ANA reports that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa poured praise on the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) on Saturday night in Durban.  

This was the latest in a string of speaking engagements in what is widely regarded as an unofficial campaign trail prior to the ANC’s elective conference in December.  Ramaphosa told Sadtu’s KwaZulu-Natal conference delegates that he honoured the union for working to mould school pupils into “patriots”.  He told a full house at a gala dinner that Sadtu was “great and powerful” because it had organised up to 70% workers in its sector and that some people didn’t like strong unions, “but the ANC does”.  Noting that Sadtu occupied a special place in the struggle as it had fought and won the battle for recognition of teacher unions in SA, Ramaphosa stated:  “Working with you, we have improved educational outcomes and school attendance and introduced a pro-poor funding model of our education system, and together we are expanding early childhood development, prioritising teacher development, and improving the quality of learning and of teaching.”

• Read this report in full at The Citizen
• Read too, Help ANC to get back on track against graft, Ramaphosa urges Sadtu, at BusinessLive

And also, Ramaphosa looks to unions to safeguard the ANC's 'revolution', at Huff Post

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page