By TDN
Zeerust-The Congress of South African Trade Union is highly disappointed with the attitude of our government on the matter of e-tolling and the expensive toll gates.
Cosatu in the North West province said it is clear that the government, both national and provincial, respect the needs of the capitalists and those who are close to them.
“As the federation in the NW we have been raising the matter of the expensive toll gate since its inception but our fight, with memorandums submitted to both provincial government and the national minister has fallen on death ears. The former minister of transport agreed with the federation that the toll gate at Swartruggens is expensive, by not approving the increase in March during annual increase of all toll gates in the country” Cosatu North West spokesperson Solly Phetoe said.
Phetoe said he also agreed to establish a task team to look at the following three issues that were raised by the poor workers, with support of taxi industry: The state of the roads in the NW. The means and ways of looking to the expensive toll gate and what can be done to the demand of the workers for reducing of the toll gate. The alternative road for those who will not afford the toll payments.
“But it was not convened. We are disappointed that the new minister came and approved Sanral going ahead on the increase from R71 to R75 for small cars, thus highly demoralising our members, the public and the rest of motorists who have registered the same concerns as the federation about this expensive toll gate” he said.
“Now we see our president approving the implementation of the e-tolling system while we are still fighting against the implementation of the system on our national roads. We are asking many questions: is our government responding to the capitalists’ agenda or to the improvement of the transport system as it is facing the working class today. Our government must know that we will not rest until someone listens to our call on this expensive toll gate which is benefiting those who are close to Sanral and Bakwena” Cosatu sin doctor outlines.
Cosatu in the province said privatizing the roads, privatizing water, privatizing electricity is a clear capitalist agenda that will continue to demoralise poor communities and the rest of the working class.
“We are pleading with our national alliance to intervene against these criminals who are stealing from the poor by charging us R75 for small cars, and that while we are still waiting for a discussion with the minister of transport the R75 must be suspended”.
“We call on our president, the premier and the minister of transport to revisit their approval of Sanral increases. As the NW federation we are continue with our campaign on the N4 road as planned” he said.
Cosatu said in every after two weeks they will bar toll gate.
“We know that those who are celebrating are Sanral, Bakwena and their beneficiaries, while poor working class are in tears – TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Rustenberg – While the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) looks set to continue protesting against job cuts at Anglo Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS], at least one worker is concerned about the no work, no pay policy.

Around 2 000 striking Amcu workers rallied on Monday at Amplats over the retrenchment of 3 300 workers.

Union leaders said the strike will continue on Tuesday.

“We are leaving for Johannesburg, they called us for a meeting, but the strike continues,” said Gaddafi Mdoda, a local union leader.

He said striking workers would meet again at the Thembelani shaft for a report on the meeting.

“We will give feedback tomorrow [Tuesday] on what happened in the meeting.”

“We hope the employer will reconsider the decision to retrench workers,” he said.

Thebe Maswabi, an Amcu branch chairperson, told Reuters: “If they do not meet us at least half way, the strike will continue.”

Now in its fourth day, the strike has hit production at the mining company, which is still reeling from labour unrest last year.

The company said it needs to drastically cut jobs to return to profit.

One of the workers, Amos Menzi, from the Eastern Cape, said it would be better if the strike was not prolonged because workers were losing money.

“I think we should be paid for the days we are on strike because the strike is protected. But now it is ‘no work, no pay’, meaning we are losing money on the days we are on strike.”

Police in armoured vehicles looked on as miners marched and waved sticks in a barren field near the company’s Thembelani Mine near the mining town of Rustenburg.

“It is not fair for the mine to retrench workers and hire contractors in their place. It is painful to see people you know being retrenched,” Paku Litau said.

“Some of us are from Lesotho and have been working in the mines for a very long time. This is the only job I can do. I do not think I will be able to do another job.”

He said he had been working as a rock drill operator since 1990.

“I have worked in various South African mines. I do not see retrenched workers doing well in other jobs; even though they could be trained their heart will be at the mine.”

