A smattering of striking public service employees began to march from Schubart Park to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday morning to deliver a memorandum of demands.
About six or seven pockets of about 60 people each began the march shortly before 11am, with the numbers far lower than the tens of thousands predicted by organisers.
No one would speak to the media, saying that as civil servants they were not allowed to do so.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Independent Labour Caucus called for the strike among its 1,3-million members after rejecting a 7% salary increase offer, saying 8,6% would be more appropriate.
National marches are scheduled to take place in Cape Town and Pretoria, as well as provincial marches in other cities.
‘Make the circle bigger’
In Cape Town, thousands of civil servants marched down Darling Street.
One worker held a placard that said: “We want to make the circle bigger, give us 8,6%”.
Another held a placard that read: “Baloyi we are not your toyi”, referring to Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi.
The marchers sang peacefully as they were led by a large truck with union leaders urging them on, while policemen watched.
They would hand over a memorandum of their demands to a public service representative at Parliament.
“It’s very difficult to get by on the wages that they are paying us,” one woman marcher said.
“I have three children and it is not easy paying for their schooling and covering the cost of life with what they pay us,” she said.
In Durban, workers were to attend a mass meeting at the Durban City Hall.
Durban hospitals and schools appeared to not have been affected by the strike on Tuesday morning.
SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi said his union had wanted all schools closed on Tuesday.
“We wanted a total shutdown today but that did not happen because the message was not properly communicated.”
He said his union had since sent SMSes to its members that there should be a total shutdown.
A march was planned for Durban on Thursday.
Meanwhile, schools and hospitals tried to cope with the stripped-down staff complement.
One primary school in Johannesburg said they would focus on English and maths for the 100 out of 700 pupils who had arrived in the morning, with teachers advised to keep their cellphones with them in case they needed to call the police.
Johannesburg’s Home Affairs office was only handing out completed identity documents, with no other services offered.
The Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital had long queues, but patients and visitors said they were waiting no longer than usual. – Sapa