Johannesburg - Cosatu has threatened to go ahead with its planned national strike for free education if talks between business and the government do not reap the desired results.
Just last month the federation lodged a Section 77 notice at National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) with the intention to strike and called for talks between stakeholders which included the department of higher education, student bodies and church representatives.
Cosatu’s threat of a strike follows weeks of widespread student protests for free education across the country’s tertiary institutions, which were sparked by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s announcement that universities could increase fees for 2017, but capped it at 8%.
The first meeting of stakeholders took place last month at Nedlac, and the second round of talks were scheduled to take place next week.
Although Nedlac had said the first round of talks were productive, Cosatu disagreed and accused business and the government of not taking the matter seriously.
“The government continues to boycott and undermine Nedlac by sending junior bureaucrats with no decision making powers. While business continues to condescendingly treating Nedlac as a platform where they go and make presentations and not engage,” said Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla, in a statement on Thursday.
The federation said it supported the call for free education because its members were the ones who bear the brunt of paying for their children’s fees.
As a solution it has called for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to be restructured to make way for free education and for a wealth tax to be introduced to boost the government’s budget.
It also demanded that the Fee Commission, appointed by the president, to conclude its work in order to help facilitate stakeholders for engagement on free education.
“The federation also demands that a new effective and efficient central application system to be introduced. Outsourcing and casualization should be stopped in all institutions of higher learning,” demanded Cosatu.
It warned that if there is no immediate response to the student’s calls it could lead to severe setback for the country.
@heidigiokos
Labour Bureau