During her Budget speech this week, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant extolled the virtuous circle of wages and economic growth. Workers needed to be paid decent wages to drive economic growth, she told MPs. “At the risk of sounding too simplistic” this made sense because South Africa’s economy is largely consumer-driven. “When workers earn a living […]
Mildred Oliphant
Posted inNews/Politics
ANC’s ideological arteriosclerosis throttles job growth
It’s one of the staples of South African journalism. It plays as comedy but it is actually closer to tragedy. The scenario is a congress of one of the trade unions or leftist political movements. The delegates, uniformly attired in radical chic T-shirts and caps, express solidarity with the exploited working class and declaim that […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Farm workers’ plight: Talk is cheap, Minister
By Isaac Mangena A 2011 Human Rights Watch report revealed shocking details of human rights abuses against farm workers in the Western Cape’s fruit and wine industries, and the appalling conditions under which they work and live. Titled Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Industries [PDF], it documents “conditions […]