20120307
AFP
South Africa's powerful Cosatu labour federation vowed Tuesday to rally more than 100,000 protesters against new toll roads around Johannesburg that have angered workers and businesses.

"The tolls will put a burden on the poor," Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu secretary general told journalists as plans were under way for marches on Wednesday.

"We're saying to the government, we remain open to talk to you. Call us, we will come running to find a resolution," he said.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said marches were to take place in 32 towns and cities, with the biggest protest expected in Johannesburg.

"We expect over 100,000 people to come out. This is about the people, the workers, voicing concern over this unjust proposal," said Craven.

The new tolls on the highway between Johannesburg and the nearby capital Pretoria have caused a huge public outcry and Cosatu, which is a partner in the African National Congress-led government, has vowed to stop it.

The start of tolling in Gauteng province has been delayed three times since April 2011, after companies warned the fees would raise the cost of doing business and workers complained that their salaries were already stretched.

The government responded last month by lowering the toll rates by 40 percent to 30 cents (four US cents, three euro cents) per kilometre when the system starts on April 30.

But in his budget speech, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the new tolls would go ahead as they are needed to pay off the 33 billion rand loans ($4.2 billion) used to finance recently finished upgrades to the highway.

The government also wants the tolls to make driving more expensive to encourage more people to use a new $3.8 billion high-speed train line linking the cities.

Opposition parties, businesses, labour unions and ordinary drivers have all voiced fury at the tolls, but support for the protest on Wednesday appears less widespread.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance declined to join the protest, saying it plans to challenge the system in court.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has criticised the tolls, worried that the protest would deepen the country's reputation for frequent strikes.

"The protest action against the Gauteng toll fees is unconstructive and counterproductive," the chamber's CEO Neren Rau said. "What is needed is dialogue between the social partners on alternative funding options."

The march has won support from the ANC's militant Youth League, which is embroiled in its own conflict with the ruling party which last week expelled youth leader Julius Malema for provoking divisions within its ranks.

"Roads should be paid for by the state, not daily users," the Youth League said in a statement.

Malema, who remains in his position until his appeals are exhausted, plans to join the protest Wednesday, Vavi said.

Cosatu will also use the march to call for the scrapping of temporary jobs agencies -- known locally as labour brokers -- used by companies to find workers.

The union believes that the system is unfair because temporary workers have fewer rights, often working long hours for less pay.

"Labour brokering is equivalent to the trading of human beings as commodities," said Vavi.

The union proposes that temporary work not exceed six months.

The coupling of the two unrelated issues has complicated support for the protest.

While the tolls have aroused the ire of Johannesburg's drivers, the labour broker complaint is less clear-cut, with many people relying on temp agencies to find any work at all in a nation where unemployment stands at nearly 24 percent.