By Neelam Rahim

Two of the country’s largest trade unions will embark on a nationwide strike tomorrow, which includes stay-away and rallies. The strike by trade unions Cosatu and Saftu is for the unions to voice their anger and frustration over the rising cost of living, relentless power cuts, high fuel prices and unemployment.

When discussing with Radio Islam International, economist Dr Lumkile Mondi said this comes at a challenging time.

According to Dr Lumkile, it is understood how many members of trade unions and the South African people at large have been affected by the high fuel prices, food prices, and deepening unemployment levels. Therefore, the strike makes sense as far as those issues are concerned.

Given the influence that Cosatu has on policy-making, why are they not effecting that influence to ensure the policies they want are implemented by their leaders who sit in different ministries in our current government?

In this regard, the strike hurts everyone, including the workers. He added that it hurts households but, more importantly, both businesses and the revenue.

There is likely to be an argument from the unions to say yes, short-term pain, long-term gain. There will be a knock on the economy tomorrow, but this is necessary to secure this.

According to Dr Lumkile, there is a lot of opportunism, and this strike is just one day off, and there is no constant picketing and demanding better conditions.

“Cosatu is just taking South Africans for a fool because they have the power to make a change and make a difference through policy and embarking on a different approach to politics.”

Listen to the interview on Radio Islam’s podcast below.