WeeklySA_Adminlegacy: IThe second and last instalment of the retelling of the history of Media Workers’ Association of SA (Mwasa) and fearless activism in changing the face of the country’s media landscape in the 1980s..
By Sthembele Khala
With the Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa) having entrenched itself as the watchdog of the workers rights, and political winds of change ferociously blowing in the country, the union’s focus was steadfastly geared towards consolidating its influence.
As the country braced itself for radical political shift following the ANC assuming political power in 1994, with former president Nelson Mandela firmly at the helm, Mwasa had extensive consultations with the new hierarchy at the SABC.
One of its own, Zwelakhe Sisulu, a former editor, and a hardcore political activist of the ANC stripes, and former president of Mwasa, was appointed the first group chief executive of the transforming SABC.
As members of the SABC board then, Dr Ivy Cassaburi and Prof Fatima Meer, invited Mwasa to share their insights about what they planned to do with SABC.
The first issue raised by Mwasa concerned the low staff morale caused by discriminatory practices of the past, which targeted both race and gender.
Then it was political interference, which reduced the SABC to a government mouthpiece.
The third issue would be the SABC questionable funding model, which had mortgaged power and the control of the broadcaster to the whims and desires of advertisers.
The last issue the union would raise, was the failure of the broadcaster to keep up with advancing technology with little or no investment budgeted for things such as revamped studios. This, in the eyes of Mwasa, was sabotage.
In a blitzkrieg style, Mwasa had four years earlier, attacked The Star in 1990. Within seven days, the Argus group conceded defeat from the first joint strike action by the journalists and production staff.
Mwasa was ready to change the industry, and the SABC – it was also ready to change recalcitrant newspapers.
The union emerged stronger and more resolute from “a thousand-day” branded strike at the SABC in 1992. The broadcaster had previously never been rocked by strike action. The cause of the strike was the refusal of the SABC to grant its members a 15% salary increase across the board, among other demands.
This was a difficult strike. SABC was the power-house of the Broederbond. The irony was, although the broadcaster anticipated change, it believed it could get away with cosmetics changes. The SABC hired a labour expert, Christo Pretorius, an astute young man an intelligent man.
He agreed with the idea of transforming the SABC, not in part, but in whole, especially the newsroom, which was male- dominated. He however cautioned, the uunion’s demands could have an unintended consequence of bankrupting the SABC. He proposed a long-term view of a three-year
Pretorius had difficulties bringing his seniors on board. They believed Mwasa were bent onnl stirring trouble, but dismissed the possibility of a strike. On the eve of the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. Mwasa fostered solidarity with the Spanish unions, who were firebrand and militant. Through International solidarity, Mwasa was on solid ground.
The strike impacted all the regions of the SABC and all the black services. It tipped the balance of power at the anti-union broadcaster. The old order was on the retreat and the workers were freed mentally and physically.
At the end of the strike, Mwasa was granted 15% salary increase and many of the other demands. This was a major achievement for the union in the history of the SABC.
The increase was not the greatest victory – it was the mental liberation that won the day. Subsequently, Mwasa established a special bursary fund which was named after Winnie Mahlangu, the doyen of broadcasting in South Africa who was never recognised for her achievement by the SABC.
The union demanded an immediate transformation agenda. Cassaburi and Meer proposed a five-year period in which Mwasa would not call for a strike. The entire media industry was edgy, accompanied by uncertainty of what the future held.
Mwasa went for the jugular: it raised the issue of monopoly, ownership and the ill-treatment of the workers. The union was invited to be part of a consortium that would contest the fourth television license Next, was the battle with Afrikaner “kragdadigheid” – Perskor. The battle ended in the courts. Led by Edwin Cameron, who later served as a justice in the Constitutional Court, Mwasa triumphed, and a strike action was prevented.
The Argus group invited Mwasa to a meeting to explain the reason for the sale of part of the business to a foreign investor. The Argus group delegation sought to explain the impact of the sale.
They alleged the sale was supported by the ANC. We promised to engage after a separate meeting with the ANC. The Mwasa delegation was assured by the ANC that from the discussion they had with Tony O’Reilly, jobs would not be on the line.
We retorted jobs were not our only concern. The country was changing; there were too many gaps to close and the recognition of the workers as humans was crucial.
Secondly, the media would be an important building block for the developmental state. We detested the idea this strategic instrument would be given over to a foreign interest.
The counter argument was that there would be several direct investments into the country and these could not be put back only because the unions were skeptical.
We were assured that the country would enact a string of good labour laws to ensure a fair deal for workers. It was not long before we saw the newspaper sector in the country taking a nosedive.
There was some truth in the argument that new technology was responsible for the bloodbath. Statistics show there was growth in the print media sector created by South Africans.
Two titles with a huge circulation became the Daily Sun and the Son.
In 1992, the Star Newspaper had a circulation figure of around a quarter of a million. This had in 2010 dropped to about 130000. By 2012, the industry had lost a sizeable number of jobs and the circulation was pathetic. Mwasa agreed on a ceasefire with the SABC, reviewable in three
In around 1993, Mwasa requested permission from General Holomisa to organise in the Transkei. Unions were banned in most of the TBVC states. Mwasa was granted full rights to operate in the Transkei and to unionise the workforce.
We became the only union in the media Industry to operate innthe area. Ciskei was next . In no time, Mwasa had a footprint in the Eastern and Western Cape. Mwasa made a breakthrough in Bophuthatswana in December of 1993. It secretly signed new members from the Bop Broadcasting. These were: Tau Motau, Ferdinand Mabalane, Sam Ramusa, Kopano Ramekwa, Elvis Aldrin Mogotsi, and many others.
By February 1994, Mwasa was ready to announce its presence. On the political front in the homeland, things were falling apart. Chief Lucas Mangope declared that Bop would not be part of the elections scheduled for the April 27, in South Africa.
Workers from several sectors and industries had met and decided to elmbark on a national strike. Mangope was to address the people in a live press conference from the BBC Studios. At Aldrin Mogotsi’s flat, a decision was taken that Mwasa would stage a boycott. Workers would be pulled into the biggest television studio.
It was poetic justice. The state of the art studio Mangope had built and fortified for reasons still unclear, prevented him from reaching the people of Bop in a desperate attempt to persuade them to follow his lead on the integration matter.
Mangope pleaded with workers to open the door. Totally flustered and frustrated, he left. ssThat would have been his last interaction with “ his people”.
Although history never mentions this act of selflessness and absolute sacrifice, these workers changed the course of history in Bophuthatswana and in South Africa.
