Income Grant for South Africa Poor On Cosatu's Agenda

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 02 January 2007 @ 03:49 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

JOHANESBURG (IBTimes.com) - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will pull out all stops next year to push for economic transformation to benefit the poor, including punting for a basic income grant. The federation wants the African National Congress (ANC) to adopt a policy on the grant at the ruling party's policy conference in the middle of next year.

Earlier this year Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya told Parliament he supported "something like" a grant. He said government had "not yet decided to institute the basic income grant. We are working towards something like that. It has not been policy so far. I believe we do need something like this."

Although civil society groups have said a projected budget surplus could tempt government to introduce a basic income grant, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has insisted it is not affordable. Some economists also do not support the grant for the same reason, with Pan African Capital Holdings chief economist Iraj Abedian warning that the grant will usher in a culture of entitlement that would not be easy to get rid of.

Cosatu has taken issue with the fact that although there has been economic growth, this has not translated into the creation of sufficient jobs. Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in the federation's end-of-year statement that statistics showed that of the unemployed, nearly 70% were younger than 35, and most of them were black.

"This is a ticking bomb, another 1976 waiting to happen," he said. Last week Young Communist League national secretary Buti Manamela warned that if there was no change in SA's economic policies, which were not benefiting the majority, violence could not be ruled out among the country's youth.

"There is a deep-seated frustration among the working-class youth over issues such as unemployment, HIV/AIDS and poverty. They keep on smelling the gravy and that in itself is a recipe for disaster," he said. Cosatu and the South African Communist Party believe that government's economic policies, which they say have been hijacked by capitalist elements, favour business interests and a few black elite over the poor.

"Next year, Cosatu will move to new levels of campaigning on ... social and economic demands to levels not seen before," Craven said. "It cannot be business as usual when our freedom is in danger of being freedom for far too few.... We shall, as never before, point out that economic policies and strategies pursued thus far have failed the majority."