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It is greatly revealing that Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven has reportedly stated that labour broking constitutes a major obstacle to the recruitment of workers into Cosatu - at a time at which Cosatu has announced that it has lost 230 000 members during the recession. So much for criticising the so-called ‘narrow interests of the capitalist classes'. Cosatu is trying to ban labour brokers in a direct attempt to boost its own membership. Its cries about enslavement and exploitation are hysterical nonsense, designed to distract attention away from Cosatu's self-interest driven lobbying. The pecuniary incentive explains why Cosatu is not willing to debate or concede on any point - they need labour brokers to be banned because they believe it will increase their own membership, and they will push for such a policy shift regardless of who is hurt or what the cost will be to the economy and ordinary South Africans. And all indications, at present, are that the cost will be significant, since as many as 500,000 South Africans risk being placed out of work by a ban on labour brokers. Cosatu is even willing to disrupt the parliamentary process in order to stifle any voice of opposition. This is not good for our democracy, and needs to stop right now. We want to hear the president of this country, who told us not so long ago that he would create half a million new jobs this year, explain to the South African working class why his administration wants to throw half a million people out of work. So far, we have lost 267,000 jobs this year; ban labour broking, and the Zuma administration may risk losing one million jobs in its first twelve months. The Democratic Alliance (DA) together with the Congress of the People (COPE) has proposed that a program of industry self-regulation be adopted in order to tackle worker exploitation on the fringes of the labour broking industry. There is a lot of very strong evidence to support the view that this is the best possible path forward for this sector, and it is particularly pleasing to note that the recently published World Trade Organisation (WTO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) report on informal labour is aligned with calls for better regulation of this sector. The DA will continue to engage on the issue of worker exploitation in a clear and objective way in order to solve this problem. Cosatu, on the other hand, appear to have deluded themselves into believing that the size of their membership somehow directly relates to the welfare of ordinary South Africans.