Fin24 reports that labour federation Cosatu will hold a national strike on 24 August against “ongoing load shedding, fuel price hikes, and escalating food prices.”

In October last year, Cosatu held a strike over similar concerns, but the protest had little discernible impact. On Thursday this week, Cosatu will update the media on details and arrangements for the national strike. Cosatu’s strike will take place on the same day as a national shutdown planned by the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), which resolved at its Working Class Summit earlier this month to stage the action. At the time, Saftu’s secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, said that while the federation should remain politically independent, it was prepared to work with other working-class formations to mobilise in the interest of workers. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla indicated that the same date for the Cosatu and Saftu demonstrations was a "coincidence", but added that the two federations would be meeting on Wednesday to talk about "working together" in coordinating their respective demonstrations. However Saftu spokesperson Trevor Shaku said that the timing of each federation's shutdown was not a coincidence and that Cosatu's central executive committee had accepted Saftu's invitation to mobilise.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24

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