The post-Wiehahn Commission period of the 1980s saw a huge increase
in the number of unions established and also in the number of workers
joining unions. Importantly, this period also coincided with increasing repression
by the apartheid state against liberation movements, activists and
unions. Towards the end of the 1980s, and with white capital – the bedrock
of apartheid – recognizing that political change was inevitable if it was to
remain profitable, a series of reforms began to be initiated at both the political
and socio-economic levels.