New union launched for South African artists

By Rhodé Marshall
07 September 2007

The Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), will bring together all of South Africans within the performing arts sector on Friday.

“Today is a very historical day, because for the first time in the history of South African artists, they are meeting under one roof and from different art forms; choreographers, musicians, actors and much more,” says CWUSA President, Mabutho Sithole.

The new union is the merger of the Performing Arts Workers Equity and the Musicians Union of South Africa in which CWUSA hopes to provide a platform for its members to tackle the different challenges they face in their industry.

Sithole says the aim of the union is to make sure that all workers within the arts sector are covered by the provisions of the country’s labour laws.

“The artists will be addressing issues like social security, piracy and the issues of identification particularly, as all artists should be defined under one name; either an independent contractor, entertainer or communicator, so we can just concentrate on the future of the creative arts industry because we are being called all these different names,” says Sithole.

The meeting will be from the 7th until the 9th of September at the Johannesburg Metropolitan Centre. Some of the keynote speakers will be COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and Deputy President of the ANC Jacob Zuma.