Labour federation Cosatu slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to approve salary increases for cabinet ministers and judges.

Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator Matthew Parks says it was insensitive for Ramaphosa to approve a 3% salary increase for judges and public office bearers while the poor were struggling to make ends meet.

“What is most galling is that the president chose to ignore the recommendation by treasury for a 1.5% increase for political office bearers and judges and instead opted to increase it to 3%.

“The South African working class is facing mounting social challenges, and it’s about time that political leaders show some solidarity with the suffering masses,” he says.

It was unacceptable, Parks says, that the very Cabinet ministers who failed to fix the country were being rewarded.

“Load-shedding, the rising cost of living, corruption, and a stagnant economy have all happened under the watch and leadership of political office-bearers. They do not deserve the packages they currently earn, let alone an increase in their salaries,” he adds.

The judges, Parks says, were accepting salary increases despite having ruled against workers each time employees go to court in a bid to compel employers to give them a living wage.

“Judges all the way to the Constitutional Court rejected the case of public service workers who wanted the government to pay them the money that was due to them from the third leg of a three-year agreement.

“Yet the judiciary expects increases for itself, citing the rising costs of living, while it thought little of dismissing the same rationale for poorly paid cleaners, teachers, security guards, and other public servants,” Parks says.