'1 ~
I -:-' I£i M n c -operatives I .,. I I I I I
I Last month NUM$A wrote to work underground but we the strike, these workers were about their expen'ences in setting didn~ know how to control a organised into strike-committee up $ARMCOL Co-op in project.- structures in their home areas. I Mphopoomeni, Natal. This month NUM writes about their PAWCO members have needed The NUM decided to use these co-operative projects. Cosatu to leam many new skills in order strike committee structures as News welcomes more contribu to control production democrati the basis for organising co-op I tions to the debate on unemploy cally. AI! the tasks usually done projects in the areas where ment and co-operatives. by management in a factory are workers live. These prOjects will now being done by PAWCO provide jobs, as well as allowing In 1984, 1985 and 1986, NUM members - such as ordering ma these workers to work near their I members at Foskor Mine in Pha! terials, chasing payments, plan families, and to escape the dehu aborwa went on strike , demand ning ahead , controlling. t~eJi manisation of migrant labour. ing recognition of the union. nances, and keeping disiC'pfine. Each time they suffered casu A strike committee chair from the ~ alties, and over 2000 workers PAWCO has nine diHerent com Transkei explains his hopes for lost their jobs. In 1987, dis mittees which share all the differ these projects: -Our projects will missed shaft-stewards came to ent taSKS and responsibilities in create jobs, they will spread the I gether and called on the NUM to the co-op, and in this way, the word about the NUM in the are support their eHorts in setting project is building real democratic as that we come from, and they up co-ops. control, based on a high level of will help to deveiop the communi participation. ty.- I They de--:ided to set up at-shirt printing co-op, and went to visit Meanwhile, at the end of the min The Transkei and Lesotho have SAWCO for advice. The Phala eworkers strike in 1987, over 10 been targetted as the first re I borwa Wo~ers T-shirt Printina 000 workers were dismissed or gions in which projects will be Co-op (PAWCO) started pro- retrenched. Most of these worK set up. It will hOt be possible to ducing t-shirts in April last year. ers were migrants, who face a build enough projects to accom PAWCO has fifty members, who grim future with Irtt ie chance of modate all the workers, so mem I work half-day shifts. The first re-empioyrTlo:3nt . For example, in bers will be chosen on a propor months have been difficult, as the Transkei, unerTl;)loymem is al tional basis from the different Stanley Mathebula, PAWCO sec ready over 50%. Because of the districts. Workers who received I retary exp~ains: "We knew how strategy used by the NUM during no compensation at alt from the f- Psge16 CCSBtu News March 1989 bOsses will be first in tine for jobs es made of cement blocks have in the projects. many complaints. They say that the walls crack; and the houses It is not possible to accommo also get very damp, which can date all the wor1 I f'a~e 18 Cosatu News March 1989 f.., 0: How c.n the f.d.fatlon and win these people over. We Ught for a livIng W.ge? must explain how we work. We must meet to get closer to each Tints: The federation should other. To convince each other have a reseach department 10 that we are all wor};ers in this gather and study information. land. This will help us know what we mean by a living wage. It will also Kapere: We can't throw those help 10 struggle for a living wage workers away. We can never say: by using the structures of the lorget about those workers, we federation . Our demands must be don't need them. made nafionally. For example an 8 hour day and a 5 day week. If Mohewa: We must let the public this is refused the federation can know the strong points and vic declare a dispute. This is impossi tories of our federation. Then ble without a federation where other workers will come 10 us. the industrial unions meet to plan Maybe we should recruit them on and strategise . All our key points an industrial basis. We must talk of struggle , all our demands, to them, tell them why we think must be tabled nationally. our federation is a good thing. Matsl: The federation can make T,J.nta: This is a controversial is the people aware of what a living sue . We must look al the reasons wage is . What are the rights that why we need unity. Because we we must have. If we understand, are oppressed and exploited. We We will all take part in this strug need unity to fight back. We gle. Say there are workers which have one common goal: to smash have reached the national mini oppression and exploitation. We mum already. They will have to can hold seminars and invite strike together with us out of members of other unions. We solidarity. must have the courage to invite workers. to seminars where we Q: We want trade union unity. can explain our position and they What should we do about un can explain theirs. Ions outside NUNW ? Matsl: There must be a coming together between us and work ers oU1side NUNW. We must try * ,',' I.Dt e.r n .a t i.e? ~~: t :.;·!I:·i::;·; }3."i ~ f s ~::~r:::·!::;:i::.. :ii:i:.!;!:·l:i··:::::.;.,';ri:6.:,".:. " A big campaign has been :.,' : ·:'·::::/?: ~. 