Taking COSATU Today Forward, 13 October 2021
Norman Mampane
|
#2021YearofCosatuLocals #Back2Basics |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘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
Wednesday, 13 October 2021
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
All workers urged to take Covid19 vaccine jabs!
Organize at every workplace and demand Personal Protective Equipment Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SADTU mourns the passing on of Gauteng’s Central Region Secretary
- South Africa
Ø President Cyril Ramaphosa declares Election Day 1 November 2021 as public holiday
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- COSATU mourns the passing of revolutionary Swazi unionist– Comrade Vincent Ncongwane
- USB-Italy: The success of the general strike of the class oriented trade unionism shows that there is an alternative to the consociativism of Cgil Cisl Uil
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SADTU mourns the passing on of Gauteng’s Central Region Secretary
SADTU General Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, 12 October 2021
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) is mourning the death of one of her leaders, Comrade Mzamani Isaia Baloyi. Cde Baloyi was the Secretary of Gauteng’s Central Region and principal of Selelekela Secondary School in Orlando East. The 46-year-old was found dead at his home in Roodepoort on Friday night. He met his death hardly two days after being elected as the chairperson of Soweto’s COSATU local branch.
SADTU has lost a dedicated and selfless leader who remained true to the first pillar of the Union’s 2030 Vision of serving members. A man of the people, Baloyi was never too busy to attend to members’ concerns, he always put them first. A vocal, energetic person and smart debater, Baloyi was passionate about transformations issues. He was pragmatic leader who led with integrity, he initiated and led campaigns for the benefit of members. One such campaign he led in 2018 was for the removal of a district official who was trying to purge SADTU members.
Just a day before his untimely passing, Cde Baloyi had taken part in COSATU’s nationwide strike in Johannesburg
An activist of note, he cut his teeth in politics as a student at Tivumbeni College of Education in Limpopo in the 1990’s. In recognising of his leadership skills he was elected as president of the SRC in 1996. When he began his teaching career, SADTU became his union of choice and later served as secretary of Orlando East Branch for two terms. In 2018, he was elected as the Regional Secretary of Central Region.
We express our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and the Selelekela Secondary School.
May his soul rest in peace.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
South Africa
President Cyril Ramaphosa declares Election Day 1 November 2021 as public holiday
12 Oct 2021
President Cyril Ramaphosa has, in terms of Section 2A of the Public Holidays
Act of 1994, declared Monday, 1 November 2021 – the date for local government elections - as a public holiday throughout the country.
The President calls on all registered voters to use the opportunity of the public holiday to exercise their democratic right and civic duty by voting in this election that empowers citizens to elect new leadership and influence service delivery where they live.
Voters are reminded as well that they will only be able to cast their votes at the polling stations in wards where they are registered. In the event that voters may consider travel, they will not be able to transfer their votes to voting stations away from
their designated wards.
The President urges voters to ensure that they adhere to the COVID-19 health regulations as they exercise their vote.
The President also urges employers to make provision for employees to exercise their Constitutional right to vote on 1 November.
Media enquiries:
Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to the President
Email: me...@presidency.gov.za
Issued by: The Presidency
International-Solidarity
Share
COSATU mourns the passing of revolutionary Swazi unionist– Comrade Vincent Ncongwane
Sonia Mabunda-Kaziboni, COSATU International Secretary, October 12, 2021
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply saddened by the passing of the former General Secretary of the then Swaziland Federation of Labour, Comrade Vincent Ncongwane, on Thursday, the 7th of October 2021. Ncongwane played a major role in the formation of the Labour Coordinating Council, which was the coordinating body of the two national labour centres (Swaziland Federation of Labour and Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions) and the stand-alone Swaziland National Teachers’ Union. He was also the former Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA).
Comrade Ncongwane was passionate in his activism for the respect and awe of workers’ rights and the call for the democratisation of Swaziland.
The federation conveys its deepest and heartfelt sympathies to the Ncongwane family, the Swazi people, progressive forces supporting the Swazi struggle, colleagues and friends of the late Comrade Ncongwane. We wish them strength and comfort during this difficult time.
In honour of Comrade Ncongwane’s legacy, we continue to call on all progressive forces to agitate for the economic and political isolation of the Mswati government. This campaign needs to be strengthened and intensified so that the exploited and oppressed people of Swaziland can be freed from the shackles of the Mswati regime.
___________
13 Oct 2021
“Away the Draghi government, no pact, no social peace”. With these words of order Monday 11 have paraded one hundred thousand workers in over thirty squares throughout Italy while participation in the strike has exceeded one million workers. All this in spite of the media terrorism spread with full hands on the possibility that the parades, after the serious actions of Saturday, were infiltrated by violent provocateurs.
It was a strong and convinced reply to the government of the European plenipotentiary Mario Draghi and to the economic and social policy choices of the executive “all together with passion”. At the heart of the strike was a rich and articulated platform that USB represented in the squares of all Italy and that we brought significantly in front of the Ministry of Economic Development, under Brunetta’s windows and besieging the Ministry of Education together with hundreds of students of Alternative Student Opposition.
It is clear that the alternative to the consociativism of Cgil Cisl Uil not only exists but is strengthened and rooted in thousands of workplaces, from industry to transport, public employment, schools, logistics and wherever there is a real battle to defend the rights of workers.
A strong call to anti-fascist practice has crossed all the parades, knowing full well that it is up to us to defend this ideal heritage that has been put into oblivion by those who support the Draghi government, in which everyone participates, even those who go hand in hand with the fascists.
In short, the general strike marked an important political step of maturity of the workers organized in the basic and class unionism, obviously highlighted its merits and limitations but also signaled the growth and affirmation of an antagonistic social bloc, which does not practice reactionary movements but takes responsibility for the reconstruction of a class movement capable of becoming a non-minority reference point in the country.
Unione Sindacale di Base
__________________________
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