throwing thousands of workers out of their jobs. It also claimed that the
government was doing little to alleviate the poverty of the African masses.
In July and again in August 1999, teachers and other public servants went
on strike when their wage demands were not met, and in May 2000 per-
haps half of South Africa's industrial force ceased work for a day, protest-
ing that half a million jobs had been lost since the ANC came into power.95
Although the government stood firm against the wage demands of public
290