41yh]llipino trade un:ions ....-ere ·.·::.. :ment Bil! was publis~ In No launched in BritaIn 10 demand .. / ...::{:: assassinated in Jarruary,:Two of .:::: vember last year. it atlad\s; ' the release of Oscar Mpetha .' :;)(:,;:·:,s them {a local chairperson and a~ "', ..•. The right to make industrial .: Tne 79 'year old unionls~ was )':;;:,\'·/:: organisen:were .s.hotds·oo ·bi ':'.:':,· .. court clakns. Workers wiD have I sent to jail fOf 5.ysars.'·,: :: ..: ';=.'t:-::i'::::,:;.;<·: p'hiUiP!no armed fo~s.who. ca~ ::: .: to pay 150 pounds deposit .. /. ' .. :::::::.:... /,:; .... : ; .... ": .. ': . +.:.::::: '(:; 10' 1he plantation ·ivOKing :for. 1h~ :. , .:.: befor·e.a case is taken up, ':" The campaign is sup-~rted bY >:,: :::·;:.: Ofganiser ..AnoL~er local office :>::::./::·: •. Ttme 'off for lra·~ unk>n work t~ ANC and SACTU as weT! as .::':::·::::'" chairpefSOfl was S.. ~f by right::/\::::',::::::.Ste\'.·ards wig get ,ime off' \0 I o British trade Un1:>rlS. Coo :. ':":"':' ~ing death sqt;ads :oulsidB the ':.:"::': .:'.. Work on :ssues ·~Ter~ iii L~e M~tha was a founder. meribe(·.:.::;::. }J~sue ia~ry.·cante 9n.'.: Tt.e fort~ ·.: ':::;': agreement: Th;s is a ciear... .. ".: of SACTU and wcrke. resckition demanding · his . r~ .::.·:::.:/.:'.·.~ . The . 5riltsh · 9:ov~m::rr:.~r~ ~ar,,):: :.:. wor'"er~ . the w~rkers have 'Oo laase. .,.. :·::·'\}/:.·:;:.:· /:·.:·.··: . ·: · ::· · :r.: : :::?\:;::·Peni~ ~?~;~::;~:~~;~.·;:.t~~:: .;:.~i:t;:: :::::. ~\;~~ . !t~uon 6n ::·:::·:·" P8~e19 -{)~ ; !I( • j You make tile union I Culture "," : ~ I strong B riefst . Wits and Natal Regions of It's you comrades in the struggle COSATU ha.... e been the most I That make the unions string, active in cuHure. These are some And meetings and gatherings is where you belong. of the events thatCOSATU Cui t~re has been involved in: .' I Some come and do the share , While others just sil and stare . • COSATV Wits Cultural Rally. On meeting days the halls are empty. 4,112/88 . . That day everyone had to do plenty . • Educa1ion and cultural I meeting in Kokstad with . On pavements they sM . on corners and in shops, COSATU and FAWU:- Forgetting the fact that ..... hen in trouble . 11/12/88. . ~ ' . It's the shop stewards who do the saving job. • CCAWVSA Educational , ,. Cultural Day featuring :" I~ Cmrades, how long will you sM in the sun ~nd wonder? COSA TV poets, Jazz Pioneers. The bosses can see it , that is why their vOIces sound lIke thunder. Clermont Harmonious Singers I We need you comrades to mobilise and organise, and the Kwamashu Youth ' ,. So that the bosses can see the unions still rise . League Cultural Group ~ , ... :: 14 /1189...... We plea to you comrades, to stand up and say your say, • Kwamashu Youth Theatre .' :::. I To win the fight, to live another day, Workshop - 20/1189 .. ' :-. Join hands and stand together, • COSA W Poetry Workshop '• . You wili be defeated never. 20/1189. . . .. • NACOS Sports Conference in I It's meetings that make the unions stringer, Durban - 28"/89 ..... :::::.,' The road in the struggle is getting longer. • COSATU Cultural Unit and Na It's the masses and support that is needed, cos will mark May Day this year ., I That way we will nevere be defeated. with a joint sports meeting on April. The venue will be Curries By Comrade John (FAWU - Western Cape) Fountain. Sixteen teams from _. the 2 COSA TU regions in Natal I w1il take part.' -.' ..:'. . '.' .' • A cu1!ure and labour seminar w· take plaoe ~n Harare in May. The seminar is organised by NED- ::' ~ COM. Regions with .active cultu ra! structures will send 6 dele-·:. gates each. . ..::-"'-':'::::.::::",. ':::".,;., .. I • Highveld Region heid a 3-day cuftura1 S€mIr.ar on 16 March~··.· matters on the agenda were: io~ of culture; non-facial sports .:;: '.. ; I ·struggfe; COSATU educatjo~. ; •••.. election of a regional co· ' Co.::.}::::.: ordinating committee; and Tf~dia . I • A 2-w~ek clong Arts Festival or ~~sed by COSA TU's Cultural. tJ.