Inside Labour | Again and again, the poor suffer the most
The wheels come off SA’s passenger rail service – a lifeline for the poor and the working class – is in dire straits. Photo: Lulekwa MbadamaneIt is extremely dangerous for anyone to ignore or, worse still, deny reality. Cartoonists often sum this up by drawing images of denialist politicians and others driving over cliffs because they refuse to believe that a bridge no longer exists.
At the time, I confess, I still harboured hopes that replacement wheels would be found from within the trade union movement. At the same time, the country’s postal system is in a state of collapse, although there has been no widespread outcry about it.But the fact is that this public service was – and to a degree still is – widely used by the majority without internet access and bank accounts. It is a service that provided an essential link between the rural areas and workers in the cities.
But passenger rail is, once again, a lifeline for the working class and the poor. And it, too, is now marked, without much to-do, for partial privatisation – if buyers can be found. Paraffin, the prime fuel used by the non-motorised poor, rose by 87 cents to R9.97 a litre in 2018. It is now more than R15 a litre.
Not many years ago, trade unions proudly advertised their membership numbers and these could be verified by the registrar of trade unions. Claims still exist, but they are often years out of date.
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