Cosatu wants SONA to lay out plans to fight unemployment

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it expects the president’s state of the nation address to announce urgent measures to tackle high unemployment and boost economic growth, among other issues.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver his speech on Thursday, before a joint sitting of parliament.

In a statement, Cosatu welcomed progress in ending load-shedding, as well as improvements at Eskom, Transnet, and rail services.

The union, however, says faster changes are needed at struggling state-owned entities and municipalities.

Cosatu’s Matthew Parks adds that the union is also calling for increased public investment, a bold economic stimulus, stronger law enforcement, and expanded social relief and employment programmes to restore growth, jobs, and public confidence.

“Our law enforcement organs, in particular the South African Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority and the judiciary, need strong leadership, the filling of critical vacancies and recruitment of specialised skills, the removal of corrupt and criminal elements, and massive investments in infrastructure capacity, from working vehicles to state-of-the-art IT, communications and forensic databases,” Parks said.