SPEECH BY CDE THOBILE NTOLA,

PRESIDENT OF SADTU

SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC TEACHERS UNION SEVENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS HELD AT BIRCHWOOD, BOKSBURG, ON 06 TO 09 OCTOBER 2010

Theme - "Organize and Empower Education Workers To Deliver Free Quality Public Education And Build Socialism"

Comrade Deputy President, the chairperson of the session;

General Secretary;

National Working Committee members;

The National Executive Committee; 

Leaders from Regions and Branches;

Former presidents, Cde Shepherded Mdladlana, Duncan Hindle, Mabandla;

Former General Secretaries, Cde Randall and Cde Thulas Nxesi

The honorary leader of SADTU , Cde Puby Naiker;

The former members of NEC and all National committees;

Delegates

Revolutionary Alliance leaders (ANC, SACP, COSATU and SANCO);

Our International guests and friends;

The Mass Democratic movement Organisations (Cosas , Sasco);

Leaders from organised and unorganised faith;

Leaders from teacher unions (Naptosa, SAOU, Natu, Pewu);

Management from all sectoral organisation (ELRC, SACE, ETDP seta, SAIHOLD, SIT);

The Department of education, Basic Education and Higher Education;

Invited Guests and special guests;

Service Providers;

Retired staff Members;

Staff Members;

Comrades and Friends;

1. Introduction

SADTU is now TWENTY years old. Given two decades of our existence, one wonders where to begin. To begin one should understand the genesis of SADTU, her purpose, the current political conjuncture and chemistry and the purpose of this congress. This congress is convened to evaluate progress made thus far since our last 6^TH congress (2006), but also to evaluate the progress made since 1990 6^TH October and chart a more revolutionary, aggressive and more desperate way-forward. Desperation is informed by the fact that any delay would be fatal and suicidal, hence tomorrow is too late. Given that, the objectives of the congress is to evaluate work done thus far, confront challenges ahead, the beginning is the inception of SADTU, her purpose, character and nature, historic mission, road travelled, its difficulties and her 2030 vision with clear milestones.

We should dedicate this congress to sung and unsung heroes, heroines, to living and none living man and women of our country. This dedication is informed by the fact that Sadtu formation was not only a view of teachers, but actually a view of almost all revolutionaries of our country and abroad, secondly almost all those who suffered under apartheid capitalism were also fighting for compulsory, universal quality public education and one of their strategy was unity of teachers in South Africa to create a single education system.  Two decades is too long, it is a unique moment, hence profound emotions are justifiable. Many have died and suffered for what you are, hence we are here not to allow them to die, nor to say goodbye, but to thank them and welcome them to our fold in their form. We see them as a backup, as a detachment of invincible combatants, we also see them as moral giants who grow everyday, whose images, strengths, and influences have multiplied through the entire planet earth.

This is the 20^TH anniversary of the organisation of workers, workers of the mind, the intelligentsia, one of the biggest unions within the federation, the biggest union in teaching fraternity, a union found in all communities, a union which is able to talk to + 90% of the population in five days of the week, a union supposedly to be a powerful weapon to realise our destiny, a union of courage and vision, a union of learned workers to transform the nation to be a learned nation.

Few fundamental questions should be posed and be responded to by calm, reasonable, resolute man and women with clarity of mind. If we are about to conclude two decades and we are in a gathering of more representation than all other gatherings, then, what questions do we pose to ourselves and in what manner are we expected to respond to such questions.

 We are, gathered here this year as we have done in 2006, but that was four years back. A lot has taken place since then. We are now meeting, few weeks after the ANC General council and few months after the world cup and of cause a year after COSATU congress and SACP special congress. Definitely many things have changed, the form is different, again two years before ANC centenary and its 53^rd congress, two years before 10th congress of Cosatu and two years before the SACP congress.25^TH anniversary of COSATU existence by 4^TH December.This congress is taking place during red October campaign of the Communist party against the finance sector which continues to plunge the world into crisis.  These are major events for the compass of our revolution, however, the content remains the same, the fundamental features of apartheid capitalism remain intact after 16 years of break through to democracy (poverty, un-employment, inequalities, poor education and broad service delivery to the broader working class). The lives of leaders have drastically improved. This then might suggest different approach, strategy and tactics in achieving our goals.

Yesterday was the world teachers' day, the 5^TH October. Yesterday hundreds of thousands of students, parents and activists around the world paid their homage to all teachers who have been directly or indirectly affected by a major crisis. Be it a humanitarian crisis, such as the earthquake in Haiti and China, or the global economic crisis that has devastated many developed economies over the past year, the role of teachers and other education personnel is vital to social, economic and intellectual rebuilding. All those who are fighting to provide quality education to children of the world can join teachers and their representative organisations to celebrate the profession and show them their support. All the concrete things we see everyday are as a result of knowledge transmitted by teachers, the mother of all professions. Recovery begins with teachers.

