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COSATU Today
Our side of the story
4 November 2009
Contents
Workers.
1.1 Vavi addresses SAMWU congress.
1.2 SAMWU President addresses the congress.
1.3 Patronella's family thanks COSATU staff.
1.4 COSATU slams Sun City over memorandum.
1.5 "When Duty Calls" needs community support: POPCRU.
1.6 POPCRU welcomes President's statement on the role of police.
1.7 DENOSA congratulates new SAMA President
2. South Africa.
2.1 SAMA cautions holiday-makers on malaria.
2.2 UJ students petition agreement with Ben Gurion University.
3. International
3.1 Ron Press dies.
4. Letters.
4.1 Let's avoid retrenchments of a special type
Workers
1.1 Vavi addresses SAMWU congress
Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU General Secretary, 3 November 2009
It is a special honour and privilege for me to address your National Congress for the very first time. I bring revolutionary greetings and best wishes for a successful Congress from COSATU's two million members, to the members of an affiliate that has always been in the front line of the struggle for democracy, freedom and socialism.
Your congress coincides with one of the greatest economic crises ever faced by our country. The cold reality we are facing is that workers are bearing the brunt of the capitalists' greed and mess. We are now haemorrhaging jobs at a frightening pace.
Last week the Stats SA's Labour Force Survey revealed that the number of employed people fell by a staggering 484,000 - to 12,885,000 - in just one quarter. This increased the country's official unemployment rate from 23.6% in the second quarter of 2009 to 24.5% in the third quarter.
We are talking of the narrow definition which does not count those who have given up looking for a job. The real rate of unemployment climbed from 32.5% to 34.4%.
But of particular concern is that the manufacturing sector, which should be an engine of growth and job-creation, shed 150,000 jobs, equivalent to 8% of total jobs in the industry. Wholesale and retail trade lost 110,000 jobs.
A staggering 4.192 million South Africans are now without work. And that rises to 4.702 million if you add the 510 000 who have given up even looking for a job or have opted out of the labour force completely. All this means that since this year began, we have lost 959 000 jobs. Multiply this by 5, which is the average size of a working-class family, and we have a staggering 4.8 million people pushed into poverty.
The worst mistake we can ever make is to continue blaming only the international economic crises for our woes. Yes, it is true that failure to regulate the financial institutions and the massive inequalities worldwide are largely responsible for the crisis. But in South Africa we have been in any case sitting on a ticking bomb since the 1994 democratic breakthrough.
We inherited a disastrous growth path from the apartheid era - a raw commodity based economy, which is anchored on capital-intensive sectors. We have done little to tamper with this apartheid growth path.
This phenomenon of inheriting colonial growth paths, based on the extraction of mineral resources to build industrial power in the northern countries, is one of the most fundamental mistakes which most of post-colonial Africa has made. This is the essence of what many revolutionaries referred to as neo-colonialism. We must confront this phenomenon, which is a classical Neo-Colonialism of a Special Type.
To add salt to the injury, we adopted inappropriate macroeconomic policies. The underlying cause of the crisis that is now ravaging working class communities is the mistaken policies between 1996 and 2004, of cutting tariffs and privatising basic services and the conservative fiscal and monetary policies pursued in those years, centred on the misguided belief in inflation-targeting and the urge to appease the narrow interests of financial markets in particular. There are still some who continue to hold on to this wrong belief.
COSATU tirelessly pointed out that this would simply worsen our already high levels of unemployment, poverty and massive inequalities. These warnings fell on deaf ears. The chickens are now coming home to roost.
We have invited Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies to have a conversation with us on how we can move with necessary speed out of this vicious circle of poverty, unemployment and inequalities.
There is a wave of community service-delivery protests, which are about specific local grievances but are also related to the structural problems in the economy. The patience of increasing numbers of poor working-class communities is running thin. They are facing a huge squeeze in the former black-only residential areas.
People in places such as Alexandra are living with massive unemployment and grinding and humiliating poverty, while across the road they see that the grass is green around the flashy buildings in Sandton.
The general law of capitalist accumulation stated by Marx in Capital Volume I applies here without qualification. Talking about the rise in centralisation and concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, Marx says:
"Along with the constantly diminishing number of magnates of capital, who usurp and monopolise all advantages...grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class always increasing in numbers and disciplined, united, organised by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself".
Does this not sound familiar? Does this not anticipate the social protests that we see today?
There are an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans, who are equally victims of the mismanagement of the economy and political system, competing with, and because of their better education, sidelining and regrettably dragging down, the basic rights of South African workers.
Many in the SADC region, the African continent and even as far as Europe, Asia and everywhere in the world, come here in their thousands under the mistaken belief that South Africa is the land of milk and honey.
