Cosatu members marched in various parts of the country yesterday in protest against lack of jobs and retrenchments.
Federation sends warning on job losses, poverty, graft
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) took to the streets in major cities to a standstill in an effort to show force as it marched and protested against job losses.
In what it termed “the national shutdown”, Cosatu delivered a strong message to the ANC-led government, just months before the national polls.
Joined by its affiliated unions, the protest came a few days after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at his second State of the Nation Address that Eskom would be broken into three separate entities responsible for generation, transmission and distribution.
The strike took place in eight provinces, the only exception being the Western Cape. In Gauteng, Cosatu members, mostly clad in red Tshirts, gathered at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg. By 11am a strong red wave of more than 2,000 workers had already filled the square.
Traffic came to a standstill as the workers made their way to the provincial legislature to hand over their memorandum to premier David Makhura. The federation is demanding jobs and an end to poverty for the working class and the poor. Cosatu Gauteng chairperson Amos Monyela said their plight should be addressed by strong economic development driven by the state.
“We believe that the labour movement must develop ways of contesting retrenchments at an economy-wide level because it is impossible to fight the retrenchment crisis effectively at a workplace level,” said Monyela.
Cosatu also demanded a shift towards a more labour-absorbing growth path. “The president and minister of finance need to reflect on the devastating effect that the VAT increase has had on the poor households and lowincome earners. They need to reverse the VAT hike and announce the wealth tax, and also increase the corporate tax back to the 1998 levels on 35%,” Monyela said.
The memorandum also demanded an end to state capture, corruption and mismanagement, saying all mentioned politicians must be removed from office, be prosecuted and have their assets attached.
‘ ‘ They need to reverse the VAT hike and announce the wealth tax