VANDERBIJLPARK – Angry members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) stormed the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) headquarters on February 13.
The protest quickly turned messy as workers dumped uncollected rubbish across the town and the Civic Centre. While the march was meant to be peaceful, it soon spiralled into violence. Clashes broke out between workers and police after the crowd demanded to be addressed inside the municipal yard.
Police used stun grenades and water cannons to try to control the crowd, but several scuffles broke out. Eventually, dozens of red-clad workers filled the municipal premises with songs and chants, demanding urgent intervention from the municipality’s leadership.
Placards written “Marete a Ntuli”, “April Must Fall!”, “Pay Covid-19 Allowance!” and “Tools of Trade Now!” were waved by angry heads.
The leadership of SAMWU says the protest emanates from ignored grievances following a similar march held in 2023.
This is after the promises made were never fulfilled.
Speaking to Ster, SAMWU Sedibeng Regional Secretary Tefetso Selepe said members had no choice but to return to the streets.
“In 2023, we handed over a list of demands to help the workers and the town. Since then, nothing has been done,” he said.
Selepe said the demands not only affect the workers, but also service delivery.
“Over the years, ELM has not been able to provide tools of the trade to its employees. Imagine waste workers given two refuse bags for an eight-hour shift. Sometimes workers need to buy themselves brooms. Not only does the waste department have issues. This is a major challenge,” he added.
SAMWU also complained about their jobs being duplicated.
“Workers are rendered redundant because service providers are performing their jobs. This is a wasteful expenditure for the municipality. The municipality must stop tenderising functions that can be done by employees,” he said.
Selepe said their workers’ demands that their grievances be addressed, or further protests are imminent.
By the time of publication, ELM management had not yet come out to collect the workers’ list of demands. SAMWU has warned that if their issues are not fixed this time, a full-scale strike will follow.
