Download (PDF, 5.11MB) - ECTODAY

More documents

Recommendations

Info

124 OPINION/ANALYSIS Eastern Cape Today 24 August - 30 August 2012 LETTERS Share your views and comments by emailing news@ ectoday.co.za or sending a fax to 043 742 2138 Bad police service My missing girl owes a debt of gratitude to nobody who is prepared to protect her by insulting anybody who dares to enquire about her. On the 24th December 2011, I was phoned by a guy who insulted me and phoned again after I hung up. I switched off my phone to get some sleep. This was not easy as he had warned me that he was on his way to my house. Police in King William’s Town advised me to approach Vodacom. Vodacom told me it was the police’s function to obtain the information. The man in charge, although very embarrassed by the attitude of his subordinates, helped me open a case. In 2004 when my daughter went missing I had to find her myself after police told me she was old enough to know where she was going. She was 17. This matter has not progressed although I have enlisted the aid of one of the friendly prosecutors. My daughter has disappeared again and I have enlisted the help of friends to try and trace her. I think that if defenseless elderly citizens are going to be exposed to attacks, SA is a very bad place to be for them. Unfortunately they have nowhere else to go! How to contact us: News Desk : 043 742 2132/5 News fax: 043 722 6110 Email: news@ectoday.co.za Advertising: 043 742 2132/5 043 742 2138 Email: advertising@ectoday.co.za King William’s Town: Tel: 043 642 4388 Fax: 043 642 4388 Mxolisi Dimbaza, King William’s Town Acknowledgement of women power Because of today’s globalised world, the significance of gender equality cannot be undermined. I am a man, but I write as an activist for the advancement of women. In the job market, women, among the vulnerable in society are still perceived to be specialists when it comes to homeworks, particularly in the kitchen and the laundry. Male dominance in the workplace persists, ignoring the reality the patriarchal era no longer has a stronghold in our society of democratic equality as enshrined in, arguably, the best constitution in the world. The acknowledgement of women power should not be limited to women’s day or month. What about getting inspired by some iconic women figures currently in our midst like the Thuli Madonsela, Denorah Pattas and the now boss of the AU Commision, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma? Wake-up women and dont ever forget the motto: “You educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation.” Ernest Nyemu-Nyemu Hogah King Williams Town Port Alfred: Tel: 046 624 1207 Fax: 046 624 4139 Port Elizabeth: Tel: 041 483 3011 Fax: 041 484 3022 Grahamstown: Tel: 046 636 1050 Fax: 086 514 3480 Queenstown: news@ectoday.co.za advertising@ectoday.co.za Complaints : complaints@ectoday.co.za Got a story to tell? Do you have something interesting, unique and different for us to look into? Contact us and share your story. Please note that all material used in the newspaper is under the sole ownership of EC Today. Complaints can be addressed to the SA Press Ombudsman on (011) 788 4829 or the Advertising Standards Authority on (011) 781 2006 <strong>ECTODAY</strong> PUBLISHING ECHOES OF XOLOBENI IN MARIKANA Today we publish an account of the last mediation efforts by Bishop Jo Seoka, President of the SACC and Chairperson of the Bench Marks Foundation, an NGO that monitors corporate performance in the field of corporate social responsibility and economic empowerment and which has done extensive work on the mines, which captures probably the very last moments of sanity and the eerie calm before the mindless mayhem that rocked the nation. Almost everyone, without exception, has been asking the question whether all peaceful avenues of settling the matter peacefully had been exhausted before the police took the decision to fire on the striking workers. Bishop Jo Seoka, who was at the scene just as it happenned seems to tell a completely different story. The press statement meticulously recounts how the police and management fudged his mediation efforts. Bishop Seoka will forever be haunted by the image of the man says... The last peace efforts at Marikana Last Thursday the President of the SACC and Chairperson of the Bench Marks Foundation, Bishop Jo Seoka and a team, met with the striking Lonmin workers. He was told by the striking workers that they wanted management to talk to them. The SACC team left to seek a meeting with management as requested by the leaders of the striking miners. On arrival they were welcomed and told that the briefing has just been done. Bishop Seoka met with management who informed him that they were not in a position to meet with the strikers because they were killing innocent people. However later they agreed to a meeting provided the workers committed to three conditions: surrender their weapons, elect a small representative group to engage with management and disperse from the mountain. Management later introduced the Bishop and his team to the Commanding Officer, Ms Mbombo, who briefly explained to them that two policemen were killed and that the strikers were given an ultimatum to surrender their weapons and disperse. On leaving the briefing area to report back to the miners, the SACC team was told they could not go back to the camp as the place was now a security risk area under the police. Bishop Seoka said they saw two helicopters taking off and assumed that they were going to the mountain where the workers were camping. ‘As they left the area a call came through from the man we spoke to telling us that the police were killing them and we could hear the gun shots and screams of people’, says the Bishop. ‘The man covered with green blanket lying dead was the last person we spoke to who represented the mine workers.’ The Bench Marks Foundation’s study, ‘Living in the Platinum Mines Fields’ released on the 14th August 2012 paints a grim picture of mining and communities. The platinum mining companies appear on the surface to be socially responsible, respectful of communities and workers and contributing to host community development. ‘Nothing can be further from the truth’, says Bishop Seoka. The Bench Marks Foundation study pointed lying dead, a symbol of the shattered possibilities of peace, covered with a green blanket and who happened to be the last person he and his delegation spoke to who represented the mine workers in his thwarted mediation bid. The Bench Mark Foundation study alluded to in the press statement highlights the squalid living conditions of the workers. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the workers are paid a pittance, a situation largely attributed to the involvement of the controversial labour brokers and subcontractors from where Lonmin sources its labour force. That rank squalor continues to scar the landscape of communities hosting these mining companies is a major indictment on the society that allows such injustice. The emaciated dogs, the filth, the squalor, all point to the social degradation in a community that hosts the third richest platinum mine in the world and the failure of corporate performance in the field of corporate social responsibility whose focus is social responsibility and economic empowerment. It just shows how such wealth has not benefitted the community. These images dominated the international headlines this past week. Some of the mine workers caught up in this tragedy are from the Eastern Cape. They articulated their pain from hospital beds. And yet others are no more. Amakhosi from the Eastern Cape have gone to Marikana to provide support and leadership. Back home, from Libode to Mbizana, poverty continues to grind, as they prepare to bury their loved ones. What is most lamentable out that the platinum mines rely on labour brokers and subcontractors that employ workers at very low wages. The use of migrant and subcontracted labour, the living-out allowance and the overcrowding of townships and squatter camps housing mine workers is a recipe for disaster. If the truth be told it is shareholders in London and elsewhere that are to blame. Profits are being made at the expense of workers and communities and with the help of political patronage. Mine companies put politically connected people on their board, such as director generals and former ministers, which leads to a breakdown of democracy, of government oversight, and of regulatory authorities’ power. Whose side is the government on? The vivid imagery of dead miners lying on the ground in front of heavily armed police evokes a painful resemblance to the role of the police in the apartheid era. Is it not the role of the police to protect its own citizens? ‘Why is the South African government, represented by the South African police force choosing to open fire on its own people, in order to protect a corporation?’, asks Seoka. The lives of black mine workers are clearly not worth much in the eyes of Lonmin or the government. Unfortunately, recent events at the Lonmin mine are only the tip of the iceberg of the continuous exploitation by platinum mining houses of both mine workers and the sur- about this tragedy is the apparent emasculation of the black owners of the Lonmin mine, the company’s BEE partners, a partnership which is increasingly viewed as collusion in the oppression of black workers. For all the people of the Eastern Cape it is a story that brings to mind the deadly contestation that continues to rage around the Xolobeni mining project in Mbizana and brings into sharp focus some of the pertinent issues raised by the amaDiba Crisis Committee and other interested parties in their opposition to the mineral sands project. In the nature versus development debate, the Lonmin disaster has given the nature lobby a big boost and set back the cause for responsible development. Mining companies should work out a deal that guarantees mutual benefit for both corporations and society. rounding mining communities. What is happening at Lonmin is a horrific example that is symptomatic of a wider structural problem of exploitation by the mines. The benefits of mining are not reaching the workers or the surrounding communities. Lack