WORKERS took to the streets of Mzansi on Tuesday, 7 October.
They were led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
They protested in the country's biggest cities, demanding jobs and raising concerns about rising unemployment.
The protest in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni was sparked by recent explosive corruption allegations at the Thembisa Hospital.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU), in its interim report, revealed that a staggering R2 billion was looted by syndicates at Thembisa Hospital.
The report also highlighted that dubious contracts were awarded to service providers, alongside violations of procurement regulations, fraud, and corruption.
Further investigations found that syndicates operating within Thembisa Hospital were responsible for the R2 billion loss.
The SIU named three syndicates in its findings: the Maumela, Mazibuko, and X syndicates. Further investigations are ongoing.
Cosatu's Gauteng chairman Amos Monyela said: "We are going to Game stores because of the decisions of Walmart downsizing workers and stores in this country. We demand that something must be done.
"The former president of Cosatu has joined the long walk today, and we are happy. We are left with 15 months to the next elections, and we are interested in the economic development of the portfolio. We want accelerated service delivery and improvement in the municipalities."
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Workers from Gauteng, the Western Cape, and the Free State mainly took part in the march.
The president of the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM), Philip Vilakazi, said: "This is a perpetual move we will be doing every year to say no to anything abusive to the workers. When we say a decent job, we mean a job where the social responsibilities of a person can be taken care of."
He said that they chose to be in Thembisa Hospital because a whistleblower was assassinated for mentioning that things are not going right.
Workers and patients have expressed that conditions are bad, and the hospital's condition has deteriorated.
"There's also a revelation that there's a cartel that people are relating personally to, and they're stealing the state resource," said Vilakazi.
Cosatu provincial secretary Melvern de Bruyn said: "Today we submitted a memorandum of demands. We are talking about national minimum wage, and gender-based violence."
On 23 August 2021, Babita Deokaran, the Thembisa corruption whistleblower, was brutally murdered for reporting corruption at the Gauteng Department of Health.
She was working as the acting chief director and financial accounting officer.
On that fateful day, while she was returning home after picking up her daughter from school, a vehicle pulled alongside her car and multiple shots were fired. The incident happened after she had parked in front of her house in the south of Joburg South.
