South Africa’s capital city, Tshwane, has been gripped by violence amid ongoing strike action by some municipal workers over a 0% salary increase. Community Safety MMC Grandi Theunissen of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) tells BizNews that there have been cases of attempted murder, torching of vehicles, arson, stone-throwing, tyre-slashing, and intimidation. He says it has gone “beyond” a normal labour protest and turned into “a violent, orchestrated criminal onslaught against the City and the people of the City as well as co-workers”. Theunissen charges that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have played a “disruptive” role – and are even “participating in criminal activities”. On how close Tshwane is to collapse, he says: “…if we are allowed to work on our recovery plan and our funding plan, then I see that we can survive. If we are going to be forced into something that we do not want to do, there is a chance that this is going to happen.” On a positive note, seven new senior managers have been appointed, two of whom have already started work. – Chris Steyn
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Watch here
Relevant timestamps from the interview:
- 00:07 – Introductions
- 00:31 – Grandi Theunissen on how many days of strike action has the city experienced
- 01:10 – What criminal activity and violence have been associated with this
- 01:48 – Have there been any arrests
- 03:15 – How many workers have been fired as a result of taking part in this unprotected strike
- 03:55 – What are the demands of those workers right now
- 07:21 – ratepayers are threatening a rates boycott
- 09:05 – what is the level of service delivery in Tshwane at the moment
- 11:19 – What have been the biggest challenges of the coalition government running this one
- 12:50 – What role has the economic freedom fighters played in all this
- 15:03 – When is the case going before the labour court
- 16:14 – The dire water situation
- 17:25 – South Africa’s capital city is on the brink of collapse
- 18:56 – Conclusions
Listen here
Highlights from the interview
South Africa’s capital city, Tshwane, has been gripped by violence amid ongoing strike action by some municipal workers over a 0% salary increase.
Community Safety MMC Grandi Theunissen of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) tells BizNews that there’s been “quite a lot of criminal” activity, including attempted murder, torching of vehicles, arson, and intimidation.
He says it has gone “beyond” a normal labour protest. “It’s actually become a violent, orchestrated criminal onslaught against the City and the people of the City as well as co-workers.”
However, Theunissen says the City is anticipating some “big” arrests in the coming week. “We have been in a position where we actually gathered sufficient information, which we have passed onto Crime Intelligence, as well as the Specialised Unit who will be involved….And the nature of the arrests will be high-ranking union officials…And until now, the union has denied being involved in the strike.”
Read more: Israel’s 9/11 – Hundreds of civilians killed in Hamas attack, massive retribution promised
Thus far 130 striking workers have been summarily dismissed after a court declared the strike as illegal.
“So we are following the necessary labour rules and it went to the Bargaining Council. The Bargaining Council made a very strange ruling. They ruled that the City is in financial distress, but we should still pay the increase of four and a half percent. But we’ve taken that on review to the Labour Court, and so there is still a process going on…we have a good case…and we also have the backing of the National Treasury who confirmed our financial status is of such a nature that we just cannot afford to pay the increases at this stage. It will have an impact…of about 600 million rand on the budget of the City.”
Meanwhile, the prolonged strike action has hit service delivery – particularly waste removals – so hard that some fed-up residents are threatening a rate boycott.
“Remember, one of the things that has an impact on the service delivery are these criminal activities where they are intimidating coworkers who are fearing for their lives…we are providing, from the Metro Police’s side, escorts, but I have also engaged with roughly about 45 private security companies who are assisting us.”
Theunissen says a “vigilante group” of between 50 and 100 people are “actually actively
acting against the City on a criminal level, and they are intimidating the good employees”.
He accuses the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of playing a “disruptive” role. “They are actually also getting involved in criminal activities.”
More violence erupted on Friday last week (12 September) during a march to Tshwane House. “At the same time that the meeting took place, they insisted on the Mayor taking a memorandum. And then the crowds started getting under the control and under the motivation of the EFF, and specifically their Caucus Leader. They started with criminal activities. They threw stones. They damaged Tshwane House. Various windows were broken. People were assaulted, were intimidated – and the cherry on top was that of the EFF Caucus Leader: I have him on video where he was throwing stones at the South African Police Services (SAPS), as well as at the building.”
Read more: ISRAEL AT WAR: “Whole families erased”, 100s dead, 1000s wounded in worst ever terror attack
Asked how close Tshwane is to collapse, Theunissen says: “Well, if we are allowed to work on our recovery plan and our funding plan, then I see that we can survive. If we are going to be forced into something that we do not want to do, there is a chance that this is going to happen. But I think in general, let’s be positive. We’ll make things work. We’re trying. We’re working on a 24-7 basis.”
He adds that there are “very good” people involved. “I think it was last Thursday, we appointed seven new senior managers. And these people were looked for…specifically fit for purpose. They’ve all got a good track record. We have vetted them all and we have sent them for the necessary evaluations and all of them were found competent for the positions that they are going to occupy, of which two have already started the past Monday. So I think with the new top management in place…our city manager is a very competent person. And then obviously with the support from the Mayoral Committee, we’ll make things work. I’m quite positive about that.”
Read also:
