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South Africa

Conservation

Army to fight Kruger Park poachers - 23 October
The Kruger National Park wants to use military patrols to step up the fight against poaching which has seen 94 rhinos killed across the country this year, says its chief executive. - Times Live website

Rhino poachers warned - 26 October
SA National Parks (Sanparks) boss Dr David Mabunda has declared war on rhino and wildlife poachers in the flagship Kruger National Park following the slaughter of more than 90 rhinos across the country this year. Mabunda was speaking in Skukuza camp last week at a passing-out parade for 57 new field rangers appointed to combat the recent spike in rhino poaching. - IOL website

Courts

Joburg awaiting trial prisoners only in court after quarantine - 27 October
The Correctional Services Department says it will make sure all awaiting trial prisoners at the Johannesburg Prison appear in court after their ten days in quarantine. Inmates at the facility who have contracted measles have been put in isolation while others are not allowed to leave the facility in order to prevent the virus from spreading. The department says while putting Johannesburg  awaiting trial prisoners in quarantine may cause a backlog in the court system, it is necessary in order to prevent measles from spreading. More than 50 inmates have been diagnosed with the airborne disease. - Eye Witness News website

Crime Statistics 2009

Activists challenge sexual offences stats - 23 October
Gender and child rights activists are up in arms over last month’s crime statistics, claiming that the section on sexual offences is "a mockery". "The bottom line is that the police haven’t gotten their act together", said Lisa Vetten, researcher and policy analyst at Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence Against Women. "If we can't get accurate information, how can we plan a response to sexual offences?"  - Mail & Guardian website

Transforming economy means 'tough choices' - 27 October
Debt will have to rise to pay for floundering state-owned entities, exchange controls have been eased and inflation targeting looks set to stay, for now. The medium-term budget delivered on Tuesday revealed a mixed bag for Jacob Zuma's new administration and new Finance Minister Minister Pravin Gordhan. - Mail & Guardian website

Defence

Shocking evidence of how arms deal report was doctored - 22 October
Shocking evidence of how the Auditor General's report into irregularities with the arms deal was doctored has been tabled in Parliament. Documents, made available following a court order earlier this year, were tabled in Parliament before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts show that alterations were made to cover up criticisms of corruption. Although the authors of the changes are not known, the alterations attempt to conceal information that would have been damaging to the late Defence Minister, Joe Modise and other government officials connected to the procurement of the arms. Omitted from the Auditor General's report was his finding that "There were fundamental flaws in the selection of BAe/SAAB as the preferred bidder for the LIFT & ALFA programme". Instead the following paragraph was inserted : "The joint investigation team found no evidence of impropriety, fraud or corruption by Cabinet or government". - Times Live website

Emigration and Immigration

Asylum for white South African 'perverse', Ottawa says - 22 October
In a written submission to the Federal Court of Canada, the government said the ruling that Huntley's claim was "justified" is unreasonable and based on a "jaundiced assessment" by the one-man board of conditions within South Africa. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is asking the Federal Court for permission to seek a judicial review of the ruling by board member William Davis. - The Gazette website

Refugee ruling demands review - 23 October
Racism, like the absence of it, knows no colour, no national origin, no creed. Slavery was practised by Aztec royalty as well as the Charleston gentry. Notwithstanding the history of colonialism in Africa and the race that viciously pulled the strings for so long, there is no doubt that some non-black Africans - white, South Asian, East Asian et al - have unfairly suffered under various post-European regimes since independence. There may well be instances when those affected had every reason to expect refugee status abroad, certainly including Canada. But then, there is a reason why immigration matters in this country must boil down to making judgments on individual cases. The recent, quite strange decision of a Canadian refugee panel to grant South African Brandon Huntley asylum because he would face persecution because he is white is an apt case in point. While we've regularly questioned the decision-making of our immigration department under Jason Kenney in this corner, he gets it right sometimes, like the rest of us. He is unhappy with the one-man ruling by one William Davis granting Huntley status - "a jaundiced assessment" - and he's absolutely right. - Edmonton Journal website

Environment

'Victory' for wetland's authorities - 23 October
KwaZulu-Natal conservation authorities have secured a landmark court ruling forcing an architect to repair damage he did iSimangaliso Wetland Park by building an unauthorised holiday home there. Four civil cases are still pending in the Durban High Court against alleged unauthorised developers. But yesterday's case in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court was the first criminal case officials of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife had brought. - IOL website

Saving the embattled estuaries - 28 October
It really comes as no surprise that most of the river estuaries in Durban are sick or dying - fouled by sewage, starved of clean water or torn apart to satisfy the relentless hunger of the building and construction industry. But there comes a point when the natural balance of these unique and constantly changing environments is overturned and thrown completely out of balance. Prof Anthony "Ticky" Forbes and Nicolette Demetriades, the authors of a new scientific report on the latest condition of eThekwini's 16 estuaries, believe that point was reached a long time ago. They lament the fact that the first warning signals have largely been ignored for half a century by previous municipal custodians and that current Department of Minerals and Energy officials have shown an "unacceptable" level of indifference to the damage caused by sand-mining operators. - IOL website

