Fears of more school disruptions in Limpopo

Threats of another shutdown in Vuwani as matric exams near

By Sune Payne
12 October 2017

The visitors’ entrance to the Parliament of South Africa. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks

A top-level Committee meeting at Parliament on Tuesday heard that another shutdown could happen soon again in the volatile region of Vuwani, Limpopo.

Members raised concerns about the implications for learners, especially matriculants who are nearing the start of their final examinations. Vuwani has 1,579 matriculants. Matric learners have fewer than 20 days until the start of final examinations.

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education had called a joint meeting with the Departments of Basic Education, Safety and Security, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and Intelligence to discuss a status report on protests in Vuwani

Sporadic protests have been ongoing since 2016 when residents shut down the area and held protests against plans to incorporate Vuwani into the Lim345 municipality. Protesters have made it clear that they wish to remain part of the Makhado municipality.

Minister for Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, said protests in Vuwani were about municipal demarcation and had nothing to do with education. But because of the implications for learners, the Department would do its best to accommodate learners who have missed school due to the unrest, she said.

Also at the meeting was COGTA Minister Des van Rooyen, who serves as Chairperson of the joint Inter Ministerial Task team on the Vuwani unrest set up by President Jacob Zuma.

Van Rooyen agreed that the root cause of the ongoing Vuwani protests is demarcation and that the Demarcation Act of 1998 needs to be reviewed.

However, the Committee’s immediate concern was the effect that further violence would have on schooling, which has been disrupted repeatedly by community protests. Shortly before last year’s matriculation exams, a number of schools in the area were torched.

Beauty Mutheiwana, head of the Limpopo Department of Education, said plans were in place for learners to make up the time they had missed following the latest protests.

Matric learners have already missed 19 days of trial examinations, but the province had a plan to make them up and complete trial examinations between 9 and 20 October, said Mutheiwana.
The DA’s Ian Ollis questioned how learners would be able to prepare for their final exams if the trial exams ended on the 20th, and final examinations are due to start on the 24th.

Mutheiwana told the committee that a Spring School had been held for affected Vuwani learners and there will be Saturday schools throughout October.

Department of Basic Education Director General Mathanzima Mweli told the committee, “It is a bit difficult, but that is the situation we find ourselves in.”

Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi, the head of Public Order Policing (POP), told the committee that “deploying national police, especially for examinations” would be looked into.

He responded to MPs concerns about safety by confirming that the local police and POP officials are monitoring the situation. In its presentation, the police (SAPS) confirmed that four suspects were arrested during the shutdown this year. SAPS conceded that if a solution was not found to address the demarcation issue in Vuwani, the threat remained of further teaching and learning disruptions which would affect final examinations.

Although there were no incidents of schools being burnt during the most recent Vuwani protests in September, MPs recalled that 29 schools were burnt during last year’s unrest and wanted to know what SAPS was doing to ensure this did not reoccur.

The Committee also considered the report and recommendations of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which conducted its own investigation. Motshekga agreed to implement its findings where possible.

Produced for GroundUp by Notes from the House.

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Published originally on GroundUp .

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Freak storm in Gauteng leaves residents without electricity, water and toilets

I am just glad to be alive, says 70-year-old

By Ihsaan Haffejee
11 October 2017

A young boy stands in the remains of a home after the freak storm hit Mayibuye near Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

When fierce winds started to lift the roof of her home, Isabella Dikupe grabbed her two children and fled. “We ran out of the house into the open field across the road and waited out in the open until it was over,” said Dikupe.

She made it out just in time. Seconds later the roof was ripped off by the wind. “I just saw huge sheets of metal flying in the air like they were paper. It was terrifying,” she said.

The roof of Isabella Dikupe’s home was ripped off by fierce winds in the storm that hit Mayibuye near Krugersdorp. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

Dikupe, of Mayibuye near Krugersdorp, was among hundreds of people affected by the freak storm that hit Gauteng on Monday, killing one person. Homes, shopping malls, hospitals and schools were severely damaged on the West Rand.

