Taking COSATU Today Forward, 3 August 2022
Norman Mampane
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#2022YearofWorkersParliament #COSATU Limpopo and Western Cape mobilizing workers and communities for a provincial protest march against the high costs of living and electricity crisis on Thursday and Friday #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
Wednesday, 3 August 2022
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Update on Security Sector Wage Negotiations
- South Africa
- COSATU Gauteng Gender Structure demands justice for women who were raped in Krugersdorp
- SAMWU welcomes ANC decision to recall Amathole Mayor, Speaker and Chief Whip
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
Ø Union calls for tougher sentences after 8 women are gang-raped in South Africa
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Update on Security Sector Wage Negotiations
Jack Mazibuko, SATAWU General Secretary, 02nd August 2022
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) wishes to update its members, workers in the Security Sector, and the members of the media that it has today the 2nd of August 2022 met at the Bargaining Council of the Private Security Sector in Midrand, with the employer and the commissioner facilitating the process.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union can confirm that it has agreed with the employer to extend the conciliation with three (3) dates, which are the 16th of August, the 23rd of August, and the 24th of August 2022.
We wish to inform our members and workers that we are expecting the employer on the 16th of August 2022 to table a better offer to be considered and looked at by the organised labour.
As previously stated, if in these extended dates the employer is still insulting us with their 3.5% offer, we will then on the last day which is the 24th of this month ask the commissioner to issue a certificate to conduct a protected strike.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) wants to state that our demands remain the same, we are still demanding a minimum of 16% increment in the security sector.
As SATAWU we also wish to inform the public that conducting a strike is not our priority however if the employer does not meet us halfway then they are leaving us with no choice but to go on strike as we are not willing to back down on our demands. We will update our members in due course.
Issued by SATAWU
General Secretary Cde Jack Mazibuko : 082 660 4793
Deputy General Secretary Cde Anele Kiet : 071 021 1903
Head of Communications Amanda Tshemese : 062 945 7217
South Africa
COSATU Gauteng Gender Structure demands justice for women who were raped in Krugersdorp
Sipho Dinabantu Ncai, COSATU Gauteng Gender Structure Provincial Secretary, 2 August 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ Gauteng Gender Structure is calling on the country’s criminal justice system to handle with the seriousness it deserves, the gang rape incident that took place at Westville, Krugersdorp, where it is reported that eight (8) models were raped while shooting a music video.
Not only is Gender Based Violence (GBV) a continuous cancer which is taking the lives of innocent people, women in particular within the province and the entire country but, it is a pandemic we need to tackle. Mothers, sisters, daughters, and children in general are at great risk in our beloved country, and something needs to be done urgently.
This heart-wrenching incident happened on Thursday the 28th of July 2022, a day before the sentencing of Ntuthukho Shoba who was convicted on the 29th of July 2022 and will now be serving life behind bars after he masterminded the brutal murder of his then girlfriend Tshegofatsho Pule, who was eight months pregnant with their child in 2020.
Our fruitful land is contaminated with high levels of GBV injustices that are causing havoc in our communities. COSATU Gauteng therefore, appeals to the government and law enforcement agencies to strengthen efforts in combating GBV. Women are tired and South Africans have had enough. Declarations were made at the very first Presidential Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Summit in 2018 but not much has changed.
We also call for adequate police visibility since, we believe that if there was adequate police visibility throughout our communities, we would not be finding ourselves in such situations. We appreciate the arrests that took place on the alleged suspects who have committed this heinous act. We urgently request that those who were arrested for this incident are denied bail as they are a danger to society.
This women’s month, COSATU Gauteng Gender Structure will collaborate with its alliance partners and society at larger to develop a GBV awareness campaign to help put an end to this scourge. We will not condone barbarism against women, and we will continue to insist on improved laws to protect women and children.
AMANDLA!!!
