In a week of tumultuous South African political news, as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s battle with the National Prosecuting Authority came to a head, a crucial infrastructure story broke to little fanfare.
The South African Forum for Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC) announced that under its auspices, most of the major listed construction companies reached an historic, unique and far-reaching voluntary agreement with the South African government.
The signing of this settlement ends years of dispute between the construction companies and government following findings of collusion by the Competition Commission investigation launched in 2009. The agreement commits the parties to chart a new future co-operative trajectory underpinned by measurable commitments to empowerment and transformation.
Collectively, the construction companies will make a combined contribution of R1.25 billion ($87.5 million) over 12 years into a trust fund to be controlled by a board of trustees appointed from government, the construction companies and SAFCEC. Each year, individual companies will pay between R15 million ($1 million) and R21.25 million ($1.5 million).
This voluntary contribution is in addition to the R1.46-billion ($100-million) penalty imposed by the Competition Commission Tribunal on some companies in 2013.
The trust will use the payments to develop and enhance the construction industry in line with government’s transformation goals and to develop emerging contractors and suppliers in South Africa.
Initiatives to be supported by the fund will include financial support for young trainee artisans and engineers from disadvantaged backgrounds, support for the teaching of maths and science at public schools, funding for social infrastructure and the development and promotion of construction companies owned and managed by black people.
The funding will also be used for the appointment of professionals to provide the government with engineering, project management and other services to strengthen its capacity to deliver the public infrastructure.
Combatting large-scale collusion and corruption, opportunities for South African companies in infrastructure projects elsewhere on the continent will be identified.
The construction companies have also individually undertaken to either develop up to three emerging black-owned businesses or dispose of a portion of their South African basic construction businesses to majority black-owned enterprises.
The agreement provides a framework for settlement of claims by the industry regulator, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), as well as civil claims by public entities against companies investigated by the Competition Commission.
The positive implications of the Competition Commission extend beyond South Africa’s borders. The investigation was active in other territories and being watched across Africa and the rest of the world. Foreign competitors gained ground in these markets because our construction groups were not supported by the South African government until a resolution was found.
That is all set to change now and perhaps South Africa can hunt as a pack and claw back markets and jobs for the benefit of people and suppliers in those territories and within South Africa.
Those who have followed my column will have noted my consistent call for an end to the destructive standoff between the South African government and the construction industry. In my latter years as a CEO in the industry, and now in retirement, I have been committed to resolving the industry’s future and was a member of the CEO group who helped craft the early foundations of this voluntary resolution program. I recall many late evenings driving back from ministerial meetings in Pretoria and intensive debate and strategy sessions within SAFCEC. Important stakeholders from black business, who will likely significantly benefit from this agreement, were included.
Simultaneously with this announcement came an uptick in the project outlook for gold, the announcement of two big private sector coal power plants, and momentum on nuclear power.
“Through the transformation commitments in the agreement, we can rebuild the relationship with the companies concerned and work in partnership in future,” says Gugile Nkwinti, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, as well as the Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission.
“This arrangement also demonstrates the commitment to a transformed, transparent and ethical industry, which has a major role to play in delivering much needed infrastructure,” says Webster Mfebe, the CEO of SAFCEC.
I was thrilled to learn of the successful conclusion of this agreement. It took seven years, but the benefits might be felt for decades to come.

