Cosatu march disrupts traffic in Bloemfontein

Hundreds of members are demanding, among other things, affordable public transport and government and Eskom to intervene in the electricity crisis, Bloemfontein Courant reported.

According to Cosatu’s Free State Secretary, Monyatso oa Mahlatsi, people will soon be struggling to afford electricity. A memorandum was handed to the Departments of Labour and Health, and the Free State Development Agency.

“We also want intervention in the challenges in the health sector as we feel the services are crumbling. We engage in these activities as part of the national Cosatu day of action, in support of the negotiations that are currently unfolding at Nedlac level,” he said.

Mahlatsi said they are also fighting for contractual employees to be permanently employed.

Meanwhile, about 3,000 Cosatu members marched from Botha Gardens down Pixley ka Seme Street to the city hall in Durban, where they were due to hand over a memorandum, and also protested against labour broking.

Several carried posters and placards that read “Labour Brokers = Slavery” and “End Poverty, Job Losses and Inequality”.

In Cape Town, marchers voiced a wide range of reasons for worker and working class frustration. Twin sisters Natasha Cleophas and Vanessa Miggel said they were sick of arriving late for work because of public transport.

“The buses and trains are late everyday and then we lose our jobs,” said Cleophas.

Both sisters, who worked in the textile and clothing industries, said another frustration of theirs was decreased pay when returning from maternity leave.

Marchers also gathered at the Rustenburg taxi rank in the North West, singing liberation struggle songs. North West Public Works MEC Madoda Sambatha, who is also the provincial secretary of the South African Communist Party, was among leaders of the march.

– Caxton News Service