THE booing and heckling of Cyril Ramaphosa by angry striking workers in North West on May Day was regrettable but it was also an expression of workers’ deepening frustrations with the President and his administration, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) spokesperson Sizwe Pamla on Monday.
Ramaphosa was forced to abandon his Workers’ Day speech when striking mineworkers stormed the stage and booed him.
Chanting “Cyril must go,” they held up signs demanding a wage increase, forcing police had to step in while a bodyguard led the president away from the venue.
The workers employed by Sibanye-Stillwater mine are demanding a wage increase of R1,000 per month instead of the R850 rand being offered by the mine.
“This was, without a doubt, a regrettable and an unacceptable incident that prevented our invited Alliance guests from addressing the rally. This matter will receive adequate attention in our upcoming Central Executive Committee meeting at this end of this month,” said Pamla in a statement.
“It has to be noted, though, that some of what transpired in North- West, to a certain extent, reflects the growing frustration among workers in South Africa. Historically Workers’ Day is day where workers reflect on their struggles and push for change. This is a message that the ANC cannot claim to misunderstand and that cannot be ignored anymore.”
Pamla said workers have every reason to be livid when 2.2 million of them have lost their jobs in the last two years.
South Africa’s economy has been hit hard by the Covid crisis, and unemployment is now around 35%.
Mining is one of South Africa’s most important sectors, accounting for 8-10% of national income and employing almost 450,000 people, but it has been in decline in recent years.
“It was provocative of the government to pickpocket public servants of their salary increases in 2020. Workers have lost jobs from State-Owned Companies looted by senior politicians in collusion with the private sector,” said Pamla.
He said mine workers were correct to be aggrieved when a CEO of Sibanye who benefited from corporate tax cuts refuses to pay them an additional R1000 a month, while at the time paying himself R300 million in a single year.
Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman was awarded an astounding R300 million in 2021, the company’s annual report showed.
“The fact that we are the most unequal country in the world is a sign that South Africa is slowly sinking in the abyss. A 46% real unemployment, stagnant wages and budget cuts have all exhausted the patience of South African workers,” said Pamla.
“We hope that the Rustenburg disruptions will jolt the ANC and its government into action. This threatens the coherence and the legitimacy of the Alliance in the eyes of the working class. There is an urgent need to address and revive the worker’s confidence in the sixth administration. This administration needs to prove that it possesses the capacity to deliver on the 2019 ANC Elections Manifesto commitments.”
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