Response+to+the+2008+SONA,+NEHAWU+Media+Release

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 * NEHAWU Media Release, 8 February 2008**


 * Response to the 2008 State of the Nation Address **

The National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union, NEHAWU, welcomes the overall thrust of President Thabo Mbeki’s penultimate State of the Nation Address, under the rubric of “Business Unusual”. However, there are a number of issues we wish to take issue with:


 * 1. On Public Service**

In principle, NEHAWU welcomes the announcement on government’s intension to fill critical vacancies in the public service across all spheres of government within six months of such openings. However, this falls short of our the long-standing demand of our Public Service Campaign and the 2007 public sector workers’ strike which highlighted pervasive and chronic shortages in personnel across departments and spheres of government.

In this regard, we hope that the Public Sector Summit will emerged not only with commitments responding to the spirit of Batho Pele and “Business Unusual” as the President suggests, but more importantly to the concrete realities of the appalling working conditions faced by public sector workers and the inferior service delivery experienced by poor communities relying on the state. In this regard, we call on government to fill in all current vacancies within six months.


 * 2. On the Criminal Justice System**

In principle NEHAWU welcomes pronouncements on government intension to review the Criminal Justice System with the view of integrating the police, prosecution and other functions - in particular the review of “the functioning and location of the Directorate of Special Operations” - within the Criminal Justice System. In this regard, we await further announcements from the Ministers of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster next week and the tabling of the relevant legislation in March.


 * 3. On the “War on Poverty”**

In principle we welcome the equalization of the age of eligibility for retirement pension at 60, in order to give access to the State Old Age Grant to a further half a million poor pensioners. Similarly, we welcome the announcement to scale up assistance to co-operatives, especially those belonging to women. Whilst we welcome the announcement on an integrated and comprehensive anti-poverty strategy, we reject the persistence of a narrow and “targeted” focus on particular sections of the poor in the government’s anti-poverty measures. Many of the targeted “vulnerable” poor are depended on millions of the unemployed, who are heads of households and care-givers and who are excluded from the labour market and social assistance.

To date, there is adequate evidence showing that targeted interventions such as announced by the President, viz. “to identify specific households and individuals in dire need and to put in place interventions that will help, in the intervening period, to alleviate their plight”, actually consume more resources on the administration and management of such projects than on addressing the plight of the intended beneficiaries, as proven by a number of evaluations of the Extended Public Works Programme. In this regard, in line with government’s commitment to a comprehensive social security system, we call for the introduction of universal anti-poverty measures such as the Basic Income Grant, in order to maximise impact on poverty with minimal costs. In the same vein, we are disappointed at the absence of explicit pronouncements on the extension of the Child Support Grant to 18 years, in line with the Constitution and the resolution of the 52nd ANC Conference.


 * 4. On the Electricity Crisis**

We note with concern, the President’s unqualified declaration that “the era of very cheap and abundant electricity has come to an end”. For many years, electricity tariffs billed on poor household in the townships were effectively cross-subsidising the suburban elite and in particular the large mineral and industrial corporations that continue to enjoy generous energy supply agreements with Eskom.

This has helped to lock our economy in the inherited capital-intensive industrial development trajectory that continues to shed jobs. As part of the government’s “War on Poverty”, large energy users (whether residential or in business) must cross-subsidise the poor by paying more per kilowatt consumed, a measure that would also encourage a move towards labour-intensive production, energy saving and curtail wastages – to which the announced Industrial Policy Action Plan fails to respond.


 * 5. On Education**

NEHAWU welcomes the announcement of further government’s commitment to prioritise more interventions in the Further Education and Training sector. In this regard, we would call on the Department of Education to ensure that the details of such envisaged interventions are disclosed as soon as possible and tabled for engagement with labour. However, we wish to express our disappointment with regard to the President’s silence on the extension of free education, including in higher education, in line with the resolution of the ANC’s 52nd Conference.


 * Issued by NEHAWU Communications Department**
 * For further information, please contact NEHAWU Parliamentary Officer, Sidney Kgara**

By e-mail

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