Read this article on the challenges facing the new South African President, Jacob Zuma. After (or before) reading, click on the photo essays linked throughough on South Africa, 15 Years After Apartheid and on South Africa's Preparations for the World Cup.
As with the last assignment, post a comment or thoughtful question on this blog.
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There are still a great number of Africans that lack good jobs and a steady income, right? So why is it that it seems as if replacing workers that walk out of the job after being denied a raised pay would be so difficult? I would think that the workers could be gladly replaced by other Africans who were having trouble finding any other jobs at the time. I understand that it takes time to train some workers, such as doctors; But as for other ones, why can't they be so easily replaced?
ReplyDeleteBecause the workers working on the new stadiums are probably highly trained in their area of expertise. The workers are building stadiums that are enormous and the workers must be skilled and educated to work the machinery. Unemployed South Africans off the street have not the education or the skill to build the colossal stadiums. Thus the workers that went on strike are worth the additional cost. Remember the stadiums have to be finished for this upcoming summer, their is no time to train an entire new workforce.
ReplyDeleteI understand where Kyle and Acacia are coming from, but what about the other jobs? Miners can easily be replaced with strong men and even women, if the women will be given the job. Also, with all this work on getting new hotels, stadiums and malls there should be more jobs available. What about maids and such for hotels, those are easy jobs and you don't need to be highly educated to be one. Or just people to work at stores in the mall, anyone can do that. So, why aren't people being given all of these new jobs?
ReplyDeleteBoth Acacia and Kyle are on to something. Yes, with a surplus of labor, strikes are not as effective, especially when the labor is unskilled. If airline pilots were to strike (which is illegal I think in this country) there would be no way to hire replacement pilots, unless you want me flying you to Cabo san Lucas. On the other hand, when toll booth workers strike, it is easy to find replacements. Thus a strike of toll both workers isn't likely to gain them much.
ReplyDeleteBut the immediacy of the World Cup situation (the stadiums NEED to be done by June) means that there is little time to waste. So while the workers aren't as skilled as airline pilots, their skills are too tough to replace in such a short time, and therefore they gain much by striking.
In the article it talks about "many of the long-standing grievances over unemployment and lack of housing". I don't understand why even though these issues have been around for a long time or have resurfaced in South Africa from a previous time, why the government is not prepared to try and solve them. Should'nt the start of a new time and government be a little more equipt and organized to handle these issues, knowing that what they do now for South Africa will change not only its future but many other countries futures as well?
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be interesting. We have to think about the fact that its not only the stadium workers that are dropping out but teachers and doctors are also striking. This is very important because it affects the students education and the citizens health. Isn't it weird, that this is a major reccesion, the 1st one since apartheid and everyone is so quick to leave their jobs? I would think that everyone should be clinging to their jobs!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering, if there are more jobs being created by the world cup, and the recession is just hitting south africa, how is it that so many more people lost their jobs/how is it that there are so many more unemployed? are there just more people now? or were jobs cut?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr. Sykes the deadline of the world cup would force the government to pay the strikers. This is because they can not replace the workers and finish in time for the world cup. So i think they should pay the higher trained workers who they need for expertise and ignore the labor associated ones.
ReplyDeleteMr. Sykes has a good point the deadline has to be made. The entire world is watching South Africa right now, they need to do a good job to show us how far they have come or how very little they have accomplished in the past 10 years. If the workers want some more money give them the money. It shows that the government cares for the people but also shows they are focused on what tasks lay before them.
ReplyDeleteTo Tatiana's issue, it isn't that easy to rebuild a country that had been devastated by almost a century of repressive rule. Tens of millions of people without jobs, without adequate housing, without access to basic necessities ... how do you fix that? Who pays for it? Mugabe would say that you simply take the wealth (land) from the former oppressors and give it out. But that wasn't Mandela's way, and if it had been his way, they never would have let him out of jail.
ReplyDeleteInteresting stuff ... keep it up.
I agree with kyle to a certain extent. Yes, the organization that runs the world cup probably hires specially trained workers to do the building part of it, but building the stadium is not the only job available. The country should use this amazing opportunity of hosting the world cup as not only a way of showing the world how far they've come from their previous battles over race, but also as a building block for job creation and economic help.
