COSATU PDC Summit Concerns

Please receive correspondence from our offices regarding the Summit of the Provincial Development Council. We are as COSATU incredibly concerned that we have not put in place 1 job or policy measure that would defend poor communities.

Congress Of South African Trade Unions

The credibility issue is brought into question by the way that the government appoints the members of the Council, effectively deciding for us who should represent us. This is entirely undemocratic and against the principles of participatory democracy in South Africa, these representatives have no credibility and neither do they participate diligently. The constituencies are also sadly underrepresented with civil society really only being a group of NGO. We need to address this issue as a matter of urgency if we are to make progress on the structure and legitimacy.

The substantive areas of the engagement have also been inadequate at best, with hospitals being reduced with no agreement amongst the social partners on the health strategy. The public transport delivery has gone from bad to worse with no agreement on basic things like a transport authority to coordinate the transport plan for the City. The fuel levy that would have a hugely inflationary impact on the poor communities in the Province has not been discussed in this Forum and there are in fact very strong feelings against it. This unhappiness has seen COSATU file a section 77 against the provincial government and the process started that could see us going on strike in the Province against government policy, so if there no progress in the PDC we use NEDLAC.

The lack of coordination between the city and the province on issues like the housing has seen our fears realised of the province talking about a home for all but effectively saying no poor people in the back yards of the elite. This perception is reinforced by the province not wanting to agree that poor community housing should be built in Constantia on government owned land. We will say the nice things in the summit to keep the illusion of social dialogue whilst we appeal to the president to fix the problems that we have pointed out, but we did think we should let people quietly know that present PDC processes are wholly inadequate. The venue that we are in today is a reflection of the fact that there is more show than go in respect of identifying with poor people, a 5 star hotel to talk about poverty. We however have to keep engaging in all forums to advance the plight of our people in spite of the challenges in the politics. This engagement should curtail the unilateralism of Government who at a variety of levels have acted in the interest of the wealthy.