Two of the biggest bosses’ organisations, the Chamber of Mines and Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has backed COSATU’s national strike on Wednesday. COSATU, the country’s biggest labour federation, says the strike is against corruption.
“BLSA supports our employees' constitutional right to peaceful protest and unequivocally endorses the urgent appointment of an independent Judicial Commission of Enquiry into State Capture‚ as per the former Public Protector's State of Capture Report. The BLSA values are defined by our country's constitution‚ and we therefore respect the democratic right of Cosatu to add its voice to the growing national condemnation of state capture and corruption” BLSA said in a statement.
This is the first time that BLSA has recognized that workers has a right to strike!
The idea that big business is fighting against corruption is of course a lie. Two weeks ago, KPMG which is a member of BLSA, admitted to a corrupt relationship with Oakbay, the Gupta family business after its role was exposed in the so-called #GuptaLeaks scandal. Big businesses in the construction and engineering industry have been exposed after they colluded with tenders in relation to building football stadiums. In a massive scandal in the food industry, some of the biggest companies in this sector have been exposed for illegally pushing up the price of bread. All the major banks, who are alleged to have “taken a stand” against the corruption of Oakbay, have been implicated in an investigation into currency manipulation.These are just a few examples of an even bigger crisis of big companies who are corrupt to the core. The fact they are now supporting a strike by COSATU against corruption is a lie.
The Chamber of Mines is also “supporting” COSATU’s strike. Today it said that the future of South Africa and its people continues to be jeopardised by the effects of state capture and corruption. This is the same organisation whose members are committing some of the worst cases of corruption in the mining industry. According to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance and the Financial Intelligence Centre, more than US$122 billion have been smuggled out of the country in the decade between 2002 and 2012. The majority of the money come from the mining industry. So these organisations, who are part of the breathtaking corruption in the country, have no moral authority to speak out against corruption.
The situation where organisations of big business supports a strike flows directly from the class collaboration stance of COSATU. The federation is supporting Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Jacob Zuma as president of the African National Congress at its conference in December. Ramaphosa is the candidate for big business. He is fighting against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is backed by the pro-Gupta faction in the ANC. Three months ahead of this conference COSATU is caught In this fight between two wings of the ruling class. The big capitalists are looking to the leaders of the federation to mobilise workers in support of the Ramaphosa faction. This is the real meaning of these events. The only solution for the workers of COSATU is to demand an independent working class position from there leaders.
