'His leadership has produced more unemployment, poverty & inequality': Zwelinzima Vavi calls on Cyril Ramaphosa to resign

Zwelinzima Vavi has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down. 

The SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) leader made the call on Wednesday after the release of the latest GDP figures. 

According to Stats SA, the country's GDP increased by 1.2% in the second quarter of 2021.

The data showed that among the largest contributions to the increase came from the transport, personal services and trade industries.

Transport and communication increased by 6.9%, personal services by 2.5% and trade by 2.2%. 

The figures come after a record high unemployment figure of 34.4%, which means that about 7.82-million people are jobless in SA.

Speaking on SA FM Vavi said the GDP growth was not a true reflection of SA's ailing economy. 

He said the poor continue to be afflicted by poverty and inequality and the lives of ordinary people are worsening instead of improving. 

“Government is refusing to restructure the economy and abandon liberal policies. It is refusing to embrace a call, that has been made so repeatedly, that the current structure inherited from the colonial apartheid will never ever respond to the crisis of larger economy, the inclusion of black people [and the] the crisis of poverty,” said Vavi.

Vavi said Ramaphosa should resign because he hasn't lived up to his promise of reducing unemployment among the youth. 

“He’s the leader who promised the youth that he would be focusing on the crisis of unemployment.

“He is the president of the governing party that has been in power for the past 27 years and whose leadership has only produced more unemployment, poverty and inequality. Somebody must take accountability,” said Vavi. 

Last month, Stats SA revealed that the unemployment rate had reached 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021, up from 32.6% in the first quarter.

The statistics agency found that the number of unemployed people was 7.82-million in the three months to the end of June, compared with 7.24-million in the previous three months.

The rate was the highest since the quarterly labour force survey began in 2008.