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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
Thursday, 2 September 2021
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Contents
o Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
o South Africa
o International-Workers’ Solidarity!
A Mineworker dies at Harmony's Gold's Mponeng Mine yesterday
Sikelela
Dlamini, NUM Carletonville Health and Safety Secretary, 02 September 2021
The
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) notes that there has been a fatality at Harmony‘s Gold Mponeng Mine in the Carletonville region through what is reported to be a “fall of ground”.
The incident happened yesterday.
"It is quite disturbing that poor people who earn peanuts continue to die and the industry for which they work appear unaffected and do not care about the impact the deaths are having on the families of the deceased," said Sikelela Dlamini, NUM Carletonville Health and Safety Secretary.
“We call on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to enforce the law and ensure that thorough investigation is done. It cannot be right that workers continue to die whilst the industry smiles all the way to the bank as if nothing happened.
The NUM would like to convey its deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families, colleagues, and friends of the deceased during this difficult time.
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Orapeleng Moraladi, COSATU Northern Cape Provincial Secretary, 2 September 2021
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Northern Cape is fully behind its affiliate the South African Democratic Teachers Union’s (SADTU) call for the immediate payment of workers.
It is very disturbing, for the department which falls under the ANC led government to illtreat the workers in this inhumane manner.
We have on several occasions called the government through the Premier to uplift the moratorium on appointment of workers particularly in the Health and Education sectors.
Our view is that, there is no political will to resolve this matter since the government has treated us with arrogance and failed to heed the call to take issues of Education and Health seriously.
We reject the explanation given by the HOD of Education with contempt it deserves where she apportions blame to “budget cuts” and COVID-19 pandemic as the reasons for non-payment.
It is a huge shame and clear sign of lack of management and leadership in our government. How would workers be employed and allowed to render their services while “seemingly” the department did not have a budget to pay them for the whole three (3) months?.
The explanation given exposes the government’s lack of organisational acumen, synergy and coherence, it depicts a picture that these departments operate as stand-alone entities and without any knowledge and understanding of proper management systems.
We therefore call on the Premier to investigate this and hold everyone accountable for the mess and sufferings that the poor workers had to endure as a result of these derisive actions and to ensure that, this should never happen again BUT most importantly, to also guarantee that workers will be paid in time.
Issued by COSATU Northern Cape
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Phillip Mankge, NUM North East Regional Secretary, 02 September 2021
The National Union of Mineworkers NUM) is deeply shocked and saddened by the death of a mineworker at Two Rivers Mine yesterday morning around 10 am. Two Rivers is situated in Limpopo next to Steelpoort town.
The cause of the incident is still unknown, however, we can confirm that the incidents happened as a result of a fall of ground (FOG) which killed the miner immediately.
NUM North East Regional Secretary Phillip Mankge and other union officials visited the mine to establish a possible cause of the incident around 3 pm yesterday.
"We can confirm and have observed that the mine management does not take the issue of fatality in a serious light because by 4 pm yesterday no formal communication had been issued to the employees about the incident.
The General manager of the company Mr Johan Joubert did not bother to address the union about the incident and this displays the arrogance level of the company and how they view the union and its members. The most disturbing part is how they don’t care about the safety of their employees," said. Phillip Mankge, NUM North East Regional Secretary.
"NUM rejects the claim made by the company late yesterday that they do not know what is the cause of that incident. NUM calls on the management not to play hide and seek around the death of a human being, instead, the company should take responsibility for a system failure.
NUM is saying enough is enough about fatalities in the mining industry this calls for serious action from the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE) to issue S54 of Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996.
Section 54 gives inspectors powers to deal with dangerous conditions in the mine.
After they have accessed the mine working environment, the inspector can decide to stop a section or the whole mine. Section 55 ensures that a mine complies with the MHS Act and regulations. When an inspector gives an instruction, the mine is informed that they need to comply within a specified period. Section 55D deals with administrative fines and the maximum amount per fine is R1 million per transgression. If a mining company has had more than one transgression then it can receive multiple fines.
"The NUM calls upon the DMRE to stop this barbaric act by Two Rivers management and issue the whole mine with a section 54 and immediately take away certificate from the General Manager of that mine and that of the Safety Manager and issue a heavy mine to the mine for disregard of the Health and Safety act.
The NUM was pleased by a quick response from the South African police services whilst the DMRE as the regulator was still asking for direction from the company.
NUM will be visiting the site again to continue with the on loco inspection and to deeply find out the route cause of the incident. It is unacceptable that mineworkers are denied their basic human right to work in an environment that guarantees their safety and that instead they are expected to go to work to die.
We are selling our labour for the survival of our families, not our limbs, and lives," Mankge said.