Issued by Cosatu Gauteng Gender Structure
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SAMWU welcomes ANC decision to recall Amathole Mayor, Speaker and Chief Whip
Yalezo Luzuko, SAMWU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary, 2 August 2022
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Eastern Cape notes and welcomes the decision of the ANC PEC in the province to recall the Troika of the Amathole District Municipality which consists of the Mayor, Speaker and the Chief Whip. As SAMWU, we are of the view that this decision is in the best interest of service delivery for residents served by the ADM and that of workers in the municipality.
In June this year, municipal workers from across the province marched to the ADM to deliver a memorandum of demands which included the removal of the Mayor as the union was, and continues to be of the view that the Mayor has failed in his political obligations towards residents and workers by his inability to steer the municipality in the right direction, leading to collapse in governance and service delivery.
In welcoming this decision, we further call for the speedy resolution on the removal of the Municipal Manager, Thankekile Mnyimba who has now run to the courts challenging the department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (COGTA) findings that his appointment was irregular and as such should be withdrawn. We are very confident that the courts will agree with us and COGTA that Mnyimba is not qualified to be an accounting officer of the ADM or any municipality for that matter.
As SAMWU, we are firmly of the view that the problems that workers and residents are facing can only be addressed by ensuring that the correct people are at the helm of the leadership of the municipality. We, therefore, believe that this is but many of the tough and decisive actions which would be taken to ensure that stability and normality is returned in municipalities across the province.
As indicated by the ANC PEC, the party will in the near future be deploying a new Troika at the ADM. We, therefore, take this opportunity to caution the ANC from bringing in people who do not have the interest of service delivery at heart but rather careerists who use the deployment given to them to further their own interests and that of their cronies.
As SAMWU, we are interested in seeing stable municipalities across the province as municipalities are the closest sphere of government to the people and in the coalface of service delivery. We, therefore, remain optimistic that decisions such as these would further be seen in municipalities across the province, especially in municipalities that are literally collapsing in the presence of political leadership.
We will therefore wait in anticipation for the announcement of a new Troika, should they be individuals of integrity, they shall receive the backing and support from municipal workers to ensure that services are delivered to residents.
As we have previously said, the majority of the problems faced by municipalities are self-created by individuals who are careless of the consequences that their action has on governance and service delivery.
We look forward to working closely with a new team that will put the interests of residents and service delivery first.
Issued by SAMWU Eastern Cape
International-Solidarity
Union calls for tougher sentences after 8 women are gang-raped in South Africa
2 August, 2022
IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), has called upon the courts to hand out tougher sentences after the arrest of a gang of armed men that raped 8 women in Johannesburg.
Over
80 suspects have appeared in court facing charges of 32 counts of rape and attempted murder. The attackers are allegedly part of criminal syndicates that are involved in artisanal and small-scale mining in some abandoned mines in South Africa.
The
women aged 19-35 were part of a production crew of 12 women and 10 men that was shooting a music video at a mine dump when they were attacked by heavily armed men on 28 July. The crew was also robbed of personal belongings.
Although
South Africa has passed laws and legislation to end gender-based violence and harassment, that include the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act and the Domestic Violence Amendment Act,
the cases keep increasing and unions want the courts to prosecute more cases and convict the offenders. South Africa ratified International Labour Organization Convention 190 in 2021 which aims to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work.
The country also has a national strategic plan on gender-based violence and femicide. In the plan, President Cyril Ramaphosa describes gender-based violence and harassment as a scourge in which “rape and sexual violence have become hyperendemic” and that “South Africa holds the shameful distinction of being one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman.”
“The location of a video set is a workspace at that moment. Artists are deemed a vulnerable sector based on the type of work that they do, and as a trade union it is our right and joint responsibility with other formations to uphold and adhere to Convention 190 that commits to the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence,”
says
Mathapelo Khanye, NUM national secretary for the women’s structure.
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa says:
“We are appalled by the rape and sexual violence which continue to traumatize South African women, and support unions and civil society organizations in their campaigns to eliminate rape, and gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH).”
The Sub-Saharan Africa regional office continues to carry out training and campaigns to sensitise and equip unions with strategies for the prevention of GBVH, and the adoption of workplace policies that provide safe working environments.
__________________________
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