Tens of thousands of South Africans marched in the streets of the nation’s major cities on Wednesday in a national strike called by Cosatu, the powerful group of trade unions, a crucial ally of the governing African National Congress that is growing increasingly critical of its policies. The stated reason for the strike was to protest new highway tolls and the practice of contracting out jobs through temporary-employment firms, at lower pay and with fewer benefits than permanent workers get, a practice known here as labor broking. But the strike tapped a deep undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the A.N.C., which has governed South Africa since white minority rule ended in 1994. “We voted for the A.N.C., but we can’t even send our children to school because of their corruption,” said Thabiso Bopape, 30, a contract worker for the postal system who earns much less than regular government employees doing the same work.
Mr. Bopape and thousands of others gathered in downtown Johannesburg on Wednesday, wearing the T-shirts of their unions and waving placards denouncing corruption and capitalism. Zwelinzima Vavi, the secretary general of Cosatu, said in a fiery speech that racial apartheid was increasingly being replaced by economic apartheid. He said there would be civil disobedience if the government went ahead with its plans to charge tolls on highways that were built with tax money. “We have fired our first warning shot,” Mr. Vavi told the cheering crowd. “There are still many bullets in our chamber.”
The marches come at an important moment for the A.N.C., which is celebrating its centennial this year. The party faces growing doubts from a public that has historically returned it to power with huge majorities. The party will hold its conference to choose a leader in December, and in June it will hold a policy conference to discuss ideas for how to tackle some of the country’s most bedeviling problems, like unemployment that reaches 40 percent among young people.
South Africa is often roiled by protest. Demonstrations, sometimes violent, happen almost daily in the townships where the poor struggle to live without basic services like electricity, water and toilets. But the outpouring on Wednesday came from working people, not the destitute, and their protests took place not in distant townships but in the heart of South Africa’s cities. The toll issue was a flashpoint for their anger. “We already paid once, why should we pay again?” said Busi Harishe, 34, a shop clerk who joined the protest. “Petrol prices are already high. Working people are suffering too much.”
Julius Malema, the contentious former leader of the A.N.C.’s youth league, also spoke to strikers on Wednesday. Mr. Malema was expelled from the party for breaking rules and espousing controversial positions contrary to party policy, like calling for mines to be nationalized. He also faces an investigation into his personal fortune, which has expanded along with his political influence.
Young marchers like Mr. Bopape said Mr. Malema, who is appealing his expulsion, should stay in the party. “He is the voice of the youth,” Mr. Bopape said. “No one else is speaking for us.”
Source: New York Times
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