Zuma hits out at unions

Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma on Friday berated the union movement for not playing its part in helping pull South Africa out of the financial crisis it is facing. He told the closing session of the World Economic Forum on Africa that there was a very serious attempt in this country to protect the economy from the worst effects of the global recession.

Agreements were made, he said, through the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) which identified four industrial sectors for special treatment. How in these circumstances and facing these challenges, the president wondered, could the unions "find more opportunities to have more strikes"?

The effect, he added, "is that of exacerbating the situation". The international labour organisations are part of the solution, and should not be part of the problem.

"We need to apply extraordinary measures to meet the challenge," Zuma said, adding that the situation affects all of us.

He spoke of the need for Africa to "move massively" to create jobs and transform, the economy. "Let us create opportunities here," he said, "so that at the end we emerge with a different situation."

This was the second day on which South African unions have come under fire from members of the government. On Thursday the Planning Minister Trevor Manuel also criticised the unions, and in addition hit out at employers for being cowards and submitting to their demands.

The President was tackled about the incidence of crime in South Africa and spoke about the challenge it posed to his new administration. He said it is being tackled, but he spoke admiringly about those countries with media who did not report so much about crime and violence. "It's not patriotic," he said.

Maria Ramos, the chief executive of Absa, told the closing session of the conference that Africa has been talking for a decade and a half about deepening and broadening financial markets in the continent. She told delegates that now was the opportunity to make the decisions to get these things done.

She spoke of the need for a regional stock exchange, and was answered from the audience by Geoffrey Rothschild, a director of the JSE, who complained that they have been working on the idea for some time without success. He appealed to politicians to take up the issue.

- I-Net Bridge