A TRIBUTE OF THE LATE SADTU FOUNDING PRESIDENT AND FORMER MINISTER OF LABOUR, MR MEMBATHISI MDLADLANA BY SIPHO PITYANA AT THE SPECIAL OFFICIAL MEMORIAL SERVICE, 26 SEPTEMBER 2024, UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
Membathisi Mphumzi Shepherd Mdladlana: A Tribute
Salutation
Programme Director, His Excellency President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa
Ngobukho bakho kulamagada ahlabayo – Baninzi abebegodola, bebeqhaqhazela amazinyo, beqwatya liliqhwa neegqele zemeko zobomi; wabancamela iingubo zakho – wabembathisa
Bambi besindwa yimithwalo – wabaphungulela – wabaphumza; Bathi bekhala ngobude bendlela esengaphambili wabakhumbuza ngokuphathisana, nokusebenzisana – wabaphumza
Njengenkokheli ethembakileyo, enenyaniso, enganyolukanga – uthe wakubabona bebhadula imibombo ithe saa bezintsal wangu malusi wabo Shepherd
The powerful prayers and wishes of those who named you Membathisi Mphumzi Shepherd Mdladlana were heard and your journey of life attests to that. Let there be no doubt
Xa ndisenjenje ukutsho ndithi bantwana beliZizi nosapho ngobubanzi: ngxe, thuthuzelekani, ningazenzakalisi – akuhlanga lungehlanga. Lalani ngenxeba. Hlalani ethembeni.
Cabinet Ministers nazo zonke izithwala ndwe zaseburhulumemnteni
Leadership of the ANC Present
Leadership of COSATU and SACP
Distinguished guests – ladies and Gentlemen
Who are we burying
We are here today to celebrate a life, so movingly captured in his obituary which I dare not restate, but can only summarise as a journey of a rural boy of Christian upbringing whose strong connection to the pain of oppression of his people saw him use his every station in life to advance their cause of freedom and quench their thirst for liberty.
Free, you are, to address him a politician, trade unionist, teacher, diplomat and many more, for he was all of those, but please permit me to say to you, this was a true public servant whose bias for the working class was unmistakable to the day he took his last breath.
His passing so soon after his predecessor as the Minister of Labour Tito Mboweni (bless his soul) would no doubt have seen his successors in comrades Mildred Oliphant and Thulas Nxesi rush to the sangomas to seek assurances that they were not next in line. Just in case such assurances are not forthcoming, you can be sure that a sizeable sum of their pension income goes to witch doctors to ensure a steady supply of mutis to fend off any evil spirits that may going their way.
Mboweni and Mdladlana laid a formidable foundation for a labour market architecture and framework that would ensure that the constitutional promise of a free, just and equitable society did not live the workers behind. Unlike Mdladlana, the development economist in Mboweni embedded the new blueprint for the overhaul of the labour market as an indispensable part of the framework for the restructuring of South Africa’s economy. Contestations abound, the labour market policy was to be seen as the fall guy for the country’s underperforming economy.
For avoidance of doubt, it must be clear that the progressive post apartheid labour market policy is a victory of decades of workers struggles. It is a vindication of the strategic alliance that both the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and its successor COSATU entered into with the liberation movement led by the ANC. I can say without fear of contradiction that this is a badge of honour that the ANC in government can adorn with pride that it never betrayed the founding objectives of that alliance in these policies. But for the deep, dark and indelible blotch that the Marikana Massacre is.
As Zwelinzima Vavi put it in one of the interviews, it was always going to make a big difference who the Minister in the department of labour was – with a different Minister/s – we could easily have landed at a different place.
Mdladlana succeeded Mboweni who had only served three years as the Minister of Labour. Be in no doubt, they were three intense, strategic and highly pressured years. Mboweni spared neither time nor effort in meticulously ensuring that we laid a fantastic foundation for what was to be a long and tough journey.
His successor, Mdladlana, an unassuming, humble and highly principled activist was to bring a different, but complementary approach to the role. No wonder some, including a few conservative cabinet colleagues, unsuccessfully tried their luck to push back on our labour reform agenda. Unlike Mboweni, the economist, Mdladlana had a penchant for social justice and a zeal to restore workers dignity that was ferociously trampled upon by both the colonial and apartheid system.
Very few will know that the transformation of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) which was bankrupt when we assumed office is probably one of the most shining examples of his success in that Ministry. Ably assisted be the then UIF Commissioner Shadrack “Shakes” Mkhonto, in the face of fierce pushback from some of his cabinet colleagues, he stood firm and with the support of President Thabo Mbeki secured the Parliamentary approval.
Today the UIF has more money than it knows what to do with it. Sitting in NEDLAC and engaging a government proposal to establish TERS to support workers in distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, we didn’t have to scratch our heads wondering where the money would come from, UIF was on hand and had the requisite capacity. It is no mean feat that Mdladlana raised UIF from bankruptcy to a fund with R160 billion reserve in 2020.
We must vigilantly safeguard it, as far too many vultures, both from within and outside, are hovering around it to snatch a few billions, as they say.
The Skills Development fund — where he did the painstaking pioneering work of setting up the SETAs and the National Skills Fund — similarly generated billions of rand in revenue that should have changed the skills landscape in our country. Ill-advisedly, in a step that was driven more by factionalist politics in the ANC than the logic of ensuring a cohesive, mutually reinforcing and articulated active labour market instruments, this successful fund was moved to the Ministry of Higher Education and Training.
