ANC’s ‘ultimate betrayal’ over jobs will cost votes in 2019‚ warns Cosatu

Cosatu wants to meet ANC top brass over purported plans to retrench 30‚000 government employees over three years.

This comes after Cosatu held a special central executive committee this week‚ where the matter was discussed.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday‚ general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said Cosatu leaders would tell the ANC that workers would not vote against their own interests in the 2019 government elections.

"We view plans to retrench workers as an act of ultimate betrayal‚ especially after the government's decision to increase VAT after promising not to do so‚" said Ntshalintshali.

He said Cosatu had no reason to support the ANC if it abandons its own manifesto. "We therefore demand a moratorium on all retrenchments until the promised jobs summit has been held‚" said Ntshalintshali.

He also threatened that Cosatu would pull out from the planned jobs summit.

"The ANC should know that it will pay a price for failing to balance the demands of capital and demands of labour‚" he said. “We are not going to compromise in our firm demand for the economy to be restructured with a bias towards labour and the poor.”

Also addressing the press conference‚ Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said they accepted the ANC’s statement on Tuesday that it will not support the retrenchments. But he expressed concern that the ANC was not leading but rather "tailing behind government".

He said Cosatu will keep fighting against the planned job cuts. "We will shout until it fades away‚" he said.