ABSTRACT
South Africa’s transition successfully put in place a democratic system that upholds Western values: a capitalist market system, multi-party political system, human rights and tolerance. While this transition is still in process, the adoption of GEAR and the subsequent embrace of a strict form of neo-liberalism have exacerbated the weakening position of organized labor, Cosatu in general. GEAR, in the language of Presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Minister Trevor Manual, was non-negotiable, which meant that organized labor could not bargain its contents for the benefit of job preservation it had believed the ANC would support.
