The Mercury
Nurse Ani Rudh replaces Xolani Yotwana’s drip as he recovers in hospital after being beaten up by four alleged strikers who saw him working at a New Germany garage. Photo: Zanele Zulu
Durban – The last thing petrol attendant Xolani Yotwana, 26, remembers about Tuesday when he knocked off from nightshift at the New Germany garage where he works, is running for his life.
Then he went sprawling in the dirt as one of his pursuers tripped him and they laid into him, hitting and kicking him until he lost consciousness.
On Wednesday, Yotwana was recovering in Chatsworth’s RK Khan Hospital, where nurse Ani Rudh said he was steadily improving.
Yotwana, who is not a union member, said he sympathised with the strikers, but wanted to work as he needed the money.
He and some of the other garage staff had worked in casual clothes as they were wary of violence from strikers. They had been on their way to catch taxis home when they were pursued.
“There are shelters at the garage and about four or five guys were sitting there watching us as we were about to leave. As we started walking, they followed us. We ran, scattering.”
Yotwana lives with his brother and said he was worried his family might be looking for him.
As soon as he was discharged, he said, he would be back at work. “I need this job, I cannot stay at home.”
Meanwhile, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant said on Wednesday violence was undermining the genuine demands of striking workers.
“There is no reason whatsoever for industrial action to be accompanied by violence. Our laws guarantee the right to protest,” she said.
Oliphant called for negotiations to resume under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said on Tuesday negotiations with employers had yielded no results.
Numsa national co-ordinator in the motor industry Elias Kubeka said on Wednesday he was aware of the minister’s call for intervention. “Plans for talks to resume with the Fuel Retailers’ Association (FRA) and Retail Motor Industry (RMI) were under way,” he said.
The union has demanded a R30-an-hour across-the-board increase by 2016 on actual rates of pay in all sectors, and divisions for workers earning above R6 000 a month. It has rejected a revised wage offer of 7.5 percent, sticking with its demand of a double-digit percentage increase. Petrol attendants and car repair workers affiliated to Numsa began the nationwide strike 10 days ago.
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