by Keith Richmond
Council workers went on strike in South Africa this week in the latest chapter of their bitter dispute over public sector pay.
The strike, by about 150,000 workers, brought to a head simmering resentment with the African National Congress government and is an early test for President Jacob Zuma.
Unions are calling for an increase in public spending to cushion badly-paid workers, and the unemployed, from the worst ravages of the world recession.
Police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters in the township of Thokoza outside Johannesburg. Residents, angry that they still do not have permanent homes, running water or electricity 15 years after the ANC came to power, barricaded a road with burning tyres and threw stones at a municipal office closed because of the strike.
The strike – and the protests – are piling pressure on the new president, who came to power on a platform promising to ease poverty. He called this week for patience.
