The City of Tshwane has dismissed a city employee who is also a regional leader for the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) for allegedly participating in the firebombing of a waste removal truck belonging to a contractor of the city.
According to the municipality, the senior official was identified from video footage obtained by the metro at the height of the three months long unprotected wage strike.
“Video evidence shows a group of people being dropped off on the street. Then they proceed to attack the waste truck and set it alight.
Finally, they’re collected by the same vehicle that dropped them off and they leave the scene of the crime. The vehicle, identified by its make, model and registration number, belongs to the SAMWU official,” said City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink during a media briefing in Pretoria.
Brink said the official was summoned to explain his version of events, which the municipality disputed.
“Yesterday, the City Manager informed me that the investigators had established that the official’s alibi about the possession of his vehicle on the day of the attack could not be verified, and that the City Manager had issued him with a letter of dismissal,” added Brink.
The city said the strike has cost it R600 million, which includes the bombing of 8 waste trucks, burnt waste bins, litigations, and arson.
More than 120 employees have been dismissed since the unprotected strike started three months ago.
The union is demanding that the city implement a wage deal reached with the council in 2021.
