COSATU Today, 31 May 2012
Patrick Craven
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Our side of the story
Thursday 31 May 2012
Contents
Ø Memorial and Funeral notice of SAMWU’s cde Xolile `Boss` Nxu
Ø NEHAWU mourns the death of former SAMWU 1ST Deputy President Comrade Xolile “Boss” Nxu
Ø NUMSA supports doctor’s picket in Eastern Cape as led by SA Medical Association
Ø DENOSA condemns non-payment of health professionals in E Cape
Ø FAWU feels removal of The Spear painting was the right thing to do
Ø Impose moratorium on unfair salary increases for municipal managers
Ø DENOSA Ekurhuleni region on illegal violent protests at kwaThema
Ø Tata Ntuli: Communist veteran
Ø Freedom Never Rests by James Kilgore
Ø Roadmap to apartheid in Israel
Workers
Memorial and Funeral notice of SAMWU’s Cde Xolile `Boss` Nxu
Tahir Sema, SAMWU National Media and Publicity Officer, 28 May 2012
MEMORIAL NOTICE
South African Municipal Workers’ Union would like to pay tribute to our former 1ST Deputy President, Comrade Xolile `Boss` Nxu, who committed his life to the workers struggle. A memorial service will be held on Thursday 31st May 2012 at 16h00 in Gugulethu Sports Complex in NY 1.
It is appropriate that given the contribution Comrade Boss made within the broader labour movement speakers include the following persons :
· Comrade Walter Theledi Deputy General Secretary of SAMWU
· Comrade Lance Veotte Provincial Chairperson of SAMWU Western Cape
· Comrade Fikile Mbalula Minister of Sport
· Comrade Tony Erinreich COSATU Provincial Secretary
· Comrade Khaya Magaxa SACP
Comrade Boss will be remembered for leadership qualities others could and will continue to emulate. The comrade`s advice was never questioned and was a leader who always put the interests of the organisation first. His legacy will forever direct and inform our deliberations in taking our organisation forward.
We call on our members to come in their numbers and celebrate the life of a true leader.
Address all enquiries to Claudia Mckenzie on 021 – 6971151 or 083 602 7249 or e-mail claudia....@samwu.org.za
FUNERAL NOTICE
The funeral of the late former 1ST Deputy President of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, Comrade Xolile `Boss` Nxu, is scheduled to take place on Saturday 2nd June 2012 . The proceedings commence at the residence at 07h30 in NY 112 no 121 Gugulethu where after the proceedings moves to the Gugulethu Sports Complex in NY 1 for the commencement of the funeral service.
The speakers will include:
The SAMWU President: Cde Samuel Malope
The former SAMWU President: Cde Petrus Mashishi
The COSATU General Secretary: Cde Zwelinzima Vavi
A speaker from the African National Congress
After the Service the funeral procession will make its way to the Maitland Cemetery.
Members of SAMWU , the community and all other progressive organisations that Cde Boss was involved with are called upon to descend in their numbers to participate in the funeral proceedings that is befitting the revolutionary leader and fighter whose life was defined by the people he selflessly served.
Hamba Kahle Qabane.
May his soul rest in peace.
Address all enquiries to Claudia Mckenzie on 021 – 6971151 or 083 602 7249 or e-mail claudia....@samwu.org.za
NEHAWU mourns the death of former SAMWU 1ST Deputy President Comrade Xolile “Boss” Nxu
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, 30 May 2012
NEHAWU is greatly saddened by the news of the passing away of former SAMWU 1ST Deputy President, Cde Xolile “Boss” Nxu, who passed on the 24th of May 2012. We send our deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and comrades.
Cde Xolile Nxu held different positions in the trade union movement such as the Provincial Chairmanship of SAMWU in the Western Cape, Western Cape COSATU Provincial Chairmanship and as a 1st Deputy President of SAMWU.This working class leader will be greatly missed by the working class that is currently engaged in a titanic struggle against the capitalist onslaught that is hell-bent on eroding the gains of the workers and the poor.
