South Africa

Thought I'd find out a little more about exactly who the Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR) are and what they stand for. For those of you who are wondering, ECAAR is an NGO that has been (thusfar) unsuccessfully fighting against South African arms deal through the Courts. Their website notes that ECAAR's mission is to :

"promote objective economic analysis and appropriate action on global issues relating to peace, security and the world economy."

Their list of Directors and Trustees is extremely impressive and is a virtual who's who of modern Economics - there are no less than 10 Nobel Laureates on the Board. I must be honest I was very surprised when I found out what kind of intellectual weight they (ECAAR) could throw around, I was expecting a disorganised and reactionery bunch of disaffected University lecturers! Their South Africa website can be found here and contains many an interesting article on the arms deal and the many irregularities that have accompanied it.

Another good read is by the Chairman of ECAAR South Africa, Terry Crawford-Browne. Crawford-Browne was regional treasury manager for Nedbank in the Western Cape until he became adviser to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Allan Boesak during the 1985-1991 international banking sanctions campaign. 

Check out the article here.

Apparently the Cape Times is reporting that :

"An Eastern Cape government spokesman has been charged with plotting to kill a radio news anchor for failing to air his media releases"

On the one hand I can see this is serious, but at the same time I can't quite stop laughing...Read the rest for yourself.

Yesterdays "strike" by Cosatu smacks of political opportunism and a heavy dose of hypocrisy. Cosatu faced with declining membership and an increasingly complacent membership decided to stir things up yesterday with a "strike" against the high levels of unemployment in SA. According to estimates by SACOB this strike caused up to about R500m in losses for the country due to lost production. Apparently most of the problems protesters had, concerned the government -

"We believe the fact we are unemployed is because of the policy of this government," said jobless Cape Town resident Mhlobo Gunguluzi. "It is because of the ANC that we are unemployed."

Righto. So...we want to bring attention to the high unemployment rate and demonstrate our solidarity with the unemployed, how can we achieve this? Aha - we will hold a strike that a) harms our employers thus making it harder for them to hire any of the legions of unemployed b) gives us a free holiday (hehe) c) offer no tangible solutions to the problem but just demand others change and finally d) not offer any personal sacrifices to make the labour market more flexible! Splendid, lets do it...

Do yourself a favour and go check out this article about Race and Class in South Africa today. It is fascinating read that will leave you thinking.

The way things are going I might need to start a new topic for Jay-Z (most of the "politics" posts concern him), so often has he featured in this blog. Anyway this weekend he did an 80's retro-take on things - talking about "class struggle" and dusting off those favourite old revolutionary songs. Here's a gem of a statement -

"When the struggle is fought and freedom is attained, in the majority of cases people begin to forget where we come from. Those who were with you in the trenches will become your arch enemies. They will tell you that 'my brother, it was good working with in the struggle, but you are not educated'."

Ahh so now we know why you're not is the inner circle (nudge nudge)...It couldn't concern the fact that you've had a "generally corrupt relationship" with one S. Shaik? No of course not, you are a victim of class struggle. However, the "class" YOU belong to is clearly NOT the working class as you so deviously pretend to be -

"A breakdown of payments made on Zuma's behalf while he was MEC for Economic Affairs and Tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, and later as deputy president, is as follows:

Travelling expenses: R34 751.61; Vehicle expenses: R156 260.92; Cash payments to Zuma and his family: R60 523.40; School fees and education: R263 224.59; Allowances for Zuma's children: R103 060; Designer clothing: R65 391; Allowance for Zuma's late wife, Kate: R19 900; Standard Bank: R93 653.31; AQ Holdings: R112 500; and Rent: R120 176.68."

I especially enjoyed your "Designer Clothing" expense, Comrade, you are definitely an A-Class member of the proletariat. Ahh and
I almost forgot, apparently you are also lyrically blessed and put togethor quite the tune all about calling on freedom fighters to take up their arms and go to war- "Awuleth' umshini wami" (Bring me my machine gun). Are there no ends to your talents?

Great stuff!

The Sunday Times has an interesting article on how SA scores in terms of the targets set out in the Freedom Charter. The evaluation is done by academics Professor Sipho Seepe and Professor Tom Lodge and is divided into - Race and Ethnicity, A Socially Caring State, Gender Equality and Education for all. Here's brief quotes on each. On Race and Ethnicity :

"Professor Sipho Seepe, academic director of the Henley Management College, says the State has been consistent on the issue of non-racialism, pointing to the ideal of a Rainbow Nation under the Mandela Government as bringing the spirit of the Charter to a younger generation."

I disagree with this statement. Under the Mandela government it could be said the ideal of multiracialism was a target. However under the Mbeki presidency there has been a tendency to emphasise our differences rather than the things that bring us togethor as South Africans. The "race card" has become a favourite tool for politicians to deflect criticism or stifle any debate on issues which are not judged "legitimate". I do believe race relations between individuals are better, but in terms of the "races" I think distrust is higher than it was say during the first 5 years of democracy. On a Socially Caring State :

"Prof Seepe mentions a centralising of power and a shift in notion from "the people shall govern" to "Mbeki shall govern". He says: "Should this 'centre' be wrong, it will affect the people". Regarding the issue of poverty being the cause of Aids, for example, Prof Seepe says "putting the people first was undermined by simple stubbornness". This, he feels, demonstrates the way in which power could, in certain instances, undermine democracy and the tenets of the Freedom Charter.

