pentameter flow of trap music. Artists in this genre include Bryson Tiller, Jhene Aiko and Kehlani. Baroque pop fuses alternative rock and classical music to create the sort of melancholic vibe that Lana del Rey has going on. With regard to contemporary R&B, it isn’t hard to tell that Elaine’s sound and subject matter are akin to that of H.E.R, Snoh Aalegra and SZA, all art-ists that she dreams of working with.
Because the references to this sound are all American, it supports the idea that Elaine’s music does not fit into an “authentic” South African sound as described by local duo Darkie Fiction in their 2018 docu-mentary, Little America. Under this description, a local sound can be picked up wherever it plays, because it takes its cues from music that is indigenous to South Africa.
Elaine sighs: “That chat is tired, sis.” The songstress says she’s stopped
subscribing to the idea that South African music has to sound a cer-tain way to be considered authentic. Her argument is that no matter how people categorise her sound, she’s a South African woman.
“The sounds that we are trying to preserve are already protected. We’ll never stop playing Brenda Fassie. There’s no need for us to find another Brenda,” she adds.
How to make a hitThe EP’s name comes from the art-ist’s attempt to explore the vari-ous elements of love necessary for romance to work, because, “as much as love comes from the heart, it’s a mind game too”, she says. As such,
Elements touches on issues of com-munication, setting boundaries, admitting fault, vulnerability and self-care.
To create each song, Elaine fol-lowed a simple ritual: establish the beat, write to it and then record before mixing and mastering it. In each beat’s early days, Elaine would listen in because “it influences the direction, pace and voice that I should be writing in”. Then as soon as the respective beats were ready, Elaine would get a call and either make her way to Elyzée’s garage or Clxrity’s dormitory where she recorded the EP’s seven tracks.
Elaine’s lyrical style is conversa-tional and perhaps the reason she is able to relay layers of emotion with-out being complex. In I Just Wanna Know, like all the other songs on the
EP, Elaine addresses a love interest.“I just wanna know/ If we’re gonna
continue with what we’re doing/ And if so/ Are there rules and if not/ What happens when I make a mistake and what happens when I break your heart/ What happens if you break my heart”.
As simple as the lyrics are, they convey the importance of setting boundaries for a relationship to be healthy.
To further fuel her point Elaine takes her time to deliver the words in a deep whisper and sombre tone that can only come from meaning what she says.
When asked about the source of her lyrical approach, Elaine attrib-utes it to being soft spoken. “I don’t like to talk. My way of dealing or processing feels is by putting them into a song.”
It’s for this reason that writing for Elements was a swift process that happened when Elaine was going through the experiences she sings the listener through, whether “in lecture halls, while sitting in traffic, or in the middle of a daytime nap”.
Making this EP was not free. By the time the final product was ready for distribution and promotion,
Elaine had a manager, two produc-ers and a photographer on her pay-roll. Although she doesn’t disclose the exact amount, she says settling the bills took all of her allowance “for months” as well as unwavering contributions from her parents, who have been “extremely supportive of this journey”.
The next stepElaine is yet to tackle the full poten-tial of Elements. It is for this reason that she isn’t quite ready to collabo-rate with other artists. Apart from the women she emulates, the other artists on her collaboration wish-list are Drake and Shane Eagle.
With the news of Elaine’s success as an independent artist came offers from multiple record labels offer-ing the artist “the same thing”: an opportunity to take her career to new levels by introducing her to the right people and reducing her work-load. When asked to name the labels Elaine declines because she doesn’t want to “close those doors forever”. With only an EP to her name, there’s still a lot for Elaine to figure out about the music industry, a journey she’s invested in exploring on her own terms.
Elaine is in her elementThe 20-year-old singer from Pretoria has produced an EP that has topped the charts
Independent: All the members of Elaine’s team are no older than 21, because she didn’t want anyone with experience telling her what to do. Photo: Emile Kamanda
The bills took all of her allowance “for months” as well as unwavering contributions from her parents
50 Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019
Film
Kwanele Sosibo
Although it is popu-lated by a sizable ensemble that speaks on behalf of the sub-ject, Toni Morrison:
The Pieces I Am, is also an intimate, quietly powerful film that invites us to an extended audience with the Nobel Prize-winning author. The documentary, commissioned as part of PBS’s American Masters series, premiered at the Sundance Fim Fes-tival in January and will show at the Joburg Film Festival, which runs until November 24.
