South African Workers Protest Against Rising Cost of Living As Inflation Rate Hits High

South African workers came out on the streets on Wednesday to be a part of a nationwide strike in protest against the rising cost of living, as inflation hits its highest rate of since 2009, reported The Africa News. 

Thousands of people demonstrated in all nine provinces to demand, among other things, a basic income grant, a better minimum wage, and a cap on fuel prices and interest rates. They marched towards the president’s office, demanding reduction in prices. 

The protests have been called as inflation in the country has hit nearly 8% and around a third of South Africans are currently unemployed.  

South Africa was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic with an estimated 2 million jobs lost, bringing its unemployment rate up to 35%. 

As per the national statistics agency report published on Wednesday, the price of food and nonalcoholic beverages had gone up 9.7% and electricity tariffs were up 7.5%. The soaring cost of fuel has led to rolling blackouts as the state-owned power company Eskom struggles to meet electricity demands. Notably, Eskom has applied for an increase in electricity prices despite it failing to provide an uninterrupted power supply for industry and households. 

The country’s two largest union groupings, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, and the South African Federation of Trade Unions, have urged the government to intervene to cap increasing fuel prices, reduce interest rates and introduce a universal basic income of roughly $90 a month. 

The union groups are blaming the ruling party, the African National Congress, for the poor state of the country’s economy, which was already in recession before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“It is a societal struggle,” said Mike Shingange, deputy director of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).  

He added that without action, the future of South Africans is doomed. 

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, who met with the protesters, assured that the issues were a priority for the government.