Dear Amandla! At a time when the crisis in Cosatu has reached breaking point and we can expect the emergence of a new trade union movement or federation, it is critically important for left trade unionists to draw some lessons from the crisis. Cosatu’s demise is not...
power
Marikana: Old Apartheid Social Power Relations meet Democratic South Africa | by Gunnett Kaaf
Revolutions distinguish themselves as phenomena that change those who wield social power, replacing old ruling classes with new classes of rulers. In South Africa, the revolution that culminated in the 1994 April Democratic Breakthrough is always thought of as having...
Corporate Capture in Southern African Infrastructure Development | by Michelle Pressend
Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to be seen as the core pathway for southern Africa and the African region as a whole to meet economic growth aspirations. African natural resources are in demand globally and foreign investment projects are on the...
Getting the energy mix right: towards a publicly driven, socially owned renewable energy sector | by Sandra van Niekerk
In his State of the Nation address of 26 June 2014, President Zuma called for "a radical transformation of the energy sector, to develop a sustainable energy mix that comprises coal, solar, wind, hydro, gas and nuclear energy ". Not content with building Medupi and...
The State of Labour: 20 Years Later
To pose questions about the conditions of labour under South African democracy is to question the success of the ANC's national project itself. As the liberation party embraced a liberalised economic system, it turned away from the more radical restructuring and...
The State of Labour: 20 Years Later
To pose questions about the conditions of labour under South African democracy is to question the success of the ANC's national project itself. As the liberation party embraced a liberalised economic system, it turned away from the more radical restructuring and...
Feature: 20 Years of Democracy
As South Africa passes the anniversary of 20 years of democracy it is important to reflect on both the failures and successes of democratic South Africa. South Africa in 2014 is a markedly different country. it enjoys a pluralistic political system; freedom of speech...
From Durban to Marikana: A new trajectory of the worker’s movement
In January 1973 dockworkers in Durban embarked on a wave of wildcat strikes against low wages, in total some 61000 workers took part in these strikes. The Durban moment not only smashed the industrial relations framework that had been established after black trade...
Responses
Sakhela Buhlungu: It has taken more than 20 years for the dominant current of South Africa's labour movement to begin to emerge from stasis resulting from its embeddedness within the ruling political block led by the African National Congress. The massacre of...