We have also invited the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Zuma, to begin a conversation on how we can address all these issues in a manner that ensures we fight against xenophobia and misguidedly blaming our African brothers and sisters who are streaming down south under pressure of poverty.
At the same time we need to ensure that we develop systems to ensure that we do not open the floodgates in a manner that simply worsens the squeeze in the townships and rural areas.
There is opulence in the leafy, formerly whites-only areas. A few BEE tycoons and black middle class have joined in to enjoy the race to accumulate wealth by any means possible. South Africa now is the country with highest inequality in the world. What this means in Marxist terms is that, of the countries that have data on these matters, we are the most exploitative in the world.
The working class in Polokwane decided that we should no longer walk down this path to our extinction as a nation. They demanded a new growth path, based on the urgent need to restructure the economy, informed by an active industrial policy that is guided by a developmental state in pursuit of decent work and the eradication of poverty.
It is now almost 7 months since we elected the new government to pursue this new growth path. It is early days still, but I must say we are beginning to be nervous about the slow pace at which we are moving in this new direction. The public discourse is not based on how we must move fast in the new direction Polokwane spoke about, but is characterised by a combination of defence of the status quo in policy and turf battles that do not take us forward.
The forthcoming Alliance Summit must lay to rest these narrow factional and counter-productive turf battles by clarifying the role of all those in the economic cluster, and resolving disputes over the National Planning Commission.
It is more urgent than ever that we adopt a bold new approach, speedily address these structural problems and implement the ambitious job-saving and job-creating measures spelled out in the ANC manifesto, the State of the Nation address and the Framework Agreement on South Africa's response to the world economic crisis. COSATU will make an intervention on the mechanics of the growth path we want to see taking root in our economy.
Immediate measures must be taken to protect our industries and prevent an even worse descent into total economic meltdown. Government, business and labour - and the SA Reserve Bank - must focus all their policies on saving jobs, creating new jobs, ending the job-loss bloodbath as rapidly as possible and getting the South African economy moving forward again. We will provide detailed proposals on how this can be done, as a way of placing the Alliance as an autonomous centre for policy formulation.
Comrades
Wherever you go in South Africa you will always find SAMWU, defending members but also fighting for local communities, swelling the ranks of the ANC and SACP, campaigning for better and faster local service delivery, and struggling against corruption, mismanagement and waste.
SAMWU has also been the staunchest defender of our Marxist-Leninist theory upon which our political conviction is based. Our recent 10th National Congress reaffirmed our commitment to these fundamental principles, which are today as relevant as ever.
Not so long ago many wanted to throw Marxism into the dustbin of history, but Marxism is a truthful, timeless, and enduring philosophy. Capitalism has failed to overcome the contradictions first pointed out by Marx and Engels. Today's global crisis has renewed interest in the Marxist analysis of society and forced thousands to seek alternatives to the theories of neo-liberalism and to capitalism itself.
We must continue to build Marxism, using the tools of scientific enquiry Marx and Engels developed, to scientifically uncover the nature of global capitalism and discover how it can be transformed.
The concept of national democratic revolution speaks to the African peoples' desire for self determination, to throw off the yoke of colonialism and the desire to build a more egalitarian, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society.
The Freedom Charter is a vision to transform society on a more egalitarian basis. It requires not cosmetic but radical changes in society. We cannot be content with the mere transfer of political power while retaining the economic structural foundations we inherited from colonialism of a special type.
The fundamental national, class and gender contradictions remain firmly rooted in post-apartheid South Africa. Relying on market forces has not only entrenched the inequalities of the past but has further widened them, making us the most unequal society on the planet. White men still monopolise positions of power and influence especially in the private sector, and together with a black elite which has emerged, they have reaped most of the benefits of democracy.
The endurance of the systemic inequalities makes a compelling case for a working-class led national democratic revolution. The working class must unite the broadest section of the South African society to move beyond the neo-colonial to a truly democratic, non-sexist and non-racial society.
For socialists within the Congress movement, the NDR is not a detour but the most direct route to socialism. That means it must build the momentum towards socialism, as captured by the SACP slogan: Socialism is the Future - Build it now!
Our challenge is building a socialist movement, within which the SACP is the vanguard and anchor. COSATU must ask itself whether it is doing enough to build and support the SACP and unfortunately we are found wanting. The SACP's 12th congress revealed that the industrial employed working class is just fewer than 40% of its membership. Clearly we are not doing enough to convert our members into staunch socialists who are active in the SACP.
Comrades
Since 1994 we have made much progress in advancing the NDR. We have built the foundation of a new society by enshrining basic human and democratic rights in the country's constitution, building the institutions of our democracy and ensured citizens' participation in decision-making processes.
