The first successful attempt to organise workers in the clothing industry was the formation of the Witwatersrand Tailors Association in 1918. This period in the history of the union is characterised by its attempts to stamp out 'sweated labour' and the systems of contracting and piecework, and to improve working conditions. The union was divided into two sections, the bespoke and the factory. An attempt was also made to ensure that employers and manufacturers adhered to log prices and did not underpay workers in order to be competitive.

After the strike of 1922, the government introduced machinery to regulate relations between workers and employers. This was the beginning of an attempt at conciliation which was later much championed by the leaders of the Garment Workers Union. The Industrial Conciliation Act was passed in 1924 and the Garment Workers Union was one of the first to be registered. With the formation of the Industrial Council for the Bespoke Tailoring Industry in 1928 and then the Industrial Council for the Clothing Industry, the union became party to both councils

The union's membership was not confined to the Witwatersrand, but was extended to Bloemfontein where a branch was established by the Secretary, Cecil Frank Glass, in 1926. The members were mostly older males, many of them Jewish tailors who had emigrated from Eastern Europe to South Africa. During this period there were a number of individual strikes by workers against their 'rat employers'.

The Witwatersrand Tailors Association was active in promoting a trade union federation in South Africa, supporting first the South African Industrial Federation, and then, during its decline in 1922, the formation of ATUSA (Associated Trade Unions of South Africa) which later became SATUC (South African Trade Union Congress). The active leaders included M Baum, D Colraine, C F Glass, H Joseph and A F Tuffin.

The election of Emil Solomon 'Solly' Sachs as General Secretary on 14 November 1928 heralded a new era for the union. Sachs and his thinking dominated all its activities until 1952. He came to South Africa from Latvia at the end of 1913 or the beginning of 1914 (Sachs gives conflicting dates in various biographical accounts). He attended school until 1916, then worked in a bookshop and later in mine shops on the Witwatersrand. In 1919 he was active in the Reef Shop Assistants Union which agitated for shorter hours. According to Sachs' own testimony, he had to leave the trade as he was marked as an agitator, but he continued as Honorary Secretary of the union. In 1924 he enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand for an engineering degree, but had to discontinue his studies because of insufficient means. He first came into contact with garment workers when he was elected Secretary of the Witwatersrand Middlemen Tailors Association on 31 March 1927. He subsequently became the General Secretary of the Witwatersrand Tailors Association.

In July 1929 a new constitution for the union was adopted, the name being changed to the Garment Workers Union, although the name was actually only adopted in 1930. There were 1750 members, two thirds of them factory workers

Sachs immediately tackled the problem of the violation of the agreements of both the Industrial Council for the Bespoke Tailoring Industry and the Industrial Council for the Clothing Industry (Transvaal). He started examining wage registers and prosecuting employers, many of whom were paying irregularly and forcing workers to sign for wages which they had not received. Sachs firmly believed in the law in South Africa and in the following years the Garment Workers Union made much use of the courts to bring employers and enemies of the union to justice.

The union suffered a severe setback in the early 1930s in its fight for better wages. In 1931 there use a general strike which ended inconclusively and left the workers whose earnings were meagre and inadequate in no better position. In 1932 there was another strike of garment workers as a result of demands by employers to reduce wages

Mr Oswald Pirow, then Minister of Justice, took a hard line and used the police force against the strikers. The workers were defeated although the employers achieved only a 10% reduction in wages, compared to their original demand for 25%. Sachs was served with a deportation order which was never enforced, although he was not allowed to live on the Witwatersrand for twelve months. Between 1928 and 1932 there were 100 strikes which to some extent helped to improve conditions or end grievances. In 1934 the bespoke section of the union was dissolved and the tailors formed the Tailoring Workers Industrial Union (Transvaal).

The 1930s and 1940s saw the blossoming of Afrikaner nationalism, and the National Party made a concerted effort to destroy the union which had attracted so many of their people. In 1935 a closed shop clause was included in the agreement. These were also the years which saw the rise and zenith of Fascism in Europe. Fascist groups such as the Greyshirts and Blackshirts used racist ideology to attack the union.

