Zwelinzima Vavi
While the SAFTU has welcomed the G20 inequality report that was on Tuesday handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit later this month, the trade union’s General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi has slammed the ANC-led government’s failure to defeat the country’s inequality after more than three decades of democratic rule.
South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, has welcomed the release of the G20 Inequality Committee Report on global inequalities, presented to President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the upcoming G20 Leaders' Summit.
However, Vavi did not hold back in condemning the African National Congress (ANC)-led government's ongoing struggle to address the critical issue of inequality within the nation. This comes as Ramaphosa received the G20 Inequality Committee Report on global inequalities on Tuesday.
Upon receiving the report on Tuesday, Ramaphosa committed himself to ensuring that the issue of global inequality among nations makes it into the agenda of the G20 Presidency meeting, taking place later this month in Johannesburg.
Furthermore, Ramaphosa indicated that the report provides clear guidelines on how the G20 countries should address inequality on the globe as well as in South Africa, specifically.
“Now with this report, we have clear actions that we will take as government, as well as society and at the global community to reduce inequalities. It is now up to us as the leaders of the G20 and the leaders of the world to demonstrate the necessary will and commitment – we will be making as we open our G20 summit in 18 days. We will be making a very clear call as we open the G20 Summit on what the world needs to do around inequalities,” Ramaphosa stated.
The G20 Presidency of South Africa has allowed South Africa a unique opportunity to launch a new Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts – commissioned by Ramaphosa, and chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz.
This initiative was given the task to deliver the first ever-report on global inequality to G20 to world, alongside six independent experts were Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz (USA); Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil); Winnie Byanyima (Uganda); Professor Jayati Ghosh (India); Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa); and Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa).
"We welcome the landmark report of the G20 Expert Panel on Global Inequality, chaired by Joseph E. Stiglitz, revealed that the report confirms the country’s unending levels of inequality, which continue to prevail more than 30 years into democracy."
“The report confirms what the working class has said for years: inequality is not an accident of history but a deliberate outcome of policy choices that privilege wealth over work and corporations over communities. It calls for a permanent International Panel on Inequality to hold governments to account for their actions,” said Vavi.
He was also critical of the ANC-lead government, saying the party has led one of the most unequal societies in the world. Vavi said in light of the high levels of inequality in the country, Ramaphosa and his administration has no moral authority to preach equality, which he and his leadership have failed to contain.
He stated that the ANC’s policies have failed to deliver true freedom to 60 million South Africans, who were languishing in poverty, more than three decades of ANC rule.
“But South Africa’s government, headed by one of the world’s richest presidents, has no moral authority to lecture the globe on inequality. Under three decades of ANC rule, inequality has deepened in every sphere: jobs, income, land, property, wealth, and opportunity,” he stated.
