Durban — Independent economist Professor Bonke Dumisa has described the recent protests and shutdowns in the country as self-serving for certain individuals.
He said people were unlikely to join the nationwide Saftu (SA Federation of Trade Unions) and Cosatu (Congress of SA Trade Unions) protest on Wednesday.
Cosatu’s Edwin Mkhize said the strike march will start at King Dinuzulu Park to Durban City Hall at 10am.
Dumisa said South Africans were not fools; many people saw that they are being used by people who did not care about their grievances.
Last week, Saftu announced a nationwide protest in response to load shedding, the rising cost of living and other economic challenges. Cosatu said it would also be participating in the protest action on the same day.
Dumisa said the lockdown in 2020 for Covid-19 and its restrictions nearly destroyed the country’s economy, and the country was still battling with low economic growth rates.
“Over a million jobs were lost and they have not been recovered. These protests are self-serving platforms for people with other personal ambitions. They don’t really support what those people are protesting about,” he said.
He said it was irresponsible to have national shutdowns.
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said: “While we appreciate the precipitous rise in the cost of living and the unacceptably high rates of unemployment, the economy cannot afford a mass shutdown. As our country emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic which pushed South Africa ever closer to the precipice of recession, our economy simply cannot withstand such action.”
If the union really had an interest in improving the working conditions for South Africa’s labour force, it would do well to effect that change through the Tripartite Alliance without risking more hardship for the workers it claimed to support, he said.
“We believe that this mass protest action has nothing at all to do with the workforce, and everything to do with demonstrating its power before the ANC’s elective conference in December. It is as disappointing as it is unsurprising that this self-interested political ploy comes at the expense of nearly a million workers,” said Mashaba.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said they supported Cosatu’s national strike and urged their members to participate.
Most Popcru in the criminal justice cluster and their families were directly affected by the high fuel and electricity prices that had worsened their living conditions, with their buying power having been eroded, while their salaries had been stagnant for three years.”
Ntokozo Ncongwane of the Assembly of Unemployed said they will be joining the national strike to demand tangible solutions to the economic crisis.
“It is deplorable that 28 years into democracy, the poor and the marginalised continue to live in inhumane conditions. The government continues to fail to deliver on its promise of a better life for all.
“Neo-liberal policies and systemic corruption are crippling the country. Ordinary South Africans suffer.”
Daily News