Pretoria - No application had been received by Monday night for Friday’s planned shutdown of the city spearheaded by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) Greater Tshwane region.
Mayoral spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi said: “We are aware of the planned shutdown. However, no application has been received to our knowledge and thus the march will be unprotected and illegal.”
Mgobozi said the DA-led administration hoped there would be no loss to life or limb, or damage to property, and that proceedings would be conducted within the ambit of law.
Metro Police spokesperson Nonhlanhla Mgiba also confirmed that no application had been received for the planned march.
Mgiba said the City had only received a request for a march by former Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees.
Mgiba said the ANCYL march had not yet been approved due to requirements still pending.
However, the route to be taken would be communicated once the march was approved.
“Should this march be approved, the streets that will be affected will be communicated prior and our officers will be deployed to monitor the situation. Motorists will also be advised to avoid the CBD and use alternative routes.”
The regional ANCYL and former EPWP - Vat Alles - workers have vowed to bring the city to a standstill when they march to Tshwane House and the Union Buildings.
The former contract workers, in collaboration with the ANCYL, are demanding the reinstatement of those whose contracts had expired.
ANCYL regional chairperson, Lesego Makhubela, also ANC metro councillor said the DA promised people jobs in the run-up to the
election.
However, it had turned around and put people out of employment.
Makhubela - taken to task by the DA last week for statements which the party said encouraged the use of petrol bombs - said the information being channelled through by the DA was nothing more than hogwash.
He said the vast majority of workers who were part of the EPWP had been working at keeping the city clean for six years.
Moreover, he said picking up papers was not a skill that could be used to find further employment, or set up sustainable businesses.
Makhubela said what the DA-led administration was doing was “witchcraft” as it had taken people out of jobs, only to hire older people. “The DA has employed people aged 58 to 63 years, on the understanding that the backbone of the ANC is old people. So, they are using this opportunity as a way of buying votes,” he said.
Makhubela said in other areas where the EPWP had been implemented successfully by the former administration, it was taking people coming from colleges and upskilling them in the area they had specialised in. Another issue was for the re-employment of the security guards who were to be replaced by metro police recruits.
Makhubela said having metro police officers replace security guards had removed food from thousands of family tables.
“Although the court declared the move invalid, no worker has been reinstated by the City,” according to Makhubela.
He said the court had said the removal of workers was unlawful and ordered that they be rehired by the City and reimbursed from the time of termination of the contracts.
The protest is also for the plight on informal traders, who Makhubela said were constantly harassed by metro police.
“They abandoned all negotiations with traders and even stopped the payment of bursaries to their beneficiaries,” he added.
The march is scheduled to start from Burgers Park at 8am and proceed to Tshwane House to deliver the first memorandum before heading to the Union Buildings, where a second memorandum will be submitted.
The marchers will also be demanding land for churches, which the ANCYL said was promised to them, as well as a reduction of high rental rates.