Ace fights VAT hike
Secretary-general in surprise call to members of ANC to join Cosatu strike against 15% tax rate
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has called on party members to join workers when they protest against the increase in value-added tax.
The VAT increase was announced in February by then finance minister Malusi Gigaba to raise additional revenue in order to meet the budget shortfall. The move was criticised as it would impact heavily on ordinary citizens.
Magashule’s remarks are a clear contradiction to the position of the ANC-led government moreover as he is the custodian of the party.
“We must walk the talk. ANC branches on the ground must join the workers when the workers fight against VAT. SACP and Cosatu have raised this issue of VAT,” Magashule said during the May Day rally in Vanderbijlpark yesterday.
This comes at the time trade unions are gearing up for a fight following the increase of VAT from 14% to 15% with effect from last month. The move will see consumers paying more for all goods except certain food items such as maize meal. Following Gigaba’s announcement, the government said it was considering to add more basic goods to the list of zero-rated foodstuffs as an attempt to mitigate the impact of the hike on the poor.
Cosatu Gauteng secretary Dumisani Dakile agreed with Magashule, saying: “We agree with him on this one. He is quite correct. You can’t remove ANC members from community issues. ANC members are still affected by the hardships.”
The rally was also attended by ANC Gauteng acting chairman David Makhura, SACP national chairman Senzeni Zokwana, ANC NEC member Jeff Radebe and Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali.
Magashule also called for unity between the ANC’s alliance partners – Cosatu and the SACP – ahead of next year’s general elections.
Relations between the partners became strained after Cosatu and the SACP called on former president Jacob Zuma to step down. Cosatu and the SACP appear to have softened their stance following the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president in December.
Magashule said unity was possible. “We must revive the alliance. We must build the unity and cohesion as a banner of Cosatu today in defence of the revolution. When Cosatu emerged in 1985 as a federation we said we want one country one federation.
“If we want [steel and mining company] Arcelor Mittal to be nationalised, we can’t do so if we are not united. We must make sure as the workers have said we must nationalise the Reserve Bank.”
Ntshalintshali said: “The
‘‘ ANC must deliver. It is payback time. We are asking for jobs and the end of corruption
raise this issue,” he said.
Earlier, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande described criticism of the national minimum wage rate of R20 per hour as an “opportunistic reaction”.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has been critical of Cosatu’s approval of the R20-an-hour minimum wage, calling for a R12 500 monthly rate.
Cosatu was one of three federations that took part in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the draft policy.
“Let’s not react opportunistically on the national minimum wage. We can’t, therefore, say it is going to benefit six ANC must deliver... It is payback time. We are asking for jobs and the end of corruption. The ANC must ban labour brokers because it is in power.”
Makhura announced that the Gauteng government has decided to officially declare Cosatu’s first president Elijah Barayi’s grave a heritage site.
“We never forget workers who fought for the national liberation in this country.” million workers and say it’s all or nothing,” Nzimande said. In the same breath, he called for unity in the labour movement, saying the country needed “broad working class unity”.
“Unless workers take responsibility for their country, we are going to be in a big problem,” he said. Land reform must be about real empowerment and not just slogans‚ said DA leader Mmusi Maimane at the Workers’ Day celebration with farmworkers in Wellington, Western Cape, yesterday.
“Land reform should be about both justice and economic opportunity. Expropriation without compensation will satisfy neither of these two conditions,” Maimane said.
“It will not return land to the people who were dispossessed‚ and it will diminish economic opportunities in this country.”
He said the ANC had voted along with the EFF in parliament to scrap Section 25 of the constitution and open the door for expropriation without compensation. He said the ANC had made a mess of land reform for the past 24 years‚ and sought a quick way to deflect the attention and blame anything other than themselves.
Meanwhile, EFF who held their Workers’ Day rally in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, called on a total ban of labour brokers and insourcing of workers in government and other public institutions, including universities.
In its statement, the party condemned the Department of Health for what it called “exploitative conditions under which medical staff work”.
“We call on the Minister of Health [Aaron Motsoaledi] to immediately ensure the payment of doctors... who have not been paid their overtime,” the EFF said.