And interesting comment on Ramaphosa, Marikana and the Farlam Commission. Nomboniso Gasa : Yesterday I watched Cyril Ramaphosa cross examined by Dali Mpofu at the #FarlamCommision. I live tweeted the entire session. It was difficult & uncomfortable to watch. I suppose no one was more uncomfortable than Cyril and it showed. Interestingly, many people focussed on Dali Mpofus cross examination style. Yes, he battles with cross examination. But then again, so many other lawyers do. Cross examination is very difficult and few lawyers have the skill and craft. Even so, Mpofu drove his points home. He also extracted concessions from Cyril. Considering that Ramaphosa is a lawyer, worked with NUM for a long time and had a heavy team of legal representatives, led by David Unterhalter, Dalis achievements were not as small as some people want to make out. The cross examination laid bare the underbelly of unhealthy relationship between corporate & political elites in South Africa. Whether we agree with Mpofu or not, this is an area of grave concern for South Africa. Collusion and cooperation are not the same. We can spin it anyway we like, but Cyrils role in #Lonmin is deeply troubling. It struck me that people missed a very basic point about that cross examination. Perhaps willfully so or maybe it is not as obvious to them. I think it is the former. Dali did not need finesse. He did not need to be well spoken. Yesterday was not about Dali Mpofu. Yesterday was about something and someone else. Yesterday was about Cyril Ramaphosa, the Deputy President of South Africa. He had to explain his actions. He had to fight hard to explain that his involvement in the Lonmin saga was not about self interest or financial gain. He had to explain that he took the steps he did in the interest of the country. He did not do that. He did not show that his intervention prevented further loss of life. As the eNCA journalist reported yesterday perhaps the question that will linger for a long time is whether more lives were lost in Marikana as a result of Ramaphosa putting pressure on the police. None of us can even attempt to answer this question. It would be unfair to scape goat, Cyril. The fact is nobody knows. For me, that the question arises at all, is deeply regrettable. Cyril also did himself no favors by saying to get the Minister of Police to change his mind within 5 hours was not major achievement for me. He asserted that anybody can approach the Minister and convince them to change their minds. We know this is not the case. There were too many incidents where it was evident that his power and position gave him access to decision makers. The Minister did not only change his mind, he took his new position to the Cabinet & got approval. His Counsel David Unterhalter was not exactly helpful. DUs condescending remarks made me cringe. Twice, his intervention questioned the judgement of lawyers who had agreed on certain procedure and language. I caught two senior lawyers on television (they are not on the same side with Mpofu) with a look of incredulity in their eyes. Yes, Mpofu is extremely rough on the edges. He was even more so yesterday. By concentrating on him, Cyril and many of us lost sight of the big question of the day & that was Ramaphosas involvement in Marikana. Cyrils response to a question about his other efforts was disappointing. On Wednesday Ngcukaitobi asked him what efforts he undertook. He said he spoke to NUM & was of course in regular contact with Lonmin. Did he speak to AMCU? Cyril said I did not. Why? Cyril said I do not have their contact details. Cyril is a Non-Executive Director at Lonmin. Why he got involved in this, still boggles the mind. Especially given the fact that he kept insisting I am not involved day-to-day running operations. Remarkably, as the Chair of Lonmins Transformation Committee he could not answer a critical question about housing. When asked whether he was aware of Lonmins failure to address the housing question, he said he was not aware of that (does that mean he did not see the shacks)? The housing problem has been ongoing for years there. It is part of the tensions between migrant workers and the Bapo ba Mogale community. A tension with social manifestations that have been under debate for a long time in the country. He asserted that Lonmin did not fail to build houses. Lonmin underperformed. Lonmins under-performance means they built 3 out of 550 houses it undertook. Cyril took umbrage to the assertion that he was involved for financial gain. He clarified that they (Shanduka) invested 300million in the project. We have written off that money as financial loss. However, he did not add that in fact, Lonmin gave them a loan in the first place. It was left to almost all the lawyers to remind him of this. 2.1 billion was loaned to Shanduka by Lonmin on very relaxed terms. This he admitted. Whatever comes out of the Farlam Commission, there are many issues to be considered. These have wider implications than Marikana. 1. The role of Lonmin as a company deserves closer scrutiny. Its method of operation is not dissimilar to that of Shell in Nigeria. The cosying up to government, building relationships with a handful of Chiefs and giving shares to indigenous companies of the elite whilst leaving local communities to fight each other is a dangerous mode of operation. It divides communities. It destroys the environment and leaves Communities not only poor but damaged in health and multiple ways, including tribalism. (I have used Lonmin and Shell but this applies to others). 2. Lonmin has currently cut a deal with Bapo Ba Mogale. This is praised as a successful deal. Regrettably, a closer examination of the deal reveals that it is problematic and on so many levels. 3. In their deal with Bapo Ba Mogale, Lonmin has not learnt the Bapo Company a penny above the 1.8% equity they gave them. That 1.8% is 664mlllion. Lot of money, right? Well, take 100m which is going to be paid off over 5 years. The rest is in shares. They cant be touched for 10 years. As it stands now, there 39k registered Bapo ba Mogale. Divide Lonmins shares by 39k. Each person gets just under 19k. It is anybody guess what that will be in 10years. Interestingly, these figures were not revealed in the Kgotha Kgothe. There are many ways in which Lonmin and other companies can work with host communities. It is debate able whether current community shareholding is best practice. What is clear, is that there is a need for creative thinking in the space. If at least one company can get this right & put a clear strategic process, we would have less of these problems. Shanduka earns 250.000 per month as a strategic advisor to Lonmin. So, clearly,the issue is not money. Nomboniso Gasa 13/8/2014.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 20:00:19 +0000