ANC governments have introduced laws to protect workers, create machinery to negotiate wages and working conditions, set minimum wages for domestic workers, farm workers, hospitality, taxi workers and security sectors and established maximum hours of work for all, and introduced affirmative action laws and legislation to promote skills.
In 1996, only 3 million people, had access to social grants. Today 13 million of which 8 million are children younger than 14 years receive social grants. In 1996, 58% of the population gained access to electricity. Today, 80% do. In 1996, 62% of the population has access to running water. Today, 88% do. 3.1 million subsidised houses were built, including 2.7 million free houses for the poor, giving shelter to an additional 14 million people.
In our primary and secondary schooling we are just a few years away from achieving 100% participation by all our children. About 600,000 children attend crèches and pre-schools. The matriculation pass rate has risen from 58% in 1994 to 65% in 2007.
Free primary health care has expanded and 1,600 more clinics have been built. About 248 out of 400 public hospitals have been revitalised and refurbished. The public antiretroviral therapy programme has enrolled more than 480,000 people living with HIV and AIDS, making our programme amongst the best and most comprehensive in the world.
This good progress now is being undermined by the economic crisis and the failure to restructure the economy and put us on a new growth path. The small gains we made to address the unemployment and poverty crises are being reversed as I pointed out earlier. This is the real source of the continuing wave of service-delivery protests.
SAMWU members know better than anyone else that we have a major crisis in local government. Thousands of our people are yet to experience the full benefits of democracy and are taking to the streets.
The main reason for these protests is the false policies of the previous ANC government, including the reduction in transfers to local government and the wasteful duplication of resources between provincial and local government. The movement as a whole only reluctantly accepted the creation of nine provincial structures, and experience has taught us that it would be better to have a nationally integrated public service, which directs resources to the local level where the majority of services are delivered.
The slow delivery of services is also a result of privatisation and outsourcing of basic services and the over reliance on public-private partnerships.
It was also a result of a lack of capacity as a result of deploying unqualified people into senior positions. While COSATU of course supports the need for transformation, that cannot be at the expense of having managers, technicians and experts who have skills and experience to run local government efficiently.
We should have systematically implemented a strategy of skills transfer and real empowerment when we were confronted with mainly white managers. Employing political activists with good struggle credentials but regrettably without the skills required to run operations that require technical expertise is something we must move away from immediately. That is why we will always fight for the skills empowerment of workers, so that their work experience translates into technical mastery of the productive forces.
The crisis in local government has been made far worse, and the residents' response angrier, by the spread of corruption. As Gwede Mantashe recently wrote in ANC Today, "The biggest threat to our movement is the intersection between the business interests and holding of public office. It is frightening to observe the speed with which the election to a position is seen to be the creation of an opportunity for wealth accumulation."
And for making these statements, for refusing to let the ANC be used for the well-connected to accumulate wealth and for enforcing revolutionary ethics, the ANC SG has made a number of enemies in certain quarters.
He must rest assured that if he continues to advocate these best values of the ANC, which are centred on selflessness, we shall continue to defend him and millions of other ANC members who are sick and tired of the selfish race to accumulate wealth will rally behind him.
SAMWU must be congratulated for its role in exposing and fighting this cancer of corruption, which, as the COSATU Congress report said, "is not only a moral imperative but a major issue of social justice in this country". As Comrade Gwede said in his article, "If we do not deal decisively with this tendency the ANC will only move one way, that is, downward. Fighting corruption must be our preoccupation".
We congratulate thousands of councillors and mayors who continue to do wonderful work to take forward our desire for a better life for all, often under difficult conditions. We call on our communities to be active in the ANC so that when the moment arrives to evaluate the work of all councillors they are there to ensure that those that have used their positions not to address our plight but to accumulate wealth for themselves and their families are kicked out.
We continue to insist that those who want to be public representatives must choose between being public representatives, who live within the salaries provided for these positions, and being businesspersons. No one should be allowed to choose both. We therefore reject the so-called "cooling off" period as a means to address graft and corruption. Capitalist accumulation never cools off unless it faces a crisis.
Comrade delegates I must congratulate SAMWU on its strike earlier this year. The 13% increase you negotiated has become the benchmark for all other negotiators. It proved the importance of taking your dispute to the streets and showing the employer that you are serious. It is democracy in action, and the labour movement, which has always played a pivotal leadership role in our struggle for democracy, is winning more and more victories.
Things are going our way and labour is increasingly leading society as a whole. The ANC's five priority areas of focus - decent jobs, education, health, rural development and crime - are our priorities too. Our interests and the national interest are one and the same.
I urge comrades to read the Policy Framework of the ANC Manifesto, which shows once and for all that Polokwane was a watershed in the alignment of class forces in the national liberation movement. The Policy Framework uses the ILO as a reference for what we mean by decent work, so we expect procurement procedures and employment in public infrastructure projects to promote the type of decent work that the ANC and the ILO talk about.
