SA workers are taken for a ride

If anybody had any doubts about South Africa being in the throes of a dog-eatdog capitalist system and that it is a neocolonialist state, it must now be clear to them with the proposal by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the R20 minimum wage for workers.

Another example is the sky-rocketing prices of commodities and retrogressive taxation in which corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes.

Is the ANC government not using double standards when it works out the wages of South African workers based on the value of the rand (ZAR) but when it sells petrol to the same workers, it bases the price on the United States dollar (USD)?

R20 is equivalent to $1.62; the global average price of petrol per litre is $1.15, equivalent to R14.23. This means after purchasing a litre of petrol from his/her hour’s labour, the SA worker is left with R5.77 which is 46 US cents. So, the worker is working for $1.62 per hour.

Basically, Ramaphosa is suggesting that SA workers be paid a minimum wage of $1.62. The minimum wage per hour in the US is $10.10 which is about R123.75 and the price of petrol per litre in the US is about 0.75 cents. After purchasing a litre of petrol from his/her hour’s labour, a US worker is left with $9.35. A US worker gets $8.48 more per hour than a SA worker doing the same job. This is unconscionable and morally reprehensible.

Platinum and gold are dollar denominated but SA miners are not paid in dollar terms but in rands. Why is this gross injustice and super exploitation allowed to happen?

Australian miners receive a million Australian dollars (AUD) per annum with better working conditions than South African miners. 1AUD = 9.50 ZAR) – think about it.

It means an Australian mineworker earns R9.5-million per annum.

Let me conclude by posing the question Onkgopotse Tiro posed in his 1972 graduation speech: will we ever get a fair deal in this land of our forefathers? Sam Ditshego, e-mail