COSATU North West Post PEC Statement
1 June 2018
The Congress of South African Trade unions in the North West Province held a successful Provincial Executive Committee meeting on the 31st May 2018 at Ngwenya hotel in Stillfontein.
This was the last PEC for the term which started in the June 2015 and it was preparing for the 5th provincial congress which will be held from the 4th to the 6th July 2018 at the Mmabatho civic centre in Mafikeng.
We congratulate the people of Venezuela and Cuba for holding successful elections and continuing to defend the revolution as they inherited it from their former leaders like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
We condemn the United States who supported violent attack on the people of Palestine by the brutal military force of Israel and call on for the boycott of all Israeli products and companies.
We further welcome the recall of the ambassadors by South Africa and Turkey but further calls on the state to end all diplomatic ties with Israel
The PEC was addressed by the Deputy General Secretary, who amongst others, touched on the following:
" The need to build a strong campaigning COSATU which is able to take up the struggle against the social ills which continues to face the people of the province and the country at large.
" The need to build the capacity of our affiliates to defend and recruit workers and to make sure that every worker belongs to a union and they are defended should a need arise.
" The support to the national minimum wage and the need to make sure that it becomes a criminal offence for any employer not to pay in line with the national minimum wage.
" The need start a campaign for the living wage in our country as the era of the national minimum wage has been realised.
The PEC received reports which looked at the state of the organisation and the political situation in the province.
We noted that we had held a successful provincial shop steward council which was followed by a march to the North West provincial administration to present our memorandum.
We note and welcomed the fact that we had a most successful May Day Rally which was held in Mafikeng rugby stadium on the first of May and indeed this was a sign that the federation in the province is still alive and strong.
We noted the current spate of fatalities in the mines and we call on the president and the minister to intervene as the mines of our country continues to be more unsafe and is now becoming death traps of our people in the country.
We noted the current spate of crime and violence in the province which is directed to workers and the takes a form of gender based violence and we resolved to take up a struggle against these social ills.
We also noted the increasing spate of the killing of the farm workers which happens in the workplace and are mysterious and in all cases the employers refuses to take responsibility in this regard we call on all farmers and farm owners to make sure that their workplaces are safe and the department of labour to enforce the labour laws in particular the OHSA and the BCEA.
We note and condemn the killing of school children like the incident that took place in Stella in our province. This happened during the child protection week.
We call on the department to make sure that the schools are a safe place for the learners and educators at all times and the law enforcement urgency to bring the perpetrators to book.
We are ready as the province to hold a united peaceful congress committed to build a strong federation with more support to the ailing industrial unions as we are informed by the theory of Karl Marx that say "only the industrial proletariat can lead a socialist revolution to its logical conclusion.".
In doing so; we will be re-launching all the remaining locals before the congress.
The congress will be used as a test case to build unity in that all our work post the congress must be the one which will be directed towards unity of the federation and the working class.
The PEC further received a report on the political situation in the province and the country.
We noted the spate of emerging allegations of corruption in the province which are supported by two visits by the Hawks in the province. This happens while there is a denial by the former premier and some of his cheer leaders in the province. In this regard we call on the ANC to be decisive when it deals with its deployees who are facing allegations of corruption. We also call on the security agencies to act without fear or favour and with the necessary speed when they deal with allegations of corruption in the province and the country at large.
We welcome the application of section 100 1b of the constitution in the province and indeed this has exposed us as the province that the government had collapsed and we have nothing left. We have confidence that national government through the Inter Ministerial Task Team will help to restore governance in the province
We note the recent spate of protests in the province which most of them were violent and while we acknowledge the right of the citizens to protest we condemn any protest which is marred by violence and attacks to innocent people irrespective of their place of origin.
While we condemn any violence during any protest action, we want to thank the community for rescuing our members from working in unsafe and unresourced environment on daily basis while some believe that we must take it as business as usual.
We also note a new tendency of attacking workers when they are protesting and raising their grievance by hooligans who are mobilised by some politicians in the province. This started at the time when we marched in demand for justice on the murder of comrade Moss Phakoe and is continuing till today.
This must be condemned with all the contempt it deserves.
We note the paralysis facing the PEC of the ANC in the province and its inability to deal with the challenges facing the community of the North West. Our analysis and conclusion is that we do not have a PEC of the ANC in the province rather we have cheer leaders of one individual who continues to dictate the program of the PEC and all the structures of the ANC in the province.
For some time the ANC in the province has been turned into a feudal institution operating on the will and wish of an individual.
We note the current attitude of the ANC in the province to defy its NEC and NWC and we believe that this is a high level of ill discipline in the movement. The PEC continues to reward those who have defected from the ANC and we believe that this is part of the master plan to form another party from within the ANC as it happened in 2008 on the formation of COPE.
In this regard, COSATU believes that the ANC cannot rebuild itself in the province under the current leadership of the province and therefore calls for the ANC NEC to dissolve current PEC of the ANC and put a PTT in place.