Of course this congress is taking place after one of big strike by public sector workers, a strike that has united all workers beyond federation boundaries, a strike that has received the support of all organised workers of our country and abroad, a strike that was supported by close to 100 % of our population, except by government and big business and few inhuman individuals and institutions of doom.

Please accept our gratitude for your support of the strike for public services delivery.

On behalf of the National Executive Committee, and the entire SADTU membership, let me take this opportunity to congratulate all leaders elected between the 6^Th congress and the congress in session and also on their behalf and on your behalf thank the entire membership, the ANC, SACP, COSATU and the entire mass democratic movement for defending this movement of teachers during the most difficult and unprecedented attacks which were sponsored internally. Also wish to congratulate the general secretary of the federation ,COSATU, comrade Zwelinzima Vavi for 22 years of selfless serving COSATU in different levels.

This congress should be conducted within the fact that we are now twenty years of age, but the framework is based on our historic mission informed by the current political conjuncture and chemistry in our country and abroad  . This is the platform in which we are to consolidate the gains we have made thus far, confront our challenges and declare our pragmatic, revolutionary way-forward.

2. Four year Highlights

When we were elected to office four years ago we were given clear revolutionary task, not by sadtu alone, but by all the progressive minds on planet earth.

When we were elected in 2006 we were given an organisation which was at the brink of division, a union bleeding. The commander in chief elected was central to SADTU, SACP, COSATU, ANC and the broad democratic movement divisions. But we were given a task to unite the organisation. Here we are presenting SADTU in one unity to you. The president you elected was through due processes expelled by SADTU, COSATU, SACP and ANC. He formed an organisation which is now at the brink of collapse.

Tragically one comrade, comrade Don Pasquallie tragically changed the form of leaving, may his soul be with us.

A long serving leader Comrade Thulas, the former general secretary was deployed to parliament with comrade Mkhulisi, gender vice president and comrade Majuba the deputy president deployed to Mpumalanga legislature. Comrade Dipholo was deployed to SACE.

 I am nonetheless, on behalf of the working committee still reporting back with a capable leadership mostly elected by National General Councils in between the congresses. Here is your organisation united.

The late Simphiwe Mnguni, who was then the chairperson of Eastern Cape supported by Numsa's current general secretary moved a motion in Central committee of Cosatu to defend JZ in trials, a motion which capture the mood of the country and the world. JZ cases were dropped; JZ is both the president of the ANC and the country. We have carried that mandate. Simphiwe should be happy, but, should be concerned about the state of affairs confronting the working class.

In 2007 we dislodged the class project in Polokwana, however it is still alive in different forms.

North west province of SADTU, Limpopo, KZN, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, Free State , Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape are all united, As they were severely affected by 1996 class project divisions, unity is critical to move forward.

The chairperson of Limpopo who was central also to both provincial divisions and the NEC, who lead the last congress to chaos, who knows no one and respect no one , was relieved of his duties as chairperson through due processes of the organisation.

CTPA will merge with Sadtu before the end of this year;

The Cooperation between and among teacher organisation has improved.

The vehicle for membership benefit as instructed by the congress has been created and teacher development institute to take charge of professional development work and all capacity building programmes has been established.

Your investment arm is poised to perform well in the coming years.

Yesterday night Teba bank has been changed to be a U- bank, the workers bank of choice , in which SADTU has taken a decision to participate. A workers bank is a decisive step to deal with capitalism as finance sector has been leading the economic crisis of the world and the misery of the working class across the globe. We must now walk through the doors we have opened.

3. Task of Sadtu From Her Inception

On 6^Th of October 1990 when SADTU was established, the world's icon , Comrade Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela has this to say , "ANC is happy to be associated with SADTU, this is a beacon of hope, hope for the presentation of the teachers expectations, hope for the laying of the ground for a unitary education system, hope for the burial of apartheid system, we should accept the challenges in education struggle as individuals as members of society and organisations, it was not easy to put the Harare document into practice, those who remained behind should reconsider their stance, the commitment of teachers is of great importance, it is your duty as teachers to democratises the schools, classes in which you are and the entire society, create a spirit of mutual respect, SADTU must commit itself to the people, it must introduce new revolutionary zest, It is only education which is based on peoples education which can set us free, SADTU is a powerful force in the transformation of our society. F. Ws reforms can be easily reversed through pressure and we win our ideal South Africa. " These were the expectations of the entire nation when we were formed; hence the congress is confronted with very serious challenges and questions. What does future hold for us, how to make Sadtu a conquering force for teachers and the broader working class, what is a concrete programme to strengthen Cosatu, Sacp, and how do we ensure that, ANC our movement is the movement to liberate people of South Africa and ensure that it is not used by the opportunist for family accumulation. How to get to the land we have promised ourselves, how to keep the vows we made to O.R, Chris Hani , Solomon Mahlangu, Mathew Goniwe, Dora Tamane, Joe Slovo , Bram Fischer, Barayi, Mbuyiselo Ngwenda and all other revolutionaries who created this space to reach our destiny.

