Cosatu march turns rowdy as Tshwane officials try to accept memorandum

• Cosatu marched to Tshwane house on Friday to demand that dismissed workers be reinstated.
• They also demanded that employees be paid their wage increases.
• The march turned sour after some in the crowd stormed the City manager's vehicle.

Trade union federation Cosatu's march to demand that City of Tshwane employees be paid wage increases turned sour on Friday afternoon because the City manager could not accept a memorandum due to an unruly crowd.

Around 1 000 Cosatu and affiliate union members marched to both the National Treasury and Tshwane House on Friday.

At Treasury, the union handed over a memorandum addressing budget cuts in public spending against the backdrop of the increased cost of living in the country.

Once the marchers arrived at Tshwane House, they sought to hand over a memorandum to the mayor of Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, and demanded that employees who were dismissed because of the recent strike be reinstated.

They also want the City to pay the wage increases.

Brink, however, did not come out to accept the memorandum.

According to his spokesperson, Brink was ready to accept the memo at 12:00, as had been arranged with Cosatu.

"But, by 13:20, the march still had not arrived at Tshwane House, and the mayor had to leave to attend to another prearranged engagement," said the mayor's spokesperson, Sipho Stuurman.

The City manager, Johann Mettler, was then tasked to accept the memorandum.

As he arrived in a police nyala, an armoured personnel carrier, a group of marchers rushed towards the vehicle, shouting and screaming.

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The nyala then left after which several police officers were pushed and chased away by the crowd of vexed marchers.

"At this point, the city manager, Johann Mettler, made himself available to accept the Cosatu memorandum. However, a rowdy and violent crowd prevented him from doing so outside Tshwane house," Stuurman said.

Cosatu management then calmed the crowd down, and the memorandum was read out.

Cosatu's demands follow the City's decision not to pay salary increases to its employees because of its dire financial situation.

This led to the City applying for an exemption with the South African Local Government Bargaining Council, which was dismissed.

The City is taking the decision on review in the Labour Court.

The decision by the City led to an illegal strike by employees, which led to several incidents of violence as City infrastructure was torched and employees intimidated.

The City's management insists that it is cash-strapped, while the unions claim there is money to pay the increases.