Tens of thousands march in South Africa over rising prices

Jul 23, 2008, 11:14 GMT

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.