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Thank you for inviting me to your regional conference. It is indeed a great pleasure for me. This brings to me sentimental memories of the past. Once a teacher always a teacher. I am fortunate in that I was not even given a topic so I decided to address you about your importance during this phase of our struggle. Today as teachers you are free, you are no longer the old obedient servants who were forced to obey instructions from above. Those who were told that they should be careful of biting the hand that feeds them and that they should know on which side is their bread buttered.

Your conference is held at a time when our country is faced by many challenges. These are very difficult times. We are faced by contradictions between ourselves as leaders and between the people themselves. I am not even sure whether one can differentiate between the people and the enemy. If it was not because of these difficult times I would be saying that contradictions between ourselves as comrades are non-antagonistic and those between ourselves and the enemy are antagonistic but because these are difficult times sometimes our words and actions do not help to unite the masses of our people whereas our actions should help to consolidate and not to undermine, should help to strengthen and not to weaken. The enemy has a tendency to magnify our contradictions to an extent that we begin to be suspicious of each other. The trust between us is gone and as a result we label each other as counter revolutionaries. This is completely wrong. We must be able to identify what is causing the contradictions among ourselves. If it is because of ideological differences or issues of policy, a settlement must be found by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education and not by coercion. To treat fellow comrades as enemies is to be over to the side of the enemy. Contradictions must be handled properly otherwise antagonism may rise.

Reactionary forces thrive where there are serious differences among comrades. We must organise our people to identify, understand and analyse these forces. Remember they will not disappear on their own. When you are sweeping the floor as a rule where the broom does not reach the dust will not vanish on its own. However we must be warned that in examining forces that are bent on undermining transformation we must not characterise all opposition to our programmes as acts of counter-revolution. An opposition that pays allegiance to the Constitution, the country's laws and seeks to modify the programmes of transformation is a legitimate actor in the contradictory process of change. We must treat these forces as legitimate expressions of the country's social contradictions. Comrades, this is the time for unity... the unity of purpose. It must be one of our objectives even in this conference to unite teachers under one banner. How do we engage the masses of our people on unity when our own intellectuals are unable to unite?

I am surprised to learn that other teachers' organisations have been established. What is causing this? Is it because of ideological reasons or opportunism? I am concerned to notice that more and more unions are popping up everywhere like mushrooms. Currently more than 500 unions have been registered in the country. Some people are saying that this is because of our Constitution, which allows freedom of association. I disagree.

These trade unions can be divided into three kinds.

The first, I would say are genuine trade unions trying to service members who do not believe that they are getting a good service from existing trade unions or do not even know about them. This group is saying that the current unions are not addressing bread and butter issues. What would make unions fail to perform one fundamental function of the union for that matter the reason for its existence? Resources are not the reason - unions these days are filthy rich - they have cellphones, four by fours and secretaries are well paid. What is the problem?

The second kinds are splits or splinters from established unions. This is as a result of tensions within unions, which cannot be resolved.

The third kinds are what I would call "bogus" trade unions. This group is in the majority. They are set up by labour consultants who when they represent members at the CCMA ask for a percentage of the compensation that is received if the case is won. Sometimes this can be as high as 40%.

Comrades, the basic guarantee of the success of the struggles of workers is unity. The National Democratic Revolution can only succeed through unity. We need very strong unions, unions with teeth, unions with power. Unions that do not run to government for everything. It is wrong for unions to depend on government. Unions must use their power to negotiate with the employers - to bargain for their benefits. Well-established unions have a tendency of marching to government to demand that government must negotiate on their behalf. It is your responsibility to mobilise, recruit and to strengthen your trade union. If you are strong and well organised you will be able to ensure equality among racial, ethnic, language, cultural and religious communities. You'll be able to bring about equality between men and women.

If you are strong there will be equity in the workplace. In fact no school would be having only white teachers. It is the mobilisation of teachers that would break down the existing order. You are waiting for government regulations. Use the current legislation as a tool and a weapon to achieve these objectives. One of our key objectives as government is the creation of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa. We remain opposed to racism. It is your strength and your power that can defeat racism. It is not the SA Schools Act but you. It is you who must hate racism. This remains our mission. Our struggle is not to ensure the protection or inclusion of a marginalised minority but to advance the excluded majority.

President Mbeki in his two nations speech (which is hated by Tony Leon) said:
"One of these nations is white, relatively prosperous, regardless of gender or geographic dispersal. It has ready access to a developed economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. The second and larger nation of South Africa is the black and poor, with the worst affected being women in the rural areas, the black rural population in general and people with disabilities. This nation lives under conditions of a grossly underdeveloped economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. It has virtually no possibility to exercise what in reality amounts to a theoretical right to equal opportunity, with that right being equal within this black nation only to the extent that it is equally incapable of realisation."

Comrades, we have yet to achieve our objective. Comrade O.R. Tambo said in 1990 "it is our responsibility to break down barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither whites nor blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity."

I read in the media that HIV/AIDS is going to wipe out teachers. I don't know why people are coming to such conclusions. On what basis is this projection made? Who counted these teachers and how? Be that as it may, Comrades- preventing the spread of the HIV virus is the best defence against HIV/AIDS. The virus can be transmitted from one person to another mainly through unprotected sexual intercourse, through blood transfusion, intravenous drug use, the exchange of blood through cuts and sores or between a pregnant or breastfeeding woman and her child. Therefore people should follow the simple A-B-C message:

* Abstain from sex for as long as possible. Be faithful to your partner. Condomise if you cannot abstain or be faithful, use a condom every time.

Let me conclude by saying that we should guard against arrogance and rashness. Our point of departure is to serve the people wholeheartedly and we should never for a moment divorce ourselves from the task our masses are expecting us to do. No second, no minute, no hour, no day, no week, no month must pass by without us committing ourselves to the very job which is the reason for our existence. Our job is to teach. Teaching is our responsibility. We must always proceed in all what we are doing from the interests of the people and not from our self-interest or from the interests of a small group and to identify our responsibility to the people with our responsibility to the leading organs of the Mass Democratic Movement.

We are servants of the people and whatever we do is to serve the people. We must hold ourselves responsible to the people.

Mao Tse Tung said in memory of Norman Bethune in December 21, 1939: "Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his boundless sense of responsibility in his work and his boundless warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every communist must learn from him.

We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people."

I wish you well in your conference.

Thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Labour

10 August 2001