In the two-hour film, the viewer is afforded a rich perspective set around a deliberately unfolding interview; an interview that — in the wake of Morrison’s death in August — is an elegant last testament. The documentary is directed by film-maker and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, who first met Morrison when she visited his East Village studio in 1981 for a SoHo News cover portrait.
Greenfield-Sanders’s initial impression of Morrison, as told to Mike D of Reelblack Podcast, was that she was an obviously confi-
dent, “fully ready to go” sitter, who exhibited no nervousness in front of the camera. A friendship grew from that first meeting, with Greendfield-Sanders taking many other portraits of Morrison in the ensuing years.
The interview that anchors the film took place over several sessions at Morrison’s home, with other sup-plementary interviews conducted for clarity later on in the filming process. These sessions, complementary foot-age, and the cast of speakers help us to construct a biographical outline, even as the film is more concerned with the meaning of Morrison’s creative output than it is with chronology. The addi-tional elements consist of more than just old film. They conjoin to form a rich tapestry that incorporates several pieces of contemporary art.
In addition to this, the talking heads are so well selected that their contribu-tions come across as vital, each teas-ing out various strands of Morrison’s foundational raison d’être: writing away from the white gaze.
Among the speakers is literature professor Farah Griffin, who speaks about the transgressive power of Sula (Morrison’s second novel about a friendship between two women). There is Sonia Sanchez, brimming
with verve in her trademark tie-dye, who expounds on an idea relatable to Morrison’s authorial approach: namely writing the difference between reimagining and reinventing.
There is Angela Davis, who opens a window into Morrison’s activist and transformative approach to editing, which she experienced first hand as one of the recruits to Random House, alongside others such as June Jordan and Muhammad Ali.
There is Hilton Als, softly spoken and incisive, speaking of The Black Book (1974), Morrison’s intervention-ist smorgasbord, as a representation
of “the jumble that is black American life”.
Oprah also features, detailing how, in her book club, she had positioned Morrison as the sleeper disturbing the tranquil. Over the course of this film, these and many other speakers contribute much more to our under-standing of Morrison as a cultural and political figure.
Hearing Morrison speak so openly of her childhood in Lorain, Ohio, provides a layered context illuminat-ing how some of the characters and the storylines of her books came to be. (A childhood conversation with a friend, for instance, planted a seed that germinated as The Bluest Eye later in life.)
The focus on her professional life, on the other hand, shows us not only an unyielding aesthete always aware of the political import of her positions (as editor and writer), but also a single mother, who, while una-shamed to lean on family when she needed to, was determined to work out a rhythm to cohere her careers and role as a mother.
For much of the film we see the striking image of Morrison her-self: in archival footage, in still photographs; in homely repose or with her game face on. When she is interviewed she sits facing us head on, exhibiting sensitivity and an unapologetic intelligence.
Morrison’s career was nothing if not prodigious, with more than 10 novels, several nonfiction titles, children’s books, a pair of plays, a libretto and countless essays. In the film, Greenfield-Sanders mostly keeps the focus centred on her trio of 1970s novels — The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon — and, of course, the behemoth that is Beloved (which Morrison was initially unsure about turning into a film). Although this approach gives us a pivot, what is clear is that Morrison transcended literature. Speakers, at turns, allude to this, calling her “the Emancipation Proclamation of the English language” and referring to her as “a literary artist”.
Greenfield-Sanders gives voice to the latter by mapping her connec-tions to other works of art within the African-American canon, specifically contemporary art. He deploys these works throughout the film to echo the world conjured by Morrison’s books. Titus Kaphar’s Behind the Myth of Benevolence, makes a strong appear-ance in the film, as do other works such as Kerry James Marshall’s Past Times, Rashid Johnson’s Untitled Anxious Audience and photographs from Gordon Parks’s Segregation Story series.
In the interview with Mike D, Greenfield-Sanders suggests that another function of the talking heads was to speak back to his white gaze, which, given Morrison and the con-text of her work, he felt compelled to mitigate. Perhaps a consequence of this is that we get a film that is quite reticent to engage its sub-ject critically. We don’t get to hear Morrison defend her work against worthy challenges, or even critically appraise herself. As she herself says, she was quite certain of her superior-ity over her white male detractors. In Greenfield-Sanders’s framing, then, as close as Morrison may appear, there is the intermittent blur of a self-correcting focus.
