Pretoria - Traffic came to a complete standstill and streets in the city centre were trashed yesterday as City of Tshwane employees affiliated to the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) aired their grievances during a march.
An estimated 2 000 workers took control of Madiba Street on their way to Isivuno House on Lillian Ngoyi Street, the city’s administrative headquarters, to deliver a memorandum.
They were holding placards, tree branches, sticks and poles.
Municipal services were affected, with the Tshwane Bus Services providing limited service and the city urging commuters to make alternative transport arrangements for the day.
The march was supported by Cosatu, the SACP, Young Communist League and other political structures.
It started in Marabastad.
Businesses along the route closed for fear of looting, but that did not stop some of the marchers from seizing packs of hair pieces from hairdressing salons and dumping them on the streets.
These, plus the rubbish from the litter bins they emptied, made it impossible for motorists to drive along Madiba Street after the march had ended.
Police driving and walking ahead of the procession initially succeeded in preventing the workers from emptying litter bins in the middle of the street.
However, those walking at the back eventually did the overturning.
For the second week running, people in the Pretoria CBD had to endure frustrating time in the traffic as intersections were gridlocked and virtually impassable at the height of the march.
Last week the streets were blocked during a Cosatu march.
On reaching their destination, and in his absence, the workers turned against their boss, mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, heckling and insulting him for not responding to previous memorandums.
The mayor, who was reportedly abroad on official duty and unable to receive the memorandum in person, was called a coward who was scared to face his employees.
Joshua Ngonyama, MMC for housing and sustainable human settlements development, came out with other officials to receive the memorandum.
But the workers first rejected him and demanded to see Ramokgopa.
They shouted that his failure to appear amounted to disrespect and warned they would ensure a change of guard in the 2016 local government election should they not be taken seriously.
Ngonyama, surrounded by police officers, retreated behind the gates and returned, made his way to the truck where the union leaders read out the memorandum before he signed it.
He collected it and promised the matters raised would be addressed by the mayoral committee and council.
After seeing the memorandum, one of the officials that were with the MMC remarked that “these demands are purely political”.
The workers have threatened to protest every two weeks should the city not respond within 21 days.
Ramokgopa’s spokesman, Blessing Manale, said the industrial action was unprotected.
“Despite the fact that we have expressed our commitment to a free, democratic and constructive labour relations and engagement environment, the protest was marred by intimidation, contempt, insult and physical injury to some members of the VIP protection (unit) of the metro police.
“While we appreciate the issues raised are a reflection of some of the challenges we face in the administration of the third largest municipal space in the world, we believe the administration has demonstrated exceptional leadership in addressing them,” he said.
“We believe we have acted to the best of our ability, greatest political will, urgency and due regard for the law and interest of our citizens, and in all respects exhausted every available avenue for consolation, bargaining and information sharing.”
He said the city reiterated that it had not only been configuring the macro-structure post incorporation of the erstwhile Kungwini and Metsweding municipalities, but had equally ensured that regionalisation of services, departmental and shop floor transformation remained non- negotiable.
“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused to our citizens and guarantee that the members of Samwu will, as responsible citizens, acknowledge they are essential services employees and render their services to our communities over the long weekend marking international Workers Day,” he added.
Samwu regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane rubbished the statement that the march was illegal and showed the Pretoria News a letter confirming that approval had indeed been granted for it to take place.
kennedy.mudzuli@inl.co.za
Pretoria News