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| The weekly newsletter for COSATU members and the public |
17 August 2001 |
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 COSATU president, Willie Madisha, leads an anti-privatisation march through Johannesburg on August 16. |
Privatisation of state enterprises and basic services in South Africa will result in the majority of poor people being unable to afford services, and therefore will die of illnesses such cholera as they would not be able to pay for clean water - privatisation is going to kill people.
Leaders of the South African Communist Party (SACP), South African National Civics Organisations (SANCO) and COSATU yesterday told thousands of demonstrators in Johannesburg who turned out for the first round of provincial stayaways against privatisation of state assets.
The marches are a build up to the two-day nationwide strike scheduled to take place at the end of the month. The demonstrators presented memorandums to the representative of two of the eight parastatals government is intending to privatise.
The companies are Spoornet, which is part of Transnet, and the electricity utility, Eskom. COSATU president, Willie Madisha, told the demonstrators that the privatisation of state assets would impact badly on the poor people in this country, as it would make services unaffordable.
He described the government's decision to sell public enterprises as "a direct attack on people" and human rights.
Madisha condemned government's macroeconomic policies saying they are not working and have resulted in massive job losses. He said yesterday's stayaway was only the beginning of the struggle against privatisation.
"We won't rest until government comes to its senses…we will make sure that we protect the public sector as it is the only provider of affordable services," said Madisha. South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) general secretary, Randall Howard, said the only reason government is resorting to privatisation is that it is capitalistic.
He criticised the government economic policies for influencing privatisation in this country. In memorandums presented to both Eskom and Spoornet, COSATU said privatisation of government services has meant rising prices and worse provision for the poor and working people.
It said privatisation would undermine government's capacity to overcome the legacy of apartheid, which has left most communities with poor roads and a shortage of housing, piped water, electricity, refuse removal and sanitation.
"Privatisation reduces government's capacity to overcome these shortfalls. It aggravates the inequalities between the rich and the poor. It means the rich can pay for improved services, like education, health and transport, while the poor are left to face cut offs and soaring bills," said the federation.
COSATU is demanding that the government stop the privatisation of basic services such as water, sewage and electricity. It said restructuring of the state assets must improve services for our communities especially the poor and must be negotiated with the communities and labour formations and further be approved in parliament.
"A new policy framework based on the demands of the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Programme must be developed in consultation with the labour movement, SANCO and the rest of the civil society," said COSATU.
The federation further called for the scrapping of the current framework. Other marches yesterday took place in other three provinces in the country, which included presentation of anti-privatisation memorandums at relevant institutions. More marches are taking place today in other five provinces in the country.
The Public Sector Joint Mandating Committee of COSATU has this week raised its concern on the slow pace of the public sector wage negotiations in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.
The committee is made up of the leaders and negotiation team from the public sector unions, South African Democratic Teachers Union, SA Democratic Teachers Union, Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union and South African State and Allied Workers Union.
It met this week to assess the state of the negotiations in the bargaining council. The wage negotiations in the sector started on June 5.
The committee criticized the government for delaying the process of the negotiations. "We see this pattern of events as a disturbing replay of the late 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 wage negotiations," said the five public sector unions.
The government is offering wage hikes of 5,5 percent to all workers in the sector, which is against the unions' demand of nine percent hike.
Other conditions demanded by the unions include a pay progression system incorporating career patching and covering all workers who qualify; a three-year framework agreement that allows for negotiations on actual wage increases; and an immediate payment of once off bonus of R850 00.
The Public Sector Joint Mandating Committee has drastically called for the closure of the wage negotiations today because of "display of the usual intransigent on the part of the government". The unions further raised concerns on the loss of jobs and the practices of outsourcing and restructuring in the sector.
"We have also noted with serious concern that despite the signing of the Public Service Jobs Summit declaration on the restructuring of the public service wholesale outsourcing and loss of jobs continues unabated.
If action is not taken now the integrity of the public service bargaining system will degenerate far below private sector standards," the unions said. They called to the government to exemplary as a good employer.
COSATU has welcomed the decision by the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) to throw its weight behind its campaign against government's decision to privatise its enterprises. SANCO announced that it would support the federation's scheduled two-day national stayaway on the August 29 and 30.