This revolutionary worker leader will be remembered for his self-sacrificing and principled ideals in service of the poor. He was a humble and prudent worker leader who developed an advanced international consciousness that led to him being physically barred from going to the Palestine by the apartheid Israeli state. He was passionate about international solidarity work and invited the Palestine Solidarity movement to come and relate the story of their struggles to raise the consciousness of the South African working class.
We owe it to leaders like Cde Nxu to continue the fight for the full emancipation of the working class from the shackles of a triple crisis of inequality, poverty and unemployment. Workers should work hard to deliver better services to the deserving poor majority in honour of working class heroes like Cde Nxu and must never cease in their struggle to improve the lives of the downtrodden. His funeral service will be held on Saturday, 02 June 2012 at the Gugulethu Sports Complex starting at 08h00.
We salute this worker leader and may he rest in peace.
NUMSA supports doctor’s picket in Eastern Cape as led by SA Medical Association
Phumzile Nodongwe, NUMSA Regional Secretary, 29 May 2012
The Eastern Cape National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) supports the decision by the medical Doctors to go to a rolling mass picket action in demand of their unpaid wages from the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health. This rolling mass picket action taking place today, Tuesday May 29, 2012, at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, led by South African Medical Association (SAMA) should be located and understood within the broader class struggles waged by workers and poor for equal redistribution of income at the point of production.
As NUMSA we call on our revolutionary and people’s government as led by the ANC to resolve this wage impasse in line with the key electoral priorities of providing quality health-care for the poor. The inability by the ANC-led provincial government to resolve this impasse might undermine the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot projects as announced by the hardworking and energetic Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
We are extremely worried that Doctors in the Eastern Cape have not been paid for over six (6) months, whilst the very same Doctors are expected to provide quality service in public hospitals in the interest of our poor communities. We firmly believe that this impasse could have long been resolved, and that in as much as Doctors should provide service to poor patients and the elderly, it would be unfair to expect them to execute their duties with perfection without being paid for almost six months.
We demand that our people’s government consider the implications for poor patients and the elderly and ensure that they continue to access quality service in public hospitals. The failure by the ANC-led provincial government to avert this impasse might led to a wide scale shut-down of hospitals and this will be a betrayal to the patients and the elderly.
As NUMSA we call on SAMA to intensify their picket action by embarking on indefinite strike action until their demands are met by the incompetent Provincial Department of Health.
DENOSA condemns non-payment of health professionals in E Cape
Asanda Fongqo, DENOSA Communications Manager, 31 May 2012
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa strongly condemns the non-payment of health professionals which include Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists and others at the Umtata Hospital Complex in the Eastern Cape.
DENOSA has learnt with dismay that some of these professionals have not received their salaries in the last six months.
“The non- payment of health professionals at the Umtata hospital complex is not only a gross violation of conditions of service but undermines all strides to overhaul the shameful health system in the Eastern Cape”, says DENOSA General Secretary Thembeka Gwagwa.
DENOSA calls on the employer to remedy this disaster as a matter of urgency to avert further damage on health services and the unwanted exodus of health professionals in the province.
South Africa
FAWU feels removal of The Spear painting was the right thing to do
Moleko Phakedi, FAWU Deputy General Secretary, 29 May 2012
The despicable Spear painting, depicting the President of the country, Jacob Zuma, cannot possibly be considered as art as it is of questionable morality.
One has to wonder what would inspire an artist and especially one who hails from South Africa, to come up with something as undignified and that display a blatant disrespect for the President of the country.
Surely, in our country with its diverse nature, and in acknowledgement of our history of racial oppression, all citizens, including artists should respect the dignity, values and culture of all races in our beautiful country.
The painting clearly violates President Jacob Zuma’s right to dignity and this is a fact that should not be hiding behind excuses of freedom of expression. Weighing the two up against each other, the freedom of expression should not infringe on the right to dignity.
