Constant Vigilance

Rev. Frank Chikane announced something about the Scorpions yesterday, but there is considerable disagreement as to what the meaning of it was. The Johannesburg Star on its page 3 says: “Scorpions reined in and gagged after months of scrutiny”. But the Johannesburg Business Day on its front page says: “Scorpions to keep sting after cabinet reprieve” Were they reined in or were they reprieved? The SACP statement brings some clarity to the matter. Investigation and prosecution should not be combined in the same unit. The SACP calls for the full implementation of the ANC National General Council resolution (of July 2005) on the full incorporation of the Scorpions into the South African Police Service. See link. The African National Congress itself “welcomes and supports the decision” in its bland, praise-singing statement (see link). The NPA/Scorpions' “Hollywood” practices were condemned in the Khampepe Commission (which the ANC praises). Yet the chief NPA/Scorpion “Hollywood” practitioner, Makhosini Nkosi, was immediately in front of the SABC television cameras putting his odious gloss on the matter, effectively claiming it was business as usual, almost as if the whole process belonged to himself from the beginning! The struggle continues. Statistics show that South Africa’s growth is practically speaking jobless growth and COSATU has immediately responded with a call to a programme of strike action. See the link to this major story below. COSATU picketed the Australian mining company BHP Billiton in Johannesburg yesterday in solidarity with the Australian working class suffering under a reactionary government. Metalworkers from many African countries gathered in Durban issued a common statement in opposition to the Imperialist WTO manoeuvres. Working class internationalism is the oldest and strongest kind and it is practiced every day. See two links below. COSATU has also not hesitated to issue a full condemnation for the unspeakable atrocities of the Israeli colonialists in Gaza where they have destroyed that country’s power-generating infrastructure and arrested the elected representatives of the people. See link below. A fifteen-year-old boy was killed in an animal feed-mixing machine in Vryburg, while working illegally for a farmer. The Department of Labour is going to open a criminal case. COSATU adds further information about child labour and calls for the complete elimination of theis practice. See link. Click on these links: SACP on cabinet announcement on Scorpions future, 29 June (324 words) ANC statement on cabinet Scorpion decision, 29 June 2006 (135 words) COSATU threatens strikes over jobs, Amy Musgrave, Business Day (269 words) COSATU on Australian reaction, An injury to one is an injury to all (893 words) African metalworkers on WTO agreement (758 words) COSATU, Israeli attacks condemned (428 words) COSATU, Child labour tragedy (327 words)