Striking South African workers forced mines and factories to shut on Wednesday in a protest against rising power, food and fuel prices that brought key sectors of the continent's biggest economy to a standstill. The one-day strike helped push global platinum prices up 3 percent and added to investor worries over South Africa. Thousands of workers assembled outside city hall in the capital Pretoria while a sea of supporters gathered in Cape Town, which hosts the parliament. Police, some on horseback, tried to keep order, in scenes replicated across the country. The nearly 2 million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), an ally of the ruling African National Congress, says the action was a warning to employers not to sack workers because of a downturn in profits due to a power crisis. South Africa, struggling with 23 percent unemployment, has felt the global impact of rising food and oil prices, which workers say has pushed them deeper into poverty. “We are poor, we are hungry and our wages are no longer coping with our demands and the demands of feeding and clothing our families,” Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary, told protestors outside the closed gates of parliament. “This is not the last action we are going to be seeing... If government is not going to move with the necessary speed, we will again hit them where we know they will feel the pain.” Cosatu has vowed to fight President Thabo Mbeki's market-friendly and pro-business stance, and wants his government to subsidize basic staples and pay workers better. Unions are close to ruling party leader Jacob Zuma, likely to succeed Mbeki after general elections next year if he beats graft charges in court, another issue that has deepened political uncertainty. Some investors fear Zuma could be influenced by labor to shift to the left, despite his assurances to the contrary. Clad in the red colors of the labor federation, protesters snarled traffic as they marched through the streets of Pretoria, and waved placards that read: “Say no to the high food prices!”, and “My take home salary is not even enough to take me home!” Fifty four year old bakery worker Charles Davids, who has four children, said: “The government must reverse the high food and petrol prices. The poor are getting poorer.” Mines, carmakers, textile factories, and businesses were shut as workers stayed away, while construction of stadiums for the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the mass transit Gautrain high-speed rail project was also likely to be affected. Many workers and students stayed at home after public transport was disrupted, while normally busy streets in downtown Johannesburg were quiet as businesses closed. Analysts said the strike could further dent a slowing economy, with growth seen at around 3 percent this year from an average 5 percent over the past four years. “Our economic growth rate has already been slowed down substantially in response to tight monetary policy, lower global demand and the electricity shortfall,” Elna Moolman, economist at Barnard Jacobs Mellet Holdings in Johannesburg said. “This strike will just add to the downside risk for GDP (gross domestic product) growth this year.” In the mining sector - a key pillar of the economy -workers are particularly fearful of job cuts after a five-day power shortage shut the country's mines in January. The rationing of electricity to mines since then has further slashed output and profits in this top precious metals producer. “We are adamant that workers should not be asked to pay for government's failure to invest in electricity,” Cosatu's spokesman Patrick Craven said. Counting their losses from the strike were gold and platinum mining giants such as Anglo Platinum, the world's top producer of the precious metal, whose mines and smelters were partially affected. This helped send platinum prices recover after a sharp fall in recent days. Coalmines were also hit, raising concerns that this could worsen the country's power supply woes. State utility Eskom relies on coal for the lion's share of power supply. A national commuter train service was badly affected as was public transport on the country's roads, leaving commuters stranded. South African stock market and the rand currency largely shrugged off the strike, however, analysts said.