SA 'faces catastrophe' - 29 October
Research conducted by the cities of Cape Town and Durban indicates that the consequences of rising sea levels are far greater and far-reaching than previously believed, and it predicts huge knock-on effects and cost. A prior assessment done by the International Panel for Climate Change concluded South Africa's coastal vulnerability was not significant. However new research points to potentially catastrophic scenarios resulting from temperature change and the disintegration of ice sheets. - IOL website

Finance

27 October 2009 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 2009 Moneyweb website Budget analysis : Dr Azar Jammine, Chief Economist and Director, Econometrix - 27 October Moneyweb website Gordhan charts steady macro course, with tax warning - 27 October South Africa should maintain expansionary fiscal and monetary policies "only for as long as is necessary", Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his inaugural Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) address to Parliament on Tuesday, in which he provided few signs of a material leftward shift in South Africa's macroeconomic trajectory. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website Treasury eases exchange controls - 27 October Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan eased exchange controls on Tuesday in an effort to stimulate investment in South Africa's flagging economy. - Mail & Guardian website Govt blows an extra R14bn - 27 October In the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), tabled at Parliament, Treasury says spending will increase from a budgeted R738,6-billion to R752,5-billion. - Mail & Guardian website Gordhan vows to cut the fat - 27 October Investigation finds R27bn wasted by state. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan made his Budget debut yesterday with an announcement of big cuts in wasteful spending, a condemnation of government corruption and a pledge to forge a bold new path. - Times Live website Gordhan : govt can save R27bn by cutting wasteful spending - 27 October In a preliminary report of the ministerial task team, established earlier this year to scrutinise state spending, Gordhan says belt-tightening could see both national and provincial government saving R14,5-billion and R12,6-billion respectively by the 2012/13 financial year. Task team members include Gordhan, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane and Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi. - Mail & Guardian website Gordhan : no extra funds for Eskom - 27 October Treasury's adjusted budget estimates, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, make no provision at all for additional funding for utility Eskom, which claims it has a shortfall of about R40-billion on its infrastructure expansion programme. - Mail & Guardian website Bigger Cabinet to cost SA more than half a billion - 27 October The creation of a bigger Cabinet and presidency will cost the country more than half a billion rand in "unforeseeable" expenses this year. According to the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Tuesday, an extra R89,9-million has been allocated to President Jacob Zuma's office. - Mail & Guardian website Gordhan's baptism of fire - 28 October Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has committed the government to massive borrowing to sustain spending on job creation, education, health, rural development and fighting crime - and a major crackdown to rein in wasteful state spending and corruption. Dealing with a R70 billion shortfall in revenue from taxes - due to the recession - and increased demands for spending was "something of a baptism of fire", he said as he delivered his first Medium Term Budget policy statement in Parliament yesterday. - IOL website Business, labour welcome MTBPS - 28 October Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) has been welcomed by business and labour. - BuaNews Online website

Claimed plan to peg rand causes jitters - 23 October
The rand fell by more than two percent yesterday following a news report that the government proposed to freeze the currency, highlighting nervousness around the state's economic policy direction. The report from financial news website Fin24 said Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel planned to fix the rand's exchange rate, which would require massive Reserve Bank intervention in currency markets - a costly exercise. But the report was immediately denied by Patel's office. - Business Report website

Strong rand a worry : Gordhan - 27 October
South Africa's government is concerned about the strong rand currency and would have liked to intervene more assertively in the market through accumulating reserves, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday. The government this week denied a media report that it planned to "freeze" the rand at a predetermined rate. The unit had fallen sharply against the dollar on the report, which increased jitters among investors worried South Africa's policies may be shifting to the left. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website 

Cabinet structure changes worry investors - 22 October
Changes to the way South African President Jacob Zuma's cabinet operates and the resignation of a senior policy maker have stirred investor fears that unions are shifting economic policy to the left. Zuma this week announced new cabinet clusters, tasked with planning and decision-making, that left out former finance minister Trevor Manuel, who was widely respected by markets and now heads a new planning commission. The resignation of Joel Netshitenzhe, an architect of policy since the end of apartheid, added to concerns that Zuma may be bowing to labour and communists, who are allied with the ruling African National Congress and helped bring him to power. - Business Report website

Human Rights

Afrikaners not "minorities" : Human Rights Commission - 24 October
Afrikaner minority-rights activists yesterday launched a determined verbal attack at the African Human Rights Day conference in  Parktown yesterday  – with Afrikaner intellectuals climbing into the draft report drawn up by ANC-officials for the UN Human Minority Rights Commission conference in Geneva on November 11. - The Right Perspective blog

