Durban - Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi had to cut short his address at the May Day rally at Curries Fountain in Durban yesterday as union members refused to grant him an audience.
The gathering was organised by labour union federation Cosatu as part of Workers’ Day celebrations.
It is understood that the Cosatu members had been instructed to show discipline and allow him to deliver his address. However, they showed their unhappiness with the minister by singing, chanting slogans and gesturing for him to go away.
The gathering, the main event in KwaZulu-Natal, was attended by the tripartite alliance’s senior leaders, including ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane, KZN chairperson Siboniso Duma, Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini and SACP KZN secretary Themba Mthembu.
Nxesi, who was representing the SACP in his capacity as its national chairperson, was given very little time as audience members continued singing long after he had been introduced.
He decried the plight of workers and how many of them were working shorter hours without any benefits.
“We are worried that the rate of unorganised workers in this country is growing,” said Nxesi, who realised that he was getting drowned out by the singing and chanting and went back to his seat.
National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) from the Harry Gwala Region, made up of Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas, said Nxesi had shown disrespect towards them.
“What he said this year amounted to an insult to workers and to selling out the working class,” said one delegate from the region in explaining the audience’s reaction. This was in reference to Nxesi’s insistence of a no-work, no-pay rule policy against striking public sector workers this year.
An official directing the proceedings tried to remind the crowd that Nxesi was representing the SACP and not the government at the event.
Delivering a message of support, Mokonyane pleaded with Cosatu and its affiliates to remain within the alliance, insisting that the conditions that gave birth to the arrangement had still not improved. She cited inequality, poverty and unemployment as challenges that remained, exacerbated by load shedding.
According to Mokonyane, workers should swell the ranks of the ANC so that they can influence the ruling party’s policy position and ensure that workers are protected.
Cosatu provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize described the heckling incident as unfortunate.
“I cannot say one was surprised by the reaction because workers have grown dissatisfied over what they see as the government’s failure to intervene on their behalf in many instances. What we see sometimes at gatherings, is that workers are unable to distinguish the position in which a leader from the alliance is addressing us. It is unfortunate and is something that we condemn,” said Mkhize.