Anti-Semitism was also on the upswing and Sachs was repeatedly accused of being a 'Communist Jew'. It says much for Sachs and the personal loyalty of the workers: towards him, that the union did not succumb. He openly fought back and from 1939 he won a number of defamation cases against the Afrikaans press who were supported by the Nederduits Hervormde Kerk van Afrika. A very bitter struggle was waged in the Germiston branch where the National Party Member for Parliament, Johannes du Pisanie, was active in inciting the workers. The 1940's were a period of bitter struggles for fair wages as also of feuding between the Transvaal garment workers and Cape workers, led by Robert Stuart, who was bitterly opposed to national unity among garment workers

In 1948 the union obtained a forty hour week for the workers

The passing of the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950 caused another crisis in the history of the Union. Its leaders Anna Scheepers (President), Sachs (General Secretary) and Johanna Cornelius were listed as Communists. Sachs appealed on the grounds that he had been a member of the Communist Party from 1921 until August 1931 when he had been expelled from the party for political differences. Subsequently he supported the South African Labour Party. Sachs' banning meant that he could no longer hold his position as General Secretary of the Garment Workers Union, nor could he attend public gatherings

Sachs flagrantly disobeyed these orders by addressing a mass meeting of garment workers on 24 May 1952. He was supported by all the workers who again convened on 26 May after his arrest and condemned his listing as a Communist and his removal from the secretaryship of the Garment Workers Union.

Sachs' position eventually became so intolerable to him, that he left South Africa and settled in England. He died in London in 1976.

Over the years the composition of the union had changed. Whereas in 1938 Coloured workers were 22% of the total membership, by 1953 the union comprised 60% Coloured workers to 40% White. By law the union had had to establish parallel branches, No.1 branches being for Whites and No.2 branches for Coloureds. This has now been reversed and once again the Garment Workers Union is allowed to have combined branches

Johanna Catharina Cornelius Fellner succeeded Sachs as General Secretary and served in this capacity until her death on 21 June 1974. In the first few years of his exile Sachs attempted to continue his fight for the workers in South Africa but lack of support from the Garment Workers Union caused his efforts to peter out. In general this was a quiet period of co-operation and negotiation. It was influenced by the Botha Commission (Industrial Legislation Commission) set up in 1945, and the passing of the Natives (Settlements of Disputes) Act and the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1956. There was a split in the ranks of the union, as the White workers felt that the provisions of the Industrial Conciliation Act would make it impossible for racially mixed unions to operate. They thus formed the Garment Trade Union of European Employees (SA). Other problems to which the union paid attention were job reservation, workers in uncontrolled areas, and the establishment of a training college for garment workers

Another outstanding leader of the union was Anna Elizabeth Scheepers. Born on 18 March 1914 on the farm De la Rey near Krugersdorp, she attended Monument High School but was obliged to leave school in her matriculation year as her family had been severely affected by the depression. In 1933 she started work as a presser in a Johannesburg factory and began to be active in the activities of the Garment Workers Union. In August 1935 she was elected President of the union. Like other trade unionists of the time she visited Russia before the war and C R Swart attempted to list her as a Communist in 1952. She has distinguished herself, receiving a medal for voluntary services in World War II from Field Marshal J C Smuts. In November 1968 she was elected as the first and only woman on the General Council of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation. In April 1973 she was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of the Witwatersrand and in 1974 she was elected a Senator.

Besides the struggle for fair wages and a shorter working week, the union was able to obtain for the workers by 1949 three weeks' paid annual leave, whereas in 1928 there had been no such paid leave. In 1928 the only paid holidays were Christmas Day and May Day. In 1949 four other public holidays were added. By creating funds, two important social services were provided namely assistance to the sick and unemployed.

The Garment Workers Union struggled in order to obtain a better life for its members, relying almost entirely on its own strength and the moral support of fellow trade unionists. The union was respected by some employers and feared by others, but its members were treated with respect as they always had recourse to it if they were being mistreated.

The Foundation for Human Rights was established in 1996 through a cooperation agreement between the European Union and the South African Government by signing the European Union Human Rights Programme. The aim of the Foundation is to address the historical legacy of Apartheid, support the transformation of South Africa and to build a human rights culture using the Constitution of South Africa as a tool. It receives funds primarily from the European Union as well as other donors such as DCI, Mott Foundation and Care International. The members of the Supervisory Board of the Foundation are all prominent South Africans, and include representatives of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the European Union.

The first EU-founded programme covered the period between 1996 and 2000 and the second between 2001 and 2007. During the second programme the Foundation has made a few significant changes. The first was a name change from the European Union Foundation for Human Rights to the Foundation for Human Rights- reflecting that Foundation is an indigenous organization. It was also agreed that the Foundation would expand its funding base. The second major change was the recognition that the organization should be lead by a South African - Yasmin Sooka.