Not only is it now saddled, like NSFAS, with allegations of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement; the unsurprising deployment of some of its funds to yet another deserving cause is a typical example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. After all, funding access to higher education is an undoubtedly deserving cause. Nonetheless there can be no justification for it to be financed from funds levied from workers’ wages specifically for the enhancement, not only of their skills, but also those of the unemployed in order to improve their job prospects.
Had Mdladlana relented to a growing crescendo of calls against the labour market transformation agenda, including the Sectoral Wage determination and subsequently its successor, the National Minimum Wage, we would never have made the evident strides towards descent work. Yes, the journey still remains long.
Workers would have been condemned to work in unsafe spaces and conditions that risked compromising their health and our societal environment; but for the fact that he was unwavering in his transformation of not only the Occupational Health and Safety framework, but also compensation in the event of workplace injury and, or disease – the COIDA regime. He stood fast. Yes, the journey still remains long.
In the face of powerful pushback against a policy intended to end workplace discrimination – a legacy of apartheid- and introduce constitutionally mandated redress measures, Mdladlana stood firm empowering the Employment Equity Commission (ECC) to drive this critical transformation. It is not by accident of history that during his tenure South Africa witnessed the fastest growth of the black middle class with many assuming senior management and executive roles as well as taking up on the boards of both the public and private sectors. Yes, the journey still remains long and disappointingly these gains are being reversed.
Like the UIF, COIDA is a viable workers fund with a healthy balance sheet which must be deployed to good effect. That’s what he dreamt of when he was hard at work with that agenda. Yes, the journey still remains long.
The hypocrisy of our detractors was laid bare as it is during this 15 year Mboweni/Mdladlana reign that economic growth recorded unprecedented levels including 5.5% in 2007. Courageous leadership pays after all.
Like a truly disciplined cadre, he appreciated the fact that he was a Minister from the same political party as his predecessor, and that Mboweni’s programme was that of the party. He not only ensured the success of that transformation mandate, but importantly invested a lot of time and effort in establishing critical institutions to support the new policies and framework.
Today we boast world class labour market institutions that play an incredibly positive role in our economy beyond dispute resolution. Reading the 2023 Annual Report of one of the cardinal among these, the CCMA, it records the saving about 50% jobs in retrenchment mediations brought before it is an example of the incredible achievements in one of the most challenging economic environments.
Similarly, the Department of Employment and Labour’s (DEL) Annual Report covering a similar period details the fantastic and unbelievably extensive work of that Department’s Inspectorate as the enforcement arm.
The list of these remarkable achievements by a loyal and unflinchingly dedicated cadre of our movement is longer than time permits me to dwell on. Twelve solid years of hard grinding work as the Minister.
Complacency may very well be our biggest enemy, after all none of these advances are irreversible. Aware of the fiscal constraints that we have to contend with, it must remain our concern that the declining capacity of the Labour Inspectorate and the recently announced pending retrenchments at CCMA, risk setting many of these gains back.
Mdladlana, a strong advocate of social partnership, employed NEDLAC to ensure that critical players in society, particularly labour and business had a voice in the consideration of all policy that had socio-economic impact. Today NEDLAC stands as an internationally recognised best in class institution of social dialogue.
In a compelling and typically measured tribute to Tito Mboweni, David Lewis makes a strong motivation for a monument in his honour at the Reserve Bank. Please allow me to similarly invite government through you Mr President as I urge other social partners similarly to resolve to rename the labour market institution that hosts most of us, the CCMA House (Headquarters) after this great servant of our people as a token of the nation’s appreciation for his sterling contribution.
Like many of us Mdladlana was bitterly pained by ANC’s avoidable electoral decline in May 2024. That is because, there is no clear alternative, that is capable of being entrusted with the progressive agenda outlined above and much more. We failed to show leadership, act decisively and cleanse the organisation of the corrupt and unscrupulous elements; and courageously drive organisational renewal.
Unless we seize the strategic initiative from the counter revolutionary forces; in 2029 we will not be burying comrades, but the liberation movement itself as we’ve come to know it.
Misguidedly in my view, we are engaged in an unproductive, yet divisive debate about the efficacy of the GNU. In other instances we seem desperate to show case it as a success as if a realistic alternative to a trustworthy ANC government capable of staying true to the objectives of the national democratic revolution (NDR).
We must accept that the GNU is an interregnum where no one has exclusive power. It is a no man’s land. It is a station of tactical retreat from which we can emerge either stronger or weaker. It’s all in our hands. We must confront the very many difficult questions about our movement that alienate us from the people.
We may very well have to accept that we have entered an era of new politics whose agenda and direction we may not be entirely familiar with. This makes it more urgent that we encourage the nation to be in conversation about itself and its future and the urgent reforms required to enable a transition that is in the best interests of the country.
Many have over the years called for such an engagement ranging from a national convention to a national dialogue. As the tensions in the GNU keep showing, we may very well be losing valuable time and space with the unexplained delays with its convening.
Lala ngoxolo kwedini yakuQoboqobo – kwanto zaphukayo, Dlamini, Jama, Sjadu! Lala ngoxolo Zizi, Fakade, Ngxib’ inoboya, Phumla Dweba, Njokweni, Mdladlana – uGqatso ulifezile. Siyazidla, siyazingca, sinebhongo neqhayiya ngawe. Ubuligora phakathi kwamagwala; Lala ngoxolo Mntakwethu, amaWethu azakwamkela ngezandla ezishushu
Hamba Kahle Mkhonto!
Amandla! Matla!
Aluta! Continua!
Mayibuye! iAfrika
Sipho Mila Pityana
He was a free South Africa’s 1st Director General of Labour
26 August 2024