ANA reports that the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) said on Monday that the decision by rating agency S&P Global to downgrade SA’s sovereign rating to junk status came as a result of "self-inflicted pain" and bad leadership from President Jacob Zuma.  

General secretary Dennis George, who was with axed Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas in London before the two were called back home, said he was extremely concerned.  He added:  "This is really not acceptable.  You see what happened to Greece when they were downgraded to junk status.  It makes economic policy management much more difficult."  George also said Zuma had not learnt his lesson from December 2015 when he fired finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and when billions were wiped from SA’s stock and bond markets as a result of the botched reshuffle.

• Read this report by Chantall Presence in full at IOL News
• Read Fedusa’s press statement at SA Labour News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page