The all-white South African Football Association, later known as Football Association of South Africa (FASA), was formed in 1892. SAFA was admitted to the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) in 1952. Later in 1956 SAFA changed its name to FASA, deleting the race exclusion clause from its Constitution. That and FASA's affiliation with the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) in 1958 would allow FIFA to officially recognise FASA as the sole governing body of soccer in South Africa. But in 1960 the Confederation of African Football (CAF) expels South Africa, which was followed by FIFA's suspension of FASA in 1964. The FIFA Congress in Montreal in 1976 finally decided on the total expulsion of FASA, after South Africa had already been expelled from the Olympic movement in 1970.

FASA together with other National Football bodies in South Africa unified in 1991 to become the South African Football Association (SAFA), allowing South Africa to join FIFA and international soccer again in 1992.

The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was formed at the "First National Conference of Women" as the inaugural conference was called, held in the Trades Hall, Johannesburg on 17 April 1954. This meeting was the culmination of months of planning, having been first suggested at a conference held in Port Elizabeth in April 1953, which was an informal meeting of women, trade unionists and African National Congress members to which Ray Alexander had been invited. She, from her home in Cape Town, assisted by Hilda Watts in Johannesburg, organised the inaugural conference. Both women had been members of the Communist Party of South Africa before its banning in 1950 and had widespread contacts amongst women of various organisations.

There were close on 150 delegates representing 230,500 women at the inaugural conference and they came from all over South Africa and from a wide cross-section of women of all colours, although mainly Black. They were drawn mostly from the Congress Alliance, made up of the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, South African Congress of Democrats, South African Coloured Peoples Organisation and trade unions which left the Trade Union Congress of South Africa and formed the South African Congress of Trade Unions in 1955. The conference adopted a Women's Charter which included these words "We women have stood and will stand shoulder to shoulder with our menfolk in a common struggle against poverty, race and class discrimination". A draft constitution was drawn up stating the aims and objects of the Federation as being "To bring the women of South Africa together, to secure full equality of opportunity for all women, regardless of race, colour or creed; to remove social and legal and economic disabilities; to work for the protection of the women and children of our land". There was some debate as to whether the Federation should provide for individual membership but this point was settled in 1956 when the National Conference voted in favour of the Federation consisting only of affiliated organisations and no individual members.

By 1957 the following organisations had affiliated: African National Congress Women's League, South African Congress of Democrats, South African Coloured Peoples Organisation, Cape Housewives League, League of Non-European Women (Cape), Transvaal Indian Congress for Women and the Food and Canning Workers' Union. The Federation grew into a massive organisation which played its part in the national struggle for liberation and was involved in the convening of the Congress of the People by the Congress Alliance at Kliptown on June 25-26, 1955, at which the Freedom Charter was adopted. FEDSAW led the great protest against the extension of passes to African women in the 1950s, the most important event in this campaign being the mass gathering at Pretoria on 9 August 1956, thereafter observed as "Women's Day" during which 20,000 women stood in silence for 30 minutes after presenting their petition. It was on this occasion that they sang "Strijdom, you have tampered with the women/ you have struck a rock/ you have unleashed a boulder/ you will be crushed", later to be adopted as an anthem. This was followed by several demonstrations in 1957 and 1958. Other campaigns protested against Bantu education, beerhalls, Group Areas, discrimination in the nursing profession, rent increases and basic community problems. They supported the boycott of the Union Festival in 1960 and the stay away from the Republic celebrations in 1961. In 1962 they tried to draw up a Bill of Women's Rights.

From the very beginning the Federation suffered from the fact that, although as an organisation it was never banned, the leaders - Ray Alexander, Hilda Bernstein, Lilian Ngoyi, Frances Baard, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Nyembe, Amina Cachalia and Albertina Sisulu were and so were its affiliates, the African National Congress Women's League and the women's branch of the South African Congress of Democrats. The Federation was weakened by the Treason Trial of 1956-1961 and some members were detained during the state of emergency which followed Sharpeville in 1960. For a few years they struggled on under difficult circumstances but the last conference of any size took place in August 1962. Thereafter it went into rapid decline as more and more women were either banned, house-arrested or left the country. By the mid-1960s it had ceased to exist as a viable, mass-based organisation. It was never dissolved and, from time to time, the members attended historical funerals wearing their black and green uniforms.