Human Rights Commission

Mushwana to chair human rights commission - 22 October
Former public protector Lawrence Mushwana is the new chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, the commission's spokesperson said on Thursday. - Mail & Guardian website

Hope and concern as Mushwana lands top job - 23 October
Opposition parties on Thursday expressed reservations about the appointment of former public protector Lawrence Mushwana as chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission. During his interview for the commission, Mushwana repeated the very sentiments which gave rise to a dispute between the Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the Chapter Nine Institutions and himself. - IOL website

Judicial Service Commission, and, Judiciary

Legal fraternity backs Ngcobo - 28 October
The legal fraternity on Thursday warmly congratulated new Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo on his appointment by President Jacob Zuma. "We are confident that our judiciary and our courts are in good hands," said the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA). The body represents the country's 18 800 attorneys and 4 900 candidate attorneys. - News24 website

Snazzy new car for Chief Justice - 28 October
Newly sworn-in Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo has ordered himself a R1-million luxury car, joining the elite club of big spender cabinet ministers. This follows the brouhaha over luxury machines ordered by a handful of Jacob Zuma's ministers. - allAfrica website

Judiciary's views 'considered' - 22 October
The views of the judiciary will be fully taken into account in new legislation dealing with the restructuring of the high courts, it emerged on Thursday. In a written reply to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance's Dene Smuts, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said the draft legislation had been submitted to new Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo for the judiciary's comments. The bills would only be published for public comment after the judiciary's views had been considered, Radebe said. - News24 website

JSC to oppose Kriegler bid - 22 October
The JSC will oppose former Constitutional Court judge Johann Kriegler's court challenge to its dismissal of the dispute between that court and Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. Judicial Service Commission spokesperson Marumo Moerane said the commission had decided to hire Vincent Maleka, SC, and three other counsel to represent it in the case. - News24 website

Court battle looms over Hlophe probe - 23 October
Battle lines were drawn yesterday when the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) decided it would defend in court its decision to drop the complaint of improper interference against Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe. Former Constitutional Court Judge Johann Kriegler caused a furore when he sharply criticised the JSC's decision not to proceed with an investigation of the complaint and announced that Freedom under Law, of which he was a co-founder, would challenge the matter in court. Papers were lodged last week by academic Mamphela Ramphele. - Business Day website

Motata decision delayed - 22 October
The Judicial Service Commission will wait for the end of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata's trial for drunk driving before taking a decision on AgriForum's complaint against him. "We have postponed until the finalisation of the criminal trial", JSC spokesperson Marumo Moerane told reporters in Cape Town on Thursday. Moerane said earlier that the ultimate sanction Motata risked was impeachment, which would have to be approved by the National Assembly. - IOL website

See : Magistrates Courts

Man fights finding by Court of Appeal on Post Office - 23 October
The Supreme Court of Appeal is being taken to task by a man whose R60-million damages claim against the SA Post Office was dismissed on appeal. Brian de Lacy said this week that he had submitted a document to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) detailing 114 allegations against the judgment made in May by Judge Robert Nugent. - Business Report website

KwaZulu-Natal

KZN tender exposé - 22 October
An investigation conducted by the auditor general in KwaZulu-Natal has revealed that more than 900 government employees were moonlighting as company directors or officials, benefitting from government contracts worth close to R150 million between April 2005 and March 2007. The report was tabled in the legislature on Thursday. - IOL website

Labour Issues

Minister 'determined to abolish labour brokers' - 22 October
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is determined to abolish labour brokers even though government departments paid them millions last year, his spokesman said on Thursday. - Mail & Guardian website

Forensic strike looms - 26 October
Hundreds of medical forensic workers in KwaZulu-Natal are threatening to down tools, jeopardising police investigations and affecting mourners, mourning families and access to the bodies of dead relatives kept at state mortuaries. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) said its members in the province) have lodged grievances with the provincial Health Department. They gave the department three days to return with a favourable response or the sector would come to a standstill. - IOL website

Cleaners may go on strike - 26 October
About 100 000 contract cleaning workers may go on strike over wages, according to their industry chief negotiator for labour Lungile Ntshuntshe. “Our wage demand now stands at 15%, while employers would not budge off their 7.53% offers”, Ntshuntshe said in a statement. Negotiations between the trade unions representing workers and the employers, represented by the National Contract Cleaning Association and the Black Empowerment Cleaning Association, started in July. - Business Day website

Land Affairs and Property

Coastline not for sale to foreigners - 23 October
Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk will release the Integrated Coastal Management Bill today, his spokesman said, in what could be South Africa's first substantial move to limit foreign access to its real estate market. South Africa wants to reverse a trend which has seen coastal land being sold to foreigners, limiting public access to the coastline, chief government spokesman Themba Maseko said. "South Africans could wake up one day and discover that only foreign nationals and the super-rich had access to our coastline," he said. - The Southern Times website