I agree with this statement. The Mbeki presidency has witnessed a growth in the centralisation of power to the Executive arm of government, indeed I would hesitate to call the Legislature an effective arm of government anymore...they seem to be chopped off at the knees and meekly follow the Executive. So if you don't call the Politburo National Executive Committee, the "will of the People" then I guess we are failing the Freedom Charter. On Education for all :

"According to both Prof Lodge and Prof Seepe, this has less to do with availability of resources and more to do with the organisation of resources. "We spend very heavily on Education, four times as much as any sub Saharan African country. We spend more per capita on education than most East Asian and West Asian countries. And, yet, the results are not impressive," says Lodge.

Lodge points to the problems as including poor organisation of the resources, poor curricular practices, the inheritances of the past and poor training. "In comparison to what other countries - with less resources - achieve, we could do much better. It is certainly within our capacity to rectify these issues."

Couln't agree more. The problem is not really that there isn't enough money or we don't have enough resources, its what we are doing with the resources. Currently the distribution and planning of the Department of Education leaves a lot to be desired, sure they enherited a broken system but that excuse is wearing thin fast. We must now move from sheer educational volume to trying to produce versatile graduates and school leavers that can actually compete in the global arena.

These are just quotes I found particularly interesting, be sure to read the rest for yourselves.

"We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:

that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people;

that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality;

that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities;

that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief;

And therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this Freedom Charter;

And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won."

So you're sitting here reading this thinking "man, my friggin' job sucks big time, I'm a smart guy I should be raking in the big bucks!", well this is you're lucky day. Through hard hitting investigative Journalism by Ann Crotty we've got lowdown on where the cash is! Seems if you're after the big bucks :

the market for top retail executives clears at a package of about R100 million. And if you were in the market for a top executive for one of the big banks you'd have to be offering a package of about R60 million.

Yeah thats right R100 MILLION big ones baby! The article goes on to highlight comments made by William McDonough, the former president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank :

"I can find nothing in economic theory that justifies this development. I am old enough to have known the chief executives of 20 years ago and those of today. I can assure you that we chief executives of today are not 10 times better than those of 20 years ago."

Damn straight - I strongly suggest you check out the rest of the article!

CareerJunction states on its website that CEO's are earning up to 50 times more than minimum wage workers (I would say this is a conservative estimate). Checkout some of their other stats on specific individuals :

"The Transnet group paid its executives R13-million in salaries and performance bonuses in the 2003-04 financial year. The parastatal also paid R19,3-million in salaries and bonuses to its business unit heads. Former CEO Mafika Mkwananzi received a total package of R6-million, which included a R1,6-million performance bonus. Transnet posted a net loss of R6,3bn on a strong revenue of R43,6-billion.

Denel CEO Victor Moche earned R1,5-million last year. The arms manufacturer, which reported a net loss of R377,5-million on a revenue of R4,4-billion, paid no performance bonuses. Its former deputy CEO Max Sisulu received a total package of R2,7-million, which included a R2-million golden handshake.

Airports Company SA, one of the most profitable parastatals, paid its executive directors R4,9-million, which included CEO Monhla Hlahla's R1,1-million salary and a R387 000 bonus.

Power utility Eskom, one of government's stellar performers, also rewards its executives handsomely. CEO Thulani Gcabashe received a performance bonus of R2,3-million last year, bringing his package to R4,9-million.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation paid its executive directors R6,9-million, of which R4,1-million went to the corporation's head, Peter Matlare.

Telkom's CEO Sizwe Nxasana is currently the highest earner among parastatal CE's. Last year he earned a staggering R11,1-million, which included a R8,2-million performance bonus.

Telkom posted a net profit of R4,5-billion on revenue of R40,8-billion. The company also paid R613-million, or 110c a share, to shareholders.

Although shareholders are generally happy about the performance of Telkom's stocks, employees are angry about the "excessive" remuneration paid to its senior management, especially at a time when minimum wage earners are facing retrenchment."

Feeling sick yet?

Another good read is in "The Media Online", about the former leader of the Opposition, Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert. With his Afrikaaner background, progressive views and varied past he is definitely an interesting South African with a lot of knowledge to share with us all. Wrap your head around this quote from him :

"I always say we went through 40 years of inherited Afrikaner history. Now, do we go through another 40 years of inherited ANC history?"

Check out the article here.

Straight from the M&G - "President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as deputy president to replace Jacob Zuma, who was sacked last week". Read the rest of the article for yourself, it's a nice summary of who she is where she's been, the good the bad and the ugly.

If you're looking for a more "formal" resume you can get it here.