Closing address at the 10th National Conference of South African Teachers Union by President Magope Maphila on the 28th of September 2024 at Birchwood.
Members of the National Working Committee
Members of the National Executive Committee
Leadership of the Provinces, PECs
Leadership of our Regions, RECs
Comrades Delegates from our Branches from the length and breadth of the country
Leadership of the Alliance structures present in Conference: the SACP led by its general secretary comrade Solly Mapaila, Cosatu led by its general secretary comrade Solly Phetoe and the ANC represented by an NEC member Dr Namane Dickson Masemola
Leadership from fraternal Structures
Greetings to our international guests, friends and compatriots
Members of the Media
It is an honour and a privilege to address you at the closing of this SADTU 10th National congress ,the confidence you have in us as the NWC to be elected unopposed is much appreciated, but again let me salute you for the professional way in which you have delivered the most successful congress .
You are the masters of success. You succeed always. I really honour you for being good and strong delegates. Keep it up comrades.
Let me also salute our staff members for putting shoulders to the wheel to ensure that this conference is delivered successfully.
We are highly indebted to you for your love of SADTU. The Union that stood the test of time.
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Comrades let me express my satisfaction with the work done at this conference. SADTU came a long way. You, as delegates, ensured that the Union is always coming strong at the end of each conference.
We as the leadership can declare without any fear of contradiction or fear of losing favour with certain groups and/or individuals that SADTU is the most UNITED and most powerful union in the country today.
As we are drawing closer to the end of this conference, let me hasten to remind all members of SADTU that the terrain of the struggle has changed both internationally and internally in the country.
At the international level, the forces of darkness that seek to destroy the working class as a united force is getting more and more desperate. They launched multiple wars, coup’detas, conflicts and other forms of destabilisation across all continents. When the blood of the innocent, the blood of the working class and the poor, is flowing they extract raw materials, siphon oils reserves and other minerals they so desperately need.
The Neoliberal program is getting intensified, and is at its most desperate level, and it can be seen by the following hallmarks in all countries of the world, and more pronounced in Africa:
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The continued food inflation causing the poor to cut on basic foodstuffs.
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The shrinking budgets in the public service, negatively affecting education, health and police departments.
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The highly fluctuating and unaffordable fuels and gases.
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High price of electricity as an input factor in businesses causing the consumers, mostly the poor to bear the brunt.
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Increased taxation placing huge burden on the poor and working class thereby shrinking tax base.
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Highest unemployment in history putting too many people on the streets with no income and any hope of survival.
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More and more companies retrenching employees under false pretexts in the book.
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Comrades, the above happenings are but the tip of the iceberg. The more is yet to come. They merely give us a wakeup call that the terrain of the struggle has changed. We need to do more to keep the working class united and powerful.
We must use our collective strengths in all sectors of the economy to defend what we have gained thus far and still fight to dislodge the stranglehold and remove the albatross around our necks.
Comrades our battle cry is and should be Go Public! Fund Education!
We don’t cry for ourselves only; we cry for the millions of our people who are scattered all over our villages, informal settlements, townships, small towns, farms and farming areas, the ghettos and slumps in the big cities. These people have no organisational machinery to fight for them. We are the ones who must fight until our last strength.
President Mandela once said it is only through Education that a child of a farm worker can become a farm owner.
Comrades, we don’t fight for ourselves only, we fight for the millions of children who are still somewhere in the womb of the future. We must fight and create a path where there is no path.
The future will thank us.
History will judge us correctly.
The poor and the unemployed will be happy with us.
Our organisation will be acknowledged by the mothers, fathers and children of the future.
Comrades, the Government of National Unity has created a peculiar set of circumstances wherein we have to be very vigilant and be steadfast in pursued of what is good for education, what is good for our members and what is good for the poorest of the poor.
It is prudent to declare that BELA Act is close to our hearts. We must at all times be ready to fight for its implementation. No one should stand on its way. Not Hellen Zille, Not Steenhuizen and not Gwarube In fact, no devil from hell will stand on the way of the BELA Act. Non-implementation of the BELA Act is a declaration of war on the
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side of the Minister and SADTU will not shy away from this challenge. Bring it on Minister Gwarube, we are combat ready. We can fight and teach at the same time.
Comrades, as we are closing this conference, we are sending you out back to your constituencies to implement the resolutions of this conference and ensure that the declaration of this conference becomes part of our reinvigoration moving forward .
The year 2026 is the year of Local Government Elections. We call upon the Alliance Partners and the leaders of the ANC, to do what they did not do prior the recent National General Elections which produced the most shameful electoral results in the history of our movement.
Let us deal with the corruption.
Let us also deal with issues of service delivery.
Comrades, for the Members of SADTU to continue trusting you, and trusting your handshakes you must go back to your schools and build SADTU on the following pillars:
Pillar No.1 – Membership Service.
Members of SADTU have given us their membership fees, their trust. Let’s always service them without failure. For them to accept our leadership and vote and vote correctly in all elections, we must be present when they need our UNION most.
Pillar No.2 Learning Nation.
We must create a learning nation through membership involvement. Our members must be the centre for all our learning programs.
Pillar No.3 Build Socialism now.
The electorate need a powerful developmental State. A state that is capable to intervene and respond creatively to the needs of its citizens. Do not destroy our State-Owned Entities to create a crisis and then advise and cajole us into thinking selling them is a solution. FIX THEM. They must work.
Do not become the bad Samaritans. Do what is right for the Nation.
Pillar No.4 Effective worker Unity.
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Comrades, worker unity is a prerequisite for worker control and taking back the power from the bourgeoisie. Maybe it is a high time to be more deliberate in declaring that One Sector – one Union. One Country-one Federation.
If we cannot succeed in the short term to achieve these unity calls, we need to go deeper and scratch beneath the surface and ask ourselves painfully, why are we not able to have one Federation, in one country?
Unity in action is needed across all Unions. This is cast in stone.
Pillar No.5 Service Delivery through organisational challenge.
We need to work triple hard to deliver services to the communities we serve. SADTU is not just a Union, IT IS THE UNION.
Comrades, we are consciously and purposefully reminding all of us about these key pillars because without implementing these pillars consistently , one day our own members, our own constituencies will reject us like they did during the recent National General Elections, May 2024.
Let me remind you about what OR Tambo said in 1969 at the closure of the Morogoro Conference. He said “Comrades wage a relentless war against disrupters and defend the ANC against provocateurs and enemy agents. Defend the revolution against enemy propaganda, whatever form it takes. Be vigilant comrades. The enemy is vigilant. Beware of the wedge driver, the man who creeps from ear to ear, carrying a bag full of wedges, driving them in between you and the next man, between a group and another, a man who goes around creating splits and divisions. Beware of the wedge driver, comrades. Watch his poisonous tongue”.
In closing , the unity of the union is of paramount importance especially in an era where blatant tribalism, horrible racism, and anarchy have been elevated as principles or norms. The union has a duty to defend its decisions which other organizations will obviously use to divide us. In the era of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation the union might be vulnerable to blackmail by members who are misinformed or ignorant or being agents of other forces. The internal strength of an organisation is
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very important to serve as a fort and a castle in this era. Internal strength is derived from the constitution and policies which are being complied with at all material times.
Thank comrades, safe travels as we journey back home. This Congress is closed.
LONG LIVE SADTU LONG LIVE!!!