Several organisations tried to walk on South Africa’s parliament ahead of South African finance minister, Tito Mboweni’s, 2021 budget speech. It’s the first budget speech site the Covid 19 pandemic hit South Africa in March 2020. Since the last budget speech, more than two million South Africans have lost their jobs because of the economic impact of the Covid 19 pandemic.

A group of workers first gathered at the offices of the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration) to protest the plight of underpaid workers and to demand more funding for the commission in order to boost the power of the commission to fully investigate labour disputes. Riot police then escorted them to the Grand Parade, despite their attempts to march to parliament.


SAFTU (South African Federation of Trade Unions) members gathered at Hanover Street with the intention of driving a motorcade to parliament. Police blocked their attempts to reach parliament and used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

Andre Adams, the Western Cape secretary of SAFTU, was arrested and forced into the back of a police van. Protesters pleaded for his release claiming that he had recently suffered a stroke.