SASCO totally opposed to the graduate tax
7 February 2013
The South African Students' Congress (SASCO) notes the 53rd National
Congress resolution of the African National Congress (ANC) which reads
as follows, "Consideration must be given to a graduate tax for all
graduates from higher education institutions."
A suggestion of a graduate tax for all graduates is standing tall on its head as it will impose an additional burden on the working class and the poor. Graduates from working class and poor backgrounds have a historic burden to redress the plight of their families whilst paying PAYE and making their repayment to NSFAS, now they will also be expected to contribute to a graduate tax. This resolution seeks to further exploit the working class such that they don’t break from the poverty cycle.
As SASCO we reiterate our unequivocal rejection of a graduate tax as it embraces the notion that higher education is a private gain for students and hence it is primarily students that should shoulder its cost through the so-called cost-sharing. Studies have alluded to the fact that in Australia, this scheme has exacerbated socio-economic inequalities. It is not always guaranteed that money levied through the Graduate Tax will be utilised towards financing education as opposed to defence and other class infused expenses.
We believe that a graduate tax works against the logic of the implementation of Free Quality Education, which appreciates the historic burden of the poor graduate, and seeks to redress the gap between the rich and poor in our country. Our country has more than half a million unemployed graduates who remain destitute and we wonder what implications this tax will have on them. Many of our NSFAS graduates are struggling to meet their repayment such that many of them are now blacklisted; with a graduate tax this will put even more strain on them. Many other low earning graduates funded through bursary schemes and scholarships that come from working class and poor backgrounds will bear the brunt of this unorthodox taxation.
We strongly believe this is another method, just like the youth wage subsidy, of protecting capital from their responsibility to education in our nation. We have called for an Education Tax, which was unanimously agreed upon at the commission at the ANC conference, which requires business and the rich to contribute towards education in our country. South African business benefits from the produce of our institutions of higher education and training, however they are not expected to contribute to an Education Tax which will contribute to financing Free Quality Education in our country.
Unlike the education tax this resolution will cushion business and the higher echelons of government and the private sector whilst burdening the working class and condemning them to poverty. The graduate tax also means that capitalists, particularly big business, are absolved from funding education. We remain convinced that progressive taxation must be introduced as a way of funding free education. We believe that this further entrenches the high income inequality in our country and goes against the ethos of the Freedom Charter. We call upon the African National Congress to live up to the Freedom Charter and fight poverty, unemployment and inequality.
For more information contact:
Ngoako Selamolela, President, 071 875 2224
Themba Masondo, Secretary General, 079 199 3421
Statement of the Progressive Youth Alliance
5 February 2013
The Progressive Youth Alliance Secretariat held its first meeting for the year 2013 to chart a collective way forward in dealing with issues affecting young people in education, youth unemployment and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
The meeting was attended by the Secretariats of SASCO, COSAS, ANC Youth League and the YCL of South Africa.
On Education
The PYA noted work done by the different structures in creating access to academic institutions and the struggles fought and solutions forged by our structures in campuses and schools throughout the country. The meeting noted the work of COSAS in their Back to School Campaign, YCLSA in the Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign and the forthcoming launch this Friday of SASCO's Right to Learn Campaign.
The PYA further noted the following issues:
The different times of release of Grade 12 results between Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and Public Schools. Many learners from public schools are disadvantaged by universities because their results are released later than those of private schools. We call for uniformity in the release of all the Grade 12 results;
The PYA will be working with the Ministry of Higher Education and Training on their Apply Now Campaign to ensure that Grade 12 learners apply now for the 2014 academic year in universities;
The PYA will be campaigning for uniformity in access requirements in universities as some universities are using the point system to exclude black students. We will also be campaigning for a centralised application system in universities in order to create equal opportunities for all young people;
The PYA will be campaigning for and participating in the policy discussions by the Department of Basic Education to ensure that Grade 12 results are not published in newspapers;
The PYA will be encouraging young people to consider registering on FET colleges and study towards apprentices and as artisans, to also take advantage of government's infrastructure plan and many other opportunities opened by an FET qualification. In this regard, there are other bottle-necks which we will seek audience with the Minister of Higher Education to resolve, such as the high failure and drop-out rates and the prerequisite of registration fees before studying. We also call on all FET institutions to guarantee every student who qualifies an internship so that they study towards their diploma;
The PYA calls for urgent interventions in relation to Learner and Teacher Support Materials, and that these should be beyond the set norms and standards, and should include school transport, more classrooms, learner desks, more teachers (where there is a shortage). We need to move towards creating equity in school education and bridge the racial disparities that currently exist. In some instances, although there has been significant progress done, however, the black child in particular is still subjected to the same education as was the case;
The PYA declares the attempts by the DA government to close 22 schools as a crime against the children of this country. We will be supporting efforts by our structures in the Western Cape to reverse this decision;
The PYA supports unequivocally the appointment of the Transformation Oversight Committee led by Prof. Malegapuru Makgoba and appointed by the Department Higher Education and Training. We strongly object to its unwarranted criticism by neo-liberals in the university community who have done nothing but to maintain the status quo of a racialised higher education.
