South African trade unions have launched one of the biggest national strikes of the post-apartheid era in a move widely seen as spearheading the left’s challenge to win control of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Public-service unions are determined not to back down on their demands, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Wednesday.
“We are not moving back … not one inch,” he told several thousand people at a strike rally outside the gates of Parliament in Cape Town. “So the government has a choice: Do they see a long winter or do they want to settle?”
He said the 7,25% increase proposed by mediators in wage talks was an insult to the unions.
Cosatu organisers estimated that there were as many as 25 000 people at the rally in Cape Town. Police, however, put the figure at between 4 000 and 5 000. There was a strong police presence at the rally but no confrontations. Some strikers hung their banners and posters from a police armoured vehicle.
‘Massive response’
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday afternoon that there had been a “massive response”. He said KwaZulu-Natal was at a “standstill” and attributed it to the support of taxi drivers.
“All the signs are that there is a clear increase in support and participation,” Craven said, adding it was impossible to gauge the number of workers supporting the action on Wednesday. “There are demonstrations in every province. Some are bigger marches, some are smaller, but all are significant,” he said, adding that he expected off-duty police officers to show their support.
“We are hoping that the [strike] action will concentrate the minds of government negotiators on finding an honourable result,” Craven said, adding that if a resolution was not found, the protest action would continue.
Sympathy strikes would continue “if necessary”. “We obviously hope that it won’t be necessary but we are committed to solidarity action,” he said.
‘I have bad news’
In Johannesburg, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) told public-service strikers that negotiations between the government and public-sector unions have been a joke.
“I regret to inform you that what is supposed to be negotiations has become a joke,” said Sadtu general secretary Thulas Nxesi.
His comments elicited a groan of disappointment from the mass of people gathered in the CBD ahead of a march to the office of Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa. “The negotiation has become a sham … I have bad news for those who want to go back [to work]. We are so far from going back,” he said.
Nxesi slammed the government for failing to show any political will and failing to commit itself to dealing with the issues under negotiation.
He also raised the issue of the dismissal of essential-service workers, saying, “Any injury to one is an injury to all. Dismiss one, dismiss all.”
Nxesi told workers that unions disagree with the government’s definition of essential-service workers.
A memorandum was to be handed over to Shilowa’s office, outlining workers’ demands, which include a refusal to accept wage increases linked to inflation. This had resulted in “no real wage increase over the last 10 years”. The same memorandum had been handed over to Shilowa at the start of the strike on June 1.
World Cup fear
The “acrimonious dispute” behind the strike may dent South Africa’s international image as organiser of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said on Wednesday.
“[The] last thing we want to create is an impression of an unstable country with deep social divisions that can erupt into a violent strike at any moment,” said IFP spokesperson Blessed Gwala.
Gwala said the South African government, the public servants and the trade unions need to finalise salary negotiations. “South Africa cannot wait a moment longer for a peaceful settlement between the government and its employees given the damage the strike has done to the country’s economy.”
He said the IFP fears the stand-off is benefiting no one. “Social cohesion comes at a price, but let that price not be too high. The time has come to settle the dispute,” he said.
ANC calls on strikers to behave
The ANC called on all striking public workers to resist elements that “are bent on acts of violence and intimidation”. The party said it commends the majority of strikers for their disciplined and peaceful manner.
“However, we deplore the violent acts that have accompanied some protests in the past 12 days, including intimidation, assault and the destruction of property,” it said in a statement.
These actions by a few individuals undermine and detract from the disciplined behaviour of most of the strikers, it said, urging striking workers to respect the rights of their non-striking colleagues.
The ANC reiterated its call to all parties involved in the wage talks to move swiftly to resolve the matter and address the needs of public-service workers and the broader public.
Critics say the strike has already cost lives after paramedics attending to accident victims were turned away from some hospitals, and a baby died after nurses refused to allow its mother into a hospital.
Underpinning the strike is the looming power struggle for control of the ANC at its congress in December ahead of next year’s general election.
Cosatu, which has 1,8-million members, is part of the ruling alliance with the ANC and the South African Communist Party. Its leadership has fallen out badly with President Thabo Mbeki over economic policy, accusing him of enriching a small black elite at the expense of the majority of poor.