Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) is aware of the calls for national action and planned marches around Parliament by various entities on 8 August 2017. Specifically, there has been a call for South Africans to participate in gatherings outside their workplaces between 12:00 and 14:00. BLSA encourages all its members to give employees who wish to participate in the protest an opportunity to do so.
BLSA wrote to its member organisations encouraging them to find a mutually acceptable way to give allowance to employees who wish to participate in the protest activities with no loss of income or benefits, and without the need to apply for leave.
Business is alive to the critical juncture at which South Africa finds itself due to the influence of state capture. As an organisation, we believe South Africans should have the opportunity to peacefully express their views at this significant juncture in South Africa’s history, without prescribing what those views should be.