FAWU supported the march to the Goodman Gallery that took place today as we were convinced that this barbaric painting and all others targeting the African National Congress ( ANC) should no longer be exhibited at the Goodman Gallery. We together with the Alliance Partners were ecstatic earlier today when it was announced that the Goodman Gallery and City Press decided to remove the painting. We firmly believe this was the right thing to do.
Long Live the ANC, Long Live! Long Live the President, Long Live!
Impose moratorium on unfair salary increases for municipal managers
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, 30 May 2012
NEHAWU is deeply concerned by the service delivery protests in KwaThema and is calling on residents to refrain from using violence to raise their grievances. The African National Congress {ANC} in Gauteng should investigate the allegations of political tomfoolery by some individuals and the grievances of the residents. They need to intervene timeously so as to prevent the situation from deteriorating.
We are also extremely angered by the reports of municipal managers especially those in Gauteng being paid exorbitant salaries while ordinary workers are paid pittance and townships are burning in demand of improved service delivery. We demand to know what yardstick was used to agree on giving Tshwane city manager Jason Ngobeni and his Johannesburg manager Trevor Fowler a 20% projected increase when they are putting out fires left-right and centre from citizens fighting over poor service delivery. It is morally and logically erroneous to pay these two technocrats R3.25m and R3.23m a year respectively from the taxpayer’s money, when they have not done anything extraordinary to earn it.
This is totally unacceptable mainly because these municipalities are collapsing under the crushing weight of corruption and poor service delivery. What we actually need is a moratorium on salary increases for all municipal managers and the review of a remuneration policy for ordinary workers in order to close the unacceptable wage gap that currently exists.
South Africans deserve better from their local government structures and the status quo is unaffordable and unsustainable. We need a performance assessment mechanism that will hold the senior municipal and all government managers to account for their failures and only reward success. Throwing money to fat cat bureaucrats is not the solution to service delivery challenges and we call on government to stop this lunacy immediately.
DENOSA Ekurhuleni region on illegal violent protests at kwaThema
DENOSA Ekurhuleni, 29 May 2012
DENOSA notes with dismay and contempt the illegal violent protests currently happening in Kwa-Thema under the pre-text of poor service delivery of electricity and water.
We condemn these violent illegal protests in the strongest possible terms and want to advise these ill disciplined criminals to refrain from their illegal activities. Denosa calls on the community of Kwa-thema not to listen to the propaganda that is spread by these criminals, as Denosa we are reliably informed and know everything that is happening there and want to caution the community that these disgruntled criminals who lost local elections, are still bitter and now are using them for their own crude, rude and selfish reasons to destabilize the community.
We further call on law enforcement agencies to protect the community. School children are being victimized by these corrupt thugs and they have intimidated our nurses and the clinic is not properly functioning and as Denosa we want to assure our nurses that we are fully behind them and we will support and protect them from these thugs...we also advice these thugs that if they touch our nurses , they have declared war against South Africa as those nurses are there to provide health services to the community and elders as this is a basic right of South Africans as entrenched in our constitution.
We further call on the ANC, alliance and community to reclaim their community from the hands of these thugs, we cannot have a situation where our community, students and senior citizens living in fear from thugs who belong behind bars...The community must unite to win this war…..
Tata Ntuli: Communist veteran
Siyabonga Mdodi, SACP E Cape Provincial Spokesperson, 30 May 2012
The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Eastern Cape Province deeps its red banners down in mourning the life of one of its finest veterans Cde Mabulala Charlton Ntuli (Tata Ntuli), whom succumbed to death on the 26th May 2012 after a period of illness. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the Ntuli Family and the movement at large.
Cde Mabulala Ntuli was born in the year 1914 at Mount Fletcher Magisterial District, two years after the formation of the African National Congress (ANC). His parents Nelly and Joel were forcedly removed by the brutal Apartheid regime after the passing of the brutal Land Act of 1913 to Ngqayi Administrative Area at Qumbu Magisterial District. He did his primary and higher primary education at Khophohlolong Primary School. Upon completion of his primary schooling he was forced to go and work in the mines as the migrant worker in Johannesburg.