We will soon engage with government and the ANC to further explore these issues.
On Youth Unemployment
The PYA noted newspaper reports that claim that the ANC Lekgotla which sat over the weekend resolved to implement the DA-sponsored Youth Wage Subsidy. We were part of the Lekgotla and are aware that the ANC will be discussing policy details in relation to the Youth Employment incentives which includes the Job Seekers Grant. The PYA was part of the consultative process of the draft Youth Employment Accord which was presented by government to all stakeholders at NEDLAC. We believe that we are on the verge of an agreement with all the stakeholders at NEDLAC.
We will be watching closely the policy discussions in resolving the crisis of youth unemployment and are confident that the discredited YWS will not be thrown into the process through the back door by our ANC government. We are finalising a PYA discussion document on Jobs for Youth which will be an amalgamation of the different views of PYA structures and young people in general.
The PYA notes and welcomes the announcement by the Minister of Labour in the Sectoral Determination of wages of workers in the agricultural sector, which will lead to a minimum wage of R105.00 or 52% increase. We call on all farm owners to implement this decision as soon as it comes into effect, and should only regard this as a minimum wage. This, in our view, calls on all farm owners to pay workers a decent wage and for trade-unions to push for the possible maximum increase in the bargaining process.
On the National Youth Development Agency
The PYA calls for the acceleration of the process of recommendation of the NYDA Board by the National Council of Provinces.. We have to avert the legal implications of not having an NYDA Board for a prolonged period of time.
The PYA fully support the process of amending the NYDA Act. We believe that there is a need for an empowered NYDA that respond adequately to the issues youth, in particular youth education, skills development and youth unemployment. We have to restore the confidence of young people towards the NYDA, and ensure that there is transparency and consultation in its programmes and how it connects to young people.
On the forthcoming PYA Summit
The PYA will be convening a Summit in March 7-10 in Johannesburg, to be attended by more than 150 delegates from SASCO, COSAS, ANCYL, YCLSA, SUCA, YCS, SASPU and invited civil society. The aim of the summit will be to adopt a common national youth programme that will look into socio-economic transformation, education and health, integrated youth development strategy and our approach as young people towards a total victory by the ANC in the forthcoming General Elections.
We will be working together as PYA structures to unite young people towards a prosperous, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society. Our past differences have polarised youth interests and demands.
The time for Unity is Now!
Issued by the Progressive Youth Alliance
For more information CONTACT
Thsiamo Tsotetsi (COSAS Secretary General)
Themba Masondo (SASCO Secretary General) 0791993421
Khusela Sangoni-Khawe (ANCYL Spokesperson) 079 510 5408
Khaya Xaba (YCLSA Spokesperson) 0824401379
SASCO welcomes the appointment of the Oversight Committee on the Transformation of SA Universities
24 January 2013
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) welcomes the announcement of the Oversight Committee on the Transformation of South African Universities by the Ministry of Higher Education and Training. Finally our government seems to be signaling to the correct direction as it relates to the transformation of institutions of higher learning. The implementation of this very important recommendation of the Soudien Report has been long overdue.
We believe that this will require some level of tempering with the independence of institutions, currently dubbed as Institutional Autonomy. It is our considered view that the higher education system in South Africa is fragmented and skewed towards a particular racial and population group as it was during apartheid and we thus cannot allow this independence if we are to transform it.
The reality is that formerly white institutions are still white and significantly advantaged and formerly black institutions are still black and extremely disadvantaged. It should be the responsibility of this oversight committee, working with the various stakeholders including students to ensure that this is buried into the dustbin of history.