In the early 1980s there was an attempt to revive the Federation. A 30th birthday celebration meeting was held in Mamelodi on 9 August 1984. On the 2 August 1986 a national assembly of women was held, followed a week later by a prayer service to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the march to Pretoria to protest against passes for women. Grassroots organisations were formed, including the Federation of South African Transvaal Women (FEDTRAW) in the Transvaal in December 1984, and others were formed in the Eastern and Western Cape, Natal and the Orange Free State.

In the Transvaal an interim committee was formed, an open day held on 1 June 1987 which included speakers from the old executive of FEDSAW and newsletters were published. In the Western Cape there was a regional launch in August 1987. Women demanded an end to conscription, a free equal educational system for all and the total abolition of apartheid. Further repression followed during the state of emergency and it was not until 1990 that women were free to demonstrate openly. In the intervening 30 years times had changed and many women had other loyalties than to FEDSAW. There had been a division in the ranks as not all women could subscribe to a total redistribution of wealth as demanded by some organisations. Many women preferred to join organisations like the African National Congress Women's League. As a national organisation FEDSAW has not been resurrected.

The formation of FOSATU was part of the fight to organise workers in South Africa into independent, non-racial trade unions. The first effective trade union organising black workers was formed in 1917 and was followed by the ICU (Industrial and Commercial Workers Union) in 1919. The 1950s saw the emergence of SACTU (South African Congress of Trade Unions) and the upsurge of political and worker' organisation. Slate repression led to the 1960s being a low point of worker organisation.

The 1970s were a time of great challenge for the labour movement in South Africa. Workers were experiencing growing hardships and poverty due to unemployment and inflation and as a consequence worker militancy was rapidly on the rise. As a result of the Wiehahn Commission new industrial legislation was being prepared which would bring important changes in industrial relations and worker organisations were becoming increasingly important in politics and the economy. In the face of growing opposition from the State, from employers and from the established unions (i.e. racist white unions and TUCSA) the need for greater unity was clear and new trade union bodies began to emerge countrywide.

Exploratory talks on a united Labour federation were initiated by the National Union of Motor Assembly and Rubber Workers of South Africa (NUMARWOSA) in early 1977. These talks lead to the formation of a Feasibility Committee. Participants in this committee were the four affiliates of the Trade Union Advisory and Co-ordinating Council (TUACC), NUMARWOSA, the United Automobile Workers (UAW), and three unions that broke from the Transvaal Consultative Committee of Black Trade Unions. FOSATU emerged two years later as a result.

It was a basic commitment to worker participation, opposition to racism and the desire to pool limited resources and skills that brought unions together in FOSATU. The inaugural congress of FOSATU was held in April 1979 at Hammanskraal near Pretoria. The 150 delegates elected UAW'S John Mike as President and TUACC's Alec Erwin as General Secretary. There were twelve affiliates present, three registered and nine unregistered, claiming a membership of 45 000. FOSATU became the first federation of predominantly unregistered trade unions to operate openly in South Africa since the suppression of SACTU in the 1960s

FOSATU's main objective was to build a strong national, non-racial, independent, worker controlled labour movement firmly located in the factories with strong shop-floor structures. It also committed itself to an ongoing worker education programme and to decent standards of living and fair working conditions. It did not align itself with any party political organisation and opposed attempts by such organisations to control FOSATU or its affiliates. It spent most of its energy on organising, on negotiating recognition agreements with management, and on bargaining over wages and working conditions. This cautious policy on union involvement in political activities was rooted within the framework of state repression against unions after the 1973 Durban strikes and the 1976 Soweto uprising.

The highest policy making body was the National Congress. When the National Congress was not meeting management of the Federation was vested in the Central Committee. Between meetings of the Central Committee the Executive Committee carried out the day to day administration of the Federation. Regional Councils were established to encourage unions to work together on the ground and affiliate branches were represented on it. FOSATU also encouraged affiliates to set up local offices of their unions to facilitate closer liaison between the unions

The major criticism against FOSATU was that its leadership was elite and that decisions were taken by a few officials only. Initially FOSATU unions were not necessarily democratic but as it grew and began to develop a unique uniform strategy the worker leaders began to exercise more control and the officials lost much of their power.

By 1982, with a membership of 105 000, FOSATU could no longer ignore community politics and it began to take up political issues. In 1983 the need for a wider alliance and for union unity was addressed. A Feasibility Committee was set up to discuss the formation of a new federation and in 1984 talks. Representing about 300 000 workers from the major black unions in key manufacturing, commercial and mining sectors, were held. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) emerged in November 1985 as a result of these talks.

