South Africa: Cosatu Marches Against Food and Power Hikes
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
10 July 2008
Posted to the web 10 July 2008
Chris Van Gass
Cape Town
Thousands of workers in Durban and Cape Town took to the streets to support the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) strike yesterday.
The marches were part of a build-up of protests against Eskom's 27,5% electricity price increase and high food and fuel prices, and will culminate in a national strike on August 6.
In Cape Town, about 2500 workers braved the cold and wet weather to march on Parliament where Cosatu, with support from the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and a number of civil society organisations, handed over a memorandum on the electricity crisis to representatives of the government, business and Eskom.
Cosatu demanded that the costs of power cuts "must not be borne by the poorest in society, that workers are not retrenched as a result of power cuts, and that the electrification programme to poor households is not compromised".
The memorandum said workers should not be asked to pay for government's failure to invest in electricity and Eskom's poor planning, which had led to the crisis. It called for a pledge "by all stakeholders" to show joint commitment to addressing the electricity emergency.
Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich blamed Eskom and the government's "neoliberal" macroeconomic policies, which he said were in contrast with what was contained in the Freedom Charter, for the crisis.
He said the workers taking part in the protest reflected the "pain of hunger of the majority of South Africans".
Ehrenreich said many workers in the mining and clothing industries knew what it felt like because they had lost their jobs due to the electricity cuts. SA was losing orders from overseas because the Eskom blackouts meant businesses could not guarantee delivery of products.
Ehrenreich said Cosatu would work actively to find solutions to the problems, but that neither government nor business had provided solutions during the Nedlac negotiations to solve the issue, "and if there are no solutions we will bring the country to a standstill".
Some businesses in Durban's city centre closed shop yesterday ahead of the Cosatu protest. Many along the city's busy Smith and West streets were shuttered and even traders and hawkers were absent. Taxis and buses were also not operating.
Zama Phakathi, of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, said hundreds of businesses had been closed because taxis and buses were not running and many people were stranded without transport to work.
Earlier, Ehrenreich told strikers who had gathered in Cape Town's Good Hope Centre not to wield firearms. He said a shot had been fired outside the centre and the brandishing of weapons would not be tolerated. Cosatu would not protect anyone who was arrested in connection with a firearm offence, he said .
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I appreciate what is being done,but from study, once this administration knows it is to blame and cannot put the blame on anyone else,you are up against the proverbial brick wall,ie you will get nowhere.On second thoughts is COSATU there as part of the alliance taking the heat of the ANC and generally mixing things up a bit,you can only have so many things on your con side when heading for an ellection even if you hold the vast majority.Food for thought?