COSATU Rejects the Institute of Race Relations’ Self Serving Proposals on the Economy
9 May 2016
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted and rejects the sneaky attempts and tactics by the Institute of Race Relations that is trying to use the 1, 2% contractions in the GDP ,to consolidate its own neoliberal ideology. It’s ludicrous to hear the proponents of a neoliberal ideology, saying the problem with government is that ideology is still too dominant a factor in policy formulation. They pretend as if the neoliberalism ideology they champion is not responsible for this economic crisis, and it’s not an ideology and an artificial construct but a supernatural phenomenon.
COSATU agrees with their assertion that we are on the brink of an economic recession and that all social partners, from labour, big business, government, including society; need to sit down and reconcile their competing claims to help the nation out of this economic quagmire. What we are not going to accept is for big business and their ardent supporters like IRR to shift the blame of ideological and economic failures of their capitalism to the working class, whilst at the same time they are opening more policy and political space to deepen their accumulation agenda.
Organisations like IRR are quick to call for changes to labour legislation, the reworking of foreign investment protections, and a complete redraft of pending expropriation legislation, as if that is a panacea to our economic problems. Their zeal for neoliberalism is so extreme, and they are so abnormally unreflective that they are not even realising that some ardent proponents of neoliberalism like the IMF are starting to question its effectiveness. A core of IMF economists has come out to say that some neoliberal policies instead of delivering growth, they have increased inequality, in turn jeopardizing strong economic expansion.
What they do not want to talk about is the fact that this economy has not been fundamentally transformed and is still biased towards the white minority. They do not tell us that government’s policies resulted in the same investors illicitly taking out billions of rands out of the country, dwarfing capital inflows, and stifling economic development. They reject the wealth tax because they want to protect the rich.
COSATU is fully supportive of any attempts to discuss and explore a developmental model that will be people centred, and acknowledge the South African economic and social history and dynamics and also unite all social partners. This economic crisis has exposed the shortcomings of neoliberalism and all those , who are still placing only neoliberal policies on the table and are pressuring the National Treasury to implement, will face stiff resistance from COSATU. We need to come up with policies that will rescue the poor from poverty , create jobs for the unemployed and not just to please and pacify the sovereign rating agencies.
Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Mobile: 060 975 6794
E-Mail: sizwe@cosatu.org.za
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11709#sthash.2CUP8gyn.dpuf
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted and rejects the sneaky attempts and tactics by the Institute of Race Relations that is trying to use the 1, 2% contractions in the GDP ,to consolidate its own neoliberal ideology. It’s ludicrous to hear the proponents of a neoliberal ideology, saying the problem with government is that ideology is still too dominant a factor in policy formulation. They pretend as if the neoliberalism ideology they champion is not responsible for this economic crisis, and it’s not an ideology and an artificial construct but a supernatural phenomenon.
COSATU agrees with their assertion that we are on the brink of an economic recession and that all social partners, from labour, big business, government, including society; need to sit down and reconcile their competing claims to help the nation out of this economic quagmire. What we are not going to accept is for big business and their ardent supporters like IRR to shift the blame of ideological and economic failures of their capitalism to the working class, whilst at the same time they are opening more policy and political space to deepen their accumulation agenda.
Organisations like IRR are quick to call for changes to labour legislation, the reworking of foreign investment protections, and a complete redraft of pending expropriation legislation, as if that is a panacea to our economic problems. Their zeal for neoliberalism is so extreme, and they are so abnormally unreflective that they are not even realising that some ardent proponents of neoliberalism like the IMF are starting to question its effectiveness. A core of IMF economists has come out to say that some neoliberal policies instead of delivering growth, they have increased inequality, in turn jeopardizing strong economic expansion.
What they do not want to talk about is the fact that this economy has not been fundamentally transformed and is still biased towards the white minority. They do not tell us that government’s policies resulted in the same investors illicitly taking out billions of rands out of the country, dwarfing capital inflows, and stifling economic development. They reject the wealth tax because they want to protect the rich.
COSATU is fully supportive of any attempts to discuss and explore a developmental model that will be people centred, and acknowledge the South African economic and social history and dynamics and also unite all social partners. This economic crisis has exposed the shortcomings of neoliberalism and all those , who are still placing only neoliberal policies on the table and are pressuring the National Treasury to implement, will face stiff resistance from COSATU. We need to come up with policies that will rescue the poor from poverty , create jobs for the unemployed and not just to please and pacify the sovereign rating agencies.
Sizwe Pamla (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Mobile: 060 975 6794
E-Mail: sizwe@cosatu.org.za
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11709#sthash.2CUP8gyn.dpuf
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