Furious protesters corner municipality staff

“The money that we eat is a bi**h!” sang protesters today, as they barricaded the exit from the municipal building.

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) staged the protest due to a lack of response from Municipal Manager, Kebone Massange, on a memorandum they allegedly submitted in May, 2013.

Protesters were angry, as their issues had apparently not been addressed. According to members of SAMWU, they were still on pay grade 4, however, Newcastle is a grade 6 municipality. They were also protesting the fact that some workers had allegedly been given a written warning and suspended for five days without pay, because they had added their names to a memorandum to have the shop steward re-instated.

Mayor of Newcastle, Afzul Rehman, attempted to speak to the crowd, urging them to follow the correct channels of communication to bring their issues to his attention. He claimed to not know that they wanted to see the MM.

“There is a law in this country,” said Cllr Rehman. “You guys need to use the legal forums.”

After a few minutes, Cllr Rehman realised that they could not be subdued, and left as the crowd continued to sing and dance, occasionally shouting “Masange! Masange!”

There was no sign of Mr Masange anywhere, and some SAMWU members claimed he was ‘hiding’.

SAMWU decided to write an official letter to be submitted to the MM in the morning.

Full story to be published tomorrow morning.