'A storm in a teacup' - 23 October
A posh new development in upmarket Bantry Bay is facing demolition - and being made an example of - for allegedly flouting approved building plans. An urgent motion approved by the Good Hope subcouncil yesterday called on planning officials to obtain urgent interdicts against the six-level development at 331 Beach Road, which is located in an area restricting buildings to three storeys, as well as a ramp at a Sea Point motorcycle shop. The subcouncil asked that occupation of the "illegal structures" be prevented, that demolition orders against the "illegal work" be obtained, that the structures be demolished and that the cost of demolition be recovered from the owners. - IOL website

Minerals and Energy

Eskom could undermine local government : Minister - 22 October
Eskom's proposed tariff hikes could harm local government, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka said on Thursday. "We believe the way tariffs are being proposed will undermine the work of local government", he told a local government indaba in Boksburg, Gauteng. The minister said his department would talk to the minerals and energy department about the proposed hikes and also about the way electricity is provided to mines. He said he would engage with the energy department to ensure things "are streamlined and worked properly". - Business Report website

Eskom board asks CEO Maroga to resign - 30 October
The board of Eskom has asked the company's chief executive officer Jacob Maroga to resign after a troubled tenure marked by power shortages, Business Day reported on Friday. - Mail & Guardian website

Eskom CEO Maroga denies being asked to quit : report  - 30 October
South Africa's state-owned utility Eskom's Chief Executive Officer Jacob Maroga has denied that he was asked to resign by the utility's board, Talk Radio 702 said on Friday. South Africa's Business Day reported on Friday that Maroga had been asked at a board meeting on Thursday to quit his post, after a troubled tenure marked by power shortages, and a record R9.7 billion rand loss in the year to end-March. But Talk Radio 702 said Maroga had declined to be interviewed. - Business Report website

We are nobody's puppets : Malema - 22 October
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema said the league would not support any ANC leader for election in 2012 if they were not in favour of the nationalisation of mines. - IOL website

Municipal Management and Procedure

Cape Town

28 October 2009
City of Cape Town : Speech by Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato, at the Council Meeting
[State of Cape Town]. - Politicsweb website

City's findings on the IRT project - 28 October
The City of Cape Town's forensic investigation found that there is no evidence of fraudulent activities, but has found that there is enough evidence to warrant that the City commence a disciplinary process against a staff member. The first phase of the forensic investigation into the City of Cape Town's Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) project has been completed. City Manager Achmat Ebrahim instituted the investigation on 06 August 2009. The investigation's terms of reference encompassed the reasons for the cost escalation, the underestimates, the process, expenditure and who was responsible for certain decisions. - Cape Business News website

Ratepayers to fork out for heavy IRT costs - 28 October
Ratepayers will bear the brunt of the ballooning costs of the City of Cape Town's R4.5-billion public transport system and the expected R99-million operating shortfall - by paying higher property taxes, parking and fuel levies, paying for permits to use the city's roads or by contributing to a new Local Business Tax. - IOL website

