A Section 77 application is a process that all parties are compelled to follow before protest action can be legally instituted.
Respondents are listed as Agri SA and associated organisations, the government, farmers individually and collectively, Business Unity South Africa and its affiliates, Retailers’ Association and the Agri-sector Unity Forum.
John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz, said the exact details of Cosatu’s demands would become clear later. “At this stage we are just developing a process to follow.” He said the application was meant to allow legal strike action on 1 November, the anniversary of last year’s De Doorns strikes. Problems with the initial application had delayed the process by two months.
Tony Ehrenreich, secretary of Cosatu in the Western Cape, said that most other sectors had plans to address transformation, which was why Cosatu focused on agriculture. “We will probably see strikes starting up in March next year. Workers’ wages may have gone up but they are getting less as they now have to pay for water and transport as well, which was not the case previously.”
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