South Africans Strike Nationwide

Thousands of workers were today taking part in a national strike called by South Africa's biggest trade union in protest at what it called the "catastrophic" unemployment level of 40%.

The one-day strike was called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which said up to 500,000 members could strike in possibly the country's biggest day of industrial action in 15 years.

The union said it was unable to say accurately how many people had heeded its call not to go to work but reports suggested a significant number of people were striking, especially in the key gold mining sector.

Reuters reported the AngloGold Ashanti mining firm as saying most of its workforce had failed to turn up. The mining industry, which is heavily unionised, has been especially hard hit by job losses in recent years.

A Reuters journalist in Johannesburg said there was widespread disruption on the trains and many workers appeared to be giving up and going home.

Cosatu said the one-day strike was the first in a threatened series of actions between now and February intended to put pressure on the government over unemployment and the 22 million people in South Africa living in poverty.

Cosatu said protests and demonstrations had been organised that would bring the country's big cities to a standstill. A union spokesman told Reuters: "We want a completely different mindset from business - saving jobs instead of cutting them for short term commercial gain."

Today's industrial action comes after the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, last night held an anniversary event attended by 20,000 people, including the former president Nelson Mandela, celebrating the freedom charter drafted by the ANC 50 years ago.

Mr Mbeki said he would fight hard to try to realise the aspirations set out in the document. But in a statement commenting on the event, Cosatu said: "While we have been forging ahead on the political and human rights front, we are lagging far behind in the battle for economic freedom.

"The right to work is a fiction for the more than 22 million people who still live in poverty because unemployment remains at over 40% of the working population."