๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ, ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ค
The South Africa Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is shocked and saddened to learn that Titus (Tito) Mboweni passed away at the Johannesburg hospital this evening (12 October 2024), surrounded by his family.SAFTU sends profound condolences to his family, friends, and comrades at the African National Congress. We deep our revolutionary flags to salute a person who was so central in the transformation of the colonial and apartheid labour market into what many will take for granted today.
Tito Mboweni was a trade unionist who belonged to the South African Congress of Trade Unions and played a critical role in mobilising the international trade union movement to support the struggles of the South African workers for freedom and for their mere recognition as workers instead of just being the tools in employersโ pursuit of super profits.
Tito Mboweni will always have a special place in the hearts of the millions of South African workers. He is the pioneer of the current labour market regime. As the first Minister of Labour post-apartheid, he used all his intellectual prowess to drive the transformation of the apartheid and colonial labour market through progressive labour laws that generations of workers would enjoy. Workers are forever indebted to him for all the rights young workers take for granted today. He understood the commitments made by the Bill of Rights in our constitution, which enshrined workersโ rights such as the right to belong to and establish unions, the right to collective bargain with employers, the right to strike when disputes cannot be resolved through negotiations, and the right to negotiate union security agreements such as agency shops and closed shops. No constitution in the world protects these rights as the South African Constitution.
Bolstered by this progressive framework in the constitution, Tito Mboweni wasted no time to drive the introduction of the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act that gave workers the floor of basic but fundamental rights, the amendments to the Mines Health Safety Act to allow mine workers the right to refuse to do dangerous work, the Occupational Safety Act, Employment Equity Act that forced companies to develop plans in consultation with the unions to address racial, gender imbalances and to promote the employment of people living with disabilities.
Even though workers had to push through strikes to frustrate the attempts of the employers to resist the transformation and roll back the clock to the apartheid and colonial era.
Unions and Tito Mboweni were to cross swords when he became the Minister of Finance and later the Governor of the Reserve Bank. Even in this period of sharp disagreements, our respect for him made it possible to keep a cordial relationship.
Tito was down to earth, and many misunderstood his boastful nature with arrogance. He was approachable even though he was as tough as aย tickย negotiator