I guess this congress is not challenged to come up with new programme, but how to defend, consolidate, and advance our agenda utilising the resolution we have taken in the past, but failed to leave to the expectations. But also want to make this submission, that the way forward is bleak if the congress does not focus on building a new man/person, a revolutionary, the highest level of human species, that man should be built as a matter of urgency. That is a selfless person, a patriot, a person who could lay his/her life for the society as a whole, without asking anyone for anything , without demanding anything and without exploiting anyone.

The expectations were as they were outlined by comrade Mandela in Sadtu launch:

* Beacon of hope for people of South Africa;

* Representation of teacher expectations;

* Establishment of ground for a unitary system of education;

* Burial of apartheid;

* Committed individuals , members of society and organisation to liberate the country;

* Struggle to unite teachers;

* Struggle to commit teachers to the liberation of the people;

* Struggle to democratise schools,, class rooms and the entire society;

* Create spirit of mutual respect;

When we were established we said, "the aim of Sadtu is to unite teachers and educationalists and work for a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic system of education in a free and democratic South Africa, we further said that, sadtu shall observe and act in accordance with the spirit and principle of democracy in all the union's activities, SADTU shall combat all class based discrimination in education and commit to expose, at all times, the class nature of the South African society. " A critical question confronting the congress is, if we are really or have really live to these expectations? Response to these questions and other questions coming should be responded first by asking ourselves, if what was supposed to be done by us has been done before pointing figures to the objective circumstances.

Amilcar Cabral , a revolutionary of Guinea-Bissau, has this to say about weaknesses, "No matter how difficult the struggle may be against the enemy - the most difficult and complex struggle is a struggle against our weaknesses."

* Unity of teachers is not realised yet, we are to blame;

* Quality of education is not yet attained;

* There are learners who learn in mud structures and some under the trees;

* There are no libraries , laboratories and all other critical infrastructure for learning and teaching to take place;

* Many schools do not have electricity, water , sanitation facilities;

* Training and development of teachers was last done by apartheid system;

* Numeracy and literacy has declined;

* No sport , art and cultural activities in our schools;

* Many schools are dysfunctional and most of them are managed by us;

* Many managers managing the department of education are from our fold, yet things are falling apart;

Raising all these issues, which I am of the view that we could have done better, and without arguing about the objective circumstances which from time to time are militating against our objectives. The administration in most provinces is collapsing and the relationship between provincial departments and our organisation is poor. I am raising these based on the assumption that here seated are revolutionaries and revolutionaries are people who have grown up, who study hard to be able to have a command  of the technique that allows them to dominate nature. This gathering is a gathering and a platform of revolutionaries to conduct revolution, not to complain, but if sited here are complainants allow me to close this congress and say goodbye to socialism. We must now graduate to a level of not blaming anyone, even a class project or capitalism, but fight back, this is a class struggle, not a child play, be in charge. No class can wilfully give over power with no fight. Better life for all will not be delivered by your comrades in corridors of power, but through a fight by the working class, instead the more you deplete yourselves by donating some of your good cadres, you are delaying your destiny

I am convinced a lot can be achieved under current circumstances. A lot has been achieved, a lot could have been achieved, but a lot still need to be done by teachers of this country and broader working class.

3. Challenges Confronting The Organisation

The organisation is confronted by political, economic, organisational and educational challenges.

3.1 Political

Politics are about power and control. Political power and control is used either, to improve the lives of all people or to maximise profit based on who is in control of the state power. State is an organ of class rule and transformation of any society depends on power and control of this important weapon. To realise better life for all (full employment with quality jobs, free and compulsory universal education, quality public health for all people of our country,) the ascendance of the working class as a class to state power is critical, without delegating this responsibility to anyone. We are not in revolution to fight for a breathing space or to be allowed to be part of the political centre, but we are in the revolution to seize state power to the working class, working class itself to be at the centre, it must fight for it, it must dirty its hands and that is a guarantee to deliver socialism. Negotiating for socialism in the alliance ,is like behaving like communist of France who met at the tennis court and vow to remain in the left , but with no programme to attain socialism. Sadtu now is twenty years old and the country is sixteen years of break through to democracy. The working class as a class is still not in power. It is still complaining about the alliance, it is always disappointed every five years. The country is confronted by the worst enemy of the people, crass materialism and self- interest. Better life for people of South Africa still remains public relations stance.

Polokwana is significant for the creation of the breathing space to pursue revolution for the total liberation of all people of South Africa.

