The general sentiment of ANC MPs in a debate called by the IFP on the mine violence, was that capitalists were “crass”, mine owners greedy and the mine workers as good, so to speak, as gold.
Fred Gona, the chairman of the mineral resources portfolio committee, noted that gold miners were paid about R4 200 a month, coal miners about R4 700 a month, diamond miners about R6 540 a month and platinum miners some R5 396.
In contrast, the average chief executive of a mining company earned about R20 million a month.
“This is why the Gini coefficient has proclaimed us as the most unequal society,” Gona, a former National Union of Mineworkers’ parliamentary officer, told his fellow MPs.
He went into further details about top earning chief executives in contrast to poor worker pay levels. At Lonmin – which owns Marikana where 34 miners were killed by police on one day – a rock-drill operator now “after all the negotiations” earned R11 700 a month. This compared with “a whopping R17m received by the chief executive in 2011”. The chief executive of Anglo American Platinum earned R21.5m “in one year”, Gona complained. At AngloGold Ashanti, the chief executive earned R27.8m. At Goldfields the chief executive earned R37.7m.
“This is seriously obscene,” Gona said.
Another ANC MP spoke about “crass capitalism”, but there was no reference to the elephant in the room. Parliamentarians earn at least R800 000 a year.
Pieter Groenewald, the Freedom Front Plus parliamentary leader, recognised the elephant in the room. Noting the debate about excessively high salaries of top mining executives, he said at least mining companies didn’t have to pay for the housing of their executives. But he said taxpayers had to pay for the R250m house – a reference to the luxury Nkandla rural private mansion of President Jacob Zuma – “of the chief executive of the ANC”.
Food retail
Food manufacturers often lost control of their brands once their product left the warehouse or the wholesaler. This was according to Professor John Simpson who was speaking at the presentation of the Majority Report released by the UCT Unilever Institution of Strategic Marketing in Durban last week.
The report focused on buying and survival patterns of the 36 million-strong mass market that represents 70 percent of the population and which spent an estimated R200 billion. The food companies, he said, lost control of their brands to this mass market, most of which earned less than R5 000 a month, because of financial limitations faced by such a consumer.
Limited financial resources meant that brand loyalty was tested as consumers moved from one brand to another, especially around the middle of the month.
Simpson observed that because of such a high number of informal traders in areas such as townships and other rural areas, consumers have a wider variety of brands.
These brands differ from month to month. Where does this leave the retailers who, over the past five years increased the number of stores in townships and rural areas? The report shows that in Gauteng alone, branded retailers such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Spar, had collectively increased their store footprint by 40 percent.
Although retailers made profits in these areas, their stores often experienced high consumer traffic on the last and the first day of the month. Brands experienced pressure when consumers in this income bracket ran out of money. Instead of buying brands such as Kellogg’s, consumers would go for Jiggies Cornflakes which were half the price, according to the report. In the brand category, beauty products seemed to survive the pressure as this mass market, especially women, did not comprise on personal care products.
Tobacco
It is tempting to sympathise with tobacco growers, who are figuratively caught between a rock and a hard place. While they acknowledge the harmful effects of their trade on the health of the global populace, for millions of tobacco growers – especially in greater Africa – the crop is their livelihood.
One anti-tobacco lobbyist was quick to note that there is nothing positive about the tobacco industry but there was, however, one argument in support of the industry – it creates jobs.
The Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa published a study on the tobacco value chain in 15 African countries, including South Africa. The study is the first of its kind and its findings provide factual evidence of the good of the tobacco sector.
The other defence is a united stand by tobacco growers globally who have launched a World Tobacco Growers’ Day, which is unlikely to feature on the UN list of commemorative days.
The thorn in their side is the Framework on Convention Tobacco Control (FCTC) which opened for signatures in June 2003 under the UN’s World Health Organisation and sought to lower demand and supply of tobacco with the aim of reaffirming the right of all people to the highest standard of health.
The tobacco institute argues that the FCTC has not produced studies to back its arguments nor suggested alternative revenue generation options for the tobacco industry to even warrant an audience.
In South Africa, where the constitution caters for diverse opinions and unemployment remains a setback, engineering the loss of even one job is almost criminal.
The local tobacco value chain, which includes farmers, processors and sellers, employs 184 404 workers with 633 580 dependents. Tobacco and related product exports were valued at $180 million (R1.6 billion) during 2011. The equivalent import bill reached $209.5m.
The industry contributed more than $1.4bn to the fiscus last year.
Edited by Peter DeIonno. With contributions from Donwald Pressly, Nompumelelo Magwaza and Asha Speckman.