Striking municipal workers in Gauteng want the province’s premier Nomvula Mokonyane to intervene in their bid to gain better salaries.
And in Cape Town, municipal workers have had their application to march in the city on Monday denied by authorities, who were none too pleased with criminal acts of vandalism and looting committed by some strikers this week.
In Johannesburg, A few hundred members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) on Friday handed over a memorandum of demands at the office of the SA Local Government Association (Salga) in Braamfontein, Johannesburg and another addressed to the premier.
An official representing Mokonyane received the memorandum, which asks the premier to intervene in the strike that started on Monday.
Premier intervention
The union wants the premier to speak to Salga officials and convince the employers’ association to accede to workers’ demands for an 18% increase. Salga is offering about 6%.
“The employer could afford the 18% without increasing rates and taxes — check what the executives are taking home,” said Samwu provincial chairperson Koena Ramotlou.
Many workers were transported via minibus taxis from Tshwane, Vaal, Ekurhuleni and the West Rand to attend the march in Johannesburg, where turn-out was much lower than the union expected.
Low turnout
Ramotlou earlier said 60% of all Samwu members in the province would participate, but only a few hundred workers took part in the march.
Dozens of members of the public order policing unit and about 200 metro police officers were deployed to monitor the march in Johannesburg’s city centre, and water cannons were on stand-by to respond to any unruly behaviour.
Protesters waved tree branches and sang liberation songs while they were marching, but there was no sign of streets being trashed or dust bins being emptied, as had happened in other cities this week.
Elsewhere in the country this week, municipal workers trashed several cities, including Cape Town, Pietermaritzburg and Nelspruit.
No marching, please
The City of Cape Town said on Friday it had refused an application by Samwu to stage a march on Monday, due to its bad track record.
“At a meeting this morning [Friday] with representatives of Samwu, the City of Cape Town and the SA Police Service [SAPS] refused the march application because it was deemed a definite threat to safety and security in terms of the Gatherings Act,” the city said in a statement.
“This decision is based on Samwu’s members’ behaviour during their march on Tuesday 16 August 2011 as well as their multiple acts of violence and intimidation this week.”
Samwu could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this week, hundreds of Samwu protesters looted from hawkers, set fire to plastic bins and smashed car windows in the city centre.
Interdict
On Thursday, the Labour Court granted the city an interim interdict preventing Samwu members from assaulting and intimidating city employees, contractors, suppliers and members of the public, and from carrying weapons.
A Samwu march would be illegal under the Gatherings Act and would infringe the interdict, it said.
The city said it was forced to close the Khayelitsha Fire Station on Thursday, claiming that Samwu members had intimidated non-striking workers into participating in the strike.
“The interim interdict reiterates the rule that, as an essential service, fire and rescue staff are not allowed to participate in strike action.”
It said staff at the Town Two Clinic had to be relocated, also after alleged intimidation by Samwu members, who it claimed had overturned and emptied the clinic’s portable chemical toilets.
Accusations of riotous behaviour
The city accused protesters of stoning the front window of the Strand Fire Station, later stoning council vehicles in the area, and of burning tyres at the Nyanga Municipal Yard.
They also forced their way inside the Fish Hoek Caravan Park, where they tried to hurt staff and intimidate residents, the city alleged.
“The city will continue to collect data about the damages caused by striking Samwu members and the related costs.
“This information will be used for cases of disciplinary action as well as the recovery of costs from Samwu where evidence can be provided showing their involvement,” it said.
On Friday 3 655 staff — 14.49% of the city’s workforce — were absent from work without authorisation. — Sapa