Protesters send strong warning to government and private sector
The presidency commends protestors for embarking on peaceful protest in Pretoria, which formed part of the nationwide shutdown.
Thousands of Cosatu members and community members peacefully marched to the Union Buildings on Wednesday.
They demanded that the government bring an end to high fuel prices, load-shedding, poverty, inequality and unemployment as well as gender-based violence and corruption.
“This is the beginning of ongoing rolling mass actions,” Cosatu’s first deputy president Mike Shingange told Rekord.
He said that problems such as the high unemployment rate were not only the government’s responsibility but also the private sector’s.
Unemployment currently stands at 33.9%, according to the latest Stats SA numbers.
Shingange said that “the private sector [also] has to be blamed for its contribution to the problem”.
Unemployment rose to a record high of 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021 from 34.9% the previous quarter.
It was the highest jobless rate since 2008.
“There are workers who have been retrenched by the private sector and not by the government. Government incentives to the private sector in the form of corporate tax reductions are meant to make sure that they retain workers, but they are not doing so,” he said.
Businesses on the march route in the city centre temporarily closed their doors during the march.
The march began at Burgers Park in the city centre and moved along Lillian Ngoyi Street before joining Madiba Street to the Union Buildings in Arcadia, where they handed over a memorandum of demands to the minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele.
Gungubele commended the marchers for maintaining discipline during the march.
“We want to thank you for the manner you have conducted yourself today,” he said.
He then assured the protesters that the government would take the issues raised in the memorandum seriously.
“We agree with you that unless we deal with poverty and unless we deal with unemployment, we will be irrelevant,” he said.
The protesters gave the government 14 days to respond to their demands.
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