protest in south africa

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Globe and Mail        August 30, 2001

South Africans mass in economic protest

      By Mark Mackinnon

Durban, South Africa -- The fault lines in South Africa's governing African
National Congress -- hidden for years by the euphoria after apartheid --
came into sharp relief yesterday as millions of workers walked off the job
to protest against the government's economic policies.

Schools, banks, supermarkets, post offices and other public services either
closed or operated at half strength during the first day of a two-day
nationwide strike called by the 1.8-million-strong Congress of South African
Trade Unions, known as Cosatu.

In a country with a long history of civil disobedience, it's the largest
public protest since the end of the apartheid era in 1994. In effect, the
grand coalition built by former president Nelson Mandela is starting to
disintegrate under his successor, President Thabo Mbeki.

"In most urban centres . . . it looks like Sunday, with almost empty taxi
ranks and sidewalks," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said yesterday.

Most estimates of the number of people who took part in the strike ranged
between two million and four million workers. The union claimed 5.5 million
walked off the job, more than half the work force of 10.4 million.

In Johannesburg, tens of thousands of workers held a noisy downtown rally,
demanding that Mr. Mbeki's government abandon its free-market policies,
particularly a planned privatization of public services such as the national
telecommunications and electricity firms.

Other public utilities have already been privatized, pushing hundreds of
thousands of South Africans out of work.  The union argues that this is
particularly unacceptable in a country where the unemployment rate already
is more than 30 per cent.

The strike, however, appears to represent more than just a labour stoppage.

Analysts say it amounts to a declaration of war by the union, a historic
ally of the ANC, against the party it helped propel to election victories in
1994 and 1999.

During the apartheid years, Cosatu and the ANC, along with the South African
Communist Party, created a formal alliance aimed at toppling the white-rule
system.

The alliance was held together by Mr. Mandela.

He introduced free-market reforms, but focused on providing basic services
such as electricity and running water to blacks living in the country's
impoverished townships. But the alliance has been deteriorating under Mr.
Mbeki, who took office in mid-1999. He has made it his mission to open the
country to foreign investors, which has led to frequent clashes with the
ANC's leftist allies.

This week, Mr. Mbeki lashed out at Cosatu in unprecedented language,
accusing union leaders of using workers as "cannon fodder" to achieve their
political ends and warning that the strike will do nothing to change the
government's economic plan.

"To create a false impression . . . that the government will now effect a
moratorium on [selling] state assets is misleading."

The government hopes to raise about $3-billion this year through
privatization.

Several Mbeki cabinet ministers have warned in recent days the strike may
damage South Africa's reputation abroad, as well as spell the end of the
ANC-Cosatu-Communist Party alliance. Some observers predict the breach could
be made official at a planned meeting of the three groups later this month.

Such a split would weaken Cosatu's clout within the government but it would
also be a blow to the ANC, since union members have been among its key
political organizers.

It could also deepen the left-right split within the ANC -- a party that
grew out of the anti-apartheid movement and features members of vastly
different political stripes.

"This protest is not just against privatization but against conservative
policies," said National Union of Mineworkers general-secretary Gwede
Mantashe. "The danger with these policies is that the constituencies that
voted from the left will be sidelined while the right will ascend to power
by default."

While Mr. Mandela, who is recovering from prostate cancer, has been silent
on the issue, union leaders have tried to portray their fight as one
consistent with his legacy. Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has
taken to reciting an old quote from Mr. Mandela, encouraging workers to
"take on the government if they feel that it is not pursuing their interest
to ensure it is brought back in line."

Mr. Mantashe told the Johannesburg rally yesterday that the ANC must choose
whether to side with the workers who voted them into power or with the
"capitalists."

"We did not fight for liberation so that we could sell everything we won to
the highest bidder."

According to figures released this week, South Africa's economy grew at an
annualized rate of 2.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2001. That is the
11th consecutive quarterly increase, but is significantly slower than many
analysts had hoped at the beginning of the year.

The strike has threatened to disrupt travel for the 14,000 delegates
arriving for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, which opens
tomorrow in Durban. Transportation services, such as buses, taxis and
passenger rail lines, have been affected.

But Deon Cloete, manager of Durban International Airport, said contingency
measures are in place to ensure the conference opens unhindered. "We are
fully prepared. We have been planning this for weeks."

There were few signs of disruption in the city centre yesterday as delegates
began arriving.

With a report from Reuters