Union Of South Africa Research Articles

THE LEGAL STATUS OF TRADE UNIONS AND POTENTIAL GROUNDS ON WHICH THEY MAY INCUR LIABILITY

Employees exercise their right to freedom of association by forming or joining trade unions. It is not required that a trade union be registered to function as such. However, under the Labour Relations Act (LRA), there are a number of benefits available to registered trade unions. A registered trade union acquires the status of a body corporate with rights and duties. However, it functions through natural persons, and those who represent it may not be held liable if they act in line with the union’s constitution and within their authority. This article is aimed at considering the legal status of trade unions in South Africa and in the United Kingdom (UK) respectively. It further considers different circumstances under which a trade union may incur liability, including instances where there is non-compliance with the union’s constitution, a breach of contract or delict, or a discrimination claim.

Reconsidering Digital Strategies for Recruiting and Organising Young Emerging Teachers in Chosen Teachers' Unions in South Africa

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that, in most of its member countries, the percentage of employed individuals who are members of trade unions has decreased significantly over the past few decades, with less than 20 percent. Some of the studies done on this subject unequivocally acknowledge that low membership turnover and dwindling trade union densities are caused by the incapacity to mobilize, organize, and serve members. In order to determine the most effective and efficient way to use these integrated digital strategies, this research investigates types of digital modes for organising, mobilising, and retaining new coming educators. Data were gathered through interviews with ten SADTU organisers and ten students from particular South. African universities, using the qualitative method. The data was analysed using a grounded (thematic) approach. The study's overall findings shows that digital technologies play a significant role in luring newer generations of trade union members. The findings of this study directly influenced the creation of more precise and efficient digital strategies for recruiting and organizing young emerging teachers, leading to an overall enhancement in the recruitment and retention of talent within the education sector.

The Evolution of Constitutionalism in Conqueror South Africa. Was Jan Smuts Right? An Ubu-ntu Response

Diphetogo tseo di tlisitsego boipuso mafatsheng a Afrika gase tsa fetola nyenyefatso ya bothopja le bokgoba bjo bo gapeleditsweng ke mafatshe a Bodikela bja mose wa mawatle. Sebakwa ke sona se taodisong ye. Re ema ka la gore magoro kamoka a bophelo a tshwanetse go mothofatswa, botho ebe bjona motheo wa phedisano magereng ga batho kamoka “Afrika-borwa” le lefatsheng ka bophara. Moono wo o tshwanetse go ba karolo ya mananego kamoka a thuto go tloga thutong ya motheo go fihlela thutong tje phagamego. The ethically unjustified violence of Western colonisation continues in the economic and epistemic spheres in Africa, despite the reluctant concession by the Western coloniser to political independence. The constitutional histories of politically independent Africa are mainly the reaffirmation of the imposed domestication of the legal paradigm of the Western colonial conqueror. This is constitutionalism. With particular reference to conqueror South Africa, I take the “Union of South Africa” as the commencement of constitutionalism. General Smuts, later Prime Minister, was among three Afrikaner Generals engaged in the founding and the development of the “Union of South Africa.” He is selected here for his claim that the White colonial conquerors from Western Europe are endowed with superior intelligence. This can be used to continue the subjugation of indigenous conquered peoples into an indefinitely long future. This article challenges this claim because it is ethically untenable and fundamentally at odds with constitution-ness underlying the ubu-ntu legal paradigm. Given the evolution of constitutionalism in conqueror South Africa until the constitution of 1996, was Smuts right in his claim? In addition to the ethical indefensibility of this claim, it is argued further that the “epistemic decolonial turn” overlooks “decolonisation” as argued by Africans, and disregards humanisation—mothofatso—as the fundamental counter to the dehumanisation project of colonialism.

Common/wealth: Contested commons and proleptic critique

In May 1917, two South African feminist friends and critics of empire then in London sent a telegram to Field Marshal Jan Smuts, the Union of South Africa’s Defence Minister and delegate to the Imperial War Cabinet, in response to his early proposal for a Commonwealth of Nations. It read simply: “Your speech was fine”. Whether intended sincerely (as in “very fine”) or as faint praise (“fine as far as it goes, but”) is not known, but the ambiguity is fitting for an association and description with such contested associations – and one that, by some accounts, originated in the colonies (from an idea proposed by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and South Africa’s then-Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog). It is fitting, too, that one of the cable’s authors was Olive Schreiner (1855-1920), leading novelist of the “New Woman”, advocate of sex equality, and clear-sighted critic of empire’s presumptions, rapacious designs, and gendered and ethnic biases, as well as of the race politics taking shape in South Africa at the start of the twentieth century. Even as we read Schreiner’s work today with an eye to its own prejudices and contradictions, this essay contends that it is worth considering the value of the proleptic critique it embodies for an understanding of the ongoing limitations — but also use-value — of the term “Commonwealth”, as well as of any term that might replace it. The outlines of Schreiner’s critique suggest that the term might yet encode a counter-ideal that points to an ongoing latent potential for the common to be reactivated as promise of a more equal and just division of empire’s spoils.

