Polity.org.za Audio Articles

As the African National Congress (ANC) heads into its policy conference starting on Thursday, its national leadership has a tough task ahead if it hopes to retain one of its instruments for forging renewal – its step-aside policy.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal – the province with the biggest ANC membership – has become the first provincial leadership group to call for the scrapping of the party's renewal enforcing policy, the step-aside rule.

The call was made by newly elected provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo, when he gave an update on what resolutions the ANC in the province had taken during closed discussions. The ANC's KwaZulu-Natal conference was held in Durban over the weekend.

Mtolo said the provincial ANC had officially adopted the position that the step-aside policy and its revised guidelines should be scrapped entirely.

"The conference, therefore, resolved that its delegates at the national policy conference must forward a proposal that the step-aside policy must not only be reviewed, but must be scrapped," said Mtolo.

The step-aside policy bars criminally charged ANC members from being nominated and standing for election at any level in the party.

The revision of the policy prevented the winning slate from fulfilling its wishes of having criminally charged eThekwini ANC chairperson Zandile Gumede stand for election for the position of provincial treasurer.

It was thought that the powerful ANC eThekwini region had turned its back on the former chairperson Sihle Zikalala, and former secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli, because it believed that they were not willing to challenge the national ANC on the step-aside policy.

Mtolo said the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) had seemingly encroached on the will of ANC branches through this policy. Mtolo said the policy prevented them from electing whoever they wished. He said this situation would stop in KwaZulu-Natal, as the province prepared itself to fight tooth and nail to overturn the step-aside policy.

The ANC in Limpopo is also expected to make a call for the policy to be reviewed.

Mtolo also said that delegates at the conference had resolved to support former president Jacob Zuma.

"We have developed a comprehensive support programme for the former president's legacy...," he said.

He said as a former president, Zuma should not be "isolated" and that it was not supposed to be the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal's duty to ensure that Zuma's legacy was preserved.

Newly elected provincial chairperson Sboniso Duma echoed similar antagonistic views as he delivered his closing remarks at the elective conference.

He said the organisation's renewal project had been weaponised and used to weed out dissenting voices from the ANC.

The outspoken former youth league leader also took a dig at Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

"Zondo is no longer a judge, but a political analyst, or employed to push certain narratives," said Duma.

He also criticised the non-payment of the salaries of ANC staff members, saying such an act should be regarded as an atrocity.

He said this would lead to demotivated staff members, which could have further consequences, such as delayed conferences, ahead of its national elective conference later this year.

Justice Mandisa Maya is South Africa’s new Deputy Chief Justice, as appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

She will take up the position on September 1.

She has two decades of experience and is also the first woman to hold the positions of President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Ramaphosa says Maya will contribute to the ongoing transformation process of the Judiciary.

“Her ascendency to the apex court will serve as a beacon of hope for scores of young women and make them believe that South Africa is a country of possibilities regardless of gender, social or economic circumstances,” he said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's attorney says he has "no objection" to providing his answers on the Phala Phala matter to the court deciding on advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane's latest challenge to her suspension - but was instructed not to do so by the Public Protector's office.

Mkhwebane is seeking to urgently challenge Ramaphosa's decision to suspend her, pending a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office in the Western Cape High Court on Monday morning.

She contends that Ramaphosa is conflicted and may have suspended her in retaliation for, among other things, her investigating him over the 2020 break-in at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.

Former spy boss Arthur Fraser laid criminal charges against Ramaphosa over the break-in, which was alleged to have involved significant amounts of foreign currency.

Fraser also contended that the president had used state resources to cover up the theft.

Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing and had agreed to provide the High Court with a copy of his response to the 31 questions put to him over the break-in (and its alleged cover-up) by the Public Protector's Office as soon as he had filed them.

Answers

According to Assistant State Attorney Mark Owen, Ramaphosa was "unable to meet his intended deadline of 18 July 2022 for his response to the office of the Public Protector on the Phala Phala investigation, and his request for a further extension was refused by the Acting Public Protector".

