City of Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink is adamant that he will not be going back to the negotiating table with the striking workers amid widespread service delivery disruptions because of the ongoing strike.
Brink said the city can’t mediate criminality and has reiterated that there is just no money to fund the 5,4% salary increases demanded by the workers.
“You can mediate many things and you can have conversations about many things but the one issue you cannot mediate is that we don’t have R600 million to grant salary increases. The money just isn’t there.
“The second issue is you cannot mediate law enforcement, if your neighbor or somebody is trying to burn down your house, your neighbour is not going to mediate with an arsonist. I want to emphasise this point that at the height of the strike, about 20% to 30% of the workforce actively participated in the strike.
“Far more disruptive has been the attacks on waste removal trucks, which means contractors immediately withdraw from an area, the attack on water and electricity teams, the attempted murder, arson at landfill sites, so the violence and the criminality has been far more disruptive than any formal labour dispute,” said Brink.
The City of Tshwane confirmed that the Labour court made permanent the interdict against the South African Municipal Workers Union( Samwu) and their leader. It added that if there is a significant issue and there is contempt of court in that case then Samwu leaders may be jailed.
Last week, a bakkie, a water tanker, three trucks from Water & Sanitation and an A Re Yeng bus were damaged in various violent attacks.
Brink said this is no longer a service delivery dispute but rather acts of criminality that require action from law enforcement agencies.
“That’s why I have said to the Minister of Police, this is not an internal security issue. It is not a labour issue. It is a law enforcement issue. It is about securing our infrastructure,” said Brink.
Brink said more than 120 employees have so far been dismissed while about 400 people have had their pay docked.
