Police fired rubber bullets at 600 striking security guards at the Kaalfontein station between Pretoria and Johannesburg on Thursday morning.
”These people were on a train to go to the illegal security march in Johannesburg, but they started harassing and intimidating other passengers, so police fired rubber bullets at them,” said North Rand policing-area spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
”They also threw objects at police and were very unruly. Police took them off the train at Kaalfontein station and put them onto another train back to Pretoria.”
The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) accused police of preventing the striking security guards from participating in the march to Springbok Fidelity offices in Robertville, west of Johannesburg.
”Our members from Pretoria and Kempton Park were ordered by police at different train stations to evacuate the trains, and so they could not make it to today’s [Thursday] picketing,” said Satawu spokesperson Jackson Simon.
However, Opperman said there would have been chaos had the security guards been allowed to go to Johannesburg. ”We averted what we believe could have been a possible serious situation in Johannesburg. It was also an illegal march that they were going to.”
In the Western Cape, community safety provincial minister Leonard Ramatlakane and his health counterpart Pierre Uys said the strike had ”now turned into acts of crime and violence”. Last week, strikers damaged property and attacked staff at Groote Schuur Hospital.
According to Ramatlakane, they had also been looting and damaging property at the Nyanga Junction shopping centre. ”All of these actions cannot be condoned. The police will investigate them and, where necessary, the law will take its course,” Ramatlakane said.
He had ”ordered” the police to act with firmness in dealing with strikers committing crime.
Also on Thursday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) urged Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana to intervene to resolve the dispute between security guards and their employers.
”Cosatu fully supports the strike and the legitimate demands being made by these low-paid and exploited workers. We are adamant that Satawu, which has more members in the sector than all the other unions combined, is the true voice of the security workers, and must be party to any settlement,” said Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven.
”Already a number of workers have been injured and even killed. If the strike is not resolved soon it will have very serious negative consequences for the whole country.” — Sapa