trade unions

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has launched its anti-corruption unit, Corruption Watch, in Johannesburg.

COSATU secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, says that corruption has become a matter of life and death in South Africa, which is why the trade-union federation decided to launch the service.

Funded by various groups, the unit, which aims to record instances of all forms of corruption, will have a website and an SMS number where anyone can file reports of corruption.

Political parties, trade unions and education advocacy groups have welcomed the class of 2011’s matric pass rate with caution.

The South African Democratic Trade Union said the results showed an improvement, but that inequalities still plagued schools and provinces.

The union pointed out that, “The results reflect an inequality in our society. Our sense is that issues of historical disadvantaged and poverty associated with race, class and the rural-urban divide are still prevalent.”

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the National Union of Mineworkers have joined the Treatment Action Campaign in welcoming the expected launch of a new strategic plan to fight HIV.

However, COSATU says that it wants to see a clear implementation programme and budget for the National Strategic Plan’s objectives.

The Congress of Southern African Trade Unions (COSATU) plans to challenge the draconian Protection of Information Bill in the Constitutional Court.

The bill, dubbed the ‘Secrecy Bill’ by the media, was pushed through the National Assembly by an African National Congress (ANC) majority was termed ‘Black Tuesday’, despite widespread condemnation.

COSATU is the latest of many organisations, including the South African National Editors Forum and opposition parties, who have vowed to challenge the proposed law in the ConCourt.

Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, has defended the country's labour laws, saying they are not the main stumbling block to job creation.

Motlanthe, who is being touted as a possible successor to President Jacob Zuma in 2014, was addressing academics and business executives at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Government, labour, business and civil society have joined forces to foster a low carbon economy.
 
They co-signed the so-called Green Accord, committing to a range of measures combating climate change, this in preparation for the upcoming COP 17 conference.
 
Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, says the agreement signed today commits to making a contribution of about 300 000 jobs that will be created in the Green Economy in the country in the next decade.
 

Swazi pro-democracy campaigners have urged South Africa not to give their country financial assistance without imposing conditions aimed at steering the troubled kingdom towards negotiations for a transitional government.
 
A delegation of union leaders and activists, as well as politicians from two banned political parties, travelled to South Africa to lobby against the handout, which is believed to be in the region of R1.2 billion.
 

Trade Union, Federated Union of South Africa (FEDUSA) says that the government should link its proposed youth wage subsidy to training and skills programmes to prevent exploitation and increase young people's chances of finding work.

FEDUSA secretary-general, Krister Janse van Rensburg, points out that South African schools operate in a two-tier system - some performed at international standards, and others just scraped pupils through, with around 2.4 million youths not working, training or studying.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has written to the African National Congress (ANC) warning that if changes are not made to the Protection of Information Bill, it will take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

In a press statement, COSATU says that in its present form, the draft legislation is a threat to South Africans’ democratic right to be fully informed on matters of public interest.

The government has rejected ‘insinuations’ by the constitutional watchdog group, Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC), that South Africa is becoming a ‘dysfunctional state’.

In a press statement, the performance monitoring and evaluation ministry, says government believes that CASAC’s intentions are not that of trying to build a democracy “we all live by.”