Strikers accuse MTN of setting cops on them

The month-long strike at Africa's largest telecommunications company MTN took a nasty turn yesterday with allegations of inciting violence levelled against the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed firm.

The Communication Workers Union yesterday said several of its members, who were MTN employees, were recovering from wounds inflicted when police allegedly shot at the protesters.

Now the union has placed the blame squarely on MTN, accusing it of ordering the shooting of the workers who were not posing any threat to either the police or the company's offices in Roodepoort on the West Rand.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said he was not aware of the allegations.

"All I know is that four people were arrested for public violence and are appearing in court today [Tuesday]," Dlamini said.

MTN SA chief human resources officer, Themba Nyathi, said MTN secured a court interdict that restrains striking employees from coming within a 100m radius of any of MTN's premises for the duration of the industrial action.

"This interdict was sought in a bid to safeguard the lives of its employees and company infrastructure and facilities.

"The unintended consequence of the interdict was that the strikers vented their frustrations on innocent motorists who had nothing to do with the dispute. We have a contingent of law enforcement officers comprising members of the South African Police Service and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department outside our premises in Johannesburg."

The union's national campaigns coordinator Tshepo Matlou yesterday told Sowetan that they were peacefully picketing outside MTN's offices when, out of nowhere, the police attacked them.

"The police received a directive from MTN to provoke our members. They attacked them with a stun grenade," he said.

In the ensuing melee, the police allegedly began firing at the fleeing strikers.

"Our members were standing outside and the police attacked them with stun grenades.

"They began running and, as they were doing this, the police shot them with rubber bullets. They were shot while running away, with their backs to the police," Matlou said.

selebim@sowetan.co.za