A group of striking public-service workers protested metres away from the African National Congress (ANC) policy conference venue in Midrand on Wednesday.
Law-enforcement authorities closed the road leading to Gallagher Estate while Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha intervened and addressed the crowd.
”I was told there was a protest and decided to come here to make sure that there are no violent incidents,” Madisha said.
He updated the strikers on the ongoing wage talks. ”I told them about the gains we have made and the areas that we still need to make some gains in.”
He said that as the strike was almost four weeks old, workers wanted their demands to be addressed. ”They came here because that is where the ANC is. To them, the ANC is the employer, although I have told them that government is the employer.”
Madisha said the protesters wanted to talk to Cabinet ministers attending the conference.
On Tuesday, the ANC said it would not choose sides on the strike.
Earlier, Madisha said every document discussed at the ANC’s policy conference should be directed at creating jobs, as well as fighting poverty and disease.
”What we want is that in the next eight years, on a permanent basis, we find ways to create jobs and fight poverty and disease,” he said. — Sapa