Taking COSATU Today Forward, 6 February 2020
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY |
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
Thursday, 6 February 2020
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle
for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
COSATU holds a successful National Organizing
and Campaigns Committee meeting at COSATU attended by affiliated Trade Unions #Back2Basics
Contents
………………………………........
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- SAMWU to deliver a memorandum of demands to City of Tshwane
- Mafube municipal employees to receive salaries following SAMWU intervention
- Communication Workers Union marches to Luthuli House
- South Africa
- COSATU statement on the 04th Anniversary of the Lily Mine Tragedy
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
Ø US proposals on Israel/Palestine are an affront to Palestinian rights and dignity
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
SAMWU to deliver a memorandum of demands to City of Tshwane
Mpho
Tladinyane, SAMWU Tshwane Regional Secretary, 6 February 2020
The
South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in Tshwane will be delivering a memorandum of demands to the City of Tshwane management at Tshwane House on Friday 07 February 2020.
The march is informed by amongst other things;
1. Collapsing City (Governance and legislature)
2. Collapsing departments
3. Challenges at Metro Police (no bullets for twelve months)
4. Bad buildings
5. People on suspension for more than twelve months
6. Suspension of Lorette Tredoux
Members of the media are hereby invited to attend and cover the march which will be held as follows;
Date : 07 February 2020 (Friday)
Time : 09h00
Gathering point : Old PUTCO bus depot in Marabastad
Issued by SAMWU Tshwane Region
_____
Mafube municipal employees to receive salaries following SAMWU intervention
Dumisane Magagula, SAMWU Deputy General Secretary, 6 February 2020
The South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) National, Provincial and Regional Office Bearers have today met with employees of the Mafube Local Municipality in the Free State Province.
The Mafube Local Municipality which covers areas such as Cornelia, Frankfort, Tweeling and Villiers has failed to honour its contractual obligations with its employees by not paying employees their January salaries. Workers last received salaries in December 2019.
In the middle of January, the Municipality which is currently under administration issued a communique to workers that their salaries for the month of January would be delayed without giving any expectation as to when workers would be getting paid.
Today the Office Bearers met with workers to give them an update following the meeting with Free State Premier along with the province's Treasury and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) HODs.
The Free State Provincial Government has made commitment that they would be releasing money would be to COGTA which would in turn transfer to the municipality. Based on the commitment which has been made by the Provincial Government, employees of the municipality are expected to be paid their salaries in full by Friday 7 February.
We will therefore be monitoring the situation in the municipality to ensure that all municipal workers are paid their salaries in full. As a union, we are concerned by the financial stability of this municipality. This is not the first time that the municipality failed to pay workers' salaries in full and on time.
We believe that the financial challenges faced by the municipality are of the making of the Municipal Manager, Mojalefa Matlole who was seconded to the municipality by the COGTA. Matlole seems not to have any interest of stabilizing the municipality but is in that position for the sole purpose of enriching himself.
Matlole has defrauded the municipality by claiming to be paid R2.9 million before his secondment to the municipality. This fraudulent action has resulted in Matlole being one of the highest paid Municipal Managers in the country despite Mafube Local Municipality being ranked lower.
During our interactions, it was brought to our attention that Matlole has since tendered his resignation and is currently serving notice until the end of February.
Despite the resignation, we will be laying a charge of fraud against the Matlole with the aim of recouping the money that he has fraudulently received from the municipality. We will further be opposing his appointment anywhere in public service within the country as he has cannot be trusted with any position, particularly that which involves finances.
We are concerned that despite the municipality being placed under administration, there is no hope of stability and bringing back the municipality to normality. In the interest of service delivery for the residents of Mafube, we are of the view that this municipality should be dissolved and a new council elected in terms of Section 139 (1) C of the Constitution.
Issued by SAMWU Secretariat
_____
Communication Workers Union marches to Luthuli House
Tshepang Lesiba, CWU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 6 February 2020
Communication Workers Union (CWU), Gauteng; will be marching to Luthuli House on Saturday, 8 February 2020, at 11h00.
The purpose of the march is to protest against a planned jobs bloodbath by the State Owned Entity.
On the 15th of January 2020, Telkom announced its intention to retrench over 3000 workers. Its reasons are largely based on regulation and the ongoing cold war over the release of spectrum.
CWU believes that the ruling party deploys board members of Telkom. Furthermore, our government is the stakeholder of Telkom; therefore, the Luthuli House is an appropriate place for our memorandum to be delivered.
Issued by the CWU Gauteng Province
South Africa
COSATU statement on the 04th Anniversary of the Lily Mine Tragedy
Sizwe Pamla, COSATU National Spokesperson, 5 February 2020
The Congress of South African Trade Unions remembers the three Lily Mine workers Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi who are still trapped underground four years after their container was buried underground. We still find it unacceptable that these workers are yet to be repatriated and that no one has been held accountable for the accident since that tragedy on the 05th February 2016.
The Lily Mine tragedy stands as a shameful symbol of how government and the mining sector have failed the mineworkers for over a century in this country.
Since then the insatiable quest for profits has led to an increase in the number of mining fatalities. Mining companies only pay lip service to the five {5} point pledge plan that was meant to achieve zero harm with regard to mining fatalities
Government has no tangible enforcement mechanism to help reduce and ultimately stop mining fatalities. We do not yet have sufficient labour inspectors to ensure that there is compliance with health and safety regulations in the mines.
The mine bosses who are meeting in Cape Town in a Mining Indaba are still not paying serious attention to job security, economic growth and access to educational, housing and other facilities for the mine workers. There are still inadequate training and limited opportunities for promotion, especially for black mineworkers.
The surrounding communities that host mine operations are still not benefitting but are only dealing with the environmental damage that this sector has inflicted on this country. There is no improvement in how mine closures are managed. We still see many mines being abandoned, with mine shafts left open, resulting in the development of contaminated mine water.
The plight of mine workers continues unabated while the mine bosses are enjoying their perks and exorbitant salaries.
The Lily Mine tragedy should act as a reminder to workers that they need to unite and work together to fight for their rights. Mining communities and workers need to work together to demand that both the government and the mining sector should start taking showing responsible leadership and compensate them for the damage they continue to do.
Government also owes the three families closure because they will never find comfort while their loved ones are still buried underground in the mine. We reiterate our call for the relevant authorities to do the right thing and work with the families to recover the remains of these workers.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
US proposals on Israel/Palestine are an affront to Palestinian rights and dignity
4 February 2020
The Trump administration’s proposals on Israel and Palestine, announced on Tuesday, are an affront to Palestinian rights and dignity and have none of the elements of a realistic peace plan. The proposals, launched jointly by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were drawn up by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has extensive business and financial links with Israeli companies.
The US formula would legitimise all illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory; deny the legitimate claim of Palestinians for a national capital in East Jerusalem; leave tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel outside Israel; annex large parts of Palestine including giving Israel sovereignty over one-third of Palestinian territory in the Jordan Valley; deprive Palestinians of refugee status; and eliminate UNRWA, the UN agency which is vital to the Palestinian economy. Any possibility of a Palestinian state being created would be decided by the US and Israel.
“The ITUC stands in full solidarity with its Palestinian affiliate the PGFTU in rejecting these proposals and calls on the international community to reject them as well. The only acceptable way forward is for the occupation to end and for genuine negotiations to take place, leading to the realisation of a two-state solution based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as capital of a sovereign state of Palestine,” said Burrow.
________________________
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