~a and Edl}::arkJn Depart-."', mE;n-ts is p'lani1ed 'for most Re..:·: I giona1 centres before 1he Third COSATIJ National C9ngress' in I July : '~h/D:.' ·· ;:Y:.::.::Y.:::;;;;:;··\ Broederstroom 3 remain defiant in court The "Broederstroom Three" According to the charge made their first court appear sheet, members of the Broederst ance on January 25th this room cell were operating in the year. They entered the dock P\VV area as early as June 1986, with their fists raised, shouting and at least two of them were al legedly in South Africa for over "Amandla! " ten months before their arrest. Damian de Lange, Susan .. . lithe state allegations are cor Westcott and lain Robertsori rect, this is the first time in over were arrested in May 1988 at 20 years than an all-white MK Broederstroom, and were held cell has been exposed. 'under Section 29 of the Internal The three accused are ordi Security Act for over eight nary South Africans who are months. caught in the dilemmas of They face 26 charges, includ apartheid and white minority ing terrorism and illegal possess .rule. -ion of arms. Many of the charges The three are currently re brought against them relate to manded in custody. They will the Benoni bomb blast in which next appear in the Pretoria Re a South African Air Force bus gional court when their trial was blown up in March 1988. proper begins on 12 June. I Jodac News Page 2 Uib&X_Ud&4 j; _!lEW'. 0~ ti maMas J' . . .: ,' ~ . -~ .. ' ,.. I :; ~a~rib~~fri,a[~ha6ge~~()rC)lId, In ,I .. : •• I ••••••• ','. ",' .,~:. ':.' ':.(... ,,0'.: :-:. ::', ",Ii., ••• " :~ ....::.:,,~,.#:. Memoriam t( In the so-called Rainbow Trial in flux and it remains to be seen how the accused will plead and how the defence Cape Town, of Tony Yengeni and 13 '. r • • ' • ..., ~"" • ..' .... athers, matters have recently taken a led by Dawie de Villiers Sc, will be co~- ducted. / One-time principal aide to l strange turn. Shortly before the trial The trial is remarkable in that it is was finally due to start In the one of the few trials in South African Nelson Mandela, Johnstone Supreme Court, the prosecution history that crosses barriers of race, (Johnny) Makatini, died on withdrew the charges of treason class, age and gender. December 3rd last year, I against all of th e accused. The morale of the trialists is high aged 56. Makatini was head Three of the accused, Yengeni, and their spirit of defiance and com-' of the ANC's International Schreiner and Nyalnza (accused num mittrnent strong, as they have demon bers one, two and three) will instead be strated with their singing, toyi-toyiing Affairs Department and the I charged under the old Terrorism Act. entrances to court. organisation's chief repre The three are accused of undergoing One policeman at the Supreme Court sentative to the United Na was recently heard to remark that of all military training outside South Africa tions from 1977 to 1985. before 1982, when the Terrorism Act the political trials he has attended, this I was replaced by .the Internal Security group could sing the best! He was also a well-known Act The new charge sheet was not avail The accused are: Tony Yengeni (34) figure in the Organisation of able at the time of writing, and the im Jenny Schreiner (32), Lumka Nyarnza ' African Unity and the Non lications of the new charges are not (25), Michael Lumbambo (35), Mbutu Aligned Movement. .' ret clear. One of the results might be a Nduku (26), Wellington m.·wandla (31) ~further postponement of the trial. Mtheteleli Titana (26), Gary Kruser ' Makatini was widely credited Three of the accused are currently (27), Christopher Giffard (27), Charles with formulating the ANC's Mahlale (37), Alpheus Ndude (45), Ger I out on bail, but the others have now policy of winning support been in detention for UD to 18 months. trude Fester (36), Zuruyah Abass (35) With the sudden shift in attack from and Colleen Lombard (37). from both the eastern and the prosecution, the case is in a state of western blocs against apart I heid. Rita Ndzanga, trade unionist and Within the ANC he opposed dressmaker to many notable ladies in Rita's in a I the efforts of the South Afri the struggle, is in a coma in hospital. coma - but her With her warm personality and can Communist Party to great heart, Rita has been a women's dominate the movement, ar leader for four decades, though always spirit will guing that it must remain as I the workhorse rather than a leadership broad-based as possible. figure. always be free Rita and her husband Lawrence After two aauittals, being re-charaed He had been a member of have both been trade unionists and ac the ANC national executive I tivists who have been part of the each time, Rita 2r.d the others were fi: struggle for a democratic, non-racial nally released. In 1976, Rita and Law since 1974. . outh Africa from the early 1950's. rence were again held, this time under : . !In Lawrences's case it was a the Terrorism Act. Lawrence dfed in :Born in Durban, he trained ~ggle to the death, for he died in detention on January 9th. Rita was re as a teacher, but quickly be ~ leased on bail on January 10th. de~ntion on January 9th, 1977. came an ANC aCtivist. As a Rita was secretary of the Toy - In recent times, Rita has been in Worker's Union in the 1950's, and was volved in the General and Allied Wor student organiser during the I also active in Sactu. She worked at kers Union. 