COSATU Notes Government’s Efforts to Restore Law and Order and Reestablish Economic Supply Lines in KwaZulu-Natal and Parts of Gauteng

July 16, 2021

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes President Ramaphosa’s announcement of measures to address the violence in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. We welcome the efforts to restore law and order and reestablish economic supply lines in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng.

We hope the law enforcement organisations will learn lessons and improve their levels of efficiency. It is obvious that police need a people-centred approach that ensures that police officers form police partnerships with the communities they serve.

It is also clear now that with technological advancement, law enforcement agencies are now being forced to develop and improve their capacity to deal with the same anti-social and criminal behaviour, on the internet, that confronts them in the real-world.

Countries can be destroyed through the internet, and it is now obvious that the internet has become a new battleground where criminals engage in their nefarious activities.  We hope there would be no legal or bureaucratic bungling in this instance.

The Federation notes the work that is being done to put together a relief package. We expect it to include the following key components tabled by COSATU at Nedlac earlier this week:

Food parcels for affected communities who now have no money or place to buy food.

Reinstatement of the R350 Covid-19 Grant for all unemployed persons across the country.

Insurance relief from insurance companies and SASRIA for destroyed businesses and property.

Relief from government for those not covered by insurance.

Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Covid-19 TERS relief for workers from KZN and GP who will now lose wages and jobs as their workplaces have been destroyed.

Pension withdrawal relief for workers who have lost wages or are struggling.

Tax and municipal rates relief for affected businesses.

A revamped Loan Guarantee Scheme to assist companies to rebuild.

Bank loan and insurance policy payment holidays for affected workers and businesses.

Tripling the Presidential Employment Programme’s budget from R11 billion to R33 billion so that it can create at least 1 million jobs.

A moratorium on retrenchments by employers in both the private and private sector.

Mobilisation of donations to the Solidarity Fund to provide help to the indigent.

Practical actions by government and businesses to ramp up local procurement to help save countless companies and jobs.

A massive ramping up of the vaccine roll out programme so that the economy can emerge safely as soon as possible.

This must be finalised as a matter of the highest urgency because workers and their families have been left destitute by this chaos. 

Issued by COSATU.

Sizwe Pamla (Cosatu National Spokesperson)

Tel: 011 339 4911

Cell: 060 975 6794