Institutionalised forms of racism and sexism still continue to happen in institutions such as the University of Free State and many other formerly white institutions. We believe that the law should empower our government to put under administration those institutions that are failing to transform. This is a lobbying that we will be doing in our interaction with the committee.
We believe that the committee should not just be a toothless committee with its only role being the identification of transformation problems in institutions of higher learning. It should be given powers to intervene where it deems fit.
We believe that if Vice Chancellors are committed to the transformation of our universities, Higher Education South Africa (HESA) should openly declare its commitment to working with this oversight committee and provide it with enough information on racism and sexism in our Universities. History shows that universities try by all means to hide the information that comes out about problematic realities in them.
We welcome the fact that the committee includes two unionists. We hope that the fact that the committee is over populated by academics and that it is chaired by a Vice Chancellor of an institution which also requires transformation will not lead it into doing the opposite of what it was set out to do. We will carefully monitor this committee so that it steers to the correct direction and not signal left whilst turning right.
As students we are looking forward to working with the oversight committee and giving it enough details on a variety of racist and sexist practices in our universities. We plead that Vice Chancellors do the same.
Contact:
Ngoako Selamolela, SASCO President, 0718752224
Or
Themba Masondo, SASCO Secretary General, 0791993421
SASCO warns students of bogus colleges
08 January 2012
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) is concerned about bogus colleges which continue to take advantage of desperate and vulnerable students yearning to pursue their studies. The increase in the number of bogus colleges in South Africa is a direct result of the inadequate post schooling system which excludes hundreds of thousands of students every year. This problem is compounded by the solid unholy alliance between the Department of Higher Education and Training (DhET) and universities in their intransigent resolve to cap enrolments and criminalise walk-ins. Students end up registering with these bogus private providers who are unregistered or offer unaccredited courses.
We call upon prospective students to be very vigilant in choosing institutions of higher learning to pursue their studies. Students can contact the DhET (012 312 5320) to confirm the credibility of suspect colleges or courses they intend to enrol in. There are many thugs waiting to make money by registering our students in none-existent colleges or unaccredited courses. Students must also be wary of a seemingly organised individual/s pretending to be from SASCO who, in 2012, fraudulently took money from desperate students in a false exchange for academic admission/financial aid. Students must individually pay relevant fees directly to the institutions and should not compensate anyone who assists them in the name of SASCO.
Contact:
Ngoako Selamolela, SASCO President, 071 875 2224
Themba Masondo, SASCO Secretary General, 079 199 3421
SASCO Statement on the 2013 State of the Nation Address
15 February 2013
SASCO welcomes the presentation of the State of the Nation Address by President Jacob Zuma. Below are our views on this very backbone of government program of action for this financial year.
Education
We are saddened by lack of mention of any program to roll-out free education; especially for the poor as per ANC conference resolution. Whilst we are happy that the building of the actual infrastructure of the two universities in both Mpumalanga and Northern will finally start in September, we wish to warn that this must not affect the target to have the universities opening gates for admission by the beginning of 2014 as earlier articulated by the Minister of Higher Education. We also expected the President to announce the commencement of work on the social infrastructure roll out to build student residences in our institutions of higher education and training, as mentioned in last year’s SONA.
We are encouraged by the attempts to place FET graduates on in-service training and wish to state our concerns that nothing is being mentioned about students from Universities of Technology who are also faced with the same challenges of failing to get work placement. More also still need to be done in this regard. We are saddened that graduate unemployment has not been given priority despite the state having visible incapacity, that can be augmented by the use of the very graduates as well as increasing their very own capacity.
We welcome the building of 98 schools to replace mud schools with a focus on the Eastern Cape. We encourage government to accelerate the infrastructure roll out in our schools. We applaud the President for not giving into liberal pressure to deprive teachers of their constitutional right to strike. We agree that an attitudinal change in our society on the importance of education is needed. We call upon the teachers, learners, parents, government, business and communities to make greater efforts to improve the education system.
On the economy and Job creation
We welcome the infrastructure roll-out plan and wish to express our disappointment with the lack of any plan (at least as per SONA) about the super-exploitation of our working class population by labour brokers. We are also saddened by the fact that the infrastructure development has largely been used as a medium to enhance the old fashioned export dependent economy.