In a Class of Its Own? The Origins and Early History of Tennis in the 19th-Century Cape Colony

This article endeavours to awaken a scholarly interest in the origins and early history of tennis in the city of Cape Town and the Cape Colony more broadly. By drawing on newspaper accounts and other supplementary materials, the article maps out a social, political and cultural landscape that shaped this particular history prior to 1892, the year that tennis was established on a national basis in the region that would become the Union of South Africa in 1910. Much of this history has disappeared or has been erased from public consciousness and therefore events are called up that may appear insignificant to the modern reader. In recovering this history, this article seeks to demonstrate that the history of this sport matters because of its place in the social and political unfolding of 19th-century Cape colonial society. It then unpacks this history as it evolved predominantly among the English-speaking colonial middle class, in elite private residences, hotels, schools and clubs within the culture associated with these institutions.

An Economic Perspective on School Leadership and Teachers’ Unions in South Africa

An Economic Perspective on School Leadership and Teachers’ Unions in South Africa

What are the implications of Bwanya v The Master of the High Court for customary law?

This contribution examines the implications of Bwanya v The Master of the High Court for customary unions in South Africa. Bwanya ruled that the Intestate Succession Act and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act were unconstitutional to the extent that they failed to include heterosexual life partners as beneficiaries falling within their remit, which violated their right to equality and to dignity. The extent to which life partners’ positions may henceforth be ameliorated by legislative reform is first examined against the backdrop of the Domestic Partnerships Bill of 2008, which did not muster support in Parliament. Thereafter, the article discusses what implications the recognition of life partnerships may hold for customary law unions. It is tentatively concluded that it may be that whilst customary unions may continue as a social practice, it may be questioned whether in future there is legal space for them to persist in their current form. Sesotho: Atekele ena e hlahloba ditlamorao tsa Bwanya v The Master of the High Court bakeng sa manyalo a setso Afrika Borwa. Bwanya o ile a diha kahlolo ka hore Intestate Succession Act le Maintenance of Surviving Spouse Act e ne e se molaong ho ya kamoo e ileng ya hloleha ho kenyeletsa balekane ba bong bo fapaneng ba phelang mmoho e le bajamafa ba welang boikarabelong ba bona, e leng se ileng sa hatakela tokelo ya bona ya tekano le seriti. Ho ya kamoo maemo a balekane ba phelang mmoho a ka matlafatswang ho ya pele ka ntjhafatso ya molao ho qala ho hlahlojwa ho itshetlehilwe ka Domestic Partnership Bill ya 2008, e ileng ya se fumane tshehetso ka Palamenteng. Kamora moo, atekele e ile ya tshohla hore ke ditlamorao dife tse ka bang teng tsa ho lemoha dilekane tsa ho phela mmoho bakeng sa manyalo a setso. Ho nkuwa qeto ka lesisitheho hore leha manyalo a setso a ka nna a tswela pele jwalo ka tlwaelo setjhabeng, ho ka nna ha ba le dipotso hore ebe nako e tlang ho na le sebaka sa ona molaong hore a nne a tswele pele ka tsela eo a ntseng a etsa nakong ya jwale.

Decolonisation: African Political thought

African political thought is fundamentally rooted in African heritage and culture. It is a frontal assault against the imperial powers of Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the Union of South Africa, which denied the diverse African peoples of their right to self-government. Thus, the political concepts of African leaders at various times and places were intended to be last attacks against the denial of the basic human rights of the people. At the period, political thinking centred on two major threats to African states and the continent: colonialism and racism. In African Political Thought, the notion of Decolonization is best investigated and analysed in the context of its processes. Any attention that was paid to the African past highlighted the savage character of intergroup interactions. As colonial education was influenced by the need to explain the ills of colonialism, African history was filled with European discoveries of Africa. In order to rectify this anomaly, the concepts of Pan-Africanism and Negritude were developed within an African setting. These concepts aided in reinforcing the significance of African heritage despite the European invasion. This research seeks to investigate the origins of African political philosophy and the decolonization process in certain African locations. The major source of data collecting is secondary sources.