Post Polokwana, state power is still used to distribute patronage and appointment of people without capacity to lead transformation, corruption and nepotism , abusing power for accumulation of wealth , especially through government tenders, Politics of fear and big brother are still in existence, abuse of state institution to advance factional interests, alliance is still fighting for its centre to transform society, but in provinces and lowest level it is not in existence. It remains an alliance of leaders in board room not translated to programmes, and unable to be defended by the masses. The current government has no programme to destroy the current system, its programme is to manage it, to make it work smoothly and stable. We are an irritation to the current administration, this is seen through its militarisation of police to deal with us when we are exercising our rights, media tribunal proposals, classification and declassification of information, a view to declare public service workers an essential service and a view that if you are critical about what is done by the party leading government you will be sent to DC of the ANC even if you were speaking on another cap. That will destroy the independence of the components and must never be allowed. Political question for the congress is how to make this current decade a working class decade? The answer is simple to these questions, is a programme of the working class to be accepted as a correct programme by the working class for the seizure of state power and the role of every revolutionary is to expose the fallacy of the capitalist system and deepen it into crisis. The task of Socialism is the task of the communist Party, not the ANC. This congress must give the leadership elect a resolution to give the communist Party all the resources it needs for socialism. Comrade Mzala Nxumalo has this to say about task of building socialism;

" In coming into alliance with ANC, the Communist Party has not made any pretension, it is equally has no secrete intentions, its aim is to ultimately build a socialist society in South Africa. The Party however has never ask the ANC to assist in that mission."

The vision of socialism is the vision of the working class and it must be realised by the working class as a propelling force unapologetic and without asking permission from anyone. We can only move forward when alliance is the centre. " The history of all hitherto, existing societies , is a history of class struggle, it is now closed and now open;" Marks and Engels. There is no middle road, there is no neutrality, no one is independent, there is no referee and the fight is revolutionary not evolutionally and the victory is for the powerful force a force which can defend its gains for all the people as a whole. This is what we must know and understand as we are building structures , mobilising our people . We are not accepting to be election fodders for few individuals, elections must take us close to better life for all. The resolution of the federation of the pact is the way to go.

3.2 Economical

Economic freedom since 1994 has not yet trickled down to the class which has brought the democratic break through. The elite government is pleading for patience on daily bases. Human rights remain bourgeois right, rights for the few. The document of the strategy and tactic of the African National Congress in 1968 has this to say;

" In our country more than in any other part of the oppressed world , it is inconceivable for liberation to have meaning without a return of the wealth of the land to the people as a whole. It is therefore a fundamental feature of our strategy that victory must embrace more than formal political democracy. To allow the existing economic forces to retain their interests intact is to feed the root of racial supremacy and does not represent even the shadow of liberation. Our drive toward national emancipation is therefore in every real way bound up with economic emancipation. We have suffered more than just national humiliation. Our people are deprived of their due in the country's wealth, their skills have been suppressed and poverty and starvation has been their life experience. The correction of these centuries old economic injustices lies at the very core of our national aspirations" (S&T 1969)

Sadtu is now twenty years of age, the country is Sixteen years of break - through to democracy, yet the wealth taken from the people has not yet been taken back.

* The country is leading the world in inequalities;

* Unemployment is increasing;

* Poverty is reaching alarming levels

* Leaders are accumulating with their families;

* Corruption is the talk of town;

* There are still two tires of health, security and education system

We should blame ourselves of relying and having more trust and faith to the nationalist movement leadership without us being a fermentation and propelling force in heart, soul and the stomach of the ANC. Cosatu ‘s blue print, the new economic growth path on changing this situation is not going to be delivered over a silver plate, but must be fought for by a revolutionary working class movement.

3.3 Organisational

The period under review has nearly cost the organisation and the profession as a whole. Members who just wily Nelly embark to mass action without due processes, leaders who utilise media in the detriment of the entire movement, leaders who fear to lead based on organisational principles and policies remains a challenge. The organisation is still confronted by all counter revolutionary demons, racism, sexism, tribalism, regionalism, etc.

Confronting the revolution is not new, it has confronted all revolutions and the advantage of us who are the last to get space should take lessons. Many commands, different programmes, different destinies, shooting randomly in different directions are dangerous to the cause.

 Confronting our revolution is not the strength of the objective situation, but the weakness of the subjective factor which is impeding the revolutionary situation. The other evil twin of our contemporary revolution is liberalism.

COMBATING LIBERALISM

Let me again visit Mao Zedung, the leader of Chinese revolution like I have done in the previous NGC, because liberalism remains a serious demon to our revolution;

"We stand for active ideological struggle because it is a weapon for ensuring unity within the organisation and the revolutionary movement, in the interest of our revolution. A revolutionary organisation without revolutionary theory is like a soldier without weapons, strategy and tactics, vision with no mission, a priest without knowledge of Jesus and a person who wants to see God without Jesus Christ. Every revolutionary should take up this weapon.

But liberalism rejects ideological struggle and stands for unprincipled peace, thus giving rise to a decadent, Philistine attitude and bringing about political degeneration in certain units and individuals in the organisation and revolutionary movement as a whole.

Liberalism manifests itself in various ways.

1.   To let things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when a person has clearly gone wrong and refrain from principled argument because he is an old acquaintance, a fellow townsman, a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one, an old colleague or old subordinate. Or touch on the matter lightly instead of going through it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms. The result is that both the individual and the organization are harmed. This is one type of liberalism.

