News / National
Malema and company considers ANC's friends and foes
28 Apr 2011 at 22:29hrs | Views
The upcoming centenary of the ANC next year has focused all arms of the party, including the fiery ANC Youth League (ANCYL) led by Julius Malema, on just who constitutes its friends and its enemies.
In a document carefully marked "for internal" discussion purposes only and "not for quotation and distribution", the ANCYL lays in to the "unipolar" world led by the US and the West – which it admits is becoming a little more multi-polar with the emergence of China and the Asian tigers – and "global capitalism". It argues that this latter system merely extracted resources from Africa and then made money for capitalists abroad through foreign beneficiation.
While urging nationalisation at home and African – read black – prescribed shareholdings in foreign direct investment in African countries, it finds no difficulty in embracing President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF youth league next door.
While purporting to praise the global political agreement – which forged a shaky unity government between Zanu-PF and the MDC, which was robbed of outright power as a result of it – it also praises the near 8 percent growth "in the past year". Mention is not made that this is a direct consequence of the MDC's Finance Minister Tendai Biti who abolished the Zimbabwean dollar in favour of the US dollar, the South African rand and the British pound.
Zimbabwe remained "an inspiration to the youth of South Africa and beyond" and consequently, it argued, the ANCYL would continue to maintain relations with Zanu-PF's youth league. It was its "historic ally", which had emerged through unity among the authentic liberators of the people of Zimbabwe.
It rounds off its argument that since the league believed the biggest losers in the current "sanctioned environment" were the people of Zimbabwe, the league "calls for an immediate end to economic sanctions".
It proves the old saying: what is good for the goose, is good also for propaganda.
Mineral resources
THE Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), which launched a new e-filing system for investors wanting to access prospecting rights, has its work cut out to get the system functional.
The online system – the new South African Mineral Regulation Administration (Samrad), which was launched two weeks back, will enable investors to apply for prospecting rights and mining permits electronically. There will be limited physical contact in the new application system, which will eliminate errors such as the duplication of the awarding of rights.
On the day of the launch, DMR spokeswoman Zingaphi Jakuja said just about 300 people had registered and visits to the site had soared above 12 000.
However, local businessmen had complained that the new system was not working. The owner of a small mining company who had been trying to apply online, said that the new e-system had continuously kicked him out.
DMR head of communications Bheki Khumalo acknowledged that there might have been one or two cases where there were problems, and that the department would investigate these cases.
It seems that the new system is overwhelmed with the number of people trying to access rights. When Business Report tried to access the Samrad web page on the DMR website on Tuesday, there was a system error. Unfortunately there was no answer from the operator of the Samrad help line. With the introduction of new systems teething problems are inevitable, but the DMR postponed the launch for two weeks so that it could test the system.
The DMR has been under the spotlight recently for flaws in its administration of prospecting rights. A six-month moratorium was placed on applications for prospecting rights by mining companies in September, which was lifted last Monday in all provinces except Mpumalanga.
Repo rate
One thing we know for sure is that, when the Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) wraps up its scheduled meeting in two weeks time, it will announce no change to its repo rate. No change is also widely expected to come out of the following meeting in July.
But thereafter the crystal ball gets a little murky. Standard Bank's research department has noted "the market remains somewhat confused about the bank's next move". In a research note, it says forward rates show an expectation that the first hike, of a half percentage point, will come in September and that by the end of next year there will have been a cumulative increase of 2.5 percentage points.
In contrast to the market, "most economists believe a mild tightening cycle is more likely to start later, in November or January next year", Standard Bank says. Its own call is that the first move will come in January next year and be followed by three further hikes.
However, Jean Francois Mercier, an economist at Citi South Africa sees an earlier move. He forecasts two hikes of a half percentage point each this year (in September and November) and three half percentage point moves next year.
And JP Morgan Chase has brought forward its projected timing of a first rate hike (of a half percentage point) to September from November.
Standard Bank notes there is a wide gap "between when many economists think monetary policy normalisation should start (September, or even July) and when they believe it actually will be initiated (November or January next year)".
The problem is that there is "conflicting evidence of both the need for tighter monetary policy and (the) ability of the real economy to withstand higher borrowing rates".
