Latest news with #GIWUSA
IOL News
14 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
GIWUSA slams National Dialogue as elite 'talk shop'
GIWUSA criticises National Dialogue as an ineffective 'talk shop' amid Marikana Massacre anniversary Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Media The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) has dismissed the National Dialogue convened at Unisa on August 15 -16 as an illegitimate 'talk shop' that cannot resolve the country's more profound crisis. The union's statement comes in the wake of a gathering that drew a range of participants, from self-styled civic leaders to a chorus of critics and government officials. Mametlwe Sebei, President of General Industries Workers Union of SA said the National Dialogue cannot resolve the crisis of capitalism. He argued that the platform was 'masquerading as the assembly of the representatives of all sectors of South African Society' but in practice excluded core voices and was 'widely boycotted by all main opposition parties, in and out of the GNU, many trade unions, community civics, and youth movements.' He cast the event as 'an empty spectacle' designed to create the illusion of engagement while preserving the political elite's power over the process and the very system of monopoly capitalism that has brought our people to ruin. The union tied its critique to both historical grievance and contemporary policy, insisting that the country's problems are structural, not a matter of insufficient dialogue. 'The political contradictions and polarisation tearing South Africa apart are not the result of a lack of dialogue but are rooted in the objective class divisions of our society,' said Sebei. 'It contends that capitalism, defined here as private ownership of the economy and land concentrated in a wealthy minority, puts profit before people, pitting 'the interests of the wealthy elite' against 'the working class, who fight for survival, decent wages, and a dignified life.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ GIWUSA linked the country's most wrenching crises to four decades of neoliberal policy. 'Since the crisis of capitalism began in the 1970s, the ruling class has responded with privatisation, austerity, and attacks on workers-all to maintain their wealth while the majority suffer,' read the statement, laying responsibility at the feet of policy choices shaped by capital interests. The articulation of grievances is anchored in stark episodes that, according to GIWUSA, reveal the systemic nature of the problem. Sebei referenced Marikana incident where 34 mineworkers were gunned down by police, as a 'massacre' born from a choice of 'profits over workers' lives and extended that frame to issues like education funding and service delivery, noting protests such as #FeesMustFall and #OutsourcingMustFall as clashes arising from neoliberal policy rather than miscommunication. 'Today, even traditional support systems of the working-class communities and families are tearing apart because capitalism substitutes human relations with callous cash relations,' Sebei asserted that widening inequality is not a policy slip but a structural feature of the system. 'Reject dialogue that concedes to the existing order and pursue organised, collective action that can challenge capital and, eventually, alter the country's political economy.' The union contended that 'the working class needs struggle, not talk shops,' and insisted that lasting change will come through mass mobilisation, strikes, and direct action-combined with a political program aimed at 'the nationalisation of key industries under democratic worker control' and, ultimately, 'a socialist orientation' as the only durable antidote to exploitation and inequality.
IOL News
5 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
Giwusa slams Operation Dudula for denying migrants healthcare access
Soweto clinic incident: Operation Dudula women disrupt healthcare services. Image: Leon Lestrade Independent Newspapers The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) condemned Operation Dudula, and March and March, for denying migrants access to healthcare. According to the union, these 'xenophobic acts' were a violation of the most fundamental human rights and a dangerous diversion from the real crisis in the healthcare system. The union said it was a crisis created by 'neoliberal austerity, corporate looting and profiteering, corruption, and mismanagement'. GIWUSA President, Mametlwe Sebei, alluded to the crisis confronting the country's healthcare sector. "It is true that the clinics, hospitals and other healthcare services in our working-class communities are failing the poor, including the elderly, children, disabled and chronically ill people, who can't afford long queues," Sebei said. "Equally, they fail everyone with shortages in staff of critical healthcare professionals, including doctors, dentists, nurses, and specialists, a lack of essential equipment, beds and medicines." Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Sebei said the issue of blaming and denying migrants access to healthcare is scapegoating and serves in the fracture and weaken working-class organisations. "This weakness of organisation is responsible for disunity and poor capacity to fightback, which in turn has allowed the state to divest and privatise public services, at the same time as it has demoralised the working class and opened a wide vacuum for all sorts of political opportunists and populists to scapegoat the crises on the most vulnerable layers of the working class, the migrants." According to Sebei, it is on those basis that they reject this stance which they call a poison. "Migrant workers are part of our class — exploited, underpaid, and struggling alongside us. Our fight is not with each other, but with the system that keeps healthcare a privilege for the few and a site for accumulation of capital," Sebei said. Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) also came out condemning the ongoing actions by Operation Dudula of preventing migrants from accessing healthcare facilities in South Africa. Mike Ndlovu from KAAX said blocking access to healthcare, a fundamental is a violation of Section 27 of our Constitution and is unacceptable. "These actions, which include clinic blockades, intimidation, demands for identity documents, and the violent exclusion of vulnerable individuals, including pregnant women and children, violate both South African and international law. They perpetuate a harmful rhetoric that unfairly blames migrants for systemic failures while distracting from the real causes of the healthcare crisis," Ndlovu said. "The narrative promoted by Operation Dudula, falsely claiming migrants are the primary cause of overcrowded clinics and failing services, is contradicted by evidence. Migrants constitute only approximately 4% of public hospital admissions, primarily seeking essential obstetric and emergency care." The Star