2.   To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private instead of actively putting forward one's suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people to their faces but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one's own inclination. This is the second type.

3.   To let things drift if they do not affect one personally, to say as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong, to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame.

4.   Not to obey orders but to give pride of place to one's opinion. To demand special consideration from the organization but to reject its discipline.

5.   To indulge in personal attacks, quarrels vent personal spite or seek revenge instead of entering into an argument and struggling against incorrect views for the sake of unity or progress or getting the work done properly.

6.   To hear incorrect views without rebutting them and even to hear counter-revolutionary remarks without reporting them, but instead to take them calmly as if nothing had happened.

7.   To be among the masses and fail to conduct propaganda and agitation or speak at meetings or conduct investigation and inquiries among them, and instead to be indifferent to them and show no concern for their wellbeing, forgetting that one is a revolutionary and behaving as if one were an ordinary non - progressive person.

8.   To see someone harming the interest of the masses and yet not feeling indignant, or dissuaded or stop him or reason with him, but to allow him to continue.

9.   To work half hearted without a definite plan or direction; to work perfunctorily and muddle along - "So long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell."

10. To regard oneself as having rendered great service to the revolution, to pride oneself on being a veteran, to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study.

11. To be aware of one's own mistakes and yet make no attempt to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself.

All are manifestation of liberalism."

• Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of coherent organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the organization from the masses which the organisation leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.
• Liberalism stems from petty -bourgeois selfishness, it places personal interest first and the interest of the revolution second, and gives rise to ideological, political and organizational liberalism.
• People who are liberals look upon the principles of humanity as abstract dogma. They approve of human values, but are not prepared to practice them in full, they are not prepared to replace their liberalism by human attitude. These people have their human values, but they have their liberalism as well, they talk of progressive positions but practice liberalism, they apply progressive views to others but liberalism to themselves. They keep both kinds of goods in stock and find a use for each. This is how the minds of certain people work.
• Liberalism is a manifestation of opportunism and conflicts fundamentally with our struggle. It is negative and objectively has the effect of helping the enemy, that is why the enemy welcomes its preservation in our midst. Such being its nature, there should be no place for it in the ranks of the revolution.
• We must use revolutionary theory, which is positive in spirit, to overcome liberalism, which is negative. A revolutionary should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution, always and everywhere he should adhere to principles and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the collective life of the organisation and strengthen the ties between the organisation and the masses, he should be more concerned about the organisation and the masses than about any private person, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a revolutionary.

 All loyal, honest, active, and upright revolutionaries must unite to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among us, and set them on the right path. This is one of the tasks on our ideological front.

Building the organisation for socialism and leading are neither a bed full of red roses or a pool full of berry juice. Revolution is not a beauty contest.

When we were established in 1990, on the sixth of October we said the aim of Sadtu is to unite teachers and educationists and we will work for a non-racial, non- sexist, just and democratic system of education in a free and democratic South Africa. For us to move forward we need a monolithic, united and disciplined organisation with clarity ideological. Our organisation is growing in numbers ,i.e. quantity, but in quality and ideological is at times found wanting. This is an organisation, it is commanded in accordance to democratic centralism.

This means that:

* There is unity of ideology, tactics, and organisational views;

* Sadtu possesses a single programme, single Rules and a single authoritative leading body;

* A uniform organisational discipline should be maintained;

* Equal obligatory for all organisational members and structures;

* The minority is subordinated to the majority;

* Individuals to the organisation;

* The lower structures to the higher structures;

* The decisions taken by the higher bodies are obligatory to the lower ones

This is an expression of the organic, dialectic unity of the two basic principles , centralism and inner-organisational democracy.

Many challenges are still confronting us. The jogging for positions in government is still a challenge, effective and efficient use of resources is still a major problem. Some leaders deployed to other centres are still sources of division in the organisation. Some are still members of members. Use of closeness to those in government to purge others and poor membership service by leaders, instead use organisation to place them in comfortable positions and deal with the organisation.

Tolerance of different views and ideas is critical to revolutionaries; a learned revolutionary does not howl a view not palatable to him/her because you don't wish them away by howling, but by engaging them scientifically, heckling is a sign of weakness, a failure to engage. When you howl and you don't engage you expose your inability to engage and you promote such views. This congress is a battle of ideas, no view will be booed and howled and all speakers will be given their respect in honour of our organisation and in honour of our profession.

We must as matter of urgency improve our administration, communication to members, representation of our structures.

 SADTU is a beacon of hope to teachers in South Africa, we are not only leading our members, but all educators and education. We must take this challenge.

