SADC in a crisis of underdevelopment, says Mukuka
By Staff Reporter
The SADC region is in a crisis of underdevelopment, says Southern African Trade Unions Coordination Council vice-president Cosmas Mukuka.
During a Southern African Trade Unions Coordination Council (SATUCC) Labour Symposium held in Gaborone, Botswana recently under the theme: Trade Union Strategies in Promoting Decent Work in SADC Region, Mukuka lamented that the sub-region was currently faced with a crisis of underdevelopment in which economies continue to heavily rely on the exports of raw materials and imports of finished expensive goods.
Mukuka, who is also Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president, explained that this situation had brought about net loss of the resources and revenue for most countries within SADC and the continent.
He said, therefore, that industrialisation becomes a lasting solution for the SADC region to reverse these trends towards the beneficiation of the region’s natural resources into finished goods.
“Industrial employment plays a key role in lifting economic performance, as is stressed in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 9 on building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation,” Mukuka further added.
He also lamented that the SADC region like the rest of Africa was characterised by a disconnect between growth and employment.
“Poor-quality employment remains the main labour market challenge for the SADC region. This problem is compounded by rapid population growth, specifically growth of the working-age population,” said Mukuka.
The Labour Symposium was attended by the regional trade union leadership, officials, youth and women representatives drawn from SATUCC affiliates and trade union researchers.
It was premised on a resolution from the 10th SATUCC Delegates’ Congress held from October 25 to 27, 2017 in Dar-es-salaam under the theme: New Path of Democratic Development, Industrialisation and Job creation in the SADC Region.
The Labour Symposium also discussed the agenda items on the 107th International Labour Conference (ILC) that was held from 28 May-8 June 2018 in Geneva.
The participants at the Labour Symposium further brainstormed on how SATUCC and its affiliates can create awareness among the workers and the public on industrialisation in light of the SADC Industrialisation Policy Framework and Road Map.
Founded in 1983, SATUCC is a regional working class solidarity organisation that exists to give a voice to the workers in SADC.
In recent days, the deputy general secretary of the just-launched Socialist Party in Zambia, Dr Fred M’membe, who is also the party’s presidential candidate in that country’s 2021 elections, has consistently illustrated the issues around the global job crises that have been created by the replacement of human labour by machines within the capitalist mode of production.
In his latest statement posted on the Socialist Party’s Facebook page on Monday, Dr M’membe stated that joblessness compromises human dignity.
He has argued that the rising crisis of unemployment can only be addressed under the socialist system and never within the capitalist system of production which was creating the crises.
