Taking COSATU Today Forward, 21 May 2024
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY Dear workers: #May29 is few days to come. Let’s come out with our families to #VoteANC with an overwhelming majority #ElijahBarayiBrigades #VoteANC #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
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
21 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!
- Inspection and enforcement services unit in the north west province continue to enforce compliance in the agricultural sector
- South Africa
- COSATU Gauteng condemns the brutal killing of Bandile Shabalala at Shoprite, Heidelburg
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Education: a key battleground for anti-gender activists
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Inspection and enforcement services unit in the north west province continue to enforce compliance in the agricultural sector
20 May 2024
The North West Province's Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) Unit, a division of the Department of Employment and Labour, has initiated a comprehensive two-week Blitz Inspection. This inspection, which is concentrated on the Agricultural Sector within the Ditsobotla Local Municipality, commenced on 13 May 2024 and is scheduled to conclude on 23 May 2024.
The primary objective of these inspections is to assess compliance with several key legislations, including the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHS), Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), Unemployment Insurance Act, and Compensation of Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA).
As of now, over 40 farms have undergone inspection. The majority of non-compliance issues were identified under the BCEA, with instances of employees not receiving payslips and employment contracts. Additionally, employers were found to be unregistered under the UIA and COIDA. Non-compliance with the General Safety Regulations and the Driven Machinery Regulations was also observed under the OHSA.
Provincial Chief Inspector, Chris Sithole, acknowledges that achieving compliance with labour laws in this sector remains a significant challenge. However, he expresses optimism that this can be addressed effectively, given the IES's strong relationships with key stakeholders in the sector who are committed to improving compliance.
Sithole stated, “We are diligently engaging with all relevant stakeholders in the sector. Over time, I am confident that we will achieve our compliance goals. Our approach is not solely enforcement-based; we also advocate for compliance. While the current level of compliance is unsatisfactory, we will persist in our advocacy efforts, enforce the law, and hold non-compliant entities accountable as mandated by law."
Following the Blitz, a seminar will be held to discuss the impact of climate change on Occupational Health and Safety in the workplace, specifically within the Agricultural Sector. The seminar aims to shed some light on the intersection of climate change and workplace safety, explore emerging risks, and discuss necessary mitigation strategies and adaptation measures to protect workers amidst environmental changes.
Details for the seminar are as follows:
Date: Friday, 24 May 2024
Venue : Scotts Manor Guesthouse, Lichtenburg
21 Bree St, Retiefs Park
Time: 09H00 – 13H00
The media is invited to attend and cover.
For RSVP and media inquiries, kindly contact:
Botsang Huma: Provincial Communication Officer
082 497 7438/ botsan...@labour.gov.za
-END-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
COSATU Gauteng condemns the brutal killing of Bandile Shabalala at Shoprite, Heidelburg
Louisah Modikwe, COSATU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 21 May 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Gauteng is appalled and deeply saddened by the horrific incident that occurred at Heidelburg Shoprite where Mr. Shabalala, an unemployed man, died after being locked in the cold room for allegedly stealing a chocolate bar.
This incident reminds workers and the working class of the triple challenges and the undermining by those who are economically favoured. The management of Shoprite took it upon themselves to crucify the deceased without giving him a chance to be heard in court. They decided to become justice unto themselves and locked him to freeze to death.
We equally condemn the reckless and illegal actions by a private security company who opened fire using rubber bullets at close range against a crowd of protesters at Shoprite. This endangered the lives of not only protesters exercising their constitutional rights but also of media workers covering the incident and ordinary pedestrians and school children in close proximity.
COSATU Gauteng urges law enforcement agencies, the Human Rights Commission, Department of Employment and Labour to ensure that the full weight of the law is brought against the guilty. We demand a thorough investigation into the incidents, and we call for the prosecution to be carried out without any prejudice.
COSATU sends heartfelt condolences to the Shabalala Family.
Issued by COSATU Gauteng
International-Solidarity
Education: a key battleground for anti-gender activists
achieving sustainable development goal 4equity and inclusion advancing gender equality in and through education, 17 May 2024updated 17 May 2024written by:
Rachel Marcus the Worlds of Education newsletter.
What do protests over gender-neutral school toilets in South Africa have to do with teachers being harassed in Brazil or curriculum changes in El Salvador? In brief, they are all the result of mobilization against the perceived threat of ‘gender ideology’; these are just a few of the examples we found in our forthcoming research on gender-restrictive actors in education.
