Durban - Bus commuters in the eThekwini municipal area will have to make alternative arrangements to get back to work today as Durban bus drivers are on strike again.
About 300 employees of Tansnat Africa, the
municipal bus operator, downed tools last week in the latest of a series of disruptions to the service.
On Friday the city’s communications unit issued a statement informing commuters that the bus service would be disrupted in all areas.
The municipality’s communications head, Tozi Mthethwa, said the service had been running on a skeleton staff, but owing to intimidation, including the firing of shots at a bus at Gwala’s House in Ntuzuma last Thursday, the drivers had decided not to work.
She said drivers were striking over their unpaid December salaries and annual bonuses.
“The municipality is engaging with the operator to find a permanent solution to the challenges,” she said.
Tansnat Africa chief operations manager John Wilkinson confirmed the strike was due to salaries not being paid on time.
“But since then the company has paid them. Right now we don’t have a single bus on the road,” he said.
He said the company planned to meet the shop stewards and employees today.
Wilkinson said he hoped that normal operations would resume after this meeting.
The company has, over the years, since taking over operations from the municipality in 2009, been in embroiled in controversies.
In February the municipality announced that it planned to take back the bus service.
At the time mayor James Nxumalo said the eThekwini Municipality should waste no time in implementing the proposal.
The municipality has a monthly contract with Tansnat Africa.
Last year it paid R8.1m to Tansnat Africa in Durban to pay their drivers.
The Mercury