The company announced in January that 14 000 jobs would be cut as part of its restructuring process.

“We have previously stated that the company is under tremendous economic pressure. Strikes and work stoppages will result in further losses that will hamper plans for future sustainability and further threaten the future of our 45 000 employees,” CEO Chris Griffith said in a statement.

He said the company would continue to talk with Amcu through established channels to try to bring the business to normality.

– Sapa, Reuters

Bloemfontein – The Democratic Alliance urged state power utility Eskom to reconsider the planned disconnection of bulk electricity supply to two Free State municipalities.

Free State DA leader Patricia Kopane said on Monday that Premier Ace Magashule and Eskom should immediately take steps to prevent cutting electricity to paying consumers.

“Premier Ace Magashule established a committee in September 2010 to address the non-payment of municipal accounts,” she said.

Eskom was a member of this committee.

Last week, Eskom published a notice that it was planning to disconnect electricity to the Maluti-A-Phofung municipality, which failed to settle a bill of more than R205m.

Some of the money was outstanding for more than 90 days.

Eskom planned to disconnect power to the municipality on 4 December 2013. Towns and municipal areas affected would be Harrismith, QwaQwa, Kestell, Tshiame, Phuthaditjhaba, Tsheseng, and Witsieshoek.

A similar notice was published for the Ngwathe municipality, which apparently owed more than R188m.

Towns and areas which would be affected by this notice were Edenville, Heilbron, Koppies, Parys, Phiritona, and Vredefort.

Eskom wants submissions on why it should not cut the power to Maluti-A-Phofung and Ngwathe respectively on 6 November and 8 November.

Kopane said due to the urgency of the matter Magashule and Eskom should attend to the issue without delay.

– SAPA

Durban – The trial of Joseph Ntshongwana, the former Blue Bulls player accused of killing four people with an axe, was postponed in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court on Monday after his legal representative failed to arrive at court.

Acting Judge Irfaan Khalil said he had received an e-mail informing him that Themba Mjoli could not make the case on Monday as he was himself an acting judge in a matter being heard in Pietermaritzburg.

Khalil said Mjoli’s failure to inform the court timeously of his ability to attend Ntshongwana’s trial caused “a great deal of inconvenience and prejudice” as well as “fruitless expenditure” that resulted from witnesses and attorneys arriving at court for a case that could not proceed.

Khalil said Mjoli would have to explain his “default” at not being in court on Monday.

The case was postponed to Tuesday.

Ntshongwana is charged with the murder of Thembelenkosini Cebekhulu in Montclair on 20 March 2011, Paulos Hlongwa two days later, Simon Ngidi the following day, and an unidentified man sometime that week.

All were hacked to death with an axe.

He is also accused of kidnapping and raping a woman on 28 November 2010, and of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

He also faces two charges of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The woman, who cannot be named, was kidnapped in central Durban and held captive for three days.

– SAPA

Johannesburg – Over 300 cases of corruption in schools have been reported in a survey via instant messaging service Mxit, Corruption Watch said on Monday.

Seven out of 10 respondents claimed school principals were responsible for misusing money or school property, spokesperson Patience Mkosana said.

Six out of 10 respondents said teachers were responsible for soliciting favours in exchange for better marks.

Consumer insights company Pondering Panda was commissioned to conduct a survey in August, using a sample of 3 284 people aged between 13 and 34.

The survey concluded that teachers were often responsible for selling exam and test papers to pupils.

“Half of the respondents were pupils at a school, or at Further Education and Training Colleges,” Mkosana said.

The rest of the respondents included teachers and school governing body members.

Comment from the education department could not immediately be obtained.

– Corruption Watch report.

– SAPA

Cape Town – The DA’s court application to compel government to hand over a report on the upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead is “opportunistic and attention-seeking”, ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani said on Monday.

