By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the sacrifices of workers and those particular individuals who helped South Africa achieve freedom from Apartheid, must be celebrated.
Ramaphosa spoke at the trade union federation Cosatu’s main May Day rally in Western Cape on Wednesday.
Thousands of people participated in a rally at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Workers’ Day.
“We celebrate the achievements of the workers of our country. We remember the generations of worker leaders, organisers, shop stewards and unionists who fought for the rights of all workers and the freedom of our people,” Ramphosa said.
The president said sacrifices were made and lives were lost to attain South Africa’s freedom.
Ramaphosa assured workers that their rights to collective bargaining and going on strike would still be protected.
He said workers asked for the SRD to be extended until the introduction of the Universal Basic Income.
“When we introduced the SRD grant, the R350, it was you (Cosatu) who said that we want that to be extended until we get to the stage of having a basic income grant, and we are on the way to move in that direction, urged by yourselves, we will be able to get there,” Ramaphosa said.
The president’s latest statements echo the intentions he set out during his February State of the Nation Address.
At the time, he said the SRD Grant would be extended and amended to form part of the Basic Income Grant.
During the 2024 Budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the SRD grant would be extended to 2025, and the government has provisionally allocated funding for the SRD until March 2027.
The SRD grant was allocated R33.6 billion in 2024/25 (with the hike to R370 later adding about R2.2 billion to that), with provisional allocations of R35.2 billion and R36.8 billion for the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years.
Outside of its intent to eventually introduce a basic income grant in South Africa, Ramaphosa and Treasury have been vague on the details and the financing plan.
Godongwana said in March that, if properly managed, South Africa can afford to roll out a basic income grant and that the question wasn’t whether a grant was coming but rather how it would be funded.
The ANC has previously suggested that the grant be funded through a wealth tax, closing tax loopholes, addressing base profit shifting by corporations, and implementing a transactions tax.
Ramaphosa has also called on workers to ensure the African National Congress (ANC) gets an outright majority at the polls later this month.
“The workers and people of this country are not going to allow the ANC to go below 50%. They are working for an outright majority of the ANC.”
The ANC president also took the opportunity to throw some jabs at the Democratic Alliance (DA), predicting that the ANC could take control of the province.
“Here in the Western Cape, we are going to show those who believe that this province belongs to them that the ANC is coming after you.
“There’s only one political organisation that has advanced the interests of workers. All the others that are out in the field campaigning do not have the good intentions to advance the rights of the workers like the ANC has done in government. So, remember that as workers as we go to the polls.”
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Zingiswa Losi said, they’re not worried about the federation’s 1.6 million members and how they will vote because the ANC had done a lot for workers in the last 30 years.
“That is why we are saying it is by what the ANC has done for our people that workers will vote for the ANC. We are not worried, we know Cosatu has 1.6 million members.”
Although the event was dedicated for workers, it was dominated by electioneering as parties crisscross the country to woo voters ahead of the polls.
Meanwhile Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema has called on the people of Hamanskraal, north of Pretoria not to use emotions but their minds when they vote on May 29th.
Malema was addressing hundreds of workers at the Temba Sports ground as part of the EFF Workers Day celebrations .
Although the event was dedicated for workers, it was dominated by electioneering as parties crisscross the country to woo voters ahead of the polls.
Democratic Alliance (DA) federal leader, John Steenhuisen, says with more than 11 million unemployed people in the country, Workers’ Day should not be celebrated.
He was delivering the main address at the party’s May Day celebrations in Mitchells Plein on the Cape Flats.
The DA leader blamed the ruling party for allowing unemployment figures to rise above the 30% mark.
Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, says his party’s priority is to ensure that there is a person with a job in every home.
He was speaking to supporters during what he termed a “non-Workers’ Day” mass protest in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Velenkosini Hlabisa says that South Africans do not have much to celebrate 30 years into democracy as the country battles a high unemployment rate, an increase in crime and load shedding.
Hlabisa was speaking at the IFP’s campaign trail in Embalenhle, Mpumalanga on Wednesday.
The IFP leader says the billions of rand lost through corruption via State Capture could have been used to alleviate some of the problems facing the country.