Residents have been reasonably irate as well as shocked at the fervour with which municipal workers have been breaking open refuse bags and strewing the contents all over town.
Since Monday municipal workers have been demanding a 15% wage increase and a minimum wage of R5000 a month against the state’s offer of a 10.5% increase.
The strike excludes essential services such as traffic, electricity, water, sewerage and primary health services.
The St Andrews School, Upper House matron, Nancy -Ann Richards, says even though the strike did not have much effect in Grahamstown, she was disturbed by the destruction everywhere else as seen on television news.
When asked about the effects of the strike, Curtis Sahd, a Celeste House resident and Computer Science Masters student at Rhodes University said, "It sends shivers down my spine if the action were to be prolonged, let the workers be given what they deserve as long as it is not ridiculous and let there be no further delay."
A Hillsview resident, Luthando Heshu says," As long as there are no disruptions to electricity or water supply, I will sympathise with the worker’s strike for better salaries, but not their disruptive actions."
<Strong > Residents express concerns </strong>
Clive Whitford, the chairperson of the Grahamstown Residents Association (GRA), said they held a discussion at a committee meeting where he was delegated to write a letter expressing concern about the municipal worker’s strike.
The GRA sympathises with the workers and it is their constitutional right to protest, but it has reservations about their irresponsible actions of trashing as it is a huge public health hazard and violates their right to clean air.
He feels that if any culprits be identified, legal actions should be taken against them as trashing is crime. "Strikers who trash are unruly elements within the union who are in the scene for entertainment and destruction", he said.
