THE violent illegal strike at the South African Post Office should not be likened to the deadly Marikana strike, the parastatal's chief executive officer Chris Hlekane believes.
Hlekane said the issues should be resolved in the right way.
"(We should) not be seen resolving matters because one is afraid there will be an equivalent of Marikana as we will never be solving a problem," said Hlekane, when asked by Sowetan whether he was worried that the strike, characterised by employee intimidation, drinking of alcohol and daily gunshots, could turn deadly like the Lonmin mine strike that resulted in the loss of 44 lives in August last year.
The strike entered its fifth week yesterday. When Sowetan visited Sapo's Ridgeway branch in Johannesburg, the security guard said the doors were locked for fear of striking workers.
"If we say we are afraid of anarchy and let's give the striking employees something, aren't we sending the message that if things are not right we will not solve the problem but Band-Aid it?" Hlekane quipped.
This week, 588 postal workers where dismissed for being involved in the wildcat strike.
The dismissals did not go down well with the unions, that accused Hlekane of flouting Sapo's internal labour policies and the Labour Relations Act.
Labour lawyer Tutu Mokoena, who is aligned to the South African Postal Workers Union, said the dismissals were procedurally unfair.
"Every employee has a right to be heard by a neutral chairperson who will assess information before him, but the workers were not afforded this right."
He said it was possible that the workers failed to go to work due to intimidation.
He accused Hlekane of not taking the workers seriously and wanted to know why he had not introduced himself to employees.
Communications Workers Union spokesperson Matankana Mothapo said Sapo was making the situation worse by dismissing workers.
"We will try to meet Sapo management to find an amicable solution because dismissing the workers is not the solution." - sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za
Sapo strike is not Marikana
THE violent illegal strike at the South African Post Office should not be likened to the deadly Marikana strike, the parastatal's chief executive officer Chris Hlekane believes.
Hlekane said the issues should be resolved in the right way.
"(We should) not be seen resolving matters because one is afraid there will be an equivalent of Marikana as we will never be solving a problem," said Hlekane, when asked by Sowetan whether he was worried that the strike, characterised by employee intimidation, drinking of alcohol and daily gunshots, could turn deadly like the Lonmin mine strike that resulted in the loss of 44 lives in August last year.
The strike entered its fifth week yesterday. When Sowetan visited Sapo's Ridgeway branch in Johannesburg, the security guard said the doors were locked for fear of striking workers.
"If we say we are afraid of anarchy and let's give the striking employees something, aren't we sending the message that if things are not right we will not solve the problem but Band-Aid it?" Hlekane quipped.
This week, 588 postal workers where dismissed for being involved in the wildcat strike.
The dismissals did not go down well with the unions, that accused Hlekane of flouting Sapo's internal labour policies and the Labour Relations Act.
Labour lawyer Tutu Mokoena, who is aligned to the South African Postal Workers Union, said the dismissals were procedurally unfair.
"Every employee has a right to be heard by a neutral chairperson who will assess information before him, but the workers were not afforded this right."
He said it was possible that the workers failed to go to work due to intimidation.
He accused Hlekane of not taking the workers seriously and wanted to know why he had not introduced himself to employees.
Communications Workers Union spokesperson Matankana Mothapo said Sapo was making the situation worse by dismissing workers.
"We will try to meet Sapo management to find an amicable solution because dismissing the workers is not the solution." - sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za
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