While it can hardly be denied that striking public-service workers are struggling to make ends meet, is the government justified in stonewalling their demands? To be fair, there has been some movement across the gulf of contrasting positions. The unions were initially demanding a 12% increase, while the government said it was offering 6%.
Independent mediators put together a package last weekend that provides for a 7,25% increase. Though Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said this week that while the government was committed to occupation-specific packages that would improve salaries of certain public-service sectors, she would not be drawn on whether the government would accept the 7,25%. The unions, for their part, will probably settle for 8%.
Fraser-Moleketi said the proposed 7,25% increase would place a ‘serious burden” on the government and require committing funds beyond the medium-term expenditure framework.
Ever the voice of reason, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille argued recently that the government should be compensating public servants for the quality of their work instead of an across-the-board increase. This is a good idea, but any kind of performance management system is going to be difficult to implement.
In the meantime, schools are empty and hospitals understaffed.
Some observers say the strike is seen as spearheading the left’s challenge to win control of the African National Congress (ANC). Perhaps growing weary of bloated pork-barrel politicians, the strikers are now able to see the gap between the better life for all the ANC promised and their meagre pay cheque.
Steven Friedman, research associate at Idasa, sad this week, however, that the strike is about workers wanting to improve their employment situation. ‘The strike is not a contest between the ANC and labour; it’s a contest between the government and labour. Yes, it’s a government that’s governed by the ANC. The ANC has been very careful to just call for a negotiated settlement.”
Be that as it may, the government would do well to listen to the concerns of the petit bourgeoisie. Come 2009, it will need every vote it can get.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Thabo Mbeki
The President is to be commended for rejecting the findings of a commission that proposed pay hikes of up to 57% for government leaders. Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, however, quickly pointed out that it was wrong for unions to try to link current wage negotiations to the commission’s recommendations. Try telling that to a teacher or a police officer. |
 The Australian rugby team
It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black this week when the Aussies accused Bok tighthead prop BJ Botha of illegal scrumming. The Australian front row, never blessed with the toughest of big fellas, has been fingered for years for employing dubious tactics to overcome this weakness. |
Most-read stories
June 7 to 13
1. Who is Jacob Zuma up against?
It is exactly six months before 5 600 delegates descend on Polokwane in Limpopo for the ANC’s 52nd national conference, when the election of South Africa’s future president lies in the hands of the 4 000 delegates with voting rights.
2. Lebanese commandos blow up Islamist chief’s house
Lebanese commandos have blown up the home of the Islamist militia chief in a besieged refugee camp where fighting flared again on Tuesday in the fourth week of a deadly stand-off.
3. Mbeki faces biggest test in ANC
South African President Thabo Mbeki is facing mounting threats to his widely perceived plan to retain influence after he stands down as head of state.
4. University strips Mugabe of degree
Edinburgh University stripped Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday of his honourary degree after reviewing evidence of a tribal massacre soon after he took power.
5. The ANC must stand its ground
This month’s ANC policy conference, and its national conference in December, inspire both concern and confidence.
6. Chicken or beef? Airline pays for wrong choice
A court has ordered Malaysia’s national airline to pay a Brahmin Hindu 20 000 ringgit ($5 775) to compensate him for mental anguish suffered as a result of being served a chicken meal during a flight, local media reported on Saturday.
7. The congress of paranoid minds
In the Free Republic of Aburiria, the fabled subject of Ngugi wa’Thiongo’s latest novel Wizard of the Crow, a nationwide queuing epidemic symbolic of a poverty-stricken nation whose basic needs are never met is fatally misinterpreted by The Ruler as a nefarious political conspiracy to usurp his power.
8. SABC ‘not ready’ to show Mbeki doccie
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) said on Friday it was disturbed by the “now you see it, now you don’t” approach the national broadcaster had towards the screening of the documentary Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki.
9. The brutal reality of Somalia’s pirates
The two small vessels were travelling across the Indian Ocean at high speed, their occupants wielding rocket-propelled grenades, AK47s and machine guns. Within minutes, they had gained on the bulky container ship.
10. Vavi warns of strike violence
The public-sector strike could soon “turn violent”, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned on Monday.