A flawless Peter Road in Ruimsig was defaced on Thursday, 10 December when protesting construction workers took to the street to demand their unpaid wages from their employer.
The more than 300 labourers downed tools and took to the road where they scattered cement and other building material on the road surface to block traffic in both directions.
Bongani Luphala of Siyaman Holdings, a subcontractor on site, told Northsider that the protest was sparked by the inability of the main contractor to pay its workforce.
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“We have been working on this site for a month and a half without being paid. In a meeting last week we were promised payment this week but nothing happened. We were also promised a meeting to discuss this problem this week, but that did not happen either, so the frustrated workers decided to block the road as a form of demonstration,” he said.
He also mentioned that the protest on the road was the best option he could allow after some workers were even thinking of torching the multi-million rand residential property construction.
However, the destruction on the road was short-lived as the Honeydew Police in conjunction with Public Order Police and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) intervened and dissolved the chaos within minutes.
Armed with rubber bullets and accepting no excuses, the workers were made to clean up their own mess – later restoring the affected portion to its proper condition.
The construction manager, Stanley Mutfudze, who acknowledged the payment saga, said the drama wasn’t necessary as payment arrangements had been discussed with the workers.
“Part of the payment was made last week, but the workers wanted the company to honour the full payment, which is to be made next week Tuesday and will be available to them the next day,” he said.
Mutfudze said the delay in payment was a result of the changes in management; however, they were assured in a meeting that payment will be made on the said date.
This is a developing story.
