South Africa’s largest trade union federation, COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions), marched through the streets of Cape Town, to protest a number of issues including high crime rates, rising fuel costs and gender-based violence and other issues. The protest was attended by several hundred workers belonging to trade unions affiliated to COSATU.

The march first stopped at the offices of the City off Cape Town, where James Styan from Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis’s office was sent to receive the the memorandum. COSATU refused to hand over the memorandum to Styan. Styan claimed the mayor couldn’t be there in person as he was in another meeting.

The march then proceeded to the offices of the Western Cape Provincial Government where they were expected to hand over a memorandum to the Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde’s office. The memorandum would be received by Regan Thaw, the Western Cape MEC for Community Safety.

Hundreds of COSATU workers gathered outside the Western Cape Government office while being addressed by COSATU Western Cape Chairperson, Motlatse Tsubane. From there they were expected to proceed to Parliament to hand over a memorandum to the South African government.