City to take next step in SATAWU damages claim

By Megan Hartogh

The City of Cape Town is set to take its claims for damages against the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, to the next step. This comes after the city held a public meeting where members of the public could come forward to report damages caused by security guards during their strike on May 16th. According to the City of Cape Town’s spokesperson, Pieter Cronjé, 248 people reported damages that totaled R1,15 million. Cronjé says that after the meeting, the City recorded the information given by the complainants and opened a data-base of the information. Cronjé also says that a test case will be pursued by the City’s attorneys, on behalf of a selected group of claimants. He says that if the test case is successful, it will serve as a guideline for the rest of the cases. The data-base of the public’s reports and footage from the City’s closed circuit television cameras have been handed over to the police and the attorneys. The footage allegedly shows security guards damaging public property and committing acts of violence. The City is urging all claimants to keep all the evidence they may have in connection with the violence and damages, so that it can be used in the claims to be made against SATAWU.