Rubber bullets, arson and no service delivery

MOKOPANE - Arson, rubber bullets and overturned rubbish bins marked the ongoing wage dispute and protest action at the Mogalakwena Local Municipality this week. Violence erupted in the streets surrounding the municipality on Monday and Tuesday with municipal employees touting the inadequate benchmarking of salaries compared to similar-sized municipalities as the reason.
Twelve people were allegedly injured on Tuesday when police had to use what looked like rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowd. Four protestors were arrested for public violence and malicious damage to property.
On Wednesday morning, the municipa-lity’s divisional head of communications, Malesela Selokela, confirmed that a Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) delegation was “in Mogalakwena to meet with union leadership and management.”
However, Mogalakwena Residents Association (MRA) representative and municipal employee Percy Nketsi, said on Wednesday afternoon that the employees gathered on the edge of town, they refused to meet with anyone until the arrested protesters were released.
In an interview with Northern News, Mogalakwena Mayor, Parks Sebatjane, said the municipality recognised the seriousness of the situation and that benchmarking was a complicated issue. He added that while the grading of certain positions was problematic, the council needed to look at affordability.
“Residents pay rates and taxes for services and this revenue can’t simply be put towards salaries,” he said, stressing that certain steps needed to be taken to address the issue. “We are interacting with the provincial treasury to find a solution as to how far we can go with regards to compensation, because you can’t have compensation at the expense of service delivery.”
He explained that the municipality has a budget in which it must operate. “We need to look at this matter and find a solution in the best interest of the municipality, our employees but also for the town’s service delivery – and this [solution] must be done in a safe manner.”
The protest action initially took the form of a peaceful ‘sit-in’ instead of a full-on strike, which saw employees arriving for work, but not doing any actual work. With access to anti-waste and sewage trucks, tempers flared on Monday – turning the actions into not only a strike, but also public violence.
Angry employees overturned rubbish bins, burned tyres in the street and disrupted local businesses which closed as a safety precaution. Protestors made their way to the Mayor’s home on Monday and used an anti-waste truck to dump rubbish in his yard and a sewage truck was used to pump sewage onto his lawn.
In a statement to the press, DA councilor Korny Dekker said that the 300 employees “including those who provide essential
services such as the provision of household water, maintenance and electricity, downed their tools demanding that their salaries be benchmarked.”
No emergency services were available on Monday and Tuesday with the electricity
supply to certain areas sabotaged.
Nketsi claims that a contractor was appointed to complete a benchmarking report earlier this year, but never completed it. “We believe that was a wasteful expenditure, because they [the municipality] paid the provider for doing nothing,” he added.
“We are prepared to impose a total shutdown of the municipality, if demands are not met, and we are sending strong message to the community, that they if want to bring sanity to the municipality, they should vote out current council during the local elections,” Nketsi said.
The protests in Mokopane follows a week of violent demonstrations in Modimolle and Mookgophong. On Tuesday residents took to the streets of Mookgophong to protest about a lack of service delivery. Reports of stones being thrown onto the R101 between
Mokopane and Mookgophong also led to
motorists  avoiding the road completely.
Dekker has offered to keep anyone updated with any issues relating to service delivery. Simply SMS your name and number to 082 878 1502 to receive updates.
The DA also urged residents not to put out their refuse bags when strike action is taking place.