Union protest brings SAfrican city to standstill

Wed Jul 9,2008

DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) - A protest march by thousands of trade unionists against rising fuel and food costs closed down businesses and disrupted public transport in South Africa's port city of Durban on Wednesday.

While there were no reports of unrest, shops closed their shutters and the roads were largely deserted as the crowds marched on City Hall following earlier threats by activists to torch taxis who continued operating.

"The poorest of the poor are the hardest hit by the escalating cost of living in this country," Sdumo Dlamini, president of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), told the protesters at the end of the march.

"We urge government to come up with measures to protect the poor from dying of hunger."

COSATU, a junior partner in President Thabo Mbeki's governing coalition, has organised a series of protests in the coming weeks against the rise in costs of household goods as well as a threatened major hike in electricity bills.

However a similar march in central Cape Town attracted only around 2,000 people in the pouring rain.

Businesses have expressed concern about the planned programme of mass action with a spokesman for the Durban Chamber of Commerce saying that "we do not think this is a very constructive way of dealing with the problem".