Durban North/Umhlanga CPF urges residents not to panic over shutdown
Residents are urged not to panic-buy ahead of tomorrow’s march by trade union Cosatu.
THE Durban North/Umhlanga CPF has urged residents not to panic over a planned march and national shutdown strike by members of Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday, August 24.
The trade union has called on all workers to join the strike, citing the high cost of living and the economic crises facing the country.
Darryl Oliver, public relations for the CPF, said they do not anticipate any problems or road blockages.
“As a precaution, all key role-players have contingency plans in place and are on a heightened alert to respond should the need arise. We recommend that residents avoid travelling in and around the CBD. We also urge residents to not engage in panic-buying of fuel or other necessities,” he said.
Related story: National shutdown: Cosatu announces strike across 10 major cities and towns in SA
Speaking to Northglen News, Cosatu provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize said they aim to highlight the threat of a collapsing economy.
He added that the union and its members plan to march from King Dinuzulu Park to City Hall in the CBD.
“We plan to hand over a memorandum to the MEC of Economic Development, citing the high cost of living and our concerns over the economy. We had hoped to hand over our concerns to the KZN premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, however, she is currently out of the country. We feel something drastically needs to be done as the number of unemployed people and youth continue to rise, and it’s not sustainable. We need government to hear our pleas as we are worried about the future of the country,” Mkhize said.
In a statement last week, the union said the current problems cannot be fixed by the private sector but by the state working with the private sector.
They said the country needs a new public sector model that will refrain from commodifying public services like health, education, and that does not treat citizens as ‘customers’ or ‘clients’ in the practice of the delivery of public services.
