A man was seriously injured when he was assaulted by a group of striking security guards in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Police intervened and dragged the bleeding man from the crowd. The strikers had accused him of going to work while they were on strike.
Violence erupted when striking members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) started stoning the police, who retaliated by opening fire with rubber bullets.
Johannesburg metro police were attending to the injured man. Two ambulances were later summoned to Beyers Naude Square, where the guards had gathered.
The striking Satawu members handed over a memorandum to employers and insurers. Immediately after, they marched from Beyers Naude Square to Johannesburg’s Park station, where they said they were ”going to look for non-striking security guards”.
Two guards were injured and another was abducted in Johannesburg on Tuesday amid tension between striking and non-striking security-guard unions.
Chanting slogans and struggle songs on the way to the station, the guards grabbed and ate fruit from street vendors and did not pay.
Satawu’s national coordinator of security Jackson Simon said earlier: ”We must protest peacefully, because if we assault or harass people the court will declare the strike illegal. Only cowards assault people anyway.”
The guards were addressed at Beyers Naude Square by African National Congress Youth League president Fikile Mbalula.
There was a heavy police presence at the scene.
Thousands of guards went on strike countrywide in March, demanding an 11% pay increase, improved working conditions, the right to use the toilet without being charged with deserting a post on duty, and the right to lunch breaks.
The strike turned violent in parts of Gauteng, with a number of guards arrested in clashes with police.
Guards from 14 other striking unions in the security industry have returned to work after reaching a wage deal.
Satawu, which was not party to the agreement, wants the deal undone.
Jackson Simon, Satawu’s security sector coordinator, said the union, which represents 35 000 to 40 000 guards, will ask Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana not to gazette the agreement as a sectoral determination. — Sapa