Cabinet ministers should conduct themselves as representatives of the people deployed to government office, and not as part of a ruling elite, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday.
Cosatu applauded African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe’s ”warning to politicians against alienating the people by abusing the trappings of power”, the federation said in a statement.
Cosatu endorsed Motlanthe’s view that special treatment for ministers, such as a special entrance at airports, embarking only once all other passengers had been seated, and having reserved seats on aircraft, could make them appear remote and ”create a gap with the people”.
”When the British Labour Party leaders first took office in the 1920s, they wore feudal ‘court dress’ when they went to meet the King.
”While this may have been a less serious matter than the political betrayals they committed later, it was a visible sign to the working-class voters who elected them that they now identified themselves as part of the ruling class.
”The ANC ministers must not make the same mistake, but at all times be seen to conduct themselves as representatives of the people deployed to government office, and not part of a ruling elite.”
Welcoming more spending on World Cup
Meanwhile, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Tuesday said that South African trade unions would welcome it if government spent more money on the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
President Thabo Mbeki and several government ministers met trade union leaders at the Presidential Trade Union Working Group meeting in Pretoria, where the 2010 Soccer World Cup was one of the issues on the agenda.
”We look at 2010 not just as an event that should happen in South Africa, but … in terms of what economic opportunities can it make to South Africa,” Vavi said afterwards.
This came only days after the World Cup organisers said that the cost of building new stadia and renovating others have shot up three-and-a-half times from an estimated R2,3-billion in 2004 to the latest figure of R8,352-billion.
”We support fully the spending of money, we would be the last to complain, money must be spent, but it must be spent on the economy and something that would create more jobs and infrastructure,” Vavi said, adding that the current spending would ensure that.
Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa said the money government was spending would ensure job creation. Skills development would be an added benefit.
”The way in which we are going to spend this money must be a way that not only enables us to host 2010 efficiently but it must also help us in dealing with other economic challenges,” he said. — Sapa