But if we are to maintain and strengthen this hegemony, it is essential that we always keep the majority of society on our side and not antagonise them. We have to build the broadest possible spectrum of the oppressed majority within the ranks of the national democratic movement.
We can learn from the newly amended Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which enshrines the "three represents" as one of the ruling theories of China. It follows Mao Zedong's spirit of the "two musts", which were that we:
"Must always be modest and prudent,
"Must always work hard and continue to struggle."
The principle of the "three represents" is that the Chinese Communist Party must:
"Always represent the development trend of China's advanced productive forces,
"Always represent the orientation of China's advanced culture, and
"Always represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people."
COSATU and its allies face a very similar challenge to bring the same principles to bear on our struggle for the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the South African people.
I wish you a very successful and fruitful congress.
<http://www.cosatu.org.za/> 1.2 SAMWU President addresses the congress
SAMWU President, Petrus Mashishi's Speech on the 9th National Congress, 3 November 2009.
The context we are in
Comrades this Conference takes place at a crucial time in our history, as a union, and as part of a national and international working class movement. So many things have changed since our last Conference, and so many new challenges have emerged that we must address if we are to survive and move forward.
First though let me say something about the context we are in.
I am sure comrades are now used to hearing about the recession and the global crisis of capitalism and especially its impact on the countries of the South.
Of course for most of us here, we have been living in a kind of recession for decades. Chronic poverty and unemployment are not new in the communities where we live and work. But despite what the newspapers are saying, we are a long way from the current recession being over. The IMF and World Bank have recently warned against raising hopes about the ending of the crisis.
We now know for example that not only is the South African economy recovering far slower than any other African country, but also that South Africa now holds the dubious honour of having the largest gap in the world between its rich and poor inhabitants. These are facts comrades.
We must resist the temptation of being lulled into a false sense of security. When governments for example say that their economies are slowly returning to normal, for millions of people, 'normal' means being impoverished, being homeless, being unemployed and being exploited. That is not the 'normal' that we want to return to!
On a global scale, we know from talking to our international contacts and guests that the world economic crisis will have a major impact on the public sector. When capitalism is in crisis, public spending is the first casualty and we have to be ready to challenge all attempts to resolve the crisis at our expense.
Given the depths of the capitalist crisis, we also have to get out of the boxes that we have built for ourselves. It is not enough to simply demand that we continue to get the bread crumbs off the table. Perhaps it is time to take over the bakery!
If we do not make bold demands now, in the middle of a capitalist crisis, do we wait until the capitalist class have regained their power and everything is 'back to normal' and when the capitalist class has regained its power?
What Should the Response of COSATU be to the Current Context?
I am pleased to report that the last COSATU Congress went very smoothly, and though we dealt with many important issues, the Congress was conducted in a spirit of solidarity and unity. The period before the Congress was marked by a determination to make sure that we discussed issues maturely in the tradition of COSATU, before they became divisive, and committed ourselves to making sure that we have a united Federation. I want to thank the CEC and COSATU Officer Bearers for this important achievement including the contribution of our dear late Comrade Violet Seboni.
However there are a number of issues that COSATU must address :
Rural Development/EPWP
When we accepted the EPWP we thought that it was going to be used to help give quality training to those involved in it, and that it was going to build a lasting infrastructure for community and economic development, and we thought that it would also to provide decent work.
However, instead EPWP is used for piece meal work, for example for grass cutting and street sweeping and in general filling in the gaps, and does not properly skill workers or give them future job prospects.
Rural development is not possible without building an infrastructure so that services and economic development measures can be implemented.
Rural communities need roads, schools, clinics and depots and offices to deliver services.
COSATU Resolution on Electricity
We are calling on the COSATU leadership to make sure that they drive the implementation of the resolution on the Restructuring of Electricity Service, and it is important that the process is driven by COSATU and not by individual affiliates. This resolution talks to the need for public control, and for a service that our people can afford.
Police Brutality
COSATU must help us to make sure that the policing methods that we were exposed to in our national strike, and that are being used in poor community protests are stopped and investigated. This is not appropriate policing in a democracy.
NEDLAC Processes
We are pleased that COSATU and the affiliates continue to intervene in NEDLAC processes on a range of important issues, but it is equally important to make sure that these processes are not confined to just those who attend NEDLAC meetings, but also involve our members.
Union Mergers
We must confess that we have not implemented the COSATU resolution on merging with other unions to create a single public sector union.
There has been serious talk about the need for SAMWU to begin merger talks with unions in and outside of our Federation. There is some pressure to re-open talks with NEHAWU for example, and to begin talking earnestly about a possible merger.
