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News & Views by Terry Bell
Political interference and the unions
The attempt by labour minister Mildred Oliphant — including a couple of lengthy and costly court battles — to interfere in trade union administration was slapped down hard on January 26. The labour appeal court ruled that her instruction to the registrar of labour relations to withdraw action against a defaulting Cosatu union and her […]
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Time to seek the real state of nations
February 11, 2017
This week brought us, in South Africa, another State of the Nation address (SONA) and, like its predecessors, it will probably be best remembered for the fashion parade on parliament’s red carpet and the punch up on the floor of paliament. There was also the usual post speech analysis of what was seen generally as […]
Posted in: Commentary
Corporal punishment: let’s learn from history
January 27, 2017
There is nothing new in the still raging debate in South Africa about corporal punishment. During the great student rebellions in 1976, there was widespread rejection of corporal punishment that echoed the approach of the Roman scholar, Quintillian. More than 2 000 years ago, Quintillian argued that corporal punishment was fit only for slaves.
Posted in: Commentary
A luta continua — for 22 years
January 27, 2017
A labour dispute at the then Midrand municipality in 1994 has rumbled on for 22 years and has again, this year, come to the fore. In the process it has thrown into sharp focus some serious problems facing the South African labour movement.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Ideal refuge for a kleptocrat
January 24, 2017
Given reports over the years of the dictatorial behaviour of The Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh, of the use by his security forces of assassination and torture, along with his apparently liberal access to the national treasury, he has perhaps found, in Equatorial Guinea, his ideal refuge.
Posted in: Commentary
Davos: a far cry from responsive & responsible leadership
January 22, 2017
The world’s most expensive and probably most successful public relations exercise concluded in Switzerland this week: the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos. But this private club of some of the richest men in the world is responsible for the very ills they claim to be trying to remedy.
Posted in: Commentary
Resilence amid the doom & gloom
January 16, 2017
The almost meaningless display of verbal pyrotechnics that annually accompanies South Africa’s secondary school matriculation results is thankfully behind us. But the reality of a potential 700 000-plus school leaving job seekers is most definitely not. Along with double that number who dropped out before Grade 12, they highlight the most volatile element in the […]
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
The need for responsible journalism
January 5, 2017
As 2017 gets underway, there is, as perhaps never before, the need for responsible journalism; journalism that presents the facts and seeks out the truth; journalism on which the public at large can rely and that reveals, without fear or favour, verified and verifiable information that is in the public interest.
Posted in: Commentary
Terry Bell Writes 
February 11, 2017
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