South Africa P.I.G.: NUMSA

Uproar over new Zapiro cartoon

The latest Zapiro cartoon in the Mail & Guardian has incensed the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), who blasted it as "distasteful" and "deplorable". The cartoon depicts President Jacob Zuma undoing his pants as Eugene De Kock and Schabir Shaik hold down lady justice. The infamous showerhead sketched above Zuma's head is etched closer to the president's head. A speech bubble has Zuma saying: "Begging your pardon." The cartoon relates to applications for a presidential pardon from both De Kock and Shaik. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427009270764924562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jE3_AqWfJjiQM0xqT8wVry2AndgHsS4yAQVBHluO4pOulzX-Kl6kZ3Iboni3uRZDNZt0rc4VuDhpMI-J3ASAqQoUTRGaq0M1OpCPhYHeWZl1b4ggQLg6MKGUj5KIUl1kfdFFVlfaeeHO/s400/zumaxzapiro.gif" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />Numsa said the caricature "implants in the minds of the public" that Zuma is a rapist despite being cleared of rape charges by a court of law. "This venomous and personal hatred of President Zuma camouflaged as an artistic skill by Zapiro is a sign of disrespect not only to President Zuma, but to the office and the position he occupies in society as the fourth democratically elected head of state," the union said in a statement. "Whilst we respect and uphold the Constitution and freedom of expression, it does not give cartoonists licence to undermine the fundamental rights to dignity as guaranteed in the Constitution." It also described the cartoon as "reckless" through depicting a woman about to be raped in a country wracked by violence and abuse against women. Numsa demanded that the newspaper and Zapiro apologise to Zuma and that the South African Human Rights Commission take action against the cartoonist.

Uproar over new Zapiro cartoon

The latest Zapiro cartoon in the Mail & Guardian has incensed the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), who blasted it...

8:41 AM

Declare your loyalty, Mbeki told

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlszsFedSrtNqMmOzYQWYsNrTeI3wNZsBQh88ultB7_jOz-BKwF_3cHeGG700l4dEWyAqm2uwRcdfyWR_SptqVsgFRTo7R7jy_SmKBU9xclV1LNHTQt1Qr-g0_ZLAoxwBkXTBIR-8YlM/s1600-h/Politics02.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268355329855973442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlszsFedSrtNqMmOzYQWYsNrTeI3wNZsBQh88ultB7_jOz-BKwF_3cHeGG700l4dEWyAqm2uwRcdfyWR_SptqVsgFRTo7R7jy_SmKBU9xclV1LNHTQt1Qr-g0_ZLAoxwBkXTBIR-8YlM/s400/Politics02.gif" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a> Former president Thabo Mbeki has been challenged to say whether he backs the ANC or its breakaway, the Congress of the People. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA said on Wednesday that Mbeki must defend the ANC in next year's election. It also urged former president Nelson Mandela to give public support for the party. Trade union federation Cosatu backed the union's call. Union General-Secretary Irvin Jim said while the union respected Mbeki for his leadership of the ANC, he was being "wishy-washy" about where he stood when it came to the Congress of the People, which will be launched next month by former defence minister and ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota, former deputy defence minister Mluleki George and former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa. "We respect comrade Thabo Mbeki, but what worries us is that we cannot tell where this stalwart of our movement stands on what is happening," said Jim. "Thabo Mbeki should be the last line of defence for the ANC. He is the library of the ANC and we expect him to defend the ANC when it is under attack. We don't want to disrespect him, but we cannot keep quiet any longer." The union was one of only a few that backed Mbeki before the ANC's Polokwane conference, where he lost the leadership of the party to Jacob Zuma. Jim derided the new party and its leaders as "capitalists" who did not represent the interests of the poor and the working class. The union represents more than 260 000 workers. It has said it does not expect Mandela to campaign actively for the ANC in the run-up to the elections, owing to his advanced age, but it does want to ask him to urge the public to vote ANC. Cosatu General-Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said while he supported Numsa's stance he did not think that Mbeki would "reveal" anything before the election.

