POLITICS

Mass strike action NOT best way to effect change – Cape Chamber

Janine Myburgh says this approach is disruptive and damaging to an already fragile economy

Mass strike action NOT the best way to effect the real change we need

26 September 2017

Although we fully endorse the motive to protest corruption and state capture, we do not believe that COSATU will make an appreciable difference by taking to the streets of Cape Town, says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Although we support freedom of expression, we don’t believe that mass strike action is the best way to effect the real change we need,” said Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber. “A strike is disruptive and damaging to an already fragile economy and puts further strain on the low rate of employment. It is the working class who suffer in a national strike as many may lose their day’s wages. Those are the people we should protect the most.

“Make no mistake - both state capture and corruption are akin to treason,” said Ms Myburgh. “It is eroding the very soul of our society, and stern and effective measures need to be introduced. As a country, we simply can’t keep operating like this – the world is losing respect for us, and to be quite frank, our self-respect has reached the level that we would never have imagined in 1994. However mass strike action is not the solution”

Issued by Dean Le Grange, Media and Digital Co-ordinator, Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 26 September 2017