COSATU Freedom Day statement 2017
The Congress of South African Trade Unions calls upon all its members and every South African to join the celebrations of Freedom Day on the 23rd anniversary of our first democratic elections held on the 27th April 1994. South Africa has seen great progress since the historical democratic breakthrough. Since 1994 bout 2, 8 million government subsidised houses and over 875 000 serviced sites have been delivered allowing approximately 12,5 million people access to accommodation and an asset.
We have seen more than 1 500 health facilities being built since 1994 and access to sanitation services increased from 50 percent of households in 1994 which were mainly whites to 83 percent of households in 2011/12. Access to water increased from 60 percent of households in 1994 to 95 percent of households in 2012 and also access to electricity has improved from 50 percent of households in 1994 to 86 percent of households in 2012
Since 1994, we have also seen an introduction of Basic Conditions of Employment Act in 1997, which sets minimum standards to prevent unacceptable working conditions that impose social, economic and health care costs on society benefits more than 4, 6 million workers in 2012. The CCMA provides free, accessible and speedy dispute resolution services and has achieved 70 percent settlement rate in 2013 compared to 17 percent pre 1994 under the Industrial Court which mainly favoured bosses.
Before 1994, workers were treated little better than slaves, hired and fired at the whim of bosses, forced to work long hours for poverty pay, often forced to live in unhealthy single-sex compounds and brutally attacked when they stood up for their rights. Today we are legally free to organise in unions and bargain collectively and are protected by laws which guarantee minimum employment standards.
But while Freedom Day is a time to congratulate ourselves, it must also be a time for find ways to solve the many problems that still afflict our lives. We still have more than 17 million South Africans on welfare and unemployment is sitting at 35%. We are seeing increase in public and private sector corruption. Companies are colluding and senior executives are paying themselves millions in bonuses, while workers are losing their jobs and are facing retrenchments.
We are still to see economic emancipation for the black majority, because the economy is still at the hands of the white minority. We reiterate our call for every worker, and all South Africans to celebrate Freedom Day actively, by attending the many events around the country, and then on Monday 1 May, we want to see workers in their thousands flooding into the May Day rallies around the country.
Statement issued by COSATU, 27 April 2017
