South African Workers Strike; Jacob Zuma Not Too Pumped

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Central Johannesburg has been brought to a halt as hundreds of South African workers marched as part of a strike to demand higher wages.

Many commuters were stranded because buses failed to run. Rubbish has also not been collected.

About 150,000 workers in the country have stopped work. Unions say most public services are disrupted.

Analysts say the strikes and recent 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Our correspondent says a pledge to create 500,000 new jobs has already been retracted.

In recent weeks, there have been violent protests over the lack of housing, water and electricity in the poorest townships.

Read the rest of the article here.

The recent goings-on in South Africa got The Buzz wondering: What would Americans go on strike about? On our list we have: iPods, reality television, taking our DVRs, taking our cell phones and health care. Just kidding: We didn’t put health care down.

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