Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 17 May 2024
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY Today, it’s International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia #Back2Basics #ElijahBarayiBrigades #VoteANC #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
17 May 2024
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand Personal Protective Equipment Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Speaking Notes: COSATU General Secretary Address to COSATU Young Workers Forum
- South Africa
- COSATU joins millions across the world in support of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- IDAHOBIT: No comrade left behind
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Speaking Notes: COSATU General Secretary Address to COSATU Young Workers Forum
Solly Phetoe, COSATU General Secretary, 17 May 2024
Ensuring a decisive victory for the working class in these elections
COSATU YOUNG WORKERS LEADERSHIP
COSATU PROVINCIAL OFFICE BEARES
SASCO LEADERSHIP
ANCYL LEADERSHIP
YCL LEADERSHIP
SANCO LEADERSHIP
ANC
SACP
Most importantly young workers delegates to this activity
Introduction
At the CEC in February, we noted the significance of this year, our milestone of 30 years of democratic rule and the gains for the historically oppressed masses of our people, including those of workers. We also gave an honest and sober reflection of the balance between gains and advances made in the democratic dispensation, vis-à-vis setbacks and continuing challenges, especially setbacks primarily emanating from protracted neoliberal austerity policy trajectory, dating back from the 1996 Class Project. As we continue to reflect on our democratic breakthrough and on the consecutive six democratic administrations, we must indeed celebrate gains of our freedom.
What the 30 years of democracy mean to us, the historically oppressed?
Comrades, South Africa today is a very different country from what it was before the 1994 breakthrough. In fact, one of the key points of celebration is that changes in the arena of democratic rights, social rights of association and economic rights have been so profound, many of the young people today are not even able to imagine what apartheid looked and felt like, what an apartheid workplace looked like, or even what it was to be a worker under apartheid industrial relations. We should celebrate this! Not only celebrate, but we must also ensure we fight with everything in our power to ensure workers of this country never return to the working conditions, to industrial relations regime, nor to wage regimes that workers were subjected to under apartheid workplace.
Comrades, I mention this because we have already noted manifesto pronouncements by the DA and their moon-shot pact partners (Multiparty Charter) that they are intent on reversing gains of workers and the poor if their unholy coalition takes overpower. The DA and Action SA have already pronounced on amending the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, essentially to remove clauses that protect workers’ rights and gains. They have already pronounced on repealing the National Minimum Wage Act and the Employment Equity Act, as well as phasing out the SRD grant and adjust NFSAS.
It is important to recall the history of these political parties and their leaders. Comrades, during the 1980s, at the height of worker struggles for recognition of labour unions, it was the IFP-run one party KZN Bantustan government that sponsored the formation of an opposing trade union UWUSA, to counter the formation of COSATU in 1985. In opposing workers’ struggles then, UWUSA used a catch phrase, “half a loaf if better than no bread”. This was a slogan of apartheid collaborators, who were saying that South African workers must not fight for humane working conditions and a living wage but must accept subhuman conditions of work and slavery wages, because ‘half a loaf was better than no bread’. At that time the IFP-run KwaZulu Bantustan worked with then businessman Herman Mashaba to establish production plants for his ‘Black like Me’ business in Newcastle, Richards Bay and Umlazi township. From back then, Mashaba also espoused these anti-worker sentiments, that it was fine to exploit workers as long as you were giving them jobs.
Defending the basic principles of democratic culture entrenched by our movement
The democratic era has brought rights of citizenship to every South Africa, which we must defend against a growing monarchist tendency, always associated with the IFP, but recently displayed by the MK Party, who want the land to be returned to ‘Amakhosi’, whom they call custodians of our land. Comrades, when we fought against apartheid oppression, we were fighting for rights of citizenship for every South African, right of citizenship especially for the poor, black women and youths. I cannot be that we then cede rights we fought for, a right many of our own comrades and relatives gave their lives for, to again be made subjects of monarchs, Chiefs, Izinduna, etc. Comrades, this is why we are workers, as a class we stand for right of every worker, every person. We stand for one person one vote, and we stand for the power of the people, which means power must be given by the people through a democratic process, so that the people can hold those they elect accountable through regular electoral contests. If now we say, ‘the land and the power must be given back to amakhosi’, who will hold them accountable, when they not elected, but selected through birth?
