Cosatu: Vote can't be stopped
2004-04-08 15:18
Johannesburg - Employers may not stop their workers from voting on April 14, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) warned on Thursday.
"No employer may stop workers from voting. It is their constitutional right," Cosatu's general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in a statement.
Vavi said: "Cosatu has heard reports that some retail and farm workers have been threatened with disciplinary action if they fail to report for work on time on voting day because they are going to vote.
"This is outrageous. April 14 is a public holiday."
He also said voters who were not in their voting districts next Wednesday would still be able to vote.
"You can still vote at any voting station, provided you have a sticker receipt (written or printed) in you ID that proves you have applied to be a registered voter somewhere in South Africa. You will have to fill in a special form (VEC4)," he said.
Voters who were not in their home province on election day would only be able to vote in the national election, Vavi said.
That was "another reason why Cosatu is encouraging workers to vote at their local station."
Vavi once again encouraged "workers and the working class as a whole" to vote for the African National Congress "to protect the hard-won workers' rights now in the Constitution and progressive legislation."
- SAPA