Against the tide by Steven Friedman

2025-09-18

Politics is changing and that means that policies we have taken for granted since 1994 may not survive. One test is whether the rights which workers and trade unions enjoy will still be respected. Changes in labour law which are likely in the next few months will tell us whether working people's rights and protections will be victims of the new politics.

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Steven Friedman is a public commentator and an academic, currently employed as a Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has been writing on South African politics for the entire democratic period both as a scholar and public commentator. He has published books on South Africa’s transition to democracy, the role of the trade union movement, and current South African politics. He has also written columns and articles for several South African newspapers. His writing seeks to use academic research to shed light on current politics but to ensure that this is conveyed in a way easily understood by people who have no academic training.