Patrick Lekota and SAHRC

Lekota continues to portray a picture that the ANC YL and the ANC will kill people. He is in essence accusing the ANC YL of an intention to literally kill people. The ANC YL will approach the South African Human Rights Commission to report Lekota for accusing our organization of being potential murderers.

NEHAWU NEC

The National Executive Committee NEHAWU met on 30 October 2008 and considered the unfolding international and national political situation, as well as the looming round of wage negotiations in different sectors in which we are organising. Full report in COSATU Today.

The ‘SA National Convention’

South Africans will see through the so-called ‘National Convention’ being convened this weekend by a clique of disgruntled former ANC members unable to accept the results of a democratic process. COSATU has questions for these born-again democrats. See them in full in COSATU Today.

ANC YL will not attend the convention

ANC Youth League will not to attend the Convention with dissidents Patrick Lekota and Mbhazima Sam Shilowa, other liars and angry people, in Sandton, but will attend the ANC Rally in Jabulane on Sunday 2 November 2008 at 11h00 with Jacob Zuma; and other ANC events around the country this weekend.

To Convener of National Convention

SATAWU has received your invitation to attend the convention. SATAWU will continue to mobilize its members against your convention regardless of what emerges out of it including the establishment of a rival federation. We shall redouble our efforts to ensure that the ANC retains its two thirds majority.

ANC YL visits Botswana and Zimbabwe

ANC YL President Cde Julius Malema will lead a delegation of ANC YL NEC members to Botswana on 31 October to 2 November 2008 hosted by the Botswana Democratic Party Youth Wing. ANC YL Deputy President, Cde Andile Lungisa will lead a delegation to youth formations in Zimbabwe.

Lekota and George must account

POPCRU would like to reiterate the call made by SASFU that both former chiefs of the SANDF, Mosiuoa Lekota and Mluleki George, should tell the country about the whereabouts of the weapons that disappeared during their tenure. The disappearance bordered on treason and coup d’état plotting.

Saving Our Planet

Radical Left Network presents "Capitalist Barbarism or Eco-Socialism?" by Claire Ceruti, and panel discussions. Details:

• Date: 8 November 2008 (Saturday)
• Time: 09h00-17h00
• Venue: Community House, Salt River, Cape Town

Coverage of ANC renegades

YCL is perturbed by the all-out media coverage that the renegades within the ANC and the Alliance are receiving. They are enjoying prime time and prime position that even our country's President, Kgalema Motlanthe, does not occupy. We call for fair reporting in this time of elections.

Give credit to COSATU and the SACP

Exchange controls played a role in insulating South Africa from global financial crisis. FAWU believes that the country is largely insulated from the global financial crisis is because of COSATU and the SACP's relentless opposition to the relaxation of exchange controls over the last twelve years.

Dispute on Discrimination

COSATU Western Cape is appalled at the discrimination that Southern Wind Shipyard has applied to different categories of workers in respect of the payment of bonuses. We completely align ourselves to the workers on strike at this company, who are facing and fighting this apartheid-style discrimination.

Broadcast Digital Migration

Digital Migration (BDM) is the process of converting the broadcast of television broadcasting signals from analogue to digital technology. In SA the switch-on will start on 1 November 2008 and the analogue switch-off on 1 November 2011. Digital signalling will free a lot of frequency spectrum. - CWU

Free Basic Electricity and Renewables

On Thursday 30 October 2008, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) will be marching on the Department of Minerals & Energy, Eskom, and the City of Johannesburg. The march will start at 9:30am at Beyers Naude Square/Library Gardens, Market and Rissik Streets.

President Mbeki's Pledge of Allegiance

FAWU welcomes former President, Thabo Mbeki's pledge of loyalty to the ANC and of distancing himself from the rich ANC renegades Shilowa and Lekota. We will proceed with our program of addressing general meetings of our members in factories, on farms, on board fishing vessels and other workplaces.

Eskom risk a wave of strike protests

NUMSA chief shop steward Phutas Tseki warned that Eskom should brace itself for protests unless it discontinues its training college outsourcing project. The union also believes that the state has the ability to invest resources in training and development of employees instead of disposing the colleges.

Farewell to a Red Rose

The YCL in the Northern Cape has learned with sadness of the death of its member Cde Nontsikelelo Sandi, who passed away last Thursday 23 October 2008, and pays tribute to this red rose that grew from the working class slums of Kuyasa Township. We send sincere condolences to her family.

NW Provincial Shop Stewards Council

COSATU in the North West will be holding its Provincial Shop Stewards Council. We do not agree with the notion that white people will go out to kill, assault and shoot, and the state suspects that they are out of their minds. COSATU calls all its members to protect the federation against hooligan splitters.

Convenor of National Convention

Shilowa proclaimed himself -appointed Convenor of the Convention. Where was democracy at that moment? I noticed the opposite. Cde Shilowa now mentions other reasons for such a gathering, realising how stupid it was to resign for the recall of Cde Mbeki. - S’dumo Dlamini, COSATU President.

