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Eswatini - Part 2: The Struggle for Democracy and the role of the AU, SADC and South Africa.

We present the second in our series of special shows and broadcasts on Swaziland or Eswatini as the country is now known. Eswatini is home to Africa’s last absolute monarchy ...and in today’s show we discuss the struggle for democracy in the country and the role of South Africa, the SADC and the AU in either sustaining this oppressive political system of Eswatini or facilitating a process towards democracy.[+] Show More

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Eswatini - Part 2: The Struggle for Democracy and the role of the AU, SADC and South Africa.

We present the second in our series of special shows and broadcasts on ...

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Freedom Isn't Free

Freedom Isn’t Free challenges the ANC government with its failure to ...

Freedom Isn’t Free challenges the ANC government with its failure to bring into being the words and resolutions of the Freedom Charter signed at Kliptown in 1955 when, from all ...over the country, Congress of the People delegates assembled to forge a new path for South Africa. Using excellent archival footage, intercut from that past into the present and informative commentary by new and older generations, the film demonstrates that for the overwhelming majority of South Africans, housed in sprawling shanty-towns, there has been little advance since apartheid ended – neither economically or educationally.

With 34 interviewees, both young and seasoned, the film is ambitious, the material dense – occasionally it is hard to keep track of who’s who – but the narrative is clear and gives powerful insight into what is often lost from sight. It shows that the historical pattern of life, rich and poor, has not changed. Expressing anger and disappointment some feel that ‘nothing short of a revolution is going to shift the trajectories’.

Though more weight is given to words illustrated by images than to the occasional power of silent images of moving events, aerial shots of the extent of the ‘new’ plethora of corrugated iron shacks country-wide are powerful and meaningful; actions and re-actions of the police under the ANC are more than reminiscent of the past.

Noteworthy, too, is the journey of Cyril Ramaphosa, from founder of the National Union of Mineworkers (“It must be remembered that it was the mining industry… which pioneered the most repressive features of apartheid South Africa”) to billionaire and President, now tasked with leading South Africa into a new, dynamic era of social and economic change.

From whatever persuasion or point of view they come, this is a film all South Africans should watch. It will help them re-enter the debates of today’s South Africa and engage with its future.[+] Show More

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World Aids Day "Equalize" show

Even though media coverage around HIV & Aids has subsided, many South ...

Even though media coverage around HIV & Aids has subsided, many South Africans are still directly or indirectly affected by the disease. For thousands in the country HIV & Aids ...is either causing death, pain, suffering or the loss of loved ones who are often breadwinners for families.

The disease is affecting working class and poor people the most. Workers are also affected directly at the workplace, either as being HIV positive or working with others who are.
Since today is World Aids Day and UNAIDS has “Equalize” as its theme for this year our discussion today will focus on the latest developments around the HIV & Aids pandemic, the UNAIDS theme and targets and the work of the Africa Centre based at Stellenbosch University.[+] Show More

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Public Sector Workers and Mental Health

Public sector workers like nurses, doctors, teachers and police are in ...

Public sector workers like nurses, doctors, teachers and police are in the frontline of responding to the needs of South Africans in their everyday lives. In a crisis-ridden country like ...South Africa with an under-resourced public sector having to deal with a myriad of widespread socio-economic problems due to poverty and inequality, government ineptitude, mismanagement and corruption, it is public sector workers who daily bear the brunt of this burden.

Inevitably, this is likely to impact on their mental and physical health. In this show we look at and discuss the serious problem of workers’ mental health, especially those in the public sector.[+] Show More

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Gender Based Violence and ILO Convention 190

Gender based violence in society has long reached crisis levels with ...

Gender based violence in society has long reached crisis levels with daily reports of women, young and old, being beaten, raped and murdered. The statistics tell the story of an ...unfolding horror for the majority of women in South Africa.