The intimacy of Toni MorrisonA new documentary examines the ‘Beloved’ author’s wider political and artistic signficance
The South African horror film, titled 8: Fear the Legend, tells the story of a former farm hand fated to take souls to appease a demon spirit reincarnated in the form of his daughter. It is a convoluted retelling of the age-old story sokuthwala in horror mould.
All is well, other than that this fable seems to have little to do with the setting it unfolds in, except for the purposes of propelling a retro-fitted fantastical leap.
In interviews, Harold Hölscher, director of 8 (chosen as the opening night film of this year’s Joburg Film Festival), speaks enthusiastically about the international prospects of the film. “Horror is the fastest-growing and one of the best-selling genres in the world and this movie was, in my opinion, an obvious kind of film to make,” he told City Press in June ahead of his film premier-
ing at the Fantasia International Film Festival in July. Then there was the “roots in African folklore and mysticism” bit, which has become a primary selling trope.
The problem is not so much that in 1977 the real horror scene was South Africa itself — Casspirs and police vans and corpses. It is that, at the end of all the purging of demons, which forges an imme-diate sense of common purpose among a well-meaning farmer and suspicious villagers, William Ziel (the newly-arrived farmer charac-ter played by Garth Breytenbach) throws the most incredulous line of the film: “With your help we can turn this place into paradise.”
It is a cheap, sanitising line at the end of a movie in which setting serves no real contextualising pur-pose except as a backdrop for exoti-cism. Although it is an “obvious” kind of film to make for an industry tired of apartheid as a framing device, it is quite a tone deaf begin-ning for the Joburg Film Festival. — Kwanele Sosibo
SA horror movie ‘8’ a tone-deaf start to Joburg Film Festival
A rich life: Stills from ‘Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am’. The documentary is directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and includes an array of scholars, as well as an in-depth interview with Morrison herself. Photos: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders/Magnolia Pictures
Awful: Lazarus (Tsamano Sebe) steals souls to feed a demon child he must carry around
Mail & Guardian November 22 to 28 2019 51
Photography
THE PORTFOLIODeseni Soobben
I was privileged. I had a home. Yet, right before me, people’s homes were burnt to cinders. Right before me was a
wasteland. People were slowly pick-ing up the pieces and leaving. There was silence. Nobody was scream-ing or talking or shouting. The land was burning … There were not many men. The women were sitting, with children, waiting for their families to come home from work. They had nowhere to go. Some women con-tinued with their menial tasks, bath-ing their children in the open. Some comforted their young ones; some just sat and stared into the unknown. Where to go? What to do?
Grandmothers who could not walk sat on beach chairs, waiting. It was the forced removals. Everything moved in slow motion, almost dream-like, yet this was no dream —this was their nightmare. Mattresses were burnt, however, the springs and iron structure of the bed could still be used. One man was carrying a bed on his head. Others looked hopeless, as if they didn’t know which way to turn. One woman was bathing her son, probably carrying on with the usual tasks of the day. When photo-graphs jog your memory, this evokes senses and sounds.
I always felt awkward photograph-ing people in desperate, unfortunate conditions. What do you say? How do you comfort? Is “sorry” ever enough? Yes, these pics were important and sought-after by our photographic
agency, Afrapix, for the overseas unionists and activists. The photos encapsulate memories of the endless funerals of activists; the bullet-ridden, blood-stained rondavels on the South Coast; desolated homes in Imbali,
amid the beautiful lush landscape of the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands. How can such a beautiful country have such stark, awful conditions?
Thirty years later, in democratic South Africa, we still have forced
removals. People still do not have homes. Whatever happened to the promises that every citizen will have a home, clean, running water, lights, food — after all, shelter is a basic human right. Thirty years later, I am
still privileged. I still have a home.
No Defence … Only a Burnt Fence.
This photo was taken by Deseni
Soobben during forced removals in
Newlands, Durban in 1986
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South Africa R45.00Zimbabwe US$3Mozambique M206.80Zambia K45Kenya Ksh305Botswana P45.00Eswatini E45.00 / Lesotho M45.00Namibia N$45.00PDF Replica Digital Edition R25.00
FridayNovember 22 to 28 2019 • mg.co.za/arts
Trigger warning:Graeme Feltham’s Fig walks us through the wild sidePage 47
The Pieces I Am Page 50
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Brad Binder proves a real blinderSouth Africa has discovered a new sporting champion in Brad Binder. The 24-year-old came within three points of claiming the Moto2 championship, the second tier of motorcycle racing. After a slow start, Binder had a scin-tillating second half of the season, which saw him win the fi nal three races on the circuit. His season reaped rich reward though as Binder has been promoted to the elite MotoGP circuit, where he will ride for the Red Bull KTM Racing team for the 2020 season.
