The African Teachers' Association of South Africa (ATASA) was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing black teachers in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The union was founded in 1919, as the South African Native Teachers' Federation, a loose federation of regional teachers' unions. It focused on increasing wages, and encouraging teachers to obtain higher qualifications. In 1973, it became the first South African union to affiliate to the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession. It opposed the compulsory teaching of

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

in black schools. However, it was increasingly seen as close to the

Government of South Africa The Government of South Africa, or South African Government, is the national government of the Republic of South Africa, a parliamentary republic with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary ...

, and was opposed by many younger teachers. In 1976, its offices were destroyed in an arson attack, blamed on anti-apartheid activists. The union participated in the 1990 negotiations which formed the South African Democratic Teachers Union, but instead affiliated to the loose

National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa The National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) is a professional organisation of teachers in South Africa. It is headquartered in Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. History The union was founded in 1991 as a federation ...

(NAPTOSA). In 2006, it became an integral part of NAPTOSA.{{cite book , last1=Zengele , first1=Vincent Thulani , title=THE INVOLVEMENT OF TEACHER UNIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF EDUCATORS’ ACT 76 OF 1998 , date=2009 , publisher=University of South Africa , location=Pretoria , url=http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/3189/Thesis_zengele_v.pdf , access-date=27 April 2021

References

Education trade unions Trade unions established in 1919 Trade unions disestablished in 2006 Trade unions in South Africa 1919 establishments in South Africa 2006 disestablishments in South Africa