Little to celebrate on Workers’ Day in South Africa

While thousands of union members took to the streets to celebrate Workers’ Day yesterday, others said there was nothing worth celebrating.

Sipho Sithole said Workers’ Day didn’t mean much to him. After working at the same company for eight years, he still earned R25 an hour.

Workers’ Day in SA

“I can’t even afford proper accommodation, I stay in a hostel. I don’t see any reason to celebrate,” he said.

Ephraim Sono said the basis of the celebration had run out.

“This morning, I told my daughter the history of Workers’ Day and why we used to celebrate it. Now we have jobs to celebrate because the rights of the workers have just vanished,” he said.

Sono said he was worried about his daughter’s future and if she would secure a job after she finished school.

“She must learn a skill so she can start her own business,” he said.

Shortage of work

A chartered accountant (CA) student, Luan Botha, said he wasn’t worried about finding a job after university.

“There is a shortage of CAs in the country,” he said. “There is hope for the future. But we need to start creating sustainable jobs that contribute to the economy.”

Sydney Chirwa from Malawi said he celebrated Workers’ Day because he had a worker’s permit in South Africa.

“It’s complicated. People need to be creative and create new jobs.

“What I see here is too many opportunities, but they don’t want to learn and they want to take the shortcuts to the top.”

Unemployed exploited

Philosophy lecturer at the University of Limpopo Professor Thabang Dladla said many people were unemployed, especially the youth.

“The statistics are a testament to this. Those currently working are vulnerable because they can be replaced easily. This means exploitation of workers by employers can be justified,” he said.

Instead of creating new jobs, many workers were replaced with younger candidates. Dladla said there wasn’t anything to celebrate at this point.

“We are one of the many unequal societies in the world and this on a racial basis, I think of Workers’ Day as a Marxist-inspired movement obfuscates the racial basis of the current situation by merely focusing solely on workers,” he said.

Not everyone in position celebrate

Political analyst Piet Croucamp said those who had a job had something to celebrate.

“There is an overlap between worker salaries and middle-class salaries in many industries. It doesn’t make sense to consider government workers as workers because they earn as much as the middle class.

Workers are a specific category of income, such as farm or mine workers,” he said.

The biggest reason for inequality in South Africa was high unemployment, he said. Centre for Human Rights director Professor Frans Viljoen said:

“Commemorating the achievements of the labour movement, including many important improvements to working conditions, and celebrating the crucial role of the working class in our country’s past and present are overshadowed by the alarmingly high unemployment rate.”

Third of SA population unemployed

Viljoen said according to the SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate for the fourth quarter was 32.7%.

“This means just about a third of the population between 15 and 64 who are eligible for work, were not employed in the particular week the survey was recorded and actively looked for work or tried to start a business in the four weeks preceding the survey interview,” he said.

He said the actual number of people not working according to that unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2022 was 42.6% which was 10% higher than the official employment rate.

Viljoen said celebrating Workers’ Day should inspire the South African government to reflect on ways to underline its commitment to treating non-nationals who were performing work in the country fairly and with dignity.

READ: Workers’ Day: Parliament acknowledges farm labourers plight and unemployment