The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape says it is ready for its Tuesday strike action against job losses in the province.
A march to Parliament will take place on the eve of the budget speech.
Cosatu says it is also calling for the scrapping of VAT.
Join #COSATUWesternCapeStrike in Cape Town tomorrow to reject #energypoverty imposed with the sale @Eskom_SA #Eskom; #Cosatu rejects privatization of public goods @capetowntv @CapeTalk @eNCA @ewnreporter @rhulani1baloyi pic.twitter.com/RAMdYvwuRM
— @COSATU Today (@_cosatu) February 18, 2019
Several organisations such as teacher union South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), police union Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union’s (Sactwu) are expected to take part in the march.
Cosatu’s Provincial Secretary Malvern de Bruyn says, “There’s no better time than Tuesday because they can just increase the wealth. There’s many other ways to create more fund because the increase of VAT directly affects the poorest of the poorest. These companies’ taxes, they can get more money into the fiscal; you need to do that unfortunately.”
Workers in Western Cape to toyi toyi against #joblosses this week in Cape Town #NoToVATIncrease @MorningShowSA @eNewsETV @MorningLiveSABC @SABCNewsOnline @ewnupdates @SAfmRadio @Powerfm987 @busrep @SACTWU @SACPWC @capetowntv @CapeTalk @AlgoaFMNews @BusinessLiveSA @BDliveSA pic.twitter.com/JPsUm1gujK
— @COSATU Today (@_cosatu) February 18, 2019
“There’s no other way because they can say no people didn’t complain, only Cosatu complained. People are happy about the VAT increase – but on Tuesday we will show them that people are not happy about the VAT increase,” explains de Bruyn.