*Two juxtaposed articles from The Times' front page under one "class war" headline.
* The Times *War of SA's classes* /1.3m strikers demand R3.7bn to return to work/*Andile Ndlovu and Charl Du Plessis, The Times, Johannesburg, 11 August 2010*
By last night, the country was on a knife's edge, with 1.3-million public servants preparing to embark on an indefinite strike from tomorrow unless the government improves its wage offer.
Public Services and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi was given until late last night to raise his 7% pay increase offer, 1.6% lower than the amount union federation Cosatu and its affiliates are demanding.
Thousands of protesting workers marched on Pretoria's Union Buildings yesterday as their Cape Town counterparts marched on Parliament.
Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi took a swipe at President Jacob Zuma's salary before a 15000-strong crowd in Cape Town.
"If my memory serves me right, he is earning more than R2.2-million. He has blood just like we do. He has family, a big family, just like we do. Our needs are the same. We want geld. Ons soek geld," Vavi said to cheers.
Vavi contrasted the salaries of civil servants with those of their bosses, saying police officers, "who have seen the eyes of a child rapist", earn a "mere" R7000, and prison guards, "who keep behind bars these red-eyed criminals", earn only R6750.
An entry-level teacher makes R9271 and a nurse's assistant R5053."The director-generals, those at the top of the civil service, earn R100000 a month. And a minister, do you know how much they earn? R143000 per month," he said.
Protestors held placards that read "R10 can't even buy a prostitute" and "You take our money to give to Malema to destroy the country".
In his address in Pretoria, lasting less than a minute, Baloyi said the government was "committed to addressing problems".
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union spokesman Norman Mampane said: "We are not to be blamed if things get out of control while our members are on strike."
Yesterday, Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said: "We would hope the government responds positively after the huge turnout by workers, and averts the need for a strike. But the new offer must have a significant improvement."
Craven promised there would be no violence or intimidation by members if the strike went ahead.
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa spokesman Asanda Fongqo said: "We will go on until our demands are met."
As the national Department of Health issued a statement, saying it was monitoring the impact of the strike on hospitals and clinics, nurses at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital said they feared intimidation.
One nurse said she wore plain clothes yesterday in case she was targeted in her uniform.
Another said: "We want to work, but we can't risk our lives."Baloyi's spokesman, Dumisani Nkwamba, said the amount the government needed to cover the 8.6% salary increase had not yet been calculated.
"We have a problem already because we would have run short by R3.7-billion if the current [7%] offer was accepted," he said.
Besides an 8.6% increase, civil servants are also demanding a R1000 housing allowance, while government is offering R630.
South African Democratic Teachers' Union spokesman Nomusa Cembi said that pupils should today return to their schools, where they would be informed if the strike was going ahead tomorrow. - Additional reporting by Zandile Mbabela and Harriet McLea
*From: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article595738.ece/War-of-SAs-classes*
* * *Zuma's son and friends make 9bn in one day* /*Outrage at the 'brazen abuse of public office' by officials*/ *Sipho Masondo, The Times, Johannesburg, 11 August 2010*Arcelormittal South Africa's R9-billion black empowerment deal and R800-million purchase of a company with important mining rights, announced yesterday, has been described as "scandalous".
The BEE deal, which grants 21% of the international steel maker's local arm to the Ayigobi consortium led by President Jacob Zuma's ally, Sandile Zungu, has raised eyebrows in both the business and the political worlds.
DA spokesman on mining Hendrik Schmidt said the deal made a "mockery of the country's BEE policies. It's a question of setting up a BEE transaction and then buying it out. You are basically acquiring what you have lost otherwise."
COPE spokesman Sipho Ngwema said: ''When the relatives and children of the president are direct beneficiaries of deals that can be traced to the government, it makes South Africa no different from the rest of the basket cases on the continent.
"The brazen abuse of public office to benefit personal relations leaves a bad taste and [is] a slap in the face to those who suffer every day from the lack of service delivery.''
Other members of the Ayigobi consortium include ANC-aligned businessmen and the president's son, Duduzane, with his Mabengela Investments, as well as the Gupta family, the financial backers of the ANC-aligned New Age newspaper due to be launched next month.
Zungu sits on the BEE advisory council appointed by the president last year to review the codes of good practice applicable in empowerment deals.
Critics have also been outraged by the fact that Arcelor, when announcing its BEE deal, also said it had bought Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) for R800-million.
The company, whose owners are part of the empowerment consortium, has only one asset - a 21.4% prospecting right in Kumba Iron Ore's Sishen mine.
Arcelor has been in a protracted battle with Kumba since it withdrew Arcelor's preferential iron ore pricing agreement.
All ICT shareholders stand to benefit handsomely from the deal.Defending the deal, Arcelor's chief executive, Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, said: "Introducing broad-based BEE shareholders to our operations has been a priority for ArcelorMittal South Africa for some time. We started assessing the transaction in 2008 but the global economic downturn made it impossible to implement a suitable transaction structure at that time.
"However, as soon as the markets returned to some form of normality we proceeded to develop this transaction with a strong partner, which is an important step towards achieving our overall transformation objectives.
"ICT was there not out of any choice made by ArcelorMittal necessarily but the fact that they were awarded a prospecting licence made it almost a natural path. We would have to answer the question 'Why not ICT?' not 'Why ICT?'."
She said there needed to be something to bind ICT to Arcelor, as well as buying the mining rights outright.
Schmidt said: "It becomes quite clear why ArcelorMittal didn't apply for the rights. It's possible that they knew they will get the rights. Why didn't they apply? If it's not collusion, it's a major coincidence."
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said the trade union federation would study the deal and comment later.
The Presidency refused to comment on the deal.*From: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article595730.ece/Outrage-at-the-brazen-abuse-of-public-office-by-officials***
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