Tragic death of mineworker at Bultfontein
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has learned with shock and disappointment about the tragic death of a mineworker who was crushed by a power shovel at Bultfontein mine on Sunday, 22 January 2012. Our view about the brutality of capitalism and its total disregard for the lives of the working class people is one again vindicated. Another family has again been robbed of a young, energetic and loving husband and father who was a bread winner at his home We join our affiliate NUM in a call for a full scale investigation of the circumstances under which Gert…
The Weekly Editorial
The idea that in a democracy such as ours the children’s right to education can willy nilly be violated by teachers because they do not like their management and have issues about their overtime work is morally reprehensible. This apart from the fact that it is a violation of the law. Teachers in the Eastern Cape, which has consistently performed poorly in its matric results and general assessments of lower grades, decided they will abandon children at the beginning of the school year because of various issues they have with the management of education in the province. The South African…
NYDA must contribute selflessly towards developmental education
The call by the head of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Andile Lungisa, for the scrapping of trade unions is similar to blaming rainfall, rather than a leaking roof, for wet blankets. It is the most liberal and reactionary statement ever made by a government agency since the 1994 breakthrough. It smacks of utter logical flaws and feeble populism. According to media reports, Lungisa, who is also the head of the Pan African Youth Union, attributed the challenges in the basic education system, with particular focus on the matric results, to union activities. I simply hope that this unfortunate…