Locked in, logged out: pandemic and ride-hailing in South Africa and Kenya

AbstractThis article examines the impact of the pandemic on ride-hailing drivers and their mitigation strategies during lockdown in Africa. Ride-hailing has emerged as one of the latest paid-work opportunities for the continent's many unemployed. Yet, ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Bolt misclassify drivers to avoid regulation and responsibilities towards workers’ welfare. Drawing on 34 in-depth interviews with ride-hailing drivers, driver representatives and trade unions in South Africa and Kenya, this article makes two arguments. First, the gig economy in Africa provides work opportunities for the unemployed on the continent and simultaneously vitiates the working conditions through the commodification and informalisation of work. Second, the state-directed emergency measures act as a veneer to capital's efforts to commodify labour and the gig economy platforms have emerged as primary tools for it. Our account points to an urgent need for better regulatory systems to hold platform companies accountable and a collective bargaining mechanism in the gig economy.

Urban counterinsurgency: the Union Defence Force and the suppression of the 1922 Rand Revolt

ABSTRACT In early 1922, in the wake of a global depression followed by rapidly deteriorating labour and economic conditions, several thousand white mine workers on the Witwatersrand in the Union of South Africa went on strike. These miners armed and organised themselves into commandos and took to the streets. During the opening phases of the unrest, these paramilitary units clashed with the South African Police. By the beginning of March, the strikes transformed into a violent insurrection with railway workers also joining its ranks after negotiations between the mine workers, mine owners, and the government failed and new militant leadership assumed command. As chaos and disorder engulfed large tracts of the Johannesburg goldfields and levels of violence assumed new proportions, the state’s legitimacy increasingly came under threat. In response, martial law was declared, and elements of the Union Defence Force were deployed to quell the so-called 1922 Rand Revolt. Historically unaccustomed to urban warfare and without an appropriate doctrine, the defence force became involved in several high-intensity urban counterinsurgency operations against the strike commandos. Drawing from a variety of archival material, this article investigates the combat operations undertaken by the UDF to suppress the 1922 Rand Revolt.

“only the rags we had on …”

Abstract The Italian prisoner-of-war (POW) experience in the Union of South Africa is not well represented in scholarly publications. Research on this topic tends to focus on the general feeling of partnership between captors and captives that came about after 1943, when a new camp commandant was appointed at Zonderwater, the largest POW camp in the Union. There is no doubt that POW s and military authorities shared a mindset cooperation, but it represents one interpretation only. With educational, cultural, and sporting programmes arranged by welfare officers, many POW s gained skills and positive experiences from their captivity. However, POW s arrived early in 1941, when Zonderwater and its staff were ill-prepared for the challenges that awaited them. From 1941 to 1942 the camp commandant, Colonel DW de Wet, attempted but failed to manage the camp according to the regulations set out by the Geneva Convention of 1929 for the treatment of prisoners-of-war, of which the Union was a signatory. This article looks at the causes of De Wet’s apparent failure and the consequences thereof on the prisoners, the camp staff and to a smaller extent, on the Union government.

Afrikaner Nationalism in the Political Life of the Union of South Africa in the First Third of the 20th Century

The purpose of the article is to trace the formation and development of Afrikaner nationalism, which played an important role in the political life of the Union of South Africa in the first third of the 20th century; to find out the origins of the formation of Afrikaner nationalism and what factors influenced this formation; to analyze which groups of the white population of the Union of South Africa were close to the ideas of Afrikaner nationalism, to show how Afrikaner nationalism diverged from other ideologies in the Union of South Africa and how it influenced the political life of the dominion, how it influenced the relations of the Union of South Africa with Great Britain and, consequently, the formation of the British Commonwealth. The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that nationalism is still an ideology that unites various social groups in many countries of the world. The conditions for the formation of Afrikaner nationalism are similar to the conditions for the formation of nationalism of other ethnic groups.

Teacher Unions, Schools and Success: Opportunities and Contradictions

Teacher unionisation is among the under-researched themes in South Africa. The few teacher union studies focus on the notoriety of teacher unions’ activities, especially the impact of teacher strikes. Studies frequently demonstrate how teacher unions disturb education with a tendency to make schools ungovernable. In fact, in many studies, results have shown that strong union activity undermines school effectiveness. Additionally, these studies people revealed how various role-players such as parents, communities and district officials have maintained that effective teacher unions are the missing link to successful leadership as well as meaningful teaching and learning. This case study examined the potentially positive role of unions in two historically black schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. In both schools the principals were active members of two of the most powerful teacher unions in South Africa. At the time of the study, one principal was an office bearer in the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) whilst the other was aligned with the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA). The paradox in both schools was that, despite the strong unionism, the union and school management collaboration appeared to bolster learner success, teaching and school principals’ effectiveness. The conclusions demonstrate that strong teacher unions are pivotal in building self-fulfilled teachers, the management of diversity and high levels of learner achievement. Finally, the school leaders proved that, with meaningful cooperation among role-players including teacher unions, underperforming schools have the potential to thrive.

