No cost estimates to property, infrastructure damage in ongoing Tshwane strike

It was too early to tell how much damage to Tshwane metro property and infrastructure caused by striking employees would cost, the metro said.

“There are no estimates at this time,” Tshwane mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman said.

This was after mayor Randall Williams posted on social media that he went to the regional municipal office in Centurion to assess disruption and property damage brought on by the illegal strike on Wednesday.

Williams was accompanied by three MMCs.

Stuurman said the visit also gave Williams a chance to “get a feel of what’s happening on the ground”.

Williams also used the opportunity to encourage TMPD teams to enforce the rule of law.

He also thanked employees who were still going to work despite intimidation by striking workers.

Stuurman said only a small number of employees, believed to be affiliated with the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), were taking part in the strike.

“This is a small group of protesters that have embarked on this illegal strike. They managed to target some key infrastructure; hence, we have seen some of the disruptions, especially when it comes to power outages,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Williams said they had issued notices of the intention to terminate up to 19 of the metro’s employees at the Mayville depot who were involved in the strike that started on March 15.

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The strike resulted in the metro having to battle a growing backlog in restoring power to several parts of Pretoria following prolonged outages.

Employees were forcefully removed from the offices while others were physically assaulted by the striking workers.

He further said the employees were represented by Samwu.

The strike was over a wage dispute with the city’s management.

On Thursday morning, Samwu regional secretary in Tshwane Mpho Tladinyane reiterated that “we are not involved in the strike”.

He said that the union had already made the necessary representations for those employees affiliated with them and had received the notices of intention to terminate.

Tladinyane said that not all 19 employees who received notices were their members.

Services, particularly power, continued to be interrupted in mostly regions 1 (north of Pretoria) and 4 (south), according to metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.

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