Tshwane mayor wants police to 'safeguard' city from striking workers

Brink's call comes after two municipal trucks were torched, allegedly by striking municipal workers.

The vehicles were torched outside the Princess Park Depot along Nana Sita Charlotte Maxeke and Es’kia Mphahlele streets.

The latest incident comes as the city struggles to find a solution to the unprotected strike by workers affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).

The seven-week-long labour dispute is linked to a dispute over salary increases.

Following the incident, Brink joined the city's waste removal teams as they cleaned Pretoria CBD, together with the Tshwane metro police and private security companies escorting the waste trucks. 

"The events of today proved that we are not dealing with labour disputes, it is organised crime, there are political and economic interests which I believe have hijacked this strike, and workers are being used as pieces on a bigger political and economic chess board,” said Brink.

“What is very important is that we get South African Police, Crime intelligence, as well as Public Order Policing to safeguard the capital.

“This is gonna spiral out of control and we need the South African Police at a national level to attend to this situation," says Brink.

The strike has led to an interruption in the delivery of services in the city, including electricity outage repairs, water restoration, and refuse removal.

The South African Local Government Bargaining Council has dismissed the city’s application to exempt it from paying salary increases for the 2023/24 financial year.

The city now plans to take the matter on review at the labour court.

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