ActionSA and DA at loggerheads over strike in Tshwane

Coalition partners ActionSA and the DA are at loggerheads over the ongoing strike in the City of Tshwane. 

ActionSA this week concluded a meeting with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) to help end the protracted strike action that has crippled service delivery in Tshwane. 

The party submitted an urgent motion to the Speaker of Council, Mncedi Ndzwanana, urging Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink to negotiate with the striking workers as well as consider the demands put forward by the unions. The demands include, adding R600 million to the wage bill, paying striking workers, and reinstating those workers who were fired for striking.

The DA saw this move as an attack on the foundation of the multi-party coalition in the city. 

Backstabbing

The official opposition party said ActionSA “stabbed Brink in the back and have pulled the rug from under coalition’s feet”. 

“The foundation of ActionSA’s motion lacks substance. Tshwane has made numerous efforts to engage with the unions involved in the ongoing strikes, and ActionSA, having two MMC positions, are aware of these engagements,” said DA Tshwane spokesperson Kwena Moloto. 

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Moloto accused ActionSA of playing opposition politics while in government, saying it is attempting to “score political points”.

“ActionSA’s motion displays a lack of foresight. Granting wage increases in Tshwane would inevitably come at the expense of resources designated for essential services to residents. If this motion were to be accepted, creating the illusion of ending the strike in the name of resuming service delivery in Tshwane, it will lead to a long-term decline in the quality of services provided to Tshwane residents,” he said. 

He said under no circumstances would the DA endorse the motion, adding that it could result in the financial ruin of the Tshwane. 

Unkept promises

ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the DA and ActionSA had different ideas on how to deal with strike now almost in its third month.

According to Beaumont, the strike action arose from a three-year salary agreement signed by former Tshwane mayor Randall Williams, committing the city to sub-inflation salary increases of 3.5% in 2021, 4.9% in 2022, and 5.4% in 2023. 

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He said the strike was a results of ignoring a collective bargaining outcome.

“The city has cited financial difficulties in terms of an inability to meet these previously agreed salary increases, which is indisputably a challenge. However, such a challenge can only be dealt with in terms of sitting down with the unions and renegotiating a new deal that is both affordable and ensures a stable labour environment.

“It is against this background that the decision by Brink to refuse to renegotiate a deal must be called out by ActionSA, as a coalition partner, as [it is] short-sighted in the extreme,” he said. 

Residents paying the price 

Beaumont said although the city’s affordability of a wage agreement was critical, so was the price paid by residents and communities across Tshwane. 

“It is the absence of this cost of the ongoing strike, especially when further disruption is made likely by the refusal to negotiate, that concerns ActionSA,” Beaumont said. 

“ActionSA is committed to the multi-party coalition agreement which, in many instances, speaks of the imperative of stable labour relations that enable service delivery across Tshwane. 

“This commitment makes ActionSA unapologetic when we need to call out a coalition partner that falls short of the standards of this agreement. This is a strength of coalitions rather than single-party majority governments …”

READ MORE: Tshwane on the Brink: Opposition parties call for end to Samwu strike