We are also disappointed by the lack of plans to develop social ownership in the economy as well as no plan to ensure that finance capital does not constrain the movement of monetary resources through-out the country, thus leaving the very rural economies that are to be developed further to smaller market. We however welcome the commitment to state intervention in the economy and wish that it is in the interest of the poorest of the poor. We are particularly pleased by the announcement that the willing-buyer-willing seller principle will be ditched as the land redistribution mechanism.
We are disappointed at the abandoning of nationalization and the silence on the role of the State Owned Mining Company.
We welcome the abandoning of the Youth Wage Subsidy and the endorsement of the NEDLAC process of a Youth Employment Accord which involves all stakeholders. We are however unsure of the mention of incentives and warn that this should not be used as a back door tactic to introduce a Youth Wage Subsidy.
On gender equality, health and social development
We welcome the finalisation of the legislation to ensure 50/50 gender representation in decision making structures. This is a sign of commitment towards building a non-sexist society. We always join government in condemning gender based violence and pledge to make our own contribution towards this initiative.
We join the country in celebrating the increase in life expectancy from 56 years in 2009 to 60 in 2011. This is an important indicator of progress in our health system. We are encouraged by the ground breaking research on HIV/AIDs and TB in our country as indicated in the SONA. We welcome the introduction of national health insurance fund. We are optimistic about the progress in the roll out of pilots for NHI, particularly the focus on villages and townships where our people struggle to access health services.
Corruption
We welcome the strong statements and commitments government is making in combating crime, particularly corruption in the public sector. We believe it is important for the state to not only communicate this message but be seen actively uprooting corrupt elements from its ranks. Public perception about government corruption will only change through visible action and not lip service. We call for a radical clean-up of all corrupt elements in the state.
We have always made the point about the high level of private sector corruption, aimed at exploiting the working class of South Africa. We call for much more harsher action to be taken against price fixing and overpricing by business, we believe this is a crime against the working class and poor.
International Relations
We welcome the commitment of our government in the struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination and the harsh condemnation of the Apartheid Israeli state. We also welcome pronouncements made on the question of Western Sahara and Cuba; however we are disheartened by the lack of mention of the Swazi Tinkundla Regime. We welcome the role South Africa is playing on the NEPAD Presidential Infrastructure Championing Initiative; we believe this will lead to greater regional integration and intra-African trade which will lead to the development of our continent.
Contact
Ngoako Selamolela, SASCO President, 071 875 2224
Themba Masondo, SASCO Secretary General, 079 199 3421
Drop the invisible hand; exert a stronger hand on Capital in the interest of the working class; SASCO's Response to the 2013 Budget Speech
28 February 2013
The South African Students' Congress notes the presentation of the 2013 Budget by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan. We note that this Budget is delivered amidst slow recovery globally from the capitalist crisis and slow growth rates in the developing world. We also note that our government has not heeded our call to drop the neo-liberal National Development Plan, which seeks to keep the status core in terms of the ownership and structure of our economy.
We reject the notion that the NDP enjoys support from all South Africans and want to be counted amongst those that fundamentally differ; we maintain that it is a recycling of the same macro-economic policy that has failed our country by producing these high levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty. We are in agreement with the Minister that the challenges of our country will not be eradicated overnight but need a concerted effort from all role players in our economy.
We believe that a true radical transformation and paradigm shift can never be achieved through the NDP but through an egalitarian economic trajectory guided by the objectives of the Freedom Charter. We share the Ministers concern on the 7% increase in import whilst exports have increased by a percent, which exposes the consumption pattern of our economy and poor levels of productivity, mainly a result of low investment by capital in the local productive economy. We also have the following views on other aspects of the 2013 Budget;
Education
We welcome that almost a quarter of the budget was spent on education, sports and culture which amounted to about R233 Billion. We are pleased that a special allocation of R23.9 Million was made for school infrastructure and we expect that Provincial Education departments should ensure that the days of mud schools in South Africa are a thing of the past. We will be monitoring that this happens because of the great infrastructure backlogs in our rural and township schools. We also welcome the R700 Million allocation for the recapitalization of technical secondary schools in South Africa. This vindicates our call that vocational learning in secondary education is paramount to the skills revolution, and we expect this allocation should not just reach model-c schools who already have equipped workshops. We are encouraged by the steps to prioritize Early Childhood Development (ECD); we believe this is an important step to fixing the challenges in our education system.
