South African Federation of Trade Unions – SAFTU
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) distance itself from the poster that was published on a Polokwane based online newspaper, Review Observer.
In a preparatory meeting that was organised with organisations of the working class to prepare for the National Shutdown in Polokwane, Operation Dudula joined the meeting. It is at this meeting that an agreement was made to create a poster and having failed to bar Operation Dudula from the meeting, its logo ended up being part of the poster.
Our policy does not allow us to associate with organisations like Operation Dudula. We are distancing ourselves from the poster. Operation Dudula can never be our ally because it blames the rising unemployment on immigrants — claiming that migrant
workers are stealing our jobs. In addition, they are essentializing crime on the immigrants, as if all human beings are not capable of criminal behaviour and criminal activity.
The ideals of Operation Dudula are in direct contradiction of our policy, and ideals.
Our ideals are ideals of a democratic socialist society, in which human beings are not prejudiced and discriminated based on their nationality, sex, ability, gender and race amongst others.
To arrive at this ambition, our analysis of the social problems is premised on dialectical materialism. Accordingly, we do not see the social problems of unemployment and crime being created by migrant workers from Asia and Africa. On the contrary, we see them as problems of a capitalist mode of production, and
political system.
Unemployment is woven into the DNA of capitalism; it is produced by the profiteering motives of the capitalists. Crime is a social problem that arise because of the economic marginalization of the overwhelming section of our society, scarcity, mass deprivation and poverty created by the concentration of wealth in fewer hands under capitalism.
This analysis and ideals arising therefrom, informed our policy of alignment and alliances with other organisations. SAFTU can only work with organisations that are:
• Anti-capitalist
• Reject racism, patriarchy, sexism, and xenophobia
• Oppose the pandemic of Gender-Based Violence
• Oppose the destruction of the environment
• Oppose imperialism and its destructive consequences across the globe
Operation Dudula does not fit in this policy, we therefore will not collaborate with it anywhere, unless it repudiates Xenophobia and equally meet other criteria outlined in our policy of building alliances.
