Working class hero

Inept company spokespeople and brainless PRs can be a source of endless entertainment for journos, but some have the knack of taking this to another level.

Mfanafuthi Sithebe managed that rather handsomely this week. Sithebe, the outspoken spin doctor for the Communication Workers Union, must have gotten caught up in all the excitement of toyi-toying outside Vodacom's head office in Midrand.

In the latest salvo fired by the union, the esteemed Mr Sithebe - who must have been spurred on by the sight of his comrades' red T-shirts - launched a scathing attack on... well, just about everyone.

This gentleman sent out a statement, which - first of all - accused Vodacom of hiring "a professional American union basher to test how imperial bashing can be implemented in SA".

Er... yes, that's correct: "professional union basher" and "imperial bashing". Sadly, the misguided Sithebe was referring to Vodacom's parent, Vodafone, which is actually a UK company.

Hey, US, UK - what's the difference? All capitalist pigs anyway, right?

However, Sithebe outdid himself when he launched an attack on an ITWeb journalist, who requested comment from the CWU, saying a story will most likely be run the following day. Sithebe responded: "'Likely'. Surely guys, you are not running for the Vodacom journalist awards."

Now, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" comes to mind. I could think of a couple more. Well, if nothing else, Ripley's Believe it or Not will surely take an interest in Mr Sithebe.

Sithebe must have gotten caught up in all the excitement of toyi-toying outside Vodacom's head office in Midrand.

Martin Czernowalow, news editor, ITWeb

The often-abrasive labour minister, Membathisi Mdladlana, had his little moment too. Never known to be one to count his words, Mdladlana reacted with shock and indignation that anyone would dare suggest SA cannot quantify its ICT skills shortage.

Speaking at a media briefing after the presidential working group meeting, Mdladlana said it is a "fallacy" that SA cannot quantify its skills shortage in the "critical area" of ICT.

"I would be surprised if anyone says we can't quantify the skills shortage," says Mdladlana. "We were required to produce a scarce skills list and we have identified key areas."

Well, ITWeb was excited to hear this. Finally, quantified! Solid figures, a clear picture.

But alas, dear Membathisi, your office could not provide any figures - the deputy director-general for the department of labour, Sam Morotoba, didn't have a clue and was rather bemused at being grilled by a journalist to produce what his boss had promised.

Eish! Never mind. Mdladlana is a politician, after all. Speaking the truth is optional.

ITWeb reported this week that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of SA ruled that Telkom may not list its DSL speeds in its advertising campaigns. This is after the authority found Telkom has been making "misleading claims" in its adverts.

Telkom? Misleading? Who would have thought?

But the real kick in the pants for the fixed-line monopoly is that the ASA complaint against it was brought by subsidiary Vodacom. No one seems to like poor Telkom.

And Vodacom seems to be gunning rather heavily for its parent company these days. Nothing like a good old-fashioned family quarrel.

The State IT Agency (SITA) says it has filled 28% of its permanent and 3% of its contractor employment vacancies since March.

During the same period, the agency lost 58 people, which is 2.7% of its permanent workforce of 2 149 staffers. In March, there were 301 permanent and 166 contract positions vacant within the organisation.

So SITA is still short of skills, but says management uncertainty is not driving these staff exits.

Ok, just a pity that the agency has not been able to find a CEO yet, following the departure of Mavuso Msimang in May. In addition, at the beginning of this month, SITA's chief of strategic services Jonas Bogoshi jumped ship, and went to head up GijimaAst.

I'm just wondering, how many more key people will have to leave before SITA admits that management instability could be a factor? I also wonder how many will have to leave before SITA decides to replace them?