COSATU Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish

Deputy Minister who assaulted women is not getting special treatment, say SA authorities

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 22:00:00 +0000

Anti abuse activists say a Deputy Minister who admitted to beating two women at a Johannesburg nightclub last weekend should be kept behind bars.

The Deputy Minister was released on bail of 317 euros after appearing in a the Randburg Magistrates Court near Johannesburg yesterday (Thursday) where he was charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.

A third woman claim she was assaulted by him a month ago in Ermelo, 210 kilometers east of Johannesburg

Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mdaduzi Manana was filmed assaulting Mandisa Duma at a Johannesburg nightclub last weekend after a political argument.

Manana has apologized unreservedly for what he calls a shameful incident.

He allegedly also assaulted Duma’s cousin, who called him gay.

The leader of South Africa’s upper house, the National Council of Provinces, Thandi Modise says she disgusted in Manana.

Freda Oosthuysen, of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is one of the parties in South Africa’s ruling triple alliance, says Manana is a disgrace.

The deputy minister handed himself in to police hours before his court appearance.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority says Manana will receive no special treatment.

Nevertheless Police Minister Fikile Mbalula is lambasted on social media for not having Manana arrested earlier and held in custody before his appearance.

The pressure group Women Against Abuse is calling for harsher penalties for those guilty of crimes against women

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Zuma sacks Pravin Gordhan in Cabinet reshuffle

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 22:00:00 +0000

President Jacob Zuma’s sacked South Africa’s highly respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a late- night Cabinet reshuffle that threatens to split the country’s ruling alliance.

He’s given control of the purse strings to former Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba.

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The value of South Africa’s currency, the rand, tumbled more than three percent, after President Jacob Zuma wielded the axe against Finance Minister Pravin Gordan and nine of his colleagues.

Ten deputy ministers were also sacked.

The include Mcebisi Jonas who turned down a multi-million rand bribe from the Gupta family to do their bidding.

The Guptas were found by then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to be implicated in an operation to capture Zuma’s government.

Zuma has overridden severe opposition to the reshuffle from the leadership of the ruling African National Congress and its alliance partners the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions when he gave them notice of his intention.

They maintain Gordan was doing a sterling job controlling government spending and fighting corruption.

Deputy Secretary General of the SACP Solly Mapaile told a press conference yesterday that his five comrades serving in the Zuma Cabinet may quit

The opposition Democratic Alliance has introduced a parliamentary motion of no confidance in Zuma.

The hard left Economic Freedom Fighters has initiated action in the Constitutional Court to get Zuma impeached.

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Unions defiance campaign against toll roads

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:00:00 +0000

South Africa’s trade union umbrella has launched a defiance campaign against the tolling of upgraded roads in the country’s heartland province of Gauteng.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is urging motorists not to pay for using the roads and to burn any bills they get sent by the company collecting the tolls.

Gauteng provincial secretary of COSATU Dumisani Dakile says they’ll be ceremonially burning toll bills in front of the offices of the South Africa National Roads Agency Limited.

He calls on the public to bring their bills to collectively torched as part of the defiance campaign.

It’s reminiscent of the apartheid era when liberation movements urged black South Africans to burn the identity documents they were required by law to carry at all times.

Opponents of the toll roads say they accept the user pays principle when it’s applied to newly-built motorways.

But they’re refusing to be charged for using existing roads that have been upgraded.

The defiance campaign has been ratcheted up new provincial premier David Makhura establishing a review panel to probe the impact of the system in the province.

COSATU says the panel should be given time and space to do its job.

Meanwhile there should be no prosecution for those refusing to pay tolls.

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