SportNovember 22 to 28 2019 • mg.co.za/sport
Luke Feltham
These are unfamiliar times for Sundowns. Most of the current crop have never had to endure the “dif-ficult moment”, to use a
football coach’s favourite euphe-mism.
No wins from three games in the league, two frustrating losses and 10 points off the top of the table. Diffi cult is certainly what we’re wit-nessing now. The Masandawana aura of impregnability is under threat.
This week assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi was in no mood to mask the signifi cance of the run.
“It was only one season — when we lost to Aces and Arrows — that we lost two games in a row,” he said. “But besides that we have always made it very difficult to lose — we would rather draw than lose. But this time, the losses to Chiefs and Arrows and a draw to Baroka are not good results by our standards at all.”
Downs face decisive chapterAfter an uncharacteristic run of bad form, Masandawana’s aura of superiority is threatened
For context, Downs were defeated only three times in the league last season. Losing is simply not what this side does, let alone in quick succession.
Such is the fragile nature of the footballing ego that all it takes to shatter it is a few skew bounces to a reputation that has taken years to build. This is an outfi t that’s feared on every ground in the country, but each disappointing outcome erodes that psychological edge a little.
To the bosses at Chloorkop, there can be only one solution: swerve and catch the tailwind. That chance arrives against Golden Arrows on Saturday in what has become an important Telkom Knockout semi-fi nal.
“At Sundowns every game is important. Be it a friendly match, we would still want to go there and win it,” Mngqithi said, getting the required platitudes out the way. “But the fact that we have had three bad results makes this an even more
important match for us. Because we are asking ourselves: When are we going to turn the corner?
“It’s very important for Sundowns to turn the corner quickly to give us confidence for the [CAF] Champions League, to give us confi dence for the race in the league. So we are approaching this game with all the professionalism it deserves and what is expected of Sundowns.”
It’s ironic that in their mo-ment of need, Masandawana must turn to a cup competition for a boost. He’ll never admit it, but coach Pitso Mosimane has continually turned his nose up at domes-tic knockout games in recent years, fi elding weak-ened teams that have failed to get to a fi nal since Bidvest Wits triumphed to win the MTN8 in 2016. Now he can’t
afford another loss, no matter the level of occasion.
Victory against this particu-lar opponent would also bring
a level of symbolic closure. It was Arrows that
rounded off the bad stretch with a
messy but war-ranted win at a torrential S u g a r R a y Xulu Stadium. T h e b a d
weather may have sucked the
ball onto the pitch but it couldn’t mask
Abafana Bes’thende’s superior desire to do something with it. Should Sundowns arrive with the same approach this time they can expect the same result.
“We know what to expect from them: their line-up and their strengths,” winger Lyle Lakay said after
training on Wednesday. “Ja, we were disappointed with the loss in the league but hopefully we can turn it around with the cup game this weekend.
“We want to, as a team, get into the fi nal. We compete for all the trophies that are on hand. People always say that we prioritise the league and the champions league, which is true, but at the end of the day we want to win everything that is on the table. We also haven’t won one in a while, so this is the perfect opportunity to win and get our momentum back.”
Lakay pulled the trigger half a sec-ond too late in that game, allowing a desperate tackle to block his shot and prevent what would have been a 90th-minute equaliser. On another day, even an off-form Sundowns would have found a way to scrape out a result. But that’s the thing about slumps, they drag you in deeper until someone fi nds the gumption to claw the team out.
Or, as Lakay put it: “It’s up to us to give a bit more to break the ice and eventually start winning — getting back to the Sundowns that people know.”
Down down: Mamelodi Sundowns fans are not used to watching their team defeated, but the side has had a bad run lately. It is hoped that the game against the Golden Arrows on Saturday will point them in the upward direction that coach Pitso Mosimane (below) sorely needs. Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Sport2 Mail & Guardian Sport November 22 to 28 2019
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Newly appointed Australia coach Dave Rennie said this week that the All Blacks left it too late to secure his services, with the “proud” New Zealander now focused on mentor-ing their arch-rivals.
