ANC and EFF MP’s block parliamentary meeting to save 350 000 sugar cane jobs
26 February 2019
Today, ANC MP’s in the Portfolio Committee on Trade & Industry voted down a request by the Democratic Alliance made on 11 February 2019 to hold an urgent joint portfolio committee meeting with Agriculture and Rural Development to urgently find solutions for the impending jobs blood bath in the sugar cane industry. The EFF chose to abstain from the vote effectively handing the ANC a victory.
What these MP’s have proven today is that they simply have no interest in the plight of 350 000 people from small scale farms, to development farmers and workers.
In a callous move, these MP’s believe that this crisis can simply wait until after the elections on the 8th of May 2019.
Job-losses of this kind will have a devastating impact on the forever growing unemployment figures. That is why I requested the Speaker of the National Assembly in a letter yesterday to grant an urgent request to table my debate of national importance on how we can save the sector and 350 000 jobs.