April is South African Heroes month, when we remember the great leaders who passed away in this month, in particular OR Tambo, Solomon Mahlangu and Chris Hani.
On 10 April the Congress of South African Trade Unions joins the nation in remembering the tragic moment, 17 years ago, when our beloved comrade Chris Hani was cruelly taken from us by the gun of a racist assassin.
He was in every way a colossus of the liberation struggle, whom we lost on the brink of our greatest victory - the crushing of apartheid and the democratic elections of 1994 - for which he deserves a massive share of the credit.
COSATU is determined that his memory and legacy will be kept alive as he would have wanted - by continuing the struggle for the ideals he stood for, in particular his unshakeable belief in the need for socialism and the liberation of working people.
He said that socialism is not about big concepts and heavy theory but about decent shelter for those who are homeless, water for those who have no safe drinking water, health care and a life of dignity for the old.
Despite the improvements we have seen, thanks to the ANC government, we still live in a country with mass unemployment, widespread poverty, a decaying public health service, a dysfunctional education system and a deadly HIV/Aids epidemic. Thousands of people still live without access to essential services and the economy is still dominated by a super-rich, mainly white minority. We are now the most unequal society in the world.
"A new South Africa," Chris said prophetically, "would be meaningless if the problems of the millions of poor people were not tackled. The perks of a new government are not really appealing to me," he said. "For me what is important is the continuation of the struggle - and we must accept that the struggle is always continuing."
For the overwhelming majority of black South Africans that struggle is certainly still continuing. They are still waiting with growing impatience for the empowerment, equal opportunity and better life they were promised.
We have won many battles but the war has still to be won. In memory of Chris Hani, we must therefore intensify our campaigns to eradicate poverty, inequality and unemployment. In particular we must focus on the following major challenges:
The casualisation of labour and the scourge of labour broking, which is reducing thousands of workers to poverty and insecurity. Companies are dodging their obligations to treat their employees fairly, by hiring them on a short-term basis from labour brokers. They are being turned into modern-day slaves, with low pay, no job security, and no benefits. COSATU is to submit a Section 77 notice and, if our demands for the total ban of the labour broking system are not met, we may have a strike on 7 October 2010.
The proposed youth employment scheme, which is nothing less than a subsidy to employers to super-exploit young workers, and then retrench them as soon as they reach the upper age limit.
The devastating 25% a year electricity tariff increases which will push up the cost of living of the poor and lead to even more lost jobs. "Mayihlome ke Nako". Prepare now for the strike and protest marches which we are organising!
The service delivery campaigns in our poorest communities, where shack-dwellers and the poorest of the poor are demanding running water, sanitation, proper houses and all the other essential services of a modern society, which Chris Hani was referring to.
The overhaul of our public health service and the rapid implementation of a National Health Insurance system, which is essential if we are to end the two-tier good-private and dreadful-public health services, and build one where no-one is denied healthcare because of poverty.
A campaign uniting educators, students and parents to get our schools to function, with a culture of learning and teaching. We must end the situation where 70% of our schools do not have libraries and 60% do not have laboratories and 60% of children are pushed out of the schooling system before they reach grade 12.
The implementation of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) to create jobs and address all structural, objective and subjective weaknesses of every sector of our economy.
Macroeconomic policies that support IPAP and a new economic Growth Path which will lead us out of the straitjacket of the colonial and apartheid economy which depended on the export of our raw materials, towards an industrial and labour-intensive economy. An end to the current inappropriate and conservative fiscal and monetary policies..
An end to corruption and the insidious alien capitalist culture of self-enrichment and ‘me-first', which is destroying our democracy, and the movement's traditions of selfless sacrificing service to the people, which Chris Hani always defended.
We shall best honour the memory of Chris Hani, Oliver Tambo and all our other great leaders in this month of heroes by rededicating ourselves to the struggle for national liberation and socialism. COSATU will not rest until the goals Chris Hani set for our movement are achieved.
Statement issued by Patrick Craven, Congress of South African Trade Unions national spokesperson, April 9 2010
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