Gender based violence is an international phenomenon with the scourge affecting women in the workplace too. In response the International Labour Organization, the ILO, has adopted Convention 190, that aims to address and eradicate all forms of GBV at the workplace.

ILO Convention No. 190 (or C190 for short) is the first international treaty to recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment.

The Convention was adopted in June 2019, by the International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and came into force on 25 June 2021.

Governments that ratify C190 will be required to put in place the necessary laws and policy
measures to prevent and address violence and harassment in the world of work. The Convention represents an historic opportunity to shape a future of work based on dignity and respect for all.[+] Show More

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Government’s Austerity measures and the Working Class

Internationally and locally in South Africa we have seen the cost of ...

Internationally and locally in South Africa we have seen the cost of living rise rapidly with food and transport prices sky-rocketing. As discussed in previous programmes, it has affected poor ...and working class people severely.
However, despite this, government has seen fit to impose more austerity measures, especially cuts in social spending that working class people rely on.
In this show we discuss these austerity measures by government, its impact on the working class and what can and should be done about them.[+] Show More

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Eswatini - Africa’s Last Absolute Monarchy

We start a series of special shows and broadcasts on Swaziland or ...

We start a series of special shows and broadcasts on Swaziland or Eswatini as the country is now known. Eswatini is home to Africa’s last absolute monarchy under King Mswati ...III and is located right in the midst of democratic South Africa and its post-apartheid democratic order with all the normal bourgeois democratic rights enjoyed by its citizens.

South Africa is Eswatini’s biggest importer and exporter by far and its people have a lot in common. In our first of three shows we look at the country’s history – how it came to be Africa’s last absolute monarchy, how its political system operates and its political economy.

Thumbnail Picture Credit: AFP/GETTY[+] Show More

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Trade Union Investment Companies - For Better or for Worse?

During the late 1980’s, many trade unions started fighting for and won ...

During the late 1980’s, many trade unions started fighting for and won the right of workers and their unions to democratically control their retirement benefits. This enabled some unions to ...use funds from their retirement fund coffers to start up their own trade union investment companies.

However, in recent years some of these union controlled funds have been plagued by mismanagement and even corruption. In today’s show we look at trade union investment funds and why we are having problems of mismanagement and corruption with some of them.[+] Show More

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VID 20221024 WA0019

The Overseas Press Club awards Rana Ayyub of the Washington Post the ...

The Overseas Press Club awards Rana Ayyub of the Washington Post the Flora Lewis Award for documenting the slide to religious nationalism in India under Narrendra Modi.

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Access to Water in Rural Areas.

Water is life and without it survival is not possible. Yet more than ...

Water is life and without it survival is not possible. Yet more than one billion people in the world still do not have regular access to clean water. The most ...affected by water shortages is the developing world and it includes big parts of South Africa. It is classified as a water scarce country because by comparison it only receives nearly half the average of the earth’s rainfall.

In South Africa, many poor communities still do not have access to clean drinking water for their daily needs. In today’s show we assess the situation of water scarcity, lack of water service delivery especially in rural areas, it’s impact on communities and what should be done about it.[+] Show More

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COIDA and Domestic Workers Insert

Domestic workers have historically been at the heart of reproductive ...

Domestic workers have historically been at the heart of reproductive labour required by society and the economy. The vast majority of domestic workers are women and their labour remains grossly ...undervalued.

They have been part of struggles for several decades in South Africa to secure worker rights and while being conditionally included in the LRA and Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), they were excluded from the protection of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) for over two decades.[+] Show More

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Youth Unemployment Insert

It is estimated that up to 70% of black youth (those who were not ...

It is estimated that up to 70% of black youth (those who were not identified as “White” under Apartheid) are unemployed in South Africa today.

Many of the millions of ...unemployed youth have passed matric and several of them also have a university degree.

If we constantly say that “youth are the future”, then what does the future hold for so many of our young people who remain unemployed? What is the future of South Africa with this harsh reality?[+] Show More