1. Killing
of SATAWU Gauteng Provincial Secretary
The Congress of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) condemn in
strongest terms possible the killing of South African Transport and Allied
Workers Union (Satawu) Gauteng Provincial Secretary, Comrade Chris Nkosi on
Monday evening, and the bombing of the house of the Union’s President, Comrade June
Dube hours later on Tuesday morning.
A joint delegation of the
leadership of the Cosatu and the SACP have earlier today visited the families
to give our moral support.
We once more send our message
of heartfelt condolences to the family of Comrade Nkosi for the loss suffered.
We also acknowledge messages of support from all Cosatu affiliates, Alliance
partners and fellow South Africans. In Comrade Chris Nkosi, we have lost a
dedicated and astute negotiator for the workers.
We are calling on all relevant
authorities to leave no stone unturned, hunt down the perpetrators of these
barbaric acts and bring them to justice, with maximum sentences imposed. What
has happened can only be the work of criminals and/or their fellow collaborators
and vigilante groupings in those elements who have been gambling with the unity
of the workers. Cosatu and the SACP say to Satawu leaders and members in
particular, and to the working class of our country in general, that:
“This is not the time to be
divided – the time which should never come because disunity can only benefit
the bosses and those who, wittingly or unwittingly, serve their interests or
play in their hands. This is precisely the time to close ranks – that is to
unite! This is the time to give no quarter to the exploiters of any sort or to
the external manipulators, including those who can only pledge false
‘solidarity’ while in their real life activity they are engaged in destroying
Satawu and the overall unity of the working class movement”.
2. May
Day
In memory of Comrades Violet
Seboni, Solomon “Kalushi” Mahlangu, Chris Hani and countless other
revolutionaries who died this month of April in our struggle for complete
liberation and social emancipation, let us defend working class unity!
In our joint bilateral
programme this is the message we will be driving in all sectors of our economy
as we build strong and militant affiliates of Cosatu as an independent force of
the workers in our liberation Alliance and society in general.
Cosatu has taken the right
step in assisting its affiliates, including Satawu, to build unity and
cohesion. The SACP fully supports this programme. This is an important
contribution in building a united Cosatu.
Over the next period the SACP
and Cosatu will intensify ground work to ensure the success of this programme.
On 1 May 2015 we will share joint platforms, together with our ally the African
National Congress (ANC) across the country as part and parcel of our programme
to take working class demands forward.
This year’s May Day theme is:
‘Celebrating 30th Anniversary and Re-Positioning’.
We are calling on workers and
their families to join the planned May Day activities under leadership of
Cosatu.
The month of May is Africa
Month. We will dedicate the May Day platforms to urge all South Africans to
embrace the Africa Month celebrations and build continental unity.
Attacks on foreign nationals
Attacks on foreign nationals
3. Xenophobic
Attacks
We condemn in strongest terms
possible the attacks on foreign nationals and the looting of their shops. There
can be no justification whatsoever for these criminal and backward acts,
including xenophobia. These acts of barbarism must just stop right now! The law
enforcement agencies must stand up from their barracks to the task, and must be
more proactive than mainly reactive. Similarly, we call on all our structures
across the country to come out in defence of peace, and in pursuit of peace in
communities. We will strengthen our efforts in this regard on the ground and
work together with all progressive community-based organisations who share our
belief that Africa belongs to all who live in it. The bosses who super-exploit
foreign nationals and thus force all workers in the race to the bottom must
take responsibility for the problems caused by their actions, including the
so-called xenophobia. They must be held accountable!
We call on the government to
act decisively against the sectors of the economy which super-exploit foreign
nationals as both a replacement of South African workers and evasion of
compliance with hard-won labour rights. All workers must be respected with equal
rights independently of any nationality! We reaffirm the right of the African
people and other foreign nationals to be in South Africa in terms of applicable
international and national laws which must be respected by all of us together.
We reiterate our principled stance of the rule of democratic law in our
country. In particular, we pledge our international solidarity with all our
African brothers and sisters who have been forced out of their respective
countries by various forces of circumstances, all of which were socially
engineered.
We
say: “We are one people”!
Together we have suffered from
the historical injustices of displacement, colonial oppression and imperialist
exploitation driven in the main by European colonisers and the imperialist powers
of the North.
The legacy of
under-development and wretchedness left by colonial oppression and imperialist
exploitation is the primary cause of the economic and political problems our
continent is facing to this day. The perpetuation of imperialist exploitation
involving new methods is reproducing and worsening those problems. Yet those
who are primarily responsible for these problems are basking in the luxury of
accumulated surplus wealth mainly expatriated to Europe and North America.
In the face of all of these,
we must not be divided by any forms of false consciousness. We must instead
unite as Africans and unite with our counterparts from other continents in
pursuit of international solidarity, world peace and social justice.
4. The
abuse of learners in community protests
Cosatu and the SACP condemn
the violation of learners’ rights in violent protests taking place in
communities in which schools are closed and torched and other public
infrastructure maliciously damaged in the name of “service delivery”.
This new tendency of
sacrificing the future of our children by abusing and denying them their right
to learn is completely unacceptable, and has no place in a democratic society.
We acknowledge the forthcoming principals’ seminar organised by the South
African Democratic Teachers Unions (SADTU) and related education bodies to deal
with this and other challenges facing our education system. This programme,
which we are in full support of, will be cascaded to provinces and districts
across the country.
Issued jointly COSATU and the
SACP
Contact:
Acting COSATU National
Spokesperson
Ntai Norman Mampane
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 or
Direct: +27 10 219-1348
Mobile: +27 72 416 3790
Twitter: @_cosatu /
@COSATU2015_
SACP National Spokesperson
Alex Mashilo
Mobile: 082 9200 308
Office: 011 339 3621/2
Twitter: SACP1921
Facebook Page: South African
Communist Party – SACP
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