Cosatu deputy president Mike Shingange is among Cosatu leaders who have blamed foreign resource extraction and weak local beneficiation for economic hardship and migration, while backing calls for reparations linked to slavery and colonialism.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions ( Cosatu) is the latest to call out western capital for their predatory dealings with the African continent which campaigners believe has led to millions of Africans leaving their home countries in search of a better life.
Cosatu's First Deputy President Mike Shingange said current migration patterns are a direct result of the unrestrained extraction of natural resources by European and American companies that leave most African countries poorer.
"It is them who came and extracted the wealth and mineral resources, took profit and left ghost towns and distressed communities, and took profit away. Even here in the country we have got mining companies that can spend 40-50 years mining, leave the communities in distress and take profit and close mine.Workers lose jobs and the profit is allowed to go out of the country. So when workers follow their wealth, when the workers understand that 'we have been working well here driving nice in Rustenburg or Mpumalanga, we are now poor the mineral resources are now in Italy, they will go to Italy to find their wealth," said Shingange.