He then submitted those answers on 22 July.

It then emerged that, in an email sent to Ramaphosa's private attorneys on 4 July, the Public Protector's Office had asked the president's lawyers to "[p]lease ensure that when the response from the Presidency is ready, [it's] emailed only to us and copied here and nobody else".

"We want to take precautions to avoid any leakage of such documents to the media, thereby compromising and jeopardising the investigation."

In response to questions from News24, the Public Protector's Office confirmed that it opposed Ramaphosa's responses being made public now.

Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said, "We reiterate that, to protect its integrity, the investigation will not be conducted out in the open."

"Section 7(2) is of the Public Protector Act 23 of 1994 provides that, 'Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law no person shall disclose to any other person the contents of any document in the possession of a member of the office of the Public Protector or the record of any evidence given before the Public Protector, a Deputy Public Protector or a person contemplated in subsection (3)(b) during an investigation, unless the Public Protector determines otherwise'," he added.

"The courts, particularly in Gamede v Public Protector, have also emphasised the importance of protecting the integrity of investigations."

Segalwe stressed that Section 6(6) of the Public Protector Act, read with Section 182(3) of Constitution, stated that the "PPSA (Public Protector South Africa) may not investigate the performance of judicial functions and/or court decisions".

"In this regard, having information that is before the PPSA for the purpose of an investigation forming part of or being the subject of a court decision might have unintended implications for the investigation," he said.

Owen has now told the Western Cape High Court that "in light of this request from the Office of the Public Protector, the President has not made his response to the investigation available to Court. While the President has no objection to doing so (particularly in view of what was stated in his supplementary answering affidavit), he has no intention of 'compromising and jeopardising the investigation', which, according to the Office of the Public Protector, will occur if the response is made public."

He added that the president would "abide the decision of this Court as to whether his response to the Phala Phala investigation must be filed before Court".

In response, Mkhwebane h...

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has questioned the skills of Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, saying he isn't the type of leader Eskom needs at the moment.

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, the minister, who is also the national chairperson of the African National Congress, said that the power utility currently needs a "fixer", and De Ruyter isn't necessarily that person due to a skills mismatch.

De Ruyter holds a Master of Business Administration from the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of South Africa, a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pretoria. He is not an engineer, a sticking point for Mantashe, who said that running "technical machinery" requires "technical skills".

The minister admitted to the Mail & Guardian that from a theoretical perspective, De Ruyter understands what is going on at the power utility. But there's a marked difference in speaking about Eskom's challenges with chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, who is an engineer.

". If you go to Eskom [and] you talk to the chief executive, at a theoretical level it's good. But when you talk to the chief operating officer [Oberholzer], who is an engineer, you feel the difference, because that engineer understands issues, he understands that to deal with load shedding you needs to maintain and service units that are not decommissioned, but not giving us megawatts," he said.

Mantashe described De Ruyter as an "alpha" who joins an institution after the fixer has done their work. "Eskom needs a fixer, a person who focuses on what is broken, and [who will] try to fix what is broken, and once he or she fixes it, moves on. Then you can have an alpha," Mantashe told the publication.

Mantashe also took aim at the Eskom board – which does not have an accountant or an engineer who arguably would be suited to deal with its debt burden and operational challenges. Mantashe said that the skills gap of executives and the board is something government should look into.

The minister said that because Eskom does not fall within the oversight of his department, he does not have a say on who should be the CEO. News24 has reported that the ANC's National Executive Committee have heard calls for Eskom to be shifted to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, under Mantashe - which may be a point of debate at the upcoming policy conference.

News24 also reported that Mantashe proposed a second state power utility to overcome energy supply constraints, and that President Cyril Ramaphosa has endorsed the proposal.

