The ANC’s alliance partner Cosatu has given the governing party its backing ahead of next month’s elections, saying there were still challenges that needed the trade union federation and “workers to push government led by the ANC to do more”. Picture: Independent Newspapers Archive
The ANC’s alliance partner Cosatu has given the governing party its backing ahead of next month’s elections, saying there were still challenges that needed the trade union federation and “workers to push government led by the ANC to do more”.
In a statement on Freedom Day, April 27, Cosatu said it was proud of the country’s democracy where all were equal before the law, ‘where our progressive Constitution compels the state to address the legacies of the past and the inequalities of today, to our free and fair elections where all views and voices are heard and respected’.
On the issue of corruption, Cosatu said nations stumbled at times and so did South Africa during the decade of state capture and corruption.
“Yet this could not hold South Africa back. Under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, the leaders of this chapter of treason are being purged into political obscurity.
“We are seeing the tides turning with the most powerful persons being held accountable by the state when they fall foul of the law. It is no small feat for a former President to be sentenced for contempt of court or a Speaker of the National Assembly to resign from office when charged by law enforcement.”
The federation said the country had undergone a remarkable journey from the days when workers were treated little better than slaves, to the raft of progressive labour laws that guaranteed workers the right to unionise, to collective bargaining and when aggrieved, to strike.
“Today we celebrate workers’ hard-won rights to equal pay for equal work, a safe workplace, paid time off,and maternity and parental leave, unemployment and workplace injuries and diseases insurance, and a national minimum wage that has raised the wages of 6 million vulnerable workers.
“On 1 September the Two Pot Pension Reforms driven by Cosatu will come into effect providing relief to millions of indebted workers.”
The Mercury