While the Steve Tshwete local municipality in Mpumalanga says it will start the process of replacing 500 employees it dismissed, angry workers are preparing for a total shutdown of the main town of Middelburg tomorrow.

On Thursday, the municipality fired 500 workers who had embarked on an unprotected strike after efforts to get them back to work did not yield results. The workers had been on the unprotected strike since September 21...