Education is a right, not privilege – union

There is no political will by government to address free education, minimum wage and all issues that affect the working class people in the country.

This was a strong message from Cosatu Gauteng provincial secretary, Dumisani Dakile, during a media briefing at Cosatu House in Johannesburg yesterday.

He said there is always an excuse by the government when it comes to addressing matters affecting the poor.

“There is no political will, not only on free education but also on all issues affecting the working class, including health-care, labour brokers, casualisation of labour and national minimum wage. There is always a problem or an excuse, there must be feasibility studies first, yet such feasibility studies are not mentioned when big capitalist projects are done,” Dakile said.

Cosatu in the province expressed support for the student struggles for free education at universities and will join students in a march on October 14 to the Chamber of Commerce.

The federation provincial chairperson Vusi Monyela said they support the students’ call for free education but added that the education mustn’t be just free – it must also be compulsory.

“Education is a right and not a privilege that should be commercialised and profits derived from,” Monyela said.

“The challenges in our country require a serious investment in the education system by both the state and the private sector as major beneficiaries of the system.”

The federation suggested that if corporates contributed one percent each from their billion rands reserves and government properly utilised funds from the fiscus, free education is possible from early childhood up to higher education level.

During their marches, Cosatu will submit a draft tax amendment to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to indicate how the state and business will fund free education.

The labour body said Gordhan must reveal his plan to fund free education in his mid-term budget speech next month.

The federation said President Jacob Zuma must also give clear political direction on the matter during his National Address in February next year.

Cosatu provincial treasurer Thabang Sonyathi said they demand a complete scrapping of e-tolls on the Gauteng highways to be replaced by a safe and reliable public transport system.

Cosatu maintains the e-toll system is unworkable and a disaster that resulted in the ANC losing the Tshwane and Joburg metros and the Mogale City municipality to DA-led coalitions in the recent municipal elections.