The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) strike continued on Tuesday, with protesters allegedly overturning dustbins, among other acts, in some towns.
An earlier bid by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to prohibit the industrial action was withdrawn in the Labour Court, with Salga ordered to carry the strikers’ costs of opposing the application.
In Port Elizabeth, a group of Samwu members overturned dustbins and scattered litter around the municipal offices in the city centre, but police kept their distance as there was no damage to property, according to spokesperson Captain Johan Rheede.
In Durban about 30 people picketed outside the city hall, dressed in red union t-shirts, dancing and singing with placards that read: “workers cannot afford to pay for their water and electricity, salaries not affording (sic)” and “municipalities must pay same salaries for grades”.
They marched into the city’s treasury department and demanded that people in the building stop working, but a security guard closed the doors, leaving them singing outside.
About 12Â 000 people are expected at Durban’s next Samwu march, planned for Thursday.
In Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley, municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said streets were again strewn with litter and other services such as meter reading and vehicle registration services were disrupted.
Northern Cape Samwu provincial secretary Duma Lebakeng said striking union members set alight refuse after handing over a memorandum at the municipality and the police put the fire out.
The memorandum included a complaint about the alleged intervention by council members in the procurement of a new bus service in the city, the “unacceptable behaviour” of councillors not attending local labour forums and the municipality’s refusal to implement a minimum wage agreement for contract workers.
While some suburbs around the country were dotted with smelly, unemptied rubbish bins, others reported that services continued as usual.
The strike is a bid by Samwu to resolve seven-year negotiations to make middle and lower income municipal workers’ salaries market related.
They believe this will also reduce the salaries of higher-ranking council employees who they believe are being overpaid, and would address corruption, which has been cited as a reason for service delivery protests.
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) is unhappy that a mass strike was called as the economy is picking itself up after a bruising recession, and ahead of the Soccer World Cup.
“The fact that shops along the routes taken by marchers have had to close through fear of vandalism impacts negatively on turnover and on already low profit margins,” Sacci said in a statement.
“This in turn impacts on the ability of shop owners to cover expenses such as the payment of wages to employees. This has a ripple effect on the economy as workers’ disposable income is reduced.”
SABC reported that in Mafikeng in the North West some essential service workers had decided to join in the strike.
Traffic officials have promised to let people catch up later for licence applications and payments. Local authorities have advised people to use pay points in supermarkets or on the internet to keep their accounts up to date for other services.
Samwu has vowed the strike will continue until the pay scales matter is resolved. –Sapa