Calls for Mboweni's head

Johannesburg - Cosatu has endorsed strikes for lower interest rates and says it is time for new leadership at the SA Reserve Bank.

"We want change there [at the SARB]," Congress of SA Trade Unions president Sdumo Dlamini told reporters on Thursday. He was speaking in Johannesburg at the end of a Cosatu central executive committee meeting.

Asked if the union federation would support SARB governor Tito Mboweni staying on when his contract expired in August, Dlamini said: "[While] he has been there, we've been complaining about the same issues. We need change there."

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the federation supported mass action by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

It staged protests outside the bank last week while SARB's monetary policy committee was meeting over interest rates.

"We have engaged with the Reserve Bank in our own right... this high interest rate regime is impacting on the ability of the country to grow," said Vavi.

"What Numsa is bringing, is the dimension of engaging on a mass level."

Vavi said there now be protests every time the committee met to discuss possible rates.

"Every time they meet, we must be there. We must use our members to come and engage."

The next time there is a protest, Vavi said, Mboweni himself must accept the memorandum, unlike last week, when SARB officials refused to accept the document.

"He must not send some junior bureaucrat to insult us," said Vavi.

Numsa said earlier this week it would ask all Cosatu affiliates to join in rolling mass action if the SARB did not cut interest rates.

"This is going to be a federation-wide campaign," said Vavi.

"We have this stupid policy of inflation targeting which is keeping interest rates high. It clearly has not helped us much to grow the economy."

- Sapa