Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink says the long-running strike by municipal workers affiliated to the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), which has crippled service delivery in the city, has been hijacked by organised crime.
On Wednesday night, Brink led some municipal staff on a clean-up operation in Pretoria central, as tons of uncollected rubbish continued to mount at several points in the city centre, in suburbs and in the townships across Tshwane.
“I think the strike has been hijacked by organised crime. I think there are economic and political considerations that drive the strike now. I don’t think it is in the hands of any one union factional leader, and that is why we have made the point that it is no longer a labour dispute, it is an issue of the rule of law,” Brink told journalists.
“Earlier, before I came here I spoke to the Minister of Police and I said to him we really need top class crime intelligence to intercept calls and messages to see who is planning this. You have seen the attacks on the waste trucks, the attacks on vehicles. It is very well coordinated, it is tactical, the folks plan it in advance and they have inside information about this city,” he said.
[WATCH] We need the South African Police Service at a National Level to attend to the situation in Tshwane. @CityTshwane pic.twitter.com/fg6Nc4jNdC
On Wednesday, the Pretoria News reported that the striking municipal workers in the City of Tshwane have been accused of torching two municipal vehicles in Pretoria West.
Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba confirmed the torching of two of the City’s vehicles.
“They were torched outside the Princess Park Depot along Nana Sita (westbound), Charlotte Maxeke and Es’kia Mphahlele streets,” he said.
The water truck that belonged to the City had just drawn water from the depot for delivery at some Region 4 informal settlements when it was set alight.
“The driver was physically assaulted and managed to escape. Fortunately, he didn’t sustain serious injuries,” he said.
The bakkie that was also torched at the same precinct as the truck, belongs to the City’s Asset Protection Monitoring Unit.
“Two members were injured and taken to hospital. The members are responsible for the protection of the City’s assets, such as the depots and substations. At the time of their ambush they were busy monitoring the depots,” Bokaba said.
The incidents came after two refuse trucks were recently set alight, allegedly by striking workers while a municipal employee was attacked after reporting for duty.
On Tuesday, Bokaba said seven employees at Tshwane Bus Services (TBS) were served with intended letters of dismissal for supporting the strike action, which has been declared unlawful and unprotected by the Labour Court.
He said: “The seven employees, dubbed the strike ‘instigators’, five of whom are Samwu shop stewards, are accused of preventing the buses yesterday (Monday) from being prepared for operations which were expected to resume this morning (Tuesday). They allegedly intimidated their non-striking colleagues at the C de Wet Depot in the Pretoria CBD.”
The City has, to date, fired 123 employees, and Bokaba said more dismissals were in the pipeline against employees defying the interim court interdict.
Earlier this week, IOL reported that City of Tshwane has announced that it will launch an appeal after the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) dismissed a “frivolous” application by the troubled municipality to be exempted from implementing a wage deal reached in the Council on September 15, as part of a three-year salary and wage agreement.
Employees in Tshwane have been striking for more than a month in demand of a 5.4% pay increase, while the metro has pleaded bankruptcy. The municipality sought an exemption for proposed pay increases that were heard by senior commissioner Eleanor Hambidge earlier this month.
On Monday, Bokaba said the metro was “disappointed” by the bargaining council’s ruling.
“The South African Local Government Bargaining Council provided their ruling on the city’s exemption application concerning the salary interests. The city notes that the SALGBC has denied the application for exemption. This is disappointing, as the city has presented solid arguments supported by evidence as to why these increases are unaffordable,” said Bokaba.
On the other hand, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union has welcomed the SALGBC ruling, adding that Tshwane’s application was “frivolous”. The union called on Tshwane to “immediately” pay the workers’ salary increases.
“Samwu notes and welcomes the decision by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council to dismiss the frivolous exemption application by the City of Tshwane to be exempted from paying workers their salaries with 5.4% salary increases effective July 1, 2023.
“In 2021, parties in the SALGBC concluded a three-year salary and wage collective agreement that would have seen municipal workers in the country’s 257 municipalities receive 3.5%, 4.9%, and 5.4% salary and wage increases in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively,” said Mpho Tladinyane, Samwu Gauteng provincial secretary.
Samwu insists Tshwane has the money to fund the salary increases, “but has taken a political decision to deliberately deny workers their salaries for the second time in three years”.
IOL