The last point of significance regards our democracy and the democratic culture enshrined by our Congress Alliance. The Congress Alliance has matured democratic culture in all our organisations, even in instances of strife like SANCO recently, the rest of the Alliance intervened to steer our partner back to the democratic culture. The democratic culture in the ANC-led alliance must not be taken for granted. Our political landscape is littered with fascist, one-man show political parties, only with the exception of racist DA and FF+. The IFP continues to be Mangosuthu Buthelezi fiefdom, ruling it literally from the grave, as seen in their election radio adverts. The ACDP is like Rev Moshoeshoe’s denomination church. The least said about Holomisa’s UDM the better, so is Patricia de Lille’s Good party, the ATM, Bosa of Musi Maimane, Herman Mashaba’s Action SA and Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Front. The big elephants in the room in neo-fascist cult of personality are best represented by Julius Malema and his EFF, as well as the new MK Party of Jacob Zuma. I have already alluded earlier that during the KwaZulu Bantustan, Mangosuthu led a one-party sycophantic regime in KwaZulu, where he was all-in-all. These are facts we should as Young Workers forum be able to illustrate and explain to our youths as we enter the last 10 days before elections. Our general elections are just about provision of water, patching of potholes and services. Yes, our government must improve these and our people need to experience a functioning local government in their communities. But national elections are about national legislation, policies, the role of institutions, banks, economy, and entrenching democracy. We must be clear on this fact, under present material conditions, only the ANC-led alliance provides possibilities to continue in our pursuit for the national democratic revolution.
Advancing the NDR, and holding 7th Administration accountable
Comrades, we must be the first to acknowledge persisting crisis of capitalism in South Africa and its manifestation in crisis-high unemployment, high levels of poverty and growing inequality. These translate to a crisis of social reproduction, which play out in everyday life through high levels of violence, crime and gender-based violence and femicide, whose daily victims are workers, the poor and back women, as well as the majority of our people living in historically black townships and informal settlements.
While we do indeed have a story to tell and celebrate the 30 years of freedom and democracy, the majority of the poor in our communities continue to live excluded from many of the gains of freedom, despite efforts of government through expansion of the social security system. The continuing vestiges of the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, compounded by the hegemony of monopoly capital are the reasons we must still struggle as workers and in this specific case campaign for a decisive victory of our working-class Alliance.
At the centre of continuing economic vestiges in our society, namely growing race-based class inequality, crisis-level unemployment and poverty is protracted neoliberal austerity pushed at all costs by National Treasury, imposed in government policy instruments and institutions of the state, resulting in the hollowing of the state and its capacity, through auctioning-off of government institutions, through privatisation and tender-preneurship. What is not mentioned is that it is the class project and tender-preneurship that are the root causes of South Africa’s rampant corruption in the public sector. The very essence of replacing state insourced provision and relegating service delivery to profiteering companies and individuals, is the very recipe for corrupt inducement of public service officials and politicians to all kinds of corrupt transactions over tenders and business with the state. These, as the working-class alliance, both COSATU and the SACP have already pronounced we want the 7th administration to undo, because not only does tender-preneurship produce corrupt relationship between government official and private service providers, it also undermines South Africa’s labour relations, as many of these tender-preneurs do not observe many of our labour relations laws, and subject their workers to poor conditions of work.
Campaigning for the ANC to pursue a transformative programme
Comrades, this is our campaign, this is our programme as we enter the last 10 days of the campaign to ensure a decisive victory of the Alliance through the ANC ballot. Our campaign is to ensure the following:
1. every worker is conscious of the significance of this election,
2. every worker mobilises her/his first people of contact to vote in the coming election
3. every worker goes to the ballot box on 29 May 2024,
4. every worker votes for the ANC in all three ballot papers provided
Through this ballot for the ANC in the coming elections, we are also saying, ‘let us mobilise workers to fight for the expansion of the programme of transforming not just our politics, which the successive ANC governments have succeeded in doing, but also to transform our economy and society. As noted earlier, we already know that only the ANC (and the Congress Alliance) has the ideological bias and programmatic commitment to workers and the poor. Only the ANC has a proven track record of democratic traditions organisationally, and through six terms as the governing party has honoured most of demands and expectations of workers.
We are not just campaigning for an electoral victory of the ANC, we are also saying after the elections, we must ensure the ANC government has equitable deployment of the entire Alliance. More than that, we want Comrades from COSATU deployed in government to be accountable first to us as workers (COSATU). We are tired of COSATU deployees, who when deployed as Ministers no longer want to account to us, instead begin to enforce anti-worker programs.
