News24 reports that a senior member of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in the Tshwane regional executive, who was employed by the City of Tshwane, has been dismissed after video footage emerged allegedly linked him to the firebombing in August of a waste removal truck.
Several vehicles have been torched since the end of July, which coincides with an illegal strike by disgruntled employees over the refusal of the metro to pay salary increases. One such incident happened on 29 August, when a waste removal truck belonging to a contractor of the city was set on fire. Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink revealed on Thursday that the firebombing was caught on video. He reported: “Video evidence shows a group of people being dropped off on the street. They then proceed to attack the waste truck and set it alight. Finally, they are collected by the same vehicle that dropped them off and they leave the scene of the crime.” Brink said the vehicle was linked to a Samwu official. "Yesterday, the city manager informed me that investigators had established that the official's alibi about the possession of his vehicle on the day of the attack could not be verified and that the city manager had issued [the official] with a letter of dismissal," Brink advised. The mayor said all the evidence had been handed over to police shortly after the incident and the investigation was still ongoing, but no arrests had yet been made. Samwu has repeatedly said its members were not involved in the illegal strike or the torching of vehicles and intimidation of city workers.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Mitchley at News24
- Read too, Senior Samwu official implicated in Tshwane arson, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page