Johannesburg - Tens of thousands of South African workers
marched through central Johannesburg Wednesday to protest rising
food, fuel and electricity prices.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions called the
demonstration to put pressure on the government to act on rising
prices through, for example, dropping interest rates.
South Africa's central bank has increased interest rates by five
percentage points since June 2006 in a bid to rein in spiralling
inflation - currently at 10.9 per cent.
A recent 27.5 per cent hike in electricity prices is expected to
further nudge up inflation, which has also been driven by rising oil
and food prices.
A survey released by Ipsos Markinor polling firm on Wednesday
showed food prices in South Africa had risen 16.8 per cent between
May 2007 and May 2008 and that fuel prices rose 35.6 per cent over
the same period.
Police estimated around 25,000 people had joined the protest an
hour after it began.
The workers, some of whom carried banners reading 'Away with food
prices' and 'Away with high fuel prices,' were due to hand in a
memorandum at the offices of state electricity supplier Eskom over
its rate hikes.
South Africans have traditionally enjoyed some of the cheapest
power in the world.
Eskom argues its needs to charge more to pay for an
multi-billion-dollar expansion programme, which it says will end
blackouts caused by power shortages.
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