The anger of the poor cannot be contained forever

Revelations that the new agriculture minister, Senzeni Zokwana, grossly underpaid his farm labourer have highlighted once again the appalling conditions that poor people have to endure.

And the continuing strike by platinum miners proves that we still have a long way to go in trying to narrow the unconscionable disparity between the salaries of CEOs and low-end employees.

The current salary gap i s not sustainable.

We have a few individuals who are stinking rich versus millions who get poorer by the day.

We are told that it all has to do with skills and what people bring to the corporate table. Though those with skills and know-how must be fairly compensated, sky-high salaries cannot be justified in a society as generally impoverished as ours.

The millions paid out to CEOs every year belie the pious claims that we care about the poor and the marginalised.

Those who argue that the market should determine wages and salaries forget that the market will not protect us from the calamitous consequences of a wages revolt that will affect everyone.

The SA Communist Party's assertion that Zokwana had valid reasons for paying his worker slave wages is shocking.

The SACP should be the defender of the working class. Instead, it is sleeping with capital. There is nothing to justify the pittance Zokwana was paying.

The SACP should stop playing factional politics. Now that most of their leaders are in the government, the communists are protecting the indefensible.

We need to have a broader discussion about remuneration and how we close the gap between captains of industry and workers. Paying millions to an individual and starving thousands is a recipe for disaster.

The strikes and protests that we read about every day point to a population that is tired of the current system.

Protest will stop on the day we agree that we have taken the wrong economic path.