Opinion
On D-Day for public sector wage agreement, consider lopsided government salaries
Don’t blame workers for poor management. And feel some sympathy for any competent managers, whether in a large school, a government department, or parastatal who often have to deal with a legacy of maladministration, all too often accompanied by levels of corruption.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 11 May 2015
How Virginia de Azevedo has improved our health
Dr Virginia de Azevedo, the City Health Manager in Khayelitsha, has become a target of SAMWU strike action which affects ten City of Cape Town run clinics in Khayelitsha.
Lynne Wilkinson
Opinion | 7 May 2015
On being black in UCT’s law faculty
Amid all the furore over the removal of the Rhodes statute, a crucial point must be made and reiterated: the Rhodes statue is not merely a symbol for the continued exclusion of black students, it is also the lived experience for many black students -- as the experiences of black students at the UCT Law School shows.
Johan Lorenzen, Thamsanqa Malusi and Kevin Minofu
Opinion | 6 May 2015
The rebellion of the poor
Today, 1 May, South Africa celebrates Workers’ Day. In the third and last in a series of articles, Leonard Gentle argues that a new labour movement will have to be part of a broader social movement.
Leonard Gentle
Opinion | 1 May 2015
The crisis in Cosatu ,“ how should we respond?
Cosatu’s biggest union, Numsa with 340,000 members, has been expelled from the federation. Half of Cosatu’s affiliates have allied themselves with Numsa and are operating outside Cosatu’s fold. But does the crisis in Cosatu matter? Does it make any difference to class struggle in defending and promoting working class interests?
Martin Jansen
Opinion | 30 April 2015
Is COSATU at a crossroad? No, it’s just irrelevant
Tomorrow, May 1, South Africa celebrates Workers’ Day. In the second of three articles, Leonard Gentle analyses the recent history of the labour movement in South Africa.
Leonard Gentle
Opinion | 30 April 2015
More toilets will save South Africa money
For over five years, the Social Justice Coalition in Cape Town has called for expanding access to safe and clean sanitation facilities in Khayelitsha and other townships in the city. Despite the overwhelming need for such services, the municipal government has yet to fulfill its duties to provide them at the requisite scale.
Gregg Gonsalves, Edward Kaplan and David Paltiel
Opinion | 29 April 2015
May Day: a proud history
On Friday 1 May South Africa will celebrate Workers’ Day. In the first of three articles on the current state of the labour movement, Leonard Gentle explains the history of this holiday.
Leonard Gentle
Opinion | 29 April 2015
“You were supposed to become somebody, - the hopes of homeless people
In the winter of 2014 I interviewed six young men who lived on the streets of Cape Town’s Central Business District.
David Cowan
Opinion | 28 April 2015