The federation and civil society organisations have this morning began bring the biggest cities in the country to a standstill as they protest against the use of labour brokers and the Gauteng e-tolling system. Several services, including hospitals and schools, are expected to be affected.
Cosatu has been mobilising the public for what they believe will be the mother of all mass actions today. In Johannesburg, the federation expects more than 100 000 people while in Cape Town over 30 000 are expected according to the morning SABC news bulletin on SABC 2.
Workers hope to persuade government to ban labour brokers and scrap the user pay model of the Gauteng highways toll system. Many have been voicing their support for the march over social networks, facebook and twitter while some say they couldn’t be bothered.
32 marches have been planned across the entire country- making it one of the biggest mass protests in years
Indications this morning shows that The country’s economic hub, Johannesburg will come to a complete standstill as workers will gather at Beyers at 10:30 and be moving through some of the major streets including Simmonds, Rissik and De Korte in Braamfontein.
Meanwhile, economists have warned that today’s national strike by Cosatu will cost the country billions of rands. Economist, Dawie Roodt says: ” I’m afraid the impact on the economy is likely to be a couple of billions of rands, really depending on how long it will go on for and how disruptive its going to be what industries are involved and so on.
So I’m afraid the impact on the economy is quiet severe – unfortunately because last year South Africa suffered quiet significantly from strike actions.”
Cosatu in the Western Cape has vowed to bring Cape Town’s economy to a standstill today during its strike against the Gauteng e-tolling system and labour brokers.
Post published in: Business