The city of Tshwane allegedly obtained evidence that a senior member of SAMWU had participated in the firebombing of a waste removal truck belonging to a contractor of the City in August during the wage increase strike.
Those were the words of City of Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink speaking at the media briefing in at Mayoral boardroom in Tshwane House on Thursday.
He was joined by City manager Johann Mattler and MMC of community safety Grandi Theunissen.
City of Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink said several weeks ago the city had allegedly had the video evidence shows a group of people being dropped off on the street.
They then proceed to attack the waste truck and set it alight. Then finally they are collected by the same vehicle that dropped them off and they leave the scene of the crime.
The vehicle, identified by its make, model and registration number, belongs to the SAMWU official. This evidence had to be checked and the SAMWU official’s version of events obtained.
The City Manager informed him that investigators had established that the official’s alibi about the possession of his vehicle on the day of the attack could not be verified, and that the City Manager had issued him with a letter of dismissal.
“We now leaves the issue of a criminal investigation and the evidence in this matter was handed over to the South African Police Service shortly after the incident,” Brink said.
He said the investigation is still ongoing, but regrettably no arrests have been made. Several attacks have been launched on City of Tshwane personnel, vehicles and infrastructure in furtherance of SAMWU’s unprotected strike. The trade union has, of course, denied any involvement in acts of criminality.
At times they have also denied that there is a strike or that their leaders had any part in it. Every time a waste removal truck is stoned or torched, human life is put at risk. The victims are working people who have to provide for their families in difficult times.
Several City employees have been hospitalised and the aim is clearly to terrorise people who render services to communities to stop them from doing their work.
The reason why the City is still behind on household waste collection, why many of our streets are trashed and why it takes longer than usual to attend to electricity and water outages is because of this campaign of terror in which a senior SAMWU leader has now been implicated.
“We call on the leadership of SAMWU to reflect on this incident, to stop talking with a forked tongue and to take every other step necessary to ensure that their members allow fellow City of Tshwane officials and contractors to do their work without fearing for their lives,” Brink said.
He added that they call on national law enforcement not to treat the criminal assault on the City of Tshwane and our employees as a labour dispute or as an internal security matter, but as crimes against the state.
The City of Tshwane might be an acute case, having been pummelled by the lockdown, load-shedding and unlawful administration.
“The City will continue to work with law enforcement to protect our employees, residents and the infrastructure that serves both and we will do everything to protect jobs and lead the capital city to financial recovery,” he said.
