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Unpaid West Rand workers fail to get Makhura's attention

Workers from the West Rand municipality protested at the office of David Makhura
Workers from the West Rand municipality protested at the office of David Makhura

More than 50 West Rand district municipality workers gathered outside Gauteng premier David Makhura's office in Newtown, Johannesburg.

The workers are complaining that they have not been paid for three months. The broke district is the only Gauteng municipality to invest with the doomed VBS Mutual Bank.

The workers sang revolutionary songs outside Makhura's office as they waited to be addressed by him. The workers had brought vehicles for various services with and parked them in front of Makhura's office.

After two hours of waiting the angry workers blocked the street with fire engine trucks. They complained that their policies hadlapsed and that they feared losing their homes as well due to nonpayment of bonds.

The workers, some in the colours of ANC-aligned South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu), vowed not to vote for the ruling party next year.

"Don't come looking for our votes next year. ANC don't want to deal with our problems so we will give our votes to other parties," they said.

The other workers at the protest belonged to the Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Union of SA (Dewusa). 

The West Rand district illegally deposited R77m into VBS.

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