3.4 Educational

A well canvassed demand of the people of South Africa is enshrined in the freedom Charter of 1955," The doors of learning and culture shall be opened to all" , not only to elite. When Sadtu was formed we committed ourselves to work for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic system of education. In most congresses we further committed ourselves to quality, universal public education. We are now twenty years of age sixteen years to democratic break through. South Africa has a two tier system of education, one for the poor which is not well resourced and the other one is for the rich and the elite which is well resourced. The crisis in education persist , the quality of education is declining, 70 % of matric exam passes are accounted for by just 11 % of schools, Only 3% of the children who enter the schooling system eventually complete with higher- grade mathematics. Of the 1.4 million learners who entered the system in 1998, 24 % were able to complete matric in the minimum of 12 years. There are still learners learning under the trees while others are in mud structures, Learner teacher ratio is still high, teacher development has not been implemented for the last 16 years. Education has been declared a priority by the current administration, but our experience as practitioners in education; is that this is just a public relation stance. But in this term nothing has changed in education indicating that education is a priority. In as much that commitment of teachers is critical, but equally commitment of bureaucrats is important. The current education management has mastered all the evils of bureaucracy in the last sixteen years:

• We have a dishonest management to its work;
• Management which is too routine to meet new challenges;
• Management which at times does not want to meet people, and want to be treated as lords;
• Irresponsible bureaucracy;
• Deceitful and talentless bureaucracy;
• Some are useless and lazy;
• A bureaucracy of red tapes and formalities;
• Bureaucracy of money and power;
• Disunited bureaucracy;
• A bureaucracy which is full of erroneous tendencies and always reacting than being proactive;
• Bureaucracy which is more active in inflicting pains to workers and at all times looking on areas where it can inflict pain to workforce e.g. the no-work -no -pay in Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng;

Such a bureaucracy is degenerating, is not needed for education transformation. We should liberate ourselves from such management.

In our last congress our declaration resolved on quality of learning and teaching campaign (QLTC). It has been very difficult to implement this campaign, some of you accusing a President and working committee of being a departmental representative when implementing a revolutionary congress resolution, which is justifying why teachers should be paid well, why must we adopt an attitude of impatience to lazy officials and lack of progress in resourcing education, a campaign for the total transformation of education. 100 % of children you are teaching are children of the working class.

 Our revolutionary task as SADTU is to teach those children better than any other teacher in the country. Our schools should be the best schools, the best performing schools in the country. Quality teaching and learning campaign is our campaign adopted as non negotiable for stake-holders in education by us. It is now government and ANC campaign and programme. This campaign does not rely on department of education, nor to the ANC , but to the revolutionary union and federation , SADTU and COSATU. Sustainable socialism depends on learned nation.

5. What Is To Be Done ?

Our way forward should be informed by our 2030 vision, SACP mid-term vision and Cosatu 2015 programme.

I guess that a critical question for this congress is not what is to be done, but who to do what is to be done.

In 1998 the theme of the congress was, "The struggle continues... for quality public education and job security". In 2002, It was "Thinking globally and organising locally, (the struggle intensifies for job security and free quality public education for empowerment, from intention to action. In 2006; the theme was "Empower educators to reposition SADTU for peoples' education and working class power"

Yet some of you to be popular reject the resolution and declaration of the congress.

The theme for this congress is "Organize and Empower Education Workers and deliver Free quality Public education and build Socialism".

The movement forward need revolutionaries, not complainants. Let's be in charge of our destiny, no one will deliver us from these bondages but ourselves. The theme you have chosen for this congress cannot be implemented by ordinary people, it can only be implemented by revolutionaries.

Revolution is a complex phenomenon, which breaks the capitalist system into asunder and builds a new society, the only society which is capable to provide sustainable better life for all the people. That society cannot be delivered by the ANC, but by the communist party. The decision you have taken for this congress is not decision which can be taken by cowered or by ill-disciplined carders. Socialism moves beyond fighting for condition of services. It is taken by people who are selfless, who are prepared to die like Jesus, Che, Marx, Chris Hani, Mathew Goniwe, Bram Fischer, OR, Slomon Mahlangu, etc . The only people who can go to heaven according to the bible are Christians and they can only reach heaven only through accepting Jesus Christ as their saver. The only way to socialism is through revolution van guarded by the communist party armed with a revolutionary theory, Marxism Leninism theory.

This is the route we have chosen for ourselves, build the SACP and swell the ranks of the ANC through the party, and struggle for the heart and soul of the ANC , fight for state power as a working class of socialism, be brave, don't fear death.

The question confronting us now is how to be good revolutionaries.

To be a good revolutionary, self cultivation is critical. Liu Shaoqi has this to say about our decision of socialism.

"This is to say, we must conscientiously go through long periods of social revolutionary struggles and, in such struggles change society and change ourselves."

We should therefore see ourselves as in need of change and capable of being changed. We should not look upon ourselves as immutable, perfect and sacrosanct, as persons who need not and cannot be changed. When we pose the task of remoulding ourselves in social struggle, we are not demeaning ourselves; the objective laws of social development demand it. Unless we do so, we cannot make progress, or fulfil the task of changing society.

