Thousands support South African strike

Thousands of South African workers marched in sympathy with striking civil servants on June 13 in the biggest show of force against the government since the end of apartheid. Bringing city centers across the country to a halt, demonstrators demanded higher salaries for teachers nurses and policemen, highlighting the divide between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its trade union allies. Thulas Nxesi, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, said: "We are saying enough is enough. The workers have not benefited economically in any significant way from democratic rule." The powerful Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), one of the main allies of the ANCled liberation movement, called the demonstrations to support a 12-day strike by public sector unions, in which about 600 nurses have been sacked amid intimidation of non-strikers. Patrick Craven, a COSATU spokesman, estimated that the march in Johannesburg's central business district attracted about 15,000 people. "We just hope this show of force will convince the Government to enter serious negotiations," he said. The port of Durban was at a standstill and many of the country's airports were operated by a skeleton staff. To show their support some police officers, who are forbidden by law from going on strike, left weapons at home or in the station. The workers are demanding pay raises of about 12.5 percent. The government, desperate to maintain its image of careful economic stewardship, has increased its offer to 7.5 percent. President Thabo Mbeki, whose pro-market policies have long angered the ANC grassroots organizations, has criticized "unacceptable criminal activities" associated with the violence that have blighted the strike. As if to underline his government's distance from grassroots sentiment, Mbeki opened the African section of the annual World Economic Forum in Cape Town. He praised his government's achievements in delivering the longest period of economic growth in South Africa's history. However, although the black elite and a rapidly growing black middle class have benefited from economic growth rates of more than 5 percent a year over the past five years, the bottom 40 percent still live in abject poverty. More than three quarters of the country's black population have no refuse collection. More than half live in townships with no access to lavatories. The strikes are seen as part of a bigger struggle within the ANC, in power since 1994, before a leadership congress at the end of this year.