Limpopo SADTU, COSATU join the nationwide strike
The South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) in Limpopo will heed the call of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to embark on a national strike on job losses, state capture and corruption on Wednesday.
POLOKWANE – Limpopo members will march to Checkers in Hans van Rensburg Street to protest against labour brokering, to the Office of the Premier to protest against state capture and corruption, and to the offices of Anglo American to protest against job losses in the mining sector, Limpopo Sadtu Deputy Secretary, Sowell Tjebane, told BONUS.
COSATU Limpopo declares its readiness for the national general strike – 27 september 2017 @ANCLimpopo @polokwanereview @JacaNews @ANN7tv pic.twitter.com/qPXBZB44QM
— @COSATU Today (@_cosatu) September 26, 2017
Nomusa Cembi, national Sadtu Media Officer, said the protected strike was prompted by the revelations by the Public Protector that the country has been captured and there is a network of the predatory elite that is engaged in looting state resources and corrupt activities.
“The first casualties of state capture and corruption are workers who stand to lose jobs and have their hard-earned pensions looted. We can no longer tolerate this deafening silence from President Jacob Zuma to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into state capture as per the Public Protector’s recommendation,” Cembi said. “We demand that President Zuma establish the Commission as a matter of urgency and for the state to deal with the predatory elite and cancel all commercial dealings with the Gupta family.”
Over and above these demands, as a Union in the education sector, Sadtu shall use the strike to press for the following demands:
• The payment of 0,5% pay progression to all education personnel in the basic and post schooling sectors to ensure parity in the public service.
• Safety in all learning institutions.
• Payment of rural and other incentives.
• Formalisation of conditions of employment of Gr R practitioners.
• Implementation of Free Higher education for the poor, focusing on the missing middle (teachers, nurses and the police).
• Prohibition of profit making in education by edu-preneurs.
• Education tax directed at business to pay for higher education.
• Respect collective bargaining by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
• Address all conditions of service of all Community Education and Training Colleges (CET) educators.
“Sadtu members shall in their numbers, alongside their counterparts in the Federation, paint all the cities and towns red when we march today,” Cembi said.
