COSATU welcomes SANDU settlement

By Ofentse Mokae
09 September 2009

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has welcomed the out-of-court settlement reached today between the Department of Defence and the SA National Defence Union.

This means that the dismissals of 1300 SANDF members has been put on hold until the matter has been heard in court.

The High Court in Pretoria has ordered that the affected soldiers be redeployed in the meantime.

Cosatu National Spokesperson Patrick Craven says this is a victory for human rights and the South African constitution, which clearly states every worker, has the right to form and join a trade union”.

“We’ll allow the courts to decide whether there is a legitimate case and in the meantime we hope that both parties will take the opportunity to come together and sort out in amicable settlement of their differences,” said Craven.

Craven says the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans must learn the lessons of South African history.

“Apartheid governments repeatedly tried to thwart efforts to unionise the whole of the public sector but were forced to retreat,” he added.

He says the government accepted the report of the Wiehahn Commission and recognised and legalised the black trade unions.

Craven says unionisation in the whole of the public sector has had to be recognised as an integral part our democratic structure.