[imagesource: Reuters / Siphiwe Sibeko]
What’s the one thing that currently riles you up enough to support a massive strike?
If you said corruption, then October 7 could be of interest to you.
The strike is being organised by The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and will focus on exerting pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to “speed up prosecutions of corrupt individuals”.
That’s according to COSATU general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, reports Reuters, who said yesterday:
“He (Ramaphosa) must stop negotiating with criminals and use the only language that they will understand which is prosecution and sentencing.”
Given that COSATU has around 1,8 million members, that October 7 strike could be one for the record books.
As the Daily Maverick lays out, the statement released by COSATU, following its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting yesterday, went further in its criticism of the ruling party:
“Workers are fast losing confidence in the willingness and capacity of the ANC to honestly fight corruption. They are starting to view the organisation’s public statements as nothing but phoney outrage for political propaganda purposes…”
“[I]f corruption continues, there will be no resources to implement any of those policies [National Health Insurance, Basic Income Grant].”
COSATU said it’s time for President Cyril Ramaphosa to stop being “confrontation averse” and act. And for the ANC to reverse the “politically reckless decisions” to reinstate “people implicated in the VBS Looting Scandal and also promoting a former mayor facing corruption allegations to a higher position”.
Clearly, like most South Africans, the organisation is gatvol.
Past efforts from COSATU to mobilise change haven’t exactly panned out – more on that here.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) is also planning to take steps, with a ‘day of mass action’ slated for September 3, with the issue of PPE and the government’s refusal to increase public servants’ salaries on the table.
