[Some shops in Johannesburg are running out of stock because there are no deliveries. Look at all this violence… and its all black-on-black. No Apartheid… no whites… just blacks… spurred on by crazy communist ideas… doing vicious things. Jan]

Blood flowed in the streets of Johannesburg as striking truck drivers turned violently on other truckers, prompting the police to open fire
on them.

The transport workers were protesting for a better wage deal.

Non-striking truck drivers in the city centre and elsewhere were pulled from their vehicles and viciously assaulted on Tuesday by strikers, about 30 000 of whom have apparently gone on strike around South Africa.

In Isando, Kempton Park, a trucker had his ear sliced off.

Trucks and cars were also damaged by stone-throwing protesters in City Deep, drivers’ keys were taken away and trucks’ cargoes looted. Frightened drivers were also forced to join the protest.

Drivers belonging to the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have demanded a nine percent across-the-board salary increase, with 10 percent for minimum-wage workers. Employers, however, have offered seven percent for all drivers.

“The industry has been making massive profits over the past two years as volumes have grown hugely, so there is no excuse for not meeting our demands,” said Abner Ramakgolo, Satawu’s national co-ordinator for the road freight industry.

In the Johannesburg CBD, police fired scores of rubber bullets and detonated at least one stun grenade to disperse about 2,000 protesters who had attacked two truckers in Sauer Street.

At least 15 protesters suffered head, shoulder and leg wounds in the police fusillade. Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said nine were admitted to Rand Hospital for treatment.

The protesters demanded to know why police had opened fire.

“Why did you shoot our colleagues, you dogs? We did nothing wrong, we are just fighting for our rights. This is nonsense,” shouted one protester.

Gauteng police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said 29 people had been arrested for public violence in the city centre.

Satawu vice-president June Dube condemned the rioters, saying: “They are behaving like hooligans. This is totally unacceptable. We told them to disperse, but they refused. It’s difficult to control the protesters.”

Johannesburg police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken said: “We respect the view that truck drivers want to negotiate for wages. But we will not tolerate chaos in the central business district.”

Wilken said he was unaware of any injuries caused by the police action. “All I know is that we rescued two truck drivers who were going to get seriously beaten up.”

During the clashes, police were seen firing directly at strikers.

When asked if it was standard police procedure to fire rubber bullets at protesters or at the ground in front of them, Wilken said it was “both”, adding: “We are talking about an illegal strike, malicious damage to property, public violence, assault with intent to cause serious bodily harm and attempted murder.”

In another incident, Kei Road Transport driver Ramaseu Morena’s ear was hacked off by strikers in Isando. He was recovering last night in hospital.

At City Deep, strikers chased several working drivers before ordering them to lie on the ground and assaulting them. Panicked drivers abandoned their vehicles and ran away.

By 6pm more than 50 trucks had been abandoned in Heidelberg Road, creating major rush-hour traffic jams.

Shaking driver Class Tlaatla said: “I am glad they did not hurt me. That was scary. I did not know anything about the march, so when they asked me for the keys, I complied.”

From City Deep the strikers made their way to Benrose railway station. They eventually caught trains home.

Road Freight Employers Association CEO Nico Badenhorst said last night that if the strike continued it would cost the strikers about R12-million a day and the economy more than R100-million a day, Sapa reports.

Badenhorst called the workers’ wage demands “unachievable”.

He said Satawu had rebuffed the association’s request to meet, but “we remain willing to meet”.

He said the violence had led to unnecessary personal injury and damage to property.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on March 02, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>