By Peter Apps
South African workers staged a one-day strike hitting transport, mining and car production on Monday, protesting unemployment and poverty in some of the biggest mass marches since the end of apartheid.
Umbrella union group Cosatu, an alliance partner of the ruling African National Congress, said the government and private firms should do more to create jobs, support local industry and buy South African goods.
"We cannot say the economy is booming when we have unemployment at around 40 percent," Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said as tens of thousands of workers took to the streets in Johannesburg, Cape Town and other cities.
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| 'It is because of the ANC that we are unemployed' |
The South African Chamber of Business estimated 10 percent of the country's formal workforce took part in the strike, costing the economy R500-million.
Some protesters, angry at President Thabo Mbeki's sacking of his deputy Jacob Zuma - who has strong union support - in a corruption scandal, accused the ANC of not doing enough to fight poverty after the end of apartheid in 1994. The strike was a show of force before an ANC national strategy meeting this week.
"We believe the fact we are unemployed is because of the policy of this government," said jobless Cape Town resident Mhlobo Gunguluzi. "It is because of the ANC that we are unemployed."
The Chamber of Mines, which represents some of South Africa's largest employers, said the protests would do little for those who wanted to keep their jobs.
"It is a bit problematic to destroy production for a day ... to protest about job losses, because it's just going to make the position of the industry worse," Chamber chief labour negotiator Frans Barker told reporters.
| 'We are here to highlight the plight of millions' |
Strikers and marchers said South Africa's black majority still had too little economic power. South Africa's official unemployment rate is 26 percent, but unions say it is higher if it includes those who have given up looking for work.
Police said about 50 000 marchers thronged the streets of central Johannesburg, while 30 000 turned out in Cape Town.
"We are here to highlight the plight of millions trapped in poverty," Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.
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