Chairperson, once again our country is about to be crippled by a major public sector workers' strike beginning today. We regret that negotiations failed to resolve the disputes. We in Cope are fully sympathetic to the unions demanding a higher pay for their members.
For the ANC-led administration, characterised by excessive bling, lavish and ostentatious spending, pervasive corruption and wide-scale futile expenditure, the chickens are coming home to roost. If the public perception is that money is not a factor for Ministers in government, why should it be a factor in addressing the pay demands of the public sector? After all, workers and government members were supposed to be in the same boat after 1994.
Therefore, worker solidarity should have prevailed and the fat of the land should have been spread evenly across all segments, legally deriving benefits from the fiscus. This has not happened, and the income inequality has been exacerbated. Therefore, this strike is not only about the rapidly rising costs of living but about income equalisation as well.
Unfortunately, with the extended school holidays granted this year, a new and further loss of school time through strike actions in schools would be most injurious to the children of working-class families. It would also be iniquitous. We just cannot afford to make innocent children pay for the failures and excesses of government. They have a future to secure and therefore, to help them reach it, no stone should be left unturned.
Cope also recognised that President Zuma and the hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, prior to their coming into government, created certain expectations in 2008. Those who voted for the government in 2009 are now demanding their payback. [Applause.]