eThekwini

Press Release : Empowerdexs Indicator of Municipal Performance This press release was emailed out at : 25 October 2009 20:33 With great fanfare on Wednesday 21 October 2009 Empowerdex launched an index countrywide purporting to measure municipal service delivery. Headlines screamed out Our worst municipalities and throughout the country some municipalities were targeted as best or worst. A quick scan of the material distributed by Empowerdex immediately suggested their work was very sloppy and they were simply touting for work (they make an appeal to be contacted if municipalities want assistance!), but more importantly, their report showed complete ignorance of municipal governance.  For example, the press release said that Tswane was the worst performing Metropolitan municipality, whilst their report said eThekwini was the worst performing municipality. They claimed their index was a measure of service delivery, but the report indicated it was a measure of status and improvement, not actual service delivery performed or not performed by municipalities. And their ignorance of municipal functions is borne out through the fact that housing and electricity access are not exclusively municipal service delivery matters or functions.  Also, they compared results from the census of 2001 and the community survey of 2007 raising all sorts of methodological issues. eThekwini Municipality indicated our disappointment that suddenly we were being projected as the worst performing Metro in terms of a municipal service delivery.  Such a conclusion goes completely against all audited results of performance, from capital budget expenditure, expenditure on maintenance, delivery on backlogs, delivery of Free Basic Services and the like. Within the 2001-2007 period we have won the most number of VUNA awards for the best performing Metropolitan Municipality and received international recognition and awards and the claims made in this Empowerdex report simply did not tally with that record. Certainly eThekwini, Cape Town and Johannesburg have been consistently recognised as municipalities performing very well and for us not to be ranked within the top 3 on an index of service delivery made no sense at all. Just recently National Treasury as part of the assessment of the Municipalitys budget commended eThekwini on its impressive and significant growth in the capital budget, 50 percent, between 2007/08 and 2008/09 and annual growth at an average of 4.7% over the MTREF (Medium Term Revenue & Expenditure Framework), reflects an attempt by the municipality to accelerate service delivery and address backlogs. Methodologically, we have found the index to have very serious weaknesses. Firstly, to calculate the overall index, municipalities that experienced an increase in households greater than the national average of 11.56% received bonus points, whilst those that experienced lower increases were penalized. The increase or decrease was up to 20 points. In this regard, the percentage increase in households in Ethekwini was the lowest amongst Metros with 5.99%. Accordingly, in terms of the calculation of the overall index the Ethekwini Municipality was  penalized for being below the national average. We consider this to be unfair and cannot fully appreciate why an arbitrary factor such as the increase in households was used to influence and weight scores in the calculation of a service delivery index. Is it our fault that our household numbers are not growing as fast as elsewhere? Further, basically half the overall score is dependent on the improvement index. Accordingly, the index has a bias for improvement. Because eThekwinis service delivery base is already very high due to our excellent work done in the recent past, we believe we have been prejudiced. Municipalities with a lower base would have had more room for improvement. MUNIDEX compares the 2001 Census with the 2007 Community Survey, which are out of date. The 2007 Community Survey has a lower level of statistical reliability than the 2001 Census, which besides being out of date, calls into question the degree of accuracy in comparing the two sets of data. The MUNIDEX report does not take into account the scale of basic service delivery but reports on percentage change within each Municipality. This type of reporting could result in one Municipality delivering more basic services between 2001 and 2007 than another but getting a lower percentage improvement score than a second municipality which has in fact delivered fewer basic service units. MUNIDEX is a composite index comprising a status index, an improvement index and an overall score adjustment based on household increases. The improvement index is problematic as it compares the increase in service delivery of a municipality against the national average, rather than comparing the service delivery levels in each municipality between 2001 and 2007.  Being able to reach the same results is a basic tenant of scientific work and unfortunately the calculation of the overall final score is not replicable, given the information provided in the report. Our first conclusion is that this is certainly not an indicator of service delivery and Empowerdex should make that very clear and should withdraw their statements made in that regard. But Empowerdex have also shown that their ascientific results cannot be trusted. We have tried to get the full data set they have used, but interestingly both that and the formulae are not available. And so we analysed what results they had put into the available report. Curiously their Status Index uses the Stats SA Community Survey of 2007 to determine current levels of access.  The below table indicates the Community Survey 2007 percentages of households with access to the basic services and also indicates the percentages reported by MUNIDEX on a graph on page 22 of the Empowerdex report titled Service Delivery Index (MUNIDEX). In the table below the red shaded cells indicate instances where MUNIDEX reported lower percentages than the official Community Survey 2007 percentages and the green shaded cells indicate instances where MUNIDEX reported higher percentages than the official Community Survey 2007 percentages. MUNIDEX have under-represented eThekwini by a total of 47 percentage points. All other Metros were over-represented by between 8 and 15 percentage points. Cleary [sic], these inaccuracies negatively impact eThekwini both on the Status Index and the Improvement Index.  To calculate the Improvement Index, MUNIDEX compares the 2001 Census with the 2007 Community Survey, which are both out of date.  Besides the use of outdated data, the 2007 Community Survey has a lower level of statistical reliability that the 2001 Census, which calls into question the degree of accuracy in comparing the two sets of data. [unformatted table in email] Service eThekwini Cape Town Joburg Tshwane Ekhurhuleni Nelson Mandela MUNIDEX CS 2007 MUNIDEX CS 2007 MUNIDEX CS 2007 MUNIDEX CS 2007 MUNIDEX CS 2007 MUNIDEX CS 2007 Water 58 78 91 91 92 92 81 81 87 87 87 87 Solid Waste 89 89 95 95 89 92 78 78 79 88 88 88 Electricity Lighting 87 87 94 94 89 89 77 77 79 79 90 90 Electricity Cooking 58 83 90 90 92 88 81 74 86 77 85 85 Electricity Heating 79 81 92 80 92 85 74 70 86 71 87 74 Sanitation 79 79 93 93 93 93 76 76 86 86 88 88 Formal Housing 72 72 82 82 76 76 71 71 72 72 85 85 Total % 522 569 637 625 623 615 538 527 575 560 610 597 MUNIDEX under representation -47 MUNIDEX over representation 12 8 11 15 13 When asked to respond to this, Empowerdex admitted they made a mistake and adjusted the figures for eThekwini. They did not tell us if they had adjusted the rest of the metros but then informed us they have agreed that the eThekwini results were incorrect and then adjusted the scores for eThekwini which moved us on the improvement index from 5th to 2nd. It is amazing that such a dramatic shift is made, making eThekwini now only 0.9 off the first place. Moreover, they have not told us if the adjusted the rest of the metros downwards! Now besides the data being out of date, the main problem with this is the overall weighted final score which is based on the housing count in the CS2007. Our count for 2007 was in the region of 900 000, while the Community Surveys 2007 count was 833 859. The figures used are not replicated in the report. Replicability is a basic requirement for any scientific work and this cannot be done without the figures being published in the report. The second reason then why no-one can trust Empowerdexs work is that they should be publishing all errata and providing full tables of data used. Most importantly though, we should be focused on actual service delivery and working on how to improve current levels. Given the great media interest in this matter I would like to challenge them to get answers from all Metros and major municipalities on key areas of service delivery.  Let me illustrate why I believe eThekwini has an excellent record of service delivery : We have the best record of actual capital expenditure of all municipalities. Last year alone we spent R5.6 billion on capital it was the highest spend in the country and we have the biggest infrastructural programme in the country. Last year we had a 106% spend on our capital budget. This year we are expecting the same. This is because we have the necessary capacity to deliver. We have the highest maintenance spend in the country the national average is 7% whilst we are spending 13%. We have won several awards for the management of the municipality, its leadership and innovation in service delivery. For example, we won the Govan Mbeki award for delivering 16 000 houses per annum which is the highest in the country Our planning and spatial development plans are excellent. We have been commended by National Treasury on the quality of our IDP and budget, as well as the linking of both We have the best record of unqualified audit reports presently we are one of only 3 municipalities in the country to receive clean audit reports for 2007/8 (CT and JHB are the others) We built over 18 000 new housing units in 2008/2009 and this year will build well over 20 000 new housing units for the truly poor. We have built over 90 000 homes since 2002, by far the highest in the country/ Our EPWP programme is considered among the best in the country and is delivering thousands of jobs We are one of only a few municipalitries which provides 9KL of Free Basic water. 298 673 use less than 9KL 27 199 households supplied from ground tanks and 178 228 households have access via water dispensers / standpipes We have the largest countrywide programme to reduce water loss (from 39% to 35%) through zonal meters, expanding investigation team, metering unaccounted water, replacing aging infrastructure (over R550m), AC Main replacement (R850m overall) and Pressure reducing valves We are delivering water to our vast rural areas  Coverage is now 98%, will have 100% coverage in 3 years We provided 14 865 new customers with electricity this past year We have increased Free Basic Electricity from 50KwH to 65KwH some 60 000 households now accessing this. On sanitation we have expanded waste water treatment works at : Amanzimtoti (R55m) and Verulam (R60m) now complete We have accelerated the desludging of 45 000 VIP pit latrines completed by 2010 We will have delivered over 300 ablution blocks in informal settlements over the next 2 years We have extended refuse removal to 100% coverage Our methane gas conversion to electricity projects are first for Africa and our waste minimization strategy highly commended. Our climate change programme is a world best practice. We are constructing 32 kms new roads, 33 pedestrian bridges and 166 kms of sidewalks this year. Moses Mabhida stadium is highly commended, has a sustainability strategy and has created over 25 000 jobs Zibambele Poverty Alleviation and other job creation exercises have created more than 10000 jobs each year. Over decent work strategy will mean that some 4000 agency temps and contract workers positions will be converted into full-time permanent positions. Our rainwater harvesting projects have delivered to over 1 000 households already We have over 400 community gardens, are promoting food security and even have a vegetable garden planted at city hall and on many municipal building roofs. There is much we still have to do, but I would be delighted to see the newspapers publish a report on what each of the Metropolitan municipalities have done in this regard and on any other service delivery areas. Overall the rushed release of Empowerdexs report suggests either incompetence and sloppy work on their part, but it may have been deliberately timed to undermine the initiative by our President Jacob Zuma who, for the first time since democracy, held discussions with all Mayors and managers and then the Minister of COGTA held a two-day Indaba. Dr Michael Sutcliffe City Manager : eThekwini

