Parilament - Parliament is in lockdown.
When employees arrived on Wednesday morning all gates were locked and groups of policemen with lists of names checked off anyone wanting to enter. Those not on the list were denied entry.
A line of policemen stood behind the gate of the side entrance at 100 Plein Street. Numerous police vans, from various units across the Western Cape, are parked on the pavement outside Parliament. Similar access controls apply at the visitors’ centre, where several government officials were seen queuing for access.
This appears to be part of the “security plan” Parliament’s presiding officers on Tuesday afternoon said would be developed overnight. Parliament was not immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, scores of striking National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) members were gathered at the gates on Wednesday morning.
Parliamentary branch chairman S’thembiso Tembe told members their protest would now continue outside Parliament. “Management are cowards that are scared of their employees,” he said to a large group of chanting employees.
Wednesday morning’s lockdown came after Tuesday’s vow by Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairwoman Thandi Modise to draw a line in the sand over the national legislature’s striking employees - “This far and no further,” said Mbete.
The Speaker on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the legally-required express authority to deploy security forces at the national legislature had been given in terms of the 2004 Powers, Priviledges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.
The two presiding officers also said overnight discussions would be held with the Nehawu national leadership after a deadlock between Parliament’s administration and the parliamentary branch of the union. The Nehawu national leaders are attending labour federation Cosatu’s national congress in Johannesburg.
Two weekends ago, in what was described as a “political intervention”, Mbete and Nehawu president Mzwandile Makwayiba met and subsequently an agreement where workers would be paid a performance bonus based on total annual cost-to-company packages was reached and the unprotected industrial action suspended pending finalisation of details.
However, the agreement unravelled on Friday, amid accusations from both Parliament and Nehawu accusing each other of bad faith, and since Monday the strike was back on. Despite several meetings this week, it is understood Parliament maintains it could not pay more than 2.1% performance bonus - effectively R2 700 for entry-level workers, according to the union - while Nehawu revised its demand down to 4.5%.
Tuesday’s marathon sitting of the National Assembly was cancelled after striking Nehawu members, who represent 981 of Parliament’s 1 389 employees, took over the public gallery to bring their grievances to the attention of MPs. The jam-packed sitting was cancelled shortly after its 10am start, then the 2pm sitting also did not take place and Parliament’s programme was readjusted to continue into Thursday.
The national legislature is under pressure to pass the medium-term budget police statement and related Adjustments Appropriation Bill, the legislative tool to pay out the revised budgetary allocations, before the deadline at the end of the month.
“There is nothing that is going to be allowed to stand in the way of (the Bill),” said Mbete. “We will have our sitting in the National Assembly as planned and we’ll proceed with the business of Parliament and we will enforce every legal framework at our disposal.”
Later Modise added while it would be “a sad day” to part with Parliament’s workers but if this was what was required, this would happen. However, she added, that she hoped talks with Nehawu’s national leadership would mean it did not come to that.
Amid Tuesday’s series of meetings over the stalemate, two senior provincial police officers with roles in public order policing were seen heading to the Secretary to Parliament’s offices late on Tuesday afternoon.
The national legislature’s administration also manoeuvered to put its case to parliamentarians.
It sent parliamentarians SMSes, saying the institution was continuing to negotiate with Nehawu, and this was followed up by a letter stating the same, which Independent Media was told, also accused the union of negotiating in bad faith.
DA chief whip John Steenhuisen was critical of parliamentary leadership, saying a series of irrelevant debates and joint sittings the ANC wanted had delayed the parliamentary Budget programme to the point it was now squashed into the “tail end of the programme”.
“I don’t think it’s good for us to see a parliamentary sitting interrupted. (It) sent a wrong message to investors,” he added.
ANC chief whip Stone Sizani’s spokesman Moloto Mothapo said there was “grave concern” that despite the previous agreement reached, the impasse continued, and called on a speedy resolution.
“We reaffirm our support for the right of workers to strike and to withdraw labour in demand of their rights. The disruption, however, regrettably harms MPs' constitutional right to perform the duties for which they were elected,” he added.
Political Bureau