[PAYCO] The Plight of Women in the Workplace and in the Community
Dear Comrades I write to you on behalf of the Justice for Pinky Mosiane Stop Violence Against Women Campaign (participating organisations listed below) to request that you join our campaign during the month of August and beyond to ensure justice for Pinky Mosiane and her family, raise public awareness about the scourge of violence and abuse against women and support and report on our call for government at the highest level to intervene decisively. In this regard we will be submitting a document with clear proposals for action that include a special mining indaba to deal with the crisis that black female mineworkers face in the industry. For now the campaign is mainly co-ordinated from Johannesburg and Cape Town and planning meetings take place today after which we will report to you - including the contacts for our media spokespersons. In the meanwhile we ask that you consider our proposal and read about Pinky's case. We will be sending out updated articles on the case during next week. Read more about Pinky's case that includes her murder and alleged rape during working hours underground in the Anglo-Platinum mine. akanyangafrica Campaign against Violence against Women Justice for Pinky Mosiane! Violence and abuse against women in South Africa is amongst the worst in the world. The government estimates that one in four women are survivors of abuse in their homes. But the reality is probably much worse for most women throughout their lives. If we had a similar situation with the majority of people suffering similar abuse because of their race and skin colour we would have a national outcry, mass protests and a state of emergency by the government. Yet very little is being done by us, government and employers to deal decisively and end violence and abuse against women. Pinky Mosiane Raped and Murdered while at Work Pinky Mosiane was a young mother who had just been working underground for three months as a mineworker for Anglo-Platinum when she was raped and murdered while working underground. This was 18 months ago and despite lots of evidence and 13 suspects no one has been arrested and there is no case in court. The company has washed it hands and is doing nothing because it is a criminal matter. Yet Reeva Steenkamp who was killed by her lover Oscar Pistorious has received much attention and the best effort by the NPA to ensure justice. In the case of the Modimolle Monster that happened about at the same time as Pinky's murder the case is already over and the perpetrators sentenced to life imprisonment. Why is Pinky's case not getting the same attention? Why is Pinky and her family being denied justice and not given any support by the government or the company, Anglo-Platinum? Why are black women being treated worse than animals by society and our own families and communities? Rise Up, take a stand, Organise, Mobilise and Oppose Violence and Abuse Against Women We must take up a stand and struggle towards a society where women will be safe and protected. In South Africa the situation is so bad that a women or child is raped by men every 30 seconds. Even elderly grandmothers and babies are not safe from sexual violence. Now as in the case of Pinky Mosiane, not even the workplace of big companies is safe from violence and abuse against women. It is because of this that over 20 organisations, including trade unions and non-governmental organisations has rallied around the case of Pinky Mosiane who was raped and brutally murdered at her place of work. We believe by taking up her case we will ensure justice for her and her family and take up the fight against violence against women in the mining industry and society as a whole. We call on everyone to join us to stop the scourge! The Aims of the campaign are to: . Highlight and struggle against the crisis of gender-based violence in SA and the plight of women in the workplace and community. . Expose the ineffectiveness of SAPS/NPA in ensuring justice for women and that government ensures that they radically change improve. . Pressurise those in power - Government, big business and trade unions to commit to meanwhile action to end violence against women. OUR DEMANDS: . Justice for Pinky speedy investigation by the police so that perpetrators are prosecuted. The company is to take responsibility for not protecting Pinky and other female workers and offers compensation and support for Pinky's family - child support, education and long term provision. . Government and Companies to adopt measures to make workplaces safer for women. This must be made law. . Trade unions to take gender education and campaigns seriously. . SABC/public broadcasters and the mainstream media to permanently educate the public around women's oppression and gender based violence. . The eradication of class and racial discrimination in the justice system and mainstream media We call progressive organisations including Trade Unions, Non-Governmental
[PAYCO] Western ploy to discredit Zim poll
August 6 2013 at 08:03am By Sam Ditshego Comment on this story REUTERSZimbabwe s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will go to court to challenge an election victory by President Robert Mugabe s Zanu-PF party, which the Movement for Democratic Change rejects as fraudulent.Related StoriesZimbabwe now back to square oneMugabe’s free but unfair winWe have been fighting Mugabe aloneZim’s future rests on observers’ shoulders People who rig their own votes should not be aiming ballot box brickbats at Zimbabwe, says Sam Ditshego. Johannesburg - The local and international media were replete with stories of President Robert Mugabe rigging elections. They have even personalised the whole thing. They do not refer to Zanu-PF – they say or write Mugabe this, Mugabe that. They do not even say or write “President” or Mr Mugabe. They did the same with the executed former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. They no longer referred to the political party he led, the Ba’ath Party. I doubt if some of the journalists, commentators and analysts knew the name of his party. Let me share part of a study conducted on opposition parties in Africa. The study says there are many instances where opposition parties boycott elections simply to discredit the incumbents, and when they realise that their chance of winning is low. Could this be the strategy the Movement for Democratic Change, the US and Britain employed ahead of last week’s Zimbabwe elections – by predicting that they would be rigged – to discredit Zanu-PF? The study also revealed that, between 1990 and 2001, almost 30 percent of all elections in sub-Saharan Africa were boycotted by at least one opposition party. It is interesting to note that even in those elections which were declared “free and fair”, the losers accepted the result only 40 percent of the time. After reviewing 54 elections in sub-Saharan Africa, it is claimed that in 33 the major opposition parties rejected the results immediately. Out of these 33 cases, in 25 instances the losers challenged the results in court. Only in rare instances (Mali 1977, Benin 1996, Madagascar 2001) did opposition parties’ legal appeals win favourable court rulings. However, only in one case (Madagascar 2001) was the election result wholly overturned by the court. In 25 cases, protests occurred following the elections. To sum up, it was argued in the study that though election boycotts could be useful to expose the misdeeds of the ruling parties, at the same time they had a negative effect on opposition parties. Repeated election boycotts by the opposition would allow incumbents to control parliament. Moreover, the international community regarded political boycotts with high suspicion except in the most extraordinary circumstances, the study concluded. However, in the case of Zimbabwe the West always judges election results negatively. There were accusations that the ANC rigged the 1994 elections in South Africa, but the West says nothing about that because it knows that under the ANC its interests are safeguarded. President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF won last week’s presidential and the parliamentary elections comfortably and the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai cried foul. The US and Britain also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the results. Are elections in Zimbabwe going to be regarded as free and fair only when Tsvangirai’s MDC has won? What about the elections in the US? Are they free and fair? They are controlled by companies that own the voting machines and refuse to have them checked and examined. No party can challenge election results successfully in the US. The US’s Electoral College is not democratic. The US sees a splinter in Zimbabwe’s eye but does not see a log in its own. The US and most Western countries are oligarchies and plutocracies. They are ruled by a few rich people. Moreover, the US held rigged elections in some countries the same way it did in Korea where General John R Hodge, commander of the US Occupation Forces, held a rigged election during its division into North and South. The US is the last country that should moralise about rigged elections. In Africa the first political parties that were voted into power, especially post-independence political parties, latched on to power and did not want to relinquish even an iota of it. Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa provide good case studies. Many of the post-independence regimes in Africa were removed from office through military coups, but the military regimes also became corrupt and were in turn toppled. However, the US and some Western countries toppled regimes that were not pliant, not only on the
