Unlawful SAMWU strike threatens BRICS summit

19 August 2023

The unlawful South African Municipal Workers Union (“SAMWU”) strike that has caused so much damage to the lives of residents across the City of Tshwane is now about to enter its fifth week.

The multiparty coalition government has been steadfast in resisting the demands of SAMWU which, if agreed to, would plunge the City into a financial crisis from which it will likely never recover. Our focus has also been on doing everything possible to ensure that essential services keep running so that the City continues to serve all of its people – but especially the poor.

City’s poor the hardest hit

The impact of this strike has been hardest felt by the City’s poorest and most vulnerable. Water valves have been tampered with causing reservoirs to run dry, electricity technicians attending to tripped substations have been intimidated, buses have been stoned and clinics have been disrupted and closed. This means that many poor residents have been left without water, electricity, transport or medication during some of the coldest weeks of winter. The administration is continuously channeling communication from residents in Soshanguve, Olievenhoutbosch, Mamelodi, Pretoria CBD and various parts of the city who are battling very difficult circumstances due to delays in core service delivery.

Even worse, a number of City employees have faced violent attacks whilst going about their normal duties. This past weekend, a City employee was hijacked and shot by individuals who had earlier warned him not to work. The City of Tshwane is doing everything it can to apprehend the perpetrators of this violence and to bring them to justice. Both the Executive Mayor and the MMC for Utilities visited the employee. SAMWU despite acknowledging that the employee is one of their members has made no such attempt at all.

This of course would not align with their narrative of endorsing the strike. Think how abhorrent it would be if the SAMWU leadership were caught visiting or sympathising with one of their members who was merely trying to do his job and was shot for it. It would undermine their entire support for the strike action which it seems they have already lost control over.

This is clear the case as recently the Democratic Alliance has opened up criminal cases against SAMWU as threats of violence have been picked up on social media channels being directed personally at the City Manager and the Executive Mayor from striking workers. Once again, SAMWU remains silent.

However, none of this seems to concern SAMWU or, indeed, its alliance partners in the African National Congress (ANC) who have thrown their weight behind the strike. This is particularly hypocritical as just a few months ago ANC councillors voted in support of the unfunded budget plan which makes no allowance to increase wages to City employees in the manner demanded by SAMWU.

BRICS summit at risk

Something that might trouble the ANC is the impact that this strike will have on the upcoming BRICS summit scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday next week. The leaders of 67 countries have been invited to attend this summit including the Presidents of China, India and Brazil.

How is Pretoria – the nation’s capital and the seat of the Union Buildings – supposed to play any role in this event so long as SAMWU members trash the City’s streets and intimidate motorists? It is difficult to understand how the ANC regime can project strength and relevance on the international stage when it cannot even manage violent impulses of its partners in SAMWU.

It would be ideal if the ANC developed the maturity to condemn the unlawful strike and to put the interests of Tshwane residents first. More realistically, the party is likely to only be concerned about the strike to the extent that its international prestige is threatened. At this stage, any steps taken by the ANC to help bring the strike to an end would be welcome, regardless of the party’s motivation.

But the ANC struggles with this introspection, despite the ANC actively supporting the budget and effectively endorsing the decision that the city cannot pay increases 3 months ago this is now casually forgotten in the interests of populistic rhetoric.

Jordan Griffiths, City of Tshwane Chief of Staff