Cosatu boss slates racial income gap
COSATU president Sdumo Dlamini yesterday said the country's income inequality has deepened within racial groups.
Dlamini was speaking during a Numsa conference in Durban.
He said an average African man earns about R2400 a month, while an average white man earns about R19000 a month.
"The racial income gap is therefore roughly R16800 among males. Most white women earn about R9600 a month, whereas most African women earn R1200 a month. The gap in monthly incomes among women is R8400," he said.
Dlamini said their continued call for decent work and a campaign on the living wage is informed by their observation that post-1994, workers remain confronted with the reality of an attempt by employers to undermine and erode all the gains since the democratic government took over.
He said Cosatu had taken a decision that 2011 will be the year of a showdown with capitalism because they could not be content with the current status quo where their democratic gains are undermined by the continued picture of an unequal society.
"We cannot rest when we are confronted with the reality that 16 years into democracy redistribution of income has not occurred. Besides the decline in the real incomes of African households between 1995 and 2005, income inequality has increased across the board," he said.
"The top 10percent of the rich accounted for 33 times the income earned by the bottom 10percent in 2000. This gap is likely to have worsened, given the fall in the share of employees in national income and the global economic crisis of 2008.
"About 20percent of South Africans earned less than R800 a month in 2002, with the situation worse for Africans. By 2007 about 71percent of African female-headed households earned less than R800 a month and 59percent of these had no income; 58percent of African male-headed households earn less than R800 a month and 48percent had no income."
In 2008 the top 20 directors of JSE-listed companies, the overwhelming majority of whom are still white males, earned an average of R59million a year each, while in 2009 the average earnings of an employee in the South African economy was R34000.
Each of the top 20 paid directors in JSE-listed companies earned 1728 times the average income of a South African worker. On average, between 2007 and 2008, these directors experienced 124percent increase in their earnings, compared to below 10percent settlements for ordinary workers.
Hefty increases were also seen in state-owned enterprises where the top 20 directors experienced a 59percent increase in their earnings, collectively raking in R132223 million. This amounts to R6,6million a director.
DisLank
Is this man joking? Maybe he should have paid more attention in his Statistics 101 class - or did he take the "Malema Route" to power.Report Abuse
Methodman
Close that gab COSATU, keep on making that noise because its true, its termed explotation or servitude, because we are making money for whites people while doing the same jobsReport Abuse
NkgoengA
What you are saying is true, highly true it iis happening the is still apartheid way of doing things in working area,expecialy this thing of minimum and maximum majority get black get minimum while all white get maximum salary of their position, please start in the mining industryReport Abuse
MiniSlahla
AS LONG AS WE HAVE WHITES IN THIS COUNTRY NOTHING WILL BE 100% BLACK.Report Abuse
Bdoobs
I worked for a company where there was a caucasian salary, indian salary, colored salary and African salary. They had no salary discussion policy, I was shocked to see a payslip of this white boy who had no clue of what was going on. Indians would flock from Durban, burnt out, some couldn't even switch a PC on, but would be given a job that I applied for and got rejected on some b.s. excuse that I didn't have relevant qualification and some burnt out indian who just had matric and had been working in a harbour loading/offloading goods from the ship was given that job and that company is CEB Maintenance in Klammerville... if anyone ever get a job offer there, my advice, take it if you don't have a choice, if you have a choice , take a choice, you'd be better of.Report Abuse
Kombo
As long as the white man owns the means of production--industry, it shall remain the way it is. My question is...are the black owned companies also paying peanuts to their workers? If yes, then who is fooling who?Report Abuse
Methodman
@MinniSlahla please dont turn SA into Nigeria, DRC,BURUNDI, KENYA, ZIMBABWE, Ivory Coast as you can see that they busy killing each other for power and there is no infrastucture for economic development , white I trying to say we still need whites for skill transfere, tap thier knowledge, at same time transform our people through BEE policies and equal employment opportunitiesReport Abuse
DisLank
If a small group of men were always regarded as guilty, in any clash with any other group, regardless of the issues or circumstances involved, would you call it persecution? If this group were always made to pay for the sins, errors, or failures of any other group, would you call that persecution? If this group had to live under a silent reign of terror, under special laws, from which all other people were immune, laws which the accused could not grasp or define in advance and which the accuser could interpret in any way he pleased—would you call that persecution? If this group were penalized, not for its faults, but for its virtues, not for its incompetence, but for its ability, not for its failures, but for its achievements, and the greater the achievement, the greater the penalty—would you call that persecution?Report Abuse
Sagacious
I hear you COSATU I hear you, but words with not action I just useless ek se, if you could sit yourselves down and come up with the good approach on this then, I will applaud, ek se. I'm talking here about things like the grade v/s experience, experience v/s remuneration, job v/s qualifications, white pay v/s African pay = same job, etc that will be your start ek se.Then approach every company with this and analyse your findings and let them answer for their discrepancies and give them time to turn it around, publicize the whole process and stop talking.
Let’s get our hands dirty for once, in the name of brotherhood, shall we??
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hala
Lets face it...we blacks are the most hard working labourers and the least earning race in any company...we have degrees and diplomas...yet we are doing admin jobs...reason been we always scared to start our things that will see us going through.Report Abuse