The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is set to lead thousands of workers and activists in a nationwide #NationalShutDown strike on Wednesday, 24 August.
In addition, other organisations are also expected to embark on mass protests nationwide in their individual capacities.
The trade union said the strike is largely brought about against high unemployment, increased electricity tariffs and steep increases in fuel and transport costs in six provinces in South Africa where SAFTU and its allies will strike.
The trade union demands:
Speaking at a press briefing hosted on Monday, SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi stressed all non-essential workers stay away from work on Wednesday.
What is the purpose of the march you may ask?
The purpose is to shut down the economy so that the government has no choice but to pay attention to workers’ grievances.
The major grievance is the cost of living crisis, which has seen spikes in the cost of consumer transport, petrol, food and more. The rise in interest rates from the South African Reserve Bank has made servicing debts on cars and homes increasingly unaffordable. He also said that South Africans defaulted on R55 billion worth of debt between January and March alone.
While life gets more expensive, workers’ wages aren’t rising: in many cases, they have been frozen or increased below inflation rates. Vavi also suggests that the increasingly bad living conditions for ordinary South Africans are being felt in a “social crisis” manifesting in rising rates of crime and violence.
Vavi added that the national shutdown should be considered as the beginning of an extended programme of demonstrations.
Here are the details for possible points in Cape Town’s March:
The march will take place in the Western Cape in Cape Town. It will start at Keizersgracht at 8am and end at the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, the Provincial Government buildings and Parliament at 10am.
Also read:
Malema calls for national shutdown amid load shedding and soaring petrol chaos
Picture: Cape Town etc {Gallery}