Due to appalling working conditions that mine workers were subjected to he decided to join the mineworkers union. In the early thirties he became a representative of the workers (shop steward). Tata Ntuli was recruited to the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). He later joined the African national Congress Youth League and African National Congress in the forties and actively participated in the campaigns of the movement.
He was very instrumental in organizing and maintaining the popular 1946 great mine workers strike, wherein he was tasked with a task of moving from mine to mine in the Johannesburg area organizing workers against the brutal exploitation of mine workers as led by Yusuf Dadoo. He was a volunteer in the Defiance Campaign of 1952 aimed at fighting the unjust apartheid laws that were imposed to the South Africans.
In 1961 he was amongst the first recruits of the people’s army, Umkhonto Wesizwe to do acts of sabotage against the brutal apartheid regime strategic installations. In 1964 he was incarcerated at Robben Island serving five years and released in 1969 under heavy restrictions of not seating with more than two peoples amongst others. Under those difficult conditions he continued to work tirelessly for the liberation of African majority with other Robben Islanders such as James Kati, Tizer Tonjeni, Makhohliso and many more.
In 1974 his restrictions were lifted and he started where he left off in organizing the people against the brutal apartheid capitalism. He organised tirelessly at the Qumbu District servicing the whole Transkei recruiting for Umkhonto Wesizwe and harbouring abazala/cousins his children those were MK combatants. In 1979 Cde Mabulala played an imperative role in assisting the Late Abathembu in joining the ANC and skip to exile.
In 1981 he was again arrested for obvious reasons of furthering the aims of the then banned formations. He was found guilty of terrorist acts and was sentenced to five years at Mt Fletcher and later transferred to wellington Maximum Prison, Mthatha by the Mathanzima regime.
After the unbanning of the progressive formation including our party in the early 90’s, Cde Ntuli was central in organizing the SACP structures, working with comrades such as Cde Ntonjeni, Cde Nancy Xathula and many more. He worked very hard in establishing party political schools helping in taking comrades through the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism in a simpler way and always provided direction and guidance in each epoch in the revolution.
We are mourning the life and times of a true communist who never joined the movement with the intention to self enrichment nor personal gains. He remained committed to the aims and objectives of our movement; he remained committed in building a united and non-racial society.
The funeral service will be on the 16 June 2012.
International
NEHAWU condemns racist attacks on African immigrants by racist Israeli Zionists encouraged by Israeli lawmakers
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, 30 May 2012
NEHAWU is deeply angered by the reports of racist attacks on African immigrants by the racist Israeli Zionist protestors in Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Hatikva since last week. These primitive xenophobes are reported to have assaulted, destroyed and looted properties of African immigrants after provocative statements by members of the Israeli Knesset {assembly}.
Miri Regev an Israeli lawmaker and member of the Knesset called the Sudanese Immigrants a “cancer in our body” during an anti-immigration protest. This was followed by the statements from Danny Danon a member of the Likud party who wrote that “Israel is at war. An enemy state of infiltrators was established in Israel, and its capital is south Tel Aviv."He further proposed that the city’s African residents should be deported to the “detention facilities” and be removed from population centres.
This is further proof that the ruling class of Israeli is composed of bigots and mavericks that are not apologetic about their racists’ inclinations. Their reckless statements are tantamount to a call for public lynching of all black immigrants in Israeli. This is not surprising because they have agitated for and supported the brutal killing of Palestinian women and children for years without reprieve.
We call on the South African government to summon the Israeli ambassador and issue a formal protest because we cannot maintain diplomatic relations with an apartheid state that encourages the lynching of black people. We have a moral responsibility lead in the repudiation of apartheid practices and to demand that all nations uphold international law and acceptable standards of behaviour given our history of racial oppression under the minority rule.
