Court thwarts planned march by EFF at eleventh hour

A march planned by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) was thwarted on Monday, after the city of Tshwane secured an interdict declaring the march unlawful.

The march was in support of former city employees who may be dismissed by the city after partaking in an unprotected strike that saw the disruption of services in four of the metro’s regions.

Last week the city issued notices to at least 18 employees who are thought to be members of the SA Municipal Workers Association, informing them of the intention to terminate their employment due to their involvement in an unprotected strike.

On Monday the North Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria ruled the march unlawful.

ALSO READ: City of Tshwane worker assaulted while attending to power outage, lands in ICU

Members of the EFF who had gathered to march were ordered to immediately disperse according to the city Spokesperson Sipho Stuurman.

He applauded the interdict and said citing that the party had no right to organise it as it was not a “labour organisation or a trade union”.

“The EFF is a political party and yet it feels it can manipulate labour processes in the city in order to drive its own political agenda,” said Stuurman.

“The High Court ruled in the city’s favour and agreed with our view that political parties are not allowed to drive their own agendas by masquerading themselves as trade union representatives on behalf of ex-employees,” says Stuurman.

The court also ordered the EFF  to pay the costs of the application.

He said that the city works through properly constituted forums to engage labour matters in order to ensure due processes and legislation are followed.

The city last week announced that it had begun the process of termination of employment of 19 employees based at the Mayville Depot.

The workers were issued with letters of intention to terminate their services for their continued involvement in the strike.

They were given until Thursday 24 March to provide written reasons why their services should not be terminated pending a decision on whether to terminate their services or not thereafter.

Weeks back the said workers blocked streets in Centurion with rubbish, rubble, stones and set bins on fire, demanding salary increases.

This is after the city last year decided against salary hikes following an agreement with unions and the SA Local Government Association due to financial difficulties.