Jonas Pholo, Dikupe’s neighbour, said it was a miracle that no one on the property was hurt or killed. “Just look at this,” he said pointing to a pile of rubble. “There used to be a house here. Luckily, the people who live here were at work when the storm hit.”

“Now my worry is that we have no electricity and the water supply has also been affected. These massive trees were uprooted and landed on the power lines, and I think some of the water pipes have been damaged as well,” said Pholo.

Stranded without electricity, the residents collected firewood from the trees that had been blown over.

Elizabeth Tsotsete, who is 70 years old, was forced to spend Monday night outside as her roof was blown off during the storm. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

Elizabeth Tsotsete also lost the roof of her home. The 70-year-old spent the night out in the open and kept warm by making a small fire. “I am just glad to be alive … My house can be repaired and my things can be replaced, but a life can never be replaced,” said Tsotsete. A neighbour has offered his garage to her as temporary accommodation.

Patricia Mariben shows the remains of her outside toilet. Running water and sanitation has become a problem for a number of residents. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

Several residents said their outside toilets were destroyed, leaving them without proper sanitation.
Twenty-year-old Griffis Seokwang hid under some furniture during the storm. “I was so relieved when it was all over. So happy to have not been killed. But later that night I had difficulties falling asleep,” said Seokwang.

Laerskool Protearif in Krugersdorp was extensively damaged and has had to be closed. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

Laerskool Protearif in Mayibuye suffered extensive damage. MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi said the school would have to be closed for the rest of the school year. “We have asked parents to accommodate our interim arrangement which is to relocate these learners to two schools nearby in the area.”
Lesufi said other schools were also affected in Muldersdrift and Ekurhuleni.

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What business can learn from buddhism

Millennials, we are told, have a different attitude to work than their elders. They want to work for organisations committed to values and ethics, where there is a higher purpose than simply making a profit.

Businesses wanting to attract the best millennial talent might therefore learn a few lessons from ancient spiritual teachings, such as those of Buddhism. The fourth largest religion in the world has been focused on attaining a higher meaning and following the path to moksha – liberation – since the sixth century.

Organisations, especially in the non-profit and charity sector, can re-energise their employees by aligning the way they measure performance with the principles of Buddhism. This could also improve productivity, an important measure of economic activity and living standards.

These were the findings of our research. We interviewed 63 executives from not-for-profit organisations and found that most had simply imported practices and strategic models from the business world to measure their performance. Unfortunately, this is a world driven by maximising profit, which goes against the underlying purposes of these organisations.

Engaged and energised

Many studies have established that most staff are not only motivated by money, while the carrot and stick approach, which mixes reward and punishment, is also outdated. Employee engagement is now the ultimate goal for managers and it involves more than just job satisfaction.

It might be that an individual is perfectly content with a job and yet not engaged in it. Instead, engagement is found where work is absorbing, and to which employees feel naturally dedicated; work that one gets wrapped up in and is energised by. Engaged employees are prepared to go beyond the call of duty and actually drive the business; they show up because they want to, not because they have to.

Employees and businesses benefit from an injection of spirituality.
shutterstock.com

Some might think spirituality and business should not be mixed in together, but both play an important role in society and people’s lives. They should be seen as interdependent. Spiritual disciplines may very well offer insights into techniques for achieving lasting employee engagement that everyone is searching for. At the very least, ancient wisdom could offer some lessons for understanding what it means to seek and achieve higher meaning in your life.

A different focus

This is perhaps even more applicable in not-for-profit organisations. Many non-profits use standard performance measures, that have been tailored to help traditional organisations maximise revenues while reducing costs. The rationale provided for the use of performance measurement is also usually a commercial one, suggesting that measurement only supports efficiency and effectiveness.

This can obscure their ethical and benevolent dimensions. Focus instead is placed on understanding data like the number of products delivered, or what rating a service has in numerical terms. Employees are rewarded for their capacities to score highly on given criteria. Although none of this is inherently wrong, it means that discussions and attention are pushed towards money.