NEHAWU would have expected a country like Israeli ,that never forgets to remind us of the Jewish holocaust, to be outraged by calls for a section of society to be rounded up and sent to “detention centres”. Their naked racism and hypocrisy cannot go unchallenged because they want to have their cake and eat it.
We are horrified and disappointed by the silence of the African Union and the failure of the South African and African media to cover and condemn this barbaric deed by these racist monsters. The international working class needs to be united in fighting this divisive trend because we have the power to defeat it and create a better world free of discrimination and exploitation. The global economic crisis, has seen the emergence of racism, xenophobia, neo-fascist practices and attacks against economic migrants.
The ruling elite and capitalists are encouraging the animosity amongst the working class in order to hide the fact that they are responsible for poverty, joblessness and unemployment that has gripped the world.
Announcements
Freedom Never Rests, by James Kilgore
FICTION
Freedom Never Rests is the much-awaited second novel from James Kilgore. This extraordinary story portrays the historical roots of the service delivery revolts that have swept South Africa in recent years.
Freedom Never Rests centres around an engaging and tragic couple: unemployed ex-shop steward revolutionary Monwabisi Radebe and his wife, Constantia, a former nursery school aide turned local councillor in the fictional Eastern Cape township of
Sivuyile.
Their relationship is a metaphor for the new democratic order. As the council implements an American-financed project of prepaid meters, water cut-offs are visited upon dozens of households in Sivuyile. The idealistic Monwabisi faces the most difficult of choices: to remain loyal to a loving wife and mother of his children who now represents an increasingly discredited council or take to the streets with disenchanted residents.
Avoiding simplistic analyses and triumphant rhetoric, Freedom Never Rests lays bare the political and personal intricacies of community struggles. On a grand political canvas artfully and sometimes humorously drawn, Monwabisi and a host of other
intriguing and compelling characters pull us into the moral and economic dilemmas of street-level organisation and force us to confront the complexity of democracy in our country.
James Kilgore lived as a fugitive in South Africa from 1991 to 2002 under the name John Pape. He was a teacher, researcher and activist. In 2002, authorities extradited him to the United States where he served six and a half years in prison for political
offenses committed in the 1970s. The idea for this book emerged from his observation that as a prisoner in the US he enjoyed unlimited access to free water, something which remained out of reach for so many people in South Africa.
Kilgore currently lives in the US where he is a research scholar at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Illinois. He is the author of We Are All Zimbabweans Now, described by the Natal Witness as one of the “three best reads” of 2009, and Prudence Couldn’t Swim.
978-1-4314-0119-2 • Paperback • 212x136mm • 352pp • R150 • August 2011 • World Rights. Price subject to change.
For all media enquiries, review
The year 2012 marks the return of James Kilgore to South Africa where he lived as a fugitive from 1991 to 2002 under the name John Pape. The journey to Freedom Never Rests began in 2002, when authorities extradited him to the US where he served six and a half years in prison for political offenses committed in the 1970s. There he enjoyed unlimited access to free water, something which remained out of reach for so many people in South Africa today.
It is said that to best understand a society, one must look at the literature as produced by that society. Freedom Never Rests is a fictional account of what happens when a government fails to deliver. It takes a pertinent look at a country dubbed “the protest capital of the world” with one of the highest rates of public protest ever, clearly portraying the historical roots of the service delivery revolts that have swept South Africa in recent years.
For more info on the book, please see the attached press release.
James Kilgore will be in the country and available for interviews during these dates:
7 - 16 July – Cape Town
16 - 22 July – Johannesburg
23 - 24 July – Durban
25 - 28 July – Cape Town
Neilwe Mashigo | Publishing Intern
Tel: +27 11 628 3247 | Fax: +27 11 482 7280
nei...@jacana.co.za www.jacana.co.za
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Roadmap to apartheid in Israel
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
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E-Mail: pat...@cosatu.org.za
