City councillors flee rampaging workers
Panicked Buffalo City Metro councillors demanded a critical council meeting be postponed yesterday as over 1000 South African Municipal Workers’ Union members marched on the East London City Hall.
There was mayhem last night when some of about 200 strikers set fire to three electrical boxes near the municipality’s Trust building headquarters soon after 6pm.
As the boxes exploded, police opened fire with rubber bullets and stun grenades.
Workers fled and regrouped on corners while police ran at them firing.
SAPS East London cluster commander Major-General Lungile Nqamqele and Fleet Street station commander Mxolisi Mqotyana were seen bundling one of the struggling strikers into the back of a van.
Firefighters were on the scene trying to move the public to safety away from live electrical wires.
There was chaos in sections of Buffalo and Oxford streets close to the Trust building.
Earlier, the group of about 200 refused to leave their Orient Theatre meeting when 1300 strikers decided to go home at 4pm.
The 200 marched back to where their leaders were meeting city bosses at the Trust building.
As they left the theatre, they set alight five palm trees in Currie Street and then set fire to anything inflammable they could find.
Earlier in the day, city councillors and officials had gathered at the council chambers for the city’s fourth ordinary council meeting of the year.
A report into last week’s water crisis was meant to be tabled among other issues, but pandemonium broke out when council speaker Zoliswa Matana announced that Samwu workers were marching on City Hall.
Some councillors asked that they be given time to remove their vehicles as they were worried they could be damaged by striking workers.
City Manager Nceba Ncunyana and other officials had left earlier to attend a meeting with union leaders so deputy mayor Xola Pakati and chief whip Mzwandile Vaaibom were sent out to get more details on the Samwu march.
Asking for the meeting to be postponed, Councillor Mxolisi Nkula said: “I’m one of those councillors whose car was damaged (in previous protests at City Hall) and up to now it has never been repaired.
“And I think it is more important for us to consider not only our properties but ourselves as well.”
The PAC’s councillor Jerome Mdyolo said councillors could not run away whenever workers were striking.
When Pakati returned he advised council they could continue with the meeting based on his quick assessment of the situation. However, this was widely rejected by councillors.
Matana adjourned the meeting “until further notice”.
The Samwu workers had earlier gathered at the Orient Theatre where they have been meeting since Monday.
With little information on how wage negotiations were progressing, they decided to march to the City Hall despite a court interdict issued last Friday barring them from approaching within 100m of any municipal building.
Police were ready to act when union leaders including Samwu BCM regional secretary Zolani Ndlela left the negotiation table at the Trust building to intervene.
He called on workers to go back to the Orient Theatre, saying the court interdict was still in place.
Workers agreed but caused havoc when they burnt refuse and placed rocks in the roads.
By late yesterday union leaders were still locked in a meeting with BCM managers and a mediator from the bargaining council.
The workers are demanding that BCM pay them salaries in line with metro status.
They also want back-pay which would see each employee walk away with R48000. BCM has offered R9800. However, workers rejected the offer.
The strike continues to affect city services and Beacon Bay residents yesterday resorted to dumping their rubbish outside the municipal offices.
In an advert in the Daily Dispatch yesterday, Buffalo City Metro (BCM) acting city manager Nceba Ncunyana apologised for the inconvenience and advised residents not to put out their rubbish for collection until further notice. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za