New Zealand Rugby bosses have ruled out a foreign coach for the All Blacks and revealed this month they had asked 26 New Zealanders to apply for the coveted job, left vacant by Steve Hansen after the World Cup.
Rennie was one of those contacted: “I’m a proud Kiwi but the big thing is I’ve been talking to Australia for a lot of months and the All Blacks inter-
est came in late in the piece,” he told rugby.com.au
“By that stage, we’d done a lot of homework, we were really excited about the opportunity to go to Australia and that ended up being an easy decision.”
New Zealand has said its new coaching team will be named before Christmas, but it has now missed out on at least three high-profile candidates.
Along with Rennie, Jamie Joseph ruled himself out of consideration after opting to remain as Japan coach, whereas former Wales boss
Warren Gatland also turned down an offer to apply, focusing instead on the Waikato Chiefs and coaching the British and Irish Lions in 2021.
All Blacks assistant Ian Foster and three-time Super Rugby-winning Crusaders coach Scott Robertson now appear to be the front-runners.
New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey said he was aware that Rennie had been talking to Australia.
“We have known for some time that Dave was in talks with Rugby Australia, so we have been clear about his position regarding the All Blacks head coach position,” he said.
“We congratulate Dave on his appointment and wish him the best.”
Rennie will take over from Michael Cheika in July next year after fulfill-ing his commitments to current club Glasgow Warriors.
He is the second New Zealander to be handed the job after Robbie Deans almost a decade ago.
Rugby Australia chief Raelene Castle admitted there were no suit-able Australians in the running, with Rennie vowing to get the fans onside despite not being a local.
“I think Australians want their national team coached by an
Australian and I’m okay with that,” he said. “Hopefully, they’re feeling that way because they care about Aussie rugby and all I can say is everywhere I’ve gone I’ve immersed myself in the community and the culture.
“I guess we’ll be judged by what we do as opposed to what I say now.
“But I can assure you that I care about the future of Australian rugby, I’m going to work really hard to get a strong connection with the Super Rugby coaches and national age-grade coaches to ensure we’ve got good young talent coming through and good pathways for them.” — AFP
Rennie: All Blacks left it too late to offer me coach job
John Weaver
José Mourinho, the new man in the Tottenham hot seat, is back in the English Premier League with a point to prove.
The Portuguese is a serial winner across Europe but his repu-tation was badly tarnished in the final few months of his Manchester United reign, which ended late last year. The man who charmed English football when he arrived as a fresh-faced manager at Chelsea in 2004, labelling himself the “Special One”, left Old Trafford last December under a dark cloud.
Now Mourinho has a chance to prove his doubters wrong at a club without any silverware since 2008 but with a sparkling new stadium and a squad of players who reached the Champions League final in June.
“I am excited to be joining a club with such a great heritage and such passionate supporters,” said the
56-year-old, hours after Mauricio Pochettino was shown the door.
“The quality in both the squad and the academy excites me. Working with these players is what has attracted me.”
Mourinho’s arrival in English foot-ball from Champions League win-ners Porto had a seismic effect.
He put Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s billions to spectacular use to end the Arsenal-Manchester United duopoly, winning the Premier League title in his first sea-son and repeating the feat the follow-ing year before things turned sour.
Next stop was Inter Milan, which became the first Italian side to com-plete the treble of league, cup and Champions League.
At Real Madrid he tussled with Pep Guardiola’s great Barcelona side, winning the league title in 2012.
He failed to lead them to European glory, although he did take them to three consecutive Champions
League semifinals after six years without winning a knockout tie in the competition.
In June 2013, Chelsea appointed Mourinho — now the “Happy One” — as manager for the second time.
He won a third Premier League title in his second season in charge before a poor start to the next cam-paign cost him his job. Even though he failed to win the league title at Old Trafford, he still added the Europa League and the League Cup to United’s trophy cabinet.
However, in the irritable final months of his tenure there, Mourinho fell out with senior squad members, including Paul Pogba; blamed his superiors for a lack of backing in the transfer market; and
oversaw a drastic deterioration in performances and results. Mourinho did little to help himself, particularly in his short-lived third season, which has become an unwanted hallmark of his managerial career.
Although he suffered damage to his reputation, the Spurs appoint-ment shows his stock is still high, with chairman Daniel Levy hailing him as “one of the most successful managers in football”.
