| Writing
in the Mail and Guardian of 04-10 May 2001, Cosatu's secretary general, Zwelinzima Vavi,
once again took a strong stand against privatisation. He was reporting on the bi-annual
meeting of Cosatu's central executive committee. Cosatu is threatening government with a
two day general strike on privatisation. Vavi
expressed himself against the sale of assets and shares, the termination of state
monopolies, the contracting out of local authority services, such as water and electricity
provision and the outsourcing of auxilliary services.
Vavi is concerned that privatisation will lead to the type
of problem that California experiences with respect to power supplies. He does not believe
that privatised utilities can take care of the poor. He seems to be critical of
transparent or explicit subsidies and in favour of cross subsidisation or implicit
subsidies. He is also concerned about the quality of services rendered to the poor. |
