Workers from the North West Transport Investment (NTI) have taken their wage dispute directly to the African National Congress (ANC), staging a protest outside the party’s National General Council meeting at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg.
Carrying placards reading “Mr President, how long are you going to turn a blind eye on the poor NTI employees?”, “14 months working without salaries is not child’s play” and “Employees committed suicide due to non-payments”, scores of workers from Hammanskraal, Ga-Rankuwa, Soshanguve and Mabopane demanded to be addressed by senior ANC leaders, whom they accuse of ignoring their prolonged suffering.
Mosiwa Phiri, chairperson of the NTI Council under Satawu, said employees had reached breaking point.
“We have been neglected for too long, going in and out of court, and that process is frustrating these workers. We need to live like people who earn salaries every month,” Phiri said. “We now have a business rescuer who isn’t engaging workers directly, but instead communicates through legal departments. We must get salaries and benefits like everyone else.”
Phiri added that some workers have endured up to 14 months without pay, leaving families destitute.
NTI, long beset by financial collapse and governance failures, has faced repeated worker action. Last year, employees camped outside the North West Provincial Legislature in Mahikeng over unpaid salaries.
Earlier this year, the North West Transport Management Department intervened to assist some affected workers, but protestors say the crisis remains unresolved prompting their appeal to the ANC’s national leadership.