But he now brings baggage as well as trophy-winning nous. Will Spurs fans get to witness the “Special One” or, perhaps, the “Surly One”?
When the Portuguese joined United, there were questions about how his pragmatic approach would fit in with their famous culture of
attacking football nurtured under Alex Ferguson. Those questions did not go away as he failed to recapture the Premier League title.
He will face the same issues at Tottenham, with the club wedded to a tradition of flair and exciting for-ward play, summed up in their slo-gan, “To Dare is To Do”.
Mourinho has slipped down foot-ball’s managerial pecking order in recent years, behind Manchester City boss Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp.
But he has been handed a golden chance to rediscover the magic for-mula that brought him an avalanche of honours earlier in his career and give fans the silverware they crave. — AFP
Mourinho: ‘Special one’ or ‘surly one?’The manager’s move to Spurs offers him a shot at redemption after his stint at Manchester United
In the hot seat: José Mourinho spent two-and-a-bit years at United but was unable to emulate the heights he reached at Chelsea. His new job at Spurs will present the same challenges. Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images
Mail & Guardian Sport November 22 to 28 2019 3
Sport
Trumpian troll cons it to the big timeCovington’s antics have earned him a title shot and may even redefine perceptions of the UFC
Luke Feltham
Colby Covington is the answer to a question you would have never cared to ask: What would Donald Trump’s Twitter account
look like if it strapped on a pair of gloves and entered an octagon?
This animated internet troll has become one of the most hated ath-letes on the planet and yet simulta-neously stands on the precipice of greatness. Equal parts caricature and Trumpian acolyte, it’s impossible to know just how much of it is real or him conning the system.
It hardly matters to him or his ambitions; he’s put himself in the picture and is now set to reap the rewards: in less than a month’s time he will fight Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title in a bout that could reshape the landscape of the division.
Just what this hornswoggle per-sonality does for the integrity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and combat sports more broadly is another matter entirely.
How did he get here? It all hap-pened rather quickly, which is part of the amazement.
Back when Nate Diaz fought Conor McGregor for the second time — a
new height for UFC’s popularity in 2016 — Covington was a foot-note on the card. As an early-prelim with an unremarkable fighting style and vanilla personality, no one was clamouring to suggest he would go on to make something of himself. But then few had their eyes open to what would be arriving in the United States national elections later that year either.
Covington saw his opportunity and pushed all his chips to the centre of the table. He donned a pair of eter-nally annoying aviators, strapped on a Make America Great Again hat and began to religiously share the word of Trump. Appropriately, he impro-vised with plenty of his own bigotry and needless ranting.
In one wardrobe change he became the trash-talking redneck that an incensed liberal America envisioned as the cause of Trump’s win and the root of their own failures.
Professional wrestling calls this a heel turn — when someone becomes a baddie with the intention of riling the crowd. And rile them he certainly did.
From there it’s simple, bloody maths. You want to see him fight in the hope he gets his mouth forcefully shut. The longer it keeps yammering,
the more you’ll pay to see it happen.Credit must be extended to him
for escaping that fate and getting the better of his opponents. But, especially in the competitive welter-weight division, there’s no denying his ascent to the big-money fights has been fast-tracked by his antics.
In that time the gimmick has spi-ralled to a point where it’s hard to imagine Covington knows what’s real or what’s manufactured. He even became the first UFC “champion” (he still carries around an interim title even though it’s been stripped from him) to visit the White House. That’s
not an insignificant trip in an era where teams and individual athletes make as a matter of political pride to reject invites from the president.
Trump has also made sure to reciprocate the love, tweeting mes-sages of support before a fight. Sons Donald Jnr and Eric Trump have watched Covington in the arena and he happily promoted Donald Jnr’s new book (Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us) at the latest presser he attended.
Again, this sort of attention trans-lates to more eyeballs on the UFC. But, just as Covington himself has given up a part of his soul to become this vacuous zealot, so too is the UFC in danger of slipping into the com-parison it so loathes: professional wrestling.
Usman, who has been happy to cross his arms in bemusement, has an opportunity to end — or at least halt — the circus next month. If he doesn’t, we could be looking back at this matchup as a seminal moment in defining what it takes to succeed in the sport.
City’s financial fair play case is a test of Uefa’s mettleLuke Feltham
When Manchester City executive Simon Pearce was asked if it were possible to embellish a particu-lar payment date on the books, his response was plain: “Of course, we can do what we want.”
