/ 7 July 2008

Cosatu march to demand freeze on food prices

A march to Parliament on Wednesday will demand that the government places an immediate freeze on food prices pending a full investigation into the food industry.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which will be leading the march through Cape Town’s streets, is also calling for a minimum 15% wage increase to be paid all round at once.

“The government must regulate food prices,” said Tony Ehrenreich, the Cosatu provincial secretary in the Western Cape, addressing a media briefing on Monday. “South Africa should de-link food costs from global prices.”

He called for the nationalisation of Sasol, and for Sasol to sell its product at a price related to the cost of production of its oil from coal, rather than at the international oil price.

Among the list of demands that will be presented at Parliament’s gates will be the nationalisation of the maize-meal, bread and milk value chains, and the establishment of a state-owned enterprise to operate across the value chain within two years.

The marchers will also be calling for a 20% increase in social grants paid to all children under 18 and all males over 60.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) will be supporting the march, and provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha told the media briefing that the party “is in full support of the strike action, in this and other provinces, leading to a national one-day strike on August 6”.

“The ANC as an organisation has to be concerned about issues that affect the people of South Africa,” Skwatsha said. — I-Net Bridge