An open letter to Comrades and Friends about the current municipal strike
Dear Comrades and Friends It has become so fashionable these days for some to criticize workers and communities when our people demand what are their basic rights. Recently many commentators, political analysts, journalists and worse of all our own Comrades have taken turns in criticizing municipal workers when workers took to the streets their demands for better salaries and other benefits. Workers especially in this province are being accused of trying to fight a political war against the decision by the National Executive Committee to disband the Provincial Executive Committee of the North West province. Certainly this is a very factional analysis and position – it is a position that seeks to further and deepen factionalist battles which are ravaging this province. It is disingenuous for Comrades to take this line – If Comrades are so disparate to throw issues through the window or in this manner clearly we are far from attempting to build our unity and cohesion in the alliance. Our Comrades should know by now that this is a national strike whose main demands are strictly around working conditions – and the strike has in my view as a SAMWU member nothing to do with either Supra or anybody for that matter neither does the strike have anything to do with political factions within the African National Congress. It has to be accepted by all of us at this stage that this again reflect the extend to which these factionalists are disparate to ensure they have control and monopoly over who should act, how, why and where. As SAMWU members we should be amazed at how thin is the line between Revolution and Counter revolution. Whoever believes that workers have no right to demand better salaries simply because we have an ANC government is to lose focus of the broader political picture and very disturbing is the failure on the part of these cadres to locate the workers strike as part of deepening democracy and making sure that workers are benefiting from the economy which is produced though their own sweat and blood. While as workers we should do a little introspection into the methods we employ in fighting for these basic human and worker rights – For instance the thrashing of rubbish in the streets is one thing that we should agree that it compromises the legitimacy of our strikes and as a result provides a strategic weapon in the hands of those who do not agree with us. So in short we need to place this issue of thrashing in our meetings and take a collective decision that we should try to avoid things which are weapons against us. Having said that, I thing it will help if those who are fond of bashing workers - to understand the thrashing of rubbish within the context of desperation on the part of the workers especially when our “new bosses” in SALGA display unnecessary intransigence and political immaturity when dealing with workers. For example it is dangerous on the part of SALGA to try and intimidate workers by seeking reports about individual workers and their role in the strike – SALGA comrades should have learned through history that such tactics could easily worsen things – rather than providing solutions. Workers are in their own right members and leaders of communities – and to provoke them might lead to total defiance and chaos. In the Tlokwe local municipality for instance – despite knowledge by the our comrades in the management structure – that normally we do not have to engage in violent protests and therefore it was not necessary to call a contingency of police officers to come and intimidate workers in the manner it happened this morning. Our comrades should equally know by now that workers are not tools or machines – they will never be remote controlled by managers of the affairs of the ruling capitalist class. As we prepare for the march on Friday, it need to be made very clear to our Alliance partners in the Sub region, the region and the province that their unwavering support to the municipal workers is highly expected – we should make this call to both the ANC and the SACP. Accordingly we know that the ANC in particular support the strike in principle and the SACP as it is expected has always provided support beyond the principle and we therefore expect this support to be communicated properly. As the vanguard party of the working class and the poor, the SACP should even organize other necessary logistics for the striking workers and practically for instance, strike fund could be the first start. In as much as we do not agree with violence and thrashing of rubbish in the streets we should create conditions within which we could be able to speak to the workers and not see in them criminals and hooligans. Because it is very difficult for someone who is very far from you to understand your concerns and advices. To talk to the media about the workers has never played a progressive part in any situation. It is therefore critical and key that we revive alliance structures and programs – so that we do not end up speaking in tongues. For a working alliance, we should all strive for unity and cohesion of our liberation movement for a better revolutionary alliance. By: Kaizer Mohau Mobile: 072 080 2824 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. 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