De Ruyter joined Eskom in January 2020, after the country experienced Stage 6 load-shedding the prior year. Since he took over, he had to contend with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown eating into Eskom's revenue while trying to manage the debt burden and the restructuring of the power utility.

In 2021, South Africans experienced their worst year of load-shedding with power outages occurring 13% of the time.

De Ruyter, however, has been outspoken about the government's delayed decisions in getting generation capacity online in time, which has now escalated into the load-shedding South Africans experience.

Government is set to announce a plan to resolve the energy crisis.

Eskom declined to comment on Mantashe's comments.

Stage 1 load-shedding will be implemented from 16:00 to 24:00 on Friday evening.

Load-shedding will then be suspended as the generation system has recovered sufficiently at this point.

"Eskom thanks the public and all stakeholders for their patience and understanding during this difficult period of load-shedding. While we are able to suspend load-shedding at this point, Eskom cautions that the power system constraints continue to persist," Eskom said in a statement.

Eskom has 3 693MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 261MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has submitted written answers to the Public Protector for the Phala Phala investigation, his spokesperson Vincent Magwena confirmed on Friday.

Magwenya said that the threats of subpoena from the office were unnecessary.

Ramaphosa missed a deadline to answer questions related to the Public Protector’s probe into a robbery that took place at his Phala Phala farm in February 2020.

Magwenya said Ramaphosa did not deliberately avoid accountability by missing the initial deadline.

A former senior official in the Gauteng government, who was the latest person the Hawks' arrested in their controversial R255-million Free State asbestos corruption investigation, has been released on R100 000 bail.

Margaret-Ann Diedricks, 56, the former provincial human settlements department head, was released on bail after she briefly appeared in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Thursday morning.

Hawks spokesperson, Captain Christopher Singo, said the Hawks' Serious Corruption Investigation team arrested Diedricks in Alberton on Wednesday.

The R255-million asbestos contract was for the assessment and removal of asbestos from roofs and/or housing in some of the Free State's poorest areas.

Diedricks is accused of playing a key role in the appointment of service providers in the deal, by using a procurement loophole to transfer services from a company contracted by her department to the Free State.

Singo said Diedricks allegedly received more than R7-million from the service provider.

Several other government officials, including former Free State premier Ace Magashule, businessman Edwin Sodi, and Free State human settlements head of department Nthimotse Mokhesi have been charged with fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering, among other charges, in the case.

The 2014 contract resulted in two subcontracted companies being paid R21-million to do the work, which was never actually completed. The rest of the money was allegedly pocketed by the accused.

Diedricks will join her 12 co-accused in court on 23 September.

The repo rate has been hiked by another 75 basis points on Thursday.

This brings the repo to 5.5% and the prime rate to 9%. Three members of the monetary policy committee supported the hike, while one wanted 100 basis points and another preferred a 50 basis point hike.

This is the biggest hike since September 2002, when the repo rate was hiked by 100 basis points amid an emerging market crisis. The latest interest rate hike follows a painful inflation number that was released on Wednesday: consumer inflation reached 7.4%, the highest level in 13 years.

On a new home loan of R2-million at the prime rate, the latest hike will increase payments by R950 a month. The monthly payment on that mortgage has now climbed by almost R3 000 since November last year.

In May, the Reserve Bank hiked rates by 50 basis points.

The large rate hike adds more pressure on many South African households, who are facing spiralling food and fuel prices, triggered mostly by the impact of the Ukraine invasion.

Inflation continues to surprise to the upside, said Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the SA Reserve Bank.

The bank now expects headline inflation of 6.5% for this year, higher than its previous forecast of 5.9%. Kganyago warned that inflation expectations are increasing, which means that employees will seek higher wage hikes. This will drive inflation even higher.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to persist for the rest of this year and may have significant further effects on global prices, he warned.

"Global producer price and food price inflation continued to surprise higher in recent months and may do so again," he said.