Foreign Policy of the Union of South Africa and Its Relationship with the USSR in 1950-1960th

This article discusses Union of South Africa (UAS) in the 1950s-1960s, in perspective of the double diplomacy that was formed in connection with the establishment of apartheid. On one hand, the diplomacy of the official foreign Ministry of the UAS, which was adapting to the international isolation that began to develop around it (in many ways controversial), primarily from the independent countries of Africa and the USSR. On the other hand, it was the diplomacy of the national liberation movements that fought against this regime, namely the ANC. On the basis of archival documents, it can be seen that in 1959, even before the world-wide shooting in Sharpeville (1960), in the USSR, a high-level proposal was made to support the ANC and oppose the government of the UAS in all diplomatic directions.

The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present by William Beinart and Saul Dubow

Reviewed by: The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present by William Beinart and Saul Dubow Mueni wa Muiu Beinart, William, and Saul Dubow. The Scientific Imagination in South Africa: 1700 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. It is not often that one comes across a volume that traces the history of science in South Africa from 1700 to the present. Especially one that also highlights the role of science in governing South Africa from colonialism to the postapartheid period. Power is displayed throughout this period as South Africa is cataloged and recorded. Relations between the colonialists and the indigenous people are unequal, because the settlers have the power to research, catalog, and record all aspects of life in South Africa, which the indigenous people cannot do to the Europeans. Toward that end, physical conquest is both intellectual and ideological. How South Africa is known informs the types of methods used for domination and oppression of the indigenous communities, such as anthropological studies that present the indigenous people as "lazy" and "warlike." White supremacy also influenced relations and methods used to exterminate the Khoi and San people. In this sense, the Bible, book, and gun played critical roles in the making of South Africa. This volume is divided into seven chapters. The first one introduces the reader to scientific imagination and local knowledge of the Cape in the eighteenth century. The reader learns about the role of scientists, from identifying South Africa's animals, diseases, plants, and governance systems to setting up a department of health and a sewage system. Accounts by travelers such as John Barrow and Martin Lichtenstein reflected their beliefs about the local people as well as the methods used to govern. For Barrow, British colonialism was more "enlightened" than that of the Dutch. He also believed that slavery in the Cape was unnecessary, since it encouraged laziness among the colonialists. Most items gathered in South Africa, from animals to plants, were shipped to Dutch laboratories and later to British ones. This science dehumanized the African woman, as the case of Sara Baartman illustrates. Scientists from Holland and Britain [End Page 217] influenced the development of science in South Africa. Most of South Africa's scientists also joined various esteemed organizations in South Africa, such as the Royal Geographic Society, as well as prestigious academic institutions in Europe and the United States. In chapter 2, the authors examine the role of science in the creation of colonial institutions and governance. Once they replaced the Dutch, the British introduced their own versions of colonial institutions. Changes in law and in the currency used were introduced to make governance more efficient. The first chief justice, whose expertise was Roman-Dutch Law, was appointed in 1812. The court system was extended to cover more areas. New medical and scientific institutions were also introduced. Indigenous knowledge was also changing, with the Zulu Kingdom using new military weapons and innovations in fighting such as amabutho (regiments). Science also informed agriculture and the mining sector, as discussed in chapter 3. Indigenous populations fought against the colonial encroachment, but between the 1870s and the 1890s the remaining independent kingdoms were conquered once Britain imported soldiers to fight using new military weapons. These populations were integrated in the four settler states based on white supremacy and inequality: Cape, Natal, Orange Free State, and the South African Republic (Transvaal). Africans were pushed into overcrowded reserves where cleanliness implied racial cleansing. Science informed the progress of the Anglo–Boer War (1899), which resulted from Britain's imperialist greed to control the mining sector. Africans (20,000) and Afrikaners (28,000) were forced into concentration camps, where initially the British refused to vaccinate them against typhoid and measles. British "methods of barbarism" resulted in immense suffering. The authors note that the cause of typhoid had been identified by 1880 as a bacterium that was transmitted through water and contaminated food. The war also introduced the plague in South Africa, which affected most African reserves. American engineers played a critical role in the mining sector. Science also informed governance once the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 as a white settler state...

