Economy

Cosatu Congress will paper over the cracks

Amid unprecedented media interest, Cosatu’s eleventh national congress gets underway in Midrand on Monday. Many of the nearly 300 journalists, photographers and members of camera crews accredited to attend the event are clearly expecting drama.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 19 September 2012

Government’s fuel policy makes us all poorer

Expect another hike in the price of petrol, diesel and paraffin in October. This is because the price is staying above $110 a barrel and the rand is weakening.

Jack Lewis

Opinion | 19 September 2012

Why fascism is a real danger

Last year Rhodes University academic Jane Duncan warned of "proto fascism" emerging in South Africa. At the same time, in an article for a local publication, I wrote that "the first loud, trumpet calls to fascism in modern South Africa have been sounded".

Terry Bell

Opinion | 12 September 2012

Sorting facts from propaganda at Marikana

“Money, historic distrust, poor communication by and between different parties and the intervention of a small criminal element provided the volatile mix that exploded into violence....."

Terry Bell

Opinion | 27 August 2012

Implats, Lonmin and the battle of the unions

Given the amount of often dangerous nonsense being sprouted about "anarchists" and about Amcu allegedly being a newly formed union sponsored by everyone from the Chamber of Mines to BHP Billiton, I provide this historic record: an Inside Labour column published on February 19 this year with which nobody from the NUM or SACP disagreed.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 22 August 2012

Know clearly what you want - and will fight for

That there is widespread and apparently growing cynicism within the labour movement about politics and politicians is perfectly understandable. Recent history provides many reasons, not least of them the corruption scandals, the circumstances surrounding the murder of Moss Phakoe and the ongoing school textbook crisis.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 8 August 2012

Hope amid the horror of joblessness and exploitation

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. So wrote the much-quoted 18th Century English poet, Alexander Pope. And, although this has all too often described the
futility of chasing after rainbows and never finding a promised pot of gold, hope continues to sustain millions of people in situations that, to the more fortunate, might seem hopeless.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 25 July 2012

Of transitions, nonsense and historical distortions

“What the country now needs is growth with social justice. And this will require the state to play a major role in creating the conditions and dictating the policy direction of economic growth.”

Terry Bell

Opinion | 4 July 2012

SA Inc and the search for a real alternative

South Africa Inc is a “fronting” exercise in which the people of the country are the hapless stooges giving credibility to a governing elite.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 27 June 2012

COSATU, Zille, Apartheid and the Youth Wage Subsidy

COSATU is facing an unprecedented onslaught. Is the federation, as Helen Zille claims, ‘the main roadblock in the road to job creation and redress’? And would ‘lowering the cost of employment’ be the ‘biggest single step towards solving the unemployment problem’?

Ilan Strauss and Doron Isaacs

Opinion | 12 June 2012

Of nationalisation, land grabs and vanguards

Over this past week, the National Union of Metalworkers congress has again put both nationalisation and the Freedom Charter firmly onto the political agenda.

Terry Bell

News | 8 June 2012

The spearing of labour history

Many matters of national and regional importance have been neglected in the past two weeks, submerged beneath the fuss and furore caused by the charade surrounding the satirical Spear painting.

Terry Bell

News | 4 June 2012