During its existence (1979-1985) FOSATU achieved significant gains. The lot of workers had improved via increased wages, the acknowledgement of workers rights in approximately 400 factories, and better conditions on the factory-floor. Apart from these achievements FOSATU played a vital part in the growth of an independent worker culture.

The Federation of Covenant People is a fully autonomous, non-profit organisation, which affairs are controlled by a Board of Management. It is dedicated to propagate the truth according to the eternal word of God. The purpose of the Federation is to teach the need to obey the law of the Lord, to do research into biblical and other sources, and to publish the results of this research.

The Egoli Heritage Foundation was formed as a result of merger of three iconic Johannesburg Heritage Organizations: The Johannesburg Branch of the Simon van der Stel Association (now the Heritage Association of South Africa), The Johannesburg Historical Foundation and The Sandton Historical Society. The Foundation is a founder member of the Heritage Register. Its predecessor, The Simon van der Stel Foundation was founded in 1959 with the aim of cultivation an appreciation for our history and especially our built environment. The Foundation was named after Simon van der Stel, Governor at the Cape (1679-1699). He was the first South African to promulgate conservation legislation. The Foundation was a registered non-profit making company, governed by a National Council representing the members of the organization. Its main purpose was to conserve the heritage by encouraging the public and private sector to restore old buildings, sites and objects. It also gives advice on restoration. Simon van der Stel Foundation had branches countrywide. It was the largest and oldest non-governmental (NGO) organization involved in heritage conservation. The Foundation is known today as Heritage South Africa and operates as non-profit section 21 company with many affiliated branches. The Egoli Heritage Foundation (EFT) established later, in the 1980s, is the affiliated body based in Johannesburg. It is a voluntarily organization involved in creating awareness of the importance of conserving our heritage. It's members are taking steps to protect buildings in danger of demolition due to neglect, or ignorance of the law. The Egoli Heritage Foundation runs many projects in order to save our heritage buildings. One of them is the raising of plaques on historical structures.

The EMPSA head office in Johannesburg closed its doors shortly after the 1994 General Elections (1994/27 April). The programme was launched in September 1992. International monitors working in successive teams monitored events up to and including the 1994 General elections

Sketch of the Ecumenical Monitoring

Programme in South Africa:

EMPSA was established as a result of a call by the South African Churches - the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and the South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) to the international church community to send teams of monitors to address the question of violence.

The structure, policy and vision of the programme was agreed at a meeting with EMPSA's international partners in Geneva in August 1992. EMPSA was established with a three-fold mandate: to monitor violence, the political transitional process and elections

A group of eminent international church leaders, the Ecumenical Eminent Persons

Group (EEPG), launched the programme in September 1992.

The programme's international coordination was provided by the World Council of Churches in Geneva, in conjunction with the Vatican's Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace. Recruitment, screening and initial selection of monitors proposed from countries all over the world was done in consultation with the EMPSA national office.

Programme coordination within South Africa was done from the Johannesburg head office, which had both national and international staff, and was responsible to a National Coordinating Committee representing participating churches and church agencies in the regions, the World Conference on Religion and Peace, and national independent monitoring organisations

Participants in the EMPSA programme developed working structures in their own countries which represented interested church denominations and relevant non- governmental organisations. These committees/forums undertook a more systematic approach to recruiting, screening, selecting and proposing monitors, raising funds to cover fares, allowances, insurances etc., and lobbying and information work with returned monitors. More recent participating countries tended to have a weaker infrastructure in this regard and operated on the basis of a single church, organisation or even individual.

EMPSA monitors, deployed in successive teams to various priority areas, engaged in a wide range of activities, from monitoring marches and rallies to facilitating meetings between groups to resolve conflicts, to intervening with police and government officials. Victims of violence were visited and contact was established with the police, all the main political and community players, peace committees, local churches and businesses. EMPSA was at an advantage because it worked closely with church networks as well as non-governmental organisations. Monitors did experience problems with the length of their stay (approximately six weeks). They needed time to familiarise themselves with the situation in which they found themselves. They also needed to follow up on cases. However a good handover between successive teams and a growing network of local contacts was able to sustain a level of continuity.

Monitors worked under difficult conditions and frequently found themselves in dangerous situations. In one particular incident, EMPSA monitors Joyce Cashmore and Pieter van Reenen were detained by Bophuthatswana police sparking a local and international outcry. It is generally agreed that the presence of EMPSA monitors together with other monitoring structures contributed to a relatively peaceful electoral process