We note the increase in the allocation for Higher Education institutions, but our concerns about the Funding Model of Higher Education remains. We are optimistic that the Ministerial Review Committee on funding will address our concerns that the current model seeks to benefit advantaged institutions at the expense of black disadvantaged institutions. We are disgruntled at the pronouncement of an increase on student enrolment in higher education institutions from 910 00 in 2012 to 990 000 in 2015. We believe this increase does not take into account important factors such as population growth, the increasing demand for higher education which is also driven by improved performance of matriculants. This figure does not take into account what the millions of young people who are outside of the post schooling system, including those who have dropped out that, by the Ministers own acknowledgement, must be in the post schooling system.
Even though the Minister mentioned the construction of two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape which is expected to begin later this year, he failed to inform the nation of the funding thereof. We believe the Minister also missed an opportunity to allocate for the re-capitalization of many white elephant education facilities such as the Elijah Mango College of Education, where SASCO hosted its National General Council last year.
We are disappointed that the Minister made no mention and allocation of Free Quality Education in higher education. This we believe is a complete disregard of the ANC Mangaung Conference resolution that such a scheme should be introduced in 2014; we believe the Minister should have budgeted for this. We are concerned that National Treasury may be elevating itself beyond ANC program; this was also evident in its unilateral introduction of the rejected Youth Wage Subsidy. This is even more worrisome to us because this is the forth Budget of this administration which was mandated by Polokwane and the 2009 election Manifesto to introduce Free Quality Education till undergraduate level.
Social Spending
We take exception that the Minister can cut public spending by R10.4 Billion amidst such high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment. This reduction comes at a time where wages are below inflation, cost of living is high for the working class and poor. The cost-sharing model for public goods, which is a result of structural adjustment programs, is becoming unbearable for the working class and poor due to amongst others, Eskom's 16% electricity price hike proposal. We believe that the Minister should have rather considered cutting the wasteful expenditure in government departments and focus on combating crime which robs our nation of more than R40 Billion yearly. This R10.4 Billion could have been used to support job creation initiatives such as co-operative development, youth development and other social needs such as education and health. We are concerned that such reductions in social spending may lead us to austerity measure applied in the Eurozone.
We join the Minister in welcoming the great strides our government is making on Health, such as the increase in life expectancy, fight against HIV/AIID and TB and the piloting of the National Health Insurance (NHI). We welcome the infrastructure construction and refurbishments being undertaken in 1 967 health facilities and 49 nursing colleges. This is an indication of a government that cares for the livelihood of its people.
We welcome the subsidy of R275 for household with monthly income of R2 300 which accounts for almost 60% of South African Households for public goods such as electricity, water, and housing sanitation and refuse removals. However we remain concerned at the rising cost of these public services. We welcome increases on the social wage and believe these measures are important whilst our nation confronts the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Tax Policy
Whilst we welcome that the Minister has not increased taxes, particularly for the working class, we are concerned that the Minister did not introduce progressive taxation for the rich, business and higher echelons of the public sector, especially since our revenues fell by R16.3 billion than expected. This unfortunately means that capital will continue to benefit from super profits, and income inequalities in South Africa will persist. We welcome the personal income tax relief of R7 billion, we expected the Minister to introduce income threshold so that the rich don't benefit.
We note with scepticism the proposed youth employment incentive tax whilst we welcome the rejection of the Youth Wage Subsidy. We are concerned however that this could be a tactic to sneak in the rejected Subsidy under the carpet, and assure the South African working class and poor that we will guard this process as it unfolds in Nedlac and parliament. We are uncomfortable with continued incentivising of private capital in South Africa and the obsession to reduce cost of doing business at the expense of the working class and poor.
We again are convinced that the Minister missed an opportunity to introduce an Education Tax, which would tax capital, the higher echelons of both public and private sector to contribute to the funding of Free Quality Education. This would have increased revenue for the fiscus and lead to more young people entering the schooling system and therefore lowering number of employment seekers, whilst advancing the skills revolution.
