OPSEU SEFPO Blog: OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 11-13, 2008

We had a brief meeting in the morning with the Western Cape Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Brother Tony Ehrenreich and also Sister Soraya Jahwooden, Western Cape Secretary of the National Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) – before heading off to the Eastern Cape via the beautiful “garden route”.

Although a whirlwind trip through the Eastern Cape, it was our pleasure once again to be hosted by Brother Archie Sibeko who was born in Kwezana, a small village not far from Alice in the Eastern Cape province.

The scenery in the area is quite spectacular but the rural areas are still extremely poor. Our first stop was the Kwezana primary school – grades 1 to 7. Almost before we got out of the van, the children started singing and greeting us very warmly.

Students wearing their Canadian /South African flag stickers.

Our families had collected money for such an occasion so it was a tearful moment when we handed over the cash to the teachers.

The students sang and danced with even more vigour than before. It was very hard to leave them – but I am going to try to raise some more funds for the books and hopefully a library to put them in.

Kwezana students wave goodbye as we leave for the next leg of our tour.

The next stop was the Kwezana Old Age and Disability Centre – a project funded by the OPSEU Social Justice Fund. True to form, the women - mostly grandmothers – were outside singing and dancing. By now we have realized that this is the traditional way of greeting guests and starting meetings, etc. in South Africa. It suits me - especially as I told some South Africans that I couldn’t sing a note myself!

A small group of women started organizing in their community in modest ways during the last couple of years. Many of them are grandmothers themselves but they cook two meals a day for 51 people – both elders in the community and also grandmothers stuck at home with young ones, some of them AIDS orphans.

Although they are given some government assistance, they are forced to augment this money from other sources, including fundraising. Their needs are many – including new sewing machines, cloth, beads and beading machines. I would like to help them get this organization off the ground – and to see them link up with the local school and together begin a resource centre would be great.

Kwezana women greet us as we arrive

In a nearby community, this is exactly what a small NGO is attempting to do. They have already constructed a resource centre out of a cargo container and are now setting up a computer lab for use by the surrounding communities as well as the student s themselves. (www.tyumevalleyschools.org.za)

Archie, Gillian and Metro outside the TVA library and resource centre

We headed straight for King Williams Town – the site of the temporary legislature. Why the legislature? We were there as guests of the Right Honourable Minister for Transport, Roads, Safety and Security – Thobile Mhlahlo. Thobile was in Canada 17 years ago while doing underground work for SACTU. Now he is a Minister in a new South Africa and he invited us to listen as he delivered his Budget Speech in the house. It was great to see a very different legislature from that of only a few years ago – made up of South Africans from all “races”, but predominantly Black leaders. Other than that, it was the same as any other legislature with lots of heckling from the opposition! After the speech, Thobile graciously invited us to a special reception where he honoured Archie and asked him to speak – but also welcomed the rest of us to South Africa with gifts, food and wonderful music.