The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) condemned the violence that has been escalating over the last three days of its nationwide strike, and promised that extra marshalls would be in place to monitor their 12 000-member strong strike planned for Durban on Thursday.
“The union would ensure that these matters are dealt with sternly,” said spokesperson Tahir Sema on Wednesday.
“The union has communicated to all of its members that none of this should take place. It detracts from what we are working for.”
Sema said sometimes there were “rogue elements” behind the violence but added: “It’s important to make mention again that the union condemns and is saddened by the violence. We will take them to task if we can prove that our members were involved.”
Disruption of services
The Samwu warning came at the same time as a City of Johannesburg complaint about disruption at clinics.
“There are still disturbing reports of acts of intimidation and violence against non-striking employees at various health facilities. The city views the situation in a serious light given that fact that primary healthcare is an essential service and is monitoring the situation,” it said.
Samwu began its nationwide strike on Monday with a peaceful march to the Johannesburg Metro offices. Over the three days confrontations with police in other marches and pickets have been increasing, as has neglect of municipal services.
On Wednesday a group of protesting municipal workers stoned cars at the municipal hall in central Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Johan Rheede said.
“Today, if there is any damage to property, we will make arrests… we won’t tolerate this behaviour, it’s not like yesterday [Tuesday] when they were just throwing papers in the streets.”
In Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, private security company the Red Ants allegedly threw stones at striking workers, after protests at a municipal building, Sema said.
The metro intends applying for an interdict against Samwu to stop the strike there.
In Kimberley, 70 people were arrested for public violence after burning tyres outside the city hall.
Constable Andrea Cloete said protesters were angry because they felt their demands were not being taken seriously. They started to vandalise an electric box in front of the city hall and threw bottles and rubbish at police.
Cloete said after the arrests the remaining protesters dispersed peacefully to hand a memorandum to their employer, the South African Local Government Association (Salga).
Arrests
Meanwhile, three striking municipal workers were arrested for public violence in Port Shepstone on Wednesday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.
‘It is believed that they also damaged two police vehicles.Police fired rubber bullets when the crowd refused to disperse,”Director Phindile Radebe said.
The association and Samwu delegates were meeting in Midrand to try to resolve the dispute after Salga withdrew a court application on Tuesday to stop the strike.
Seven-year struggle
Samwu said it had spent seven years trying to get middle and lower income municipal workers’ salaries market related. The union said this would reduce salaries of higher-ranking, overpaid council employees, and would address corruption which was seen as a reason for service delivery protests.
“These kind of talks can go on for hours, even into the early parts of the morning,” Sema said.
In Durban about 60 municipal workers staged a protest march in the Durban CBD, said Democratic Alliance councillor Heinz De Boer.
“The group initially formed near the city hall car park, before holding up traffic as they crossed to the Florence Mkhize building.
“While marching to the building, several members lashed out at a passing metro police vehicle and another eThekwini municipal vehicle with sticks.
“Several rubbish bins were rolled over while the contents were strewn across the road,” De Boer said, who saw the incident.
Cosatu pledged its “full support and solidarity” with Samwu’s 130 000 municipal workers. — Sapa