COSATU Northern Cape PEC statement, 30 November 2011
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Northern Cape held the Provincial Executive Committee Meeting on 28-29 November 2011 in Kimberley. The PEC made a thorough assessment of the work of the federation over the past three months and resolved on the following issues:
Political issues
After receiving a report on both provincial and national political situation the PEC resolved as follows:
We condemn the statement of the deputy president of the country when he addressed the international community on the Walmart issue as it seeks to contradict the efforts of the three ministers who are appealing against the takeover of Massmart. We view this as a direct attack on the rights of the workers as we all know the effects of this takeover.
We call on the deputy president of the ANC to speak out against the individuals who seek to use his name in their attempts to destabilise the current leadership collective of the movement.
We congratulate the ANC on the successful hosing of the recent two regional conferences in Siyanda and Namaqua. We hope that the newly elected leadership will work very hard to unify the organisation and get rid of factions in the movement.
We support the ANC in the forthcoming bi-election in Strydenburg on 07 December 2011. All COSATU affiliates are urged to release shop stewards from Thursday, 01 December until the day of the bi-election. We call on all the workers in Strydenburg to heed the call of COSATU and vote for the ANC candidate on the day in question.
We condemn the illegal exhumation of 11 bodies of African People in Wildeklawer farm near Barkly west. The fact that the graves of white people have been left untouched indicates that it was an act of racism. We call on the police to speed up the investigation and arrest the perpetrators of racism.
We pledge our sympathies to the families whose rights have been violated by this racist behaviour.
We will intensify our fight against corruption both in government and business and call for the acceleration of quality service delivery to our communities.
We need to call on the Secretary General of the ANC to intervene and help the alliance to function properly and develop a joint programme of action in the province.
We call on the office of the public protector to speed up the corruption investigations in Sol Plaatjie Municipality as the whistle blowers are continuously being victimised.
We welcome the progress made in the establishment of the corruption watch and the intended launch in January 2012 in all our events.
Organisational issues
There is a need to intensify the work of the affiliates at local level.
All locals are compelled to convene local shop steward councils and socialist fora on a regular basis.
The PEC members that are deployed to the locals will take full responsibility for the successes and failures of those locals.
We need to cascade the 12 campaigns adopted by the Central Committee to all locals so that we are closer to the masses of our people.
The programme for the re-launching of locals in February 2012 has been adopted.
There is a need for all affiliates to improve membership service and intensify the recruitment campaign.
The Provincial Office of COSATU needs to properly co-ordinate the Public Sector Unions in the JMC so as to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the issues at the bargaining chamber.
All locals need to forward their activity plans to the provincial office for circulation to all affiliates. This will assist with the co-ordination of attendance by all unions to the activities of the federation.
The Provincial Congress will be held in July 2012 in Kimberley.
Socio-economic issues
COSATU welcomes the sentencing of Mr Van der Walt to 18 years, four of which has been suspended for 5 years. We hope that there will be no other attempts made to sneak him out of prison after the sentence as there were efforts made to get him a community service sentence.
We welcome the release of the reviewed PGDS and hope that it will be implemented by the province. In the past we have had a strategy which was a complete failure.
We welcome the recent announcement by the MEC for transport, Safety and Liaison that our government will build a harbour in Port Nolloth and solid railway line that links the entire province to the harbour.
We call on the Provincial government to speed up the process as well as the revitalisation of the railway lines in the province. These are projects that will help in the creation of decent work.
We welcome the signing of the four accords at NEDLAC and believe that if they are honoured by all parties they will go a long way in helping with the implementation of the NGP. We commit ourselves as the province to doing our best to ensure that we meet our part of the deal and encourage all parties to do likewise.
We call on the Premiers Office to fast track their intervention on the challenges facing the victims of asbestosis in John Taolo Gaetsewe Region. We will request the Premier to convene a meeting with Mr Spoor and the victims where COSATU will be invited.
We condemn the criminal activities where some people demand money from the victims in order to help them. We call on the police to investigate that matter and arrest the culprits.
The PEC of COSATU is committed to intensify our campaigns going forward and the alliance partners are called upon to join us.
We call on the MEC for environmental affairs to convene a stakeholders' forum to discuss the issues of climate change in relation to our province.
We condemn the decision by the NIHE's interim board to terminate the contract of Dr Kopano Taole at the end of 2012 after he has done so much work to lay a foundation for a university in the province. We are aware that all those board members are not having interests of the youth of our province and are seeking to reverse the gains made in this project.
Issued by COSATU Northern Cape Provincial Secretary, Anele Gxoyiya, November 30 2011
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