The post-apartheid state unravelling from the start - Vavi

Pretoria - South Africa is at junk status because President Jacob Zuma is unable to pursue radical economic transformation, trade unionist Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday.

The post-apartheid state had been falling apart from the beginning, allowing SA to become one of the most unequal societies in the world, the founder of trade union federation Saftu said at a debate entitled "Is post-apartheid South Africa unravelling?".

"The contract that existed between the ANC and people of South Africa has unravelled because, after two decades of democracy and freedom, the crisis that has always been there facing black workers in the main has simply got worse."

Professor Mcebisi Ndletyana said events in post-apartheid democracy did not add up to what was promised.

Vavi said this was the reason for record-breaking levels of unemployment, in particular of black people, women, and youth.

"That's why we have so many people in despair. That's why we’re losing our youth to nyaope, wonga and criminality. That's why there's a dying sense of togetherness and hope," he said.

Zuma, Gordhan have same beliefs

Vavi criticised Zuma for ignoring the plight of the nation and its workers. He was ensuring that his family ate first, followed by the elite around him.

"The political crisis playing itself out in the economy is going to affect the working class and poor in indescribable ways. We have a crisis of capitalism, a system that was never deigned to address the interests of ordinary people. But more importantly, it's a crisis of the cut-throat laissez-faire fundamentalist capitalist system which is being led by Jacob Zuma," he said.

Historically, Zuma had never been a radical, or a pursuer of radical economic transformation. Vavi also blamed Zuma for SA being downgraded to junk status by ratings agencies.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, like his predecessor Pravin Gordhan, would pursue neo-liberal and pro-business policies, he added.

Ideologically, both Zuma and Gordhan held the same beliefs as they had reduced tax for white-owned monopoly capitalists, making no provision for radical economic transformation. This would have a devastating effect in a few years.

"When the rhetoric ends, you must go and check how many workers are going to be losing their jobs, and how many of you in the middle strata are going to start having their houses repossessed, their cars repossessed, and everything falling apart," he said.

He was asked about his reasons for backing Save SA's protests against Zuma, a supposedly well-funded machine being driven by white monopoly capital. Vavi said their funding came from 700 000 trade union members, not Save SA or white monopoly capital. - News24

Gordhan to blame for junk status - Moonsamy

South Africans should blame the country's credit ratings downgrade on former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, former Economic Freedom Fighters treasurer Magdalene Moonsamy said on Tuesday.

Gordhan presided over the country becoming one of the most unequal societies in the world, alongside Brazil, she said at a seminar entitled "Is the post-apartheid state unravelling?"

The discussion centred on inequality, the grip of white-owned monopoly capital on the country, and President Jacob Zuma's actions over the past few weeks.

"No, the apartheid state is not unravelling; we haven't been able to unravel the structures that continue to control," Moonsamy said.

"Not for a moment can we allow ourselves to say that this current dispensation has depleted the state to the point that we have junk status. It was in the hands of a finance administration in the form of a minister. That minister knew that there was a junk status coming."

'Weather man'

She borrowed the words of SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago's speech on Monday, when he said South Africans must depend on the "weather man".

"The minister of finance is meant to be the weather man. He is meant to ensure that when the storm is coming, we are ready," said Moonsamy.

Moonsamy said blacks had suffered under apartheid and were still suffering.

"What we know is that the wealthy are not going to be affected by junk status because they don't need credit. They are not the facilitators or users of credit. They may be the dispensers of it, but they are not directly involved with the need for it," she said.

Black First Land First's Andile Mngxitama welcomed Gordhan's removal from the post because he opposed Zuma's quest for "economic liberation".

"President Zuma is providing direction as to where change should go. He is saying let us move away from all the things we have done now, and let us have radical transformation."

Mngxitama said Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba would also need to be sacked if he pursued Gordhan's neo-liberalism. - News24