Beitbridge Border Protest 19-04-07

Beitbridge Border protest

As part of the ongoing campaign of solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe people's struggle for democracy and human rights, several hundred members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the SA National Civic Organisation and the Young Communist League in Limpopo Province have today been picketing at the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

COSATU is backing the ZCTU's demands for:

a.. Minimum wages and salaries linked to the Poverty Datum Line (PDL)
b.. Reduction of Income Tax to a 30% maximum.
c.. Workers earning below the PDL (84 000 as at August 2006) not to be taxed.
d.. Availability and free access to antiretrovirals (ARVs)
e.. Stabilisation of prices of basic commodities
f.. A stop to harassment of informal economy workers by local authority police and the ZRP

The protesters are demanding:

a.. An open and all inclusive dialogue between all political formations and civil society in Zimbabwe, aimed in particular at a new constitution ahead of democratic elections next year
b.. The constitution must allow for the passage of a new Electoral Law based on the SADC protocols on the conduct of free and fair elections
c.. The creation of a conducive climate for dialogue, free of state violence and repression

We urge President Mbeki, on behalf of SADC, to vigorously pursue these objectives.

For further information, please phone the COSATU Limpopo Provincial Secretary, Jan Tsiane, on 082 448 5099.