The Congress of South Africa Trade Union (COSATU) in the Western Cape, along with its affiliates, says its all systems go for Thursday's strike against violent crime in the province as well as the high fuel price in the country.
The union held its shop steward council meeting
on Saturday, whereby 400 people attended the gathering in preparation for the 4th
of August.
COSATU's provincial chairperson, Motlatsi
Tsubane says they received positive feedback from members.
“In our council we concentrated on the
readiness of affiliates for the march set to take place on the 4th
of August, where we received a very positive response from the structures. We
are also very bust engaging other stakeholders whom we want to be part of our
march on 4 August. We have the South African Communist Party on board, who will
be assisting; we also have our communities and other community structures.”
“We are ready for the 4th of August.
The council today [Saturday] was a very successful council. That [The shop
stewards council meeting] is always the platform we are using in terms of reflecting on issues
as workers,” added Tsubane.
COSATU's Secretary-General, Malvern De Bruyn
says close to 10 000 people will attend Thursday’s strike.
“As COSATU, we are quite confident in the
numbers. We had close to 400 people attending the council meeting and this is
an indication of the readiness of COSATU. Our intention is to bring Cape Town
to a standstill on Thursday because workers are angry. The march will be a
success. We expect close to 10 000 people to march against the current
crisis in our country.”
“We will march against the high fuel prices in
the country, although the Section 77 talks about violent crimes, we have
included the fuel hike as well,” he added.
De Bruyn says government needs to do more to
eradicate crime in the province.
“We are telling government they must come to
the party. They must really review the high petroleum prices, because workers
are mostly affected by this. It is the poorest of the poor that’s affected.”.
The Secretary-General outlined the plan for the
day.
“Members will start to gather in Hanover
Street, Cape Town, from 8a.m. We will then march from 9a.m to the City of Cape
town offices to hand over a memorandum to officials. We will then march to the
Provincial Legislature where we will hand over a memorandum to the Police
Oversight & Community Safety MEC, Reagen Allen and Western Cape Premier,
Alan Winde. We will then proceed to Parliament to hand over the memorandum to
the Speaker and we would love the police minister to be there, as well. We
expect to disburse by 3p.m. We are confident and civil society will join is in
their numbers,” said COSATU's Secretary-General, Malvern De Bruyn.
De Bruyn says the strike on Thursday is to
bring Cape Town to a standstill, as government let them no choice but to down
tool, as it’s the only option, says De Bruyn, in order for action to be taken.
“The intention is not to harm the economy, but
that is the only tool we have as workers, to show our anger and frustration.”
The Communications Worker’s Union's (CWU)
provincial secretary, Wayne Bredenkamp says government needs better
interventions to combat crime.
“The issue of crime goes beyond our workplace.
It infects and affects our families as well. Government needs to come to the
party. They are failing to bring the crime rate down, but they are also adding
to it, because if you look at the increase at patrol – it brings a new
dimension of crime as it’s a criminal element whereby they are targeting
people's car by siphoning patrol out of their tanks.”
“Government is creating an environment for
crimes to increase in different forms. They are not just failing the workers,
but the workers' families as well. We find that because workers are struggling
to engage with employers for an increase in salaries they try and get things to
prevent crime from home,” added Bredenkamp.
The provincial secretary echoed COSATU's
Malvern Dr Bruyn's sentiments saying the aim of the day is not to harm the
economy.
“We do not want to harm the economy, we just
want government to put measures in place that will assist and help us - Not
just as workers,but the ordinary person on the street as well.”
“We mobilized our members and the feedback we
received is that it definitely affects them and their families and one thing
they are willing to loose is a day’s salary in this. We are in support for our
federation,” he added.
CWU's provincial chairman, Riedewaan Vermuelen
described crime as a business.
“Crime has always been there, but not as bad as
it is now. Crime is like a business – at prisons, gangsterism runs the prison
cells and the outside gang is in colloboration with those inside. Without
crime, you do not need police prisons, lawyers, judges, etc.”
“As workers we looked at where is the Crime and
it is mostly infront of our doorstep. You leave in fear not knowing whether you
will return, added Vermuelen.
He says the main cause for crime is
unemployment as many resort to other source of income, albeit illegally.
“Our duties as workers is try and push
government to hear our plea, because our children don’t make it to matric, they
get killed on the sports round, in the school, in their own backyard. We need
to establish ourselves.”
COSATU says the City of Cape Town, Provincial
Government and Parliament has 14 days to respond to their list of demands.
PICTURE: Mitchum George - From left: Riedewaan Vermeulen (CWU Provincial chairman); Malvern De Bruyn (COSATU Secretary-General); Wayne Bredenkamp (CWU provincial secretary); Motlatsi Tsubane (COSATU provincial chairperson)Done By: Mitchum George
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