South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, chased out of May Day celebrations to boos, acknowledged on Tuesday May 3 a “loss of trustworthy“general, ensuring to have”heard» the grievances of a middle class faced with record unemployment.
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Chanting “Cyril must goat the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg (north) and demanding a wage increase, angry miners invaded the stage on Sunday where he was to speak at a ceremony organized by the country’s largest trade union center, the powerful Cosatu. Framed by the police and its security service, Cyril Ramaphosa was quickly led out of the arena.
“A wider level of discontent”
“I was unable to address the rally as the workers had grievances which they voiced loud and clear“said the Head of State in his weekly letter. “While the main grievance seemed to relate to wage negotiations at nearby mines, workers demonstrated a broader level of discontent reflecting a loss of trust in unions, their federations as well as in political leaders.“, he continued, claiming to understand “their frustration“. South Africa is the continent’s leading industrial power, but its economy has been hit hard by the Covid crisis. The pandemic has resulted in the loss of more than two million jobs in the space of a year and propelled the unemployment rate to 35%.
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Violent riots in July and unprecedented flooding in late April also rocked the country, causing widespread destruction. Half of the population of nearly 60 million lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. “The working class and the poor have suffered the most“, believes Cyril Ramaphosa. “We are firmly committed to taking the necessary steps to improve their lives and working conditions.“, he undertook, without giving details on the measures envisaged.
Cosatu, close to the historic ruling party, the ANC, judged Sunday’s incidents “regrettable and unacceptable“, while explaining in a press release that”to some extent they reflect the growing frustration of workers in South Africa“. The ANC, which fell below the 50% mark in a poll for the first time last year, must decide by December whether to keep Cyril Ramaphosa as its next presidential candidate in 2024.
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The Anti-Apartheid Partyis in an irreversible downward spiral and Ramaphosa is the chaperone escorting the ANC to the grave“Said South African political scientist Sandile Swana, interviewed by AFP. In 2012, police fired on striking miners in Marikana (north-west), killing 34 in the worst police shooting since the end of apartheid. Cyril Ramaphosa, then non-executive director of the Lonmin company which operated the platinum mine, had requested police intervention, accusing the miners of “despicable criminal“.
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