The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is looking forward to President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday. The challenges facing South Africa and in particular the working class are immense. A bold, decisive and progressive set of interventions are needed. A business-as-usual approach will simply not do given our many crises, in particular our 41.9% unemployment rate, entrenched poverty and inequality, endemic crime and corruption, struggling public and municipal services, embattled State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and meagre economic growth.
It is critical that the SONA provide a sense of accountability to society and acknowledge the frustrations of millions and their simple hope for a better life. Government needs to report back on how far it has moved since the last SONA, including both the successes and their responses to setbacks.
Government needs to focus on key interventions to capacitate the state, stimulate the economy and slash unemployment, including:
Ensuring that Eskom has the financial, law enforcement and infrastructure support to provide reliable and affordable electricity.
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Similar interventions to stabilise and rebuild Transnet, including debt relief, to unlock the jobs rich mining, manufacturing and agricultural sectors as well as Metro Rail, which is key to transporting millions of workers daily, as well as other struggling SOEs, in particular SABC, Denel, SAPO and the Postbank.
Urgent interventions to stem the rise in the number of dysfunctional municipalities, including a new financial model and a move towards the District Development Model.
Abandoning reckless austerity budget cuts crippling the ability of the state to provide the quality public services the working class and the economy depend upon, in particular Health, Police, Courts, Home Affairs, Schools, NSFAS, SARS amongst others. The Department of Employment and Labour must be resourced to enable it to enforce the hard-won rights of workers.
Ramping up and overhauling public employment programmes to provide a pathway to permanent decent jobs for the 12 million unemployed.
Transforming the SRD Grant to a Basic Income Grant and linking its participants to skills, training and employment opportunities.
Defending the transformation mandate of government and ensuring that the progressive ideals of the Freedom Charter, including access to education, health, safety, housing, work and basic services are enjoyed by all, not simply the wealthy. The envisaged National Dialogue must be anchored upon this historic mission and facilitated by Nedlac, the legislated social dialogue forum.
Affirming South Africa's historic non-aligned stance and solidarity with Africa, the developing world and all peoples still experiencing oppression and occupation. The South African National Defence Force too must be given the necessary material resources and political support to enable it to fulfil its peacekeeping missions, including political solutions to the conflict zones it is deployed to.
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It is easy with alarmist daily headlines, to lose sight of the real progress South Africa has made under the leadership of the African National Congress led Alliance since 1994 and more recently under President Ramaphosa's leadership in stemming the decade of state capture and corruption, overcoming the disaster of loadshedding, navigating the global pandemic of COVID-19 and advancing the transformation agenda. Whilst we must applaud these historic achievements, we dare not rest or relax when millions cannot find work, afford a decent home or care of their children. Our many crises demand bold and decisive leadership including ensuring that the pending Budget provides the finances required to turn South Africa around.
