EWN reports that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday said it was troubled by recent reports that its alliance partner, the SA Communist Party (SACP), owed its staff members six months' wages.

It indicated that the SACP must immediately pay its employees what was due to them. Cosatu's Sizwe Pamla stated: "This is something that is totally unacceptable. The SACP is supposed to be the vanguard of the working class, it is supposed to fight against the exploitation of workers and it cannot be caught up in headlines where it is accused of failing to pay the working class." Pamla advised that they would be taking this matter further: "As Cosatu, we will engage with the SACP and we believe that those who hold ministerial positions in the SACP need to sacrifice and forfeit their own salaries to prove that they are committed to the socialist ideals."

• Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Lauren Isaacs at EWN

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