Durban — Residents of eThekwini Municipality can expect municipal services to resume on Monday after a court interdict put a stop to unruly municipal workers who went on strike this week, leaving a trail of damage and destruction.
The illegal strike by members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has resulted in water, electricity and refuse collection services coming to a halt.
The workers went on a rampage from Tuesday in various parts of the city, overturning dirt bins, scattering rubbish, barricading roads and burning tyres.
The level of violence which accompanied the Samwu strike was so extreme, according to eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association president Ish Prahladh, that two vehicles were badly damaged.
Thabani Mthethwa, the DA caucus leader, said a municipal worker had been shot in a drive-by shooting incident believed to be linked to the ongoing strike.
The incident is said to have left a bullet lodged in the municipal employee's arm who is recovering in hospital.
However, police and the municipality could not confirm these incidents.
Prahladh said municipal workers who were not on strike could not go out to address water issues “because they (striking workers) were burning vehicles”.
“Two VW Polos were badly damaged yesterday by the municipal workers in Springfield.
“The problem is that when we had water issues, the staff was scared to go out because once they went out, these people started interfering with them,” said Prahladh.
He said the situation had quietened down on Saturday and that community members and police had started cleaning up the garbage on their streets.
The striking workers’ actions were captured in many videos and photos and shared widely on social media.
Andre Beetge, a DA councillor in eThekwini, was among them. Beetge posted images on Facebook showing heaps of soil dumped across a highway.
“In the latest state of events, striking municipal workers aligned to Samwu have taken to dumping sand across the N2 north carriageway opposite Prospecton.
“Litter bins, tree branches and debris strewn around the city hall precinct in Dr Pixley KaSeme is obstructing traffic,” he wrote.
When contacted to verify the incidents, Metro Police spokesperson Boysie Zungu referred inquiries to City spokesperson Gugu Sisilana, who said: “Criminal incidents are investigated by the police as the relevant authority.”
In a statement, Sisilana said the strike had impacted the delivery of water, electricity as well as waste collection.
“This has affected the clean ing and solid waste unit’s refuse collection and street sweeping services,” she said.
“Residents are requested not to take out their refuse until further notice,” she said.
“The strike has resulted in our technical teams not being able to finalise troubleshooting on the Northern Aqueduct to determine if there’s improved efficiency of water flow on the pipeline after the completion of the installation of valves on February 28,” she said.
Sisilana said metro police and SAPS have intensified their deployment and more arrests were imminent to deal with violence and lawlessness.
“The municipality notes that the current strike has all the hallmarks of criminality and illegality as there can be no justification for the distasteful events witnessed in the healthcare sector and other public facilities since February 27.
“The municipality is currently instituting disciplinary action against employees who were identified committing misconduct such as assault, intimidation, damage to property and other serious forms of misconduct during the process of the unlawful industrial action in terms of the disciplinary procedure collective agreement,” she said.
Samwu had on Friday instructed its members to abandon the strike and return to work after the municipality had obtained an interdict from the Durban Labour Court preventing the illegal strike participants from acting violently.
Samwu provincial secretary Nokubonga Dinga said they had received information about the court order on Thursday and shop stewards had told the members to return to work.
“It is risky for them as they are not protected,” she said.
In a statement, Samwu said some striking workers were arrested but the union had “successfully secured their release through bail, ensuring their welfare, and standing by its members during challenging times”.
“In alignment with this commitment, Samwu announces its intention to engage in discussions with the City to address the raised demands. A meeting between the union's leadership and the City is scheduled for Thursday,” read the statement.
Samwu chairperson in eThekwini region Sya Dladla said the union respected the court order.
The workers have gone on strike to demand that their salary scale be benchmarked in line with their colleagues in other metros.
Dladla said the union started raising the matter with the employer in a memorandum submitted to the office of municipal manager Musa Mbhele in September last year.
“We had a general meeting on Tuesday after a series of submissions about this challenge of benchmarking municipalities, particularly metropolitans, in terms of salary scales and performances.
“The workers wanted to know when the employer is going to respond to them,” he said. Dladla said the union condemned violence.
“We are not condoning any act of violence with regard to any interruption or disruption of society because before you become an employee, you are a member of the community and society,” he said.
The court had restrained Samwu members from instigating any unlawful, disruptive or riotous behaviour that may result in damage to the City’s and public property, and also infringing the rights of employees, visitors, customers of the municipality and other public entities.
“And damage to any service delivery vehicles belonging to the municipality or any other person having any involvement in the day-to-day functions of the municipality, which include hindering, obstructing and/or blocking those vehicles, roads, premises and public spaces,” read the court order.
Judge Benita Whitcher also ordered the union and its members to pay the costs of the application, adding that they were “jointly and severally liable, one paying the other to be absolved”.
The court did not specifically interdict the strike from continuing.
Sunday Tribune