November 2022 – FEDUSA

21 November 2022

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) and its affiliates in the public service reiterates its support for the National Day of Action planned for tomorrow.

We call on members of the public to support the nationwide protests planned by FEDUSA, COSATU and SAFTU. We recognise that the government’s insistence on shrinking the wages of public servants will harm the public more. It is in this light that we will form part of the marches which will take place in different cities tomorrow because we are alive to the reality that if we do not wage this struggle against the employer, the public service could collapse.

Workers in the sector want the government to increase their salaries by 10 per cent across the board and guarantee the continued payment of the R1000 cash gratuity beyond March 2023. We support this call, as we did recently through the action initiated by our affiliates the Public Servants Association and Hospersa.

We also want to make a clarion call to all our members and the federation’s affiliates in other sectors to support the National Day of Action.

ENDS

For Media enquiries

Betty Moleya

0613961841

For interviews please contact:

Ms Riefdah Ajam

FEDUSA General Secretary

076 696 2625

Mr Ashley Benjamin

FEDUSA Deputy General Secretary

083 258 4433

15 November 2022

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) has learnt with satisfaction that a Free State man has been sentenced to life in prison after he kept a 50-year-old woman hostage for eight months and raped her during that time. Media reports say the 40-year-old man was sentenced in the Viljoenskroon Magistrate’s Court.

Fedusa has long called for hefty sentences against perpetrators of abuse against women and children and we believe the punishment meted out by the court in this instance is appropriate. The federation is of the view that only when law enforcement is seen to be proactive in protecting society in general from such predators, will we see an improvement in the national gender-based violence crisis.

We applaud the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and investigating officers involved in the case. We, however, reiterate the call for the implementation of the National Strategic Plan to Combat Gender-Based Violence. In the coming month, we will hear a lot about the efforts underway to rid society of gender-based violence, however, we believe that the restoration of victims’ and survivors’ trust in the justice system is a pillar of such efforts.

The federation believes that the woman whose perpetrator was brought to justice in the Free State has been extended the necessary trauma counselling and other help by authorities as provisioned, for victims of abuse.