While sacked Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) general secretary Dennis George maintains that "white monopoly capital" and a media hostile to "transformation" were behind his recent dismissal, the facts seem to tell a vefy different story.
Potentially turbulent and conflicting currents among trade union federations have been exposed following an attempt by deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to calm troubled labour relations waters.
This column resulted in Phillip Dexter MP maintaining that it consisted of "lies, innuendo and journalism for hire" and that I was "an alleged apartheid agent" and that I quoted "dubious sources". I leave it to you to decide.
Whither South Africa's macro-economic policy? The government has taken its New Growth Path framework to the Wor4ld Economic Forum in Davos, but the unions on the home front, along with the SACP, are deeply divided. Is the NGP another Gear or Asgisa or is it something really new?
We have turned the corner economically. That is the ongoing claim from politicians, pundits and mainstream media commentators. But, as Federation of Unions of SA general secretary Dennis George has noted: “Growth without job creation is meaningless. It certainly is for the overwhelming majority of the population, and this is a situation that applies across the world, although not in any uniform manner. For all the optimistic pronouncements, the global economic crisis continues and there is no sign that it is ending.
June 2, 2019
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