COSATU concerned at Youth Festival ‘chaos'

The Congress of South African Trade Unions deplores the reported  ‘shambles' at the World Youth and Student Festival in Tshwane (see report). COSATU understands that speakers were not confirmed and did not arrive, seven out of yesterday's 18 seminars were cancelled and visitors complained of "bad food, a lack of transport and poor co-ordination of accommodation arrangements".

What particularly angers the federation is that R40 million has been donated to the Festival organisers by the National Lotteries Board, whose money comes overwhelmingly from workers and the poor who buy lotto tickets in the hope that they might escape from their poverty. An additional R29 million has come from the taxpayers.

While COSATU hopes that the organisation of the Festival will improve over the rest of the week, we demand that there be a full audit of how the people's money from the NLB and the government was spent.

Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, December 15 2010

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter