Pretoria - Many commuters in Tshwane were left stranded yesterday as the majority of Tshwane Bus Service drivers reported for duty yesterday but, as expected by the municipality, refused to transport commuters.
This despite a promise by MMC for Roads and Transport, Katlego Mathebe, on Sunday that operations for Tshwane Bus Service and A Re Yeng buses would resume on Monday.
Mathebe said out of the 126 Tshwane Bus Service buses, 30 left the depots to ferry commuters to different destinations.
However, she said the 20 Re Yeng buses were operating as anticipated.
She said the behaviour by the Tshwane Bus Service drivers was despite a court interdict discouraging the continuation of an unlawful strike by any municipal employee.
“This strike was declared illegal and unprotected. So, whoever is not working is contravening the provisions of that court interdict,” she said.
Mathebe said, with the court interdict still in force, it meant the law had to take its course.
Regional secretary for SA Municipal Workers Union, Precious Theledi, said she was not aware there were drivers who refused to do their morning shifts.
For three months, workers affiliated to Samwu have been at loggerheads with the municipality over salary increments.
There had been reported incidents of violence, including torching of municipal vehicles, disruption of service delivery such as refuse collection and withdrawal of Tshwane Bus Services since the strike began in July.
To date, the city had dismissed more than 120 workers for participating in the unlawful strike.
Mathebe said: “To ensure the safety of our commuters, bus drivers and the City’s transport infrastructure, the City alongside the security cluster, which includes support from South African Police Service, Tshwane Metro Police Department , crime intelligence, and private security, have put up measures to oversee the efficient running of bus operations.”
She said she was satisfied by the visibility of SAPS along the roads to ensure commuters, drivers and municipal infrastructure were safe.
“There has been an illegal strike, and there have also been incidents where our buses were pelted with stones.
“Due to safety concerns we had to suspend our operations a couple of times.
“What has since happened is that we sat with the security cluster to work on an operational plan,” she said.
There were mixed reactions among commuters towards the resumption of buses.
While many expressed a sigh of relief, there were others who were unhappy the buses didn’t arrive as per schedule.
Some commuters complained there were no buses in Wonderboom South and Hercules, wanting to know if they would be available in the afternoon.
One of them took to social media, asking: “What’s going on since you said that the buses are going to be operating starting from today (yesterday)? There’s still no service in Wonderboom South.”
A commuter named Vukosi Adam said: “Buses from CBD to Highveld were nowhere to be found at 7.30am, and I think I just saw two or three buses on the road.”
Pretoria News