President’s speech just ‘business as usual’

SOME of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address was to be welcomed, but the rest was “business as usual”, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) said yesterday.

“We welcome his commitment to decisively deal with corruption, inefficiencies, and the backward culture of the government, which is not geared towards servicing the people,” Saftu said.

In particular, Saftu was very pleased by certain steps announced by Ramaphosa. These included complying with the Constitutional Court’s decisions and lower court decisions – an essential part of the hard-won constitutional order that would help fight against a predatory state.

“(As to) reviewing the size of the executive: (former) President Zuma had used the cabinet as a weapon to distribute patronage and it kept on expanding to the current unmanageable, inefficient elephant that cannot deliver any coherent programme,” Saftu said.

“(When it comes to) reviewing the management of the tax authorities, in our view the starting point must be the immediate dismissal and arrest of Sars commissioner Tom Moyane and his cronies, and ruthless pursuance of tobacco smugglers, those moving an estimated $23 billion (R267.43bn) annually and trade transfers.

“We offer to be partners of President Ramaphosa in this fight so we can help root out corruption. We will give him praise when he implements what he promised, but will be his critics should he fail to act decisively against the scourge of corruption.”

Saftu was, however, not pleased about the economic programme Ramaphosa articulated. “In fact, the Sona represents the old wine in new bottles. It’s the old neoliberal programme that has spectacularly failed to deliver a better life for all for 24 years now.” – African News Agency (ANA),