EWN reports that ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was welcomed on Monday without any disruption at Cosatu's main May Day rally in the Free State. Ramaphosa was able to take to the podium to address the workers gathered at the stadium in Bethlehem.
Last year, Ramaphosa was booed and forced to abandon the May day rally, after angry Sibanye-Stillwater workers disrupted the proceedings and refused to allow him to speak. Ramaphosa was then whisked away in a police nyala. This year, Ramaphosa told workers: "Much as Workers' Day is taking place today during a very difficult time for our country, we want to say that, yes, issues such as poverty, unemployment, inequality are challenges that can only be effectively addressed if we, as the alliance, continue working together, if we as the alliance continue holding hands to ensure that the ideals set out in the national democratic revolution are indeed achieved." Workers across the country commemorated May Day, with many unions ventilating issues surrounding working conditions. In KwaZulu-Natal, union federation Saftu held its main event in Durban and paid homage to workers in the city who stood up for their rights. Metalworkers’ union Numsa said that it was unfortunate that the May Day celebrations were against the backdrop of increasing poverty, inequality and unemployment. The union blamed the ANC government for creating the most unequal society in the world. Meantime, Nehawu spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi said that workers must unite to fight against what it called capitalist exploitation, poverty wages and growing inequality. "We are celebrating the national Workers' Day against the background of a deepening crisis of capitalism which has resulted in a global crisis of unemployment, high levels of inequality and extreme poverty," he stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at EWN
- Read too, Cosatu celebrates Workers' Day with clarion call ‘to advance working class struggles’, at News24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page