BY T.J. FIGUEROA
PRETORIA, South Africa - Tens of thousands of workers and other government employees brought the city center here to a standstill July 23 in a massive protest by public sector unions affiliated with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The one-day national strike, which saw tens of thousands more marching in the cities of Bisho, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, and Kimberley, was one of the largest street actions since the demise of the apartheid regime in 1994.
Unions called the action to press demands for a 10 percent wage increase from the African National Congress (ANC) government, which has offered an increase averaging 6 percent - a figure identical to the estimated inflation rate.
Leaders of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) have said that unless their demands are met they will launch a national strike beginning July 29.
Africans made up the overwhelming majority of the marchers. Most white government employees belong to other unions and staff associations that were not part of the march. These associations are less working-class in composition - many of their members formed part of the racist bureaucracy that workers want to dismantle.
Hospital and health workers, teachers, office workers, and laborers from all over northern South Africa danced and chanted as they filled the streets of this country's administrative capital with a sea of union banners and handmade signs.
"Yonke indawo, umzabalazo u ya sivumela" (All over the land, the struggle allows us to be strong) sang marchers in Zulu.
"The main issue is a living wage," said Joe Mpisi, NEHAWU Johannesburg branch chairperson. "But it's also to transform the public sector, which is still dominated by people who served in the apartheid regime. We don't want to reward those who can't serve the new South Africa."
Echoing sentiments expressed by many others, Mpisi emphasized that "our action does not mean that we are against this government, which supports workers."
George Herbst, a teacher at Witbank Primary School, said, "The government could spend 47 million rands (about $7.8 million) in one hour for the president's inauguration but doesn't have the money for teachers or students." Herbst said his classes average 45 students; some go up to 60. "There's only chalk and a blackboard. We have no heat and the kids are freezing in winter."
"For some time the wage they have been providing has been less than inflation," said teacher Fama Khuele of Soweto, who teaches a class of 50 high school students and brings home, like many other teachers, 1,500 rands a month - about $245. "The government has been changing a lot of things, a lot of delivery of water and housing and that's good. But we are not satisfied. A lot of teachers are hungry."
Acting COSATU secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi presented union demands to three ANC members of the cabinet: Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, and Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. They said they would consider the demands.
The ANC government has said that it does not have the money to pay government employees more and that by doing so it would jeopardize its ability to deliver social services to poor South Africans. The total number of public service employees has declined by about 10 percent since 1994 but the wage bill has risen.
Plans for massive layoffs
During the first two weeks of July the bosses and several
government-run entities announced plans or intentions to lay
off up to 50,000 workers. As the price of gold fell to 20-
year lows, six gold mines announced plans to lay off 11,700
miners. The Chamber of Mines threatened that if there were no
recovery up to 80,000 miners' jobs could be eliminated this
year alone.
Telkom, the partially privatized state telephone company, is threatening 12,000 layoffs. Spoornet, the state-run railroad, says it is losing money and wants to slash up to 27,000 workers out of a workforce of 41,000.
COSATU affiliates have launched rolling mass actions that have included lunchtime and other demonstrations by thousands of rail workers, garment and textile workers, and others. Workers in the shoe industry struck for two days demanding a pay increase.
Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa downed tools at Columbus Stainless Steel on July 12 in a demand for higher wages.
Four thousand miners organized by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) struck July 15 at the Oryx gold mine in the Free State in response to the company announcing it would lay off 900 people. The workers pressed for larger severance packages than those offered by the bosses. Miners also demanded six months notice of pending layoffs. Thousands of workers at the nearby Beatrix mine warned Gold Fields, which owns both mines, of a solidarity strike.
On July 23, following talks with NUM leaders, the company announced it would suspend layoffs for a month and ask that the strike be ended. NUM leaders urged the miners to call of the strike. At press time the walkout continued.