Many of us have come to realise that simply merging unions does not guarantee a stronger union movement. If for example merging reduces worker control or membership activism (which is the experience in many other countries), then this might not be the case.
We want COSATU to reconsider the policy on mergers so that it can include unions other than Nehawu and SAMWU and for example to involve SASAWU, SADNU etc.
It is important then to make sure that merger processes also provide an opportunity to deepen worker control, and levels of accountability, and are not just an administrative process of a technical nature.
It might seem unlikely at this stage in our development, but we must at some time soon really take stock of the prospects of merging with unions outside of the COSATU fold. If we are serious about the need for a united working class movement that is non-racial and non-sexist in nature then this should guide our approach.
Building a Working Class Alternative
Comrades we have a lot of work to do to build an alternative economic policy and to have it implemented by our Government.
NHI
We want to align ourselves with COSATU in seeking to make sure that the NHI becomes a reality.
The Workers Bank
Although we have not discussed the details of the Workers Bank as agreed by the COSATU Congress we also want to express our support.
Lets be clear, for us, the NHI and the Workers Bank are building blocks towards a socialist South Africa and are part of Building a working class Alternative.
Xenophobia
Last year, 64 completely innocent people were needlessly murdered because they were deemed to be 'foreigners'. In fact 14 of those who were killed in the xenophobic violence were South African nationals, some of whom were murdered because they could not speak a certain language, or because they were considered 'too dark skinned'.
First however, I want to congratulate COSATU comrades who stood firm against xenophobia, and who responded to the call to help those who had been displaced, attacked and made homeless.
There are many examples that should make us proud.
Given the economic crisis that we are faced with, and the continuing legacies of apartheid, we have to be ready to reject all those who seek to blame our troubles on the presence of migrant workers here in South Africa.
And I would like to issue a warning. Beware of all those who try to blame other working class or poor people for our troubles instead of the capitalist class that has all the wealth and power. Today they will blame Zimbabweans, tomorrow they will blame Sotho speakers, and the day after they will blame Muslims. Lets not be misled by any fake nationalists!
And we must not wait until another xenophobic outbreak claims more innocent lives before we do anything.
There are many issues that I could have raised here, but these are some that we think are priorities for COSATU to act upon.
The Alliance
We would now like to move onto the relationship with Alliance Partners, and the challenges of the Post Polokwane period.
Firstly, let me say that we appreciate the 'wind of change' especially with the ANC, and the way this has impacted on our relationship with Government.
We must note the vastly improved relationship between COSATU and other Alliance partners.
We appreciate that the ANC is showing respect for COSATU and the working class for example by sending top leaders to COSATU May Day Rallies, by receiving memorandum and representations, and by intervening when asked to help resolve challenges. There has been an end to name calling and shutting the door in our faces which was part of the past.
The wind of change, and opening the doors is a challenge for COSATU and its affiliates, and especially the public sector unions. Do we have the capacity to engage and can we make sure that we take our members with us?
Our own Minister is currently opening doors for SAMWU, and we must be fully prepared when we enter those doors at national and provincial level.
We have also noticed that since Polokwane SALGA, our employers organisation, is less adversarial than before.
However we must be careful that we do not over step into bargaining issues. We have structures in place for collective bargaining and they must not be undermined.
There are however a number of issues that threaten to weaken the Alliance and these are :
. Corruption.
. Politicians with business interests and divided loyalties.
. In-fighting at the local level
. Nepotism
. Tendering and outsourcing
. Lack of Service delivery in some areas.
. Lack of accountability to the voters
. The absence of public participation at all levels.
These issues must be addressed before and after the Local Government Elections in 2011.
We would like to advise our alliance partners, and especially the Party and SANCO that they have a special role to play in critiquing the Government and not always being praise singers. They must also be visible in the communities representing the poor when there are service delivery weaknesses.
We acknowledge our weaknesses in assisting SANCO especially during their internal difficulties, and we hope from this congress we can discuss a way forward.
There are many issues of concern in the Alliance but these few are pressing ones.
The Successes of SAMWU
· SAMWU is respected nationally and internationally for its militancy and its willingness to take up issues on behalf of its members.
· For example our recent strike improved the lowest salary by 20%.
· Though some may disagree with trashing as a tactic, it is bound to happen as long as our members are trashed by the employers.
· Since 1987 the Union has not been in debt, we have managed our finances well
· Since 1987 we have never had a national meeting that has had to be called off because it did not reach a quorum.
· We have never lost membership and have in fact continued to increase our membership.
· We have established a bargaining council for the Water Boards.
· There are many other successes which we have not noted here but space does not allow.
