But we should resist the temptation of neglecting to claim our victories, even though we must not be blind to short comings. It is for this reason that the agreement has been referred to our members for consultation. We are meeting at the time where attacks on workers and their gains at all fronts is under relentless attack. The job-loss bloodbath continues unabated. The quality of jobs is on the decline, with good paying jobs being replaced at an accelerated pace by insecure jobs that only help to create an army of the class of the working poor.
Poverty is on the rise.
Inequalities are deepening. A new black elite is developing fast, yet overall blacks living standards are still nowhere close to those of their white counter parts. We still have two worlds in a single country. Racism against workers, in particular in the farms and small enterprises where there is not institutional support, is the same as it was during the apartheid era. The shift of the national policies to the centre right has not stopped.