Declare your loyalty, Mbeki told

Former president Thabo Mbeki has been challenged to say whether he backs the ANC or its breakaway, the Congress of the People. The National ...

9:42 AM

Toe the line or join the Shikotas, Manuel told

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nzRg8GhORjsU6IUwOY76x9NgSkap1bGzg6GWRI7j2oC-4rdXA8yAramrGWlZfGRm5Yy_kbnmECo97uCzEpgmTAWI8enPlOjJWR-uFtjoSaANjJarQ9C6O5LHrd_KZ75q8e7ATaYGMWk/s1600-h/manuel_trevor.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268361130766195074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1nzRg8GhORjsU6IUwOY76x9NgSkap1bGzg6GWRI7j2oC-4rdXA8yAramrGWlZfGRm5Yy_kbnmECo97uCzEpgmTAWI8enPlOjJWR-uFtjoSaANjJarQ9C6O5LHrd_KZ75q8e7ATaYGMWk/s400/manuel_trevor.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 229px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 326px" /></a>The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) say finance minister, Trevor Manuel, and Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni, must toe the line on economic policy or ship out of the ANC. This was the call from Numsa's General-Secretary, Irvin Jim, at a press briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday where the union labelled Manuel and Mboweni as the main people behind "narrow" economic policies they blame for keeping people trapped in poverty. "I respect Trevor (Manuel) as a member of the ANC and that he still has a contribution to make with his experience. But the time to pursue neo-liberal macroeconomic policies is over. "Those individuals who still want to pursue that particular agenda should join the Shikotas," said Jim. The Numsa official said the union wanted the interests of the people to count more, rather than those of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or Davos. "We can still be part of those institutions, but we need to hegemonise the interests of the people first. The time has come to put on the agenda the genuine aspirations of our people. We must be firm on that in these elections," said Jim. He took great "exception" to recent comments by Manuel when that any talk of a shift to the Left after the 2009 elections would be "tantamount" to abusing workers and poor people, as this would give them the false hope that the government could create jobs. "We find Trevor Manuel's thinking extremely strange, especially in the light of what the United States, the European and Asian governments have done to bail out capitalists. "At a global level, we find it impossible to understand why Manuel thinks similar actions cannot be taken to bail out billions of workers and poor people, who need a very small fraction of the huge amounts of money the governments of capitalist countries are making available to already rich people to continue to make money. "Why does Trevor think it is morally and economically right to throw massive sums of money to save banks from collapsing, but it is impossible and foolish to spend less money to create real wealth and real jobs for the unemployed workers and poor?" Jim asked. He said Numsa questioned why Manuel continued to be "fanatical" about a capitalist system abandoned by its inventors. "South Africa is an abnormal country in which millions starve every day, not because there is no wealth and the possibility to employ everyone, but because people like Trevor Manuel continue to preach and practise a failed capitalist ideology," said Jim. Cosatu General-Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, agreed, saying people should stop putting pressure on ANC president Jacob Zuma about whether there would be any shifts in policy after the elections. "Economic policies shifted at Polokwane and all loyal members will have to implement those policies and that includes the finance minister," said Vavi. He made it clear that Cosatu was targeting the country's retirement funds to subsidise social investment projects and that the policy of inflation targeting - which Manuel has described as a necessary anchor for an economy in rough seas - would also be reviewed. Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson Kobus Marais on Wednesday warned that the ANC and its alliance partners should not toy with the country's prudent economic policies - especially after the country's credit outlook was downgraded from "stable" to "negative" by international ratings agency, Fitch.

Toe the line or join the Shikotas, Manuel told

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) say finance minister, Trevor Manuel...

9:25 AM

South Africa P.I.G.

Uproar over new Zapiro cartoon

Declare your loyalty, Mbeki told

Toe the line or join the Shikotas, Manuel told

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