Daily News reports that motorist travelling to Durban on the N3 on Friday were forced to sit in traffic as protestors - led by Cosatu - blockaded the freeway and demanded an end to escalating fuel prices.  

Earlier, police had used stun grenades in an attempt to disperse protesters blocking the N3 Toll Plaza leaving Durban.  The crowd however resisted and continued with its protest.  Branch members of the labour federation from throughout KwaZulu-Natal converged on the Toll Plaza to highlight the ripple effect fuel price increases were having on citizens.  Cosatu branch members travelling from Pietermaritzburg drove slowly in their own vehicles on the Durban bound route creating traffic backlogs.  They then came to a complete halt, closing off the Durban bound lanes after the Shongweni off-ramp and at the Toll Plaza.  This after protestors had blocked the four lanes of the road leaving Durban.  Edwin Mkhize, Cosatu KZN provincial secretary, said the most daunting facts about the current increases in fuel and VAT were that, when it came to expenses and cost of living, the poor and the rich were expected to share equitably.  He indicated that the union federation was strongly opposed to government’s VAT and fuel hikes.

• Read this report by Zainul Dawood in full at Daily News

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