Kaya 959 Reporter
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) and its affiliates will be holding a protest ahead of the country’s national budget speech on Wednesday (23 February), by the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana.
The federation is calling for the government to introduce a wealth tax as well as a basic income grant to South Africa. amongst other changes.
Zwelinzima Vavi, SAFTU Secretary-General joins us to discuss the protests recently joined Guguletthu Mfuphi to outline some of the federation’s concerns.
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“The president didn’t mention anything about the basic income grant during the State of the Nation (SONA), instead he announced the extension of the R350 grant for the unemployed by a year”
“Without making a commitment of what will happen after that, he left it hanging.”
“We expecting that that Minister will not go out of this framework, because it is a framework that he himself has been working on.”
Vavi also said they will also be protesting the budget cuts by the government.
“We are protesting not because we know that the government won’t introduce the basic income grant on the table, we are also protesting the budget cuts.”
“The basic education budget will be cut by 12,6%, the Health Department budget will be cut by 15,1%, the police budget will be cut by 11,7%.”
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