Police Shoot Rubber Bullets at Makro Employees Protesting for Better Pay, SA Split: “They Want To Loot”

• The police fired rubber bullets at a group of Makro employees protesting for better pay outside the retail store
• The workers ran away as soon as they heard the police shooting, and some were injured during the attack
• The union called off the protest and urged the Makro workers to prioritise their safety after the police attack

EKURHUKENI - On Friday, workers from Makro protested outside the company's premises in Germiston, east of Johannesburg.

They were striking to pressure the company to increase their wages and improve their working condition.

The strike started off peacefully but soon escalated as the South African Police Service (SAPS) officers and the metro police from Ekurhuleni cleared the crowd blocking traffic on Herman Street and R24 highway.

The police shot rubber bullets at the employees singing struggle songs. One person was shot in the head, and another was injured, reported TimesLIVE.

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Dumisani Mavuso from the South African Commercial, Catering, and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) said that the union didn't receive any complaints about customers being threatened while shopping at Makro.

"What baffles us is for cops to say our members were preventing people from entering, whereas they were there at the gate, and it couldn’t have happened that any customer wanting to come to the store could have been prevented or intimidated while the cops were standing there."

Mavusa added the situation escalated when the police started shooting at the workers unprovoked, and the crowd sought cover in different directions.

The workers were instructed by the union to abandon the strike for safety reasons.

South Africans reacted with comments about the hostile situation on social media:

@koolterpolski said:

"They want to loot."

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@TimesLIVE stated:

"This isn’t going to end well for Makro and law enforcement if there is a certificate that allows the worker to picket."

@evouqe shared:

"I choose South Africans over money because in numbers we are greatness they afraid of that."

@MashobaneKhumza mentioned:

"What's painful is after this they'll lose their jobs."

Tebogo Mogope wrote:

"Yoh I'm sure the Makro boss is angry, a strike on Black Friday."

Transnet workers call off strike, SATAWU cries betrayal over after UNTU takes agreement

Briefly News reported that Transnet workers have returned to work after a 10-day strike that cost the SA economy approximately R8,9 billion.

South Africa's rail, port, and pipeline company announced that it entered into a wage agreement with the United National Transport Union (Untu), representing 24 992 (54%) of the transport employees.

Source: Briefly News