COSATU statement on State Capture and Corruption national strike
11 September 2017
The recently held COSATU Central Executive Committee has resolved that the federation needs to embark on a national strike following the Section 77 Notice on State Capture and Corruption that was submitted to NEDLAC on 17th July 2017. What prompted this action were the revelations by the Public Protector that the current South African Administration has been captured and that there is a network of the predatory elite that is engaged in looting of state resources and corrupt activities
In order to promote and defend the interests of workers, the working class and the poor, this perilous situation must be addressed forthwith by mobilising against this predatory elite and pushing for processes that will ultimately dismantle their network.
COSATU will be making a series of demands during this upcoming strike and central to that will be implementation of the Public Protector’s recommendation regarding a Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
We shall be using the strike to push the President of the Republic of South Africa Cde Jacob Zuma to establish the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
The federation shall be demanding that the state and all its institutions must refuse to deal with the predatory elite and in particular cancel all commercial dealings with the Gupta family.
There must be a process to identify all those involved in state capture and they also need to be similarly blacklisted. The Asset Forfeiture Unit must seize the assets of the Guptas if the probe proves that they were not legitimately secured.
The state must terminate all the so-called “commercial relations” with the predatory elite’s network and the monies spent in these deals must be recovered.
All contracts which have been entered into with the Guptas, including mining licences, tenders, subsidies or other exercise of public power such as citizenships should be urgently reviewed by the Auditor General for irregularities, in order to develop a financial claim for monies corruptly secured.
The monies to be recovered must be re-directed to implement projects addressing the plight of workers, the working class and the poor.
We also demand an investigation of the recent spate of Gupta related emails and all those implicated in them have to be suspended.
Government Ministers who are implicated in alleged state capture activities must be urgently investigated and if no proper public explanation for their actions is acceptable they must be charged.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 11 September 2017
