Pretoria - The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department and South African Police Service this morning arrested about 22 striking municipal workers who were intimidating non-striking employees.
The police had to intervene after a municipal employee in the finance department was assaulted at the Kempton Park civic centre and caused damage to property. This prompted fellow strikers to enter into the fray, leading to the arrests.
The arrested suspects were taken to Kempton Park Police Station, where a case of public violence, assault, attempted assault and malicious damage to property was opened.
"Any acts of hooliganism cannot be tolerated. The municipality cannot stand back and watch as workers embark on unlawful behaviour and intimidate those that want to work.
"There have been a number of incidents where non-striking employees have been subjected to intimidation and property damaged, and the law must take its course," said Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality's spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.
In recent incidents, a man was brutally assaulted in Nigel and two municipal trucks were set alight at the Springs Parks depot.
Dlamini said the municipality and its management remain committed to an open engagement with the South African Municipal Workers Union and while they respect the constitutional right of unions, they will not tolerate lawlessness.
"The current conduct of intransigency by the strikers is not helping the situation but it is exacerbating it. This behaviour is baffling, considering that the union leadership has requested a formal meeting with the employer," said Dlamini.
The situation in Kempton Park has since returned to normal as the protesting workers dispersed after the police made the arrests.
Meanwhile, the municipality has committed to continue with contingency plans to ensure that service delivery on the ground continues. Although services are still interrupted to a certain degree in parts of the metro, there has been significant improvement since contractors were roped in to assist last week. - BuaNews
