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The Congress of South African trade Unions has noted the names of the people appointed to serve on the National Planning Commission and hopes that they will immediately start to tackle the many serious challenges that the country faces.

COSATU welcomes the appointment of three of the people whom it nominated - Chris Malikane, Vivienne Taylor and Karl von Holdt - and is confident that they will vigorously fight for policies in the interests of the workers and poor South Africans.

We welcome several others who have a good record of supporting progressive policies.

COSATU is however concerned at the over-representation of business people, who constitute nearly half of the NPC. Most of them are good citizens with whom we have worked well in the past, but the overall balance is skewed against the trade union and progressive movement and this could negatively influence their political judgement.

We are concerned that as a whole civil society is underrepresented, which raises concerns about whether the national plan will fairly reflect the needs and aspirations of the majority. Nevertheless we will actively engage with the NPC, and urge other civil society organisations to do likewise, to ensure that these perspectives are clearly communicated, and ultimately incorporated by the NPC.