Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday urged police to arrest anyprotesters who use violence, as fresh clashes erupted in the latest anti-poverty demonstrations rattling the country.
"People have the right to protest but not to interfere with the
rights of others, so violence and trashing is not allowed," Zuma
told a press conference. "It is important that they should be
arrested."
"There can be no justifictaion for public violence and the
destruction of property," he said.
Zuma spoke as police and protesters staged running battles
through the day in impoverished Mashishing township in eastern
Mpumalanga, with some residents throwing petrol bombs and stones while police responded with rubber bullets and teargas,
police said.
Theirs was the latest in a series of protests in recent weeks in
South Africa's poorest neighbourhoods, where residents have taken
to the streets to voice their frustration at surviving the winter
in flimsy shacks without power or water.
Meanwhile, thousands of municipal workers marched through South
Africa's major cities Wednesday while their union leaders
considered an offer for a 13% wage increase, still short of
their demand for a 15% hike.
The strikes and protests have turned up the pressure on Zuma
less than three months after taking office on the back of strong
support from unions and the poor, who are now in the streets to
demand the government's attention.
Winter months routinely see heavy strike action in South Africa,
as many contracts come up for renewal at mid-year.
But this year's protests have underscored the troubles facing
Zuma as the country struggles through its first recession since
apartheid, under the glare of the global spotlight ahead of next
year's football World Cup.
Trash collectors, bus drivers and other municipal workers have
been on strike since Monday. Unions leaders say they will inform
the government on Thursday if they will accept or reject the latest offer.
Workers marching in Cape Town said they would hold out for the
15% increase as well as housing subsidies.
"We want 15%, not less than that. Everything's going up
- food, the bus fare, the electricity, petrol," said Ronnie
Howard, a clerk at the Cape Town Civic Centre.
She defended the sometimes rowdy behaviour such as the
overturning of garbage cans at the marches, which have run around
the country since Monday. "We are trying to put pressure on local
authorities," she said.
The strikes and protests have cast a harsh light on South
Africa's failures 15 years after the end of apartheid, with more
than a million South African families still living in shacks without basic public services like water and power.
While the black middle class has grown and government has made
strides in building homes and expanding public services, the gap
between rich and poor is also growing.
"We hope that the government is going to provide us with what we
need. We can't stay like this - we need a solution," Sipho Duma, a 52-year-old who lives in a shack in Thokoza, outside of Johannesburg that saw violent protests on Tuesday.
"If you go to toi-toi (dance in protest), the government will
listen to us, because even this government itself was toi-toiing
until they became the government," he said.
- AFP