The Tshwane municipality in Gauteng has tasked over 400 metro police (TMPD) officers to escort its employees to and from work sites to ensure their safety from members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) who are currently on strike in response to the Tshwane council’s decision to halt wage increases for this year.
This follows a violent incident from earlier this month in which a Tshwane municipal employee was shot in the chest by Samwu affiliates while on a work site.
City Manager Johann Mettler further said the local government has formed a security cluster consisting of the TMPD, South African Police (SAPS), and the city asset protection services, who have put in place several security measures at critical sites and workstations.
Among other initiatives, this includes beefed-up static policing by the TMPD and SAPS, with especially high-risk sites needing 24-hour protection.
Cost of the Samwu strike
At this stage, the Samwu strike has been going on since July and includes 122 Tshwane employees, inflicting infrastructural damages and putting a halt to service delivery in the city for things such as refuse removal.
While the extent of the destruction is hard to determine at present, Mettler said “direct damages” include substations and refuse trucks that have been set alight, and “consequential damages” include the Tshwane municipality now not being able to bill certain areas for electricity due to torn down infrastructure while remaining indebted to Eskom for those costs.
In addition, bus services have been suspended completely for the time being, and health facilities within the vicinity of the strike zone are closed, too.
Mayor Cilliers Brink said the City is currently investigating a “major lead” to bring to justice the perpetrators responsible for the refuse truck burnings, and that, after the strike is over, it will explore the possibility of a civil claim against Samwu for damages suffered.
“After this strike is over, and it has to be over at some stage, there is going to be a bill that needs to be paid for the damages suffered by the City, by residents, and by ratepayers,” said Brink.
“And I have asked the City Manager to now already start collating that bill for the purposes of a possible civil claim against Samwu.”
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