Unions and parties take stand against graft
ANTI-corruption demonstrators delivered memorandums at offices of the Gauteng legislature, the SA Chamber of Mines and the SA Reserve Bank yesterday.
The march, which was organised by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, saw political parties such as the EFF, Cope and the United Democratic Movement join with watchdog organisation Corruption Watch, the Right2Know campaign, various religious groups and civil organisations in making their rejection of graft clear.
The march is protected by Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act, which guarantees no disciplinary action against employees who take time off work to march.
At the provincial legislature, Numsa secretary Irvin Jim said South Africans had achieved political but not economic freedom.
He said his union would form a trade union federation and a workers’ political party because other political and labour formations had failed.
“This is now an independent union and it will not be converted into a political party.
“It will instead be a catalyst for workers,” he said to cheering marchers.
“They think we are joking in mobilising workers to build a new federation and a new political party to stand up for the working class.”
Numsa was expelled from trade union federation Cosatu earlier this year for bringing the federation into disrepute.
In the memorandum, the marchers demanded that the National Treasury compile names of all state entities and departments that did not procure from local businesses, as required by policy.
They also called on Sars and the SA Financial Intelligence Centre to investigate illicit financial flows out of the country, transfer pricing and money laundering, and to take strong action against the culprits. They further demanded the strengthening of the offices of the public protector and the auditor-general.
“The trick of trying to push for the merger of the public protector’s office and the Human Rights Commission being cooked by Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete, using Kader Asmal’s 2007 report, should be resisted,” read the memorandum.
Public Enterprises official Mzwandile Radebe received the memorandum on behalf of the government.
Representatives of the Mining-Affected Communities United in Action from Limpopo demanded that mines make the needs of surrounding communities a priority.
They called for mines to institute community shareholder schemes and employ local youth.
The chamber’s head of stakeholder relations, Vusi Mabena, accepted the memorandum and promised to forward the issues raised in it to the management.
Former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota had addressed the marchers earlier.
Numsa demanded that all entities respond to its memorandum by October 20.