As a mass of striking employees rampaged up Walter Sisulu Street, following Mr Nqubeko Bright Mchunu’s release on R10 000 bail, pedestrian footpaths were destroyed, with strikers digging paving bricks from the sidewalks to hurl at passing vehicles.

Fixed trash bins were violently broken from their stands and emptied into the street, with the bins themselves kicked towards passers-by.
Cinder blocks were thrown into the streets alongside trash bags and every imaginable loose object, like bottles, cans and rocks.

One very unlucky motorist found himself slap-bang in the middle of the scandalous riot, accidentally striking one of the troublemakers while trying to make a desperate escape.

The striker was taken to hospital but discharged without serious injury.

This, however, did not prevent strikers from slashing all four of the motorist’s bakkie tyres, and setting fire to the vehicle in an attempt to smoke him out, or burn him alive. Strikers, of course, deny this.

Why did they want the man, who locked himself in his bakkie surrounded by a mob breaking his windows, pelting him with bricks, to exit his vehicle?
To make friendly banter with his attackers?

His life was saved by the police, who ordered him from the scene, which of course, angered the pack even more, resulting in damage to private vehicles parked at shops.

Like it or not, Mr Nqubeko Bright Mchunu (40) is innocent until proven guilty. He will have his day in court facing charges of murder and attempted murder.

All South Africans are equal before the law, but apparently, striking employees believe they are above it. They have ignored two High Court, and a Labour Court, interdicts to return to work.

They’ve been breaking the law nonstop since last September, with no consequences.

After gathering in front of the Middelburg Magistrates’ Court, where the police already restricted the free movement of residents, just to keep them safe from the strikers, the news that Mr Mchunu was released on R10 000 bail turned rabid.

The pack mentally even instigated some uninvolved residents to join in the lawlessness and destruction.

Apart from hundreds of thousands of rands in damages caused to walkways, trash bins and other municipal property, the municipality will undoubtedly face a large number of compensation claims from innocent residents having been caught in the riots during lunch hour on Friday.

• The Middelburg Observer is in the process of applying for access to tomorrow’s High Court application for an urgent hearing on relief against the ongoing strikes, which have already cost the town R280 million in losses, including R180 million in salaries for the criminal strikers.

Make no mistake, the strike is illegal.

Tune in to www.mobserver.co.za tomorrow from 09:00 for arguments of urgency, brought about by Kruger & Bekker Attorneys on behalf of local resident Andre Brandmuller.