The NUM would like to convey its deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families, colleagues, and friends of the deceased during this difficult time.
COSATU mourns the passing of MKMVA leader Cde Kebby Maphatsoe
Sizwe Pamla, COSATU National Spokesperson, 01 September 2021
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) mourns the sad passing of the MKMVA leader Comrade, Kebby Maphatsoe. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and his colleagues.
Comrade Kebby Maphatsoe was a passionate fighter for social justice, and he was part of a select cadreship that left the country to fight the evil apartheid regime. After coming back, he continued to serve the ANC and the people of South Africa in government and outside of government.
He was a man who was passionate, and who also spoke his mind without fear. In honour of cadres like Cde Maphatsoe, we need to expedite the political programme of advancing the struggle to transform our society and to inspire all those fighting for freedom in South Africa and around the world.
We need to focus on the full and speedy implementation of policies to transform our economy, to create jobs and redistribute the country`s wealth and for a radical programme for economic reconstruction, in line with the Freedom Charter.
May his soul Rest in Peace!
Issued by COSATU
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POPCRU concerned about the alarming rise in the killings of officers
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) finds it infuriating the snail’s pace level at which recurring incidents of officer killings are being undermined, if not ignored, resulting in at least 6 deaths within the last 10 days, and bringing the total number of killings to 38 within the last 8 months.
Within a space of 10 days in the month of August, at least six officers have since perished at the hands of criminality, with at least one having survived an attack.
On the 21st, Constable Madikitsi Mota Malinga, a female officer in the Free State province was strangled to death, and on the 23rd, Sergeant Pumlani Dastile, attached to the Eastern Cape Provincial Organised Crime Unit was also killed while on duty around Zwelitsha, where he was pursuing information on a robbery.
Three days later, on the 26th, Sergeant Sharon Mogale and Mapule Petje of the Tembisa Police Station were attacked and disarmed by four suspects while inside a retail shop in Tembisa, resulting in the killing of Sergeant Mogale. This fateful incident was followed by another, on the 27th where a police officer from Kwa Zulu-Natal was killed while on the way to fetch a colleague.
This past monday, two members of the Road Traffic Infringement (RTI) Mtubatuba’s service vehicle was riddled with over 15 rounds of bullets possibly from an AK47 or R5 rifle, leaving them fatally wounded, with their firearms being stolen.
All these incidents take place just after two officers were brutally burned to death in the North West Province, including an attack at a police station in the Northern Cape Province.
POPCRU President Zizamele Cebekhulu has bemoaned these irrational ongoing attacks on law enforcement officers, mainly concerned about the normality status such acts continue to receive from different quarters.
“While the threat against our police officers has been on an increase, with some losing their lives to criminal elements, we should not be deterred by these cowardly acts.
We need to remind ourselves that when out there enforcing law and order, the law is on our side to respond decisively when confronted by criminals. Our police officers should not die with their firearms.
However, it has been far too long that the issues of police safety have been put by the wayside, and we cannot afford to stand idle.
We urgently need a formulation of protective and preventative strategies necessary to protect our police officers".
There must be improved exertions to better understand why police officers continue to be killed in South Africa, as well as to formulate and recommend preventative, interventionist and protective strategies and measures to reduce the number of officers being killed yearly. Such high levels have had a negative impact on the morale of officers, while also traumatising those witnessing such incidents.
Moreover, the randomness and apparent targeting of police members even while off duty would inevitably increasing members’ feelings of unsafety and insecurity. It is clear fact that police officers are being singled out as targets for attack irrespective of being in or out of uniform. In other words, they are known and identified in their neighbourhoods as police personnel.
President Cebekhulu further reiterated the union’s calls for crimes committed against police to be met with harsher punishment.
It is becoming apparent that the murder of police officers is not taken seriously as politicians in parliament never discuss it. It is unimportant for them, and it quite saddening that police deaths do not even make headline news; this while mainly negativities are widely publicised.
Members of the SAPS are justifiably angered by this trend wherein their colleagues continue to be killed and are specific targets of attack. They consider themselves to be forgotten and neglected victims; that the authorities and, in particular, their own organisation does not care about their safety and security and fail to do anything concrete about the situation. In their view, the overall perception is that the SAPS appears to be reluctant to do anything.
There is an urgent need to examine the reasons why the attacks on and killing of police members have continue at such high levels and also to investigate what could be done to protect the members of the police service, not only in their work environment but also off-duty and in their homes, from attack and murder. No longer can members accept injury or death as merely a consequence or an acceptable risk in the normal execution of their daily work. Police officers too have rights to life.
No longer can we stand by and listen to long speeches during funerals and commemorations without any action being taken.