The bank's repo rate was cut from a peak of 12 percent in December 2008 to 5.5 percent in November last year – the lowest rate for 30 years.
In a document carefully marked "for internal" discussion purposes only and "not for quotation and distribution", the ANCYL lays in to the "unipolar" world led by the US and the West – which it admits is becoming a little more multi-polar with the emergence of China and the Asian tigers – and "global capitalism". It argues that this latter system merely extracted resources from Africa and then made money for capitalists abroad through foreign beneficiation.
While urging nationalisation at home and African – read black – prescribed shareholdings in foreign direct investment in African countries, it finds no difficulty in embracing President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF youth league next door.
While purporting to praise the global political agreement – which forged a shaky unity government between Zanu-PF and the MDC, which was robbed of outright power as a result of it – it also praises the near 8 percent growth "in the past year". Mention is not made that this is a direct consequence of the MDC's Finance Minister Tendai Biti who abolished the Zimbabwean dollar in favour of the US dollar, the South African rand and the British pound.
Zimbabwe remained "an inspiration to the youth of South Africa and beyond" and consequently, it argued, the ANCYL would continue to maintain relations with Zanu-PF's youth league. It was its "historic ally", which had emerged through unity among the authentic liberators of the people of Zimbabwe.
It rounds off its argument that since the league believed the biggest losers in the current "sanctioned environment" were the people of Zimbabwe, the league "calls for an immediate end to economic sanctions".
It proves the old saying: what is good for the goose, is good also for propaganda.
Mineral resources
THE Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), which launched a new e-filing system for investors wanting to access prospecting rights, has its work cut out to get the system functional.
The online system – the new South African Mineral Regulation Administration (Samrad), which was launched two weeks back, will enable investors to apply for prospecting rights and mining permits electronically. There will be limited physical contact in the new application system, which will eliminate errors such as the duplication of the awarding of rights.
On the day of the launch, DMR spokeswoman Zingaphi Jakuja said just about 300 people had registered and visits to the site had soared above 12 000.
However, local businessmen had complained that the new system was not working. The owner of a small mining company who had been trying to apply online, said that the new e-system had continuously kicked him out.
DMR head of communications Bheki Khumalo acknowledged that there might have been one or two cases where there were problems, and that the department would investigate these cases.
It seems that the new system is overwhelmed with the number of people trying to access rights. When Business Report tried to access the Samrad web page on the DMR website on Tuesday, there was a system error. Unfortunately there was no answer from the operator of the Samrad help line. With the introduction of new systems teething problems are inevitable, but the DMR postponed the launch for two weeks so that it could test the system.
The DMR has been under the spotlight recently for flaws in its administration of prospecting rights. A six-month moratorium was placed on applications for prospecting rights by mining companies in September, which was lifted last Monday in all provinces except Mpumalanga.
Repo rate
One thing we know for sure is that, when the Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) wraps up its scheduled meeting in two weeks time, it will announce no change to its repo rate. No change is also widely expected to come out of the following meeting in July.
But thereafter the crystal ball gets a little murky. Standard Bank's research department has noted "the market remains somewhat confused about the bank's next move". In a research note, it says forward rates show an expectation that the first hike, of a half percentage point, will come in September and that by the end of next year there will have been a cumulative increase of 2.5 percentage points.
In contrast to the market, "most economists believe a mild tightening cycle is more likely to start later, in November or January next year", Standard Bank says. Its own call is that the first move will come in January next year and be followed by three further hikes.
However, Jean Francois Mercier, an economist at Citi South Africa sees an earlier move. He forecasts two hikes of a half percentage point each this year (in September and November) and three half percentage point moves next year.
And JP Morgan Chase has brought forward its projected timing of a first rate hike (of a half percentage point) to September from November.
Standard Bank notes there is a wide gap "between when many economists think monetary policy normalisation should start (September, or even July) and when they believe it actually will be initiated (November or January next year)".
The problem is that there is "conflicting evidence of both the need for tighter monetary policy and (the) ability of the real economy to withstand higher borrowing rates".
The bank's repo rate was cut from a peak of 12 percent in December 2008 to 5.5 percent in November last year – the lowest rate for 30 years.
Source - Sapa
