The streets of Pretoria are a sea of red as thousands of public servants affiliated to the Public Servants Association (PSA) stage a march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Presidency.
Public service workers are on a nationwide strike in rejection of government’s 3% wage offer which they call an insult to public servants.
President of the PSA, Lufuno Mulaudzi says, “This march is leading to the Union Buildings and when we get to the Union Buildings, we are going to hand over a memorandum to the Presidency. We are told that the President is not around, so the DG is going to receive the memorandum. But we expect the President to receive our memorandum in future when we strike. We need to be taken seriously. We are giving the Presidency 7-working days to respond, failure to respond we will intensify our industrial action which will lead to a total shutdown.”
High cost of living
The PSA in the Northern Cape says public servants deserve more than 3% because they are struggling to meet their financial demands due to the high cost of living.
The association says it will not back down until the employer agrees to their proposed 6,5%.
As part of their national strike, PSA members marched to the office of the Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul to handover their memorandum.
The association has more than 8 000 members in the Northern Cape and the Provincial Manager Steve Ledibane maintains they cannot let them down.
“If the employer is not going to increase salaries on a yearly basis, it affects the current living conditions. It means our members are not able to going to be able to meet their financial obligations. If we are not going to stand as unions and fight for these particular rights for employers to respect them to negotiate with us because we have a bargaining council then it means we are throwing our members under the bus.”
Public sector workers gather in Tshwane ahead of march to National Treasury:
Additional reporing by Neria Hlakotsa.
