Cape Town – The City of Tshwane says that engaging in negotiations with unionised workers is futile due to its inability to afford salary raises.
Workers from the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) have been on strike for the past two months.
The strike was triggered by the city’s decision not to provide salary increases this fiscal year.
In response to the strike, there have been incidents of municipal trucks being set on fire.
The Gauteng Legislature has called for a mediation process between the union and the city, but Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink hassaid that mediation would be pointless because the city does not have the funds for the demanded salary increases, and he sees the strike as a criminal matter rather than a labour dispute.
“You can mediate many things and you can have conversations about many things, but the one issue you can’t mediate is we don’t have R600 million to grant in salary increases, as the money is not there,” he said.
🔴ICYMI🔴 Chaos erupted yesterday at the Tshwane Council after the EFF called for the reinstatement of 130 workers who were dismissed by the City of Tshwane, led by the Democratic Alliance. The DA, however, stubbornly refuses to reinstate the workers. The workers had participated… pic.twitter.com/2NmIM4fNCj
— Central News (@centralnewsza) September 1, 2023
“The second issue you can’t mediate is about law enforcement. If your neighbour or someone is trying to burn down your house, your neighbour is not going to mediate with the arsonist,” EWN quoted Brink as saying.
Earlier this month, members of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Tshwane on Thursday engaged in a physical altercation during a council meeting, prompting both parties to threaten to open criminal cases against each other.
The dispute arose over an ongoing workers’ strike in the city, with the EFF demanding the reinstatement of over 120 workers fired by the municipality for participating in the strike.
A live stream of the council meeting captured EFF councillors waving placards before a physical fight erupted between the two groups.
The DA condemned the violence and accused the EFF of repeatedly bringing violence into the council chambers, asserting that the incident confirmed the presence of violence at the core of the EFF’s identity.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