It said that the dangers of selling public assets, especially those that provide essential services would outstrip the meagre benefits of privatisation. "Recent examples even in the strongest capitalist countries like the United States, have shown that one cannot privatise an essential service like electricity; the profit motive will always be regarded as prime, as opposed to the provision of service.
We maintain that government cannot abdicate its responsibility of providing the essential services and welfare to all South Africans and therefore we shall march in solidarity with the workers in our country against privatisation," said SANCO.
COSATU said the organisation's participation in the action confirms its belief that opposition to privatisation is widespread throughout the country's communities. Said COSATU: "privatisation will have a seriously negative effect on SANCO members, who are consumers of the services threatened with privatisation. The provision of electricity to rural communities will be slowed down, as the corporatised Eskom is forced to pay taxes."
COSATU said one the government utilities, Eskom, which the Department of Public Enterprises sold 10 percent of its shares few years ago, has already increased the costs of its local calls by 35 percent.
The calls are mostly used by poor people South Africans. The federation said the telephone company provided about 620 000 new telephone connections to communities. However, 220 000 of them were disconnected due to their lack of affordability.
It said the situation would get even worse as the government would also be privatising basic services such as water. "Many rural communities have no access to piped water.
International experience shows that privatisation leads to higher prices and worse service…even if government insist on minimum standards, private providers would renegotiate their contracts after a year or two," said COSATU.
It said SANCO's support of the campaign is in the interest of its members. National Confederation of Trade Unions (NACTU) has also thrown its weight behind the federation's anti-privatisation campaign.
The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU) would embark on a nationwide marches and picketing aimed at pressurising the country's retailers to promote locally produced goods.
The union's 400 delegates took a decision at its national congress over the weekend that it would file section 77 notice at the National Economic Development and Labour Committee (Nedlac) in order to kick off its action on August 27.
SACTWU said about 34 000 jobs, lost in the last two years, were as a result of South Africa's reduction of its tariff at a faster pace than required under the terms of the World Trade Organisation and through massive smuggling of clothing, footwear and textiles into the country.
"The union pledged to launch a campaign for the ratification of a package of gender-related conventions of the International Labour Organisation, covering maternity benefits, equal remuneration, discrimination in employment, part time work, workers with family responsibilities and homework," said the union.
SACTWU said the effect of ratification by the South African parliament of the conventions would be that local laws will have to be brought in conformity with international standards as set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The union said scheduled actions are being influenced by its support and contribution to the formation of the Proudly South African Campaign at Nedlac.
Members of the alliance, COSATU, South African Communist Party and the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO), yesterday marched to the United State embassy in Pretoria against the country's intention to boycott the Durban Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances.
US have threatened to stay away from conference if topic such as reparations and the equation of Zionism to racism are not removed from the agenda.
In a memorandum presented to the representative at the American embassy, SACP, COSATU and SANCO said they were "angry and disgusted" at the country's intention. Said the three organisations: "We are firmly behind the demand that debates must take place on reparations or the victims of slavery and racism and on Palestine and the Middle East." They said the US's threat is unacceptable.
"When the issue of reparations for the victims of Nazism was being debated, the US was enthusiastically in support. Yet now that reparations for the victims of slavery are being discusses, they want it removed from the agenda…there is clear case of double standards being applied," said the organisations.
They said the conference represented an opportunity for the world community to engage in democratic debate and take united action to end all forms of discrimination, including the legitimate struggle for Palestinian freedom and addressing the issue reparations for colonialism and slavery.
They said the US was invited on the assumption that it was opposed to racism and xenophobia. "If this is not true of the Bush Administration, then their participation would not be missed," they said.
They said South Africa, for example, is still suffering from the nightmare of institutionalised racism with unequal distribution of wealth and power. They said while black South Africans make up about 76 percent of the national population and white only less than 13 percent, there is still huge economic gab in between. They said the economy in this country is still under control of the few whites.
"South African is a society of two nations - one powerful, wealthy and white, the other powerless, poor and black, while at the same time a new gab is opening up between the small new black capitalists and middle class and the rest of the African population," they said.
They said the most effective remedy to reverse the devastating consequences of racism; slavery and colonialism are far-reaching structural changes to the world economy that must extend beyond the narrow understanding or reparations as financial compensation to individual victims or countries.
