Following acts of violence and littering by striking members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), meetings to be held between the union's leaders and the municipality are being convened daily.
Following acts of violence and littering by striking members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), meetings to be held between the union's leaders and the municipality are being convened daily.
Makana Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart announced this week that they agreed on a Strike Management Committee meeting to be convened every day at 3pm. They aim to discuss how to manage the strike and deal with any issues arising from it.
She dismissed the public perception that the municipality is providing logistical support to the strike by escorting the workers.
“I wish to reiterate that our traffic officers are forced to divert the traffic when there are road blockages.”
She argued that the municipality depends on the police to protect the public and has therefore urged the police to be on the alert and take appropriate action when acts of intimidation and infringement of the public's rights are detected.
She condemned the strikers' actions of overturning rubbish bins on the streets and in front of municipal buildings.
“This behaviour is appalling and cannot be condoned, it would have been appreciated if the strikers were disciplined in their actions,” she added. Since Monday Samwu members’ have overturned rubbish bins and bags on streets around the city centre where they are permitted to march.
According to the permit for the strike, Samwu can only march and demonstrate in streets where there are municipal buildings.
On Wednesday, however, the strikers acted more responsibly with no reports of Muni attempts to manage strike violence.
A larger contingent of police officers was deployed to the strike and the municipality hired security personnel to guard the traffic and finance departments.
“I wish to indicate to the public of Makana that the municipality is trying its best to protect those workers at work, council property and ensuring that there is minimum disruption to municipal services,” Baart explained.
“It is for that reason we have beefed up security in all council buildings, I have been in constant liaison with Brigadier [Morgan] Govender and General [Vakala] Moyake of SAPS appealing for visible security and public protection.”
She confirmed that no emergency services were affected by the strike as departments rendering such services as fire, water, electricity and traffic were operating during the strike.
However, she conceded that by blocking the public from entering the traffic and finance departments the striking workers disrupted the provision of municipal services.
The residents who were most affected are those who required licensing services. Siseko Ntshebe was at the traffic department to write his learner's licence tests on Wednesday and said that while he sympathised with Samwu's demands he thought that the workers should allow the public to benefit from municipal services.
“I know they want their money but they should give us a chance to write,” he said. Ntshebe said he should have written on Tuesday but the strike prevented him from writing and he was told to come back the next day.
“They should just give us nother date for writing the test,” he added. Baart apologised to the residents who were scheduled to write their learner's licences on the days on which Samwu was on strike.
“The municipality will have to make alternative arrangements by re-scheduling the dates to write their learners' licences,” she added.
She also said the alternative arrangements will come at no further cost to the residents as they are “not at fault”. Wandile Bikitsha, Samwu chairman, said the strike will continue until all the workers' demands are
met.
“Our aim is that no revenue should be generated by the municipality during the period of the strike so that our impact can be felt immediately,” he added.
Following a dispute which Samwu declared with South African Local Government Association (Salga) early last year over the implementation of an agreed job evaluation system and the review of the diciplinary code, the union wants lawyers to be removed from disciplinary proceedings in municipalities as it views this practice as abuse of taxpayers' money.
