Police blocked protesting municipal workers from storming the city hall this morning, while the city's leaders were out of town on an urgent mission to get Makana Municipality out of the red.
Police blocked protesting municipal workers from storming the city hall this morning, while the city's leaders were out of town on an urgent mission to get Makana Municipality out of the red.
The sight of hundreds of municipal workers toyi-toyiing at the Chan Henry Supermarket intersection greeted commuters in Fingo village this morning, Wednesday 26 February.
Members of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) today downed tools, demanding answers about the municipality's financial status. They also claimed discrepancies regarding their benefits.
“This is going to be a long day for us, comrades," Samwu secretary Lindelwa Faltein told the gathered members. "We are going to march and we are not in a hurry. These are hard times and we need to be strong.”
The group later marched to the municipality's finance department in High Street, where they emptied rubbish bins and set refuse alight.
They proceeded to the city hall, where a strong police presence prevented them from entering the building.
Acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga said he could not comment on the strike, because he was out of town.
“We are in Pretoria and we are here to negotiate for MIG funding from the National Treasury. We will see when we come back,” he told Grocott's Mail.
26/02/2014: This article has been edited to reflect that municipal workers had in fact received their salaries on Tuesday 25 February and were not awaiting payment as was previously reported.