What was merely a matter-of-fact reply to his colleague, chief financial officer Jorge Chumillas, has come to be seen as the maxim by which the rich elite operate in the football world on a day-to-day basis.
We know this thanks to German publication Der Spiegel, which exposed the club’s attempt to cook their ledgers to comply with Uefa’s financial fair play regulations (FFP).
One year after the report was pub-lished, there’s no reason to believe a damn thing will be done to ensure City are punished commensurately. That last word is important, because no one is buying that fines are any-thing more than a tickle to an empire with voluminous bank vaults.
What would hurt would be an outright ban from the Champions League — one of the possible punish-ments. But the investigatory cham-ber of the club financial control body (CFCB) — the Uefa arm that would mete out the sanctions — actually pulling the trigger seems too proac-tive to be true.
The Athletic certainly doesn’t think
it will. It ran an article last week claiming inside information that the CFCB has cowed out of pushing for any substantial punishment. Again, given recent history, this is hardly an exclusive insight.
Uefa is simply afraid of the infinite time those aforementioned bank vaults can buy City. As the club’s law-
yer put it in another leaked email: “Khaldoon [Al Mubarak, the chair-person] said he would rather spend 30-million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next 10 years.”
It must have been with hidden resentment then that the CFCB greeted the Court of Arbitration for
Sport’s decision to dismiss City’s appeal at the weekend. Had it instead ruled that the CFCB must leave it all alone, then the body would have been absolved of responsibility. Now, there is nowhere to hide.
In many ways this agonising loop is poetic. FFP was ostensibly put in place to erode club debt, but came
into being only because the old European guard (Manchester United and Real Madrid being two obvious examples) pressured former Uefa boss Michel Platini into slowing the rise of new powers such as City, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
Ten years after the conception of the regulations, it’s clear they’ve done as much to stall them as the hare’s nap did in its race against the tortoise.
The greatest irony in all of this is that City are now part of the fiscal elite themselves. The club announced a record revenue of £535.2-million this week — putting them behind only United in the English Premier League. And with the Red Devils missing out on the Champions League, it’s possible the world’s most popular side will be surpassed by their nouveau riche neighbours by this time next year.
With these sorts of revenues, City could balance the books just fine without the need for “financial dop-ing” and tax tricks.
The window to punish any past discretions closes with this case before the CFCB and, by now, we’re all morosely tapping our feet in the hope that it will all go away.
Either the body must level a pun-ishment of consequence or accept the FFP project as a failure — argu-ably a fate it was always destined for.
Dickhead: Crowds would love it if ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman (below), beat the shtick out of Colby Covington (above). Photos: Jason Silva/AGIF, Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports
Financial doping: City won the league last season, but face sanctions for tax tricks. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Sport & Games4 Mail & Guardian Sport November 22 to 28 2019
SUDOKU How to play Sudoku: Place a number from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so that each row, each column and each 3x3 block contains all the numbers from 1 to 9.
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION
Across1 Birds pile out bins (8)9 He gets doctor to sick primate (8)10 Met over exercise with small
lures (6)11 Mollusc entwines wire in kelp
(10)12 Turn back for darts (4)13 Skop die blik, for example, is
easy (6,4)16 Incorporated one’s alternative
tooth (7)17 “Sorry” is a fake - editor (7)20 Official rips me apart about a
learner (10)22 Canvas drum is about right (4)23 A frock to hide carelessly into
with dexterity (10)25 Where are you going, guy? A
philanthropist has the answer (3,3)
26 Take off more clothes at eclipse? (8)
27 Spoil (leave out intro) his first exam paper (8)
Down2 Oxen tire badly from labour (8)3 I admit being journalist and I have
been awesome (10)4 Made dodgy change of
leadership to be happy (10)5 Chic - in other words, sweet (7)6 Chew gum nervously after Woods
leads (4)7 Move yourself with one thousand
to kneel oddly (6)8 Favourite colour spotted (4-4)14 Miserable cold is definite leak
(10)15 Quietly set down runt at broken
bunk (4,6)16 Parrot a timid catch? On the
contrary! (8)18 Improves hers with nice stew
(8)19 Messy trunk emptied inside (7)21 I enter into group agreement (6)24 Throw out grass (4)
JDE 210 by George EuvrardTHE ORIGINAL SOUTH AFRICAN CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
QUICK CROSSWORDAcross1 Warm underwear (8)5 Jacob’s twin brother (4)9 Fire-raising (5)10 Wild — not evil (anag) (7)11 Pub game (3,9)13 Sanctuary (6)14 Accuse without established
proof (6)17 Peter practised poetic ploy
perfectly (12)20 Natter (4-3)21 Doubly (5)22 Affair of honour? (4)23 Of private concern (8)
Down1 Rip (4)2 Rapture (7)3 Fashionable male socialite
(3,5,4)4 Beautiful (6)6 Drive — young ox (5)7 Not yet proven (8)8 Position in society (6,6)12 Steady — objective (8)15 Strong feeling (7)16 Czech capital (6)18 River flowing through Tours
and Nantes (5)19 Keeled over (4)
14, 685
LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS Quick Crossword 14, 684 Cryptic Crossword JDE 209
Solutions and explanations can be found at mg.co.za/crossword
Go to ‘JDE’ on facebook for discussion and solutions to every JDE crossword, and talk or stalk!
