The results of the strike were themselves a subject of dispute, with COSATU officials stating that about 65 percent of the workforce--about 5 million workers--stayed away from work, and that there had also been a good turnout in rural areas. The South African Chamber of Business, which speaks for many major industrial employers, estimated that only 37 percent struck. The government put the number at about 30 percent. However, the government's figures include those classified as civil servants, including cops and soldiers. Government officials were quoted saying the strike had not enjoyed overwhelming support.

No industrial breakdown of the walkout was provided, but news reports indicated that central Johannesburg was deserted, and marches of varying size took place in cities nationwide. News reports said 8,000 marched in gale-force winds in Cape Town, while in Pretoria, the capital, about 5,000 workers took to the streets. A rally in Johannesburg was estimated at about 10,000.

Signs carried by marchers urged "Hands-off our national assets," and "The economy of the country should create jobs not poverty."

In Pretoria, marchers presented a memorandum listing their demands to Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who has been one of the ANC leaders at the forefront of the privatization drive. When she tried to address the demonstrators, she was met with shouts of "Hamba, hamba," ("Go away, go away," in Zulu) and whisked away by her bodyguards. In Cape Town, public enterprises parliamentary services director Lucky Montana was booed and shouted down by unionists. He later told reporters that the reception he received was "rather vicious."

The strike was supported by the South African Communist Party (SACP), South African National Civics Organization, National Council of Trade Unions, and student and other organizations.  
 
The privatization debate
The government plans to sell off enterprises worth about $13 billion over the next five to seven years, saying it needs to raise money, and that in private hands these entities will stimulate economic growth by boosting competitiveness. Those scheduled for full or partial privatization include Telkom, the state phone company; Transnet, which runs the railroads, ports, and South African Airways; Eskom, the state electrical utility; and Denel, an arms manufacturer. Some municipalities have begun privatizing water service.

Many workers and the unions point out that the sell-offs not only threaten the jobs of tens of thousands, but will have a disproportionate impact on working people in town and country because of expected price hikes and cuts in service of vital resources, such as electricity, phones, and public transport.

The revolutionary democratic movement to end apartheid, which drew tens of thousands of workers, peasants, and youth into action against the racist state of the white minority, was led by the ANC. In the 1980s struggles of black workers forged trade unions in major industries such as steel, mining, and transport. The national labor federation formed as a result of those struggles, COSATU, backed the ANC.

Under white-minority rule the state-owned enterprises were used to buttress the apartheid regime and an economy that benefited an elite minority. After the fall of apartheid the country faced massive unemployment, vast areas of underdevelopment where the majority of the population lives, and the sharpening impact of the world capitalist economic crisis, which has hit Africa, Latin America, and Asia the hardest.

Over the past several years, as job losses have mounted not only among government employees but also in privately held industry, criticism of aspects of the ANC's economic policy has been particularly pointed from COSATU officials. Leaders of the union federation have instead lobbied for what they call a "developmental state."

"We elected the ANC to defend us and protect our interests," Gwede Mantashe, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), told demonstrators in Johannesburg on August 29. He said the NUM is opposed to the government's macro-economic framework, known as the Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy, "which has conservative plans that do not protect the interest of workers. Privatization will not improve the lives of the poor citizens," he said. "We cannot be told jobs will be created while we see government destroying jobs." He said by striking, workers were highlighting their differences with the government. "But the question is, are these differences reconcilable or not? If they are reconcilable, the interests of the workers should be protected. We will continue to support the ANC as a movement, but the ANC should not take our support for granted."

COSATU officials say that privatization moves have already eliminated 200,000 jobs, and threaten tens of thousands more, in an economy where unemployment is estimated at 35 percent, according to the government's own statistics bureau. They charge that the economic policy adhered to by the ANC government, which is characterized by targeting "fiscal stability" and encouraging foreign and domestic capitalist investment, is hurting the working class.

According to COSATU, the demands of the two-day walkout included "a moratorium on privatization until a new policy framework that will incorporate the demands of the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Program is agreed on; that government stop privatizing basic services such as water and electricity; that any restructuring be negotiated with communities and labor and be approved by parliament; and that any restructuring aim at improving communities, especially the poor."

During a post-strike press conference, COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said: "Over the last few months we have been deeply disappointed that government made no genuine attempts to address our concerns. They have said they are willing to discuss the details but not a change of program. This is the type of arrogance we are facing."

In the week prior to the strike, South African president Thabo Mbeki wrote in a newspaper column that the government has not betrayed policies agreed to by the broad democratic movement with regard to the issue of the restructuring of state assets. He said COSATU argues that "we have abandoned the pursuit of the objective of a better life for all," but said the government's policy had been discussed and put forward in various ANC documents since the early 1990s.

"The question that arises," he continued, "is why lies are being told and false claims made of the possibility of easy victories over the colonial and apartheid legacy. Whose interests do they serve, who abandon the morality of revolutionaries, so that they can use workers as cannon fodder to launch an offensive aimed at defeating their own liberation movement! The time has come that the organized workers and the rest of our progressive movement should ask these questions and demand answers. Those who have, apparently from 'the left,' joined hands with the right wing, that has always sought to defeat our movement, need to know this."

COSATU officials urged a meeting with the ANC following publication of these remarks, but said their campaign against privatization would continue.  
 
 
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