Shivambu on Ramaphosa 'laying off' staff: 'Where’s the appreciation that our people are in crisis?'

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu is disappointed with President Cyril Ramaphosa for allegedly laying off 20 workers on one of his farms, to save it from liquidation.

On Wednesday, SowetanLIVE reported that Ramaphosa retrenched the staff due to “foot-and-mouth disease and bad trading conditions”.

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Allegedly, 22 of 46 full-time employees lost their jobs.

Taking to Twitter, Shivambu was not impressed and called out Ramaphosa for leaving his employees without jobs despite the current levels of unemployment in SA.

With unemployment at its highest level in 11 years, Shivambu said: “A president of a country with crisis levels of unemployment, who’s alleged to be a billionaire can’t even keep workers for a little bit longer until the problems have passed. Where’s the compassion and appreciation that our people are in crisis?”

The allegations come at a time when Ramaphosa is on a mission to attract investment from neighbouring countries and create jobs for millions of unemployed South Africans.

Many social media users echoed Shivambu's sentiments, slamming Ramaphosa for being “greedy” and not keeping his word on job creation.

Here is a snapshot of the reactions.