Volunteer nurses during the First World War: a South African perspective

ABSTRACT The First World War writings of Betty Freund and Frances Lyndall Schreiner are the only available primary accounts by volunteer nurses from the Union of South Africa who served in the European theatre of war. The reluctance of Union women to volunteer to the British war effort were informed by several historical factors in the decades before the war, yet Betty’s letters and Frances’ narratives reveal similar experiences to those of volunteer nurses of other nationalities.Both women wrote to inform, yet Betty also felt a need to reassure, while Frances aspired to publication and employed contemporary literary conventions. On the surface, their texts show nursing and care for young soldiers were their priority, yet a deeper analysis reveals issues of national identity and their reactions to the contemporary views of nurses.

White Settlers’ Anti-Fascist and Anti-Colonial Movements in Angola (1930–1945)

ABSTRACT This article analyses anti-fascist and anti-colonial political efforts carried out by white settlers in Angola, against Salazar’s colonial dictatorship, between 1930 and 1945. It begins with an analysis of the origins and characteristics of the settlers’ political protest, considering in particular the conflicted relationships between the colonists and the Estado Novo in the 1930s. The article then analyses the secessionist conspiracy in 1940/1941, which was promoted by a group of anti-fascist settlers in Angola, in close connection with the Union of South Africa. Additionally, the article deals with the action of an anti-colonial political organisation named Organização Socialista de Angola (OSA), which was the first Euro-African nationalist movement in Angola. OSA was mostly formed by young Angolan-born whites and mestiços, who demanded full political independence as well as the end of discrimination against all Angolans. However, OSA was severely repressed by the Portuguese authorities, and a number of anti-fascist settlers, including the Vicar General of the Catholic Church, were arrested and deported to Portugal. Nonetheless, despite the repression exerted by the dictatorship, the settlers’ political protest, which was both anti-fascist and anti-colonial, had relevant repercussions in Angola, having contributed to the political structuring of Angolan nationalism in the 1940s.

South African Anti-Fascism and the Nazi Foreign Office: Antisemitism, Anti-communism and the Surveillance of the Third Reich’s International Enemies

ABSTRACT This article offers a new analysis of how the Third Reich’s Foreign Office reported on anti-fascist activities in the Union of South Africa during the 1930s. Based on letters, dispatches and reports written by the German legation and official German representatives in South Africa, the article reveals and discusses how Nazi officials followed and reacted to anti-fascist activity in South Africa. The article demonstrates how the German legation perceived anti-fascist movements and analysed them as a part of a rising global anti-German sentiment, Jewish activism, and ‘international bolshevism’. South African anti-fascism reveals itself also as a direct concern for the official bilateral relations between South Africa and Nazi Germany during the 1930s. Germany was intensely concerned with South African public opinion when it came to protests against German Nazism, international fascism and local fascist groups in South Africa. The article thus offers to expand our understanding of South Africa’s place in the global struggle between anti-fascism and fascism and discusses the ways in which anti-fascism was delegitimised. Furthermore, it shows how German clubs, offices, ships and consulates became important sites of protest and targets of anti-fascist activities and boycotts.

Zones of Occult Instability: The Birth of the Novel in Africa

Zones of Occult Instability: The Birth of the Novel in Africa

A Life in Limbo: Otto von Strahl’s Activities for and against Germany in the Union of South Africa

ABSTRACT During World War II, Baron Otto von Strahl, a German career diplomat and trader, became one of South Africa’s most important intelligence assets in the fight against Nazi infiltration. But he died indigent, an immigrant to the United States of America, because the German post-war authorities refused to recognise him as a Nazi opponent. Many decades after his death historians have begun to praise him as a resistance fighter, though ignoring certain ambiguities in his activities in South Africa. Von Strahl had denounced fellow Germans as dangerous Nazis without any tangible evidence, bringing about their internment by the South African authorities. Based on archival research in South Africa, Namibia, and Germany, this article exposes a paradox in von Strahl’s activities for South Africa: as an undoubted expert of South Africa’s infiltration by Nazi envoys and their propaganda, he focused on the German population, which constituted a relatively minor threat to the country’s stability, but he ignored the menace coming from pro-Nazi radical Afrikaner movements. His role has been exaggerated by those who accused him of treason during and after the war in Germany, whilst both his accusers and post-war defenders neglected his pro-Jewish attitude as the main motivation for switching sides in 1939.