Meanwhile, rich social interactions, trust, and positive, but unquantifiable, stories go unnoticed and unrewarded. Employees would be better able to believe in their organisation if it’s clear that their performance measures drive social connectedness and create social value.

Our research found that spiritual philosophies can provide this. Buddhism, for example, teaches its followers to take greater personal responsibility for their actions, to have a healthy detachment where necessary, and embrace a wholesome view of their actions.

This can include how socially connected and conscious employees are, but also their entrepreneurial awareness. Risk-taking and innovation are core to many of these organisations so employees must have the mindfulness to evaluate and exploit opportunities when they arise.

It also applies to financial meaning – how money is spent, but also where it comes from. Spiritual rationales for goals and activities can complement commercial ones. Most employees in the non-profit sector want to help people and this is what motivates them to work in this industry, often for less money.

Evidence also suggests that embracing spirituality within organisations may lead to better decision-making, enhanced creativity, reduced absenteeism, and greater emotional control.

Buddhist principles are not just for not-for-profits, however. Spiritual principles such as higher meaning, awareness (of self and the environment) and connectedness (belonging to a community), are likely to be relevant in other sectors, particularly if corporations want to re-engage and re-energise their workforce.

Many are already dabbling in this with corporate social responsibility programmes, corporate volunteering, and sustainability targets. Several large companies, such as Google and the retailer Target, are even already adopting spiritually-informed practices to reap some of these benefits. But management practices such as measuring performance have not caught up with the deeper desire that many employees might have. We are just scratching the surface of how we can find more meaning and more productivity from our work.

Haley A Beer, Assistant Professor of Performance and Responsibility, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick and Edward Gamble, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Montana State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Why capitalism wins. And how a simple accounting move can defeat it

Blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in 2010. The losses produced by polluting companies should cost as ‘negative’ for a country’s growth.
Reuters/US Coast Guard/Files

Notwithstanding its many flaws and centuries of criticisms, capitalism is still the dominant economic system globally. What made it so resilient?

Without denying the importance of entrenched interests among ruling classes, I believe the real strength of capitalism stems from the theory of value it has imposed on society. The theory can be summed up as follows: value is only created through market transactions, which are always positive for the economy. The rest - like social costs and ecological impacts - doesn’t matter.

Classical sociologists and economists like Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter and Werner Sombart saw the adoption of a specific form of accounting for measuring performance in industries - so-called double-entry bookkeeping - as a critical factor to explain the rise of capitalism before and after the industrial revolution. Since then, we have simply assumed that what is good for the firm must be good for society.

As I show in my book Gross Domestic Problem, even socialist systems largely accepted capitalism’s accounting approach, ultimately failing to beat capitalism at its game.

But the global debate is shifting. The Sustainable Development Goals recognise that real value is only created when economic development leads to improvements in social and environmental dynamics. I argue that, by changing our headline indicators of prosperity in line with this new thinking, we can show capitalism’s inefficiencies and contribute to its demise.

Change accounting, change the world

Accounting is not a neutral exercise. As the term suggests, indicators “indicate” the path to follow to improve performance. In the end, governments, companies and societies at large strive to achieve what is counted, while disregarding what is not.

Of all accounting tools, the most powerful is the gross domestic product (GDP), the headline indicator of economic performance. GDP fully endorses the capitalist theory of value: it views market transactions as the only drivers of development, as opposed to non-market exchanges; it considers as positive all forms of production and consumption, regardless of their impact on economic welfare; and it neglects social and environmental impacts. For as long as our approach to economic growth is determined by GDP, capitalism will continue having the upper hand.

The good news is that, for the first time in almost a century of national income accounting, there is now a window of opportunity for change. A growing number of global institutions, including influential actors like the World Economic Forum are calling for a shift beyond GDP.

