A festive atmosphere reigned at Johannesburg’s Mary Fitzgerald Square as South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members danced and ran laps of the precinct ahead of their march through the city centre on Thursday.
Police brought out the cavalry, with Nyalas, the mounted unit, foot patrols and vans, as people jogged to the square for the march, which was expected to attract thousands of people.
“The situation looks orderly and under control,” said metro police Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, who earlier warned motorists to avoid the inner city.
Carrying tree branches, knobkierries and sjamboks, Samwu members descended on the square for the 11.30am march through the city centre.
Police were standing guard to prevent bin tipping, which had become a trademark of the union’s marches.
“We could do another one or two months, we don’t mind. If they don’t pay us we will keep striking,” said 32-year-old Madikana Ramodisa, as cries of “Amandla” bellowed from the loudspeakers.
The dress code was a combination of yellow and red Samwu T-shirts or black T-shirts with the words “YOU make Jo’burg great”.
“We want equalised pay. They pay us peanuts and their pockets are full,” said a Samwu member, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A striking bus driver said: “Even in apartheid you had to fight to get what you want, and that is why we strike,” as the group ran around the square waving a large Samwu flag.
Their first stop would be the department of local government and then on to Premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s office to hand over a memorandum.
Council officials have largely downplayed the effect of the strike, but in Johannesburg Metrobus had stopped working, and refuse had not been collected in many areas. There were also reports of disruptions at clinics.
Interdict
The Ekurhuleni metro, east of Johannesburg, intended applying for an interdict to stop the strike so that services could resume.
The strike centres mostly on a demand for market-related salaries for lower- and middle-income employees. Samwu wanted this to apply to higher ranking officials’ salaries too as they said they were overpaid and awarding themselves perks.
Samwu said this would go some way to addressing service-delivery protests, where corruption had been raised as a cause for the protests.
Similar scenes were unfolding in Durban at Botha’s Park.
A group of about 50 policemen carrying guns, with some on motorbikes, monitored the gathering.
Samwu members would march along Dr Pixely Ka-Seme Street (West Street) to the City Hall.
Meanwhile, the South African Local Government Association said a late night meeting with Samwu had yielded a number of proposals to resolve the impasse.
However, they would not be discussed publicly until members had been consulted.
The strike also garnered support from the Anti-Privatisation Forum, with a statement saying workers could not continue to put up with socio-economic inequalities. — Sapa