BURNING DOWN OF OUR MEMBER'S HOUSE IN CAPE TOWN

We have learnt with great shock, sadness and disappointment about the burnt down to ashes of our member’s house in Cape Town, Khayelitsha on Wednesday 06 April 2016 at about 13h00. Fortunate by the time of the incident kids were still at school otherwise it would have been more disastrous.

Everybody in the house hold lost everything except the cloths they were wearing on the sad day. The house was completely damaged.

Such barbaric act doesn’t have space in our hard fought democracy.

Comrade Jafta Memani is our dedicated and loyal member working for PRASA in Cape Town.

Comrade Jafta Memani is amongst the pool of comrades who dedicated their time to build DETAWU in PRASA in particular and Western Cape Province in general.

We cannot stop speculating that the attack to comrade Jafta Memani’s house was a well-orchestrated attack meant to target, intimidate and scare comrades who are at the forefront in building a revolutionary DETAWU.

We want to emphasize the important fact that comrade Jafta Memani and all other DETAWU members in PRASA in the Western Cape Province (Cape Town) were not part of the strike that took place at PRASA in Cape Town on Wednesday and we were equally not part to the dispute.

We have been informed by our members that prior the commencement of the strike, threats and element of intimidation directed to those who will not be part of the strike were rife and the employer did nothing to curb such.

We are directly linking this incident to the burning of two Metrorail trains in Cape Town this last Saturday.

We are making our own conclusion that the accidents are interconnected and that the perpetrator/s are also interrelated one way or the other.

This is truly a difficult moment for DETAWU and our members at PRASA in Cape Town, however we sincerely call for calm and restrain.

We humble appeal to all our members in Cape Town and other areas to resist all the temptations to revenge for what happened to comrade Jafta Memani.

Also we call upon the law enforcement urgencies to do all within their powers to find and bring the perpetrators to books, such barbaric people do not have space in our society. Justice system must be very harsh on them.

We also call upon the employer, PRASA to do its own internal thoroughly investigation to ensure that no stone is left unturned.

We are very much worried that if the perpetrators aren’t apprehended that may lead to escalation of acts of violence and also send a wrong message that the state is incapable to catch the thugs and to protect the law abiding citizens.

We will put a constant pressure both to PRASA and the Police to make sure that this matter is brought to its final logic conclusion in earnest.

We encourage our members to come forward with all leads and information that may lead to the apprehension of those opposed to peace and freedom of choice and association.

We reiterate our calls that no amount of intimidation, insults, character assassination and provocation from our adversaries shall destruct us from the core central responsibility of building a reputable, democratic, transparent and corrupt free trade union. This is a mission we shall spare no effort to achieve even if death is the ultimate price to pay.

Statement issued by the union General Secretary Vusi Ntshangase. For further information please call 011 338 9078 or 083 536 0547.