This as thousands of Cosatu and Saftu affiliated workers, amongst others, from across the province on Wednesday joined the national strike over a variety of issues, including retrenchments and wage freezes. 

Saftu provincial convenor, Puseletso Molise, tells OFM News that at times the government is constantly trying to please a small group of people allegedly having control of the country. Molise says in 2018, Ramaphosa went to China for investments and South Africa borrowed 330 billion US dollars, and business Tycoon Patrice Motsepe also coughed up over 300 billion in support of the government and to this day no-one has accounted for the monies.

“If one looks at the [National Department of] Treasury and the manner in which they profess the budget of this country to the people of South Africa, you would understand the government has cut down on public spending. Now cutting down on public spending means only one thing, it means non-deliverance of services to people of South Africa - particularly the poor and the working class but the only ones who are benefiting through these schemes are the rich,” he says.

Earlier workers marched to the National Treasury. The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) tweeted and said the department is responsible for the mess “we find ourselves in”. SAMWU further said members are demanding an end to the attack of collective bargaining and a review of the municipal funding model.

Molise says in 2018 the public sector union entered into a wage agreement with the government and now with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the government wanted to get out of the agreement.

OFM News