SOUTH AFRICA TORONTO — “It is one of the most positive developments in the history of trade unionism in South Africa.” That’s how Africa National Congress Canadian representative Yusuf Saloojee described the formation of COSATU — the Con- federation of South African Trade Unions. Saloojee credited the formation of COSATU to more than a decade of hard work by underground cadres of the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the African National Congress. “COSATU has clearly identified not | only the economic objectives of the workers but their political objectives,” Saloojee told the Tribune, Dec. 10, “It aligns itself fully and totally with the aspi- rations of the vast majority of the people and that is for the creation of a non-racial, united, democratic South Africa.” Its objectives in the workplace and in the community are fully compatible with those forces struggling to bring down the apartheid regime and with the objectives of the ANC, he said. Saloojee noted that this common pur- pose was expressed in a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe last week between COSATU’s new general secretary J. Naidoo and lead- ers of the ANC. COSATU’s formation marks another important stage in South Africa’s struggle for liberation and it will play a significant role in this, the ANC representative to Canada said. He predicted the next year would be decisive in determining South Africa’s future. “Particularly in the year ahead,” Saloojee said, “the ANC calls upon all genuine trade unionists and trade union movements in Canada and all over the world to provide the maximum all-round support to the newly-formed Confedera- tion of South African Trade Unions. “In the battles ahead it is going to des- perately need that support.” - The importance of COSATU’s forma- tion was also highlighted in a statement received in Toronto Dec. 13 from the South African Congress of Trade Unions and its president Steven Dlamini. “Our revolution requires a united and strong trade union movement détermined to satisfy its demand for higher wages, good working conditions, removal of color bars, equal opportunities to work COSATU opens new era for South Africa trade unions and the achievement of complete emanci- pation. “COSATU can and will fulfill these aims,” the SACTU statement declared. It must become a centre of organized 3 activity for all workers who are deter- mined to end apartheid, Dlamini wrote, and on behalf of SACTU he called on “all democratic unions, including those who have rejected TUCSA’s (the Trade Union Congress of South Africa), policy of class collaboration (to) take part in the opera- tion of COSATU...” Dlamini outlined a six-point program around which the South African trade unions should unite, including: © Working for the organization of all workers into industrial unions, one for each industry and occupation; © Campaigning for increased wages, better working conditions and improved health and safety; © Struggling against the victimization, detention, torture and murder of trade union activists and militant fighters for freedom; ® Developing the campaign against the racist pass laws and all forms of discrimi- nation; y © Pressing the demand for equal work opportunitites, removal of discriminatory labor laws and all apartheid measures; @ Advancing the demand for the right to vote in a united, undivided South Africa. COSATU’s immediate concerns, the SACTU official said, will be to find the ways and means of ending the state of emergency and to force the Botha regime to lift censorship on reporting, and to pull its police and army from the townships. In short, it will take up the task of destroying - the apartheid regime. “The federation, in unison with the national liberation movement and its allies is called upon to perform its historic task by calling on its members and the organ- ized workers to participate fully in the struggle for liberation, social justice and equality,” the statement concluded. Messages of support and solidarity with COSATU can be forwarded to the federa- tion at: : 2 Goodhope St. Belleville South Cape 7530 South Africa ; Aim is apartheid’s ‘total isolation’ — Dube The conflict broiling in South Africa may well erupt into armed struggle — but it will be on terms picked by the nation’s revolu- tionary forces, contends Jabu Dube. And the deputy representative of the African National Congress in Canada said his organization thinks that time is coming soon. The growth of the ANC and the spread- ing liberation struggle in South Africa has seen even the country’s big capitalists seek- ing a dialogue with the revolutionary forces, Dube, in town last week for a speaking engagement, told the Tribune. Dube, who addressed a weekend confer- ence of the Anti-Apartheid network, said the main strategy of the congress is to make South Africa “ungovernable.” He said recent talks between ANC lead- ers and