Johannesburg – Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Zingiswa Losi on Wednesday called on Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to resign from his post if he is “too tired to fulfil his mandate”.
Cosatu has had a relationship riddled with fractions with the minister since his appointment after his department adopted an austerity budget, which seeks to slash the public service wage bill R169-billion in the next three years.
Losi said this as she addressed workers outside the National Treasury offices in Pretoria during Wednesday’s national protests against the continued decline of South Africa’s economy.
The workers who picketed outside the offices were upset at Mboweni’s absence when they handed over a memorandum of demands.
Losi said they were not shocked by Mboweni’s decision not to show up to receive the workers’ complaints, and said he should leave the post so that others who were willing to protect the interests of South Africans could occupy the critical role.
“Treasury is part of government. The money that they are managing and handling, is money that is contributed by workers through their taxes. So, we cannot have a minister who is going to bow to the pressures of the IMF and the World Bank and forget about what is the mandate of government,” said Losi.
The workers’ memorandum was received by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.
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