Most South African families face a bleak festive season due to economic hardship caused by unemployment, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) said on Friday.
”The challenge is for us to join forces with workers and their unions to push for fair employment conditions, pay and respect for labour, especially among domestic and farm workers,” said PAC president Letlapa Mphahlele in his Christmas message.
Mphahlele said that in 2006 South Africans witnessed how greed trapped financial officials, judging from the numerous scandals in the government.
”Rampant corruption emerged as the lady many government officials wanted to take to the dance floor.
”What is mind-boggling is that the few directors continued to receive without restraint huge pay packages and bonuses while ordinary workers continued to be ignored,” he said.
He urged South Africans to ”mobilise into one indivisible force” against the HIV/Aids pandemic as the government has ”let every one of us down” with confusing messages on the ”disease that has declared itself the enemy of our people”.
”May all refrain from excessive drinking and drive responsibly to save our lives and those of others,” said Mphahlele. — Sapa