SOUTH AFRICA
The Department of Labour’s threat to deregister the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union is a cause for concern. A failure to resolve this matter will only further entrench the view that the department is intent on punishing those it sees as opposed to the ANC. dailymaverick.co.za/
The Department of Labour’s threat to deregister AMCU is a continuation of that attack on worker organisations and must be resisted by all progressive forces. The internal problems of trade unions must always only ever be the responsibility of their members to resolve. State interference must not be tolerated. wwmp.org.za/
On the 22nd of April, with regions in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi still reeling from Cyclone Idai and braced for Cyclone Kenneth, KwaZulu-Natal experienced heavy rainfall resulting in devastating flooding, claiming close to 80 lives – statement by the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign. safsc.org.za/
Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and an army of Red Ants — carrying crowbars, riot shields and rubber bullet guns — demolished about 1,000 shacks on two properties in Rabie Ridge on Tuesday morning. groundup.org.za/
African Reclaimers Organisation marched in Johannesburg on Thursday, May 2 in a large-scale protest against the city’s refusal to recognise them, answer their demands and offer fair treatment and compensation. wiego.org/
Farmworkers and their organisations organised a speak-out in Robertson, Western Cape, on May Day to highlight the new wave of evictions that is said to be linked to calls for expropriation of land without compensation. wwmp.org.za/elitsha/
Several bills before Parliament will entrench the colonial and apartheid-era powers given to often-illegitimate traditional leaders to exert absolute sway over their ‘subjects’. This includes control over land distribution and mining rights. It is the mining rights, in particular, that have sparked a new scramble for Africa, a scramble marked by corruption and self-enrichment. dailymaverick.co.za/
More than half of 18-30 year-olds are missing from the electoral roll in a country that embraced democracy 25 years ago when Nelson Mandela came to power in the first multi-racial elections. mg.co.za/
Next Wednesday, 10-million South Africans who are eligible to vote won’t be at the ballot stations because they did not register. By polling and historic voter turnout patterns, about five million more people who have registered are unlikely to make to the polls. dailymaverick.co.za/
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s now-infamous quotes about being ‘shocked’ and ‘appalled’ by various details he encounters while out on election campaign for the African National Congress show why he’s alienated from the population and shouldn’t lead it: he’s too rich. thedailyvox.co.za/
The SOS Coalition is seriously concerned by media reports that Minister of Communications, Ms Stella Nadabeni-Abrahams is threatening the independence of The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, (ICASA) by withholding the first tranche of annual funding to the regulator. wwmp.org.za/ |