Final Comments
As a union, and as a vital part of our Federation COSATU, we are engaged in a struggle to build a socialist South Africa, and we must not be afraid of admitting so. Capitalism has failed us, and is continuing to fail us. We can decide to go backwards and let it fail us again and again, or we can seize the opportunity and say, now it is our turn to build a new society. A new society free of exploitation, free of environmental catastrophe, and free of oppression.
We want all comrades present at this Congress to participate in the discussions of all of the issues that are listed in the agenda. It is part of our SAMWU tradition to discuss issues robustly, and arrive at agreement, and then when we leave this Congress we are more united than before and are ready to fight for our policies.
1.3 Patronella's family thanks COSATU staff
It is difficult to find the words to express our gratitude for the many kindnesses you have shown us during this sad time.
We are so grateful for all you have done for us. The memorial service, flowers, poems and your financial assistance, and visits meant a great deal to us as we struggled with our heartbreaking loss. Along with the emotional support you gave us, gifts of your time and energy helped sustain us day to day.
We are unable to write individual thank you letters to each one of you, given the great outpouring of support. Please know that your generosity and thoughtfulness have touched us deeply.
Knowing that we were not alone helped us bear our grief and sadness. Thank you for being there for us, much appreciated.
With sincere thanks,
The Ndou family...........GOD bless you all.
<http://www.nehawu.org.za/> 1.4 COSATU Free State and NEHAWU want Jansen to retract statement on four students
Sam Mashinini COSATU Provincial Secretary and MM Tsiu NEHAWU Provincial Chairperson, 3 November 2009
COSATU Free State and its affiliate NEHAWU at provincial level have received a report about the meeting between our University of the Free State (UFS) union structure and management of UFS around the so-called consultation process that is widely reported.
We wish to clarify that it remains our understanding that you cannot consult on matters that you have already decided on. We believe that prior to any decision being taken in any organisation there has to be proper consultation with all affected stakeholders in that institution. For the record, and as we have said before, this did not happen at this University except now that meetings have been convened under the pretext that it is consultation.
Firstly, we wish to indicate that if a true and honest consultation is to take place in this institution, the university must first retract the statement made earlier on dropping the charges against the four students. Secondly we believe that there has to be an independent facilitation processes that will engage all the stake holders and not Professor Jonathan Jansen and his council, because they have clearly indicated to all that they are not competent to deal with the matter because they took sides on this very sensitive matter.
Up to today the Professor has repeatedly said that their decision is standing and all that they are doing is to explain why they have taken such a decision. To us this cannot be referred to as consultation, rather it's a briefing. As the federation, together with our affiliate NEHAWU in the province, we are convinced that if we allow this cover-up strategy used by Professor Jansen and his council that they are consulting whilst we all know that they are not, we will basically be fooling ourselves and actually assisting them to achieve their goal.
In 2008 we raised the need for transformation at the university and have said we are fully prepared to be part of that transformation process with a leadership of the university that is fully prepared and not the one that takes sides. It is against this background that we are insisting that Professor Jansen is not the right person for this process; hence we say he must be removed and allow someone to lead the process. We are going to continue with our programme of exposing racism at this institution, including all those who are associated with it and proving to everybody that short cuts will never assist in taking the institution forward.
We will not rest until Professor Jansen is removed.
1.5 COSATU slams Sun City over memorandum
Solly Nani Phetoe, COSATU North West Provincial secretary, 3 November 2009
COSATU North West is worried over the slow response from Sun International to its memorandum submitted on 31st October 2009.
The worse thing that Sun International contractors and labour brokers are doing is to continue to threaten to dismiss our members who participated in the protest action against racism by some racist employers inside Sun City.
COSATU therefore demands that all workers who are dismissed for participating in a march on 31st October 2009 be reinstated.
COSATU demands that the Falcon Security company be removed from Sun City, and from all companies where COSATU is organising, in particular Government departments and NWDC.
Our message was very clear to Sun International on 31st October 2009, that come 2nd November 2009 we want action in response to our memorandum. Today is 3rd November 2009 and nothing has come forward from Sun International except the dismissal of some of our members.
Dismissal of our workers will result to a total stoppage in the whole of Sun City very soon. Our members are not compromising. We will fight for ever to defend our members against any exploitation, including undermining our unions.
All workers who are threatened with dismissal must report to the federation as soon as possible.
1.6 "When Duty Calls" needs community support: POPCRU
Norman Mampane, POPCRU National Spokesperson, 3 November 2009
POPCRU has welcomed the newly launched Police dialogue programme with the communities around understanding the world of policing with the television program on Mondays.
The union believes this resonates well with the spirit of community policing and making and making Safety and Security a societal issue.
"When duty Calls" as shown on SABC indeed entrenches the ideals of the Freedom Charter that every citizen has a right to live in safe environment, free from pain.
