Numsa Statement on Samwu killing
1 August 2016
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is shocked and angry at the murder of a Pikitup worker belonging to the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), and the serious wounding of another, after security guards allegedly opened fire on union members outside the Samwu Head Office in Johannesburg.
It is outrageous that Samwu leaders are employing private security staff to brutally attack their own members in such a barbaric fashion. While welcoming the police’s arrest of a number of people after the shooting, Numsa demands that not only the shooters but the officials under whose orders they were responsible be brought to justice for these crimes.
Samwu’s deputy provincial secretary, Nonceba Mbilini, told Independent Media that members had convened at the union headquarters to get feedback about the state of the organisation and what progress the union had made since calling off a month-long unprotected strike in April.
“Samwu members wanted to go inside the building,” she said, “to attend the meeting which had been requested even from the City. But instead, the bouncers physically stopped and harassed them. The bouncers ended up pulling out their guns and shooting randomly into the crowd. A shop steward from the Roodepoort depot was shot and died on the scene while another Pikitup employee was wounded and taken to hospital.”