Massive e-toll protest
Come Wednesday, Cosatu and all its affiliates will be engaged in a general strike against e-tolling, as well as against labour brokers, the casualization of labour and attempts to restrict the right to strike.
In a statement on Monday, Cosatu said it was receiving overwhelming support for one of the “biggest mass protests in years”.
Thirty-two marches will be taking place around the country on the day.
These include only one in Gauteng, where the e-tolling of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) is set to commence on 30th of April this year.
The march will be led by Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi who has on many occasions urged motorists to simply engage in a mass civil disobedience drive and not register for or pay the e-tolls in protest. The march will start at the Library Gardens and march to the Premier’s Office, the Chamber of Mines, SEISSA and also the Department of Transport and Roads.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union has pledged its support to the protest action, saying that the GFIP and the Wild Coast and Cape Winelands Toll Highway Projects were “ill-conceived, likely to have corrupt elements attached to it and too expensive for the majority” of South Africa.
The union said that country’s public will already have their “pockets emptied” after the scheduled petrol hikes taking effect this week and also those to follow in subsequent months.
“Municipal workers will sacrifice a day’s wage for the greater good and encourage others to do the same,” the union said in a statement.
According to Samwu both unionised and non-unionised members of society will be able to take part in the protest action scheduled for Wednesday as Cosatu obtained the necessary permissions for the protest action.
“Apart from scrapping the toll road projects, government must investigate as to who was responsible for steam-rolling these projects past public and stakeholder consultation as well as all the relevant checks and balances. This for us is highly suspicious, given the amounts of money involved in the various toll road projects,” the union said.
A mass stay away will cost the country productivity.
According to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa, the strike comes at a considerable cost to the industry’s workers and their employers.
“The anticipated loss of a day’s production and wages is regretted by SEIFSA – particularly, as it comes at a time where the majority of firms engaged in the metal and engineering industry are struggling to remain viable, and where the retention of current employment levels is under significant pressure,” the federation said.
Source: Moneyweb
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