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African press review 3 October 2012

SA's main union grouping thinks mine bosses are being too generous.  Ratings agencies are worried about the rise in unemployment. Are four Kenyans being prosecuted for the sins of 40 million? Why have Ugandan cops got their eye on Besigye?

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"Cosatu blames mine bosses for giving in to workers’ demands." That's the main headline on the national news pages of the Johannesburg-based financial paper, BusinessDay, and it may strike some readers as ironic.

Mine bosses are to blame for the surge in the number of unofficial strikes in South African platinum, gold and coal mines in three provinces, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its biggest affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said on Tuesday.

The NUM is to meet officials of the Chamber of Mines later today to discuss the strikes in the gold and coal sectors.

Yesterday Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the root of the problem was a "miscalculation" and a "grave error" on the part of the platinum company Impala to hand one category of workers an 18 per cent increase outside of normal bargaining process.

Lonmin, which recently agreed to give rock drill operators a 22 per cent wage hike, following another unofficial stoppage, had made the problem worse.

But the union federation boss went on to accept that the main source of the upheaval is the "pathetic pay" which mineworkers receive. That must surely be the responsibility of the trade unions, whose collective bargaining agreements seem to have simply not served the workers.

In a separate story, BusinessDay reports that there has been a sharp rise in the number of temporary employment services and labour brokers in South Africa, this according to the World Bank's latest development report.

Cosatu is attempting to ban labour broking whereby individuals agree to supply workers for short-term contracts, leaving the workers without security, benefits or, in many cases, adequate pay.

The same report says youth unemployment has been above 40 per cent in South Africa since early 2008.

The credit ratings agencies Moody’s‚ Fitch and Standard & Poor’s have all recently changed their outlooks on South African government debt from stable to negative‚ in part due to concern that the weight of social welfare payments to the unemployed will destabilise the entire economy.

According to The Standard in Kenya, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi has touched off a fresh controversy over the Kenyan situation before the International Criminal Court.

The Standard says Mudavadi's statement that the four Kenyans due to stand trial at the ICC for their alleged roles in the 2008 post-election violence should be tried before local courts looks like an attempt to win favour with the four accused. In case anyone has forgotten, the four are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, the former head of the Kenyan civil service Francis Muthaura and radio journalist Joshua Sang.

"We must accept responsibility collectively," says Mudavadi. "The nation is guilty. To prosecute four people for the sins of 40 million people is therefore preposterous. The four carry our national shame, but they must not carry our national guilt. We must all own up. And we must do this before we enter the 2013 electoral season."

A separate story in The Standard gives one of the accused, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, victory in a presidential run-off against incumbent Raila Odinga according to the latest opinion polls.

In Uganda, opposition Forum for Democratic Change party president Kizza Besigye is back in the news. And he'd be well advised to watch his step.

A headline in today's government-run New Vision reads "Besigye working with thugs to cause chaos", and that's a quote from Kampala's metropolitan police commander.

The police officer told journalists yesterday that "all necessary force will be used to fight armed thugs who may want to disrupt peace this week as the country prepares to celebrate the golden jubilee.

He also said that some armed thugs were working with the Forum for Democratic Change party leader to cause mayhem during riots.

"Besigye is desperate and is working with armed thugs to cause bloodshed during riots and taint the image of the government,” the Kampala police chief added.

However, Besigye has angrily refuted allegations linking him to such armed groups.

"Of course, it's not true, but, it's understandable that the police and government in general have been desperately trying to associate me and our struggle with violence," said the opposition leader.

Besigye insists that the walk to freedom demonstrations will continue.

He described Kasagati cell where he was held on Monday as being in a despicable state, without any ventilation and lighting.

He further described the cell as eight by 10 feet in size saying he shared it with 20 other inmates.

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