Cape Town – With frustrations against the government already peaking, a number of unions and civil society organisations that had various grievances they wished to be heard today, through marches and protests, were prevented from leaving Hanover Street to conduct further demonstration activities.
Police said the groups that applied for demonstrations and pickets were only allowed to demonstrate in CPUT parking lot, and would not be permitted to march or demonstrate beyond that point into the cordoned off sections around City Hall - where the State of the Nation Address (Sona) preparations were under way.
This was ensured by a wall of police and police vans surrounding the groups that gathered.
The groups comprised of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and its partners, the Community Works Programme (CWP), which was established by the government to provide a job safety net for unemployed people of working age, the Electricity Crisis Movement (ECM) and Operation Dudula in Cape Town.
The SACP planned to picket, not march, in Hanover Street to demand action over the high cost of living being experienced, decisive action to end load shedding, and the reopening of the inquest on Chris Hani’s assassination.
Supporting the SACP, Cosatu regional spokesperson Malvern de Bruyn, said: “We want to express our disappoint in the government’s failure to address the concerns that we have raised over the years.
“Today we give the president another chance to tell us what he will do to look after the interests of the working class – crime, lack of electricity, unemployment and more.
“The sad reality is that we are here in Hanover Street, very far from where Sona is taking place, and we are disappointed to be restricted and prevented from being closer to the event.”
Members of Operation Dudula in Cape Town also took their gripe with the government to the streets but were prevented from marching nearer. They were against the government’s support for foreign nationals in the county while their own citizens suffered.
Operation Dudula Atlantis branch co-ordinator Nkululeko Watermeyer said: “We were here to demonstrate our grievances with the government and feel that the government is running away from the picketing we wanted to do.
“They have not allowed us to picket in front of them. We wanted to address everything but were not even given a chance.”