Buwa Basebetsi Buwa Basebetsi

Buwa Basebetsi

Buwa Basebetsi is a platform for the worker, by the worker. Here we'll be sharing all you need to know about your right as a worker, as well as what you should do if those rights are not met. Buwa Basebetsi is produced by the Casual Worker Advice Office in partnership with Simunye Workers Forum.
Weekly English South Africa Education · Non-Profit
54 Episodes
1 – 20

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: End of Mr Sweet strike

Workers at the Mister Sweet confectionery factory in Wadeville, Gauteng, began a strike on 19 August, which ended 11 weeks later. The company is owned by Premier FMCG, one of the oldest food and consumer packaged goods businesses in South Africa. Premier FMCG’s chief executive officer, Kobus Gertenbach, earns R18.8…
25 Nov 4 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Labour Rights Week

A five-day Labour Rights workshop for activists on the frontline of defending workers was hosted in Joburg. Hosted by the CWAO and Foundation for Human Rights, this five-day workshop is for activists (Human Rights Defenders) from 30 organisations who are all on the frontline of defending workers against exploitation and…
22 Nov 6 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Labour Law Amendment Bill

On the 9th of October 2024, the Department of Employment & Labour issued a press statement where they shared their readiness of their inspectors to be deployed to enforce another “wave” of labour law amendments. Muzi Mzoyi sat down with John Appolis of the Casual Workers Advice Office, who broke…
14 Nov 20 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - Two months into strike

This week marks the 9th week since the start of Mister Sweet strike. On the 19th of August Workers at Mister Sweet went on strike demanding a R19000 basic salary as their main bone of content, but there are more issues than what meets the eye as we previously reported…
24 Oct 3 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - A worker's story

This week marks the 8th week since the start of Mister Sweet strike. On the 19th of August Workers at Mister Sweet went on strike demanding a R19000 basic salary as their main bone of content, but there are more issues than what meets the eye as we previously reported…
16 Oct 5 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: ZGG foreign national workers barred from work

ZGG a vegetable and flowers farm west of Johannesburg has ordered 37 of its foreign national employees to stop coming to work if they do not have work permits or Asylum Seekers documents. They have been given two weeks or kiss their jobs a goodbye. This is even though some…
11 Oct 3 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - Lastest Press Statement

We, the 25 social movements listed below, from six provinces across South Africa, hereby announce that we will ramp up our boycott of Mister Sweet products. Collectively, we are alarmed and dismayed at the highly abusive behaviour of Mister Sweet against the workers who have been on strike since 19…
30 Sep 3 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Farm Workers March against pesticides

In today's episode we’ll be looking at an article by Ashraf Hendricks published in GroundUp titled Farm workers march in rain and wind to call for ban on pesticides. More than 150 mostly women farm workers and supporters braved gale force winds and heavy rainfall to march through the streets…
26 Sep 3 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Namibia Blocks Ship

Today we’ll be looking at an article published by BBC News titled Namibia blocks ship over Israel war concerns. A vessel suspected by the Namibian authorities to be carrying military cargo intended for Israeli use in the ongoing war in Gaza has been blocked from docking in the southern African…
26 Sep 3 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - Injured Workers

The SWF has been informed that several casual workers have been seriously injured over the past week in the Mister Sweet factory after Mister Sweet bosses put pressure on them to handle dangerous and unfamiliar machinery. Mister Sweet has also allegedly breached s17 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act…
25 Sep 4 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mister Sweet Protest - Week 4

The Mister Sweet strike is in its fourth week and is taking its toll on striking workers. From the 19th of August workers have been demanding R19 500 as their basic salary, but their employer is sticking to their 7% increase across the board. This is despite Mister Sweet being…
20 Sep 4 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - Labour Court victory

The Simunye Workers Forum union has defeated Mister Sweet's attempts to bring an interdict against the strike at its factory in Johannesburg which began on 19 August. Johannesburg Labour Court judge J Daniels recently ruled that the employer was unable to show any link between the alleged violence they complained…
12 Sep 4 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Protest - Week 3

In this episode of Buwa Basebetsi updates, we continue to report live from the Mr Sweet protest, as it is now in it's third week. Workers continue to picket outside the Mr Sweet factory as they demand a minimum wage of R19 500 and an across the board increase of…
4 Sep 2 min

Buwa Basebetsi Updates: Mr Sweet Press Statement

The strike at Mr Sweet is now in its second week. Workers began striking on Monday, 19 August. They are picketing at Mr Sweet, Corner of Dekema and Bezuidenhout Roads, Wadeville in Gauteng. Simunye Workers' Forum condemns bosses for locking workers out and threatening workers with reduction in wage offer…
26 Aug 3 min
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