We have always maintained that our government exerts a very soft hand on capital in South Africa, particularly foreign Monopoly Capital, which because of weak capital flight regulations, invests profits made in South Africa in their own countries. Finance Capital in particular and the big conglomerates controlling our Mineral and Energy Complex do not invest in the productive economy of South Africa and as the Minister mentioned avoid to pay tax in our country, this is part of the imperialist program to exploit our economy and condemn our people to poverty and underdevelopment. We call on the Minister to take practical steps with SARS to deal with this urgently, and we call for our ANC-led government to use its legislative muscle to regulate the flow of capital off our shores.
We are deeply concerned that beneficiaries of state tenders not only inflate prices, stealing billions from the state parse, but also refuse to pay taxes in South Africa. As much as this further justifies our case that the state should build its own capacity, we do believe that the state should blacklist those guilty of this crime against our people and should not award them further contracts. We welcome the efforts to deal with tax avoidance through trust funds.
Infrastructure and Spatial development
Our government is spending more than R800 billion on infrastructure development though the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordination Commission; this is a great step that all South African should celebrate. Of course the opposition in South Africa claims our government is not exercising leadership in the economy for political expediency, whilst in fact it is main constituency, private capital, which is not contributing to nation building. We again applaud our government and appreciate the progress in the Strategic Infrastructure Projects (SIPs) and their contribution to job creation. We however call for the government to ensure that these projects contribute to work placement and in-service training for our FET graduates and those from Universities of Technology.
SASCO is concerned about the high influx of our people into cities and towns and the report by the census that 62% of South African lives in towns and cities. This is a result of the spatial patterns of apartheid social geography, which concentrated economic activity in towns and cities where the white minority was located. It is therefore not a surprise that post Apartheid our people seeking employment opportunities and public services would migrate to urban areas.
As much as we agree with the integrated urban regeneration programs we strongly believe that rural development is the key to reversing spatial development. Our cities and towns have reached their zenith in term of expansion and therefore there is a growing need to build new work opportunities in the rural periphery and taking jobs to the people. We believe the Industrial Parks that are planned to be build should be directed to the rural areas to create economic activity there, advancing infrastructure development and creating employment opportunities. The need to build new cities in South Africa is overdue and this should also create markets for our rural co-operatives (particularly agricultural). Programs such as Agro-Processing would be beneficial to the rural youth and our Agricultural Colleges located in those areas.
Reserve Bank
We take this opportunity again to call for the nationalization of the Reserve Bank and the fast tracking of the registration of the Post Bank and Co-operative Banks in South Africa for financial inclusion of the working class and poor. We believe that the slow pace of the development of co-operative banks and registration of the Post Bank is amongst other a result of a Reserve Bank that represents the interest of foreign capital.
Regional Integration and BRICS
We welcome efforts to ensure that intra-trade in Africa are advanced for Africa's development. South Africa has been tasked by the African Union to Chair the commission on the advancement of the NEPAD Infrastructure program, which seeks to transform the bearers to African trade which are a result of poor infrastructure mainly. We believe we should play a leading role therefore in our trade relation with African countries and promote regional integration and move even beyond SADC region. We note the developments in BRICS countries particularly after the capitalist crisis, we are optimistic about the BRICS Development Bank, and will continue to take keen interest in the developing world and advance South to South development.
Fighting Corruption
Contrary to the opposition rhetoric we do welcome the efforts that our government agencies are doing to combat corruption, but the challenges still persist and therefore much more needs to be done. We welcome the plans to introduce a Chief Procument Officer and measures stated by the Minister that have been taken by SARS, Treasury and the Financial Intelligence Centre. We are concerned at the high levels of tender fraud in South Africa and have always raised our conviction that a tender system is inherently corrupt. Unlike the opposition which calls for cosmetic changes in procument we have made the case for the state to build its own capacity and for the transformation of the capitalist mode of production in South Africa and the world which promotes greed and therefore reproduces corruption.
The believe the Minister played into liberal sentiments by omitting to speak to corruption in the private sector which continues to further exploit the working class and poor. Capital in South Africa and particularly Monopoly Capital continue to fix prices and inflate costs, which directly affects the working class and poor who have to bare the brunt by increased food prices or rising cost of living. We believe the Minister should have taken the opportunity to put practical and decisive measures to curb this corruption.
Contact:Ngoako Selamolela, SASCO President, 071 875 2224
Themba Masondo, SASCO Secretary General, 079 199 3421
