ANA reports that Zwelinzima Vavi on Monday told delegates at the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s (Numsa’s) 10th national congress that the national minimum wage (NMW) as proposed was an “insult”.  

The former general secretary of labour federation Cosatu also told Numsa members that “coming from a government that claims to be on the side of the poor” the proposal of a NMW of R3,500 a month was shockingly low.  The proposal was put forward by a Nedlac task team last month and announced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.  Numsa, which has about 400,000 members was expelled from Cosatu two years ago after it said it was withdrawing its support of President Jacob Zuma, the leader of the ANC.  Vavi was also expelled from Cosatu for bring the name of the federation into disrepute.  The Numsa congress continues on Tuesday.

• Based on a report at The Citizen

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