Papers by Mondli Hlatshwayo
From casting to recasting: Reviewing the Recasting of Workers’ Power
South African journal of science, Mar 27, 2024
Trade Union Responses to Production Technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Wits University Press eBooks, Sep 30, 2023
Journal of management : small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Oct 31, 2023
Like other parts of the world, South Africa has been seriously affected by the economic recession... more Like other parts of the world, South Africa has been seriously affected by the economic recession that has brought unemployment and poverty to large numbers of people in many regions of the world. The districts of Zwide and Kwazakhele are parts of Nelson Mandela Bay, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and are homes to working-class households that suffer extreme hardship due to poor socioeconomic conditions. They are excluded from participation in the mainstream economy and have no sustainable means of supporting their families. By forming buying clubs and savings, these communities try to alleviate their hardship. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews to gather the views and experiences of members of the buying and saving clubs. In investigating these clubs, this paper raises the possibility that these community initiatives could indicate the beginnings of a solidarity economy and the possibility of creating a more just and inclusive society in an environment characterized by unemployment, hunger, and poverty. The research offers insights into the lives of nineteen women and one man, residents of the two marginalized communities, and their agency in alleviating poverty and bringing about change in their lives through the implementation of a buying club and a savings club.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown Level 5 on Workers: 35 Days that Shook Workers of South Africa
South African Review of Sociology
South Africa enters the second wave of xenophobic violence: the rise of anti-immigrant organisations in South Africa
Politikon
Education as Change
After the announcement of a national lockdown by the South African state in March 2020, universit... more After the announcement of a national lockdown by the South African state in March 2020, university students and lecturers had to conduct learning activities online. In countries where reliable information and communications technologies exist, this transition was relatively smooth. Students were able to learn using internet-based online learning systems. This is not the case in South Africa. Based on in-depth interviews with some students and lecturers and the use of internet resources, this article demonstrates that the participation of students from poor and working-class households evinced many deficiencies. This is because South Africa’s information and communications technology infrastructure disadvantages poor and working-class households. The poor access to online learning that students from working-class and poor households experienced demonstrates that in South Africa the argument about the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which must supposedly be embraced by ev...
Studies in Social Justice
Post-apartheid South Africa is ravaged by crises of extreme unemployment, poverty, and inequality... more Post-apartheid South Africa is ravaged by crises of extreme unemployment, poverty, and inequality. While the majority who were politically excluded by apartheid can now choose their government through democratic elections, social and economic justice continues to elude them. Neoliberal policies which seek to reduce state expenditure on social services and promote state policies that protect the interests of big businesses at the expense of working-class and poor communities, along with corruption and abuse of power, are the primary causes of poverty and unemployment. However, what is missing in the assessments of social justice since the pre-1994 democratic era is the recognition that social justice organisations have not simply disappeared, but have actually remained involved in social justice struggles. Based on information from in-depth interviews and internet sources, this article records some of the partial victories scored through these struggles, albeit in the context of gene...
The rise of the gig economy in South Africa
The Routledge Handbook of the Gig Economy, Sep 19, 2022
Abstract: Comparative studies on African trade unions are rare. However, as will be shown in this... more Abstract: Comparative studies on African trade unions are rare. However, as will be shown in this article, unions on the continent, specifically in Nigeria and South Africa, face similar obstacles and challenges. Although in different contexts, trade unions in Nigeria and South Africa both had to contend with the expression of colonialism and neo-colonial oppression in the workplaces. Post-independence, Nigerian unions had to mobilise against neoliberal policies, leading to confrontation with the dictatorship of the state. Similarly, in South Africa unions had to contend with workplace restructuring imposed by employees and the state in post-apartheid South Africa. Neoliberal attacks on workers and working conditions have also led to changes in the social composition of workers and the rise of precarious forms of work in both countries. Beyond that, union federations are also faced with fragmentation and division, weakening their position to challenge attacks on workers
The black South African trade unions were known globally for challenging apartheid in the workpla... more The black South African trade unions were known globally for challenging apartheid in the workplace and low wages. In fact, they played a significant role in the broad liberation movement which ushered in democracy in 1994. However, little is known about the unions’ ability to respond to production issues such as technological changes at the ‘point of production’. Using a case study of the Vanderbijlpark Plant currently owned by the global steel corporation ArcelorMittal International, this article shows that the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) - the biggest trade union in South Africa - adopted a bargaining strategy which consistently ignored production issues at the plant while focusing on wages and working conditions. This article suggests that this unidimensional strategy meant that building the union’s capacity was neglected, reducing its ability to respond proactively to technological innovation and work reorganisation. While it does not present union c...
