NEHAWU condemns utterances by Minister of Finance on government considering retrenching public servants
11 November 2022
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] strongly condemns utterances by Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana that government may have to consider retrenching public servants to bring the wage bill to more sustainable levels.
As NEHAWU, we deplore any plans by government to retrench workers which would result in a job bloodbath. We deem the utterance by the Minister as reckless and a serious provocation. We want to send a strong warning to the Minister and government, that we will fight with all in our power any retrenchments.
The country is in the midst of crisis levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality and yet the Minister of Finance is fixated on retrenchments and cutting the public service wage bill. The South African economy still remains in doldrums with a negative growth in the second quarter. Instead of providing concrete and tangible solutions to the crisis of unemployment that is sitting at a record 44% mostly affecting youth and women, in his myopic mind, retrenchments are a solution. The reckless utterances by the Minister goes totally against resolutions of the Presidential Jobs Summit on creating more jobs and decent jobs and also protecting the existing jobs.
We refute the notion that public service is bloated and requires reduction. As things stand, the public service is understaffed in health, education and policing as a result of austerity measures which has led to the weakening of state capacity to deliver quality services to a growing population. Our members are required to go an extra mile in delivering quality service as a result of staff shortage.