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21 August 2013 COSATU commemorates 30th Anniversary of the UDF The Congress of South African Trade Unions, on behalf of its over 2, 2 million members, salutes the millions of South African who rallied behind the call to form a united front of civic, workers', women's, student, youth, faith-based, sporting and cultural organizations in what was known as the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was launched 30 years ago on August 20th 1983. The UDF, a front of some 700 grass-root organizations, played a vital role in our transition to a democratic government. If it was without the support that South Africans gave to this call, who knows where we would be now. The UDF was not only a front of hundreds of affiliates; it was also a front for the banned ANC and its alliance partners, the SACP and SACTU, COSATU's predecessor. COSATU, formed two years after the UDF, played an important role in the early stages of this popular front, with many leaders of its predecessor federations, FOSATU and SACTU forming part of the UDF's founding leadership. It stood opposed to the reforms that the apartheid regime sought to introduce so as to co-opt some sections of the revolutionary masses through the tricameral parliament. The formation of the UDF was a very important stage epoch in our struggle against apartheid, representing the destruction of a racially divisive system and the creation of the non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society that the ANC sought to create. South Africa can today draw lessons and motivation from the work of the UDF. Among the most important lessons from the life of the UDF is the necessity at all times to build the unity of our people, and to rally behind our traditional organization of struggle, the ANC, to transform our country and create a better life for all. Vusumuzi Bhengu (Shopsteward Editor) Congress of South African Trade Unions Tel: + 27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1340 Mobile: +27 71 313 4870 E-Mail: [email protected] Twitter: @vusibhengu Facebook: Vusumuzi Martin Bhengu -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
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