Burying the hatchet  for a brighter future

When Pistorius appeared in court on June 4, his case was postponed to August 19 for further investigations. The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court was packed with journalists, who started arriving at 5AM. There was pushing and shoving to gain entry into the court building. Ten seats were reserved for the families of the accused and deceased.
Pistorius and his family were met by a large crowd of media outside the court house. Pistorius was wearing a charcoal gray suit with a blue shirt and tie, as he took his seat in the dock. The Blade Runner, as he is known, turned his back on photographers as he was greeted by his brother Carl, sister Aimee and uncle Arnold, before the proceedings. A clean shaven Pistorius spent the proceedings standing up.
It was a short court appearance, where the state asked the court for the matter to be postponed to August to complete the investigation. The docket is still with police. Pistorius’ legal team, led by Advocate Barry Roux, did not oppose the postponement for the appearance that will fall on the day Steenkamp would have turned 30.
After the appearance, when asked why the date of the postponement fell on Steenkamp’s birthday, Medupe Simasiku of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said: “The date was an agreement between the two parties but we were not aware it was the deceased’s birthday. We are satisfied with the progress of the investigation and everything that has been done. We want to see this case going forward fair and square,” he says.
Simasiku says that they are hoping to have the docket in their possession before August 19. But legal experts say the case will be postponed once again, most likely, as the defense team would not have had enough time to study the docket to prepare their case.
Law expert, Advocate Percy Tshabalala, who is not involved in the case, says that once the investigations are concluded, the matter has to be set down and a trial date agreed on.
“The matter will probably be postponed for a trial date and this will give the defence time to prepare. From there, he [Pistorius] will have to plead and then the case will be under way,” says Tshabalala.
It has been established that the delay is due to outstanding forensic results. Police are still to give a report on the forensic analysis of the toilet door through which Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend. The door is being studied to establish the trajectory of the bullets Pistorius fired, which would indicate where he was standing and whether he was wearing his prosthesis.
After being told the matter was postponed, by acting chief magistrate Daniel Thulare, Pistorius softly replied: “Yes your honor”.
After telling Pistorius of the postponement, Thulare took a swipe at the media. This was brought on by graphic photographs of the crime scene, shown by British satellite news channel SkyNews.
Thulare warned against what he referred to as “scandalous and possibly contemptuous” reporting and trial by the media. The photographs showed the bullet holes and blood-spattered bathroom, where Pistorius shot Steenkamp. Thulare asked the state to investigate how information related to the case had come into the public domain. He says this kind of reporting can hinder judicial processes.
“Anyone who has information that might assist at arriving at decision must approach the NPA. It is important that we rally behind the call. It is important that we invite our colleagues from around the world to respect the republic’s processes,” says Thulare.
Pistorius’ family has also lambasted the publishing of the photographs. In a statement on his website, the family says: “We were shaken by the graphic images, leaked into the public domain this week, of the accident scene at Oscar’s house. It has always been our plea that the legal process be allowed [to] run its course with integrity. The leaking of evidential material into the public domain, before the court case, does not advance this process. We continue to have great faith in the South African legal justice system and believe that Oscar’s account of what happened on that terrible night in February will be borne out by the evidence that the defence team will lead in court”.
Pistorius, who is arguably South Africa’s best-known athlete, enjoys support from all over the world. Messages flood his website.
“I felt deeply saddened by the images that appeared today of Oscar entering the court room and not being left alone. He could hardly get to the building. Oscar, please believe that there are those of us who truly believe in you and I will continue to pray for you. My support will not waiver. Oscar I know that the courts, in the end, will do the right thing. Stay strong Oscar and don’t ever forget that you are a good man with a good heart, who made a terrible mistake. Lots of prayers are coming your way,” wrote one supporter.