We, the working class are the most advanced revolutionaries in modern history; today the changing of society and the world rests upon us and we are the driving force in this change.

3.5 Organise Education Workers

We should make sadtu a preferred union for all education workers in our country. We should step up our recruitment of all education workers in our country and organise the section of teachers not yet forming part of our organisation. But to be a home of all education workers we should step up our professional development and membership benefit through teacher development institute and Yebo Sadtu institutions which have been established.

3.6 Empower Education Workers |

We are the creators of our destiny; hence we should empower our members to be the best teachers and best cadres for socialism. The teacher development institute should be established in all provinces and regions to assist our members both politically and educationally.

International work and solidarity should be stepped up especially in the southern region states.

3.7 Deliver Free Quality Public Education

Under circumstances we should be prepared to teach and fight at the same time. There is no quality education in this country without a fight. We must:

* Fight for teacher development;

* Next year should be a year to destroy the two tier system in the education system, we must force the doors in public ex-model C schools open, cap the school fees;

* Force compliance of all schools to a framework of conditions of services, infrastructural requirements, management of schools , school fees, etc;

* Lets fight by marching and doing all sorts of things with parents and communities to ensure that all schools are resourced well, let's be impatient and not allow any learner to learn under a tree next year;

* No member of Sadtu should teach in a school without the necessary facilities, we must not allow that, not in a democratic society;

* We must fight for a living salary of teachers and broader education workers next year;

* Let's make all our institutions, institutions of excellences;

We can do all these things, a positive mind yield positive results.

3.8 Build Socialism

This congress ‘s theme is to build socialism , the system that can deliver sustainable better life for all people, better quality education , better health care , better social services for all people, quality jobs for all. For this resolve we need a very strong, resourced communist part. The party serious about socialism is a party fully resourced national, provincial, and at district level and it can only be resourced by the workers and the broader working class. We must build a strong, independent communist Party, the vanguard of the working class, the only political insurance of the working class. This is a critical task for this congress, critical because all your needs can only be sustainable delivered by that system. In swelling the ranks of any organisation, we should swell and take charge of such organisation and organs of civil society, but such swelling should be through ideologically informed cadres of the left. You can't pursue revolution with blunt weapons. If this decade is a decade of the working class the following should be considered:

* Deployment of cadres to government legislatures, administration should be balanced to the need of strongest cadres to the organisation;

* This congress should decide on how to directly resourced the party;

* A debit-order campaign be stepped up;

* All structure of the union to have a clear program of the party ,coordinated by the political commission;

* Launch political schools at all levels , but with more focus at the branches and regions;

* Establish Cosatu locals in all municipalities;

* Established socialist forums in all districts and cosatu locals;

* All of our members must be active to structures of the ANC; Cosatu and SACP and should take audit of all our members in ANC and organs of civil society and provide direction of what is to be done;

* Ensure that deployment to local government , policy evolution, monitoring and evaluation is done by the alliance as the strategic centre for the revolution;

* The congress should also resolve on decision of the ANC for teachers not stand for elections in the on coming election government election, a decision against the human rights enshrined in the Constitution;

* Take up the campaign against corruption which is rife in the department of education in all provinces;

This congress has also a responsibility to elect leadership informed by its resolve of fighting for better life for all. I trust your wisdom on this matter, and also be reminded that there will be no other congress which will accept a report where SADTU is not representative in terms of gender balanced.

Closer to conclusion of this political report I want to deal with industrial actions in the term under review.

4. Industrial Actions Of The Term Under Review

The term under review has been characterised by two major public sector strikes, one in 2007 and the last one this year 2010. Negotiations is a site of struggle itself, it is a reformist approach, it's a give and take process, it is a moving up and down, it is a tactic , part of principal means to realise your strategic objective, it is not a principle, but a tactic. It is an important weapon, not to be used by cowards and counter revolutionaries. It is used to create a state of panic to the employer. In the private sector the panic is the loss of profit whereas the employees might panic for the closure of the firms. In the public sector, the panic is the a creation of instability - an inconvenience of the total population and also causes the public to put pressure on government to respond urgently. But in a case of elite government which is not directly affected by such services that panic button does not work urgently.

 The strike should be disciplined, focused and persuasion should be used to ensure that all workers and public are certain about the demands and such persuasion should be legal and human. A strike of the advanced detachment of the working class should respect the rights of other human beings.

The improvement of conditions of services for teachers take place in two platforms, one is the Education Labour relation council (ELRC) and the other is Public service coordinating bargaining council (PSCBC). For salaries and other transverse issue PSCBC is used and for issues related to the profession ELRC is utilised. There are eleven unions in PSCBC. The character and nature of unions, the character and nature of the platform and nature of the negotiations are important factors. The interests of workers we are negotiating for are not the same at all times. Sadtu is not only union in negotiations, the strength and the balance of forces is not determined by the strength of one province or one union. The fact that we are negotiating with government which has already finalised its budget and that the mandating team is at times scattered all over the world are serious challenges. The lack of understanding of the very platform (negotiation) we are utilising is a problem itself, political contestation between COSAT unions and independent union, PSA,etc. Bottom lines and settlements which might be known by the employer. These are important factors, important for a scientific analysis and resolution by the congress. The correctness of decisions taken during strikes are relative not absolute. The movement forward needs cool, reasonable, focused minds.

