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BL Premium reports that at its two-day biannual planning meeting on Monday, Cabinet began a debate about introducing an economic relief package to shield South Africans from the worst cost of living crisis in more than a decade.
Mondli Gungubele, Minister in the Presidency, indicated: “Lekgotla is going to come out with a package with regards to how we improve the situation. I have no doubt that there will be something about those issues but I cannot give you [specifics].” The meeting is taking place as official data shows inflation surged to 7.8% in July, a level last seen 13 years ago. It also comes almost two weeks after labour federations Cosatu and Saftu took to the streets of major cities to demand that policymakers address the mounting cost of living, with one of the leaders, Zwelinzima Vavi, calling for a R1-trillion cash injection into the economy. Other issues that will come up in the cabinet meeting include unemployment, which fell slightly in the second quarter but remains high at 33.9%, and progress on infrastructure investments, the lynchpin of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan. Resolutions from the lekgotla, which is also attended by deputy ministers, directors-general and provincial premiers, feed into government programmes and could ultimately end as policy or legislation. The lekgotla takes place ahead of the release of second-quarter GDP figures on Tuesday.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thando Maeko at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Employment growth encouraging government to do more to unlock investment, says Ramaphosa, at Engineering News
- And also, Ramaphosa says declining unemployment rate provides grounds for 'cautious hope', at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page