They further called to the US to stop its threats and attend the conference. "SANCO, COSATU, and the SACP demand that the US government join this movement, stop trying to blackmail the world and participate fully in the debates at the conference," they said.
The national Minister of Minerals and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka, will today address the National Union of Metalworkers Union of SA launch of the Mbuyi Ngwena Education and Development Trust in Benoni, Johannesburg.
The Trust is aimed at assisting the 222 280 members and staff of the union. NUMSA said the fund is important as it would improve the skills of the workers and their families. It said it would go a long way in assisting the union's staff in enhancing their skills and development.
"The launch is a step forward in correcting distorted patterns of social and economic empowerments by giving skills to the most vulnerable in the country, which is the working class," said NUMSA.
The trust is being named after Mbuyi Ngwena who is the former general secretary of the union. Mbuyi, who NUMSA described as one of the most reliable and outstanding leaders in the labour movement, passed away in 1999 after a short illness.
"He was a consistent fighter for the rights of the working people, a gallant fighter and a selfless cadre for national democratic revolution," said NUMSA. The trust will also assist the fallen hero's children.
Don't we need to restructure the state?
Isn't COSATU protecting its members' jobs at the cost of the broader public? COSATU has always called for the transformation of the state.
We inherited government structures designed to serve a minority and oppress the majority. We need new systems to extend quality services to black communities, establish participatory democracy in all spheres of government, and drive economic development.
Our quarrel is not with restructuring as such, but with privatisation - where government seems to think the only way to achieve change is to bring in the private sector.
Won't the strike harm South Africa by scaring off foreign capital, leading to a drop in the rand?
If government wants to stop the strike, it should start negotiating seriously. More fundamentally, experience all over the world demonstrates that the only way to attract large sums of foreign capital is to bring about economic growth. And the countries that have succeeded have gone against the wisdom of the international bankers - countries like China and South Korea.
The measures government insists on to reassure foreign markets - including privatisation and budget cuts - undermine domestic investment and our economy as a whole. The only capital they can attract is short-term, portfolio investment in stocks and bonds.
Those resources leave as fast as they come, causing economic havoc. For instance, foreign portfolio investment dropped from R80 billion in 1990 to R11 billion last year. Selling off state assets may bring in foreign buyers, but it doesn't increase total investment.
We need to find ways to build a robust economy on the basis of our own resources and expertise. Only then can we expect foreign capital to accelerate growth. That is why COSATU demands sector job summits and other measures to build the economy.
Does the strike mean the Alliance is over?
The Alliance is like a marriage: every disagreement doesn't mean a divorce. Besides, the majority of ANC members support our position on privatisation.
But government says it consulted COSATU on its policy framework?
It's true the DPE consulted COSATU on its policy framework. Then it ignored virtually everything we said. For that reason, when the policy framework was published, we objected to it publicly. There are clearly many officials in government who think that good policy can be made by bureaucrats in backrooms. More listening and less talking would have given us a better policy on privatisation - and less conflict now.
COSATU Weekly believes that there are a variety of weekly developments that need to be discussed or raised to the attention of the readers and workers at large. If you have any compliments, queries or comments on the current issues, send us your brief letter to The Editor or fax it to (011) 339-7788. The newsletter can only publish a few letters a week.
Re donation for Swazi refugees in Amsterdam- Mpumalanga…
The Swaziland Solidarity Network is appealing for donations of any kind for the evicted refugees from the two villages in Swaziland who are now housed by our comrades in Amsterdam.
These people are direct victims of the autocratic rule of the king of Swaziland who evicted them towards the end of last year because they resisted the imposition of Mswati's elder brother as a double chief of these areas.
They have been surviving through handouts from individual comrades from Swaziland and South Africa, but as the number keeps on growing there is a dire need for all people to make contributions of whatever nature.
Primarily these people are forced to share a sheet in such cold and sometimes go to bed without having eaten a thing.
All donations can be made through the head office of the Swaziland at COSATU House, 7th Floor, Braamfontein, 1-5 Leyds street.
We thank you in advance. In the true spirit of international solidarity.
Fraternally yours
Sandile Phakathi
Publicity and Campaigns officer
Tel - 011 339
3621
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