'Food prices are too high'

2008-04-17 19:13

Johannesburg - About 5 000 people who marched through the CBD here on Thursday to protest against rising food and electricity prices, dispersed around 15:30.

After handing a memorandum of understanding to Eskom, demanding that, among other things, the power utility withdraw its 53% tariff increase proposal, the group marched to supermarket chain Pick 'n Pay.

The march was organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande hoped Pick 'n Pay would tell other retailers about their demands.

"Food prices have gone too high, our people are starving," he said.

Included in the list of demands handed to the food chain's senior general manager, Kevin Krom, was a proposed moratorium on food price increases and stiffer punishment for price-fixing and collusion.

Would tell manufacturers

"Why is it not a crime for a director to fix prices?"

Casualisation, outsourcing and land expropriation were also highlighted.

After signing the memorandum, Krom told the crowd the company took higher food prices extremely seriously.

He said it would analyse the memorandum and tell its 7 000 manufacturers as well as competitors Spar, Woolworths and Checkers about the demands.

The crowd booed Krom and called on him to speak about casualisation.

Cosatu member Clement Mdluli said Pick 'n Pay needed to comment on this as it was taking away the rights of his workers.

"They (casual workers) have no pensions and no medical aid," he said.

Krom afterwards told Sapa he could not comment on casualisation as he had been briefed that the memorandum was related to food prices alone.

- SAPA