Talk of sanctions over stance on Russia reckless: presidency:
Suggestions that South Africa risks international sanctions over its stance towards Russia are reckless, presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said on Monday.
“We find this talk of sanctions as being purely alarmist and we find it to be quite undermining to South Africa’s sovereignty,and to the stability of our economy,” he told a routine weekly media briefing.
“There is no evidence whatsoever to point to any emergence of sanctions from any country or even from the United Nations Security Council which is the only authority to institute global sanctions.”
Magwenya said Washington had not voiced a threat of sanctions in direct talks with South Africa.
“We’ve had as a government several bilateral discussions with the US government and there has been no suggestion that the US will consider applying sanctions to South Africa, so it is difficult to respond to a question that says we are afraid of sanctions because we don’t have a line of sight as to exactly where those sanctions would be coming from, what will inform those sanctions and what will be the purpose those sanctions will serve.”
Magwenya reiterated that South Africa has taken a non-aligned position on the war in Ukraine.
“South Africa has not participated in arming any of the parties that are involved in that conflict. On the contrary, South Africa has taken it upon itself to mobilise support, to mobilise engagement that will result in a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”
He said Pretoria has repeatedly called for peace and for negotiations.
“President Ramaphosa has consistently stated that there is no conflict that will end with a winner or a loser, particularly this one.”
Hence, he stressed, the government found speculation regarding sanctions “rather reckless” and harmful to efforts to rebuild the local economy facing “massive strain”.
Opposition parties and analysts have cautioned that South Africa could face an international backlash if it were to flout a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), or if it emerged that arms were loaded onto a Russian vessel that docked in Simon’s Town in December.
An inter-ministerial task team has advised the president and cabinet that South Africa can, as a signatory to the Rome Statute, not escape the obligation to arrest Putin if he were to set foot on South African soil to attend the Brics summit in Johannesburg in August.
It recommended that the government waste no time in exploring the possibility of another country hosting the summit as there was no loophole that could allow South Africa to circumvent the warrant.
It has been reported that Pretoria has decided to ask China to consider standing in as host since it is not a member of the ICC.
Magwenya confirmed that Ramaphosa spoke to his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping on Friday but would not be drawn on whether this included discussion on relocating the Brics summit.
Nor would he comment on discussions Deputy President Paul Mashatile has reportedly had with the ICC, and whether these may have involved waiving South Africa’s obligations under the Rome Statute to allow Putin to travel to South Africa for eventual peace talks on the Ukraine, as mooted by the minister in the presidency last week.
Magwenya said he had not been briefed in this regard by either Ramaphosa or Mashatile.
“I cannot respond on any hypothetical question,” he said.
“What I can give you as an assurance, which the president has done, is that first and foremost the executive is responsible for the management and the execution of our foreign policy and does so within the prescripts or our constitution and with full adherence to our laws.
“At no point in time will the president and his administration lead a process that will in any form be in violation of our laws.”
He said Ramaphosa’s call to Xi focused on the peace mission of African heads of state to Ukraine.
“You will recall that China has produced a peace plan with respect to the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. The president is in support of all initiatives that are aimed at a peaceful resolution of that conflict, including the Chinese initiatives.”
They also spoke about the Brics summit, he said, and both confirmed their commitment to its success, he added.
The African peace mission — which includes South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Zambia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo — was announced by Ramaphosa shortly after an accusation by US ambassador to Pretoria that arms were loaded onto the Lady R triggered a diplomatic storm.
In response, Ramaphosa appointed a panel headed by retired justice Phineas Mojapelo to investigate the ship’s sojourn in Simon’s Town and the veracity of the allegations.
However, the presidency has declined to publish the terms of reference of the inquiry, saying these and its eventual findings will remain classified. He confirmed to the Mail & Guardian that there is no provision for the findings to be disclosed to any parliamentary structure.
Magwenya said on Monday that the panel had begun its work. It has six weeks to complete the probe, though it can ask for an extension, and a further two weeks to finalise the report and submit it to the president.
He invited anybody with “any information that will assist its investigation” to send written submissions to the panel at LadyRsubmissions@presidency.gov.za.
Groovlei residents demand jobs, threaten to stop transition:
Community members living around Eskom’s Grootvlei power plant are threatening protest action against the utility for excluding them from job opportunities at the plant.
Residents have accused the utility of hiring external service providers and neglecting equally qualified companies in the community.
Threats to protest follow a meeting with Eskom management in Grootvlei last week where residents and job seekers complained about being excluded from contracts and job opportunities at the power station.
In their meeting, residents proposed that the utility include them in choosing projects for contracting and that big companies contracted by the utility should be available to mentor and help small companies to grow, thereby addressing unemployment in the community.
“We requested that a list of companies in the area must be created for tender allocation,” read the documents presented at the meeting. Community members are arguing that they should be involved in any big projects and jobs that come to the power station.
“We raised that each company that is chosen must be groomed by the big companies inside the power station. Failure to do this will result in a strike action and the transition will not happen without us,” they said.
In response, Eskom Grootvlei management said it will review the information presented and provide feedback on 18 June.
Grootvlei, near the town of Balfour, was constructed in the 1960s and mothballed in 1990 because of excess power at the time. In 2013, former president Jacob Zuma reopened it after a R7.2?billion upgrade. Grootvlei is set to reach the end of its operational life in 2027. It is also earmarked for transition to renewable energy after being identified as a potential training facility on energy. Discussions on this proposition are underway.
People in the area also told the Mail & Guardian that they are concerned and have a sense of unease about whether the power station would close or not.
