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Volume 10, No.1 - February 2001
Never Again
Letters
| Money for all |
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Dictatorship and exploitation |
| Congratulation to COSATU |
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Deepening our transformation |
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Dear Editor
May I take this opportunity and congratulate COSATU for its effort in raising R62 million for its Job Creation Fund. It is very true that the country is faced with massive joblessness. It is also true that the country is faced with massive poverty that is bedevilling the majority of its citizens.
The face of our elderly when queuing for their misery pension is a gloomy one. The plight of those fortunate enough to have jobs just a few days after their payday is also depressing (just ask the money-lenders and banks about the overdrafts).
The last census held in South Africa put the population at around 30 million people. The idea I want to put forward to South Africa is this - let the government put a certain amount of money aside for each and every individual alive on the date of its implementation.
Let us say for instance R500 000 for everybody and this money is to be deposited in the bank account of individuals and fixed, let's say, for 20 years. The individuals to be allowed to have access to the monthly interest generated by this money on a monthly basis.
This money will be given to individuals with stringent conditions attached to it and any violation of them means forfeiture in total to the state. The conditions can be any or all of the following:
i. Non-payment of school fees by parents or guardians (the interest will be available on a monthly basis);
ii. Non-payment of service charges;
iii. Being found guilty of any criminal offence, e.g. robbery, car theft, etc;
iv. Fraud, embezzlement, extortion, etc (Think of the Home Affairs officials, corrupt cops);
v. Child abuse, rape.
Before I am shot down for plunging South Africa into a nation of loafers, may I add that this money will not be enough, taking into the fact that most items will rise in price due to the demand, and people's lifestyles will need to be maintained.
The rich will aspire to be richer and to drive different cars, live in more affluent areas, etc. The culture of working will be enhanced. The stress and gloom that engulfs the country will be lifted.
The civil servants who issue fraudulent identity documents to foreigners will have a lot to lose if caught. All other misdemeanours will not pay if one thinks of the price to pay.
The scourge of the country, i.e. violent crime, will definitely be at last put under control and the spin-off of the crime-free South Africa will be huge to the country in terms of tourism and positiveness from the majority of South Africans.
A target for our youth will be set, e.g. before they get their hands on this money they must have attained diplomas or degrees, let's say by the age of 22 years. Girls mot having had a baby by the age of 18.
Centres for the signing of the pledges can be set and manned by volunteers before anybody can taste the fruits of this empowerment action. The benefits for South Africa will be:
i. A sense of worthness to the poor and downtrodden;
ii. A sense of South Africa eventually belonging to all who live in it;
iii. Peace and not crime and violence induced by poverty and lack of opportunities;
iv. Prosperity.
Image the Mhlongos, Modises, Van der Merwes etc grouping together to form their own Miracle 2000. Allow this to continue for about 10 years and see all this paper money turn into real money. A number of entrepreneurs will emerge.
Mr Editor, I feel the African national Congress government will miss a really good opportunity of changing people's lives for generations to come. Those helpless people who are born in poverty are trapped in that situation. An Empowerment Act needs to be passed urgently to allow the government to act in this direction.
I do not see our young people taking the jobs of road construction, school building, while their counterparts are helping and working in their parents' businesses. With this version of the Marshall Plan, I think that this much talked-about African Renaissance will be given as tangible, meaningful head start.
Yours truly, Moses Mhlongo, Moroka
Please convey my congratulations to COSATU for setting this (union.org.za) up and not trying to limit who can participate. It takes a lot of guts and foresight.
I tried to persuade the AFL-CIO to do the same thing in the USA where I work for the Utility Workers Union of America but they were too hell bent on making money out of it. I will try and publicize it as widely as I can. Power to the sisters and therefore to the class.
Sam Weinstein
Dear People.
I have waited until I heard the outcome of the retrenchment talks before sending this email. There are many people that are not happy with Telkom, especially in the Internet community. I feel that the time has come for us to join together and fight for a better future.
Telkom profits have never been better, yet they raise prices and retrench workers. They waste money on advertising and sponsorships. Worst of all they are making the service they offer unaffordable to the masses! And why is this so? Could it be greed or could it be another form of media control.
The internet is becoming a powerful media tool, and yes there is a lot of information out there. Maybe some people don't want the masses to be empowered with education; maybe they feel it is easier to control them that way. Telkom should be put to task - the communications network of this country is a national asset, much like the mines. The will of the people and the good of Africa are of prime concern. Inexpensive communications and job creation is what is needed, not listing on the JSE and bleeding the public dry.
Telkom are quick to tell us that they are following overseas trends but forget to tell us that in the USA and Canada there is a flat call rate of $20 a month for local calls. That means you can pick up the phone at the start of the month and talk all day and every day and only pay $20. Funny how they leave that one out. We need a flat rate for phone calls.