“We have become accustomed to the DA’s tendency to undermine the constitutional functions of Parliament by constantly calling on the judiciary to interfere in matters before the institution,” Sizani said.

He was responding to news that Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko approached the Western Cape High Court on Monday for an order overturning Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi’s decision to classify the report detailing the over R200m upgrade to Zuma’s private KwaZulu-Natal homestead.

The report was currently before Parliament’s joint standing committee on intelligence (JSCI).

“We are confident that the parliamentary committee’s work on this report will not be distracted by the DA’s shenanigans,” Sizani said.

Application

Earlier on Monday, Mazibuko said she went to court in her personal capacity and as leader of the opposition in Parliament.

“When the DA submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application to obtain this report in an effort to make it public, minister Nxesi’s department gave no reply to our application,” Mazibuko said.

“In terms of the Paia, the application is thus deemed rejected as per section 28(1)(b).”

Nxesi rejected a subsequent appeal, saying it was premature as the report had already been sent to the JSCI. The JSCI meets behind closed doors.

“We have long held that the classification of the report is invalid, and constitutes yet another attempt to shield President Zuma from public accountability,” Mazibuko said.

She was asking the court to declare the rejection of the DA’s Paia application and appeal unlawful and invalid.

Should she succeed, Mazibuko wanted the so-called “Nkandlagate” report handed over within five days of a court order.

“Alternatively, that the court orders that the parts of the report pertaining to state security be severed and the report then be made public,” Mazibuko said.

– SAPA

Pretoria – Counsel for several of the Boeremag members convicted of treason argued on Monday that their clients were not dangerous criminals.

They contended that life imprisonment for them would be shockingly inappropriate.

The State has asked the court to sentence eight of the 20 accused in the country’s first post-apartheid treason trial to life imprisonment, and 11 to between five to 15 years in jail.

The State has not asked for the imprisonment of Fritz Naude, who is in a nursing home after a series of strokes.

Coup plot

The charges result from a right wing coup plot to violently overthrow the African National Congress-led government.

A Soweto mother was killed, a plot to murder former president Nelson Mandela nearly carried out, and damage of millions of rands caused in a series of explosions forming part of the coup plan.

Paul Kruger, for Pieter van Deventer and Gerhardus “Oom Vis” Visagie, argued that the State had a “witch hunt mentality”, evident in the “draconian” sentences it sought.

“The State wants the court to punish the accused for the potential results of their deeds,” he said.

Kruger said if the State was correct, someone caught driving at 200km/h should be punished for potentially killing someone.

“This cannot happen in a civilised legal system. An accused should be punished for what he already did,” he said.

He argued that rehabilitation ought to be possible without the person becoming a supporter of the government of the day, or going on a “foot-washing expedition”.

He was apparently referring to apartheid-era police minister Adriaan Vlok washing the feet of Rev Frank Chikane, former head of the SA Council of Churches, who survived an attempt on his life in the 1980s, in August 2006.

‘Deaf ear to calls for Volkstaat’

Kruger said the State’s argument that the Boeremag members could have used political avenues to realise their aim of self-determination was not true, as the ANC government had turned a deaf ear to repeated calls for a “Volkstaat” (a Boer state).

He said it was clear the elderly Visagie, a retired top civil servant turned farmer, had never been a criminal, but could simply not live with the change the country.

“As an elderly man who’s had several heart operations he’s been through a living hell for the last 10 years of his life. Direct imprisonment could lead to his death,” Kruger added.

Louisa van der Walt, for Andre du Toit, argued that the State did not have rehabilitation in mind, only retribution and prevention. She said the State’s argument that thousands of people would have been driven out of the country if the Boeremag’s plans had worked out was “ridiculous”.

Lawyer Piet Pistorius argued that the State’s argument on sentencing made no sense. It sought, for example, life imprisonment for Lets Pretorius, a dedicated medical doctor who served the community and saved lives, while asking for only 10 years imprisonment for another accused who played a far greater role.

The trial continues.

