‘Who will take care of our families?’ Tshwane workers living in fear following attack on colleague

Municipal workers are living and working in fear following an attack on a colleague as the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) enters the fourth week of strike action in Tshwane. Workers, who agreed to speak anonymously, said they were living and working in fear.

“We can’t say much but going to work makes me anxious. We are losing overtime money that was needed to make it through the month,” one worker said.

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The workers said they were too scared to work and too scared not to work.

“What if we lose our jobs too? Who will take care of our families?” they asked.

Tshwane protest turns violent

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink has called on the leadership of Samwu to condemn criminal attacks on employees and called for an end to the unprotected strike following the assault of a municipal worker.

“This weekend a city employee was hijacked, shot and left for dead by a group of people who had earlier warned the person and their team not to work.

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“I am horrified by the attack, and equally thankful that the official survived,” he said.

Brink said the attack must be a turning point in the unprotected Samwu strike that has involved disruption of services, sabotage of infrastructure and intimidation of fellow employees.

“Last week, two waste removal trucks operated by contractors of the city were attacked in different parts of the city.

“One truck’s windscreen was smashed with bricks, and the other was forced by a group of people to dump its contents in the street.

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“We have seen valves closed in Soshanguve so that reservoirs run dry. A Re Yeng buses are being stoned, nurses and patients are being marched out of clinics and the entrances to depots are blocked by cars. Staff are being chased out of offices and threatened with violence,” he said.

Budget

Brink said the city’s decision to seek bargaining council exemption not to pay salary increases was made on the instruction of the city council.

“The budget approved by 155 out of 214 councillors did not provide for salary increases for officials and councillors in the current financial year.

“It was accompanied by a funding plan to close the R3 billion gap by which Tshwane’s budget is unfunded,” he said.

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Brink said there was no excuse for what was happening now.

City spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the exemption application will be heard at the bargaining council on 23 August. The city’s application is anchored on irrefutable evidence of its financial position, he said.