Durban - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) leadership in KwaZulu-Natal say they expect minimal disruption to businesses in the Durban CBD owing to its protest demonstration today.
The protest is aimed at highlighting the “daily struggles of working people” amid rising fuel prices, the high cost of living, poor wages and the high unemployment rate.
Cosatu KZN secretary Edwin Mkhize sought to assure the public that there was no stay away or shutdown.
“We have noted reports suggesting there is a strike, which is not true. Cosatu would never allow its members to embark on an unprotected strike and that is why we call today’s action a protest demonstration,” Mkhize said.
He added while they had noted that protests and marches in recent times had often led to the looting of businesses, they remained confident that theirs would be incident-free.
He said there will be a motorcade from Currie’s Fountain to the CBD.
“Throughout Cosatu’s existence our marches have been incident-free, and we want to ensure that we retain such a track record,” the provincial secretary emphasised.
Mkhize, however, advised businesses to exercise caution during the period in which the labour federation would be marching.
“Our advice is that those who seek to go to the city centre for business activities should do so either before noon and, where possible, just postpone their appointments to Saturday,” the provincial secretary said.
He reiterated that today’s demonstration was a “warning signal” to both government and the private sector bosses.
“Our hope is that workers are not pushed to a corner in which they have no other option but to go on strike. That will all depend on the response that we get from Friday’s demonstration,” Mkhize said.
He expressed concern that with rising fuel prices and the taxi fares that were expected to increase next month, many workers would struggle to make ends meet.
“Many of our members use taxis as a means of transport on a daily basis because they cannot afford to buy cars, now with that expected increase, and no sign of a rise in wages, things will get worse for millions of families in our province and South Africa,” Mkhize said.
He added that while they were mindful of the challenges that KZN and the country had gone through over the past few years, they needed to protect the workers who were feeling the pressure of rising living costs.
“We do not want to be blackmailed through statements that the economy is hurting because of our actions. There are indications that those at the top at both government and business are doing well, affording everything they want, but those at the bottom are suffocating,” Mkhize said.
He added that today’s demonstration in the province was one of many that would take place across the country in the coming months.