Msunduzi

Residents take a stand - 30 October
City Hall is not off the hook over its "flawed" valuation roll. The Msunduzi Rates Forum (MRF) is taking legal action against the council. This is one step in a multi-pronged approach to tackle the rates issue. Another involves setting up a ratepayers' association for the greater Pietermaritzburg area. Wednesday night saw the first of a series of meetings that will be held across the city to elect representatives to the association in each area. - The Witness website

Tshwane

Gwen fires left, right and centre - 27 October
Tshwane mayor Gwen Ramokgopa has fired seven of her 10 mayoral committee members in a bid to keep her job. The embattled mayor, who survived the axe after the ANC's Gauteng leadership decided not to "recall" her at a meeting on Monday, announced a "reshuffling" of her mayoral committee at a press conference yesterday. - Times Live website

uMngeni

Mayor must leave R1.7m house - 29 October
uMngeni Mayor Edward Dladla must vacate the R1.7m house bought for him by the council by the end of November, and pay back an estimated R500 000 to the municipality for rates, electricity, water, telephone bills and maintenance. This order came from the joint provincial standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) and finance committee in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature on Wednesday. The committees found that the house should not have been bought for Dladla. Although Dladla's salary package included a housing allowance, the municipality went ahead and bought him a house and also paid the rates, electricity, water and telephone bills and maintenance costs. Dladla now has to pay back the municipality all these bills. - News24 website