Former Minister of Defence Lekota

As Defence Force representatives, SASFU warns against opportunism by senior statesmen at the expense of citizens. The power-hungry Lekota and George were prepared to issue instructions for the army to fire live bullets on workers. They defended the arms deal and violated the Freedom Charter.

Picket of Swaziland Consulate

Picket, "With or without a King". The picket will be the third in three weeks. Details:

• Date: 31 October 2008 (Friday)
• Time: 12h30
• Venue: Braamfontein Centre, Jorrissen Street, Johannesburg

Dirty tactics at Morningside

DENOSA is utterly dismayed at the dirty tactics applied by authorities at Morningside Medi-Clinic regarding the viral haemorrhagic fever. The possibility exists that this virus could be lying dormant in the corridors of the hospital and that exposes our members to serious occupational hazards.

Best wishes to matric candidates

SADTU would like to convey best wishes for success to the 2008 matric candidates. Our challenges in South Africa, now largely addressed, have been over implementation of OBE. We are convinced that well-trained and motivated educators are the key to the delivery of quality education in our schools.

Rise in unemployment

COSATU is concerned at the rise in SA’s official unemployment rate, and will be more determined than ever to commit the government to monetary policies that focus on combating poverty and unemployment. Total number of people employed is 13,655,000, with 4,122,000 officially unemployed.

Terror Lekota’s national convention

Both Lekota and George, failed leadership of the Defence Force, have expressed categorically their hatred of ordinary workers and poor people of SA in our meetings with them. They were prepared to issue instructions for the army to fire live bullets on the workers during the public sector strike. - SASFU

ANC NWC, 27 October 2008

NWC condemns, unequivocally, any acts of disruption that interfere with or impair the rights of others to assemble peacefully. In that spirit, the NWC calls on all members and supporters of the ANC to allow those who hold dissenting views to meet and proceed with their business without let or hindrance.

Governance

ANC would like to place on record that at no stage has it mandated any provincial structures to run provincial governments from the organisation's offices as claimed by a Sunday newspaper report. ANC firmly believes in the adherence to the PFMA and MFMA by its deployed cadres in all levels of government.

US Blockade against Cuba

Against the UN’s condemnation of the genocidal policy of US imperialist aggression, the US blockade is irrational, immoral, cruel, and vindictive. The US is hell-bent on increasing harm, suffering and inducing apartheid-type consequences against the Cuban people and their country's sovereignty. - SACP

Passing of Comrade Billy Nair

The SACP notes with sadness the passing of veteran Comrade Billy Nair, pioneering trade unionist, Communist, and servant of ANC, MK, UDF and Natal Indian Congress and expresses its condolences to the bereaved. Billy Nair is to be given an official provincial government funeral on Thursday.

Dangerous gutter journalism

ANCYL is outraged at the desperate attempts by The Citizen newspaper to project its President, Julius Malema as a war monger. This is irresponsible journalism. It is also extremely dangerous. The ANCYL President actually spoke for democracy, and against a culture of entitlement to leadership positions.

Stop restructuring and privatising

POPCRU, at its Extended National Executive Committee meeting on 25 - 26 October 2008, resolved to oppose the current restructuring processes currently underway in the South Africa Police Service, and the privatisation and outsourcing processes in the Department of Correctional Services.

Intimidation in Limpopo

NEHAWU condemns the bullying and intimidation of its Branch Leadership at Mokopane Hospital who were charged with misconduct and threatened with suspension by the management and the MEC, for raising issues related to delivery of quality services to the public.

DENOSA NEC, 24 -26 October 2008

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa resolved to dispute the irregularities and delays of the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) salary structure signed in September 2007, and also to dispute the increase of nurse registration fees by the South African Nursing Council (SANC).

Mineworker dies at Angloplatinum

A mineworker lost his life at Angloplatinum’s Rustenburg Platinum Mine Turfontein shaft this morning after he was electrocuted underground. NUM passes its condolences to the bereaved and calls on members at the mine to observe a day of mourning. As the festive season nears, fatalities increase.

President’s speech, SADTU NGC Declaration

These documents, containing the full resolutions of the SADTU National General Council of 22-24 October 2008, held in Irene, Gauteng, will be published in COSATU Today.

YCL on Tribal Taxes

YCL rejects the payment of tribal taxes in traditional areas. We believe that history teaches us that the model of self enrichment and accumulation by traditional leaders will always leads to rupture. We call on the rural poor and the youth in particular to challenge this feudal mode of exploitation.

FF Youth and Corporal Punishment

ANC YL notes that the Freedom Front Plus Youth is calling for the re-introduction of corporal punishment. The insistence that the ANC YL is violent by the FF+ Youth is swart-gevaar, wherein everything black is associated with violence. The Youth League is against violence.