South Africa: Thousands of Municipal Workers Take to the Streets in Buffalo City, Despite Interdict

By Johnnie Isaac

Roads around the city barricaded with burning tyres, but SAMWU denies its members were involved

Thousands of municipal workers took to the streets in East London for the second day on Wednesday.

Members of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) began their strike action on Tuesday after receiving authorisation for the strike from the Bargaining Council, when negotiations with the Buffalo City municipality failed.

The municipality applied for an urgent high court interdict on Tuesday evening. The court granted the interdict restricting SAMWU leadership and members from intimidation, violence, vandalism, damage to property, barricading roads or disrupting municipal services.

Several roads around the city were barricaded with burning tyres on Wednesday as striking workers marched to the city hall to deliver a memorandum, but the union said its members had not started the fires.

The strike stemmed from failed negotiations with municipal management to address workers' grievances, including outsourcing and casualisation of work, failure to pay incentives promised during the covid pandemic, and salary disparities with other cities.

The union described the interdict as an intimidating tactic.

Speaking on behalf of SAMWU, its Buffalo City chairperson, Yaliwe Govuza, said: "We have a certificate to march and be here today."

She accused the municipality's political leadership of neglecting the people. "They are driving in blue-light cars and have bodyguards. Instead of engaging SAMWU, they are calling us irresponsible and misleading our members."

SAMWU's Deputy Provincial Secretary, Lona Lubhedu, said the municipality was mismanaging its funds by employing private companies to read meters and drive trucks when municipal workers had been employed for the work.

The union has given the municipality 48 hours to respond to workers' demands.

Speaker Humphrey Maxhegwana received the memorandum and promised a response.

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