Name Changes

Challenge to Nelspruit renaming - 28 October
More than 600 businesses in Mpumalanga are seeking legal advice on how to challenge what is believed to have been a flawed name change process, following the renaming of Nelspruit to Mbombela. The companies, which are represented by the Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (LCBT), argue that the consultation process conducted before Minister of Arts and Culture Lulu Xingwana gazetted the name change on October 16 was unfair. - News24 website

National Planning Commission

Trevor Manuel's cerebral take on the developmental state : full text - 28 October
Address by the Minister in The Presidency : National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, at the Wits Graduate School of Public Development Management ; Donald Gordon Auditorium. - Times Live website

"I don't hold the big stick" : Manuel - 27 October
South Africa's national planning minister Trevor Manuel said on Monday he was not all-powerful in setting economic policy. Manuel, a former finance minister under ex-President Thabo Mbeki, is loathed by powerful unions who see him as a champion of business-friendly economic policies and fear he still wields undue influence over policy. "For once in my deployment, I don't hold the big stick", Manuel said during a public lecture in Johannesburg. - Moneyweb website

Stakeholders call for rethink on National Planning Commission - 29 October
A variety of stakeholders have called for a rethink on the way the envisaged national planning commission (NPC) is to be constituted and how it will function.  The ad hoc committee on the green paper on national strategic planning held public hearings on the green paper in Parliament. A number of key stakeholders made oral submissions. - SabinetLaw website

Public Protector

I will not be intimidated : Madonsela - 23 October
The new Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, has vowed that she would not be a push-over for any political party in her new role. Madonsela is the first woman to head a government watchdog and was appointed by President Jacob Zuma after being unanimously recommended by a multi-party committee of MPs. - IOL website

Madonsela wants your business - 23 October
South Africans are wasting time and money going to court over matters that could be settled by approaching her office, says newly appointed Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. Madonsela wants South Africans to know they don't have to take expensive legal action to resolve problems they encounter in dealing with the government. In an interview, Madonsela cited two lengthy legal battles that wound their way through the high court all the way to the Constitutional Court. One involved residents of Phiri, Soweto, who took the City of Johannesburg to court over the installation of pre-paid water meters. The other was Hoerskool Ermelo's legal tussle over language policy. - IOL website

Shock R7m payout for Mushwana - 30 October
Controversial departing public protector Lawrence Mushwana has received a golden handshake of nearly R7-million, raising a storm about his entitlement to it. He is also suspected of taking punitive action against the chief executive of the public protector’s office, Themba Mthethwa, for questioning the payout. Mushwana suspended Mthethwa and the contested R6.8-million payout was deposited into Mushwana’s account 48 hours later. - Mail & Guardian website

Public protector storm blows over - 23 October
Less than a week after his suspension by former public protector Lawrence Mushwana, chief executive Themba Mthethwa is back at work. The new public protector, Thulisile Madonsela, lifted the suspension this week after representations by Mthethwa’s legal team. - Mail & Guardian website

Public Works

State mulls disposals, partnerships to release value from property portfolio - 23 October
The Department of Public Works (DPW) was working on a far-reaching initiative to extract greater economic and social value from its large property portfolio (reportedly the single largest property holding in the country), Minister Geoff Doidge has revealed. Addressing the Construction Industry Development Board's (CIDB's) stakeholder forum in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, of Friday, Doidge expressed unhappiness with the current management of the portfolio, which comprised more than 200 000 separate immovable assets and included everything from the Union Buildings, through to hospitals, schools, farms and even aircraft hangers. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

South African Police Service

The MK veterans shocking statement : 'Asmal must die' : full text - 23 October
MKMVA notes the unprecedented arrogance that is hidden behind freedom of expression by the former Minister Kader Asmal who has now declared himself the voice of political authority. Kader Asmal cannot make statements as if he is the political god of the African National Congress and South Africa. In fact he has chosen a wrong route to resuscitate what was once his political career through sheer opportunism of space. - Times Live website

New 'death' jibe against Asmal - 24 October
A day after the MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) told former education minister Kader Asmal to "go and die", ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has warned the respected human rights activist that "self-destruction can bleed you to death". In response, Asmal described Mantashe's comments as "extraordinary", but vowed not to shut up. - IOL website

'Wait until the first child dies' - 22 October
African National Congress veteran Kader Asmal this week publicly attacked Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula over the latter's call for the militarisation of the police. Sello Alcock asked him to elaborate. - Mail & Guardian website

Asmal rues 'tainted political atmosphere' - 28 October
Former minister Kader Asmal on Wednesday urged people to fight for the Constitution, not him. This was after the Congress of the People (Cope) said it would approach the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to probe statements made against him. - Mail & Gaurdian website