1960 and 1961 protests, he Sactu Head Office during the 1960 This ~talwart woman of the struggle was arrested on numerous wrote, or the boycott of the regime's Re emergency, and in 1964 she was occasions. banned from trade union activities. public Day celebrations in 1981: "We the oppressed people have no I In 1969, Rita and Lawren~, In 1962 he was instructed to together with 19 others, were charged cause to celebrate when the basic de under the Supression of Communism mands of the Freedom Charter have not work for the ANC abroad , Act. Rita was kept in solitary confine been given to the people ... What we and he had lived in exile ever I ment, and detained for a period of 17 want is a democratic South Africa since. months. where all have a say in making th~ Jaws." I Forsyth Saga I The" Forsyth Saga", the exotic camp is surely not the place to find this rounded her organisational activities, . exploits of police spy Olivia Forsyth information, especially when the which first arose shortly after her arrival and her accomplice Joy Harnden, ANC's headquarters are in Lusaka. in Grahamstown in 1982. The policewoman also refuses to di Forsyth failed repeatedly to obtain received star treatment from the vulge details of her confession to the I Argus Group newspapers and the any significaflt position in Nusas, the Al"l"C. But if she has already given these Grahamstown SRC, or UDF structures. SABC. details to the Al"l"C, why should she re In fact, by mid-1985 she was blocked It is regrettable that the Argus fuse to let the South AfriC2!l public from any progress in Nusas and UDF cir I company lent the power offree pub know them? cles, and was isolated from the leader licity to this blatant piece of propa If, as Forsyth claims, 70% of her ship. ganda, without the usual journalistic story to the Al"l"C was disinforrnation it More lies come to li!1:ht when For practice of giving the right of reply to syth speaks of her relationship with fel I Nusas, Jodac, ECC and other groups IIA detention camp is low-spy Joy Hareden. Forsyth claims smeared in this security police pub she made "aopropriate recorTlrr!enda licity stunt. surely not the place to tions" to JOda"c about Harnden in 1984 - The progressive organisations find information ll despite the fact that Forsyth hc.d no con pointed out the fabricated nature of tact with Jodac at that time. Forsyth's account at a press con- In September 1985, after learning . ference shortly after the "expose". would seem rather counteroroductive about the spy allegations surrour:ding The following is a summary of the for her to tell them this no\v, when suc!l Hamden, Forsyth said she had never be other side of the story, which we gave "dis information" would still be having fore met her COlleague. to the press. its destructive effects. - Forsyth's "surprise" that H2.I!lden Forsyth's whole tale hinges on her According to Forsyth, the trans was elected to the Jodac executive after account of "Operation Olivetti". Tne parency of her cover for travel in Afri "OI'Jy four r.:onths" is also miskading. basis of this is' that she chose to make a ca, "John Fitzgerald and Associates", Hamden had been a Jodac member for I carefully planned false confession in was pre-planned. But she made deter over eight months before she was order to infiltrate the Al"l"C success mined effortS to get jobs in progressive elected as Jodac's minutes secretary. fully. projects only a month befQre her d~?a!' It must be bOrtie in rrJnd too that On the one hand she claims she had ture for Harare. Jodac is an open organisation, ~"ld anv I "very strong radical credentials" which Only when she failed to get the!!e member may stand for election. • she acquired over a period of four or jobs (the co-ordinators had been tipped But soon after Hamden's e!ection, off that she might be a spy), did she suspicions about he: e:r.erged. She was IIHow could a take the Fitzgerald job - a move which I raised the suspicions of even her closest self-confessed spy have friends. . . IIS oon after Harnden's better access to the ANC The spy also tries to smear organisa election, suspicions tions like Nusas by claiming her mem about her emerged. II I than an 'iron clad bership of ttem was ·"an ideal steoping radical'?11 stone"·for infiltrating the ANC. . ~ . : - But no-one from those orgariisa~ withdrawn from the job of alte!7'.ate rep fi tre years. But her actual three-and-a tions was ever linked to the Al'\:[C dur resentative to the