City of Tshwane employee shot during 'hijacking'
A City of Tshwane employee has been shot and wounded during what is believed to have been a hijacking.
The man was shot shortly after completing his shift on Saturday evening.
Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the employee is a standby team member from the Water & Sanitation Section, and was confronted after responding to a water outage in Montana.
The city has been operating with a skeleton staff since workers affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) downed tools in July.
The municipal workers are unhappy over various issues, including the non-payment of salary increases.
Workers are demanding 3.5% and 5.4% salary increases, an amount that Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink said the city cannot afford.
The city believes Samwu members were responsible for the attack after their strike "degenerated into thuggery and wanton criminality".
Bokaba said the team was confronted by a group of men who intimidated and instructed them to stop working.
"The team ignored them and continued to render a service. On completion of the shift, while on his way home, the standby team leader was shot and hijacked. He was rushed to hospital," said Bokaba.
City Manager Johann Mettler has urged law enforcement to bring the perpetrators to book.
“This incident is deplorable, and we plead with law enforcement to find the suspects, lock them up and throw the keys away. We will not cower in the face of intimidation by thugs. If the perpetrators are found to be our employees they will be booted out of the employ of the city,” said Mettler.
To date, the city has fired 93 striking workers.
Bokaba said on Friday, the city issued the final ultimatum to employees who are participating in the strike to return to work, failing which they will be dismissed.
"The city hopes that the employees will heed the ultimatum and return to work immediately."
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