Pretoria – The City of Tshwane on Monday said “it has drawn a line in the sand” and issued 38 dismissal letters to employees who participated in the unlawful and unprotected strike action.
The letters were issued Sunday night.
“The strike, which has been declared unlawful and unprotected by the Labour Court two weeks ago, has impacted service restoration turnaround times,” the City said in a statement.
“The dismissed employees disregarded the court interdict and multiple ultimatums issued by the city manager to return to work. More dismissal letters will be issued out to the striking employees.”
The City said it has also issued 89 letters to the electricity switching teams to all the regions over the weekend, except in Region 7, for failure to perform their duties.
“The electricians claimed that the reason why they failed to execute their duties was due to intimidation by their striking colleagues,” the City said.
“They were given a deadline of 11 am today to give written responses in relation to alleged acts of intimidation, and to identify those that have allegedly intimidated them.”
The City said it has noted that the Labour Court has not granted an order for contempt of court against the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) for continuing to engage in the unlawful and unprotected strike action.
“Although a contempt of court order was not granted in the Citys favour, however, the court was scathing of the conduct of SAMWU’s leadership, including its failure to take responsibility for what the court has declared to be an unprotected and unlawful strike on 28 July 2023,” the statement said.
The City said it will consult its attorneys on how best to respond to the judgment.
The City said the judgment notes the following:
- The applicant (City of Tshwane) has not succeeded in obtaining the relief it seeks,
- However, the respondents (SAMWU) do not come to court with clean hands, and
- As I have indicated the terms of the answering affidavit are nothing less than mendacious.
The City said the SAMWU elected to abdicate its responsibility in the face of strike action that is clearly unprotected and in the face of unlawful acts by its members that have prejudiced the rights of the ratepayers who pay their salaries.