South Africa’s top businessmen have helped convince members of the white~ minority rule that the congress is “not a terrorist organization committed to vio- lence.” In fact, Dube intimated, bloodshed can be averted if more of the world’s nations join others in imposing total economic and - cultural sanctions against South Africa’s racist regime. _ The ANC’s strategy is to wage the strug- gle “at all levels,” Dube said. That includes the mass protests against rent hikes imposed by government-control- _ led municipal councils in black townships. “Given the wages and unemployment in South Africa, it (rent hikes of 10-20 per cent) is intolerable,” Dube asserted. In Mamelodi, a black township of the Capital, Pretoria, 50,000 residents marched in a protest against rent hikes organized bya Senior citizens’ group. Police “started shoot- ing” and killed 12 people, including seniors and children. At the subsequent funeral Winnie Man- dela, wife of imprisoned ANC leader Nel- son Mandela, committed the most flagrant violation of South Africa’s “banned per- _ son” laws to date, by openly addressing the mourners. Incidents like this, growing more com- mon daily, are in sharp contrast to historical _ events such as the infamous Sharpville mas- sacre in 1960 and the killing of hundreds during the upsurges in Soweto in 1976, Dube noted. “Sharpville and Soweto were episodal incidents. But now you hear of struggle all 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 18, 1985 over the country. “We have declared this country ungov- ernable. That is why Winnie Mandela can stand on a platform and defy the govern- ment openly,” he asserted. The growth of the ANC’s prestige is such that South African businessman Gavin Relly — head of the powerful Anglo- american Corporation — and other busi- ness representatives met with congress leaders in Lusaka, Zambia recently. They wanted to know if their economic holdings would be safe under an ANC government, and what kind of government the congress had in mind if it came to power, Dube said. The South African businessmen also Suggested the establishment of a govern- ment dividing representation equally among the country’s white, blacks and coloreds, and the feasibility of striking a “Lancaster House” type of agreement as was the case with neighboring Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Dube said the ANC advised the busi- ~ nessmen there would be “no compromise” on the position — contained in the con- gress’ Freedom Charter — that major enterprises would be nationalized. Nor would the congress compromise universal suffrage for any “one-third, one-third, one- third,” type of government, he reported. But the businessmen left feeling that the talks “left room for future discussions.” And since then, other groups such as the dominant Dutch Reformed Church and the white students organization have expressed interest in similar dialogues, said Dube. The reaction of the National Party government led by Prime Minister Pietr Botha was to seize the students’ passports, and threaten similar action against the church officials, he aid. Dube said the ANC “commends” the limited sanctions Canada has imposed on the Pretoria regime. But the defeat of apar- theid can only be won by the complete “economic and political isolation” of the racist government, he said. In the meantime the congress continues its practice of “hitting the enemy wherever he is — even in the white community,” Dube said. “This does not mean a blind killing of whites, but rather hitting specific targets, such as police stations. “The arming of the people is a necessity. ANC's JABU DUBE. . .struggle being waged ‘at all levels.’ “The African National Congress stands — for a new South Africa, a South Africa ir which racism shall be a thing of the past, where human dignity and equality shall prevail in the life of the country and its people,” stated the president’s message. The conference, which held discussions on the situation in several Southern Afri countries, passed resolutions urging partici pants to make presentations to the House joint committee on foreign policy, which comes to Vancouver in January, and mark: ing Mar. 21 as “Sharpville Day.” Partici pants also decided to send a telegram to External Affairs Minister Joe Clark urging — total sanctions against apartheid. But it has to be done in a way that recog- nizes the continuity of the struggle. : “The South African government has a highly sophisticated military machine. They’d love a war situation, but we will not accommodate them. We will fight on our own grounds, with a trained force,” said Dube. “T can tell you that it won’t be too long before that will take place.” Dube, at a conference sponsored by the Anti-Apartheid Network in Vancouver Dec.6-7, read a message from ANC presi- dent Oliver Tambo asking for “moral, material and political” support for the South African struggle.