Saftu, Cosatu voice rights issues at Parliament
THE street of Cape Town were filled yesterday as social activists groups marched to Parliament to hand over memorandums.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) marched to protest against the new VAT increase.
They highlighted a range of issues that could potentially affect the working class and the poor in South Africa. Among the issues the federation underlined were amendments to the labour laws and the national minimum wage.
The federation is South Africa’s second-largest union federation after Cosatu with over 800 000 workers.
Cosatu also picketed as it looked to bring to the attention of Parliament worrying issues in Cape Town. They handed over a lengthy memorandum highlighting several issues in the city.
“Cosatu has come here to press on government the fact that a number of key issues are affecting people in Cape Town. The public transport, from the trains to the buses are inefficient and are causing many problems.
“The water crisis has also cost the people of Cape Town lots of money,” Cosatu Western Cape provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said.
“This crisis poses a severe threat to the citizens of the Cape Town, with disease and death being real consequences. The City has mismanaged the water storage and supply and is not bringing solutions to the threat. The latest move by the City management is to increase water costs by 27%, with an additional levy for the connection,” the memorandum said.
It also stated that Cosatu welcomes the steps taken by government to deal with rampant corruption across the private and public sectors.
“We demand that everyone found guilty of corruption from the public or private sector should be jailed for theft from the nation. We do not want fancy words like collusion to detract from the grand theft. We want those involved to be imprisoned,” the memorandum said.
A representative from Parliament accepted the memorandum.
“The memorandum is accepted on behalf of Parliament, I see that it is addressed to the president of the republic. There are a number of key issues and this will be reverted to the relevant Parliament structures,” acting deputy secretary of Core business in Parliament, Eric Phindela said.
Cosatu has vowed to return on May Day for answers.