#SONA2016: No good story - Vavi
Zwelinzima Vavi says President Jacob Zuma doesn't have a good story to tell as the country is facing its darkest times yet under his leadership.
|||#SONA2016 | Johannesburg - Zwelinzima Vavi says President Jacob Zuma doesn't have a good story to tell as the country is facing its darkest times yet under his leadership.
The former Cosatu General Secretary has published his version of what the State of the Nation Address should be.
The President will deliver his much anticipated speech on Thursday evening.
Vavi says the jobs of thousands of people are at risk as entire industries face collapse, such as in mining, steel, the Post Office and South African Airways.
Under Zuma’s leadership, he believes promises made to the labour force have not been delivered.
“Labour relations are at the worst since the end of apartheid.
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Employers are waging war on workers’ hard- won rights through the use of labour brokers, outsourcing work, getting around collective bargaining and even refusing to recognise trade unions,” he states.
Even with stringent laws in place to protect workers, he believes the Department of Labour has not ensured there is a campaign to enforce and protect workers.
“Deregulation by stealth has allowed employers to take advantage of undocumented labour and sidelined local labour in sectors such as hospitality, security and transport.”
Vavi says this explains why more workers are employed in precarious forms of employment, which shifts the country away from the concept of decent work.
On youth unemployment, he stated the youth of this country have no future as the two-tier education system puts most black students on a vicious cycle of poverty and unemployment.
“The gap widens between the top-class provision of the private education and healthcare for rich, largely white minority and the pathetic service to the poor, overwhelmingly black majority,” adds Vavi.
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He believes Zuma has failed to introduce social security and national health insurance systems.
The various protests across the country can be blamed on unmet promises to the poor. He adds if Zuma had implemented the 1969 Morogoro ANC conference resolutions, the economic demands of the Freedom Charter there would be no Economic Freedom Fighters, talks of a new trade union federation and the ANC would not be as divided and weakened as it is today.
Vavi adds, by adopting “capitalist’’ methods, many sate-owned enterprises such as Eskom, SAA and PetroSA have crippled their own competence.
“Similar chaos and incompetence can be found in public institutions – the SAPS, National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Revenue Service.”
Vavi says the reason these important institutions are in trouble is because Zuma has appointed people that will guarantee he never faces the 783 charges that were dropped in 2009.
He believes the biggest betrayal has been the growing levels of inequality 22 years into our democracy.
“The first two decades of freedom have benefited more, in economic terms, white monopoly capital than the motive forces of the liberation struggle,” Vavi adds.
LABOUR BUREAU