A Tshwane employee was shot and hijacked, allegedly by striking colleagues, in Montana, Pretoria, on Saturday evening after failing to respond to threats to stop working. The employee was engaged with his team from the Water and Sanitation Section when they were attacked while working.

Spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the employee’s attack is a consequence of the strike by employees affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).

“The unlawful and unprotected strike by employees affiliated to labour union Samwu has degenerated into thuggery and wanton criminality after an employee was shot and hijacked shortly after completing a shift on Saturday evening.”

According to Bokaba the Water and Sanitation team where in Montana when they were confronted by a group of men who instructed them to stop working. The team ignored them and continued to render a service.

Bokaba stated “On completion of the shift, while on his way home, the standby team leader was shot and hijacked. He was rushed to hospital.”

The City Manager, Johann Mettler, has condemned the attack and urged law enforcement to relentlessly pursue the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to book.

“This incident is deplorable, and we plead with law enforcement to find the suspects, lock them up and throw the keys away. We will not cower in the face of intimidation by thugs. If the perpetrators are found to be our employees they will be booted out of the employ of the city,” Mettler said.

This is just one of several incidents of violence and intimidation that have occurred in a three-week-long strike for salary increases against the Tshwane municipality.

According to Bokaba, 93 employees who have participated in the strike have already been dismissed.

Bokaba said the striking staffers, affiliated with labour trade union Samwu, were given three ultimatums by the city manager to return to work during the course of the illegal strike, however, they disregarded the senior’s directives.

The members were served with dismissal notices as they had failed to comply with a court interdict directing the striking employees to stop intimidating their co-workers and not to damage municipal property.

Meanwhile, the city managed to meet its deadline to file a salary and wage increase exemption application at the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) on 10 August 2023.

The exemption application will be heard at the Bargaining Council between the city and labour unions Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) and Samwu on 23 August 2023.

Bokaba said the application is anchored on irrefutable evidence of its financial position, which is the main reason why there was no budget appropriation for salary and wage increases for the 2023/24 Financial Year.

“The unfunded budget was approved by the majority of parties represented in Council at the end of May this year and the funding plan was given the green light by both Provincial and National Treasury. The city is working hard to stabilise its finances through, inter alia, reducing expenditure and increasing revenue collection rate to 95%, as directed by the National Treasury,” he said.