LISTEN | Warnings of GNU ‘capital stooges’ betrayal during national protests

SA Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila says with the government of national unity (GNU) “our country is back in the hands of the Boers” and the GNU is unjustifiable.

“Since the last 350 years of colonialism in this country we have been fighting to take back our land. Now with this government of national unity this is the highest form of betrayal of our people,” he told Cosatu members outside the Johannesburg Stock Exchange offices on Monday, part of a nationwide strike.

Cosatu was delivering its demands to the government across the nine provinces.

Mapaila said the GNU is showing "real signs" of not willing to listen to the interests of workers.

“It is clear there’s still going to be fighting in this country ... We’ve come to the headquarters of capital. Here in this stock exchange, these people in the JSE have more money than the government — yet they allow this money to be invested all over the world, not here in South Africa.”

Listen to grievances about the GNU:

Mapaila said the way the JSE distributes its money must change to serve the interests of the poor and workers.

“To the government of national unity, national health insurance is non-negotiable. It's going to be implemented whether they like it or not.”

Cosatu Gauteng chairperson Amos Monyela also took aim at the GNU. “It is up to us as the working class [to] make sure we save the ANC from decay … The DA is going to kill it. Madam [Helen] Zille must stop what she is doing, the leadership of the ANC must stop what it is doing — or we are going to kiss the liberation movement goodbye,” he said.

Monyela warned that only those who are “a darling to madam Zille” will be safe from prosecution and dismissal. “So comrades, we must guard that revolution with whatever we’ve got,” he said as they signed the memorandum of demands.

First deputy president of Cosatu Mike Shingange said: “We are saying to the government and your capital stooges, our people need more teachers, nurses, police, etc. Therefore you cannot deliver basic services with an under-resourced state institution and underemployed and underpaid public service.”

Cosatu is protesting against the economic crisis, joblessness, poverty and inequality.