The 2007 strike for salaries, was the longest one in the history of industrial action in South Africa by a public sector workers when we were demanding 11 %.

* In 2007/ 8 financial year we received 7.5 % in July and 4% for OSD in December;

* In 2008/9 we received 10%;

* In 2009/10 we received 11%;

* In2009/10 we also received an average of 10% on OSD;

The sum total of what we have received in four years is an average of 44%, which is unprecedented. The 2010 salary negotiations were very tough with major challenges to be looked at by the organisation. The employer moved to 6.5 % from 5.2 %, R620,00 from R500,00; Consider our view on Medical Aid and stood firm on date of implementation and all other movements were through tough political discussions which were always tested to the constituency. The last move was when there was a certain proposal of 7.5 and R800,00, but again 8% was raised as at least easy proposal to be considered by members. These were juxtaposed with no-work-no-pay and effecting anything less by the 1^ST of April. In negotiations, you consider each and every move toward your interest. And in all these discussions, the bottom line has always been that , these should be tested to constituencies. There is a difference between negotiation and insurrection, even in insurrection there are tactical retreats and strategic shifts. The following are the facts of 2010 negotiations:

* 7,5 % on salary increment considering the current inflation of 3.5% ;

* A process to deal with housing dispensation favourable to public sector workers;

* An agreement to equalise medical aid and ensure control by workers;

* A light to realise our standing demand on implementation of salary increments, July 2010, may 2011 and April 2012 respectively;

* A progressive agreement has been signed for FET and relationship is progressing well at that level, it is a relationship pregnant of better things to come;

* FET Round table is progressively planning a way-forward to transform the sector;

These are shift worth noting for any revolutionary movement involved in a compromised process like negotiations, if it has an interest of moving forward. Selling out does not come easy, hence currently in this round selling does not exist if facts are the bases of analysis. The leadership at all times has a responsibility of ensuring that the harm and damage to the fighting soldiers is minimal and ensure that they remains united to confront the difficult moments ahead. There are turbulent times ahead not only for salaries, but for the total emancipation of the entire population. No decision in the tenure of the current NEC has been taken arbitrary. Yes we might have committed mistakes as natural beings with interest of moving forward and certainly without any view of selling out. When there was anticipation of suspending the strike three NEC were convened four days before the suspension of the strike to scan the balance of forces and to prepare the ground forces of any eventuality. The decision to suspend the strike was taken by the NEC based on the balance of forces. It was important to call all detachments to the platoon to ponder the next move. This was informed by the platform of negotiations, character and nature of forces at play, space and time, unity and strength of forces at the picket lines, the unity of opposites. What has been presented by the employer was presented and tested to the constituency as the process of negotiations, it has been rejected, and it is not signed. No one has sold out. The next move has to be considered by this congress. Discussions are at the advanced level to deal with both negative and positive consequences of the strike. I and the NEC are not preceding jury in this congress, but the congress is the jury. The facts speaks for themselves, there has been progress in the period under review. The secretariat report will dwell more on these matters.

5. Conclusion

When Oliver Reginald Tambo praised Mk Soldier in the most watershed battle of aquato canaval , he has this to say, " when people ceased to be frightened by bullets, they ceased to be frightened by anything in the world, when you begin to defy death, you've acquired the capacity to conquer and what you need is correct tactics, what you need is correct strategy because as we all know the bravest soldier dies in vain, if he dies without inflicting damage on the enemy. It is not sufficient to be brave; it is necessary that you fight with skill and with the means that gives you capacity to win. The great withdrawal from Angola was a solemn challenge; it was emotional for everyone, the task was understood and it was executed; it was historic and history has vindicated. The rest is no history but the inspiring challenge that the nature and quality for which the sacrifice was made is retained in its integrity. Aquito Canaval was not a final and definitive end, it was a process - the struggle is continuous." I am certain in current circumstances OR would have said, "If you don't fight, if you don't step up our struggle, your victory will be distorted.

In all that has taken place wittingly or unwittingly which might have disturbed some of you, we take the blame ,we are not accusing anyone, we are not complainants, but revolutionaries, we take note of challenges, mistakes, we have taken lesson on our actions. We apologise for tapping on toes of some of you, the intensions were good, all these were informed by desperation to realise our better life for all, the land of milk and honey which this country is capable of. We must now move forward as architects of our destiny. We want socialism in our lifetime, tomorrow is too late. To all of you and your families we treasure your support. The fight is still on, never ever give up, this is our motherland. You are all welcomed; this congress is now officially in session.

Life or death , Socialism is certain

Amandla!!!

Issued by SADTU, October 7 2010

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