Cosatu divided on Gigaba’s proposal

THE Cosatu leadership seems divided on Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s proposal that state employees’ pension money should be used to bail out the struggling national carrier, SA Airways (SAA).

Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini told Independent Media that Gigaba made the proposal during the labour federation’s three-day central executive committee (CEC) in Joburg this week.

“The minister (Gigaba) said they are looking at a range of options about what to do regarding our state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including SAA. He said using pension money in the Public Investment Corporation could be one of the options. For us the most critical thing is to stabilise the SOEs and to ensure good governance is in place. Cosatu has not taken a decision on whether we agree or not with the minister’s proposal. We still need to engage on that.”

But Dlamini’s first deputy, Tyotyo James, and the deputy general secretary Solly Phetoe had said they wouldn’t allow state pension money to be thrown at the “corrupt SAA”.

The pair were adamant that no taxpayers’ money should be used to bail out SAA.

Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said: “We also received a presentation from ( Gigaba)) on the state of the economy.

“We have agreed that going forward we will continue to engage with the minister, including convening a bilateral to respond to some of the issues raised by the minister in his presentation (to the CEC).”