The SACP supports meaningful, consensus-seeking engagement between the government and labour to resolve the problem of the new tax laws and put in place comprehensive social security
7 January 2016
The South African Communist Party has noted and welcomes President Jacob Zuma's assignment, as announced on Friday, 5 February, of the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Comrade Jeff Radebe to assist the National Treasury and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the discussions relating to the Tax Administration Amendment Act. The Act was signed into law without comprehensive social security, while curtailing workers' provident fund lump sums withdrawals to one-third and restricting the remaining two-thirds to retirement annuity. The SACP expressed serious concern about this and called on the government to ensure meaningful, consensus-seeking engagement with labour and put in place a process to establish comprehensive social security.
The SACP therefore also welcomes the appointment by the President of an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Comprehensive Social Security with a view to addressing existing gaps and weaknesses and ensuring the provision of comprehensive social security.
The SACP would like to emphasise the necessity and importance for intensifying the ongoing working class mobilisation and activism to shape the outcomes of both these processes. The SACP will continue to support workers in this and the wider struggle for economic emancipation. History has proven that without advancing its own interets there will be no one to do so for and on behalf of the working class!!
The SACP also calls on all those responsible for, to invest workers funds appropriately and in a manner that supports social security and transformation with focus on upgrading working class areas including rural development. The SACP will in this regard continue intensifying its Financial Sector Transformation Campaign and strengthen its efforts to ensure that workers have an ultimate say over their hard-earned resources and how they are invested.
Issued by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, National Spokesperson, Head of Communications, SACP, 7 January 2016
