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Zuma speaks out on strikes
14/06/2007 16:12 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South Africa's two-week-old public sector strike should have been avoided and is damaging the country's image abroad, the deputy leader of the governing ANC said on Thursday.
Jacob Zuma, a possible successor to President Thabo Mbeki both as party leader and head of state, said negotiations since the start of the strike on June 1 indicated compromise between government and unions was possible and should have been explored beforehand.
"I don't think it's doing any good for the country," Zuma said, one day after thousands of extra workers joined the stoppage. "I think that both parties should have found a solution before the strike."
"My understanding is that some movements have been done (in negotiations) which indicates they could have been before the strike."
Hospitals, schools and transport have faced huge disruption since the start of the strike, called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in a bid to force the government to agree to a 12% pay rise.
The government has since upped its offer from 6 to 7.25% and the unions lowered their demand to 10% but talks have been put on hold.
Hundreds of thousands strike
The strike intensified on Wednesday when hundreds of thousands of municipal workers joined in the stoppage and large-scale rallies forced city centres to a halt.
Zuma acknowledged that such scenes damaged the country's international reputation as it tries to cement its status as the continent's economic powerhouse and ahead of the 2010 World Cup which is being held in South Africa.
"That's part of the challenge for people who negotiate, to have the interests of the country at heart as well as their interests," said Zuma.
"I think it has not looked good for the country and these are matters that negotiators on both sides, labour and government, should have taken into account."
The government meanwhile accused the unions of failing to explain their revised offer to their members and took out adverts in newspapers to give details of how its offer included increases on housing and medical allowances.
"Part of the difficulty we think we as a government have is actually that there has not been sufficient reporting back: the negotiators and their members were not informed properly about the details of the negotiations," government spokesperson Themba Maseko told public television.
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