Eyaaz Matwadia
South African sportsman of the year for 2019 Moruti Mthalane prides himself on hard work. He also car-ries the confidence that
every world champion has, but does not hide the anxiety that pressure brings when he steps into the ring.
Mthalane is currently in his sec-ond reign as the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion. When he started out 19 years ago, he would not have been tipped as a prospect to succeed on the world stage with an amateur career record that stood at 35 wins and 35 losses.
Mthalane told the Mail & Guardian that at an amateur level, he lost so many fights because he was still learning the art of boxing and figuring out new techniques. His pro-fessional career currently stands at 38 wins and two losses.
His two losses came in 2004 and 2008. While the 2008 fight against Nonito Donaire shows a loss, it may have been the first big break the babyface — as he is known — needed. It was the first time that he fought outside of South Africa, something he’d only dreamt of.
“Those losses didn’t disturb me or have any effect on my career, because they were controversial losses. I came back strongly, because I haven’t lost since that second fight in 2008, and even that fight, it was con-troversial. Many people complained when the fight was stopped, so it has never affected me.”
A year later his next fantasy became reality when he was back in South Africa to win his first IBF title.
“I never thought that one day I
would be fighting overseas and I would be a world champion,” he said.
Mthalane’s first championship reign was marred by pay disputes and inactivity, as he struggled to find fights to defend his title, which even-tually led to the IBF revoking his belt. It was a point in his career where he could have thrown in the towel, but he stuck with those in his corner to help him get back up. It’s no wonder Mthalane pays tribute to his former coach, the late Nick Durandt, and his current coach Colin Lathan.
“With Nick Durandt, I used to know him very well, I used to know what he likes, what he doesn’t like and at the same time, he used to understand me. Our relationship was very good.”
Lathan’s coaching guided Mthalane back to gold in 2018, and it would be the best year of his career, defending his title around Asia.
The next highlight for Mthalane will be a fight against Akira Yaegashi on December 23 in Yokohama. Yaegashi, the former IBF flyweight champion, will want that title back around his waist and has the height and reach advantage over Mthalane. But this is where the babyface’s staunchness kicks in.
He discloses that he’s nervous before every bout, but that it’s only because of the pressure he puts himself under to produce a positive result. He emphasises that he draws self-motivation from the anxiety as he believes that he is prepared for anything. This ultimately turns his edginess to confidence.
The faith he has in himself shows by what he had to say about his next opponent: “He is a strong fighter. I respect him a lot because he is a former champion, but for sure I will have this one. I will defend my title.”
Moruti’s dream in real timeSouth Africa’s sportsman of the year enjoys his second round on top of the world ring
Champ: Moruti Mthalane (right) is pumped for another victory in Yokohama, Japan, in December. Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP
Novak Djokovic has called on the Davis Cup to merge with the ATP Cup and believes home ties should return in the early rounds. The 119-year-old Davis Cup will appear in a new format in Madrid next year, during which 18 countries will compete in one venue over one week.
Under the previous system, a winning team would have to play four weekends across the year and top players were dropping out, cit-
ing the congested tennis calendar. But the changes have proven
controversial, not least because the ATP is launching its own inter-national tournament in Australia.
“Scheduling was always an issue for both the ATP Cup and Davis Cup,” Djokovic said. “In my opin-ion, the idea, if it could happen, was [a] merger [of] the two and I think it’s still open for the future. “The most ideal time of the year is after the US Open.” — AFP
