The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) “dismisses with irritation” the proposed R700 million budget for the National Dialogue as a “rash thumb suck” best regarded as a “verbal gaffe”.
Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks says that the union federation “looks forward to actively participating in this critical Dialogue (but) we will not tolerate such silly own goals by government officials or anyone else”.
While Cosatu “appreciates that [the speculative price tag] is merely the awkward ponderings of a few government officials and other persons, it is rash and grossly insensitive to the frustrations of society, in particular the working class, who have borne the brunt of brutal austerity budget cuts to frontline services, in particular, health, education, police, home affairs amongst others; and who have been expected to tighten their belts whilst battling the rising costs of living in a fragile economy saddled with unbearable levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality”.
[Image: https://www.cosatu.org.za/]