20 000 expected for Cape Town #CosatuStrike

Cosatu is marching against poor Metrorail service, state capture and corruption in the ANC. Picture: Bheki Radebe/ANA Pictures

Cosatu is marching against poor Metrorail service, state capture and corruption in the ANC. Picture: Bheki Radebe/ANA Pictures

Published Sep 26, 2017

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Cape Town - There won't be any buses and taxis running on some of the routes into Cape Town on Wednesday as some drivers will take part in the national strike called by trade union federation Cosatu.

Cosatu’s Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said they were expecting 20 000 people to down tools in support of the strike and march through the streets of Cape Town on Wednesday. 

Cosatu is voicing its concern over Metrorail's unreliable train service, state capture and corruption within the ANC. The march through Cape Town will take protesters past the offices of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), the Western Cape provincial legislature on Wale Street and finally to Parliament. 

The City of Cape Town's Hayley van der Woude said Cosatu had been granted a permit for 10 000 people to march through the city streets.

"The City has approved an application from Cosatu for a gathering of no more than 10 000 people tomorrow, 27 September 2017. Participants will start their march from Keizersgracht at 11:30 and must disperse by no later than 15:00. City enforcement staff will assist the South African Police Service in monitoring the march and will be on hand to effect the necessary road closures.

"Rolling road closures will be in place to accommodate the route as follows: the group will start from Keizersgracht at 11:30, proceed down Darling Street, turn right into Buitenkant Street, and left into Strand Street. They will hand over a memorandum to Prasa, then continue left into Adderley Street, Wale Street, and to the Provincial Legislature, returning via Wale Street into Adderley Street, then right into Spin/Bureau Street, and right into Plein Street to National Parliament. 

Protesters will gather at the start from 11am with the march commencing at 11.30am. Protesters must disperse by 3pm. Graphic: Rowan Abrahams/ANA

"They will return to Keizersgracht via Roeland Street, into Buitenkant Street, into Darling Street and back to Keizersgracht," Van der Woude said.

Ehrenreich said Cosatu was against corruption in the ANC and Metrorail’s bad service. 

During the march, memorandums would be handed to Prasa, Western Cape premier Helen Zille and the national Parliament. 

Another organisation supporting the strike is the South Africa First Forum. 

The forum's Rod Solomons SA First welcomed the strike "and is unequivocal in their call for President Zuma to go". 

"This is in addition to many within the ruling ANC also finding their voices to speak out against what is happening in our country. We make a further call on the leadership of Cosatu and the SACP who feel so strongly about these matters to have the courage of their convictions and to resign from the leadership positions they hold in the executive and the legislature. 

"The #SA1st Forum is fully supportive of the actions of workers throughout South Africa as they down tools in order for their voices to be heard in the political arena. 

"We also support Cosatu’s call for safe and secure public transport from their homes to work for workers. It is clear that all South Africans are saying to the political aristocracy that enough is enough and we all want change," Solomons said. 

Graphic: Lance Witten/Cape Argus

Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said: "Make no mistake - both state capture and corruption are akin to treason. It is eroding the very soul of our society, and stern and effective measures need to be introduced. 

"As a country, we simply can’t keep operating like this – the world is losing respect for us, and to be quite frank, our self-respect has reached the level that we would never have imagined in 1994."

Cape Argus

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