ReplyDeleteI agree with kyle the reason that they can't just give up with the expeirienced workers is because the stadiums need to be finished and it is too late to train new workers. The experianced workers picked an exellent time to strike because this way they will be paid better and the employers will have no choice otherwise the world can blame them for not finishing the stadiums and ruining the world cup.
ReplyDeleteLets get off of the strike/labor issue.
ReplyDeleteWe can discuss that in class.
I don't understand why the African National Congress, trying their best to help the situation, is guilty of flaunting their wealth. The slide show of the "South Africa, 15 Years of Apartheid", shows the ANC's slogan pictured on an expensive SUV. Don't they realize that making their wealth so obvious is just going to further anger the population? South Africans expect their country's circumstances to be improving for everyone, and seeing others much better off than them is probably very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I realized is that the impatience with their leader, portayed by the citizens of South Africa is extremely out of order. It seems that they don't give Zuma a chance to change the country for the long run, but demand reform immediately. I guess this could also be said about americans and the pressure we put on our president. I guess that in this respect , South Africa resembles us.
ReplyDeleteThese people have a right to be mad, but stoning cars is a little excessive. The president should not have promised to help them if he could not, though I know he would not have said,"I want to be President, but I cannot help you.", no one would vote for him. But now he has a problem, there are alot of people without jobs and they are going to do something in their "spare" time, whether it is robbing a store or stoning a car.
ReplyDeleteI'm just speaking from what I experienced during the recent election campaigns: The native Africans are, or was expecting too much from the ANC, the government cannot restore all their problem, and nearly half a century of racism in 15 years. However, Zuma have been trailed for corruption and even rape, and the British and Afrikaaners think it s absolutely ridiculous that Zuma became president. That's also possible why the ANC lost Western Cape in the election. On the issue of foreign workers, illegal immigrants is an issue in any country for the same reason, South Africa seemed to react more violently because its citizens are not that well educated.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing the pictures of the brand new soccer stadium and the pictures of the people living in tents it makes me wonder what the government and the president value. Even though they can use the jobs and the revenue with this event i'm still not sure it is going to make such a huge impact on all of South Africa's problems.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand why the government does not crack down on patrol of South Africa’s borders because many immigrants are coming and taking the jobs that could be occupied by the citizens of South Africa. If there were more procedures taken to make sure that immigrants are in South Africa legally and monitor the amount of immigrants let in because South Africa and the government can’t afford to give jobs to people who are not from south Africa because it only cause problems among the south Africans that were promised jobs. Also it cause a hate toward immigrants which leads to more violence. I also have a question about why they decided to host the world cup because it is not helping the state of South Africa whatsoever even though it is supposed to.
ReplyDeleteI think that because of the World Cup, there should be no more labor issues because of the lack of hotels that need to be built and the stadium as well. There cannot be enough immigrants to take all of the jobs away, so why dont they just do a peacefull strike on the houses, until the wages are raised?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Elyse's second question, of course South Africa would want to host the World Cup. It will bring in millions of dollars in tourism and, even if these problems are now under the magnifying glass, at least they are gaining attention of countries that would consider helping them. Also, being selected to host the World Cup is an honor, and in the eyes of the rest of the world, it shows that FIFA, a very dignified organization, thinks South Africa is capable to host it.
ReplyDeleteI think the South Africans didn't gave President Zuma enough time to solve the problems. It is really hard to get jobs for everyone in the country. The World Cup should be able to bring a lot of jobs that can gave most of the unemployed people jobs. I think the government should gave the jobs to the South Africans first instead of employing the immigrants.
ReplyDeleteI found it quite interesting that the leader of the South African Unemployed People's Movement did not have to face any consequences when 94 of her members were arrested after storming into supermarkets and grabbing food off of the shelves, rather, she was simply interviewed for a newspaper, which probably just increased her popularity if anything. Yes, the national minister for local government, Shicelo Shiceka said that illegal actions would not be tolerated. However, that has been dealt with. The criminals were sent to jail. The problem is that there was nothing done to the chairwoman of the group, Nozipho Mteshanehe. She is the leader of this group and the members are her followers. She should face some sort of consequences for the illegal and criminal acts of her followers.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you guys think? I was reading the article and when I got to that story I was just like, "What..?" Do you think she should have been confronted about this?