Vavi warns of disaster

2008-12-02 23:06

Pretoria - Unemployment, poverty, HIV/Aids and rising prices of fuel and food all spell disaster for ordinary South Africans, Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Tuesday.

Addressing the annual summit of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), Vavi said the global economic crisis would further worsen the conditions of the working class and the poor.

He said approximately 4.1 million people were officially unemployed.

An increase in the cost of living as well as a rise in food and electricity tariffs was beginning to become a burden too heavy to carry, he said.

"Eskom and the energy crisis are proving to be a tsunami - an albatross around our neck, a burden too heavy to carry."

Manufacturing industry

This, combined with even higher tariff hikes expected, the state of healthcare - worsened by the HIV epidemic - extraordinarily high unemployment figures and poverty, spelled disaster, said Vavi.

He said it was also necessary for South Africans to unite as a nation to protect and create employment in the manufacturing industry.

"Never has it been more necessary.

"We must break the traditional cycle of exporting our raw materials, allowing them to be converted into manufactured goods overseas and then imported back at a huge profit to foreign countries."

Vavi said workers and consumers would be picketing outside shopping malls across the country this weekend in order to persuade shoppers to buy Proudly South African goods.

- SAPA