Johannesburg - Around 200 employees from Telkom, affiliated to the Communication Workers Union (CWU), protested outside Luthuli House in the Joburg CBD on Tuesday afternoon.
Brandishing sticks, sjamboks and placards, they called for a wage increase, the removal of Telkom chief executive officer Sipho Maseka and intervention from the ANC to deal with their grievances.
Placards read: “Who the Hell employed Sipho Maseka”, “Equal Pay for Equal Jobs”, and “ANC you hired the devil in Telkom, take it out”.
Tshepang Lesiba, deputy chair of CWU Gauteng, said the union was protesting outside Luthuli House because the ANC said it would intervene but hadn’t given them answers. “We are knocking on the door of the Luthuli House because the ANC have shares in Telkom and as the government they have deciding stakes in Telkom. It’s high time they deal with the issues of workers,” he said.
Lesiba said the main issue they were advocating for was higher and equal wages as well as transformation within the company calling for “blacks and women to be employed”.
“We want the gaps that people died for during apartheid to be eradicated. Maseka is undoing everything that was fought for,” Lesiba added.
He threatened if they were not given answers they would intensify the strike.
The crowd continued dancing and singing at the intersection of Pixley Seme and Helen Joseph Street completely blocking traffic flow.
Police and Joburg Metro Police arrived on the scene and eventually convinced the crowd to move out of the road and next to Luthuli House.
Some members were unhappy about this, shouting: “Let the Marikana killers, kill us” and “No! We will not move”.
Earlier this month over 800 Telkom employees affiliated with CWU went on strike over pay disputes.
Dancing, chanting and singing outside Luthuli House as the Communication Workers Union protests. #CWU #Telkom pic.twitter.com/XDoOs8nL0r
— Ilanit Chernick (@LanC_02) August 23, 2016
In a statement released on Sunday, Telkom accused CWU of allegedly “blockading the entry and exit points at Telkom offices and facilities”, “intimidation of employees” and “damaging equipment”.
Over 13 000 customers across the country have since been affected by alleged sabotage by striking workers. Eighty five street distribution cabinets have been damaged over the past few days.
A R500 000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the saboteurs has also been offered by Telkom.
However Lesiba told The Star, the union denied allegations that its members had been involved in any sabotage. “Telkom is to blame. They are unable to respond to the technical faults as quickly as they usually do because our members are here so there’s no one to fix the faults.
“We cannot be blamed for this,” he added.
CWU leaders were later seen entering Luthuli House to privately discuss matters with ANC officials.
@Lanc_02
The Star