#Labour: N.U.M & the Balance of Forces #ForTheRecord

The National Union Of Mineworkers logo.

On the 5th of June 2015, 700 delegates at the National Union of Mineworkers 15th national congress voted for new leaders. Free State secretary David Sipunzi was elected general secretary, replacing Frans Baleni, who served in the position for 9 years.

He was elected by the skin of his teeth:  Frans Baleni 345 votes – David Sipunzi 354 votes.

The congress was the first since the Marikana massacre and mass loss of N.U.M membership to AMCU. It also took place after the expulsion of metalworkers union NUMSA from COSATU and the dismissal of the federation’s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. Baleni is accused of playing a leading role in orchestrating these two events.

There are a few moments during the conference and afterwards that are worth quoting:

N.U.M founding general secretary Cyril Ramaphosa (far right).

“Leaders must lead with humility, and serve members even if you have to go down on your knees to serve members. Members were attracted to NUM because it was on the cutting edge of serving members – Cyril Ramaophosa [iol.co.za]

ANC secretary general & former mineworker Gwede Mantashe.

Once you have a federation dominated by the public sector you are in trouble. We should have industrial unions building themselves, as well as putting on our shoulders to help this union the NUM to be strong enough to deal with Amcu. – Gwede Mantashe [news24]

Former N.U.M general secretary Frans Baleni (left) & newly elected president Piet Matosa.

I decided to campaign for another term after I was approached by nine (9) regions which nominated me for the position. I accept the democratic decision arrived at by the membership of the N.U.M – Frans Baleni [radio702]

Newly elected general secretary David Sipunzi speaks to the media at a report back session in the Free State.

The expulsion of NUMSA is not a contribution towards worker unity, that’s my belief. The expulsion of [Zwelinzima} Vavi is not going down well with the general membership at the ground level. I’m tired of being shouted by members asking when is Vavi coming back. I can no longer close my ears to those calls – David Sipunzi [ewn.co.za]

Will the election of David Sipunzi and William Mabapa [deputy GS] change the N.U.M’s position towards the other industrial unions within COSATU? Will the proletariat reclaim SA’s biggest worker federation?

June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by van1go

#Namibia: Democracy Just a Click Away… #Elections

Just over a million people in Nambia will vote for a new president and members of parliament today, in what will be Africa’s first electronic election. About half of the sub-Saharan nation’s 2.3 million people are eligible to vote, of which 20% were born after independence was won from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

The South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) led Namibia’s liberation struggle and its candidates have retained power since the country gained independence. Today it will face off against the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), led by a disgruntled Swapo member that’s formed his own party, and Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, a grouping of smaller parties, led by 37-year-old McHenry Venaani. Then there’s the Julius Malema spin off, Namibian Economic Freedom Front (NEFF), made up of nationalisation seeking radicals, convinced that the capitalist system has failed and its pseudo military style of leadership is desperately missed. Read more about the candidates and their parties here.

There aren’t many surprises expected in the turn-out or voter participation, but the focus will be on the Electronic Voter Machines, meant to usher in a new era of efficient voting systems and reliable outcomes. Namibia’s low population size and relative stability during previous elections makes it the perfect test case for the new system. The prospect of electronic election roll-outs across the continent may still be a distant dream, though. In South Africa, smaller political parties opposed the introduction, out of fear that the system could be manipulated to rig the outcome.

FILE: An Electronic Voting Machine.

Below is a report by Namibia’s Election Watch on the purchase of electronic voting machines, and how it works.

“As Namibia gears up for the 2014 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) remains a hot topic.

To date, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has purchased 3,400 Electronic Voting Machines at a cost of N$10 million. The EVMs were sourced from an Indian company by the name of Bharat Electronics, which developed and designed this technology for electoral processes in the world’s largest democracy. The ECN is expected to start a voter education campaign regarding EVMs in the near future. The Commission will also purchase more EVMs ahead of the 2014 elections.

Although various technologies have been used to automate certain processes in electoral systems, as yet no African country has utilised actual electronic voting machines as part of its election.
In the March 2013 election in Kenya, in what was meant to be Africa’s most modern election, biometric systems were introduced to streamline the voter registration process, while electronic tallying was used to speed up the counting and tallying process once votes were cast. Unfortunately, due to operational and technical problems, both systems failed, forcing the electoral management body to resort to a hand count – a process that took five days and threatened to destabilise the entire electoral process.

Importantly, when introducing EVMs, International IDEA notes that it is critical that strong trust in the electoral system exists. The organisation also notes that countries should be clear on their goals and the purpose for using EVMs, and that deliberate efforts are made to ensure timely implementation, training, transparency, and sustainability.
Most significantly, international experience shows that in the run up to introducing EVMs for elections, voter education is critical to ensuring proper use of the systems, but more importantly, to ensure that Namibians (including civil society, all political parties and organisations, and the public at large) fully trust the process in creating a credible, free and fair election.

Pros and cons

Electronic voting presents a number of important benefits – the most obvious being faster results, a reduction in the number of spoilt ballots, reduced costs of running an election, and the reduction/elimination of avenues for potential manipulation. However, electronic voting is not without risks, and several countries have opted to stick to manual voting mechanisms due to operational/technical constraints, or the implications this may have on their legal frameworks.
In Germany, for example, e-voting was declared unconstitutional in 2009. In the Netherlands in 2008 e-voting was suspended after 20 years of use when activists showed that the systems in use could, under certain circumstances, endanger the secrecy of the vote. Between 2005 and 2009, Ireland invested over 60 million euros in an e-voting solution, before deciding that the system was unreliable.
For countries like Brazil, India, Estonia, and the United States that have decided to make use of EVMs, the benefits have outweighed the possible disadvantages of introducing this system, and each country will have different factors to consider in deciding whether or not to go electronic. International IDEA stresses that “Electronic voting is only one option for resolving challenges in the electoral process,” and encourages countries to evaluate alternative solutions in making decisions on what best suits their context. Often times, this means using electronic voting to speed up the process, but having paper trails in case of any contestations.” – http://www.electionwatch.org.na/?q=node/489

November 28, 2014November 28, 2014 by van1go