It is our pleasure to invite you to the next webinar in the Labour Studies Seminar Series at Rhodes University, South Africa.
TOPIC: Mametlwe Sebei: "Losing or Using the Crisis? Critical Reflections on South African Labour in the Great Lockdown”
TIME AND DATE: Wednesday, 23rd September 2020, online via Zoom (details below). Join from 4 pm; we start at 4:10 pm sharp.
This webinar is part of a monthly series hosting labour activists on the theme of "COVID-19 and the Working Class Movement in South Africa." The current situation poses profound challenges for working and poor people. The IMF speaks of the "Great Lockdown" of 2020 as the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. But this is not a traditional capitalist depression, nor when problems began. South Africa was already in an economic and political quagmire before lockdown, unemployment topping an unprecedented 10 million in 2019. Millions of those under threat, or ruined, by the lockdown were already sinking, knee-deep in poverty, low wages and precarious work. The lockdown shone a pitiless light on massive inequalities in wealth and power. Parliament closed for months, largely unnoticed, many politicians and investors sitting tight in wealthy suburbs. Faced with the risk of social explosions, the state provided emergency social assistance on a scale unmatched in the African continent -- but this stumbled through corruption, maladministration and a looming fiscal crisis. How have workers’ movements, including unions, responded to the situation facing the broad working class? Unions represent almost 30% of the workforce, one of the highest densities worldwide, but can they cope? What new opportunities have emerged? What has been done, and what needs doing, if we are to move forward?
SPEAKER: Mametlwe Sebei is President of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA), member of the National Executive Committee member of the South African Federation of Trade unions (SAFTU), and the Workers and Socialist Party. Active in the working class movement for decades, he was formerly the National President of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA), and Deputy President of the SRC at the University of Pretoria.
HOSTS: The series is run by the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) in partnership with the Departments of Sociology & Industrial Sociology, History, and Economics & Economic History, Rhodes University.
JOINING: register in advance for the seminar, which will use Zoom, by going to
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctdO6tpjMuGt29hL213tMPcPkAKhNbezYg
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Queries to Valance Wessels on WhatsApp 082 505 7904
TOPIC: Mametlwe Sebei: "Losing or Using the Crisis? Critical Reflections on South African Labour in the Great Lockdown”
TIME AND DATE: Wednesday, 23rd September 2020, online via Zoom (details below). Join from 4 pm; we start at 4:10 pm sharp.
This webinar is part of a monthly series hosting labour activists on the theme of "COVID-19 and the Working Class Movement in South Africa." The current situation poses profound challenges for working and poor people. The IMF speaks of the "Great Lockdown" of 2020 as the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. But this is not a traditional capitalist depression, nor when problems began. South Africa was already in an economic and political quagmire before lockdown, unemployment topping an unprecedented 10 million in 2019. Millions of those under threat, or ruined, by the lockdown were already sinking, knee-deep in poverty, low wages and precarious work. The lockdown shone a pitiless light on massive inequalities in wealth and power. Parliament closed for months, largely unnoticed, many politicians and investors sitting tight in wealthy suburbs. Faced with the risk of social explosions, the state provided emergency social assistance on a scale unmatched in the African continent -- but this stumbled through corruption, maladministration and a looming fiscal crisis. How have workers’ movements, including unions, responded to the situation facing the broad working class? Unions represent almost 30% of the workforce, one of the highest densities worldwide, but can they cope? What new opportunities have emerged? What has been done, and what needs doing, if we are to move forward?
SPEAKER: Mametlwe Sebei is President of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA), member of the National Executive Committee member of the South African Federation of Trade unions (SAFTU), and the Workers and Socialist Party. Active in the working class movement for decades, he was formerly the National President of the Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (PASMA), and Deputy President of the SRC at the University of Pretoria.
HOSTS: The series is run by the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) in partnership with the Departments of Sociology & Industrial Sociology, History, and Economics & Economic History, Rhodes University.
JOINING: register in advance for the seminar, which will use Zoom, by going to
https://zoom.us/meeting/regist
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Queries to Valance Wessels on WhatsApp 082 505 7904