Fin24 reports that according to Cosatu, the appointment of Professor Chris Malikane as a technical adviser to Finance Miniister Malusi Gigaba was a step in the right direction.
The union federation showed its support for Malikane in a statement issued on Wednesday, labelling his detractors as “agents of white monopoly capital”. Malikane had written an opinion piece published in Sunday Times this past weekend, which promoted nationalisation. Treasury subsequently distanced itself from the article and reiterating that nationalisation was not government policy. “Whilst this appointment is unlikely to change Treasury’s conservative approach to macroeconomic policy issues, it is a step in the right direction,” said Cosatu’s Sizwe Pamla. He explained that Malikane’s appointment would give the space needed for a different economic philosophy than the “mainstream free market fundamentalism” followed by Treasury since the 1900s.
- Read this report by Lameez Omarjee in full at Fin24
- Read too, Who is Prof Christopher Malikane? at Business Report
- Read Cosatu’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu Today
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page