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Editorial: ANC lacks sense of priority

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(Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg)
(Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg)

Last week, we reported on at least three municipalities that could not pay their workers on time.

In some cases, even where salaries were later paid, there was no contribution from the municipalities to medical aid schemes and pension funds.

That was bad enough.

But, on Monday, new figures were released that further depressed us, showing that the unemployment rate increased from 27.6% in the first quarter of this year to 29% in the second quarter.

The Stats SA report also noted that the number of unemployed people increased by 455 000 in the second quarter.

The overall picture is depressing, and confirmed what President Cyril Ramaphosa said last week about bracing ourselves for more job losses.

All of this is happening at a time when the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) is meeting to take stock of developments in the party and in government.

But, worryingly, the NEC does not seem to have grasped the enormity and severity of the unfolding crisis.

Its statement after the meeting notes that unemployment continues to be the single most important challenge facing our nation.

The party said it had discussed the matter, but appears to be quite thin on solutions.

“The NEC called on government to consider urgent measures to accelerate radical socioeconomic transformation through inclusive growth and employment creation involving all social partners,” read the relevant part of the statement.

Good luck to anyone who understands what this means and how it will translate into job creation.

Mainly, the NEC appears to have discussed “organisational unity”, which essentially refers to ongoing factional fights and how to resolve them.

This is apparently what consumes most of the alloted time: Should we or should we not discipline Derek Hanekom? How about Jacob Zuma? When are we nationalising the SA Reserve Bank?

We may not like it, but those NEC meetings are where key decisions are made about our lives for as long as the ANC is in charge.

But the ANC, sadly, does not seem to be in touch with the daily frustrations of ordinary South Africans.

The party is already switched on to the national general council and the next conference.

Very little of what it says or does reflects an awareness that workers are not receiving salaries from their municipalities or that many others are about to receive their last salaries as they get retrenched.

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