Uit vanoggend se Sowetan uit...

Civic body Sanco yesterday threatened to mobilise Vodacom subscribers in protest against the listing of the cellphone giant at the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.

The move came after Cosatu failed in a high court bid to stop the listing of Vodacom and the sale of Telkom shares in Vodacom to British mobile phone giant Vodafone.

“The court victory did not signal an end to the war,” said Sanco spokesperson Dumisani Mthalane.

“We are saying, now is the time for all low-income earners, the unemployed, the shack-dwellers and every concerned South African to rise up and take a stand against exploitation by big-spenders who are bent on making profits at the expense of the poor masses,” he said.

“We as Sanco support the call by Cosatu for a national boycott of all Vodacom products, and we will soon be working on a strategy to mobilise the masses to mount an exodus to the opposition.”

No date was given for the planned action.

Mthalane dismissed suggestions that many jobs would be created out of the listing.

He also said the boycott should not be seen as an anti-foreign investors move but “should be seen as a cautionary measure to ensure that investors had good intentions”. – Sapa