Cosatu 'Cost of Living' strike scheduled for Friday

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) will lead a national strike action against the high cost of living tomorrow, Friday, 19 June 2026, in the Cape Town CBD.

Similar marches are scheduled to take place in every province.

The Western Cape government will monitor the march and its planned stopovers at Parliament and the City of Cape Town Head Office. 

“The cost of living in South Africa has reached crisis level with the price of basic goods rising faster than wages,” Cosatu said in a press release this week. “Food, electricity, water, transport, health and education have become unaffordable. At the same time, workers earn less in real terms than they did 10 years ago. Household debt has escalated as workers borrow to put food on the table and keep the lights on.”

The Western Cape government is simultaneously managing a Joint Operations Centre (JOC) “to manage separate, ongoing anti-illegal immigration tensions.”

Cape Chamber CEO John Lawson said the rising cost of living is “an unfortunate reality”. “And one does need to question to what extent smarter public policy, more effective public investment and more effective competition in markets could have reduced this pain," Lawson added.