South Africa’s civil-service strike broadened on Wednesday as other union workers walked out, piling more pressure on the government in a dispute stoking political tensions in Africa’s largest economy.
Union leaders have vowed to shut the country down in sympathy with civil servants, whose two-week-old strike has already caused chaos in hospitals, schools and public offices around the country.
“My heart bleeds over what is going to happen … government must come in and resolve this problem,” Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Willie Madisha told reporters.
Early reports indicated a moderate turn-out for the sympathy strike but union leaders said it would intensify during the day.
‘Government hasn’t accelerated’
A huge number strikers would march to Parliament on Wednesday, Cosatu said.
Western Cape Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said he expected about 25 000 people to join the march, including members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) who would hold a sympathy strike in Cape Town.
Ehrenreich said Samwu members would first march to the Civic Centre in central Cape Town and public-service strikers would hold pickets at their workplaces.
At 12.30pm all these groups would march to Parliament, Ehrenreich said.
He said he hoped this intensified action would “impress upon government [the need] to respond” and the “unhappiness” strikers felt towards government at the moment.
Ehrenreich said he did not expect police offciers to interfere with the strikers because they too were affected by the strike and thus were mostly “cooperative”.
He said he expected strikers to be disciplined throughout Wednesday’s proceedings.
Ehrenreich said a march on Tuesday night of army officials to Parliament indicated that defence and police officials might be moving closer to strike action.
National Education Health and Allied Workers Union provincial secretary Suraya Jawoodeen said she could not say if the mass rally would ensure a more rapid response from government on union demands.
This was because, she said, throughout the strike, “government hasn’t accelerated its response on anything”.
About a dozen protestors were gathered outside Groote Schuur hospital just before 7am, watched over by police officers.
Protesters stood outside the entrance to the hospital but allowed other workers in.
One protester said she had been a cleaner at the hospital for 30 years and was earning R1 700.
Protest action sweeps the country
In the Eastern Cape, marches were to be held in Grahamstown, East London, Port Elizabeth, Queenstown and Mthatha, said Cosatu provincial secretary Xola Phakathi.
“We expect a high turnout, given that it’s a strike across all sectors.”
Union leaders would ensure the marches remained peaceful.
In KwaZulu-Natal at least a dozen marches were planned, including in Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith, said South African Democratic Teachers Union provincial organiser Samora Nene.
He said 20 000 marchers were expected in Durban.
In the Free State marches were expected in Bloemfontein, Ficksburg, QwaQwa and Bethlehem.
Key marches would be held in Kimberly, Upington and De Aar in the Northern Cape.
In Limpopo a march would be held in Polokwane with pickets and demonstrations scheduled to take place in Makhado, Bela Bela, Groblersdal, Mokopane and Naboomspruit.
Mpumalanga would see demonstrations in Thembisile, Witbank, Mbombela, Nkomazi, Lydenburg, Bushbuckridge, Ermelo, Standerton, Secunda and Elukwatini.
Political analysts say the public-service strike, which began on June 1, has turned into a demonstration of labour power as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) prepares for a key leadership congress later this year.
Durban was all but shut down as busses and taxis stopped operating but transport was still normal in Johannesburg and a number of other cities.
“We are going to continue to deploy members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), who will be assisted by units of the South African National Defence Force … to deal with protection of all workers who want to go to work,” Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said.
Public-service unions are demanding a 10% wage hike while the government has countered with a 6,5% increase, although it has suggested it may go as high as 7,25%.
Workers in essential services such as the police, healthcare and emergency services personnel are barred by law from joining the strike.
Some Cosatu unions, including the powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), have said they will not join the boycott because they have not had enough time to inform their members as required by law.
But many other union groups said they were ready to turn out to support the civil servants, whose job boycott has already forced the government to call in army medics to help staff public hospitals.
Unions have been pushing for a turn to the left when a new president takes office in 2009 — reflecting criticism that President Thabo Mbeki’s market-friendly policies have not done enough to help the impoverished black majority.
“This is the one strike aimed at Mbeki and his supporters,” Star newspaper commentator Jovial Rantao said on Wednesday.
“Once the strike is over, the unions would have demonstrated that they can, if they want to, bring the government and indeed the rest of the country to its knees.”
Avoid Jo’burg CBD
Johannesburg metro police have advised people to avoid the CBD on Wednesday.
“We advise people who don’t need to be there to avoid the CBD especially from 10am … they will start marching from noon,” said metro police spokesperson Inspector Edna Mamonyane.
Mamonyane told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday morning that she was not expecting the strike to become violent, “but it is possible that people are going to misbehave and loot shops”.
She said a large number of people were expected to gather at the corner of Nugget and Marshall streets at around 10am. The group would march up Commissioner street and turn into Simmonds street where they would hand over a memorandum at the offices of Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa.
They would then proceed into Market street and return to the corner of Nugget and Marshall streets.
Mamonyane said metro police and the SAPS would be in the area to ensure that the march proceeded peacefully.
“We also advise businesses along the route to try to close from 10am to 4pm,” she said.