Jobs created through the investment in infrastructure development are in the pipeline as part of the ANC’s manifesto which will prioritise economic growth and work opportunities, ANC Treasurer General Paul Mashatile told a sea of Western Cape Cosatu members at its annual May Day celebrations at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday.
Mashatile made a bold promise that R1.4 trillion would be invested in infrastructure development projects.
More roads, dams, clinics, hospitals and schools will see an upsurge in employment opportunities, he told members of their alliance partner.
"There are many of our people looking for jobs, many young people who finished college and university looking for jobs. If you look at our manifesto today, the priority is to grow the economy and to create jobs. We want growth that is accompanied by meaningful employment."
He called on the workers to ensure that the ANC garners at least 65% in next week’s national elections.
"We want a decisive majority, including here in the Western Cape. The Western Cape must come back home to the ANC. The people will make sure that that happens."
He called on supporters to "first vote, then braai" on May 8, which has been declared a public holiday.
"Every day is election campaigning day. It’s all good to say you love the ANC, but if you don’t vote, then there is a problem," Mashatile said.
President Cyril Rampahosa would be in Cape Town later this week for the "final push".
"Are you ready for Ramphosa?" he asked as the crowd cheered in support.
The South African Communist Party’s Jeremy Cronin said the ANC, with all its weaknesses and challenges, was the only formation capable of leading the struggle to "rescue our country from chaos and ruin".
"The ANC and its alliance is also the space inside of which this struggle must be intensified against the wrong-doers, the splitters, the sectarians, the fight-back lobby within," he said.
"Over the past several years our country was driven to the brink. Corrupt elements in government, in our movement, pushed SA to the very edge. These corrupt politicians were not acting alone, they were groomed by and they were the willing collaborators with gangster capitalists."
Cosatu treasurer Freda Oosthuysen said when workers considered who to vote for in the upcoming election, they should remember that only the ANC voted for the national minimum wage policy in Parliament.
Moving forward, she said the trade union federation would heighten its drive for a "second, more radical phase of our transition characterised by radical economic transformation", fight for the total ban of labour brokers and defend the national minimum wage while pushing its living wage campaign.
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