City of Joburg workers embark on strike in solidarity with arrested colleagues

City of Johannesburg workers have gone on strike in solidarity with their colleagues who have been arrested for fraud.

Mayor Herman Mashaba vowed to take a tough stance against employees involved in illegal work stoppages within the City's Revenue Shared Services Centre (RSSC).

Thirteen officials were arrested in a joint operation between the Hawks and the city's Group Forensic Department on charges of fraud‚ theft and corruption last week.

"This must be condemned in the strongest terms. Under previous administrations‚ corruption was allowed to rise to endemic levels‚ hampering service delivery throughout the City. I have repeatedly stated that this cannot be tolerated any longer‚" Mashaba said in a statement.

"Our administration remains clear on the mandate received from the residents of our City to deliver change that stops corruption‚ delivers services and creates jobs. Nothing will slow down our efforts to deliver on this commitment.

"It is alleged that those implicated in wrongdoing have defrauded the City of about R2.5 million for claiming fraudulent refunds on behalf of property owners. In some instances‚ individual property owners colluded with the officials to inflate refunds due to them‚" he said.

Corruption busting has been a key issue for Mashaba since he came into office last year.