POPCRU supports the bold approach by the Ministry of Police Services to deal harshly with people who continues to threaten innocent lives of the ordinary citizen's in particular violent crimes, cash heist, raping of woman and children, malls robberies, corruption and destroy of property in community protests.
POPCRU discourages the brutal usage of fatal force by the police and will continue to engage all and sundry around other methods of crowd control. With the re-certification of SAPS Training Centres by SASSETA across the country, we believe such interventions are needed.
POPCRU remains confident that our members view police service to the people with the utmost importance and as a key deliverable. We will forever be supportive to any measure that is aimed to curb crime.
1.7 POPCRU welcomes President's statement on the role of police
Norman Mampane, POPCRU's National Communication and Media Officer, 3 November 2009
POPCRU has welcomed the statement delivered by President Jacob Zuma on the role of the police.
Such a progressive analysis of the importance of the police officers comes at a time when this weekend, POPCRU will be celebrating 20 years of consolidating working class power in the Justice Cluster.
POPCRU wishes to applaud all men and women in blue for their steadfastness displayed throughout the years in a quest for Justice for All. POPCRU vividly remembers the brutality of the then Apartheid regime controlled police force and feel proud to a people's driven South African Police Service and acknowledge that, that did not come cheaply.
POPCRU takes this opportunity to acknowledge all members who fought vigorously for the recognition of POPCRU throughout the dark days. Much has been achieved. Amongst others, the recognition of the Union, growing membership from 30 000 to 145 000, succeeding in negotiating improved working conditions for our members, improved engagement of the community on policing issues through Policing Forums and Business against crime.
However, POPCRU acknowledges that there are many challenges still to be tackled. Amongst others, improved responce rate for any reported cases by members of the public, improved police-community member ratio in terms of service, crime statistics that depict rising violent crimes in South Africa, police killings in heist around our shopping complexes, corruption in the police services and improved salaries for all public servants.
POPCRU hereby reiterates its commitment to enhance safety and security for all citizens in all our areas; including the deepest rural areas of our country and continued participation of our communities in issues of policing and sharing of vital information with all police officers to effect arrest of perpetrators of crime.
With the advent of FIFA 2010 World Cup and beyond, we are confident that our members will rise to the occasion and uphold the image of our beloved country and its citizens for Africa's sake. That can be done by re-training our police officers on new and different ways of crowd control to entrench Human Rights for all citizens. We welcome the re-accreditation of ten SAPS Training centres across the country by SASSETA for such a vital task for our people.
1.8 DENOSA congratulates new SAMA President
Asanda Fongqo,DENOSA Communications Officer, 3 November 2009
DENOSA has congratulated the newly appointed President of the South African Medical Association, Dr Norman Mabasa.
DENOSA is confident that his vast experience and expertise in the health sector will bring about the much-needed stability.
DENOSA reiterates its commitment in working hand in hand with the newly elected leadership of SAMA and is confident that the good working relationship between the two organizations will continue.
In the same spirit, DENOSA wishes the newly elected board of SAMA well.
2. South Africa
2.1 SAMA cautions holiday-makers on malaria
Celia Hugo,SAMA's PR and Media Liaison Officer, 30 October 2009
Malaria, one of the world's most devastating diseases, claims about 1 million lives every year and affects an estimated 300 million people in 100 countries, with most of these deaths occurring in Africa.
In South Africa, Malaria is mainly transmitted in the low altitude areas of the north eastern parts of the country. These 'malaria-endemic' areas include the low veld region of Mpumalanga, Northern Province and the north-eastern parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Malaria transmission in South Africa is seasonal with the greatest number of cases occurring between October and May. With the holiday season approaching, SAMA calls on holiday-makers to be aware of malaria should they consider visiting any malaria-endemic area.
Pregnant women and children under five years are the most vulnerable to infection. You get malaria from the bite of a malaria-infected mosquito. When a mosquito bites an infected person, it ingests microscopic malaria parasites found in the person's blood. In the new host(infected person), the parasites circulate through the liver and then enter the host's red blood cells - this may take as little as eight days or as many as several months. Once inside the red blood cells, the parasites grow and multiply. The red blood cells then burst, freeing the parasites to attack other red blood cells. The infective cycle is continued when this 'new infected' person is bitten by a carrier-mosquito which then is ready to pass the parasites onto its next bite-victim!
Symptoms include fever and flu-like illness, with 'cold shivers', headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea may also occur. Malaria may cause anaemia and jaundice (yellow colouring of the skin and eyes) because of the loss of red blood cells. Symptoms start ten days to four weeks after infection, although a person may feel ill as early as eight days or up to one year later. Some parasites can rest in the liver for several months up to four years after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito.
