The right to strike does not give anyone the right to commit crimes. This simple statement has been deliberately ignored by both the police and the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) in Grahamstown.
Thugs belonging to the Cosatu-affiliated union have repeatedly and maliciously broken numerous laws by disturbing the peace, blocking traffic, threatening bystanders, vandalising public and private property as well as throwing garbage all over public spaces.
The right to strike does not give anyone the right to commit crimes. This simple statement has been deliberately ignored by both the police and the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) in Grahamstown.
Thugs belonging to the Cosatu-affiliated union have repeatedly and maliciously broken numerous laws by disturbing the peace, blocking traffic, threatening bystanders, vandalising public and private property as well as throwing garbage all over public spaces.
They have done all this in full view of the policemen who are supposed to be preventing such actions. Many Grahamstown residents choose to move their cars out of the way of rampaging mobs coming down High Street because they know that the police would rather protect the thug and not the car owner who might be foolhardy enough to protect his own property.
It is sad that honest citizens have to run in fear of bands of hooligans who run amok under police protection. It is remarkable that police have not arrested any Samwu members since the union initiated its vandalism campaign in Grahamstown.
Earlier this year, police were very quick to act against far more disciplined members of the Unemployed Peoples Movement. They used heavy handed methods against protesters and arrested three of their leaders. Why have there been no arrests in Grahamstown this week?
There were eight arrests in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. Is the Makana municipality going to sue the union for damages caused? The Cape Town metro intends to sue the union.
The right to strike is enshrined in the South African Constitution and is universally endorsed in this and in all other civilised countries. But there is clearly a difference of understanding in what this right to strike means.
Most people and dictionaries understand a strike as the withholding of labour that might include a picket line or even a protest. Samwu obviously understands the right to strike as an opportunity for a regular pillaging event. This type of behaviour rapidly destroys any public sympathy that citizens might have with regards to the workers’ demands.
Going on strike is fine – it’s your right. Vandalising public property is not fine – it’s a crime.