The Thinker
Debates on the Fourth Industrial Revolution have tended not to focus on the direct relationship b... more Debates on the Fourth Industrial Revolution have tended not to focus on the direct relationship between all four technological revolutions and transportation – a crucial element of all technological surges. At the same time, scholarship on transportation has generally ignored the significance of transportation in all the revolutions. This article therefore seeks to strike a balance between these two extremes by showing that all the technological revolutions were also about transportation. In other words, the debates on the technological advances provide scholars, researchers, engineers, and working-class organisations with the space to foreground transport as an issue requiring special attention, especially in South Africa where the public transport system faces many challenges. Critically applying the prism of the four industrial revolutions, the article demonstrates that South Africa lags behind from a transport perspective, and still relies on the transportation of the Second Ind...
Setbacks and partial victories for community health workers
New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy, Dec 1, 2020
Workers’ education under conditions of precariousness: Re-imagining workers’ education
The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 2019
The increase in precarious forms of work has been extensively investigated by scholars. However, ... more The increase in precarious forms of work has been extensively investigated by scholars. However, the implications of precarity for workers’ education have not been adequately explored. There is a great need for an approach to workers’ education that will advance the social and economic interests of precarious workers and other marginalised communities who are becoming a major segment of the workforce. Based on in-depth interviews, this article identifies education regarding wages, women and work, working conditions, labour laws and practical skills like public speaking, reading and writing as core elements of a curriculum for the education of precarious workers. Given that precarious workers tend not to be organised in formal structures, non-governmental organisations and trade unions will have to reach out to them to make sure that they provide alternative structures able to craft educational programmes that can build the confidence of precarious workers so that they can challenge ...
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 2017
Scholarship on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa tends to focus on quant... more Scholarship on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa tends to focus on quantitative evaluation to measure the progress made in the implementation of EPWP projects. The number of employment opportunities created by EPWP, demographic profiling, skills acquired by beneficiaries and training opportunities related to the Programme form the basis of typical statistical evaluations of it, but exclude comment by the workers who participate in its projects. Based on primary sources, including in-depth interviews, newspaper reports and internet sources, this article seeks to provide a qualitative review of the EPWP from the perspective of the beneficiaries of municipal EPWP projects. Various South African government sectors hire EPWP workers to provide local services such as cleaning and maintaining infrastructure, but the employment of these workers can still be regarded as precarious, in the sense that they have no job security, earn low wages and have no benefits such ...
Education as Change, 2018
In South Africa, with few exceptions, scholarship on the modern labour movement which emerged aft... more In South Africa, with few exceptions, scholarship on the modern labour movement which emerged after the Durban strikes of 1973 tends to focus on trade unions that constituted the labour movement, strikes, collective bargaining, and workplace changes. While all these topics covered by labour scholars are of great importance, there is less emphasis on the role played by labour support organisations (LSOs) which, in some cases, predate the formation of the major trade unions. Based on an analysis of historical writings, some archival and internet sources, this article critically discusses the contribution of LSOs and their use of workers’ education to build and strengthen trade unions, which became one of the critical forces in the struggles against racial capitalism in the 1980s. In particular, it critically examines the work of the Urban Training Project (UTP) and the South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED) workers’ education programmes as a contribution to building the...
Social Dynamics , 2021
Consistent with the large-scale re-emergence of precarious forms of
work, in recent years literat... more Consistent with the large-scale re-emergence of precarious forms of
work, in recent years literature on precarious workers and their working
conditions has become one of the main strands in labour studies.
