Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa's (Numsa) call for the declassification of the Nkandla report comes after Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi was exposed to have lied to speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu that the report on Nkandla was classified following consultation with state security. State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele later denied he was responsible for classifying the Nkandla report as top secret.
Documents obtained by the Mail & Guardian last week showed there was no sufficient ground for Nxesi to classify the Public Works report on Nkandla a top secret. The 12 000 page document obtained through the Promotion of Access to Information Act also revealed that President Jacob Zuma knew everything about the so called security upgrades and the possible escalation of costs.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, Numsa's general secretary Irvin Jim said there was a compelling case for government to de-classify the Nkandla report within the context of openness, transparency and accountability.
"A dark cloud of suspicion of corruption and looting of the public purse hangs over this whole matter and only through an expeditious and transparent process will settle or resolve the matter," said Jim.
"Also as South Africans, we deserve to know the underlining reasons which led to the department of public works and others involved to approve and use such a huge quantum renovating a private resident of a sitting president, amidst the triple crisis of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
"This is an unprecedented expenditure since the democratic breakthrough of 1994, and calls for the review of all privileges enjoyed by those holding elected public positions. The Nkandla renovations represent the worst form of squandering of public resources to satisfy the private accumulation interests of tenderpreneurs.
"We call on those responsible for this scandalous and wasteful expenditure to face the real consequences of their action and be shown the door," said Jim.
Neo-liberalism
Meanwhile, Jim lambasted South African Communist Party (SACP) boss Blade Nzimande for defending neo-liberal policies, including the national development plan (NDP) during an interview with ETV last week.
"The general secretary of the SACP has now told the entire nation that [under Zuma's administration] there is no neo-liberalism. We differ with this view and we will elaborate our perspective further in our reflection on the SACP's stance on the NDP, including whether it is correct to suggest that other chapters in the NDP are good.
"We stand by our position that the NDP is carbon copy of [Democratic Alliance] policies. We remain resolute in our position about the NDP and our principled rejection of neo-liberalism, despite being rubbished by forces in the ANC, SACP and Cosatu for our principled analysis that white monopoly capital remains the main beneficiary post the 1994 democratic breakthrough and that almost all government economic policies is geared towards entrenching the dominance, ownership and control of white monopoly capital in sea of poverty, unemployment and inequality," said Jim.