The Pain Of The Blade Runner

The road to Mangaung, South Africa’s judicial capital, is an uncertain one. Beleaguered, incumbent president, Jacob Zuma (70), is up against his strangely ambivalent deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe (63). Nowadays, no one is even talking about Tokyo Sexwale, a tycoon known to have ambitions to the post but who has just never been able to muster enough support.
Although nominations only opened on October 1, that did not stop warring factions from firing the first salvos, digging up dirt and leaking (mis)information to newspapers about one another. And there is evidence that even though members can now openly talk about, and even circulate list slates and permutations of their preferred candidates, somewhere in some dark alleys and smoke-filled rooms, connivers on either side are continuing to plan the downfall of their opponents, by all and any means necessary.
Not surprisingly, the stakes are high. With an overwhelming parliamentary majority in charge in eight of the country’s nine provinces, as well as the great majority of municipalities, the ANC is mighty. The fight over resources and the dispensation of patronage is therefore a real one. And plots are abound.
In the past year both presidential hopefuls Motlanthe and Sexwale have been subjects of investigations for their alleged involvement, directly or indirectly, in a scandalous UN Oil-for-Food program that involved Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The ANC Youth League, the first group to make it clear that they didn’t want Zuma re-elected, is among those crying foul, alleging that state resources are being used to silence the president’s critics. The league points to the disciplinary expulsion of its president, Julius Malema. The youngsters contend that Malema did nothing wrong and was in fact articulating resolutions of the league when he was kicked out. Malema’s comrades don’t believe that it is sheer coincidence that following his expulsion, the Hawks, South Africa’s elite crime-busting unit, has charged Malema for money laundering; the Public Protector is now investigating him; while the South African Revenue Services believes he may have a case to answer with regard to his tax liabilities. The league’s acting president, Ronald Lamola, says it’s “a political issue” they are going to raise at the conference.
The incumbent is not having any peace either. In October, following a complaint lodged by the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s Constitutional Court found that Zuma had acted “irrationally” by appointing one “dishonest” Menzi Simelane as the chief of the National Prosecuting Authority.
While Zuma was pondering that, new “looting” allegations emerged detailing how, on top of his rural village, which was upgraded to become “a mini New York” amidst a sea of poverty, around R248 million ($28.2 million) was being spent on a host of other improvements to the president’s private homestead in the area. The president has denied this, insisting his family is spending its own money to do the upgrades, and that the government is only taking responsibility for security, and even then at the insistence of state security officials. The minister of public works, whose department has the responsibility of looking after the residential and security needs of ministers and senior state officials, has however steadfastly refused to divulge the details of both the actual money spent and the extent of the work done on the president’s home.
In an unprecedented move in November, the DA, with the support of eight other opposition parties, tabled a motion in Parliament in which they declared their intention to impeach Zuma. Knowing that it has the overwhelming majority that would prevent such a move, the ANC called it a “frivolous and narrow publicity-seeking gimmick” that will never see the light of day.
The people who have the best chance of deposing Zuma—if they want to—are the 4,500 voting delegates who will be gathering in Mangaung for the party’s elective conference. Drawn from the ANC’s branches, affiliate leagues and members of the national executive committee, they are the ones who will have the job of electing not only the party’s president, but also its deputy president, the secretary general, the deputy secretary general, the treasurer general, the chairperson, as well as 82 members of the powerful national executive committee.
The voting delegates’ task has not been made any easier, though. In a rather outlandish practice, certainly for a party that makes no secret of its desire to lead the continent and the world, neither of the two candidates has to go through any form of interview for the job. The candidates are not required to present to the party faithful any vision of where they intend to steer the party, the country and the continent. In fact, they should not canvass at all. To openly campaign, the unwritten rule goes, is “un-ANC” and therefore frowned upon.
So Zuma’s campaign has been left to pronouncements made by leaders of his home province KwaZulu-Natal who, with 974 delegates to the conference (see sidebar), will have the biggest representation. Following the opening of nominations, the women’s and veterans’ leagues, as well as the majority of provincial executive committees have nominated him—although it must be pointed out that the branches may vote differently to the pronouncements of provincial leaders.
The pro-Zuma group is so confident that they are resisting any compromise permutations that are being bandied about by certain brokers, under the guise of avoiding blood on the floor. The Zuma slate, by the time of going to print, had him staying on as president, Motlanthe as his deputy, chairperson Baleka Mbete and incumbent secretary-general Gwede Mantashe also staying put. Deputy Secretary General Thandi Modise and Treasurer General Mathews Phosa are no longer wanted.
Motlanthe is being accommodated only if he doesn’t challenge Zuma, something he is yet to indicate whether he will do. But he hasn’t said he’s not interested either. At last month’s launch of his political biography, where many expected him to give the clearest indication, he was as vague as he has ever been. While at the beginning of his speech he had his supporters’ hope, talking about “agents of change” and calling for an end to “the notion that so it was, and so shall it be”, he still left everyone hanging when he somewhat abruptly ended his short speech by saying when he dies, eventually, he would like his tombstone to have the words: “Others made suggestions and he implemented”.
Afterwards journalists asked each other about the meaning of what he had just said. No one had an answer. As for the race, it’s still very much on—for better or worse.

Tag: National Prosecuting Authority

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Burying the hatchet for a brighter future

The Pain Of The Blade Runner

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