We condemn any attack or any attempt to take any person life but we believe that that recent claims by the former Premier are malicious; unfounded; misleading and want to undermine the state security agency in that at the time he was making such claims he was under a twenty four hour protection by the state. We also believe that it was misleading in the sense that it wanted to defocus us from the real issues of corruption facing the province and its municipalities.
It also wanted to plead for public sympathy as the man was playing a victim rather than a perpetrator.
The PEC welcomed the resignation of the former premier but we believe that this is not a panacea to all the problems we have in the province. We also note the tone of his resignation as it is not reconciliatory but vindictive to his detractors and we believe that this tone will further divide the fragmented ANC and its alliance partners. We call on the former premier to borrow a leave from one of his programs, the RHR and he must Reconcile; Heal and Renew himself for the prosperity of the ANC and the province as a whole.
We call for a rigorous; intensive and inclusive program which will focus on rebuilding the province and bring back the confidence of the ANC back in the people of the North West. This must start with the appointment of the care taker Premier who will take the province to the coming national and provincial elections in 2019.
We note the report of the auditor general on the audit outcomes in the municipality in the past financial year which found that our municipalities are in the state of paralyses and on the verge of collapse and there is no governance in them. Also noted in the report is the rising of irregular expenditure in the municipalities. This is a confirmation of the lack of leadership in the province both in government and in the political arena.
We note the current attempt to privatize the state owned enterprises and we call on the state to keep public goods in public hand and we will fight any attempts to privatize any section of any state owned enterprise.
We also noted the current spate of the job losses in the all sectors of the economy with the mining sector hit the most and we call on all in the captains of the industry to reinvest their money back in the economy and create more jobs to build the economy of the country. This must include the reviewal of the provincial development plan to include key economic drivers which are mining and manufacturing and not to treat them as a side issue and call them a tributary to the ACT.
We call on all members of COSATU to be active members of the ANC in the branches to make sure that the ANC remains to be a working class biased organisation taking care of the workers and the poor in the province.
We welcome the adoption of the national minimum wage bill by the national assembly and we believe that this is not a leaving wage but a step in the right direction towards the national leaving wage. The minimum wage serves as an intervention to many workers who are trapped on poverty wages earning below R2 000 a month.
There have been substantive economic growths in all the countries of the world who have adopted the national minimum wage.
In conclusion, we call for the reconfiguration of the Alliance where the alliance becomes the political power centre.
Issued by COSATU North West
For more information to contact:
Job Dliso
COSATU North West Provincial Secretary
Cell: 082 463 1840 or 071 489 1384
The Congress of South African Trade unions in the North West Province held a successful Provincial Executive Committee meeting on the 31st May 2018 at Ngwenya hotel in Stillfontein.
This was the last PEC for the term which started in the June 2015 and it was preparing for the 5th provincial congress which will be held from the 4th to the 6th July 2018 at the Mmabatho civic centre in Mafikeng.
We congratulate the people of Venezuela and Cuba for holding successful elections and continuing to defend the revolution as they inherited it from their former leaders like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
We condemn the United States who supported violent attack on the people of Palestine by the brutal military force of Israel and call on for the boycott of all Israeli products and companies.
We further welcome the recall of the ambassadors by South Africa and Turkey but further calls on the state to end all diplomatic ties with Israel
The PEC was addressed by the Deputy General Secretary, who amongst others, touched on the following:
" The need to build a strong campaigning COSATU which is able to take up the struggle against the social ills which continues to face the people of the province and the country at large.
" The need to build the capacity of our affiliates to defend and recruit workers and to make sure that every worker belongs to a union and they are defended should a need arise.
" The support to the national minimum wage and the need to make sure that it becomes a criminal offence for any employer not to pay in line with the national minimum wage.
" The need start a campaign for the living wage in our country as the era of the national minimum wage has been realised.
The PEC received reports which looked at the state of the organisation and the political situation in the province.
We noted that we had held a successful provincial shop steward council which was followed by a march to the North West provincial administration to present our memorandum.
We note and welcomed the fact that we had a most successful May Day Rally which was held in Mafikeng rugby stadium on the first of May and indeed this was a sign that the federation in the province is still alive and strong.
We noted the current spate of fatalities in the mines and we call on the president and the minister to intervene as the mines of our country continues to be more unsafe and is now becoming death traps of our people in the country.
We noted the current spate of crime and violence in the province which is directed to workers and the takes a form of gender based violence and we resolved to take up a struggle against these social ills.
We also noted the increasing spate of the killing of the farm workers which happens in the workplace and are mysterious and in all cases the employers refuses to take responsibility in this regard we call on all farmers and farm owners to make sure that their workplaces are safe and the department of labour to enforce the labour laws in particular the OHSA and the BCEA.
We note and condemn the killing of school children like the incident that took place in Stella in our province. This happened during the child protection week.
We call on the department to make sure that the schools are a safe place for the learners and educators at all times and the law enforcement urgency to bring the perpetrators to book.