In March, electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa called for a life extension of Eskom coal plants. While approved by the government, the Presidential Climate Commission, which is tasked with overseeing the transition, has argued against it.
In its report in May, the climate commission said the use of coal would be expensive to maintain in the future as they would lose investment opportunities.
Getting rid of coal and the use of fossil fuels is in line with the world climate goals towards a cleaner future. But people in Grootvlei are unsure of what this means for them.
Another Komati
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, residents argued that if they kept quiet, they feared that Grootvlei would end up like Komati power station where people and contractors have not been absorbed into the transition and were left behind without work and a future.
“We have decided that it is better to fight now, to force the utility to see us now, and recognise that we need the work, and that our children deserve work. They cannot outsource companies from outside and leave us idle here to suffer.”
The community cannot die because Eskom is changing. If it is changing they must take us along with them,” said one of the participants at the meeting.
The country’s energy planning is within the mandate of the department of mineral resources and energy and its integrated resource plan 2019, which sets out the electricity plan until 2030, including the closure of existing power stations, Eskom said.
Anxiety
Members of Power, a town situated next to the Grootvlei power station, are anxious about what the future holds for them after hearing rumours regarding the future of the plant.
Sitting outside the station, a group of men seeking jobs say that the only thing they know about the transition is based on what they hear on the news as there has been no official consultations on the matter.
“We just hear rumours of the station closing down but then suddenly we are told that there is no such plan but that the power station is operating at 80%. So you can imagine the position we are in of not knowing where we stand. Are there jobs or are there no jobs?”
They said until there is official communication regarding the future of the station and their jobs, they will continue to sit outside the station with the hope that one day someone will call them in when there is a job opportunity.
One of the job seekers said that the town does not benefit from the power station as most people who work there are either from neighbouring towns or another province.
“We do not know any of the people who work at that power station, but by engaging with them we learnt that they are from places like Witbank and Secunda. Some come from as far as North West and Johannesburg. This tells you that there is something wrong with the system — it is against people from Grootvlei who are supposed to be getting first preference,” he said.
Without consultation from Eskom or the PCC, they are all in the dark, he said.
Knock-on effect
Lebohang Khumalo, a teacher at a local pre-school said that the majority of the children at the school’s parents work at the power station. She fears that should the power station shut down and the parents lose their jobs, it meant that she would also lose hers.
“We rely on them to keep the school afloat. Without their support we will have to shut down and I will have to uproot and move elsewhere which is not what I want because I love these children and I love my town,” said Khumalo.
Khumalo added that things will be very difficult for her and her family should things pan out that way.
Joe Vincent, who owns a lodge called Olive Grove which is eight minutes away from the power station, said that he is worried about his staff and the establishment.
He added that he saw the cracks quite early but still keeps the establishment running as he too has not been informed as to what will happen to the station.
“We used to be very busy. There would be contractors setting camp at the lodge for long periods at a time and that stopped. Every now and then we will have people come but that rarely happens” he said.
He said that he will do all he can to help his employees, adding that he has established a few businesses in the area.
“I will not abandon the area. It will always be a place for my children and colleagues or families to come for a holiday. I can’t just leave as this is the result of years of hard work. But if I am not able to make a living from it, at least my family will enjoy it” Vincent said.
Speaking during the Presidential Climate Commission‘s quarterly meeting on Friday, Mantashe said “just” wasn’t being applied at Komati.
“In terms of the number of jobs destroyed and the number of jobs created, the megawatts destroyed and those created. In all aspects, it is not a just energy transition. It is an energy transition,” he said.
At Grootvlei, the reskilling and retraining of workers on renewable energy has not started. Eskom has secured a R180?million grant from German development bank KfW to establish a renewable energy training facility at Grootvlei and “discussions are underway”.
Mandisa Nyathi and Lesego Chepape are climate reporting fellows, funded by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.
Former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule has been expelled by the governing party after failing to meet the deadline to make representations why the national disciplinary committee (NDC) should not confirm the sanction.
The decision comes days after the announcement by the special investigating unit (SIU) of a probe into the bursary programme run by Magashule’s office during his tenure as Free State premier.
On Monday the ANC issued a statement that the NDC, chaired by Reverend Frank Chikane, had “confirmed the expulsion of comrade Ace Magashule from the ANC”.
According to the statement, Magashule had been given seven days to make representations why the NDC should not expel him over its finding that he had violated several sections of the ANC constitution.
Magashule had been “allowed to show cause why he should not be expelled from the ANC” but “upon the lapse of seven days, the NDC had not received any representations to that effect”.
Magashule, a close ally of former president Jacob Zuma and a leader of the so-called radical economic transformation (RET) faction in the ruling party, was elected as secretary general at its December 2017 elective conference.
He narrowly beat Senzo Mchunu to the position, leading the fightback against President Cyril Ramaphosa after the conference and rallying the RET forces inside the ANC national executive committee with the promise of a leadership change within five years.
However, Magashule was arrested in November 2020 over the Free State asbestos scandal — a case in which he is currently out on bail — and was subsequently suspended by the ANC in March 2021.
The suspension came after Magashule refused to abide by the ANC’s step-aside rule and temporarily vacate his party position until the completion of his trial and instead issued a suspension letter against Ramaphosa.
The suspension prevented Magashule from contesting the ANC conference in December, with the guilty verdict by the NDC being handed down last month.
Speculation has been rife in recent months that Magashule might launch his own party to contest elections in the Free State, should the ANC follow through with his expulsion.
Magashule had not responded to calls from the Mail & Guardian by the time of writing on Monday.
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