It’s all systems go for the planned nationwide strike, from the Congress of South Africa Trade Union.
COSATU said Thursday’s protected strike is in protest of the socio-economic issues affecting South Africans.
COSATU in the Western Cape, along with its affiliates, is set to march to the Provincial Legislature and Parliament, where they will handover a memorandum to the two spheres of government.
Speaking to Bush Radio, on Wednesday, COSATU’s Secretary-General in the Western Cape, Malvern de Bruyn said not much work is done to combat issues such as crime and unemployment in the province.
‘’COSATU is engaging government for quite some time. We had numerous discussions and raised concerns through NEDLAC, and unfortunately we failed to reach an agreement, hence the only way to force Government in a certain direction is to go out in our numbers in the street, as it is the only weapon we have as the working class.’’
‘’ We have been engaging with government for some time, and one can say that there is progress, but it is on a slow pace. As workers, we can't wait on government to make up their mind to deal with these issues confronting us daily, so we saying - maybe this action will put pressure on them,’’ he added.
De Bruyn said a memorandum will be handed over to the two spheres of government, which includes, among others, government and the private sector to stop the attack on Collective Bargaining; Prevention of corruption and crime; Address the high unemployment and create decent sustainable jobs.
‘’Members will gather from 08:30; from 10 o’clock our chairperson [COSATU's provincial chairperson, Motlatsi Tsubane] will open proceedings, then by 11a.m, we will march from Darling Street, to Adderley street, and then end up in Wale street and hand over the memorandum to the Western Cape Legislature. [Western Cape] Premier, [Alan Winde] informed us that [Western Cape’s Police Oversight & Community Safety MEC] Reagen Allen will accept the memorandum on behalf of the Premier's office. We will then move to Parliament, where a representative from the Speaker’s office will accept the memorandum.’’
On progress from previous strikes - the COSATU Secretary-General said discussions are still on going.
‘’What we can say, on national level, we are in discussions with the fuel issue. We were also in discussions with the Premier’s office at some stage, regarding the role they should play in the province. We are now calling on the Premier and MEC to speed up the issue of crime in the province.
‘’They should stop politicking regarding crime in the province. If the Premier can go on social media/tv, that Putin will be arrested if he enters here, so why [sic] can’t he use those same resources and go deal with crime in the hotspot areas such as Manenberg, Nyanga, Khayelitsha, etc. That should be his focus point. Focus on issues affecting the Western Cape – we recently had floods. Now we are forced to go back. We acknowledge that resources in the province is limited, but use it effectively.’’
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De Bruyn says they are expecting about 3 000 members to join Thursday’s strike
‘’ We are expecting more than 10 unions that fall under COSATU. We applied for a permit of +/- 3 000 workers. Although it is a COSATU strike, this strike is open to all workers as they are all protected.
‘’We are calling of the people of the Western Cape to turn up in their numbers, to turn Cape Town red on Thursday, to show government that we are unhappy and frustrated with what’s happening with the socio economic issues we are confronted with.’’
COSATU’s Secretary-General in the Western Cape, Malvern de Bruyn said they will give the two spheres of government to respond within 14 days to respond to the memorandum. De Bruyn says the Federation is aware that not all demands will be met within the time frame, however, he says, COSATU would like plans on a way forward.
