Cosatu response to Mboweni’s plan expected soon

Trade union federation Cosatu discussed finance minister Tito Mboweni’s economic strategy document on Wednesday after it was released for public comment earlier this week.

Initial reactions from within the tripartite alliance have been cautious, with the partners opting to comment only after reading and discussing it.

After the central executive committee meeting this week, Cosatu is expected to be the first of the alliance partners to express a view on Mboweni’s plan. Cosatu forms part of the alliance, together with the SA Communist Party (SACP) and the ANC. The alliance partners are usually closely linked to policy discussions and decisions taken by the governing party.

The document released by the Treasury proposes critical reforms, saying SA’s economic trajectory is “unsustainable”.

It is not yet known what Cosatu’s position will be.

But given the nature of the proposed reforms, such as to consider selling Eskom’s coalfired power stations, some pushback is expected. Cosatu is opposed to privatisation.

Cosatu has previously called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Mboweni after his comments on e-tolls, which form part of a long-standing gripe the union federation has with the finance minister.

Mboweni’s release of the document late on Tuesday resulted in it being added to the agenda already dealing with the economy for discussion by Cosatu’s central executive committee on Wednesday.

Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the federation is expected to give its response to the document on Thursday after the meeting.

Enoch Godongwana, the ANC’s head of economic transformation, said the party’s economic transformation committee will discuss the document and comment on it later.

Godongwana was speaking at a Nedgroup Investment and Business Day function in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

He said the ANC’s problem was not a gap in policy but rather one of execution. Instead of assessing individual performances, the ANC would rather call a summit to evaluate the policy. This mindset should be changed to be geared towards execution, he said.

SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo said the party “noted” the release of the document and would go through it to produce an appropriate response.