‘Gender ideology’ is a term used to discredit women’s and LGBTI+ rights. Rarely clearly defined, it is often used as a ‘catch-all’ phrase that refers to issues as varied as giving young people access to sexual and reproductive health information to inclusion of content about sexual and gender diversity in school curricula. The wave of ‘anti-gender’ mobilisation seen in much of the world is often funded by conservative Christian bodies headquartered in the US, Europe and Russia, increasingly in collaboration with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Who are anti-gender actors and how do they operate?
Anti-gender actors include religious bodies, associated civil society groups and politicians (mostly right-leaning). Though largely originating in, and often still dominated by, conservative Christian values and networks, anti-gender activists have allied on some issues with representatives of other faiths and secular interests who share their perspectives, and, at times, across the left-right political spectrum. Anti-gender movements are ‘playing a long game’: they seek to roll back pro-gender equality and LGBTI+ rights legislation or prevent it being enacted, and to (re)-instate the patriarchal social norms that they perceive as being under threat.
They work in three main ways: seeking to influence the outcome texts of international norm-setting fora, such as UN conferences through coalitions of like-minded actors; leveraging political power to influence policy agendas and put forward legislation; and shaping discourse in a socially conservative direction. To do so, anti-gender activists use social and broadcast media, public demonstrations and stunts, and mobilize faith- and parent-based networks, often through misinformation and exaggeration designed to generate fear and outrage. For example, when Ghana revised its sexuality education curriculum in 2019, activists framed it as part of an ‘LGBT agenda’. This is just one example of a common tactic of labelling gender equality or LGBTI+ rights as foreign or ‘western’ imports, ignoring indigenous histories of mobilization in defence of human rights, and downplaying the international funding anti-gender movements receive.
Why are anti-gender activists targeting education?
Anti-gender movements recognize the fundamental importance of education in shaping the values of a new generation. Both the formal curriculum and the hidden curriculum (the values transmitted through the behaviour of students and teachers, and a school’s ethos) can shape gender norms among students. Anti-gender activists thus see education as a key strategic space to control. But their focus on education goes beyond this: a linchpin of anti-gender campaigns is to emphasize the risk to children – and society – that comprehensive sexuality education, discussion of gender equality, or efforts towards LGBTI+ inclusion pose.
They therefore seek to influence what students learn, who can teach, and aspects of how schools operate, such as dress codes, provision of toilets and changing facilities, the use of inclusive language, and even who can access education. Some of the most consistent mobilization has been around sexuality education, but as our forthcoming report shows, anti-gender actors have sought to promote (or fought efforts to reform) traditional gender stereotypes in school curricula, and have challenged efforts to make gender differences less significant (such as opposing gender-neutral school uniforms).
What does it mean for teachers and learners?
In some countries, anti-gender movements have directly harassed teachers. A Human Rights Watch study in Brazil documented harassment on- and offline, including death threats against teachers who covered content such as gender-based violence, LGBTI+ or civil rights movements. But the effects are broader, such as narrowing the overall curriculum. This means that children’s rights to unbiased accurate information that is critical for their health and survival, risks being denied.
The rigid gender norms which anti-gender actors seek to impose contribute to an atmosphere that is the opposite of what education should be: shrinking rather than expanding possibilities, for all children. Whether this is girls who are absorbing messages about a woman’s primary destiny being marriage and motherhood, boys who want to work in traditionally female-dominated professions such as nursing, or LGBTI+ students who face elevated levels of bullying and messages that their identities are unacceptable.
How can anti-gender activity in education best be resisted?
Anti-gender actors are both much better funded, and funded in a more flexible manner than pro-equality counterparts, meaning that they are able both to be agile in response to events, and to undertake long-term campaigns to shift norms and policies. However, resistance can be very effective. Our research found that where a strong human rights framework exists, such as a constitutional commitment to equality, this can be mobilized in defense of equal rights to a full and effective education. For example, strategic litigation has led to state laws in Mexico and Brazil that greatly restricted sexuality education, and policies that banned adolescent mothers from returning to school in Sierra Leone, being struck down. A multi-pronged strategy for countering misinformation is also vital. This can involve directing accurate information about topics such as sexuality education, and proposed reforms to school curricula to parents, young people, religious congregations, professional bodies and others targeted by anti-gender actors. Finally, genuine dialogue based on accurate information can make a difference. The next phase of our research will probe experiences of bringing stakeholders with opposing views together to find common ground for the development of new life skills and sexuality education curricula. We would welcome hearing from anyone interested in this research.
______________________________
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