– SAPA

Cape Town – A painting commenting on President Jacob Zuma’s perceived role in the Marikana shooting has been sold for R89,000, gallery director Greg Dale said on Monday.

“We did not alter the selling price of the [Ayanda Mabulu] work that we were asking before the controversy,” said Dale, a curator of the Commune.1 art gallery in Cape Town.

Some of Mabulu’s other pieces are displayed at the gallery.

“The work was sold on Saturday evening at the fair. The seller is a local private buyer.”

The artwork – Yakhali’inkomo – Black Man’s Cry – was pulled from the FNB Joburg Art Fair last week.

It was reportedly put back up after photographer David Goldblatt, this year’s featured artist at the fair, took down his work in protest.

The fair’s creative director, Cobi Labuschagne, told the Sunday Independent that they had wanted the opening night to be about celebrating the government’s work, rather than attracting attention to an “overtly political work”.

Ross Douglas, the fair’s director, was quoted as saying that the work was not censored because of government pressure.

The painting depicts a kneeling miner with horns on his head. He is being attacked by a dog Zuma is holding on a leash, while stepping on another dying miner’s head.

A white man dressed as a matador stands over him, holding a South African flag as a cape and about to stab him with his sword.

Britain’s Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth look on, laughing. In the background is an ANC logo with blood dripping from it.

– SAPA

A report that the ANC had asked former president Thabo Mbeki to help capture Gauteng’s middle class voters was queried by the party on Monday.

“The journalist… made three fundamental misrepresentations [in the report],” the Gauteng African National Congress said.

“Firstly, the journalist insinuates without any basis in fact that President Jacob Zuma is unpopular among the middle class. This impression is based on media speculation and is not borne by research.”

The Sunday Times reported that the strategy arose out of fears of Zuma’s unpopularity with the middle class. Zuma would instead be used to woo the poor and working class voters in the province.

ANC provincial secretary David Makhura was quoted as saying the ANC would hold house meetings and public dialogues headed by Mbeki, the country’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.

“The president is leading our direct contact with the people,” Makhura was quoted as saying.

“He is not going to be in those house meeting [in the suburbs]. We are using him for big community meetings and door-to-door work.”

The ANC in Gauteng said on Monday its request that Zuma be deployed to help “consolidate and grow ANC support in our traditional strongholds is based on the need to first consolidate the core support of the movement in our strongholds”.

It said the report “invoked” the idea that the use of other party members was proof the ANC was afraid of losing Gauteng.

“The ANC has always utilised all its experienced cadres, including former leaders and former ministers who are willing to carry out voluntary work for the movement during election campaigns and various political programmes.”

It said its campaign in the suburbs was different in every election and the report made no reference to the provincial secretary’s extensive criticism of the opposition campaign in Gauteng.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said in a briefing on Sunday that the provincial ANC’s comments regarding Mbeki were “unfortunate”.

“They have just run ahead of themselves,” he said.

Mantashe said deployment of leaders to provinces would be done centrally and the party would send its leaders anywhere.

“There is no constituency and profile of constituency that suits a particular individual. We will send a person whom we think will be able to deal with the audience that will be attended by that leader,” he said.

– SAPA

By Obakeng Maje
Brits- A 33 year old man was arrested for over speeding this afternoon for driving at 158 km per hour on a 60 km zone in the Wagpos road outside Brits. The speedster, who was driving a metallic gray Mercedes bens C280 was arrested on the spot and is expected to appear before the Brits Magistrate court on Tuesday.
“The man, who is said to be a professional accountant, was traveling from Pretoria to Rustenburg at the time of the arrest. Traffic officials said that the man allege that he was rushing home to attend to his sick child” MEC Nono Maloyi said.
He is expected to be charged for over speeding.
MEC for Human Settlements Public Safety and Liaison Nono Maloyi has called on motorist to be extra careful on the roads. He said that speed remains one of the main critical elements that contributed to road crashes and fatalities.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_