#NationalShutdown: Vavi says only solution to high cost of living is a fightback

Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Monday said the decision to hold a national shutdown comes as a result of worsening socioeconomic conditions for the working class and marginalised communities.

He highlighted load-shedding, fuel price hikes and escalating food prices as some of the grievances that call for a national shutdown.

“Our national shutdown is organised to say to the working class that the only way is to fight back.

“The cost of living is rising. Corruption and the neoliberal policies of the ANC have compromised the provision of public services. Unemployment has soared. And the government is accelerating the offensive on public corporations in the form of commercialisation, outsourcing and privatisation,” Vavi said.

He said the strike is also a protest against privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), in particular the unbundling of Eskom and fresh moves to unbundle and privatise Transnet, the drive to defund and collapse the Post Office, Prasa, Denel, PetroSAA and the privatisation of SAA.

Vavi said more than 200 working-class formations and pro-worker NGOs and social movements endorsed the call made by Saftu.

“Countless left-leaning political parties have also endorsed the call for a national shutdown, including the EFF, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, the Azanian People’s Organisation, the Workers and Socialist Party and so on,” he said.

He has called for all workers to join the march.

Vavi said the main grievance remains unemployment.

“We want jobs, in particular for black youth and black women, and that can only be achieved if the government restructures and totally overhaul the economy,” he said.

Vavi said they also demand the introduction of a basic income grant of R1,500. He said this will help disadvantaged families and alleviate their burdens.

“The general government expenditure must be increased so public service workers can get proper increases and public institutions can hire more teachers, nurses, doctors, police and correctional services officers and other public servants,” Vavi said.

Meanwhile, analysts said disgruntled protesters in the national shutdown have called for government to take action but have not specified the policy measures the government should take.

Political analyst Prof Daryl Glaser, from Wits university school of political sciences, said he finds the protest generic.

“There is no specification of what specific policy government is getting wrong and specific policy measures the government must take,” said Glaser.

He said there isn’t any clear sense of what the target is and what the benefits are.

“I don’t think anyone doubts that [the shutdown] will disrupt the economy. That is the purpose of it, to disrupt the economy, but the question always comes: what is the benefit that is going to be derived for the working class and the poor people?” he asked.

Glaser said the unions should provide a clear set of objections and proposals.

He said the shutdown is an expression of wide dissatisfaction on top of the discontent already there in the country.

“This discontent comes from rising prices globally and which individual governments only have limited control over, but the fact that there is rampant corruption and maladministration in SA, it causes people to be indignant,” he said.

People are inclined to blame politicians, justifiably so, but there are ultimately limits to what the government can do, he said.

He said a protest was not a magic policy formula that will reduce inflation overnight.

“I think unions are the best organisations that provide identified concrete grievances and make concrete demands. I am worried about the generic, very generic position — they don’t specify,” he said.

Theo Neethling, professor of political science at the University of the Free State, said the shutdown should be of great concern.

“This is countrywide. It is going to affect all provinces, and it will paralyse the schools and even the hospitals. If the strike turns violent, as in the case of Eskom recently — if you find public servants blocking entrances and whatever — that will be causing havoc, but the potential of this thing going wrong is definitely there in my opinion,” he said.

He said the economy isn’t doing well post-Covid-19, as the country still looks for the right path.

“This is now coming as an additional constraint in the economy. In this case, the government response will be determined by how these things will pan out,” he said. 

Vavi said the Gauteng protest will start on Tuesday, when some of the marchers will camp at the Union Buildings.

“In Gauteng, we will be starting from [Tuesday], where we will be joining our fellows in a march to demand the insourcing of the EPWP workers. We will be marching throughout the day, in fact, we are sleeping at the Union Buildings,” he said.

He said other protesters will join them on Wednesday morning at Burgers park and move on to the Union Buildings.

Marches in different provinces:

• Polokwane, Limpopo: marchers will assemble at SABC Park at 8am and start marching to the office of the premier from 10am.
• Witbank, Mpumalanga: marchers will assemble at Broadway at 9am and start marching to Eskom Park from 10am.
• Pretoria, Gauteng: marchers will assemble at Burgers Park in Pretoria at 6am and start marching to the Union Building from 10am.
• Bloemfontein, Free State: marchers to assemble from 7am at Batho Location Hall and start marching to the Office of the Premier (OR Tambo Building) at 10am.
• Bhisho, Eastern Cape: marchers to  assemble from 8am at Fort Hare Grounds and start marching to Bhisho legislature at 10am.
• Cape Town, Western Cape: marchers assemble at Keizersgracht in Cape Town at 8am and start marching to the City of Cape Town’s department of mineral resources and energy and parliament from 10am.

Vavi has called on workers in KwaZulu-Natal to observe the call for a stay-away, general strike and national shutdown because Saftu has not planned any activity in the province.

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