When we apply any of these new indicators, which integrate social and environmental impacts into the concept of economic performance, the alleged efficiencies of capitalism disappear. For instance, the genuine progress indicator shows that the global economy has massively under performed since the early 1980s, at the same time as free market reforms were boosting GDP. The genuine progress indicator deducts costs of environmental damage and social ills from economic performance.

Using a similar approach, UN-sponsored studies conclude that some of the world’s largest corporations actually generate more costs to society than profits. This is particularly true of fossil fuel and commercial food companies. The negative environmental effects of their operations are estimated to be in excess of USD$7 trillion a year.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the club of the world’s richest countries, has developed a “better life index”. It underlines how prosperity is determined more by factors like community engagement, work life balance, health and the environment than by income.

The organisation estimates that value generated for the economy by families and communities through self-production and informal exchanges – notoriously neglected by GDP – is equivalent to over 50% of everything the market produces.

And what about the non-monetary activities performed by civil society? According to the World Bank, associations have a massive impact on the economy by building the interpersonal trust – a precondition for a functioning market. In money equivalent, their contribution would be over 20% of the value of all goods and services produced by businesses.

These are the real ‘invisible hands’ supporting the economy.

A new world

By portraying corporations as the sole creators of value and by hiding their social and environmental costs, GDP has further entrenched the capitalist grip on power. But as we move beyond GDP, we begin to realise that the emperor has no clothes. A new accounting approach linking economic, social and environmental dynamics – what I call ‘wellbeing accounting’ – can indeed have game-changing effects.

Take fossil fuels. After the recent hurricanes in the US, several experts rightly argued that oil companies should be taken to court and charged with covering the costs of damage.

New accounting would make such an approach automatic. The losses produced by polluting companies would count as ‘negative’ for the country’s growth. This, in turn, would force policy makers to push renewable energies if they want to improve their economic performance.

The alleged virtues of globalisation rest almost entirely on GDP’s blindness to global trade’s environmental and social impact. But new accounting methods do the opposite: they reveal global trade’s negative effects and highlight the more efficient value creation of local and regional exchanges.

Our perception of global leadership would change too. The US and China may look “big” in GDP terms, but the real champions of social progress are some middle powers. These include Costa Rica to New Zealand which have built strong economies while improving the quality of social and natural dynamics.

Moving away from GDP would also benefit developing nations, especially in Africa. It would put an end to the traditional capitalist approach that equates prosperity with exploitation of people and nature, This in turn would allow countries to experiment with new forms of development.

Wellbeing accounting

GDP accounting is what keeps capitalism on life support. As I discuss in two recent books The World After GDP _and _Wellbeing Economy, a shift to new forms of accounting would eliminate the statistical foundations on which capitalism’s credibility rests.

In the end, this is precisely what Adam Smith did with the founding book of capitalism,The Wealth of Nations He questioned the traditional approach to value creation. Smith argued that the real creators of wealth were not the kings and knights that dominated the political scene, but the captains of industry who steered the new industrial market. By shifting the accounting approach, he reinforced the demand for power that would soon lead to the modern revolutions and the dominance of capitalism.

Similarly, well-being accounting shows that an economy promoting the public good and the commons can generate more wealth than the capitalist market. Through new numbers, it aims to embolden all those actors marginalised by the capitalist theory of value. Above all, it equips them with new tools to demand more power and a radically different approach to growth and development. It’s a smart way to beat capitalism by stealth, once and for all.

Lorenzo Fioramonti, Full Professor of Political Economy, University of Pretoria

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Police watchdog needs R50 million from the people it watches

Conflict of interest in the funding of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate

By John Hess
9 October 2017

IPID does not have the resources it needs to watch over the police. Photo: Sune Payne

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has in recent months been in the media for allegations of “backstabbing”, child abuse and irregular expenditure. Last week MP Zakhele Mbhele (DA Shadow Minister of Police), citing a 739.5% increase in the “irregular” spending category during the 2016-2017 financial year, wrote that “the people … need to urgently be reassured that their safety is not being risked by IPID’s inability to keep its financial affairs in order and the department must implement an urgent recovery plan.”