of employment opportunities for local youth, squalid living conditions, unemployment and growing inequalities contribute to this mess. The Bench Marks Foundation’s study warned about deteriorating social relations in communities, conflicts and the potential for violent conflict. Now we witness the brutality of Lonmin not willing to meet their workers. The latest incidents had nothing to do with inter-union rivalry. Bishop Seoka, when speaking to the striking workers last Thursday, noted that they were in fact peaceful and just wanted the company to engage them. ‘But we have witnessed similar events around Impala Platinum when three workers lost their lives under similar conditions several months back’, said Seoka. Last May Lonmin fired 9000 workers in an unprotected industrial section. Recently they began retrenching workers. Low wages along with all the social disintegration, crime, murder, rape and prostitution, unemployment and poverty amidst the third richest platinum mine in the world, create an incubator rife for huge worker and community discontent. ‘What must be remembered is that about 10 days ago Lonmin security guards shot dead two demonstrating workers outside their gate. This situation could have been avoided. The killing of over 30 workers, and the quietness of Lonmin in all of this is truly shocking,’ said Bishop Seoka. The Bench Marks Foundation and the SACC calls for a high level commission of enquiry involving the churches and other independent organs to examine the situation of mine workers, their wages and living conditions and role of the companies in not effectively dealing with worker and community discontent when it has been boiling for months. John Capel Executive Director, Bench Marks Foundation
NEWS BIG CHANGES With the ambitious grand-scale refurbishment of Hemingways Casino and Resort now halfway complete, East Londoners and tourists visiting the Eastern Cape are promised an unprecedented array of entertainment options and upscale facilities at what is undoubtedly to be the region’s entertainment hub by December. Tsogo Sun, the resort’s holding company, is spending a whopping R420-million on the project which includes expansions and upgrades to the casino, hotel and complex which includes various restaurants, a bigger smoking casino, two new stylish smoking and non-smoking Salon Prives, 41 new hotel rooms, an additional 3D movie offering and a multipurpose venue for conferencing and events. Picture supplied WSU cannot afford to meet striker’s demands By Siphe Macanda Walter Sisulu University (WSU) has been hit by numerous strike actions from both staff members and students since its inception in July 2005, with the on-going strike by Nehawu and National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members the latest of many. The university came into existence on 1 July 2005 as a result of a merger between Border Technikon, Eastern Cape Technikon and the University of Transkei. After the merger, the institution has experienced tremendous financial woes, pressure of wage increase from the unions and academic demands from the students. The latest strike action is spearheaded by both unions operating at the institution, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). The no work no pay strike has been going on for over two week now and there is no sign of a solution. The Union’s demands to the management and the administrator Professor LR Van Staden include; n A salary increase of 12%. n Absorption of contracted workers. n A study subsidy. n Funds for research publications. In his response to the union’s salary demands Prof Van Staden said the institution did not have the money in its coffers to meet their demands. “The University barely has sufficient financial resources to cover the salary bill up to the end of December 2012 and will not be able to grant any financial increases. Management would therefore prefer to rather preserve jobs rather than to grant a salary increase, which we cannot afford and which could lead to possible job shedding.” On Tuesday, the management on behalf of the administrator met with both unions in an attempt to reach a mutual agreement. NTEU Chairperson Sisco Nakani said the unions engaged with the management and “We provided fair options and we hope that the administrator will cooperate so that the strike ends soon.” A second year Analytical Chemistry student expressed deep concern over the lost days due to the strike. “This is the third week since the strike began and when they go back to work we will have too much work load and they will pressure us and that may lead to possible high levels of failure”, she said. Eastern Cape Today 24 August - 30 August 2012 5
Page 1 and 2: n FREE EVERY FRIDAY n 043 742 2132/
Page 3: NEWS HiS birTH WaS a miraClE n Afte
Page 7 and 8: NEWS Eastern Cape Today 24 August -
Page 9 and 10: Eastern Cape Today Lifestyle Featur
Page 11 and 12: BEastern Cape Today Business Info w
Page 13 and 14: SPORT Straight Talk DEREK HINDMAN G
Page 15 and 16: SPORT Eastern Cape Today 24 August

Download (PDF, 5.11MB) - ECTODAY

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?