Zukile Majova
The government promised salary increases for public servants every year for three years, but couldn’t honour the last leg of this progression agreement.
This is putting the government against the unions who are under the umbrella of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
The unions however are ignoring a Constitutional Court ruling that found the three-year agreement was irregular, making it impossible for the Ramaphosa government to implement the agreement.
Last week, Gwede Mantashe, a Ramaphosa loyalist in the ANC succession race, was booed and heckled off the stage by union delegates at a Cosatu congress.
The hostile treatment has strained relations in the ruling tripartite alliance of the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP.
This week, South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) bosses had to assure the president he would not be heckled when addressing its National General Council, currently underway at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park on Tuesday.
The National Governing Council (NGC) was also addressed by SACP Secretary Solly Mapaila and newly elected Cosatu Secretary Solly Phetoe.
“This NGC will be sitting for the first time since the government’s failure to honour the last leg of Resolution 1 of 2018 which resulted in public service employees not receiving salary increases in 2020,” the union said in a statement.
“This reneging by the government has strained the relations between government and labour.”
Ramaphosa is relying on thousands of Cosatu members who are also card carrying members of the ANC to support his bid for a second term at the ANC elective conference in December.
Following Mantashe’s public shaming, last week, Ramaphosa has assured the unions that he will do whatever it takes to stop the alliance from collapsing.
“We are not going to allow the alliance to fade into history. This is too important. And in fact, without the alliance, this country will be in trouble,” Ramaphosa said during his Letsema Campaign in Kimberly, Northern Cape.
In May, Cosatu members booed Ramaphosa during a rally to celebrate May Day in Rustenburg, forcing him to abandon the rally.
