Terry Bell

Browsing Archives of Author »Terry Bell«

…And so the postman goeth

October 15, 2011

On Monday, nostalgia, tinged with concern, will provide a worker and union undercurrent when the post office, with justifiable pride, celebrates the centenary of South Africa’s first delivery of mail by air. Similar feelings afflict postal workers the world over as this public service continues to be a job-loss victim of the internet and micro-chip […]

The threat of South Africa’s Info Bill

October 8, 2011

(First published September 23, 2011) Journalists think they are something special; that they should have more rights than other citizens and that the media somehow sees itself as above the law. These views have been expressed by a number of ANC members of parliament. They have been aired in defence of the Protection of State […]

Patriotism is no answer to a flawed system

October 8, 2011

Patriotism in whatever form is no answer to the current global crisis. Yet it continues to be clung to by both sides of the labour market coin — employers and employees, although both have different definitions of precisely what they mean.

Secrecy: a poison to democracy

September 22, 2011

Secrets often leak into the public domain. In the process they can become distorted and those in the know can also use them to gain favours or protection — to blackmail and manipulate. However, there are two kinds of secret: one that should be eradicated as vigorously as possible and the other which perhaps cannot — and certainly should not — be tampered with.

Back to the future: workers & ‘optimisation’

September 17, 2011

From an employer and business perspective there is one major problem with workers: they are human. This is not a moral judgement, and to use a term generally ascribed to the pampered aristocracy of yesteryear, workers are “a necessary evil”.

Remembering the ‘Battle of Auckland’

September 13, 2011

There were two major rugby events in New Zealand on Sunday, September 11. In the capital, Wellington, the Springboks faced Wales in their first defence of the World Cup; 640 km to the north, in the economic centre of Auckland, anti-apartheid veterans marched to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the anti-apartheid "Battle of Auckland”.

Old lessons yet to be learned

September 10, 2011

Little more than a year ago, it was discovered, to clucks of disapproval and widespread expressions of horror, that even those most South African of all sporting noise makers, the vuvuzelas, had been imported from China. Now the same discovery regarding World Cup rugby memorabilia, has been made. But instead of tackling the real issues, trade unions and others continue banging the drum of patriotism.

Home-grown SA fascism emerges

September 2, 2011

The first, loud, trumpet calls to fascism in modern South Africa have been sounded. They emanate from Julius Malema and the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). It may seem melodramatic to write this, but only because fascism is a little understood, ill-defined term that sends shivers of apprehension through most minds.