South Africa’s biggest labour federation Cosatu, a key ally of the ruling African National Congress, said on Monday it planned a two-day national strike in October to protest against privatisation.
In March, Cosatu suspended a planned strike saying it was giving the government time to address workers’ concerns about state sell-offs.
The sale of state assets has earned the government R26,8-billion since privatisations kicked off in 1997.
”The July Exco (executive committee of Cosatu has) decided to lift the suspension and continue with its programme of mass mobilisation,” the Congress of South African Trade Unions said in a statement.
”While a more comprehensive programme will be developed in the next few weeks, Cosatu Exco calls for a general strike on October 1-2, 2002,” they added.
Cosatu, which claims to have close to two million members, said it was resorting to a strike as the government pressed on with its privatisation programme — centred on the listing of phone utility Telkom — at the cost of jobs.
South Africa’s jobless rate is estimated at more than 30% and more than half a million jobs have been shed since apartheid ended in 1994.
Revenue from the privatisation programme, seen as a key driver of foreign investor confidence, is forecast at R12 billion this fiscal year. The bulk of the money is expected to come from the initial public offering of Telkom.
Domestic markets were little moved on the news, with the rand holding beneath the key 10/dollar level and bonds idle ahead of the release of June producer inflation data due out on Wednesday.
Last year, Cosatu held a two-day national strike against privatisation which was dismissed by the government as a failure. – Reuters