Most recently, reporting to the Portfolio Committee on Police on 13 September, IPID executive director Robert McBride admitted that IPID had sought funding relief from the South African Police Service (SAPS), the very organisation that IPID is mandated by statute to investigate.

IPID’s reported budget increases were only 5.1%, failing to cover even the anticipated inflation (Consumer Price Index) of 6.2%. Expenditure amounts related to contractual obligations, annual escalation of fees for goods and services, and the regulated annual wage increment were all left to the side.

There are two salient problems that should hold the public’s attention on IPID until such issues can be resolved. The first is a restatement of the obvious: How can IPID be truly independent, a true custos custodum — “guardian of the guards” — when it is forced to plead with the SAPS for funding?
The resulting conflicts of interest prove antithetical to IPID’s original mandate as a division with “effective independent oversight” fully capable of “impartial investigation of identified criminal offences allegedly committed by members of the [SAPS].”

IPID estimates funding assistance from SAPS of at least R50 million for the three financial years beginning in 2018; no trivial amount by any standard.

But the entanglements are not just limited to finances. In McBride v Minister of Police and Another (CCT225/15) ZACC 30, the Constitutional Court declared portions of the IPID Act (2011) invalid that allowed the Minister of Police to fire the Executive Director of IPID. The Court gave the legislative branch 24 months to amend the original Act, including diagnostic study and research to be completed by August 2017 for approval by the Minister of Police in September. The Civilian Secretariat for Police noted that the amended IPID Act would need to be introduced in Parliament by March 2018 to meet the Court’s deadline. To date, no action on the bill has been made publicly available.

The second problem presented by IPID’s lack of adequate funding revolves around its ability to carry out its expected responsibilities. IPID’s quarterly report in mid-September sheds light on this. None of the IPID annual targets in its information and investigation management programme are listed as being more than 78%. And no related performance indicators, where achievement is measured in the number of decision-ready cases, have percentage targets over 65%: deaths in police custody (62%), discharge of an official firearm (60%), rape by a police officer (65%), torture (45%), assault (51%) and corruption (40%). Moreover, first quarter progress was woefully inadequate. Three out of 106 targeted cases of deaths as the result of police action, six out of 27 cases of rape by a police officer and no cases of torture (out of a goal of 44) were decision-ready.

For these shortcomings IPID blamed a high number of backlogged cases due to a slowdown of operations in the 2016-2017 financial year, ineffectiveness of the Case Management System “due to dilapidated network infrastructure” and outstanding reports from the Department of Health and Forensic Science Laboratory.

It is difficult to imagine that IPID’s struggle to complete its caseload has no relation to its lack of financial solvency. It is similarly difficult to imagine that IPID’s independence is not affected by its reliance on SAPS for additional revenue. IPID is not unaware of these problems. In its 2015-2016 annual report, IPID acknowledged that “to implement its mandate of independence, IPID should ideally have developed its own capacity to fully investigate cases […] however, due to limited resources, the IPID relies on [SAPS] for this expertise…[impacting] the integrity of the investigations and of IPID’s independence.”

Perhaps the criticism from Mbhele and others in their reproach of IPID is misguided. Yes, the statistics from the most recent annual report and the first quarterly report of 2017-2018 are grim, and the thanks the portfolio committee received from the IPID team in September were likely given for the members’ patience with such a statistical dumpster fire. However, it is not the case that IPID is unaware or inactive in attempting to change its reality, going so far as to ask SAPS for significant additional funding.

It is now the responsibility of the Treasury and of the working group tasked with amending the original IPID Act to ensure it is truly independent. And it is the responsibility of the South African public to keep up pressure on those in government responsbile for making IPID a force for good in South Africa.

Until the government can prove it is up to the task of real change, the system tasked with bringing justice to the ranks of SAPS will be anything but judicious.

John Hess is a legal intern at Lawyers for Human Rights.

Views expressed are not necessarily those of GroundUp.

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