Little cheer for the poor as SA marks Human Rights Month
Unions, civic bodies say we could have done much better
As South Africans conclude the commemoration of Human Rights Month, workers’ unions, civil society organisations and businesses have lamented the socioeconomic challenges they face, which include high unemployment, inequality, widespread poverty and slave wages.
They believe that the government and private sector must collaborate to overcome these issues.
Matthew Parks, Cosatu acting national spokesperson, said although the government had made progress in enhancing working conditions, a lot more still needed to be done to improve workplaces.
“Cosatu takes pride in the way we have solidified workers’ rights, but more work has to be done to make sure that labour laws keep up with changes in the economy and labour market. These include shielding regular workers such as musicians, actors, and artists from being denied their human and labour rights,” he said.
Parks also said a lot more still needed to be done to make sure that employers obey the law, especially in industries such as agriculture, domestic labour, construction, cleaning and the security industry where there is a high rate of violations of the rights of workers.
He further said that when it came to upholding our legal system, which includes the right of employees to a safe workplace, the government, businesses, and society must all play their part.
“We cannot carry on normalising the weekly deaths of police officers and miners that occur while they are doing their jobs. We also must not put up with the mistreatment and intimidation of female employees,” he said.
Parks also said it was unacceptable for captains of industry in large private enterprises to pay their staff slave wages while the bosses coined it.
“The private sector must contribute in some way. It seems inconceivable that the chief executive officers of massive mining, financial, and retail companies make hundreds of thousands of rands a day, while cashiers, bank tellers, and mine employees would be lucky to make [a living] .
“There will never be sufficient resources available to the state to boost the economy and lower unemployment,” he said.
Corporate citizens also need to come to the party.
He added that there must be a stronger commitment from the private sector to help and invest in regional companies.
The spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Phakamile Hlubi-majola, said that 30 years into democracy, South Africa continued to struggle with high unemployment and extreme inequality, with many of its citizens wallowing in abject poverty while a small and privileged minority live in opulence.
“The working class is suffering as a result of capitalism’s inability to improve the lives of common people. With cripplingly high unemployment and poverty, where many people are living in poverty and a small number of billionaires are getting richer, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world.
“The Sharpeville community’s sacrifices (especially those who were massacred by the apartheid security forces while in protest of the oppressive laws) cannot be in vain. Nationalising the land and minerals for the benefit of many, not just a wealthy few is one conscious decision that must be made if we genuinely wish to honour them,” Hlubi-majola said.
Poor people still do not have adequate access to essential amenities, according to Thapelo Mohapi, general secretary of the informal shack dwellers movement Abahlali base Mjondolo.
He said the impoverished and disenfranchised have not benefited from democracy.
“The impoverished never get better. The current state of unemployment, poverty and inequality surpasses that of apartheid. Shack communities are still unable to obtain necessities like clean water and sanitary facilities. Evictions are still violent. To get to the closest medical services, people in rural areas still must travel far. Farmers who view their worker as less than humans continue to illtreat them,” Mohapi said.
“We have not been treated like human beings for 30 years. We will not celebrate Human Rights Day if our humanity and dignity are not acknowledged. We won’t celebrate if rights on paper don’t translate into actual rights.”
The chief executive officer (CEO) of the Black Business Council, Kganki Matabane, said while there has been significant progress in South Africa over the past 30 years to ensure that human rights are protected, he noted that unemployment and black people’s lack of full economic ownership remain issues.
“We should respect and defend our rights as human rights. The problem we face is that the high rate of unemployment in the nation prevents us from exercising our freedom to work. While there has been some development in the business sector over the past 30 years, it has been extremely gradual,” he said.
He said black people own less than 5% of the economy, and white men make up 70% of the CEOS of listed businesses on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.