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Thousands strike in South Africa | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Thousands of workers in South Africa have gone on strike, with unions saying most public services are disrupted. | |
About 150,000 refuse collectors, city police and public-transport workers, among others, have stopped work in a campaign for higher wages, unions said. | |
Last week there were violent protests over the lack of housing, water and electricity in the poorest townships. | |
Analysts say the strikes and unrest are the first major challenges for new President Jacob Zuma. | |
He has called for understanding from workers, but the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg says crowd-pleasing promises he made during his election campaign are proving hard to keep. | |
Our correspondent says a pledge to create 500,000 new jobs has already been retracted. | |
Dale Forbes, from the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), said most members had gone on strike from 0700 (0500 GMT). | |
He said he was confident the public was backing the strike. | |
"They want to see dramatic improvements in service delivery - which must start with improvements in the conditions of the workers," he said. | |
Members of Samwu and other unions walked out after being denied a 15% wage increase. They rejected an offer of 11.5%. | |
The country has already faced a major strike by construction workers, which threatened stadiums being built for next year's football World Cup. | |
That strike was ended earlier this month after workers and employers agreed a 12% pay rise. |