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Unions want Ramaphosa to focus on workers, not top management

Johannesburg- Unions have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to focus on the interests of workers and cut his Cabinet.

In his State of the Nation Address on Friday night, Ramaphosa said he would look into cutting down on the number of government departments.

There are more than 70 ministers and deputy ministers currently serving.

 “The PSA has consistently expressed concern about bloated top management structures in many public institutions. This was done at the expense of much needed staffing solutions at lower levels where members of the public require service”, the Public Service Association’s General Manager Ivan Fredericks said in a statement. 

Ramaphosa has the presidential prerogative to change up his Cabinet and deputy minsters, which the PSA believes should be his “first order of business”.

In a pre-SONA statement, Cosatu said that "captured ministers" should be fired immediately, and the "bling lifestyles" of the political elite stopped.

There’s been wide speculation about whether Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini will be removed after Ramaphosa talked tough about the provision of social grants in his SONA. She wasn’t present for the joint sitting and also missed Ramaphosa’s appointment as president on Thursday.

Ramaphosa, meanwhile, mentioned that the finance minister will give the budget speech on Wednesday, without specifying whether it will be done by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba or not. 

The PSA also welcomed the newly elected president's commitment to reconfigure the boards of state owned companies, and they hope “that the same winds of change reach the Public Investment Corporation”.

Jobs summit

Trade union federation Cosatu, one of Ramaphosa’s major supporters during the ANC’s leadership race, welcomed his promise to convene a jobs summit, a demand the federation has been making since 2016.

In a statement on Friday night, Cosatu also laid out its expectations for the new president, indicating their backing isn’t unconditional.

The federation wants a “radical’ shift” in the “previously conservative fiscal and monetary policy” in order to promote manufacturing and job creation.

Cosatu has long criticised the inflation targeting policy adopted by the South African reserve Bank and has called for steep interest rates cuts which it says will boost entrepreneurship.

Cosatu further wants labour laws to be strengthened and an announcement about legislation to end labour brokering and the casualisation of labour.

On the ANC’s newly adopted policy of land expropriation without compensation, the labour federation believes that this should prioritise farm workers who should all receive title deeds. 

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