However, the literature on the nexus between precarious workers
and workers’ education is almost non-existent; and yet precarious
work is probably the future of labour at least under global capitalism.
In an attempt to fill the gap and make a contribution to the emerging
literature on precarious workers and workers’ education, the article
argues that the emerging workers’ education that has tended to be
ignored by the literature on precarious work is beginning to respond
to the fact that the workforce within South African borders has been
fundamentally restructured by the current phase of capitalism. The
decline of the trade union movement in South Africa in the 2000s
meant that precarious workers have limited resources to advance
their workers’ education agenda, but interestingly non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and advice centres are gradually fling the gap
by engaging with precarious workers in education that is dialogical
and emancipatory. There is a similar trend in other countries, where
precarious workers are also defining their educational programmes
to improve their working conditions.
Review of African Political Economy , 2022
ABSTRACT
Social movements often become spaces for learning, although this
type of learning has be... more ABSTRACT
Social movements often become spaces for learning, although this
type of learning has been overlooked by activists and scholars alike.
Analysing the case of the collapsed Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF),
the article submits that the APF was not only an organisation that
challenged privatisation, but also a learning space for activists
from middle-class and working-class backgrounds. Non-formal
educational platforms, such as political education workshops,
organisational and practical skill training sessions and campaigns
organised by the APF and its partner organisations, were
instrumental in transferring skills to community-based activists.
After the demise of the APF, its activists applied the skills and
competences they had acquired to continue advancing social and
economic justice in other organisations. Furthermore,
community-based activists educated middle-class activists about
the conditions of working-class communities and the challenges
of building working-class movements in post-apartheid South
Africa.
Global Labour Journal, 2017
Technological innovation has had far-reaching implications for labour and for the world of work g... more Technological innovation has had far-reaching implications for labour and for the world of work generally. It has led to job losses, the creation of new jobs, the loss of some skilled positions and the creation of new ones, and an increase in the quality of products like steel. Literature that addresses union responses to technological innovation in production has tended to classify them as either reactive or proactive, with reactive responses predominating. This article examines how South African trade unions in the steel, automotive and chemical industries have responded to technological changes. Based on interviews and documentary analysis, it argues that the unions have adopted a rearguard approach, responding to technological changes only after management has already implemented them. Unions have tended to prioritise “politics from above” and traditional union issues such as wage negotiations. In addition, the current division within unions has contributed to their inability to...
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Papers by Mondli Hlatshwayo
work, in recent years literature on precarious workers and their working
conditions has become one of the main strands in labour studies.
However, the literature on the nexus between precarious workers
and workers’ education is almost non-existent; and yet precarious
work is probably the future of labour at least under global capitalism.
In an attempt to fill the gap and make a contribution to the emerging
literature on precarious workers and workers’ education, the article
argues that the emerging workers’ education that has tended to be
ignored by the literature on precarious work is beginning to respond
to the fact that the workforce within South African borders has been
fundamentally restructured by the current phase of capitalism. The
decline of the trade union movement in South Africa in the 2000s
meant that precarious workers have limited resources to advance
their workers’ education agenda, but interestingly non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and advice centres are gradually fling the gap
by engaging with precarious workers in education that is dialogical
and emancipatory. There is a similar trend in other countries, where
precarious workers are also defining their educational programmes
to improve their working conditions.
Social movements often become spaces for learning, although this
type of learning has been overlooked by activists and scholars alike.
Analysing the case of the collapsed Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF),
the article submits that the APF was not only an organisation that
challenged privatisation, but also a learning space for activists
from middle-class and working-class backgrounds. Non-formal
educational platforms, such as political education workshops,
organisational and practical skill training sessions and campaigns
organised by the APF and its partner organisations, were
instrumental in transferring skills to community-based activists.
After the demise of the APF, its activists applied the skills and
competences they had acquired to continue advancing social and
economic justice in other organisations. Furthermore,
community-based activists educated middle-class activists about
the conditions of working-class communities and the challenges
of building working-class movements in post-apartheid South
Africa.