COSATU's response to F W de Klerk
The Congress of South African Trade Unions rejects totally the absurd assertion by former President FW de Klerk that "the main inequality divide in South Africa is no longer between blacks and whites, but between unionised and employed workers on the one hand, and unemployed on the other".
This assertion flies in the face of the vast and still growing inequality between, on the one hand, all the working class - employed and unemployed - and on the other hand, the capitalist companies which control the economy.
In 2008 the top 20 paid directors of the JSE listed companies earned an average of R59 million a year each, 1735 times as much as the R34 000 that the average employee was earning in 2009.
One the other hand differences within the working class, between the vast majority of employed workers and the unemployed is negligible, despite De Klerk's claim that the mineworkers' earnings are 20 times higher than their unemployed neighbours in Marikana.
He does not explain how he arrives at that figure but even if it is true, a differential of 20 times is nothing remotely comparable to the 1735 times differential between workers and chief executives? All it shows is not how well paid the workers are but how desperately poor the unemployed are, which is well known.