POLOKWANE — The continuation of labour brokering in South Africa is an indication that the working class is not yet liberated — 20 years into democracy according to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu)’s deputy secretary in Limpopo — Rangers Molapo.
He was speaking during the Africa Day celebrations held in Polokwane where the labour federation is hosting its Zimbabwean counterpart, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
Molapo says government is moving at a snail’s pace to ban labour brokers.
“Mostly one of the thorny issues that makes us not to sleep as the labour federation. Labour brokering is like there is slavery in our own liberated country. So that one is a thorny issue and we feel that the comrades from Zimbabwe are facing similar challenges in terms of labour brokering. We do not want it to be liberated but we want it to be banned. Even if the country is liberated some of the workers cannot be liberated to an extent that capitalism is still taking the show,” said Molapo.
ZCTU deputy secretary-general, Gideon Shoko said they were losing thousands of members as factories were continuing to shut down due to the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe.
“If you look at the numbers, when we got independence we had about 2,5 million we are now standing at 150 000. That shows you a big loss of membership and we are saying if you look at January, 193 firms had closed. We are losing a lot of work force,” added Shoko.
— SABC
