JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday, raised their concerns about the "racist overtones" of the strike called by Solidarity against the employee share scheme targeting black employees at Sasol and which seeks to reverse the gains of the democracy.
Spokesperson Pule Mabe said the right to strike was sacrosanct to the democracy and Solidarity had every right to exercise that right.
“We must be concerned when the rights we fought for and encoded in our nation’s Bill of Rights are abused for nefarious reasons that seek to undermine our democracy,” he said.
Mabe said historically, Sasol always had schemes that benefited white employees to the exclusion of their black counterparts. He said that one of the fundamental tenets of South Africa's democracy was enabling economic participation by black people as part of addressing historical inequalities.
“We applaud the initiative taken by Sasol and welcome its contribution towards the realisation of our constitutional imperative to share the wealth of the country with all her citizens."
He said in characterising the Sasol initiative as racial exclusion was at best malicious and at worst dishonest. The objective to achieve 25 percent direct black ownership in Sasol South Africa was a step in the right direction and was in line with the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment legislation and should be supported.
"We call on Solidarity to become part of the nation-building project that seeks to build a prosperous nation where all citizens share in the nation’s wealth and have equal opportunities to fully participate in the economy," Mabe said.
"Their obsession with perpetuating racial polarisation does nothing towards advancing our forward momentum as a nation."