Cape Town - Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagen Allen has said the reason he did not appear on the steps of the provincial legislature building to receive a memorandum from Cosatu Western Cape yesterday was that the protesters arrived too early.
The march, led by the federation’s Western Cape chairperson Motlatsi Tsubane and its provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn, as well as leaders from the ANC and the SACP, arrived in Wale Street at 11.10am.
While waiting for the MEC, the marchers listened to brief speeches by, among others, Tsubane and SACP Youth League leader Lucian Davids.
Others who spoke were newly elected ANC provincial executive committee member Wesley Seale and the ANC Youth League’s Mesuli Kama.
When Allen failed to show up, De Bruyn said: “You have wasted our time, but we’ll be back in bigger numbers next time. We are not going to beg the province to accept our memorandum.”
He said it was clear from the fact that nobody came to receive the memorandum “that the provincial government has no respect for workers”.
Allen eventually arrived outside the building at 11.55am after the marchers had made an about-turn and were headed to Parliament in Plein Street.
Allen said: “It is unfortunate that the small group who chose to form part of the Cosatu march today, departed from the provincial legislature before the scheduled time at midday, when they were due to hand the memorandum over to me.
“I urge Cosatu to send their memorandum to our office, as at this stage we have not received a copy of their requests. As a provincial government, we are open to engaging all entities, should they have the best interests of the people at heart.”
At Parliament, the marchers handed over their memorandum to parliamentary procedural officer Gcina Matakane, who received it on behalf of the Speaker.
The six-page memorandum said Costau had marched to demonstrate workers’ “anger and frustration” regarding the country’s economic crisis and the crime in their communities, including violence against women and children.
Other issues included corruption, retrenchment, unemployment, the gender pay gap, and what it referred to as “sustained attacks on collective bargaining agreements and workers’ rights in general”.
The march was part of the federation’s national day of action to demand, among others, prevention of crime and corruption, an interest rate reduction, and a halt to privatisation, which they say leads to job losses.
Among the unions joining the march were the South African Municipal Workers Union, the Police and Prison Civil Rights Union, and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union.
Others were the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa, and Western Cape Education Department members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union.