By hiking interest rates, the Reserve Bank wants to cool down inflation by suppressing demand in the economy. Importantly, it also needs to keep pace with sharp interest rate hikes in rich countries, particularly the US. If the US hikes rates by more than South Africa, it could destabilise the rand and capital inflows into the country.

The high interest rates that foreign investors can earn in rands make local assets more attractive – but rapid US interest rate hikes are eroding that advantage. The rand has already started to weaken in response, breaching R17/$ for the first time since 2020.

The US Federal Reserve looks set to hike its key rate by another 75 basis point rate next week, in an effort to subdue inflation.

Despite the impact of load shedding and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year, the Reserve Bank upgraded its expectation for growth this year to 2.0%, from its previous prediction of 1.7%. But it sharply downgraded its forecast for growth for the following years - to 1.3% in 2023 and by 1.5% in 2024, below the 1.9% for both years it expected in May.

In his capacity as president of the country, Cyril Ramaphosa will oppose the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) court application to have the African National Congress's (ANC's) cadre deployment policy declared unlawful and unconstitutional, despite the Zondo Commission's damning findings against the controversial policy – and taxpayers will have to foot the lawyers' bill.

This week, Ramaphosa, the Government of the Republic South Africa, and the Minister of Public Service and Administration filed notices to oppose the application, following a notice from the ANC.

Thulas Nxesi is acting as the public service and administration minister.

The State Attorney signed the notices that were filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

The DA lodged the case about two weeks before the final part of the Zondo Commission report was released. In the report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo concluded that cadre deployment played a significant role in enabling State capture.

Zondo went on to say that the policy was unlawful and unconstitutional.

DA MP Leon Schreiber, who has been spearheading the DA's efforts to abolish cadre deployment, says Ramaphosa's decision to formally defend cadre deployment in court in his capacity as the president of the country, rather than ANC president, "confirms beyond all reasonable doubt that he has no intention of meaningfully eradicating State capture".

Schreiber referred to Zondo's finding that cadre deployment facilitated State capture through "the appointment of pliant individuals to powerful positions in State entities".

"Yet now that the commission has implicated the ANC cadre deployment committee that he chaired during the Zuma years, Ramaphosa, his party and his entire government are clearly hell-bent on defying the Zondo report in order to protect ANC cadre deployment – the very foundation of State capture," Schreiber said.

According to Schreiber, the opposition to the case from Ramaphosa and his government also amounts to an abuse of public resources to protect the ANC.

"At the very least, a president who was sensitive to the damage wrought by cadre corruption would have indicated that he would simply abide by the court's decision," Schreiber said.

"Instead, Ramaphosa and the South African government have chosen to actively abuse State resources in order to protect a corrupt policy of a political party.

"In the notice of his intention to oppose the DA's case, Ramaphosa even indicated that he will be represented in the matter by the State Attorney of the Republic of South Africa. He has thus instructed the State Attorney – which is supposed to serve the needs of citizens rather than political parties – to spend millions of rands in court to defend the ANC," he said.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), on Wednesday, warned President Cyril Ramaphosa against declaring a State of Emergency over the country’s energy crisis, saying it will reject such action.

The DA said a State of Emergency was too extreme and that it exceeded the bounds of reasonableness. It largely blamed the crisis on administrative red tape and stonewalling by Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe of independent power production.

“A State of Emergency is not the appropriate action to take in response to the crisis and the DA will reject it outright should such a step be taken,” said the party.

However, it said a “ring-fenced State of Disaster” should be declared on Eskom and the electricity sector, explaining that it would remove barriers for independent power producers (IPPs) to quickly bring generation capacity online.

“With South Africa being in the middle of an economically damaging energy crisis, a ring-fenced State of Disaster, fully accountable to Parliament, can be an effective tool to remove red tape and unlock investment in new generation capacity,” the DA said.

Last week Ramaphosa said that he will, in the coming days, announce a way forward in tackling load-shedding, which has worsened significantly over the past three years and has intensified in recent weeks to the point of being implemented at Stage 6.