Any traveller who becomes ill with a fever or flu-like illness while travelling or having travelled to high-risk areas and returning home, should immediately seek professional medical care. You should tell your health care provider that you have been travelling in a malaria-endemic area.
Most of the time malaria can be effectively treated with prescription medication. The type of medication and length of treatment depend on which kind of malaria is diagnosed, where the patient was infected, the age of the patient, and how severely ill the patient was at start of treatment. Your medical professional will advise you regarding the most appropriate medical treatment.
SAMA suggests the following preventative measures:
* Visit your health care provider 4-6 weeks before travelling, for a prescription for anti-malarial medicine;
* Take your anti-malarial medicine exactly on schedule without missing doses;
* Use insect repellent on exposed skin and flying insect spray in the room where you sleep;
* Wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts, especially from dusk to dawn. This is the time when mosquitoes are most active; and
* Sleep under a mosquito bed-net that has been dipped in permethrin insecticide if you are not living in screened or air-conditioned accommodation.
Sources: www.malaria.org <http://www.malaria.org>
www.doh.gov.za <http://www.doh.gov.za>
2.2 UJ students petition agreement with Ben Gurion University
Richard Mamabolo, UJ student, 3 November 2009
We, the members of the University of Johannesburg community, condemn and oppose the agreement recently signed by our university with the Israeli Ben Gurion University, an institution with a history of racism, and of violating academic freedom. We cannot understand how UJ can, in good conscience, conclude such an agreement.
We call on the UJ Management to take active and immediate steps to rescind the memorandum of cooperation with Ben Gurion University, and to assure students that UJ will not develop any institutional relationships with Israeli institutions. We denounce attempts to collaborate with ideological agents of Zionism, under the pretence of intellectual and academic exchange. Such an agreement makes UJ complicit in the criminal occupation of and genocide against the people of Palestine. Israel is an apartheid and colonial state, and UJ should not risk its reputation by supporting an institution that backs apartheid and colonialism.
Palestinians have called on us and the world community to support an institutional academic boycott on Israeli institutions, similar to the boycott we had called for against South African institutions when we were struggling against Apartheid.
We, signatories to this petition, support the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, with its capital in Jerusalem, and oppose the killing of women and children, with cluster bombs, dangerous chemicals, and other illegal weapons, the starving and denial of livelihoods of Palestinian people.
3. International
3.1 Ron Press dies
COSATU has received with shock the news of Ron Press's deathe in the UK. Ron was a Treason Trialist and at one time Secretary of the Textile Workers Union in Johannesburg in the 50's.
He was also a life-long supporter of the Communist Party and the South African Trade Union Movement. He worked for SACTU during the struggle years abroad.
4. Letters
4.1 Let's avoid retrenchments of a special type
Senzo Dlamini, 3 November 2009
I am of the view that we all agree with the banning of the Labour Brokers.
We agree with everything including the reasons that led our structures to raise the motion of banning as oppose to regulation.
However the remaining part in our discussion is the way forward on all affected employees who were employed under this capitalist's persuasion.
In the meantime, the Department of Water Affairs, KZN Health and many others have already issued circulars to inform staff about this move and even the notice to the employees that their contracts will be terminated as a consequence of this move. I think this will course uncertainty cadres; my view is that we should engage in order to find the best working mechanism. Our approach should not be the Retrenchment of a Special Type (RST). Our manifesto has been talking about creating jobs since 2004 and in 2009 we even spoke of Decent Jobs (which confused Terror Lekota).
We are faced with a situation where we need to defend the workers again whom without us are leaderless. Indeed the struggle continues. I am told other departments want to retrench temporal employees because they want to minimise their expenditure on the compensation of Employees. My considered view is that we cannot at this stage, have a situation whereby the Departments will save money at the expense of our manifesto and working class. Some of these employees have been 'Temps' for over two years. As oppose to the notice issued to them, there is a view that the Managers may make motivation for employees which are critically needed by the various components in order to consider issues of continuity. This will promote patronage and a venality of some kind. And this motivation will depend on the mutual relations between managers and employees. I am afraid that this arrangement will disregard the performance of others and will compromise the fact that these employees have been victims of the capitalist's persuasion.
I therefore suggest that we should lobby the Department of Public Service and Administration to absorb these employees on a fixed term contract while the process of evaluation and staff establishments within various Departments still unfolds. The worse part about the motivation from the Managers is the reality that these temporal employees that were under the Labour Brokers have been working tirelessly sacrificing their normal working hours and conditions of basic employments because they wanted to impress their managers and supervisors. Some have been doing managers job sometimes. Now because of many other issues might be compromised if the issues of motivation become the way forward when addressing continuity. I hope that this is one of the issues which the alliance will unpack in its meeting. Cadres please assist in paving the way forward.
Workers struggle Continua!!!!!!
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