Vicki Robinson

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is to forge links with left-wing social movements in a move to reverse its waning influence in the tripartite alliance and to revitalise South Africa’s left. At a recent conference, the federation adopted an unprecedented resolution to work with the country’s burgeoning social movements to rescue the "fragmentation and attrition" of the left.

An earth tremor injured six miners one day before the earthquake that hit DRDGold’s North West operations on Wednesday, trapping 42 mineworkers underground. The National Union of Mineworkers is incensed about the quake and is blaming the mine management, which, said the union, has a "terrible health and safety record".

<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has allocated the largest tranche of the Budget to the provinces — but National Treasury is to exert a much firmer grip on how provincial and local governments spend their money. A key reform introduced in this year’s budget is a change in the way social grants are funded.

Damaging though it may appear to onlookers, this week’s evidence in the Schabir Shaik trial does not seem to have shaken Deputy President Jacob Zuma’s supporters in the African National Congress-led alliance. Some still insist the trial is a smear campaign to discredit Zuma and thwart his bid for the presidency, while others maintain a wait-and-see attitude.

Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu is carrying the flag for her Cabinet colleagues. She is implementing President Thabo Mbeki’s <i>raison d’être</i> — to mesh the three levels of government to create jobs and halve poverty. Sisulu speaks
to Vicki Robinson about hard work, inspiration and a new approach to housing.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) expulsion from Zimbabwe this week has triggered a wave of protest among South African civil society organisations, church groups and youth organisations riled by the African National Congress’s policy of "quiet diplomacy".

A stinging letter sent to Transnet CEO Maria Ramos by staffers attacking her "uncompromising" leadership style throws light on the current management shake-out and the internal resistance Ramos faces in her bid to revamp the parastatal. The letter was sent by staff members under the pseudonym Ms Uekermann.

A high-profile member of the Eastern Cape legislature, Enoch Godongwana, has resigned two months after Premier Nosimo Balindlela sacked him as her provincial minister of finance. Godongwana, who is also the deputy secretary general of the African National Congress in the province, says that his decision had nothing to do with "political pressure" and was his own choice because he believes he has "done his service with the government".

Trade unionists and industry heavyweights have poured cold water on a claim by a leading South African economist that South Africa is entering a "golden era" of rising employment. Michael Schussler, the CE at T-Sec, said that, for the first time since 1982, the country was enjoying "massive employment growth at 1 400% quicker than America’s monthly employment growth".

The cash-strapped Eastern Cape government has threatened to withdraw up to R220-million annually from Coega Development Corporation — the national Department of Trade and Industry’s flagship infrastructure development project — in a move which could plunge it into financial crisis.

The document on his desk, <i>Why Revolutionaries Need Marxism: Philosophy and Class Struggle</i>, provides a dog-eared hint of the past week’s mood. The general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Thulas Nxesi, is one of nine trade union leaders who have been commanding their headquarters, in inner-city Johannesburg, on a 24-hour basis since their announcement on Monday that up to 690 000 civil servants will hit the streets next Thursday.

About 690 000 civil servants are expected to strike out of a total of 852 937 unionised members. As preparations for protest get underway, there is already a mood of triumph. But the question is whether trade union leaders have the grit to sustain this mass action for more than a day. The <i>M&G</i> speaks to the ordinary man on the street.

Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana’s blistering attack on the national Department of Education this week has blown the lid off tensions simmering between the two departments since 2001. Until Mdladlana’s outburst, the rift had been officially denied.

Operation Gcin’amanzi (conserve water) was launched by Johannesburg Water last year as a fail-safe solution to retrieve billions of rands in arrears that accumulated from the flat-rate system used during apartheid. Gcin’amanzi’s centrepiece is the roll-out of prepaid water meters to "conserve water and stop the bleeding in arrears", says Brian Hlongwe.

The government is shifting its policy on informal settlements away from relocating residents and towards upgrading and developing programmes that would make shack communities a permanent feature of the South African landscape. The plan includes recommendations to "formalise the informality" of South Africa’s burgeoning shack communities.

Economists and business leaders are relatively unfazed by the world oil price spike, arguing it may be temporary and that South Africa has "shock absorbers".
"We have a strong currency, which is bit of an insulator for the high oil price," said Transnet CEO Maria Ramos. "I’ve the sense that markets are overreacting."
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=66679">No risk of global downturn, say analysts</a>

The contrast between unfettered praise and damning criticism generated by the release of the Human Development Report on South Africa by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) last Wednesday has exposed the polar economic ideologies in this country.

The Cabinet lekgotla last week fast-tracked job creation to the top of its agenda, together with plans to bolster investment and public participation in the economy. This is the first time employment has been at the centre of the government’s development vision, and the state is likely to intervene much more in the South African economy to tackle stubbornly high unemployment rates.

"The <i>City Press</i> article [which claimed that IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi had offered to step down] was crap. Most of the media articles about a divided party are misleading and a clear indication that IFP leaders are being paid to leak news to the media." We talk to IFP Youth Brigade chairperson Sibusisiwe Ngubane as the party faces a crisis after its dismal showing in the polls.

Long-running labour disputes in the civil aviation and road freight industries have held up a crystal ball in which the clouded future of labour organisations in South Africa can be seen. The battles highlight the two largest threats to trade unions in the new millennium — the growing use of casual labour and privatisation.

Serious questions about the dwindling power of national bargaining councils in the face of the increasing casualisation of South Africa’s labour force were raised this week, as negotiations between transport unions and employers in the road freight industry crashed.

The general secretary of the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), Cunningham Ngcukana, is expected to leave the federation to assume a senior position in the secretariat of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) at the beginning of April.

More than 200 schools in Limpopo saw their dismal 17% pass rate in the preliminary matric examination last year surge to 73% in the final exam. This increase remains unexplained, and adds to existing controversy around the 2003 matric results.

They have been described as ephemeral and the loony left; they have been demonised as superficial; and they have been chastised by the government for making <i>droom-politiek</i> economic demands. But the momentum of the country’s 13 social movements as a simmering political force can no longer be scoffed at.

One woman in charge of 57 workers (54 men and three women) — Grace Brown is the symbol of South Africa’s 2014 formal labour force. Vicki Robinson visited DaimlerChrysler’s assembly line and found a more skilled, more female and more productive workforce.

The Solidarity trade union has attacked 2 000 planned retrenchments at Iscor, pointing out that the company is about to make a controversial payout of R1-billion in shares to its British-based majority shareholder for "cost-cutting advice". Iscor has justified the retrenchments by referring to falling export earnings because of the hardening rand.