The community from Thubelihle and other residents joined in the strike in Ga-Nala closing all the roads leading into the town for the third day on Wednesday, September 10.
“After the crowd was dispersed last night by the police, we all went to sleep, and made sure we were awake again by 03:00 to block the roads off again so employees could not go to work,” said one of the strikers.
The reason behind the strike is that some residents of Ga-Nala are unhappy with what the local mines are doing in the area, not employing locals for jobs but instead outsourcing employees from other areas.
On Tuesday evening, September 9 the riots broke out on a large scale. The roads were closed once again and armoured SAPS vehicles were deployed.
Mr Theo van Vuuren, administrator of Emalahleni, warned the community to stay indoors and to avoid the roads.
“The situation was very bad here last night. People got injured as rubber bullets were fired by police members. But the strike continues,” said one resident of the town.
“We don’t have a clue when the strike will stop. We are waiting for our demands to be met. We are demanding jobs from the local mines and power stations in the area,” said a striker.
A meeting between protestors, mining companies and two of the power stations took place on Tuesday afternoon, when issues of the hiring of non local people as well as procurement issues were discussed.
“An agreement was reached that the requests be put in writing. A forum will be created by the protesting groups. Apparently the mines and the protestors will meet again in 21 days. The municipality was neutral in this respect and we are monitoring the situation,” said Van Vuuren.
On Monday morning, September 8 employees were left stranded, as they could not get to work when they were stopped by the strikers.
One of the Emalahleni Maintenance teams was stuck in the protest in Ga-Nala and could not go off site. The law enforcement was also deployed to go and assist.
The strike started early in the morning on Monday and by 15:30 the road had reopened after Kriel police opened tear gas on the masses.
Kriel police arrested three of the protestors for public violence.
By 20:00 the riots in Ga-Nala started to flare up again.
One resident from Ga-Nala made his way to work and the strikers got hold of him hitting him.