POPCRU calls for appropriate security measures which should be put in place at all police stations in order to effectively control and secure the environment in which the police officers work, thus, limiting risk of injury or death to our police officers, as well as members of the public as this has a lot to do with the massive impact that the killing of our police offices has on our nation’s safety and the individual police officer’s immediate families.
Police are tasked daily to ensure all our citizens are safe in their homes, work places, places of worship and entertainment. It should be prioritised that in-turn, they and their immediate families are also well looked after.
There is an urgent need to review and increase on service allowances for SAPS Act members, and an introduction of the danger allowance for the Public Service Act employees and SAPS Act members.
With the allowance in the SAPS having been stagnant at R400 since 2001, we have submitted a position paper at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC), therein demanding the allowance to be increased to R1500, which takes into consideration that according the SSSBC Agreement 4 of 2001, the initial allowance was supposed to have been increased yearly with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), including the cost of living adjustments and the frequency of the dangers these officers find themselves.
Matters of living conditions, family situations, career stagnation and lack of promotion of police officers should be comprehensively addressed as officers with a healthy morale will perform their duties well.
While the onus lies on the police to prevent, combat and investigate crime, communities have a role to play in flushing out crime, as the criminals committing these heinous acts come from the communities we serve, so the improvement of community and police relations is long overdue if we are to build better communities.
The high levels of murder of police officials prior to our democratic breakthrough had traditionally been explained away within the context of high levels of political violence and as being part of the "struggle".
This, however, can under no longer hold qualification under any circumstances.
We call for urgent dialogue with the Minister of Police and the National Police Commissioner addressing this debacle, and in the event it is delayed, the POPCRU leadership will be left with no option but to consider other measures.
Issued by POPCRU
Alliance National Day of Action in support of the people of CUBA today
Sizwe Pamla, COSATU National Spokesperson, 01 September 2021
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and its Alliance partners (ANC, SACP, and SANCO) will be embarking on a National Day of Action in support of the people of Cuba and their revolution.
The people of Cuba continue to be subjected to a counter-revolutionary campaign by the US government that includes economic sanctions and the use of US mercenaries to try and provoke a social uprising in Cuba.
The Federation with its political Alliance partners will be picketing and convening motorcades to protest the US blockade, and also pushing and lobbying for Humanitarian Aid for the people of Cuba. These activities will be held in three South African provinces of Gauteng, Cape Town, and KwaZulu Natal.
The six decades of US Imperial embargo and anti-revolutionary economic sabotage against CUBA have left their economy struggling. The severely strengthened U.S blockade against Cuba has deepened the strain on the people of Cuba and severely reducing opportunities for imports of food, medical supplies, and fuel, therefore, creating a humanitarian crisis in this era of the global pandemic.
We remain inspired by their resilience and selflessness even under these challenging economic conditions.
They have taught all of us how to be principled internationalists by offering support to many struggling countries worldwide in the field of health, education, and disaster relief. We call on all South Africans who value the freedom to contribute to this humanitarian cause and support the people of CUBA's right to self-determination. The planned events are as follows:
Gauteng
Date : 02 September 2021
Time : 10H00-12H00
Activity: Picket and Handover of Memorandum at the USA Consulate, 1 Sandton Drive Sandhurst, Johannesburg
Contact : Louisa Modikwe 066 182 2402
Western Cape
Date : 02 September 2021
Time : 09h00
Activity: Motorcade and Handover of the memorandum: USA Consulate, 02 Reddam Avenue, West Lake Cape Town
Contact: Malvern de Bruyn 060 977 9027
KwaZulu Natal
Date : 02 September 2021
Time :10H00-13H00
Activity: Motorcade and Handover of Memorandum; USA Consulate, Old Mutual Building 303 West Street, Durban
Contact: Edwin Mkhize 082 399 7756
All members of the media are invited to attend and cover these activities.
Issued by COSATU
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ITUC welcomes ILO World Social Protection Report 2020-22
1 September 2021
The new International Labour Organization (ILO) report on social protection exposes the huge gaps in social protection coverage around the world, with 47% of people having no social protection at all, and a further 22% lacking full protection in line with international labour standards.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “While some countries brought in temporary pandemic measures, this report reveals how little progress has been made overall. It’s a global scandal that so many billions of people lack any form of protection and that only one-third of the world’s population are adequately covered.
“For the least wealthy countries in particular, a global social protection fund is more urgent than ever. All governments need to recognise that social protection is an investment that generates positive returns, socially and economically.
“It’s also a major public health issue, especially during a pandemic, when people have no option but to work in order to survive, exposing them and those near to them to infection.
“In the absence of social protection, COVID-19 will continue to thrive, claiming many more lives and potentially giving rise to new variants that could threaten everyone on the planet. That’s why universal social protection is one of the five workers’ demands under a New Social Contract.”
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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