So the time has come for us all, the unions and people, to stand as one and put Telkom in their place. To start - mass action protests both in public and through the Internet. Please let me know what you think and what action we can do together. I have a few things lined up for web protests and believe me there are a lot of angry people out there that want to give Telkom a piece of their mind. Yours faithfully Paul Wiggins mp3@imaginet.co.za
Dear Sir/Madam
There is one thing which worries me very much, which is the twin of our oppression before 1994, i.e. the Middle East - Palestinians and Jews. I think what is happening there is the violation of the Geneva Convention and Declaration on Human Rights.
Our country and government is doing little if nothing to help Cde Yasser Arafat, who was in the forefront to fight against apartheid. Mr editor, would you please take my plea to the echelons of the union, maybe something practical by the workers can be done or demonstrated.
Yours in the struggle for transformation.
Ediel Mokoka SADTU, Nylstroom
Sirs
The Western Cape Education Department is not the Mother Department, because it is using the Principal/School manager of Nomzamo Primary in Strand as a gun/weapon of unfair labour practices, mismanagement, dictatorship and exploitation of a black man's future, while working hand-in-hand with the CCMA, Darling Street, Cape Town and Sasol.
1. On the 25 May 2000, six police vans from Strand Police Station were sent by the Principal. Inspector Van der Venter was quoted as saying: "I like your smile - we'll sort it out very soon.
" 2. On 22 September 2000 police officers Petersen and Bernard were called by the Principal to harass and threaten us.
3. The general foreman (B. Mnqabe) and caretaker (William Buyani) have not received any wages since July and this is the fifth month.
4. The secretary of the School Governing Board (SGB) is a Head of Department (HOD).
5. The teachers' representative in the SGB is an HOD.
What type of province is the Western Cape in South Africa and Africa? What does the WCED and Sasol want to happen?
Yours faithfully Bongumusa Benjamin Mnqabe (General Foreman) William Buyani (Caretaker) Nomzamo Location, Strand
Dear Editor
May I begin by saying, when addressing this topic: we must not forget that our oppression is or was twofold. One, we are, or we were, oppressed as a nation; secondly we are oppressed as a class.
Talking about deepening our transformation should start by asking ourselves two questions. One - how shallow is our transformation? Two - how deep should we deepen it?
Answering the two questions in my own thinking would then give us an understanding of where we are from, where we are presently and where to from here.
Allow me then, comrades, to answer myself. Our transformation is deep as far as "the right to vote". I am almost sure that nobody, no amount of intimidation or pressure, can take this right away from us as long as we live on earth. This answers to me what I have said earlier is the oppression of a nation.
To the question - how shallow is our transformation - it is shallow if we are oppressed economically.
There are endeavours made by comrades in this regard - e.g. black empowerment. I don't have a problem with empowering of our people economically. The question I am having is: do we have some guidance to our people that we are empowering? I am thinking about guidance that is in line with our vision?
Comrades, if you go to the IMF and World Banks of this land to borrow money, they will give, provided you qualify to their vision. Comrades, nobody can deny the fact that in this world of outsourcing, people are being empowered, but empowered for what? Are we creating black capitalists?
Comrades, we need to remind each other, if we have forgotten, that as workers we have a vision; we are gunning for a classless society. To arrive at it, yes I know, is a very long route. If you read me, I am asking: have we started walking this route and where does it start?
f it does not start now by teaching those who still have allegiance to our organisations where should we start, or we are still giving them a chance to grow; they are still young capitalists.
'The Postman' Motherwell CWU Branch, Port Elizabeth
Dear comrades,
Regionalism was introduced by the old government as part of the Group Areas Act to divide certain people from others. It is a system where certain groups of people are destroyed, with the aim of developing others, where one group is partially excluded from the internal affairs of the country or organisation by denying them information, facilities and not capacitating them to fit in the developing world.
The so-called 'reserves' were introduced and people's knowledge measured by their background and place of origin. This is the system that introduced a class society of the survival of the fittest and the elimination of the unfit, i.e. rich people becoming more rich and poor people becoming more poor, those with knowledge and information becoming more informed and those without becoming more empty.
It is also where the types of jobs created for a certain place have to conform to a certain standard because people there are regarded as second-class human beings.
This poor level of thinking has led to the undermining of people's ideas and made people develop fear of others. In this context, some of our people became dumb and lost confidence in themselves.
You will also find that jobs created in these regions are on a short-term basis and quickly close. Lack of facilities and resources make things difficult for these regions to make their own initiatives successful, but opens up room for people coming from the outside world to take over and play a leading role.
Imagine a person from the outside world developing you in your own world, using his plan and your resources to suit his needs and interests. I don't think it is fair to have shallow eyesight when looking at things and soft tongues saying that we can talk of fair and equal treatment, where there is still discrimination by colour, language, race, background and origin that was created by regionalism.
In this phase we must learn and see that regionalism is destroying us and our future, so that we embark in a struggle to fight against it. The idea of treating people by the virtue of their origin or background creates inadequate distribution of medical facilities, allocation of poor quality medical doctors and unavailability of facilities at hospitals and schools. This also means that there is no room for these people in this world, as part of our society.
Mkululi Mackson Siduna, CEPPWAWU Umtata
