The media came to the 11th national congress of South Africa's major trade union federation, Cosatu, expecting metaphoric blood on the floor. It never happened because, for all the often bitter divisions, all factions seems united in believing that the governing, ANC-led alliance is the only true was forward.
September 18, 2012
Amid unprecedented media interest, Cosatu’s eleventh national congress got underway in Midrand on Monday. Many of the more than 300 journalists, photographers and members of camera crews accredited to attend the event are clearly expecting drama. They are likely to be disappointed. Unity at all costs is likely to paper ove all differences.
September 5, 2012
What happened at Marikana should not be seen in isolation. It is merely the most tragic of many unrest incidents around South Africa, but it is a wake-up cll the country will ignore at its peril
September 2, 2012
To see the tragedy at Lonmin in isolation from the other, almost daily, upheavals around the country would be a mistake; they all stem from similar causes. All unions need to join this chorus because the desperate poverty among many miners and their families is the same desperate poverty that afflicts millions, mainly in the rural areas and squatter camps of South Africa. Democratic unionism may hold one of the keys to solving these problems.
August 23, 2012
Inflammatory propaganda, opportunistic interventions and a narrow, finger pointing focus engaged in by everyone from opposition politicians and government ministers to mine management and some campaigning groups, has added to the tension following the bloodshed at Lonmin's Marikana mine. It is high time to sort out some facts from often self-serving propaganda.
August 22, 2012
It will be a gross error if the proposed commission of inquiry into last week’s tragic events at Lonmin’s Marikana mine focusses solely on the violent incidents at the mine. It would also be a great disservice to the memories of the dead and the injured, as well as to miners and their families everywhere — let alone the country at large.
September 21, 2012
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