No thanks, Asmal tells COPE - 29 October
African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Kader Asmal yesterday opposed the decision of the Congress of the People (COPE) to refer recent attacks on his sanity to the Human Rights Commission. Asmal, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, and the MK Military Veterans' Association have been exchanging insults after comments recently made by Asmal. "While I appreciate the party's concern - it is my feeling that the latest manifestation of outrageous and provocative and destructive remarks by a deputy minister and by MK veterans is symptomatic of a tainted political atmosphere in which the moral compass pointing to the core values of my movement has lost its sense of direction", he said. - Business Day website

Cops to enforce stricter control over their weapons - 24 October
The police service will introduce stricter measures to safeguard its own firearms, a spokesperson said on Saturday. This was brought about by the "loss" of 147 R5 rifles from police stocks throughout the country over the past year, said Senior Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo said in a statement. "[It] provoked serious concerns among top management of the police force," said Naidoo. - Mail & Guardian website

How cops cooked crime books - 23 October
Mail & Guardian alleges that a captain at Paarl station had the responsibility of manipulating crime statistics to reflect a lower incidence of serious crime. - Mail & Guardian website

Sport and Recreation

SAFA considers action against some members - 23 October
The South African Football Association (SAFA) is considering taking disciplinary measures against certain members who have claimed that the SAFA elections last month were unconstitutional. SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani was elected after Danny Jordaan and Irvin Khoza withdrew from the running. - BuaNews Online website

Secret report reveals Chuene's plotting - 23 October
In a bombshell report the doctor of the South African athletics team, Harold Adams, has accused Athletics South Africa (ASA) boss Leonard Chuene of deliberately politicising and sowing confusion in the Caster Semenya gender test saga. Adams’s confidential report, leaked to the Mail & Guardian, suggests that Chuene consulted top-level politicians before deciding, against Adams's advice, to field Semenya in the World Athletics Championship in Berlin in August. He says Chuene told a medical team of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that "withdrawing Semenya was not acceptable to top-level South African politicians who are also in government and that if the IAAF insisted on Semenya's withdrawal they would face the wrath of the South African government, because it would not hesitate to take the IAAF to the highest court in the land". - Mail & Guardian website

Report online at http://www.mg.co.za/uploads/2009/10/22/harold-re-sgs-report.pdf 

IAAF chairman cancels SA trip - 23 October
World athletics boss Lamine Diack's planned weekend meeting with Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile over Caster Semenya's sex verification results has been put on hold. While the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) maintains that Diack was forced to cancel the October 24 meeting after receiving an invitation from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, it is understood that the ANC's recent calls for the tests on Semenya to be quashed have played a part in his rescheduling. - IOL website

ANC demands apology from athletics bosses - 29 October
South Africa's ruling party on Thursday said the country's athletics body must come clean about its role in 800m champion Caster Semenya's gender row and apologise to the nation. The African National Congress set up a task team earlier this month to probe the mishandling of Semenya's gender verification tests. - IOL website

ANC hands Semenya investigation to Sports Ministry - 29 October
The African National Congress (ANC) task team probing the mishandling of the gender-verification process of 800m gold medallist Caster Semenya will hand the matter over to the Sports Ministry for further investigation, the ANC said on Thursday. "We think they are better placed as government . . . to pursue the matter," said ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu at a press briefing in Johannesburg. - Mail & Guardian website

Western Cape

Zille's all-male cabinet case costs thousands - 28 October
Western Cape taxpayers will have to pay almost R50 000 for lawyers used by the province in the court case that trade union Cosatu brought against Premier Helen Zille over her all-male Cabinet. Zille revealed in a response in the provincial legislature on Tuesday that R49 356 was spent on legal representatives who were defending the provincial government in the case. Zille said advocate Renata Williams, SC was briefed in this matter and a junior advocate, Karrisha Pillay, was briefed to assist senior counsel. - allAfrica website

Miscellaneous

Albie Sachs : the refugee judge - 27 October
Justice Albie Sachs held UCL's lecture theatre spell-bound this week when he spoke on refugees - telling his own life story which was on the theme of "from refugee to judge of refugee law". Sachs, who has just stepped down from South Africa's Constitutional Court, was a refugee twice. - Law Central website
Keyphrase :
University College London

Law and dogma : the illiberal elite - 23 October
Clumsy intensity and toothless delicacy are equal and opposite errors in constitutional law. Law is, as Judge Albie Sachs says, "congealed politics" in which clumsy purists damage their own goals. An indelicate Party of Transformation recently surrounded Judge John Hlophe, a judicial activist of enormous intensity but little progressive effect. Meanwhile, Johann Kriegler's Party of Judicial Standards took money (disguised as "Swiss" in early media reports) from apartheid-conglomerate-baron-turned-luxury-goods-salesman Johann Rupert, allied with Desmond Tutu, whose Truth Commission oh-so-gently interrogated Rupert's empire a decade ago. - Article by Ronald Suresh Roberts who is writing a legal realist critique of South African constitutional jurisprudence since 1994, on the Mail & Guardian website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society