About 25 000 Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) members started marching to Eskom’s offices in Johannesburg on Wednesday to protest against rising electricity and food prices.
Johannesburg metro police officers led the march in cars and on horseback while protesters sang songs and blew on vuvuzelas.
”We estimate that there are about 25 000 people,” said metro police spokesperson Inspector Edna Mamonyane, adding that a rough count had been done from a police helicopter.
Vendors next to the roads removed their merchandise for fear of being looted, though the march was proceeding peacefully, with union members gathered in groups according to their branch affiliations.
Cosatu was to hand a memorandum to Eskom to protest against a recent 27,5% hike in electricity prices.
Earlier, Cosatu’s Gauteng chairperson, Thuthas Tseki, said the government must drop interest rates and intervene in rising food and fuel prices.
”Everything is shooting through the roof … If the government doesn’t respond, we will continue protesting,” he said.
Dressed in red T-shirts and caps, members of the trade-union federation held placards reading ”Away with food prices” and ”Away with high fuel prices”.
Some marchers had orange stickers on their clothes reading ”Down with Tiger Brands” and ”No to high interest rates”.
A banner held aloft by members of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union read: ”Fawu says no to food price increases. Government must protect poor consumers.”
Entrepreneurs were selling food and vuvuzelas to the group whose march would see road closures in the city centre from 11am until 3pm.
Johannesburg commuters were left stranded on Wednesday morning as most taxi, bus and train operators were to join the Cosatu march.
Cosatu, which held protests in the Free State, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga last week, was also staging protests in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West on Wednesday. A national stayaway is planned for August 6.
In North West on Wednesday, essential services and the transport system in Rustenburg ground to a halt, Cosatu spokesperson Solly Phetoe said.
”All bus services are also not working and it is going to be hard to get workers to and from the protest to the municipality. At this stage about 8 000 members have gathered, but we are still waiting for more people to come in from Mafikeng, Carletonville and Klerksdorp,” he said.
According to Cosatu, memorandums would be handed to representatives from Eskom and local government at the Rustenburg municipality offices.
Phetoe said they had had an excellent response from mines with the majority of mineworkers all out in support of the protest.
AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson Joane Jones reported little impact from Wednesday’s strike on some of its mines. ”There has been very little impact at our West Wits operations — they’re basically operating as normal,” she said.
AngloGold Ashanti’s West Wits operations include the Mponeng, Savuka and Tautona mines, which fall under both Gauteng and North West.
However, the group’s Vaal River operations were affected, Jones said. These include the Great Noligwa, Kopanang, Tau Lekoa and Moab Khotsong mines.
Reason to complain
Meanwhile, a new survey reported on Wednesday that striking Cosatu members have good reason to be unhappy.
”Looking at income and price trends, Cosatu members have good reason to be unhappy, namely during the period May 2007 to May 2008 food prices increased by 16,8% while earnings per capita increased by 12%,” the Ipsos Markinor survey showed.
Furthermore, during the same period fuel prices increased by 35,6%, which — together with the prices of goods and services such as medical care and health expenses, transport, housing, household operation goods and services, and personal care goods — grew much faster than the said 12% earnings increases, the survey found.
”This implies that workers were in real terms becoming poorer during the past year,” the survey noted.
”Added to this is the 20% increase in interest rates during the same period, which impacts severely on instalments being paid by workers — especially in the light of rising debt to income ratios among workers — and the net result is a large number of workers with a declining ability to pay for basic goods and services,” it said.
In addition, due to the slump in the economy, matters will most probably become worse before they become better.
Evidence of this is consumer price inflation rates that increased from 3,4% in 2005 to the current 11%, GDP growth rates that declined from 5,1% in the first quarter of 2007 to a low 2,1% during the first quarter of 2008, and with that a decline in per capita disposable income growth rates, the survey found.
”Finally, the expenditure items focused upon by Cosatu, namely food, fuel and electricity, make up a substantial percentage of household consumption expenditure, namely about 30% in lower-income households during 2007 and, due to price hikes, about 34% in 2008, putting further strain on already stretched budgets,” the report found. — Sapa, I-Net Bridge