Cosatu: Credible SONA needs clear interventions, timeframes
While opposition parties and some analysts say they have few expectations for President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address, trade union federarion Cosatu says the opposite is true for workers.
The annual address comes amid a dormant economy, ongoing rolling blackouts, high crime levels and water supply issues.
The address in Cape Town on Thursday evening will see the president account for the work done by his administration.
Cosatu's Parliamentary Coordinator Matthew Parks acknowledged that the challenges facing workers, society, the economy and the nation are immense.
Parks said workers expect a clear package of interventions and timeframes to solve issues such as corruption, unemployment, load shedding and increasingly dysfunctional municipalities.
"The nation is still battling to recover from a painful decade of state capture and corruption, stubbornly high unemployment at 41% generally and 60% for young people, the world’s highest levels of inequality, the global pandemic of COVID-19 and the economic lockdown.
"It's been a painful period of load shedding, endemic crime and corruption, including cable theft, embattled state-owned enterprises and increasingly dysfunctional municipalities, badly overstretched public services and weak economic growth.
"These are the key challenges workers expect government to respond to with a clear package of interventions, timeframes and outcomes if the SONA’s announcements are to enjoy credibility amongst an increasingly frustrated public," said Parks.
He believes South Africans are well within their rights to expect more from the government officials they elect into office, and which is funded through their hard-earned wages and taxes.
"Whilst we are all disappointed by the pace at which our numerous socio-economic challenges are being resolved, and this is healthy for a robust and at times noisy democracy, we must equally acknowledge and applaud where progress has been made.
"Key achievements we welcome since the last SONA include a 5% reduction in the unemployment rate, the commencement of a debt relief package for Eskom and a significant reduction in load shedding, and an 8.5% increase in the national minimum wage," he added.
ALSO READ
