Grade 12 Civil Resistance in South Africa, 1970s to 1980s

SOURCE 1A The article below was published in The Namibian newspaper on 6 December 1985. It explains events unfolding during the conference launch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and also describes COSATU's role as a labour movement. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), launched at a rally attended by more than 10 000 workers in Durban last weekend, promises to present the toughest challenge to government and industry yet seen in the history of the South African labour movement. Leaders of the new super federation have already threatened to call a national strike if the government carries out its threat to repatriate (send back) migrant workers, and have pledged to organise workers in the homelands in defiance of any restrictions on unions in these regions. In policy guidelines adopted at the launching conference, the Congress also came out in support of disinvestment (withdrawal of investment), as well as the eventual nationalisation of South Africa's mines and other major industries. Emphasising the political role the new federation intends to play, COSATU President Elijah Barayi said the Congress hoped to fill the vacuum (space) created by the banning of the African National Congress (ANC), and that it was committed to one-person one-vote in a unitary South Africa. The Congress also called for a national minimum wage, a 40-hour week at full pay, a ban on overtime and the establishment of a national unemployed workers' union as an affiliate of the federation. With a membership of half a million, including the 150 000-strong National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the 100 000-strong Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), the formation of COSATU has been described as a triumph (victory) for trade unionism. [From The Namibian, 6 December 1985] 1.1.1 Why, according to the source, did the newly launched COSATU threaten to call a national strike?

SOURCE 1A The article below was published in The Namibian newspaper on 6 December 1985. It explains events unfolding during the conference launch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and also describes COSATU's role as a labour movement. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), launched at a rally attended by more than 10 000 workers in Durban last weekend, promises to present the toughest challenge to government and industry yet seen in the history of the South African labour movement. Leaders of the new super federation have already threatened to call a national strike if the government carries out its threat to repatriate (send back) migrant workers, and have pledged to organise workers in the homelands in defiance of any restrictions on unions in these regions. In policy guidelines adopted at the launching conference, the Congress also came out in support of disinvestment (withdrawal of investment), as well as the eventual nationalisation of South Africa's mines and other major industries. Emphasising the political role the new federation intends to play, COSATU President Elijah Barayi said the Congress hoped to fill the vacuum (space) created by the banning of the African National Congress (ANC), and that it was committed to one-person one-vote in a unitary South Africa. The Congress also called for a national minimum wage, a 40-hour week at full pay, a ban on overtime and the establishment of a national unemployed workers' union as an affiliate of the federation. With a membership of half a million, including the 150 000-strong National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the 100 000-strong Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), the formation of COSATU has been described as a triumph (victory) for trade unionism. [From The Namibian, 6 December 1985] 1.1.3 Define the term nationalisation in your own words.

SOURCE 1A The article below was published in The Namibian newspaper on 6 December 1985. It explains events unfolding during the conference launch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and also describes COSATU's role as a labour movement. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), launched at a rally attended by more than 10 000 workers in Durban last weekend, promises to present the toughest challenge to government and industry yet seen in the history of the South African labour movement. Leaders of the new super federation have already threatened to call a national strike if the government carries out its threat to repatriate (send back) migrant workers, and have pledged to organise workers in the homelands in defiance of any restrictions on unions in these regions. In policy guidelines adopted at the launching conference, the Congress also came out in support of disinvestment (withdrawal of investment), as well as the eventual nationalisation of South Africa's mines and other major industries. Emphasising the political role the new federation intends to play, COSATU President Elijah Barayi said the Congress hoped to fill the vacuum (space) created by the banning of the African National Congress (ANC), and that it was committed to one-person one-vote in a unitary South Africa. The Congress also called for a national minimum wage, a 40-hour week at full pay, a ban on overtime and the establishment of a national unemployed workers' union as an affiliate of the federation. With a membership of half a million, including the 150 000-strong National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the 100 000-strong Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), the formation of COSATU has been described as a triumph (victory) for trade unionism. [From The Namibian, 6 December 1985] 1.1.4 What is implied by the statement, ʹthat it [COSATU] was committed to one-person one-vote in a unitary South Africa', in the context of its role as a labour movement?

SOURCE 1B The poster below, designed by COSATU's media worker Patrick Cockayne , demonstrates COSATU's protest against the apartheid government's Labour Relations Amendment Act that was introduced in 1987. [From Red on Black: The Story of the South African Poster Movement by J Seidman] AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL 1.2.1 Why do you think this poster was created?