SOUTH AFRICA
Against the backdrop of the Cabinet security cluster of police, state security and defence not having met for two years, and 250 vacancies in the Hawks, the elite investigating directorate, Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted they had “dropped the ball”. After too many years of neglect, and sometimes plain sabotage, the chickens are coming home to roost. dailymaverick.co.za/
According to the national conventional arms control committee, which oversees SA’s arms exports, SA sold more than R3bn worth of arms and ammunition, armoured vehicles and surveillance and military technology to the coalition’s most actively warring members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in 2016 and 2017. At what point will the NCACC say “enough” and stop arming countries committing war crimes in Yemen? pressreader.com/ (Sunday Times)
Families of the workers who were killed in the explosion at the Rheinmetall Denel Munition plant near Somerset West earlier this week could not hold back their tears during a memorial service held at the Anglican Church in Macassar. The eldest of the eight workers who were killed was 51-year old Steve Isaac and the youngest, 18-year-old Bradley Tandy. wwmp.org.za/elitsha/
Last week the country witnessed two workplace disasters, one in Cape Town and the other in Johannesburg that saw the horrific deaths of eleven workers. Eight workers died in the explosion at the Rheinmetall Denel arms factory in Somerset West and three firefighters lost their lives battling the blaze engulfing the building that housed the Gauteng Department of Health in Johannesburg. In this week’s Workers on Wednesday, we unpack why this happened, whether it could have been prevented and whether workers’ lives are taken seriously in South Africa. wwmp.org.za/
The court found against an abusive company called Duncanmec which unfairly dismissed nine NUMSA members for singing a struggle song during a strike in April 2013. The song was “uMama uyajabula mangishaya ibhunu” – which means my mother rejoices when I beat the Boer. numsa.org.za/
The leader of the EFF has vowed that his supporters will increasingly seize unoccupied land to put pressure on the government to redistribute land to black people. “We are going to share the land, but it must first be owned by the state and reallocated back to all of us — black and white,” he moderated. dailymaverick.co.za/
The South African Civil Servants Union, operating within the government departments in South Africa, is disturbed by the arrogance of the government officials within the Department of Social Development. SACSU is pleading to anybody who cares to listen, that our country needs plenty of social workers as we’re having plenty of society which is hurt and angry. polity.org.za/
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) is preparing to license high-demand radio frequency spectrum. Network operators have said for years that the lack of spectrum is hindering their ability to roll out services and to reduce the cost to communicate. businesslive.co.za/
Did President Ramaphosa have permission from the Masekela estate to use the lyrics of Thuma Mina (Send Me) or did he violate Bra Hugh’s copyright? It is an example worth considering because a number of advocates for a more liberal copyright regime in South Africa, based on the principle of “fair use”, have suggested that the country’s 40-year-old copyright law is so rigid that even our president could have fallen foul of it. city-press.news24.com/
As required by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights the South African government submitted its initial report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in April 2017. A coalition of civil society organisations submitted a parallel report to the same United Nations Committee. Download the full parallel report here. |