The vigour with which we are campaigning for the ANC, must be the same when we hold these comrades accountable in government to commitments agreed upon in through the election manifesto processes!
Comrades, let us start by making sure we bring all our structures to Siyanqoba Rally at FNB, then we take every worker on 29 May to vote ANC!
Amandla!
COSATU joins millions across the world in support of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia
Matthew Parks, COSATU Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, 17 May 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joins millions across the world in support of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
We mourn those we have lost over many years to acts of violence, intolerance and discrimination against our LGBTQIA Plus compatriots. We cherish those who overcome formidable walls of hatred and thrived in spite of them. We celebrate the many substantial gains we have made in the struggle against intolerance and discrimination. We rededicate ourselves to continue to champion the rights of all South Africans irrespective of gender of sexual identity.
As we celebrate 30 years of democracy, we are proud that under the leadership of the African National Congress, today our Constitution stands high amongst the world in explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual identity. Our laws have been overhauled to embrace the inclusive letter and spirit of the Constitution. The Civil Union Act guarantees the right to same sex marriages. The Employment Equity Act prohibits unfair discrimination and demands equal pay for equal work. The Labour Laws Amendment Act provides for parental leave for same sex parents of newborn children. In 2021 Parliament overhauled our criminal law strengthening protections for survivors of gender-based violence and tightening search and seizure, arrest, bail and sentencing provisions for the accused.
South Africa today is a far better place than it was before 1994 when homophobia was the law of the apartheid regime and members of the LGBTQIA Plus communities were criminalised, tortured and imprisoned in psychiatric facilities. South Africa is a better place today than it was in 1994 when many in society continued to mainstream discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA Plus communities.
Whilst we are correctly proud of the real and progressive advances, we dare not be complacent when members of the LGBTQIA Plus communities still face some of the most horrific forms of discrimination and gender-based violence in their communities and at their workplaces.
Equally we must not take our advances for granted when the Democratic Alliance pledges to scrap our labour laws prohibiting discrimination at the workplace or providing paid parental leave or the right wing fundamentalist political parties contesting the May 29th elections who openly mock these gains and promise to return South Africa to the dark days of intolerance and hatred.
COSATU and its Affiliates will continue to champion the rights of all workers, including members of the LGBTQIA Plus communities, to be protected from discrimination at their workplaces and in their communities.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
IDAHOBIT: No comrade left behind
17 May, 2024
STATEMENT CGU: The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), celebrated on 17 May, is an opportunity for the trade union movement across the globe to (re)affirm our commitment to solidarity with LGBTI+ people and communities increasingly under siege. No comrade should be left behind in our fight for equality, justice and freedom for all.
Solidarity is an antidote to a world beset by conflict and inequality. Therefore, it is critical for us to unite, resist and challenge employers and governments while building strong movements to achieve social and economic justice for all.
We are strongest and most effective when standing together regardless of any differences we might have. The global anti-apartheid movement, for example, transcended borders and race to end a racist regime. Tellingly, South Africa's constitution, adopted after apartheid, was the first in the world to explicitly safeguard the rights of LGBTI+ people.
The fight for LGBTI+ equality has been led by many brave leaders, sharing our trade union and progressive values. In many countries, trade unions continue to be a prominent part of the struggle, often making gains in collective bargaining which influences policy and legislative change. When LGBTI+ workers organised to confront homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in the world of work and society, many trade unions joined the call for protection from discrimination and equal treatment. Our underlying ethic of solidarity required us to stand with workers facing exclusion, discrimination, harassment and violence.
Solidarity remains both the driving force and the bedrock of our movement, guiding us toward a future of equality, justice and freedom for all. In contrast, powerful forces seek to divide workers and vilify LGBTI+ people as a distraction from issues like corruption, inequality and failed neoliberal policies. They often target low-income communities, weaponising their anxieties caused by economic inequalities and falsely framing the cultural interest of “elites'' as values of ordinary people. This divisive rhetoric is trafficked through social media and undisclosed financial contributions.
We have become familiar with the right’s scapegoating of migrants and the poor, its islamophobia, racism and antisemitism. Misogyny has intensified with attacks on women’s bodily autonomy and integrity. This is all part of an organised, anti-rights agenda which is a direct threat to all that trade unions stand and fight for.
On this International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, we commit ourselves to continue fighting for the rights of all workers and call on our affiliates around the world to support our call to end violence and discrimination in the workplace, ensuring that no comrade is left behind.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
Solidarity requires nothing less of us.
____________________
Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348