We are ready as the province to hold a united peaceful congress committed to build a strong federation with more support to the ailing industrial unions as we are informed by the theory of Karl Marx that say "only the industrial proletariat can lead a socialist revolution to its logical conclusion.".
In doing so; we will be re-launching all the remaining locals before the congress.
The congress will be used as a test case to build unity in that all our work post the congress must be the one which will be directed towards unity of the federation and the working class.
The PEC further received a report on the political situation in the province and the country.
We noted the spate of emerging allegations of corruption in the province which are supported by two visits by the Hawks in the province. This happens while there is a denial by the former premier and some of his cheer leaders in the province. In this regard we call on the ANC to be decisive when it deals with its deployees who are facing allegations of corruption. We also call on the security agencies to act without fear or favour and with the necessary speed when they deal with allegations of corruption in the province and the country at large.
We welcome the application of section 100 1b of the constitution in the province and indeed this has exposed us as the province that the government had collapsed and we have nothing left. We have confidence that national government through the Inter Ministerial Task Team will help to restore governance in the province
We note the recent spate of protests in the province which most of them were violent and while we acknowledge the right of the citizens to protest we condemn any protest which is marred by violence and attacks to innocent people irrespective of their place of origin.
While we condemn any violence during any protest action, we want to thank the community for rescuing our members from working in unsafe and unresourced environment on daily basis while some believe that we must take it as business as usual.
We also note a new tendency of attacking workers when they are protesting and raising their grievance by hooligans who are mobilised by some politicians in the province. This started at the time when we marched in demand for justice on the murder of comrade Moss Phakoe and is continuing till today.
This must be condemned with all the contempt it deserves.
We note the paralysis facing the PEC of the ANC in the province and its inability to deal with the challenges facing the community of the North West. Our analysis and conclusion is that we do not have a PEC of the ANC in the province rather we have cheer leaders of one individual who continues to dictate the program of the PEC and all the structures of the ANC in the province.
For some time the ANC in the province has been turned into a feudal institution operating on the will and wish of an individual.
We note the current attitude of the ANC in the province to defy its NEC and NWC and we believe that this is a high level of ill discipline in the movement. The PEC continues to reward those who have defected from the ANC and we believe that this is part of the master plan to form another party from within the ANC as it happened in 2008 on the formation of COPE.
In this regard, COSATU believes that the ANC cannot rebuild itself in the province under the current leadership of the province and therefore calls for the ANC NEC to dissolve current PEC of the ANC and put a PTT in place.
We condemn any attack or any attempt to take any person life but we believe that that recent claims by the former Premier are malicious; unfounded; misleading and want to undermine the state security agency in that at the time he was making such claims he was under a twenty four hour protection by the state. We also believe that it was misleading in the sense that it wanted to defocus us from the real issues of corruption facing the province and its municipalities.
It also wanted to plead for public sympathy as the man was playing a victim rather than a perpetrator.
The PEC welcomed the resignation of the former premier but we believe that this is not a panacea to all the problems we have in the province. We also note the tone of his resignation as it is not reconciliatory but vindictive to his detractors and we believe that this tone will further divide the fragmented ANC and its alliance partners. We call on the former premier to borrow a leave from one of his programs, the RHR and he must Reconcile; Heal and Renew himself for the prosperity of the ANC and the province as a whole.
We call for a rigorous; intensive and inclusive program which will focus on rebuilding the province and bring back the confidence of the ANC back in the people of the North West. This must start with the appointment of the care taker Premier who will take the province to the coming national and provincial elections in 2019.
We note the report of the auditor general on the audit outcomes in the municipality in the past financial year which found that our municipalities are in the state of paralyses and on the verge of collapse and there is no governance in them. Also noted in the report is the rising of irregular expenditure in the municipalities. This is a confirmation of the lack of leadership in the province both in government and in the political arena.
We note the current attempt to privatize the state owned enterprises and we call on the state to keep public goods in public hand and we will fight any attempts to privatize any section of any state owned enterprise.
We also noted the current spate of the job losses in the all sectors of the economy with the mining sector hit the most and we call on all in the captains of the industry to reinvest their money back in the economy and create more jobs to build the economy of the country. This must include the reviewal of the provincial development plan to include key economic drivers which are mining and manufacturing and not to treat them as a side issue and call them a tributary to the ACT.
We call on all members of COSATU to be active members of the ANC in the branches to make sure that the ANC remains to be a working class biased organisation taking care of the workers and the poor in the province.
We welcome the adoption of the national minimum wage bill by the national assembly and we believe that this is not a leaving wage but a step in the right direction towards the national leaving wage. The minimum wage serves as an intervention to many workers who are trapped on poverty wages earning below R2 000 a month.
There have been substantive economic growths in all the countries of the world who have adopted the national minimum wage.
In conclusion, we call for the reconfiguration of the Alliance where the alliance becomes the political power centre.
Issued by COSATU North West
For more information to contact:
Job Dliso
COSATU North West Provincial Secretary
Cell: 082 463 1840 or 071 489 1384
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