The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions.

Date: 22 Feb 1981
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha warned of a government plan to adopt tougher measures against the rapidly expanding and increasingly militant Black trade unions. The newly established industrial court was proferred as a means of disciplining certain unions. This stern warning by Botha came almost two years after the formation of the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) in 1979, which brought another dimension to the union movement. FOSATU was the predecessor to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which was launched on 1 December 1985, when popular unrest had spread across South Africa.

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How we know this

01O’Malley, P. ‘1981’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialog, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za (Accessed: 11 January 2013)
02South African History Online, ‘Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 11 January 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, February 14). The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions.. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094860

South African History Online (2013) 'The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions.', South African History Online, 14 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094860 (Accessed: 24 September 2026).

South African History Online, The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions. [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094860, (accessed 24 September 2026).

"The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions.." South African History Online, 14 Feb. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094860. Accessed 24 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha reveals government plan on increasingly militant Black trade unions.." South African History Online. February 14, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094860.