Johannesburg area I ll ~l f years of spying in progressive or ing all of her seven-year spying carree:. committee of the UDF after OI'Jy three gMlisations left her "credentials" a lot Moreover, she justifies her spying months, mainly because of he: "rascist more shaky than she admits. in progressive organisations by mention manner", Nevertheless, after painstakingly ing people convicted of .A..NC activities, She was also \vit.'1diawn from her I bui!din a uo this cover she then blows it like Karl Niehaus and Marian Sparg - job at the Black Sash's Tral!Svaai Ru!'al with a ';>planned" confession that she is but none of those she lis 15 were ever Action Committee that year because of a spy. members of these organisations. comolaints that she acted "like a whi te How, we ask, could a self-con Another fallacious claim is that For madam" when dealing with black I fessed spy possibly have better access syth rose to the position of "Chairman" people. to the Al"l"C than an "iron-clad radical"? of the End Conscription Campaign. But Suspicions about Hamden were also Almost equally astounding is her . she never was an ECC chairperson, nor . arouSed by her attempts to distribute claim that her detention at the ANC's did she manage to reach "the highest le Al"l"C literature, as well as her tendency I Quatro Dmp was pre-planned and wel vels" of Nusas and other organisations, to adopt the most radical positions on is comed by her handlers. as she also claims. sues despite her short time on Jodac and Forsyth claims one of her briefs was This failure was precisely because her conservative backround. to obtain information about the highest of the mounting suspiCion which sur- In June 1985 a full investigation into I levels of the ANC. But a detention I Jodac News Page 4 t---t / Hamden was initiated, which then re vealed security police connections and a concealed conservative outlook. ' Hamden was then blocked in her at t( , tempts to re:!ch the leadership levels of the ECC and Jodac. However, it was only 18 months later, when the executives of both Jodac and the ECC were convinced enough in I fonnation had been collected to justify it, that she was removed from these or ganisations. Hamden's exnlulsion from the oro I gressive movement took place before F'Jrsyth exposed her to the &"lC. Forsyth claims she told the &"lC about Hamden as part of a pre-arranged I plan to incre:!Se her own credibility. Advance Presumably this is also the explanation she would provide for giving informa and I tion which led to the caoture of two black spies. • d.eveJop " ... a SerIeS . 0 f fabrications, designed to cover-up a botched spy operation. " But the strange fact of one spy ex- posing three others in order to appear ge:lUine to her captors, is far more con I vincingly explained by the fact that For svth wanted to be released - and her betrayal of her colleagues arose from this hooe. I What clearly emerges from this ana lysis is that Forsyth'S much-publisised story is a series of fabricatior.s, de- sigr.ed to cover up a botched spy oper I ation. Tne s Jodac News Page 5 , I ,I i ,. " . b· - ..' .. '., " I' SPECIAL REPORT Every year, numerous attacks are carried I out on anti-apartheid organisations and Individuals. No-one has ever been arrested or prosecuted for any of these I attacks, or for that matter for the murders of anti-apartheid and civil-rights campaigners, which have also become I common occurrences. Who perpetrates these crimes? Right-wing thugs or vigilantes operating randomfy? Bur glars, vandals or common criminals? Or , wme other party? Here is a very shortened ~list of some of the attacks carried out since I , 1986. Judge for yourself. 1986 I March - The Johannesburg offices of the Release Mandela Campaign (RMC) are bombed, causing an estimated R20 000 dam age. I June - An arson attack at the Braamfon tein offices of the Community Resources and Information Centre (Cric), destroying equip I ment and causing extensive damage. August - The home of Durban Civil rights lawyer Kwenza Mlaba is petrol bombed. September - Equipment and files are I stolen from the Port Elizabeth News Agency (PEN). . , · '-The Wits University office of Dr Tom I opge, an academic who writes about anti a ~ rtheid organisations, including the ANC, is destroyed by fire. November - The Port Elizabeth branch of I lawyers Krish Naidoo and Associates is broken into. All documents relating to deten- tion cases in the area are stolen, along with I telephones and office equipment. ' 1987 I February - The home of Albertina Sisulu is attacked by arsonists. March - Thieves break into the Johannes I burg offices of Ravan Press. Money is stolen I Jodac News Page 6 t- ,- , \ ; _. '. - '-... / . '" . . ~ . '. 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