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CT prepares for big march
13/06/2007 08:02 - (SA)
Cape Town - A huge number of public service strikers would march to Parliament on Wednesday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said.
Western Cape Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said he expected about 25 000 people to join the march, including members of the South African Municipal Workers Union who would hold a sympathy strike in Cape Town.
Ehrenreich said Samwu members would first march to the Civic Centre in central Cape Town and public service strikers would hold pickets at their workplaces.
At 12:30 all these groups would march to Parliament, Ehrenreich said.
He said he hoped this intensified action would "impress upon government [the need] to respond" and the "unhappiness" strikers felt towards government at the moment.
Ehrenreich said he did not expect police to interfere with the strikers because they too were affected by the strike and thus were mostly "co-operative".
He said he expected strikers to be disciplined throughout Wednesday's proceedings.
Ehrenreich said a march on Tuesday night of army officials to parliament indicated that defence and police officials might be moving closer to strike action.
Johannesburg metro police have advised people to avoid the CBD on Wednesday due to a march by public service workers.
"We advise people who don't need to be there to avoid the CBD especially from 10:00... they will start marching from noon," said metro police spokesperson Inspector Edna Mamonyane.
Traffic in the CBD would be affected, she said.
She said a large number of people were expected to gather at the corner of Nugget and Marshall streets at around 10:00. The group would march up Commissioner Street and turn into Simmonds Street where they would hand over a memorandum at the offices of Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa.
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